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Hello!!! its good to be back :) i can't say i rested completely because of work but its better then nothing.I hope all my readers have been well. Given the time iv taken a break i have had quite a bit to think about plot wise, such as what to dedicate this volume to. As you all know my volumes usually vary from 40-80 chapters or so, i'm not used to doing certain progress within a volume, as i love to just smooth it out and let it flow without limiting it, after all i'm striving for a bit of freedom. Enough of my rambling though its good to be back i'm eager to let you guys read this, here is 1/3 chapters of today i'm going to knock out the queue first before i get to today's regular release.
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P.S I tend to post a bit on twitter such as spoilers and update on artwork, if anyone here who isnt a follower is curious as to what stuff i put here is an example. https://twitter.com/SpectralRegalia/status/776753249453879296
Chapter Catch up Summary for 155
Spoiler :
The artificer consortium branches leader came with the intention to discredit Avrin and bring controversy to his name, of course Galum one of the two people he brought with him was stunned to find out it was Avrin, whom he had an encounter with before, Galums mentor went ahead after a verbal exchange and fought with Avrin to test weapon quality of course in the end he came out with a miserable defeat. Meutin the leader of the branch within Roth had left but not before one more venomous bite in the form of words taking his inside men as well as a few others with them, Avrin who was angered inwardly by this especially because of Calomias injury is seeking revenge
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When Meutin and the others left, Avrin was clear on how he would handle them. He began to walk towards the reception desk and glanced at Calomia who had taken a seat with Ilisia by her side. ”Are you ok?” She responded while wiping off a few traces of blood from small cuts that were on her face. “Those fellas really don't like you, do they… I'm fine,” she muttered. Ilisia glanced at Avrin with an almost pleading look. “Mister Avrin... will they come back?” one could clearly tell she was worried.
Avrin gave a smile hidden under his mask as he began to walk off. “It's best if we cancel our trip for a bit. I'll handle this all, but I can promise you they won't come back.” He turned to glance at all the customers who had remained and spoke in a loud, clear voice. “Firstly, I want to apologise in regards to the Consortium’s appearance. Secondly, I want to thank those who defended Shaded Moon and remained here. I have a new product that is being developed and I will surely remember those who showed loyalty.”
A look of excitement could be seen on the faces of those adventurers and mercenaries. They had no doubt that Avrin’s products were unique and useful. In fact, one could say that purpose-wise they had no downside at all.
During the day, Avrin had sent Calomia and Ilisia to go rest. He had personally handled the requests of all the customers, making all their orders in front of them. It was a bit slower to note down what they wanted and to create it in batches, but no one seemed to mind. Many seemed interested in watching this unique method of Sigil creation.
When all the customers had been given their Sigil weapons and Dark Frost mines, which were selling better than the Sigils weapons, Avrin made sure to inform everyone that he would be closing Shaded Moon for a week to handle matters. He had made this extended decision thanks to the Consortium but only he knew the reasoning behind it.
When everyone had left and Calomia and Ilisia were together in a newly built wing of the large store that acted more so as living quarters; Avrin glanced outside, bidding the last customer farewell until their carriage, loaded with goods vanished into the darkness.
When he was left alone outside, he reached up and removed his mask. If one looked closer they could see a trace of anger on his face. “You want to ruin me... let me show you what happens when you cross my path.” His vanished in a puff of dark matter ash.
Above Roth village, nearly seven hundred meters in the air, Avrin reappeared. It looked as if he was standing on somewhat distorted glass. Avrin was directly above the Consortium’s branch shop. Though he was angry he wasn't sure how strong the main headquarters were. This was a large planet and although he had confidence in himself he had no doubt that if he destroyed this branch he would be to blame after today’s events, so he decided to try a more sinister route that would please him much more and would also ruin their reputation. Raising his right hand a congealed glob of Nebula Mist began to form before it began to coalesce almost like a drop of water from a tap that was leaking. When this drop fell it emitted a heavy droning sound that vanished within seconds.
It began to shift and turn and within moments sped up until it landed on the roof of the Consortium branch shop. The moment it hit it silently exploded into billions of dark matter particles that were too small to see with the naked eye. These particles then passed through the walls of the building with ease. Inside the Consortium branch, there were dozens of Sigil Artificers creating orders and using materials to better the goods.
“Hand me an Ocean Plate..” a robed, black-bearded Artificer spoke to a young female who held a tray of creature materials. She reached up and picked up a blue, flat, diamond-shaped scale and handed it to the Artificer, and at that moment many hundreds of small invisible dark particles shifted and absorbed into the plate as well as the materials including the Sigil that was currently being created and being held in a sort of square stasis of mana,
This scene repeated itself throughout the branch and Avrin simply grinned before he willed the particles to act. Within moments the particles began to devour the materials as well as the Sigils that were either stockpiled or being made.
“Huh?” a young female Artificer stood wide-eyed as she noticed a change in a Sigil she had just created. The Sigil, which was a round shield at the Uncommon level, began to tremble and crack. “This isn't…” she felt something wasn't right and quickly threw the Sigil away as she backed off. The moment the Sigil was thrown it shattered into pieces like glass, the dark matter particles inside of it dispersed into nothingness as they had completed their task and vanished.
The female Artificer was slack-jawed and stunned. She had never seen this before. In another nearby chamber, an elderly Artificer was nearly completed with his Sigil. He had a look of satisfaction on his face. The middle-aged assistant glanced over and spoke. “Master, this is going to be your best work yet. I hope you get a promotion, I'm certain you will!”
The elderly Artificer gave a smug look and replied. “Of course I wi-” before he could finish the mana barrier where the Sigil was being crafted began to distort as if it were unstable, and moments later it imploded, sending a powerful shock wave that blew the man and his assistant away making them hit against the room’s walls both of them being knocked out. The Sigil, of course, was destroyed.
Chaos had begun to ensue within minutes of Avrin’s actions. The entire branch consisting of nearly two hundred individuals were in shambles as no one knew what was going on. Avrin had a wide grin on his face as he watched them all.
Within his office, Meutin was dealing with many dozens of Artificers giving their reports. “What the hell is going on!!” he held his head in his hands as he wasn't sure what had happened. He had lost quite a bit of profit as a result of this and this would set them back several months. Especially because he had snatched a few customers from Avrin who had made orders that were already being made but those newly made orders and the materials were also ruined.
The Artificers began to bombard Meutin with advice and questions and fears. Meutin remained silent. It was only until Galum, who was standing beside him roared out. “SHUT UP!” when he shouted this out the Artificers all shut their mouths not daring to speak.
Meutin gave an angry sigh. He had never heard of this happening. It was so sudden and strange. “Strange...very strange...what happened…” Avrin could see them all bunched up within Meutin’s office with his Divine Sense. Avrin then focused his attention to a large underground vault where many stockpiled materials were hidden. “Here we go….let’s see you recover from this.” he gave a cold laugh before the dark matter that had absorbed into the materials within the vault acted.
The materials began to tremble and emit a sort of black smoke as some that were kept in special containers either made of a metal or a strange material began to rot. Some shattered like glass, others shrivelled up like rotten fruit, and some even turned to ash.
Avrin didn't waste the opportunity to steal a few of the more valuable pieces. He simply used his ability to engulf a few valuable pieces of ore and materials and Divine Stepped them out to him to which he placed them in the enchanted sack he held.
A few moments later, several assistants were walking towards the guarded vault discussing what was going on. “What a strange night..do you think someone is acting against us?” a male assistant with an empty tray spoke to his comrades. The female assistant who was with the black-bearded man gave a light sigh and replied. “I'm not sure what my master is thinking. He went to see Elder Meutin.” The six of them were discussing and when they arrived at the guarded vault they handed their order slips to the guards who nodded and began to open the vault that was nearly three meters tall and two meters wide with a strange set of runic locks that required special round shaped keys to open.
The vault shuddered for a moment before one of the guards began to pull it open. The assistants felt nothing of this but when the vault opened a rotting smell seeped out that made all their faces twist in disgust, the guards no exception. When they all glanced in and the mana lights that were automatically turned on to reveal the black smoke that clouded the ceiling as well as some of the melted ice containers that shouldn't melt due to being stable with mana.
The assistants were left dumbfounded, truly stunned by what they were seeing. The guards, of course, were shaking with fear as they were tasked with protecting the materials, yet everything inside was now ruined.
Meutin, who was busy discussing and handling what was going on, was trying to think of what had happened. “We can only assume someone inside sabotaged us, but we have no evidence...this happened all across the building but no one saw or felt anything...does anyone have anything to add?”
The Artificers began to think. One artificer then spoke up. “Elder Meutin, maybe...the materials were tampered with as they were being delivered?” when he spoke up Meutin frowned and shook his head. “You idiot...we purchase materials from many sources and they are quality checked. How can someone tamper with the materials of so many sources? This would only be possible if everyone we bought from was in on it and had many great experts with them but we would still feel something being off.”
Discussions went on but suddenly the closed door was flung open as the assistants rushed in with pale, afraid faces. “What's the meaning of this?!” one of the Artificers roared out. One of the young assistants spoke out in a troubled tone. “T...the vault…everything inside the vault is destroyed!!”
His words were enough to make them all forget the intrusion and shiver with a cold fear. Every one of the Artificers, including Meutin, rushed out like a harsh wind and headed towards the staircase that led down. When they crossed the underground hall to the vault and saw the trembling guards that they ignored, they glanced inside the vault.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Meutin’s face quivered with anger and fear. Anger that he wasn't sure who or what did this, and fear because he had lost all his materials as well as a large profit. This would set him back immensely to the point where he may have to pay much more for materials and explain to the main headquarters in regards to his loss. If things went like this and he's suspicions were true, how would he explain that he may have pissed off a powerful expert.
Worst of all, this situation would no doubt leak out and the Highland Syndicate would surely be elated and take advantage of this situation. “IDIOTS!!” Meutin roared out not only towards the guards but to everyone nearby.
Avrin simply looked at them all with a sense of satisfaction. He didn't linger too long and soon left. He had no doubt this would keep them away from him for a very good amount of time. They had no evidence directed towards him, he didn't doubt they had more enemies.
When he returned he went to the large living area. This attached wing was like a large house separating the large store and the house by a large door made of dark matter that was no weaker than materials of Rare quality. Calomia and Ilisia were sitting down and Ilisia was assisting Calomia who was still a bit injured. Right now they were preparing ingredients for a meal.
“Mister Avrin!” Ilisia glanced happily at Avrin. Calomia looked at Avrin. She could see by his hidden grin that he had handled the matter in some cruel way. “Heh, troublemaker...” she muttered out as she began to continue to cut up some ingredients. Avrin walked over towards the large kitchen bench and grabbed a round fruit that resembled an apple in shape but had an outer, soft-scaled exterior and was a somewhat shiny metallic blue colour. He took a bite from the sour and sweet fruit and replied back. “Me? A troublemaker? I would say I’m more of a debt collector. If someone does me wrong I will collect what I'm owed many times over.”
Ilisia felt she understood things better and spoke out. “Mister Avrin, you didn't hurt anyone did you?” Avrin looked at the girl and spoke. “Not at all. Oh yes, I will be heading off for a week to handle some business. I'll have Urkan send some people to help protect this place just in case.”
Calomia looked at Avrin but didn't ask why. Ilisia, on the other hand, was a bit more curious. “Mister Avrin, can I go with you? I'm so bored here. You also promised to take us to Roth village but you cancelled…” she gave a dissatisfied frown. Avrin was a bit stunned and began to think.
“How about I have Urkan have some people take you both to Roth? I really will be busy.“ Ilisia grumbled slightly after hearing this and gave an annoyed hmph sound. “No, nope! The three of us should go, so when you come back you need to take us to go eat somewhere good.” clearly she felt that the three of them were a small family. Avrin couldn't say no. He had indeed formed quite a bond, no less than Asura, Kael, and the others.
“Fine, that doesn't sound too bad. When I come back we can go eat at a good place. In fact, Roth is a bit too small. I'll take you both to a city.” Avrin’s choice was because he wanted to see what the city within the region held as well as what sort of opportunities he could discover.
“Oo, a city... That does sound good.“ Calomia looked excited herself as she gave a withered laugh. Ilisia also looked happy and nodded in agreement. Avrin soon left the two of them. He handled some matters that night, the first was to double check all the Lucent crystals he had earned and the second was in regards to Urkan. He had simply left Urkan a sealed scroll for him to read that requested he send a few trusted, capable people to guard Shaded Moon while he was gone for the week. Urkan obliged and sent quite a few people, this way Avrin wouldn't have to worry too much about anyone.
Avrin, after handling those two matters, Divine Stepped across the region until he was within the desolate barren wasteland. With his Divine Sense extended downwards, he could see that Ailirion was discussing things with a few dozen of the newly converted Spectrals. When Avrin saw them all working quite hard as well as their bodies looked more humanoid he realised something that made his heart hurt somewhat. He had realised that they weren't simply Ants to work and mine but they were now his people. He couldn't use them like this without rewarding them and treating them fairly, he would not be that man who uses the dark matter heart to create those whom he would use as tools for himself. It was he who started this all and he needed to give them a fair chance. After all, he had no one but his people now as well as Ilisia and Calomia. Everyone else within the universe with some sort of degree of power would not hesitate to kill him for his fragment.
His Divine Sense extended down increasingly to see how far they had gotten. When he stopped, he saw that the depth they had achieved was now four-hundred-and-one kilometres, a fairly impressive distance for that short amount of time. Though when he saw something his eyes twitched with urgency. His body flickered into ash before vanishing from above the region.
Within the tunnels that were lit up by dark matter. Many thousands of ants were scattered across, at first glance, one would see that they looked daunting with their darkened carapaces but at careful examination, one could see how humanoid and more so human-like they seemed.
They were using their large claw like hands to emit a stream of Nebula Mist to dig away at the ground at a rapid pace. Of course, within this depth of ground, the heat had started to pick up. It had gotten up to eighty degrees Celsius and the ants, although strong and resistant, were starting to sweat.
The tunnel itself was quite large. It was fifty meters wide and twenty meters tall, enough to fit many of them at the same time. “We need to hurry and get ten more kilometres before we are given a break or we will be punished!” one of the ants who was wearing armour shouted out to rally the others. He didn't seem harsh on them but more so trying to raise their morale and scare them a bit. He was the leader of this section.
“We are trying, Warden…the deeper we go the more resistant the rocks and minerals are..” one of the ants at the front spoke with a sigh. Though as they continued on one of the ants stopped as he noticed something from a section he was digging at with Nebula Mist.
“Hmm…” he noticed that cracks began to form as the heat from that wall began to increase immensely. Moments later an orange liquid began to seep through. When he saw this the ant trembled with fear. “M..molten lava, STOP QUICKLY!!” a sense of dread filled him.
The pressure and the timing were just a bit off. They wouldn't have thought that they were only half a foot from a massive lava channel. The ants stopped as they realised this but cracks began to form at a much rapid pace until sections began to crumble. They all backed away and began to flee but these cracks began to form on the ceiling now as bits of earth crumbled from the pieces that weren't secure with dark matter. Lava began to drip out and every moment that it did it picked up speed.
“Out out out!!” the Warden of the section roared out as many of the hundreds began to flee. But with many of them in such a place despite it being wide it was still not enough to let them all flee in time.
One of the younger ants at the front was rushing out but the ground also began to crumble. It seemed that the lava channel was in fact not only at their front but all around them, having only encountered bad luck just now, these ants also weren't powerful enough just yet to develop Divine Sense. The young ant that tried to flee felt his curved, ant-like leg and foot go down a bit of the crumbled part and into the lava. He let out a pained scream. “AHARA!..” usually the ants wouldn't feel too troubled as they were usually very simple minded before conversion, but after conversion their intelligence skyrocketed.
“Brother!!” although these ants all came from a long deceased queen, some had bonded, almost like family and would care greatly for each other. A larger ant began to rush towards the wounded young ant that had his foot and some of his legs charred off and was trying to crawl away over the crumbling earth but he was grabbed by the Warden who didn't want any more casualties. “Idiot, get out!!”
The Warden frowned as he looked at the young ant. His body trembled as he could see others were trapped as the earth had cracked apart and lava was flowing in between. The heat in the area was rising greatly, but he stayed and hesitated to leave. “Damn it all!!” the Warden roared out as he rushed forward. His strength was at the mid-Intermediate level, and he just couldn't watch as they all died. He needed to make some effort. When he rushed over towards the young ant that was unconscious now because of the pain and was laid on a large piece of rock that was floating in the lava flow and also increasing in temperature the warden reached over to grab him, trying to ignore the pleas of help from the remaining dozens of ants. Though his luck looked to have run out as the ceiling began to collapse. He felt his heart fill with dread and he looked around. He clenched his teeth, unsure of what to do.
There had been no casualties so far other than gravely injured burnt ants but this wouldn't last long, as in moments they would all die under a current of lava. Just as the entire area was about to collapse and flood them with lava, a powerful feeling engulfed the area. This feeling was a gravitational push that held everything together. Nebula Mist began to surge like a tidal wave in the air, shooting towards the entire surface as well as the flowing lava on the ground covering it all and hardening.
Within seconds the entire tunnel was secure, not one drop of lava or one crack could be seen. The ants that had already fled some distance stopped and looked with shock in their eyes, not just at what had happened but at the person standing in the air with his right hand’s index finger extended out with a jet black Nebula Mist with a purple hue orbiting around his finger.
This, of course, was Avrin, who had earlier sensed that the tunnel had begun to collapse. Had it not been for that exact moment when he arrived, no doubt many of them would have died. Some people would see these creatures as ants that could breed very quickly with no real care but to Avrin they were Spectrals now and part of his people. Anything that wanted to harm them was his enemy.
“Hmm...” Avrin lowered his finger and then his hand as he looked at the hundreds of ants that looked up at him. “That... the description Lord Ailirion gave me!!! that's the Great One!!“ The Warden ant shouted out from a distance and pointed to Avrin.
The ants began to whisper and talk to each other, after all being a warden required a good amount of trust. Moments later they all quickly ignored the lava flow that would have been the end of many of their kin and they all dropped to their knees in worship.
Avrin looked closely. He was somewhat dissatisfied, not only with their worship but with himself. He let out a pained sigh as he went down and landed on the ground with a soft thud, raising his hand again a stream of solid-looking dark matter shot out in dozens of streams towards the injured ants and covering their injuries. This stream was meant to help them heal and regrow their limbs as Avrin knew they weren't powerful enough to do so themselves. In fact, he doubted that those who weren't pure bloods could regrow limbs.
The young ant had his charred leg engulfed in dark matter that was already rapidly healing and restoring it. Avrin looked at them all silently. He was never really good with dealing with them, he wasn't sure what to say. “All of you stand up.” one thing he hated was to be worshipped. He was not dumb enough to think he was strong enough to be worshipped with beings like Orphelium as well as Cosmic Entities and even God himself. What right did he have?
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Avrin's Inner Workings Status
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Dark Stage Control ParticlesType 12100%Dark Stage ParticlesType 12100%God Essence WeaponsAstaroth-ScytheLimos-VajraGod Essence EquipmentSarcanus-Armor