Experiment And Precipitate
In the blink of an eye, it was already late autumn.
The arable farms were all brimming with golden yellow ear wheat. The windmills in the distance were continuously whirling and the earth seemed to be joyous from the abundance.
* Dang Dang Dang! *
Travelling on the road in the middle of the farms was a group of horse carriages and armoured Knights with the strength and robustness that far exceeded those of ordinary men. On the armour on their shoulder plates was an insignia of a crescent moon- this was the insignia belonging to the city lord of Extreme Night City, Viscount Jackson!
Upon seeing the horse carriages, the farmers hurriedly avoided the road, taking off their caps and bowing.
In the middle of the Knights and troops, were several horse carriages that were veiled with black cloth. As these carriages advanced, sounds of clanging metal chains were produced from it which gave off an ominous feeling.
“Look at this direction! It seems to be headed to the villa! This should be the third group in this month!” A farmer with a brown beard muttered to himself.
“Old Johan! What are you looking at?” A farmer at the other side called out.
“Those horse carriages! I keep having the feeling that something is amiss. Previously when the wind blew, I saw the figures inside the horse carriage….” Old John’s brows furrowed.
“So what? It might be that the lord of our manor has started to purchase female slaves on a whim! You know what, our kind-hearted yet lazy manor lord, is still in his teens!”
The farmer beside Old John supported him and grumbled, “It’s better for us not to bother with the matters of these people. Let’s go! Rose Pub recently has new rum….”
Both farmers’ silhouette disappeared gradually in the distance.
As for the other side, the procession of horse carriages stopped outside of Leylin’s manor. Greem and Fraser have long since been waiting for them.
“According to the city lord’s orders, the ‘goods’ have arrived!” The leader of the Knights peeled his cloak open, revealing a hideous face littered with scars.
“Open the prisoners’ carriage!” With the leader’s command, the subordinates hurriedly opened the carriages carrying the prisoners, revealing the chained prisoners within.
These prisoners only wore coarse armour and these had holes and were covered in grime. They were all of different stature. Short, tall, thin and fat. However, the common similarity is the killing aura masked in their expressionless eyes.
Knights such as Greem and Fraser were extremely sensitive to killing intent. Only people who have truly committed homicide would have this aura.
“There are 5 men. They are all heinous criminals. Every legal case regarding them is enough to execute the capital punishments a dozen times…. Of course, the city lord has long since approved of their death sentence. In the eyes of the law, they are already ‘dead’….”
The Knight leader smirked, and his face which was littered with scars turned even more grotesque. “For whatever reason, even for the sake of those innocent victims, never let them go easily….”
“Their fate is all in the hands of Young Master!” After receiving the criminals, Greem said, “However, we can guarantee that not one of them will walk out of this manor….”
After getting a satisfactory response the Knight leader brought his troops and the empty prison carriages out of the villa.
As for Greem, he forcefully brought the 5 criminals under the basement of the manor.
The torch in the darkness, the tightly locked door, and the dry stifling underground passage gave all these criminals an eerie feeling. However, with the two Knights, Greem and Fraser, they had no chance to resist.
Greem led the way familiarly, bringing the 5 criminals each into different prison. Afterwards, he came to a newly tunneled experiment lab and waited by the side.
Although there were thick walls, and the surroundings had torches which were scorching bright, Greem still felt his hairs stand on end, and cold sweat trickled down his body.
As a slave Knight, he knew part of Leylin’s identity. He knew even more about the darkness and the terror behind those walls!
“That place is practically a hell!” The first time Greem was summoned inside by Leylin, he had blurted his thoughts. Afterwards, this fearless Knight had puked for an entire night.
Half an hour passed. For Greem, time seemed to have crawled like half a year long. Especially when the indistinct screams that occasionally seeped through the sturdy walls with the impression of piercing his ear drum!
May the heavens have pity! Although Greem was no good person, and his hands too were covered with blood, the moaning and wails behind the stone walls were something that a human was incapable of producing anymore.
* Creak! * The sturdy steel door swung open and Leylin strode out from it. On his body were traces of blood stains.
“A pity that the experimental body was not strong enough and was unable to endure the effects of the spell! I hope the next few experimental bodies will be more durable….”
To research on souls, Leylin did not have any readily available ingredients. So he could only adopt the crudest method which was to continuously gather data through experiments.
“Young Master!” Greem hurriedly bowed. “Today the city lord’s Castle has sent another 5 people over and they are all inside their cells….”
“Very well!” Leylin nodded his head.
Although he was a level 3 acolyte, before advancing into an official Magus, Leylin did not have enough assurance for challenging those self-proclaimed “Light” Magi, so some things still had to be concealed.
Only Greem and Fraser were handling the reception of goods. Apart from them, Anna, too, knew a little about it. Other than them, even Fayern and Old Welker, the housekeeper, knew nothing of Leylin’s deeds.
Although they had some faint surmises, but Leylin always disposed of those useless ‘ingredients’ by cremating them with medicinal powder. Under no evidence, even if anyone had suspicions, they could not do anything towards him.
“This is the limitation of strength! The official Magi in the academy can saunter through slave markets to purchase slaves as ingredients. They could even lure and cheat acolytes but nobody could punish them! However, I am just a lowly acolyte and all by myself. I still have to mind my reputation….”
Leylin stroked his chin.
“A.I. Chip, how is the gathering of data on experimental bodies today?”
Leylin asked inwardly.
[The spiritual force of the experimental subject has already been discovered to have 23 abnormal cerebral fluctuations and within the cerebrum were 45 hidden locations….]
The A.I. Chip’s voice intoned.
“Using the prisoners as living subjects and carrying out experiments to obtain research and data on the spirit body, seemed like it’s doable!”
Leylin nodded his head, “It’s just that the amount is still too little….”
Turning back, he looked at Greem who seemed to have been uneasy right from the start, “You did well, take your leave now!”
“As you wish, Master!” Greem bowed and heaved a secret sigh of relief as he hurriedly ran away.
As a regular human, naturally he was somewhat conflicted with these issues, not to mention the limitations set from the slave training. But Leylin’s strength had far surpassed Greem’s. Hence, he could only find it difficult to bear but did not dare to display any reluctance.
As his owner, Leylin naturally had seen through this point.
“After all, he is just a regular human and such occurrences are to be expected. As long as he is still obeying orders, the others I need not care about….” Leylin recalled Greem’s expression for a moment, before completely forgetting him. His black robes swirled about him as he disappeared into the underground lab.
“Leylin, my friend, we meet again!”
His green hair trailing the ground, Langford looked at Leylin and sincerity was shown on his face.
Ever since the previous incident between Leylin and Langford, they actually had traded a few more times. They had even established a friendship and became pretty good friends.
How things turned out like this was because Leylin discovered that when Langford was not crazy, his character was rather good. Moreover, his supplies of goods were constant and the prices in the Brey Canyon were cheaper than other magicians’.
Between magicians, benefits are the only constant. As for other things, most of them could be forsaken.
“Langford! This time, I require the goods urgently! Have a look!”
Leylin nodded his head as he handed over a yellow parchment paper with scribbles on it.
“I seldom see this side of you! Let me take a look!” Langford took the parchment paper and immediately ground his teeth.
“The faeces of the Kosh Bird, Stellar Alloy…. These items are all connected to the aspect of souls and are not cheap items!”
* Dong! * A small sack was immediately slammed onto Langford’s table.
After loosening the ropes around it, glittering magic crystals were revealed within it.
“Do not worry about magic crystals, these are the deposit. I will make up for the difference later with potions!” Leylin spoke in a rich and overbearing manner.
“That’s right! With your ability, magic crystals are only a small issue!”
Langford eyes glowed, and immediately kept the magic crystal sack into his robes, “The Kosh Bird is on the verge of extinction. I heard that some people had chanced upon it before in the Black Death Mountain Plains. As for Stellar Alloy, I have a piece of it here….”
Langford immediately rummaged through the shelves behind him, after which he opened a small black box.
In the centre of the red satin interior was a silver-coloured rock with blue spots
“The ingredients that you need, Stellar Alloy, Flowerless Leaves… I have one of each here. As for the others, maybe you could look further within the canyon….”
Langford hurriedly piled the items together, and calculated the final value, “785 magic crystals!”
“Alright!” Leylin stroked his chin somewhat grudgingly, “I will go for a look at the market. Also, you have to keep a lookout for the items I requested and purchase them when you can!”
“Alright!” Once Langford agreed, his countenance changed and the green hair continuously shrank, very soon reaching the waist area from the legs.
“Lea… Leave now!” Langford’s face contorted, and one of his eyes was already bloodshot.
Leylin turned around, until he left the cave for a distance before a howling sound travelled to his ears.
“An intermittent illness like this is really scary….” Leylin’s footstep did not stop and directly headed towards the depths of the canyon.
“Hurry, look! Langford has acted up again….”
“Should we inform the protectors?”
“I’m afraid there won’t be of much use. Hehe, not long later, Langford will be chased out from this place.”
At the same moment, from both sides of the cave, many acolytes who wore pointed hats looked at the direction of the howling sound. Expressions of anxiety, indifference and schadenfreude were seen across various faces.
After being busy for some time, Leylin emerged from the Brey Canyon. On his back was an additional black backpack stuffed full of various ingredients.
Leylin turned around to look at the Brey Canyon, before riding his dark horse and left.