The brothers Yun Hai and Yun Zhe had joined the Order of Sages almost 10 years ago. Not only had they accomplished their initial goals in Asshai by taming their shadow lizards, but their younger brother's female had also recently laid three new eggs.
Since they now possessed the methods necessary to domesticate such creatures, their goal was to take these methods and the eggs back to their father in Yi Ti to strengthen the Yun clan. However, due to the restrictions imposed by the Order, they could only go to the shadow territory after the Grand Auction. With nothing much to do, the brothers had dedicated the last few years to acquiring more knowledge, artifacts, and eggs of similar beasts, carrying out tasks for both organizations they were affiliated with.
And today, Yun Hai was together with his younger brother doing a task that was not so popular, but always paid a lot of points: they needed to find a certain alchemical ingredient that only grew in the areas near the Ash River. However, both Yun Hai and Yun Zhe knew that finding these ingredients in the surroundings of the river was impossible due to its high depth. That was why they went to the infamous sewers of Asshai.
In addition to the environment being disgusting and smelling terrible, the chance of catching diseases or encountering monsters and mutants was also high. It was a place that few apprentices dared to enter...
But the brothers were confident and were much stronger than ten years ago. They entered the humid tunnels and were doing a good job collecting many mushrooms and other herbs, while exterminating several giant insects and disgusting rodents the size of dogs. Every now and then, they even had to fight some drowned people or skeletons.
As soon as they finished another of their battles, two crow-shaped shadows came out cawing from within the shadows of both brothers. They immediately recognized the emergency message from the Order and began reading it without wasting any time. Their expressions were normal as they finished reading the message sent by Vitarys.
Yun Hai turned to his brother and said, "We already have enough materials, let's go back."
"Okay."
Then they both started walking at a faster pace and returned to one of the sewer exits in about 7 minutes. As soon as they stepped outside and started moving towards the Tower of Sages, four men attacked simultaneously from the dark alleys of Asshai. Their shadow lizards, which were now enormous and already on alert, came out of their shadows and bit two of the four assassins in the abdomen. Yun Hai quickly activated a speed-type spell and used his sword to quickly cut down the other two.
With that, both brothers thought the ambush was over, only to be targeted by 4 more archers who were spread out on the surrounding rooftops. The two pets covered their owners with their sturdy armor, avoiding most of the arrows, but one of them still managed to get through and hit Yun Zhe in the back. He immediately fell to the ground, trembling under the effects of some toxin. Yun Hai acted quickly, placing a black pill in his brother's mouth while covering himself with defensive spells and still counting on the lizards for protection.
When he pulled the arrow out of his brother's back, he saw that it hadn't hit any vital points, but he knew that the poison wasn't something simple; the worst thing was the terrible and infamous Mage-Slaying Arrow. An item that was only considered a single-use grade 1 artifact. The arrow had such a name because it was capable of preventing the automatic activation of life-saving type artifacts, because of its effect, its value was extremely high on the market, and because it had the great power to nullify the effects of another artifact, it was also a single-use artifact…
His brother had one of those life-saving items, he should have activated a windshield that would have prevented such treacherous attacks from harming him. Realizing that the attacks had stopped and the archers had fled after the first volley of arrows, Yun Hai climbed onto his shadow lizard and ran towards the Order, racing against time to prevent the terrible poison from taking his brother's life.
***
In the Garden of Beasts, Omar arrived a little late, on the third floor where the disciples now had their rooms, two girls were hugging each other in fright, while a man in a mask and cloak lay dead on the floor next to the two sisters. Old Daran was searching and looting the body of the supposed murderer. Omar finally relaxed when he understood what had happened and thanked the old man for helping the two.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, just a little scared, it all happened so fast," Katya replied while Karyne nodded.
While they were talking, he didn't see that the old man had a sinister smile after "saving" the two sisters…
***
In the Master of Beasts' laboratory, Genesis watched his master finish a surgery that had taken several days. One of his 10 beasts that made him so famous and earned him his title of Master was previously an altered wolf as black as the night itself. It had now completely changed its appearance. Having silver-white fur, it wasn't just its appearance, a sacred aura exuded from the wolf, making everyone feel comforted, calm, but pressured.
He could see his master smiling as he ran several tests on the modified animal after its surgery. Ignoring his master, he turned to the 3 prisoners who had been there for exactly 7 days. Little Liu was conscious at this moment, and his look was that of a man completely without hope. At that moment, Genesis saw the last grain of the 7-day hourglass finish and then using a spell, he killed his parents in front of him, but even this did not bring any reaction from Liu, after that, the magic circle that prevented him from dying stopped working, allowing him to finally leave.
At that same time, Genesis activated a second ritual that connected to the body of the dead apprentice. His soul, which had extreme resentment towards the people present, remained in the laboratory and now became visible by the power of the ritual; it was slowly dragged by force back to his corpse. When both joined together again, Liu's body began to melt, turning into a silvery blood paste that flowed towards Genesis, slowly fusing with his body.
The process took several hours, and when it finally finished, the Master of Beasts' apprentice had undergone two main changes. There was a third eye on his forehead that was completely white. Genesis's hair, which was previously a brown color, now had the same tone and white shine as his new eye. Both of them exuded a strong power of the sacred element, an element he had never controlled before. He had been born with only Light and Fire. But now, Genesis had not only become one of the rare Masters of the 3 elements, but he had also left his human roots behind to become a superior race.
After doing several tests with his new body, he closed his third eye, and at the same time, his hair returned to its natural color. His master was also observing the entire process and taking several notes. He just smiled and said one sentence to his disciple:
"Congratulations on becoming a Master of the 3 elements."
"It was thanks to you, master. Now with your new beast and my power, nothing and no one will be able to stop the rise of the Garden of Beasts!"
***
In the dark alleys of Asshai, Rafael was impaled on a wall right in the heart by a spear that hit him. He spat blood and tried to remove the powerful spear that trapped him in one of the black stone buildings. He looked at the assassin who had hit him, and was now slowly flying down from the sky. The man wore a very beautiful black cloak with silver lines and a mask that vaguely resembled a fox.
"Who are you? A master accepting a contract to kill me... I must feel flattered that they see me so we-well, like this." Rafael finished his speech, stuttering and spitting more blood, while one of his pistols appeared in his hands, but he did not have the strength to aim at the man who had now slowly landed on the ground and was walking towards him slowly.
"People call me Master Ezio. I was busy recently with some experiments and only recently returned. I was broke, and I accepted a job that paid very well to get rid of a newcomer in the city... Don't take it seriously, okay? It was nothing personal..."
When the man finished speaking, Rafael stopped breathing, and his hand dropped the pistol to the ground. The man, seeing his target die, smiled and said as he looked at the pistol lying on the ground:
"What luck! There is a great extra reward if I can get one of these too..."
****
Special thanks to Patreons:
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