Saintess Summons Skeletons

After a good night of sleep in a random inn and a luxurious meal to celebrate, the Hero and the Saintess parted ways. They had convened on ways to communicate and reunite if need be, and if they hadn’t met by then they would at least go to the second trial together. Alith didn’t take much of their money, insisting that five hundred gold was more than enough. Which left Sofia with a total fortune of five thousand nine hundred and fifty-four gold along with some change.

And that’s only accounting for the coins and the ingots, if I manage to sell some of the castle’s antiquities… Or some more blood…

With her pockets full of money, Sofia started wandering the city. It felt quite good to be alone again, she understood why Alith wanted some time away too. They had been stuck together with nothing much to do for quite a while. And they were two people that liked their alone time. In a way, it was liberating to be alone again. Well, Sofia was still with Pareth but he wasn't the same.

Besides, they would still get shared experience for whatever they killed even if they were separated, so it wasn’t like they’d lose efficiency.

Sofia meandered through the streets, observing the storefronts and buying all kinds of strange local street-food. Her bone wings drew some attention but the ‘high-level’ card she wore around her neck was enough to shut up anyone who might have a problem with it. Besides, she was wearing the fancy green robe she won from the trial. She pretty much never took it off anymore, with that no one would expect she was anything but a noble or a rich adventurer.

Sofia had a very long list of things she wanted to do before going back to getting levels. Although the level 120 was so close it was taunting her, it was probably passive keywords next, and she wouldn’t use them yet. Her next passive would be at least a triple word one she had decided. Saving spots was too important, especially considering she didn’t want to lose any of the passives she had right now.

When she felt she had had her fill of the street food and lively ambiance, Sofia made a beeline for the gates separating the first and second part of the city. While Zangdar only had an outer and an inner ring, Hooasow had five such sections. The outermost and largest one being the commoners’, then it was the commercial section. The second ring was already intended for the nobles, or largely anyone with money. The third ring was where most official buildings were, such as the adventurers’ guild, the Vasperian embassy, the local magic academy…

Fourth ring was where the nobles lived, and the fifth was the royal palace. There was nothing of real interest in these last two.

Looks like I found my first stop. She’d already asked around for directions, and people were very helpful when they saw the card she wore around her neck. When she asked about a place where she could find space magic experts, a few people pointed her toward the same shop.

 

‘Evan’s spatial baubles’

 

It was a rather inconspicuous shop tucked away in a corner, it was clean but looked quite old. Maybe because it’s so old is why people knew about it.

Sofia pushed the door. Not paying much attention to the few items and rings encased in glass along the walls, she walked directly to the unattended counter and rang the bell. Without warning, a man looking to be in his late twenties and wearing regular brown overalls appeared behind the counter.

[Supporter - Lv.190]

A nice casual reminder that I’m still weaker than some shopkeepers... Really can’t let myself be blinded by what meager power I have right now.

Sofia could tell he had looked at the wings sticking out from her back. The man had a disgusted expression for a second, then he looked surprised and lost. Didn’t think I would [Identify] as a Saint, would you? I wonder what actual necromancers show up as.

“Welcome to my boutique, I’m Evan, what can I do for you?”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Sofia. I came searching for something to protect against forceful teleportation, would you happen to have that?”

“That isn’t something most people would care about, but I might still have something from my old days of experimenting, give me a minute, please.” He disappeared again and reappeared a minute later holding a rather chunky bright pink bracelet covered in ritual circles inside and out, “That would be it, Orichalcum spatial anchoring bracelet. To explain what it does exactly, it keeps track of your coordinates in space at all times. If there’s a sudden shift, it will teleport you back by riding the mana trails in reverse. You need to recharge it with about a thousand mana every day to keep it running, and every teleportation will need to source the mana directly from you which can be quite expensive. If you want to turn it off you need to take it off, you can also mess around with the sensitivity of activation a bit.”

“How expensive is teleporting back exactly?”

“However much the person trying to move you had to pay. Which is pretty much always more expensive depending on the distance.”

Couldn't I just fuck off far away and be safe then? But somehow [Summon Hero] is only six thousand mana... Can't really rely on distance like this.

“Do I have other options?”

Evan pondered over it for a second, scratching his stubble, “Nothing I could make for you. Your other options would be a mana disruptor or a mana shield, both very expensive and annoying things to deal with. In my opinion.”

Identifying the bracelet showed that the man hadn’t lied about the product. A bit of a bother to maintain, and kinda ugly. But still way better than dealing with the sand was, and than getting teleported around against my will. Alright. “I’ll take it then, how much?”

“Let’s see… The materials alone would go for about five hundred, it’s a unique item but also not something easy to sell… Eight hundred and it’s yours. Seven if you let me see your ring.”

Sofia frowned. Hey why the hell do I keep [Poker Face] if it’s going to do me like this!

“Why do you want to see it?”

“It is clearly a spatial ring, and [Identify] gives me nothing on it, which is curious.”

Oh now that’s good news! “I see, well, sorry but I will have to deny, perhaps another time. Eight hundred it is. Do you accept ingots?” This is my most prized possession now, no way I’m letting anyone remotely close to it. If only it could fit under the gloves, I would hide it…

Sofia left the shop poorer and with a lump of pink metal around her left wrist. The man had demonstrated how to change the sensitivity settings and teleported Sofia around the shop to let her experience the usage of the bracelet. She had set the sensitivity to one meter. Any teleporting is too much teleporting!

Clearly the man was a better space mage than he was a jeweler. It wasn’t the most aesthetic piece of jewelry but to Sofia this was kind of the culmination of her journey until now. Finally, she could leave the worry of being summoned again behind. If only there had been such a proficient space mage in Drakron, she could have afforded it back then. It would have given her a lot of peace of mind.

Six thousand gold might not have been that much after all. I just can't be bothered to try bartering...

 

Sofia was still roaming around in the commercial district, undecided on where she wanted to go next, she took a turn through a narrow alley to avoid walking in the crowded main road.

She was about halfway through it when two people dropped out from a window above, cutting her path. She heard more people dropping from behind.

[Fighter - Lv.99]

[Fighter - Lv.82]

Really?

These were all random thugs. There was no other way to describe them. The two in front of her looked to be around thirty something years old, though she knew by now that this didn’t mean much. One had a sword and the other daggers.

“That’s a nice bracelet you got there,” the sword wielder started.

Is this really happening?

“And a nice ring,’ the other continued.

Seriously?

One of those that were behind also gave his piece, “I’ll take the robe, and what’s under!”

He laughed.

His laughter stopped in a gargle. Next came two wet thuds of heavy things hitting the floor. The only other sounds were the muffled clinking of bones.

‘You have murdered [Adrien - Butcher lv. 53]’

‘You have murdered [Marie - Illusionist lv. 87]’

The two thugs in front of her reeled back in shock. They wanted to run, but the skeleton that had appeared out of nowhere behind the girl disappeared as quietly as it had come.

They heard the soft clinking of bones colliding behind them. And with a swipe of a holy light claymore, their heads flew.

‘You have murdered [Blaize - Swordsman lv. 99]’

‘You have murdered [Pascal - Thief lv. 82]’

The four bodies and their heads disappeared into Sofia’s storage ring, while Pareth returned to his place in the storage of [Armor of bones].

There was a bit of blood left on the pavement. Whatever. Don’t think anyone saw me.

I feel like I should feel terrible about killing four people. It's the Magisterium moral dilemma all over again.

But once more, I don’t really. It’s just displeasing. Well. Don’t care if the system blasts me with its murderer prompts. This was self-defense. I don’t have the patience to deal with this any other way.

Won’t be missed. Good work, Pareth.

She hadn’t expected that her new ‘teleportation’ technique for Pareth would be useful so soon. All she did was change the place he appeared out of the storage to be a bit further. From her testing the maximum range was about twenty meters if nothing solid blocked the way, and she could pick him up from just as far.

I can’t believe they would be dumb enough to attack me. Did none of them have [Identify]? Or did they believe they could kill a level 100? Well, I won’t say no to four free skeletons.

She didn’t even want to search the bodies. Leaving only a few splashes of blood behind, Sofia resumed her stroll.