“Well done, Sorin,” said Grand Elder Kepler as the younger man landed on his elevated platform overseeing the council of elders. “For the record, I believe you made the right decision not to spread the word in advance. You could have warned me, but then again, all my actions are under close scrutiny.”

Sorin nodded. “My understanding is that all the demigods in the city, and all the God Seeds, for that matter, are closely supervised through spiritual senses. I imagine all the other major powers have an inkling of what’s going on, but nothing concrete. Delaying the grand reveal has diminished their ability to respond before the Pandoran Council Meeting.”

The Grand Elder poured himself a cup of tea and gestured to another cup. Sorin accepted the cup and took a polite sip. “You’ll need to forgive Elder Ignis. It was I who provoked him into attacking you, not your uncle.”

Sorin chuckled. “Chief Elder Ignis has always been impartial. I wouldn’t retaliate against him even if it was Reeves who pressured him into it.” Most important was the fact that he was still Gabriella’s master. He’d taught her the Kepler Clan’s medicinal arts without reservation, and for that, he deserved some credit.

Grand Elder Kepler nodded. “I’ll be busy these coming weeks preparing the Infinite Dungeon for an influx of visitors. You should lie low until my return.”

The two exchanged a few more words as Sorin finished his tea. As neared the end of his cup, Sorin brought up an old matter he’d all but given up on. “About my request to access the black markets…”

“Denied,” said Grand Elder Kepler. “Access via an approved hidden identity requires me to go through the Pandoran Council. Given your relationship with Ratten Hyde, that identity would get leaked before you even entered that dreaded place.” He shook his head. “At least wait until after the council meeting, Sorin. I should be able to get you some kind of access. At least through an intermediary.”

“Let’s revisit the matter at a later date,” Sorin agreed before making his real request. “I believe I submitted a draft plan for negotiating the release of my new Expanse Tincture.”

The Grand Elder waved his hand. “It’s your discovery, Sorin. Do what you want with it. I warned those geezers not to cross you, but no, they had to try and play favorites. That said… you should be wary of who you antagonize in the next two weeks.”

“Oh?” asked Sorin with interest. “Is something going on behind the scenes?”

The Grand Elder tapped his fingers against his lips before answering. “Fineas made an important discovery. One that’s important to bring up at a council meeting.”

Sorin maintained a calm exterior but cursed inwardly. “That’s good. It will give us a way to fight back against the Hyde Clan when they try to rake me over the coals for stealing their divine corpse.”

The Grand Elder nodded. “It’s good to keep an open mind. I believe the discovery should be more than enough to offset your faux pas. The Hyde Clan won’t be able to touch you. Officially, at least.”

The old man looked down at the crowd of arguing elders and sighed. “I never liked these council meetings. You’re quite right about them being too chaotic and split. Alas, it was necessary for our survival less than a century ago and continuing until the resolution in Delphi half a decade ago. Our clan’s culture simply hasn’t had the time to adapt.”

“I think even a century won’t be enough at this rate,” Sorin said drily.

“Bah! Give it another fifty years with my prodding, and I’ll have those lazy vipers will all be dancing to the same tune,” said the Grand Elder. Then he sighed. “Now that your spiritual senses are equal to mine, I’m sure you can see how difficult it is to keep them in line.”

Sorin honestly didn’t see the issue. The council was divided into only five important splinter factions. The only thing the elders cared about was exchanging favors and allocations. “I don’t envy the Clan Leader,” he said. “He needs to cobble together hundreds of tentative agreements every time. And assuming he does his job well, no one will be happy.”

“That’s the nature of politics and compromise,” agreed the Grand Elder. “Everyone hates you if you’re doing your job well.” He inclined his teacup towards one of the Chief Elder Seats. “I believe Chief Elder Adrian is finished his rounds and has been waiting for you for the past five minutes.”

“I thought I’d let him stew for a bit,” said Sorin. “He’s angry and needs some time to get over it.”

“Too long, and he’ll just walk out on you,” warned the Grand Elder.

Sorin rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, I know a dismal when I hear one.” He took a step, and space twisted. One moment, he was near the Grand Elder’s seat. The next, he was beside Chief Elder Adrian, the only person in their clan who could actually teleport over long distances.”

“Oh look, the baby snake learned to crawl through a hole in the void,” said Chief Elder Adrian mockingly. “You know, you’d think that owing me a favor you would have warned me about this debacle. You’re lucky I didn’t teleport you into the coldness of space when found out what you were up to.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Sorin put a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Chief Elder Adrian. I specifically let a few things slip two weeks ago so you’d be better prepared. It’s not my fault it took you three whole days to take the hint.”

“I’m just tired of all the bickering and being caught in the middle of it all as a broker,” confessed Chief Elder Adrian. “What do you want, Sorin? Let’s cut the small talk. I’m busy.”

Sorin shrugged. “The Grand Elder hinted at a major anouncement. Something Fineas somehow came up with. Like I’d ever believe it’s anything more than a spoon-fed research breakthrough.”

Chief Elder Adrian smirked. “Aren’t you the Grand Elder’s new favorite? If so, he should have already told you. If not, my lips are sealed. I would never reveal such important information out of turn.”

“No matter,” said Sorin dismissively. “I want an identity I can use to visit the black market. Preferably seven. The Grand Elder is stalling till after the Pandoran Council Meeting, but I’m ninety percent certain he’s just stalling indefinitely.”

“You are a high-value asset,” said Chief Elder Adrian. “The black market is essentially a death trap if you’re high enough on their list. And I assure you, you are. If not because your status as a God Seed, then because of your enmity with Ratten Hyde.”

“So that’s a no,” said Sorin, exaggerating his disappointment. “So much for your reputation as a man who can get anything done.”

“I didn’t say no,” interrupted Chief Elder Adrian. “Its just not convenient to get you an identity until after the council meeting. There are far too many myths and Agents waltzing around the city. Isn’t one of your friends a Night Hawk? He should have already briefed you on how tense the situation is.”

Sorin rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. I didn’t expect you to pull through on either count. Really, I’m here to do you a favor. Why aren’t you thanking me yet?”

Chief Adrian yawned. “You should be aware by now that the entire council knows what you did in Delphi. Off the books, at least. I had to pay a significant price to keep you out of Elder Ignis’s dungeon.”

“Which is exactly why I’m here, making sure you’re one step ahead of the competition,” said Sorin. He placed a vial in front of Elder Adrian. The man’s eyes flashed as he used a high-level identification skill. “An improved Expanse Tincture?”

“A perfect Expanse Tincture,” Sorin corrected. “It’s also 30 percent cheaper than a normal expanse tincture, since two of the alternative main ingredients haven’t yet been locked down.”

Chief Elder Adrian drummed his hands on his small table. “I imagine you’ll be submitting this to the clan shortly?”

Sorin shrugged. “I see no benefit in turning it in early, given annoying those elders are to deal with. If you were me, how long would you wait before releasing the tincture?”

“Is it tested?” inquired the Chief Procurement Elder.

“It’s Phase 3 simulated, and I have data on five successful openings. That should be enough to justify accelerating the testing to phase 5 live testing, especially if what I’ve heard of the Ouroboro’s inheritance holds water.”

Chief Elder Adrian picked up the vial and shook it. “How much better would you say this one is?”

“I give it a 50% higher chance at successfully opening the Gate of Expanse and a 20% increased effect,” answered Sorin. “Once this tincture hits the market, there will be no reason to use the old tincture unless there’s a shortage.”

“There will be, trust me,” muttered Elder Adrian. “This is big enough to warrant a second announcement at the council.” He smirked again. “Too bad yours is a lot less impressive than Fineas’s.”

Sorin’s eyes narrowed. “His ‘discovery’ is that significant?”

“I’m afraid so,” said Chief Elder Adrian. “Fortunately, it’s not public knowledge. Otherwise, I’d have a much harder time getting my hands on those poison specimens you need. I assume that’s what you’re after?”

“So you agree?” asked Sorin.

Chief Elder Adrian nodded. “Delay your announcement until the council meeting and stockpile 1000 doses before then. Also, have your friend at the White Tower Group source the ingredients we need and get her people in touch with mine to draft a contract. This hits three birds with one stone. We’ll get an upgraded resource channel with a reliable supplier, a plan set up for when demand for the tinctures peaks, as well as a big enough stockpile to see us through the worst of it.

“To clarify, you’re confident about the tincture?”

Sorin nodded. “I wouldn’t recommend Phase 5 testing if I wasn’t.” Phase 3 testing was the final stage of simulated testing, while Stage 4 testing consisted of preliminary testing for fine tuning of a working product. Stage 5 testing was the final live testing stage.

Mundane medicines required tens of thousands of live tests. High level tinctures, on the other hand, required far less tests. They’d only need to prove that the tincture worked on a group of 20 test subjects and achieve a better success rate than the old tincture.

He and Chief Elder Adrian hashed out the details. There was still 60 holdouts that didn’t want to hand over their rare tier three poisons, and Chief Elder Adrian agreed to secure 37 of them. The remaining 23 were just too difficult, as Clan Leader Reeves had them deep in his pocket.

Sorin ignored the remainder of the bickering once the deal was finalized. He returned to his seat and focused on the poisons and the corruption in his body.

Strife was gushing out a crack from Hope knew where to balance out the high potency of his newly improved poisons. The Madness, Violence, Jealousy, and Hatred in his blood were lying low, and had even clustered together to avoid getting eaten up. For all the good that did them.

No, that’s important, Sorin reminded himself. He pulled his arm out of his sleeve and read the three sentences that were written. Azrakul’s Prison. Balance of all corruption types is important. Merger of different types of corruption may be required to counteract Strife.

He had no idea what Azrakul was, but there was some logic to trying to balance out the different types of corruption. It was similar to what he was doing with poison.

It was unfortunate that those four inferior corruption types were so weak. Then again, they were clustering together. Perhaps it was possible to force a fusion when they were in close proximity?

He wasn’t really sure why he bothered. Strife was superior to them in every way.

No, Strife is apparently the problem, according to Gareth. He’s got me on record confirming it.

The afternoon passed by pleasantly. The elders bickered until no one got what they wanted.

Sorin, ever the patient one, wrote up some plans on how to blackmail the few holdouts on the council and obtain their rare poisons.

He enjoyed the game. He had no idea why he’d pulled away form it in the first place.

It was good to be back.

Back in the Viper Pit where he belonged.