Lowly Ascent

"Raven! Raven! Where are you going? Are you heading out again?" Darla tugged at Cain's jacket.

In his hands was a pill bottle filled with the Dream Drug. For the last few days, Cain had been distributing the pills to drug dealers in the area and even secretly feeding the drug to those in power.

The drugged would enter the dream worlds where they would fall into Cain's grasp. From there, even if they didn't have any more of the drug. It wouldn't be hard for him to go into their dreams to influence them, he had the energy to spare for the Dream Core.

"I have work to do Little Raven, wait patiently for my return."

Hearing Cain call her by her nickname, Darla calmed down and went back to her book. She scooted onto her favorite chair and lost herself in the pages.

Cain smiled and left the apartment, heading to a local church.

'Hopefully, by leading the nuns to my side, I can increase my followers and resources by a hundred percent!'

In the community Cain resided in, many people liked to visit the local nunnery and its small subsidiary Church nearby.

Cain had no plans to upset the large churches, but from what he knew, the Sisterhood of Yore was a small organization operating all over the country that helped small communities. They likely had no strong connections to the occult. They were well-favored over other churches, doing everything from teaching to building libraries and clinics.

...

An old nun walked along the pews inside a church, she collected donations as people rested and prayed to whichever god they believed in.

The strange thing about the Sisterhood of Yore was that they didn't believe in any god, what they believed in was knowledge and using that knowledge to help the world. The churches they set up were for the recovery of the spirit and shelters for anyone who entered.

Their beliefs were what made them so popular, letting them gain influence and attract philanthropists.

Collecting all the money, the old nun returned to the back of the church, but on the way the doors opened and she peered over to see the newcomer.

Sporting a black buttoned-up coat and round spectacles, a groomed and scholarly man walked into the church with a pill bottle.

"Ah, make yourself at home, we don't have any specific patron god so you can pray to whoever." The nun greeted Cain quietly with a warm smile.

The gentleman returned the same smile and got straight to the point. "I wished to learn more about the Sisterhood. I hear you love knowledge. I came hoping to see your selection if I could." 

Seeing such a gentlemanly man, the nun was none the wiser. She motioned for Cain to follow her. Once they were out of the main hall, she led Cain through the church's halls.

"I'm glad such a young man like you seeks knowledge, it is my Sisterhood's goal to gather and spread knowledge the best we can. We have a library here at this church, but for a wider selection, you should go to our headquarters in the city. The nunnery is built more like a manor and we have guests all the time, we even educate orphans there."

Cain began to butter her up with words. "That's very noble, I've heard the Sisterhood went above and beyond but I am truly humbled hearing of all you do." 

The nun laughed and brought Cain to a small library. "You can browse as much as you like, just please don't take the books home. Oh and take this." She handed him a card, "It has the phone number and address of the main nunnery if you need help going there. It is open to the public from midday to dinner time."

Cain pocketed the card and gave his thanks to the old woman. When he was finally left alone, he read a few books that piqued his interest and made sure none of the books had anything occult about them.

With his goal achieved and nothing left to do, he left the library. On his way out he made sure to thank the nun who helped him. He then began his walk home.

'The library held nothing on the occult, it was mostly common history and science books. I should go to this nunnery and see if they have anything there. But if they do have things on the occult, this organization might not be so innocent after all, they might have a backer or connections to other organizations. So I should be careful. Only after confirming they have nothing to do with the occult can I take them over.'

Making a game plan, Cain slid his apartment key into the door and entered his home. Darla was already waiting patiently, putting down her book and coming over to hug him.

"Raven, did you find anything?"

Cain patted her head, "Maybe. Instead, how about you tell me about your progress."

"Okay!" She grinned. "While you were gone I ate some more magical pills you made, they made me feel real nice. I think I'll be done soon."

"Oh?" Cain was impressed, it hadn't even been a week since he started giving Darla the means to turn her soul pure.

The two continued to talk before Darla yawned and Cain realized the sun had long set outside the window.

"It's time for bed Little Raven, brush your teeth and I'll tuck you in."

"Okay!" She got up and prepared for bed.

Cain sighed and rubbed his temples.

'I think I messed up with the mark...it was my first time trying to dig into their soul so much. With the people in the Spirit lands the marks were distorted greatly to fit my needs, but is this...' He clutched his heart. '...the main use of this ability? Why do I care for her so much? It's like she's...family.'

"A double-edged sword..." He murmured.

"All done!" Darla came out of the bathroom ready for bed. Cain couldn't help but grin and went to tuck her in.

When everything was said and done, he went into the study where all his things were and looked at one of the tables with many materials.

"I had to look around the black market for ages, thankfully one vendor had this, there were lots of guards but they couldn't stop me..." He picked up a leather-bound book beside the materials.

'List of Augments...I only get one...' Flipping through the pages, Cain stopped on a page. 'Augment of Soul Recover - A method for a limitless soul.'

Once someone enters the augmented stage, they can change their soul with a special property. Every augment was overpowered in its own right and would depend on skill to determine who was stronger.

A sturdy soul might be able to take the attacks of a soul augmented with explosive flame, but an unending soul with powerful regeneration would only be burned out against such a force. This was all unless the user had amazing control over their abilities.

It all depended on the person, not the power.

Cain read the augment description and chuckled, "To think the most optimal augment would overlap with that dumb name I came up with. Seems I might really become a Limitless Raven."

"And after I'm done with this..." He looked over to his desk, and on it sat another book. He smirked, "...I'll study you."

The book was titled, 'Path of the Voice'.