When Reyn and Roger returned to the tavern, the blood on their clothes had dried, unpleasantly tightening the skin. Only after taking a bath in his room did Reyn finally feel fresh and clean.
It was deep night. Even the avid card players, who usually didn't disperse until dawn, seemed to have settled down. Reyn, on the contrary, was full of energy and felt no sleepiness whatsoever.
He lay on the bed, replaying the details of the recent battle in his mind over and over.
The night's main achievement was, without doubt, the surge in spiritual power—his inner reserve had more than doubled. Over the past few days of continuous meditation, spiritual power had grown slightly, adding about one conditional unit to his reserves. That was already considered highly efficient, but compared to direct soul absorption, it was a turtle's pace, painfully slow.
Gazing at the 31% reserve indicator, Reyn smiled contentedly. Raising power had proven somewhat simpler than expected. A few more such outings—and the reserve would quickly max out, allowing him to advance to the second level and merge with a new demonic soul again.
He rolled over, stood before the mirror, and began examining his soul.
The World Tree in his soul had noticeably grown, its trunk thicker, exuding boundless vital energy. Reyn's attention was drawn to three pale-golden leaves, each bearing an Element rune: "Strength," "Steel Body," and "Metallic Touch." These three Elements had also undergone some changes: the leaves were broader, the runic symbols sharper. But they all seemed far from the next enhancement.
At the same time, Reyn opened the phantom interface of his phone and found the three icons corresponding to these Elements. Since the soul transformation had successfully completed, all new abilities and Elements were displayed in the phone system, including those from merging with demonic souls.
He examined the three Element icons closely for the first time. Arranged in a row, the abstract symbols nearly exactly matched the runes on the Tree's leaves. Since all three Elements were passive, they were constantly active.
"Hm? What's this?"
Reyn suddenly noticed thin horizontal lines beneath the "Strength" and "Steel Body" Element icons. They were so faint he hadn't noticed them before. The lines were the same width as the icons themselves, mostly gray with a small green segment at the left end—like some progress bar.
Reyn understood immediately.
"Completion indicator?"
He focused his mental gaze on the "Strength" Element. The icon enlarged slightly, revealing details: the horizontal line was indeed a completion indicator. Moreover, a tiny number "2" appeared above it.
The "Steel Body" Element had only the indicator, no number.
This difference led Reyn to think: "2" meant the "Strength" Element had already been enhanced once, while "Steel Body" had not.
He recalled the contents of the "Book of Thousand Souls": Body Elements are usually enhanced through training or merging with identical Elements to stack effects. Each successful enhancement raises the Element's level by one. Mystic Elements can be enhanced by investing spiritual power, increasing their potency; such levels are called circles, from first to ninth. Special Gift Elements are the most unusual. They can be activated with either physical or spiritual power, but cannot be enhanced at will. They grow stronger only randomly during soul transformation rituals, having neither levels nor circles.
When Reyn obtained the "Strength" Element, it had already been enhanced once, so it was now "Strength" at level two—still a Common Element. "Steel Body" remained at level one but was a Unique Element. "Metallic Touch" was a Rare Element, but as a Special Gift, it lacked even a completion indicator.
He studied both indicators closely and found that progress for both "Strength" and "Steel Body" was extremely low—perhaps less than one-twentieth. They were far from the next level.
"So hard to improve them?"
Reyn scratched the back of his head. Focusing on the icons for a few seconds, he suddenly noticed a semi-transparent upward arrow next to each—like a button.
Subconsciously, he selected the "Steel Body" arrow and mentally "pressed" it.
Changes occurred in his soul immediately. The entire World Tree trembled. Multicolored energy streams surged from the roots up the trunk, toward the single branch, and finally into the "Steel Body" Element leaf. The leaf glowed golden, its Element rune sharpening.
On the phone interface, the indicator under the "Steel Body" icon crawled forward agonizingly slowly.
"So that's how to enhance them!"
Reyn was overjoyed, but then noticed his system energy reserve plummeting—nearly one unit per second. In moments, it dropped to 25%, while the "Steel Body" indicator advanced insignificantly.
"Damn!"
"Enhancing Elements takes too much energy!"
Reyn sensed trouble and hastily stopped the process. He felt subtle changes in his body: when activating "Steel Body," it seemed even harder. The body strengthened, strength also increased—noticeable in the "Strength" Element indicator—they were interconnected.
"There's gain, that's good, but the cost is too high..."
Reyn eyed the remaining 25% reserve, his head aching. Clearly, this energy differed from the usual expenditure—it didn't recover with rest. Of course, reserve reduction didn't weaken the soul; spiritual power was simply redirected, merging with the body. Overall soul power remained unchanged, and the World Tree, its symbol, didn't shrink.
Six reserve units yielded only negligible gain for "Steel Body." Comparing closely, the "Steel Body" indicator filled just 3%. That meant even with a hundred reserve units all poured into "Steel Body," it would fill only halfway! A full reserve would allow him to reach mage level two.
Reyn was speechless. Finally, he grasped how difficult it was to enhance Unique Elements.
After pondering, he decided to try enhancing "Strength." Pressing the arrow next to the "Strength" icon, he saw the reserve drop rapidly again, the "Strength" leaf glowing. The indicator advanced noticeably faster than for "Steel Body."
After five seconds, reserve fell to 20%, and Reyn stopped. By his estimate, those five units filled the indicator about one-tenth. So, 50% reserve would suffice to raise "Strength" to level three.
Compared to "Steel Body," enhancing "Strength" was far simpler.
Reyn felt his muscles fill with new power. He stood, grabbed his warhammer—it felt lighter, fitting perfectly in hand.
"Not bad, very not bad."
Reyn contentedly lowered the hammer. In future, if possible, he'd prioritize improving "Strength." As for "Steel Body"... he could think about it when he had excess spiritual power. For now, priority was raising mage level and merging with more demonic souls.
After significant spiritual power expenditure, his body strengthened, but his head felt lightly fatigued. Reyn experimented no more and went to sleep.
Dawn broke after just a few hours.
Reyn rose as usual, meditated, then headed to the inner courtyard to train. The strength gain was immediate: the two thousand-pound weights felt slightly lighter. He quickly adapted to the enhanced body and soon sweated profusely.
He hadn't finished half the workout when he heard footsteps.
"Is that you?"
The newcomer was Pollock. Extreme surprise froze on his face. No wonder the superhuman with the warhammer last night seemed vaguely familiar—they had met before.
Reyn set down the weights and greeted:
"Captain Pollock."
"I remember, you're Reyn, right?" Pollock eyed him from head to toe.
In just weeks, Reyn had changed incredibly: grown half a head taller, noticeably stronger, his entire bearing utterly different. Without Pollock's excellent memory, he'd think he was mistaken.
"Reyn, you've become a superhuman?"
Pollock, seeing the two-thousand-pound weights at Reyn's feet, actually wanted to ask what class of superhuman he was, wielding such terrifying strength. As a level-four Ranger, he couldn't lift even one.
"Yes," Reyn nodded curtly and asked: "Captain Pollock, you're here for Master Roger?"
"Right, this is Master Roger's reward." Pollock had just inquired at the tavern and learned the legendary Demon Hunter lived in the inner courtyard room. He shook the pouch in his hand, coins jingling. "Is the Master in?"
Reyn glanced toward Roger's room. Two voices came from inside—Delaiersha was there too. Clearly not visit time now.
"Master Roger hasn't woken yet," he said. "You may need to wait a bit."
"No problem."
Pollock showed no impatience. He looked at Reyn and offered:
"Reyn, got time? I'll buy you a couple of mugs."
"Sure," Reyn wanted to clarify some things. "You go to the common hall, I'll wash up and join."
Soon they sat at a corner table in the tavern's common hall.
Pollock lit a cigar, took a deep drag, exhaled smoke, and said gravely:
"Reyn, we nearly fully cleared that vampire lair overnight. We've learned a lot. That high-rank vampire owned the clothing store. He masked excellently, hid in Longsand for years, killed at least three hundred civilians. Many missing persons cases were their doing. We'd been tracking them long, but they acted very covertly, striking only in slums, so drew little attention.
"If not for you, who knows how many more would have suffered from those devilish creations. You saved many lives."
Deep respect shone in Pollock's eyes.
Reyn, however, shook his head:
"It's all Master Roger's merit. I just accompanied him and barely helped."
"No need for modesty," Pollock smirked. "You killed those blood servants and two regular vampires. I can spot that."
Reyn didn't argue—the warhammer marks were too obvious.
Pollock no longer mentioned vampires, instead asking curiously:
"Reyn, how'd you meet Master Roger?"
Reyn gave a half-truth:
"We just happened to be neighbors at the 'Basilisk' tavern. Last night Master Roger needed help, so he called me."
"Is that so? You're incredibly lucky then." Pollock clearly didn't fully believe Reyn. He'd spun in Longsand years as Demon Extermination Squad captain and seen few legendaries. Yet Reyn, freshly superhuman, had befriended a legendary master. To say he wasn't envious would be self-deception. Any legendary superhuman could join the Imperial Council, among the Empire's highest echelons. Pollock had never heard this Master Roger's name before but dared show no disdain. Such shadowy legendaries weren't rare—he was just uninformed.
Reyn sipped beer and casually asked:
"Captain Pollock, does your Demon Extermination Squad usually have many missions?"