When Arthur left the Territory of Blood, he wasn't surprised to see that Ayesha and Iris were already waiting for him. He'd expected the seer to seek him out, and he was a little flattered that she'd done so so fast. She must have dropped everything to get here in less than 15 minutes. Arthur had to hold back a smirk when he noticed Iris avoiding his gaze. Looked like she remembered how forward she'd been a few days ago.

Arthur wouldn’t deny that seeing the overpowered princess looking so flustered didn't tug on his heartstrings a little. He wanted to tease her but he realised it might be a little too soon for that.

Ayesha was the one to break the awkward silence. "I don’t know how you did it, but god does it feel good to remember we’ve got our own little nuke on our side." She smiled at him, one filled with equal parts joy, curiosity, and relief.

"I was about ready to start pulling out my hair dealing with those vampire bastards. Still, you’re going to have to tell me how you did it one of these days. Not cool, though, wiping our memories like that. There were easier ways you could have told us you were a mind mage. Though, if that’s the price I have to pay to have you kill a Territory Lord then sign me up and do it again." She was babbling, something she seemed to realise and her voice petered off.

"I'm not a mind mage, Ayesha, but yeah, it's good to see you too," Arthur replied, smiling. Now it was his turn to feel awkward. Thankfully, Iris came in with the save.

"I can't say I'm not curious how you managed to pull off such a grand deception- hell, you even fooled the system- but something tells me you can't tell us. Can you?" Iris asked.

Arthur shook his head no. He'd walked out of the Territory intending to tell them something. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember what that 'something' was, which was frankly terrifying. He knew what had happened, the fact that he'd been granted extremely potent stealth capabilities over the last few days. He just didn’t know how, which was certainly frustrating.

It was strange that he didn’t find the sudden loss of memory frightening, but it was almost like he'd... expected it. Arthur wasn't sure.

"I'd tell you if I could remember but I'm in the same boat as you. For some reason, I kind of get the impression that you're somehow responsible for the last few days, at least partially, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why I think that," Arthur explained.

"That rules out mental magic unless the mage was so good he implanted those suggestions in your head. It almost sounds like an item was responsible, though I’ve never heard of something so powerful. If it even exists. What you're saying sounds straight out of the storybooks. I wouldn’t believe it if it hadn’t happened, but your actions speak for themselves. If things truly transpired as you said, you somehow managed to assassinate a Territory Lord on his home turf using magic so unsubtle I could feel it a mile away."

Arthur knew his specific brand of magic tended to be a little on the nose, but an entire mile had to be an exaggeration. On second thoughts, his attack had been visible from the stratosphere. Maybe Iris wasn't exaggerating after all. Nonetheless, he was still surprised by how unconcerned he felt about his missing memories. Shouldn’t he be terrified that he didn’t remember how he’d unlocked such godly stealth capabilities? Was it a replicable feat? What if it had messed with his brain? Even more importantly, who had done this to him?

Even as he considered the questions, Arthur didn’t feel any real outrage about his mind being tampered with. He was oddly calm, no matter how hard he tried to summon any strong emotions about the situation. It should have terrified him, except it didn’t. For some reason, it felt like he'd expected the memory loss, known that it would be the price he'd have to pay to use such power and willingly paid it.

At the end of the day, what mattered were the consequences of his actions. For a few days, he had become a ghost even the system couldn’t track, fought a massive hivemind spider and took its monster core and then eliminated one of the greatest threats the world had ever faced before it became a problem: a genocidal Vampire Territory Lord with more than a few screws loose. All he'd had to pay for it was the memories of how he'd obtained such stealth. Arthur could live with that.

"So, what next?" Ayesha asked. "Looking for a way off this world now that you’ve outgrown the planet? That’s going to be difficult so long as the dimensional lockdown is in place. Practically impossible, in fact."

"So, what do I need to do? Kill the Lich Queen before they open up travel again? Seems like an expensive way to pay for a simple ticket."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Iris was the one to answer his question. "Surprisingly, the Lich Queen isn’t why we’re all locked up here. My sources finally uncovered something, though I’m unsure about the details. Apparently, one of the agents of some ancient criminal was caught running around in your planet’s tutorial. We’re talking ancient- older than the dirt you’re standing on.

"One of his agents was spotted here is the biggest lead the System’s police force has had on the bastard in three centuries. They’re pulling out all the stops to catch this guy, going so far as locking down the entire stellar system to prevent his escape."

"Fat chance of that," Ayesha mumbled.

Arthur wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear her interruption, but Iris continued as if he had.

"She's right. Even with the dimensional lockdown in place, there are ways to leave the system. Sure, it’ll make it more difficult, but there are some... less than legal methods to get the job done."

"So why enforce the lockdown at all? And who is this 'ancient evil' that's got everyone on edge?"

"The lockdown is Lady Sleyca’s faction playing their own game. Probably an attempt to appear more competent than they are- or they’re just trying to get a slice of some Earth pie for themselves. As for the criminal everyone’s after, he has many names, but he's most well-known as The Harvester, notorious for draining the cores of planets and harvesting them."

"His worst offence was two thousand years ago when he crippled the world of Tsaris by draining their core. Billions died, and they're still recovering to this day. He hasn't made any big moves since, and we’re not even sure if he’s been seen... but people tend to remember you when you've killed so many."

Arthur frowned. This guy sounded like a real piece of work. He hoped Iris was exaggerating when she said the Harvester was older than dirt. As far as he knew, Earth was four billion years old, and if they were up against someone who had been around that long, they didn’t stand a chance. How strong someone could become if they were given billions of years to work with. Arthur didn’t want to find out.

Thankfully, they were against one of his agents, someone Arthur hoped would prove a more manageable challenge. Knowing his luck, this would be the one time the Harvester decided to take an interest in a planet for the last two millennia, and he'd be dragged into a war taking place on a universal scale. With the way the world just kept throwing shit his way, it would just be par the course.

"Since the system’s police force is already on this case, is there anything we can do?" Arthur asked. "Should we even get involved? It feels like sticking our noses into someone else’s problem."

Ayesha smiled sadly at him and appeared... embarrassed was too strong a word for it but maybe ashamed? "I was supposed to bring this up before, but with the Bloodbeasts and everything else going on, I forgot. I don’t know if you noticed or not, but Mira’s dead." She pulled a vial of purple liquid from her storage ring and passed it over to him. "I didn’t have the context before to know what was going on at the time, but in light of new information, we now know how Mira was killed."

"She was one of the Agent's victims, wasn’t she? That’s how she died."

Ayesha looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. "I forget you’re not a dumb brute sometimes. Your durability reminds me of body cultivators- they tend to have three brain cells they rub together to generate a thought. But yes, you’re right. Mira was gradually drained of all her strength and personality over the course of the last few weeks. What you have in your hands is her last creation as an alchemist, certainly her greatest. You could sell it and live lavishly on a tier-3 world for the next hundred years. Her final request was that I deliver it to you." Arthur finally used Homunculi's Eye to identify the elixir.

Mira’s Will (Legendary)- The final work of Master Poison Alchemist Mira Merejan, created with the sacrifice of her stats, skills, affinities, and a large portion of her life force. Violates several laws placed on craftsmen by the system.

Effects: Grants the consumer an extra general skill slot and the general skill Poisoned Alchemy (Rare).

Note: A repetition of this effect is impossible without an Ascendant rank elixir, and most souls will be incapable of taking a second general skill enhancement of this nature.

Secondary Effect: Generates the title Mira’s Will (Tier 1)– Increases Willpower stat by 10%. This will only be generated if the consumer is below level 150.

Side Effects: Causes severe stomach aches and diarrhoea.

Even in death, Mira had somehow found a way to fulfill her promise of teaching him alchemy. She'd outdone herself. An incredible skill, one that didn’t take up one of his limited general skill slots was an amazing boon.

He was understandably surprised by what Ayesha said next.

"I’m not sure if you should take that. It’s amazing, even compared to other elixirs of that nature, but I don’t know if you want to go down the alchemy route. I think it’d be better to take a crafting skill related to weapon creation, like blacksmithing. It’ll synergize well with your weapon skill and enhance your power several fold instead of spreading yourself too thin."

It was sound advice, at least coming from someone with limited information regarding him. Ayesha had clearly never seen his Godly Ikea bowl. She would no doubt be singing a different tune if she had. The bowl was a hair’s breadth away from becoming his second soul-bound item and Arthur knew how rare those could be. His blood was also one of the greatest alchemical catalysts in the world, perhaps the wider universe. Ignoring alchemy as a useful tool in his arsenal would be the height of folly.

Arthur unstoppered the vial and drank Mira’s Will.