Julius watched as the woman left the room and finally let out a sigh. When he first allowed them to capture him, he was constantly worried they would find the necklace around his neck, take it off, and reveal his true appearance.
But he was extraordinarily lucky, or they were just incompetent, because they didn’t seem to notice the necklace. He knew it was supposed to have some enchantments that made it harder to notice, but he didn’t think it would actually work.
On another note, he hadn’t been able to ask her any questions about her relationship with Conclave, but he doubted she would have told him even if he did. He did find out some important information, though.
The fact that she needed Kaito’s cooperation was a big hint that it had to do with Clan Yoshu. It was entirely possible that she wanted to make Lora sick again in order to leverage it against Kaito. Julius had no idea how she was going to accomplish that without any suspicion, but it wasn’t like he was going to accept her proposal.
It would appear they had taken him to some kind of warehouse. He wasn’t sure where, but it was quite desolate, and there were large empty rooms all around him.
He could have escaped already, but he was curious what was going on. He found that staying calm and patient would help him and perhaps help him acquire some important information.
On the bright side, this whole experience seemed to be good for his new skill.
[Harmonic Balance lvl 3 -> lvl 4]
The skill was quite good at maintaining his emotions alongside his focus skill. It required a bit more help from his Balance Concept, but he was still getting used to it. This was the perfect opportunity to do so, and if anyone knew him, they would know he would never deny himself a chance to improve his skills.
He wasn’t worried about that thing she placed in his chest either. He doubted it could kill him. It would hurt, but he should be able to heal from it should it ever explode. He'd healed from worse, but he was still hoping to avoid that if possible.
He couldn’t figure out what she wanted with Clan Yoshu. What was so important about them that she was willing to go out of her way to kidnap him? Even with the Heartburst Seed, this felt like a pretty big risk and one that she normally wouldn’t make. It was possible that she was running out of options, and he was a last-ditch effort.
The way she attacked his mind had surprised him a little bit. He didn’t show it, but it had mostly been luck that he detected her. He was already a bit paranoid that someone would try to infiltrate his mind and had already been wary of the possibility.
He didn’t think she would have gotten through all of his defenses; she lacked the raw power that Lily had. However, she might have been able to scan his surface thoughts and emotions without him knowing. If she hadn’t been so careless, she might have gotten away with it.
A few hours passed by, and it was then that he felt an approaching presence. He let out a sigh when he realized who it was.
The door opened, and Hayden’s smug smirk greeted him. “There you are. Finally, it’s just the two of us alone.”
Julius cocked his head. “Does Celestine know you’re here?”
Hayden scoffed. “She doesn’t need to know what I do.”
“Are you sure? It sure seems like she is your boss.”
He saw the man’s teeth clench tightly together and swung his arm so fast that Julius almost missed it. However, he certainly didn't miss the feeling of the back of Hayden’s hand smashing into his face. He spat out the blood and could already feel his cheek swelling.
“Ahh, that feels good. I’ve been waiting to do that ever since I saw you the other day,” Hayden said and leaned over, roughly grabbing him by the chin. “Celestine doesn’t want me to hurt you since she has plans for you, but apparently, you haven’t accepted her proposal and are not under her protection yet. So that means I can have a little bit of fun.”
Julius had already activated [Calm Before Ruin] and [Harmonic Balance]. It allowed him to maintain his calm and composure. Instead of cursing at Hayden, he simply stared dispassionately at the man. However, this only seemed to further incense Hayden.
Julius saw him scowl, and that was his only warning before he got cracked over the face again. This time, he felt something break; it felt like his jaw had been slapped out of place.
“You and those fucking eyes of yours. It pisses me off,” Hayden hissed in his face.
“You think you’re better, huh? Cocky little shit. I think you need to be taught a lesson about respect,” he said and grabbed Julius’s hair roughly, before slamming his fist into Julius’s stomach.
It was kind of annoying, but he had been through much worse. He couldn’t even remember how many times he’d lost a limb or blown himself up in training; getting slapped around by this guy was nothing in comparison. He could barely feel the pain. It was a little hilarious, not that he was going to tell that to the guy.
Honestly, the worst part was hearing the man bitch and moan. His ears and head hurt more from hearing his grating voice, and his nose stung from the stench of alcohol wafting from the guy.
When Julius was still unresponsive, Hayden decided to keep hitting him. Not hard enough to actually kill him, he was clearly holding back. But just enough to rough him up and to vent his pent-up aggression.
However, Julius couldn’t help but let out a grin when he got a notification.
[Harmonic Balance lvl 4 -> lvl 5]
[Calm Before Ruin lvl 3 -> lvl 4]
He almost laughed. Two levels for this little beating? For goodness sake, that was more levels he’d seen than when he literally threw himself in a fire. Was this perhaps a blessing in disguise? Should he ask for more?
He started to think about ways he could taunt Hayden, so the man kept on beating him. The pain was a non-issue, and the allure of levels in his two newest skills was almost too much to resist. Maybe he should hire Hayden after all this was done. It might be a new way of training his restraint, and these two new skills at the same time.
Sadly for Julius, fate didn’t seem willing to hand over free levels. Not even ten minutes into the training, he sensed movement up above. It would appear that Hayden also sensed something, and to Julius’s great amusement, the man froze in shock. The fear was evident in his eyes, probably thinking it was Celestine or something.
Hayden quickly uncorked a healing potion and shoved it down Julius’s throat. It was actually quite a powerful healing potion, too. The amount of life mana inside was substantial, and his bruises were quickly healed, leaving his skin unmarked and unblemished. No physical evidence of the training remained.
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He stifled the pout that threatened to come to his face. Just when he was getting into it, someone had to ruin it, huh?
At least it was amusing to watch Hayden scramble around, cleaning up any mess and fleeing the room like his mother had just returned home and found out he hadn’t taken out the trash or done the dishes. In less than a minute, all traces of Hayden were gone, and the man vanished into thin air.
After a few more minutes, he was finally able to identify the individual and recognized their form easily. Funnily enough, it wasn’t even Celestine. If Hayden realized this, he would not have panicked as much.
When Selene opened the door, he smiled at her. “Fancy meeting you here,” he said, gesturing his shackled arms at her.
“I’m so so sorry, Julius. If I failed to follow their orders, they would have tortured and maybe killed me before sending word to my parents. They would have punished my little brother for my decision,” she said with tears in her eyes.
He shook his head. “I understand. Plus, it hasn’t even been that bad.” He wasn’t even lying about that last part. He’d already received three levels. One of them was for his legendary skill, too.
All in all, a pretty productive day. Not to mention, he learned information that Celestine and her family were very interested in Clan Yoshu. He was becoming increasingly convinced that she or her family had something to do with the Conclave. The comment she made about getting special treasures from the Empire gave him even more reason to believe this.
The issue was that if she was involved, how deep was she? Was she an important piece of their organization, or was she simply a middleman or someone the Conclave asked to help them out? There were too many mysteries, and he had too many questions.
“So what are you doing here?” He finally asked the important question.
She looked at him as if she wasn’t sure if he was joking with her or not. “I’m here to save you. Why else would I be sneaking in here in the middle of the night?”
“For my wonderful conversation and beautiful visage?” he asked with a hopeful smile.
“Do you want me to help you or not?” she asked with a glare before glancing down at his shirt, which was stained in blood. She bent down and inspected the place where Celestine had jammed that syringe into him.
“Ohh, I’m so sorry,” she said with a sorrowful turn of her lips. “Did she inject you with a Heartburst Seed as well?”
“Yeah, I think that’s what she called it.”
“Shit,” she cursed under her breath and started to pace. “I might have to leave you here.”
“Why?”
“Because even if you escape, she might activate it and kill you anyway. At least this way, you will be safe. I’ll try to figure out another way.”
He smirked at her. “Don’t worry about the thing she put in my chest. I already have a plan to remove it.”
“Remove it? You don’t think I would have already done that if it was that easy?” she asked him in a harsh whisper, jamming her finger into her chest.
“You have one too?”
“Yes, that’s why I told you they might have killed me if I didn’t follow their orders.”
“Well, I might be able to help you out with yours if you want,” he offered.
She paused at this. “You can do that?”
He shrugged. “I can do it for myself. Though I'm not a hundred percent certain if I can do it for someone else. That being said, I should be able to figure something out.”
She seemed to take some time to think about whether or not to believe him. She finally pressed her lips tightly together and stared into his eyes. “Okay, if you manage to escape, go back to the inn. I’ll leave a note behind the barrel in the back where I’ll be waiting. If you’re really serious about the offer to help remove this thing from my chest, I’ll take you up on that.”
He nodded. “But aren’t you risking your and your brother’s safety by helping me?”
“First of all, I’m hoping she doesn’t find out. I already set up a plan that will point to an opposing clan breaking in and kidnapping you. Furthermore, my parents are cruel, but they won’t hurt my brother too badly. They still need him.”
“But why still choose to come back for me?”
“Because I don’t need your death weighing on my conscience,” she said with a shake of her head.
“Aww, thanks,” he said with a grin.
She sighed and didn’t even bother to give him a response. She pulled a key from her sleeve and unlocked his shackles. He was about to warn her about the alarms he’d sensed on the shackles, but it would seem she was already aware of this and had taken out a metal orb from her storage space.
The orb was a fascinating work of art, inscribed with dozens of small runes, and it was emitting a strange frequency that seemed to interfere with the shackles' alert enchantments. Some sort of powerful disrupting effect, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it could be used for other things.
"I noticed you didn't tell them about Drasil," he noted, rubbing his wrists.
"As if I'd let them harm Drasil, I'm not that evil," she said with a scoff.
He didn't know how to respond to that.
She glanced at the door and then back at him. "I’m not sure if it completely disabled the alarm, but it should give you enough time to escape. Listen to me, you need to leave Goldmere as soon as possible. When she finds out you disappeared, she will go to great lengths to find you,” she explained with a firm expression.
He nodded. "Gotcha."
"Why are you so calm about this? Even when they showed up, you didn't seem surprised," she commented with a deep frown.
"I thought you had an ulterior motive for approaching me," he said with a shrug.
She clearly wanted to ask him more questions, but time was of the essence. “Look, I’m so sorry. I should have never gotten you involved. I know this doesn’t make up for it, but I’m truly sorry,” she said with a deep bow, but before he could tell her that it was okay, she was already sprinting away. There was some kind of device trickling out random bits of aura and mana; he suspected this was the thing she was hoping to use to cover her tracks.
He rubbed his hands again and realized there was still one problem. The Heartburst Seed was still in his chest, and he didn’t know what would happen if he left. It didn’t seem to have a tracking aspect, but he could easily be wrong.
And so he did the only thing he could think of. He covered his hand with mana and shaped a crane-like construct over it. Then, with a brutal push, he slammed his hand into his chest. His spatial senses had already located the seed, and while it was ugly, he was able to grab a hold of it.
The second he touched it with his hand, he felt it thrum with mana. His eyes widened when he sensed some kind of signal form. Fortunately, he had already predicted something like this would happen, and he slammed every ounce of aura and disruptive mana into the seed.
While it didn’t completely deactivate it, the outward signal seemed to be destroyed. Unfortunately, the explosion and release of poison were inevitable. He grunted when his heart was blown into small pieces, and a powerful poison rushed through his system.
He slammed down to his knees. The injury was actually quite severe, but he’d experienced worse. Honestly, the poison was more trouble than his missing heart. There was an anti-healing effect, and it was interfering with his healing skill.
But then again, his healing skill had evolved into a legendary skill. So with a small push, releasing the limiter on the skill, he felt the poison get overwhelmed and eviscerated by his life mana. No ruinous aura was required.
The mana expenditure was pretty high, but he was fully healed within a matter of a few seconds. Not only that, but he was pretty sure the signal hadn’t made it out, and she would be none the wiser.
He also made sure he didn’t make a mess. He’d wrapped himself in a blanket of mana, and all of his blood and guts were contained. He didn’t know what she’d be able to do with his blood, so he was being careful. He didn’t want to leave any evidence behind.
Once everything was clean and he no longer had a bomb in his chest, he looked around at the building. While he could leave, he also believed it would be prudent to see what kind of secrets Celestine was hiding. Perhaps he’d be able to find something that would help him understand why she wanted to gain leverage over Kaito.
And so he quickly wrapped himself in void energy, then teleported himself upwards to the nearest room where he sensed some boxes lying around the warehouse. During his stay here, he'd noticed that several groups of guards were constantly roaming this room. However, they must have gone somewhere, maybe to check whatever false lead Selene had created.
He immediately went over and opened a box. For some reason, the boxes were interfering with his spatial skills; he couldn’t get an accurate scan of what was inside. There was a lock on the box, and it took some time, but with enough ruinous aura and brute force, he was able to crack open the lock and peel off the cover. However, when he did, he flinched back.
“What the hell…” he muttered with disgust as he peered inside.
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