10 Running Low on Fuel
An expression of disgust mix with indignation was plastered on Darkscale's little face. He started to back up slowly, putting some distance between himself and the hovering creature that had suddenly appeared before him.
"Imprinting sequence finalized"
Right when he started retreating, the reptile heard for the second time the emotionless voice. However, now it resounded directly in his mind.
This wasn't like the discussion he had with Spike. No, in fact it was incredibly different. With Spike he felt like he was trying to hear something coming from very far away. This time, instead, the sound was very sharp and clear.
"Survey of the local environment completed. Spirit Mansion, model Blue Cave." There was nothing but a vague sense of politeness and formality in that voice.
Moreover, the figure that hovered in front of him seemed completely detached from the sound. Before, when Darkscale was talking ( or more precisely thinking) with the horned merchant, he could attribute the words that he heard in his mind to the Bronze Class Trader's strange and illusory body. Why? Because of many little things that Spike did: his lips mimicked the words that were said, his facial expression moved accordingly and even his gestures were used to enforce the words that he conveyed telepathically.
Not for once did Darkscale think that the illusory creature that came out from the black screen wasn't the one who he was talking to. However, now he was in a situation completely opposite: the figure before him was unmoving, without any connection whatsoever with the words that resounded in his head. The lips didn't move, in fact they didn't even tremble. The eyes were still, so was the rest of the face, almost as made of solid granite.
"Loading Persona Packets" continued the voice.
"This it the maid? Why? Heaven, why?!" lamented Darkscale in his heart. If Spike had been there, he would be at a loss for words: he specifically chose that model because of the things Darkscale revealed during their conversation. In particular, those admissions over his very high appetite for living human cauldrons.
The Mereveil had a second, less official, name more common among those who knew of its capabilities: Thousand Pleasures. Contrary to other MAID models, programmed to be experts in fields that a cultivator would find useful (like smithing, pill concocting or medicine), the Mereveil specialized entirely into entertainment.
Painting, dancing, singing, playing music and reciting poetry were its major abilities.
Not many cultivators would spend the incredible amount of credit necessary to buy something like that. Highborn nobles, on the other hand, loved them. Not even the most skilled courtesans could compare with a Mereveil.
However, in the eyes of Darkscale, it had a flaw that could not be surmounted no matter what: it looked like a human.
Where others saw an angelic figure, with long black hair that descended like silk on a supple and gracious body, he saw an ugly biped with the palest complexion that he had ever seen in his life. He was sure of having seen cadavers that looked more healthy.
Plus, that horror had some very disturbing deformities that left Darkscale shocked to his core: its chest was swollen, inflated so much that the snake didn't even believe that the creature could normally walk around without falling face to the ground.
"Heavens! What an abomination of nature!"
He then thought back at Spike and his promises.
"Damn you to hell, stinky goat!" roared in rage Darkscale. What great helper? What powerful techniques? He just left him with a moribund creature and run away!
"Goremu not found… do you wish to nonetheless activate Mareveil?" asked the calm female voice.
"Yes" responded immediately Darkscale. He had plenty of questions and doubts, but he clearly remembered that Spike did tell him that the MAID would help him control the Blue Cave. That was his most urgent priority.
The mysterious female figure flickered in a strange way, waving like if it was a flame that was being almost blown out by a strong wind. However, that lasted only one single instant. When Darkscale saw the image of what he saw as a handicapped human female stabilize, he could tell that there was something different about her.
First of all, the cold stone expression was gone.
She smiled, showcasing a perfect laugh. Common people would immediately fall in love with that small little gesture, but Darkscale was only more disgusted. He recalled clearly that human kid that almost slew him all those years back, right after he crawled outside his birth's egg.
He remembered his white teeth, the cruel laugh that he made while he threw stones. Today, one of the things that the hated the most was the view of humans smiling.
"Hello master, it is a good day, isn't it?" laughed the young woman with a seductive smile. "Sadly I couldn't find any Goremu connected to the Matrix, so I can't accompany you in your cultivation" a mischievous look appeared in the woman's eyes, as she made a gesture and the Black Hand Orbital Trader stopped generating the big black screen.
The light coming out from the Orbital Trader was absorbed back inside the Black Hand, that immediately started to close up.
"Huh? Goremu, what's a Goremu?" asked Darkscale.
The black haired woman seemed surprised by the question. "Master, are you new to the cultivation world?" she asked dubiously.
"Kinda… yeah…" admitted the snake.
"I understand now…"a beaming light appeared in her eyes before she continued "Goremu are shells, that can be inhabited by one's consciousness, making them like a temporary body."
She made a little break, moving closer to the pool and sitting on its external border.
"Think of it as an armor, or clothing… "
However, Darkscale didn't get why the such a thing was necessary.
"Why would you need something like that?" he asked dubiously.
"My purpose is to serve you, and having a physical body helps me do it better" explained the pale woman with a strange wink.
There was a strange, awkward silence for a few seconds while the serpent tried to understand what the artificial intelligence was implying.
"Do you wish to know the status of the Blue Cave?" asked suddenly the radiant woman.
"… ye… yes!" exclaimed immediately the snake.
"There are no reserves of energy left… the only thing that is keeping this whole structure functioning is the Ghost Pond! There are 3463 remaining souls inside the Pool, making it close to 3% of its complete capacity…"
"Energy?" interrupted Darkscale.
"Of course energy! Everything here uses energy: the Portal, the Light Crystals, and even the Orbital Trader! This Spiritual Mansion has a separate spatial pocket where energy sources can be stored, but it's void now… the whole thing is now consuming the souls from the Ghost Pond to keep running."
The woman moved her hand towards the white muddy waters. Her hand touched the surface without creating any ripple, as it wasn't even there.
"The Ghost Pond itself is a very good exemplary, manually modified by an expert. It can contain at least a million souls. Naturally, stronger ones occupy more space… and provide more energy"
The serpent didn't panic nor did he feel disgust or anger knowing that the whole place was using sealed souls to keep functioning. In fact, he didn't have any reaction at all to her speech.
Far from having preconceived views on ghosts or souls, he just vaguely understood that every creature had a one. It was something he heard from a monk cultivator in a Dream once and never quite understood so well.
"However, we're almost dry… around the Pond there are undulations of a very peculiar Immortal Path Technique. It has to be pretty recent, and it has consumed a great number of souls, judging from the lingering radiation present in the cave"
Darkscale immediately remembered the human that he followed inside the ring. He knew it that he was cultivating!
"Master, you need to refuel our energy resources or the Spatial Mansion will become unusable!"
Shock appeared on the reptile face. He just managed to put his hand on such an incredibly beautiful lair, how could he bear losing it already?
"How?"
"Many ways! You could find energy orbs, however, this would at least require high-grade orbs that I don't think you could easily acquire. Another method is to feed it with your own energy, but even this one would require a cultivation that at the moment you don't have… the most simple method would be just refueling the Ghost Pond."
The woman smiled, her eyes forming two crescent moons.
"We need souls, the more the merrier"
