Настучать в бубен / Hit the tambourine: Глава 18-6

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Camrad_RIP 19.10.24 в 12:13

Stepanov's anger passed as quickly as it had come. He was good at getting his feelings under control, and he'd learned it even better when he'd come to the other world and become a shaman. As he calmed down and stopped straining the dining hall's defenses, which had nearly collapsed in an attempt to contain the shaman's anger and keep him from lighting himself up on the city's sensors, he began to do what he'd needed to do all along: think, not freak out. If he'd pressed any further, half the town would have fled to the mansion with thoughts that Malter had gotten her way and was about to be eaten and killed. However, after a moment of angry weakness, he concentrated again and began to act with his head already cooled, first of all checking the obedience of Sylvia and the rest of her chicks, so that they would not pay attention to his systemic oddities and would not even think of comparing him to a certain Master.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.24 в 19:29

With his second move, he finally checked his teammate's Status, which pleased and disappointed him. He realized with his mind that the result was not just good, but awesome, especially if he took into account the gifted attributes. He understood, but he was secretly expecting something more from a creature with several centuries of experience than he'd already seen. Only one mastery, just in bloody resonance control, very little knowledge. It's a rather modest indicator of the depth of that knowledge. He was already far more erudite and deeply knowledgeable by now. This is obviously logical, because the locals, in order for the System to recognize their level of knowledge as at least worthy of being listed in the Status, must work very hard and, more importantly, somewhere to get, snatch, take away, or exchange this knowledge. Sylvia, in her own opinion, was not just not badly erudite, no. She was, against a background of peers of comparable strength and age, a savvy and versatile bloodsucker to the extreme, noticeably outgrowing her characteristics. Now, of course, when she was in the big leagues in terms of pure strength, she could do with some good training in some areas, but that was another matter.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 16:38

“Get ready, I'm going to perform a gifting, maybe not unpleasantly, but intensely.” Stepan dropped his plans directly to her in images and explained in images what exactly he was doing, what she should expect, and what a “gifting” was in general, but he couldn't do without words either. He felt very uncomfortable. “At least, that's how it's always been for me.”

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 16:39

"For what you promise me, pet, I am ready to endure the torture of the consecrated iron, not to mention the minor inconveniences." Sylvia hurries him greedily and impatiently, figuratively speaking, tapping her hoof against the ground. "Hurry up, Pann, or I swear that you'll spend the next twenty-four hours with your tongue in my slit, forgetting that orgasm even exists as a phenomenon! Well, don't you dare keep me waiting... Oh, first blood, that's... oh, intense indeed."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 16:40

The vampiress, frozen in immobility, grasped her breasts, which had grown a size and a half, feeling her aura change and expand, determining the volume of the Source and its Power, so important for a vampire. Important in the sense that their gift burns out when they convert. Even one or two units in the Source is a great result for an individual who has passed the first hundred years. The current indicators of her magical gift would be suitable for another adept of classical magic, and a full-fledged and certified one at that! The essence of blood magic - not to be confused with magic of blood - is that it works from the stolen life force, from the blood supply, and the characteristic of the Constitution, which serves as the main fuel. But where blood essence was the fuel for the bloodsucker, the fuse was still pure magic, a fuse, and a multiplier, so that even with a two in her Source, Sylvia could burn with scarlet spells no weaker than a full-fledged mage before she met Stepan, albeit for a short time and with her own peculiarities. Now she had a lot more power, she could add more pure magic to the scarlet magic, getting the result not so much of addition, but of multiplication of what she had spent, albeit with reservations.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 17:07

In addition to the increased characteristics, the five added free talents also played a role. Or rather they would, when Stepan distributed them, having consulted with Sylvia beforehand. Later, because now she was listening to her aura with delight and triumph, her blood and magic racing through her veins, mixing one with the other, which made her even whiter, and her body was covered with glowing and gradually fading scarlet lines. These lines were followed by slightly brighter scarlet dots followed by a fading trail of scarlet light. It was a concentrated blood supply, the kind used in direct combat. It was similar to Edward's when he was at his peak, but barely visible to the normal eye, visible only to spiritual and magical perception. In Malter's case, no additional perception was required. The thickness of the blood amplified by the ancient ichor, and with the support of the increased characteristics gave such a result. Stepan, using basic erudition, could say with full confidence that, even without the help of the System, the next few years would allow her to raise her Constitution and Resistance by one more unit, and with a minimum of training. The basic characteristics of bloodsuckers don't grow too evenly, often relying on a usual reserve - fuel and fuse, fuel and fuse. And since Sylvia's fuse has increased so much, there will be more fuel, albeit not immediately.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 17:11

Stepan openly admired the way the woman was handling her gift, testing it, listening to it, then releasing a thin armor of scarlet haze, then turning a single finger into a long bloody claw, then creating and almost releasing powerful blood spells, only at the last moment releasing them and drawing the spent power back into the bloodstream. There was something meditative and at the same time, perhaps, spiritualizing in it - to realize that this machine of destruction, which could tear and destroy a lot of people in a matter of seconds, exquisite and seductive, desirable and deadly, was still completely in his power. It was easy to get hooked on such sensations, which made Stepan wonder very strangely whether local mentalists and other brainiacs were taught some kind of safety technique against losing their footing and losing their brakes. Or do they rely entirely on work ethics and fear of the kicks that a mentalist who loses his brakes is bound to get? Well, unless he's an alien from another world with a System, sorry, a Soul Tablet, and a huge supply of quirks in his not-so-dumb head.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 17:28

As soon as Sylvia had fully mastered her new power, the shaman used his new trump card meta-skill. One that granted no longer characteristics, but an elite brainwashing property. Sylvia flinched and squeezed her eyes shut tightly, even putting her palm to them. The modification was clearly a modification to an existing one, which made her eyes especially hypnotic. This time she remained motionless even longer, and when she did open her eyes, cautiously looking around and moving her eyeballs, there was something wrong with those eyes. If earlier the young man could, albeit with some difficulty and effort, notice the anomaly in her eyes, mostly because he knew where to look, but now her eyes, at least in the inactivated state, seemed to be the most ordinary eyes of a high vampire. Only at the very edge, in spiritual rather than purely magical perception, did he see something indistinct and disturbing, hidden behind a careful image of normality, as if it were not her eyes but two stingers hidden in her eye sockets.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 17:30

The system-enhanced property previously called “eye modification: subjugating gaze” was now called “complex spiritual-energetic eye modification: the supreme gaze of subjugation” - a rather significant upward shift, especially considering the prefix “supreme". Stepan, desperate to understand the nature of this change on his own, simply tapped into Sylvia's senses who was probing her new gift, so to speak, understanding much more. From her, these eyes, whose disguise had obviously improved almost several times, were not hiding, revealing all their splendor, making the young man dumbfounded along with his doll. The property was truly elite, worthy of another magister. It was basically the same hypnotic gaze that Sylvia had originally modified, but now Stepan was sure that even his passive defense could not withstand the direct gaze. Even if it didn't collapse in the same second it wouldn't last long. At most, it would allow him to win a few seconds to activate the combat mode and the active defense created by summoning the corresponding spirits, and even then it would stun him and put him in a stupor at once.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 17:53

"If you're smart and catch them relaxed, you can get into a magister's head with those eyes, I suppose." The Earthman commented, recognizing that he would like to get such a modification for himself. Even if it was still based on vampire tricks. "It's almost guaranteed to get a master that way if he doesn't know what to prepare a defense circuit against."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 17:57

"Well, no, no, pet, I wouldn't dare to open those eyes on a magister; the chances are very small and the risk of failure is high." Sylvia shook her head in unequivocal condemnation, looking at Stepan as if he were a little boy who had said something stupid. “And a master, too. They're all known. All are deadly dangerous, and they will certainly not relax in my presence. Even if I succeed, there is a high probability that traces of my actions will be visible - if not in a personal inspection, then in an external and complex one. Though the temptation, I won't hide it, just tempts me with a naked vein, really. You have done well, my good man, but now I must finish with those free lines of power that are not yet inscribed in my Tablet. I have definite thoughts, but I would prefer to discuss the matter properly with someone who knows more and would certainly not hide anything from his mistress.”

Camrad_RIP 24.10.24 в 07:53

Her gaze was so full of feelings that Stepan feared she might try to lay him out right here, without direct instruction through the submissive bond, only with the help of the changes that had already been made, such as the aversion to sex as such, which had been removed. In truth, he was tempted not to interfere with her, but then he'd be wasting a lot of time. She without his prompting, would obviously dominate from beginning to end, which the young man did not want now. He had to confine himself to the promise written in the system diary to let himself have a good time later, if possible, and then return to more pressing problems. Whatever it was, Sylvia was his best and strongest asset, and it would be foolish not to try to strengthen her in one way or another, especially if the price was only a couple of hours of explanation. The stronger she is, the easier it will be for him if he needs her explicit and unambiguous support.

Camrad_RIP 25.10.24 в 13:04

"Whatever you say, Sylvia. I'm honestly looking forward to it myself." He neither refused nor concealed his interest, immediately opening the help and beginning to check the degree of availability of knowledge. "I suggest focusing on knowledge, since your characteristics are already overdeveloped, there is plenty of room to develop. Also, there are meta-skills, but don't put too much emphasis on them, their usefulness is undeniable, but it highly depends on the base and personal power. Properties are more complicated, I'll let you decide here, some of them are much more useful than simple knowledge."

Camrad_RIP 24.10.24 в 08:10

So they began to discuss all the small details, and Sylvia behaved as if she had taken a two-week interrogation course with Rodislav Gastoldovich Yanin himself because for a moment Stepan felt as if he were back at his seminar. However, the topic of conversation was of mutual interest to both of them and Stepan also sincerely wanted to participate in the discussion. The list of available talents of a vampire with the class of the Blood Caster obviously did not resemble the same list of talents of a Senior Shaman. The young man spent a lot of time delving into the many options and even arguing a bit with Sylvia. He won some of the arguments because he was more familiar with the canons of the system, but he conceded most of them. The experienced bloodsucker knew exactly what she, as a bloodsucker, needed most of all.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 17:59

She distributed the five talents at once, despite her attempts to put them in one at a time - a condition of the System regarding the token applied. Malter really didn't want to shut down and fall off the schedule for a few days, but after some sensible thinking, she considered it a tiny price to pay for the coming power. After writing a couple of emails, issuing commands to her agents and fledglings, as well as talking over the amulet and rescheduling some medium important meeting, she grabbed a few vials of enhanced blood, settled into bed, and confirmed the selection. She smiled with such a triumphant and triumphant face that Stepan's hand reached for a non-existent lemon.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 18:01

The easiest was the only meta-skill, which the woman couldn't help but take. The specific and only vampire-specific skill “blood replenishment I” restored blood supply at once up to the maximum and at the highest level. That is, the restored blood would not be of the level of the homeless people who had strolled in the alley, but at least of the full-fledged gifted in the rank of a strong student, not lower. One use per ten days, but for a vampire this one use is enough. The rapid depletion of the scarlet drop's supply had always been a problem for them. A big part of the tactic of those who confront vampires is to force the creature to use up its reserves and finish it off when it's weakened - in a way, even Stepan had done the same thing to Edichka. In that case, those who try to deplete, and then successfully deplete, poor Sylvia in order to rush forward to finish her off will be in for a surprise of deadly awesomeness. In peaceful life, however, if she doesn't expend blood too drastically and rashly, this ten-day charge will be enough for her to be comfortable without hunting. A golden, diamond even, dream of the lion's share of bloodsuckers, who live their entire lives with a clear addiction to diet and an understanding of that addiction.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 18:05

She didn't acquire any properties, though she lusted after some with a hungry gaze. The only thing that kept her away was the fact she was already cool enough in terms of properties, but the lag in knowledge was getting dangerous. In this world, it is dangerous to have a pure aura power not supported by the corresponding knowledge. You become interesting to more and more serious people and yet you have no coolness of your own to either reflect their interest or transform it into normal cooperation. The strong are negotiated with, and the weak are just not interesting to anyone until they get into the fray or fall under the roller of history, but those who have strength but are weak... they are the desired prey for everyone. The Slaver and dark ritualists like old Rumorias, are only the tip of the iceberg, the most obvious, but by no means the only danger.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 18:11

The knowledge was chosen long and with constant questioning, but, not without Stepan's help, Malter made up her mind here too. Maybe in another situation, she would have strengthened herself differently, but Stepan also influenced her, most of the time through arguments, never once using direct control. Sylvia, well aware of the prospects and dangers of possessing the Soul Tablet, did not develop the skills of a schemer, seductress, or alchemist, focusing on what would help to kill and survive. Of course, Stepan wasn't going to get into any deadly duels, even his intentions to hunt down the demonic menace had been reduced to sending a bunch of angry hunters from the other side of the world without his own presence. But situations, as he'd learned, were different, and having a fighting supreme vampire behind him and not having one were two very big differences.

Camrad_RIP 24.10.24 в 08:38

The three points went to the root knowledge of the Blood Caster's class, bringing both to the mastery level. The most correct option. The most universal and correct, Stepan himself had done so with dialog and practice of calls. The received “master control of scarlet drop” and “master practice of blood shaping” brought her to the level where she could already consider herself superior in knowledge, too, at least in the knowledge typical for her vampire class. Yes, it would have been nice to raise a few other branches as well, but the root skills worked like the core, just like Stepan's. The Earthling could create totems even before he had the relevant knowledge, could work with treaties and contracts long before he had the corresponding line in his Status, and even if Her Milfness hadn't given him a branch of enchantments, he would have been able to work with them too. Worse, not as flexible, not as complete, as he could have been with the relevant knowledge. However, at a very competent level by local standards.

Camrad_RIP 24.10.24 в 08:42

Sylvia had a similar situation, only instead of the secondary disciplines of shamanism, she had equally secondary bloody knowledge. And it was even harder for her than for Stepan, who was accustomed to accepting knowledge, because the System not only increased the rank of this knowledge, but also filled the voids where Sylvia herself had not studied enough, had not worked hard enough, bringing her knowledge not just to the point where even the System would recognize it, but to ideal perfectionism relative to the existing rank. However, against the background of three invested points, the “advanced developed methods of bloody acceleration” received for the last talent were much easier. There, the whole basis of knowledge consists of accelerating thinking and the speed of perception to the proper level. Strengthening, acceleration, strengthening, powering up, increasing resistance and regeneration - the trump racial trick of all vampires, due to which Dutzirella gutted Stepan like a fish.

Camrad_RIP 24.10.24 в 09:05

In combination with the previous improvements and bonuses to characteristics, now Sylvia, if she met Edward and his team, could not only fend them off but turn them all into an ignominious flight, nailing the laggards. And if she tried to turn off the same Dutzirella with her new eyes at the first beat of the battle, she could win, not without problems, but confidently and without getting hurt, exhausted at most. Leaving the woman, inspired by the upcoming prospects, to come to her senses and thrashing around in a semi-delirious state, Stepan stepped into the closet, found himself in his hideout, cleaned up a bit, checked the state of the totem's external and internal, and then stepped into the courtyard. His mood was positive, he had a lot of plans, and in order not to waste his enthusiasm, he decided to have lunch at the courtyard.

Camrad_RIP 25.10.24 в 14:31

At the same time, he could listen to conversations, highly intellectual, so to speak.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 16:49

"I tell you, it was not without a magician of the lord's, who fixes the faces of noble maidens, well!" One of the workers was singing, raising his tone and looking around so as not to be spotted for such talking. "But she's getting better each day, so what's the point? What's the use of waving a saber and running around the house? If running and waving could make someone prettier, I'd be like an elf, well, handsome."

Camrad_RIP 25.10.24 в 14:55

"You're just ugly, whether you wave or don't wave, Dikk." One of the disputants laughed, slapping himself on the stomach and jumping up and down. - And the lady does not just run. She pays money to the teacher, eats the master's food, and perhaps drinks some potion. Well, you like a little child"

Camrad_RIP 26.10.24 в 16:02

"That's right, you said it right from the heart, Mashyr, I couldn't have said it better myself. And I even know who's talking the most." Pirius appeared behind his back so suddenly, as if he was pumping the class of a stealthy and had already finished it to the level of a steadfast adept because even Stepan's spirits did not notice him at once, but only when he moved a little closer, coming out of the dark corner. "Why are you gossiping about the honorable Fanya and discussing the chief's wife? There's no work, so I'll find enough for everyone, you bastards."

Camrad_RIP 26.10.24 в 15:57

Stepan, who was just then finishing a jar of kvass, involuntarily shuddered. The promise of a job sounded very ominous, even if the shaman himself was not involved in the conversation. But he could not resist peeking through his spirit perception at Fanyu, who was steaming in the bathtub after an intense workout, tired and lukewarm to the point where it was hard to move. The adventuress she hired was definitely skilled in fitness training. She exhausted her ward exactly to the point where the strain was useful, not harmful. Also, the more and more beautiful saleswoman had no strength to move from fatigue and, therefore she was helped to soap her paradoxically grown up, not shrunken from the loads by the cheerfully smiling Nika, who was no less cheerfully joking with her mistress. And, judging by how cheerfully the conversation was going on, and the maid's hands kept soaping the same part of Fanja's heavily breathing body, the girls were in a good mood. By the way, Stepan had not suggested that to them. He was even surprised, but pleasantly and in passing.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.24 в 19:35

The young man had come to the courtyard not for the purpose of gazing at the washing beauties, he could have done it from anywhere in the city and the surrounding area, but to fulfill another moral obligation. The riddle of the mice had gotten to the point where he was ready to climb the wall to find the answer. Hidden under the Shroud spiritual resonance manifested and called directly into the body of specialized spirit-seekers, and not only nine small, but also a couple of strong, which he discreetly released and flooded them in the courtyard. All of them, in addition to searching, were good at stealth and the ability to hide themselves and their presence worked skillfully as a team and knew exactly what Stepan wanted them to do. In its original purpose, this contract, which came from a branch of battle calls, was used to calculate the points of archery or siege equipment, marking the spot where the arrow came off and leaking the coordinates to the shaman.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.24 в 19:41

The Earthman had given the group of spirits a bit of a hard time, but he'd given them his instructions, which consisted of marking the points where new mice were entering or entering the territory. In a couple or three days, they'd get the map exactly right, mark the points, and help get some fucking answers to the old questions. On top of that, he'd done a couple of months' worth of good deeds in addition, sending healing spirits of a specific kind around the courtyard, removing kidney stones, cirrhosis in the liver, sand in the joints, and aneurysms in the brain, increasing the overall health of anyone who needed it. It did little good, the experience dripped cosmetically, but the young man was pleased to be doing something socially useful. He even contemplated, quite seriously, going under disguise to the local slums and curing everyone he could there as well.

Camrad_RIP 25.10.24 в 15:01

Maybe it was stupidity, but he just physically wanted to do something good and kind after twenty days of brainwashing by especially vulgar means. Yes, the bloodsuckers. Yes, the fact that they looked favorable against the other representatives of their inanimate species did not cancel the general evil scuminess, but it still made an imprint. He was constantly pressed by the unpleasant weight of the realization that he had followed the Autogoddess. It seemed to be a small thing, but he did not want to give up even an inch of his personal ethics and morality. His opinion of her may have grown, very much so after she had saved his brain from the full control of the evil bitch Martel, but that only made his desire not to go along with her even stronger.

Camrad_RIP 25.10.24 в 17:30

In fact, he didn't deny himself his whims. Why not? Is he a master of shamanism or not, eh? And if he wanted to dress in rags, pretend to be a beggar, and go to work as a free healer in poor neighborhoods who would dare to oppose him? The rags, tattered and dusty, with a lot of old stains, consisting of tattered pants and shirt, and no less tattered cloak, which completely covered his face, were made of a special fabric, quite valuable and expensive, even in such a shabby condition. Especially in a shabby state, for this garment seemed to have absorbed all the kilometers of roads, paths, and streets traveled, making it the perfect receptacle for some spirits. It's not cheap, even if it's not a special item, but it's valuable. He managed to put the right spirits into the cloth himself, literally on the fly, changing his clothes and putting the hood of his cloak over his head - concealers, suppressors, dusters that blurred his appearance, prevented him from remembering any of the signs, prevented him from paying attention, and, more importantly, concealed the aspect of the call.

Camrad_RIP 25.10.24 в 18:40

Particularly strong concealers as long as you only summon healing spirits and only for those who need healing but can't find it. The effect gained from summoning several strong exotics at once, among which was even a spirit-image of a true holy healing saint. Or rather, not the saint himself, but the memory of him, which was formed into the image of a humanoid spirit, combining the features that possessed, if not the saint himself, then his image, which an unknown religion, little resembling Christianity, cultivated. When he had finished dressing and crossed the crossing, he went out into a dirty alley, reached the widest of the poor streets, adjoining the marketplace, and collapsed in one corner, leaning against the wall of a house, right next to some similarly ragged but stinking individuals, also engaged in begging.

Camrad_RIP 26.10.24 в 16:15

Under normal circumstances, for such impudence as trying to beg for alms without permission and in someone else's field, they would have tried to beat him, rob him, and, optionally, put him on a pen or squeeze him off. People of broad culture, thieves' law and all that. But under the rags that diverted attention and created a field of normality, they didn't even glance at him, because if he was sitting, let him sit. Putting an empty and cracked bowl in front of him, the young man stretched forward his hand, copying the pose of his neighbor, and he partially left his body and began to call. He calls with considerable boldness. The distraction field, as long as he followed such specific conditions of disguise, worked in a way that made the magister envious. It seemed to the young man that as long as he was only calling for healers and only for others, not himself, to contract for the future, even Magister Miller himself, if he decided to take a walk for some dick right here next to him, would see nothing out of the ordinary.

Camrad_RIP 26.10.24 в 16:17

Just one of the beggars, sick and maimed, living out his last days. It was as if he had put on all of them, the innumerable multitudes of them in all worlds, and the multitudes were happy and relieved to give him a part of their pain and hopelessness, sharing in return the indifference that the whole world feels for such beggars. There was something philosophical about it, but even to an elder shaman such emotional strain was not particularly pleasant, not at all easy to control. An ordinary person could get into a suicidal mood even in a couple of minutes, but the young man knew spirits and their effects, which burned his brain much stronger. And he was not distracted from new and new calls of healers, which also fell under the effect of spirit cloaking, also acquired invisibility, so they could fly in full manifestation even under the very nose of a gifted magician. They could fly in full manifestation even under the nose of a gifted magician, especially if they tried to treat not just anyone, but the poor or unhappy, filled with the same hopelessness.

Camrad_RIP 26.10.24 в 16:20

And the young man healed, took away pain in broken bones, pierced maxillary polyps in the nose that had been out of breath for many years, removed inflammation on the slowly rotting wound, restored vision and dissolved cataracts, healed marks from whips or beatings, helped to correct the consequences of miscarriage and peritonitis, as well as a lot of other useful things he did. He didn't help everyone, of course. He didn't even lift a finger in the address of the thug, who was reclining from internal bleeding, and who was mortally wounded by the whore he had beaten to death with a shiv for non-payment of his second “fair ten-day share” in a week. Though he had spent almost a third of his reserve on that whore, who was also beaten by life. He also gave this one a gift of a jewelry token while she, who suddenly began to breathe again without wheezing and foam from a rib that had pierced her lung, was crawling away to lie down. He thought about it and added a boob enlarger to make it easier for her to work. It didn't help other criminal elements either, especially those with a lot of shit and blood on them. Spiritual vision allowed him to see a lot of things that normal magic vision wouldn't, but only vaguely and confusingly. An honest man who'd fought against a steppe-horn horde as part of one of the regular hundreds could have blood on his hands, and a sadistic bastard who liked to tear teeth and nostrils from his debtors. He fixed the debtor's wounds, too, but not too badly, for he was not a particularly pleasant person.

Camrad_RIP 26.10.24 в 16:13

Where spiritual sight alone could not give a definite answer, the readers of thoughts and feelings helped. They were not covered by such a specific disguise but there were fewer of them. Plus, they were called up less often, and Stepan kept a special watch on them so they wouldn't get caught. The number of chronic illnesses among the local people frankly stirred his mind, making him wonder why they could still work, walk, or even breathe. He had to admit that the phrase “if you want to live, you'll be grasping at straws” was true in any world.

Camrad_RIP 24.10.24 в 07:43

The reserve showed the bottom, renewed by meta-skill, and then he renewed the bar of life force, which he also spent quite generously, controllably draining the life to pay for several dark healing spirits, which were eating infections or diseases, every now and then trying to take a bite out of the patient, so they had to be restrained. The second reserve and a quarter of his life reserve showed the bottom, but he only renewed the source, and then he began to distill magic into life force, a skill that wasn't particularly difficult with his advanced spiritual transformation, and he didn't even need to summon a special spirit who could do the same. The sun was slipping towards evening. The passersby and beggars were dispersing little by little. One of them, the most morally normal one, the young man poured into the bowl, unnoticed by everyone, what had been thrown to him, leaving in his own bowl a bent and greenish copper.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 16:48

Night was about to fall, but he was still treating those who had returned from work to their shacks. One boy had some remarkably persistent form of an obscure disease that had crippled part of his nervous system and now he was doomed to limp on both legs at best. He had to summon a minor but strong spirit that looked like a strange harp, floating like boiling candle wax - this bitch with aspects of threads and music could play on strings, but the strings were nerves and veins. He paid not even for the reserve or offerings, but for the pain he inflicted on the body, but he could mend torn veins or degraded nerves better of other elders. Stepan, of course, did not torture the boy, mirroring his feelings on himself, and he left the body, which made the flesh suffer and sweat, and the spirit only received information about how the body felt bad. The musician, who could be used for torture or a battle blow with the illusion of agony on the square, finished in almost complete darkness. The young man, who had finished with his good deeds and earned almost a seventh of the experience scale, just sat there and went away from the treatment - he had called the string player for nothing because the pain was gone, but the stress of the body was still there.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.24 в 19:32

//“After a day off like that, you should take another day off,” he thought with a slight irritation that he had turned an easy and relaxing vacation into a labor marathon again. . - “I guess I'm unfixable.”

Camrad_RIP 24.10.24 в 07:40

He was distracted from his thoughts of great things by the sound of a coin hitting the bowl, worn and hollow, but still silver, though of the lowest denomination. He looked at the good-hearted individual who had tossed the coin to a ragged geezer in what appeared to be all-black rags, sitting in total darkness, and while the street was so empty that not even the thugs could be seen. The nearest company, if anything, was on its way to collect debts from someone on the opposite end of the neighboring street. The good-hearted citizen turned out to be a street girl, only with a criminal flavor, with the stamp of hard street life on her face, sharp and almost boyish features, black-as-pitch hair, and bright green eyes. He would have given her fifteen, seventeen at the most, but her hands were as calloused and calloused as an adult's, and her eyes were the same.

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 16:10

“What are you looking at, beggar? Go on, go and find lodging. If you won't get cold before morning then you'll just disappear.” Despite the rudeness, he now clearly realized that she was showing a kind of care, showing pity, which had no place on the streets, and therefore had to hide it behind cruelty and anger, including anger at himself, for having felt pity at all. “Are you deaf or dumb? You want a kick in the ass, don't you?”

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 17:24

She was probably masquerading as a boy, aided by a hoarse and low voice, and she was not at all relaxed, despite the pity she showed. Her hand was ready to pull a knife from her belt, and the other to strike with the shiv hidden in her sleeve. And not out of anger or suspicion, just ready, always, as an axiom - you want to live, be ready for the need to use good old ultra-violence, and this need can come literally at any second. It was for such moments he did not like this world, that children, even kind at heart, had to grow up here at an offensively early age.

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 17:31

//“She's gifted!” - Stepan suddenly remarked, concentrating and looking at her with a mixture of magical and shamanic gaze. - “Not too much, just barely, but a unit in Source and Power she's definitely got. She's also sick, yes.”

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 17:30

The aura of the young gifted one, whose gift was in such an embryonic and undeveloped state that she might not have been aware of it only benefiting from the bonuses of greater stamina and survivability, was indeed unhealthy. The yet-to-be-gone healer spirits sitting in his eyes saw no signs of physical sickness, but her aura was in a rather strange state of oppression. Some fragments of the thin body seemed to be covered with a grayish-dusty patina, under which guessed, and only with the full tension of perception of his own and planted in the eyes of a strong spirit, barely distinguishable black dots. A curse, and not the simplest of curses. Stepan and his spirits sensed its danger and complexity, and a tinge of something divine. Whoever her ancestors were, they might have been long ago, but they'd pissed off the higher powers.

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 17:43

Did they loot the temple?

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 17:46

"Are you dead in there, you brat?" Her voice interrupts him from his thoughts, in which he can already hear irritated anger, behind which there is a hidden fear because he has a very uncharacteristic behavior now. "So tell me, I'll take the money, why the fuck am I throwing it away?"

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 17:53

"Your body aches. It aches all the time, doesn't it?" He asked, wrinkling his voice, for he had forgotten why he had kept silent all day to avoid wheezing, as if a dozen equally sick, old, and desperate people and non-humans were speaking through his throat, each word being spoken by a new dozen. "And the pain was getting worse, as if it were not in the body, not in the meat and bones, but deeper?"

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 17:55

The girl stepped back, pulling out both dagger and shiv at once, not running without looking back just because she couldn't bring herself to run from, in fact, a beggar. That's the damage to a whole reputation. An instinct that played against the mind. With her mind, she knew at once that such a fear-monger whistling in a hoarse whisper at her was certainly not just a beggar. She should have run, run, and screamed, as stories and gossip bequeathed when she encountered the inexplicable, but the fact that she was used to running from a bunch of rival gangs, from night slavers and patrols of guards played a role, and she had never met a creature hungry for blood and flesh.

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 17:58

“Stay away. I'm under Burn.” Now her voice is more feminine, which means she intentionally added hoarseness. “D-don't touch.”

Camrad_RIP 23.10.24 в 19:29

"And you don't even want to get rid of the pain?" Stepan clarifies, mentally giving himself another slap, because in his performance and such a voice she will understand something quite different from what he had in mind.

Camrad_RIP 21.10.24 в 18:00