Ch 23. Taste of Power

It seems like I wasn't able to use it more than twice before experiencing some sort of rebound, peering at my attributes to discern which one exactly was governing the feedback I was now feeling. 

From the basic descriptions I received it was either intelligence or oddly enough, charisma. Intelligence governed the mind and ability to process mana, while charisma governed the power of the soul and largely determined how much mana my soul could hold. It was entirely possible I had messed things up while trying to activate my ability, but somehow it felt like that was wrong. I activated it twice without many issues, and the type of pain I felt was more like a kind of mental, whole-body exhaustion, than any injury. 

It was enticing to invest points into charisma, given how powerful this ability could be. But doing so was not what I really needed right now, even two uses would be a powerful trump-card, but such an ability could never be my main-stay method of attack unless I had endless mana to use. 

I was powerful enough as it stood to kill the multitudes of monsters here in the grasslands surrounding the town, I could arm myself with better gear like a normal adventurer but I wanted to be able to go out day after day without having to spend time recuperating like the others did. Looking down at my leg wound, such a thing would put an ordinary man out for a month, while I could probably recover in less than a week as it stood, but even that was too long for efficiency sake. If I could do this every day, and thanks in part to my new inventory I would be seeing a massive profit along with steady levels allowing me to progress smoothly. The logistics of bringing back spoils after each hunt being solved entirely.

It was decided then, as I invested fully into constitution. The muscles around my leg wound knitting together as my body became sturdier, not completely healed but shallower than earlier. Inspecting my full status page one last time. 

Even after a grueling battle, my body felt much more comfortable. More so than it had ever felt before. Like I was at the peak of my form, the physical exhaustion fading while the mental fatigue and headache remained, albeit somewhat alleviated. 

Next came the task of storing these bodies, something that was still less than half done. Walking along while placing each within the illusory rooms of my inventory space before heading back to where I had left the two wolves, storing those as well.

Walking back through the gates, the guards let me in while looking on bemusedly. Solo adventurers were exceedingly rare, and in their eyes my scuffed armor and blood countenance only reinforced why that was. It was easy to come to a certain conclusion: I had been in a fight, I brought back no spoils, and I really looked like hell. This wasn't the usual appearance of a triumphant adventurer, but that wasn't quite the issue I was facing.

The bodies I carried were worth a lot of money... but they were in my inventory. And that was precisely the problem. If I sold a lot of monsters the guild would want to know how I got them, and if I told them I hunted them all by myself they'd probably ask those guards. The guards knew my face, and they knew how much I brought back. Most of the times they didn't care what adventurers did but if the guild started asking questions about how I could bring back so many bodies at once, then they weren't going to lie for me. They'd say I brought back nothing. 

This was beginning to become something of a headache for me. 

It might be a little bit too much of an issue to deal with this alone, but thankfully I knew just the person that might be able to help.   

Walking through the doors of the apothecary shop, I was greeted by the usual acrid medicinal smell that hung in the air and the sight of potions lining the countertop and shelves. Behind the counter sat Ashley and Belle, manning the store. Belle appeared to have been reading a small book, which was highly unusual considering her illiteracy. Thinking to myself that I may have underestimated her boasting about learning to read. On closer inspection it appeared to be a children's story, but nonetheless, I remained impressed.

Their attention was already drawn to the open door and 'guest', but I hummed my voice a bit before addressing them. 

"Hello girls, how have you been?"

"--Master! Y-your leg, you're bleeding. This is terrible!"

"Keaton... are you alright?"

They both replied at once. It seems that Belle had told Ashley about my solo adventure today, so she was aware of it. I didn't want to get too far into it so I assured them I was alright and hurried past after saying that I needed to speak with Cal. Not bothering to knock on his door before bursting in...