Chapter 42: Ria

Hearing her name, Alice paused in surprise.

She remembered that Allura had mentioned the name of the person they were going to meet. The granddaughter of Gin, Ria.

'Allura only mentioned her name and didn't say what she was like… She said Ria was fun and that the two of us will get along pretty well and that we'll both be under her care.' Alice mused to herself while Ria was bewildered by Alice's reaction.

"Erm… Hello? Is there something wrong with my name?" Ria asked in confusion. After hearing her name, Alice simply turned silent while staring at her.

"No, sorry. Was just surprised." Alice shook her head.

"Surprised by what? Bah, forget that. Do you need some healing blood? Your wound seems quite serious." Ria frowned as she could see Alice's cloak being drenched with her blood.

"It should be okay. Just be careful, since poisonous. Let's leave the forest first. There are some Spectral Maidens on the way out. Dangerous." Alice warned.

"Hmm… They shouldn't be too difficult to be dealt with. Just follow behind me, I'll keep you safe." Ria puffed out her chest as she helped Alice back on her feet.

Surprised by how helpful Ria was being, Alice couldn't help but wonder if she had any ulterior motive.

'Is it common for people to be this nice?' She thought to herself while eyeing Ria's back suspiciously.

Ignoring Alice's stare, Ria started to lead the way out confidently. Anything that showed hostility would be blasted to pieces with her lightning.

Seeing the corpse of the Abyss Beast going to waste, Alice couldn't help but wish she had an extractor on hand so that she could harvest some of the blood for later use. Especially the blood of the tree creatures since it seemed as though they had strong regenerative powers.

It further reinforced her desire to start earning some money so she wouldn't be poor.

But as she continued to follow Ria, confusion filled her heart as they still haven't reached the exit of the forest.

Alice wanted to ask but seeing as how Ria was not saying anything, she assumed that Ria had it all under control.

"Stand back a moment, I'll carve a way out for us. Don't you think it's rather annoying to that this many trees in the way?" Ria smiled while pointing towards the forest.

". . ."

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"Let me try find out where we are." Alice sighed as she gestured for Ria to follow them. Alice was going to back track a little so that she could return to the route she had previously taken when entering the forest.

"No no no, there's no need." Ria shook her head profusely.

"I know a route. Less time spent that way." Alice retorted. If they spend any longer trying to get out of this damn forest, she was going to die of blood loss first!

Sighing in defeat, Ria raised her hands behind her head and followed behind Alice.

"How come you in this forest?" Alice couldn't help but ask curiously since they were supposed to meet Ria tomorrow on the way to Zadash. But with things as they are, they would've missed each other had Allura not told her to enter this forest.

"Well… I had a commission near here. I figured it was a good idea since it'll let me find the people I need to meet. But I may have… Overstayed my welcome for a few days. I got carried away with killing things and things happened."

". . ."

'So you got loss…'

Face palming inwardly, Alice couldn't help but admire Ria's sense of direction. Or lack thereof. Granted, she could've come from the opposite side of the forest in which case getting loss makes sense.

But just from the brief period they've known each other, that possibility seems unlikely as Ria got loss just trying to walk in a straight line. They would unknowingly drift to the right or to the left as they walked. And with Alice allowing Ria to take the lead, they eventually walked in a large circle.

"So why did you come to this forest? Most would only come here when they have two to three Sigils so they can handle the beasts that appear. With your condition, you either came here early or took a big hit unexpectedly." Ria asked curiously. If Alice had come here early, they she was both foolish and brave.

"Wound self inflicted. Needed it to activate first Sigil ability. Then small tree call big tree and I had to run." Alice explained while looking for their way back.

"Self inflicted? Damn you must've got unlucky then. It's gonna be hard for you to get a useful second Sigil if you need to harm yourself to activate your ability." Ria shrugged.

While self harming Sigil's do exist, few would accept them due to their nature. It takes a while for a proper combination of Sigil abilities to be gathered before the ability becomes good enough to use hence why most would only take this kind of Sigil later down the line. Yet if it was the this strange girl's first Sigil, Ria couldn't help but feel sorry for her future.

After all, with such a Sigil, killing bounties was going to be very difficult.

"Its has its uses." Alice shrugged. She knew the risks of this Sigil yet it had proven to be very helpful thus far.

It lacked offensive capabilities side from a boost to physical strength but the effects of the poison was more than satisfactory. After all, it allowed her to survive several tough encounters. Of course, the help of Allura and Ria was the main reason she survived but she couldn't deny the potency of her Sigil.

Right now, there was two avenues she could focus on for her development.

First was the aspect of enhancing her own body. If she was to go down this route, she'll take the role of someone that can kill with one hit. Her next Sigils will revolve around augmenting this build up of physical strength to increase its lethality.

But it didn't suit the way Alice wanted to do things.

The second avenue was capitalising on the blood's passive strength as a poison. If she was to choose her bounties correctly and find a way to recover her missing blood whenever she uses the ability, she'll be able to constantly use the powerful hallucinogenic abilities of the blood to augment her fighting.

Not only that, if she does indeed find a way to recover her blood loss, the active ability of her first Sigil will become pivotal in her future fights. After all, it'll speed up her blood loss allowing her to spread the poison faster. And in doing so, increasing the chances of victory when her opponent suffers from the adverse effects.

All that's left to do was to find the right beast to serve as a bounty.

'Allura mentioned that I'll be able to choose my bounties thanks to the eye. From the top of my head, there are only two Abyss Beasts that matches the description of what I'm looking for. They're both highly ranked beasts in terms of regenerative powers that the Zenia family prioritized and tested their effects extensively on me.' Alice thought while narrowing her eyes.

The first beast was one that was 'farmed'. Like her, it was locked away and harvested constantly for its blood due its precious nature. Titled the Shackled Matron, the beast was a faceless woman with red streaks down the side of her face.

Iron wings that resembled coffins sprouted from her back while barbed chains constantly pierced her body, causing her to bleed permanently without stop. Her limbs would be bound by the chains but when her life is threatened, she'll be able to break out into a frenzy.

The abilities of her blood granted superior regeneration at the cost of an endless thirst for blood while permanent side effects of prolonged use would cause barbed chains to slowly appear across the skin and a coffin shaped wound to appear on the back.

Once the coffin was fully manifested, it would snap shut, killing the user an becoming an offering to birth a new Shackled Matron.

But with them being able to constantly harvest the Matron, a supply of high quality blood was often guaranteed thus the price soared as a result.

Everything granted by the Shackled Matron matched the desires of Alice and what she wanted for a Sigil to augment her blood but there was one more beast that fit her liking.

One that would significantly increase her offensive capabilities while also ensuring her survivability.

Unlike the Shackled Matron, the beast's name didn't instil a sense of awe or fear towards it. Instead, it sounded painfully ordinary in a world where beasts like Vampire Lilies, Shackled Matrons and Twilight Hunters existed. Yet one could not deny its abilities or effectiveness.

Blood Raven.

It was a simple raven with most of its body being created from blood. All of its 'feathers' was blood and it could enlarge and reduce its size at will so long as it can access blood nearby.

But this wasn't the highlight of its ability. If it comes in contact with you, it could inject its own blood into your body, hijacking your system and draining you of all your blood.

Taking a wound from the Blood Raven equates to death, and its abilities are something that Alice desires for her next Sigil.

With the Blood Raven Sigil combined with the Spectral Hunter Sigil, the ways she could utilise the abilities will increase massively.