"Star, what is it?" Alex asked before picking it up.
"it's nothing harmful; it's something akin to a lie detector," Star replied.
"So if I am lying, he will know?" Alex asked rhetorically, knowing that he still harbored ill intentions towards Luke.
Alex exhaled heavily as he realized he had underestimated Luke, making the mistake of bringing shadow elementalist to a roof with full shade/ shadow coverage at night.
Realizing Alex thought process, Star snapped him out of it, "you only learned about mana and elements three days ago; mistakes are to be expected. What you need to do is learn from them. This is also why I haven't heavenly aided you, so you could learn from experience."
'Star's right. I won't know everything about everything.'
After being reassured by Star, Alex picked up the stick and examined it.
Before doing what Luke told him and restating:
"I promise not to attack or kill you if you do not attack the women or me, and you must help me kill the low & mid-level mercenaries. Also, provide information on the high-ranking members within the organization."
The wood in Alex's hand immediately glowed green while sprouting two leaves, showing that Alex was telling the truth.
As the leaf continued to glow, black smoke from all over the roof rushed to one location, re-constructing Luke's body in front of Alex.
The black smoke allowed Luke to hover off of the ground. His eyes were hollow and with faint sounds of cracking as if wood was burning in a fire.
"Alex, he has the Dark North body constitution!" Star inhaled in surprise.
"Body constitutions are a rare type of body that amplify certain elements. The dark north constitution is extremely rare. It is listed in the top 40 out of 120 rare body constitutions and strengthens any element with darkness attributes (shadow)." Star stated and continued.
"He's no weaker than you with that body. It seems like he has been hiding this entire time, and to show this form means he views you as a threat! With the dark north body, there are skills only he could use.
Shadow wisp is the form he is currently in; physical attacks are useless against him. Shadow shift is another that those with the dark north body could use. Shadow shift would allow him to transport into any shadow within a twenty-mile range. As his understanding of his body progresses so will, the range. As He grows, he can even bypass windows and doors as long as he can see the shadow. But he doesn't seem to have this yet, or he wouldn't need to negotiate with you." Star summarized before continuing.
"Also, the number of shadows he could create isn't limited to seven, but twelve. The dark north body's two disadvantages: their weakness to the light element and the owner can only use two elements. Although the dark north body can amplify any elements with dark attributes, using more twill only result in extreme pain, even death." Star informed Alex.
"Star When I was searching for him, my perception showed seven shadows, and there are still seven shadows after he came out. His stealth skill is impeccable." Alex concluded.
"It's good that you were paying attention," Vigerřamous replied with enthusiasm.
Without warning, Luke's entire body changed from clumps of black smoke to a lion beast-man with a greenish tail and then to a complete human.
"Star, don't tell me he can transform into a human or beast when he wants?" Alex asked, looking at Luke's new appearance.
"No! That boy is a human. However, his blood is slightly tinted with beast blood. Ingesting the blood of stronger prey has always been something humans have always done; Warlocks are a good example. This is also another way Elementalist who lack resources can become a mage or gain another elemental affinity. But that route is too risky; ingesting the blood of other mythical creatures comes with a significant risk of becoming a mindless abomination. The tinted blood in his blood can be purified after taking the right concoction. This is probably why your system inspect skill labeled him as a fake beast-men. He must have ingested the blood of a mythical creature to gain an affinity with a particular element. If I am not mistaken, he must have drunk the blood or ate the heart of a fluorescent chimera since it is the only one that can be found in the mortal plane. It would also explain why he just appeared like a lion and with a greenish tail. A chimera is a monstrous hybrid beast even a new god at the Battle Spirit level would have trouble killing. A fluorescent chimera is the weakest of all, but it is still strong as a weak god. Fluorescent chimeras are probably all extinct by now. Humans are very greedy. The elements a fluorescent chimera can use are poison, lightning, light, and fire. He must have had a chance encounter and picked the blood from somewhere, with his level one mana-core, just the sneeze of a chimera could evaporate him." Star said while laughing. "but because he ingested the blood of a chimera he is nothing but a dead man walking. I give him five days at most before his mana core cracks and he dies," Star said enthusiastically!
Standing in front of Alex, Luke's human appearance didn't lose out to him. Luke was five feet ten with long black hair, honey maple-colored skin, dark gray eyes, and a slender firm.
Stretching out his arm Luke took the wood from Alex while stating:
"This is the wood of the seer; it sprouts two leaves when both parties are telling the truth and glows red when someone lies and black for the unknown."
"Horse shit! This beast really takes you for a full pumpkin. The wood is known as the truth eyes. It has the strange ability to tell if a person is lying within a two-month period, meaning beyond two months from now, he wouldn't know if you would kill him or not. The truth eyes can only tell if one party is lying, which is the one who held it first. The wood is from the wood-eyes plant in the Hulie world. Hulie is the 20th world. Within the Hulie world, plants are animated and usually vicious," Vigerřamous rang in.
"So he's either from the Hulie world or higher. Well, I'll just play along," Alex snickered inwardly.
Luke wanted to know the depth of Alex's knowledge and experience.
'If he knew what it was, he had to have been past the Hulie world or one that was higher. if not....' Luke's thinking was simple.
"oh, it's the first time I have seen it. The wood of seer seems very useful! My name is Alex Star," Alex replied to Luke, playing along.
'the country pumpkin believed me, 'Luke smiled before frowning; he realized he had never told Alex his name.
"Let skip all this banter and form a curse contract," Alex demanded, not wanting to waste any more time with Luke. There was no disadvantage when knowing Luke would most likely die soon.
Hearing the word mana contract, Luke knew Alex wasn't a pumpkin anymore. Curse contracts were horrible if one refused to do what they agreed upon.
'he isn't....' Luke thought while nodding his head at Alex.
Taking the lead, with Star's help, Alex formed the contract, then signed it with his mana before passing it onto Luke. After making sure everything was right, Luke, too, signed it. Once the contract was signed, the paper burst into a ball of flames as white smoke enveloped both Alex and Luke as a symphony chimed, indicting the agreement was established.
"Alright, spill everything," Alex said while smiling "genuinely" (fake) at Luke.
"Before that, how did you know my name?" Luke asked, smiling back "genuinely" at Alex.
"Lucky guess!" Alex replied with no change to his expression.
Luke laughed. "HAHAHA, Good guess," of course, he didn't believe Alex, but there was nothing he could do further.
For a full minute, they stared at each other fake smiles plastered on their faces.
"The organization is a mercenary guild and is called reapers mark after the founding member skill. Reapers mark has been around for eight years, and it is based in the Clover world. It has 26 mid-ranking members, and each member is giving an alphabet. The higher the alphabet, the higher the ranking. My alphabet is K, and I am currently ranked eleventh among the mid-ranked members. Paul was ranked third. There are ten high-ranking officers, and they are giving roman numerals. One being the highest rank and ten, the lowest. After they are the founding members, I do not know how many there are or anything about them since that information is kept confidential. As for low-ranking members, there are over 100!" Luke gave Alex a detailed layout.
"Why are you all after the women, and how many are here on Echo?"
"The mid-ranking members are ordered to capture the women so that they could be used as hostages to force their husband to hand over a staff he found in the elegy forest. Fourteen mid-level ranking members are here, fifty low-ranking members, and two high-ranking officers." Luke answered.
"Where is the gathering location?"
"There isn't one! Typically meeting spots are random. When they call, we come."
"Which two high-ranking officers are here? What are their elements? Where are they now?" Alex fired question after question.
"they are number IX, and X. Number 10 is a man, and he is a mage. I haven't met him or know any weaknesses he has or where they are right now. As for number 9, she's a woman; I know nothing about her. Both 10 and 9 are here to retrieve the staff," Luke replied
"What is so special about the staff?" Alex inquired.
"Well, the only thing I know is that it helps mages use less mana when using spells. It would make any mage just as strong, if not stronger, a regular mage or elementalist. That staff in the hands any mage could be....." Luke trailed off before looking at Alex with disgust, "tsk, now even you are interested in the staff!" Luke said repulsively.
"Don't put you and me in the same category. The staff means nothing to me; am not as pathetic as some of you! As for the other members in reapers mark, would you be able to get them all together in one room?" Alex asked.
"that will be hard; there are some that hate me. I could get most of the low-ranking members, but the others... As for the two high-ranking members, that's impossible. I won't get any information on them or even return there since Laurel is alive. She has a connection with number VI."
Luke
"don't worry about laurel. Deadmen tell no tails. Gather everyone that you could; this includes the mid and low-level mercenaries at a hotel. Tell them you will be bringing a young sixteen-year-old untouched tender meat to be bruised to their liking!" Alex said salaciously.
Luke could not help but roar with laughter at the idea of tasting such tender treats before coming back to his senses.
"Will there be such an untouched treat? Or is it just a ruse?"
"untouched no no no! but sixteen, tender, gorgeous with soft skin, sure. Also, it would be best if you don't be there during the tasting since she's the daughter of a noble."
Seeing what Alex was implying, Luke again roared with laughter, knowing that this would actually get the men to follow him to the hotel, and it would also be the reason they die.
'such an elegant plot.'
"Here is a talisman; you can contact me after you choose the hotel location and the room number. Once you are done, I will bring the girl," Alex declared.
"Good!" Luke emphasized three times, knowing the one thorn (Lisa thorn) in his side would be gone.
"I will bring the mercenaries to the red lotus hotel. I already got a room there, room 44. I can have everyone there in two hours." Luke replied.
"good. See you then" Alex's voice thrilled off in Luke's ear before he disappeared. There was no need to worry if the other was lying because of the curse contract.