Melina cried out. I turned back to see what had happened, and saw the young woman on her knees. A dull white glow surrounded her body. I didn’t even have to look up at Sandro to know the same was happening to him as well.
“Let it course through you! Take it in and let it roam freely through your body!”
“What? How?” she cried again.
“Focus on gulping it down just like… you would with food, but keep it in!”
The density of Enma suddenly became much thinner—no, it was being absorbed by a singular spot. I looked back to where I thought I’d seen Scar and gasped. A shimmering, glowing wolf stood there with a feral grin on his face.
“Scar?” I wheezed. “That you?”
“Hah! Who else?” He snickered and stood on his hind legs. The concentration of Enma dissipated and disappeared, flowing back into the world itself. He rushed and knocked me over with ease.
“Fuck!” I cried out as he touched me. “That hurts!”
I pushed him off me and winced.
“What? Aren’t you happy to see me?”
“Not like this! You’re made from fucking lightning!”
The clouds overhead started dispersing, and the booming thunder was no more. All of it lasted a single minute, but shit, it felt like hours. I pushed myself up as new energy entered my body and started filling my Enma pool once again.
I let out a deep sigh and dusted my clothes off as Melina ran over to me, but stopped for a brief moment, then hurried over and hid behind me.
“What the hell is that?” she asked, her voice slightly slurred.
To my surprise, she didn’t even seem surprised by seeing a lightning wolf. Well, after seeing monsters first, everything became easier the second time around.
“It’s a… skill. Yeah, it’s a skill I got after I became stronger. I absorbed some of these crystals and managed to break through.”
“Really?”
She didn’t sound like she believed it, but I didn’t care. How the hell could you explain the wolf anyway?
“Yeah, really. Why? You don’t believe me?”
“No, no, just asking. I mean, you know. After seeing monsters walking around and attacking people, everything is possible, I guess. But still… a lightning wolf? I don’t know if I should be happy or afraid of the beast.”
“Can you disappear and appear at will?”
“I can become invisible if you want.”
“Please do.”
Scar turned his head upward and let out a deafening howl before he disappeared. At least for everyone else, as I could still see a shimmering outline standing there.
“Wait, where did it go?” Melina protested. “Where did the wolf go?”
“To rest,” I said weakly. “Just like where I want to go.”
Everything hurt, but I wanted it to look even worse than it was, though. Maybe she would stop asking questions then.
“Rest? What about you?”
“I need some time off as well,” I muttered.
“No, you can’t! I just fixed up the bath!”
“Right, sorry. I forgot once all this—” I said, pointing at the fountain, the ground, and the shattered rocks.
“Don’t worry. I’ll have Sandro clean it up.”
“No, you won’t. The two of you need to change your relationship from the ground up.”
“What? I told you not to pry around in my personal issues!”
“It’s not prying! Look at him! He’s older than you, yet you treat him like a child!”
She bared her teeth at me and stormed toward the ryokan. “Then go get that fucking bath by yourself!”
I sighed and shook my head. Women. I thought I was deeply in love, but situations like these showed not everything was as simple and easy as I thought it was. She was a mysterious woman with a troubled past. Maybe I should enjoy from afar while she worked on opening up?
“This woman is quite scary,” Scar whispered from my left.
I turned around and pulled back. The damn mutt had startled me.
“Yeah, she is. But damn, the temper and the way she looks and teases. It’s hard to resist.”
“Yeah, just imagine what I’d do to my mate if I had one.” He snickered.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t need to know, thank you very much.”
“What? Isn’t that the most ordinary thing in the world?”
“How about we change the topic? Any idea how to fix this barrier?”
He shook his head. “It shouldn’t have been there from the start.”
“Oh? Any idea what it might have been?”
“No, I’m sorry. I just think it’s some sort of ‘thing’ that just happened. I can feel several more signatures like it in the city, so it was either your own doing or that of a patron from above.”
“Right, right,” I whispered. “Oh, are there any stronger souls around? I guess the elite and boss monsters will be much stronger than the kobolds.”
“I can’t say, sorry. I only feel the same weak groups of normal monsters as your quest window said.”
“How far out?”
“How far out what?” he asked, nudging me with his snout.
“Stop that!” I hissed. “That damn lightning hurts like a bitch!”
“Oh? Right, I’ll stop. And when did you start cursing like that?”
“Ever since I woke up in this body. I know things I shouldn’t, but then again, Krajolik told me I’d have this world’s knowledge, but that I wouldn’t know what was what until I saw it or had it explained.”
“Yeah, I guess. So what did you mean by how far out?” Scar asked as he sat on his haunches.
“Why aren’t you speaking to my mind anymore?”
“Why would I? I’m sitting right next to you.”
I sighed and shook it off. He sounded more human with every passing moment. If one could even call it that after being reborn in this place.
“Out from here. How far can you go and maintain your link with my Enma pool?”
“I don’t know, but I can try. You want to know right now?”
I nodded. “Please do. It’s one of those things I can’t help but want to know.”
Scar pushed himself off the ground and got up, yawned, and started moving. “Be right back,” was all he said before he disappeared.
The dome shimmered and only served to raise my eyebrows. It was clearly broken, but the lower part wasn’t gone yet.
I got up and steadied myself before I stretched out. The dome was still there; I saw as much when I got closer. It looked much thinner, and when I stood only inches from the barrier, it became translucent. A couple of the same youngsters were beating up the kobolds on the other side, but that was about it. Strange how no one had tried to come in after the brief but violent thunderstorm.
“Whatever.” I sighed and turned back to the ryokan.
Sandro still sat up on the balcony and watched me intently, but I pretended not to notice. I wasn’t in the mood to talk right about now. Still, it couldn’t be avoided when I sat on a bench near the ryokan’s main entrance.
“Anything I can do for you, boss?” he asked as he leaned over the railing.
I shook my head. “No, thanks. I’m just—tired. That’s all.”
“Why don’t you go take a bath? Melina prepared it for you earlier, didn’t she?”
“Damn,” I whispered. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll be going now. Can you ask your sister to bring me a fresh set of clothes from my bags? I don’t want to dirty the floor.”
“Sure thing, boss. You go ahead, and she’ll be right over.”
I pushed myself up and moved toward the bathhouse, as I thought of it. Everything hurt, but I didn’t mind. It only served to make me feel more alive. Lost in my feelings, I found myself standing in front of the vat. I threw my clothes aside and climbed in.
The water was steaming hot and did wonders. It was full of herbs similar to those from last time, giving off the strong scent I knew was wrong but would hel
p. I went a step further and added some cracked crystals before I positioned myself in the center. The concentration of Enma was incredible inside the water, and in combination with the healing herbs, the damage I sustained on my arms and chest started tingling. Almost as if a thousand ants crawled all over my skin, trying to repair me. A sharp stab of pain was followed by a dull ache as the skin started regrowing and closing off the holes.
“Shit. I can see the damn bone, and it’s healing up just like that?”
Melina startled me, as I hadn’t noticed her walk in. The concentration of Enma in the big vat was too high, which dulled my senses to zero.
“Yeah, it’s quite remarkable,” I replied as she walked up to me.
The vat was pretty tall, but a small platform was built around it, so I could see everything above her navel. She stopped right next to the bench and dropped a yukata down, then some underwear.
“You got room in there for one more?”
A grin crept up my face and I couldn’t help but nod.
“You’re not—?”
“Shh, don’t ruin it again.”
I took the hint and remained silent as she slid the yukata off her arms and back, then arranged it around a tall chair. Next were the bandage and her panties. I didn’t stare, as it wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before, but I found it mildly amusing. She sure wasn’t shy, or maybe she was trying so hard that I couldn’t see the difference. Still, she covered her privates with both hands as she climbed in.
“Wh… what the hell?” she cursed the moment she submerged up to her neck. “What’s this pressure?”
“Broken crystals. You know, the ones we bought from the kids?”
She nodded.
“Damn,” she muttered. “What are these crystals?”
“Well, the easy explanation would be that it’s highly concentrated energy. I call it Enma. The monsters absorb and concentrate it within their cores, which in turn are a mixture of the same energy and their life force. So there are two types of crystals, though we haven’t seen any of the others yet.”
“Interesting. Anyway, this is quite the kick. I can imagine people abusing the crystals. They could lead to a lot of problems with the youth.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Drugs? You know?”
I nodded as new memories flooded my mind. Sure, this body hadn’t ever tried any, but it knew what drugs were.
“Not our problem, Melina. We’ve got a lot of shit on our hands without worrying about others.”
“Then why are you taking the others in?”
Melina put her hands up and unfurled her long dark hair and tied it anew in a knot.
“Because I won’t always be around. I might go out and take care of more business, and when I do, I want you to be safe.”
“Bullshit! I can take care of myself now.”
“Maybe, but who knows what else is coming our way, Melina. Do you really think I’d risk losing you? I’d rather kill myself before that happened.”
A smile made its way up her face and she even chuckled.
“How thoughtful of you,” she whispered. “Would you mind doing my back? It’s itching like mad for some reason.”
I nodded and sat upright to make room for her to scoot up closer. She turned around and rose from the vat, showing me her scarred back.
“What are you searching for?”
“A sponge, silly. What else?”
“I can do it with my hands if I infuse some Enma in my palms.”
Melina stood to her full height, and I could see the small of her back. The amazing flowery tattoo ran all the way down to her tailbone and ended there in barbed wire. Shit, that guy must have been one jealous motherfucker.
I didn’t comment on it and instead waited for her to sit back down. It was quite dark, so I didn’t see when it started, but once she inched closer, I noticed one of the scars fading. I closed my eyes for several seconds, took in a deep breath, and opened them again. Shit, another one was fading right before my very eyes. A thin pink line remained where thick scars had been moments before.
“Your itching scars are fading.”
Melina tensed up before she glanced over her shoulder. “Are you fucking with me?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not. Must be the healing powers of the crystals, the bath, and me using Enma to stimulate your regeneration.”
I traced my finger across the line where the scar used to be, and it was almost as smooth as the rest of her perfect skin.
“Shit, you’re right,” she whispered. “Are all of them gone?”
“No, only two—no, three. The fourth stopped fading. Maybe your body can’t handle any more of it?”
Her head sank slightly as her back started rising and falling as if she was crying. I stopped tracing my finger along her back and just sat there without any idea what to do, as I had no idea what she liked or disliked. In the end, instinct won over reason. I put my arms around her, just under her chest, and pulled her in close. She nestled against me as I kissed the back of her neck and just sat there for a long time as she cried.
Chapter Thirteen
The door opened slowly as we were getting dressed. Scar walked in on all fours as tiny bolts of lightning discharged from his body. Could one even call it a body if it was made of lightning? They crackled and lit the room up for brief instances.
“Is it going to attack?” she asked as Scar startled her.
“No, he won’t,” I replied, shaking my head. “You can speak freely, Scar.”
“I made a circle around this city and never lost connection to your core, but once I started fighting a group of those kobolds, you should have felt a slightly higher pressure inside.”
“I did,” I replied with a nod. “So that’s what it was?”
“Yeah, but anyway, I didn’t find a single one of those bigger monsters. The only monsters I found were humans killing other humans.”
“And that’s something that will never change,” I muttered, disgusted by the fact.
He shrugged. “I guess. After all, you were doing that just a couple of hours ago, weren’t you?”
“It’s not the same, and you know it! The people I killed have taken and destroyed many lives.”
Melina tugged at my sleeve as she looked up at me. “That is no skill, is it?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “No, it isn’t. Scar is a part of me. You can call it a skill in a way, but he’s a part of my very being. His soul is connected to mine.”
“So you lied?”
“No, I didn’t. I just told you he’s part of me and only appeared after I made the breakthrough back in the front yard.”
“And how exactly did you do that?”
“I have no idea. You saw the clouds and thunder and stuff while I was absorbing the crystals, right?”
She nodded as her expression changed slightly. She was a very suspicious woman, and I couldn’t blame her. Melina must have gone through her fair share of trouble, so why judge the woman?
“I did. So it was random?”
Now it was my turn to nod. “As far as I know. Other than that, I can’t really say anything else.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t because I don’t know how it came to be.”
She was starting to annoy me, as her tone had changed slightly. What was up with this grilling anyway? She probably didn’t mean to annoy me, but I couldn’t help but feel attacked.
“Alright. I’ll believe you if you say so, but he can’t come inside. I don’t want him to torch the place down.”
“I’m not made out of fire, Miss Melina. And yes, before you ask how I know your name, I know everything he does, but I couldn’t care less about it.”
“Heh, snarky one, isn’t he?”
“He sure is,” I replied and stared the wolf down. “Be nice to Melina or I’ll rip your core out.”
He bared his teeth at me but then yawned and disappeared.
“She can’t see me
, but I’ll always be somewhere nearby.”
I didn’t reply, not even mentally, as it didn’t warrant a reply. Instead, I traced my fingers down her jaw and kissed her forehead for some strange reason. It just happened without me even realizing it, but she didn’t pull back or slap me, which was a big bonus.
“What was that for?” she asked as I pulled back.
“Nothing, really. For being you and accepting a stranger into your home.”
“Oh? A stranger, huh? Somehow I feel you’re not a stranger at all.”
“If only that were true, we would have been together for a very long time.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“You’re such a tease.” I chuckled. “So what do you want to do until they’re here?”
She grinned and winked at me. “Nothing. I want to rest. I’m tired and I’m annoyed. I just had a bath, so all I want to do is relax.”
“Want to hang out on the balcony? That way we can see when they arrive,” I offered.
“Sure. I’ll get us a drink as we pass the kitchen.”
We found ourselves sitting on the balcony, enjoying some wine and a cold plate she arranged pretty quickly. Finely sliced cheeses, three kinds of meat, and some bread she made herself. It took her all of half an hour to make with a little bit of my assistance. The woman was a monster when it came to the kitchen. I barely managed to help with slicing up the cheese and some of the meat when she told me she was ready.
I could hear Sandro nagging about something on the balcony two rooms down. Probably pissed he wasn’t included, but I didn’t care about that. If he found himself a woman like Melina, then he could experience some of the beauty the two of us felt right about then.
Neither of us spoke much. We enjoyed each other’s company and just had a good time. Nothing happened. No new monsters popped up, and no new thunderstorms. I spent a while looking out over the horizon, comparing the two sides of the city, at least those parts that were visible. The buildings nearby looked as if they were about to fall apart in comparison to the ones on the other side of the main road. Guess no matter where you went, the same thing followed.
Beginner Quest: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 1) Page 14