The Astral soul system

Chapter 254: Check-up

"We don’t look that bad,do we?"

Sable asked, looking at Jade.

"Are you serious? I’m pretty sure repairing my uniform is impossible. Luckily we have spares"

Zaria said, looking down at herself

"What happened to you?"

She asked Zen who was covered with blood and... was that mud?

"You stink man"

"..."

He didn’t reply to the question but turned to look at the broken fragments of some sort of elemental beast

"I assume these are yours"

He asked, looking down at two cores that looked just like the eyes of those horrible things. One red, the other blue

Sable slowly stepped closer before slowly picking them up.

Noticing how focused she was, Zaria turned to Zen

"So...how’d it go with Celia?"

"..."

She sighed

"So you DID see her. Let me guess, swimmingly"

"..."

"I know,I messed up. I’m sorry,I should have warned you sooner. She just showed up last night, and we had more important things to take care of "

She said, glancing at Jade in his arms.

"So...apology accepted?"

"..."

"Uh, Zen?"

"..."

"Do you like... have to vote on it...or..."

She sighed

"That sword..."

He finally spoke

"Oh, this thing."

Of course he didn’t care

She looked at the sword still floating at her side.

"You’ve seen it before, it’s just looks a bit different"

He saw the familiar golden flash as it shifted back into a hair before turning back into the sword.

"I might have figured out how to use it. This form specifically belonged to a beast I fought in here. I was wondering if you could take a look at it.

What was that supposed to mean?

Did she suspect something about his eyes. He wouldn’t be surprised, he’d never actively hid system functions from them. The NDA simply said he couldn’t speak about it.

[Read]

[Fallen choir(sealed)(proto-tool)]

[A pure demonic blade mocking divinity -]

Zen stopped right there, looking up at her.

As far as descriptions go, this one might even top Lucky

He quickly skimmed through the description and stats, focusing on the skills

Strangely enough there was only one

[Da capo]

+50% strength

Energy siphon

Awaken

Odd. That awaken skill had no description, though it seemed obvious considering the weapon’s status, but what did it do?

"So?"

He shrugged

"Seems you have to figure it out"

She wasn’t disappointed at that. She loved a good challenge every once in a while.

She turned to see Sable still crouched there.

’i wonder if i can make something with these’

"Hey Sable. We’re getting out of here. Come on"

She turned around to see the barrier was down and the exit had reappeared. The whole place seemed to have gone back to its dormant state. The portals were gone and no matter how hard she listened, she couldn’t find any sign of thise little imps

Quickly picked up the gems, she wanted to put them in her pockets when she realized they were ruined.

She sighed. Jade was right,She was practically in shreds right now

She turned to leave but as she did, something caught her eye.

"What is that?"

She muttered, seeing a crimson glimmer in the grass.

Stepping closer, she reached in and picked it up. It was a...ball?

She knocked on it twice, testing how it felt

’Solid’

*Sniff*

’It smells like-’

Before she could react it suddenly started to disintegrate, the solid crystal turning to dust and the dust to wind,all before she could even get used to the feeling of it in her fingers

"Hey Sable, come on. Is something wrong?"

Looking back, she saw they were already at the edge, waiting for her"

"It’s nothing. Coming"

She said, running after them

’Weird’

***************

Elaine moved around her office, humming as she cleaned up a little. For the first time in a while she had a breif reprieve. As odd as it was in this hell of a military academy,there was no one injured right now.

Before she could start celebrating this personal victory, she heard the door open and a familiar set of footsteps.

She turned around and sighed, putting her hand on her forehead

"Dearie, what’s this supposed to be?"

She said in that usual mothering tone

"We just need a quick check-up for her is all"

"Check-up? Y’all need more than a check-up. You look like the walking dead, and smell like it too"

Sable quickly shook her head

"It’s okay,we heal fast"

"I don’t wanna hear it. There’s a shower back there,use it, and I’ll give ALL of you a check-up. There should be some nice clothes in your sizes back there too."

She said, taking Jade out of Zen’s hands

"Oh, and no offense ,sugar, but you go first"

"Ha"

Sable gave him a smug smile

There was no harm in it. He already knew Jade was fine but the school’s record showed that she was never discharged from the infirmary,It’d be an issue if they just brought her back to class.

As for getting a check-up himself, he was considering finding a way out of it

He followed Elaine’s instructions and found the bathroom.

Just like she said, he found some clothes near the door, right in his size too.

Sweatpants,a grey shirt and a hoodie.

How thoughtful...

He suddenly noticed a sign on the door.

"No jewelry in the bath"

He looked at himself and reached for his ear, pulling off the cuff and putting it in the basket under the sign.

Next was his necklace. He waited for a second before finally taking it off and putting it in as well as his storage ring.

As for the choker, she’d just have to understand.

He quickly got in.

As soon as he did a shadow was suddenly cast over the door, and a shaky hand reached into the basket

A few minutes of soap and high pressure running water and he was done. He had brought the sweatpants and shirt in with him so he got out dressed, though it was starting to become apparent he never fully dried his hair,if at all

Closing the door he looked into the basket and paused as he noticed it was empty , except for his storage ring which was strangely the most valuable thing there.

He tilted his head. If someone was here, he would’ve sensed it, unless...

"Hey"

He turned around and saw Zaria sitting a few meters away, his necklace in her hand.

"Sorry, I was just... looking at it"

She mumbled,her eyes locked on him

She seemed to zone out still staring until he called to her

"Zaria"

"Hm? Oh, right. I know hopefully important it is to you. I was just taking a closer look, maybe there’s something you didn’t notice on it

He raised a brow.

Understanding what he meant, she shrugged

"Nothing, but that was expected. There is one weird thing though "

She showed him hers as well.

"Whatever it’s made of is tough. Like... really, it’s not cheap like mine...."

Seeing her zone out staring at him again, he asked directly

"Something on my face?"

He asked, brushing his wet hair to the side

"No it’s just... nothing . I just..."

"..."

She sighed

"Sorry, just tired. My mind’s wandering "

She got up and gave him his necklace back and she was about to hand him the cuff when she paused

"Anything special about this one"

It was given to him by silver, but other than that,all he knew was

"They said it would protect me"

"Hmmm"

She dropped it in his palm

"Never noticed how different you look without it"

With that, she got into the bathroom and closed the door behind her

Makes sense she was next. She looked like she’d been thoroughly mauled, though she was spotless when he saw her, not a single scratch despite there being blood. Odd.

But he didn’t pry

He briefly wondered what might have been wrong with her but decided it wasn’t his business. It likely was simply exhaustion

He thought about it for a bit and they decided to just leave with the shadow powers,after all, they were done here.

Slowly Zen sank into the ground and a shadow started moving towards the door.

Above ground, Elaine suddenly smiled

"Not so fast,cookie"

He suddenly felt like he hit some kind of wall, and before he could do anything about it, the shadows just spat him out .

"What?"

He suddenly felt a pair of hands on his face

"You forget? I may be a doctor but I’m not a healer"

Right... He’d overlooked that. Though he still didn’t know what her ability was, and his level was too low to see it.

"Now stop being naughty and take a seat. I’m already done with the little cutie over there and she’s just peachy "

She said pointing to Jade

"Yeah,sit still and let her do her thing"

Sable said, already sat down.

He sighed looking at the flashlight aimed at his mouth

"Open wide"