Arnold deactivated his Halo eye, breaking the link with his "slaves".
What he was worried about was this third player, who took all his equipment, effectively stripping him of his identity as Lufulur since those items made him who he was in the game late into his career.
They must be retrieved at all cost, even if he has to fight the person for them. Tracking that person down is the challenge so unless he has a lead or can bait them to come out, he can't do anything.
He quickly jumped down from the school building and made his way to the back of the premises. Further away stood a single building with two floors, a lab built for Melissa Frin.
But Rosalyn's signature was there as well.
A neat concrete path connected the building to the school buildings and there were magic lamps and benches along the path. This was a pretty secluded place so you don't find many students here, whether during or after school.
"Rachel." The person he called out to quickly turned around. She lowered her sleeve but Arnold caught her putting some kind of sticker on her needle wounds, probably something Morwenne gave her. Those were most likely a healing patch to soothe the irritation in her wounds.
Rachel had arrived before him, now in casual clothes.
He told her in their last period to meet him here since he wanted to use the lab for something that involves her. They can't use the school's labs now since first year students are learning to use the equipment and practicing in the labs for the first few weeks after school.
"Y-You're here. Uhm, no one is answering the door."
He glanced at the door. It was a very sturdy door that was built with thick metal that could withstand a lot of force. Coupled with the magic circles overhead that were obvious damage reduction spells to make it difficult to break the door down, most would need to put in some effort to break in.
There weren't any big windows on the building either. If anyone outside the academy saw this, they would assume it's some secret weapons facility—but no, it's just a lab meant for magic and science.
It's not hard to tell that the one it belongs to doesn't want just anyone coming inside. The lack of intercoms and the like made it seem that the owner only allows you inside if you scheduled a meeting.
"Wait here for a bit." He said before stepping through the door.
"Eh!?"
The stench of sweat assaulted his nose when he entered. He looked up, noticing how quiet it was—meaning that the air conditioners weren't on.
Even though the lights were on, visibility was a little hazy as there was a purple fog in the air. It was odorless and sniffing it didn't affect him. That being said, it was definitely stuffy, unlike mist.
"Melissa already entered the demon side."
The purple cloud is residue from a demon portal. If it leaked outside, the academy would be alerted immediately since it had sensors to detect this stuff. Unsurprisingly, there was a cleansing mechanism right by the door to remove any residue once leaving the lab.
Honestly, he's relieved that the demon energy residue can't escape this lab. For some strange reason, when this happened in the game, people started to turn into demonic creatures. He had no clue how this happened since Melissa and Rosalyn's signatures were fine even when exposed to the residue in the air.
Even he felt no different upon entering but that could probably be attributed to his tough endurance.
He walked around the building, seeing that the lab was empty, all the equipment neat and untouched and workshop clean. You would expect the owner to be busy using the lab but Melissa was nowhere to be found.
"Hm?"
He saw a large square-shaped vault in the corner. Like the door, it was built to withstand the toughest force any normal human can exert and the magic seals around it was meant to protect it from spells as well.
He went right through it. The scent of sweat got worse as he descended the stairs.
You would think this kind of building had a bathroom of some sort but the owner was probably too immersed in her research to care about that.
The moment he reached the bottom, he arrived at a large basement floor. Walking further inside, he noticed several closed doors along the hallway. Taking a peek inside one of them that were opened slightly, he noticed strange broken eggs on the metal table. The eggs emitted the same purple fog as what was present in the lab.
Just from their peculiarity, you can tell they don't belong to any ordinary monster.
A squashing sound came from his shoe when he took a step back from the door. Looking down, he saw a trail of black goo leading down to the last door in the hallway.
He felt an immense pressure coming from inside at door.
It was slightly open so he took a peek inside.
He looked right into a dark abyss. From a glance, the average student wouldn't be able to tell it's a demon portal since it's not common for portals to appear. Freya is the only person who can open them but she rarely uses them so not many humans get a chance to look at them.
Someone was moving in that dimly lit room. There were two people in the room, one seated with her eyes closed—Melissa—and the other standing nearby, looking through notes of some kind.
That's Rachel's older sister, Rosalyn. Normally you would see her in her magician robes and a black dress but she was now wearing the typical office lady outfit with a white labcoat over it.
The portal behind her was hovering above a metal contraption probably using gravity magic to keep it in place.
There was a cage in the corner of the room and the trail he followed her led to it.
As he opened the door a bit more, light entered the dim room, alerting Rosalyn.
"How did you get down here!? Leave at once!" she stood in front of the portal but you would be able to tell from a glance that something shady was going on here.
"No one answered the door. Rachel and I wanted to ask if we can use the lab. The school labs are occupied right now."
"The lab in this building isn't for students to use. If you want a lab, go to the adventurer guild. You can rent one for a day."
"We can't use facilities since those will just draw attention."
"We?"
"Your little sister is outfront. You're Rosalyn, right?"
Her mouth opened and closed before she looked back at her slumbering friend.
"Not down here." She walked past him beckoning to follow.
It seems she thinks he's an idiot who can't figure out what's going on in this room so she's not even mentioning the portal. Well, it doesn't matter. He doesn't want to talk about it either.
…
After telling him to wait on the ground floor, Rosalyn went to go open the door for Rachel.
Strangely, the sisters didn't say anything to each other. There was only an uncomfortable silence between them when they came inside. They've probably never interacted a lot since Rosalyn is always in some basement carrying out a strange experiment that violates every human right. This was something that had gone on for years, no doubt.
"So, what's the matter, Rachel? And why is this hunk with you?" her big sister seemed to have regained her composure and asked after they arrived in the lab.
"Your sister was exposed to Demon Punch. From the marks on her arm, she used it more than once." He didn't need to elaborate further since Rosalyn, someone who has researched most drugs and potions, would know about this dangerous drug more than anyone else.
"!?" Rosalyn's eyes widened and the color drained from her face. She grabbed her sister's arm and pulled up the sleeve, letting out a throat noise when she saw the spots on her lower arm.
"This is where you come in as a licensed alchemist, Miss Rosalyn." He said that but her license was obviously taken away, "We need to make a potion that can remove the impurities causing this from her body."
"I don't think a simple potion can cure addiction for something like that…" she ran her finger across the skin.
"What were you thinking, Rachel?" she let go and took walked over to a cupboard and pulled out some gauze and a bottle of liquid Arnold didn't recognize.
"…"
"Haa, specifics come later then." She opened the bottle and unfolded the gauze then wrapped the gauze around Rachel's arm. She then let some of the liquid drip on the gauze then she smeared it in and wrapped another layer of gauze around it.
"What I have in mind isn't any ordinary potion." Breaking that uncomfortable silence, he took something out of his back—or more like the space from his inventory.
It was a scroll. He handed it to Rosalyn, whose eyes widened upon opening it.
"A Weetle Flower healing potion!? How did you get the recipe to this!?"
"…" he couldn't exactly say he knew it from his days as a player.
"What is that…?" Rachel took a look at the scroll.
"It's one of the Theocracy's most guarded secrets! Only the Pope can administer this and only a handful of people make the potion! And yet a student has the recipe!?"
The Weetle Flower is a flower that only grows in the Holy Cathedral's Garden—or that's what the humans believe. The flower is originally from the World Tree Forest where it grows almost everywhere. This is one of the reasons why the Elves don't let humans onto their territory unless on diplomatic business or if you are a researcher of some sort, under constant supervision. If the latter, all research must be conducted on Elven soil and nothing from the forest must cross the border.
The spot where the flowers grow in the Theocracy is under constant supervision and taken care of by the continent's most renowned alchemists and herbalists. The potion you can make with it is one of the best potions in the game, which can heal most serious injuries and regenerate limbs and tissue.
It's believed that it can cure any incurable disease you would find in the earthling's world. This includes cancer and so on.
Due to its properties, it can also cleanse impurities from the body so it's very popular with martial artists in the Murim Martial Alliance and warrior players as a whole.
It's a very convenient potion for late game players but the process to make them is arduous and very expensive, unless you're a very skilled alchemist.
But why would he use this valuable potion on Rachel? No reason at all. It just gives him an excuse to come to the lab so that he can see what Melissa and Rosalyn are up to. And from what he sees, they've already kickstarted the disaster that takes place during the School Arc.
As mentioned earlier, he doesn't know what caused people to turn into demonic creatures that resemble the exact abominations that religious folk describe.
Of course, identifying the source of it all is meaningless since Luke is able to save everyone in the end. That's all that really matters. Unfortunately, some do die in the end since the transformation rob you of your intelligence so many get killed by these monsters.
"Who is your source? Please, I need to know!" eyes spiraling and hands shaking, Rosalyn pleaded.
"Unless you can provide something of equal value, I'm not giving that away." He glanced at Rachel, "It's more important that you help your sister."
"But Demon Punch… I don't think that stuff can be cleansed like impurities in the dantians."
"I disagree. Impurities is energy that clog the body's energy networks, which are turned into a pungent physical mass when exiting your body through your pores. Since drugs are the exact same as these impurities, it can be extracted with the same method."
There are other potions that do this that aren't as valuable but he didn't care enough to learn their recipes during his days as Lufulur since most of them were very low-levelled. It would be trash to Lufulur but probably a treasure to ordinary magicians like Rosalyn.
"Even with that said," Rosalyn took another glance down at the scroll, "We would need the flower itself to complete the potion. The rest of the ingredients are in this lab—"
He took out a blue flower that glowed with a mysterious white light. it was preserved in a small bucket filled with soil that he got from the World Tree Forest itself during his visit there.
"…" the red head's mouth hung open seeing the flower in the flesh, "N-No way… How!?"
"I thought I told you earlier to provide something of equal value first…"
"R-Right!" she looked like she wanted to snatch the flower but slowly reached out her hands when he held it out to her.
"Use only one petal."
"…" her shoulders slumped hearing that.
Since the flower had all its petals, she could make about a dozen potions which will go for millions of gold coins alone. But he doesn't want this flower to be cloned like what happened in the past so he'll take the rest when he's done here.
Rosalyn walked over to a nearby table and began to take out her tools. She then flicked her wand, which made a glowing dust surround the scroll and made it levitate. After that, she took out a lamp that and turned it on after placing the flower under it.
"You must be a martial artist to know this much about cultivation."
"I am." He glanced around the lab a second time, "But I mostly devote my time to swordsmanship now since my teacher already taught me most of what I know."
"Swordsmanship with a body like that is such a waste." She glanced at him with a side eye, clearly looking at him like he was prey.
Swordsmen are typically very lean whereas Arnold is a bit more muscular than your average swordsman. This is due to Sebastian's training, after all—someone who is a professional martial artist. That said, he isn't overly muscular like his master.
"By the way, I didn't get your name."
"It's Arnold."
Rosalyn almost dropped the beaker she was carrying, "The magician who killed the Ancient Dragon from yesterday!? I've been looking all over for you! Wait a minute, why do you look so different from yesterday!? That doesn't matter! I need to know how you became so strong! Are you secretly Freya's disciple!? If so, how are you such a strong warrior as well!?"
"…Focus on the potion." He took a glance at Rachel who was scratching her arm where most of the needle marks were.
"Right! We can talk after I'm done!" Rosalyn breathed deeply as if she ran a long distance.
He doesn't remember her being this talkative. The game describes her as one of those aloof types who is cold to everyone—basically like Olivia. She treats commoners like trash and has no respect for anyone who isn't a handsome man or a magician.
'I'll leave Luxtivin behind and go check out the basement floors.'
He leaned against the wall and when the two weren't looking, and switched places with Luxtivin.
'Fulfil the duty as a committee member in my place.'
**
"…" Arnold stood in front of the unconscious Melissa, the dark portal twisting calmly behind her chair.
He looked around and saw a pigsty. The two had probably been living here for a while. It's not that strange for magicians to be so immersed in their research that they forget to take care of themselves and their surroundings.
Lufulur also spent most of his time in his guild's lab, deciphering spells, studying runes, developing runic formations, etc..
In the corner of the dirty lab was a cage. It was quite small, big enough to hold children. But seeing as how it was a metal cage, something stronger than a child was kept in there.
Upon activating the Halo, he saw a purple trail that was darker than the demon energy residue in the air. It led straight up to the portal.
He bent forward and opened Melissa's eye socket. Noticing a rune glitter above her eye, he realized what it was.
"She's possessing the demon? Was there such a spell that low-level mages like her could use?"
Looking around a second time, he spotted a stack of books on a table nearby. Curious as to what those were, he approached the stack and read through the top book.
"A journal?" he looked at the top of the page, "It dates back hundreds of years ago. What is this?" the text was a bit blurred but readable so she must've used preservation techniques to preserve these old reports.
"Lots of stuff even I've never heard of. Huh? Demon Lords can expand portals with their lifeforce?" he read a troubling passage. Whether that was true or not, only the person who actually witnessed it knew.
"Should I close the portal?" he looked back at Melissa. She'll be turned into a vegetable if the portal is closed since it acts like a bridge to shorten the distance of control.
He had a lot of things to ask her so it was best to keep it open for now and pull her out. Knowing her, she probably won't leave unless she finds something worth documenting.
But in the event a demon lord does come through there—
He began to draw several runic formations on the loose pieces of paper lying around in case of emergency. Since he doesn't have the spells to close a demon portal, using simple divine runes from memory will have to do. They only need magic grease to be activated so he doesn't need to be a Rune Master like Sylphiala who can use advanced runic techniques and formations.
After he was done, he opened Melissa's eye and activated his Halo, which mirrored in her pupil. He was instantly sucked into her subconscious.