Chapter 244 - Cobalt Unit (1/2)
”Hey Xula, care to tell what happened earlier, you seemed a bit out of it when that vampire girl showed up,” backpack filled with books and a few potions, Staxius got ready to head-out. Time was around one in the afternoon, Lizzie needed to be picked up from school.
”Wise as you are perceptive,” she sighed, ”-Serene was exiled from her clan. I'm sure the old sage will give more details tomorrow. She's very enigmatic, I can never get a hold of what she thinks. Despite reading her mind, it's always a jumbled mess of thought, actions, and possible outcomes. The one thing that remains common is… her vindictive nature. Once upon a time, my guards had a sixth member. Sadly, that man-made the mistake of calling out Serene and insulting her in the process. It took months, after he went into hiding, months after months till the body was found bordering a river not so far from here. I knew it was her, the bite marks on his neck that resembled two stars, no other vamp has it.”
”I understand,” he walked closer, ”-you're worried about the coronation tomorrow. Aurora becoming the new leader of Nox might trigger a bad reaction,” he gave a reassuring smile, ”-even so, if she stands in my way, you might need to make do with four guards as opposed to five,” the face turn blank on the last word.
”That's to be expected,” a peck on his cheeks later, he returned to the capital.
'Be careful, vampires are far more conniving than you think. It's going to be difficult to handle so many things at once. Blood King,' she turned, '-it has a good ring. Almost as if he was the next demon-king,' with a shake of the head, the queen returned to her office.
”Blood king,” Adete sat atop his head.
”The first progenitor,” he added in jest.
”Oh please,” she sighed, the bike rushed through the streets till Junior Claireville Academy came in view. Next, they returned home, from there on, he went to Kniq's headquarters. No new adventurers wanted to join up with said Guild yet. Auic did surprisingly well to handle all the tedious tasks. Sat in his office, Staxius got ready for the implementation of the evaluation orb tomorrow in Arda. By preparation, it was a scroll – he decided to write one that contained the spell Teleportation. As opposed to using it constantly, if a few of said scrolls would be readied in advance – mana could be conserved. A secret for now, for the next few hours, till five came – with Auic helping, paperwork were settled. The adventuring party of Kniq did very well. Their repute grew, Achilles became a favorite at the central guild.
”Thanks for working hard,” he stood, the time had come to leave.
”No worries,” she bowed and left with files in hand.
'That should handle everything for the next week. Now for the Dark-guild,' mask on, he teleported to the bar. There, with barely any customers, Jason discussed how the war had been going so far. By capturing the witch – information grew abundant. There were still holes missing, and as Jason put it, ”we're not shooting from the hip now. The UO isn't that powerful, their mistakes have been found. The Syndicate is the real enemy.”
On that note, payment for two weeks of God's ale was given with a special request, ”Dear Shadow, it's Renaud. Care to do your favorite boss a favor? I want you to experiment and try to figure out this new drug,” a packet of whiteish gold powder got given, ”-it's angel's dust. Up and coming with a lot of potential, do give it a try.” The message ended.
”The boss is a greedy man through and through, the moment there's money involved – he gets overly excited,” Jason explained with a smile. A black metallic box adorned with gold was presented. ”Another gift from Renaud,” a smile followed by a smirk.
”Let me guess,” the box opened, ”-Cigars,” he stared up, ”-I supposed this is payment for trying to research Angel's Dust?”
”No need to look so anguished, you'll be fine,” a handshake later, Staxius left.
”So much work,” eyes glared at papers inside Pandora. The subject of research was not the angel's dust, but the taint. A detailed analysis for it would be submitted to the magical guild later. The more precise, the better a solution could be found. Time was of the essence – having stored the curses inside himself and papers. It took a few hours but the process was simplified.
”Miss Clarise,” located in her office inside the Alchemist Sect, he had a meeting with the prodigy.
”What brings you here?” she asked with a not so inviting tone, ”-I thought you hated us since Lord Staxius never picks up any of my calls or job requests,” a faint pout.
”You must know that the mana potions being researched don't fancy my attention. You're plenty talented, I'd be just a burden,�� the voice emotionless with no holes to exploit.
”Ha…” a sarcastic cackle, ”-am I supposed to believe that lie?” her face turned red from anger. In her mind, the alchemist before her was an object of fantasy. The ideal researcher with a mind unlike anything she had seen before. Though, with all his potential, seeing it being wasted on Guilds and adventuring, it made her insides boil.
”Animosity apart,” a paper slid across the table, ”-these are what I've been doing for the past few months. The taint of the monsters; it was hard to acquire living samples to derive my analysis from,” she stared up with intrigue, ”-eventually, that's the fruit of my labor. The curse of the demons, holy water alone can't cleanse it. A catalyst and a medium are required, one to aggravate it's spread then a medium for it to transfer to. If done correctly, any type of tainted curse could be removed,” after which, a more detailed explanation was given since she kept on pestering about what and whatnots.