Before Amon could leave, he still had to prepare a few things. With his current equipment, it would be suicidal to take a shortcut through the mountains. Amon didn't know much about the Noram Mountains. But he knew that it was a huge mountain with snow all year. Under his cloak, he was shirtless.
His footwear was also not designed for a sprint through the mountains. However, he had no money with him and was therefore forced to steal the things. He felt sorry for the traders and sellers, but he had to go back to his guild. He grabbed all the clothes and gear he needed and left town just as quickly as he had come. He climbed over the city walls and left only a few stones as proof that he was here. He didn't know why he should have the main gate of the city wall behind him and then go from there to the southwest. He thought that it was a point of orientation for him.
Amon sprinted a kilometer away from the main gate and then picked a map out of a small backpack he stole in a store. He looked where the Norman mountains were, and he ran his finger over the path he considered best. It was a habit of his to do that. If he had had a pen, he would have drawn the route on the map. Leon often told him not to do it. If he were followed, he would lose the map with the marked path. He announced to his enemies where they could best slaughter him.
He burned the image of his map into his brain, and his body began to glow white.
"Path of Light: Light Step."
Amon stomped on the floor, leaving a small crate. He dashed forward, and with one step, he became faster.
The difference between Shadow Step and Light Step was that Shadow Step was better when he wanted to travel short distances and had to move so that nobody noticed it. Light Step was even faster than Shadow Step, but for that, he was a walking light bulb. He also couldn't control the speed perfectly if suddenly a wall appeared in front of him. He would have to destroy it. Dodging it was impossible.
He reached a few woods, and he noticed that his map was old and not up-to-date. The woods were far bigger on his map, but what he saw were only a few trees left. In his opinion, you couldn't even say that it was once a forest.
He dashed further forward and reached the foot of the mountain. The hard work will begin now.
---
Personia was in her department and worked on items nonstop.
"Personia, this could work." A member of her department came and brought her some parchment; they talked about the structure of the item and how it could be improved.
Personia took the four pieces of parchment and read them at high speed. She loomed over the forms. The Mana or Qi output and input The materials that were used for the item, and many other criteria.
"I have to disappoint you. The formula here is wrong, and the power output is too high. If you do it like this, it will explode."
Since Personia found out that Amon could use items, she called the Mana input and output the power input and output.
Everybody only assumed that it was a thing of hers. Calling it that way, and in the end, the name didn't change the meaning. They found that it was a good name, and many of them now also call it this way.
"But I have to congratulate you; you invented a new form of bomb."
The workers already noticed that since the war started, she has behaved even colder than she did before, especially since Amon, Roxanne, and the others disappeared.
They recognized her as a scientist, and they were also aware that she was not particularly open-minded and did not disclose her feelings. But in the last few days, she has been just plain rude.
She worked, ate, and slept. Nothing more; she learned to take breaks every few hours. But still, the moment her break was gone, she worked again.
The workers, one after another, began to pack their things and leave. The shift would soon be over, but Personia still sat in her seat and wrote her experiments and theories down.
Everyone is gone now. Persona's right hand approached her.
Personia, the time when you wanted me to tell you that you have to take a break is now."
He was concerned about her. He didn't know what to do. So he decided that he would work with her schedule until the end of this war. Which was harder than he thought.
"Oh, thanks Eric I will just write that down really quick and then make a break."
Personia waved at Eric to go away and let her finish. Before he did it, Eric looked down at the parchment and noticed something.
"Personia, this formula is wrong. You have to divide it here."
Eric pointed with his huge hands at a digit. Personia graped the parchment in disbelief and looked at it, and it was indeed wrong.
"Go and take a break; I will finish this for you."
"But I have to write it; you can't." Before Personia could continue, Eric grabbed the parchment and wrote down the results of your test.
He wrote everything down the same way she did. It even looked as if their handwriting was the same.
"I think you forgot that I was your assistant when we did all these tests and experiments."
Eric was Personia's right hand for a reason. His intelligence was so high that a genius like Personia recognized him for those skills. Only a few of the twelve coats of arms have someone they would consider their right hand. They didn't know the secrets the twelve coats of arms held. But they were people with capabilities, which they acknowledged.
"You are right, Eric. I have to take a break." She knew that people could say that she was a genius as much as they wanted, but when the things she created didn't work, she was useless for this war.
She was well aware of the fact that she was the weakest member of the twelve coats of arms. She didn't even question that in this guild were normal members that could beat her in a fight with ease.
She wasn't a walking shield like Victor, a hammer like Dorothea that could crush everything, or an all-rounder like Cedric or Roxanne, and of course, with no doubt, she wasn't like Amon or Leon. There were many people who thought that she was way smarter than Leon, but that wasn't true. She was perfect in one field, but Leon's intelligence was there in any field. Amon was someone who would never back down. He worked his ass out and became an incredible fighter.
She was sure that there would be nothing more fearsome than facing both of them as enemies. Because Amon had cards in his hands, nobody knew that they even were in the stack of cards, and Leon could use cards in ways that would be considered legal play, but if he used them once, they would get banded after he used them once.
Personia walked out of the lab and ate something while taking a break. When she finished eating it, she laid down for an hour and slept.
When she was done sleeping, she slowly got up, rubbed her bulging little eyes, drank a glass of water, and made her way back to the lab.
Before she left her room, she looked at an item called a crystal clock. It had the form of a normal hourglass. The only difference was that it had a digit on top of it.
"4 p.m. already. Amon should be back in two hours. I need to get to work."
Personia took deep breaths and focused again before waking up and heading straight to the lab.
---
Amon was high in the mountains already.
He sat on top of a huge rock and looked at a certain area.
"I think I will arrive 5 minutes later than expected."