Chapter 172: Powermove (1/2)
”What the…” Rakna muttered as Flavia led him to the highest floor of a very lavish hotel. If he had to compare it to Earth standards, he would probably need more than five stars to properly rate it.
”You three have been spending your nights here? On the highest floor?”
She nodded.
”How much does it even cost?”
”Hm? I don't know,” Flavia tilted her head with her hand on her chin. ”Vera just gave it to us as a gift for joining the Wiccan Guild.”
”…how happy was that woman to have recruited you?” Rakna deadpanned. ”Alexa, do you have the prices for this place?” He asked as they entered an elevator.
[Affirmative. But you can look them up yourself on your HL if you wish so. They should be present on the website of the hotel.]
”Black Steel has internet?” The therian blinked and opened the menu of his HL. With just a thought, the device immediately connected to a hotspot and opened a navigation tab. ”…I don't know what to say anymore. The fantasy just vanished,” he muttered blankly as he inputted the name of the hotel.
Once the results were in, his eye twitched.
”{Hm, the typical price is about 35 000 Talys per night,}” Fray commented. ”{The highest floor is VIP only. The fixed cost for a night is… 100 000 Talys per night. Quite expensive.}”
”…out of pure curiosity, for how long did Vera rent the room?”
”She said it was good for 1 year.”
Rakna nearly choked. '36 500 000 Talys… the rich will always be the rich, huh?'
”{It's not that much. My home in Old Eden was worth two billion back in the day. I wonder if they preserved it after my death…}”
'…I don't want to hear about how wealthy you were… Rather, why didn't you give me some when we went through your test?'
”{I see your priorities are as pertinent as always,}” Fray retorted. ”{What? Was the Heavenly Chaos Box not enough for you.}”
'If you were going to be that generous for just listening to three of your silly fables, it wouldn't have mattered if you had gone a bit further, no?' Rakna retorted shamelessly as the elevator stopped.
”{…I am now wondering if I should have just waited a few additional centuries in my oasis instead of subjecting myself to one such as you.}”
Rakna ignored Fray's existential crisis and followed Flavia into a luxurious hallway. It was also very spacious. In fact, the building itself seemed to have a surface area of around ten thousand square meters; quite a bit more than Earth's norms.
”It's this one,” Flavia said as she stopped next to a door labeled '907'. She pulled out an ID card and swiped it in front of a scanner on the wall. The entrance opened automatically after and when they went inside, Rakna sighed.
”This is more of an apartment than anything,” he muttered as he looked at the literal living room and the small kitchen. Everything was looking like the cutting edge of technology and the view of outside through the window was enchanting.
”Oh, you're back…” Evelyn said as she came out of a room wearing a dressing gown. ”How did the Dunge-!” She quickly stopped herself when she finally took a proper look at the entrance and who was standing there. Her face flushed and she unconsciously glanced at her attire before rushing back inside the room with a muffled yep.
When the door slammed closed behind her, Rakna blinked and Flavia sighed. ”I did tell them you were coming…” She muttered and walked further inside.
At the same time, Nyx came out from the room as well, and unlike her forerunner, she was wearing proper clothes and she quickly noticed their guest. ”So, that's why Evelyn ran in like she was being chased by the devil itself,” she jested.
”That's an exaggeration!” The succubus' outraged voice sounded from the other side of the wall.
Nyx chuckled then her eyes returned to Flavia and her smile dropped nearly instantly. She scowled quite heavily. ”What happened to you?”
”Eh?” The Chaos Witch was taken aback. ”What do you…”
”I'm asking you what is wrong with your soul.”
Flavia opened her eyes wide at that and Rakna raised an eyebrow in surprise. ”I didn't know you were that good at sensing souls,” he commented rather curiously.
”As I said before, I'm accustoming to my old skills. But the nature of this whole place simply makes it a lot slower than it should be. My soul power isn't growing as quickly as yours but in the last few days, I finally managed to form a Soul Heart,” Nyx said and gestured to Flavia to give out her hand.
”Please don't move for a minute,” she instructed and her friend nodded slowly.
Then, as she injected a strand of soul power, Nyx continued her explanation, ”It seems that within the boundaries of the System, everything works differently from outside. Even magic theory and elemental affinity are atypical. Generally, even if you don't have any talent for them, it should be possible to use all elements. You are not supposed to be locked with only one.”
”What does that imply?” Rakna asked back as he watched her examine Flavia's condition.
”Simply put, it seems the System changes you to fit the most optimal conditions. It's not a bad thing actually. I've noticed that, while we give up on all other elements, the ones that we awakened with are proportionally easier to master and also more powerful.”
”In contrast, there is one negative aspect that I've discovered. Our level; it is the equivalent of what we would call life force,” Nyx said and let out a sigh as she sensed the anomalies in Flavia's soul.
”Life force?”
”Yes, it is essentially the exact same thing as levels. It is used as a way to measure strength. Eternal Night, for example, was a Life Hunter, so he could absorb life force from others by killing. That is how he became so strong.”
”Alexa told me about that,” Rakna said thoughtfully. ”In System terms, it would mean that the guy could add up the level of his enemies to his own. That would definitely be a game-changer.”
”Which brings me to the second point; our life force is limited and regulated. Normally, it should be a lot quicker to accumulate it than how we are doing now by collecting 'experience'. Truthfully, if it were you, Rakna… I would say that without the System, you would already be at least ten to a hundred times stronger.”
Rakna snickered silently at that and Nyx let go of Flavia afterward.
”All right… two foreign signatures. One is invasive and the other is isolating,” she said. ”I assume someone tried to initiate a full-resonance, a possession, on you. Then Rakna attacked him or her with his soul power and someone else sealed the person completely.”
Flavia nodded dazedly. ”You got everything right…”
”Can you do something about it?” Rakna inquired.
”Yes and no. In my current state, I wouldn't even be able to make a seal. However, if my soul was stronger, I could have forced the intruder out then replaced the damaged part with a fragment of mine. Based on my current understanding of the System, I would say that I will be strong enough when I'm about level 400. Earlier; if you and I work together.”