Vials

Seth returned to the inn at dawn and was greeted by Katy, waiting anxiously in front of his door. Sighing lightly, he regretted not teleporting straight inside as he slowly walked up to her.

Katy seemed to relax once she spotted him and asked: “Good morning. Were you out the entire night?”

Seth nodded and moved to unlock his door while saying. “I was. Did anything happen? Why are you waiting here so early?”

Katy blushed and took a moment to think before saying: “The others have already gone to eat, and I wanted to come by and pick you up as well, but you were not answering, and I got worried.”

“Oh, I already ate outside, so I’m not hungry anymore. Sorry for making you wait and worrying you.” Once his words ended, Seth walked inside, and Katy started walking toward the inn’s dining room alone with a downcast look on her face.

<Why does host keep refusing her? She’s a good and constant source of lust energy? >

‘Yes, but she’s also a nice and kind girl. Until I figure out what is happening with my lust source, I don’t want to risk ruining her future. It would be a shame if she somehow gets marked, and this stops her from living a normal life once I’m gone.’

After replying to his surprisingly pesky system, Seth lay down on the bed and listened to a brief report about what was happening inside Endora.

His report stopped halfway through as a new notification appeared in his vision.

<King Icas and King Theodor are on their way to meet with host. >

Seth nodded and sat up, changing his clothes before waiting patiently for them to arrive. The two kings came in front of his room two minutes later, and Icas knocked on the door.

After opening the door, both kings stepped inside, and Icas said. “Otis, we spoke with the King of Hope, and you should get ready to deliver your report to them at the meeting as well.”

Seth nodded and peeked at Theodor, only to notice the middle-aged king’s head lowering slightly, avoiding Seth’s gaze.

“I understand, your majesty. I’ll be ready.”

“Good. Also, keep the origins of that new king private. If the others ask, simply say that you don’t know.”

Seth nodded indifferently, but inside was swearing at Icas’s words.

‘This bastard wants the entire blame to fall on Oath. If I don’t report on the new king being a member of the Council, they would immediately assume it’s someone from Oath and move forward with their plans of hiring an ascended mercenary from the north.’

“I understand, your majesty.”, said Seth.

“Good lad.” Said Icas, patting Seth’s shoulder before turning towards Theodor. “Uncle Theodor, let’s go and grab something to eat. We only have a few free days to fool around New Hope, and I don’t want to waste it staying in here.”

Theodor nodded, and Seth bowed low towards the two as he watched them heading towards the dining room. Once they disappeared from sight, Seth closed the door and sat back on the bed.

‘What do you think the others will decide? Attack Oath or deal with the blood plague first?’

< Greed for ascended knowledge would always come before the well-being of their people. They will most likely choose to denounce Oath as the villain behind the blood plague and announce that the only way to end the plague is by attacking Oath first. >

<Fear of the ascended would allow the common people to quickly buy into their false information and even help with the required funds to hire an ascended from the north to take on Oath. >

‘Figures, and even if I go against Icas’ words, they would still probably not buy into the Council taking over blood if Icas doesn’t support my claim. Is there someone who has ever met a member of the Council from all the kings attending the meeting?’

<Negative. The Council has long left the continent, and only the Kings of Sun and Dream had ever come into contact with their members. >

‘Hmm.’ Seth started pacing back and forth, thinking of how he could ensure the conclusion of this meeting would best suit his purposes. After spending half a day simply passing ideas by the system and having it run various simulations, he only came up with a handful of feasible solutions.

“I guess I can only wait for the meeting to start and see how it will progress. They might surprise us and choose to deal with the plague first.” Muttered Seth before laying back on his bed and started cultivating.

He still had all the lust energy he had gathered from the brothel to direct to his source, so his cultivation went on into the afternoon.

Once he was done with his lust energy, Seth opened his eyes and changed his appearance back to normal before teleporting out of his room.

Walking into the large marketplace of New Hope City, Seth slowly browsed through the many merchants’ stalls there.

The city lived up to its name of merchant heaven with seemingly endless stalls, but Seth only spent a few minutes checking up on every stall.

<Does host require my help to look for something? > A notification appeared in his vision, but Seth ignored it as he continued his browsing.

After over two hours of seemingly aimless walking through the stalls, a crafty-looking merchant approached Seth, rubbing his hands together.

“Sir, you seem to need help to find something. Would you be interested in visiting a particular place?”

“Oh?” exclaimed Seth, turning towards the man. “And what kind of place would that be?”

“If sir followed me, sir would be able to find out for sure.” said the man, chuckling mysteriously, before walking away from Seth.

Seth also smiled and followed the man. After ten minutes of randomly strolling through the stalls, the man took Seth to an inconspicuous-looking building.

Once there, the man extended a hand toward Seth and said: “The entry tax is five gold, but I can promise, sir, that you’ll be able to find anything you’re looking for inside.”

Seth appeared intrigued and paid the five gold coins. The man pocketed the money and opened the door, leading Seth inside and down a steep flight of stairs.

“Might I know what sir is interested in? I can easily guide you to the right place if I know what sir is looking for.

“Energy vials.”, said Seth. “Specialized vials for destruction energy to exact.”

The man’s expression turned to surprise as he took one more look at Seth and asked: “Is sir a destruction ascended?”

“What do you think?” asked Seth back with a smile.

The man made a clumsy attempt at bowing and said: “I apologize for not addressing sir ascended properly. I know of a place that might have what sir is looking for.”

“Perfect. Lead the way.”

Once the staircase ended, Seth was led through a large underground market. This was the black market of New Hope city, and it was the place where all the illegal and stolen goods were being sold.

The man led Seth through the market and only stopped when they reached a large stall with many vials being placed on display. That stall was the only one with no client browsing its wares from the entire market, which was expected since the number of ascended in New Hope City could be counted on the fingers of both hands.

“Yo, Grover. I brought you a client.”

A skinny man walked out of a small hut in the back and looked Seth up and down before turning towards the man that led him there.

“Are you sure he’s an ascended? Last time you brought me some idiot that thought he could ascend once he drank an energy vial and exploded all over my stall.”

The man cackled and nodded pridefully. “I’m sure. I even asked him before.”

The merchant selling the vials sighed and turned towards Seth. “Sir, would you mind showing me your energy? I don’t want someone else to die because of this idiot’s greed.”

Seth chuckled and created a small ball of destruction energy, showing it to the merchant.

“See? I told you he was an ascended. Now give me my silvers.”

The merchant sighed and threw what looked like twenty silvers toward the man that brought Seth there. The man took his coins and nodded toward Seth before rushing away.

“Sorry about that. So, what do you need? Mixed vials or specialized destruction vials?”

“Specialized destruction. How much for one?” asked Seth.

“I should tell you that specialized destruction vials are expensive, at 1000 gold coins per vial. Are you sure you don’t want mixed ones instead? Those are 50 gold coins per vial.”

“I’m sure,” Seth replied, money not being an issue for him.

“Alright. How many do you want?”

“All of them.”, replied Seth, stunning the merchant.

“Sir, I only have nine destruction vials, but that’s still 9000 gold coins. Are you sure you want all of them?” asked the merchant, an excited look on his face.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Good, good.” said the merchant, excitedly picking up a crate with nine dark-red energy vials from under the table. “These are the vials. Once sir returns with the coins, they are all yours. What else can I help you with?”

Seth chuckled at the man’s eagerness and said: “Look inside your hut.”

The merchant looked confused but did as Seth asked him to. A few seconds later, he returned with a dumbfounded look and asked: “Sir, how did you do that?”

“That’s a secret. Count the gold. I’ll wait.”

The merchant nodded and started counting the gold Seth had created inside his hut. Seth waited patiently, and the merchant returned a few minutes later, an enormous smile plastered on his face.

“Sir, there’s more gold there than I asked.” said the merchant. He stopped counting once he reached nine thousand, but he was sure there must have been around 20 000 gold coins in there.

“I know. Once you get hold of more vials, I’ll need you to deliver them to someone for me. Can you do that?”

“Of course. Who should I deliver the vials to?”

“Alice, the leader of the mercenaries. You should be familiar with her.”

The merchant nodded. “Of course I am. She’s my only other client buying destruction vials besides sir. I will do as sir instructed.”

“Good. A pleasure doing business with you.“, replied Seth, taking his crate with vials and walking away.

Back inside his inn room, he opened one vial and carefully looked at it.

“Too bad there are no specialized vials for my other energies, but even getting specialized destruction vials is quite good.”

Once his words ended, he downed the vial and began cultivating the energy.

By the time he was done with two of the nine vials he had bought, it was already time for the meeting to begin, so he stopped and stood up from the bed.