Chapter 1031 Merchant

"You're back." Nan Tian smiled seeing Shiro open a portal beside him and scratched her head.

"Yeah. It turns out that those two wondered what it'd be like to pit two types of devouring flames against one another. Instead of it being extinguished, it merged and became something they couldn't deal with." Shiro sighed as Nan Tian chuckled.

"In one way they're just like you."

"Urg…" Unable to refute since she does experiment with dangerous aspects as well, Shiro sat down next to him.

"Well at least they're getting along. What about Nimue and Iziuel?" Nan Tian asked as Shiro closed her eyes and sent out her senses.

"They're relaxing with Estrella. Judging by the look on her face, Estrella seems pretty happy with how things have panned out." Shiro smiled.

Talking for a little bit longer, Shiro made her way back to the training hall and resumed her training with Glen.

###

Tapping her fingers across the armrest, Misu had a bored expression.

"Has there been no news of Shiro still?" She asked her subordinate. He was the same person that joined her during their expedition a few months back.

"Unfortunately no. We still haven't found a way to enter their city nor get into contact with them. None of her subordinates have made an appearance at all in the recent events." He replied as Misu furrowed her brows.

"Hmm… I don't think she died from the first event." Misu muttered as she glanced out her window.

Looking over her city, she couldn't help but sigh. She wanted a partnership soon so that the people living here wouldn't need to live in their undead bodies. While they're happy, being in a living body was still desirable.

"Perhaps we should send more scouts?"

"No need. We can't allocate more resources into this. She'll show herself eventually if she's still alive. If she's dead then it's truly a shame." Misu shook her head as she stood up.

"Our forces are weakened from the last fight against Liliana, so we'll have to opt out of this event as well. Tsk, so annoying."

"Should we try to assassinate Liliana then?" Her subordinate offered.

"No. Leave it for now. Reinforce our defences, I'll try to get us some more allies." Misu shook her head as she turned around and prepared to leave.

However, just as she did so, a crest started to form itself as Misu narrowed her eyes.

Flaring her energy, skeletal arms appeared around her as green fire surrounded the crest.

"Who are you." She asked with a threatening tone. The crest was that of a raven and seeing as how they're blatantly flaring their aura, Misu expected a fight.

"No need to be hostile." A voice rang out with a cackle.

"I'm merely a merchant. There may come a time where you need to… trade with me. I am only presenting you with a chance of contacting me if the time comes."

Hearing this, Misu frowned as a single raven feather appeared in front of her with the crest carved on the surface.

"As a freebie, I'll tell you one piece of information you might find interesting. The one you speak of, Shiro, will be appearing in the event tomorrow."

Pausing at this piece of information, Misu watched as the crest burned away.

".. .Change of plans. We're going for an outing." Misu said after a short pause.

"Understood. What about allies and the city's defence?"

"Hand it over to Van. He can deal with the city's defences for now until we return. As for allies, we'll see what we can do during the event. Naturally, you're coming with me for this outing Idis."

"As you wish." Idis bowed as he left the throne room so that he could inform Van of Misu's decision.

'So she'll be appearing in this event after all this time. I wonder what happened for her to take such a long break. Regardless. It seems like I might be able to set up a talk for an alliance tomorrow.' Misu thought to herself as a smile formed on her face.

###

"What do you want." Syradil glared at the crest that appeared in front of her with a cold glare. She was already in a bad mood since she was attacked while sleeping and now this crest had appeared in front of her.

With Shiro not making a single appearance, Syradil guessed that she had probably died which was a shame but this just puts her back to her original plan. Do whatever she wanted since this was the last cycle.

"I want to offer the chance of trade."

"Then I'm not interested. You don't have anything that can interest me anyways." Syradil waved her hand dismissively.

"Many say the same but they come for trade in the end. I'm always available." The voice laughed as a raven feather appeared in front of Syradil.

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she snapped her finger and burnt it to cinders.

"I don't like repeating myself." She glared back at the crest.

"Very well. But I'll be watching. Does the wound still hurt? The one you received a while ago. I wonder what went missing with that wound. After all, you are still alive."

After saying this, the crest disappeared as Syradil clenched her fists.

She could still remember the sword stabbing through her body during the first event but she didn't die. She woke up with no scar, no injuries, no negative conditions. It was strange. She knew that the sword must have done something but she didn't know what.

The fact that so many variables are now appearing pissed her off. Especially since the merchant has made his appearance much sooner than what she had expected.

"Annoying." She scratched her hair as she took a deep breath and sighed.

###

"Ha…." Panting heavily, Glen felt like his body was about to break while Shiro watched from the side.

Leaning against the wall, she looked down at the time and drank another potion.

"The session will be over soon. It seems like you're hovering around 83% body control. Keep practising and you should reach 90% soon." Shiro said as Glen nodded his head.

"Right… If you don't mind me asking your highness, what percent of body control do you have?" Glen asked as he laid on his back.

"Me? I usually hover around 95%, maybe 97. But when I focus I can reach 100% guaranteed. Why do you ask?"

"What's it like to be able to control your body at 100% threshold?"

"What's it like? Hmm… to put it simply it's a bit of a pain. While I can control it 100%, it also means everything becomes manual for me. While I can pull off some crazy stunts, I also have to keep my own heart beating. 95% to 97 is a good average since the remaining percent is used for everything else. For body control, just reaching the threshold is not enough. You need to be able to use the tools at your disposal correctly for it to be effective. Overwise it'll just become a hindrance." Shiro shrugged as Glen nodded his head.

"Then what about techniques? Has your highness made any techniques?"

"Plenty of them. After 90%, I mentioned that each movement is like a technique of their own right? It doesn't have to be flashy but my fighting is a mix of counter attacks, redirecting force and full on assault. There is no room for defence since all of my so called techniques are offensive. Plus, I'm not going to be shouting move names for each muscle I use now am I? Cloud Strider, Counter Force, Rupturing Strike. Doing so would be stupid especially in the middle of a fight." Shiro waved her hand dismissively.

"I see…"

"Of course, I'm not saying you can't name them. Sometimes naming them in your mind is helpful for you to understand what you want to do. I'm just saying don't shout it out like a buffoon unless you're trying to annoy your enemies." Shiro shrugged.

Letting Glen rest for a little bit, Shiro watched as he continued to push his body control.

###

"Alright, time is up. Rest up properly and prepare for deployment." Shiro smiled as Glen nodded. Using the sword as a crutch, he was teleported out of the time chamber as Shiro turned off the magic circle used for the chamber.

Opening the doors to training hall four, she made her way back to training hall one since Nan Tian was still there with the others.

Teleporting next to Nan Tian, she stretched for a moment before sitting down.

"I guess Glen has finished with his training." Nan Tian smiled as Shiro nodded her head.

"To a degree yes. But I'll be honest, I don't think I'll be wanting to drink mana potions for a while." Shiro shrugged.

"Well you did drink nothing but mana potions for the last few hours so it's understandable."

"True. Everyone! You can rest now. There are roughly 5 hours left before the event starts. Get as much rest as you can." Shiro called out with a smile.

Hearing this, sighs of relief could be heard as they all retreated from the training hall.