Chapter 41-Empowerment

Author’s note: By the time this is uploaded, chapters 1-3 should be rewritten, so feel free to reread them! Also, if you have made it this far, you can support me here

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Tasim entered a rustic-looking building, the floor creaking beneath him. An elderly man was governing the store, and once Tasim took a glance and realized he was another elderly man, he soon became frustrated.

“Why are there so many old people in my life?” Tasim sighed loudly as he began to look around.

“You said that aloud, son.”

Tasim covered his mouth and just kept looking around, trying to forget that he ever said that. He soon found a simple leather collar and a chain leash for a medium-sized mutt and bought it for a silver.

“Have a good one, son. Try not to disrespect your elders.”

Tasim sighed under his breath and left the decrepit building. Soon returning to the house he was trying to get away from. And as he glanced at the dog, it too glanced at him. Locking eyes, locking sweet, loving eyes with dark, cold eyes. Though the cold eyes wavered as the loving ones became locked on them. The cold eyes shook, wanting to soften, but the owner kept them cold, trying to harbor no feelings towards the dog. But in the end, the dark, cold eyes fell, becoming those of a stone statue. They felt nothing, no ill feelings such as annoyance or hatred, but also contained no love or care.

The owner of the once cold eyes, Tasim, just approached the dog and simply attached the collar to the weak creature.

“I’m going away, you belong to them now. So be a good dog and take care of them.” The words were devoid of emotion, yet the dog understood.

The creature barked in response and began to pant. Tasim set the leash right in front of the door, on the top step to the entrance, and the dog sat at the bottom, facing into the wilderness as if protecting the home now.

The owner of the cold pair of eyes made his way back to the dog and said two simple words.

“Good girl.”

The dog barked once, watching as its ‘owner’ began to walk away slowly. The dog now had a purpose, but still felt sad as the one it loved left. Despite not truly understanding the human language, it understood tone, it knew what to do, SHE knew what to do. Her purpose now- was to protect the home of Master Chi and his wife, the people who cared for Tasim.

Tasim walked away without even looking back or thinking twice. The moment of softness he just felt for the dog was already wiped from his memory, and his heart was back to being as cold as stone that raked in the dark moonlight of the night.

As Tasim walked away, he began to think about what to do next. He wanted to actually start an adventure and grow stronger. First, he needed coin, lots of coin. His current plan to acquire such coin was to sell his share of the artifacts from the dungeon, but first, he needed to open his share of the scrolls, the singular scroll that he was given, which was undeciphered. He pulled it out of his spatial ring and opened it. What he saw shocked him.

Tasim - Marked

Vitality: Low

Will: Brown

Resonance: None

Title: None

Echoes: Nature’s Call

Compendiums: none

Echo Description, Nature’s call: This is an echo belonging to a beautiful entity who was once a powerful mage, clad in her signature red, silken dress. Nature’s Call allows the owner of the echo to connect with any living entity, unwilling or not, and cause a disruption in their body. Causing extreme growth or regression up to any point. The owner of the echo must have more mana than the one they use it on. This echo can only be used once.

Echo Condition: Unusable

Tasim gasped aloud, truly shocked to his core as he read. These were similar to the runes he had read in the dungeon, but now they had new information. He was now something called ‘marked,’ and he had something called an echo. These two things made no sense to him, but if it were to be true, he could now use the echo once and disrupt someone or something. Maybe even cause an adult to regress to who they were before becoming a mage, or maybe cause rapid acceleration in their growth and cause them to become an elderly person whose knees were weak and maybe even bedridden. Despite the echo saying it was currently unusable, he still wanted to find a way to use it.

Tasim’s mind flowed, thinking of new ways to use this ability, but in the end, he determined to save it for a scenario in which his life may be at stake. It seemed extremely powerful, but then his thoughts trailed off, thinking of the others.

‘I wonder if those three have something similar now. And what is a compendium?’

Tasim began to wonder; he knew the definition of a compendium, a collection of detailed information on a specific subject, but he had no idea what these runes meant. Tasim decided that for now, he would think about it later. He wanted to somehow obtain more of these echoes, and he needed to get his rings from Astrape and sell them to earn some coin. Tasim knew it was out of his control, so he went to a simple tavern and ordered some food.

***

Anemone sat up in her comfortable bed, the wooden boards creaking as she did. Tossing her feather-filled pillow to the side, Anemone grabbed the spatial ring she sat on the bedside table and put it on. She pulled out multiple scrolls that she had acquired. One scroll with a black string, which she was told would give her the ability to repair any clothing item she wore through the use of mana. A scroll with a red string, which was for cleaning garments of debris and any filth. A scroll with a green string, which should give her the ability to rapidly increase the development of plant life, similarly to a biomancer, the other plant-related scroll, which had a red and black string, was to decipher all plant and fungus life. The final scroll, with a blue string, was undeciphered, and Anemone decided to save it for last.

For now, Anemone undressed and put on her new, elegant dress which was a white dress, hanging down to above her ankles, which had black accents that hung near the countours of the dress. The part that she loved the most was the blooming flowers filling the open area of the dress; she wasn’t too excited for the corsette that may hug her waist too tightly, but she did like the fact that she was able to loosen the strings tied to it.

Once the dress was put on, she could feel her stomach being pressed upon slightly, which wasn’t too much of a bother, but she could sense that the dress that she now wore made her look all the more pretty and infatuating, but who was she trying to impress? Deep down, she didn’t know if this was for her or to try to make other women jealous, but she didn’t care. Anemone loosened the corsette slightly to allow her lungs to expand with more comfort.

She then opened the first scroll with a black string. A sense of power began to boil inside her; the words that were written on the scroll simply flowed into her mind without her needing to read. The power that was described within soon became apart of her. And as it did, each word drifted off the page, dispersing into thin air. The power within her just began to grow; she didn’t know if the feeling lasted so long as the power to repair garments was that rare and indispensable or if her mana capacity was somehow growing, but it turned out to be the former.

‘Common’ spells are actually some of the least sought after, but these spells inscribed within these scrolls were actually some of the most powerful. The ability to repair any garment one wears, with the simple cost being mana, was extremely powerful. Anemone thought of many possibilities, some of which were simple, some were meaningful and could be of great help, such as the thought that an enemy could shoot at her, not knowing where her body is under the dress, and instead of the dress slowly wearing down and being cut away to show more of her flesh, it would recover, keeping her skin undetected. Which in turn could cause the enemy to miss her vitals, or more importantly, could keep her from losing an entire limb.

Now all she needed was the ability to make garments as hard as steel, but keeping the ability to blow with the breeze.

‘That’s impossible though, I’m not that lucky.’ Anemone sighed as she grabbed the next scroll, before shouting internally. ‘Wait! I need to test it out first.’

Anemone grabbed the knife she had with her at all times and cut a minuscule piece off the bottom, which no one would notice. She then struggled, but eventually had her mana flow to the piece where it had broken off, and it magically regrew. Her solution to getting mana to the piece of the elegant dress was focusing her mana in her hand as if she were to cast a spell, but instead of holding nothing in her hand, she held the dress. Meaning for now, her only way to repair her clothes was to touch the spot that was torn.

Anemone held the scroll with the red string, untying it, and watched it fall open. The same feeling filled her once again, filling her with incredible power, causing immense joy. She loved the feeling of growing stronger, and now, she was. Once again, though, once the overwhelming change settled down, she didn’t know immediately if the ability to wash garments was true or if it was something else.

To figure it out, Anemone walked outside the tavern and walked off the main road until she found some dirt. Despite the dirty looks and random whistles she was given by some men, she was content and happy with herself. Anemone bent her knees and picked up some dirt. Instead of tossing it all over herself, she used her finger and painted a straight streak across the bottom portion, near the black accents. She then shook her dress to try to get some out, then used the back of her hand to get some more. She did this to ensure the remaining dirt wasn’t just knocked off by her putting her hand over the patch, and instead, she wanted to guarantee it was cleaned by the spell.

Anemone inhaled deeply, held her breath for a few seconds, then exhaled, calming her rapidly beating heart. She then focused her mana in her hand, which needed a few moments, then thought of the spell, imagined the dirt on her dress disappearing, and vanished. After a few more moments, her hand was removed, and there was no more dirt. Anemone jumped with glee, but quickly settled down as people began to stare.

Anemone coughed twice, then retrieved the scroll with the red and black tie, which was for distinguishing plant life. The young lady then walked into the woods, not too far from the trail, so that she wasn’t in danger. Then, she spread the scroll, and the same feeling filled her once again, an empowering aura permeating through her. Anemone looked at an assortment of weeds, mushrooms, flowers, and many types of plant life and fungi, but she couldn’t defer a single one. Despite the incredible authority she just felt as though she gained. She didn’t actually gain power. Anemone’s mind began to race.

‘Why didn’t it work? Did she lie to me? What is wrong? How do I get this to work? Do I need to use mana as well? DO I PUT MANA IN MY EYES? How? How how how?’ Anemone unknowingly began to pace, stomping weeds down into the dirt. ‘How do I put mana in my eyes? Whatever. I’ll deal with it later.’ Anemone opened the second-to-last scroll, which would help her bloom all types of plantlife and fungi.