"I couldn't sleep because of this stupid mark," Thomas raised his hand up, looking at the crescent moon in his wrist.
The hair around where the mark had appeared was gone, symbol now a dark blue one.
"If I remember right, isn't this the symbol of the church of Chang'e? I could feel it moving all around me."
Thomas slid his finger over the bandages, trying to feel the wound, but noticed there was no sensation of any sort of injury, no soreness, no pain, nothing.
"Wait... Is this actually divinity?" Thomas pulled off the bandages, tearing it off.
The bandages fell over on the floor, unraveling his sculpted physique. A single large scar extended from his left shoulder all the way diagonally to his waist.
"The wound... healed already!?" Thomas looked down in surprise. He couldn't believe his eyes, a scar that big should have taken weeks to heal, yet here he was, the scar, a result of the injury.
"Ha," he fell back into the bed, taking in all the sudden changes in his body. "So, am I the first believer of the Church in years or something, I should ask someone."
KNOCK KNOCK
"Come in," Thomas let out a sigh, covering his face from the morning sun.
"Huh, have your injuries healed, Sir?" Philip placed a tray on the table besides the bed, the faint aroma of tea reaching Thomas.
"It kind of did," he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not sure how either."
Thomas extended his hand to grab the cup of tea. "This is the third tea I'm drinking here, does he have a tea tree farm or something?" he let out a small chuckle.
"My Lord sure has a strange hobby of collecting tea powder, he has every type of tea from this continent."
"Really?" he raised a brow as he looked into the cup. The blue liquid looked bright, almost magical.
"That there is Twilight Star tea, a special type of flower that blooms only on the fourth of every month."
"What about the green stuff I got yesterday?"
"That is the Urine of an Imoogi."
Thomas almost choked on his drink, before calming himself. "The Urine of a what?"
"Please don't be alarmed, the tree grows up in a specific manner, and is usually compared to an Imoogi climbing the heavens."
"So, it's the piss off a tree?"
Philips sighed. "No, it's the sap extracted from the tree. The sap is said to have regenerative and relaxing properties."
"Where is he?" Thomas took a long sip, enjoying the slight sweet flavour of the beverage.
"Sleeping," Philip said, maintaining a very polite tone.
"No need to be so formal, besides you're stronger than me," he looked down at the large scar, the result of their duel from the previous day.
"I shall take up on that, General."
"You're still speaking formally," he replied flatly, taking another sip.
"I'm afraid it's a habit."
"Liar, I've seen you talk to Jonathan normally, besides does he really sleep this long?"
"He says he couldn't sleep this well when he was young, so he wants to sleep now."
"That's a new one." A small chuckle leaves him, before realising he had finished his tea.
"Care for some more?" Philip brought the teapot.
"Why not?" he extended his cup, letting him pour it in.
"Where is his room?" Thomas slightly looked at him.
"Would you like to do the honours of waking him up?" Philip smirked.
"Oh, that sounds fun." Thomas quickly finishes his cup of tea.
"General, that's not whiskey," he looks at him flatly.
"That was better than any whiskey." He got and walked towards the door before looking back.
"Need anything?"
"A shirt would be nice," Thomas chuckled awkwardly.
"And cover up that art, I don't think so," Philip pointed at his broad sunkissed physique.
"That's nice, now can I get a shirt?" he twitched nervously, a sense of shame creeping up on him.
"The Lord's shirts are going to be way too big, and mine might be a tight fit for you."
"Get me one of your Lord's, a large one might be better than yours."
_________________________
"Hey there, priest," Xióng mocked Nichole.
"You!!" Nichole tore apart a piece of paper.
Ren finally let out a sigh. "You've been chosen as a believer, so have you had any visions, yet?"
"I haven't had any visions, but why did you say that?"
"They say God's help us in times of needs, maybe you were chosen because of our dire situation," Ren nodded at her.
"Nothing of sorts, but I did get some information."
"Oh, what did you get?" Ren shot up in surprise, curious as to what she had heard.
"If you must know, the kidnappers aren't doing it physically, or so my informant said."
"What do you mean?"
"An artifact, and the trace left by the device is minimal, that even if we were to check it, it wouldn't exactly be visible."
"Any leads as to where?"
"The port."
...
"Now what?" Xióng followed Ren who walked first, tailed by Nichole and Xióng.
The three stuck close to a large red wall, scaling around the port.
"Shh, we have to get around," Ren gestured for him to speak quietly.
"How did you get the information?" Xióng's voice turned to a whisper.
Nichole slightly tilted her head, her lips curling up into a mischievous grin. "Well, I have my connections, if you ask the local brothel, they'll tell you stuff."
"Really? You went to a brothel?"
"Yes, and I have to tell you, the code is Jack of all Trades, and then they'll ask you if you want Red Wine or Purple Daze."
"What do I do then?"
"This is the important part, listen up, you will reply with Red Wine, and she'll tell you, 'You look young to be working at Red Wine, are you sure, the men here are rough,' and you say Yes, mam."
"That's some weird code, I guess I'll try it if I ever need to, and is the code universal?"
"I heard Red Wine and Purple Daze are available in every major city."
"Alright, besides where are we going?"
"Senior, do you have any idea where we're going?" Nichole slightly tapped on his shoulder.
"I can sense and pick up faint traces of energies, but I haven't been able to pickup anything yet, until Nichole told me it's an artifact."
"An artifact?" Nichole posed her question.
"An artifact releases a different trace from humans or living beings, and I can trace the faint eonweave it left behind."
"It's eonweave? Doesn't that mean someone powerful could be here, since only Three-star mages could use it."
"If that's the case should we return to the Marquessate?" Xióng's voice came from behind.
"We can do that, or we can gather some evidence before him, and raid the entire port, which do you think is better?"
"The first would have been a safer option, but I doubt the Marquis would help us without any concrete evidence."
"We're here, I can feel the same frequency of eonweave coming from inside," Ren stood against the wall before placing his hands on the wall and climbing.
Nichole and Xióng follow behind, scaling the wall along with him. Within seconds, they had reached the top of the wall. Barbed wires were set up on top.
They slightly peeped over, just enough to see what's going on inside.
"You see that warehouse, that's where I can feel it the most." Ren pointed at an old warehouse, the rust catching up to the barely standing warehouse.
"It's always the shabby looking place, let's get going shall we?" Xióng jumps over the barbed wires, landing on the ground without any noise.
Ren and Nichole follow suit and land beside him.
"Let's go—" before Nichole could complete, the moon on her wrist shone faintly. "Huh?!"
"What's wrong?" Xióng turned back.
"It's... nothing, let's not waste anymore time."
_________________________
Do I still have the divinity in me, so why is my hair black, the hair turns black once I, either lose the divinity, or face corruption, Daniela looked at the blue flower opening from within a white sphere.
"This is a high ranking herb, why do you have this, Finn?" the Marquis looked at Finn.
"The General entrusted it to me," Finn picked up the flower.
"The General? You mean Thomas Radagar?" Daniela snapped out of her thoughts.
"Yes, why? He's a pretty close buddy of mine."
"When did you get close to the General?"
"I have a charm around old men," Finn flicked a strand of his hair in poise.
"Do you even hear what you're saying?" Daniela shot him a flat look.
"You two are a bit behind on information? You should fix that and associate yourself with a source," the Marquis added to the conversation.
"What do you mean, Sir?" Daniela looked at him, a feeling of unease hit her.
"Well, the one you mentioned is no longer the General, the council had decided to remove him."
Oh, it's moving just like in the story. Since the story began much later than at this point, I only knew he got fired for some reason, not sure what it was though, Daniela did not react.
"No way! But why?" Finn's face paled quite a bit, concerned for the man.
"He lost the Radagar name, but I'm not sure why he lost his title as the general."
"Damn, I should find a source, anyways, Marquis, we know how to fix your son," Finn pulled out a second sphere which opened up to reveal a black Lotus.
"Why do you have so many powerful herbs? Are you the child of a noble?" the Marquis's face twitched slightly with unease.
"I'm the poorest person you'll ever meet, but like I said, the General entrusted me with this, I was supposed to give this to someone, but he didn't need it."
"Wouldn't you need the General's request to use it then?" he asked.
"Don't worry, I'm sure the General would have done the same, right, Princess?"
"Huh, ah, yes, so shall I get to it?" she pulled herself together before accepting the two flowers.
"Do you need the whole flower?"
"No, just the stigma of the lily," she pulled it out of the blue lily, "and the stamen of the lotus, keep the rest of it," she tips it out from the lotus and hands over the rest to Finn.
Daniela places the parts in a mortar and begins grinding the two together, and notices a golden fluid mix along inside the mortar.
"Are you supposed to just grind those two, shouldn't you do this kind of stuff in a lab?" the Marquis watched her with a hint of confusion.
"That's for professionals," she dipped her hand on the mixture, a faint glow flowing into the mortar. "We just mix up everything to get the true extent of its use."
"Aren't you supposed to do it more carefully, those are high ranking herbs?" Finn replied, watching her continuing to strike the mortar with great force.
"Nope," she continued pummeling the mixture.
"Women are scary," the Marquis whispered to Finn. "You never know what they're thinking."
"Those are some wise words, Sir."
"It's done," Daniela pulled out a small black pill. It looked just like a normal refreshment pill, but she held it with confidence.
"Really? Let's give it to your son," Finn looked at the Marquis.
"My son, will he be able to walk after this?"
"Walk?" Finn got up, laughing slightly, "He'll run."
SMACK
"Idiot, stop that," Daniela landed a hit.
_________________________
"Flame arrow." A single large flame arrow shot towards a hooded figure.
"Mana coalesce and amalgamate: Magic Bullet," the hooded figure chanted.
A blue sphere shot through the fire arrow, but in the nick of time Nichole pulls out her sword and blocks the bullet—
SMASH
She is sent of, crashing into the rusty walls, leaving a deep dent around where she had crashed in. Her sword slipped from her fingers as she laid there, unconscious.
"Nichole!" Ren yells before hurling towards the mysterious figure. "Energy Sword," he swings his energy coated sword.
"Block all I deem should not touch me: Two-star Barrier."
A small circle of geometric figures form, blocking the sword from making contact with the figure.
Ren plants his feet and pushes forward, "I'm also a Two-star!"
"Oh, really, I could tell you were stronger than that girl there, but a Two-star?" The figure chuckled lightly. "Isn't that quite the overstatement?"
Ren's face tensed as he continued to try to break the barrier.
"You can stop hiding," he points his hand upwards. "Mana coalesce and amalgamate: Magic Bullet."
He shoots another sphere upwards. The shot was not random, by rather, he had sensed another presence above him.
Xióng jumped down from the beam, pulling out both his blade and intercepting the bullet head on while falling, a cloud of smoke forming from the clash.
"That one was even stupider." He shifted his focus to Ren, "Time for you to sleep."
The shield shimmered deep blue, ready to throw back all the energy it had absorbed.
"A kinetic guard?!" Ren could only understand, but was too late.
"Di—"
SHING
The man's voice was cut of by a sudden sound of sword strike.
"You let your guard down way to much," Xióng wiped the blood off of his sword.
The blue guard shimmered down, as Ren pointed his sword at her man's throat. "Give up."
"Give up? Why?"
"What?" Ren's face slightly twitched as he could sense the rise in mana on the man's body.
"Xióng, get back," he prepared to strike down the man in a single stab, but—
BOOM
_________________________