The next day, A large brown-colored carriage, pulled by 2 large horses, stopped in front of the Crimson Palace. From inside it, came out a short woman, with brown hair and eyes, wearing a lab coat. She looked more polished and rested than the first time Zagan had met her. It was of course Isabelle, our future potion factory.
She was then immediately escorted by some armored guards, and after walking for almost an hour, she was finally able to sit down inside a room.
The room's walls were made of dark oak, and had many intricate tapestries, designs and some paintings. The floor was shimmering white marble, and the ceiling had 2 golden chandeliers. They were not lit up, as it was still morning, and the sunlight was seeping through into the room through the large window on the side.
Isabelle sat down on one of the two giant black sofas with red cushions.
'All this extravagancy is making me really nervous...', Isabelle thought.
'The imperial family really is quite narcissistic, just like the rumors... I hope Zagan isn't like that...', She continued.
"I'm not like that.", suddenly a deep and calm voice resonated through the room, startling Isabelle.
"I'm not like my father, don't worry", Zagan continued, while slowly walking towards the sofa opposite to Isabelle's.
"Y-You really shouldn't say that out loud, especially in front of someone else!", Isabelle was worried that Zagan's badmouthing could potentially harm him.
"Oh yeah? and what are you gonna do? tell someone about it?", Zagan's gaze was as cold as ever, sending a chill down Isabelle's spine.
"n-no...", she replied in a low voice.
"You've now become one of my possessions. My property, per se. You'll have to work very hard to stay that way.", Zagan blurted out.
Listening to the words 'Possessions' and 'Property' made Isabelle uncomfortable can feel belittled, but she knew she didn't couldn't argue with Zagan, as she was weak.
"But don't worry, I treat my possessions better than I treat people... after all, possessions can't betray their owner...", a cold and twisted smile formed on Zagan's expressionless face.
But he immediately removed the smile and once again come back to the stoic expression he had.
"I have told my servants to prepare a room and a lab for you. You will be creating me Mana enhancement potions, Health potions, and finally explosive potions. I will provide you with the ingredients.", Zagan said in a commanding tone.
"You have to work hard to gain power here in the Crimson Palace. Oh and also, if anyone, and I mean ANYONE, including my siblings, is harassing you, you will report to me. I will make them regret doing so.", Zagan said in a cold and threatening tone.
Hearing this, Idabelle felt her heart beat a bit faster than normal. She felt that Zagan was protecting her, a feeling which she didn't dislike.
With a determined look on her face, Isabelle told Zagan, "You can count on me, your highness! I will try my hardest to exceed your expectations!"
"Thats the spirit.", Zagan replied with a slight smile on his face, which vanished as fast as it appeared.
'Good. I know that Isabelle is a very hardworking individual, and she always repays her debts.', Leon thought.
------------------------- After Leaving Isabelle behind to the servants-----------------------
Zagan returned to his room, took off his clothes and went inside the bathroom to take a shower.
'Hmm... now I only need one more item... to safely complete the dungeon.', Leon thought as lukewarm water was falling on his new body's handsome face.
The item Leon is mentioning is known as the 'Elemental Crossbow'. It is a small wrist-crossbow, which looked very stream-punky, and it used condensed, solidified magic as its projectile, using the wearer's mana as ammo, and not physical arrows. The crossbow was called 'Elemental' as its special ability was to imbue elemental attributes to its projectiles. Also, the projectiles would home-in on the target slightly.
For example, you could change the crossbow's setting to 'Fire' and the bolts shot by the crossbow would explode on impact, dealing a bit of fire and explosion damage.
'Ice' setting could frostbite the target and slow them down considerably, and also it dealt Frost Damage.
'Earth' setting could deal physical damage.
'Air' setting could shock the target by summoning electricity, dealing shock damage.
The damage it dealt weren't too crazy, but it was extremely useful for applying pressure on the opponent. In the game, it was used as a utility tool, mainly by mage-type players, usually for simple crowd control, or long range *chip damage.
{*Chip Damage is a term used in souls-like games, where you have spells that are long range, homes-in on the target and deals a small amount of damage. Even though it deals a small amount of damage, it is the most important type of spell to have when in a fight, as that small damage often times determines the winner of the fight.}
Anyway, the difficult part of the whole thing is obtaining it. In the game, the payer comes across the blueprint for it in a ruined underground city, and after studying it carefully, he/she crafts the crossbow.
But that didn't matter to Leon, as he already knows where the blueprint is, and how to get it using a cheese method.
'But first, I need to get to the ruined city...', Leon thought.
The ruined city is at least a week's worth of constant horse-riding away from the Imperial Capital.
'Arrgh... in the game, I could just fast travel there, but I can't do that here... I don't have the game's interface or console...', Leon grumbled.
'Whatever. Moaning about it won't help anyone... I better get ready for a long road-trip...', Leon said to himself while picking up his right hand to turn off the shower.
'Heh. Its so weird to see a shower in a medieval world, haha...', Leon chuckled inwardly, but his expression was still cold.
He came out of the shower, and dried himself with magic.
Then, he wore the appropriate clothes to go meet the empress, his mother, and left the room.
Arnold was standing beside the room, and as soon as he saw Zagan exit the room wearing a suit and having his hair combed, he understood what his master wanted.
"Arnold, I'm going to go meet the empress. You will escort me there.", Zagan commanded.
"As you wish, your highness.", Arnold politely bowed and the both of them started walking in the direction of the Empress's chambers.
'Evangeline should still be in her office, doing paperwork, and other 'Empress-like' stuff...', Leon thought.
After walking for almost 30 minutes, they both stopped in front of an 8ft tall dark-oak door. This door wasn't as decorated as the other doors Leon had seen. It had two flags on both sides, one of the Asherion Empire, and the other of the Bladeheart Family, Evangeline's family.
The Bladeheart family was the family created by the hero, Xavier Bladeheart, who had saved the empire from the threat of demons before. The Bladehearts were the descendants of the hero, and one of the closest families to the Imperial family.