WIEDERGEBURT Act III: Chapter 42

It only took ten days to completely cure me of Spiritual Poisoning. According to the cloaked woman, my case had not been very serious. She seemed to be incredibly knowledgeable about Spiritual Poisoning, which many people would likely assume was because she knew alchemy, but I knew otherwise. I knew because I had seen her hand, the hand she had used to unclog my Spiritual Pathways with.

I didn’t say anything about it, though. I was sure she had a reason for hiding it.

It was a day just like any other. I had gone outside the cavern to get my body back into shape. My companion hadn’t let me go outside until I was completely healed, but now that I was, I had no intention of just sitting around on my ass. I still had my goal. I was going to kill the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain, but to do that, I needed power.

My body flowed like water as I attacked several massive rocks jutting from the ground, punching them while I was in the Second State of Spiritualism. Each punch caused cracks to appear in the rocks. The cracks spread, growing larger and larger until, inevitably, the rocks shattered into fragments.

I wasn’t wearing a shirt. Sweat flew from my body as I continued working out, doing my best to get back into shape. My muscles were no longer stiff thanks to my affinity with the water element, but I felt like they, and my instincts, had atrophied a little. This needed to be fixed.

After destroying the last boulder, I clenched my hands into fists several times and stared at them. It didn’t feel like my old strength had returned to me. I knew this was just me being paranoid, but it was something I couldn’t help but feel. Something… something was missing.

With a weary sigh, I stripped my pants off, washed myself in the stream, then used the water element to suck the moisture from my skin. After getting dressed, I made my way back to the cavern I was staying at.

I stopped after entering the cavern to find my companion standing over by the table. As always, she was refining alchemy pills. I knew now that the pills she refined everyday were a more advanced and powerful version of the Spiritual Cleansing Pills she made for me.

At present, she was grinding an ingredient I understood was called nirnroot into a thick paste. As I watched her, several emotions whirled around inside of me. I felt incredibly grateful to this woman, of course. She had saved my life when I recklessly threw myself at the Demon Beasts inhabiting Nevaria. She cured my Spiritual Poisoning, and she did all this while suffering herself. However, there were so many other emotions that gratitude was the only one I could really recognize.

“You’ve returned,” she said, having noticed my presence while I was just standing there.

“Ah. Yeah, I have.” I walked further into the cavern, bypassing the Demon Beast Repellent, a clear liquid that rested in several bowls. “Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Can you teach me alchemy?”

The woman did not stop refining her pills. With her hands now on either side of the cauldron, she channeled Spiritual Power into the alchemy ingredients. Fires swirled around inside of the cauldron as she refined the pills. I learned this was not part of the refinement process, but merely a side effect that happened when someone refined a pill. It could almost be considered a flashy but inconsequential side affect.

After refining the pills, she took them out of the cauldron and placed them inside of a bag that she stored in a chest. I knew she would take one of those each night. Even though she didn’t answer me, I didn’t speak up or demand she pay attention. She heard me. However, this woman seemed to move at her own pace.

Only after she finished cleaning out her alchemy set did she turn to face me. While her face was hidden by the massive hood, I still felt like her eyes were drilling holes into my head. A cold sweat ran down my face. However, after dealing with her silent stare for several seconds, I eventually saw her nod.

“I will teach you alchemy,” she said at last.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Sit down,” the woman instructed. “I will explain alchemy to you.”

“Are we starting now?” I asked as I walked over to a seat and sat down. There was only one chair in this entire cavern. It was over by the desk, so I moved it until I was able to sit in front of my companion.

“No time like the present.” The woman paused as I settled down. Her hood rustled. I had a feeling that she was tilting her head. “Alchemy is, simply put, the mixing of ingredients to refine pills that create various effects. Most of these effects deal with healing the body or spirit, but there are also pills that can be used as poison, pills that strengthen a person’s body, and even pills that can temporarily enhance a Spiritualist’s Spiritual Power.”

I already knew the basics of alchemy, but I wasn’t really aware of everything it could do since I had never studied it before. I had, of course, used alchemy pills on occasion during my many quests as a member of the Explorers Guild and later Brave Vesperia. However, most of them were meant for recovering Spiritual Power or healing wounds.

The woman continued.

“The key to successfully refining a pill is knowing what ingredients to use and how different ingredients interact with each other. Some ingredients are very volatile and will react violently when mixed with non-compatible ingredients.” She paused as if considering something, then started again. “I’m sure the reason you want to learn alchemy is to get stronger and not to become an alchemist. That’s why we’ll begin refining pills right now that will specifically help you reach your goal. You’ll follow my instructions as I teach you. The first pill we’ll start with is the Body Forging Pill, which can strengthen your body several times over.”

And just like that, I began learning how to refine alchemy pills under my companion’s tutelage. I soon discovered that the reason she was so good at alchemy was because during her time in the Demon Beast Mountain Range, she had come across the ruined remains of an unexplored city. I wasn’t sure how, but she had somehow come across several books on alchemy and brought them back to this cave. There were numerous recipes inside that not even the Alchemist Association in Midgard, known as the greatest forerunners of alchemy, knew how to create.

The first pill I learned to refine was the Body Forging Pill, which did indeed strengthen my body a lot. My muscles became harder, my bones became denser, and my body became stronger. I think the only thing that didn’t get stronger was my skin. However, I was also taught how to refine the Diamond Skin Pill, which made my skin both stronger and softer. It felt smoother than a baby’s bottom, but it was so strong that regular swords broke against my skin.

There were many other pills I learned, such as the Spiritual Cleansing Pill, the Three War Spiritual Widening Pill, the Spiritual Reinforcement Pill, the Yin-Yang Spiritual Enhancement Pill, and the Elemental Enhancement Pill. I hadn’t made those last two yet. They required ingredients that we didn’t have. However, both of them would prove beneficial to refine at some point.

Maybe it was because I had someone with me, but the darkness that had clouded my mind for the past several years receded as I stayed by this woman’s side. My goal was still to kill the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain. There was no doubt about that. That said, I no longer felt completely consumed by my desire for vengeance.

Even so, I knew that these peaceful days would eventually come to an end.

***

I woke up that morning feeling heavy. Opening my eyes to stare at the domed ceiling, I realized I was lying on my back. I turned my head. The fire in the pit I made had gone out. Not even embers remained. As I stared into the fire pit, still lost in a small daze, something shifted on top of me.

It was the dragoness I had fought and subsequently saved the day before. She was sleeping on my chest, her rhythmic snoring light and cute. With her green hair splayed over me like an extra blanket, I could not see her face that well, just a bit of her forehead. She was clinging to my clothing in her sleep. For a moment, I wondered what I should do about this, but then I realized I had another problem.

Morning wood.

Not only was an erection causing my pants to turn into a tent, but the girl had trapped my dick between her thighs. I grew completely still from this realization. However, as if it could read my thoughts, my cock began pulsating and throbbing. Maybe the girl could feel it too. Maybe she couldn’t. Either way, when I began to twitch and throb, she rubbed her thighs together, further stimulating me and making my body shudder.

This was not good.

As I thought about what to do, I realized the only thing I could do was wake this girl up… even if it meant embarrassing us both.

“Siv? Siv? Time to get up.”

“Nnnggg…”

As I shook and prodded her, Siv woke up. Her hands unclenched from my clothes as she pushed herself up, until she was straddling my waist. While this meant her thighs had let go of my dick, it also meant her soft butt was pressing into it instead, which might have been worse. As her small bottom came into firm contact with my erection, it began twitching erratically as if in anticipation of something.

Siv, who had been rubbing her eyes in a manner I could only describe as cute, suddenly stilled when she felt her rump pushing against my dick. She paused before reaching behind her. I bit back a groan as her small hand came into contact with my shaft. My dick throbbed harder as, even through my clothes, I could feel the sensation of her hand gently caressing me.

“I… please let go,” I said with a shuddering breath. “That’s not something you should be… touching…”

Despite my words, Siv did not let go, and I realized only belatedly that it was because she couldn’t understand me. She didn’t speak the human language.

I would have said something in dragon speak, but I couldn’t concentrate enough to channel Spiritual Power through my throat, and humans did not have the vocal chords necessary to naturally reproduce those sounds.

All this flashed through my mind in a split second. I realized I simply needed to stop her with actions. With that in mind, I reached out and grabbed her hand, bringing it away from my dick. A sigh of relief escaped from my mouth. It would not have been good if this girl accidentally made me cum in my pants. Aside from moral issues, I only had two more pairs in my storage ring.

Siv had been awfully silent for awhile now, so I glanced up to find her staring at our hands, which I had at some point laced without thinking about it. Her cheeks were flushed an incredible shade of red. Her lips were also trembling as though she was embarrassed. I was almost amused. So touching my dick wasn’t embarrassing, but holding my hand was?

I let go of her hand and sat up. Siv hadn’t moved, so my actions brought us nearly face to face. Looking at the girl as she remained frozen on my lap, I wondered what I should do. I still had a boner and this girl wasn’t making things any easier on me.

“Do you think you could get off me, please?” I asked, but once again Siv didn’t seem to understand. Coughing into my hand, I let out a soft screech, telling her what amounted to the same thing in Dragon speak.

Finally, Siv’s eyes widened and she let out a soft squeak as she jumped to her feet. She turned around and tried to run out of the igloo in shame, but then her foot hit a rock and she face planted on the ground. I winced when the sound of her face cracking against the forest floor echoed around the mud igloo.

That had to hurt.

***

After the embarrassing episode from that morning, Siv and I ate a quick breakfast of dried meat, then I used my powers over the earth element to destroy the mud igloo, returning the land to its natural state. I didn’t want the Sekbeists to come across this and use it to learn of our location.

Siv was embarrassed for a good while that morning. Fortunately for me, she eventually overcame her embarrassment enough to walk closer to me, though she could have also just been so nervous she needed someone’s presence to comfort her. She was in an unfamiliar environment after having the object controlling her every action removed. That had to be nerve-wracking.

Because I couldn’t have her wearing those threadbare rags, I had her change into one of my spare outfits. It was just a simple outfit. The black pants and white shirt were a bit big for her, but the belt helped keep everything from slipping off. She didn’t wear any boots. I had offered her some, but after putting them on, she had immediately taken them off and shook her head. Her small feet padded against the ground. I wondered if her feet hurt, but she seemed okay. Her skin must have been harder than it looked.

We continued traveling as far as we could with the daylight provided to us, resting only when we needed to fly up the trees and orient ourselves. I wanted to make sure we weren’t going the wrong way. Since we had no landmarks or even a map to use here, it was important to know which way Mount Himmellyn was at all times.

It eventually became late again. The temperature went down and Siv began shivering from the cold. I made another mud igloo, started a fire, and sat close to Siv as we shared a meal of dried meat. While we ate, I decided to begin teaching her the human language. I might be able to understand her just fine. However, once we arrived in Nevaria, no one would be able to know what she was saying, and she wouldn’t be able to know what they were saying either. That would just make life more complicated.

“Eryk.” I pointed to myself.

“Er… yk. Eryk.”

“That’s right.” I nodded. “Eryk.”

“Eryk.” She pointed at me, and then pointed at herself. “Siv?”

“Yes, you’re name for now is Siv,” I said with a nod and a smile.

“Eryk.” She pointed at me. Then she pointed at herself. “Siv.”

Her eyes were shining as a small and innocent yet joyous smile blossomed on her lips. I could not help but smile at the sight. It was such a pure look that I found myself momentarily entranced. Her beautiful big eyes drew me in, while her cute nose and small mouth gave her a picturesque beauty that left me momentarily breathless. I’d never met a woman who was this cute before.

Only after shaking my head did I regain control over my emotions. I couldn’t afford to let myself be taken in with this dragoness.

Suddenly seeming to realize something, Siv looked at me and pointed at the flames roaring inside of the fire pit.

“Fire,” I said.

“Fire,” Siv repeated before she pointed at something else.

“Dirt.”

“Grass.”

“Mud.”

“Rock.”

We continued this game for nearly an hour before the food in our bellies settled and Siv became tired. I didn’t think she realized what she was doing when she leaned over, set her head on my lap, and fell asleep. She seemed exhausted. Given what I knew of her now, she’d probably never done this much traveling before.

I decided to get some rest as well, and then the next morning, we set out again.

Our journey was a bit slower this time. Siv pointed at everything she saw, then would look at me with a silent demand, and I would tell her what she was pointing at. She would repeat the word several times, making sure she got it right. Like this, we spent several hours walking. Siv eventually memorized the name of everything in the forest, from tree to bark to plant, so I began teaching her other words.

It was almost enough to make me forget where we were. Almost.

The hairs on my neck suddenly stood on end as an alarm blared inside my mind. I activated Spiritual Perception quickly and discovered something was traveling toward us at an incredible speed.

“Siv! Get behind me!”

Thanks to all the work we’d done today, Siv at least understood my words enough to get behind me as I spun around and faced the incoming threat. It burst out from between the trees. A massive creature running on two legs. Powerful muscles covered in thick fur flexed as it lunged at me, a snarling visage full of teeth came closer, and massive claws that could easily rend flesh from bones came down in a powerful swipe.

I didn’t hesitate. Spreading my feet apart, I adopted a strong stance, tucked my fists into my torso, and channeled Spiritual Power through my body. Lightning exploded from my fists as I thrust them forward. The two powerful bolts slammed into the creature’s chest. The Demon Beast howled as it was blasted backward, but it landed on its feet, skidding to a halt several meters away. Despite having taken two bolts of lightning to the chest, it didn’t look like it had taken any damage. Having finally gotten a good look at this creature, I realized what it was.

“A Werewolf,” I muttered. “Great. So it’s an A-rank Demon Beast that travels in a pack.”

Werewolves were humanoid wolves that walked on two legs. They were taller than the average human, normally standing at around two and a half meters. However, this particular Werewolf was about five meters tall. That meant it had lived for a very long time and gained incredible power. Werewolves were generally classified as B-rank Demon Beasts that lived in packs, which brought their classification up to A-rank. If there was an A-rank Werewolf, then the pack would be classified as S-rank.

I had to end this quickly before its pack arrived.

My Spiritual Power flowed through my body, exploding forth in bursts of lightning that crackled and gouged chunks out of the ground. I took this Spiritual Aura inside of myself, and then I circulated it through my body at an increased rate, transforming my entire body into pure lightning.

The Werewolf howled as it stomped on the ground and created earth spikes that shot forward. They struck my body but dissolved before they could do anything.

I placed my left foot behind me, right foot forward, and blasted off the ground. It didn’t even take a second before I appeared in front of the Werewolf, whose howl was cut short when my arm, now transformed into a giant lightning spike, was thrust into its throat. The Demon Beast couldn’t scream as I blasted it with lightning, frying its insides into a blackened mess. Sparks shot off its body before I pulled my arm back and thrust it forward six more times, punching a hole through its chest, stomach, left shoulder, right leg, left leg, head, and hip.

The Demon Beast was dead before it hit the ground.

Transforming back into flesh and blood to conserve my strength, I turned around to find Siv standing stock-still, her eyes wide in fear. At first, I thought she was afraid of the Werewolf, but when I took a step forward and she took one back, I realized she was afraid of me.

As I wondered what I should do, several more Werewolves suddenly burst out from the trees and pounced toward Siv, who looked up as they fell toward her. A scream escaped her throat. However, just before the Werewolves could get to her, I used the Flash Step to appear beside her, scooped her into my arms, and then used the Flash Step to avoid the Werewolves. They landed on the ground, gouging out chunks of earth. Meanwhile, I used the Jump Step to leap onto the nearest hanging branch nearly a hundred meters above the ground.

The branch was wide enough that several people could stand shoulder to shoulder without falling off. I set Siv on her feet, but she collapsed as soon as I did, then scooted backward until she was nearly two meters away from me.

“Are you afraid of me now?” I asked her with a sad smile.

“Afraid?”

It wasn’t a word Siv was familiar with, but perhaps some of the meaning came through with my tone. She furrowed her brow. It looked like she was thinking hard. Sadly, her thought process was interrupted by a loud howling. Her face drained of blood as we both looked down and discovered that the Werewolves were climbing up the trees to reach us.

“Ah… ahn…!”

A strangled sound escaped from Siv’s throat as her body began shaking. Despite how powerful she was, it seemed the idea of fighting and violence caused indescribable fear to well up inside of her. I imagine the only reason she fought against me that one time was because she had been forced to.

I knelt next to her. She was too frightened to scoot back now. Placing my hands on her shoulders, I forced Siv to look into my eyes and gave her the most reassuring smile I could muster.

“Do not worry. I will protect you.”

“P… protect… me?”

“That’s right. I will protect you.”

Once again, these were words I had not taught Siv, but I think she understood what I meant. Her body slowly relaxed. Seeing this, I stood up and took a deep breath.

The Werewolves had already landed on our branch and were closing in. They moved slowly, perhaps sensing my strength, or maybe remembering how I killed their leader. Drool trailed down their mouths. Their lips were peeled back to reveal their incredibly sharp teeth, which glistened in the light.

I glanced at Siv. She wasn’t staring at the Werewolves right now. Her eyes were locked on me. I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile, then looked back at the Demon Beasts surrounding us.

Then I transformed into lightning.

Back when the Demon Beasts attacked Nevaria, I had only been able to hold this state for five minutes, but that was months ago, and while my cultivation had hit a bottleneck that I couldn’t bypass without refining specific alchemy pills, my reserves of Spiritual Power were far larger than back then.

Having become lightning, I zipped toward the nearest Werewolf. I swung my arm and removed the beast’s head from its shoulders before moving on. The next Werewolf I stabbed through the chest. I felt a moment of resistance as its monster core burst into powder.

Several Werewolves tried to attack Siv, but I appeared before her, swinging out my arms and unleashing waves of lightning that slammed into the Demon Beasts. Some of them were blasted higher into the trees, bust most of them simply fell off and crashed onto the hard ground below.

A couple of Werewolves suddenly began using Spiritual Attacks. Their claws became longer and sharper as they used the earth element to manipulate the protein in their bodies. Loud howling escaped their mouths as they moved to attack, but before they took more than two steps, I was already on them. My attacks slashed through their bodies, cutting the hard muscles as if they were made of parchment. The Werewolves died, falling off the tree branch and striking the ground.

I continued to fight until I eventually realized every Werewolf was now dead. Gazing around, I saw that only Siv and me were left on this branch.

I looked at Siv. She was still staring at me. Her eyes contained an emotion I couldn’t figure out, or maybe there were so many emotions she was feeling that it was impossible to pinpoint one of them.

She kept her eyes on me as I walked over to her, but she didn’t move away, which I took as a good sign. I held out my hand and smiled down at her.

“Come on,” I said.

Siv hesitated, then reached out and placed her hand in mine. I pulled the dragoness to her feet and gently removed the bark and dust off her clothes. She didn’t put up a fight and merely watched me with curious eyes.

“Siv,” I said suddenly, causing her to perk up. “Do you want to come with me?”

“With… you?” Siv tilted her head.

“That’s right. Come with me. We’ll go home.”

“Home…”

I waited as Siv furrowed her brow, perhaps working out what I meant. I was using more unfamiliar words to her, but she seemed to at least understand a bit. Of course, I could have just used Dragon speak. However, I thought it would help her comprehension of the human language if I didn’t.

After a moment, Siv nodded.

“Siv will… follow Eryk. Go home.”

I smiled and held out my hand.

“Then let’s go.”

This time, Siv didn’t hesitate as she reached out and grabbed my hand.