Chapter 121
Rachel and Mariah laughed—not because Gray was funny, but because they both knew it was something Richter had said before. Gray added, "Aside from brewing potions and tending to ingredients—scratch that—the most fun thing you can do is collect ingredients," smiling as Rachel sighed. "You and your ingredients," she said, which made Gray smile even more. "Well, I do love a good harvest," he replied as he started serving the food. Rachel began eating quickly. "Relax, I've got plenty of meat," Gray said, which made Richter laugh genuinely, though Gray seemed confused about what was funny. "You're surprisingly innocent," Mariah remarked as Rachel responded, "That's because he's fifteen. I'm out of my mind." She whispered the last part, shocking both Richter and Mariah. "Correction, sixteen," Gray clarified. Mariah smiled and said, "Oh, so we're the same age," while Rachel 'accidentally' crushed her metal cup, surprising the trio.
"You're strong," Richter said. Gray added, "That she is. Despite that, she's a sorcerer type, you know." Mariah looked surprised for a moment before saying, "So that's why you can recognize the four divine beasts. That makes sense." Gray thanked her and added, "Pretty soon, I'll be summoning magical creatures from the otherworld," smiling as he served her food. "I'm curious. How? How would acquiring their blood help you summon them?" Mariah asked. Rachel interjected, "Yeah, don't try to understand his alchemy. I've been with him for years, and I still don't know. Just dont encourage him to do anything because he'll achieve it. He's annoyingly persistent." Gray looked offended. "You know what? I might just brew a calming potion for you if you keep on with this attitude," he sighed, turning away as he mumbled, "Gosh, although I like a woman with attitude, she's been cranky lately."
Tera chuckled, saying, "He really is innocent," as Mariah asked, "So, when did you start dating?" Rachel choked on her drink and quickly replied, "We are not dating." "Yet," Gray added, causing Mariah to smirk. "Oh, so you guys are not dating, huh," she said innocently while chewing on a piece of steak. Both Richter and Tera slowly turned to look at her, while Rachel took a deep breath and ignored what she just heard. But gosh, did it take enough will to power an entire lantern battery to contain her emotions.
So the five of them ate their food when suddenly, Gray stopped what he was doing and looked around. "Huh, we got company," he said, making the trio get up as Richter asked, "Vampires?" Gray replied, "No, some human-slash-beast hybrid." As the creatures arrived—three of them in total—one was a literal herbie, another was a multi-armed creature with black leathery skin, one was a lizard with wings, and the last was a four-eyed wolf-man. "What the hell is that?" Mariah asked as she and Tera both extended their index and pinky fingers forward while keeping their middle and ring fingers folded, magic hovering between them. Rachel followed up by saying, "They are called night creatures, human corpses fitted with demon souls from hell." This explanation made Richter, Mariah, and Tera look at her in surprise as Gray said, "Hhm, should we visit hell next?" he asked, further shocking the trio as Rachel said, " might as well," before sighing as she suddenly manifested her Soulself—a giant white bird of pure light.
She swiftly killed the four-eyed wolf creature before turning to the three remaining night creatures. "Fuck off," she said, releasing just a tiny bit of her domain, which scared the night creatures witless and caused them to scatter. She then said, "You can come out now, Annette and Edouard," which caused two figures to emerge. Annette was a young Black woman of African descent with short black locs adorned with golden hair cuffs, brown eyes, a yellow vest over a white tunic shirt cinched at the waist with a multicolored sash, dark blue pants, and brown boots. Edouard was a man of African and European descent, with fair-olive skin, long curly brown hair typically tied in a ponytail, large clear blue eyes, and elegant, expensive attire. "How did you know who we are?" Edouard asked, with Mariah echoing, "Yes, you also knew who we are, how?" Gray sighed as he said, "That's because she can see the future and the past, sort of." His explanation was met with skepticism, but remembering the giant bird of light and the oppressive feeling Rachel exuded, their doubts dissipated.
Mariah asked, "Just how powerful are you?" Rachel chuckled softly and replied, "I don't even know that." Gray nearly cringed as he said, "You thought you were cool there, right?" making Rachel glare at him as he hummed a tune. "Then that means you know why we are here?" Edouard asked. Rachel got up and explained, "Yes. Firstly, there's the Belmont you're looking for," she pointed to Richter. "No, he's not as powerful as you think. In fact, he can't even use magic because of the trauma he experienced as a child," she continued, making Richter wince. "And yes, they know about the vampire messiah, which is why they're here—to enlist you on their quest to kill the vampire messiah," she said, making the whole place quiet with her revelation. Taking a deep breath, she added, "And before you ask, we're not intervening. It would destabilize time, make a mess of everything. In fact, we aren't even supposed to be here. So not only do you need to get over your trauma and use magic, but you need to slay the vampire messiah. And she's not even the immediate threat," she said before starting to walk away.
"Come on, pretty boy. I need to sleep," Rachel said as Gray sighed. "Yeah, I also gotta go. I need to make that potion." He bid them farewell, but not before saying to the five of them, "Don't worry, though. She says she's not going to intervene, but she will. She's a hero, after all," before heading to Pangea. There, Gray got to work, ready to finally reach Level 12, meaning a new grade of potions would appear. "You know I'm going after that vampire messiah, right?" he said, recalling Rachel's warning that this vampire messiah would ascend to godhood. Gray realized his final potion would allow him to become a god, and he needed to do so. Rachel looked at him before saying, "Do whatever you want," then groaned, "Isn't there something stupid to do here?" She looked around, only to hear Gray reply, "I'm stupid; do me." She snapped her head toward him, but by then, he was already ready to begin his work.
[ several days later ]
Inside Pangea, Gray could be seen sweating bullets with bags under his eyes. He was tired, smelled funny, and most importantly, he was starving. Surrounding him were vials of glowing liquids as he mixed and distilled different kinds of substances, adding strange materials before finally achieving the result he wanted. "Okay, this is the first step," he muttered. What had taken Gray several days of continuous hard work was merely the first step. "Gosh, I didn't realize just how hard making a demigod-grade potion would be, and I have to make several of those to get the complete potion," he said aloud, sighing. Turning around, he saw Rachel, who was looking at him—this time not angry or fed up. "Looks like you're back to being normal," he said, as Rachel sighed.