Chapter 102: 102

When I asked Arya about the spot she mentioned where I should be able to safely unleashed the lioness, she guided me to a cave that was near the village, though far enough away that one would casually pass by. The cave itself started with a narrow and low-ceiling pathway before it opened up into a large and spacious area that was illuminated by some kind of glowing rock. Other than the fixtures from which the rocks hung there was nothing else in this area and I understood now why Arya had said it would be the perfect spot.

I told Arya that she should probably wait outside as I couldn't be a hundred percent sure how the Skill worked and if it needed a target or would chase down the nearest creature. While a bit reluctant she knew that I was only concerned for her safety so she made her way back through the narrow corridor before I heard her voice telling me she was outside through the communication earring I wore. I acknowledged her before focusing on myself and trying to pull out the radiant energy that I had used against the undead back in the Eldora Labyrinth.

Unlike when I had first gotten the Skill and been completely lost on how to use it, I had now used it before, so it was just a manner of recreating the feeling I'd felt back then. While it took me some time to even find where the energy had been hiding, it took mere seconds fro me to pull it out of my body and cause it to manifest the anthropomorphic lioness before me. It was not without a cost however, as just like the last time the radiant energy rampaged against me while I summoned her, causing multiple wounds and burn marks to careen across my body as my regeneration chased the wounds like a game of cat and mouse.

Not only did the white radiant energy tear me up, it also spread out against the surroundings but as everything was made of stone there was no change except for brightening the room for a brief moment. The energy quickly subsided and formed into the white lioness I had met before, though now that I was able to get a closer look I realized that rather than fur covering her it was actually simply an imitation done by the energy itself.

Upon seeing me she bowed her head while greeting me. "Greetings master." her tone was formal and polite before she suddenly straightened up, her eyes narrowing at me. "Why didn't you call me out sooner, I've been so bored. Just when I thought I'd found someone who enjoyed violence as much as I did and it turns out you don't even want my help."  Her face turned sideways as she closed her eyes and folded her arms refusing to look at me, before one of her eyelids peeked open and looked at me expectantly.

I hadn't thought she would be so much like an actual person, so I was both concerned and entertained at her display. "Taking you out takes too high of a toll on my capabilities." I said as I tried to avoid the topic. "If you truly like fighting you know a second of vulnerability is enough to make a difference between all manner of opponents."

The lioness harrumphed something that I couldn't quite tell if it was understanding or her ignoring me. "Then find me a Vessel, that way you don't have to use your body to house me and I would be able to be by your side more."

"A Vessel? What's that? I assume you're not referring to a boat, right?"

The lioness gave me an exasperated glance, but it wasn't my fault I'd never heard of anything else referred to as a Vessel before. "A Vessel is many things, but for our purposes it would be a solid and physical body, rather than the form of energy I currently am. If you do think about getting me one, I would prefer a lioness, or at least any kind of feline creature, though I could probably make do with a machine if it was well constructed enough."

I sighed internally as I added another item to the seemingly ever growing list of things I should work on. Having the lioness on my side would be quite helpful, especially if I find or make a Vessel for her before we entered the Forest of Darkness, she was similar to Arya in that she was a being of Yang. "How do I know if something is a suitable Vessel for you? I'd rather not pull you out every time I happen to find a cat."

The lioness simply shrugged. "I haven't had many dealings with Vessels before, my sister would have known more, but I think any powerful creature should do, monster, demon, angel, or even a beast-kin. I think there was something about compatibility too, but it should be fine as long whatever you get me is feline in nature."

I was somewhat concerned about her carelessness but there wasn't anything to do other than research with Seshat's Library about Vessels. Thinking such I pulled out the token I'd received from Gabriel. "You mentioned a sister, would she happen to have anything to do with this token?"

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The lioness examined the coin, a look of bewilderment coming across her face as she nodded. "Sort of. This is part of Hathor right? She's the eldest of my sisters, so haughty too. However, the best one to ask would be Rokasut, of the five of us she was the most well-versed in those kinds of things."

It was my turn to be bewildered as I recognized that name since it was a part of one of my aspect Skills. "What are the names of your other sisters?" I asked, a feeling that I could guess their names running through my head.

The lioness handed the token back to me nonchalantly. "Bastet and Nuhrot would be the two I haven't mentioned, why?"

I rubbed my temples as she answered exactly how I had thought she would. "I assume you can't tell that I have Skills named after all of you but Hathor, assuming you're Sekhmet that is. I also have one named after Seshat, name ring any bells?"

The lioness laughed heartily. "What a strange twist of fate. Not only do you have fragments of each representation of the Eye of Re, but you've got a part of that quiet girl too?" She shook her head in disbelief. "I don't suppose their Skills house a fragment of their consciousness like mine does? It would be good to see them again, even if we're just echoes of our true selves."

I shook my head at her question. As far as I was aware none of the other Skills had a representation like hers did, unless Bastet's or Nuhrot's did as while I hadn't checked in a while, I was pretty sure that neither of their Skills had been unsealed since there hadn't really been any major power ups similar to what the other Aspect Skills gave me. "I don't think so, but Bastet's and Nuhrot's are still sealed so I can't be certain. I suppose I should refer to you as Sekhmet now, or is there another name you want me to call you?"

Much to my surprise the lioness actually shook her head. "I'd rather not be called Sekhmet, the only thing I retain is ability to inflict violence, not even half of my original domain, and it doesn't feel right to use my Divine name when I'm no longer a Divine. You can call me Steria, the name I had before I became a Divine."

I was glad that she had a name in mind and that she confirmed that it was possible to become a Divine. I'd already guessed as much seeing as the Mortal Gods had probably done something similar to what was happening to me, though rather than acquiring their fragments through chance they'd been given them directly by the Cardinal Gods. "Alright Steria." I said still palming the token of Hathor. "I don't suppose you have any advice for using this token, or rather, it isn't cursed right? I got it from someone I don't fully trust after all."

She shrugged once again. "Not my area of expertise, but I could probably decrease the risk of a curse by diffusing it while hanging out in your mana pool. I wasn't a paladin for nothing, and your murky mana pool is a perfect place to unleash a curse if there is one, unless the curse is either more malevolent than your mana, or more holy than my energy it'll probably just be absorbed by one of us, though that requires you to keep your ravenous mana from trying to eat me."

I had wondered where she had stayed when I felt her energy disappear after entering me, but I guess she had gone into hiding because my mana was trying to convert her Yang energy. Controlling my internal mana wasn't something I was actually that good at, especially once me and Arya started the Universal Yin-Yang Technique. I had enough mana and regenerative ability that I could just brute force magical phenomena into existence. Once I'd gotten Multitask it had become somewhat better, but I simply had too much mana for me to focus on all parts of it at once and control it uniformly like other magic users.

I'd compared it with Arya once and she had told me that her mana pool was like a dam that was ever slowly filling, making it easy for her dam to keep up with the increase and allowing her to control the amount of mana spent for every spell. In my case, it was more like a rushing river that had never been dammed in the first place, rather someone had set up a water wheel next to it. So while it produced seemingly endless power, there was a massive amount of waste and the actual amount of magical strength I could output was limited. Perfect for attrition or length based magic since I could practically fuel them indefinitely as long as I didn't use more power than the water wheel could output.

Since I couldn't be certain that I would be able to stop my mana from attacking Steria I decided to hold off on using the token for now. Maybe the Well of Balance would let me achieve greater mana control, and if not, I could probably use the wish from finishing the trial to get a Skill to do so since I wasn't making much progress with Universal Yin as a control method.

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