Chapter 223: Forbidden arts
Malgo’s voice lowered as he announced the faction’s name, loud enough for only the cohort of four to hear.
He paused the conversation as the bartender Boris returned with a tray full of refilled mugs.
Boris arranged them before the four, then left to attend to other customers...
This time the four drank with less fervor, savoring every small sip as they listened to Malgo.
Malgo didn’t go further into talking more about the Cosmic Tree Alliance. Instead, he deviated back to the Treants.
"Those guys have a strong affinity with Verdant essence, making their main element quite obvious," Malgo listed.
Seth and the others nodded. From the Will transmission of the word Verdant, it invoked the image of life and forestry.
Plus, with their last encounter with these Treants, they saw their attacker adeptly wielding the wood element quite well.
"Now here’s the part I think will interest you guys the most." Malgo spoke, carrying a new air of intriguing mystery.
Seeing the expectation building in his audience’s eyes, he licked his lips and started in a subtle hush tone. "You see, rumors have it, the Treants have researched and refined one of the nine forbidden arts..."
Feeling the jarring darkness and dread invoked by the Will transmitted, the cohort instinctively understood how dangerous these arts were without even having a clue of what they were.
Not willing to give away more affirmation to their status as total newbies, the four remained silent, deciding not to ask what these nine forbidden arts were.
Seth took a mental note to ask the Oracle Crystal when he got home.
"You see, they explored the art of Extraction!" Though Malgo’s voice was low, the sinister Will invoked by his words caused quite a stir in the atmosphere, drawing the attention of several alien evolvers their way.
A gruff voice cackling in a strange cryptic language berated Malgo from a round table not far away.
"Malgo, if you’re going to speak about the forbidden, leave and don’t implicate us all!"
Seth and crew traced the source of the voice to a buff-looking, grey-skinned humanoid with tusks jutting out the sides of his lips.
Meeting the strong gaze of the foreign race evolver and feeling the pressure mounting in the air, "Shit!" Malgo cursed.
Hopping down from the bar top towards the now silent room of alien evolvers, he quickly apologized.
"Well, I’m sorry guys, my bad," he said with a meek tone. Then his demeanor changed all of a sudden as he chanted:
"You know what? The next round of drinks are on me!!" His words echoed through the wooden tavern that remained silent for a few seconds before erupting into a chorus of happy cheers.
Smiling to himself, Malgo chuckled as he used a stand as a platform to ascend back to the bar top. "Works every time," he laughed.
He turned back to Seth and the others, the four already grasping the seriousness behind those words — Extraction.
Seth cleverly decided to avoid the word entirely. He asked, "So what does that mean?"
Though the four gasped at the weight behind the concept of the forbidden arts, especially the one called Extraction, they still didn’t quite understand the concept.
After all, using normal English to try and decipher words relayed by Will wasn’t nearly enough.
"Hehe, this art borders on the basic practicum of extracting genes, traits, and so on from enlightened lifeforms," Malgo explained with a grim air.
The group of four felt their pulse quicken as they strung together the relayed meaning of Malgo’s unknown language through Will.
And even without broad knowledge and limited exposure to the Origin, the four still felt horror.
Humans of Earth had long noticed the fact that loot drops never stemmed from dead humans, nor did stat gain.
Seth could argue the same for other races. All creatures that fell under the category of enlightened lifeforms...
For one, there were the Bloodbornes. Seth had surely killed a few, but he never got a single flow of stats or loot drops.
This made Seth come up with the theory that this was the same all around the cosmos. The only way to gain stats was by either killing beast creatures, the corrupted, or special constructs like the Divine Remnants he fought during his class quest.
So meaning normally, getting a gene from an enlightened lifeform was impossible, unless...
Seth let out a sharp hiss as his pupils dilated, his hair standing on end as a memory resurfaced.
He could remember the hungry gaze of those Treants back then, the deep greed of longing for whatever it was Seth had that they wanted.
Seth’s pulse quickened, realizing how much his quick escape had saved them. He broke out in cold sweat.
Swallowing hard, he leaned closer to Malgo, clutching his mug tighter. He asked, "S-so... they can extract genes from enlightened lifeforms? Even in the Origin Realm?"
Seth’s heart hammered as he waited for a reply. Malgo met Seth’s gaze with grim lights, glanced around him as though checking if anyone was nearby, then leaned closer. "Oh yes, boy. Yes, they can!"
Seth felt as though his heart sank into his guts. His friends, also slowly piecing the puzzle together, shivered in realization...
They were so close to losing everything!
If Seth hadn’t acted quickly back then to escape with them, with the full understanding of the Awakened Rank they had now, it was obvious they never stood a chance!
Their genes might have been extracted, along with possibly their lineage and racial trait.
And worse, if those guys saw how full of treasure the human body and bloodline contained, they definitely wouldn’t stop at them!
Earth...
The four glanced at each other, not daring to finish their thought. They swallowed hard.
They remained silent for a while, absentmindedly sipping from their mugs, eyes flashing with myriad thoughts processing at once.
Malgo snapped them out, asking a question of his own. "So tell me, what did you four do to piss off the cream-of-the-crop geniuses of this fearsome race?"
Seth and the others glanced at each other again. "Nothing?" Seth replied silently.
But Malgo shook his head. "That’s not possible. For big shots like them to be out for small fry like you, you either offended them or..."
Malgo’s beady eyes widened, his face squeezing into a scowl. He hissed, "Talent!"
Before Seth and the others could say another word, the little imp’s attitude towards them did a 180° flip. "Shit! Shit, shit! Had I known, I would never have approached you guys!"
"What do you mean?" Seth asked, his brows creasing.
"What do I mean!" Malgo suddenly yelled frantically. "I fucking mean I didn’t think you guys would be high-value prey to the Treants!"
Scratching his bald head furiously, the small figure of Malgo paced restlessly across the bar top. "I should have known... I should have known!" he muttered, genuine terror visible in his expression.
"What’s going on?" Seth asked, not understanding the sudden change in demeanor.
"You’re still here!! Fucking leave, you unfortunate fools!" He hissed at them, drawing the attention of the surrounding evolvers.
Seth frowned, feeling irritated. It wasn’t like they were here for free.
As though reading Seth’s gaze, Malgo flipped his hands, sliding a small pile of essence crystals across the bar top. "I don’t need your money. Leave now!!!"
But right before anyone could react to the little imp’s irrational behavior, a small quake shook the tavern as a faint scent of wet soil and trees distilled into the air.
Malgo’s heart dropped. Falling to his bum, he stared at the ceiling listlessly. "They are here. I’m dead. We are dead!"
Seth rose alert as he sensed a familiar presence, his friends rising with him...
"The Treants... they are here," Malgo whispered.
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