Chapter 62: Livestock

Chapter 62: Livestock

Im pretty sure it was around here

Sofia was flying in place above the pine canopy. It was a level of mastery of her new wings that had taken a whole three days of wobbling and crashing to acquire.

Despite the wings being mostly incorporeal, with only the skeletal part being tangible, it wasnt some kind of decoration with floating magic attached to it. The ragged holy light part of the wings that only appeared when she deployed them was actually acting like real wings, taking support on the ambient mana instead of air. This offered much more support and propulsion than regular wings would. It also meant that instead of riding wind currents, Sofia could only ride mana currents, which she thought was pretty cool.

She experimented with using her own skills to create mana currents to ride for faster flying but that was outside of her capabilities for now. At most she could gain some speed by chasing an [Angels bolt], which wasnt that convenient, especially since she had to rely on the Saint equipment set's passive regeneration effect to heal herself up. At least she now held pretty well against the heat with her augmented HP, the new clothes and her armor. Enough to still be able to fly afterwards. The only sad part was the salamander vest that she couldn't wear anymore because of the wings.

She was searching for a cave in the mountain flank; she had spotted it during her test flights but couldnt find it anymore. There were a few huge bears on the mountain, with glowing symbols all over their legs and paws, she wanted to hunt one. The first reason why was that the houses pantry had run out of meat, and she wanted Alith to eat well when she woke up, and also If Pareth can be a rat

If she could, she would rather not actually enter the cave, as it would bring a lot of dangers, especially since it was too narrow to fly in. But the Runebears were an elusive few and their cave was the best place to find them. If it was theirs.

She landed with one foot on the tip of a pine tree, it had no real utility but it looked cool, she thought. She was weighing whether that kind of use was enough to warrant keeping [Way of the fool], falling was extremely less scary when you had wings. Its not as if thats all the skill does thoughI can get rid of [Sprint] and [Menial chores], maybe [Poker face] too. She thought back to how hard it had been to manage her facial expressions when she was acting as Aurelia. Yeah, no, Ill keep this one too for sure.

But where are the damn bears though?

Imagine being unable to find a single big bear thats three times my height and that literally glows in the dark, on a mountain flank full of nothing but them and huge trees. Surely that would never happen.

But it did. Night was coming down, and she didnt have the demons 360 night vision anymore, the mana sight helped but not much. She flew back to the cottage, some way up on the mountain. Everything around was a mountain or a valley, as far as she could see. She couldnt fly too high as the ambient mana thinned down at higher altitudes, making the wings incredibly harder to use, so she couldnt look over the higher mountains in the horizon.

Entering the dark cabin, Sofia walked over to the kitchen to start a fire. She checked up on Alith, still peacefully sleeping. Come on, it's been almost two weeks! Are you stuck in there or something? She went on to prepare a simple vegetable soup. She read over her new specialization skill for likely the hundredth time. She couldnt get over how incredible it sounded. She was itching to try it out but if Pareth was going to come back, it had to be in a good and strong skeleton.

[Eclipse Skeleton] :

Binds the Saintomancer with Pareth.

Pareth keeps all previous abilities, their scaling and efficacy is enhanced by an additional 100%.

Sanctified groundsFlying shields of lightChains of the four sealsGravity wellPurificationGreater HealStellar coronaShapeless weapon of lightShapeless armor of lightHigher magical damage negationSpace magic resilienceDisplacement skills immunity

As she blinked, he disappeared from the girls sight, she still had much to learn, not from his teachings but from experience. Before disappearing in the rainy night, he whispered two last words in her ears, Well done.

Alith wordlessly stood in the room, she looked at the decapitated head of some fat noble she had herself thrown on the floor, a slaver. Disgusting. Then she gazed at the letter bearing the wax stamped imperial seal in her hands. She thought about opening it but the contents were ultimately pointless to her. She traced her fingers around the seal. It was the same seal that had been burned in her flesh the day her trial started. She still had mixed feelings about it.

She threw the letter away.

I wonder if Sofs done too.

Sofia woke up in the middle of the night, a cold finger prodding her cheek. Again?! But she opened her eyes to a black haired girl in a drooping pajama and not the weird lanky man she had seen in the church. The candles on the table had been lit, lighting up Alith from behind, her hair looked very red like that, instead of the usual black.

You alive?

More than you, Sofia said, still half asleep, chuckling as she sat up.

Whoa thats a low blow, Im a very lively undead, youre the one whos deadpan half the time so whos alive and whos dead, really? Alith retorted, leaning forward and crossing her arms over her chest.

What do you mean?! Im the most expressive Saintomancer to ever exist, what have you got to say about that, uh?! Sofia emphasized each part of her argument by bringing her face closer and closer to Aliths, eventually touching foreheads.

They couldnt pretend to remain serious any longer, Alith was first to burst in laughter and Sofia followed in kind.

Alith brought a chair near Sofias bed when they settled down, sitting facing the backrest with her chin resting on it, So, hows it worked out for you? Not too hard without me or Pareth to take the hits? Also, any idea where we are? Saw the letter but that doesnt say much. Congrats on the wings by the way, definitely a steep contrast with that whole pure saintess character youve been going for.

What character are you Sofia rolled her eyes at Aliths wink, then continued, Lots to say, story is a bit long on my part, can we start with you?

Oh, easy enough. So I entered the tower, some light went up the walls, I laid down in the middle and passed out. Woke up back in my old world, kind of, in a place Id only ever heard of from old grandpas tales. First thing I knew I got enrolled in a secret organization and they hot iron branded my ass like some livestocks then I got sent to a training camp with fifty other kids

Kids?

... It is what it is So the training