Path to Transcendence

Chapter 685: Unruly Spirit

Julius walked into the inn Genene had recommended to him and looked around the establishment. Apparently, she was good friends with the owners and promised him that the food was spectacular. Considering the food throughout his ride in the carriage was pretty tasty, he was inclined to believe her.

He wasn’t the only one, either. Many other passengers followed her advice, and some were already sitting at a table, eating food. He spotted the young couple devouring their plates, which was another good sign.

The family of four was also there, but another person stood next to them. He looked like an older version of the husband. Likely a relative of some kind. It could have been his brother, or even his father. Age got weird when it involved tiers and skills.

The inn itself was very nice. It wasn’t extremely fancy, but he could tell that everything was well. The wood tables were spotless, and lacquered so well that they sparkled. The location of the inn was quite nice, too. It was right next to a large market and close to the Adventurer and Merchant Guilds.

Julius was thinking about heading over to the Adventurer Guild tomorrow or later tonight. The Obsidian Vault was pretty close to Goldmere and was the reason he’d come to the city. He didn’t really know much about it, though, and was hoping the guild would have more information he could get or buy off someone.

He’d already heard people talking about it during his short time in the city, though. Apparently, the Obsidian Vault was a big deal, and many sects had already sent their disciples to come investigate. This meant the busy city had become even more bustling than usual.

It also meant the inn was pretty packed. But thanks to Genene, the innkeeper was able to squeeze them into some rooms they kept for special guests. He got his stuff situated in his room and went back down to the dining hall, where he enjoyed a delicious plate of roasted chicken.

It wasn’t just a simple roasted chicken; they’d placed a layer of stuffing beneath the crispy skin and topped it with the most amazing jus. It was served next to an array of roasted vegetables and potatoes. He could see why the couple had been shoving it down their gullets as if they hadn’t eaten in days.

It was definitely one of the better meals he’d ever had, and he was very glad that Genene had recommended this place.

After he devoured his meal, he went off exploring the market close by. There was a large array of shops. Spanning from clothes to food to enchanted items, there was everything available to buy.

He ended up getting himself a set of new clothes. He’d been burning a lot of his other ones, so he needed a restock of his wardrobe. He found a shop that sold some really nice clothes. He left the shop with several shirts, a few pairs of pants, and some new underwear and socks.

The material of the clothes was amazingly comfortable, and he’d been promised they would last for a long time. They were made of wool that came from a Silkenweave Sheep. He didn’t know if that was necessarily true, especially with how he abused his clothes, but they were soft and seemed like they would last a long time as long as he didn’t get incinerated or torn apart by another Tier 5.

When he returned to the inn, there were people waiting for him. It was Arlen and Walter, the two of them were sitting in chairs at the front, smoking from a pipe. When they saw him approaching, they waved him over to the open seat beside them.

Not seeing a reason to refuse, he accepted and sat down with raised eyebrows.

“Did you guys need something from me?” Julius asked curiously.

“How did you like the food?” Walter asked him, dodging the question.

Julius smiled widely. “It was fantastic, you have to thank Genene for me.”

Walter grinned knowingly. “Yeah, Kell and his wife really do an amazing job. Genene grew up with him, and we’ve been stopping whenever we are in the city for years.”

Julius nodded and smirked. “I noticed you didn’t answer my initial question,” he noted.

Walter smirked back. “I didnʼt.”

“So what do you need to ask me? I suspect you two aren’t out here for nothing,” he said to them.

Arlen was the one who answered this time around. “We want to ask if you are willing to accept a short-term job for us.”

“A job? Like an employee?”

“No, you will have a lot more autonomy than an employee.”

“Why do you need me?” he asked.

The two men looked at each other before a barrier of wind magic suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was very subtle, so much so that he almost thought it was just a gust of wind. Julius tilted his head, recognizing something faintly familiar about the technique. But the barrier’s purpose was clearly to prevent other people from listening in on them, and so his intrigue was placed to the side.

Only once the barrier was established did Arlen continue. “Because of your contracted spirit.”

Julius furrowed his brows. “My spirit?”

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“Yes, we have a delivery for Lord Kaito of Clan Yoshu. He procured a very special spirit for his daughter to contract with for her birthday, but there are a few issues with it.”

“What kind of issues?”

“The spirit was originally in possession of a group of large bandits, so we have no idea where the spirit came from, and we suspect they had no idea what it was either. But because of its captivity, we’ve been having trouble communicating with it. Even my own spirit doesn’t seem to be able to get through to it. Every time it tries to talk with it, it lashes out and tries to attack us,” Arlen explained.

“You have a spirit?” Julius asked in surprise. He knew he’d been detecting something familiar, but hadn’t realized that’s what it was. The barrier made sense now.

“Yes, her name is Nymis. But she has been having trouble talking with this other spirit. And we want to make sure the spirit doesn’t attack the young girl the second we release it.”

“What kind of spirit is it?” he asked.

“It’s a very rare kind of spirit. One that is both a light and a wind spirit. But that is specifically the reason why Lord Yoshu wants it for his daughter.”

Julius frowned, his thoughts immediately going straight toward Seraphyne and her own very special existence. But Seraphyne might be a little different, because while she had both life and water attributes, her father seemed unique in his own right.

Speaking of that, he had completely forgotten that her father, Vailon, had given him something when he advanced to Tier 4. He would have to remember to see what it was when he had some free time.

“And why do you want my help?” Julius questioned, feeling even more confused.

“Because Nymis says you have been marked.”

“Marked?” repeated, already having an idea what that meant.

“Yes, and she says you and your spirit smell nice,” Arlen shrugged. “She didn’t say much else, but she thinks you or your spirit might have more luck than we have.”

Julius nodded, pretty much understanding what they were asking of him. “So you want us to act as intermediaries for you and this spirit?”

“Essentially,” Arlen confirmed.

Julius already felt Drasil accept this request from his soul and was pretty excited about it. From the feeling of it, Drasil seemed eager to meet this spirit. Was this a sign that Drasil wanted to meet other spirits or friends?

He thought about it for a few moments. He might have been a lot more hesitant if they had asked him when he first joined the caravan, but after Walter and the others spared no expense or effort to help those villagers, he felt like they were good people. People he could trust to act professionally and hopefully with honor.

“What will I get in exchange for my help?” he finally asked.

“How much gold would you like?”

Julius shook his head. “I’m not interested in gold.”

Both of them frowned when they heard this. “What do you want then?” Walter asked.

“You guys are a pretty big merchant company, right?”

“Depends on what you consider big.”

“Well, either way, I assume you have an information network or a broker you go to, right?”

Walter seemed a lot more uneasy now, but nodded. “Correct.”

“So, I would like to get some information in place of monetary compensation. Whether you ask your network or you ask your broker on behalf of me,” he offered.

“What kind of information?”

Julius tapped his chin. “I will let you know once I complete my end of the deal.” He didn’t really want to tell them, as a precaution. He didn’t want them to have too much time

“What if we can’t get the information you are looking for?”

Julius shrugged uncaringly. “Then don’t worry about it. We can figure something else out if that’s the case.”

That seemed to mollify them.

“So what do you need me to do?” he asked them after a few moments.

Walter nodded. “Actually, do you mind coming back with us? I know it’s late, and if you don’t want to right now, then that’s fine. But maybe we can try it out if you have better luck than we do.”

Julius shrugged. It wasn’t too late at the moment. The sun had only gone down a couple of hours ago.

“Sure, why not?” he said to him.

They both seemed really relieved that he had accepted, and without wasting any more time, they brought him back to the carriages, where he was taken to the one Walter and Arlen had been riding in.

He’d already noted the disproportionate amount of mana being funneled into this carriage compared to the other carriages. He couldn’t imagine just how much it cost to fuel this thing. But the number and strength of the enchantments made up for it. The carriage felt like an immovable mountain to his senses. It was likely strong enough to withstand several Tier 5sʼ full-powered attacks.

The inside was even more impressive. If the carriage he rode was nice, then this one was on another level. It was basically a full house inside, and Walter obviously spared no expense to make it comfortable.

Once they got settled on the disturbingly cozy couch, Arlen pulled out a small jar. The jar had many inscriptions on its surface, and they were sparkling with golden light. Inside this jar was a very bright object; it was so bright that it was hard to discern its shape. But it almost looked like a bird of some kind.

Before Arlen opened the jar, he set up another circle of runes, activating an item, and a barrier of immense power snapped into place. Julius was curious why all of the precautions; he knew they said this spirit was a bit rambunctious, but it seemed a little like overkill.

He was forced to get off the comfortable couch when it was moved out of the way. Making room for the barrier.

Once everything was set up, Arlen finally opened the jarʼs lid, and Julius immediately realized why they had been so cautious. The explosion of mana almost knocked him on his ass, and Arlen was in front of him, shielding him from the brunt of it.

He didn’t feel the need to tell Arlen that he would have been okay on his own. Instead, he looked at the pure white bird that’d emerged from the jar. It had already tried to escape, the barrier flickering as it desperately slammed against it. Arlen wrestled with his domain and was very gentle about it.

After some effort, he managed to calm the spirit. Even after that, it was obvious he could barely contain it and that it wasnʼt very happy with him. The other wind spirit tried to approach, but a whip of mana lashed out viciously.

The raging mana was full of light and wind mana. It was also of such purity and quality that Julius found himself a little breathless.

This was the thing they wanted to give to a young girl? Were they crazy? This spirit would kill the girl before she could touch it.

The look he leveled at Walter and Arlen must have conveyed all of his thoughts because they winced.

“Yeah, you see our problem now?” Arlen said to him, holding onto the violently shaking spirit as if it were an unruly chihuahua.