'What if the Eighth Prince managed to win the auction?' I thought while sitting quietly in the carriage.
"What's wrong?" Bai Yi asked.
"Nothing. I was worried for no reason." I said.
On the road to the tomb of Anon, I embarked on the hardest task of all my lives. This is coming from the guy who once robbed an armored truck in broad daylight during the holiday season in the middle of a city with a 38 snub nose and Molotov cocktails.
I learned that day, after being shot twice, outrunning the police, and hiding in the swears for two days that preparation is everything.
I first called for the Tier 8 Mind Inscription known to have embedded mental skills and amplify mental skills that already exist, similar to how my dark core from Nyx amplifies my shadow magic and fire souls amplify my shamanic flames.
Forming four hand signs, I activated the inscription. The scroll tore to shreds and all that remained was a shining inscription written in reddish silver. My nail swiped across my thumb and drops of blood splashed on the inscription.
It began to hum like a muffled trumpet before it burst into dazzling light. The light particles traveled through the air and enter my mind. It was like eating mint and drinking water. The cool freshness washed over my body and my mind broke free from its worldly shackles for a moment.
When the sensation ended, a reddish silver line within a circle appeared on my forehead slightly above the middle of my brow.
[Host has acquired Tier 8 Mind Inscription]
[+1500 Mana]
[2 abilities acquired! 'Search' and 'Mental Bullet']
[Telekinesis Has Leveled Up! 12/20]
[Search Has Reached 500m. Increases With Host's Level]
[Mind Bullet Has Reached Mastery]
[Three Mental Abilities Have Unlocked Classification: Esper!]
'Hmm, System, Level up!'
[Host Has Achieved Level 8]
[+100 mana +10 in every stat]
' System, Level up!'
[Host Has Achieved Level 9]
[+100 mana +10 in every stat]
'This seems to be my cap... 10,000 Exp to reach level 10.' I thought while looking over my new stats.
My mana now touched 63,200 points and all I could do to ensure success had been done. Half a day had passed and without unnecessary thoughts, I began concocting the Elemental Establishing Pill with forty-eight herbs of each element. Bai Yi's carriage smelled similar to a pill house as I melted the herbs down to medicinal liquids.
Inspecting the five attributed balls of medicinal liquid, I racked my brain and thought extremely hard about my next move.
'What if...' I asked myself. 'I can't die with this in my pocket.'
A moment later the company stopped and was ready to fight as a stranger appeared.
"Prince Bai Yi, let her in. She has something for me." I spoke as I controlled my shamanic flames.
"You! Why is she here?" Bai Yi asked.
"I didn't tell her about the tomb. I simply told her and my slaves to follow me. You really didn't think I would follow you without protection. The Demon Princess said the next time I cross, there would be no forgiveness. Can you promise that your men will protect me?"
Bai Yi growled the sighed. "What does she have."
"Lightning attribute Heavenly treasures. But she only has twenty-five. I need twenty-three more." I replied.
"And this can help you kill my brother?"
"And fiance, and hopefully the Goblin Eighth Prince," I answered.
"Bai Hu, let the girl in and collect lightning attribute herbs from the guys. I need twenty-three of the best quality." Said Bai Yi.
I smirked as I looked at him. "You're a pretty stand-up guy, Seventh Prince Bai Yi."
"You interest me, Little Demon." He replied with a chuckle.
Time passed. Nyx returned to lead my slaves. Bai Hu collected the heavenly treasures and the company went on.
-The next day-
"Can you talk while you refine?" Bai Yi asked.
I hummed in response while I cooked down the lightning attribute herbs.
"Were you raised in the Rocklands? Bai Hu says that you appeared shortly before the Trade Festival." Said Bai Yi.
"Ahh, I grew up outside of the Rocklands. I only returned when I captured Dahlia, my first slave." I replied but my attention was firmly on my furnace.
"Dahlia is the half-Faye. A salamander, right?"
"Hmm."
"So you learned all of these skills from the outside world. That explains a lot. But who would teach a goblin?" Bai Yi's eyes narrowed.
"A Hero named Kane Forrest. He also gave me his name." I replied without hesitation.
"A hero? from which kingdom?"
"The Kingdom of Gara..."
"So he taught you that trick the other day? To suppress your level?"
I thought about how I leveled up twice in an instant.
"Mmm, suppression can increase strength. I only leveled up to make this pill." I explained. "So why do you want your brother dead? besides the obvious."
The medical liquids were now pure and I moved to scrape the gold syrup from the boulder purchased during the auction and added it to the furnace. With the same knife, I cut the boulder in half, emptying the remaining syrup into the furnace as well. After refining the golden syrup, I split it into six parts and added them to six medicinal liquid balls of various elements.
"This tomb can earn merits for me. The things I bring back are worth more than any value of money you can get for them. Like many races, Beastmen have baptisms. If I can complete the winged tiger god armament and consume his spirit, my fate will change. I'll then use this accomplishment to earn baptism. My coat will surely turn pure white and my eyes will be as deep and blue as the sapphire."
"Is this for the dragon hunt?" I asked.
"No, this is for my bid in the race for the throne. The Dragon Hunt is just another chance to increase my reputation. It's not important. Dragon Eggs, Dragon Bodies, and so on. Very few actually accomplish such things. People really join for the treasures and chances to level up." Said Bai Yi.
"Mix, settle," I muttered, guiding myself through the alchemical process.
Next, I tossed in six monster cores and increased the heat. Slowly the cores melted and the impurities burned off with black smoke. The monster cores were a lot quicker to refine as it was only six of them.
"What happens if Lao Meili dies? I'm sure you'll lose an ally."
Bai Yi chuckled the sniffed the air. "Such fragrance, your pill has increased to Tier five."
"It's not finished yet. I'm still in preparation."
"Such talent... Lao Meili isn't the only daughter of the Lao clan. In honesty, The Lao Family is my mother's kin. This marriage agreement was made when my father impregnated my mother out of wedlock. Time went by and I was supposed to marry the youngest miss of the Lao Clan, Lao Yifei."
"Lao Yifei? So the contract is marriage to Lao Clan, not just one girl?" I asked.
"Yes. If I succeed here. Even if the Lao Clan pawns me off again to hide Yifei, my father will favor me and do what I can't." Bai Yi chuckled sinisterly.
"Who is this Yifei?"
"Little Demon, you are a sharp man like me. So I want to hear your thoughts. Yifei is a black and blue Beastwoman. A beautiful coat but she is thin and the Lao believe that she will embarrass the family. However, with every new moon, she is taken away. So I wanted to use that time to see her with my own eyes. "
"What did you see?" I asked.
"Little Demon, this Lao Yifei has cold fits. Black and blue like the northern snow under a full moon. Beautiful and terrifyingly cold. My maternal Grandfather is the only one that can bear the ice but even must be careful or risk being injured."
"What's his level?"
"98." Said Bai Yi, "So tell me. Am I right for wanting Lao Meili dead for such a deadly tigress?"
"Yes!"
When the medicinal ingredients were primed along with the monster cores, I added the Star Gazing Lilly. After it was melted down. I increased the heat once more. My arms moved and fire danced. The monster cores moved to merge with the Star Gazing Lilly.
I grunted as the six attributes fought the pull of the Lilly. Nature Resin received from a quest appeared and I sprinkled in half of the greenish-blue crystallized powder. The elements quivered and I slammed them together and begin to refine the first segment.
"What was that?" Bai Yi asked.
"A sort of in-between. It helps opposing elements behave until I can merge them with my own strength." I explained. "About this Lao Yifei. Have you met her personally? What does the Lao family really think of her? And what kind of sickness does she have? can it be cured? You need the answers to those questions. Though she sounds like a powerful company and a good choice, it'll be best if you did more research."
My pill fragrance burst from the carriage and everyone was astounded but I wasn't finished. Finally, the first segment began to spin at a high speed. One by one the elemental liquids joined like they were being eaten by a black hole.
Bai Yi did say a word as my face became serious and all of my attention was roped in by the finishing of my alchemical pill.
Water, Earth, Air….
"Uhh!" I grunted as the fire liquid refused to be swallowed. Pushing my fire to the limit, the Fire Liquid became docile and was swallowed.
"Shadow... Lightning.....Lightning!"
Crack! Kachuu!
"Fuck!" I grunted, quickly using the rest of the Nature Resin before the lightning liquid unruly behavior destroyed my furnace.
The liquid caved moment after the Nature Resin dissolved into the pool, but soon became stubborn again after part of it was in the clutches of the nearly refine pill.
Pah! The furnace shot with a puff of smoke.
"No!" I grunted.
My fire pushed to its full potential and Bai Yi fled the carriage in hate. My telekinesis then erupted as I used it to force a merger between the nearly formed pill and the stubborn lightning liquid. An awe-inspiring scene of shining gold then escaped from the furnace. Small eastern dragons escaped from the pseudo pill and began to devour the lightning liquid.
'This...This isn't Blood of the Eucharist. What the hell was in that stone?!' I stammered in my mind.
Roar! Roar! ROAR!
The little dragons caused the Lightning liquid to explode into smaller droplets.
Shaking my head. I twisted the flames and my telekinesis collected the droplets.
"Merge!" I roared.
The Lightning liquid was swallowed.
"Refine again!"
"Condense!"
The heavy sound of sizzles came from the furnace and a raw fragrance turned to a baked masterpiece. Surprisingly, my flames failed to corrupt the pill and its aroma remained sweet and robust.
Slowly a ball of red liquid the size of a melon decreased.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The furnace appeared as if it was about to explode. But I continued on, guiding my fire to finish the job. With every decrease in size, a thunderous clap emerged until the area went silent. The temperature of the flame decreased and slowly the pill formed at the size of a walnut with six golden dragons for each element stamped on the bright crimson pill.
"What the hell was that liquid…" I muttered inspecting the pill, absolutely exhausted and drained of mana.
My vision then blurred and I nearly collapsed before Bai Yi sped to my side and poured Mana replenishing potion down my throat.
"Little demon, that was amazing! The fire, the alchemy, the fragrance! What did you refine, this prince will pay for one. I know alchemist can make five, eight, sixteen, even thirty-two pills at one time." Bai Yi was filled with excitement.
"I only made one," I replied groggily as I felt drunk.
It was like an anchor had dropped on Bai Yi's head.
"A day and a half and you only made one pill?" Bai Yi asked.
"Yes. One. Pill." I stretched to make sure he understood.
"I want one. I gave you the medium-grade soul fire and the golden syrup." Said Bai Yi.
"Ahh, that was payment for a deal. And even then, the list of ingredients is over two hundred. Six monster cores, a rare flower. And I'm pretty sure the 'golden syrup' was one of a kind." I explained.
"Mmmm, well talk later. Three parties are a few hundred miles out. Get ready, little demon." Said Bai Yi.
"Slow them down. Pretend to be protecting the area or something. I need an hour or so." I silently pleaded. Going into a dangerous tomb with a bunch of mid-levels is a dangerous thing. Whether I can make it or not depends on fate and cultivated abilities.
"Fine. But be vigilant. I'll have to leave you alone."
Once alone, I focused on the system and read over the notifications.
[Danger! Host has encountered Dragon Blood. Destroy Immediately!]
[Danger Overidden]
[Danger! Host has encountered Dragon Blood. Destroy Immediately!]
[Danger Overidden]
[Danger! Host has encountered Dragon Blood. Destroy Immediately!]
[Danger Overidden]
This repeated three more times, much to my surprise. My only thought was, how the hell did dragon blood end up in the Rocklands.
[Notification 1: Host has created a Dragon-grade Tier 7 Elemental Establishment Pill]
[Notification 2: Host has Achieved Tier 7 Alchemist!]
[Notification 3: Shamanic Flames have become Shamanic Smelting Flames!]
[Notification 4: Telekenis has leveled up]
Notification 5: New Skill created: Telekinetic Refining]
'So the Blood of the Eurachrist was actually dragon blood. I'm just racking up the cosmic check.' I sighed. 'Too much good is bad.'
Emptying my storage ring of the remaining mana potions I had, I drunk them all and only managed to replenish a little over half of my reserve.
'Clarrisa' I called out mentally and my Cleric appeared beside Nyx from a swirl of shadow.
"Master.." she spoke.
"I need you to help with my mana problem. Use everything you have to increase my mana." I instructed.
Clarissa became serious as she stabbed her scepter into the earth before she began chanting a string of ancient phrases. Soon a large pink magick circle with a crescent moon in the center appeared with ancient ruins.
Clarissa continued to chant and mana surged from her body as a second larger circle appeared. Her eyes then snapped open and two rays of pink light hit my chest. Mana boiled and my body went cold.
"Bless thee, Lover of the Moon Saintess, complete restoration!"
I was swallowed by mana and mana pool was replenished and my fatigue was annihilated. Never before had I felt such power in a Tier 2 blessing.
When the mana settled and my body returned to normal. I looked at Clarissa with eyes of wonder as she fell over with a smile on her face. Before she could hit the ground, Nyx caught her.
"It seems I don't truly know any of my slaves. Moon Saintess? Not even a moon acolyte would be caught outside the Capital city.' I thought as I watched Nyx take Clarrisa away.
Haiz! Life isn't meant to be easy to explain. If it was, mistakes and hardships wouldn't exist. Making a mental note to get to know my slaves' complete history, I held up the crimson, golden dragon-printed pill.
"No time to burn." I sang before eating the pill...