Chapter 79: Premonitory Feeling
Priam moved carefully, leaving the Infernal Forest.
At his current level, he could already feel the flow of Ether and groups of people gathered in the distance. In the years he had spent studying and practicing in the clan, Priam had learned many things about how to use Ether properly.
By burning his energy, he could greatly expand his perception. Besides that, he could also use the wind element in the environment, which he was getting better at controlling every day, to better sense people from long distances.
So, he moved little by little, careful not to be seen by any demon. That was because the people of the Dark Peak clan were certainly looking for him after his previous escape.
It was impossible for him to flee the planet without a teleportation inscription. According to legends, only Sages could travel through space without using inscriptions.
Those demons were not idiots. They only needed to block all inscriptions of that type on the planet, and Priam would be trapped there.
That could be done because the entire planet was dominated by this single clan. Besides, there should not be more than three of those inscriptions on the whole planet, since building them required many resources. So, they could easily control everything.
Knowing these points, Priam had no choice but to hide and wait before returning home. His greatest trump card was that, thanks to that auction, the demons had not seen his face, because he had been wearing the white mask covering it the whole time.
At the level of these people from the mortal plane, they did not have such strong perception. So, they could not say who Priam exactly was just by the fluctuations they had felt before.
...
After almost a day of moving, Priam saw an immense city ahead.
There were no walls or any kind of inspection. That was because everyone coming from outside, in the mortal plane, had to use the inscription. It was enough to create checkpoints around the inscriptions.
To enter this planet, one had to pay a very high fee to the clan. But that did not mean there was no movement of outside races there. In fact, this city was very busy with humanoids and Beasts of Primordial Chaos, mainly those of the alchemist type.
After all, things from the Infernal Forest had unique properties, or properties that were very hard to find in the mortal plane. Even having to pay to enter the place, it was worth it.
That was the main danger for the Pristine Wild-Spirits. There were always some alchemists in the planet’s forests. Most of them were not very powerful, because alchemists did not focus completely on combat training. But they always had to be as careful as possible when leaving the hiding place.
The fact that this city was busy was also the reason Priam felt safe.
This clan could not keep the inscription closed no matter what. Besides, keeping too strict control over who entered and left through the inscriptions would make the visitors more and more irritated.
This forest and the resources from the visitors should be the demon clan’s greatest source of income. Treating the alchemists badly was like shooting themselves in the foot.
Possibly, they would only stop anyone from leaving without a severe evaluation for a few days. After that, they would be forced to become a little flexible again, or it would become unfeasible.
Priam only had to wait a few days in the city. When he felt that everything was calmer, he would leave using the inscription.
There were countless young humanoids in this city. How would they know who he was?
Priam moved slowly, entering the city without drawing any attention.
He saw countless demons with cold eyes fixed on people, looking for any suspicious humanoid. Of course, when they saw him, a young male humanoid, those gazes stopped on him for a little longer.
He matched the fugitive’s physical description.
But...
Priam was not a young man.
He had lived thousands of years as a slave, and had learned to seal his feelings and any slightest agitation. He had to learn that to endure all the pain and torture he suffered. After sealing everything, all the pain and hatred he felt stopped mattering.
So, those demons, seeing such a calm and indifferent young man, even under their piercing gazes... only felt that he was someone important, with great status and arrogance.
They were certain he was not the one they were looking for, and they did not want to offend someone like that by approaching him without reason.
Priam moved through the city streets, under the strong sun of that place, which left everything in intense reddish tones.
Everything was almost completely made up of two types of buildings: inns for foreigners to stay in, or buildings specialized in alchemy. There were very few different places.
He spent two hours observing everything indifferently, then entered a random inn building.
Priam paid a small fee of Black Diamonds and entered a room. Since he could not leave and now had free time, he took out the Earth-Class Magic Art he had bought at the auction.
It was a Magic Art called Celestial Wind Steps. The name said everything: it used the wind element focused on movement.
Priam’s unknown wind technique was only an extreme control technique. Priam’s movement power was just him using that element in a raw way. That was not really a movement technique.
But now, with this, he could greatly improve his movement and, who knew, maybe manage to use it many more times without burning all his strength.
...
Priam studied that complex Magic Art for several hours. Then, late at night, he felt forced to sleep.
It was really a huge delay to have to sleep and eat. Fortunately, when he became a high-level Mage, that would stop being a problem.
He lamented not being able to train and do the daily missions. He had definitely become addicted to training, just like his Cousin. Going a single day without it already made him miss it a lot.
...
The next morning, Priam went for a walk around the city.
He could not keep studying day and night. Returning home was his priority, since his mother was sick. So, he would dedicate the day to observing the movement of the demons from that clan, to know when he could return.
He pretended to visit all the alchemist buildings in the city, which numbered in the hundreds.
When he entered one of them, he spent some time inside, asking about what they had for sale and evaluating some of the available herbs. Sometimes, he bought something he found interesting.
In the middle of the afternoon, Priam entered a rather modest building that sold pills.
Inside, there was only one client in front of a wooden counter, and a round, red-skinned demonic seller who looked just as modest.
Priam pretended to look at the herbs on display in silence, and soon became certain that the only client there was someone from the Dark Peak clan.
He did not try to hide it: on his clothes, there was the symbol of a black lightning bolt at the top of a mountain. Something Priam had seen on the clothes of the army that surrounded him before.
The seller and that demon talked quietly for a few minutes, until the seller handed over a black box and shook his head.
The demon grabbed the box roughly, clearly a little furious. Then he turned around and left the building with quick steps.
Priam was intrigued. What could have happened for a figure from the clan that dominated the planet to act like that?
After being left alone, Priam took a deep breath and moved to the counter.
The seller examined him with his gaze, instantly smiling and asking politely, "Young master, our small shop has more than a thousand varieties of spices and herbs. Something will certainly catch your attention. Please, feel free. There’s no need to hurry."
Priam took a box from his spatial ring and calmly placed it on the table.
That seller picked up the box and opened it, curious. Inside, his eyes nearly popped out when he saw a thousand Black Diamonds.
"What did the previous client buy?" Priam asked directly.
The seller’s eyebrows shot up abruptly. He not only refused those Black Diamonds, closing the box and pushing it back, but fear also began to show on his face.
"Young master, you... must be someone from a great alchemist guild or an important clan, right? Haah, please don’t make things difficult for this little demon. My specialty is trying to replicate a very specific pill recipe. And I cannot reveal exactly what I managed to make, or sell it to anyone from outside."
Priam heard that, and a bitter feeling took over him.
Instinctively, he felt that he had forgotten something very important.
He took a deep breath, calming his mind. Then he began to quickly think about everything he had seen and heard since leaving his clan.
"..."
Suddenly, Priam’s heart sped up.
It took him no more than a few seconds to remember something that awakened a terrible premonitory feeling in him.
