"But.. before I begin aren't you going to introduce yourselves, I wouldn't mind calling you princess, dollie, poster boy and brat tho, it's up to you guys" Effie pointed the bone in her hand at them.
Merlin sighed then spoke up.
"Sorry, it's Merlin"
"Nephis"
"Cassie"
"Sunless, but you can call me Sunny" They all said respectively while Sunny was grumbling something about 'why am I the brat'.
"Well that's that, now back to the topic..." She paused for a while to take a huge chunk of the the meat.
"... Oh where are my manners, please care to join" Effie gestured towards the remaining not so plenty meat.
"Not needed, now about the castle" Nephis answered sharply.
"Sheesh cool off princess... Yeah about the castle, well it's good and bad, good is that there's a place to stay, they provide food and other things you'll need..." She paused then continued.
"Then there's the bad, the tyrant ruler Gunlang, He controls the entire castle according to his rules, anyone that disobeys him well they die or face punishment, that's the general outline, also to stay in the castle, you have to pay two shards every week" Effie said while taking occasional bites from her meat.
"What about those who can't afford the payment?" Sunny asked.
"Those that can't afford it stay in the outer settlement, like me.. well it's not that I can't afford it but the rations in the castle aren't nearly enough you know, it's bad for my flaw" Effie answered with a smile.
Nephis thought for a moment then asked.
"Is there a gateway here"
Effie's eyes sharpened for a while before returning to it's regular style then she answered.
"There is one.. at the crimson spire, many had tried to conquer it including my mentor, but all failed, now Gunlang forbids people from challenging it."
"I understand" Nephis said as she returned to her listening mode.
"So.. can you show us the way, we'll appreciate the help" Merlin said getting off the ground and dusting his clothes.
"Sure poster boy, I'm done anyways" Effie got up and put out the fire before leading them towards the outer settlement.
Merlin and the group followed her through the dark road, there were a few destroyed wooden camps and more nightmare creature corpses on the way. They followed behind the huntress occasionally answering her questions and small talk.
After a few minutes of walking, they finally arrived at the outer settlement, it was a huge camp, many wooden houses and tents were spread apart with enough space in-between houses and a bunch of hopeless looking sleepers were moving around the area. Effie led them to one of the tents before turning around to address them.
"Now this is home sweet home for me, as you can see, the outer settlement are just a lifeless bunch of survivors, so make the best of your stay, and don't go looking for unnecessary trouble"
"Thanks, appreciate the information" Merlin said as he turned to the team.
"Sure, anything for you cutie.. by the way what's with the get up, you look like you came for reconnaissance..." Effie said as she looked him up and down, and he wouldn't blame her because his getup was very much fashion based than protection, he could change it again but that meant unnecessary pain so..
"It's a special memory, and I like the look" Merlin replied as he turned to Nephis.
"So.. now what?"
"We still have five shards left from the hunt, so Sunny and Cassie will go in, and with your aspect you'll scout and get a personal view on the situation in the castle, while I and Merlin will handle_" Nephis' words were cut short as Merlin directly stated.
"Sorry Neph, but we'll part here, I have my plans for the forgotten shore, I'll drop by maybe once or twice a week but till then I'll be completely off grid"
"I understand, then I'll see things on this end, is that okay with you Sunny?" Nephis asked not trying to pry into his matters, but Sunny and Cassie had a look of slight confusion.
Merlin took out five shards and gave four to Sunny and the last to Nephis, he already had about nine awakened shards tucked in his pocket but Neph didn't include it in the count because those were his personal gains.
"Alright that's the plan, here take these, and don't forget to protect yourself, and Sunny.. they're some people that can sense your shadow inside the castle"
"How do yo_ ..snap.." Sunny was about to ask but Merlin had already disappeared in a blaze of flames with a snap.
"Woah... That's an insane ability" Effie woahed looking where he just left, while Sunny mummured 'you don't know the half of it', although the remaining half that Sunny knew was still just half of his full abilities.
"Any idea what he's doing?" Sunny asked the two girls.
Cassie shook her head while Nephis said nothing but her brows were furrowed slightly.
...
Merlin who had left earlier now stood infront of a large wall, he had already done dream divination of the castle, and this place was just beside a shop stationed at the edge of the castle away from prying eyes.
'Alright let's do this then'
He streched his hand summoning the black orb, but this time he didn't turn it into his signature katana, instead the orb rippled and changed it's shape into a full face mask, one with a upsidedown crescent holes as eyes and a crescent smile on the face, a classic clown mask.
As the mask fully formed, he wore it on his face and it fit perfectly, as it was a memory, so he didn't need to worry about it falling off, he dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out an awakened soul shard, he decided to try something that had been on his mind since earlier.
With the shard in hand, he activated the enchantment on the cloak, the black and gold clothing suddenly changed their shape, turning into a plain shirt and trousers with a windbreaker and a top hat all made black inlaid with gold.
As the transformation ended, the shard in his hand faded and disappeared into specks of light and he immediately felt a slight headache.
'Guess that proves my theory, the reason I can't use the memory is because of the essence drain, and I can't control my essence, so the shards offsets some of the drain for me, tho if one awakened shard is used to change looks, then before I'll be able to summon historical projections... Sigh...'
Merlin shook off the dizzy feeling in his head and immediately walked to the wall, as he was about to touch it, he activated his 'Apprentice' ability and his body immediately became ethereal as he phased through the solid wall appearing just beside a shop on the other side of the wall.
'Woah that's freaky, so much potential, as expected of the coward pathway'
Merlin immediately used an illusion, not to make himself invisible, but to make himself appear like a regular black haired young sleeper in average armour.
Merlin left his position, walking into the bright castle, he was seeing people moving around, talking and working, it gave off a friendly atmosphere compared to the hospitality of the labyrinth creatures.
He walked around, asked a few questions about the place until he finally got to the residential area, he walked towards the guard nearby and asked directly.
"Hey, excuse me I just arrived, how do I get a room?"
"Hey kid" The guard looked at him as his illusion made him look a little childish compared to his original appearance.
"If you're here for the rooms, just go in and meet whoever's there to give you a key, there's food in the morning by eight and later by six, anything else you want will cost you shards you understand?"
"Yeah thanks" Merlin thanked him and made his way into the building.
After getting his key, he directly stepped into the room, he looked around the the small room, and layed down on the not so soft bed and he fell asleep.
Merlin woke up feeling refreshed after a long time, he dismissed his memory after getting a positive answer for divining wether his stored goods will return with it. He stepped into the shower and cleaned up himself, completely getting rid of all the scruff on his body, after the cleanup, he resummoned his clothes and mask and made a mental note of things he needed.
'For one paper, and lots of it, the maybe a memory that can block all sound for the wearer making them deaf, flamables too.. for now that's all I'll need'
Merlin cleared his thoughts and got up and walked to the door, he activated his illusion then stepped out, as he walked into the hallway, he immediately sighted Sunny and Cassie together as they were making their way down stairs, he didn't need to worry about them noticing him because he had his illusion active and Cassie couldn't see his runes.
He walked down the hallway till he came outside, the area was already bustling and people were already lining up for the food.
'I'll make sure not to forget to get spices for cooking'
He joined in on the line and waited till it was his turn to get food, holding the plate in his hands, he could already tell from the smell that the food was merely for convenience not for sweetness.
And he was right, sitting in his chair eating the food, all he could think was 'bland' it was bordering between horrible and survivable. He ate his food quietly, witnessed the struggle between Sunny and a few guards, saw Caster help him out and watched them leave, immediately as he was about to get up, the slightly noisy area quieted down to a certain degree, immediately he saw a large man in an armour of pure gold walk into the place, it was Gunlang and he was accompanied by another hunchbacked looking man with pale skin and ruffled hair, Harus.
Merlin could see as others trembled in his presence, not able to look him in the face, but Gunlang's mental attack had nothing on him, he stared at the both of them until Harus' eyes turned and locked with his, their battle of stares was short as Harus turned around to leave with Gunlang.
As they left, Merlin sighed and shook his head.
'There goes this identity of mine, damned flaw will get me killed one day'
He then got up, and left the area, along the way he changed his face with an illusion again, making him a brown skinned young guy with brown eyes and short brown hair.
'The perfect NPC if I do say so myself'
He asked around, and was able to get into a shop where they sold books, walking into the shop, he was greeted with the faint smell of a library, the place sold books, a few art and there were hand written stories too, standing just near the entrance was a young female sleeper, she had black hair and blue eyes and a young face, she sat on a small chair behind a desk reading a book.
"Hello" He greeted.
"Oh, hello, how may I help you?" She answered with a smile as she looked up from her book.
"Yeah I'd like to get a book, empty and lots of pages" Merlin stated his request.
"Alright, I'll be back"
She got up from her chair and scrambled to the side where Merlin couldn't see
After a few seconds, she brought out a book that rivalled an encyclopedia in size, with a large number of pages, about two hundred if not more.
"Well, that'll be two dormant soul shard" She said as she looked at him with anticipation.
"..."
"Is there a problem?" She asked observing his silence.
Merlin on the other hand had rather strange thoughts.
'Dormant, what the hell, they're dormant soul shards on the forgotten shore, how come we didn't encounter any dormant beast anywhere, hell even a dormant titan would do'
"Uhm sorry, how many of these can I get for an awakened soul shard?" He asked as he brought out a shard.
"..."
Now it was her turn to become silent.
"Is there a problem?" Merlin asked with a smug smile on his face.
"N-No problem, please wait I'll be back" The storekeeper hurried to the back again to scramble for more books.
Merlin simply stood and waited for her. After a while, she emerged with two other encyclopedia level books and placed them on the table, Merlin took the books, paid the shard and left the store.
After getting the books, he returned to his room and sat down on the bed dropping the three large books infront of him.
He changed his mask memory into a scissors and prepared to get to work.
"Now then, let's make my art and craft teacher proud".
...
..
.
"He would be fucking disappointed in me" Merlin layed on the bed with multiple crude cut figurines, all the cutouts looked less human like me like a nightmare creature that evolved.
"I just hope it'll swap me when the time comes"
Apart from the figurines, there were also a lot of papers that he simply tore out and arranged.
Merlin got up and packed the hundreds of figurines and papers into his pocket, this time they all went in the windbreaker's pocket. He folded the remaining cutouts and with a snap, he turned them all to ashes.
"Shit" Merlin cursed as he checked the time, he had already spent hours on his work, and it was late afternoon.
He quickly got up and headed to the gambling house where he asked the location earlier.
Getting there as walked through the door, he was greeted with a camphony of noise, sleepers drinking and playing, a few making small jokes and chats, sighing, he headed towards a petite black haired young lady who was watching the others with a smile.
"Hey, excuse me"
"Ah another customer, welcome to the gambling house, what would you like to play?" Aiko answered him with a bright smile.
Merlin faced with her enthusiasm simply shook his head and said.
"I'm not here to gamble, I want to get something" His words wiped like seventy five percent of the smile off Aiko's face.
"I see.. well sorry bud this isn't a shop spot, so we don't sell things here"
Merlin sighed and brought out a shard, immediately her smile returned at one hundred and twenty percent.
'Damn she just went plus ultra'
"Ooh an esteemed guest, Nice to meet you I'm Aiko, manager of the gambling house, what did you say you wanted?" Aiko asked while her eyes alternated between the shard and his face, both receiving eighty/ twenty percent attention respectively.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Adam, I want to buy playing cards, as much as that can afford" He said pointing to the shard.
Aiko took the shard with a quick 'I'll be back' and hurried away, a few moments later and she came out with seven packs of playing cards and handed it to him.
"Thanks Aiko, I'll be back if I need more" Merlin said making his way to the exit.
After getting the cards, he went out and bought a few spices he could use for cooking meat, by the time he returned, he had already missed the dinner time, so he simply ate some of the fruits from the soul devouring tree and went to bed.
...
For the remaining days of his stay, Merlin did a little more practice with his abilities now that his arsenal was complete, he also trained his sword style and he observed a few useable spots in the city, some spots for future performance and some spots for Apprentice work.
By the fifth day, Merlin left the city and returned to the outer settlement, he could've stayed longer, but at that point it would waste his time as his preparations were already complete.
Standing outside the castle, Merlin took in a deep breath and walked forward towards Effie's home.