"These were the only times I observed sir Dullip in action." Norda said, "We don't have a clear understanding regarding the Faith Path. Only someone part of it can speak about it clearly."
"That's fine, your input is helpful enough." Iota said as he finished writing everything on a scroll, scanning through it once before he rolled it up, "Dispose of it in the usual way."
"I'll do it now." Saying so, Norda burned the scroll and carefully collected all the ash, put them in a cup, and then stealthily walked through the street. He dumped the ash in the canal, watching the slow water currents carry it away before returning.
Iota always had a habit of writing everything he heard about. His auditory memory might fail him one day but his visual memory would never. Hence, he relied upon his gifts to make the best of his setting.
"If a group of people were to either fear or worship me, I have a chance to become a Devil or Deity respectively, right?" Iota concluded the long talk.
"That's theoretically based on what I've known. But, if it were that simple, there would be a vastly higher number of Devils and Deities running around in this world." Norda said.
"Well, it only makes sense that there are hidden conditions and requirements to satisfy. Only a Deity or Devil would know of them." Iota nodded as he motioned for Norda to leave, "Get some rest now."
It was time for a shift change. As Norda went to sleep, Yakone arrived, having freshened up. Iota immediately extracted three syringes worth of blood from him. He injected the contents of one syringe and stored the remaining two.
He now had a total of 13 syringes, ten being common syringes having the blood of Norda and Yakone while the remaining three were special, containing Yohra's blood.
Iota then looked at Yakone, "Say, how much money do you have in your possession?"
"Sir Dullip pays us a salary of 30,000 Robu every month. My family expenses come to around 18,000 per month, so I've been saving up the rest." Yakone said.
"That's good," Iota smirked, "You've been buying the blank scrolls with your money, right?"
"Of course," Yakone nodded faithfully, "Since you commanded us to avoid alerting sir Dullip, we've been taking ample care in our choice of action."
"Buy me an animal," Iota said, "It just needs to be a living creature."
"Fish is the easiest to buy in that regard. Other animals are usually reared as pets and it's hard to keep them here without alerting sir Dullip." Yakone said.
"Then a fish it is." Iota waved his hand and sent off Yakone, "Buy at least ten big ones."
Once Yakone went on the errand, Iota took out a syringe and injected its contents into his body, immediately experiencing a surge in his strength. He moved around in this state, experimenting to find that his agility experienced the greatest boost.
He then recalled that Yakone was a great sprinter, so his body was built to run better. The blood seemed to be his, and hence, Iota experienced a greater boost in agility. 'So, the effects are dependent on the physical state of the owner's blood.'
The effects wore off in two minutes, surprising him. After a moment of consideration, Iota injected himself with a second syringe, instinctually feeling around his tattoos before picking up Yakone's syringe again.
He injected its contents into his body and experienced a surge of strength once again. But this time, he didn't move and just sat calmly, counting the passage of time calmly.
The effects waned gradually as he finished counting, muttering in realisation, "The effect remained for 17 minutes 31 seconds. So, the faster I consume the strength gain, the shorter the duration. That's good to know beforehand."
He wished to experiment further but stopped upon noticing a faint trembling in his fingertips. He wasn't feeling any sense of addiction, as it was his power. But the blood of someone else was flowing in his body, 40 millilitres worth.
It seemed even he wasn't immune to the side effects. Thankfully, other than the shivering in his hands, nothing else happened.
Iota drank plenty of water and a couple of hours later, once he urinated, he was alright. It seemed his body had ejected the foreign substance through urine, just as how the human body performed naturally.
'So, after this buffer period, I'm able to freely inject myself once again.' Iota thought before frowning, realising that it was taking Yakone a while.
"Usually, when something inexplicable like this happens, things never turn out well." Without a change in beat, Iota went through the items in the hideout, equipping himself with a bunch of clothes and enough money to survive for a while…
He stared at the coins, observing they possessed the symbol of a sickle, 'If Faith is how I think it works, there must be a bit of it in these coins too. If Dullip can sense them…'
"Yeah, carrying a bunch of coins from his hideout is foolish. Well, I can manage somehow." Iota only took the clothes and a bunch of food, entering the bedroom as he arrived before Norda.
Iota faced his palm towards Norda and shot a bunch of needles, watching them rapidly absorb his blood. Strangely, after twelve syringes were filled with his blood, the remaining weren't sucking in anymore, even though Iota could see plenty of blood pumping through Norda's arteries.
'I don't know what this is about, but I can always find out later.' Thinking as such, he stored the twelve syringes, having a total of twenty ordinary syringes in his possession now.
"What…are you doing?" Norda wheezed weakly, seemingly having aged a decade in a matter of seconds, lacking the strength to even move his body.
Using an empty syringe's needle, Iota cut Norda's neck, causing him to bleed to his death. He dissipated the empty syringes and walked out of the hideout, glancing around for a moment before walking away.
Fifteen minutes later, Yakone returned to the hideout, accompanying a woman that he seemed to be enamoured by, fanatically smitten. The two entered the house and stared at the corpse of Norda.
The woman frowned as she hurriedly took out a glass sphere and observed the Nasp turning around to stare in a different direction. Yakone's pitiful screams echoed as he was instantly killed. The woman then rushed out of the hideout and pursued through the street, staring at the Nasp from time to time.