Krysta
Krysta was confused by the woman she was guiding. Light of skin, with blonde hair and blue eyes, she had neither the same hair, eye, nor skin color as Aalam, at least according to what Krysta had seen in the Trial Tower, and, while she’d learned Aalam had been reborn as an incubus, his skin color at least should have stayed the same, so either Earth had multiple human ethnicities or this woman wasn’t from there. She was also radiating the aura of a D rank, and a healer at that, even wearing traditional healer garb, so she was not one of the Earth humans Krysta had met during the War of the Chosen.
Then, when they entered into one of the closed off conference rooms of the Forest Cauldron, Krysta’s confusion grew even more. In the room covered with wood, completely grown out of a single tree by her mother’s power, was a large conference table designed to seat twelve, and her mother was at one end while the woman naturally sat at the other, not showing any of the deference Krysta would expect from a D rank meeting with an A rank in her own domain. And her mother didn’t seem to mind at all, smiling at the woman as Krysta took a seat next to her.
“Your disguise is very impressive, Ms. Li.” Joma La’Vordi, the Alchemist of the Deep Woods, even bowed her head slightly. “Had I not known any better, I would have been fooled. On a somewhat more detailed inspection, however, it does fall apart, so I wouldn’t recommend pretending to be a rank higher than you actually are.
“Had you just used your Sarra Lin’Talic identity, for example, I would probably have to do a very thorough inspection to notice how your cultivation technique doesn’t match the aura you present.”
“Thank you for your praise, Madam Alchemist.” The blonde woman bowed and, as Krysta watched, her hair changed from yellow to black, each individual hair on her head becoming thinner and more vibrant. At the same time, the reddish pigments in her skin faded and her body structure shifted, her waist shrinking slightly and her arm muscles gaining more definition, visible as her greenish gray healer garb transformed into a low cut violet gown.
The most striking physical change, however, was her eyes. When she raised her head, they were no longer blue, but bright pink, and her changed facial structure made them appear quite a bit larger.
The biggest change in the woman, however, wasn’t physical, but the fact her aura completely disappeared, making her feel like a common G rank, similar to Aalam in the War of the Chosen.
“So interesting.” Joma leaned forward, looking all over the woman, who had apparently been disguised as Sarra Lin’Talic during the War of the Chosen, with the same type of excited expression Krysta had seen her wear when one of her subordinates had invented a new type of alchemic polymer.
Then Joma waved one of her hands, initiating a contract between her, the woman, and Krysta.
The Alchemist of the Deep Woods has sent you a contract request.
Terms:
- All secrets revealed or realized during the current meeting between Li Mila, Joma La’Vordi, and Krysta La’Vordi will not be shared unless explicit permission is granted by the side whose secrets they are
- No lies of any kind, including lies by omission, are allowed during the meeting
Punishment:
Death
Do you accept?
Yes/No
Krysta immediately accepted and a couple seconds later the contract was fully formed, but it was noticeably stronger than the same type of contracts she’d been under from her mother before.
“Fairy Law at Heroic grade.” Joma nodded once, seemingly having realized something. “And, from your eyes and who your teacher is, I’m guessing Evil Eyes Diabolical Trickster is your second class. Impressive.
“But is there a reason Heavenly Spark Soul King Aalam Alvaro isn’t here personally?”
As Krysta felt her heart rate increase due to several absolutely insane realizations entering into her mind, Li Mila chuckled slightly. “Yes, several. First, Aalam isn’t very good at contracts, which is one of the reasons he made me his chamberlain. Should you take him on as your apprentice, that’s an area where his sister and I would hope you’d help him improve. Second, I came here today not just to talk about you taking on Aalam as an apprentice, but to hopefully create several contracts between my force and yours, a matter where I have full authority and Aalam would have none. Third, should you decide to kill us out of fear or in retaliation for what was done to the Violet Mountain Sect, I at least would prefer you kill only me rather than Aalam as well. And, finally, fourth, Aalam is currently unconscious due to whatever the effects of personally killing a powerful B rank have on the soul of an E rank, so I couldn’t bring him anyway.”
“He managed to kill Violet Mountain Lord Zev Andar personally? How?” Krysta got the distinct impression her mother was more impressed than worried or irritated. And that seemed to relax Ms. Li, whose body had tensed up slightly after the mention of the name Heavenly Spark Soul King.
“Do you care more about the how than the why?”
“The why seems obvious.” Joma leaned back in her seat, seeming to be deliberately trying to appear more relaxed to reduce Ms. Li’s fear of being murdered. “Zev Andar killed Epecteos Ka’Dravone, who you had almost certainly hired as a combat instructor for your force, and you, or maybe just the Heavenly Spark Soul King and I’m guessing the warrior called Knight in the War of the Chosen, wanted to kill Zev Andar in retaliation.”
Joma pointed at Krysta while maintaining eye contact with Ms. Li. “You almost certainly approached Mr. Ka’Dravone due to needing to find a way to get access to the Twelve Element Primal Code, which my daughter here denied you, and that’s probably why you joined the Violet Mountain Sect as well as I’ve become aware they had a copy.
“Have I been wrong about anything so far?”
Ms. Li shook her head. “No.”
“Honestly, I like the why,” Joma continued. “You all, or at least the Heavenly Spark Soul King himself, cared enough about a teacher of several years to risk a war with a force many, many times stronger than you. And that intent alone is something I would love in an apprentice.
“But, not only did you attempt to destroy a force many times stronger than you, you succeeded. And you did so in about as clean a fashion as I’ve ever heard, even somehow blowing up their main planet to hide your tracks. I also really like that competence.
“The how, however, worries me a bit. Not only did you kill Zev Andar, but you slaughtered his entire force as well. And you even somehow stole the blessed land he guarded, making five powerful A rank forces your enemies as a result, one of which I am very close to as I’m taking their princess as my other apprentice, and two others which are my customers.
“I can’t have my apprentices creating trouble for me. And, at the moment, it seems the Heavenly Spark Soul King might be an uncontrollable loose cannon, so the step by step how is very important in my decision to take him on as an apprentice.”
Joma took a deep breath. “Am I right in assuming you and Diana Alvaro are the two apprentices of the Yin Yang Sage?”
“Yes.” Ms. Li nodded and she didn’t hide the fact she seemed to be thinking about what Joma had just said.
“Then the other thing I’m worried about is why the Yin Yang Sage chose you and Diana Alvaro and not Aalam. From everything I’ve learned, he is considerably more talented than either of you, and, despite not following the path of yin and yang with his Laws, he seems to be following the Yin Yang Sage’s class path the most closely. So, from what I know, were I her, I would have chosen him over one of you. And this means I’m missing something.”
“Understandable.” Ms. Li leaned back in her seat in a way that mirrored Krysta’s mother. “The answer to both your main questions is pretty simple. Aalam has some slight suicidal tendencies and the first uniqueness he awakened was Id.”
Krysta looked to her mother and she saw the excitement fade from Joma’s eyes, but then it came back even stronger.
“Oh.” A big smile spread over Joma’s face. “Given her body is dead and her soul is likely only maintained by the System due to some deal, I’m guessing the Yin Yang Sage can only take on two apprentices total, with no ability to regain the slot if one of you were to die, unlike most living cultivators?”
“Yes.” Ms. Li seemed slightly more relaxed after Joma’s change in expression.
“Then it makes perfect sense why she wouldn’t choose Aalam.” Joma looked up at the ceiling, seemingly deep in thought. “If I’m right, he killed himself after your death, likely already under the influence of his uniqueness, thus resulting in him becoming a monster. So of course the Yin Yang Sage wouldn’t pick him as one of her only two legacy apprentices.”
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