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When the place opens, the first thing that we perceive is a strong herbal smell! And from the little that could be seen in the darkness inside, it seemed that we had found the place dedicated to the alchemists of the castle!!

…probably this smell was picked up by the previous snakes, which is why they had gathered or made their nest here! Unfortunately for them, they had not been able to open it!

On the other hand, since my main reason for coming here was to get some medicinal plants that I needed, I couldn't help but get excited!! I wanted to quickly enter the building, but before I could, Shigure stops me by asking me something that caught her attention.

“ A-lex... have you reached the level where you can…communicate with the heart of your weapon?

...H-ave you even surpassed me? Amazing~”

“…”

Her words confuse me a bit at first but then following her vision, I realize that the flames of the sword were engulfing me… well, at first glance you might think that my sword was happy to see me and lovingly interacted with me, but… I knew very well that this was not the case!

I don't know if it's because it was just happy to get out of my storage space for the first time in a while or if it was complaining to me about it, but…what this sword was trying to do wasn't something as polite as a simple greeting! I was really trying to burn myself!!

…the only reason I didn't notice this or ignore it, was because the flames couldn't hurt me! If I were someone else, I would probably be rolling around on the ground right now trying to put out the fire in my body!! Also, it's good that the resistance of the armor I wear now isn't too far below the range of this weapon, otherwise, I'd be naked now!!

“ Well… it's not that, but instead of explaining this, we better go inside to see what we find! ”

""Fine""

Since I didn't want to waste time explaining something useless, the three of us entered the building after my words. And even though I wanted to put away this cursed sword that was trying to burn me, this one lighting its flames for now was a good thing by shining up the place… so I had no choice but to keep a distance from the girls while still holding the weapon.

““…””

…as I look around us, I quickly realize that things were not what I expected! Although there were several pots where valuable plants were probably placed before, now they had nothing... or in the best case, there were totally dry herbs whose medicinal essence had completely disappeared!

Or maybe they were just spaced in the air stuck in place… and surely now that the place was open, this will even disappear quickly!

"...it seems that the time also affected everything in this place"

Yes, Saeko was right! Despite the fact that this place was sheltered during all this time, and although when it came to plants usually the older the better, without anyone to manage these, without a doubt what we see now was the result that would await for abandoned plants in a dark place!!

“…Let's search the surroundings. Although the plants are now useless, there may still be something of value here! ”

“…”

In the faces of the girls I could see that maybe I should give up now, but… I refused to think that all the previous effort was for nothing! Well, the truth is that it was surely much easier than if it had been other people with our same level of strength who had taken our place, but... that everything had been for nothing hurt a little!!

Also…if so, didn't that mean that all those snakes from earlier died for nothing? That was a bit cruel…

Well, the materials on these were still valuable, so that wouldn't have stopped us from hunting them.

We began to search all the shelves and drawers in the place until we practically turned the place upside down. We also found several pills, but…since most of them weren't 100 percent pure, they didn't stand the test of time either!

...perhaps it would have been better to listen to the girls to avoid further disappointment.

“Oh~! These pills still contain all of their medicinal efficiency in them!! ”

When I was about to give up, in the deepest part of this place, I find 7 pills kept very carefully! And when reviewing them, the analysis tells me that these were still effective!!

… the name of these were [Energy Channel Expansion Pills].

[Oh~ Your luck isn't bad, Alexander. Those pills, similar to [Energy Channel Restoration Pills], can help people at the 9th limit of the second soul level breakthrough to the next soul realm!

Fufufu ~ Probably if the people in the area you were in before found out that you have these, they would attract the greed of more than one.]

From my knowledge of alchemy, I knew the effect of these. As the name suggests, it simply helps to widen people's [Energy Channels]. It seemed like a simple effect, but… for a person to do this on their own is not easy! Unless you have a good [energy control] technique, achieving this effect may be impossible!

Also, even with good technique, that process can take years! Because of all that, it wasn't hard to imagine what Aurora said could happen! These pills were the doorway to possibly getting stronger for many people who got caught in the 9th limit! No, even people who weren't at that level would be tempted by these as they would allow them to get stronger faster!

"Looking at your reaction, it seems like you found something good, Alex-san."

“ Yes… because of these pills, it can be said that our trip to this place was worth it!

Regrettably…"

As I look at the pills in my hands with joy, the girls come up to me, and Saeko, with a smile on her face, seems to be happy for me too! Even though she may have become a bit of an exhibitionist…or rather, she now found pleasure in the thrill of doing it in outdoor places, she was still a sweet girl beneath her fondness for fighting!

…or so I want to believe!

Either way, it wasn't all good things. Well, I don't think this can be considered a demerit in this pill, but… unfortunately, none of us could use it yet!

"W-hat's happening?

...I-s there something wrong with those pills too? ”

“No… there's nothing wrong with pills. The problem is that they are useless to us now."

Curious at my reaction which showed my happiness, but still had a bitter smile when I thought that we can't consume these pills now, I explain to Shigure after she can't help but wonder about this.

Yes, if we consumed these pills now, it is most likely that our energy channels would end up breaking! In order to absorb the medicinal efficacy and avoid such a problem, the person first had to break through the 5th limit of the 2nd soul level!

Upon entering that level, people's energy channels become more robust and, therefore, the strong effect of this pill can be resisted!

“Is that so? So they are useless to us? ”

"No, just... we'll have to wait a while to consume them"

Well, that thing did not matter much! As I answer Saeko's question, it was only a matter of time before these pills would come in handy for us! Although maybe I and Saeko will have to wait a little longer, maybe for Shigure it's only a matter of a few weeks or months for this! She was at the peak of the 4th limit after all!

…on the other hand, I wonder if this pill is effective for me? In the case of the [Energy Channel Restoration pill], it was useless since my body, being newly created, could be said to have no impurities.

…this pill will have an effect on my energy channels that may be different from other people?

[It is effective even though your energy channels are stronger than other people's. Just like others, they can continue to be strengthened.]

…that mean I can consume it now?

[…you can, but… it is better that you wait just like the others. The stronger your energy channels, the more beneficial that pill would be. That's why you'd better wait until you enter the 5th limit of your current soul level]

…well, I'm certainly not in a hurry to consume this, so I'll follow your words Aurora.

Going back to the case of the girls, thanks to the effect of the [Consecration of Origin] skill, for Saeko and other girls it shouldn't be too long either! In fact, that can be clearly seen… from the previous fight, she had increased by 4 levels!!

…I'm happy for her, but this depresses me a bit! I should be able to get more experience from killing monsters compared to her, but… I only went up one level!

While my body may contain more energy than other people, it seems this also means that the energy required to make me stronger is equally greater!

This difference has been noticed more the stronger I get… if I want to continue with the same speed as the girls, I may need to go to a world full of enemies with a level 2 soul!

"Well, since there seems to be nothing else here, let's look elsewhere in the castle."

""Very well""

After this, we go through the castle looking for anything useful. In the end, there weren't many things. Perhaps the other most interesting thing was where they kept materials for the creation of weapons, and since metals can resist the passage of time more, they were still useful and so I took them. Although, there was also nothing as flashy or special as the previous pills.

But well, they might come in handy for when I have to use the [Metal Bone King] technique!

…on top of that, although it was not something valuable, pictures of a beautiful woman could be found throughout the castle… my eyes couldn't resist examining such images! It wasn't so much because of the beauty of she, but because… the lower part of this woman was that of a snake! Yes, it was a beautiful lamia!!

It was a woman with quite seductive features, long pink hair, and two huge mountains in her human part! As for the lower one, its scales also had a pleasant reddish-pink color… I was really very curious about her. Or rather her race! It was a lamia after all! A lamia! I say it twice because it is something very important!!

Why couldn't she be here in person to greet us?! It seems like I'm too late for many years to see her... if I find the person responsible for destroying this city of Lamias, I swear I'll take revenge for ruining my chance to meet with such a race!!

Well, in addition to her, the image of a man also appeared next to her... the curious thing about it is that he had horns, so possibly he was the dragon that fell in love with the Serpent Queen? That is almost certain.

"...so now we go to the temple?"

"…Yes"

…the truth is that I wanted to avoid it, but… I think that as long as we don't do something bad, there shouldn't be any problem with just seeing the place! Also, I can pray to the god of that temple not to we will be cursed for desecrating the place!

The three of us leave the castle and head towards the temple that looked a bit far from here. It was located on what looks like a small hill, and a park around it. The truth is that the place was a bit gloomy… the dead trees around here were not a very pleasant decoration for the eyes!

…it wasn't as big as the castle, but it was still a considerable size. Also, it seems like there wasn't any kind of protection like with the alchemy room before… I wonder if their god has abandoned and stopped giving blessings to this place now? It may be so… that seems very possible to see how this city has turned into ruins.

"let's go in"

A little calmer thinking like that, the three of us passed through the doors that were open too...