Chương 16: Chapter 15 - Soul Cores and Friends

It didn't take Elowen long to finish dressing Ren's wound. With the river's constant rushing beside them, the regal elf worked until she quickly ran out of her makeshift bandage, leading to more cuts being made to her robe. This resulted in it reaching just past her knees as opposed to her ankles.

"Ok," Elowen said, brushing her hands together as she admired her work.

"All done!" Ren reached down to grab his bloody tunic and slipped it on with constant pain. Between the half-healed bite punctures on his arm, the fresh wound on his shoulder, and the large purple bruises that covered most of his chest, he was hurting quite badly.

"Thank you," he said truthfully.

"I'm not sure what I would've done without you."

"I-it's the least I could do," the regal elf responded sheepishly, playing with the end of a pointed ear.

"Besides! It was my fault you got hurt in the first place..."

"Let's collect the Soul Cores and keep going," she continued, already moving towards the largest monster corpse.

"I'll get the hobgoblin's, you fetch the one from the goblin you killed." Ren complied and walked to where the small, knobbly corpse laid near the river. Red blood was still seeping from its neck onto the pebbles that made up the shore, and flies as well as other insects had begun swarming the body already. In the centre of its chest, a small cloudy crystal, no bigger than his fist, had formed.' And we're supposed to eat these?' Ren mused hesitantly as he bent down to pick the white Soul Core up.

Cooking up a meal didn't sound so bad right about.' But that will have to wait,' he thought, turning around and walking back toward Elowen. From his years as a shepherd, Ren knew better than most that fresh corpses had a way of drawing larger predators, and he had no idea what other monsters lurked within the fog of that eerie forest. The regal elf straightened with three Soul Core in her arms just as Ren arrived next her. Though one was different from the rest.

It was larger and less of a cloudy white than the other ones.

"What's wrong with that one?" Ren asked her, pointing at the odd crystal.

"What's wrong...?" Elowen repeated, following his finger.

"Oh! Nothing is wrong, this one is the hobgoblin's Soul Core so it's bound to be bigger."

"And why is that?"

"Because it's an Ascended ranked monster, that's why," the regal elf said like it was supposed to be obvious, "so its Soul Core has purer essence inside." Elowen then nodded towards the smaller white crystals in her arms, "These cores are from Awakened ranked monsters, hence why they're smaller."

"Right, ok," Ren said, nodding and sorting the information away for later, "that makes sense."

"Here, we will each get half," Elowen continued as she handed him the larger Soul Core.

"You take the hobgoblin's core. You deserve that much."

"Thank you," Ren responded, staring at the stone now resting in his palm. He truly was thankful… but also still completely unsure what to do with it. Fortunately for him, Elowen demonstrated their proper use when she crushed the two remaining Soul Cores in her possession, causing white wisps to pour out and crawl up her arm like smoke before sinking into her chest. Once she was done, the regal elf breathed out heavily, looking refreshed and relaxed.

Upon seeing this, Ren shrugged and did the same to the hobgoblin Soul Core first. The stone crumbled instantly, and threads of essence raced up his arm and into his chest. The moment they did, pain detonated through him. It burned through his veins and muscles like ice-cold fire, the shock of it so sudden that he had to grit his teeth just to endure it.

"Damn—" Elowen gave him a confused look.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Ren said quickly, even as the ache still rang through him. Before he could think too much about it, he crushed the smaller core as well. The pain was less this time, but still noticeable. Elowen blinked at him, still clearly puzzled by his reactions.

"Ok," she said slowly.

"Um, now check your status for changes." Ren did as she instructed, summoning the white words and watching as they wove themselves into existence in front of him. [Aethersoul Ren] [Rank: Awakened] [Dominion: -] [Soul Power: Soul Shepherd] [Soul Saturation Level: 3/1000] [Soul Attributes: Accelerated Regeneration, Survival Instincts] [Soul Attunements: -]"There should be a change in your Soul Saturation Level," Elowen explained as he read the words.

"I can't read your status, so only you can confirm."' She's right,' Ren thought, clenching and unclenching his fist. There were now three points toward it and he swore he could feel a difference.

"And because the hobgoblin is a monster of a higher rank than you," she continued, raising a finger as she did, "you would've gotten more out of its core." Ren nodded, understanding settling into place.

"Let's get going now," Elowen said, already turning and continuing along downstream.

"The smell of blood might draw in more monsters."

"I was thinking the same thing," Ren agreed, glancing briefly toward the eerie forest before his gaze drifted down to the bloody cleaver lying on the ground, the one that had been lodged in his shoulder only moments ago. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"It's better than nothing," he muttered, staring at it for a moment before picking it up. Even though he had no real training to use it, or any experience with weapons similar, just having it with him made him feel safer now that his dagger had been shattered in pieces. Ren quickly wiped the blood from the blade onto his pants before securing it in his belt. Then he jogged to catch up with Elowen, leaving the bloody scene behind.

"Should we try and hunt something to eat?" he asked her as soon as he caught up.

"Soon," Elowen responded, not even sparing him a glance.

"Let's get farther away, then we can think about finding stuff to eat." Ren gave a resolute nod.

"Fine by me." He could hold on a lot longer, this wasn't the first time he'd gone a few hours without food. As it turned out, Ren and Elowen had rather different definitions of the word "soon," because it wasn't until the sun had begun to set that the regal elf finally said anything.

"Let's make camp here," she announced proudly once they reached a small patch of grass that overlooked the river. The water was much calmer this far downstream, but the actual body was still very deep and wide so neither of them had even suggested crossing yet. Ren looked around at the place Elowen had picked out before frowning.

"Don't you think this is a little to open?"

"I mean," he continued, gesturing widely back the way they came, "we still don't know if there are demons tracking us or not." In the distance, large pillars of smoke continued to rise from the village they'd escaped from the night previous, clearly visible even from how far out the two of them had come. Elowen watched the smoke rise and frowned.

"Are you suggesting we make camp in the forest?" Ren nodded.

"It would help hide our fire, and it worked well enough last night," he said. Just then a cold gust of wind swept past, finding its way through every hole in his ruined, blood-stained tunic and making him shiver.

"Not to mention we'd be better sheltered from the wind."

"Hmm, you make a good point," the regal elf mused, pulling a hand up to her chin in thought, "but there could be all manners of threats in the forest, we can't know for sure if it's safe..."

"I'd rather risk a couple more goblins than an entire demon incursion to be honest," Ren said with a shrug, which he instantly regretted when the wound in his shoulder exploded with pain.

"Besides, we don't have any fishing gear, so the creepy forest is our only chance for a proper meal."

"Hmm," Elowen hummed again, falling into a thoughtful silence, leaving only the sounds of the rushing river and the rustling canopy nearby to echo out around them.

"Ok," she said eventually.

"We will head into the forest and find a suitable place to camp. But we won't go too far into the forest, as the leader, I cannot meaninglessly risk the lives of my party members""Perfect," Ren replied happily, grateful to get out of the wind that seemed to be picking up. He turned and walked directly towards the eerie forest that had loomed beside them the entire day.

"Let's go quickly so we're not looking for firewood and food in the dark." Elowen quickly followed and ran in front as the forest swallowed them completely the moment they stepped beneath its canopy. Mist still clung low to the ground, coiling around their ankles and pooling between the roots, thick enough that Ren couldn't quite make out where he was placing his feet.

It was significantly worse here compared to around the stump they'd slept in last night, making him wonder if something was different about this part. The fading light did little to help navigation either, the last of the sun barely filtering through the tangled branches above. It was quiet too, unnervingly so. No birdsong, no rustle of small creatures in the underbrush, nothing but the muffled crunch of their own footsteps and the steady murmur of the river at their backs.

Ren kept that sound close, careful never to let it fade entirely, using it as a tether so they wouldn't lose their way in the eeriness. They pressed on like that for a while, Ren scanning the shadows for anything that might serve as shelter the entire time, until at last he spotted it. An old tree, massive and long dead, had toppled over some untold number of years ago.

Its roots had torn up a great mound of earth when fell, and time had hollowed the space beneath into a shallow, sheltered nook, half-covered by the trunk and the moss that had since claimed it.

"There," Ren whispered, nodding toward it.

"That'll do nicely." He wasn't sure why he was whispering, but it felt right to do so. Apparently it was the right thing to do, because before Elowen could even answer, a large rabbit-like animal came bounding out of the sheltered nook. What struck Ren as strange about this rabbit was the pair of antlers sprouting from its head, and the fact that it was easily three times the size of the ordinary hares he was used too back in Xantris.

"A jackalope!" Elowen whispered excitedly as she immediately crouched down, pulling Ren behind some brush with her.

"An Awakened ranked monster in the Fae family, known for its ability to create minor illusions to disorient predators. Unfortunately, the Beast-class intelligence it possesses limits its ability to utilise this unique power at will. They are highly territorial after claiming or making a burrow of their own."

Ren glanced over curiously at the regal elf, wondering why she'd started spieling off details about this rabbit-looking animal, only to find her icy blue eyes sparkling with delight as she watched the little monster hop about just outside the sheltered nook.' Have I found something that interests her?' he thought, turning his attention back to the jackalope.

"Can we eat it?"

"Eat it?!" Elowen whisper shouted, shocked he would even suggest such a thing.

"Shhh!" he responded, quickly pulling a finger to his lips before checking the jackalope didn't run away. After seeing its ears twitch once before it went back to nibbling on the grass, Ren relaxed.

"Yes eat it. It looks rabbit enough and I'm hungry."

"I-I guess it is edible..." the regal elf said hesitantly, turning her attention back to the grazing monster as well, "both my teacher and my books say it is but I've never eaten it personally."

"That's good enough," Ren responded, his mouth already watering at the thought of the monster's succulent meat melting in his mouth.

"Summon one of your icicle thingies then launch it at its head!" Elowen hesitated again, but his enthusiasm won her over, and the surrounding temperature dropped slightly as sizeable chunk of ice began to form beside her. The jackalope was far too slow to react to the incoming projectile. Not even its supposed illusion magic could save it from its head being obliterated in an instant by the speeding chunk of ice.

"Yes!" Ren said happily, basically jumping with anticipation as he ran towards the corpse.

"Nice shot Elowen!"

"You prepare the meat and I'll make a fire going! Feel free to consume its Soul Core as well!" This time, the promise of meat had Ren working exceptionally fast and efficiently, and soon enough a fire flickered to life in the sheltered nook. He then sharpened a few sticks into skewers and threaded on the jackalope meat that Elowen had cut, the smell of it cooking soon filling the little space.

"Can I ask you something?" Ren said, turning the meat slowly as they sat around the fire. The sun had fully set now, and everything beyond the reach of the firelight lay shrouded in darkness.

"You may," Elowen said with a nod as she watched the jackalope meat.

"If you like monsters so much, why'd you get so excited over that jackalope but not the goblins earlier?"

"Because I only like the cute ones," the regal elf replied simply.

"I find learning about them interesting, but goblins are neither cute nor interesting." Ren huffed a quiet laugh. That certainly explained why she'd shown the vicious little creatures none of the fascination she'd lavished on the large, antlered rabbit. After a while, he moved to pull the meat from the flames, only for Elowen to stop him at once.

"Not yet! Jackalope meat needs to cook for exactly twenty minutes, no less. It's only been eighteen."

"Trust me," Ren said with a grin, lifting it free regardless. She frowned but relented, and when they finally bit in, the meat was tender and delicious.

"This is wonderful," Elowen admitted, surprised.

"This isn't what my teacher told me to do, where did you learn that?"

"My sister, actually. She taught me this secret cooking technique for rabbit meat back home. I just hoped it'd work on jackalopes too." Elowen's frown returned, though a smile tugged stubbornly at her lips.

"You tricked me!"

"I was right though!" Ren tried to defend himself. They both fell into laughter, the sound light and warm against the quiet eeriness of the forest. But then Ren's gaze fell to the bracelet on his wrist, and the humour drained from his face.' Don't lose sight of what you need to do,'he thought, refocusing himself.' Focus on getting back to Yumè.'

"Ren?" Elowen asked, noticing the shift.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," he said quickly. The words had barely left his mouth when in the corner of his eye, in the darkness beyond the fire, a shadowy silhouette shifted and something large approached their camp in the sheltered nook.