Soul Knight - Chapter 13 (Patreon)

When Nick and the girls got back to the Safe Zone, Eirwen’s spirits had picked up. She had already absorbed a lot of Essence, and she thought that once she finished absorbing the rest of what was floating around inside her, she’d reach Level 3.

He had gotten rid of the wollywompus, and took on the archer hobgoblin. Thanks to his increased Soul Power from leveling and the efficiency passive, he only saw a slight decrease to his blade’s strength.

Nick had chosen the archer over the shaman, as it appeared to be a one-hit wonder. After that one spell, it would be mostly useless in a fight. He would rather not wait around for it to regenerate its mana between spells.

There were enough arrows in the camp for the archer to be effective at all times.

Then, the fact that the magical thunder acted more like electricity and could hit him or his allies if they were wearing metal worried him. Each of the girls had metal on them, the hobgoblin chieftain had been using a bone weapon to counteract this.

Eirwen quickly began to set up camp, a small smile tugging her lips as she began to remove the items from her pack, digging into it. The unending fireplace was taken and placed out first.

The Safe Area was perfect for camping. The pond wasn’t overly large, one that they could swim across in a few seconds. A few trees surrounded the clearing, providing plenty of shade from the late day sun.

There were stumps set out around a perfect spot for a fire, and a flat ground for setting up a tent and bedrolls.

“Anything I can help with, Winny? I may be able to grill up some of that wolf flank you got.”

She giggled. “Thanks, Nick, but you should take a rest! Aren’t you tired from all that fighting? You can try to enjoy the pond for a while. Just don’t worry about the bandage, I will put a new one and clean it later. It will have already healed quite a bit by now, thanks to the high-essence bandages and my skill.”

Nick tsked. “That ain’t right, you fought too, and had to carry all that stuff. I’m a little tired, but going for a swim without ya ain’t going to be the same.”

Kaya had already begun shrugging off her equipment, starting with her bracers. “Well, I am definitely in need of some rest, and hungry.” She took on a teasing tone, clearly looking at Nick, “I’ve been eagerly awaiting that delicious wollywompus meat.”

Nick froze. When he released the Soul Servant, he hadn’t noticed Eirwen looted it. He supposed it should have become a beast carcass again when he did that. Kaya snickered at how the odd snow gator got to him.

Eirwen patted his back, seemingly sensing and trying to ease his discomfort, “Don’t worry, Nick. I’ll make sure to cook up some of that wolf for you, too. The wollywompus and wolf meat from the Ordeal should be packed full of Essence, and satisfying!”

He chuckled, and shook his head as he shrugged off the oddity. He started removing some of his equipment. Regardless of what he did next, he’d want to be more comfortable. “Thanks, Winny. I think I’ll give them both a try.”

His leather armor had straps and buckles, so he worked on removing them. Kaya finished removing her armor quickly with a satisfied sigh. “Well, I’m gonna go for a swim. You going to join me or not, Nick?”

She shrugged off her shirt, revealing what appeared to be chest bindings, before pulling down her pants. Kaya wore low-cut panties, her tail just above them. She caught his interest with a raised brow and a teasing smile.

“Guess I might as well.”

He was about to remove his rough-spun pants, when he remembered all he really had underneath was a loin cloth. Shrugging, he took the pants off along with his tunic.

Kaya was quick to wade into the water, a swagger to her wide hips, her tail swishing as she carried some cloth bag. “The water’s nice and cool! Come on.”

Stepping into the water, he found she was right. He guessed it was a little cold, but seemed appropriate for him to enjoy with his odd body.

She got in until the water was up to her neck, then turned around as she watched him enter. He saw her look him up and down appreciatively as he joined her in the water.

Eirwen had busied herself on preparing their food, cutting vegetables and slicing the meats into smaller chunks to be grilled. It appeared she had some skewers for what looked like kebabs, with a rack that held them over the flames.

The bag seemed to float next to her, and she retrieved something from inside it. “Figured we might as well get washed up while we’re at it. Get your hair wet, and I’ll wash it for you.”

“Thanks, Kaya. I appreciate that.”

He dunked himself, and presented his back to her. She ran her fingers through his hair, leaving a bubbling mixture inside. As she ran her fingers through his scalp and hair, he noticed her fingers shifted into her clawed paws.

“So, you and Eirwen are some kind of thing now, huh?”

Nick froze, as her claws dug a little deeper. Just enough to not quite be painful. He wanted to nod, but bet that wouldn’t feel too good.

“Y-Yeah. She’s really special, and I felt like I wanted her as my partner. How did you know?”

She froze, but then continued with lathering his hair. She snorted. “It’s easy to see how she looks at you, and you look at her–then, I also smelled…anyway, what, did you talk with her while I was asleep or something? And, partners? Not wife or follower?”

Nick chuckled. “You were snoring so loud, we had trouble falling asleep. And yes, partner. I can’t run a kingdom by myself.”

“S-Sorry about that. Is it bad? Eirwen told me…”

He laughed even harder. “It’s really bad! It’s like what a kid sounds like when they pretendin’ to sleep. Don’t worry about it though, we still made do. But anyway, the way I see it, I’d like my wives to be equals, partners, if at all possible. Then followers to be like trusted retainers. That’s what I told Eirwen, too.”

“That’s…different. So this involves some kind of…Soul Pact, you said?” She splashed him with some water without warning, rinsing the shampoo away with a giggle. He dunked his head under the water, to finish rinsing it away.

“Cheeky. Dang, so you were listenin’ huh. I don’t know the full details because I don’t have the spell or skill yet. But Archaens are supposed to be able to gather followers and wives this way, and there’s supposed to be some equivalent exchange there, or something somehow.”

“My turn now? Were you paying attention?”

Nick looked at the top of her head. She had two furry ears up there, along with her wild mane of hair. “I think so. What about those?”

She blushed, as she turned around to present the back of her head to him. “Just don’t get any water inside them, and it’s fine.”

He started shampooing her hair, repeating what she had done for him. He was especially gentle as he massaged it into her ears, which she seemed to sigh into his touch. Her tail even seemed to brush up against his legs under the water.

“Damn girl, you got a lot of hair up here, it’s thick as hell. It’s almost like fur?”

Her voice came out quiet, and tinged with sadness. “Just don’t hurt her, and keep her safe. You have this Trial, on the fifth floor. You… She’s all I have. I already know I can’t talk her out of going with you. The same reasons she went with you despite your warning…they still apply.”

“You don’t have to tell me that–I’m already going to keep her safe. You can count on it. I’ll keep you safe, too–for her. Just as much as you care about her, I know she cares about you. Hell, I’ll even keep you safe for me.”

She turned and looked back at him with her eyes narrowed, “For you?”

He nodded. “Yeah. For ulterior motives.”

She snorted and laughed. “Whatever. You’re so ridiculous.” She rinsed herself off, before coming up. “So, you said you were sick like Eirwen, before? In your…world?”

“Yup. For several years after I came of age, I fought with cancer. I thought I had it beat the first or second time with chemo, but it just kept coming back.”

“What the hell is that?”

It took him some time to explain that Earth humans poisoned themselves to remove the illness, and didn’t just have an easy magic spell that could remove it.

“That’s terrible. Since you were sick, you trained hard in the dream helmet thing…that’s how you got so great with the sword, and other stuff?”

He chuckled. “You don’t need to make it sound special. I mostly played in the VR games–the dream helmet thing. I just got good, since I did it a lot. I’m proud of what I eventually accomplished, but it was mostly because I couldn’t do much else. When everything you do outside in the world is just pain, and your friends leave you because your very presence is depressing, you escape.”

“I don’t think everyone becomes as good as you do just because they have a lot of time on their hands. Still, your friends left because you were dying? That’s fucked up.”

He sighed. “Well, it wasn’t just that. When they started being kinda shitty with me, I was shitty back to them. I guess I kinda…expected more of them, or something? I don’t know. I had tons of friends in the games, but they hardly counted.”

She had a teasing smile as she turned to look at him. “What about…lady friends?”

He smirked. “Had plenty of those before, but none after. High school sure was fun, but it didn’t last. Scrawny bald guys ain’t do too well in that department, let me tell you. I just barely had time for my hair to grow back and put on some weight before I was at it again. What about you? Any guy friends?”

Kaya blushed. “I suppose you shared, so–”

Eirwen’s voice carried across the water. “Food is ready! Come get it while it’s hot!”

Kaya laughed, as she started to escape. “Saved by the dinner bell!”

“Not quite. I knew the answer already–Eirwen told me. Said you had terrible choice in men.” He began wading to the shore, chuckling. He could hear her splashing after him.

“H-Hey, it was just one bad experience! We didn’t even… It’s not like I had a lot to choose from!”

“Who are you convincing? Yourself or me?”

She growled, as she stomped past him. “Whatever, I don’t care what you think. Life is hard here in the frontier, and there isn’t much white. Just black, and lots and lots of gray. I had been hoping for some companionship and help with curing Eirwen, and…it just didn’t work out.”

“Well, you got the help, no? It all worked out, just needed to find the right guy.”

She snorted and grabbed a blanket from Eirwen, he guessed meant to towel themselves off. Eirwen handed him one with a smile. “Did you have a good talk?”

He whispered, “We did. Though it seems our…situation isn’t exactly a secret. She already knew, and seemed to take it well?”

Eirwen giggled, but whispered back. “Of course she would–she’s a bit sweet on you too.”

Nick looked doubtful. “Huh? Could’ve fooled me. Shouldn’t that make her jealous, instead? And what about you?”

Eirwen rolled her eyes. “I told you, that’s not a problem for us. Then, you think us beastfolk just let any old guy touch our ears? I bet you already got further than her ex–”

“You know, I can kinda hear you, Winny. I’d rather you keep my past to yourself. I’ll share it more when I’m good and ready.”

Kaya had already thrown on a long white tunic with a belt on the waist, which made it into a makeshift skirt. Her tail flickered behind her, a mix between a blush and a scoff on her face.

Eirwen blushed. “S-Sorry, Kaya! You’re right. Here’s a clean tunic, Nick. Let’s eat!”

Toweling himself off with the blanket, he kept the loin cloth on and put on the tunic. He sat down on a stump, a wooden plate and fork handed to him with a smile from Eirwen.

He couldn’t help but give her an appreciative smile and a gaze that she returned meaningfully.

Kaya’s brow rose. “You two gonna just stare at each other, or eat?”

He chuckled, as Eirwen blushed and rushed to her seat as she picked up her plate. “Oh! The top skewer is the wollywompus, Nick. I made sure to put plenty of butter on it.”

Nick looked over at her pack doubtfully. “What the hell? You got butter in there? What don’t you got?”

Eirwen giggled. “You’re too funny, Nick–I was wondering when you were going to ask. That’s Ma’s pack! It has a minor enchantment, for more space inside. It has a few compartments.”

“Now I’m wondering where you got the butter. That’s like a premium good, isn’t it?”

Kaya said, “Are you trying to avoid eating the wollywompus? Eirwen doesn’t eat that good, so I did my best to make sure that when she did, she got what she needed.”

Eirwen gave Kaya a smile and said, “Thank you for that, Kaya, I know without your diligence I wouldn’t be here today,” filled with gratitude, before making to eat her own skewers.

Nick went ahead and took a bite of the snow gator skewer. There were what looked and smelled like onions and peppers on the skewer along with the meat. Taking a bite of the offered food, the snow gator meat almost melted in his mouth. He felt the essence entering him, and that seemed to boost the flavors and sensations.

He had eaten fried gator many times, and it was often chewy. It would have a slight hint of a fish flavor, and may have been a bit closer to quail than chicken. This was like that, but without the fish flavor. It had a hint of something else, perhaps because it was a weird half reptile half mammal…abomination.

Eirwen had looked at him in question. “How do you like it, Nick?”

He chuckled. “It must be your cookin’ because I give it a ten outta ten, would totally eat an abomination again.”

Eirwen giggled, and Kaya shook her head. “It’s good that you’re going to eat it because the wollywompus is hardly going to be the weirdest thing we’re going to fight and eat in here, probably.”

“Well, if Winny is the one cooking it, then I’ll definitely at least give it a try.”

Kaya scoffed. “What, you won’t eat it if I’m the one cooking it? I’ll have you know I often cooked for Winny, too.”

Eirwen nodded. “Kaya’s a good cook too, Nick. You can definitely count on her to grill, and that’s going to be most of what I make here in the Ordeal. I got a few more stew bases in the pack, but we won’t always have access to water. I should have made a stew with the pond here, but wolf and wollywompus is really better this way.”

They ate, and Nick really enjoyed the food as he absorbed the essence from the Ordeal and his meal. He fell in a bit of a trance, and noticed that Eirwen and Kaya did, too. He felt it really helped him enjoy the meal further, though the food was gone long before he was truly done absorbing the essence.

Eventually, Eirwen made a pleased sound. “There! Level 3. There sure was a lot of essence, I don’t think I even absorbed half yet!”

“So what do you get now? The carry weight thing?”

“Yup! Now that pack will be light for me. Look!”

She moved over to her pack, and lifted up the bulky thing with just one arm easily. Though, looking at her arm, he started to notice something.

Nick frowned as he looked Eirwen up and down. She seemed to blush at his gaze. “W-What is it, Nick?”

“Are you already getting some weight back? You were looking a bit underweight before, but it’s only been a day, and I could swear you put on maybe five or ten pounds. Some muscle, too. You’re looking great, Winny.”

Kaya had a wide smile as she hugged her from the side and seemed to inspect her. “He’s right, Winny! You look really healthy now. This is wonderful!”

She blushed some more. “T-Thanks? The Body Essence isn’t for nothing, it enriches our body’s muscles and imbues us with strength. I might not have had much to work with, but each level should help a lot!”

Nick looked over both of the girls. It was subtle, but even Kaya’s arms and legs looked like they had a little more definition on them. “Damn, does that mean every high-level gal is gonna be fine as hell? Though, are they gonna become all buff like?”

He flexed his bicep as if to show what he meant, and he thought he saw Winny give a dreamy stare. Even Kaya looked impressed as she answered, “They can, but I think women by default are going to have higher flexibility and a focus on different types of muscles than men. We have a higher base of agility, which makes for smaller, tightly-packed muscles. Higher-level men and women are certainly more attractive than lower-level ones.”

“Alright, well, I think I’ve gotten the hang of absorbing essence on the go. Let’s try to get one more Soul Mend in, now that you ate, Eirwen?”

Eirwen smiled. “Sure! Thanks, Nick.”

She came over to him, and he once again inspected her soul with his eyes, and reached out with his Advanced Soul Sense.

He noticed that her soul sphere was much smoother, like his own and Kaya’s. It was like a layer had grown over the other one, and flattened it out. Perhaps leveling was like adding layers to a jaw breaker, or something?

“Wow! I guess leveling up helps a lot, Winny. Let’s see how this helps. Soul Mend!”

Nick watched as his spell entered the soul sphere, and sure enough, it smoothed it out even further. It grew minutely in response, and Nick had a hard time telling that there was anything wrong with it now.

Eirwen smiled. “That felt great! I still have some Essence to absorb, too. I wanted to practice a little more with the crossbow before I took my own bath.”

“Sounds good.” He looked over to Kaya, who seemed to be quite happy about their interaction. “You wanna get some transformation practice in, Kaya? We got a little more light outside here.”

Kaya gave a sad smile, as she looked at his shoulder. “I’d like to. I don’t want to hurt anything I care about with it again.”