บท 20: Worth Of Souls

After having two of their party members collapse to the ground, spent and exhausted, zapped of every last ounce of stamina and mana, the greater cohort that consisted of Olive, Church, and Isaac decided it would be best to send someone back to camp and request for aid.

Furthermore, deciding Isaac was the most combatively adept while simultaneously carrying the most weight in camp, he rushed up the pit's stairs alone and sprinted back towards the black pyramid.

Nearly half a day later, voices could be heard echoing throughout the bottomless pit. Dragging both Lily's and the Admirals' limp bodies to the end of the staircase – the two waited patiently for their saviors.

Tying the two unconscious people with rope and strapping them to larger mens' backs was not what Olive originally had in mind, but the strategy worked incredibly well and the cohort plus aid escaped the treacherous pit in a little over an hour's time.

Of course, the time passed by far quicker due to the constant ravings of the snow world and the fantastical elements the new group of men were experiencing for the first time. Although already nearing a month for them, they've still yet to experience the true harrowing nature of this world and the monsters that occupy it.

'Maybe that's why Isaac and Church opted to scare them like that their first day?' Olive thought to herself.

With more and more people arriving, their situation was bound to become safer and safer and the newer arrivals would most likely face less and less danger.

'Would that make them weaker?' Olive considered.

It wasn't a secret that hardship and peril accelerated growth. Pushing oneself in any capacity is what leads to growth, but does simply knowing that justify allowing others to suffer? Probably not.

A few hours in the darkness of night passed quickly as the larger group made their way back through the jungle. With the pulsating red glow as their compass, it was much easier to find the black pyramid at night than during the day – the only issue being the increased number of Goblins, but due to the destruction caused by the rainstorm, it seemed like even the Goblins were too busy to be patrolling the jungle tonight.

Upon returning they moved both Lily and Admiral Adams to the infirmary huts where Doc Tyler immediately began tending to the two unconscious people. A slight shrug and eye contact with Olive, however, was enough to instantly bring the man up to speed with what happened and he suddenly quit pouring his mana into the Admirals body.

All they can do is wait, after all.

Four days passed in the blink of an eye. Lily awoke on the second day and after being interrogated by Doc for a few moments, Olive quickly got her turn. Unfortunately, Lily didn't hear a voice at all.

Disappointed, two more days passed and the day of the eighth summoning arrived. This time present in the room with both Church and Isaac, Olive watched as twenty girls appeared out of thin air in the run-down dojo classroom.

Rapidly scanning their appearances, Olive noticed most of them could be considered young adults. The oldest in the room, a woman with curly gray hair cut shoulder length appeared to be in her early fifties, but beside her, all of the other women possessed plump and rosy cheeks, had fair and supple skin, and small little waists.

Thankfully, the introductions with the girls went far better than Church's encounter with the group of men. Some of the girls were adamant they were dreaming and that this 'couldn't possibly be real,' but after Isaac led them outside and flung a beam of energy into the sky with the whip of one of his swords – the girls quickly fell in line.

And like that, the strange cycle repeated.

Admiral Adams finally woke up a week after collapsing. Why did he wake up later? Maybe it's because he's old. Maybe it's because he's an unawakened Awakened (has a Status screen but no Ability).

Either way, from the moment his eyelids shot open the man got to work. He burst out of the infirmary and marched towards the black pyramid where he found Isaac and Church discussing their future plans. Joining the two self-appointed strategists, the third self-appointed strategist began barking orders left and right.

The twenty girls were interviewed. Their backgrounds were recorded, their occupations, the date they disappeared, everything needed to be jotted down and considered! Then, the following days became uplifting, joyous ones.

The camp accepted a considerable influx of pretty faces. They had more workers to rebuild the walls and archer towers. More people to gather berries and prepare meals. Some of the women knew how to sew and crochet, the older woman even began weaving baskets from the jungle's vines.

Harmony seemed to momentarily return. New clicks were formed, friends were made all the while stories were exchanged. For a fleeting moment, the adventurers were happy they were summoned.

It was everything Olive was afraid of.

Sure, the new people trained, but they didn't train hard. They didn't prepare like their life was on the line.

The new girls were soft. And they were making the rest of the camp softer.

Olive rolled her eyes and tucked her knees into her chest. She currently sat on a bench constructed just outside the pyramid's entrance. Sat there, she watched the camp move in awe. It seemed like everyone moved with purpose, they all had something important to do, but nobody was training.

Sure, they were chopping wood and welding iron. The walls had already been put back up and the archer towers were nearing completion. The camp was progressing smoothly.

Olive could even see a group of girls stepping repeatedly on top of barrels of berries while giggling incessantly. That's right. They're making wine.

'Why do we need wine?' Olive didn't know.

Summoning her Status screen, Olive looked away from the attractive woman crushing berries with her toes. She maneuvered the Status to Cain's summoning requirements – a page she was all too familiar with at this point.

'Sacrifice love for death. . .' Olive muttered to herself.

'Fuck me. . .' With a heavy sigh, Olive closed her Status and slapped her cheeks.

She bravely walked towards the girls making wine and, with a passionate stride, she stopped a few feet away.

"Hey Summer," Olive waved, "whatcha' doin'?" Olive smiled through grit teeth.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the camp, Admiral Adams stood firm inside a pitch black, abandoned room. The room existed on the second to last floor of the pyramid, the floor above the giant gates they assumed to be their exit.

The room was discovered by accident by one of group five's men and upon discovery, the man in question immediately informed the Admiral as this was during the period of time when Isaac and his team were gone.

Within the room stood a steel cage corroded by dried blood and age old feces. Two handcuffs were strewn across the floor, each of them unlocked, ravaged by whatever they once contained. In that room now, however, sat the very same man who discovered it – bound by the corroded chains and handcuffed to the metal bars around him.

The man slumped against the black walls. His face sunken and dull, clearly already given up. Standing above him, Admiral Adams muttered back and forth to himself.

The day he awoke, seven days after collapsing, he felt his heart plagued by overwhelming fear of the being that spoke in his mind that day. He distinctly remembered the feeling of powerlessness he experienced – unable to move his own body, forced to tense every muscle at a whim, he felt like a mere puppet!

But at the same time, behind that voice stood unimaginable power! The power to make people kneel at the mere sound of your voice! The power to dominate and conquer!

The Admiral wanted it! He needed to have it! How could he, the great Fleet Admiral of the Royal Navy, be an unawakened bug!?

He couldn't stand for it! He had tasted that power! That red-haired bitch had no idea the type of being she was dealing with! And if she did, then she must be a fool to reveal something so precious to the likes of him!

"Surely if I sacrifice more than her. . . He'll start to favor me more!" The Admiral smiled with a wicked grin.

Having made up his mind, he stepped towards the bound man beneath him and bent down to sit on his knees. He leaned forward, placing his palms against two Circles he drew prior. Following the previous steps to a T, blue light erupted within the enclosed space and the Admiral steadily placed his head against the ground.

***

[Sutton Adams Offers Sacrifice]

[Sacrifice of 1 Soul]

[1 Soul Transferred]

Pulling my attention from the river, I opened my Status screen and inspected the new notification.

Another offering from Sutton, it seems, although this sacrifice is unique in its own right. Instead of a Lesser Soul or a Lost Soul, it appears to just be a normal soul this time. Confused, I closed the Status and looked at Baku who's sat across from me.

"Hey what's the diff –"

"Check your Status." He interrupted before I could finish.

Rolling my eyes, I returned to the Status screen and studied it in the hunt for any anomalies. And believe it or not, I found the abnormality quite easily.

[Souls Harvested: 74/100]

It increased by ten, causing me to raise my eyebrows in surprise.

So Lesser Souls have an experiential value of one and standard, I guess 'complete' Souls have a value of ten. But what did Sutton sacrifice for the value to be ten times that of a Goblin? Have they encountered a new type of monster?

If that's the case maybe I should get back to actually training. . . we've been playing cards for days now. I think I got Baku addicted.

Standing up from the stone floor, I patted my pants clean of the dust that had settled over the previous days and began stretching my limbs. Blinking, I immediately activated |Spirit Sight| and began studying the movement of Baku's aura – that was my new task given to me by Teacher Baku.

I must be able to materialize my Spirit outside of my body and manipulate it seamlessly, like water, like I have to do in my Spirit Sea to begin with.

Resigning myself to training, I stared intently at the flow of Baku's Void energy until I felt myself slip into a trance. Finally entranced and 100% focused on the energy's movement, I subconsciously began to stir my own Spirit.

The first stage of Spirit control was freely manipulating Spirit with the Sea itself. This time around, I need to learn how to transfer that control beyond the Sea and into reality. I've already sort of gotten used to moving it within my body, that was what the |Spirit Sight| training was for, and now |Spirit Sight| is the key to learning the flow of Spirit outside of the body – Void energy in the case of Baku, but he says it moves in the same manner as all Spirit.

Baku's training really seemed connected and thought out.

Maybe Baku is a good teacher afterall?