Stygian Mage

The reason Soren had decided to hide his face during and after the auction was that he knew that there was a high possibility of someone from the Liston Family attending the auction. And as his face was known to almost all of the family members or the people related to them, he had no other choice but to hide it. The fact that he was buying a ‘Frozen Crystal’ from the auction was something that he didn’t want them to know, no matter the cost. Because that fact proved that Soren was already very close to breaking through to Rank 1. It was not like there was no possibility of him buying it early on for the future breakthrough to Rank 1; it was just that the fruit itself didn’t have a long shelf life. Unless someone had some special method to store it or some special item that could keep it fresh, the fruit could not survive for long. From what was known publicly, the fruit’s shelf life was supposed to be around 1 month or so. It could be extended for a little longer by keeping it cold but that was it.

….

Soren easily recognized the owner of the voice; it was Faron. Given that Faron was a Rank 1 Initiator, it was no wonder he identified Soren in the crowd so easily. A sense-type skill or spell could give the user all the details of their surroundings; range depending on the user and the skill. That included a person’s face, even if it was hidden under disguise. And as even Rank 0 Initiators had access to such spell or skill, a Rank 1 Initiator was bound to have one in their arsenal.

But what Soren couldn’t tell was why had Faron used his sensing skill there of all the places. He couldn’t think of any reason why Faron would use his sensing skill in front of the ‘Myriad Items’ building. But as he ran his mind fast in that very short amount of time, he found one reason that could compel Faron to do so.

As Soren thought of that answer, his heart suddenly thumped and a bad feeling took root in his heart. If the conclusion that he had arrived to was true, it would truly be very bad news for him. But regardless of his concerns, he had to turn around and face them head-on right now. So, Soren turned around and took down his hood, facing them head-on. What greeted him, though, was something that only ended up confirming what he had guessed. Faron truly was escorting someone around, as per his speculation. This individual seemed like an extremely important person from the way that Liston Family members acted around her; Soren even saw Denise in this small group, acting meekly.

The person that everyone was focusing on was a young girl; her age seemed to be around 25. She had long hair, fair skin, and an average height of about 165 centimeters. What set her aside from the crowd, though, were her beautiful blue eyes combined with her silky azure hair. This young girl was actually the Royal Family member that had come into the town to recruit Initiators for the war; she was a princess. Only a person of her status could make Faron so nervous that he had to use his sensing skill to check for any danger in a place like that.

What Soren had dreaded the most ended up happening, after all. Smiley had talked about the habit of scanning anyone they met for the first time, this was actually true for most of the Initiators who had access to a good scanning spell. Faron and other Rank 1 Initiators didn’t practice this as they could only get one-time use scanning spell. In the entire Liston Family also, only Ervin Liston had a proper scanning spell. But it was an entirely different matter when it came to someone who had come from outside this backwater area, let alone from the Royal Capital.

And as to confirm Soren’s nightmare, the princess used the scanning spell on him as soon as he met them.

“This is Soren, the ‘Traveler’ that we told you about, Your Highness.” Faron introduced Soren to the princess while trying to be as servile as he could be. From the way he acted, it was a wonder how he kept himself from kneeling in front of her till now.

“I have told you already, please don’t call me that. Using my name will suffice.” The princess said as she checked out the young ‘Traveler’ in front of her that she had heard so much about.

 “As you wish, your highn… Miss Azure.” Faron bowed and replied, not forgetting to be extremely polite as he did so.

While they did their thing, Soren had calmed himself down and was already making changes in his plans.

…

“Hello, Miss Azure. It’s nice to meet you.” Soren copied Faron’s way of calling her as he greeted her.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Soren. I’ve heard many things about you.” Azure greeted Soren back as she looked at his face, ignoring Faron who stood by her side.

“I hope they were all good things.” Soren smiled and joked.

Azure didn’t reply this time and just let out a small smile.

“Did you get what you came for, Soren?” It was Faron who asked this question. He had already seen Soren come out of the auction hall.

“No, I didn’t have enough Mana Crystals to bid against those rich people.” Soren faked a disappointed expression on his face as he replied.

As he finished his sentence, Soren tried to guess what this group of people was doing there. It was obvious they came for the auction, but why did they come out early without waiting for it to end; it was not like they had the same troubles as the Rogue Initiators. One guess could be that this princess was the one who wanted to come out, so everyone had to follow her. Another guess could be that Faron took them out before a fight broke out in the auction hall because of the last item; trying his best to protect the princess.

…

“You can run along now, Soren. We’ll also be returning to our mansion now.” Faron said as he saw the crowd outside the building getting bigger. He had to keep the princess safe, so he couldn’t afford to stay in this place. Of course, the fact that she was much stronger than him and didn’t need his protection was something that he had already decided to ignore.

“Ok then. I’ll see you guy later.” Soren said as he turned around and walked away in an unhurried manner.

As his silhouette faded away in the crowd, the princess said, “I guess congratulations are in order. You guys will soon be getting another Rank 1 Initiator in your Family; not to mention a Rank 1 Initiator who is a ‘Traveler’.”

Her words left the Liston Family members dumbfounded as they tried to comprehend what she meant exactly by that. Faron was the only one that caught on to what she meant as a shocked expression surfaced on his face. He then abruptly turned around and glared at Denise who was about to ask the princess what she meant by those words. His expression said it all—‘don’t say a word about this’. She was also smart enough to understand that as she stopped herself and thought about the words that were just said.

“It’s nothing. He can’t compare to someone like Miss Azure.” Faron said as he tried to salvage the situation and his Family’s reputation. His words shocked all the remaining family members, as the fact soon dawned upon them. Although they were tactful enough to keep quiet about it, their eyes betrayed what they were thinking. The princess, of course, saw that and frowned as she became more confused. She had scanned Soren merely out of habit. She saw that his cultivation level had already reached Layer-9, and so, it wouldn’t belong before he would breakthrough to Rank 1. As far as she knew, this was a good thing. Any Family or Organization would be celebrating this fact.

But soon, the realization hit her hard. As everything became clear in her mind, she felt a shock run through her body.

What had she done!!! A devastating thought surface in her mind. Her mindless actions just before had most probably destroyed that young Traveler’s life. It became obvious to her that these people didn’t know Soren’s cultivation level; he was clearly hiding it. The only circumstances that could lead up to that would be if he was forced to work under the Liston Family. As she thought up to that, a term came up in her mind: Blood Contract.

It was no secret that the Families and Organizations used Blood Contract to ‘employ’ low ranking Initiators. But she never could have imagined that the smiling young man from before was coerced into signing the Blood Contract and was working for the Liston Family against his wishes. And what she had done just now might have just ruined his chances of getting free. She could tell that Soren was hiding this fact so that he could break through to Rank 1 and then break the Blood Contract. But now, she had unknowingly foiled his plans.

………

Soren slowly increased his speed of walking as soon as he was sure that they could not see him. He kept increasing his speed until he started running as fast as he could. He needed to adapt quickly right now. What had already been done was something that he couldn’t change no matter how much he cursed or shouted; it was already in the past. Now, the only thing he could do was to adapt to the changes and turn the situation so that he would be the one to come on top. Of course, the fact that he was up against a Family with four Rank 1 Initiators didn’t help that cause.

Soren ran his mind as fast as he could while trying not to bump into pedestrians as he ran with all he had. He was not trying to run away from the Liston Family; he was aware that it wouldn’t work because of the Curse Spell. He was just trying to buy himself some time right now. He knew they wouldn’t kill him unless they had no other option; that gave him the space he needed to work within. He had some stuff to arrange before they came to catch him. Soren had never underestimated Faron, so he knew that Faron wouldn’t come alone for him. There was a risk of Soren fighting back and causing serious damage if the situation became desperate for him; Faron knew that.

…

Soren finally saw what he was looking for as he arrived at the corner of the street. Right across him, there was the restaurant which he frequented to for breakfast. Of course, it was just a coincidence that he found this restaurant first as any place with a bathroom would have worked for him. Currently, he just needed some privacy.

Soren rushed in through the door and went towards the bathroom without caring a bit about being seen by others. Fortunately for him, the restaurant was almost deserted at that time and hardly had a couple of customers. The staff members were also lazing around as they didn’t have any work to do. Without concerning himself with the reason behind it, Soren went inside the bathroom and locked the door; lucky for him, there was no one in there right now. The bathroom was of the standard format; left side from the entrance had mirrors lined up, while the right side had the toilet stalls.

As Soren turned around after locking the door, he noticed his own image in the mirror on the left side. He found that although his face was covered with sweat, he had a small smile on his face right now. Seeing himself smiling like that shocked Soren; he was doing it without even realizing it himself. Was he enjoying this situation? Was it the thrill that made him feel alive?  He didn’t know the answer to that, but he knew for sure that he didn’t dislike the experience of his heart beating so fast from the adrenaline rush.

Of course, he didn’t have time for these thoughts right now. So, he put them to the back of his mind and took out all the stuff he had with him in his backpack, spreading them on the slab beside the washbasin. He also took off the Enhancement Artifacts that he was wearing.

The important items he had included: Spirit-Pendant; Snake-Earring; Memory Sphere-Vornea; Soul Recovery Potion; Spell Vessel-Space Snatcher; Spell Vessel-Withering Wood; Spell Vessel-Elemental Sense; Skill Book-Shadow Steps; Frozen Crystal-Fruit.

These were the items that were irreplaceable; the rest of the stuff was expendable for him.

Soren first picked up the Memory Sphere that he had gotten from Drai, the Rank 3 Initiator. It contained a cultivation technique which was, at best, par with most of the Low-Grade cultivation techniques on the market. But the information on the skill, Vornea, was something that Soren didn’t want others to have. So, he turned around and threw the Memory Sphere towards the wall with as much strength as he had.

BANG!!

The sphere exploded into pieces as it hit the wall with a loud bang; the Memory Sphere containing Vornea was no more. He already had all the information from the Memory Sphere recorded inside his head; with the help of Isaac. Of course, the sound of the sphere breaking didn’t go out because of the closed-door; otherwise, Soren could have had people coming up to inquire what happened.

Then he picked up the book containing the skill that he had just bought from the auction; Shadow Steps. The book had a hard black cover on the outside but it was not that thick. It took Isaac only a few seconds before he recorded everything that was in the book. After Soren double checked all the data from the book and was sure that he had everything, he cast <Fireball> and burned the book down to ashes.

Isaac also had come a long way since he had woken up as Soren’s Second Intelligence. He had already advanced enough that he divided all the data that they were recording accordingly without even waiting for Soren to tell him to do so.

As Soren saw the book turn into ash, he picked up the next items he had to deal with. These two items were the only Enhancement Artifacts that he had except for the ‘Common Staff’: Spirit-Pendant and Snake-Earring.

He held them in his hands while trying to decide what to do with them. He wasn’t sure if Faron had seen them or not before, so he had to aim in the dark here. He didn’t want these items to end up in someone else’s hands, so, in the end; he decided to hide them in the bathroom. As such, Soren started to look around to see if he could find any good place to hide it.

After a few moments, an idea finally hit him as he took out his knife and his gun. He used the knife to open all the screws in the gun’s handle and took it apart; both sides of the handle gave him two pieces of the handle grip. The gun’s handle grip was made from some plastic-like stuff; it was flexible yet durable. But that was not the properties that Soren needed right now.

He placed one of his Enhancement Artifacts inside the gap of the first handle grip, and the other Artifact in the gap of the second handle grip. He then cast <Fireball> again and started to melt the perimeter of the handle grip. As the material started to melt, Soren quickly stuck it under the washbasin from the backside. He held it there for a few seconds as the material once again solidified; the Enhancement Artifact sitting inside its gap, and the handle grip sticking to the washbasin’s backside like glue. Soren then did the same with the other item, just this time, he changed the hiding place; he didn’t want to hide them all in one place.

After dealing with his Enhancement Artifacts, he was finally left with just the Spell Vessels and the two consumables.

He first decided to quickly deal with the Spell Vessels one by one and then move on to the consumables. So, he picked up his knife and cut a big wound on his left thumb. He then started using his blood to add the Spell Vessels to his Soul Form. The first Spell Vessel looked the same as all the Spell Vessels he had seen, just with a wooden texture.

“Spell Learned: Withering Wood [6/6]. Mana Cost – Extremely High.”

“Withering Wood: A Defense Spell of Wood Element. The spell creates a dome of thick wood for the main purpose of defense. The second stage of the Spell then takes effect—the wooden dome starts to wither down while transferring its vitality to the ones inside it, acting as a secondary Healing Spell. The durability of the wooden dome depends on the caster’s ‘Intelligence’ stat. The efficiency of the healing depends on the durability of the wooden dome.”

…

The second Spell Vessel also had a similar structure but had a glossy silver texture.

“Spell Learned: Space Snatcher [15/15]. Mana Cost – Low.”

“Space Snatcher: A basic spell to remove a Storage Pearl from the Soul From. Range and limitations depending on the caster’s ‘Spirit’ stat.”

…

The third Spell Vessel was, once again, similar in shape but had different colors mixed together on the surface; creating a rainbow-like image.

“Spell Learned: Elemental Sense [5/5]. Mana Cost – Average.”

“Elemental Sense: The spell allows the caster to sense their surrounding by using the Elemental Particles present around them. The range and clarity depend on the caster’s ‘Intelligence’ stat.”

…

After he was done with the Spell Vessels, it was finally time for the consumables. They were the most important things that he had and didn’t want anyone else to have them. For these items, he already had a plan in his mind. He didn’t want to store them somewhere else as that had a risk of someone finding it. Even if he hid it in a very secretive place, there was still a chance that someone would find it; not only that, but one of these consumables even had a shelf life. So, in the end, he decided to hide them on his own body.

But he had to find a place on his body where these items could not only be safe but also be easily accessible. Soren wanted them in a place where he could either quickly destroy them, or eat them if someone found out about them. The only place that he could think of which would fulfill those conditions was his mouth. So now, he had to think of a method to keep it stored in there.

He had one idea in his mind but he was not sure if it was feasible. But he didn’t have any better option right now, so he decided to try it out. He first took out the vial containing Soul Recovery Potion. He opened the bottle and started using Vornea. After researching about the skill from that cultivation technique, Soren had gotten much better at using it. Although it had not appeared in his status screen as a proper skill yet, he could now easily use it to control very light objects in his proximity without getting any backlash.

Under the effect of Vornea, the bottle started floating above Soren’s palms. He then started separating the bottle from the liquid inside. Very soon, a blob of pale blue liquid was floating above his palms. He then discarded the empty bottle and focused the technique on the liquid. While still controlling it, he ‘ate’ the blob of liquid and got it into his mouth. He then spread the liquid on his upper hard palate and made sure that it was as spread out as it could be. He didn’t want others to see the pale blue color just as he opened his mouth. After the liquid was all spread out thinly, he cast <Cold Touch> on it and froze the liquid with his hard palate; he controlled the spell power so that it wouldn’t freeze his whole face, of course. The thin ice that formed looked exactly like his upper palate now. No one could tell that there was some liquid frozen on Soren’s upper palate unless they looked closely or touched it; which was rather impossible as long as no one had any suspicion about it. Of course, freezing a part of one’s mouth was never a pleasant thing; which Soren experienced first-hand. And although he was somewhat sure that ice wouldn’t do damage to him, he wasn’t sure what would happen if it was kept like this for a long time. But for now, he had no other choice; he was willing to sustain some damage if it meant preserving this potion.

After he was done with the Soul Recovery Potion, he started working on the Frozen Crystal fruit. He took out the fruit and held it in both of his hands; it was completely transparent and was the size of a cherry. He then started using Vornea again as he separated his hands; the fruit floating in between them. As the fruit got stable, Soren started putting pressure on it and crushed the fruit. Soon, the fruit juices which was the useful part came out, as the flesh of the fruit got crushed into pulp. After Soren made sure that the flesh didn’t have any juices left in it, he started the same process with this liquid as he did with the potion. He threw away the flesh part of the fruit and focused on the liquid. He brought the liquid inside his mouth and, once again, spread it on his upper hard palate. The juices were spread thinly over the frozen Potion and was also frozen as Soren used <Cold Touch> on it. The overall amount of liquid was not high so they didn’t stand out at all; even if Soren completely opened his mouth. He checked it a couple of times in the mirror and after he was sure that no one could notice it, he finally heaved a sigh of relief. As for the integrity of the ice, Soren guessed that it was enough to make it last for a couple of days without melting. The only thing that concerned him now was that if the liquids would react to each other. He didn’t have all the details regarding this so he wasn’t sure about this, but he hoped that he was worrying for nothing.

…

As soon as Soren was done with cleaning and removing all the evidence of what he did in there, a knock came on the door. A smile formed on Soren’s face as soon as he heard it. He knew they had arrived. It was about time they tracked him down and found him.

But before opening the door, Soren used his knife and cut the already healing wound on his left thumb once again. He made sure that the wound started bleeding again as he marked the boxes of Spell Vessel with his blood. After doing it with all the three boxes, he went to open the door.

As Soren opened the door, he saw Faron standing outside with a sullen face. He also saw a girl with light freckles on her face standing behind Faron with a smile on her face. She had long brown hair, tied in a pig-tail, and was wearing a brown dress. Without even being told, Soren knew she was the second Rank 1 Initiator of the Liston Family; it was Carla.

Faron took a look at everything that was inside the bathroom as his vision fell on Soren’s bleeding thumb and the wooden boxes with blood on them.

What did the boxes with blood on them contain? Why was Soren’s thumb bleeding? Why did Soren come here in a hurry and had locked himself inside?

Multiple thoughts went off in Faron’s mind as he started using all the information he had, and ultimately, came to a conclusion about what Soren was doing in there.

From the blood on the boxes and the bleeding wound on Soren’s finger, Faron confirmed that Soren had come here in a hurry to use the Spell Vessels that he had; probably bought from the auction. As for why he had locked himself inside, Faron concluded that Soren must have realized that he was found out and came here to add the Spell Vessels to his Soul Form so that no one else could get them.

As he reached this thought, his mood worsened even more; after all, almost every Spell Vessel being sold at the auction was something rare. And no one would reject a free and unused Spell Vessel coming their way; they could at least sell them for a good price even if they could not use it. If Soren hadn’t used them, Faron could have kept it for himself. But his chance of getting this small profit went down the drains because of Soren’s actions.

Soren could easily tell what Faron was thinking right now. After all, he had left those clues for Faron to reach that conclusion on purpose. From what he understood, people tended to believe their own conclusion much more if they had to work hard to reach it. If Soren had only said that he was in there to add Spell Vessels, Faron wouldn’t have believed him and might have searched the whole bathroom; a situation which Soren wanted to avoid. So, he left small clues for anyone that would come in to take him. These clues were simple, yet someone had to think to connect all the dots.

“Mr. Farrow, you need to come with us. Sir Ervin Liston wants to meet you.” Faron said in a flat voice as he changed the way he called Soren.

Soren simply smiled and gestured for them lead the way. As the three went out of the restaurant, one of them had a gloomy expression on his face while the other two had a smile on theirs; albeit, with their own meaning hidden behind the smile.

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