Abyssal Awakening

Placing all of the books down, Alice leaned back and sighed.

Tapping her finger on the table for a few moments, she stood up and prepared to return the books. She was grateful to Nalem for giving her this book as Leoric's notes demonstrated how hard it was to make poisons safe when you're fighting with allies.

It was the reason why he kept antidotes on hand.

But she didn't have the luxury of purchasing Mirror Escalda blood. Not only that, due to how her body functioned and the innate resistance to Abyss Blood, she wasn't sure if the mixture would work the same way it did for Leoric. There were simply too many questions and her path through poison has become uncertain.

Returning the first two books back to where she collected them from, she approached Nalem who closed his book and looked up at Alice.

"I hope the books have been a pleasant read."

"Mnm, they have. Though Leoric's journal not as helpful. I don't think I want to… make my poison as scary as his." Alice nodded her head as Nalem smiled.

"Indeed. Very few would choose to fight him and fewer would choose to be his friend." Nalem chuckled while receiving the journal and placed it on the table next to him.

"However, it seems like you have indeed gained a bit of knowledge from his old journal, so it seems that this recommendation has proven fruitful."

"What happened at the end? If… you can tell me. I saw the pages being torn out." Alice asked curiously.

Hearing this, Nalem paused for a moment before leaning back and thinking about what he should say.

"That was something of my own doing. Some events are better left unsaid… But let's just say after this, we stopped talking to one another and he became known as the Lord of Poisons." Nalem sighed, shaking his head to indicate he no longer wished to talk more about this incident.

"Setting that aside, I'm rather curious about what you decide to choose. Despite having the same Sigil as Leoric and expressing the idea of wanting to improve your poison, it seems as though his choices through life are disapproved by you."

"Ah erm… It's just… Indiscriminate poison doesn't seem to be the kind of power, I wish for in the end. I have… clear targets. I don't want the aftermath to ruin a city. I saw what kind of results Spectral Hunter poison could bring when mixed with the Moonlight Knari." Alice replied, thinking carefully of why she disliked the idea.

It was the mental image of that city plagued with people crawling to the rooftops with flowers bursting from their bodies that haunted her.

If she truly develops her blood like Leoric, could such a scene become the normality? If she were to keep developing her poison, would she bring a risk to both Allura and Ria?

Even though they've only met briefly, Allura has saved her life and Ria could be called a friend. She didn't wish to harm them at all.

"Indeed… That incident was one that shook the hearts of many and caused the supply of Moonlight Knari to almost dwindle into extinction. Now, with the exception of collectors and certain areas where the flower managed to survive, one would rarely see such a flower even if they spent their lifetime searching for it." Nalem nodded in agreement.

"Then I can only hope you find success in your adventures with the Spectral Hunter Sigil. Aside from my friend Leoric, I have seen a myriad of people who started with the same Sigil. Yet they either focus on the poison or the physical aspect. I cannot help but say that I mildly interested by what you plan to do.

My shop will always be here in the future should you require more books and knowledge." He chuckled, relaxing himself in the chair.

"The Sigils granted by the Abyss vary in power and potency, it is merely hindered by the lack of imagination. Now I believe is nothing else you require from the store. If I am wrong, feel free to tell me. If not, I'm afraid I have to say that I'm closing the store early for today. After reminiscing about my old friend, I desire a bit of time to myself." Nalem smiled, gesturing to the door.

"Alright, thank you for your help." Alice nodded her head as she made her way to Ria to wake her up so the two of them could leave.

"Of course, it's been a pleasure."

Sitting back down, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

Grabbing Ria's shoulders, Alice gave her a gentle shake and woke her up as Ria seemed to be remembering an old memory.

"Hm? Are you done with the books?" Ria asked, giving her body a stretch.

"Yeah, got some ideas and some plans for the future." Alice nodded with a smile, feeling her path forward slowly revealing itself.

"That's good. Let's go find Allura then." Ria stood up and made her way to the counter.

"See you later Mister Nalem." Ria waved as he nodded his head.

"Safe travels."

Upon leaving the shop, Ria was about to lead the way when she paused.

"Err… Alice?"

"Hm?"

"Did Allura say where she was going or where to meet her?" Ria asked.

Pausing in realisation, Alice understood that they had no way to find Allura nor did they know where the inn was.

"Seems like we're on our own for a while. Anything you want to do or buy? I got some funds on me if you need to buy anything." Ria offered with a laugh.

"Don't have anything I want to buy. Allura already buying things I need." Alice shook her head.

"That's fair. In that case shall we go peruse the Apothecaries? I want to restock on some blood since I lost a bunch when I was in the forest and some got crushed. Any blood you got your mind on? Or just some standard healing blood." Ria asked curiously.

"Just healing blood."

"How many potions can your bag hold? Mine holds around 10 vials." Ria asked, mentally calculating how much money she had to spend for this purchase of theirs.

Checking her bag, Alice could see a total of eight slots to hold the vials.

"I can hold 8 vials."

"So that'll be 16 healing blood and 2 berserk blood. Euff, this is gonna cost me quite a bit." Ria sighed, scratching her hair.

"Wait, 2 berserk blood?"

"Yeah. One for me one for you. In a life or death situation, having a vial of berserk blood is good to either kill the thing trying to kill you or get enough speed to run away. Just think of it as insurance. Every Hunter has a vial of berserk blood for when shit hits the fan." Ria nodded her head while leading the way forward.

Even though her sense of direction was rather terrible, he was quite familiar with this city so navigating it was a piece of cake. All she had to do was ask a new passerby every corner they cook and soon enough, they arrived at the Apothecaries.

Upon entering the store, they could see that it was split into three floors. The first had the most customers while a few would show a special badge and be led upstairs.

The first floor was split into 3 sections with one being separated from the main room by a large counter that stretched across the length of the store.

The main section of this floor was for Hunters who were queuing up, waiting to collect their vials while the last section had tables with books, presumably to see what was in stock right now.

Walking over to the catalogs, Ria flipped through and navigated to the healing blood section and picked out a few medium-quality blood with as few side effects as possible.

She eventually settled for the Black Blaze Blood, sold for 5 gold per vial with the side effects including a rise in temperature and a high weakness to fire for an hour or so. The permanent side effects being a layer of your skin becoming dry and flammable like the skin of the Black Blaze, a beast that catches on fire easily yet boasts an impressive healing factor.

Since the quality she chose was medium, the side effects could largely be ignored through moisturising the affected skin or cutting it off and letting it regrow should the affected area become too big.

"Just don't drink this when you're fighting a fire type beast and you'll be fine. Try to take breaks in between so the effects don't stack or else it'll become permanent." Ria warned while flipping to the page where it documented the berserk blood.

Compared to the healing blood, these were several times more expensive due to the fact that it can save your life.

If Ria hadn't crushed her vial by accident, she wouldn't need to buy another vial of berserk blood. But all of that blood was now wasted and she had to buy more.

Choosing the Crimson Shade blood selling at 30 gold for each vial, Ria could feel her heart being clawed out as she paid 140 gold in total for 18 vials of blood.

Handing Alice 7 Black Blaze Blood and 1 Crimson Shade Blood, Ria stored her own away into her bag.

"The Crimson Shade blood makes it so that your speed is heavily enhanced while the rest of your body will be reinforced if you happen to drink blood during this period of being berserked. Only warning is try not to drink blood with lots of allies around while this vial is in effect as it has a chance to make you attack your own allies, doing more damage than good.

As for side effects, makes you a little more volatile and a hunger for blood but the side effects should be rather small to notice."

Storing the vials away in her bag, Alice understood how expensive these truly were considering the hunt for the Kata Charger only rewarded them with 30 gold. Even if she was to succeed, most of the gold would've been spent on more potions if she got injured during the fight.