Chapter 457

Chapter 356 – Offering

“Um… I’m very sorry, Miss Thief, Soul Whiskers said it doesn’t want to listen to the requests of impolite people… It just seemed to feel doubted about its abilities, and now it’s somewhat displeased.”

After exchanging words with Soul Whiskers, Kapak awkwardly addressed Nephnis. Upon hearing Kapak’s words, Nephnis was stunned in place.

“What… Is it angry at me?”

Nephnis looked at Soul Whiskers incredulously. She hadn’t expected that the Wilderness Spirit would be so sensitive. It had detected the emotions in her gaze, and now it was rather petty and angry.

“Mm… You could say that. According to my teacher, the Wilderness Spirit is respected in our tribal culture and among the Shamans’ extraordinary system, so many of its temperaments can be quite peculiar.”

Kapak explained to Nephnis while shrugging. Upon hearing this, Nephnis’ expression darkened. After a moment’s pause, she smiled and spoke to Soul Whiskers.

“Honorable Soul Whiskers, I unintentionally offended you earlier. I wasn’t aware of your traditions, so I may have been disrespectful. But now I realize my mistake. Please forgive me with your magnanimity.”

Bowing slightly, Nephnis sincerely apologized to the Lynx Spirit in front of her. However, the spirit didn’t seem to accept her apology; it turned its head away, ignoring her completely.

“Aah… This…”

Seeing the reaction from Soul Whiskers, Nephnis felt momentarily at a loss. Then she turned to Kapak and continued speaking.

“Mr. Kapak, could you please translate what I just said to Honorable Soul Whiskers? Tell it that I did not mean to offend it.”

Nephnis said to Kapak, who responded with a sense of helplessness.

“I’m afraid translating won’t help. In fact, even if Miss Thief hadn’t offended Soul Whiskers, it probably wouldn’t pay attention to you. The Wilderness Spirit usually only interacts with Shamans like us. Even if we wanted the Wilderness Spirit to do something for us, we’d have to prepare an offering as compensation.

“If Miss Thief wants Soul Whiskers to help you, you must first prepare the offering.”

“Offering? What kind of offering?”

Listening to Kapak’s response, Nephnis asked doubtfully. Kapak then straightened himself and replied.

“In general, the offerings we give to the Wilderness Spirit are bone fragments containing a trace of ‘Silence’ spirituality, which are obtained during funerals. If Miss Thief has something similar, offering it to Soul Whiskers might work.”

Kapak said to Nephnis, and upon hearing his words, one term came to Nephnis’ mind: Spirituality Storage Item.

‘Bone fragments containing ‘Silence’ spirituality? Isn’t this just a type of ‘Silence’ spirituality storage item! Miss Dorothy once said that all spiritualities can be sealed into objects with great effort, known as spirituality storage items. This offering bone fragment sounds similar to a spirituality storage item!’

Nephnis thought to herself. Realizing that the Lynx Wilderness Spirit likely wanted ‘Silence’ spirituality storage items, she began thinking about how to obtain them.

After much consideration, just as Nephnis was about to contact Dorothy to ask if she had any, she suddenly noticed the street scene before her, realizing it seemed familiar.

‘This place…’

Following the guidance of her memory, Nephnis raised her head and looked across the intersection. She saw a tall building opposite the crossroads.

Because it was New Year’s Eve, many shops on the street had closed early. However, the building Nephnis was looking at remained open, standing out prominently. Above the open door hung a sign illuminated by lights, spelling out “Golden Contract Bank” in letters.

“On such a big holiday… these guys haven’t taken a break yet.”

Looking at the bank still operating across the street on New Year’s Eve, Nephnis thought to herself. She had been here before, several months ago when she helped Dorothy buy a secret transmission. Thus, she knew what this place was for.

“Mr. Kapak, please wait here for a moment. I’ll go buy something and be right back.”

Nephnis said to Kapak, then turned and walked towards the distant bank, leaving Kapak puzzled.

“Buying something? What can be bought at this hour?”

With confusion, Kapak stayed in place, waiting silently. After about half an hour, he finally saw Nephnis walking briskly back from across the street.

“Miss Thief, what did you buy?”

Looking at Nephnis returning, Kapak asked directly. Nephnis didn’t respond immediately but instead opened her hand to show what she held: three ordinary-looking iron coins.

At the sight of the coins, the lazy whiskers beside Kapak suddenly perked up, eyes widening as they lunged toward the coins. Seeing this, Nephnis quickly retracted her hand, making the soul whiskers miss.

Looking at the soul whiskers, which were now eagerly staring at her, Nephnis couldn’t help but smile and speak.

“So… Honorable Soul Whiskers, now you should agree to help me, right?”

Nephnis said to the soul whiskers, and although it didn’t fully understand what she was saying, it understood her meaning, eagerly gazing at the fist clenched by Nephnis as it nodded repeatedly.

…

In the cold night of East Tivyán, in an uninhabited park flower bed, Nephnis and Kapak stood there. Nephnis was drawing a complex magical array on the mud with a stick, while Kapak watched curiously.

“Miss Thief, is this the magic array required for the ritual you mentioned? It looks a bit like the ones my teacher often uses.”

Kapak commented as he observed the intricate magical array drawn by Nephnis, which contained a closed-eye symbol. Nephnis responded while continuing to draw.

“Is that so… Perhaps because we both follow the path of ‘Silence’ as extraordinary beings, it’s natural for the arrays to resemble each other.”

“The path of ‘Silence’? It seems there are many different spirit binders besides Shamans… on the main continent…”

Kapak remarked, then glanced at the ground where the Lynx Spirit was constantly licking the three iron coins, appearing quite content. He then spoke to Nephnis.

“But, I didn’t expect you to get such a good offering for Soul Whiskers so quickly. Extraordinary beings on the main continent are indeed convenient; you can easily exchange such things for money…”

Kapak sighed, and as Nephnis continued drawing the magical array, she couldn’t help but think to herself.

‘It is convenient, but it’s also incredibly expensive. Just these three things cost me over nine hundred pounds. Those guys, claiming that the extra time during the New Year was the reason for the price hike, while other places were offering discounts… no wonder Miss Dorothy always calls them swindlers…’

Gritting her teeth, Nephnis continued drawing the array while silently mourning the state of her wallet. If she hadn’t received a thousand pounds from participating in Dorothy’s activities recently, she wouldn’t have had enough money to buy cat food for that feline lord.

Finally, Nephnis completed the magical array and threw the stick aside. She looked at the Lynx Spirit still licking the coins and said.

“Honorable Soul Whiskers, I have offered the tribute. Now it’s time for you to fulfill your promise.”

Hearing Nephnis’ words, the soul whiskers paused briefly, then stopped licking. It looked at Nephnis inside the magical array. After listening to Kapak’s translation, it slowly floated up and toward the magical array drawn by Nephnis.

Now, Nephnis had finally found a suitable spirit body. With her spirituality fully accumulated, she could finally begin the formal ceremony to ascend to the Black Earth Tier as a Soul Binder.