Chapter 33 - Waystation Four - Cultist Access (Patreon)

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Elania’s head was pounding as she slowly woke up. She dimly remembered closing and locking her door before falling into the decidedly plush bed. She had not figured out how to dim the bright white crystal that was now glaring down on her face much to her dismay. It did confirm that she wasn’t going to wake up summoned to another world after every hangover though.

The light in her eyes was enough to prompt her to sit up, hand going to rub the side of her face. She’d slept in her clothes. That was something she’d gotten used to doing since arriving in Eladu and suffering with no actual bed to sleep in. Now it seemed like a lost chance she had missed.

She glanced back at the pillow and covers, and realized just how dirty she’d been, anyway. The once white sheets were covered in a film of gray dust and grime, just form touching her. ‘Oh, the housekeeping will love me dearly.’

Thankfully, they were only staying for one night.

The notice of just how much filth clung to her made her feel nasty. She’d been ignoring it since being coated by all the smoke from the wildfire disaster. Now it was thrown in her face and she had to do something about it. The picture of Marcus being there, in a clean outfit that obviously pointed to there being some sort of cleaning service and bath gave her hope.

Elania looked around the room and took stock of the furnishings for the first time. The wooden furniture in the room was polished and clean with a pleasing color that would have pleased her to have at home. She had expected everything to be roughhewn and of poor quality, but she realized that maybe that was because she had been expecting things to be like the Mushroohum village. There was even a polished standing mirror in the corner, and her eyes widened as she took in the clear picture of herself.

Her heart crumpled at the sight. Her face was black with smudges, her hair was no better, and was a strange mix of black, red, and dirt. The clothes Tanyan had given her were already showing signs of needing washed, but she could feel the nastiness that they hid underneath. The most noticeable thing though, was her eyes. They glowed back at her, like a deer in headlights, except she didn’t even need to shine a light at herself and the color was distinctly crimson red. No one would need to use [Identify] to tell that she wasn’t exactly normal.

Elana frowned and though back to Taniel’s words a few days before. ‘There isn’t anyone who doesn’t associate those red eyes of yours with carnage.’

Except… she didn’t seem to have received such a terrible welcome to the waystation? She didn’t think it had really even been remarked on. She didn’t think the monk had been lying or exaggerating when he had said it, but now she wasn’t sure what was going on. Maybe it was just because they hadn’t reached the city yet? It made a little sense that out on the outskirts would be where the rough types congregated, and maybe they were used to seeing dangerous things all the time… but…

An itch pulled her attention to her back. She was dirty and the sudden clean surroundings drove that point home.

She thought she remembered one of the monks mentioning washing up and…

In one corner there was a small door and she headed to it, sliding it open. Bathroom. There was a small seat with a hole, and as she looked down it, there was running water in a channel below it. A small stone cubicle was offset with an indentation on the floor that would stop water from spilling out into the rest of the room.

‘No way.’

There was an obvious rope to pull, and she couldn’t resist testing it after deducing what it did. Water sprinkled down, the water pressure left a lot to be desired, but it was warm water sprinkling down on her arm and the stone. She had to stop herself from stepping under it with her clothes still on.

‘Shower Shower Shower.’

Elania chanted in her head as she quickly took advantage of the shower. She wasn’t prepared for it to be an illusion and disappear on her.

There wasn’t any free sampler soap, but there was a small washcloth and towel. A comb and brush were there, too. That was a wonderful addition. She didn’t care to question why or how there was a shower in her room, she simply took advantage of it, hastily pulling off the multi-layered monk outfit before divesting her poor-quality self-made smallclothes. Then she stepped under the falling warmth, closing her eyes as it spread down over her.

Sometime later Elania had found out another advantage that [Regeneration] afforded her. She’d scrubbed and scrubbed until her skin was raw, but the irritation healed right away. She had taken the time to compulsively remove all the caked-on muck that had attached itself to her. She’d pulled out her Mana Shard and topped off her power to a satisfying 100%. The little crystal was still glowing at her, and she felt like it might have been reproaching her for being greedy. Or maybe she was just a bit giddy at finally being clean.

[Power: 212/212]

[Mana Shard (Condensed 207/1456)]

Mr. Mana Shard was definitely down a bit, though. She thought about asking Tanyan if it was possible to recharge it. She doubted that would be possible without her putting power back into the stone and that meant she’d not actually be gaining any net energy. She’d have to go hunting or find another source of essence somewhere.

She made a note to ask when Marcus wasn’t around. While the monks had ferreted out the Mana Shard’s existence, she didn’t want the mercenary to know about it, too. He seemed more like the type who would filch it from her rather than give her advice and Tanyan had warned her about how valuable it was.

Elania exited the bathroom again and found herself in front of the standing mirror again. She felt her breath catch and a bit of worry go through her as she examined her own image. Somehow, it hit her more now, after she was clean and there was no pretending that the changes she’d seen were part of the dirt clinging to her. The eyes were still the most obvious change, but it was now impossible to ignore the red sheen of her hair. Her body was slightly different as well, although it was more subtle.

She had always been athletically lithe, and she most definitely fit that description still, but she looked... more healthy. Somehow, she had filled out, and whatever small imperfections or asymmetries existed had disappeared. A scar she had on her hip from wrecking on her bike when she was a teenager had vanished. She raised a hand to her chest and cupped a breast gently, noting that they seemed slightly fuller.

She’d not eaten anything really since her arrival in Eladu, and as best she could tell that had been weeks. Despite the changes, she felt relieved she wasn’t going to waste away and turn into a starved husk or balloon up because she over-absorbed too much Power. However, the [System] worked, it seemed committed to turning her into a specimen of perfect health. She smiled and imagined importing that to Earth, she’d put all the weight-loss fads out of business overnight.

A lose strand of hair escaped from its place and she blew it away from her face. Focusing back on her hair, she decided to deal with the tangle it had become. She still couldn’t help but object to the new color. She didn’t remember ever playing with coloring since arriving in Eladu, but the new pinkish-red hue was... not her choice. The layer of smoke and grime might have hidden the change from her, but it wasn’t as if she had been presented with a mirror before or had paid too much attention to it.

‘That’s something I should have noticed a lot sooner… all the running around, fighting, and things have really made me crazy.’

The color seemed deeper now, too, after she had cleaned up. She realized that might not have been just from the cleaning, but she had done another thing. She’d topped off her power. That thought had her realizing her eyes were a bit brighter as well and she put the pieces together finally. The higher her power was, the more her eyes glowed and her hair tint changed. That was... strange, but there was nothing she could do about that, so she collected the brush and comb from the bathroom before pulling up the rooms single cushioned chair in front of the mirror.

She spent a long time losing herself in the simple work of brushing and braiding her hair back the way she liked it. It formed into a single long plait, before tying the end off with a single piece of cloth. The end was left loose below the tie, and she smiled at herself in the mirror. She’d left enough hair free that it still draped down behind her shoulders, but most of it was contained in the braid and she let out a sigh of contentment. “That’s much better.”

Elania stood and put the chair back where it had been, and cleaned up the little mess she had made, but stopped when she eyed the pile of dirty clothes on the bed.

She was so clean now. The same couldn’t be said for the borrowed monk outfit. There was no way she was going to be able to wash it in the shower, or dry it out later. Just shaking it and hoping to get the dust off was going to leave her dirty again. Why didn’t she get some type of super cleaning spell she could use to keep everything nice and tidy around her?

A knock at the door startled her, and she looked at it in a little fear. She’d forgotten for a little while the world outside of her cosy room, and its temporary nature. A second knock came and she looked around in a panic, realizing she was still naked.

“Elania? Are you awake yet?” Tanyan’s voice was muffled as he yelled through the stout wooden door. Giving up her attempt to get dressed in a hurry, she hurried over to see what he wanted.

“What is it?” She shouted back finally just as a third set of knocking started then stopped.

“Can I come in a moment?”

“No!” There was a silent pause as she felt a bit of embarrassment. “Can’t you just... Tell me what you want?”

“Everyone’s up and eating breakfast. They sent me to make sure you’re awake and ready for when we are ready to leave.”

Oh. Elania had assumed she had more time, since normally she didn’t sleep very long. Maybe she’d been out of it a bit longer than she though, and she had spent a long time cleaning up. Keeping track of time was still something she’d lost the grasp of since her arrival.

“Ok. I’ll be done in a bit.”

She missed his short, muffled reply as she turned about and scanned the room, making a plan of action. She grabbed the dirty monk outfit and took it into the bathroom where she began to beat the dust out of it roughly. While beating the dust out she had an epiphany seeing the brush, and quickly went to work brushing it clean as well. That seemed to work well, and the light multi-layered garment came out in much better shape than it had been in.

Her underclothes weren’t really salvageable though, at least not without a thorough washing, and she discarded them. She set the outfit out on the cushioned chair then went and took another shower, although she kept it short, just enough to rinse off the light coating of dust she’d received. It probably wasn’t necessary, but it felt just as wonderful as the first one. One thing was certain, whatever her new normal became in Eladu, it needed to have these showers, even if it meant she had to make a deal to work for the Prancer’s owner forever.

Well, maybe that was going a bit far. Still, she knew what the cost of the room was for a night, and her first chance at dropping some more questions would be to figure out how money worked here.

After drying off, she began to reassemble the Monk outfit. She eyed the tunic and trousers and then the loose grouping of wraps with holes in them. Spending a little time she figured out how to turn one piece into a chest wrap while the other became makeshift underwear. She desperately wished she had a modern sports bra, but the tight restrictive and uncomfortable wrapping was infinitely better than trying to sprint, dodge, and jump around without one.

Looking in the mirror she smiled. She didn’t have the wraps to go around her shoulders anymore, but the simple tunic and trouser look suited her fine she thought. It was simple to use her javelin holster around her middle as well, and that worked out since the small knife and pouch Tanyan had let her keep were attached to it. She didn’t have any javelins left anyway, so using it as a bandolier over his back wasn’t needed.

Elania took a deep breath and gave herself a final look over. She felt a lot better at the very least.

She checked her pack and made sure all her things were sorted and tucked away, before going to the door. She hesitated a moment, staring at the locked latch, before moving to open it and step into the hall. As soon as she was out of the room, she wanted to retreat back into it and shut door and lock it again. She tried another deep breath before steeling herself and heading to the common room. Somehow she knew if she broke down now and tried to shut everything out things would only get worse for her. At least if she kept pretending that everything was fine and pushing onward she could tell herself everything would be alright at the end of it.

Elania heard the murmurings of the common room before she reached it. There was a [Warrior – Human – Lvl 201] leaning against a door who suddenly stood and eyed her warily as she passed. She hurried her step and moved past him without confrontation, but as soon as she entered the tavern room, the conversation died down and it seemed like everyone was staring at her. The others weren’t in the same place they had sat the night before, and as she scanned the room with her eyes the silence grew, and she could feel everyone examining her. The growing anxiety in her stomach didn’t release itself when she caught sight of one of the novices waving to her.

The entire group was sitting alone at a table and she hurried over to them. No one moved to bother her, and the conversation in the room resumed although she caught a few words here and there that made her cheeks burn. ‘Demon’ ‘Unbound’ ‘Red-eyes’ were just a few confirmations that everyone’s attention was on her.

She thought she had been spared last night, and things weren’t going to be so bad, but now she was quickly doing a reevaluation. What had changed overnight?