Free Web NovelChapter 8: Unwilling to let go
As Oliver turned back toward the direction he had come from, he saw nothing but scattered trees and beyond them, in the distance, the dark outline of the forest’s edge was still visible.
There was nothing that could explain what had just happened and so, while frowning, he summoned the notification again.
[Aether Beast: Miretooth slain]
[Grade: Tarnished | Rank: Feral]
[Inheritance Acquired: Sigil]
"How the hell did I kill this thing?"
Oliver blinked as he tried to think if he had done anything.
"Haven’t I been here the whole time?"
As far as he remembered, he hadn’t fought anything, in fact, he hadn’t even seen a creature called ’Miretooth’ and yet, somehow, one had died and the system was crediting the kill to him.
Eventually, unable to figure it out, Oliver shifted his attention elsewhere.
’A Tarnished Feral beast, huh?’
Feral-ranked beasts were supposed to be around his level. Most Drifters who had spent some time in the Spirit Realm could handle one of the tarnished grade.
But somehow he’d managed to kill one while doing absolutely nothing.
’Huh.’
’I really am amazing, aren’t I?’
He nodded seriously to himself.
’The beast probably died from my sheer aura.’
After entertaining himself with that thought for a while and joking with himself to remain positive, his attention eventually settled on the last line of the notification.
[Inheritance Acquired: Sigil]
An inheritance.
Like soul cores, inheritances were also remnants left behind from an Aether Beast’s soul after death. They were extremely valuable and, from what he knew, obtaining one was mostly a matter of luck.
Some inheritances became weapons while others became armor. There were even records of inheritances turning into summons, relics, or abilities. In fact, every year, entirely new inheritances were still being discovered.
"Sigil, huh?"
Oliver scratched his cheek as pondered about it.
"Never heard of that one before, maybe it’s some sort of mark?"
Curious, he focused on it and immediately, a more detailed description appeared before him.
[Soulmaker’s Sigil]
[Grade: Tarnished | Rank: Feral]
[Description:]
[Before the current realms took shape, there existed another world.
Its name has long been lost and only fragments remain.
One such fragment spoke of a beast and a child who shared a bond that transcended species, reason, and perhaps even fate itself.
When death came for the child, the beast refused to accept the separation.
Using a sigil unknown to the present age, it bound the departing soul to its own existence.
The soul remained, but that world did not.
Whether the realm perished, was forgotten, or simply drifted beyond reach is unknown.
Yet the sigil, somehow, endured.
Some things, it seems, are simply unwilling to let go.]
---
"..Unwilling to let go, huh?"
Oliver quietly repeated the final line and remained silent for a second.
This was because, in a way, he too understood this feeling and maybe, way more than he liked.
When his parents had died, there had been a time when he and his sister had truly felt alone in the world. Things had only gotten worse afterward when some of their relatives had started circling around the money and property their parents had left behind.
They were supposed to be people who were there to help them and care for them but, instead, they had only made everything harder.
Back then, there had been nights when Oliver had genuinely believed that it was just him and his sister against the entire world.
It was only because of his sister’s maturity and intelligence that things hadn’t completely fallen apart.
Despite being barely older than him, she had somehow managed to keep a clear head when everyone else seemed determined to take advantage of their situation. She had hired lawyers, fought back against their relatives, and protected what their parents had left behind.
Looking back, Oliver still wasn’t entirely sure how she had done it, but the memory of her having to do all that on her own, without any real support from him, still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Yeah."
Slowly, he shook his head as there was no point thinking about those things now.
Things like this had to be left behind. Maybe the beast from the story had failed to do so and clung to what it had lost, but Oliver would never.
Some things hurt too much to remember forever and sometimes, you simply had to let go.
Exhaling softly, Oliver pushed the memories aside and focused on the inheritance once more as if it was valuable, then he needed to know what it actually did.
The description shifted changed as a new line emerged.
[Effect: Can bind a living being’s soul to the bearer and establish a spiritual contract but the target must be weaker than the bearer at the moment of binding.]
[Limitations: If the living being’s rank is too much higher than the sigil’s, then the contract may fail.]
Oliver blinked as he understood the meaning of the effect.
"...Wait."
"Isn’t this just beast taming?"
He reread the description and then a slow grin began spreading across his face.
"Hold on."
"You’re telling me I can get a pet?"
Suddenly, the inheritance was significantly more interesting.
Summon-type inheritances, that allowed the user to call forth the spirit of a slain Aether Beast to fight for them, were already quite popular.
However, those came with significant drawbacks; especially, for the lower-ranked summons which were often difficult or impossible to recover if they suffered too much damage.
This, however, seemed different and was much closer to true beast taming.
While Beast Summoners were extremely rare and usually required special attributes and doctrines, their beasts possessed one major advantage—they were living creatures. They could grow stronger, learn, and most importantly, be healed by those with healing-type abilities.
Compared to a temporary summon, a living companion was far more valuable, and from the looks of it, this Sigil belonged to the latter category.
"Hell yeah."
Oliver couldn’t help but smile.
"Died once, then almost died again but then, somehow still ended up getting a completely unknown inheritance."
He looked at the description once more and shook his head, then slipped his fingers in his hair playing with them.
"My luck isn’t completely terrible, after all. Maybe, I really am fate’s chosen one."
After that, Oliver began with the rest of his chores.
First, he gathered some additional wood, reinforced a few parts of his makeshift camp, and finally began cooking the spider legs over the fire as there were still no fish in the river, not even a single one.
"Why the hell are there no fish in such clean water?", he muttered a bit pouty.
After grumbling for a bit, he picked up one of the cooked spider legs and cautiously took a bite and a few moments later, his eyebrows rose.
"Huh."
It wasn’t very amazing but it wasn’t terrible either. Maybe it was because of how exhausted and hungry he was, but the meat was surprisingly edible, even though it was a tad bit too tasteless, due to lack of salt and spices. freewёbnoνel.com
As he continued eating, another familiar notification suddenly appeared before him.
[Aether Beast: Hollow Mantis slain]
[Grade: Tarnished | Rank: Feral]
Oliver nearly choked.
"What the—?"
He immediately looked around trying to make sense of it.
"How did I kill another one?"
This time there wasn’t even an inheritance, just a notification saying that something had died.
For several moments, he sat there trying to figure it out, but, no matter how much he thought, nothing made sense.
Eventually, he gave up and returned to eating.
After finishing his meal, Oliver spent some more time around the camp, making sure everything was secure before sleeping.
Most importantly, he carefully adjusted the campfire; after all, the last thing he wanted was for it to spread into the surrounding area while he slept.
And the moment that thought crossed his mind, Oliver froze.
His eyes slowly shifted towards the flames, and then towards the dark forest in the distance, and hen back towards the flames.
A realization suddenly formed in his mind.
"Oh, fuck."
