Chapter 05 — Trouble
"Gather up the boys, this time, we're getting serious." Black Snake said to the three trembling men.
After the men left the room, the lady he was fondling with suddenly asked him. "That guy is giving you quite the trouble isn't he?"
"Like you wouldn't believe. I'm feeling pissed about it. To add to my problems, those three fools are so incomepetent to be toyed around like that. I'm going to kill them one day if they continue disappointing me like that! How fucking annoying!" He said with anger in his face.
She kissed his cheek. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll put that pest in his place. Now, can we get back to business? I'm sure you're feeling quite tense."
He answered her. "Come here! Someone's getting pretty naughty tonight. I think I need to spank you more."
Sloppy kisses soon filled the dim room.
A few hours later, a vague shadow could be seen in an area devoid of people. The shadow entered an unsuspecting house where a scrawny man could be seen sweeping the floor.
"You're back. How's your mission going?" The scrawny man asked without paying a look at her.
"Hard. The fool's quite cautious." The shadow was soon revealed to be the woman who was with Black Snake earlier.
"Or maybe you're just incompetent." The man answered placidly, but a trace of sarcasm could be revealed in his tone.
"Mind your business Jarod. I'm doing my best. You have no right to question me, with you being cooped up in here like a bird in a cage." The woman said coldly.
The man let out a scoff while pointing at a door. "Heh! Just go in. The boss is waiting. You'll talk to her about 'doing your best'."
As she passed through the door, she soon entered a long hallway with a silver door with a gigantic snake carving. It was so realistic that someone seeing it for the first time might mistake it for a real one.
"Come in." A voice said as soon as she approached the golden door.
The woman entered the room, an enormous place in contrast to the small house that stood at its entrance. The room was filled with about 300 seats arranged in a circular fashion with seats of 30 as benchmarks. There were 30 seats at the bottom of the room that served as a floor of sorts, and the seats continued in such fashion, up until the top of the room.
At the top of the room, there was an elegant silver throne, with a massive snake resting beneath it. Sitting on the throne was a woman, with a head of silver hair and piercing silver eyes that seemed like those of a serpent's. She was covered behind an elegant white veil, but that did nothing to mask her beauty, only enhance it. Her body was like a beautiful item carved out by the likes of gods, able to invoke lust in the most noblest of men, and she exuded a cold and lonely aura that made anyone who saw her bow to her or stay away from her, so as not to sully her beauty. She was dressed in a beautiful and elegant silver robe with white snake patterns spread around it, giving a dangerous yet elegant set of aesthetics.
The woman from before, went before a seat numbered 167 and sat on it. But not for long, because she was soon called out.
"Sixth Ring, 17th Seat, step forward." The woman sitting at the throne spoke.
"Yes, Lord Silver Serpent." The woman replied with her head bowed."
Silver Serpent asked her. "How has the mission progressed at your end?"
"Smoothly, my lord, he has begun to share some of his secrets to me. I think it that it will not be long before...."
"Do not feed me with excuses. I want to know whether you have succeeded in completing the mission or not?" Silver Serpent asked with a indifferent glare. As she said this, the serpent at her feet glared at the woman bowing beneath it, sending her into a panic.
"N..no my lord, please give me more time! I promise I will not fail your expectations.... please my lord!" She said in a small frenzy.
"One last time, do not fail me." That was all the woman said, but it was enough to send the woman into a fit of gratitude.
"Thank you Master Silver Serpent. THANK YOU! I will not fail you this time, my lord." She said amidst deep bows.
"You'd better! Else I will be the first to kill you!" A sinister voice sounded out.
She turned to meet the speaker, who was a middle-aged man with a disgusting scar that looked like a centipede running from the right side of his forehead down to his jaw. It looked as if the centipede on his face had come alive and was wriggling around on it. Yet she was afraid, if not terrified of him. She dared not meet his face.
"Yes. I promise not to fall short of the master's expectations." Said the woman in a trembling voice.
No one else commented on the little episode.
"The reason I gathered you all here is to push forward the next phase of my plan." Silver Serpent said slowly.
A plethora of voices filled the room. Some of them contained shock, some suprise, while some of them contained confusion and some, indifference.
"Master, why have you suddenly decided to change the schedule of your plans? Is there a reason? Or is something troubling you Master?" A female voice sounded out of the First Ring.
"It seems like that is the case. I sensed the existence of an impending danger and I deemed it fit to push forward the next phase of the plan." Silver Serpent said placidly.
"But Master, is it not unwise to suddenly push forward the plan if you sensed the danger beforehand?" The female continued to ask.
In truth, this was the question that way in everyone's minds. But they dared not ask, else they might have lost their heads by the end of the meeting. It was due to the fact that the female that spoke was part of the First Ring and also because she was closer to Silver Serpent that she could speak to her like that.
{AN: There are 10 Rings each with 30 Seats that correspond with the numbers 1-300 that serve the Silver Serpent and her organization. The First Ring consists of the numbers 1-30; Second Ring numbers 31-60 and so on.}
Silver Serpent said disinterestedly. "Don't worry, I have calculated every single step of the plan. You need only concern yourselves with following my orders."
"Now...."
...
*Meanwhile*
"It says in this book that magic is just the manifestation and manipulation of spirit energy. It can do anything ranging from petty tricks to apocalyptic spells of destructive proportions. Sounds thrilling. It also says that spirit energy is stable in the atmosphere until users of magic call upon its power either to use as Mana or Qi.
It also says here that Qi is a type of energy that affects people internally while Mana is quite the opposite. They sound different but similar at the same time. The type of a Qi a person can produce depends on the affinity, technique and body type. Also, usage of Qi at lower levels can prove quite difficult. Other than that, Qi has very fewer limitations. It even says that different kinds of Qi can be produced depending on its user.
Mana, on the other hand, apart from Spirit Magic which is the usage of Mana in it's purest form, depends on the affinity of its user. Though some people can have affinity for different kinds of Mana." Skye continued reading excitedly in his quaint home.
"Which brings me to my question, what's this Omni-Elemental Affinity that's listed on my talents tab? Does it mean I can use all elements? But I don't think that the book gave me this talent, so does that mean I always had it in the first place? If that's the case, why was I classified as a grade 4 talent? This all doesn't make sense to me. Even the Spirit Affinity too...."
"I've always felt weak no matter what I did. Now that I suddenly have this book that tells me I'm some prodigy of some sort, it just overwhelms me..."
Just then, he suddenly felt a chill.
"What was that? Do I have Spidey Senses now? I suddenly had a vague feeling that I am gonna be in grave danger. It seems so easy to gloss over, but with all that has happened to me, I'd be making a big mistake if I did that. What do I do?...."
Just then it suddenly hit him.
"Why am I being so stupid? Sitting around here moping around for nothing. Time to do something about this. No matter what! I am NOT gonna die! Time to get some materials! It's time to make something.
[Logging on...]
[Welcome back, Skye]
"Skip the chit chat for now Web. Find me 1kg of Black Steel, 5kg of Xenorium and 4kg of Night Gold. Take the money from my account. Send the items to my home address."
[Right away, sir]
20 minutes later, the three items soon reached the young man.
"Nice! Time to forge myself some new and improved weapons." He said excitedly.
***
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