After dismissing the drones, Shiro opened a portal to check the harvesting of the mana potions and immediately saw the production was decreasing in speed.
Without the gate to the Beyond, the liquified mana wasn’t being produced anymore so this was their last batch of potions. She didn’t know how long her condition was going to last so she had to be careful with how much she drank.
Of course, their current stock was ridiculously large since they have been harvesting non stop for several months. But just because they have a large stock didn’t mean it wouldn’t run out.
With no way to replenish it right now, Shiro had to regulate the sales a little for long term use.
“Hmm maybe I should increase the price of the potion by a little and reduce how much is being sold to each person.” Shiro muttered.
“That way we can regulate the sales and keep some for ourselves if we need it since it’s very useful having a potion that can fully replenish your mana pool.”
“That’s true. If you want, I can have some people analyse the potion and see if we’re able to make any replacements. I don’t know if it will be as pure as the original but we might be able to replicate the effects. Our alchemists are quite talented since they’ve been providing high quality potions to the city.” Nan Tian shrugged as Shiro nodded her head.
“Alright. It’ll be good if-“
Before Shiro could even finish her sentence, a large aura swept over their area as Shiro’s face paled.
Recognising it to belong to the dragon, she didn’t hesitate to drink a potion and drag Nan Tian’s arm. Jumping into the rift with him, Shiro wanted to teleport away as far as possible so that they could avoid fighting something near the level 1000 threshold.
Just as they left, another portal opened up as a figure stepped out and furrowed his brows.
“Hmm… she should be here. I just wanted to apologise for sneezing on her last time…” The man sighed as he scratched his head.
Just as he had destroyed the entrance to the beyond, he sensed a familiar mana signal behind him and tracked her all the way here because he wanted to talk and apologise. However, the moment he teleported here, she ran away in fear.
Since all he wanted to do was apologise, he couldn’t help but feel a little hurt by her reaction.
“Though I guess being sneezed on is not the most pleasant memory… Especially one that almost killed her.” He muttered while placing a hand on his chin.
“Mn?” Noticing a small shine on the floor, he bent over and picked up a small glass bottle.
Seeing the faint swirl of the leftover liquid inside, he raised his eyebrow before giving it a quick sniff. Recognising it to the liquified mana, he guessed that it probably came from the mountain considering the fact that liquid mana was hard to find naturally. The purity was hard to match and the effects were top notch.
“Is this why she came to the mountain the first time? To be fair, I did detect faint signs of magic coming from the Queens when I arrived. Hmm… Maybe that’s why she teleported there the first time. Now that I destroyed the gate she won’t be able to get the liquid mana anymore. But why didn’t she try to enter? If she entered the Beyond, the gate would have been closed. Since the gate was still there, she didn’t enter. Does she not know what the Beyond is? Shame.” Shaking his head in pity, he threw the glass bottle into his storage. He figured that if he does find another gate, it should be fine to track her down again and offer her some liquid mana since he had almost killed her and took over ‘mine’ for liquid mana. Even if he was a level 950 being, his mother had never taught him to be a tyrant.
Shrugging his shoulders, he opened another portal as he planned to search for another gate.
###
Sighing in relief, Shiro fell back and sat on the ground.
“Seems like he’s not chasing.” Shiro muttered as Nan Tian nodded his head while standing guard.
“Maybe we shouldn’t spy on beings close to the threshold of level 1000.” Nan Tian chuckled.
Nodding her head in agreement, Shiro took a moment to calm herself down before standing up.
“Well it seems like we’ll have to give up on Astral Horizons. Let’s go scan the country of Vrish’ Lir as we originally intended.” Shiro said as Nan Tian nodded his head.
“I did a quick search of Vrish’ Lir and it seems like before the new age, it was a harmonious country that treasured nature. Monks and Druids protected its borders from attack and many who desired a peaceful life would go there.
“Most Clerics, Alchemists and Druids deem Vrish’ Lir a ‘holy place’ of sorts since it contains a variety of rare plants that help in the medical practices along with hidden trials filled with class based knowledge. Similar to the Shadow Temple trials back in New York, Clerics, Alchemists and Druids can go there to seek knowledge in a trial. For this place to be chosen as a battleground is quite… Unfortunate I suppose.” Nan Tian sighed since this place of being was about to be turned into a warzone of several Queens.
Hearing this, Shiro furrowed her brows.
“I wonder how the system even picks the locations for these events. Forget it, I’ll send a text to Silvia asking if she wants to come for the scouting mission. The event is in a week so it’s probably best for us to get some benefits from the hidden trials before they’re destroyed as collateral damage.” Shiro sighed.
“Mn, should we get a few alchemists to come with us too?”
“I don’t see why not. It’s a good opportunity for them.” Shiro nodded her head.
Opening a portal back to Asharia, Shiro and Nan Tian made their way towards Silvia’s office while Nan Tian sends a message to the Alchemists.
Upon reaching her office, Shiro raised an eyebrow in surprise since Silvia wasn’t here.
“Where do you think she is?” Shiro asked curiously as Nan Tian thought for a moment and held up his tablet.
[Local man almost killed 20 people by accident. Healers guild are rushing over to help.]
“Huh?????”
Looking at the date of the post, Shiro could see that it was posted 10 minutes ago as both of them looked at one another before rushing towards the scene.
Putting on a quick disguise, they dashed through the streets before arriving at the sight of the explosion. A café was charred black as all of the windows and doors were shattered apart.
Around them, a discussion could be heard as many were talking about how it suddenly exploded out of nowhere and how there was a healer nearby that was able to give emergency treatment long enough for the main force to arrive.
Figuring that they’re probably at the main guild hall, Shiro glanced at Nan Tian and gestured for them to leave.
As they were walking towards the healer’s guild, Shiro brought out her tablet and searched for the camera feed of the incident.
Tapping through the myriad of cameras, Shiro eventually found the video.
In the video there was a man boasting about experimental tech modified after her Nanotech. It wasn’t too stable but the power was guaranteed.
Naturally, the people he was talking to were dismissive since they’ve seen what Nanotech can do but after seeing that reaction, the man pulled out a gun which exploded not even a minute after being pulled out.
The subsequent explosion destroyed the café along with injuring the people inside. Most of them had Talismans to help them but those that didn’t were seriously injured.
Speechless at what she had just watched, Shiro massaged her eyes.
“Who the f*ck pulls out experimental tech in a café?????”
###
“Who the f*ck pulls out experimental tech in a café you dumbf*ck! Do you want me to kill you because if you do, you might as well tell me instead of almost killing others.” Silvia shouted out as her veins were about to burst. In front of her was a man who recently had a third of his body healed from oblivion as the others were still being treated.
The man couldn’t say anything since he had thought that it was ok to show them the model but he didn’t expect it to randomly blow up like that.
From his calculations, balancing the mana, the carvings and tiny A.I’s within the gun should be easy enough for a moment since the storage puts them in a stasis of sorts. But the moment he pulled it out the balance was tipped and it reacted violently.
“Are you even listening? Do you want me to rip your eyes and tongue out so that you can only listen?!” Grabbing the man’s head, she forced him to look at her as there seemed to be the hallucination of a devil behind her.
“God give me patience because if he gives me strength, I will break you in half.”
