"Oh, don't call me that… Just refer to me as Evernight. Get up." She said in an even tone.
"Alright, Evernight." I said as I got up with an impassive face. I needed to be on good behavior around her.
Despite her face being mostly covered by a black veil, it was still obvious she was a beauty underneath the veil. Her long, wavy onyx hair cascaded to almost hip length. She wore a gothic outfit that covered a lot of her skin. She was very tall, standing slightly taller than me due to her heels.
"So, what are the mission details?" I asked after a brief pause, I had been waiting for this for two weeks now.
"You have three tasks, they are very simple. Observe and befriend Ulysses Umbraborne, a mysterious commoner boy from nowhere with monstrous strength for his age. Get stronger. And observe the instructors, students, and faculty for hints of conspiracies or something wrong. The Visionary has ordained that something may happen there soon." She announced in a uniform tone to me.
'Damn. Ulysses Umbraborne… Very cool name. She did not give me any information on him, is it because even they aren't able to get anything? He might have associations with a Class 7 Arcanist if that's the case. Or, she might be implying me to get to know him myself to make it seem more natural. If I knew everything about him and talked to him in the perfect way to spark his interests, he may become suspicious.'
I am not typically sent on this type of mission. With my exceptional sensing abilities from my arcanum, I am often sent on tracking missions, for people or rare monsters. Of course, while I am strong for my age, I am still weak in the grand scheme of things. These missions are really just about training me rather than actually accomplishing the tasks.
'The Visionary… Leader of the Secret Order. And they are extremely secretive, what a coincidence! They are predicted to be a Class 7 Arcanist with prophetic abilities, almost like a visionary.' Their prophetic abilities likely require a basis of information, which is why the Secret Order was established.
The Secret Order is also not that Secret, by the way. The average person obviously doesn't know but figures of high authority certainly do. However, they do not care enough to act on us as our strength is no joke. Also, we are not an evil organization so they don't have justification.
Why do people join, you may ask. It's quite simple: some, like me, are orphans who were adopted by them from a young age and trained. We were not brainwashed or bound by a soul contract for life. When we become old enough to become independent, nearly all of us still stay within the organization due to the benefits. As members, we are paid well and have access to resources lone Arcanists do not.
If you wanted to leave, you needed to agree to a soul contract process which forbade you from disclosing anything related to the Secret Order. Me? As a pupil of one of the five overlords, Evernight, I couldn't leave. She'd spank me. Oh, and being a part of the 'Secret Order' as a pupil of the Overlord of Evernight sounds cool as heck, so I didn't try to escape.
After training/working since I was a child, I applied for leave many times and was unceremoniously rejected. It seems it was all accumulating for this four year 'mission' which was kind of a vacation.
'I'm excited, I've also never been to school before. What will it be like? Intersecting with people my age of my own free will, not expected to stalk and potentially kill them. Actually I've decided… fuck the mission. Well, I'll do the first and second part as I'm somewhat interested in Ulysses and I obviously want to get stronger. But, the third part seems troublesome, perhaps I can outsource it to some poor guy in need of money then give that information back to the Secret Order.' My mind raced with thoughts.
From my generous family, I received 250,000 Talons added to my account already consisting of over 160,000. For Arcanists like myself, this makes me considerably rich. A good amount of money to be sent with to Bloodspire. For reference, 5,000 talons is comfortably enough for a person to live a good life in the capital for a year. Furthermore, the tuition for Bloodspire Institute starts at 100,000 Talons, decreasing significantly depending on your evaluation.
"Also, how are you enjoying your new noble life for the past weeks?" Evernight asked.
"It's not bad, but I can't get used to it. Having servants tend to my every need just feels… weird. The high class food doesn't please my palette," I replied, my tone shifting in a natural way as I spoke.
"Oh, and what does having parents feel like?" She asked, smiling.
"Feels like… nothing. They feel like average actors. They don't know anything about me, I don't know anything about them. I don't even know that much about myself. Most of the time, I am just playing a character." I answered in an indifferent tone.
"I see," Evernight replied, in a slightly sad tone with an imperceptible frown on her face.
"And here it is," She said, putting an ethereal orb in my hand.
With that, she disappeared in the darkness of night, or rather day. I didn't notice that when she appeared, a veil of darkness surrounded us. As it faded, I looked at my hand and smiled. A monster's pristine soul core, specifically the Aether Leech's. It's ability was essential to my arsenal.
The Aether Leech was a Class 4 ethereal monster whose Arcanum allowed it to absorb essence. They hunted in groups with other monsters, constantly weakening the prey before the others finished it off. It was one of the most dangerous presences one could face in a fight.
Why was this ability so important to me? With my essence threads, I can channel my Fused Arcana through. But, it costs a lot of essence. With [Essence Absorption], I can absorb essence through my threads, allowing me to last much longer in battles.
Normally, arcanists only absorb essence through their soul cores, with this ability allowing your essence itself to absorb essence. It is regarded as a bad ability due to the low boost to essence absorption rate. After completely exhausting one's essence reserves, it typically takes 7-9 hours for a Class 4 mage to restore it all. With this Fused Arcana, it reduces it to around 5-6 hours. In an environment where you are fighting for your life every second, it may be useful, but for a standard fight, its impact is extremely minimal.
However with my Arcanum, I can extend my essence threads out and absorb a lot back. First extending my threads is decently draining, then keeping them out takes a bit, with channeling Fused Arcana being very draining on my essence. With [Essence Absorption], it essentially enhances my essence reserves by 80% or so.
This will be very helpful in dealing with extended fights as with my abilities, there are very few people that are able to beat me in a fight, alone or with a group because all my abilities have a large range. But, if I need to go through multiple fights, that is where I will struggle.
Why did I not get this ability sooner? It is because the ability comes from a Class 4 monster and I just recently ascended. You can only fuse Arcanums equal or below you in Class.
I completely concentrated as I focused on infusing the Aether Leech's soul core into mine. It was easy as I was likely provided with a newborn Aether Leech. As newborns, while monsters still possess the natural instinct to survive and thrive, they don't yet have strong, refined wills, making it easier for Arcanists to absorb it.