On my way to the mess hall, I passed by the main gate of the Association, and noticed a small commotion on the other side. When I went to investigate, I learned that the second princess had been attacked and gravely injured earlier in the day, and was brought to the alchemists, for lack of a better option. That was mostly due to the inability to be sure that any other healer they could find wouldn’t be on the first prince’s payroll.

While it’s true the Association is mostly focused on creating pills, there’re some dedicated healers gathered under its banner even so, since their skills at identifying the source of a medical problem and devising a treatment plan would often go hand in hand with our pills. As such, the second princess wasn’t turned away, but those trying to follow her in, both supporters and assailants, were prevented from doing so.

They formed the two halves of the group blocking not only the path to the infirmary, but the gate as well, while the third party involved in the ruckus were the guards themselves. A few of the more hot-headed people tried to force their way in, and got met with force in return. 

Now, there was a standoff between about a dozen guards with swords drawn with another ten holding arrows to their bowstrings, facing off against a wall of almost forty people, and the actual customers couldn’t get past to buy anything at all. Even I, wearing the red robes of a Pill Master, had enough trouble trying to get through that I circled around to go through the dorms instead. That wasted several minutes of my time, but I managed to get to the mess hall before they ran out of lemon butter fish.

Oh, you thought I was going to get involved? It’s not my problem. It’d be a hassle, and we cats tend to not give a fuck about things that aren’t directly related to us... okay, fine, I’ve never been that heartless... and it was also in my interests to ingratiate myself with the second princess’s faction, or rather, to assist her faction as much as possible.

After I filled my bottomless pit of a stomach, I made my way to the infirmary, whereupon I learned that they’d managed to stabilize the princess’s condition. However, any and all attempts at healing her were met with failure, and some even caused further deterioration instead. Had I known, I would’ve prioritized her over getting that fish... I think... nah, eating good fish is just as important, since she was mostly stable. 

When I got to her room, there was one healer, an old lady in five-stripe red robes with a silver apron-like garment layered on top, sitting on a stool by the entrance, while two younger healers, a man and a woman in one-stripe red robes covered by the same silver apron their elder wore, were kneeling on either side of the princess, who was lying upon a bloodsoaked mat placed in the middle of the floor. Enveloping the princess was a thin layer of spirit from the two healers, so dense that it could be seen like a veil, colored by shifting sections of silver and green. Green was an easy guess, wood-attributed spirit, or maybe life. Silver was harder, my best bet was time, but that’s, well, incredibly impressive to have as an elemental seed, for someone at that age. One to slow down the deterioration with time, the other to provide healing, I guess.

“So, what does the best alchemist since the Dusk of Ages have to say about her situation? Are you a healer as well as an alchemist?”

“Well, if you haven’t figured it out already... she’s poisoned -”

“We know that!”

“If you’d let me finish... she’s poisoned with something that gets... strengthened by the process that is... healing the damage it causes. It’s a live malady, either a parasite or a pathogen. As it appeared immediately after she was attacked... I’d guess it’s a parasite. A pathogen would take more time to manifest... and given how bad it is for her... something that could infect others would... be a bad idea to let loose... in the capital you’re fighting to control... as it’d wipe out too many civilians”

The man who interrupted me had a skeptical look on his face, but the other two healers, especially the elder who asked the question, had adopted a pensive expression as they processed the information I’d gleaned.

“Okay... however, how do we deal with this parasite? Her body evidently can’t push it out, and we have no idea what to look for, nor how to treat it once we find it”

“What sort of wound did she get... with what kind of weapon... and where on her body was the wound?”

“She took a morning star to the gut. Over a dozen piercing wounds, some deep, some more shallow, and many ripped her flesh apart as they moved further. Also a few broken bones, and a large amount of internal hemorrhaging on top of that”

“How profuse was the blood loss?”

“She’s severely anemic now, as it’s nigh impossible to induce hematogenesis”

That’s... odd. It shouldn’t be hard to stimulate blood production, unless...

“Check spirit flow near and within... the bones that were broken”

Since blood is made within the bone marrow, for the most part, if there’s something hindering the creation of blood, it’d likely be taking root there.

“Spirit is being absorbed by those bones at almost ten times the speed of other bones”

“I hate to do this, but... break a bone in another area. The further away, the better”

The two healers pouring their spirit into the shell bristled a bit, but the old lady hobbled over and smashed the princess’s left pinky finger with her cane. The other healers gaped at the callous way she injured her patient, but refocused their attention when the spirit barrier began to thin and fade.

“And now what? How’s the flow there?”

“Spirit flow to the fifth digit of patient’s left hand has increased by about half its original rate”

“There you have it... something’s wrong with her other broken bones... so that’s probably where the parasite is hiding... or parasites, it may be more than one”

“And other words of wisdom? Some pill to kill the parasite? Some elixir to drive it out?”

“An eye for an eye... a tooth for a tooth... and poison for poison. Four pills, and follow these directions exactly. First, seal her spirit realm. Use-”

“Wait, wait. Let’s get the pills, then we can talk about procedure. What do we need? It sounds like it won’t be what we normally use here in the infirmary”

Yeah, almost certainly not. I’m betting that at least the second and third pills, if not all four of them, are not produced at all in the current era, at least, not here in the Association. I ought to be able to make them, they’re not hard to make, but the first one... I hope they have it in stock, it takes a long time to refine, no matter what improvements I could make to the formula.

“First, we need to completely seal her spirit realm. The Boundary Pill is best, but...”

“I’ve never heard of that pill. Any other options? I know we have the Spirit Seal pill, would that work?”

“In a pinch. It might leave her with permanent difficulties... with advancing further, or even... completely cripple her spirit realm. How long can she last... in her current state?”

“Probably just half a day, eighteen hours at best, eight at worst”

“Then, I don’t have the time... to refine a Boundary Pill. Here’s hoping it’s in stock... or even that there’s one... kept in a storehouse as a relic. We could use that and I’d... make a new one to replace it”

As we spoke, we were walking at a brisk pace to the main pill storehouse. I briefly explained the next pill, but that’s all I had time to do before we arrived. When we got there, I gave the short list of pills needed to the blue-robed attendant, who didn’t recognize any of them, but I still checked the directory, to discover that none of them were even known to have ever existed. So, I went to gather the materials for the second and third pills, after purchasing a Spirit Seal pill, with the highest purity I could find (and bearing an equally high price tag), as well as its counter-pill.

Unfortunately, when I went to buy the materials, the clerk gave me some bad news.

“Master Tama... I must ask that you state your purpose in purchasing fourteen restricted materials, and I regret to inform you that you may only have ten at most, due to the regulations on highly-toxic substances”

“I need them to refine a pill... for a patient in critical condition... If I’m missing even one... she won’t live until tomorrow’s sunrise”

“Rules are rules, I’m unable to dispense more than ten, even to a Pill Master. I could lose my job”

I groaned, but there was nothing I could do to get him to ignore that rule. I repeat: nothing I could do. As such, I went to find Grandmaster White, but after a few minutes of searching, I saw Grandmaster Miles walking down the hall instead. Good enough. I sped up to make up for his longer strides, until I was close enough that I wouldn’t have to shout, at which point I called out to him from behind.

“Grandmaster Miles, do you have a moment?”

“No, I’m quite bu- oh, Tama. I can spare some time, I suppose. What do you need?”

“Well, the thing is... I’m helping the infirmary with a patient... and in order to save her life... I need to make a specific pill - well, a few different ones. However, one needs fourteen restricted materials... which is, according to the regulations... four too many for a Pill Master”

“I see... I was headed over to the infirmary myself, so I might as well see this pill that needs fourteen restricted materials for myself. Oh, of course I’ll help you get those materials. Which ones do you need? Actually, never mind that. You’ve contributed enough to the Association, I think we can remove the restrictions for you, permanently. Once we’ve dealt with this current task, I’ll get you a badge showing you’ve got a Grandmaster’s trust and backing, maybe two, if Grandmaster White wants to back you as well”

Just then, the old healer caught up to us, out of breath and bearing a slightly cross expression as she gripped her cane with a white-knuckled hand.

“Really... did you have to run ahead without a word? Couldn’t you have called out to him from where we were?”

“Ah, Miss Sienna. Good afternoon. How a-”

“Good afternoon, Grandmaster. As we’re in somewhat of a rush, can we skip the chit-chat and pick up the materials Tama needs?”

“I was just about to suggest that myself. Let’s go. Tama, if you could fill me in on what’s needed and why as we walk, I would appreciate that”

“I suppose I can do so”

While heading back to the material distribution counter at a brisk pace, I gave him an overview of the princess’s condition, the conclusions drawn, and only lightly touched upon my treatment method due to us reaching our destination. With a Grandmaster overriding the standard restrictions on dangerous materials, the purchase went smoothly and swiftly, and I immediately moved into a nearby room to refine the last two pills, both with ominous-sounding names, one of which was deserved, the other not. 

The first pill, which required twelve of the fourteen restricted materials, was named “Miasmic Spirit Encroachment”, while the second, which required three of those twelve in addition to the remaining two, was the misleadingly dubbed Cursed Spirit Annihilation Pill. I mean, technically, it does what its name says, however, it’s not the pill that is cursed, but the spirit the pill annihilates... except it still doesn’t destroy it, instead, the pill merely changes its form. More on that later.

Irregardless of their frightful-sounding names, they were tricky to refine as well, enough so that, to those who knew how, their names provoked a different kind of dread. The former took a bit over an hour to create, and the latter I realized I couldn’t make on my own, so I had to guide Grandmaster Miles through the three-hour refinement process. 

Sienna returned to the infirmary at some point during those four hours, so Grandmaster Miles and I headed over on our own, pushing through the throng of people going the opposite direction down the hall for dinner. Yes, despite the fact that he was a Grandmaster, and I, a decently famous Pill Master, people prioritized food over showing respect for their betters by making way for them. It’s not just me who does that, I’ll have you know. When we finally arrived, the princess’s condition was noticeably worse, her skin pale and bloodless, the two healers kneeling next to her sweating buckets as the spirit barrier appeared thin enough that one might think a feather landing on it could cause the whole thing to shatter.

“Is everything ready?”

“Yes - oh, wait, do we have any grade three... or higher spirit stones? Ideally, two grade fours... but a bit over a dozen grade threes... should work well enough. No cores, however, unless you’re willing for the core... to be made worse than useless”

“I - yes, we do. Why do you need them?”

“Just bring them. In the meantime, you two... make her consume the Spirit Seal pill”

As I said that, I handed it to them, and by the time it had taken effect, Sienna had returned with two large, lustrous spirit stones, brighter than the torch flames lighting up the room, and set them on the table nearby. My voice shifted to ice-cold seriousness as I delivered the next instructions, leaving no room to argue, especially with the grave warnings that preceded the instructions.

“Whatever you do... do not let your spirit touch this pill... or enter her body after she consumes it. It will infect your spirit... and quickly make its way... back to your spirit realm. Within seconds, it will corrupt your spirit streams. At that point, the best solution would be... resolutely destroying and expelling any infected streams... even if it means dropping a few levels. Otherwise, you’d die in a matter of minutes... without even leaving a recognizable corpse behind. That being said, withdraw the barrier, please... and quickly make her swallow this pill”

Everyone else in the room, the unconscious princess excluded, gaped at my explanation of the effects of the Miasmic Spirit Encroachment Pill, presumably wondering how that kind of pill could possibly help in this situation. I had already explained to Grandmaster Miles and Sienna the general theory, but not exactly how the pill itself worked. I repeated my instructions to the two worn-out healers, who looked to Sienna for confirmation. She looked to Grandmaster Miles, who shrugged and then nodded. 

“I trust him, his judgment and analytical skills in addition to his alchemical knowledge. If he’s trying to fight poison with poison, there’s almost certainly a good reason for it, even if I don’t know that reason”

“Without knowing the exact parasite... this is the only thing that’s not... completely a shot in the dark”

The healers stopped pouring spirit into the barrier, and her condition immediately began to deteriorate. I placed the pill in the princess’s mouth, and one of the healers used a crystal rod to push it down her throat, even as it disintegrated on the way down.

“Now, without mixing any of your own spirit in... feed everything from these spirit stones... into her body. The faster the better, but safety first”

Each healer grabbed one of the stones, and a visible strand of pale grey spirit began to flow from each of the stones into the princess’s body. Almost instantly, it gained a dark purple color that slowly spread up towards the stones, and half an hour later, not long after the luster dimmed to a tenth of its original level, the stones themselves began to take on a pale violet hue, the color darkening as the glow brightened. 

The natural spirit stored within got corrupted, transforming into a toxic, but much more potent, form of energy. When the light emitted by the stones had surpassed the brightness they’d had when brought into the room, but this time, casting a strong lavender color onto the originally white walls, I told the healers to stop and then to quickly set the stones into the boxes they came in, closing the lid on top. Without the alteration of their light, one could see that the princess’s skin was, in fact, some shade of purple itself, and I waited for a minute or so before placing the third pill into her mouth, where it instantly dissolved without her needing to swallow it.

“What was that pill?”

“Its name is misleading...”

“What the hell kind of name is that? The Misleading Pill?”

“No, no. It is not literally named misleading, it’s that its name might mislead you. It’s called the Cursed Spirit Annihilation Pill”

“The Misleading Pill is something else... no, this pill destroys spirit, any spirit it can find... though it very much prefers raw Yin spirit. After it does so, it condenses the spirit fragments... into crystals normally found only in the realm of Yin”

“What use do these crystals have?”

“To the average person, not much. Maybe they could throw them like bombs... but that’s about it besides looking pretty. To Yin Magi, witches, necromancers, warlocks, and so on... they’re priceless cultivation resources. Same goes for Yin Spirit Beasts... and Yin Spirit Seeds. For alchemists... they can greatly enhance Yin-attribute pills... or be used to fuel Pure Yin Flames... which are needed for a few formulae. And skilled artificers would love to use them... as materials when crafting certain spirit artifacts... as it’d almost guarantee high-grade... as a minimum result, if successful... and with a bit of luck or skill... creating a peak-grade spirit artifact isn’t unlikely”

While I explained, the pale purple color on the princess’s skin darkened in a few patches, while the rest faded to a normal skin tone. As the patches got darker, they began to bulge, appearing as though they were blisters that somehow also got bruised. When there was no purple anywhere else on her body, the blisters - no, they ought to be more like cysts at this point - were all around the size of an average plum, with a similar color too.

“Cut the purple spots open... remove the crystals within... scrape out the pus or bile within... ALL of it... and then sear the flesh underneath. You have about an hour to do so... though sooner is better. Oh, uh... based on the bulges under her dress... it seems you’ll have to strip her. Shall I leave?”

“Would you please? Miles, Theo, you as well. Theo, please get Mira to come and assist Feyla”

While it’s not like I would’ve felt anything untowards had I stayed, or even if I’d done it myself, it was still not something I had to be present for. Thus, if for nothing but the unconscious princess’s future comfort, I offered to leave. The three males in the room left, Sienna followed us out, and subsequently, the male healer, Theo, ran off, while the rest of us stayed just outside the door for a few minutes. Sienna asked about what steps needed to be done after removing the crystals, but there really wasn’t anything else besides giving her the Spirit Liberation Pill to undo the effect of the Spirit Seal Pill, and then standard healing, with techniques and/or pills, should be enough to bring her around. 

After handing the last pill to Sienna, I took my leave to head back to the mess hall for dinner, but not before checking on the main gate, which still had a small-scale standoff, despite it being over eight hours after it began. As an aside, I experimented with a spicy pork noodle dish, the meat was good, the broth excellent, but the noodles weren’t that good, in my opinion. After all, at the time, I still wasn't much of a fan of plant-based foods, my few months spent as an omnivorous human a drop in the ocean compared to the millennium I’d spent as a mostly-carnivorous cat.

Once I’d finished eating, I went back to the infirmary to check on the princess. When I got there, three things immediately drew my attention. First, the princess was lying face down now, her back exposed after her dress was mostly cut off of her body, revealing several fresh burns that were already half-healed and coated in a transparent paste, with the distinct smell of cocaine processed into a local anesthetic, and some bandages wrapped around her torso, providing some measure of modesty for her, frankly, oversized chest. Second was the smell of burnt flesh, which was mostly masked by the smell of the anesthetic and some sort of cleaning solution. Third, a pile of purple crystals, so dark they looked black everywhere but the very edges. As I further examined the room, I saw a trio of female healers, the oldest and youngest I knew, the middle-aged one I didn’t, and all three were resting off to the side.

I went to the pile of crystals first, each one anywhere from the size of a quail egg to that of a duck egg. Alternatively, you could liken it to the sizes of grapes and lemons, but those have more variation, so... ignoring size, there were a total of 31 such crystals, ranging anywhere from grade one to grade four. I chose to pocket the three grade fours, and half of the others. I threw them into the gazebo floating above my spirit ponds, though I pretended to put them into my spatial ring.

I stuck around for another two hours, exchanging my limited information on medical techniques from the previous age for an in-depth anatomy lesson, as, well, I didn’t know much about the human body myself, having only had one for less than half a year. Just when I was preparing to excuse myself, the second princess stirred, rolling onto her back. That resulted in a rude awakening, as her head fell from the cushion it’d been resting on to audibly strike the stone tiles, with only a thin cloth - and, technically, her untied hair - as padding.

“Mmm... fuuuck... that’s a right pain in the ass there”

“I think it’s more... a pain in the head, no?”

I was quite surprised by the half-conscious princess’s vulgar language, given her status as a member of royalty and a contender for the throne, but even despite that, I still had enough wits about me to crack that joke. Hopefully the cracking of that joke was worse than the cracking of her skull.

“Oh piss off Gabe, my head is killing me. Yuri, can you nab me some ginger tea from the kitchens? Ah, damn, I don’t even remember drinking last night...”

Okay, that’s not exactly the most promising thing when it comes to her coming out of this with her mental faculties fully intact, but let’s give her a few minutes, she’d been out cold for almost half a day, after all.

“Princess, you’re in an infirmary. Your guards and servants aren’t here”

“I mean, her guards are here... in a standoff with the Association’s guards... and some unidentified third party. But, yeah, they’re not in this room”

[Not helping...]

[Sorry, it slipped out, I’m used to mentally retorting like that, and...]

[I’ve been with you for a few months, I know what you’re like, but even so, that’s exactly the wrong thing to say if you want her to be calm]

I mean, that’s not wrong, but...

[I think a stranger opening with “your guards aren’t here” is enough to greatly unsettle anyone who’s used to having guards around and just woke up in an unfamiliar place]

As I had such a mental exchange with the big cat living within my spirit realm, Sienna and the other healers told the princess some of what happened while she was out, specifically about the injuries she sustained, though they hadn’t gotten to the treatment when I piped up with a few questions.

“Ah, hold on a moment... Uh... this is actually... somewhat of an urgent thing, so... to judge side effects of treatment... and guide any treatment for those... what was your level?”

“And who might you be, little boy?”

I bristled a bit - internally, at least - when she called me a little boy, and the slight pause as I calmed myself, so as to not let my displeasure show in my voice, was enough for Sienna to get her response in before mine.

“He is the one who saved your life”

“Pill Master Tama, at your service”

“At that age? Imp-”

She swallowed the words she began to say... not that she had much of a choice, it was an instinctive reaction to my using telepathy to let Leon roar at her as I glared with almost bestial ferocity. It also only really worked in the first place because she wasn’t wary of a mental attack at the moment, and her mental state was still partially shaken by the coma, the aftereffects of the treatment, and the impact to her head. After she paused for half a second, she swallowed, briefly looked down, and continued in a softer tone, but with more rigidity behind it, if that makes any sense.

“-ressive, if a bit hard to believe. I’ll trust you on that, at least. So, what do you need me to say my level for? Can’t you tell by looking at my spirit?” 

“Well, we can see what level... your spirit companion is at right now... but the issue is actually your level... before and after treatment”

“Okay, I’m... hmm... fucking shi- er... I was at level 39, but now... I’ve dropped to 36. What did you do to me? Can you give me my levels back?”

She seemed to get mad, so I rushed into the explanation before she got fully irate.

“I would if I could. Three of your Spirit Lakes must have gotten infected. There’s nothing that can be done to give them back... but it shouldn’t be that hard to reform them... as you’ve already got the framework. Unless you cultivate a Yin Technique, in which case... we can bring at least one back... if not two or even all three... if we’re really lucky”

“Infected? By what? Is it still there? I thought you’d fixed me up completely!”

She got frantic, but that’s still better than irate.

“Calm down, princess, calm down. Your life was in danger, nobody knew what to do. Tama identified that there was a parasite absorbing spirit attached to your ribs, but due to the lack of time, the only options were to cut it out, and potentially kill you when it doesn’t want to let go and you’re bleeding even more profusely from the surgery, or to do what Tama suggested, which was to isolate your spirit realm as best as we could, throw in extremely toxic spirit for the parasite to absorb and die from, and then convert it all into mostly purified crystals before unsealing your spirit realm. In the process, due to using a less-powerful version of the correct pill for the procedure, some might have gotten into those three Spirit Lakes, and then they got sucked up into the crystals. Makes sense, why there’re three grade four crystals, one for each of the Spirit Lakes. There’s nothing we can do about that, but be glad it wasn’t all of them that got infected”

“And why did you use an inferior pill?”

“Because the correct one... couldn’t be found... and takes so long to make that... you’d’ve died before I was half done”

That shut her up for a bit, but she still seemed to be lost for what to do going forwards. So, I gave her a quick summary of my role in her treatment, and the mechanics behind the pills I used, and then broke the next awkward silence with an offer.

“So, princess... I’ve heard a good amount about the competition... between you and your brother, the first prince. He’s... shall we say, high on my shitlist? I’m on his kill list, just as you are. Not as high on the list, of course... but I’ve been through several assassinations he’s sent my way... and I’m willing to intentionally expose myself to more... to get more information. If you want to have my help... I can give you that kind of information... on those assassins he uses... to better your odds of survival. My alchemy will be of some assistance too, if you’d like. However, note that I’m making this offer as... Tama the tenacious orphan with good alchemy skills... not as Pill Master Tama... In this, I am in no way... a representative of the Association. I just hope you’ll be able to take him out... so I stop having assassins killing me every week”

She listened, her expression interested, but also concerned, as I mentioned my willingness to dance with death. She didn’t know just how close to dying I was willing to get, but I could guess she didn’t want that information at the cost of a young, extremely talented alchemist’s life. When I got to the end of my spiel, she smirked for a moment, but just briefly, the next second, it was like it’d never happened.

“I think you meant to say ‘trying to kill me every week’ not ‘killing me every week’, right?”

“I mean, I’d say that I should’ve died... maybe 30 times over, to his cronies? I think I’ve got a better shot at surviving... than basically anyone else you could get. Well, if you can get a Celestial to help you... you might do better. But if you could... you could just win through overwhelming might. Think it over. You’ll have to stay here overnight anyways. For now, I’m off to rest... Oh, right. For the future, what should I call you? Princess? Lady Tilaramine? Tilly?”

“You saved my life. Tilly is fine, or Lady Tilly around my retainers. I hate it when people call me princess, and I don’t even want to think about people calling me empress. I never wanted the job in the first place, but my eldest brother would be the worst possible option, even you would probably be better than him... no offense intended, just saying... he’s selfish, views everyone who’s not a noble as inferior and expendable, not deserving protection or even a standard of living on par with hogwings.”

Side note: At this point in time, I’d never tasted them before, but since then, I’ve discovered that hogwings are great. They’re basically egg-laying, six-legged pigs with two pairs of fleshy - not feathered - wings, and the meat is somewhere between pork and chicken. The wings are especially delicious, as there’s a lot of lower-density fat well-marbled with the muscle to reduce the weight while maximizing the surface area. It’s like... well, I’m not sure how to describe it. Perhaps once I’m done telling you my tale, I’ll bring you out to have some honeymarrow glazed hogwing wings... oh, right, honeymarrow is honey from cemetery bees, often called zombees. It’s a bit less sweet, but much more savory than normal honey. Now, back to the tale at hand... where was I... oh, right, Tilly’s rant about her older brother’s lack of ability to be a good monarch

“He doesn’t care to listen to advisors or read reports, and let the soldiers take women from villages that couldn’t keep up with the insane tax raises and do whatever they wanted with them. He’s driven two territories into ruin, so imagine what he’d do to the empire if he gained control of it. Frankly, I- sorry, sorry, I tend to rant whenever I get worked up”

I wish I could have that problem, but instead I have to deal with the inability to talk at all fluidly when I get worked up.

“It’s alright, you’re also dealing with a blow to the head, recovery from major internal and external injuries, and a drop in level. Patients with anywhere near that level of physical and mental trauma are often much worse than you, either completely incoherent or downright abusive, so it’s quite nice to see someone as calm, collected, and cordial as you for a change”

“Not sure if that’s supposed to make me feel better or not, given the low bar...”

“I think you should consider it a compliment. Now, thoughts about my offer? If you need more time...”

She shook her head, winced, and then had a thoughtful expression for a moment before responding.

“No, I think it’s a fine offer, assuming you’re really willing and up to the task. I’m sorry I won’t be able to pay you much for now, but when I ascend to the throne, I’ll be sure to compensate you... assuming I manage to win, of course. If I don’t, well, odds are we’d both be dead soon enough”

I mean, odds are, while she’d die for good, I would only be dead for a little while, not dead dead like her. But, of course, no need to mention that.

“As long as I can increase the odds... of you getting Jcerniv off my back... I’ll be fine with low short-term payment. So, deal?”

“Err... We have a deal. I look forward to working with you. So, what information do you have on the assassins currently employed by my brother?”

“I know two at the moment... but more are sure to come. One is a swordsman who kills up close. Not that big a threat to you... and even I could escape him on foot... though his legs were slightly injured. But, on the other hand... I was missing my other hand - and arm. So, I was lighter but bleeding out quite fast”

“You don’t look like you’re missing an arm”

And you don’t look like your abdomen was pulverized and your organs shredded to bits, but healing arts are a wonderous thing, and so is my immortal body.

“A very astute observation. I heal fast, hence why I’m still alive... despite numerous different, often fatal, injuries. Hence my confidence in surviving to deliver information”

My words were dripping with sarcasm, and as you know, to put sarcasm into a liquid state requires a lot of moisture, which means that I was speaking rather dryly, not unlike how she was speaking when commenting on my arm.

“Okay, fair enough. Everyone has their secrets, and it’s known to be possible, albeit difficult, to reattach severed limbs with healing arts and pills, so I won’t pry. What’s the other one like?”

“An extremely skilled sniper. He was able to accurately hit a target... through a glass window... from at least two hundred meters away. Not sure where he was, however... I was standing in profile, but he still hit me... between two ribs, in the collarbone... and grazed my back despite my fast movements. He coats his arrows with a paralytic poison too... as though his arrows aren’t deadly enough”

“Evidently they’re not, you’re not dead to them, nor to the poison”

I gave a brief description of what the sword-wielding assassin looked like - very brief, as I never got a good look at him - and then the discussion moved on to her situation, which is when we all found out that she didn’t remember the attack on her and her being brought here beyond a black blur, sudden burst of pain in her midriff, and then waking up here the next moment.

“I... you said my guards are outside? Could you ask for Mike, and only Mike, to come here? He should be able to answer these questions better than I. If he’s not there, ask for Yuri”

“Very well. Feyla, could you go out front and get him?”

“Fiiinnnneeeee... what does Mike look like?”

“Long, light blonde hair, green eyes, red vestments, gold-colored pauldrons. Tall, neither thin nor fat, well toned muscles. No visible weapons on his person. Level 46, and that’s all that you should need to identify him”

“Sounds like my kinda guy, hot damn, is he single?”

Feyla left with sparkling eyes, and not even two minutes later, she came back with a blush and a beautiful man in tow, and he was literally shining, radiating a divine light... a light which slightly revulsed me, for some reason. As always, Leon jumped in with a helpful answer with a few more details than one would expect him to know.

[Objects infused with the divinity of the heavens, including divine light, inherently reject void spirit realm cultivators, as it fears their potential to topple the heavens from which they draw power. If you both were stronger, that light could get a bit painful, but it really can’t damage you much at all, unless you reach tier 5 and the other party is at least a third of the way to level 100 ahead of you... by my calculations, at least]

[How do you know so much?]

[It’s called exPAWsition for a reason. The author has imbued me with knowledge that might be helpful to know, even if it’s mostly useless]

Look, before you say anything, he actually said that, and yet, despite how high a level I’ve reached, my nigh-omnipotence, in fact, I’ve never found this world to be a novel being written by some dumbass author. He’s just pulling my leg because he himself isn’t sure how to answer that. He does this frequently, you just get used to it after a few centuries.

We asked Mike several questions about the assassination attempt, got a better picture of the assassin and her weapon, a ball on a chain with triple hooks instead of spikes, and barbs on the chain itself for extra lethality. The chain seemed to be about as long as her entire body - all four feet of it - not including the base grip and the ball at the end. She wore chainmail gloves, and the rest of her body was hidden under a durable black cloak. 

All we knew of her herself was that she was short like a child, yet far too well developed to be one, as evidenced by one guard’s punch mostly harmlessly sinking into her chest, her breast absorbing and dispersing most of the force. In addition, she was proficient in both midranged and melee combat, the latter supplemented by kicks and leg sweeps before her ball smashed down onto that person’s head. Four guards were dead, six more seriously injured, though none of the casualties were from her personal force, the guardian angels. Of the injured ones, it was all blunt-force trauma, none of the hooks or barbs managing to pierce the skin through their armor.

“Well... putting this all together... we can infer a few things... first, there are at least three kinds of assassins hired. One who strikes from afar, never getting in close. One who sneaks up to deliver a killing blow at close range. One who fights their way in and out... causing as much damage and confusion as possible... and then fleeing when it gets tough. We can assume there’s the kind that poisons food... or other things, drinks, doors, and so on... and isn’t noticed until long after the murder”

“That’s not going to be a problem, I have... immunity to most poisons, and a high resistance to basically all others. And two loyal people with different kinds of poison detection skills check my food, drink, and rooms quite often. One or the other is always with me at home, where I plan to stay for the next few weeks”

“A wise choice. So, now the issue is, how do I attract the prince’s attention?”

“Why would you want to stick out?”

“I’m the hard-to-kill bait for his assassins. The more he tries, the more info Lady Tilly and I will have on the assassins he has working for him”

CaTastrophy427

I'm so sorry for the delay, life has been a fustercluck recently, medical issues popping up one after another after another, school got harder and sent me into a series of panic attacks for a while (and it's still stressing me out) and overall, just [excuses], [excuses], and most of all, [EXCUSES]. This is the first half-ish of my original plan for chapter 8 - err, well, the second third of my original plan for chapter 7, which then got split into chapters 7 and 8, and now it'll also push into chapter 9. This was originally planned to be a 9 chapter book (not counting the epilogue-type thing I might or might not do), now it's 11 gonna be chapters or more lmao... orz Once again, thank you for reading what I've been writing, it means a lot to me to hear feedback, even if it's just a "thanks for the chapter" or an "I'm still waiting with bated breath for the next chapter" it can get me through a tough day. Next update will be... honestly, I don't know, this next part I've planned out a TON, like, the most of any chapter thus far, I think, so either it'll be smooth sailing and I can bang it out in about a week, or it'll be great until I get stuck for a month and a half figuring out how to get from point A to point B in my plans, which might happen more than once, so it'd take until March or something. I hope not, but who knows?

I guess... all that's left is for me to plug my Discord Server, where you can get more frequent updates on how I'm doing, what I've written, what I'm stuck on, and just hang out, chat, laugh at memes and out of context quotes, and more. Speaking of what I've written, I've also gotten the prologue/chapter 0 for my side project out, which you can read here, if you want. If that link doesn't work for whatever reason, you can look at my profile to find both the link to my discord in text form, and my other novel under my "series" tab. It's an atypical "trapped in a VR game" novel, or it's planned to be, anyways. Haven't actually gotten to the game itself in what's been published, but I've got plans...