Watching the Alchemistry Crystal work on the stone in the background, Elias began to clean up his working area, eliminating any evidence he might have left behind.
With the unique methods he used on his hunts, his kills were usually cleaner than expected, and his experience has eliminated almost all unexpected developments in his hidden activity.
Every tool he used was neatly placed away, including his blades, the yellow overall he wore, and any trace of Josef's clothes and personal effects, which he gathered and placed in a duffel bag, would be taken with him out of there to be properly disposed of.
He was home free... mostly. One could never be sure about these things, and even when you believed the work was perfect, it was still important to check again, and again.
Elias's internal clock alerted him that Supervisor Chen would be here in fifteen minutes, and so he settled down to wait, forcing his mind not to think about the time of his awakening.
He sighed in frustration as there was no helping it; everything he was going to become, his survival, all depended on what would happen to him in the next few hours, a process he could not control, and no matter how much he tried to marshal his mind, Elias found it wandering.
His mind walked among unknown paths for a while before he found something to distract him, and it was simply watching the Alchemistry Crystal perform its magic on the stone.
The stone, roughly in the shape of a man, was slowly transforming into a complete form, as precise lines and delicate curves appeared out of nowhere; it was as if the stone were shaping itself.
He could only refer to it as magic because it used concepts that were far above the natural order of things,
"Guess that makes me magic myself," he chuckled self-deprecatingly as he watched the statue rapidly rush towards completion, the fascinating process was taking hours only because the details on the statue would be so extensive that Elias imagined that if he were to make it by hand, and not make any mistakes in the process then he would need years to complete it, but this crystal would take only hours.
Elias knew that what he was looking at was a man wearing the skin of a god, or at least that was what the legends say.
Matters that happened so long ago in the past were not ones that he was capable of comprehending when he was just a mortal inside a city far from the major centers of civilization.
However, it was said that during the battle between Asulon and Dhamtos, the God of Dreams, the warrior had struck a blow against the god that was so mighty that the earth was shattered into two, the oceans dried up, mountains rose to the skies, and the land fell to the abyss.
And it was said that this town, Stormfall, was located at the center of where Asulon had displayed his might.
Elias did not believe the whole story; he believed only the part about what Asulon had been capable of, but he did not think this town was the center of that battle.
Even if a million years had gone by, the geography of Stormfall did not suggest that it was the center of such a calamitious clash, except he was to believe that a vast sea had crept behind them when they were not watching and two great mountain ranges just managed to rest on either side of the town with the addition of a seemingly endless plain in front of them, Elias supposed that this town just drew the short straw in terms of location.
Elias's ears twitched as the sounds of the Supervisor's boot could be heard coming down the long passage. He stood up and began looking busy. It did not matter that he had basically nothing to do; Elias had to look busy, else the Supervisor could delay him out of spite, or maybe he just enjoyed watching Elias work.
'Supervisor Chen was a good man,' Elias thought, 'but he has an overinflated sense of ego, or he likes to watch me work, like a kid poking at an insect trapped in a jar.'
Pinning down a motivation for this man was hard, and Elias had to stop himself from digging deeper, knowing he had no capacity to understand the capabilities of a Siphon as strong as the Supervisor.
It could not be blamed; the man was linked to the Alchemist Guild, and even though it was rumored he might be nothing but a lowly porter for the Guild, for someone like Elias, he could be seen as a great figure.
The sound of his footsteps was heavy, as if the supervisor were an elephant squeezed into the shape of a man, but as he entered the light, it revealed he was a man of small stature, wearing voluminous robes like an Archpriest.
Elias quickly stopped working and stood at attention. The small eyes of Supervisor Chen scrutinized the surroundings, his gaze barely resting on any one thing before moving ahead and fully focused on the Alchemistry Crystal doing its work.
Even after all these years of working for the man, Supervisor Chen remained meticulous, making sure to check Elias's workplace after every handover.
Elias was sure that Supervisor Chen had placed many Attribute points in his perceptive abilities. Still, the way the ground trembled beneath his feet spoke of heavy muscles and denser bones, which made Elias wonder how the man had distributed his Attributes or what his current level was. A level 9 Fury Forge? Or perhaps even stronger, maybe a Mist Phantom, this seemed to be the most likely answer.
With instincts born from years of killing, Elias knew that despite Supervisor Chen not having the demeanor of a warrior or killer, there was no way he would ever be able to win against him, not even if he used his secret weapon.
"Good work as always, Elias. I can see your workstation is clean, as always." The soft voice of Supervisor Chen cut through the gloom of the tunnel. "Since your Lumina bestowal is coming up soon, you are excused from coming to work for a week. If, for any reason, you fail your bestowal, do not bother coming back. You are a great worker Elias, but I kept you here because of the promise of your potential, if you remain a mortal while still dealing with Alchemistry Crystals, it would kill you from the inside out, even if you are extremely careful. I don't want to carry your corpse from my tunnel; it would desecrate this sacred place."
Elias was expecting this answer, and he bowed in appreciation. Not many would give a mortal a job that required the operation of high-level Alchemistry equipment. He knew that the people he lived with may have made this possible on his behalf, but Elias still appreciated the gesture of faith.
"Thank you, Supervisor, I will be on my way now."
His tools were already packed, and so Elias strode around the man who looked at him with his deep black eyes. He knew that soon the Supervisor would follow behind to ensure the tunnels were empty.