Chapter 11: Kaisa Is Very Panicked
Dong, dong...
The melodious sound of the hour bell echoed. Inside the sewer, Su Xiao held the sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash in one hand, while a dozen meters ahead of him, flames blazed fiercely.
Checking his current reputation, he had 529 points. The rats in the Bone Harbor sewer no longer dared to rush out, no matter what potion Su Xiao used to lure them. They had clearly been scared off by the slaughter.
Su Xiao approached a relatively intact giant rat corpse and extracted a small amount of cells. He attempted to use Cyan Steel Shadow Energy to devour these cells. Under normal circumstances, Cyan Steel Shadow could only devour energy.
Crackle~
Blue electric arcs flickered, and the giant rat's cells quickly turned to ash.
"This is..."
Su Xiao had only wanted to give it a try, but unexpectedly, he had gained something. These rats weren't mutated; rather, some kind of energy had combined with their cells, causing them to grow so large.
Compared to the reason for the rats' gigantism, Su Xiao was more concerned about another matter. He raised his right arm. The skin on the back of his entire hand, including part of his fingers, had turned pitch black, spreading outward like an erosion.
If left unchecked, this blackness would slowly invade Su Xiao's body. As for its origin, every time Su Xiao killed a giant rat, the blackness on the skin of his hand would expand slightly.
As for using Cyan Steel Shadow Energy to devour it, that was entirely possible, but it consumed too much mana. Using 8,000 mana points' worth of Cyan Steel Shadow Energy could devour about one centimeter of the blackness. The fact that it could be devoured indicated that the rank of Cyan Steel Shadow Energy was higher than this blackness, but this blackness had a source—a very vast source.
Su Xiao flexed his right hand. It had basically no effect. If his guess was correct, this was the "Darkness" that the Sorrowful Maiden had mentioned earlier. Her words, "I will help you dispel the Darkness," were not just encouragement; it was something the Sorrowful Maiden could indeed do.
The Sorrowful Maiden had also said that she would not harm any living being. This was also worth pondering. In other words, harming a living being in this world would cause one to be eroded by the Darkness, eventually turning into a monster?
Or perhaps, as someone who could cleanse the "Darkness," the Sorrowful Maiden herself could not be exposed to it, or else she would lose her ability to cleanse it?
The side effects of the magic potions, combined with the erosion from killing living things, it was no wonder the wizards went mad.
"I see."
Su Xiao looked at the pile of blazing rat corpses. He decided not to continue clearing the rats; the efficiency was too slow. He had only come here to verify some conjectures, and this trip had been quite fruitful.
Su Xiao retraced his steps, left the sewer, climbed up the iron ladder, and headed straight for the Wizard Association in the Silver District.
When Su Xiao returned to the Wizard Association, Kaisa was busy at the reception desk.
"So fast?"
Kaisa looked at Su Xiao with some surprise.
"I have no interest in continuing to clear rats for the Wizard Association."
"!"
Kaisa shuddered and instinctively covered his pocket.
"You're not thinking..."
Kaisa swallowed his saliva, suddenly feeling a bit panicked inside.
"Your proposal to forcibly exchange reputation for the magic potion formula is not feasible. The risk is too high..."
"Wait, wait! What you're about to do has an even higher risk! There are at least 200 Secret Law Wizards here. We can't take them on. Even if we really flatten this place, the Wizard Association branches in other regions will put a bounty on us."
Kaisa looked at Su Xiao with fear in his eyes, while Su Xiao looked at him with confusion.
"Did I say I was going to flatten this place?"
"Uh... no, you didn't. But knowing you, even if you said you were going to slaughter the entire city of Heru, I'd believe you could do it."
Kaisa nodded seriously.
"..."
Su Xiao was momentarily speechless. In terms of external combat power, the Wizard Association should be the strongest armed group in this world, but their power was too hastily acquired. They might not even have a chance to resist when facing certain beings. From his earlier rat-clearing mission, Su Xiao had largely verified this.
"Kaisa, the Wizard Association's magic potions don't just appear out of thin air. According to what you said, the demand for magic potions is huge, and the production is independent. Who concocts this stuff?"
"The Moen Family."
Kaisa breathed a long sigh of relief. He was really afraid that Su Xiao would draw his sword and go head-to-head with the Wizard Association.
"Where are they?"
"Right on the ninth floor upstairs. You're not thinking... the Moen Family isn't easy to mess with either."
"Oh."
Su Xiao patted Bubu Wang's head. Bubu Wang understood immediately, blending into the environment and lightly bumping Su Xiao to let him see it.
Su Xiao took out a wireless earpiece, tossed one to Bubu Wang, and put one on himself.
Bubu Wang skillfully pulled out a full set of surveillance equipment, walked out the small door, and ran upstairs.
"So... so skilled..."
Kaisa was stunned. He took a serious look at Su Xiao, as if reacquainting himself with this old friend.
"A group of wizards whose minds have been eroded by foreign energy. Fighting them to the death would only waste stamina."
Su Xiao took out a tablet computer and tossed another wireless earpiece to Kaisa. "Tell Bubu the exact location where the Moen Family concocts the magic potions."
Kaisa leaned over, looked at the image on the tablet, and began guiding Bubu Wang on the direction.
From the start, Su Xiao had no intention of risking himself to obtain the magic potion formula. As for obtaining reputation through concocting magic potions, that was indeed feasible and efficient.
According to Kaisa, buying magic potions required spending silver coins, but drinking the potions and the subsequent procedures were free once you joined the Wizard Association. This was a rule set by the Immortal Wizard: Dawn, and no wizard dared to violate it, including the Moen Family. They were only responsible for concocting the potions; in the end, they were just important members of the Wizard Association, at most considered high-ranking.
Given the structure of the Wizard Association, as long as he didn't launch a large-scale attack on this place, the wizards wouldn't unite. They were used to being lax. As long as their own interests weren't threatened, getting them to fight to the death was completely impossible.
Therefore, Su Xiao had already deduced one thing earlier: concocting and selling magic potions would only offend the potion's concocter, not make him an enemy of the entire Wizard Association. His earlier rat-clearing mission had two purposes: first, to scout the terrain of Heru City for a strategic retreat in case of emergency, and second, to understand the Wizard Association's attitude toward wizards and commoners.
The images on the tablet changed rapidly. A few minutes later, Bubu Wang reached the ninth floor of the Wizard Association, bypassing dozens of alarm devices.
Bubu Wang stopped in front of a metal door. On the door was an Ouroboros pattern, the emblem of the Moen Family.
Bubu Wang activated the Sacred Traveler, directly penetrating the wall and entering a pitch-black room.
Buzz~
The night vision device activated. Bubu Wang looked around. This was a room of over 200 square meters, lined with rows of bookshelves. Against one wall was a metal table covered with bottles and jars.
Bubu Wang was quite experienced with this kind of operation. It didn't rummage through boxes and cabinets looking for things, because confidential items like magic potion formulas wouldn't be stored in physical form. Bubu chose to wait.
After waiting for over seven hours, the door was pushed open. A figure in a gray robe entered the room, occasionally waving a hand in front of himself, as if shooing away nonexistent mosquitoes.
After another half hour, the figure in the gray robe and hood sat down at the metal table, took out several materials from a drawer, and began concocting.
Bubu Wang zoomed in with the camera. On the other end, Su Xiao watched intently.
In less than a few minutes, a bottle of pure black potion was concocted.
"That's enough, Bubu. The concoction of the magic potion is simpler than I imagined. Even such a clumsy technique can produce it..."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Bubu Wang leisurely walked to the wall, passed through it, and left. The figure in the gray robe didn't notice anything unusual at all.
Su Xiao put away the tablet and turned his gaze to Kaisa.
"Those materials, can you get them?"
"Uh? Huh? Yes!"
Kaisa looked at Su Xiao with a dumbfounded expression. Even someone as cunning as him was stunned by the coordination between Su Xiao and Bubu Wang. He had a feeling that if he were Su Xiao's enemy, he would be arranged to death without even knowing how he died.