Chapter 237 The "Bath House"

They climbed halfway up the spiraling stairs and Keng was already lying on one of the open beds.

"This is the bedroom?" Lee Seng asked, looking around.

"Yup. Lady Vix'i said she allows guests to stay here while she takes up the spot near the top of the Crystallium. The bath is on the next floor." Keng answered. Ritsuka looked around the floor. Twin size beds were lined up along the walls, circling around. There were bookshelves filled with books and papers. A huge round table sat in the middle of the room with chairs circling around it. It reminded Ritsuka of some medieval fantasy setup.

"Just go up another flight of stairs. Throw your clothes into the large bin. It'll clean your clothes by the time you're done bathing." Keng instructed both of them.

"Alright." Lee Seng turned to look at Ritsuka. "Guess you and I are going up alone."

"It's one more flight up?" Ritsuka asked.

"Yup." Lee Seng nodded, moving back to the flight of stairs. He followed Ritsuka up the stairs and they found a door blocking the way. Ritsuka grabbed the door handle and opened it. The room had a similar layout. The circular room was split into different areas.

"Men and women's rooms and baths?" Ritsuka asked moving off to the side so Lee Seng could get in. The place reminded Lee Seng of public bath houses.

"I guess so." Lee Seng closed the door behind them. Lee Seng led the men's side to the left, with Ritsuka following after. They entered a small room where multiple large bins were lined up against the walls. Shelves lined the walls on both sides as Lee Seng walked over and glanced at one of the bins.

"So we just throw our clothes in here?" Ritsuka pointed at the bin next to where Lee Seng stood.

"I guess." Lee Seng shrugged. He pulled his shirt off and tossed it into the bin. The bin started to light up. "Woah. It lights up when clothes are put in?" Lee Seng and Ritsuka peeled all of the clothes off of them and threw them into the bin. Lee Seng moved past the second curtain and felt the steaming bath water in the air.

"Oh, it's exactly like the ones back at home!" Ritsuka wowed. He spent his time looking around while Lee Seng moved to one of the many buckets and squat chairs. He sat down and pressed the water rune and watched as water poured out of the rune. He began to wash himself, Ritsuka joining after him.

,m Ritsuka looked at the rune and looked back at Lee Seng, somewhat blushing over the fact they were both naked and Lee Seng didn't seem to care one bit.

"H-how do I use this?" Ritsuka pointed. Lee Seng dumped the water over his head and wiped the water off his face. He leaned to his right and moved his finger straight for the water rune. The rune lit up and water started to pour out of it. "Whoa, what the hell is that?"

"It's like the runes back on Earth, but it seems like they don't have to pull from water sources." Lee Seng answered. The two began to rinse themselves off.

"So…" Ritsuka spoke up. "How long have you been here?"

"Going on three days? Only four or five hours in Earth time." Lee Seng answered.

"So, time does go by faster here. Does that mean… I'll age faster…?"

"Mmmm…" Lee Seng dumped another bucket of water over his face and clicked the rune. "I'm not sure. All I know is, there's plenty of monsters here to take their souls." Lee Seng stood up as Ritsuka dumped water and struggled to press the rune. Lee Seng moved towards the pool of water. It was slowly pulsing different colors and large crystals seemed to besucking in the water and pouring it back out.

Lee Seng set his towel off to the side and stepped down into the pool of water. The bath was nice and warm. He submerged his whole body into the water and rose back up, quickly moving to the corner and sitting on one of the benches. Ritsuka followed after him, throwing his towel at Lee Seng's and submerging his whole body in the water.

"Ahhh, this is nice!" Ritsuka smiled. He moved to sit close enough to Lee Seng and wiped his face with the bath water.

"I wonder how many runes and items were used on this thing." Lee Seng thought aloud. "It looks like those crystals pull in water and push it back out like it's keeping a constant stream of water in the pool. I assume this has some minerals and whatever to clean yourself even more… I should really learn Fox runes."

"'Kay I tried to not let my curiosity get the best of me but what do you mean by 'there's more monsters to kill here'?" Ritsuka turned to look at Lee Seng.

"I need souls to gain tails." Lee Seng answered. "I managed to get two tails in a span of a couple months, but it looks like it's getting harder to do that. I thought the Academy would put us on more missions so I'd have a steadier stream of souls to collect, but I guess I was wrong."

"So here you can actually fulfill that requirement?"

"Mmhmm. That's why I want to show you the Tomb. It's cursed and we managed to take down one part of the curse. If we were to take down all of the Conqueror curse, then it would provide many souls. Or at least that's what it felt like when we did manage to kill part of the Conqueror curse."

"The Conqueror curse…?"

"A territorial curse that's created by the ill intent of someone or something. It's a greedy curse that likes to suck the life out of things and infect everything around it. When it captures to omuch of a territory, the curse splits and repeats the same thing again. It's a nasty curse that has unique skills such as being able to capture something of powerful energy – think loads of Dark Matter energy – and then wreck havoc around it and then disappear." Lee Seng snapped his fingers. "The Conqueror curse only seeks to conquer and spread the curse."

"So how do you get rid of it?" Ritsuka asked.

"Well… There was a group of Fox Spirits called the Saviors. They were imbued with holy or light abilities that allowed them to combat curses."

"What happened to them?"

"They were given a prophecy that they would ascend and a Fox Spirit would wield the twin suns.."

"The twin suns? Wh-what does that mean?"

"There's two suns here. That's why I said it's really hot without the clothing they wear here."

"Oh, the kimonos?"

"Mm, that. Keng and I got those marks and that's why I glow gold now."

"So the wisp stuff was all the Fox Spirit?"

"Mmhmm. That changed to the golden aura now. But Keng and I found out there needs to be multiple moving parts to locate a curse and correctly deal with it."

"What's that?"

"We need a Seer for the most part. The Seer's job is to see the energies around them and locate where the curse is by the amount of energy in one area. Once a Seer see's that, the Saviors can do their jobs. In this case, Keng and I are Seers. Or at least, I can easily see the energy." Lee Seng explained.

"So you both can potentially see the energy? Why don't you guys clear the rest of the curse then?"

"We barely managed to beat one part of the curse. A corrupted tree that went berserk because I just happened to move towards it. Plus, I didn't have all of the abilities I have now." Lee Seng balled his fist and stared at it awhile before splashing some water onto his face.

"So you want me to help with that? Don't you think it's a bit dangerous?"

"I think you'd do well. If the Conqueror is exactly like the tree, it'll use its roots to fight us. Lady Vix'i and the two other Fox Spirits with us are strong, but I feel like Lady Vix'i was stretched too thin. She had to play defensive and make sure Keng was okay while the other two Foxes, Zixin and Nabi, pressured the Conqueror so most of its roots went to defense. From the training and fighting I've seen and been in with you, I think you'd be perfect for this."

"You really think I would be able to help? It sounds like you struggled to even beat that thing."

"Beat it as a two-tailed Fox, yes. But I think it'll be a little easier. The only reason why we didn't finish the job was because we needed to return those who were taken by the curse." Lee Seng sighed. "So we need to somehow get a crew back there and finish the job."

"Y'know how many are left?" Ritsuka asked.

"That's why I need to get back there tomorrow. I need to scout." Lee Seng stood up. Ritsuka quickly diverted his attention away as Lee Seng turned to face him. "So, I hope you'll tag along. If you don't want to, it's fine. I can take you back after some sleep."