Soulweaver 45: Venomous & Skunky (Patreon)

I slept miserably. Something about sleeping during the day just didn’t agree with my body, and I found myself waking up mid-morning with just a few hours of sleep. I took some moments to wipe away the cobwebs before noticing Aerion was gone. Likely Hunter’s Guild work.

Getting up, I put my clothes on—yes, all of them—before armoring up and heading out. My stainless steel cuirass was quite a bit lighter than the iron crap I’d found in the troll’s lair, and I’d grown much more capable of bearing its weight, too. 

It’d also gotten used to it, which mattered almost as much. My stomach growled, so I thought to head downstairs to grab a bite. I still had some coin left over after my clothing purchases, so there were no issues there.

Just that when I descended the stairs, I found a certain platinum-blonde elf—now back in her boy disguise—exchanging animated gestures with a well-built, muscled woman who looked like she could’ve been a bouncer from my world.

A full two heads higher than Aerion, the woman was impressive. I wondered if she was with the Hunter’s Guild, but something about her made me think otherwise.

Deferring my lunch plans, I made a beeline towards him and Aerion, but by the time I got there, he’d already turned away and was leaving.

“What was that about?” I asked, eyeing the guy’s back. I could probably have dealt with him—but that meant so could Aerion. Then again, activating [Reave] in the middle of a city felt like a distinctly bad idea, especially with Aerion’s current lack of control.

“Nothing,” Aerion replied, shaking her head. “Nothing.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but thought better of it. I felt like we’d been getting closer in the Trial, but I wasn’t so sure where exactly we stood after our recent spat. I didn’t want to push too hard and risk having her distance me, so I shrugged.

“You eat already?” I asked.

Aerion shook her head. “No. I finally got a contract at the Hunter’s Guild. They wouldn’t give me the time of day until I divulged I was Blessed. I was planning on heading out. I was going to have lunch on the way.”

“Wait, you told them you’re Blessed?” I asked. “Isn’t that kind of a big deal?”

“It is, yes. Which is why I told only the guildmaster, and asked him to keep it to himself, for now. Believe me, I despise attention almost as much as you.”

“I see. So?” I asked, raising a brow. “Where to?”

“Where to?” Aerion asked. “You make it sound as if you’ll be joining.”

I didn’t reply, and waited for her to respond.

“The nearby forest,” she said at last. “I’ll be back by nightfall.”

I hesitated for a moment, thinking of all the things I wanted to get done as well.

“Hold up. Let me get something packed. Let’s go together.”

“Why?” she asked. 

I held up three fingers. “First, because I want to explore the world. Second, because it might help me learn how to level up my Passion, Wisdom, and Cunning.”

“And third?” Aerion asked, an amused smirk creeping onto her face.

“Because it’ll be a good chance for you to train Reave,” I said.

The smirk disappeared, and she frowned. “No,” she said firmly.

“You won’t get any better at it if you don’t practice, Aerion,” I replied, undaunted. “What better place to master it than in an empty forest, away from prying eyes? I’ll be there to help in case anything goes wrong.”

Aerion bit her lip. “I’ll… think about it. But we should get going. We’ll need all the daylight we can get.”

I grinned. “Just give me a few to pack some stuff. I’ll be right out.”

— — 

The journey outside the city walls was honestly refreshing for me. Aerion booked a rickshaw—a two-wheeled carriage pulled by a runner. A slim, lithe man who I worried wouldn’t be strong enough for the job.

Turned out that worry was unfounded, and we soon found ourselves at the city gate.

As nice as cities and creature comforts like beds and baths were, I longed for the outdoors. Something about Basecrest made me feel claustrophobic. The Trial that loomed over the place certainly didn’t help.

Aerion paid the rickshaw driver, and we set out on foot. While we weren’t equipped for an extended foray into the woods, we had plenty for a day trip. Our meals had been packed inside my spatial inventory—both to free up our hands and because I wanted to test whether that pocket dimension kept items in stasis or not. If it did, it’d prove invaluable for stockpiling food for future Trials.

For this outing, Aerion had chosen one of the shortswords she’d looted as her main weapon.

“Mind if I see that?” I asked, gesturing to the weapon that hung in a sheathe off her leather belt. “I can enchant it, just like I did with your dagger back inside the Trial.”

Aerion hesitated for a moment before unsheathing the blade and handing it to me as we walked.

The blade was made of high quality steel, but the gold accents made it feel more like a ceremonial sword to me.

“You sure you want to use this?” I asked. “It’ll fetch a pretty penny.”

“It’ll fetch me a tidy sum whether I use it or not,” Aerion said. “So I may as well put it to work. I’m not planning on destroying the thing, after all.”

I shrugged. “Fair enough.”

Initialize [Nobleman’s Steel Shortsword]? 99% chance to successfully Initialize [Uncommon] weapon. Essence Cost: 11. Current Utilization: 146/170

Initialize.

Nobleman’s Steel Shortsword [Uncommon]

It’s gilded. It’s fancy. But that’s not what makes this sword so good. It’s actually very well made, from high-quality steel with minimal impurities that have been folded over and homogenized throughout the blade. If that sounds like gibberish to you, well! I found it on the internet so it must be right.

Essence Cost: 11

Condition: 125/125

Stats: None

Abilities:

— Venomous Slash: Foundation - 0: The blade of this shortsword secretes a potent venom when activated, weakening the victim over time. This is nasty stuff. Believe me. You really don’t want to get hit by this.

“Wow…” I muttered. Aside from its much-improved Condition over Common weapons, that ability was no joke either.

“What?” Aerion asked, eyeing her blade. “It looks the same to me…”

The characteristic glow had dissipated, and the sword looked largely the same as before.

“Sure, but,” I said, handing it back to her. “Try activating its ability.”

Aerion hefted the sword and swung.  The edge turned green, and a few drops of venom flew off the blade. 

Where they landed on the grass, they let out a hissing sound, and the grass turned slightly brown.

“Is that… venom?” Aerion asked with wide eyes.

“Sure is,” I said. “It looks pretty weak now, but I bet it’ll be pretty impressive once you level it. That’s honestly an insidious ability.”

Aerion pursed her lips. “Perhaps. I’d have preferred something a bit easier to use, though.”

“Nah. This is way better. Think about it. Get that strong enough, and you won’t even have to kill your enemies. One wound is all you need. The venom does the rest. You could flee to safety or take on other opponents while that one dies. Or you could keep attacking to inject more and more venom. Lots of possibilities with this.”

“I see…” Aerion said. “When you put it like that, I must admit, it does seem powerful. I’ll have to be careful not to get any on me, though.”

Maybe I’d gotten lucky, or maybe [Uncommon] weapons just got better abilities, but hers was one of the best I’d gotten thus far.

“Do you think I should spend any of my stats?” Aerion asked. 

I thought it over for a minute. “I’d put some into Dominion, but keep a healthy reserve until I can confirm what Wisdom does. Which should be soon.”

Aerion nodded, and while she messed with her Status Screen, I took a moment to Initialize my poleaxe. Between the mace and the polearm, the mace felt easier to wield, but I’d chosen the larger weapon for a few reasons. 

First, because it was really three weapons in one—a spear, an ax, and a hammer. That in itself made it incredibly useful. 

My second reason was because it was simply too large to fit in my spatial inventory, unlike my mace. Which meant I’d have to hide it somewhere if I wanted to leave it behind. And lastly, it was big. 

Sure, that made it harder to wield without training, but I could always resort to using it like a spear, which didn’t take as much skill. Moreover, it gave me range, and with range came safety. There was a reason bows and firearms worked so well, after all—they kept the wielder well out of harm’s way.

After Aerion’s poison ability, I couldn’t wait to see what I’d get. 

Steel Poleaxe [Common]

Basic, but well-made. This thing has killed more people than you’d ever want to know.

Essence Cost: 6

Condition: 50/50

Stats: None

Abilities:

— Skunky: Foundation - 0: Oh, no! It smells! It smells like a skunk. It doesn’t smell good.

I just stared at the text. My eyes read the words, but my mind refused to accept them.

“What is it?” Aerion asked from beside me. “What ability did you give it?”

“I didn’t. The System did. Which means Order probably did.”

“Well? Is it good?”

“Do you have skunks in this world?” I asked.

“Er, yes?” Aerion said, frowning in confusion. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Do your skunks stink?”

“They eject an ink that is very smelly, yes.”

“Yep. That’s what my poleaxe does.”

Aerion gave me a blank look. “Come again?”

“The ability is called ‘Skunky’. And it apparently smells when activated.”

“The poleaxe,” she said. 

“Yes.”

“Smells like a skunk.”

“Yeeep.”

Aerion blinked. Then she couldn’t hold it in any longer and doubled over, laughing.

“I suppose this would be funny,” I remarked. “If you’re not the one it applies to. What the fuck am I supposed to do with a stinky poleaxe?”

“You could… You could smell your enemies away!” Aerion said in between fits of laughter. “Or knock them out with the smell!”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” I said. “Well if it works on them, it’ll probably affect us, too. So look forward to that.”

Aerion suddenly stopped laughing. She looked at me with an expression of pure horror. 

“Greg.”

“Yes, Aerion?”

“Swear upon your name that you will never use that ability within ten miles of me.”

“Too late. I already did.”

The ability activated, shooting a black inky cloud of the poleaxe’s speartip. 

Aerion shrieked, jumping aside, even though the cloud was aimed nowhere near her.

It went about five feet before dissipating harmlessly. 

“See? Harmless,” I said. I hadn’t even gotten a whiff of the smell. “Depending on how potent this thing is, it might actually be more useful than I thought. Care to be my guinea pig?”

Aerion gave me a glare so icy it could chill Hell. I decided it would be prudent not to test out my ability on the elf.

Jokes aside, this little experiment not only proved that weapons couldn’t—and likely never would— bestow stats. It also showed me the benefits of [Uncommon] gear. I’d seen what clothing of that tier did, and the weapons were no less impressive.

Now, all that remained was for Aerion to start leveling using my gear. “Say, Aerion. Let me know when you get some armor, and anytime you get new weapons. If I have Essence to spare, I’ll enchant them for you.”

“Thanks…” Aerion said. Then, after a delay, “I truly would appreciate that. Your enhanced equipment is significantly better than anything one could buy. It is as if everything you touch gets a Blessing.”

“Yeah, well. Not far from the truth. Does stuff like mine exist anywhere in the world?”

Aerion nodded. “Yes, though they are exceedingly rare. Weapons and armor forged by master blacksmiths within dungeons using exotic materials, when combined with broken down soul crystals, have a chance of manifesting a magical ability. There is nothing anywhere that can imbue powers to even the most mundane of weapons.”

“Figures,” I said. It meant I’d have to be very careful about handing Initialized gear off to people. As tempting as it was to hand out my stuff, even on loan, it’d raise too much attention.

An hour of walking the trail brought us to the edge of the forest, where Aerion’s contract was.

“The contract is for a beast that has been cited popping out and attacking travelers on the road,” Aerion announced as we broke to eat lunch. The food seemed to be just as hot as when I’d bought it, but whether my space was simply a good insulator, or if it perfectly preserved items, I didn’t know yet. I’d have to stick some boiling water in it to be sure. Still, this was a good sign, at least.

“I don’t get it,” I replied between bites of my sandwich. “Isn’t that the guards’ job? Why hire Hunters for this?”

Aerion shrugged. “They probably want us to get experience. Besides, there are a lot of these things. It’s cheaper for them to contract Hunters to thin the herd when the need arises.

“I suppose that makes some sort of sense,” I replied. I had to remember that the police—and even the government—of this world operated very differently from my own. Neither were the sort of iron-clad, unstoppable forces I was used to.

“Well then,” I said, cracking my knuckles. “Sounds like this will be a productive outing. Between testing out our gear, leveling up our abilities, knocking out your contract, and getting you comfortable with Reave… This should be quite a good time.”