'I lost the book… damn!'
Quies completely forgot about the bloodrend book, which he now assumed is currently laying there on the spire.
'Agh… I guess it wasn't really my fault though. My leg was broken, I was completely exhausted, and was also too busy fighting two guards… but still!'
He covered his face with his hands at the realization.
The bloodrend book, which he thought would have all of the answers about progressing his attunement, was no longer in his possession. And it wasn't like they could go back, either. News about the deaths of two Etrean guards at the hands of a bloodrender wasn't exactly beneficial for Quies. Plus, the Fourth Prophet would definitely find a way to get rid of him if he came back.
'So now what?'
Valerie was walking back to the stern of the ship after chatting with Quies for a moment. Speaking of which.
"Valerie."
She turned her head in acknowledgement.
"Where are we going?"
"Isles of Vigil."
"...okay."
He paused for a moment.
"Am I gonna die?"
"Probably not. I'll discuss with Evengarde about the events that occurred."
"Probably isn't good enough."
"Well, that's the best you're getting for now."
Quies sighed as he turned away, facing the front of the ship.
By now, the sun had risen moderately into the sky. Blots of azure were finally appearing, and the darkness had almost fully receded.
'Well, I should probably try whatever I can remember from that book.'
The good news was, Quies read about half of the written content of the book. Of course, he skimmed through a lot of the boring stuff, but he was still able to grasp the key concepts and main ideas indicated throughout the text. For example, his understanding on blood enhancement had somewhat improved after reading sections which highlighted its use.
'Ah, I remember. It mentioned something about a tourniquet… or at least some way for me to restrict blood to certain muscle and organ groups so I can focus on getting more concentrated control of my bloodrend.'
The book stated that a tourniquet was a preferred tool for bloodrenders to train their attunement mastery, This meant two things.
First, Quies would need to make use of a blood restricting device—in this case, a tourniquet.
'Where could I…'
He looked around for a moment.
"Valerie, I'm gonna go look around in your storage room for something."
"Okay…"
She gave him a lingering look of suspicion.
Quies stayed seated for a moment before gathering the will to stand up. His bone and muscles should've healed by now, but the mental scar was still there. With the help of his arms, he stood up.
'Ah… feels good to walk again.'
He walked over to the entrance of the storage room with a slight limp. His leg didn't hurt, per se, but there was a weird itching sensation.
Valerie called out from the raised stern just as he was about to enter the room.
"Oh, and you should probably change clothes."
"Change into what?"
"The tunic you wore when you left for Etris. I think I left it there… leave your light armor in there."
He waved her off and opened the doors of the storage room.
'Eugh…'
Immediately after he opened the doors, he could smell the humid and musty air inside. The smell wasn't foul, it was just… offputting. The air was thick, warm, and genuinely uncomfortable. Not even the light scent of seawater was able to counteract the dense musk of the room.
The wood beneath him creaked as he walked down steep steps, catching a cobweb or two as he remembered how to descend a set of stairs. His hand glided across the surface of the walls, helping him balance. Despite the isolated nature of the room, light from the rising sun was able to reach through the narrow doorway, illuminating the room in deep orange and faint yellow hues.
There were a lot of drawers and cabinets, along with hangers that decorated the walls of the compact room. He noticed the odachi which Valerie had used to spar with him earlier sitting in the corner of the room. He noticed a cabinet-like storage compartment with a faint crimson stain near its handle. He opened it with a bit of force and a creak. Inside were dozens of medical supplies. Gauze, antiseptic, and most importantly…
'A tourniquet!'
There, inside the storage container, lay a seemingly untouched tourniquet. The leather belt-like part of it was nearly spotless, despite a couple blemishes here and there from age and other causes. A solid brass screw-like mechanism was attached to control the tightness of it.
Usually, one would use a tourniquet to completely cut off blood supply to an extremity, usually an arm or a leg in the case of severe bleeding. However, prolonged isolation from oxygen and blood increase the chances of having to amputate said extremity.
Quies, in this case, wasn't using the tourniquet to treat a severe wound, and most definitely would like to keep all of his arms and legs connected to his body.
So, he had to be careful with how he used the tourniquet. His plan was to slowly tighten it in increments, decreasing blood flow to his arm bit by bit. It's sort of like a person getting acclimated to a higher altitude.
He grabbed the tourniquet from the storage container and promptly closed it. As he was about to take the first step out of the door before remembering what Valerie said.
"...do I really smell that bad? I mean, come on, this isn't the first time she's seen me like this."
He recalled his first encounter with Valerie. Back then, he was holding on to a shameful lump of cloth and rags which he called clothing.
'Agh… on second thought…'
He did feel slightly disgusting in this armor. With all of the sweat and blood building up…
'Yup, I'm changing!'
He took another step up the stairs to close the door to the storage room.