Abyssal Awakening

With all of their belongings now packed up, Alice and Ria decided to do one last round of shopping before leaving. As they were going to be travelling for quite a while, especially with how much of a detour they took, they needed some clothes to change into in case their current outfit got damaged.

For Ria, she decided to buy some eastern clothing consisting of a sleeveless kimono, her lightning gloves, a long skirt that was split on the side for leg movement, and a pair of boots. Not only that, Ria had also bought some hair ties to tie up her hair into a ponytail, while Alice decided to let her hair loose and flow freely.

Her outfit choice mainly consists of dresses and large off-shoulder jackets.

With the two of them spending their coin earned through gambling on clothing, they now had 35 gold worth of travel money left, almost what a normal family would earn over the course of four weeks.

"If we can get hired as a guard, then we can save more of our funds. If not, we'll have to set aside emergency funds for the rest of the journey," Ria muttered.

"Can we set aside some funds for drinks?" Alice asked while enjoying her bottle of mead. Since the flask was now full and she still had 2 bottles on the side, she decided to drink them now so that she didn't have to carry them.

"Depends on how much we can earn. But we'll definitely have to cut down on how much you spend on mead if you still want to buy equipment for hunts," Ria shrugged since hunting equipment was expensive.

If they wanted the right Abyss Blood along with fighting equipment, they needed to start saving money or else they won't be able to buy what they needed. Some of the harder hunts require specific tools.

With her grandfather procuring what they needed for their previous hunts, they never had to earn the money to purchase these tools. Had it not been for her grandfather, the fights would've been borderline impossible. For Alice, the Maiden's hypnotic abilities would've taken her over.

For her, she wouldn't have been able to deal enough damage to the Leviathan to grant enough contribution for the Sigil.

'I'll be aiming for my fifth Sigil later while Alice will be going for her third. Knowing Alice, she'll probably go for something crazy strong, so we'll need to get the right equipment once we have a target,' Ria mused to herself while keeping the gold in her pouch.

"We also need funds to access libraries and buying bestiaries to learn about weak points," Ria sighed as there was too much to buy.

"I should probably think about getting my third Sigil then. We can't be paired up for certain hunts, right? The guild wouldn't let us." With Ria getting her license as a four-star Hunter and Alice being two stars, the Guild wouldn't let Ria take certain hunts out of concern for Alice's safety. Hence why, if they wanted to earn money fast, Alice would need to start thinking about her third Sigil.

"We don't need to rush for Sigil. Two-star hunts are still profitable, and we can just take the commissions available to us. It's also better to ask Allura if there are any beasts that'll suit you for your third Sigil," Ria shrugged as they made their way to the stables.

"True. But I actually have a few beasts in mind for my third Sigil." Hearing this, Ria paused in surprise.

"Oh?"

"For my third Sigil, I want something that can further enhance my control over blood and use it offensively without needing to invoke my flames. It benefits me in two ways. The first is that it gives me more options to spread the flames.

The second is that depending on the beast I choose, I will be able to heal myself without continuously drinking healing blood," Alice explained as healing was her main issue right now.

She is able to solve it to a certain degree as her second Sigil will stop blood loss and seal up the wound, but it does not replenish what is lost.

"I see… To be fair, your flames are already crazy strong. Especially when you use the skill you learned from Allura. What you lack right now is survivability. I'm not really lacking in survivability since I'm a frontline fighter anyway," Ria shrugged.

'There are certain beasts that are hard to come across. But if I can get my hands on them, my strength as a three-star Hunter would be hard to beat.' Alice mused to herself as she recalled some of the beast blood she had to ingest back in the Zenia prison.

With her new flame in mind along with her current plans going forward, it's safe to say that certain combinations would be undeniably strong if gained in Sigil form.

The combination that Alice was ideally aiming for was to gain the Sigil belonging to the Scarlet Winged Monarch, a fearsome beast whose blood allowed the user to regenerate as long as they continued to fight and wound their opponent.

It was a passive effect that occurred when the user came into contact with blood, and in her case, when she was stuck in the prison, it allowed her to gain unbelievable tenacity.

Had this blood been safer to use, the Zenia family would've no doubt changed the formula within the collar. It wasn't an issue of side effects but rather the difficulties that followed in trying to subdue Alice.

'If I can get my hands on that Sigil, I should be able to fight for much longer without worrying too much about my injuries.' She had already seen the form of the beast within her mind.

A nightmarish spawn from the deepest pits of the Abyss, a creature who walked on two legs covered with twisted strands of flesh. Two tattered wings protruded from its back as layers upon layers of muscle pulsed beneath its leathery skin.

Embedded upon its skin were countless yellow eyes decorating the surface of its infernal visage while obsidian horns and crimson barbs coated its spine down to the tail.

She didn't know the difficulty of this beast but just staring at its shadow caused shivers down her spine.

Alice knew that if she wished to hunt such a beast, she NEEDED to know everything there is to know. Going into this fight blind would be akin to suicide.

"What about you? Have you thought about your fifth Sigil?" Alice asked, but Ria shook her head.

"I was thinking about it, but I want to gain more control over what I have right now. There are still many avenues of power I haven't explored yet, and my combination of Sigils should allow for far more than what I've demonstrated. Didn't Allura say? The key to a Hunter's success comes from the mindset. I need to think outside of the box more." Ria grinned.

She was more than a match for the current four-star Hunters, but she hasn't met the true geniuses in the world just yet. Only once she has fought talented Hunters beyond her comprehension could she truly say she's done everything she could as a four-star Hunter.

"Anyways, let's not dally any longer. We still need to see if there are any merchants going to Isilvaria." She sighed as she couldn't help but think about how much it was going to cost.

There was only so much gambling the arena allowed before realizing they weren't going to defeat Ria and subsequently banned her from competing as she won too much money from them.

With limited funds and prayers, the two entered the stables and started to ask around for people journeying to Isilvaria.

The difficulty with this request lies in the sheer distance between Blackrock and Isilvaria. Not only that, but some are also uncomfortable with the current situation in the free city where no religion dominates.

Even Cult members belonging to the Eclipse could be walking out in broad daylight, and for those that believe in the Sun as well as their recent experience to the outbreak, they are less than enthusiastic regarding the city.

The only reason why the city continues to exist despite the three religions disliking one another is due to the agreement upheld where certain cities are designated as 'free'. There are multiple 'free cities' which allow all three religions to access, trade, and inhabit without difficulties, and those who disturb the peace are punished.

"The agreement for the existence of the free cities is one of the first cases of the Law of Agreement being used on a larger scale. And even to this day, they abide by the law. No religion will lay their hand on these cities." Ria explained while they continued to look for a travelling caravan leading to the city.

"Do they ignore each other in the city, or do fights break out?" Alice couldn't imagine it being conflict-free as they could also just wait outside of the city to settle their grudges.

"There is usually at least one Custodian present in the cities. They act similarly to the City Lord but are solely focused on maintaining the peace. It's a collaborative effort between the three religions, so each city has three Custodians in the vicinity." Ria recalled as Gin had explained all of this to her before.

"I see, then I'm guessing even though it's a 'free city', those not affiliated with a religion still lose out somewhat."

"To an extent." Ria shrugged. There could never be an unbiased city when the leadership in the Abyss is based on power. With power, anything is possible. For the religions, they keep each other in check so none of them can step out of line.

Exploring the stables some more, they soon found a small caravan that was planning on transporting some wares to the city of Eldoria. It wasn't quite Isilvaria but wasn't far off as it was the closest they could find. As for the city itself, it had a heavy focus on Abyss Engineering and tools rather than Sigils.