MMORPG: Ascension of the Strongest Spirit Master
Chapter 46: Snooping around

Chapter 46: Snooping around

Vlad left the hotel behind, his black coat catching the soft winter breeze as he navigated through the streets of Skyreach’s upper levels.

Pedestrians moved in streams around him, some dressed in tailored suits, others in the gray-blue of guild-issued armor or administration cloaks.

Even among the well-dressed crowd, Vlad stood out. The dark, fur-clad cloak, the armor hidden beneath, and the air of contained gravity were enough to draw eyes, and when virulent mist emanated from him, it only drew more attention.

At first, it was shapeless, like smoke from a dying fire, but then, in a blink, it folded into a small form, a winged silhouette with glassy limbs and glinting eyes.

A moment later, Vel manifested fully, staying afloat with uncanny weightlessness atop Vlad’s shoulder.

Gasps broke the quiet of the walkways.

A few people halted outright, while others slowed, turning their heads, as murmurs rippled through the flow of foot traffic.

"A spirit?"

"King-grade?"

"No way, that young?"

Ignoring the stares, Vlad looked to his left and smiled.

"So," he said calmly, his voice low enough to avoid drawing further attention, "How do you feel after some rest?"

Vel, still scanning the world with eyes half-lidded in curiosity, leaned closer to his face. Her beady, reflective pupils lit up.

"I feel great. Better than ever," She chimed, her voice light and musical, full of energy and joy.

Vlad raised an eyebrow slightly, almost amused. "So... do you want another law crystal?"

She paused, hovering just slightly above his shoulder now. Her head tilted as she considered it, then shook it with a playful bounce.

"I don’t feel hungry right now," she said joyfully, spinning once in the air before settling back down atop his coat. "Maybe later."

Since their recent battle, Vel had grown much closer to him. Now, she clung less to fear and more to the certainty of his presence. She also grew more and more comfortable with her situation and her ability to ignore the looks and mummers.

However, she was a bit saddened by the fact that people believed she was a king-grade spirit, which she was not. It made her feel like she was impersonating something she was not, like she was walking around inside borrowed glory.

But with Vlad’s reassurance, she was growing past it and channeling that sadness to grow stronger.

However, there was a problem with her growth.

Vlad had exchanged all the shadow law crystals he had for poison ones at the Adventurer Guild, acquiring a large number of first and second-rank crystals. A fair trade, given that shadow and darkness law types were rarer and more valuable than poison.

So, in the past two days, Vel had spent most of her time devouring essence until she staggered with intoxicated bliss and collapsed into a forced slumber to digest her gains.

But when she awoke, the strength of her skills had not improved, and there was not even a flicker of improvement in her spiritual resonance or core strength.

Vel felt better than ever, more energetic and stronger, but Vlad could tell from the tests he had performed that she had not improved by a tiny bit. It was as if the essence she fed on had been thrown into a bottomless abyss or wasted away.

She had not grown by even a fraction.

Most spirits, especially younger ones, grew slowly at first, and after a point, some couldn’t even digest law essence properly, hitting a wall in their growth, and then they required rare materials or life-and-death triggers to overcome.

But Vel’s condition was something else entirely.

It was as if her vessel had been conditioned to reject pure essence or store it without using it to improve her condition, which was natural because every drop she absorbed vanished, leaving no trace behind.

The possibilities that Vlad considered were few, and none were good.

Perhaps her body required an enormous amount of essence to improve even slightly, a monstrous ratio that no one would suspect from someone of such low rank.

Or, worse, her spirit vessel was broken, no longer capable of containing essence in the first place.

The possibility that her body was conditioned to store essence could be actual, knowing how she could change from a weak spirit to the Empress of Death.

Still, this did not explain why she needed to stay in her child form, and even with all his knowledge and experience from his past life, Vlad knew of only a handful of methods that could potentially help her.

Each of them was rarer than the last and also more dangerous, so while he could help improve her condition, he could also make it worse.

For this reason, Vlad had made his decision, as much as he wished Vel could grow stronger. Not only was she his spirit-bound and a primary source of power, but she also needed to devour a shard of an ancient horror.

Yet, it was best not to tamper with her condition.

Yes, strength would give her a better chance of surviving the Shard of Corruption, but tampering might do the opposite. Because Vel had consumed the shard in his last life, that much Vlad knew, and she had survived.

Somehow.

However, what he didn’t know was what state Vel had been in at the time. He didn’t know if she had been stronger or weaker than she was now.

All he knew was that Morvaine, who rose after acquiring the shard’s power, had not been some legacy heir, and she was not the child of a great guild and also did not have a high-grade trait.

She was a normal player, which meant she had likely acquired the shard by chance. A lucky twist of fate, finding it before the new shard bearer could grow stronger.

That was why Vlad’s best course was to not temper with Vel’s condition, to let things unfold naturally, and to hope that when the time to devour the shard of corruption arrives, everything turns out well.

"Master, what are we going to do today?" Vel asked enthusiastically, "Should we go and hunt the mountain lions that those adventurers were talking about the other day?" She suggested, her legs swinging with excitement.

Vlad smiled faintly, not planning to tell the little spirit the truth about her condition.

"Well, maybe later today. For now, we need to visit someone." Vlad said, and Vel nodded happily, still brimming with excitement. She was just too glad to be doing new things every day, something that, just a few days ago, would have felt like a distant dream.

The person Vlad was planning to meet wasn’t another big shot like Angela, it was a maid, no one really special, a simple maid from the Duke’s palace.

Vlad knew that the only way to get information on the Deceiver was through the Duke himself, Captain Alric, or someone directly responsible for dealing with the Deceiver.

There was no way to get to the Duke or the Captain, and going to the Information Ring was also out of the question.

Even if the Ring had something useful, like evidence of increased slave buying or large shipments of alchemical materials, just asking would be as good as announcing his presence and his motives.

It didn’t matter if Duke Elarcrest knew the exact truth about what the Deceiver was doing, the fact that he had handed Cazimir over to him was enough to prove he knew the alchemist wasn’t up to anything good.

If that involvement was revealed, it would be devastating to the Duke’s image, which meant Duke Elarcrest must be keeping a tight grip on anything connected to the Deceiver.

That meant Vlad had to be cautious, extremely cautious, as one wrong step would let Elarcrest know someone was sniffing around, and if that happened, things would spiral fast.

And worst of all, if Vlad made the wrong move, the trail of the Deceiver could vanish entirely.

That’s why Vlad chose to target a maid, but not just any maid. Not one who cleaned the Captain’s office or served drinks at the Duke’s table.

The one she chose served Celestyn Aetherwing, the Duke’s second wife, and was also the great benefactor of Captain Alric.

It was a calculated guess. Because of Captain Alric’s loyalty and respect for her, Vlad believed the Captain would likely give her a few details about the Duke’s shady work.

Celestyn wasn’t the first wife, and her position in the house was not absolute, so holding a few of her husband’s secrets could be useful to her, a well-needed leverage to maintain her position.

At least, that’s what Vlad believed, and he knew that women liked to talk, so Celestyn might have slipped a few details to her personal maid.

That’s why he planned to win Noemi, the maid, trust and see what she knew.

At worst, he would lose a day or two.

But if he was right, and Noemi had even a sliver of useful information, then he would be one step closer to uncovering the Deceiver and his path to the first shard of the Nameless King.