Soulless Soul

Chapter 63: The Blind Guide

"Hey, Chloe. Hope you know exactly where we’re going, because we’ve been walking for a terrifyingly long time through this gnarled forest without seeing a single checkpoint."

"Well, technically, I do," Chloe said, turning her flickering visor toward Sky, her tone entirely unbothered by his impatience.

Is she really blind?

Sky couldn’t help but wonder to himself as he adjusted his pace along the rough terrain.

How can two highly capable combatants follow a blind girl through a pitch-black, twisting forest like this? It defied the logic of the real world entirely.

But then again, Chloe wasn’t completely helpless inside the constraints of the system.

If Sky were thinking from the cold, ruthless perspective of the other major elite factions, Chloe would practically be dead weight down here. Her physical strength and health stats were abysmal compared to a front-line tank, and her gear had been reduced to scrap. She knew that bitter truth herself. Without her unique active Attribute helping them locate their precise destination through the thick white fog, she probably would have been left behind to rot by others a long time ago.

But Vesper treated her entirely differently.

She guided Chloe carefully through the thorny underbrush, matching her long, majestic strides to the engineer’s pace, treating her as if she were something remarkably precious to the survival of the squad.

After another few minutes of silent, grueling walking, Chloe unbuckled the final burnt structural straps of her ruined armor and dropped the broken pieces of the Iron Mecha completely from her back. They were going to climb a massive tree to scout the horizon, and there was absolutely no point carrying around a mountain of heavy steel that was already mechanically useless.

Vesper smoothly summoned a glowing white spiritual chain from her palm, the links humming with a faint holy warmth, and tied one end securely around Chloe’s waist.

Sky quietly held the other end, his callused fingers checking the tension.

The three of them moved in a synchronized line with fast pace.

The rest of the journey toward the enormous, gnarled tree didn’t take long at all. With Vesper leading the way and somehow taking every correct turn through the roots, there was no need to explore the hostile labyrinth of the sector or constantly backtrack whenever they encountered a dead end.

Fortunately, there were no Savage Spiders or mutated scouts lurking around their path either, the area uncomfortably quiet as they advanced.

Before they knew it, they had safely reached the massive base of the towering purple tree.

They began climbing, using the gnarled bark as footholds.

And eventually, after a grueling physical ascent, they successfully reached the wide, flat canopy branches at the very top. Crazy Hope looked out toward the darkening sky, the violet horizon churning with corrupted red data strings, and cleared her throat to break the heavy silence.

"Let’s rest here for now."

She glanced down at Chloe.

The tech girl was visibly exhausted, her shoulders slumping heavily from both walking and constantly deploying her attributeto find the right way.

Keeping her active Attribute [Eyes of the Abyss] active for so long was taking a devastating, continuous toll on her Energy reservoir, draining her vitality to near-critical limits.

Sky understood that painful feeling of exhaustion all too well.

If he became too physically tired during a prolonged skirmish, he could technically use the latent power of one of his soul clones within him to temporarily cover his body like a parasitic armor and continue moving past his physical limits.

But even that supernatural bypass came at a massive, draining cost to his own Energy as he continuedto use it. He can’t afford to waste his energy.

"Are you absolutely sure it’s safe?" Sky asked, his raspy voice dropping into a whisper as his [Danger Sense] cast a quiet net into the dark foliage below.

"It should be perfectly fine for now," Vesper replied, her serene face a cold mask under the violet twilight. "We still have a sliver of time before the sun sets completely and the night cycle alters the mob spawn patterns."

After that brief exchange, Vesper got busy gathering dried bark materials and preparing a small, localized fire to ward off the biting chill of the biome.

Tech girl simply sat down on a soft pile of dried, woven seaweed moss near the trunk and rested, her chest rising and falling in shallow breaths.

Not knowing what else to do to pass the time, Sky slowly lowered himself to the rough wood of the branch, allowing his tired, bruised body to completely relax for the first time since entering this forsaken forest.

After a long while, he spoke, breaking the quiet hum of the forest.

"I have fresh, raw meat in my rucksack from the previous floor. Do you have any water left? Mine vaporized during my break away from those beast." Chloe smiled warmly through her soot-stained cheeks, a lighthearted expression breaking through her fatigue.

"Yes! I have plenty!"

She extended one slender arm smoothly toward him, her palm open.

A second later, a beautiful, intricately designed bottle made of patterned blue glass suddenly appeared out of thin air in her hand.

Active: [WATER BOTTLE]

Rank: [Green]

Description: Provides and endless stream of water as long as the gem is present.

"That’s an auxiliary Attribute I have," Chloe explained, her digital visor clicking softly as she handed it over. "The array registers it as an infinite fountain. It’s always completely full, no matter how much you drink."

Sky took the heavy glass bottle from her hand and stared at the pulsing blue patterns with a look of quiet envy.

An endless, unthrottleable supply of pure water inside of this blue looking glads, huh? He looked at the bottle again, the surface feeling cool against his callused palm.

Sure beats any attribute I have in my possession, he thought, remembering the heavy, volatile weight of his own.

Sky narrowed his dark eyes, his cynical mind instantly analyzing the craftsmanship of the glass.

"Don’t tell me you actually engineered this attribute yourself from scrap."

Chloe smiled innocently, her visor flickering with a playful, mysterious spark.

"Maybe I did, Skies. Maybe I didn’t."

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