Hikari's cauldron boiled.
She opened the lid and placed a spoonful in her mouth.
The wheatgrass was very chewy. She almost couldn't swallow.
But she did anyway. Even using a bit of her telekinetic powers to push it down.
It was an important part of her diet whenever she had a growth spurt for which supply had been unstable.
Behind her, Ella was deep in concentration weaving her magic into Hikari's salamander skin.
Hikari finishes her meal and walks to her.
Her wyvern companion just had a round of shedding and was imbibing her scales into her armour.
Ella turned around and smiled.
"(Ella is done.)"
Hikari channels her mana.
The salamander skin split into pieces, coalgating around her joints.
Her wrists, her elbows, her shoulders, her hips, her thighs and her kneecaps down to her ankles, wrapping around the arch of her foot.
The increased mass allows it to cover more of her body.
She tries moving her arms. Her armour responds to her.
The wyvern scales embedded within resonances with her core.
She felt light. Her armour absorbs the weight of her body.
"This is nice, I can lift more."
"(Ella thinks this works better than layering Ella's scales on top of the skin.)"
Hikari focuses on her sword strapped to the wall.
With a thought, she pulled it to herself.
The armour on her arm compresses to absorb the impact of the sword.
"This is nice."
"(Hikari likes Ella's the work.)"
Ella began crawling around in circles.
"Heel."
Hikari pulled a bagful of cave crystals to her.
Ella placed herself at her feet.
"(Ella likes cave crystal. Ella can grow more scales with cave crystal)"
Hikari dangled a cave crystal above her.
Ella licks her toe.
The cave crystal drops. Munch.
—- Wyvern scale x king salamander armour (infused) —--
[defense + 830]
[mana + 500]
[physique + 400]
[wyvern skin potency + 120]
[Heart of wyvern potency + 100]
[weight : 1 ton]
. . .
The fertilizer isn't going to be enough for the current harvest. There is a shortage even in Herdial so the royal house has banned the export. You're going to have to produce your own. The Rothenmore house has their own unique methods to produce fertiliser. Their supply isn't always stable, but it's worth a shot.
Hikari leapt into the air.
She landed. There was a battle unfolding ahead.
The ghoul mothers dug themselves in, spawning waves upon waves of ghouls against the Rotbenmore lines.
A line of skeleton warriors. Their flesh and bone exposed. They matched the ghouls in stature and mass.
The ghouls charged into their tower shields.
The skeleton's massive spears skewered them. A line of Rotbenmore priests in their silver masks and black robes soured their minions on.
"Seems like they're holding their own."
The ghoul mothers eventually ran out. They uprooted themselves and began lumbering away.
Hikari gripped her sword.
"Time for me to clean up."
Just as she was about to draw her sword, a column of massive steel clad knights charged from the Rotbenmore compound.
They quickly caught up to the ghoul mothers and skewered them with their lances and javelins.
A sweep from a ghoul mother sends a knight crashing into a tree. The unfeeling being heals itself and begins its charge once again.
"Looks like they're fine without me."
The battle was soon over.
The Rothenmore priests order their undead to dismantle the corpses.
Hikari approaches them. She holds up a cloth with the RazenHeir insignia.
The undead lowers their cannons.
"Ah… Hikari… good…"
The shortest priest amongst them removes his hood and mask.
Zark Rothenmore, successor to the Rothenmore house.
His voice sounds like his neck had been snapped in half.
"I need some fertilizer."
Zark broke out in a maniacal laughter. His men whisper amongst themselves.
"Yes… good… Hikari knows me… Hikari and I can do great things … hehehe!"
An eerie aura about him. He danced around the dead ghoul mother. Casting his ethereal flames as he pranced.
"Umm.. The young master will be like that for a while."
One of his men approached Hikari.
"You see. We are unable to produce fertilizer at the moment because one of our key stations has been overrun with the ghouls."
The man pointed in the direction of Carla.
"The ghouls have even established a hive there. We lack the means to storm and retake the station. If it's at all possible to clear out the ghouls, we can resume fertilizer production again."
Hikari looks at the Rothenmore compound. There was a large glowing monolith in the middle.
"The Rothenmore defence relies on their monoliths. They are at a disadvantage in open fields."
She turns back to the foreman.
"Sure."
"Hehehe! … " A burst of brilliant ethereal flame. The young Rothenmore laughs.
"Salt it! Salt it!" he chanted.
His foreman turned to Hikari again after shaking his head several times.
He took out a bag and held it up to her.
"If you can, do pour this salt on the nest instead of burning it down with your flames. It would make the harvesting a lot easier later."
Hikari takes the bag and nods.
…
Slash. Hikari drags her dagger through the guardian ghoul's chest.
It squirmed on the ground. Its flesh convulsed and its wound began closing up.
Stomp. Stomp. Her boot flattened the ghoul's flesh. Its bright blood core is exposed.
Hikari carved it out with her dagger and tossed it into her harvest sack.
The rest of its flesh distintegrates.
Behind her Ella rips through the remaining ghouls.
The hive was clear.
Hikari walks towards the center of the infestation.
Squish. Squash. Blobs of thick blood coagulated into the size of organs beneath her boot.
She stood over the heart of the hive. It looked like a heart that did not beat.
The mist here was not as strong so she could step into the hive and stared down its grotesque structure herself.
Her instinct was to incinerate it.
But she takes out the bag the Rothenmore priest gave her and emptied the powder over the grotesque structure.
The grotesque fizzled and squealed before withering away.
In its place, a bright red crystal glowing brighter than the previous ones she had collected.
"Nice. This looks like it's worth more than the others."
She could hear the sound of horses approaching. The reaction of the salt was enough to signal to the Rothenmores that she was done.
Ella slithered away as the Rothenmores approached.
"Ah… hehehe… Hikari is the best! … " Zark dismounted and skipped towards a huge iron structure that was still covered in the blood red vines of the mist.
The Rothenmore priests surrounded it and began casting their salt over the vines.
As they worked on the structure, a heavy cart pulled by an undead horse twice the mass of its living counterpart rumbled into the ruined town.
Its sides opened. Imposing skeleton warriors staggered into view.
Their crude and heavy pieces of steel. Dents everywhere. A clear sign that the skeleton warrior had been ripped apart and reassembled multiple times.
A priest for each of them. Directing them to sentry points using their eerie lanterns.
A loud rumbling sound came from the center of town.
The vines had been cleared, revealing a huge iron cast cauldron. Pipes connected to strange contraptions that hummed and whizzed sticking out the top.
"I would like a cauldron that big. But I would eat from this one."
Zark climbs atop a platform and begins his maniacal laughter as he stares it down.
Another pair of undead horses pulled a heavy steel tanker into the town.
"Yes! Yes! O mighty Pesilia. Bless this flesh with your decay. Return them to ashes so they can be reassembled anew!"
The Rothenmore priests dragged a pipe connecting to the tanker towards the cauldron. They tossed it over the top and turned a valve.
A strange viscous liquid that looked like a toxic slug of shorts began filling the cauldron.
Rothenmore priests began sawing parts off of the dead ghouls that Hikari had cleaved in half.
They tossed it into the cauldron to the squeals of their young master.
"I think your work is done here. We'll send word to your house of your contribution. And of course, all of the fertilizer we would produce here."
"Hahaha! Hikari! Would you do the honors!?"
Hikari turned to the screaming zombie boy with a confused look.
"He means if you could toss a dead ghoul into the cauldron?"
Hikari looked around. There was a ghoul that was too large for the normal sized Rothenmore priests to carry.
She skewered it with her sword and tossed it into the cauldron.
An eerie green smog emerged as the cauldron started bubbling.