...

Somewhere before Kratikal, Buffer zone

Inside the wild demon territory, a young-looking dragon-kin wearing a robe and cloak sat on a boulder east of Moorgrel. He was writing something down inside a small booklet as his lizardy eyes contorted while he tried not to spill the ink bottle, which he balanced on his knees.

He sighed while talking aloud to counter his loneliness, "Journal: Influence of food in the infant phase of blood demons, category 3. This experiment should show some results. I really need funds for more research on demons."

He cracked his stiff neck, feeling uncomfortable since he wasn't acclimated to the area. The air was full of malicious miasma, which he needed to filter through with his spells, 'I can't believe how the territory to the west can actually survive this.'

Through winds, the miasma from all the wild demons would find its way into Moorgrel. Before he started, he was shocked that there was a buffer zone, which was barely better, and right on the border, there were big cities fully active and well run, 'Well, Moorgrel was always weird... maybe I can sell it to them?'

He thought about how he could sell his research to noble families who would find it helpful, especially the ones who lived on the border and could find it great if there were some new information about the demons he studied. However, for this, his research needed to be successful; if it were, gold would be the least of his problems.

'The cities looked well managed, so they should have some loose coin.'

For the last few years, a thought repeatedly emerged as to why he couldn't just do something like linguistical magic since it was much more popular. There were a lot of successful papers, like how pitch influenced mana, that became famous, and thus, the authors were granted a lot of funding for further investigation.

He shook himself awake. There was no need for brooding since he wasn't good at anything but researching monsters or wild demons. It was a very unpopular topic, and the most he could do with it was sell guides to adventurers, but they would rather risk it than spit out some coppers on an excellent guide against monsters.

However, he quickly threw the gold-making aspect to the back of his head since the Cathedral funded his current research, so there was no shortage for at least two years, which was the approximate timeframe given. Brooding over possible gains wasn't something he should do before he even started, 'I should start as fast as possible.'

He opened his enchanted rucksack and brought out 180 clay jars. In 90 of these were blood demons sleeping inside their blood shell, waiting to be activated. They were all the same type of category 3 blood demons that he bred, so they were as similar as possible to each other and to the most common ones one could find in Kratikal.

The other 80 jars had eight different concentrations of his particular potion mixed into their regular food. The last ten were the control group. It meant that it was their typical food without any of his brew blended in.

What was the actual research? His brew should influence them in a particular way. While in infancy, if they ate the food that he gave them, it would negatively impact their strength while maturing. However, this was not the crux of his research, as it would not only influence them but also their offspring in the same way. It would go as far as every following generation would see their strength being reduced.

Usually, a demon needed multiple generations to show even a smidge of weakness if he gave them poison as food for their whole life. However, he discovered that blood demons pass on certain traits they received right at the beginning of their infancy to the next generation. At least he was able to reproduce it in a closed environment. What it meant for their natural habitat exactly, he would find out.

The most important thing for the young researcher was that his subjects should populate into a weaker state by the next generation, but not too weak, as they could die out immediately after their second generation. In short, he wanted to create a new species that would overtake the old ones by mating with them, thus bringing the influence of his brew with them.

He hypothesized that it could help the guard dog territories in the East in a significant way, as they could try and eliminate one of the most dangerous wild demon species.

While it was nice to eliminate one dangerous species, he saw the bigger picture and exploited their nature. The weaker they are, the more they would breed and thus target more vulnerable demons, breaking the food chain. The ones on the apex of the food chain would slowly have problems procuring food and start to fight each other since blood demons were unedible and would poison them.

At some point, the blood demons, through their substantial increase in numbers, also wouldn't find any more food. Thus, they would die out, too, sooner or later. If it worked as all his calculations showed, Kratikal would need hundreds of years to regain any resemblance of balance.

Yet, if they were too weak, their poison would barely work, and they would just become a welcoming snack for every other predator. So, a balance was needed, so he brought eight different concentrations of his brew with him. Afterward, depending on his observations, he could calculate the required ratio.

Furthermore, it was mainly safe for most beast-kin: Blood demons have the nasty ability to crawl inside their prey toward the brain or nervous system. With this, they could control them by scattering their specific demonic energy. But, the stronger their target was, the less chance the blood demons had to take control and would just die inside their host. It would, however, result in poisoning, but it should be weak by his calculations if he took the soldiers he saw on the way here as a baseline.

There was another great point: He even showed they would have a more challenging time evolving into higher Tiers because they were so weak, even though only in a closed environment. It showed they would never pose a too substantial hazard even if they multiplied strongly.

In his mind, it was perfect, especially since the most challenging variable was absent in his equations and experiments: The food chain. No one ever ate the abhorrent wild demons, and with this, this territory became his playground. He could do whatever he wanted.

He had already tried so many rough and private analyses to find the correct parameter for this one. Through his previous investigations, he came to this promising conclusion. Thus, the Cathedral funded his research. Even his study design, he developed, was praised by his superiors, so he was full of enthusiasm.

However, after all his experiments in an artificial environment, like his laboratory, he would need to let them out into the wild from the get-go. He tried it several times after they matured, but they couldn't survive, even the control group. He concluded that his test subjects needed to be in the wild from the beginning, or else it would not work. He already did a short test beforehand, and it worked well.

He hypothesized that the artificially made miasma in his laboratory was somehow different from the one found naturally. Thus, they wouldn't acclimate to being brought to the wild after their infancy phase.

The young scholar sighed while swirling his tail from side to side, 'How annoying. At least I don't do this for free.'

Besides the research funds, he was also paid by the Cathedral in general as a researcher, and while the pay was enough for commoners to live a good life, it was not much for nobles. The income was used as a way to bind commoners to them since they mostly used it for their families. Most of their researchers would look for another job if they didn't pay enough. Yet, the Cathedral knew about the problem that commoners would send their wages away, so they also provided every necessity they would need, like food, clothing, materials, etc. For him, though, it was nothing more than chump change.

He shook himself awake and started with subjects A1-9. He opened their jar and filled it with the first concentration plus his control group. After that, he distributed them around the vicinity he had mapped out beforehand. He paid a lot of attention that it was as close to their natural habitat as possible while they should be as far away from each other as possible.

While they ate the prepared food, he put a weak illusion spell around them so they would not be attacked randomly. When ready, they would crawl out and begin their life.

He accounted for everything that could go wrong and was ready to make a mountain of gold, "Muhahaha!..." He started coughing as he was overwhelmed by his genius, "...cough! Whoops, I got carried away. Now, let's start making gol... I mean for research!"

...

Observation Day 1:

Group A, with subjects 1-9, was provided food, and the infant demons were distributed around the area. Illusion spells were put on their containers for safety reasons.

He closed his journal, "Now I need to wait..."

...

Observation Day 17:

Group A started to crawl out of their containers and were slowly looking for food sources. They look smaller and are much slower than the typical type 3 blood demon. Also, their demon aura is much weaker except for A9, as it was part of the control group.

...

Observation Day 32:

The last one (A2) found his first food source. This concentration seems too strong as they can barely survive. Only A7 had luck and was starting to breed. But he was barely surviving, if at all, like all the others. Only A9 is growing as expected.

...

Observation Day 57:

The last one of group A died. The concentration of the brew was definitely too high for this group. A9 was put down.

'Okaaay, they survived much longer than expected... damn it. This will take so much longer than expected... I should start with Group B.'

...

Observation Day 119:

Group B died...

...

Observation Day 340:

Group E...

...

Observation Day 714:

Group H...

...

Observation Day 728:

Everyone from Group I was hunting, but I3. The young scholar could feel its energy inside the container and determine it was alive. I3 was far outside the standard parameters as it needed longer to digest the food provided. Possibilities were that the subject was a mutation. Further observation was required.

...

Observation Day 739:

Group I did much better than Group H, as with previous observations from other groups. I3 was out hunting now. It looks very stable, unlike all others. Even better than the control group.

I3's infant food contents were checked and had the same concentration as all the other subjects of Group I. No mistakes were made with the brew.

The young scholar noted, 'Further research on digesting speed and how it affects the development in the infant phase.'

...

Observation Day 783:

Group I was doing slightly better than Group H. All the indicators spoke for it. The control group was the same as always.

There was one exception: I3 was doing much better than even the control group. It controlled weaker demons like imps, but they became much stronger after I3 invaded them.

After all the time observing, he became overly enthusiastic, 'I need to research I3 further and determine the reasons for this kind of strength improvement.'

...

Observation Day 807:

I3 couldn't hold the demon for long. The imp got wasted much faster than usual. After it got out, it had a red-blackish shell around it and started burrowing itself into the ground, vanishing inside it. There was a need for more observation to know what the anomaly was doing.

...

Observation Day 815:

I3 was out and shed its shell. It was larger and healthier looking. The shell started moving and looked like another blood demon, which was also remarkably healthy. Also, it skipped its infant phase.

The reproducing was an anomaly. I3 seemed to multiply this way instead of the typical breeding by using the body of his prey and another blood demon.

Usually, blood demons would somehow find each other even if they were inside their prey, separated from each other. They would then choose one body and copulate inside. Only one would survive; with its death, multiple eggs would be laid inside the body they copulated in. The surviving one would take the prey, which was free, and leave the eggs alone to hatch.

The body, where the legs were laid, would become unstable while breeding inside it. As such, locating any blood demon under Tier 3 was possible and easily achievable. However, the I3 specimen breeding was much safer, especially in its lower Tiers.

'It is a hazardous mutation...'

...

Observation Day 858:

I3 had control over the hatchling. The scholar was fascinated that this blood demon was a hive-mind, which also sadly meant trouble, 'It's definitely dangerous; by the next shedding, it needs to die.'

I3.A1, the first offspring, has caught its first prey, but only lesser Imps. I3, on the other hand, was able to control greater Imps, 'Damn it, why can't I breed powerful demons? This would be a breakthrough!'

There were buyers for this, but only on the black market. However, this was the last thing the young researcher wanted to do. If he got caught, his household and reputation would take a lot of damage, even though it wasn't unusual that nobles also dabbled in the underworld.

He was brought back as he watched how well I3.A1 controlled the demon, much better than his parent, and with this, a question occurred: Did he accidentally reverse the positive feedback loop in the other direction? Instead of showing weakness, it showed more strength.

Such phenomena could be seen in some insect monsters, but these were much weaker and never went over Tier 1, 'I3 is already higher Tier 1...'

He bit his nails and was very curious about what it could do, but keeping it alive for too long was too risky. However, he decided to keep observing it till the subsequent shedding.

...

Observation Day 898:

Group I was almost dead. I3 and I3.A1 hunted down all of them. It appeared to him that they could feel the specific aura of other blood demons much better and were much more aggressive toward them, 'I have a breakthrough!'

It occurred to him that the aura of specific demon breeds has distinct energy signatures that they can somehow sense between themselves. The aura that came from the energy was only noticeable to themselves.

'This is my next topic: Demons from Tier 3 and upwards are too aggressive... well, wild demons at least.'

He quickly wrote everything down and kept observing while planning his following research. He already had an idea: He wanted to cut off the specific aura somehow so they couldn't find each other and copulate.

If he could do it with more demons, it would mean gold beyond belief, and he would curb the whole population, bringing much prestige to him and his household.

Many researchers didn't say it out loud, but having their names noted down for massive breakthroughs was the dream of all of them. While gold was nice, it was mostly a means to an end. Most would trade all their riches for prestige and be remembered through history as genius researchers.

...

Observation Day 917:

I3.A1 was shedding, and its parent was looking after him. It showed strong signs of weakness and malnourishment. Since I3's size increased, it also needed much more food while trying to increase its population even more.

The young scholar clicked his tongue, 'Damn it, I need to kill them. Otherwise, they could become unpredictable.'

In his mind, they were such good research subjects. Even if he couldn't achieve his main goal, he found something interesting, which was what a lot of research was built on. Luckily, the administration of his Cathedral branch also knew this and wouldn't mind if he came back with a failure but a great new observation from which he could research something different.

...

Observation Day 918:

The young scholar frowned while writing down his observations, "Group I was all in all a failure. Subjects I3 and I3.A..."

He was suddenly distracted by a weird noise, "What is this weird...? Shit!"

He jumped up immediately as his danger-sense skills signaled him to move away quickly. He could see how he barely avoided a spear, "Who are you?!"

Before he got an answer, he wanted to make sure to be in a safe position. So he chanted his spell while building a construct with his mana, "Mana, heed my call and let me be a bird! Free from the restrained earth and take me to the sky!"

Tiny wings appeared on his feet, and he flew towards the sky to escape the possibility of a melee brawl and to see who actually wanted to ambush him.

He suddenly heard a very eery voice from further away, "Hoho, I didn't know that people from the Cathedral are this fast on their feet. Not bad for a bunch of dusty scholars."

The young scholar, who was in the air, looked where the voice came from and saw a male human. He came out behind some rocks. Glazing at him, he instantly knew who he was and got a bad premonition. "A Scavenger..."

His body was like a human's, but instead of the skin humans or other humanoid-like races had, he had a deep reddish skin that looked like leather armor. On some parts of it were yellow scales which moved slightly. He was large and very muscular. It was normal for their race since they lived in very harsh environments. Through this, they somehow developed a survival sense that only the strong could prosper. Thus, their overall population was small, but one couldn't underestimate them.

In the past, humans tried to get rid of them through various means, like putting them into territories where even the most hardened people couldn't survive. This brought him to his current problem, 'Am I in their territory? It can't be right?'

However, even if he was, it shouldn't come with any problems since he was a dragon-kin from the Cathedral, which always held itself neutral towards nonsensical altercations. All they cared about was research and accepted every race.

The scavenger laughed madly for no apparent reason, "Kikikiki, let me borrow your space bag, little lizard."

He rushed towards the young scholar's spatial bag, lying on the ground just as he said it. The young scholar became aggravated, "Don't touch it!"

Even though he had a high-level [Memory] skill and remembered everything he wrote down in his journal, his subjects were also there. He wanted to rush too but decided against it since his [Danger Sense] skill was screaming at him not to come close. After some hesitation, it was either way too late since the scavenger picked up the scholar's bag.

The dragon-kin looked frustrated as the barbarian examined his spatial bag and floated further up to get more distance. While slowly moving up, he was confused about what was happening, 'It should be the buffer zone, right? Or am I in Kratikal already? Did I overstep some boundary accidentally?'

It was confusing because the buffer zone was officially part of the guard dog territory. While everything outside was incredibly safe, the buffer zone was hazardous because of the wild demons. Now, there seemed to be even more to worry about, 'I should've taken some guards with me... damn it!'

After the scavenger looked at his new possessions, he turned to the scholar who floated in the air and smiled at him, "How boring. Why not stay and answer some of my questions?"

His lips twitched, and he decided to run away, but before he flew away, he wanted to make clear how disgusting he found them, "How about you go fuck yourself? How about this?"

He floated higher and higher and towards the direction of the nearest Cathedral office. It was in Wolfsteeth and rather a subsidiary with only one or two laboratories, but it was better than nothing.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

He tried calculating how fast he could reach it and became angry as he looked at his stolen spatial rucksack, 'Damn it, I could've reached it in two days tops with some of my potions, but now I need... urgh, a week.'

The scavenger suddenly yelled at him as savagery appeared on his face, "Oh, please don't fly away!"

Woosh!

An arrow out of nowhere flew at him and luckily only scratched his ear. He could feel a particular energy signature from it, 'Night-elves and Scavengers? Damn, it, how could I forget them!'

It was a group banished years ago and put into Kratikal. Like he, everyone thought they were dead, 'Who knew that they could survive in such an environment?!'

He suddenly started sweating as the situation became incredibly dangerous, 'This is an emergency... if elves are in this, I am nothing more than a flying target!'

Mana surrounded the young scholar, and he conjured a mana bubble around himself. He did it five times till, from an almost transparent shield, a very visible barrier appeared around him.

He widened the mana bubble to a five-meter radius and conjured another spell. After the chant, the light began to refract the moment it touched the barrier, and his position wasn't definitive anymore.

After he was done, he grabbed inside his robe to find a high-level teleportation scroll. Using it was a little risky, but if he stayed, it would be death for him. He wasn't someone who was able to fight. He was a pure-blood researcher and only knew of a couple of spells for self-defense, nothing more.

Woosh!

The next shot came and cracked his bubble. However, he found the scroll and immediately used it by putting mana into it and ripping it apart.

…

Somewhere in Moorgrel, Cathedral Main Branch

The teleportation felt like he was inside a tornado filled with kaleidoscopic colors. They swung and moved in nauseating patterns around him. After what felt like an eternity, he exited the space, which was Outer Circle (hell) to him.

When he appeared, he vomited a mouthful of blood and emptied his stomach. Looking around, he could identify that he was in the main hall of the Cathedral in the North-west of Moorgrel.

The scholar relaxed slightly and fell to his knees. He saw the arrow inside his stomach and blood all over his robe. His mind became chaotic, 'I am going to die...'

After a few seconds of silence, screams erupted around him inside the hall, "Don't stand just there! Get a priest or healer as fast as possible!"

"Who attacked a scholar?! Get the investigation mages ready!"

"I need the damn name of his Master! Does somebody know it?"

The screams transformed into murmurs, which he couldn't decipher anymore, and the world lost its color. He could only sense the taste of iron before falling unconscious.

...

Sometime later

The young scholar heard murmurs and a lot of walking while the surroundings around him became more and more audible. The clanging of metallic objects, fabric rustling, and shoe clacking made him slowly open his eyes, 'Sickroom?'

Everything around him looked sterile and white. It was the sick room as designed by previous scholars, and he hated it. He felt like he was one of his subjects and was about to be experimented on.

He looked to the side and cringed at a shield outside his room, 'Corpses will be transported daily from 09:00 to 12:00. Please hold this area free from personnel as the corpses could hold contagious diseases. Great, I got the cheap room even.'

He tried to prop himself up, but pain invaded the lower region, "Argh!"

The young scholar suddenly heard a high-pitched, bassy voice and knew exactly who it was, "Oh, you woke up? Please wait a bit!"

It was a typical gnome voice, but he didn't see one of them running around as he looked toward the ground. Because of their high dexterity they had a knack for medicine and other particular fields. For the last months, they were the best in a new field called surgery, and by using their specific skills and magic, they were pretty much on top. So, it was common to see them in the medical departments.

However, such things were very temporary since new fields always had a lack of interest. So, the first adapters were the biggest fish in a small pond. The moment the new discipline or subject became more popular, they would usually become mediocre.

There were obvious exceptions, like it was with his field, as it was niché, which barely anyone researched. It was dangerous, and the payout was subpar. Also, it only came with little prestige if one discovered something about a monster or wild demon species.

After a minute of thought, a nurse came over, "Hey! How are you?"

He looked at him and was at first a little perplexed as it was a male. He always had problems with distinguishing their voices. However, he tried to be cordial, "I am fine, thanks. How long was I out?"

The gnome caressed his green beard and probably thought about it. After a full minute, he inquired again, "So?"

The nurse came out of his thoughts and remembered again that he was asked something, "What? Oh yeah, no idea! I am actually in another department. I was brought here over just yesterday because of shortages."

The wounded scholar became a little exasperated but knew that the medicine departments had their fair share of weirdos, and it was always a bad idea to piss them off, so he stayed as polite as possible, "Could you please get someone who knows?"

The gnome nodded, "Sure, junior, give me a couple of minutes!" After saying it, he quickly walked out.

While he walked, his steps sounded the same as those of his younger siblings when they were little, so he started to chuckle, "Hehe... argh!"

He suddenly felt pain from his injury. He slowly and carefully took the blanket away to see how bad it was. What he saw wasn't to his liking since the bandages thickly surrounded the larger part of his lower body, 'This looks bad.'

He would read later the medical report what was done to him, but he feared that there was no healer or priest present to heal him fully, 'I got probably healed by some newbie, so I don't bleed out... urgh, I will be out for months.'

His thoughts drifted to the paperwork he would need to do about what happened. This made him frown heavily. The Cathedral, even though relatively free and open to new ideas, was also heavily bureaucratic. He would need to explain what happened to him thoroughly, and afterward, multiple people would ask him about it. It would be a giant time sink.

Yet, he ignored it for now and decided what he needed to do next to get healed fully, 'The Temple should do.'

After deciding his next steps, he quickly thought about how he got injured. A night-elf and a scavenger attacked him for no apparent reason, instead of just taking his belongings and letting him go.

They were the expelled ones, which also surprised him since he thought they were all dead, especially the night-elves who lived most of the time in the forest or mountains. They weren't a race known for flourishing in the harshest of environments.

He felt an annoying itch suddenly and started to scratch his head. It felt oily, and he began to think about how long he was out. His thoughts felt chaotic and not as sharp as usual, 'I am probably on some painkillers.'

However, when he tried to concentrate, he suddenly remembered something important, "I3! Damn it!"

There was now a mutation of a blood demon running around, which could bring a lot of problems. Now, instead of disrupting the environment in Kratikal negatively, he let go of a species that could bring a lot of problems, probably creating another demon sovereign, 'Fuck me... I hope this thing dies off...'

His most terrible thoughts were interrupted as someone hurried into his room, barging inside, and immediately asking him loudly, "Lizko, I heard that you woke up!"

This made him recoil in surprise at first but then in pain, "Argh!"

It was his master, an old night-elf who had some prestige inside their Cathedral. He was in Moorgrel, like he did, for research purposes, but he was usually more specialized in other things than research. Nonetheless, there was a reason why he was his Master, even though he only did his experiments halfheartedly.

'How did he know that I woke up? Urgh, I hope he has no surveillance spell inside the room.'

After trying to suppress his pain from the surprise, he looked at him and felt warmth since it was the first friendly face after years of surveying wild demons and getting almost killed by the expelled ones.

He had a light blue goatee and long hair which flew towards his shoulders. He wore an old-styled cathedral robe, which spoke of his stubbornness to change. However, he was very attentive to his appearance and made him do it too obviously. Most scholars didn't care about their appearance and used only some spells to clean themselves so they wouldn't smell, but they looked like beggars most of the time.

His master, though, always said that one should always look top-notch, which would make one also think differently. Lizko couldn't really feel the difference. Even though annoying, what could he do? It was his master's wisdom and command, so he had to follow it.

Lizko looked at him apologetically since he probably made a lot of problems from what happened, "Master, I am sorr..."

Yet, he was shut down before finishing his sentence, "Shut up! How could you get injured like this?! Who did this? Tell me!"

He liked him, but his master was always a little overbearing. After getting himself together and trying to remember what clearly happened after using some skills to suppress the painkiller effect, he explained, "I… A Scavenger and a night-elf attacked me at the buffer zone, but I couldn't see the night-elf. I only felt he had this typical energy fluctuation like you had when he attacked me with an arrow."

His master contorted his face into different grimaces and started to look angrier by the moment. However, he didn't interrupt him, "Master, they also stole my spatial bag and other research material... it is possible that I unleashed a catastrophe..."

He slowly caressed his goatee and signaled Lizko to keep talking. He would say one should get better and rest in normal circumstances, but he seemed to understand his disciple's predicament. So Lizko continued to explain, "I was doing my research on blood demons, and I was observing a specific group or rather an outlier who was probably a mutation..."

His master raised an eyebrow, "Go on."

Lizko nodded slightly and continued, "I wanted to kill it after observing it for some time and... I was attacked before I could do it."

He sighed and started to rub his temple in annoyance, "Tell me please that this mutation is in some way weaker and not just stronger."

I shook my head, "No... it is much stronger and has a higher survivability in every way."

He scrunched his eyebrows, "Where is your Journal?"

Lizko looked down and felt ashamed, "I..."

The Cathedral of Pestilence was infamous for scholars going rogue with their experiments. However, with thousands of researchers, it was inevitable that something sometimes happened, and they were mostly only legends to teach their students to be more careful while doing research. Yet, he would become such a legend most likely.

His master interrupted his thoughts, "I get it. So, some insects dare to attack a Cathedralian scholar, my student no less, steal his research, and unleash something into this world..."

Lizko wanted to interrupt his master since his wording was wrong, but he sensed mana fluctuations coming from him before he could do it. A Tier 4 mage was frightening, primarily when they specialized in combat, so he stopped and saw his master scream through a spell he conjured, "Kali! Swing your ass to me, now!"

His voice was so loud, but he used a space/sound spell combination that only people within a few meters could hear him while also transporting his voice toward the one who should hear it, Kali, his other disciple. Luckily, Lizko already knew him too well and quickly used a silence spell on his ears to avoid getting deaf.

When Kali appeared after some minutes, she was already distressed, "Yes, Master?..." She huffed and puffed as she basically dashed toward him, "...you called me?"

She was Lizko's junior, and since he was out there doing his own research, she was doing all the paperwork for their master. He felt bad for her, but at the same time, not really since she wasn't living inside an area where one couldn't even breathe without getting poisoned.

As disciples, they usually helped their master in his menial tasks. Depending on what kind of research the master was doing, it was sometimes more doable than other times. The administrative work was more than one could imagine to bring a project from an idea to an experiment.

His master frowned at his junior, "Too slow. Next time, I will turn you into a fireworm if you are this late!"

Lizko smiled slightly and knew that his master never meant it like this. He hoped so, at least.

Kali apologized while trying to catch her breath, "I am sorry, master."

His Master nodded and looked at Lizko, "Kali, sit down with this sad sack and write everything he says down. I need to check whether his stupid project will become a disaster."

He held his hands behind his back and became serious while addressing his disciples, "This is very important. If this is really bad, I need to take the appropriate steps. So take your time but not too long, and you..." He pointed at Lizko, "...try to remember every detail and work out some possibilities together with your junior."

Both disciples nodded without any questions. Their loyalty also didn't come from anywhere, as this case showed. A master was there to protect and lead their disciples to become respectful scholars. This meant also that his master took full responsibility for their actions and mistakes.

So, Lizko decided to do his part and not take any painkillers anymore since his mind needed to be sharp. Any misremembered information could bring a catastrophe. Even though he cared little for Moorgrel, he did so for his reputation. Unleashing a demon that could kill thousands wasn't something he wanted to have on his CV.

He sighed, 'This will be painful.'

His master nodded toward them and quickly went out of the room. They could hear him scream from the hall at someone else, "Get out of my way! Who by the red moon colored their hair green?"

The gnome who was nursing him screamed at him back, "Shut up! You have blue hair!"

"Whatever!"

Lizko frowned since his master was really on edge. This little interaction told him it was serious and that he needed to concentrate.

He looked at Kali, who had giant bags under her eyes, "Are you fine?"

She shrugged but also twitched a couple of times while talking, "Don't worry, Lizko, I took something from the alchemical department… too bad it doesn't work too well. I am tired but can't sleep, heh."

He shrugged, too, as he knew this feeling, "Fine, do you have something to write? We should start right now."

She brought two chairs close to his bed and laid down some weird things on one of them while holding a vegetable in one hand. She signaled to start, "Of course! What do you think of me?"

Lizko's eyebrows twitched, "This is a shoe and a carrot..."

She looked at it, blushed, and stood up, "Give me a minute!"

While she was out getting the writing material, he frowned. It has gotten worse with her, and the reason was his Master, who gave newbies so much work that it was barely doable. Working through the mountain of tasks was only possible with stamina potions or other solutions.

After a minute, she came back, "I am back!"

Lizko looked at her more closely and knew that she needed sleep. She was really talented as a shaman but had so many other problems because she was a fairy. They were much more resistant to potions than other races. This, in turn, meant that she couldn't work as efficiently as he was for days on end. Still, the alchemical department was always trying to experiment on her, and she, out of desperation, took everything they gave her without even asking what it was.

He looked at what she got this time, "You brought bread..."

She peeked at what she held and handed it to him, "Of course! You are obviously hungry! I will be back in a minute."

She quickly ran away again, 'This will take a long time.'

...

Two months later

Kali was happy and sauntered toward her master's office. After two months of recording every little detail from her senior's research, writing down all the probabilities of what could go wrong, and calculating the chances of the events, it became slowly annoying since it was a lot of minuscule work, but she was done.

Someone else did all her work all the while since her senior's mistake took priority. It was great since it was the first time in years that she could sleep regularly.

She started jumping happily through the corridors, ignoring what she recorded and what catastrophe it could develop into. Also, she would again work on her old tasks, but this time, her senior would suffer with her, 'Muhahah!'

Her inner voice became very quickly her outer voice, "Muhahahaha!"

While she jumped around, she became a little irate as everyone was looking at her like she was crazy. She didn't mind, though, as being a Tier 2 shaman fairy at age 134 was prestigious enough to give her quirky nature enough leeway.

After some minutes, Kali arrived at her master's door while whistling and knocked on it, "Master, it's me - I have the report!"

"Come in."

She immediately came in and lay the report on her master's desk while he was reading some research. She tried to peek at what he read but suddenly felt pain on her forehead, "Ow!"

He flicked her forehead, and she almost teared up, "This hurts, Master!"

He sighed and spoke stoically, "Let me see."

He took their documentation and read through it in only five minutes. It was around a thousand pages long, and Kali couldn't imagine how high his [Reading] skill was to be able to do something like this.

His brows scrunched down, and he looked annoyed, "This is not good. We must investigate first and do our best to find this darn blood demon. If not, we need to send a letter to Count Moorgrel..." His face contorted slightly after saying it, and he quickly revised his statement, "...maybe."

Kali became confused, "Master? Why not send a letter as a precaution to the Count, and if the investigation is unsuccessful, we just take it back?"

He shook his head, "This will not work. For this, we need to act first."

She tilted her head in confusion, "Why, though?"

He looked at her and became more irritated, "Take a politics and history course, moron."

She started to pout as her master always became rude if he was annoyed. So, she crossed her arms and waited for an answer while trying not to look away in fear, which she felt since his gaze penetrated her.

Kali's interest was in shamanistic magic and the use of totems, not something so dull as history or politics. Yet, she remembered a colleague of hers who had such interest, and instead of working on her healing magic, she went to the Temple to work there as an administrator.

He sighed and became annoyed by her, which she didn't mind, "Fine!"

He leaned back and looked at her, "What will happen when we report to the Count?"

She held a finger to her chin and thought about it, only to answer after some seconds, choosing the obvious answer, "Hm, they will send us some help?"

He nodded, "What are the consequences of this?"

This question now confused her, "Hm?"

She started to flap her wings slightly as she didn't know the answer, "What do you mean, Master? We will receive help and hunt down subject I3 and his offspring?"

His stare didn't change, and he asked again, "What will happen after this?"

Her wings flattered and made her take off the ground slightly, "We will have a party?"

He shook his head and became visibly annoyed, "Take a politics course. In recent years, the Cathedral caused too many accidents because of some of our moronic projects."

He paused momentarily and looked out of the window, "Plagues which killed off whole villages, wild and highly intelligent monsters were unleashed which are not captured to this day, who we wanted to use as mounts or guards..." He started to rub his temple, "...magic projects which burned down a good chunk of forests which should prevent them and..."

She interrupted him, "I get it! We made some mistakes!"

He looked at her in surprise and started to laugh, "Haha! Some? Why do you think we are so hated in almost every Empire or Kingdom? Don't underestimate the stupidity and carelessness of your colleagues."

She flew higher subconsciously, "OK, fine!"

Her master reminded her that the Cathedral was not an institution with the most prestige, to say it lightly. This also meant that they tried to do a lot of good to repent for their mistakes, and she remembered even the things she had done voluntarily. Well, the Cathedral forced the service, but she did it nonetheless for free.

She crossed her legs in the air and pretended to sit while thinking aloud, "Don't we do a massive amount of volunteering?"

He smirked at her, "Haha! Do you think it is this easy? Think a bit..."

She interrupted her Master and yelled as she thought of something ridiculous, "Wait! Do you say he wants us to help in the war in the West for our mistakes?!"

Her Master smiled, "You got it. You are not as much of a moron as I thought."

She moved in the air and looked down at him as she became irate herself, "I am very talented for your information, Master!"

He waved his hand in dismissal, "Sure, sure, but back to the topic...." He became more earnest, "...Our debt has accumulated to not a small amount, and Count Moorgrel was patient enough not to send us directly towards the war regions to go against the human and dwarven kingdoms, which has probably two reasons."

He held two fingers up and continued, "Either he has information that they also have possible help from the Cathedral branches bran in their Kingdoms, or he is holding us back till the real war starts. Right now, there are only skirmishes."

Kali got frantic, "But... can't we just refuse?! The Cathedral is basically everywhere, and we were always neutral?!"

Her master shook her head, "It is a long story, but the Cathedral is forbidden in multiple Empires and Kingdoms because of what I told you and other really idiotic reasons. We exist and thrive mostly in Mal-Gil and especially in Moorgrel, where the Count supports us."

Kali looked at him confused and yelled in distress as she had only now heard about such things, "How can he then send us to war?!"

Her Master shrugged while smiling at her tiringly, "This is a possibility, but the Cathedral was created to give beast-kin and their allies, like us, a way to catch up to the research of other territories. So, if we become a negative factor, we must pay for our carelessness."

Kali started to frown, "So, we must leave if that happens? I can't imagine anyone going to war. I know some colleagues only joined because they wouldn't need to fight for their lives like those barbaric nobles."

Her Master shook his head and sighed again, "Most of the Cathedral's researchers are beast-kin, nature-dwellers, and night-elves at around 70%. We are not really friendly with other races..."

Kali immediately interrupted him, "But I work together with gnomes, dwarves, undead, and so on? How can we not be on friendly terms?!"

He chuckled, "Hehe, those are researchers and don't care about such stupid differences. They chose the Cathedral because we don't discriminate against each other based on our race and probably because they don't have any Cathedral branches in their territory. Yet, if you step into politics, you would know that such a mindset is scarce..."

He made an example, "Do you ever see our dwarven or gnome colleagues go out into the city?"

She thought about it, and before she could answer, he made a qualification, "I don't mean our campus."

Kali didn't know and just shrugged. So he answered it, "They don't. We have special rights which allowed us to host them, but the moment they step into the city, they will be immediately arrested..." He visibly remembered something, "...there were some cases when it happened, and only through our Dean could we get them back."

Kali tilted her head and asked, "So, what does it mean?"

He raised an eyebrow and told her the conclusion, "It means that, even though we have specific rules internally, externally, we are forced to act on the whims of nobles. So, even if we flee, nothing good would come out of it since most are not really fond of us like I said before..."

He looked suddenly solemn, "Or we go to war against Moorgrel, which will destabilize them internally, lead to a probable loss in the war fronts, and the first possibility will materialize itself either way. However, this will lead to us losing since they are stronger and, with it, a lot of dead colleagues."

Kali was visibly distressed since she never cared much about politics or its implications. She couldn't wrap her head around sending some researchers to the front, so she tried to devise some solutions, "Wait! But what about doing nothing?!"

Her Master snickered, "Let's say we do absolutely nothing, and the nobles who rule over their territory lose something because of our mistakes..." He tilted his head and visibly tried to find an explanation for her, "...nobles are nobles because society accepts them as such to rule over them, and if they lose face, prestige or whatever useless thing they care about, other noble households will try to stab them in the back to take their place. Thus, in us doing nothing could realistically also lead to internal conflicts and..." He shrugged, "...there we are at possibility number one again."

Kali was baffled. This meant they were screwed either way, so she tried to argue against her Master's possibilities, "What about other territories inside of Mal-Gil?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Did you look at least once at the map? Other territories surround us and far away from something resembling another territory of Mal-Gil..." He smirked at her condescendingly, "...even outside of Moorgrel, in other parts of Mal-Gil, we are heavily disliked for other and much more dumb reasons, and the branches we have there are almost all filled with beast-kin, nature-dwellers or night-elves. Barely other races are there."

Kali became overly distressed as she couldn't argue anymore, "No! I don't want to go to war! War is stupid! Stupid, I say!"

He gestured for her to relax, "Calm down. You will not go anywhere till this problem is resolved. We need to try it ourselves first. If nothing works, we will go to the Count, and he will probably take it to the Leonandra's, which I really don't want."

She tilted her head in confusion while testing her barely available knowledge about the region, "Why, Master? Aren't they just some Knight family? They couldn't even stand you if you took it seriously!"

Her Master shivered slightly, "I don't want to talk about it. However, get five mage or scholar squadrons ready to go out. Choose the ones who have superior scouting ability. They have a time frame of around two years. Rewards and everything else will be listed later on by me. We need to be at least supportive but don't say anything that we created the mess but tell the squadrons that we do it for research purposes. As long as we can control and find it, it should all be fine."

She flew immediately away, thinking who to ask, "Alright, will do!"

However, after some meters, she stopped and remembered that she had some questions, "Master, what should I write exactly, and who should I look for? Isn't this some weird territory?"

He was already writing his draft and sighed, "Right, it is complicated, but we need to ask the Leonandra household for help either way because of how they train their soldiers. Don't forget, it is Kratikal and the buffer zone, so the demon aura concentration is too high for ordinary mages. We need the ones with stronger mental resistance towards the miasma..."

He stopped writing and was thinking for a couple of seconds before continuing, "There is also the problem with the attackers. If they stole only the subjects, all good, but if they also read his journal and took I3 for some weird reason, the Count will be in no position to act because of the treaty with them."

He stopped writing and looked at her, almost staring into her soul, "I need to read about it more, but as far as I know, they are in some weird situation where we can't even make deals with them. So, just look for the damn blood demon, and we'll look into them later."

Kali had only one thought, 'Lizko screwed up big time!'

The situation was precarious, and she now understood why they couldn't just go to the Count and ask for help directly. Too many parties, treaties, and weird interests were involved to attack the problem directly. She wanted to just march into the buffer zone with a small army and find the blood demon her senior released. However, if they didn't find it, she wanted to go to the camp of the weird attackers and, if they found it, take it by force if needed.

Her thoughts were interrupted, "Never mind the weird group, we will support the Leonandra household now, and if later some signs of abnormal blood demon behavior are shown, we will accept blame and throw more of our people at his problem. Till then, it is support to some extent..."

He stopped shortly and smiled, "If the blood demon behavior is normal, it is not our fault. So, there is no need for blame..." He looked at her again, and she shivered slightly as his voice became more stringent, "...no words about the group or the mutated blood demon. Even if they have I3, I think they would barely know what to do with it since they are savages and probably eradicate themselves with it... which would be preferable."

He continued to write again, "The best case would be if they used it as blackmail and told the Count that we tried to attack them, which would be preferable since we would only get some claps on our hands and pay some fee..." He clicked his tongue, "...I guess the barbarians wouldn't think of something like this."

Kali stood in the air and was baffled again. It all went far over her head, and she wished never to dabble in something like this again.

Luckily, her master agreed with her thoughts, "Don't worry. Concentrate on your tasks, research, and studies. This is only of interest to the administration."

She nodded joyfully, "Oki Master!"

He waved his hand in dismissal, "Now leave and come again in three hours. I will be ready by then."

She saluted clumsily, "Aye aye!" and flew out.

...

While flying towards her laboratory, she tried to think it through again. Even though she didn't care about politics, if she wanted to have a higher position inside the Cathedral, she would be either a top-notch researcher, on the level of a genius, or know more about politics and how it intertwined with them, with all of the implications.

'A lot to digest... urgh, I don't want to go to war or to any of those damn territories in the East.'

However, she remembered a colleague when she studied, 'I could write her. She shouldn't care about this stuff since she is part of the Temple.'

She thought about it only a little longer and decided it was a great idea, 'I am a genius, hehe! She can teach me some things, and I will look good in front of Master!'

With this, she flew faster toward her laboratory to write down the names of some mages who could fit to scout out a blood demon.