"What's that?" Julianne exclaimed while pointing at the roof.
It was a big jellyfish that looks surreal and passes through the beams of the hall like it doesn't even exist.
"GHOST!" Alyssa shouted and hid behind Luis while trembling and cold sweats dripped profusely as her face turned pale.
"Hahahahahahaha!" A burst of laughter echoed around the hall and everyone looked at the source of the laughter and it was Luis who was holding his tummy.
"What's funny you meanie?" Alyssa exclaimed while her voice was quivering.
"Hahaha! I didn't know that our greatest commander was this scared of ghosts!" Luis laughed and chuckled and he turned around and hugged the scared lady, his expression changed into a soft one making the lady that looked in his eyes felt assured.
"Don't worry, I will protect you from anything, ghost or killers, I will make sure that nothing's gonna happen to you!" Luis softly said in a deep voice bringing comfort to those who can hear it.
The warmness the lady felt made her fear go away and changed with the feeling of safety and security as her pale face slowly turned back and a faint blush can be seen from her cheeks.
"Guys, this is no time to be sugar puff creampies! We have this strange thing around us!" Jay exclaimed.
"Roger that! Strategist Frozen Heart!" Rex exclaimed and bolts of lightning appeared as he rushed towards the thing.
"Strategist Frozen Heart? Who is that?" Jay asked.
"It's you, dummy!" Julianne exclaimed as she summoned a dozen explosive orbs.
Two of the four alchemists have Fire Element and the other two have the Nature Element.
All of them cast their spells to the thing floating near the ceiling of the large hall. Nothing hit the thing and all of their spells only passed through the body of the thing like it was surreal.
"Wait, guys! Stop!" Luis shouted and everyone stopped. "Cover your ears!" He added and covered his ears while crouching. Everyone followed him without question and as soon as everyone covered their ears, a loud screech echoed as the vibration made the whole place tremble and the dust scattered around.
A lot more of the same creatures appeared on sight roaming near the ceiling. More than a dozen appeared and they all started humming in a tune at first it was chaotic until it slowly harmonized and sounded peaceful.
"So they are the cause of that sound!" Alyssa exclaimed mesmerizing the music brought by the creatures.
"It sounds so beautiful when close!" Ana exclaimed and summoned embers that float around the hall.
Luis summoned light sparkles that flickered in and out. The place felt magical and the tension that they felt faded away.
"Good thing I remembered what creature is that!" Luis exclaimed.
"So, you know what that thing is?" Alyssa asked.
"Night Cry Ghost Jellyfish! A nocturnal creature that makes a creepy sound whenever they are disturbed." Luis explained as he sat down on the ground looking at the Ghost Jellyfishes that flickered in and out of existence while emitting a bioluminescent light.
"Why did you sit? Are they harmful?" Alyssa asked.
"No, they're not, they only screech when alarmed or in danger," Luis replied.
"Then how are we going to stop them from doing the singing?" Alyssa asked.
"You know what is strange? Night Cry Ghost Jellyfishes can't sing, they only screech!" Luis suddenly frowned.
"Then what are those creatures then?" Alyssa asked.
"I only know one type of Ghost Jellyfish that can do this, it's the Serenading Ghost Jellyfish, a mutated kind that was made by the Plague Saint Drachius!" Luis's frown intensified.
"No need to be wary Luis, Drachius time was past and he's not here anymore! What matters today is to find out what's beyond this large gate and how to get rid of the Ghost Jellyfish!" Alyssa smiled and she gave him a peck on the cheek.
"My thank you for calming me earlier!" Alyssa chuckled and she joined the others.
Luis was left there sitting, looking dumbfounded while touching the side of his face.
"Hey! What happened to you? Are you okay?" Serion shook him that made him came back to reality.
"Uh, yeah! I'm alright! So, can we open that big gate?" Luis asked.
"Not a chance, we can't open the door through deciphering the seal because there's a lot of unique encryption that we can't decipher it. We can't also forcefully open it because the series of arrays placed on it and will self destruct once damaged!" Serion explained.
"Anything odd or can be a clue to open it?" Luis asked.
"Well, all I can decrypt from the gate is Maix," Serion replied.
"So, this place has a connection with Maix... Let's set this aside until our mission on Maix's Realm is done. Let's collect these Ghost Jellyfishes first!" Luis instructed as they walked towards the group.
What should we do with them?" Julianne asked.
"Get one for each of you, then spread them around the hall. Ghost Jellyfishes, though they are called Jellyfish, they have the attitude of octopi. Now, when you see that a Ghost Jellyfish entered the jar, immediately cover it with your energy and place the lid." Luis explained as he gave them a jar each.
"How can they fit inside this and why do you have many of these things?" Jericho asked.
"I'm an Alchemist, I need to be prepared to gather new herbs in any chance that I have, and this is Ghost Jellyfishes we are talking about! They can contract and expand at will!" Luis explained.
They all scattered around the hall and placed the jars around. They waited for a moment and the Jellyfishes contracted and became as small as a fist and entered the jar one by one.
They caught all of the Serenading Ghost Jellyfishes that roamed the whole hall. The jars still carried the song of the Jellyfishes and they rang while carrying the jars so the team enjoyed the melody while the time they took to get back up the surface.
"Wait a minute! If we bring this to the surface while it was singing, it might catch the attention of many!" Alyssa suddenly realized when they are close to the surface.
"Can we do something to solve this?" Jay asked.
"Oh right! Cover the jar with your energies, I will put light orbs so that the Jellyfishes will sleep, they are nocturnal so it will work!" Luis instructed and everyone followed his instructions. A few moments passed and the song slowly died down.
They immediately went to the Research Facility discretely because no other people know about it except those who were brought by Mufar and the researchers themselves.
"Master!" Jericho greeted his master.
"Professor Aliyah! We brought you a unique specimen!" Luis informed.
"What kind of specimen it is?" Aliyah asked.
"A variant of the Ghost Jellyfish!" Luis introduced.
"Oh! Is it the Night Cry Ghost Jellyfish?" Aliyah asked.
Luis answered by shaking his head and looked at her seriously.
"Oh, it's that variant! I understood!" Aliyah seriously replied.
The group handed over the jars with the Serenading Ghost Jellyfish and after that, they left back to their headquarters.
They spent their days without anything happening. They did their usual everyday routine.
Luis is back to being the person who always spends his days being in Library or Alchemy Room and only lefts when he needs to rest or take a bath.
Alyssa is doing her job by maintaining the security of the headquarters as same as making sure that the members can't miss their meals. Together with Julianne, they always prepare and do all the chores of the headquarters.
Achilleas became the one who was training everyone in terms of Combat. Nobody can surpass his expertise in combat among them except Luis and Alyssa who beat him up easily. The members complain about his brutal way of teaching which they suspected that he inherited from his master.
Jericho officially became a Researching Physician when he got his own research lab a level below the Training Room without touching the Array that was completely hidden. When the other members explore and got new specimens, they gave them to him to research and when he was done with his research he will hand it over to Luis so the Physician and Main Alchemist of the group can learn the new things he found.
The Production Team, which was composed of Serion, Archie, Jay, and Cyrius, focused on studying about the Magical Technologies that they saw in Springfield City and tried to manufacture some and build a new variant according to the blueprints they have. They successfully created a prototype weapon suitable for Jericho to use which they called Pandora's Box where he can store thousands of weapons and when those weapons entered the box, they will make a link that Jericho can freely use to manipulate the weapon. They are trying to make prototype weapons suitable for each and every one of them and the team became the first Technological Manufacturers of Riverside City.
The Alchemy Team, which was composed of Ana, Crix, Tristan, and Alex, officially became Grade 5 Alchemists but they can't advance any further because they still can't handle the harsh process of making a Grade 6 Pill. They continued working with Ingrid who was happy and never treat the team unfairly. They produce pills for her and they earn millions of energy crystals because the Medicine Plaza took an expansion and placed branches on another 5 nearby cities.
They took their precious time until the time comes when their great mission starts. The opening of Maix's Realm.