Nick tried to examine the grey soul path tree's internal structure using the effects of Tyrant Sense but he ultimately failed to do so and could only examine its surface and its surroundings. Although it was dark, the effects of Tyrant Sense revealed the surroundings in great detail.
The ground from which the soul path tree grew and where it was deeply rooted was generally more stable than the muddy ground that covered much of Sickly Phase but it still appeared relatively soft like clay and it also had a dark-grey hue to it. Seeing that the ground all around seemed to be damp, Nick assumed that all the water that had drained into this chamber had been absorbed by it.
The dark chamber seemed to be as wide as basketball arena and had a height of a little over eighty meters. Its walls consisted of grey rock that was of the same quality as the rock that formed the ceiling of the chamber, from which Nick had descended. Nick was not bothered by the dark and eerie surroundings and slowly lowered himself onto the ground, at the base of the soul path tree. The black leather work boots that Nick was wearing sank an inch into the clay like soil but found firm footing afterwards. Nick focused his attention on the trunk of the soul path tree, wondering:
(Why would this presumably high ranked, magic plant be growing in this dark place, without even a glimmer of sunlight?)
Nick reached out to touch the tree with his right hand but as soon as he placed his right palm onto its truck, Nick's charcoal-black colored soul decreased by half its original size. The shock of the sudden damage to his soul was so great that Nick stumbled backwards while his mind became unfocused and 'fuzzy'. Seconds later, Nick fell onto his back and lost consciousness.
After an unknown amount of time, Nick regained consciousness, following which, he rubbed his eyes that were no longer weary using his hands, and checked his soul using his magic sense. Nick's soul had regrown to its original size, which he assumed to be because of the influence of his Soul Cradle talent.
Nick checked his inter-realm smartphone and estimated that he had been unconscious for the equivalent of four days. That period of time coincided with the hunger that he was now feeling, so Nick cast Tyrant Sense and summoned a bag of butter bread from his space band while sitting cross legged on the ground, which had mostly dried by now. After Nick finished one butter bread, he summoned four more and ate them all, following which, his stomach was filled and he was satisfied.
Nick then stood up and moved closer to the soul path tree, making sure not to touch it. At the same time, he tried to use his Eyes of the Fated talent on it. Nick had already discovered years ago that Eyes of the Fated was not a purely visual talent and could be made to work through the perception granted by scouting spells. Also, when he became rank 3, he became able to decide exactly when the talent could be active.
(This tree is related to soul path so my Eyes of the Fated talent should work be of some use.)
Sure enough, seconds after trying, Nick's was able to perceive the laws that decorating the soul path tree's surface area. They were all drawn in Valteese and by making use of his soul path scholar attainment, Nick could vaguely understand what they meant.
(I should be able to understand what kind of magic plant this tree is by studying its soul path laws but that will take a while, considering its size. Hmmm...I cannot let this opportunity to examine such an interesting specimen pass. I need to act on it.)
Magicians were not just warriors, they were something akin to scientists because much of their power at high ranks depended on their own ability to research and understand the magical world around them, so Nick being prepared to study the soul path tree was natural.
(I guess the base of the trunk is as good a place to start as any.)
Nick began studying the laws of the soul path tree immediately, starting at the base of the trunk with the intention of gradually moving up a level after he had thoroughly read through one level all around the tree. Nick proceeded to do this for an equivalent of five months, after which, he had successfully studied the surface of the soul path tree, from the base of its trunk to its canopy.
Nick had done all that without touching the soul path tree once after the first time because it wasn't long after he started studying it that he learnt that consuming souls was this tree's major ability. He learnt other things as well:
(This soul path tree is likely the source of the haze that looms over Sickly Phase. The haze that it produces basically absorbs portions of the soul of whatever living being comes into contact with it and those portions of soul are quickly transported here using the power of the same haze in order to nourish this tree, which is why its leaves keep growing after they have been used up to produce the haze that leaves this place. Weirdly, I have found no indication that the absence of magic beasts within this area is directly related to the soul path tree. Even if it slowly consumes souls, that should not stop certain species of soul path magic beasts from living here and in fact, should encourage those magic beasts to stay within close proximity to this tree...)
All in all, Nick was able to decipher much of the mechanism that this tree used to achieve the soul consuming effect of the haze but the process that the tree used to produce those effects were not simple, to say the least.
(I suspect that if I was not at least a soul path scholar, I would have never even come close to understanding the laws of this tree. After studying this soul path tree's laws, I can definitely create a spell that can closely mimic its power to produce the soul consuming haze. Yes, I will do exactly that! Usually when I create spells, I have to devise most of the concepts and mechanisms that allow them to achieve their effects myself but with this tree, the mechanisms that results in its power are already described by the laws embedded on its body. These mechanisms are complex but can be adapted reasonable during the creation of an actual spell...)
Nick walked away from the soul path tree in order to sit on the clay like ground cross legged at a ten-meter-distance away from it. He then began formulating laws within his own mindscape for a spell that made use of the laws on this soul path tree. Nick could already estimate the result:
(An ability like this tree has, when adapted to a spell, would be both offensive and recovery focused. That being the case, I would have to work out how exactly the souls consumed would be used for recovery, after all, consuming foreign souls and making positive use of them isn't a simple process. That is because the latter process involves the possibility of corrupting the consumer of the souls, depending on what living being the soul originated from or what environment the soul remained in after it lost its host. The laws detailing how the soul path tree makes positive use of the souls it consumes cannot be perceived on its exterior and are likely embedded within its internal structure that I cannot peer into.)
Nick had some ideas on how to make beneficial use of the souls since he had experience in creating his own soul refining magic formation, which did that to a large degree and there were also similar spells detailed within Slade's inheritance. Nick worked on creating a new soul path spell and eventually found a way of incorporating rule path into it using the rule path principle of 'Sacrifice'.
(I could have allowed the spell to be purely soul path but rule path has always been where most of my potential lies, anyway. Incorporating rule path into the spell will only make the effect that I am trying to achieve stronger and more stable...)
Nick worked on the new rank 3 spell for the equivalent of about six months before he finally developed a complete initial version of it, having made use of his high attainments, other soul path spells as references and his Eyes of the Fated talent. After that period, however, Nick decided that this dark chamber was not the place to test such a spell because doing so might offend the high ranked magic plant near him.
(I don't actually know if this magic plant has a consciousness and will of its own but if its rank is high enough, that is a safe bet.)
After creating his new spell, Nick had an even greater appreciation for what this soul path tree did:
(It probably makes use of its power to basically manage the ecology of this region by controlling the life, death and health of the magic beasts within it as well as how far Magicians can venture into Sickly Phase without paying a certain price. The price that Magicians would have to pay to get this far would be very high, considering that low ranked Magicians don't cultivate their soul to a very high degree and ultimately, the price that they would pay benefits this soul path tree by giving it more portions of soul to consume...)
When Nick had the latter thought, his thoughts then shifted towards the strange, red soul that he had picked up within the nameless realm where he had first made use of Silent Ark. Nick soon rose to his feet and walked within one meter of the tree before he summoned the red soul from his older space band. The red soul appeared floating about two feet above the ground; it looked like a grapefruit-sized, glowing red orb.
Nick stared at the red soul for close to ten minutes but even his Eyes of the Fated talent could not observe its soul path laws for some reason. After those ten minutes, however, as if attracted by the soul path tree, the red soul floated up towards the center of the tree trunk, then simply went into contact with the tree trunk and was absorbed by the tree within one second.
Nick was at a loss for what just happened:
(I was planning to experiment to see if I could get the tree to weaken the red soul a bit but I never imagined that the red soul was suicidal and would move on its own to be completely absorbed by the tree. What could have caused that? Did the tree somehow lure the red soul to it?)
Nick could not reason out a proper answer so he was stuck with those questions until an emotionless voice echoed within his mind:
(You did a good thing, child, by finding me a host. This host, however, is barely suitable to nourish me and will probably die within a few decades of me inhabiting it. You need to find me a better host.)
Nick was alarmed by the voice and asked in response:
(Who are you?)
Nick received a reply soon thereafter:
(I am too old to remember my name and besides, what difference does who I am make?)
Nick found it inconceivable that the red soul actually managed to possess the soul path tree but he then came to terms with that fact relatively quickly, thinking:
(Anything is possible when magic is involved.)
Nick soon recognized the opportunity that presented itself to him and so he asked:
(You asked me to find you another host but before I could possibly begin to do that, I need some questions answered. What are the details of the realm that I picked you up from and why should I bother helping you?)
The foreign voice within Nick's mind echoed a sneer in response to Nick's attitude:
(You insolent thing! If you did not have some use to me, you would undoubtedly die here. It is fortunate for you that I am one that knows how to make a fair trade. I will give you the information that you seek about the realm that you first met me in exchange for your assistance. I will also give you great rewards if you deliver a living humanoid host to me that is at least rank 5.)
Nick maintained his indifferent expression and asked in response:
(What are these great rewards?)
The voice echoed within Nick's mind again:
(I can promise you access to realms with resources that you have probably never encountered and will never encounter otherwise. Do not try to negotiate with me or I will just kill you right here!)
When those words echoed in Nick's mind, he witnessed the faint haze emanating from the soul path tree's canopy thicken and flow towards him rapidly, instead of flowing to the rock ceiling. Both Nick's eyes widened in shock when he saw death approaching him in the form of haze and he quickly replied to the unknown entity:
(Fine, you've made your point. I will help you.)
After getting that reply from Nick, the unknown entity returned the flow of haze back to its normal state within seconds. The emotionless voice then echoed within Nick's mind again:
(Place your hands on the soul trace tree and I will give you information about the realm from where you first met me. Do not be afraid, I will not let the tree's power harm you.)
Nick thought at this time:
(Soul trace tree? So that is what this specie of magic plant is called.)
Under the threat of the unknown entity, Nick moved to place his right palm against the soul trace tree. Immediately after Nick did that, memories that were not his and other information filled his mind; after ten minutes, Nick had processed all the information that he received. Seeing that the unknown entity stopped transmitting memories and information to him, Nick removed his right hand from the soul trace tree.
Following that, the unknown entity commanded:
(Since you have received what you wanted, leave this place and do not return unless you have brought with you what I desire. If you do return here without the living body of a rank 5 Magician, I will kill you!)
Nick didn't need any more instructions and summoned a crystal-blue projection stone from his older space band, following which, he threw it at his feet. An almost circular, blue colored magic formation that had a half-a-meter-radius appeared beneath Nick's feet; Nick immediately spoke the magic formation's trigger phrase:
"Begin."
The magic formation then bathed Nick in space magic and enveloped him and his vision in bright, silver light. When the silver light abated, Nick found himself standing over his main transportation magic formation within his house in Sidon, which was mostly empty besides having three white and grey plastic folding chairs placed at various sections of the ground floor. Nick wearily walked over to one of the folding chairs near to the chimney and slumped down on it, saying:
"That was...a bizarre experience. Now I have a deal with another troublesome person...if you can call a soul inhabiting a magic tree a person."
Nick summoned a bag of butter bread from his older space band and spent ten minutes eating it in order to lift his spirits. When he was finished eating, he summoned his tablet computer from his older space band and made notes about his new spell:
________________________________________________________________
Soul Haze -> a rank 3, soul path and rule path, advanced grade spell that produces a thick haze using the caster's own soul, following which, the haze rapidly spreads out from the caster up to one kilometer in all directions. The haze gradually consumes the souls of the affected targets in portions or entirely, depending on the relative strength of the targets' souls; the effectiveness of this spell decreases the farther the targets are from the caster. The portions of the souls consumed are refined and integrated into the haze to be manipulated by the caster at will. The minimum cost of activation is 5,000 magical units but may be more depending on the quality of the caster's soul as well as the distance that the haze is to cover. A minimum of 100 magical units are required to maintain this spell every minute thereafter but may be more depending on the quality of the caster's soul.
________________________________________________________________
Nick looked at the summary and thought:
(It's a bit more simply described than how the spell will likely manifest but I don't need a lot of words to remember what the spell does.)
Nick then stored the tablet computer into his older space band, following which, he slowly rose from his chair, saying:
"By this time, I should have been gone from Grand Earth for about one and a half months. I should head back to my company."
Nick leisurely walked over to the other space path magic formation that was laid on the ground floor and moved to stand at its center. This space path magic formation was smaller than the one that Nick had used to return to Sidon from Sickly Phase and had a corresponding space path magic formation that it was link to and that was laid within Nick's workspace on The Realm Exploration Company's third basement floor. Nick spoke the magic formation's trigger phrase:
"Begin."
The space path magic formation's red pigment glowed with a bright, silver light that enveloped Nick's vision in moments. After about five minutes, the silver light abated and Nick found himself on the third basement floor of his company's building, standing over the corresponding space path magic formation that was also drawn in a red pigment.
Nick cast Neptune in order to quickly appear at the elevator doors amidst a flash of blue magic power before pushing the relevant button to have the elevator lift brought down to this floor. When the elevator lift arrived, Nick used it to get to the fifth floor, following which, he went straight to his office. Nick spent thirty minutes taking a shower, after which, he got dressed in a navy-blue silk polo shirt, a pair of light-blue jeans pants and a pair of black, laceless dress shoes.
He then called Dewy on his smartphone, saying:
"Dewy, I've returned from Forgotten Peril. Tell Carl and Hank to meet me in the fourth floor's first conference room, immediately."
Dewy replied with a positive tone:
"Will do, sir. Welcome back."
Nick hung up the phone and made his way to the ground floor's storage area where he dumped the over thirty thousand tonnes of assorted ores as well as one hundred and forty compact space bubbles filled with the mud like magic material that Nick had extracted from Sickly Phase and that also had an estimated weight of seven hundred and fifty thousand tonnes. Nick then used the elevator to get to the fourth floor. When he entered the first conference room, Nick took a seat in one of the office chairs by the large oval table. He summoned his laptop and logged into Absolute Reserves Bank's online platform to check on the corporate bank account while he waited for his managers.
(Sure enough, since I left, to maintain this place cost over £50,000,000 due to utilities, employee salaries, renting The Space Travel Company's magic formation, disposal of magic waste and buying common supplies for the building. Most of the cost is due to the utilities, particularly the electricity that has to be used to supply power to the magical equipment.)
Magical equipment such as lights, security systems, network lines and air conditioners had the advantage that they were efficient, silent, stable and extremely durable, which were necessary qualities for them to have in a company that would potentially process and store magic materials as well as accommodate Magicians.
(The problem is that the fuel for magic equipment is not normal electricity. It is electricity generated by special lightning path generators and supplied by a very large company that charges premiums for their services. The expenditure was made during the last month and a half while very little work was done. I can't keep burning money like that without corresponding benefits being attached considering that the expenditures will only increase in the future as we add more staff and do more work that includes refining magic materials...)
While Nick was thinking through the company's affairs, Carl Ogilvie and Hank Turner entered the conference room and sat opposite Nick. They both greeted Nick one after the other:
"Welcome back, Nick."
"Good to see you, Mr. Capitol."
Nick nodded his head in greeting and said:
"It's good to see you two as well. Alright, Carl, besides refining the ores that I have placed into the ground floor storage area, you and your teams will also be packaging a mud like magic material. I hope that you can figure out the equipment and materials that you need to do so after examining the magic materials. You can speak to Riley and Kurt about your needs following that."
Carl nodded his head in understanding, following which, Nick summoned a tennis-ball-sized space bubble that was filled with the mud like magic material and instructed Hank:
"I need you to take this to a branch of Great Appraisals and have it appraised. I want you to find out exactly what this rank 3 magic material is, how much you can sell it for and who you can sell it to at the highest possible price. You can have Riley get you a space band to store samples like this one going forward."
Hank was not a Magician but there were many kinds of complex magic tools that did not require its user to be a Magician in order to use them. Many brands of space band were designed for normal people to use but they had generally low capacity and were just as expensive as space bands designed for Magicians.
Hank looked at the mud in front of him with a weird expression, thinking:
(Is he really asking me to sell mud?)
Nick noticed Hank's expression and spoke in response:
"Don't judge the material by its appearance. It is a true blue, rank 3 magic material. I have a lot of it so we should be able to obtain a decent profit from selling it."
Hank replied to Nick:
"If you say so, sir."
Hank then moved to hold the small space bubble within his right palm, which he did comfortably. The space bubble could apparently be held by hand without breaking easily because Nick had designed it to be that way. After he finished giving the two men instructions, Nick dismissed them and called Dewy on his smartphone, instructing him to have Kurt and Sai bring overdue paperwork to him.
Nick hung up the phone and Kurt and Sai arrived within the conference room five minutes later with stacks of documents in their hands. Both men sat opposite to Nick and after basic greetings, they handed Nick the documents and watched him read through and sign them over the next four hours. After Nick was finished doing the paperwork, he dismissed Kurt and Sai, following which, he received a call from Hank. Nick didn't hesitate to pick up, asking:
"What do we have, Hank?"
Hank replied immediately:
"I'm still at the Richter Order Academy branch of Great Appraisals. I'm being told that the mud magic material is rank 3 banishment mud. It is a relatively rare earth path magic material that has a strong repelling effect for some rank 3 and many weaker magic beasts. It is formed in the presence of highly concentrated and 'toxic' magic power over many years. I'm being told that one tonne of it has a market price of £1,200,000. I'll decide how to proceed after I get back to the office. How much of this magic material did we obtain?"
Nick replied indifferently while calculating the profits within his own mind:
"I extracted about seven hundred and fifty thousand tonnes of the banishment mud."
Hank went silent for about ten seconds after hearing that number and then eagerly replied:
"I'll make sure that Carl and his teams package the mud properly!"
Hank could not believe it:
(That would amount to revenue of about 9 vatas. That's an insane amount for a company that just started its operations a few months ago. How the hell did Nick extract so much of the banishment mud if it is so valuable? No, questions like that are beyond what I need to ask. My job is just to sell it to the right people.)
Hank continued:
"To better assure customers of the uniform quality of the banishment mud, I'll need to have someone from Great Appraisals appraise the entire batch."
Nick replied:
"Do what you need to do."
After saying that, Nick hung up the phone and did some research on his computer that took up the next two hours, after which, he turned his attention away from his laptop to call Riley Walters, his head of supply management, and told her:
"You can have The Space Travel Company remove the magic formation leading to Forgotten Peril. Although I will continue to extract resources there, I have my own space path magic formation to get me to Forgotten Peril, now."
Riley replied:
"Understood, Nick. Is there anything else?"
Nick eyed his laptop screen again and after a few seconds, he said:
"Yeah there is. I need a space path magic formation that can get me to Humble Desert before the day ends."
Riley thought for a bit before saying:
"No problem. I'll have a representative from The Space Travel Company arrive to remove the first magic formation and lay the new one in your workspace by the end of the day."
Nick hung up the phone after he received Riley's confirmation and mused:
(Humble Desert is relatively small realm that is mostly explored by national corporations that use it to harvest soul path materials. The realm is filled with soul path magic beasts and the kicker is that it has many rank 3 magic beasts living in it. My intention is to go there and gather magic beast souls and materials. I especially need the materials in order to create magic formations to work on dealing with the tampering that Xavier Gecko did to my soul. There is also the fact that I can probably obtain high quality rank 3 magic materials there that can be used to make magic tools.)
Nick had never forgotten about obtaining suitable magic tools for himself which would have to be related to either rule path, soul path, space path, blade path or formation path. With this in mind, there were a few reasons that Nick chose to focus on obtaining soul path magic materials:
(I need to increase my combat strength further in order to fight stronger magic beasts and soul path specializes in combat to a scary degree. Otherwise from that, collecting a large amount of rank 3 magic materials of the other paths are problematic. Rank 3 space path magic beasts could have all sorts of strange abilities that I want to be better prepared to face. Rank 3 blade path magic beasts are likely fiercer than soul path magic beasts and I would prefer not to face them without being armed with more magic tools. Formation path magic beasts are relatively rare and are at least dual natured so finding strong rank 3 formation path magic beasts would be a difficult task. Soul path is where my highest attainment lies, anyway, so I should make use of that strength to get oversized rewards. Without good magic tools, I'm basically only making use of a portion of my potential. I have Failed Tool but it is not enough. I don't want to have to run away from a magic beast like the green, dog like magic beast that I faced in Beast Land within Forgotten Peril.)
After receiving information from the strange, red soul that now occupied the soul trace tree within Sickly Phase, Nick had an increased want for combat power.
(The realm that I picked up the red soul in turned out to be named, Disaster Plain. It is a very old realm, so old that a race of Magicians called Demi-gods once used it to host a war that brought about results that formed millions of other realms over millions of years. The red soul once belonged to a rank 6 Demi-god and his soul had wondered Disaster Plain for a long time. That realm is likely massive and is even inhabited by rank 8 magic beasts and to think that I explored it like my own backyard.)
Nick shook his head and smiled bitterly.
(If I had explored Disaster Plain for a longer time and moved to another region, I could well have died from an extreme environment even while using Silent Ark. I need to be more careful about the realms that I visit. At the very least, I need to increase my combat strength to be able to explore realms and be reasonably assured of my safety. While I am in Humble Desert, I will use my time to train and remain on the lookout for resource extraction opportunities. The time difference between Grand Earth and Humble Desert is about 1:20, meaning that one day on Grand Earth is equivalent to twenty days within Humble Desert. While Carl refines the ores and packages the banishment mud, I will train for my next visit to Forgotten Peril.)
Nick stored his laptop within his space band and stayed within the conference room, spending time meditating. Five hours later, near to sundown, Riley called Nick's smartphone and asked him to meet the representative of The Space Travel Company and herself on the ground floor before they made their way to the third basement floor. Nick did exactly that and five minutes later, he met the same representative from The Space Travel Company as before and Riley on the ground floor.
Nick then escorted them both to the third basement floor and watched as the Space Magician dismantled his company's space path magic formation that led to Forgotten Peril using his magic power before he laid a similar space path magic formation that led to Humble Desert. The process of dismantling and laying the magic formations took about four hours and Riley sat and waited the whole time for it to be completed. Nick then had Riley escort the Space Magician back to the ground floor, where the latter would be sent off and Riley would move to go home for the night.
Nick called Dewy and informed him:
"Dewy, I'm going to a realm called, Humble Desert, for a month or so. Tell Joyce to disseminate that information among the rest of the staff. If anything needs my attention, just call me."
Dewy replied:
"Understood, sir."
Nick hung up the smartphone and immediately made use of the space path magic formation in order to get to Humble Desert. Silver light soon enveloped Nick's vision and when it abated, Nick found himself within a white walled, white tiled room. Nick observed the magic formation below his feet and realized that it was circular, drawn using a dull-silver pigment and had a radius of about one meter; Nick happened to be situated at its center.
There were other space path magic formations occupying the building's floor and there seemed to be five persons stationed on the floor that were dressed formally, three males and two females.
A young, dark skinned woman that had long, flowing black hair and dark eyes, who was dressed in an all-black pants suit greeted Nick from the edge of the magic formation:
"Welcome to The Space Travel Company's Humble Desert branch. My name is Serena. Please let me know if you need any assistance while you are here."
Nick mused:
(Well, The Space Travel Company set up customer service personnel in Humble Desert. Since I'm renting their magic formation at £50,000 per day, that is definitely reasonable.)
Nick walked away from the magic formation and then spoke:
"I need a map of Humble Desert."
The woman lightly smiled and a roll of paper suddenly appeared in her hand. Nick could sense that the woman was a rank 2 Magician and that she had made use of a space band but her wrists were covered by her suit's sleeves so he could not see it but that did not matter to him. The woman said:
"Because you are a corporate customer, I will simply have your company charged for the map. Please take it."
The woman handed Nick the rolled up paper, at which point, Nick took it from her and stored it into his older space band. Nick then tried to walk towards the glass double door entrance but he noticed that a space path magic formation had been activated and glanced at the people that appeared over it. The white, male representative stationed near the magic formation walked over and greeted the four people that appeared:
"Hello, welcome to The Space Travel Company's Humble Desert branch. If you need assistance, just let me know."
The man who seemed to be leading the group replied:
"We have everything we need for now. How can The Crown Company be lacking?"
When the customer service representative heard the name of the company, he was slightly surprised at first but then spoke even more respectfully to the leading man:
"Of course, please enjoy yourselves while you are here."
Nick turned his full attention towards the group of four, not because of the company name that was mentioned but because he recognized someone within the group and muttered her name as if to jog his memory:
"Cindy Reece."
Cindy Reece was someone that Nick had been acquaintances with while attending Richter Order Academy a few years ago and had helped on occasion with her studies. She graduated years before Nick and they did not remain in contact. Honestly, Nick wasn't even sure of what year she graduated exactly.
The blonde haired woman was looking around at this time and also noticed Nick, who had too distinctive of an appearance to forget. Cindy herself wore a pink and white magician's robe and a pair of white female footwear that was at least an inch high; her robe had the symbol of a gold crown stitched into its left breast area. She looked at Nick and smiled smugly, thinking:
(How things have changed, Nick Capitol. You were once a great star in my eyes but now that I am working for The Crown Company, a multinational conglomerate that employs all kinds of powerful Magicians and is involved in many magic related businesses. It was not easy for me to get a good position in this company while still being rank 2 but by using my academic scores and my family's connections, I made it. You are not on my level anymore.)
Cindy spoke to her team leader:
"Excuse me, sir Gower. Let me go say deal with an old academy mate before we head out."
Henry Gower smiled at this feisty subordinate of his and replied approvingly:
"Go ahead, Cindy, but don't take too long."
Cindy ran over to Nick with a wide smile on her face but inside, her negative thoughts swirled:
(I remember how this loser used to touch my body. I'll make him pay for that.)
Nick watched as Cindy ran up to him and when she reached within three meters of him, before he could say anything, she cast a spell at him:
(Fiery Arrow - Primary)
Cindy flicked her right index finger and a thin arrow of flames suddenly and rapidly shot straight towards Nick's face. Yes, Cindy meant to attack Nick as payback for all the times that he had intimate contact with her while they attended Richter Order Academy. She mused at this time.
(I never really liked Nick and simply planned on using him for his smarts back then but after graduation, he was below me, a licensed Magician and now that I am an employee of The Crown Company, that is even more so. After so many years, I've grown by leaps and bounds. Even my team leader, Henry Gower, is a strong rank 3 Soul Magician that the company nurtured. I have no reason to fear Nick and can simply get a little revenge while I am here.)
Nick noticed the Fiery Arrow as soon as Cindy launched it at him and did not even consider her reasons for attacking him; he thought:
(You never really know what's going on in someone else's head, including the malicious intentions and hatred that they harbor. Although I helped this woman in the past, I doubt that she cares about any of that.)
Nick cast Tyrant Armor in response to Cindy's offense, following which, black soul magic power covered his entire right hand as it sparked with red and black lights until within a few moments, just black light could be seen. Nick moved his right hand so quickly that Cindy could not keep up with it using her eyes and so Nick adeptly caught her Fiery Arrow inches away from his own face and crushed it within his right grip with ease.
When Cindy sensed the rank 3 magic power emanating from Nick, her chest tightened and she panicked internally:
(What? He is rank 3. How did that happen? Even after training with The Crown Company for years, I am still some distance away from getting to Rank 3. Nick has a common background; I know that he has some smarts and knows how to earn money but how did he beat me to being promoted by an entire rank?)
Henry noticed Nick's power as soon as the latter cast his spell and his brows creased while he frowned, thinking:
(Cindy, what the hell are you doing? That guy is a Soul Magician like me. Hmph! Looks like you harbored a grudge and bit off more than you could chew. Fine, I'll help you out this time but later, I'll make sure that you repay me sufficiently.)
Cindy froze up on the spot while Nick stared at her for a few seconds before turning to the dark skinned woman and asking:
"Would your company be bothered if I killed someone in its branch office?"
The dark sinned woman nervously replied:
"Sir, the settlement that we are currently in has strict rules regarding killing people within its boundaries. If you do that, I will have to report you to the overseeing rank 3 Magicians stationed here."
Nick's right eyelid twitched a little before replying simply:
"Fine..."
(Neptune.)
After speaking, Nick suddenly disappeared from his position amidst a flash of blue light and reappeared at Cindy's immediate left side in the same manner. He grabbed onto Cindy's left upper arm firmly using his right hand that was still covered with Tyrant Armor's power and that was still faintly emanating black sparks. At this point, he indifferently said:
"There should be little stopping me from crippling her, right?"
When Cindy felt the slight tug on her left arm and heard Nick's words, a shiver went down her spine. She screamed internally:
(Oh no, I made a mistake!)
Nick was about to tear Cindy's left arm off but just before he could do so, he sensed that a rank 3 presence was now looming some distance over him, at his rear, and he immediately cast Tyrant Sense in response, following which, he realized that it was the same leading man as before that was now looming over him but the man seemed to be enveloped in a cluster of nearly translucent soul magic power that was shaped like an eight-legged spider.
Henry Gower was a man with a height of six feet, appeared to be in his late twenties, had a pale-white complexion, dark eyes, sharp eye brows and sported a ring piercing on the right side of his lower lip; he wore a dull-silver magician's robe and a pair of black combat boots. His robe also had the symbol of a gold crown stitched onto its left breast area. The spider's foremost right leg quickly shot out towards Nick, aiming to pierce into the center of his upper-back. Nick thought:
(A Soul Magician? He seems to be at rank 3 initial stage like me. That makes things easier...)
(Saturn.)
Suddenly, Henry sensed space magic envelop him but he did not plan to stop his attack because of that:
(Sigh, even if I wanted to let Cindy deal with the consequences of her own actions, that would harm The Crown Company's and my reputation with all these witnesses being around. I can't have that.)
Before the spider's right leg could stab into Nick, however, a grapefruit-sized sphere of grey magic power appeared in contact with the translucent spider's midsection and following that, Henry was rapidly launched into the ceiling within moments at the speed of canon fire as a result of grey sphere's repulsing magic power.
When Henry hit the white, concrete like ceiling, a loud impact resulted, which caused Henry to be embedded one feet into the ceiling, long cracks having formed around that spot and pieces of the ceiling having fell towards the floor. Nick then waved his left hand at Henry, who was still enveloped by the translucent spider. Henry was then thrown ten meters away onto the floor like a rag doll.
"Blah!"
When Henry hit the floor, he coughed out a mouthful of blood but the translucent spider slowly stood up and Henry was able to glare angrily at Nick from then on. Cindy noticed what had happened using her own scouting method and she was alarmed, thinking:
(Damn it. Nick is still a monster like when we were attending the academy.)
Nick turned to face Henry while momentarily ignoring the scared Cindy being held by his right grip, but before the former could do anything else, a rank 3 presence washed over the room and a man that look to be in his mid-thirties, who was wearing an all-black pants suit, suddenly appeared half way between Nick and Henry while layers of clear ice covered the man's entire left arm. The room's temperature dropped by over thirty degrees within seconds.
The man had a dark skinned complexion, neatly trimmed, curly hair, dark eyes and sported a plain expression. He spoke without a hint of emotion within his tone:
"This office is owned by The Space Travel Company and I will not tolerate your disturbance. If you need to settle private matters, leave our office immediately."
Nick used his magic sense to get a good feel for the man's ice path magic power and soon came to a conclusion:
(He is rank 3 middle stage.)
Nick squinted his eyes, following which, he slowly unhanded Cindy, thinking:
(The Space Travel Company is useful so I better not ruin the relationship between it and my own company over nothing too quickly.)
Nick then turned to look at Cindy's back and spoke sternly while maintaining his indifferent expression:
"Scram! Do it before I decide to turn you inside out."
Henry, on the other hand was not worried about ruining the relationship between The Crown Company and The Space Travel Company over this and so did as he pleased.
The translucent spider that enveloped Henry quickly raised its front rightest leg and pointed it towards the wall that was situated at its right flank. The translucent spider's right leg rapidly extended towards the wall, moving as quickly as a highly pressured stream. The translucent spider's right leg grew in length tremendously as a result, following which, it hit the wall and then ricocheted at three times its previous speed in order to move towards Nick. Two seconds had passed since Henry had raised the translucent spider's right leg at that point.
The rank 3 middle stage Magician quickly noticed Henry's attack and sneered at him while simultaneously waving his ice covered left arm at Henry:
"If you wanted to die so bad, then go into the wilderness."
(Ice Mania)
Within a split second, a one-foot-high, one-foot-wide trail of clear ice was formed, leading away from the rank 3 middle stage Magician's immediate left side, going straight to Henry's position. Following that, the ice came in contact with the translucent spider and completely froze the translucent sider and Henry within moments, enveloping them both in thick layers of clear ice.
The rank 3 middle stage Magician breathed out deeply, which resulted in his now visible breath flowing out of his mouth like a small cloud of smoke and soon dispersing within the surroundings. The rank 3 middle stage Magician then muttered:
"The young really are too bold, too ignorant."