Suddenly, Alicia barged into the room and stomped her way towards her brother. Without putting in serious effort, it was difficult to see into the other rooms using spiritual sense, so Shui could only get a vague sense of whether they were occupied. Still, given that the rooms on both sides of this one had people in them, Shui wasn't surprised to see Alicia here.
"Brother! I let it go at the start, but how was that last question relevant?"
"For us to have a proper conversation, it's only natural that we share our experiences to break down the wall between us."
"Do you think I'm stupid? I already told you it's not like that and yet you just-, get out!"
"But Alicia-"
"Now!"
With a mix of disappointment and embarrassment on his face, Alex slowly got up and went towards the door. He stopped at several points to look back at Alicia with the eyes of an abandoned puppy, but her resolve remained firm right until he left the room and she closed the door behind him.
"I'm so sorry. My idiot brother just..."
As soon as Alex was gone, the first thing Alicia did was bow to Shui and apologize.
"It's fine. Raise your head. I'm only surprised because he's different from what I imagined."
"Yes. He's normally more respectable than that, but he tends to lose his head when it comes to me."
"I see. He sounds like a good brother."
"He is."
After clearing the air, Alicia went back to her usual self and took Alex's seat.
"Still, I caused you trouble, so allow me to share this with you as compensation."
Before he could respond, Alicia rolled a dark blue orb over to Shui. It took him a moment to realize that this was a memory vault. The memory vaults commonly available on the market looked like stones, but the higher the quality, the more they resembled gems and the better they could store and replay the memories within them.
Shui's curiosity was too strong, so he didn't bother wasting time with pleasantries and scanned the memory vault. What he found shocked him, but he could accept it quickly.
"I don't know if I should praise your resourcefulness or laugh at his laxity."
"You could do both if you wish."
"Perhaps I should. Are you sure you want to use this as compensation? I wouldn't mind paying for it."
"It's fine. That's not the only card I have to play."
"It seems I underestimated you. Very well. What do you want in exchange?"
"Nothing much. I just want to see you draw your best array."
"That, huh? Fine then."
He had been reluctant before, but in exchange for the information Alicia had, he didn't mind showing off a portion of his knowledge in arrays. He didn't want to show off too much and fan the flames of her interest, so as a compromise, Shui chose to draw a tier 3 complete concealment array. He would need to devote his focus in order to draw a tier 4 complete concealment array, so this was the best array he could draw comfortably.
"Should I provide you with the materials?"
"It's fine. I already have them."
Since this was just a presentation, Shui took out a sheet of spirit iron to draw the array on. Once Shui took out the materials and laid down the spirit iron, Alicia excused herself to a corner of the room to watch him. Although she was from a prestigious background, most experienced array masters wouldn't allow spectators too close. This was both to prevent their techniques from being stolen and to safeguard their reputation in case they made an error. Shui didn't have such thoughts, but he didn't have a reason to call her back either.
With Shui's soul strength, he could make this array with just his mental control, but he went with the standard route instead. It had been a while since he last drew an array, but the moment he grabbed a brush, it was like he hadn't taken a break at all.
After he processed the materials into an ink mixture, all that was left was to do the drawing. Shui took his time to draw every line with intense focus. Every line was perfect, every intersection was accurate, and everything was in proportion. Furthermore, he didn't lift the brush even once during the drawing, making this what array masters called a perfect print.
Once he was finished, Shui put away his brush and stood up straight while admiring his work.
[Passable.]
[I'll assume you mean that as praise.]
Of course, just because the array was drawn didn't mean it would work, but both Shui and Alicia were confident.
"Should I test it, or do you want to?" Shui asked.
In response, Alicia shook her head, "It's fine. I can tell the work of a grandmaster when I see it."
Shui almost flinched when she referred to him as a grandmaster, but he calmly replied to her.
"How can you be sure? Even if it is a complete concealment array, it's still only a tier 3 array."
With a chuckle, Alicia explained.
"It seems you really haven't been evaluated before. Any examiner with a pair of functioning eyes could tell that you've at least reached the level of a tier 4 array grandmaster. How else would you have been able to complete the array that quickly?"
Shui couldn't accurately tell the time while focused, but little more than an hour had passed. Even considering the size of the array, no tier 3 array master would be able to complete it in such a short time.
Shui had figured that Alicia would be able to guess that he was an array grandmaster, so he wasn't upset by this result.
"I see. Well, are you satisfied now?"
"Certainly. I suppose it's time to uphold my end of the bargain. I'm not sure if you're aware, but..."
Alicia then shared a summary of the tragedy that had befallen Emily and her master. Shui had already received this information from the Artisan Palace, but he was satisfied with the memory vault, so he didn't mind not learning anything new. However, Alicia was not to be underestimated. After her summary, she informed him of two recent events involving Emily. The first was that her tier 3 array master certification exam was set for tomorrow, and the second was that a bounty had been placed on her head.
"What?! Do you know who posted it?"
"Not yet. They seem to be using several proxies to confuse any investigators. Still, I don't think it's a serious request based on the low reward."
"I see. Thank you for telling me this."
"It's fine. You'll be able to use this information better than me, after all. So, what do you plan to do?"
Shui had already known that Emily's life was being targeted, but he didn't think she would be in much danger while inside Paraj because there was a city-wide detection array that could track everyone in the city, making it easy to find and capture criminals. It was due to this array that Paraj could maintain a splendidly low violent crime rate that could be considered the lowest in the kingdom, but darkness still lurked in the city. If the local threats also began targeting Emily, then he had to do something, and quickly.
"I'm not sure yet, but I'll definitely need to meet her tomorrow."
"I see. I'll meet you at the entrance then."
"Huh?"
While her response bewildered Shui, Alicia swiftly evacuated the room. They had been together long enough for him to realize that she was serious, but he still couldn't figure out why she was so interested in him.
"Sounds like a lot of trouble. Do you think you'll be able to leave when the time comes?"
Shui knew Alia meant the arrival of the fallen, so his answer was already set.
"Of course. I have loved ones in that region as well, so I can't ignore it. I'll have to leave a reliable guard for Emily."
"You mean that boy she was with?"
"No, I have a much better idea in mind. Would you help me with it?"
"Hmm. Well, we are partners. What do you have in mind?"