Saintess Summons Skeletons

Valeure looked at the skeleton like he was the stinkiest pile of trash she had ever smelled.

“Tssk. Fine, whatever, we will get back to this later. You also had some dealings with that pile of bones, Sofia? Unless you had more things to say to Orvod here too?”

“Ah, yes, I had one more question, may I?” Sofia asked Orvod.

“Of course.”

“Your level shows up strangely through my Saint’s perception, I have never seen it do that…”

“Let me explain. Our good friend Orvod failed his trial, forever locking his level at 299. As far as his progression aided by the system goes, at least. This would be the first part of what you see. You can probably guess the rest.”

“He found an alternative way to become stronger?”

“Exactly! See, I am older than the system, quite a bit older in fact, and back then it was much harder to get anywhere, magically speaking. Our most precious resource now is Mana, but it used to be Time. Especially for short-lived races like us humans.

“And I ran out. So, I needed a way to become stronger, to live longer… See where I am going? Orvod here has been doing the same, progressing the good old way, through precise magical body alterations and rigorous training. But he had the luxury of having been given all the time he needed by the system already, and never had to become quite as skinny as me as a result.”

It does make sense that people used to have different ways of getting stronger. It shouldn’t be impossible to manually replicate what the system is doing when we cross filters either, right? “Then does the second number reflect his actual power?”

“Yes. It wouldn’t be very fair of the system to tell you his level is still 299 when his actual strength is closer to Valy’s, would it? So things ended up like this. As for me, if you wonder, I simply have the authority to hide my level.”

“Uhm, Sir skeleton, you wouldn’t happen to go by the name ‘Terrible limping drunkard: Richard’, would you?” Alith asked the question she fully well knew the answer of, with all the tact of a Dragon in a porcelain shop.

Alith what the fuck are you saying!

Valeure started laughing hysterically from hearing Alith say that with such confidence, so much so that she completely lost control of her flight and started rolling on the floor. Orvod’s expression hadn’t really changed, but the skeleton was locked in place, frozen like a statue.

There are so many layers of shields and protection in this room… I wouldn’t even be able to activate the ring to Zangdar through this… Are we dead?

For a skinless skeleton, the lich was very expressive in his body language. From completely still, he turned to looking straight and composed, then he began oozing the aura of someone weak and tired, like his skull weighed too much for his spine to support. But they aren’t even physically connected…

“A nickname I hadn’t heard in a long time, this one… Oh, you have his ring too… I cannot believe I failed to recognize it under that black glove of yours… You found brother Lú, did you not…?”

“We did, or what remained of him…”

“Found one of the displacement rings?”

He means the keyrings?

“Yes. It was on the skeleton of an elf, in a mage tower turned dungeon, somewhere in Skyreach’s flatlands.”

“So they managed to find one after all, and yet they never came to see me about it? I cannot believe this. Fools… “ Richard sighed and sat down on one of the room’s chairs, “Well, what is done is done. How did the rest go? Zangdar should have been lost somewhere in the Margin, right?”

“It was, and it was also infested with countless lesser Phageids and a few larvae. This is where we earned most of our levels up until now.”

“This is unsurprising. After the city disappeared, it was clear that they had activated the last resort defense mechanism, but since nobody ever came back… And we couldn’t track the landing position of the city either. Well, at long last, they have been found. No survivors, I assume? Did you get rid of all the Phageid?”

“We killed most and whatever was left died in an explosion. Only Zhǎng Lú was left but… To say he was alive might be an exaggeration. He left you a letter which should explain things from his perspective. This is what I meant when I said we had something to discuss with you as well…” Sofia explained as she produced the letter from Zangdar, or rather from Zhǎng Lú, labeled ‘To Terrible Limping Drunkard Richard’.

“I see.” TLDR grabbed the envelope and opened it on the spot. “This is genuine. Quite the way to go… Did he leave more of them?”

“There is one each for his wife and three kids, and one for a certain ‘Alkorm D’.”

“Give me all the letters for his family. I will bring it to them.”

Alith watched Sofia take out the envelopes, she questioned, “Are any of them still alive after all this time?”

“No. I will bring it to their graves. You may keep the last one, give it to Alkorm by yourselves, you will run into him sooner or later if you keep leveling, as sure as the sun rises every day. I sincerely thank you for bringing this to my old bones. I shall find an appropriate way to reward you.”

This guy owing us a favor might just be the best thing we got out of Zangdar.

“Did you find the books on his latest research?”

“No, I believe he must have destroyed them, I have read every book I could find in there but none explained how he ended up how he did.”

“As I thought, hmm. Maybe it’s for the better.”

“Whatever you say Richie, glad you found some closure, but we really should get to the main subject, no? You both originally came to see me, did you not? What did you want? You reconsidered selling me that cursed sand-producing item?”

“That was not it, we came because of this…” Sofia stated, producing Sen’s note out of her ring. The sheet of paper flew out of Sofia’s hand and floated in front of Valeure.

“Sen? Why would he send you to me… Is that dragon mask a cursed item you need? It looks quite old. Maybe eight or nine thousand years looking at the design?”

“I concur, with this kind of craftsmanship, I would guess a lizardman artifact, perhaps an Oracle’s mask. But these are all just suppositions.”

“We cannot know more unless we have it in person.”

“This is… It’s somewhat of a long story, is it fine if I spend some time explaining?”

“Have you forgotten where you are? Valy here pays people to share their story and you’re going to ask her permission to do it for free? You are much too generous with her.”

“Well I am here to ask for help so…”

“Do not mind the rambling skeleton, Sofia. I am listening but try to be concise, I may still need to leave at any moment.”

“Hmm. I was born in the Sovuln kingdom, I have an older sister…”

 

“And Sen sent you to me… Well, sorry to tell you but I have not heard of your sister or anyone wearing such a mask yet. I can help you find her as a repayment of Richie’s debt to you if you wish.”

“You would do that, Valy? How unlike you to take care of your friends’ debt. Are you trying to show off in front of the new generation?”

“Shut up, Richie. You have a debt to them and I have a debt to you, do you understand?”

“Alright, alright, you have a deal; I’ll probably still pitch in though. Since I am here anyway.”

Alith was getting a bit impatient, “What do you suggest, lady Valeure?”

“You can drop the honorifics, it’s fine. In the current situation, I cannot move much. As Richie said earlier, we have some sort of a war going on at the moment, which is keeping us very busy. But, I do have many ears around, they will be searching for us; while you two should be going to Sovuln.”

“How would that help now that we know she’s not there?” Alith continued.

“If Saria, a young and classless child, survived on a flying mountain through the tide and the ebb, there would undoubtedly be clues to be found there. This wasn’t so long ago either, so it is in your interest to go fast before these traces fade.”

“The ebb?”

“Orvod is familiar with this, I will let him explain before you go. I am confident that unless she is backed by someone as strong as me and purposely hiding her tracks, we can find Sofia’s sibling within a year.”