Despite the parting words impling speed was of the essence Ajax was sure nobody would complain if he spent a good amount of time washing the stink of undeath off himself. His usual bathing routine took only fifteen minutes but Ajax had to go through it five times before he finally felt like the smell was gone.
“You finally came out.” Judy greeted him as he entered their common room after he got dressed. “What were you doing in there?”
“Undeath floor.” was all Ajax said and both Elija and Aurora winced.
“I think it's best that he took his time.” Aurora said placatingly. “You haven’t yet had to deal with any merchandise that comes from undeath but trust me when I say you want to make sure it's properly packaged.”
“It took us weeks to air out the shop.” Elija shuddered at the memory.
“You didn’t bring anything back from that floor did you?” Anna asked.
“No, the prince was very clear when he said that even if we found something we were to leave it there.” Ajax confirmed. “Speaking of the prince he requested my presence tonight, as well as grandfather’s and Lexi’s.”
“That can wait a moment.” Judy said. “What is this I hear about you blowing up the cauldron we found for you?”
Alana and Judy had searched the capital thoroughly to get his dungeon crafting cauldron that should have been able to handle anything he would need for the next half a decade or so. Neither had imagined the kind of things Ajax would be willing to toss in there however.
“I managed to make enough with it to get it replaced.” Ajax quickly defended himself as he pointed to the cauldron he saw next to Anna, she had quickly gotten the new cauldron ready in the two days Ajax had been inside the dungeon.
“Is this about…” Anna looked around warily since they had no silencing enchantments on the room. “The other use of your skill?” She had been there when he revealed what [Mana Syphon] could do to floor arches.
“That and some things I found out while on that tree floor.” Ajax answered and Lexi just nodded as she knew what a big deal his Legendary mana aspect was. “I think we can all go as you’re all going to learn about what's being discussed anyway.”
The group quickly made their way to the royal family’s accommodations. The guards looked surprised to see all of them but they said nothing as they let them pass and the maid waiting by the entrance led them inside.
The embassy had a room that while much smaller than Gryndor’s throne room filled much the same purpose, it was here that they were all received. As the group entered, Ajax took note of who was present.
The king and both of his sons were in attendance. The entirety of squad one as well as Xavier’s mother and future queen were also there, all people he expected to be present. Besides them there were two people he didn’t expect, one of them was Xavier, the other he didn’t know yet.
“Thank you for coming so quickly, Baron Hearthbound.'' The king welcomed him. “I am sadly familiar with the aftermath of an undeath floor.” Both Ajax and the king’s oldest son still had wet hair from their recent bathing.
“Your Majesty.” Ajax bowed politely followed by everyone else who came with him.
“Please come take a seat.” he offered as the entire party moved to sit down at a rather large round meeting table that was set up. “My son has brought forth lots of exciting news following what was supposed to be a regular boost delve. Before we go any further however I don’t believe you have my good friend and royal treasurer.”
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The man in question took the que as he approached Ajax and extended his hand. “Lord Percival Vaultmore, it is a my great pleasure to meet you Baron Hearthbound.”
Ajax shook the man’s hand. “Is the name a coincidence or?” Ajax asked as he took in the man.
“I would like to think of it more as a self fulfilling prophecy.” Percival quipped. “But I am the first in my family to hold this position and have always had this name.”
Ajax got a good first impression from the man though he would still be a little wary since he wasn’t sure if he had a skill for that or not. With the introductions out of the way however everyone except squad one took a seat at the table with Ajax sitting close to the king.
“Let's start with the simplest issue,” the king offered. “The seeds collected from the tree. We were able to gain twenty of them. They will all be taken to the royal vault, but I was informed that you attempted to use them in alchemy, to some… well I wouldn’t call it an outright success but some results.”
“I have some brief documentation that I wrote inside the dungeon after my attempt but it is something I will need to go over later as they are just notes at this point.” Ajax said as he produced a small stack of papers.
“Would you mind us making a copy of those?” one of the members of squad one asked.
“Not at all.” Ajax said as he offered the notes.
“I will have to advise that the seeds not be used for alchemical experimentation, Your Majesty.” Percival jumped in. “Despite the recent gain they are very rare and when they are required we use them in large numbers.”
“Rest assured Percival, I have no intention of using the seeds in our treasury for experiments.” the king said. “Their rarity however may not be as large an issue anymore. The second topic would be your ability to predict the type of floors that are hidden behind the different arches.”
“That is not, strictly speaking, correct, Your Majesty.” Ajax answered. “I do have the ability to feel the mana types present inside the arches, which corresponds to the mana present on their floor. I do not know what form that mana takes.”
“If that is true how did you enter an undeath floor?” one of the members of squad one asked with suspicion.
Ajax didn’t explain and instead summoned a small amount of magnetic mana in his palm. “What kind of mana was that?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” the man answered with a frown.
“It is the same in my case. While I could feel the undeath mana before entering the arch it was also the first time I came across undeath mana so I didn’t know what it was.” Ajax explained. “What I can say is that I will no longer be going onto those floors in the future.”
“And is this ability something you are looking to keep for your own House?” the king asked.
“I am sure we will be able to come to an understanding regarding my grandson’s presence in helping more than just our house when it comes to favorable floors,” Elija said. “ Any research into more accurately predicting the exact floor based on the mana types in the arches however is something I will keep for our own house. Should we find more skills capable of perceiving mana in the future that is something we will be keeping to ourselves.”
Ajax was pleasantly surprised at the interjection. Despite the well maintained poker face Ajax could see a little sweat form as Elija was suddenly the center of attention. Ajax had never even thought about such an option. He knew he could continue to keep the ability for himself alone but he stood to gain a lot more by sharing it with others since that meant more delve slots. When the eyes turned back to him Ajax simply nodded in support of his grandfather.
“That is an agreeable offer.” the crown prince said.
“But Your Highness.” Percival tried to interject.
“Noble houses are allowed their secrets in our kingdom, Lord Vaultmore.” the crown prince talked over the treasurer. “Now there are of course exceptions when the benefits are too high to allow one house to hoard them all, a good example of this would be the training method Baron Hearthbound shared for increasing stats during a child's youth.”
“Being able to predict the next floor of the dungeon is something I would argue is on the same scale as that, husband.” Xavier’s mother said.
“It most certainly is.” the crown prince agreed. “However they don’t have a way of sharing the method. We all already know it’s a Legendary skill. Keeping research regarding such a skill a House secret is within their prerogative.”
Both the treasurer and the future queen nodded at that explanation. Ajax felt his own insecurities regarding secrecy rise up at the way the conversation had gone but he pushed them down, he knew they were simply looking out for the kingdom’s best interests.
“This brings us to the last topic of the evening.” the king said. “Percival, I’d like to thank you for your presence here but this final topic doesn’t concern the treasury.”
Ajax wanted to disagree with that statement. From what he had seen with the seed he theorized that life mana could be used in alchemy to help create massively improved potions that would then be stored in the treasury. He said nothing however as all that was still conjecture and guesswork and simply watched as Percival took his leave.
“It is with great surprise and my heartfelt congratulations that I say this, Ajax.” the king said after Percival left. “You have gained a fourth Legendary skill, not only that but [Life Aspect Mana].”
Almost everyone in the room stared slack-jawed at Ajax. It seems that the king was informed in private about his latest achievement so only Lexi, the king and his oldest son were the only ones not surprised by the news.