Tamas and Tinos were flanking his sides, looking with worry at his previous throes. The twins also looked to be in deep distress at his sudden turn.

He quickly thought up an explanation for his condition. “I am alright now, it must have been all the experimentation with my Soul Force, I am not used to it yet”

Both of them looked very skeptical at his explanation. But Christopher assured them that he was feeling perfectly fine. They suggested that he visit a doctor, but he refused, assuring them he simply needed some water. Their faces clearly showed that they disagreed, but there was little they could do.

He thankfully gulped down some water that was provided by Menos.

After a few minutes, he felt like his old self again. Tamas immediately launched an arsenal of questions about his Soul Heat experiments, trying to find some explanation for both his affliction and the burned through soul kettle.

Christopher was now very attentive to the limit of what he was able to disclose, so answering all her questions was kind of difficult. He could no longer speak that carelessly. He got some help from Tinos, who quickly reined in her questioning.

He chatted with the others for a while and assured them that he was fine. He then brought the broken Soul Alarm to Varam, to report on its destruction by his hand. She looked surprised at the scorched and cracked Sternel wood, but she did accept his offer to pay for a replacement. It turned out that a new one would cost him a total of five silver coins.

The price made him want to bang his head against the nearest wall. Five silver coins would have allowed him to provide for himself for almost nine days. His Coin purse had taken an unnecessary blow within just one hour of him acquiring his wealth. Now the only thing he could do was make more haste with finding himself some work.

The rest of the day was mostly spent with more reading and experimenting with the Soul Heat. Since he had to burn his Soul Force continuously to increase his attribute, he figured that he might just as well keep training his Soul Heat whenever his Soul Force allowed him to.

He did think of trying a different Soul Effect, but he preferred to increase his proficiency in this one effect first. It seemed ill-advised to juggle too many things at once. There also was no guarantee that he would have much luck with any of the other common effects.

This time he was a lot more careful, trying to only spend one percent of his current Soul Force. He practiced on the metal bands of the buckets in the washing room.

It was difficult to infuse the exact amount of Soul Force that he wanted. He quickly shot over his target percentage. Still, each time the percentage he used was much lower than in his first attempt.

With his new attempts, the heat from the metal was much more manageable, the weakest attempt only somewhat warming the metal, while his strongest attempt once again produced a glow, although duller. Clearly, there was an optimal amount to imbue, since one percent gave way too little, while around 50 percent had destroyed the soul alarm. He was confident now that he would be able to figure this out with enough practice.

He went to bed that night while a storm raged in Lumen. A strong western wind was winding its way through the streets, making ominous creaking sounds. Torrential rain was clattering on the eccentric-looking Inn, which made laying under the warm and dry covers of his bed feel heavenly. Tinos was already loudly snoring under his own covers, and Christopher’s snores could be heard soon after.

After waking up from a spare Soul Alarm the next day, this time powered from his own Soul Heat, he once again made his way to the Outer training fields. The rain was still going but had decreased to a light drizzle at this point. He got there in record time, now familiar with the route. Luckily, he was now also a familiar face in the group.

Once everyone had gathered around Sin, she started with a lecture about the most common monsters of the Blight. This was a godsend to Christopher since his knowledge in this area was extremely lacking.

“Who here has laid eyes on a creature of the Blight?” Sin asked the group of trainees. At which point every single one of them raised their hands.

“That’s good. Now how many of you here have lost someone close to you from an attack of the Blight?”

This time more than half of the around thirty gathered people raised their hands, of course, him not included. There were still more people than he had expected. He thought that people were somewhat safe here in Lumen, so he wondered at their stories once again. He also understood that these training classes would be more likely to attract people that had been affected by the Blight.

“This is why we fight! Now how many of you have killed a creature of the Blight?” she asked the now solemn group of people.

Christopher raised his hand in the air. As he looked around, he realized that he had little company. Only two more people had also raised their hands. One was a young-looking teenage girl, probably the smallest in their group, while the other was Arlo. It was only the three of them, and they, therefore, drew all eyes, Sin’s included.

“More than I thought. Would you all be willing to share what kind of creature you managed to kill?” The others all curiously awaited their answers with bated breaths. The girl surprisingly was the first to speak up.

“Abyssal wolf” was her short and quivering answer. Newfound respect could be seen in the eyes of the others. He wondered what an abyssal wolf looked like, and how she had managed to kill it.

He was the second to speak up. “A few Goblin’s that attacked a Caravan I was traveling with. Only a few of us survived.” Wait, had he even told Sin that yesterday? He almost facepalmed right there, he might actually have excluded that fact. Would that have saved him the trouble from the day before? The others looked impressed with his answer.

Lastly, Arlo spoke up, his eyes dark “Slaughtered a filthy Orc, only wish I could have gotten more of them.” There was no grin this time, only a dark look. Christopher wondered what had happened there, feeling a sudden wave of sympathy.

“Thank you all. The three monsters that were just mentioned are some of the most numerous among the Blight, but not the strongest. As most of you have heard, we have received word of Stonehill being overrun by forces of the Blight. In times like these, all of us have to be prepared for the worst.”

This caused some chattering, but clearly, all had heard. Even in the Inn Christopher had overheard multiple conversations on this very topic. It seemed that their intel had caused quite the commotion among the people here.

Sin continued. “I will now teach you the best way to kill several of the most numerous monsters among the Blight.” Christopher was listening intently, just like the others.

“At your current strength, all of you are still not a match for most of the creatures of the Blight. I would say that you are only favored in a one-on-one fight against a Goblin or an Empty Vessel.”

He did not know what an Empty Vessel was supposed to be, but the suggestion that goblins were pretty weak seemed accurate to Christopher. A Goblin’s biggest advantage seemed to be when attacking in greater numbers, but alone they clearly were not all that impressive.

She then continued to give them some advice on the different creatures. The Abyssal wolf was apparently a quick, aggressive and unpredictable opponent. They were advised to never turn their back against one of their numbers since they would immediately pounce.

If they were staring down multiple abyssal wolves, Sin told them to make sure that their back was covered by a building or other barrier, since otherwise, the wolves would take advantage and attack from a blind spot. They should ideally shoot some arrows at them from up high, but otherwise, they should aim their Daggers at the neck or eyes. The heart would be even better but would be difficult to hit. Sin described all its vital spots. A dagger sounded less than ideal against an unpredictable enemy like the Abyssal Wolf.

She did the same for the Goblins and Orcs. Goblins were the most similar in anatomy to humans, with little deviation in their vital spots as well.

Orcs were more different. They were not only taller and wider than a human. Their skin was thick, and they had a heart that was somewhat guarded deep in the middle of their chest. Their brute strength was their main danger, so they would have to avoid being hit at all costs. Many of their vital organs were markedly different from those of humans.

He also learned why people did not bury their dead in this world when Sin talked about one of the other most common monsters of the Blight. Some force of the Blight apparently had the ability to turn dead humans into what they called the Empty Vessels.

This was apparently why people were burned when they died. They were extremely aggressive and completely devoid of any Soul Force just like every other creature of the blight. It sounded an awful lot like zombies to Christopher, but at least Sin said nothing about them eating the living.

They were like people revived but without the Soul. It was not clear what animated these creatures, since they did not have a heartbeat, and no real vital spots to speak of. She recommended cutting off the head, which was quite disturbing, and also difficult with a dagger. But the type of long daggers that Sin carried and that they were practicing with should be able to do the trick. Christopher did not want his body to end up as one of Entropy’s minions, even if his soul would be safely in the Beyond.

This also made him realize something disturbing. Had all those dead people from the caravan turned into these Empty Vessels as well?

Maybe not... When they left the caravan and entered the forest, Tinos had told them to move ahead for a little while, saying he had something to take care of.

Had he decapitated the bodies to prevent them from being changed to Empty Vessels later? The old man had gotten very quiet during their walk to Lumen. He felt a wave of nausea just at the mental image. He guessed that burning bodies was not always an option since that would have given away their position.

Sin eyes roamed over the somewhat queasy looking students and apparently decided that this was enough of the educational lecture for the day. She told them that she would teach them more about the monster types in the following sessions.

Christopher tried to soak it all up, he did not doubt that the information would become useful in his future. He was not looking forward to that moment. He kind of wished that they would just never attack Lumen, and just let him train himself in peace for a couple of years.

That kind of life did not sound bad at all. He was not naïve enough to hope for such a thing though. At least he had a skill that would give him the time he needed if it came down to it. He felt that he was rapidly reaching the strength to at least follow through on the plan he had formed with his ability [Bookmark].