“This is where he lives?” Rakna asked, taking in the façade of a skyscraper. “One of the floors?”

 

“Nay. The whole thing,” Old Wang retorted and left his two followers in a blinking stupor as he got to the entrance. A drone that was slotted inside the wall peeked out and scanned him from head to toe. The light of its scanner switched to green and the doors slid open.

 

“This kind of building…” Evelyn muttered and looked to her right where she could see the roof of the Pavilion sticking out. “It’s very close to Black Steel’s center. For someone to own a skyscraper in this spot, they must be someone very wealthy and important.”

 

“Hm,” Rakna hummed and mentally commanded Eye of Symphony to hack into the nearby servers to find out who lived here. Within record times, bypassing cyber security that would put anything made by his uncle’s organization to shame, his Eye gave him the results. Though, of course, it was limited to the basic information of Black Steel’s web network.

 

Eye of Symphony didn’t have anywhere near the required computing or decrypting power to get through the Pavilion’s infrastructure for example. Much less the System itself.

 

‘This guy…’ The therian’s eyes widened when he saw a photo of the owner.

 

“Hey, don’t dawdle,” Wang called them and they went after him inside the building. The entrance hall was already nothing like the outside. The simplistic furniture and the warm colors even gave it a homey atmosphere.

 

“Welcome, Wang Faezi,” a synthetic female voice resounded in the hall. “Sir Eldron is currently in his laboratory. I have notified him of your arrival.”

 

“Mhm. Thank you, Mina,” the dwarf nodded at the building’s artificial intelligence and led them to an elevator.

 

“Eldron…” Evelyn whispered, digging in her hundred-year-old memories. “I feel like I’ve heard of that name before.”

 

“Wouldn’t be surprising,” Wang said as he pressed on the digital tablet of the elevator, initiating their ascent. “He’s part of a long-standing family of alchemists and Card Makers. One of the oldest in the System, actually.”

 

“Ah!” The succubus exclaimed. “Extremis Eldron! I remember now. It was the name of a ground-breaking potion capable of increasing someone’s level by 10, regardless of the consumer’s current advancement. It made big waves around a century ago.”

 

“That’s one of their achievements, indeed. And the old coot you’re going to meet is the head of the family’s dealings as well as a member of the Myth Council,” Wang added and turned toward Rakna, who visibly had no care for the revelation. “You don’t seem very surprised.”

 

“I already knew.”

 

“Huh? When did you find out?”

 

“Thirty seconds ago,” the therian shrugged, much to their disbelief. “I downloaded everything to know about this family when we entered the building. Along with Extremis, they are involved in the dealings of the Church’s artifacts, the Pavilion’s shop, and Old Eden’s pharmaceutic farms.”

 

“…I swear, that Eye of yours is making me more jealous than I wish it did,” Wang snorted. “Do you have any idea of how easier it would make my life?” He joked as the doors opened.

 

“Well, who knows. At some point, I should be able to make a replica. I’ll notify you if that ever is a thing. Though, it’ll probably require you to pluck one of your eyes out first.”

 

“On second thought… maybe I don’t need it,” the dwarf deadpanned and Evelyn giggled. 

 

The trio walked through the corridor that the elevator had left them in, admiring the various odd machines located behind the glass walls. Some appeared to be straight up from the most alien of worlds, others were borderline organic.

 

To Rakna, a quick and simple glance was enough to tell him what each one was. Crystal Sight had no trouble dissecting these items. But most of them were prototypes; failed ones as well. But the fact that a few had the potential to kill level 500 Hosts after blowing up almost made him trip on his own feet.

 

On the other hand, Evelyn was straight up fascinated by everything, not bothered by the massive firepower casually stored in the middle of Black Steel.

 

“Here we are,” Wang said as they reached a steel door. As he was about to open it, golden crosses instinctively expanded in Rakna’s eyes and he calmly pushed both the dwarf and Evelyn out of the way. 

 

Then, under the calming and slowing effects of Crystal Sight, the therian watched the door being blown off its hinges and thrown against the glass, breaking it and nearly hitting an item that Rakna was sure had the specific words ‘C19. Unstable Dragon Coal Plastic Charge. Danger’ written on its description plate.

 

“…” The three visitors pursed their lips and Wang forced out a cough. “Well… that hadn’t happened in a while. Thanks, kiddo.”

 

“The fact that this is not the first time deeply worries me,” Rakna blankly retorted as his eyes faded back to normal on their own. He then walked over the debris and peeked his head inside the room that had just been blasted.

 

The room was an absolute mess, as expected, and countless broken devices littered the floor. The walls and ceiling were charred and cracked, and the obvious source of that damage came from the center of the lab where a cylindrical compartment was located. It was rather unscathed compared to the rest and there were three rings of blue energy revolving around each other inside.

 

“That’s Eion,” Rakna instantly recognized the familiar energy and looked around. “There’s no one here. Old Wang, do you think your friend was vaporized?”

 

“Don’t say jokes like that with such a straight face,” Wang retorted with a huff. “And I know you’ve already sensed him. Look, he’s about to scream like a little boy on Christmas in 3, 2, 1…”

 

“YES!!!” A yell echoed and someone crawled out from under a pile of debris. It was an elderly man wearing a singed black lab coat and a pair of flickering electronic goggles. “I did it! I knew I just had to create a parallel dissonance between the poles! Hahaha!” The man burst out laughing like a madman as he stuck his head against the glass cylinder. “This is pure genius!”

 

“Aye, just like that,” Wang sighed.

 

Rakna watched the old man rave like a mad scientist. “…I guess some people really act differently when they indulge in their vocations.”

 

“Eh? Do you know him?” Evelyn asked.

 

“Sort of.”

 

“Hey, old quack, you have guests!” Wang shouted and the old man unglued himself from the glass surface. He turned toward them with a confused expression before it dawned upon him.

 

“Oh… Ahem!” He cleared his throat and dusted his clothes. He took off his goggles and rubbed the soot away from his face. “Good to see you, Faezi. As you can see, when Mina informed me that you were here, I was rather occupied by the final stages of this experiment.”

 

“Right, which is why you forgot to account for the deadly door flying out like it had grown wings.”

 

“Bah! You would have survived,” the scientist brushed it off with a laugh. He took off his dirty coat and hung it on a random broken metal table. “So…” He grinned at Rakna. “We meet again, young man. I have to say, you inflated my confidence in my scouting abilities with all of what you have done.”

 

“Is that so?” Rakna snorted. “In my opinion, you just got lucky thanks to my luck.”

 

The elder blinked. “…never heard that one before.”

 

“You two know each other?” Wang raised an eyebrow in confusion.

 

“I gave this lad a Badge of Honor a while ago,” the scientist smirked. “Who knew I was giving it to someone who would become a member of the Council in just a mere month?”

 

“Seriously? That’s a hell of a coincidence,” the dwarf uttered and Evelyn nodded.

 

“Well, I couldn’t be happier. I cannot wait to see the faces of the other members when I tell them that I gave the infamous rookie a Badge of Honor before anyone else.”

 

“Does giving away a Badge of Honor come with conditions or benefits?” Evelyn asked and the old man chuckled.

 

“Let’s say it’s unspoken laws. First of all, the giving Local is responsible for the receiver’s actions if they go against the System or Pavilion’s order. I would have gotten a slap on the wrist if this lad had turned into some kind of criminal. Naturally, I hold no authority over him. When I gave him a badge, it wasn’t upon a contract. However, his status is directly correlated to mine.”

 

Rakna hummed at this point of the explanation. “From what I gathered, the higher level I am, the more benefits you get indirectly. You get Talys depending on how much I spend with the discount the Badge grants me; you also get more ‘credits’ with the Pavilion which can further your political influence or increase your Honor Rank.”

 

“Hahaha, it seems you’ve done your research.”

 

“Is that also something you’ve just ‘downloaded’?” Wang jested.

 

The therian snickered. “Not really. I looked it up a while ago. I wanted to know if using this Badge would unknowingly place me in an unfavorable position.”

 

“Hah, true, you’re the careful type like that.”

 

“Anyhow, it’s about time I introduce myself properly,” the scientist said. “My real name is Gaelius Eldron, Eleventh Seat in the Myth Council. I was using a small alias when we met.”

 

“Yes, Kein, was it? Can you even do that with the System? Alter status elements?”

 

“Indeed, it’s a small trick. It depends on the method, but it’s possible to falsify information to some extent. It is more complicated if you wish it to be permanent. The System can be a bit irritable if you try to mess with too many things.”

 

“I see…”

 

“So, what have you come here for today? If it’s for this,” Gaelius pointed at the Eion rings. “Then you’re right on time because I have just finished stabilizing and systematizing it,” he said and went to the cylinder, pushing a button on the socle of the structure.

 

Promptly, the lower half of the energetic chamber transformed and expanded into a control board with numerous screens and inputs. “Let me show what this can do,” Gaelius said excitedly and started typing for a few seconds. When he pressed the confirmation button, the energy rings began to spin around each other. Water-like streams of blue energy flowed out of the cylinder and spread around the lab.

 

It fused with the debris scattered around and slowly knitted them back together, generating the missing pieces out of nothing. Within a short minute, every piece of furniture and electronic device of the laboratory had been rebuilt in full.

 

“Hahaha, and all of it works perfectly!” Gaelius said as he operated a few of the machines, checking that they were booting up just like they did before the damage. “This energetic formula is a marvel. It is still hard to believe.”

 

“How does this work…?” Evelyn mumbled to herself whilst poking at one of the reformed objects with her finger. “Does it replicate atomic structures and then modulates their frequencies until it matches the composition of a particular material?”

 

Rakna sweatdropped as the succubus went into her own world and looked at Gaelius who was in a similar state, endlessly praising his newest creation. “Well, it’s half the reason we are here. But this is the heart of the discussion,” he said and tossed the Alkahestic Shard to him.

 

The old scientist caught it midair and inspected its details. His eyes popped out of their sockets and he started blabbering like a madman whilst hoisting the item above his head like some sort of holy ritual.

 

“Goodness…” Old Wang covered his forehead in embarrassment.

 

“Well, this might take a while,” Rakna commented blankly, watching the mad scientist shouting at the heavens in front of him and the mumbling mess of a succubus next to him.