Chương 177: Chapter 182: Tea Time

"How come you went away with a pretty girl and now you come back with a different one? Are you being naughty?"

"Miflin, this is Rhea, my partner. Alya was the one I came with before, and she's a friend…"

"Mmm, I hope so. I rarely meet someone with such a warm soul as this one," she pointed to Rhea.

"It would be a pity to mar it. Anyway, a very real possibility considering the state of your… problem." Again, she didn't say it explicitly this time, but it's not that it made such a big difference.

"Rhea is the only one who knows of my condition, but I would be grateful if you avoided talking about it with anyone else, please." She raised her spectral hands in mock surrender, then beamed at Rhea.

"What can I do for you, Rhea? The System shop is available, but I have much more for sale. You can probably find something that fits you around here, especially there." She pointed at a corner of the shop. Rhea, for her part, was transfixed by the woman, her eyes roaming her translucent form, mouth slightly ajar. What had gotten into her? We saw a great deal of strange elementals coming here…

"Rhea, are you ok?"

"What? I mean, yes, yes I'm fine. It's only that… you didn't say she was a… spirit."

"She's not a spirit-""I'm not a spirit! I'm an Aureal! But I get that it could be confusing! Don't worry dear, it's a common misconception. For those less aura savvy it wouldn't make sense. Anyway, feel free to explore the shop while I get a little talk done with our friend here! We still have business to discuss." Rhea nodded absentmindedly. I would have to talk to her too about what was so strange about it. It felt like she had been shocked, or gotten some kind of revelation from the encounter.

"Ok, I have a lot to search for anyway."

"Get a list of whatever cursed items you find that interest you. I would remove the curse after, and remember about the stat items. Don't finish your budget on reagents, those won't give you more achievements."

"Mmm, ok…" She was already taken by a pretty necklace with a big ruby in the center, so I let her be and turned to Miflin.

"Do you have a place where we can talk more privately? Talking in the middle of the shop where anyone can enter and overhear isn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Of course! Follow me, I have the perfect place!" She proceeded to float through the same closed door she went through the other time. I approached and opened it, revealing a very different environment inside. A spacious room that gave a very eastern vibe was presented to me. A single low table with two little pillows on the floor were the centerpiece of the room, but after entering and closing the door behind me, my gaze got taken by the various paintings on the walls.

Lines and dots danced and burned in those frames, opening the world to the mind and the spirit and the laws of existence. I was a sailor swept by currents made of brush strokes, they were taking me deeper into that ink world, deeper and deeper and dee-"Whoa there!" Miflin interposed herself into my vision, coming very close to me. I could still see the paintings through her transparent body, but their effect didn't take hold this time. I felt something warm flowing down my face.

I reached with a hand and found blood streaming down my nose and eyes, and a pounding headache to boot. What the fuck was that?

"What the hell are those things?" My voice was a little rough. I could taste blood even in my mouth. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"Erm, I'm very sorry, you are not ready for these yet. I use them as inspiration to further my law, but it's waaay too early for you! Just don't look at them ok? Come, come, sit. I'd prepare you a tea, it would help trust me!" I kept my gaze down, using a flash of my ring to clean myself of the blood, and I took a stream of life force from the other and focused it on my head. It helped somewhat, but the pounding headache felt less physical than normal.

I sat down on the pillow, watching the Aureal woman in front of me sitting down the same way and using aura in a very masterful display to prepare that tea. I became nearly mesmerized by how she was using it. The precise control and the extreme efficiency were a stark contrast to how I used it. I felt like a toddler just taking its first steps compared to the world's greatest parkourist.

"The tea would be ready shortly. In the meantime, tell me how you managed to develop an ability to manifest your aura externally. It's incredibly rare to be able to do it at such an early stage." I simply told her about the spider cave and the Arcane Barrier skill mutating into an aura manifestation skill. I explained the feeling I got and the way that I used my will to influence mana and the skills I possessed, maybe she could shed some insight on those too.

At the end of my little speech, two steaming cups slowly floated toward us.

"Fascinating! This was a mutation I never heard about! And I know of many! But your manifestation sounds like it's more veered toward defense for the very nature of the skill it comes from. Not a bad thing all considered, but potentially it would limit your aura use, or make it harder to accomplish other, more refined works. Still, it could be the foundation of something great, especially if you can manage to evolve the skill to make it more malleable." I thought about it too.

I had a skill evolution token that was burning in my metaphorical pocket and I would be able to use it to enhance that skill, but not only. First I would like to bring it to the stage where I could evolve it by myself. Only after that would I evolve it with the token.

"Can you teach me how to use my aura better? I met another aura user, but he was more martially inclined, and couldn't use it externally like you."

"Who was it?" she asked, suddenly serious.

"Vix O'Ran, he's-""The youngest Lord of the Aurei in the last millennia, yes, I know him." She scoffed.

"Not a fan?"

"Those Lords of the Aurei… they are self proclaimed masters of aura. Of course, as if a bunch of battle maniacs could ever reach the level of mastery that the best of my race ever could! We are aura, we can control it externally at birth. Those conceited idiots think they can learn to control us! What a joke!" There was a lot of information I wasn't privy to here, but ultimately it wasn't something that concerned me. I came here for other reasons.

"Did he teach you how to use your aura?" she asked me skeptically.

"No, actually he didn't teach me anything. We had a spar, he wanted to experience my aura and he was about to take Alya as a disciple, but in the end he cut ties with us and disappeared."

"Tell me exactly what happened. Don't leave out any detail." The intensity of her gaze told me that this wasn't really a request. There was more here that I wasn't understanding. So I complied and told her of all the interactions I had with Vix. In the meantime I started sipping my still steaming tea. It was divine. I was more of a coffee guy, but this slightly sour tea was so flavorful and complex I couldn't begin to understand how it was made.

Not only that, but it was clearly having an effect on me that I had trouble describing. My mind felt clear, my headache disappeared and it was like my aura was calm and docile…

"It's called Sabzy. It's a mixture of spiritual herbs, very expensive to produce. It has a multitude of beneficial effects, but mainly it's a palliative for the soul."

"It's exquisite."

"Mmm, yes. I would like to provide something more, but I'm quite stumped in your situation. But first things first." She took a breath. That was strange for a being that didn't require oxygen but ok. Maybe it was something she picked up from other races. Actually the fact she had the body of a woman, albeit an approximation of one, was strange in and of itself. But who was I to judge?

"You got scammed. There is no simple way of putting it. That guy gave you crumbs in exchange for a really valuable experience, something that potentially could have led to a breakthrough in his aura usage. You can't possibly understand the implications of what kind of boon you provided him, but suffice to say, he could have done at least something more than give basic knowledge in exchange for that, and trust me, it would come back to bite him in the ass." She said it as if it was a certainty.

"Why is that?"

"Because Karma is a bitch! That's what your fellow Adrian likes to say at least, but honestly, it's not so far from the truth."

"So karma would balance the scale? What about all the people who do bad and instead get rewarded?" I asked her. I was very curious about it. It was a topic of contention that existed for a very long time even on Earth.

"The Law of Karma is not something easy to decipher, but suffice to say that the more important or powerful a being is, or is supposed to become, the more Karma would form between two individuals who interact with each other. And you…" She looked at me deep in the eyes.

"You have an Ancient Soul, and the chains holding it at bay are about to break."

"When that happens, Karma would be a real bitch for everyone."