Ceres

13

"I'll do it. I swear to the heavens that I will not involve Old Pang in any trouble or conflict that concerns me after he helps me with my spiritual body... Is that okay?"

Old Na and Old Pang were both dumbfounded. Gil, however, remained silent.

"Missy, you don't know how this works, right? Well, as long as you understand, I think you'll see through that oath."

Then, Old Pang sighed and drank his tea before speaking. Old Na couldn't help but smile apologetically at Old Pang.

"Old Na, what do you plan to do? I'll have her stay here for a couple of months."

"I'll be randomly touring cities. You have to contact me if she's ready. I'm curious about her attribute so I want to witness when she learns about it."

Then, Old Pang turned to look at Gil.

"And you? Do you wish to stay here and wait for her?"

Gil only nodded.

"That's it. You'll have to help me prepare a lot of things. Give the space bag to that guy, Old Na."

Old Na causally threw the bag to Gil.

"You have to personally prepare the things that she'll need. I'll only guide you. As for you missy..."

Old Pang became serious and stared at Ceres.

"You have to follow all of my orders for this entire process. If not, better find another spirit healer!"

Ceres respectfully bowed.

After their talk, Old Pang told Ceres and Gil where they will be staying at for the following months and the chores that they have to do around the house. At first, Gil insisted that Ceres do nothing and focus on her training but Ceres said that she is the one who needs Old Pang's help and that she must do what Old Pang told her to do.

Some of the herbs were used to make a medicinal bath for Ceres and some of it were concocted and made into pills which she has to take on certain days. Every day, there will also be a specific three-hour time where Old Pang would let Ceres meditate in front of him while he helps channel spirit essence on her.

As days passed by, she learned more about spiritual bodies and essences as well as other knowledge in this world. Old Pang taught her a lot about spirit healing and alchemy and she can already be considered as his disciple. She can also feel something changing within her body. She can feel some essences that she wasn't able to before. She can also start to see white dots in her surroundings. These dots are like snowflakes that melt whenever they touch her body. Also, these dots start to flock to her whenever she exhausted the essences inside her body. She already knew that these dots are the spiritual essences but when she told Old Pang about those dots, the latter was flabbergasted.

To be able to see spiritual essences was as rare as seeing a phoenix or a dragon randomly flying in the sky. Old Pang was wondering about the white dots and he also began to have some doubts and thoughts but he kept them in his heart. As such, he told Ceres never to divulge such information to anyone aside from those she could fully trust. By this time, Ceres knew that something was really unique in her. If it was the previous Ceres or her, she doesn't really know and she couldn't come to a conclusion yet.

Ceres also practices her skills such as throwing daggers and needles in this period of time. Before, she plainly uses physical force but when she started to feel the essences surrounding her, she also started practicing while incorporating essences on it. There was a huge difference in her skills from before. She can now throw daggers and needles without any wind disturbance at a longer range to boot. Also, she's still learning how to conceal the presence of such weapons when being thrown. Coincidentally, she thought of using spiritual essences to mask things from other people. She's not far from mastering it.

That is not the only difference; she also felt that her senses were upgraded. Her sense of touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and others were a lot more precise and she can even spread her awareness to cover a huge distance and observe keenly her surroundings. Clearly, these months of training compared to her previous world were a lot faster but this is only because she learned how to use and control her spirit essence coupled with the fact that hers was a lot more stable and plentiful compared to ordinary magicians. She even surpassed her peak condition in her previous world. The only thing left to do was to test her skills in a real fight. Even though she spars with Gil, it was still not enough considering they only used physical strength and force which is different compared to real life battles particularly those of life and death. Ceres doesn't want to depend on her essences because if there comes a time that she damages her spiritual body once again, how will she survive?

---

"How does one hire an assassin?"

While they were sparring, Ceres thought of asking Gil about assassins of this world. Nothing beats any information on them since it is Ceres' favorite profession and the thing that she is interested the most.

"Princess, an assassin is not a profession that attracts a lot of people so they are limited not only in this kingdom but in the whole world. To hire one would require you to know who they really are and have the means to personally contact them. This is troublesome as such information is not easily acquired and sometimes, changes from time to time. However, I can tell you that there are well-known assassins in Winsterein kingdom like Thousand Face and Poisoned Ghost Body. There is also a known assassin clan in the north where the legendary Blood Snow resides. Contacting them is difficult but they will execute their jobs perfectly according to their clients."

In her previous world, they have this certain place wherein assassins can stay and no one will bother them. But, only professional and well-known assassins can stay and use the benefits of that place in exchange for a huge price. Every transaction is in gold coins or bars. If someone also wishes to kill a person, he or she can contact that place and the request will be disseminated to all professional assassins unless one have a specific assassin to do the job.

"Do you plan to kill someone, princess?"

"No. I'm just asking."

If I want to kill someone, then I'll kill them myself. I wonder how this world's assassins do their work. With spirit essences, the world of killing secretly sure becomes much more interesting.

---

The treatment lasted for only two months. This greatly surprised Old Pang. With the damage that her spiritual body sustained, she was able to fully heal it within these months and bring it to its peak condition. This is all thanks to the huge number of rare herbs she presented as well as her diligence in recuperating and studying about spirit healing and this world's alchemy. Not to mention, she also has a unique spiritual body that can accommodate huge amounts of spirit essences as well as her unique essence gathering.

On Ceres' last day, Old Na came to visit them.

"Even without any magic crystal, you can tell that this girl has a lot of spiritual essence in her body. I really never imagined that someone can be born like this. She definitely is a special one."

Old Pang was currently talking to Old Na over tea. Ceres was still in meditation inside her room while Gil stood by her door step.

"I'm excited about her attribute. I know that she's a special one and we really can't deny that given what happened these past two months. But, I'm just wondering how she damaged her spiritual body causing her to almost become a normal person."

"You haven't seen through her?"

"No."

"Then why did you help her? What if she turns out to be someone who'll disrupt the world's balance or someone who will---"

Old Pang was cut off by Old Na. And, the latter's response was in a serious tone.

"I did sense something; something so blinding."

Old Pang could only sigh as he looked at the direction of Ceres' room.

"Ihope what we are doing is right." -tbc

A/N: (As of March 11, 2018) It's lunch time. I'm hungry. I need to study a protocol for work but here I am... posting edited chapters. ;A; I think this calls for some help.