Chapter 198: A Goddamn Molehill
// Third Person POV
The western forest felt older than the southern routes.
Less travelled, less alive, with large wildlife too.
The trees here grew taller and closer together, their branches tangling overhead tightly enough that entire sections of the forest floor sat in permanent twilight despite the sun still hanging high above the horizon.
No roads cut through this part of the wilderness.
No caravans passed through.
Even the magic beasts were fewer here, likely because anything with survival instincts avoided getting too close to the Outsider territory farther west.
Which, honestly, was fair.
Standing in the middle of a clearing surrounded by those towering trees, Peko calmly operated the Party Module floating before her.
Meanwhile, Nico stood directly behind her shoulder sipping a strawberry smoothie through a straw while watching the total credits climb higher and higher with increasingly visible concern.
[Damn...] Nico thought while leaning slightly closer to inspect the list better. [Peko barely buys anything from the System... and when she finally does, she damn near empties the vault...]
And so the cart kept growing.
And every item added somehow looked more cursed than the previous one.
Which was impressive considering one of them appeared to be a literal powdered spiritual failure.
As Nico stepped closer for a better look at the descriptions, Peko immediately noticed the shift in proximity.
The heat coming off his body brushed against her back.
And her heartbeat quickened that very instant.
Yet nothing appeared on her face while she continued ’calmly’ scrolling through the ritual materials like a woman shopping for groceries instead of assembling what looked like the starter kit for becoming a regional threat.
-Ding!
{
Cart:
Veinroot Wick x1 (Rarity: Rare)
Item Description:
Organic ritual wick braided from the preserved arteries of thirteen unjustly executed maidens. Produces a null-flame that suppresses ambient light and increases shadow-affinity mana conductivity by 340%.
Prolonged exposure may result in autonomous hostile shadow movement.
Price:
22,000 Credits
-------------
Saint Veyra’s Last Tear x1 (Rarity: Epic)
Item Description:
Crystalized sorrow of a deceased Tier 9 Saint-Class entity during terminal spiritual collapse upon witnessing the afterlife.
Weakens psychological barriers and increases soul-layer visibility.
Auditory, Visual, and Spiritual hallucinations are a documented side effect.
Price:
31,000 Credits
-------------
Ossuary Soil (Rarity: Rare)
Item Description:
Necrotic ritual medium collected from mass-death zones with unresolved spiritual saturation.
Enhances retention stability during forced memory extraction and reduces information degradation.
Physical contact is discouraged.
Price:
18,000 Credits
-------------
Tongue of the Penitent Choir x1 (Rarity: Epic)
Item Description:
Fused vocal-organ cluster harvested from a synchronized sacrifice involving 117 poeople firmly believing in the power of truth.
Amplifies involuntary truth-response impulses in targets, diseased or alive, and improves subconscious memory surfacing efficiency.
Direct ingestion is fatal.
Price:
36,000 Credits
-------------
Hollow Eye of Erzakar (Rarity: Epic)
Item Description:
Petrified ocular organ recovered from an unidentified abyssal entity designated: ERZAKAR.
Facilitates observation of suppressed cognitive layers and fragmented mnemonic structures during invasive ritual procedures.
Extended eye contact is not recommended.
Price:
29,000 Credits
-------------
Ashes of the Unreturned 10 Grams (Rarity: Rare)
Item Description:
Residual ash generated from failed resurrection attempts involving incomplete soul reintegration.
Creates localized spiritual suppression fields and reduces hostile spirit-resistance during corpse-bound rituals.
Temperature reduction upon activation is expected.
Price:
14,000 Credits
-------------
Total: 150,000 Credits
Would you like to confirm the purchase?
}
Nico stared at the list in silence for several long seconds while slowly sipping the smoothie.
Then he looked toward Peko.
Then back toward the list.
Then back toward Peko again.
"I’m starting to understand why Dark Magic gets such terrible reviews..." he muttered.
Peko gave him a brief glance before returning her attention to the cart.
"Hollow Eye of Erzakar is not consumable," she said evenly. "We can resell it afterward and recover part of the expense."
"Or..." Nico tilted his head slightly while sipping the smoothie again, "We can keep it around for some future... morally questionable activities."
Peko gave him a quick side-eye.
"Everything is prepared now," she said calmly. "You may return if you wish."
And with that, she confirmed the purchase.
-Ding!
{Transaction Complete. 150,000 Credits Deducted.}
Nico physically winced watching the party balance collapse.
"That physically hurt me..." he admitted.
Peko ignored the comment entirely while reopening the shop tab again.
A second later another purchase went through.
-Ding!
{15 Liters Virgin Blood Purchased.
Total Cost: 4,000 Credits.}
Nico slowly lowered the smoothie from his mouth.
"...You forgot the blood?"
"Yes."
"That feels like a pretty important thing to forget about in a satanic ritual shopping spree."
Peko calmly stepped to the center of the clearing and pulled a large metal bucket from Inventory before kneeling.
And the smell of copper and salt filled the clearing immediately.
Along with something rancid underneath both.
Without hesitation, she rolled up her sleeves, dipped her bare hand into the thick crimson liquid, and began tracing precise lines across the dirt.
The symbols formed unnaturally quickly beneath her fingers.
A massive pentagram spread outward first.
Then she drew the circles.
Then secondary circles.
And then she drew the symbols that physically hurt to focus on directly for too long.
Nico watched the blood dim slightly as mana flowed through it, while the surrounding temperature dropped noticeably.
"Yep..." Nico muttered while taking another sip from the smoothie. "This definitely feels illegal enough."
Peko continued drawing without looking up.
"So when will you be back?"
"Around four in the morning," she replied calmly.
"Got it. I’m gonna bounce," Nico nodded once before turning away from the clearing entirely, "The whole thing feels like something I really shouldn’t be here for. Besides, gotta go handle the Kisho Hikaru situation... see what I can net us out of it."
And as his figure disappeared deeper into the trees, Peko finally exhaled the breath she had unconsciously been holding.
Her violet eyes lingered on the direction he had left for several quiet seconds before she forcibly shoved the creeping train of thoughts aside and returned her attention toward the ritual circle beneath her feet.
Meanwhile, Nico walked westward through the dense forest toward the western gate of Shinkotsu.
Traffic would be almost nonexistent there.
Nobody sane travelled west unless they had business involving monsters, Outsiders, Western fringes of the mainland, or highly regrettable life decisions.
The forest floor crunched softly beneath his boots while the evening wind shifted through the leaves overhead.
And that’s when the pain shooting up through his wounds since morning became too much to ignore.
[Looks like the painkillers wore off...]
Blue light shimmered briefly beside his hand as he pulled out the small glass vial from Inventory.
He popped two pills instead of the prescribed one, washing them down with a Grade 8 potion.
And slowly the pain began dulling again. Not gone, it would never truly go away. The Tier 9 curse made sure of that much.
[Now then, System...] Nico thought while continuing through the forest. [Since we’ve got a bit to ourselves... why don’t you show me some alternatives for flying? I’ll try getting the Cloak of Flight back from the General, but until then, I need something functional and preferably not financially suicidal.]
But the System remained silent.
[Still pissed, huh... understandable. But come on, we’re both adults here...]
-Ding!
{
Telekinesis (Epic)
Allows direct manipulation of objects and forces through mental exertion and mana expenditure.
Reason For Recommendation:
Utility, offense, defence, and limited flight applications.
Price: 35,000 Credits
}
"Mental exertion, heh..." Nico chuckled. "Trying real hard to stop me from becoming fantasy Magneto, aren’t you?"
The System offered no response.
Nico continued walking while lazily scrolling through flight-related skills and artifacts inside the shop tab.
Most were absurdly expensive.
Others looked impractical.
One involved growing little wings on both legs.
Another required permanent spinal modification.
And through all of it, one thing kept sitting in the back of his head.
Heart of the False Martyr.
That purchase came before anything else.
Before flight, OP weapons, cool magic, skills, and luxury.
Peko’s Blood Pact came first and foremost.
Which was exactly why he kept scrolling past every expensive option despite technically being able to afford several.
Until-
-Ding!
{Do you fear becoming like Arlen Hale?}
"You want the honest answer?" he asked, his steps slowed slightly.
While the forest remained silent around him, and so did the System.
"No," Nico admitted quietly. "I don’t fear becoming another Arlen Hale."
His fingers continued lazily scrolling through the shop interface.
"But I fear the chain of events that would turn me into him. Or rather, not being enough during the chain of events about to come. Because, if I can’t do it like Nico... I won’t hesitate to pick that way of the Arlen Hale."
The System went silent again afterward.
Meanwhile, Nico kept walking.
Leaves crunched beneath his boots while the search term "flight" continued filtering endless expensive nonsense across the screen floating before him.
-Ding!
{This cannot continue.}
"Yeah..." Nico sighed softly. "It can’t."
-Ding!
{I cannot allow you to become another Arlen Hale, regardless of reason or circumstance.}
"I won’t become Arlen Hale so long as I never have a reason to."
Silence followed again.
Nico finished the last of his smoothie before tossing the empty plastic cup into Inventory.
-Ding!
{Item Sold: Plastic Cup.
+1 Credit.}
"We’re making a mountain out of a molehill here..." Nico let out a long sigh.
-Ding!
{A molehill?}
"Yeah," Nico replied while stepping over a fallen tree trunk. "A goddamn molehill."
He kept walking without slowing.
"Look, I have zero emotional attachment to Ferrum Knight’s charging function. The same goes for most of the ridiculous stuff I can technically do. They’re tools... Means to an end I want to manifest.... And that end... well, you already know what the end is."
-Ding!
{Your point?}
"My point," Nico said calmly, "... is that we need to start trusting each other."
The System remained silent.
"Like seriously..." Nico continued. "Actually trust each other. You’re the last thing that should be treating me like an enemy. Same goes for me too... Because if we genuinely want this whole ’Destined Hero’ thing and my thing to work, then our priorities need to become each other."
-Ding!
{So I am expected to simply allow you to run amok?}
"No."
Nico stepped over another exposed root while the afternoon wind shifted through the trees overhead.
"But we both need to take a step back... multiple even, without counting who took how many."
The System gave him no reply.
"I’ll let you dissolve Ferrum Knight’s charge function."
That got its attention. And the system instantly responded.
-Ding!
{You will?}
"Yeah," Nico answered calmly. "You can do that to future conjurations too."
Silence crashed down immediately afterward.
The kind carrying genuine disbelief.
"I’ll also promise not to trace uranium or plutonium..." Nico continued. "And I won’t do the defiling the natural order thingy either. No feeding Nom-Nom any Knights. But I cannot promise I won’t use Manifestation plus Crafting for... commercial purposes."
Even the System seemed unable to immediately process what it was hearing.
Because this was not normal behavior for Nico.
He wasn’t someone who willingly disarmed himself.
Especially not future versions of himself that will be combating foes much more powerful and smarter than himself.
And for perhaps the first time since their partnership began, even the System genuinely could not tell what Nico was playing at.
-Ding!
{And what do you want in exchange?}
Nico’s fingers slowed against the floating shop interface.
The endless list of flight skills blurred slightly before his remaining eye while the forest continued rustling leaves around him.
And for the first time since the conversation began, that amused smile faded fully from his face.
Because the thing he wanted in exchange...
... was never really about Ferrum Knight.
Or Uranium.
Or power at all.
