After walking all the way to the building in the center in silence, which Sofia felt took an eternity. Valeure had her sit on a couch on a platform overlooking the arena. Meanwhile, she herself simply sat mid-air, legs crossed, in front of the couch.
I’m so lost. Maybe I should have stuck to searching for information through books. Why did we need to come all the way up here again? I can’t tell what she thinks at all… Is there any way I can escape if this goes wrong?
“Want a drink?” The woman asked, summoning a small table with a few steaming cups.
“I’m not thirsty, thank you.”
“Suit yourself, then, it’s there if you change your mind. Now let’s see, my guess is that you somehow earned a passive specialization during your first trial, chose [Armor of Runes] as a specialty, and picked a bone or death related path,” the Wind Saintess guessed with narrowed eyes. “Very impressive. I might have picked [Pristine Spirit Body] instead but I understand your choice. You did well in not choosing the blessing or avatar skill,” she added with a smile.
‘[Poker Face] reached level 19’
‘[Poker Face] reached level 20’
‘[Poker Face] reached level 21’
‘[Poker Face] reached level 22’
‘[Poker Face] reached level 23’What the hell is going on with the poker face?!!!
Oh, so I was right about the passive points. That’s a very very good misunderstanding on her part. Extremely good.
Now let’s be a bit smart. I can’t lie to her. I should assume she can detect lies. I don’t even know. She’s so high level it wouldn't surprise me, she can hypnotize people by just speaking so... Let’s stray away from the subject of what I actually picked.
“May I ask why I should not have picked those?”
The smile on Valeure’s face faded.
“You shouldn’t get too involved with your patron God. They use you and you use Them. Any shift in that relationship is dangerous. Even more so with your God… Also I would suggest ditching [Summon Hero] for anything else as soon as you can, if that isn’t already done.”
“Thank you for the advice. I already do not have [Summon Hero]. But can you explain the reasoning behind this?”
“Why would you ask? I’m sure you know, if you already got rid of it, it’s a useless skill. It does nothing to increase your power. At best it makes you a valuable political tool. Let me tell you this, Sofia, I have never, in my thousand years of spying on everyone, ever seen a Saint get the fourth filter and still had this ungodly joke of a skill cluttering their slots.”
Sofia nodded along during the explanation.
“Do you know what the next skills I will get are? You seem to be very knowledgeable about it.”
“I do know a bit. But why would I tell you?” Valeure answered, cocking her head to the side. She was acting confused but she still had a smirk on her face.
Is she playing with me or a terrible actor? Why would you bring me here if you’re not going to help?!
“Do you want gold?” Sofia tried hesitantly.
“Gold? What am I going to do with more gold?” the fox woman lazily waved her hand. Piles upon piles of gold appeared behind her, forming a small mountain that overflowed, pouring into the stepped rows of seats below.
‘[Poker Face] reached level 24’
‘[Poker Face] reached level 25’
Sofia gulped. No need to rub it in my face, woman!
“What do you need from me, then? I’m nothing but a low level saint. I could barely escape the Church. I don’t see what I could do for you that you couldn’t accomplish yourself…”
“Now, now, don’t sell yourself so cheap. You have amassed plenty of interesting things I would trade for, I’m certain. Your levels didn’t come by themselves. What I want is entertainment,” she turned oddly serious, “You give me interesting objects, information, show me something new. You lessen my boredom and I’ll help you. A fair trade between two people in need.” Crossing her arms, she leaned back and stared at Sofia. The lively and inquisitive Valeure that Sofia had interacted with until now was nowhere to be seen anymore. She looked dead inside.
She’s fucking terrifying! Somebody help!
‘[Poker Face] reached level 26’
What the fuck do I do? Entertaining things? Is this where it helps to have the [Trickster] class?! What is interesting or new to be a thousand year old monster?
Oh. Yeah that’s exactly her problem, isn’t it…
“Don’t panic now, I won’t eat you even if you have nothing to offer,” Valeure said before taking a sip of one of the cup that had floated to her hand, “If it really comes down to it I can humor your questions for free now, since I already invited you here. It wouldn’t do to let you leave empty handed. But you will have to pay me back later.”
“No need, I should have some things… For sure… Though I appreciate the offer, I dislike debts.”
“Who doesn’t? Take your time then.”
Hmm… I have plenty of weird things so… But how much should I reveal? Help and advice from someone this strong is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and exactly what I came here for. Do I bring out the big skills from the start? No, I guess I should keep the best for the end. But I can’t show her stuff that’s too mundane either or she won’t give a shit… Then…
“Something unusual happened with the trial towers when I was there, do you know about it already?”
“A king flame crab destroyed the islands, not very amusing.” Valeure sounded quite uninterested.
Holy. What? Okay no time to dwell on this. Better not talk about the archangel just in case, and talking about the safehouses is forbidden by the system… What else…
Actually.
“Sorry but before we really trade… Can you explain what you would have done if I didn’t resist your Hypnosis? I find it hard to trust you…”
“What, you’re still stuck on that? You would have kneeled and thought I was the incarnation of beauty for a few seconds. You heard it, didn’t you? There’s nothing more to it,” she explained. Then to illustrate, she pointed at one of the small foxes that was running around the arena, “Do a flip!”
The fox jumped and performed a front-flip before landing and resuming his run.
Then she pointed at herself “Do a flip!”
Sofia could see Valeure’s eyes glaze over, she hugged her tail with both arms and also performed a front-flip, still floating in the air. And then she was back to normal.
Did she really hypnotize herself?!
“See. And I can’t even use it twice, just have a look.”
[Whispering winds] : Imbues a sentence with mana, inflicting [Hypnosis] on up to 500 (1*skill level) chosen targets in hearing range. They will strive to complete the order given for up to 3000 (6*skill level) seconds or until the order is accomplished. Orders that explicitly go against the target’s convictions are much more likely to fail getting accomplished.
Costs 100 mana per word in the sentence for each target.
Cannot be used on the same target twice in less than 10 hours.
“Reassured yet? I understand you would be insecure, if only from the gap in power between us, but you’re the one who sought me out for help, aren’t you?” complained the fox woman, while doing more flips.
I- Alright, yeah. Well. Let’s see how much I can trust her then.
“I stole this while escaping the church,” Sofia said as she took the [Saint’s pride] out of her storage ring.
I don’t even care if she steals it. Who cares about halved aging? Not me, I’ve seen what Kuli looks like without it! But it’s a rare Saint exclusive item. Depending on her reaction I’m out of here.
The vision of the golden headband actually made Valeure smirk ever so slightly as she stopped rolling around in place.
“That’s cute. It was mine at some point, here take this one too, supposedly the full set is really strong, but don’t get your hopes up, you’ll never get it,” she answered, summoning a long golden sash that she threw at Sofia.
NO WAY! Wait, is it gold or silk? This is confusing.
[Saint’s touch] : A Saint is a master of the divine ways. Double the Saint’s defense against physical projectiles. Part of a seven piece set.
Item level : 80. Grade : Ancient.
Somehow… This sounds a bit disgusting.
She would give away something this strong like that though? Hmm… I kind of get why someone that high-level wouldn’t care for physical projectiles… I can’t imagine anyone hurting her with an arrow…
“Why can I never get the full set?”
To which the only answer was the fox woman slightly tilting up her chin, with narrowed eyes and a big smile.
I need to pay, uh?
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