She walked towards Maya, her steps were slow, and when she reached there, she put her hand on her shoulder. "You have a nice flow of mana in your core. Are you an alchemist by any chance?"
Maya's eyes widened slightly, lips parted as her eyes frowned. "Uh, y-yeah." Her voice was shaky.
Valexeria smiled as she walked towards her room. "Newbie got a nice companion with him now, huh?"
Maya's eyes fell onto the ground as she muttered under her breath. "Companion of that man?" Her cheeks started to turn pink, legs trembled slightly as her fingers twisted.
She remembered that she had to follow Leon and Synthia, so she turned to her left as she was about to walk, but then realized. "Which pathway leads to them?"
There were a total of three pathways in front of her, and she was finding it difficult to choose one. So, she just made her way to the couch, which was kept near the wall in the first room, and sat on it.
Leon and Synthia made their way to the room of Sia, a room that had multiple stone tables which were in the middle of the room, which were carved with faded magic circles.
Scattered across it were glass vials filled with murky liquids and powdered monster cores, some sealed with crude magic instead of proper corks.
Sia was sitting on a chair that was kept next to a stone slab. In her right hand was a flask containing some liquid, and her other hand was grabbing a small tube into which she was pouring the liquid.
Her hair was messy, wearing goggles to prevent any damage to her eyes, her gloves were tucked on her hands.
"Hello, senior Sia," Synthia said as she rushed over to her and sat on the stone slab, facing towards Sia.
Sia got a bit startled, and she put the flask and the tube on the table as she sighed lightly. "Hey, Synthia, what are you doing here? I thought that you were resting after doing your mission."
Synthia shook her head lightly, raised her hand, and pointed it towards Leon. "Well, I was resting, but then the newbie came out of nowhere. So, I decided to accompany him here."
Sia's head turned towards the place she was pointing, her gaze fell onto Leon, who was standing at the door.
His hands were tucked inside his pockets, his face had a calm smile on it,his hair was tied behind, eyes were glimmering slightly.
"Oh! Ragnar, you're back already?" Sia asked.
He gave a small nod as he walked inside the room, his steps were slow. He stopped in front of the table, and his voice came out low. "How many cores do you need, senior Sia?"
Sia raised her hand as she grabbed her hair, pulled it lightly, and gritted her teeth. "Ahhhh... I don't know."
The smile on the face of Leon wore off, and his eyebrow twitched. "What happened?" He asked.
Sia's gaze shifted towards the liquid, which she was trying to make. "Everything is going out of hand, I'm trying to make a resurrection potion, but it's not going according to my expectations."
His left eye slightly twitched, his lips parted, and his fists clenched, his voice came out low, but the tone was slightly confused. "You're making a potion for resurrection? But, why?"
She grabbed the table with both of her hands, slightly leaning forward onto it. Her gaze shifted towards Leon, voice came out a bit frustrated. "It's because it'll be easier for us dark mages to resurrect the dead more easily, and spend less time while chanting the spells."
Leon's hand raised up as he put it under his chin and scratched it slightly. "So, that's why?"
Synthia jumped into the conversation, her voice came out a bit playful. "Yeah, there's some issue with the grimoire of our tower, that's why we find it difficult to chant spells as efficiently as the other mage towers."
His gaze shifted towards Synthia as he said. "Grimoire and the issue? Can you tell me about that in more detail?"
Synthia's hand raised to her hair as she grabbed a bit of it and started twirling. "You're not strong enough to know about that, newbie."
She took a small pause, then continued once again. "When you get a bit stronger, then I'll tell you about that. It's a bit scary topic, yeah?"
Sia's voice came as she tapped Synthia on her head lightly. "Don't tease him like that."
She looked at Ragnar as she said. "Junior Ragnar, you can leave the cores on my desk, and I'll ask you for further help when you get a bit stronger."
He bowed slightly as he extended his hand and rested it on his stomach, then he made his way to the desk of Sia, which was kept in the middle of the room, with two big windows were at both sides.
'Inventory.'
The blue screen popped up in front of his eyes, shimmering brightly.
---
[Inventory:]
• [Skeleton Cores: 15X]
• [Shadow Imps: 28X]
• [Bone Hounds: 11X]
---
He tapped on each of the entries one by one as they started to materialize on the table.
---
[Inventory:]
• [Skeleton Cores: 6X]
• [Shadow Imps: 12X]
• [Bone Hounds: 3X]
---
He raised his hand as he kept it under his chin, giving slight support to it as his eyes were locked onto the cores. 'I have kept almost 70% of my loot on Sia's table, this much would be fine for now.'
Before he could say anything to Sia or Synthia, a system panel appeared in front of his eyes out of nowhere.
---
[Hidden Quest: Help Sia complete her research]
[Status: Complete]
[Reward:]
• [Dark Alchemy Access – Initiate]• [Prototype Shadow Recovery Potion (x2)]• [Dark Mage Tower Reputation +300]
[Title Acquired: Residual Shadow Assimilation (Epic)]
• [Description: Killing shadow-type monsters has a chance to leave residual shadow energy that can be absorbed passively]
---
His eyes widened slightly, staring at the system panel which just popped out of nowhere, his lips parted slightly as his voice came out low, but the tone was surprised. "What the... another title and what are these crazy rewards?"
A/N
I hope you like this story. Support this by adding it to your collection and giving a powerstone or two. Thank you.