CHAPTER 32: AETHER SHARD

Salome returned to her subject out of commission...

Toy was lying in front of the throne with an expression of pure bliss and ecstasy chiseled onto her face. She’d tried standing up multiple times, but her legs would give out, and she eventually resigned herself to lying by Vale’s feet.

When Salome walked in upon this sight, she let out a tiny titter and then said:

"Looks like you two were having fun while I was gone..."

Vale, sitting on his throne, took a few moments to catch his breath before responding:

"Too bad you missed out on all the fun..."

’We’re at 12 Satisfaction now!’

Salome gave an accompanying grin as she joked:

"A shame indeed."

Vale supported himself with the arms of the throne and wearily dragged himself up, nudging the prone Toy away so he didn’t step on her. Then, he slid on his underwear and pants and put his boots and socks in the Nexus of Beginnings.

As he dressed, Vale addressed Salome.

"How did the expedition go?"

Salome’s leer descended upon the gasping Toy, as desire slowly filled Salome’s wanton eyes.

While her tone was uncaring when she joked earlier, it seemed the promiscuous girl had told some truth in jest.

Sadly, as much as Vale would have loved to indulge in such a desire, he was tapped out. Even with the extra stamina and virility he got from his Aspect and Traits, he’d been doing it for hours back to back with Toy while Salome was gone. Not to mention, he and Toy had some weird, unspoken competition going on that caused him only ever to increase his ferocity in their prideful clash.

His state was utterly diminished. Vale felt he could barely walk.

But, at least he could walk...

Vale cast a gaze back at the supine Toy as he walked toward Salome.

"It went well, Vale. We weren’t able to gather too much, but I was able to hunt a couple of native beasts and feed them to the Workers. I also set a portion aside for you, Toy, and myself."

Vale smiled as he walked around the core and joined Salome in her retreat to the alcove. Walking side by side, he finally responded.

"Great job... But, I told you I don’t need food."

Salome smirked.

"It wouldn’t be right for the master to eat less than his subjects."

The two pushed the streamers aside and stepped into the hollow room. Immediately, a wave of repulsion coursed through Vale’s very being.

Even if his reaction and, therefore, disgust, were being muddled by his Aspect, Lust, the sight before him made his stomach churn.

All of the imps were crowded around multiple mutilated carcasses of a beast. The little cretins spared no morsel. They gnawed and crushed the bones with their tenacious jaws. They dug out the brain matter and savored the gushy paste. They fought over the tender liver as if one bite was worth their life.

Larry was the most savage and brutal of them all. Taking out its pent-up anger on these dead beasts.

’Toy might have a point...’

The little guy’s haunting quality that Toy derived from a single glance was starting to weave its way into Vale’s mind as well. Though, of course, that would never be allowed. The unease was quickly erased from Vale’s mind by Lust.

"I don’t have much of an appetite, though..."

Salome carried an indifferent expression as she watched the little imps gorge.

"That’s too bad... I’m an excellent cook. My food will have any on their knees begging for more..."

’Why’d she say that with such perversity...’

And how was she intending to cook something palatable without fire or spice?

Well, fire could be solved relatively easily. They’d collected a fair bit of wood... but, just roasting this beast’s flesh wasn’t going to fix its taste... they needed salt at the very least.

As for the beasts themselves... individually, they weren’t too big, but they were like nothing Vale had ever seen.

They looked almost like bunnies, but they had antennas at the top of their head. And, they didn’t have fur, but a leathery canvas.

’Their skin would be useful...’

But it would only be helpful once they had the means to tan it.

’Yet another reason we’ll need salt.’

It seemed like salt was going to be a hot commodity for the Dungeon of Lust.

’And an acid.’

Though finding a suitable acid would be much more accessible.

Crow ripped out the heart of one of the beasts and crushed it before consuming it; however, a glimmering stone fell and shone under the cascade of purple blood.

"What’s that?"

Salome smirked as she walked over, dipped her hand in the pool of blood, and picked up the stone. As she walked back toward Vale, she absorbed the blood through her skin, and her complexion grew slightly.

Salome responded:

"An Aether shard..."

Salome held out her hand and then pressed the iridescent shard into Vale’s open palm.

Then, she continued:

"Shatter it."

Vale was a little confused about how he was supposed to accomplish such a task with his bare hands, or the merit in doing so at all, but all he had to do was squeeze his palm slightly, and like a wet clump of sand being mushed together, grains of light shot through his fingers and slipped to the ground.

[You have absorbed an Aether Shard]

’What was that...’

Salome giggled in amusement at Vale’s bewildered expression.

"I was surprised when I learned it too... I thought it would be a little different from my home world, but it is the same. In every heart of a being that has awakened Aether, there is a shard that can be absorbed upon their death. While the rest of their Aether is returned to the cycle of rebirth, that sard remains as a residual proof of their begotten power and can be absorbed by another..."

Vale couldn’t help but let a smile fasten on his face.

Progression... he found a way to progress without challenging the Levels.

Not that this dismayed him from challenging the Levels, but more so, he realized he wasn’t totally doomed in the preparation department.

Still...

♥︎♥︎♥︎

Name: [Valentin Laurent]

Title: [Fifth Advent of Lust]

♡♡♡

Dungeon Class: [Vice]

Dungeon Core Rank: [Nascent]

♡♡♡

Aspect: [Lust]

Class: [Vice]

Core Rank: [Nascent] - (1/700)

♡♡♡

Aether: [0]

Satisfaction: [12]

Traits: [Rudimentary Shapeshifter] [Charm] [Ember of Lust]

♥︎♥︎♥︎

’As I thought...’

Vale had absorbed the shard directly. It hadn’t gone through the mediary of the system.

That raised its own issue...

Vale surmised that the dungeon had absorbed the goblins, including their shard, before it entered the system... But why didn’t it absorb the carcasses and the Aether Shard when they fell to the floor of the dungeon?

There was a reason. There had to be.

Also... ’If every corpse had one... why did only one come from the five of the beasts?’

Vale stared long and hard at Salome while summoning her stat page.

♥︎♥︎♥︎

Name: [Salome]

Title: [Sucubi Queen]

Aspect: [Succubus]

Class: [Demonic]

Core Rank: [Nascent] - (4/600)

Loyalty: [100/100]

Traits: [Charm] [Quillstorm] [Slight Masochist] [Rudimentary Shapeshifter] [Vitality Drain]

♥︎♥︎♥︎

’Stingy...’

’Well, she is a queen...’

Salome was looking at Vale with a lust-stained glare.

"Is there something on my face?"

"Nope..."

Then, Salome smiled and began sauntering toward Vale.

"You can’t just stare at me like that and get away with it..."