Shikimi

Shikimi (樒) is a secondary character in Toukiden: The Age of Demons who resides in Utakata Village. The player can find her temple outside the front entrance of the main headquarters.

She runs the ritual temple in Utakata Village, and is the only person who can draw out a soul's true potential. Calm and aloof, Shikimi moves at her own pace. She seems invested in helping mononofu and listening to souls, but no one claims to truly understand her. Not even the protagonist knows anything about her during the events of the main story. Since they are both priestesses, Kikka tries to get along with her.

Requests
The protagonist can complete her chain of personal requests to greatly boost their affinity ratings with her. Her requests are clearly labeled with her name in each posting. They must be completed in consecutive order.

Once her affinity is at maximum level with the protagonist, she will finally tell him/her a few details about herself. Higher affinity additionally increases the chances of her appearing within the village's bathing area.

Function
Pay her a minimal sum of haku to lower or raise a soul's level. The minimal cost for increasing experience is .01% of the sum until the next level, but price raises on how many points the player prefers to gain. She can initially level up any starting soul up to Level 3. By chapter 3, her limit is changed to Level 5. At the end of chapter 4, she can go to Level 8. After the main story is cleared, she can raise a soul to Level 10 (max).

Fusions
After the main story is completed, Shikimi unlocks this feature at her shrine. Players are given thirty-six recipes to create powerful weaponry with very specific ingredients. They generally require a level 9 weapon, a level 10 Soul, and hundred thousands of haku. Once these ingredients are fused together, the player loses the weapon and soul. Souls can be recovered again randomly during quests.

The names of the weaponry are often homages to the soul's previous life, time era, or personal weapon.