Eritance - Chapter 19
I felt like I was dreaming. This was a contrast from what I normally was able to eat. Unsurprisingly, being a field worker without a family doesn’t pay that much. To be exact, it didn’t pay anything at all. I was working for shelter and for food. Money was something that I could only get by hunting animals and selling them, the same was true for meat. Sometimes the lord would provide trash meat for us during special holidays, but our diets mainly consisted of milk, bread, cheese, and some cabbage. The portions were quite meager at that.
To be able to eat so much meat at once was truly a dream come true. I savored every bite, and even licked the bowl and plate when I was finally done. I burped and sat there in the after glow of that happy feast.
After sitting there with my belly full for a few minutes I slapped my cheeks and got back to work. Or, that’s what I intended. However, I noticed a door to another room that I hadn’t paid attention to before. I decided to check it out first, and inside I found a small bathroom.
The bathroom wasn’t as nice as the one at the lord’s mansion, but it had access to water from a nearby spring, so I could take a hot bath as well. Hot baths, or even baths in general don’t come easy to the poor. So, without thinking, I stripped down and immediately jumped in.
I really felt like I was living in the lap of luxury at this point. I felt that, if I could just stay here, all my problems would melt away, and I could live happily ever after. However, one detail brought me back to reality. It was the 100 gold I had to spend to get here. I sighed and thought that the life I wanted was too elusive, but I wouldn’t give up that easily.
I really believe that if you are strong enough, you can make you dreams come true. Not everyone has the strength though, or the opportunities, but I was given one, and I will find my independence with it.
After soaking in the bath for nearly an hour I decided it was time to come out. I was feeling extremely relaxed. After drying myself off I walked over to the bed and began to meditate again.
I wanted to find that feeling again, that wisp of smoke that will draw me to the power of beast relic inside of me. This time, I found the trail a lot faster than I did before. I think it was probably because I found it once before, so it would naturally be easier to find again in a quicker manner of time.
Slowly the trail grew thicker with energy as I focused deeply. After around two hours of meditating I did it. I found the source of my power. I thought finding it would only yield me the ability to move the power into my jerkin, but there were added benefits that I didn’t know before.
In my mind I envisioned a vessel, and in the vessel the power was about two thirds of the way full. I realized this was me. It was how much power the current me could absorb. I had a feeling that absorbing anymore power than this would have negative effects on my body, as well as leak out of me quickly. After all, a cup cannot hold more water just because you pour more inside of it.
After coming to this realization, I interacted with the power to figure out how to draw it out and focus it. After some time, I was finally slowly able to lead it out of the source and move it through my body. Several tens of minutes passed, and I was finally able to focus the power that I had gained into my hands.
After focusing it into my hands I gently pushed it outward into the dragon leather. I slowly imbued my power into the old dragon leather. It felt like I was pouring power into an endless abyss. It seemed like the power I had would not be enough to fill up the dragon leather. After some time, the process was done. I instantly felt much weaker. “Ross”. “Agh, must you always bother me Orin?” he responded. “What is the state of my body right now?”
With that Ross sent my stats to me.
Orin Strength 1 Speed 1 Stamina 1
I see, so I really hadn’t been anything special before. After that, I took the jerkin and examined it. It had slight changes to it. Before, the black leather was cracked and faded, but now the webbed cracks had lessened, and it seemed a bit blacker. “It is an effect of imbuing it with power, eventually you will be able to restore its original state, you might even be able to make it stronger than when it was still apart of the black dragon’s body” Ross said.
I decided to put it on to see if the process really worked. After donning the jerkin, I immediately felt power flood back into me. I felt just as I had before. I was glad that I had a way to get around my limits of what I could hold, but it also saddened me a bit that if I ever found myself in a situation where the items broke, or I didn’t have them, I would be helpless.
“Ross is there any way to exceed my limits?”. “Of course, there is you dolt. If your body wasn’t so weak, you could hold a lot more power. If you train your body and strengthen in naturally, it will naturally be able to hold more power. You could also find certain materials and items that will help strengthen your body as well” he said. “Although the beast warrior tribe was powerful, one of their greatest strengths was that they could strengthen their allies. Don’t forget that” Ross said.
“Yeah, no thanks. I don’t plan on joining any causes. I’m okay with just making myself stronger. I don’t want to be involved in this world’s conflicts”.