Change of Objective
"I only ask of you to fulfill one condition, however." -Jackson said, making Leylin rise up and stare with curiosity.
"You are to keep the details of your reward a secret between us. Additionally, you must hide your true abilities once you reach the level of Grand Knight. That is until my son Ulisses comes of age. He is 14, so it won't be that much."
[He doesn't want you to undermine his authority even further by claiming to be the new Grand Knight of Extreme Night City. And he is trying to preserve Ulisses' inheritance while he's at it.]
'Too late for that. Extreme Night City is in the palm of my hand since yesterday, and his son is my new pupil. Obviously, that is only an excuse to indoctrinate him as my tool for the next couple of years, and also to serve as a hostage in case the Viscount gets any funny ideas. Therefore, I can now move forward with my agenda of locating and exploiting the magic crystal deposits... And regarding the Grand Knight Technique? I was not going to reveal it to the masses anyway, even if Jackson did not ask me to be inconspicuous about it.'
[Why is that, Doctor?] -Aralis inquired.
'I am already under the limelight as it is, I certainly don't need to receive an invitation from the Count or even the Marquess any time soon. Or at all, for that matter... The Poolfield Kingdom and its peerage are a slippery slope, and if I'm not too careful, I might find myself in a difficult place when it's time for me to cut all ties and return to Abyssal Bone Forest. That is also the reason why I didn't just usurp the title of Viscount from this bag of potatoes. I have no interest in climbing the ranks, I merely required the privileges and dominance to move around freely and have no one interfere with my business...' -Leylin analyzed coldly.
"You can rest assured, my Lord. I will abide by your condition without fail." -He then replied almost instantly, since his discussion with Aralis happened in less than a moment.
"I knew you would say that. You are my most trusted man in this city now, Lord Leylin. I wish to hear only good news from you." -Jackson told with a smile.
'He thinks I have become his yes-man. In actuality, he has become my puppet. A deluded and foolish puppet. Just the way I like them.'
"My commitment shall be to live up to your expectations, and moreover, be up to the task of ushering an age of peace and prosperity for the province of Extreme Night City. For the people, and for the King!" -Lelyin declared as he straightened his back, allowing for his defined chest muscles and abs to stand out under his luxurious nobleman's outfit.
"Hahaha, that's the spirit! Let us make our friends proud, wherever they are!" -Jackson exclaimed, almost forgetting about his medical condition for a second.
[Well, not a higher plane, that's for sure.]
'Indeed. Pieces of shit like those wimpy acolytes belong to the void. Even the dirt under our feet is too good for them. I would've preferred to feed Murphy's flesh to the homeless in the slums, but it just couldn't be done given the circumstances.' -Leylin felt a tinge of bitterness, given that he could not torture the geezer as much as he would've wanted.
After his meeting with the Viscount was over, Leylin left the castle with his entourage at a brisk pace. Whenever someone saw his caravan, they knew it was better to run or just act casually.
Any suspicion of a crime being committed inside the perimeter of the city walls ended with a Roran Hawk mutilating someone where he stood. Investigation and proper procedure were a thing of the past. If Leylin or Fayern said the word, even the daughter of one of his fellow Barons could be targeted by the shining blades of the newly reformed City Guard.
For better or worse, over the course of one day, Extreme Night City's crime rate had effectively dropped to 0%.
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The night was dark but warm, and there was such encompassing tranquility that it would make one fall asleep easily while star-gazing.
Dried up old trees littered the surroundings, and on the branches, there were ravens ruffling their feathers on their nests.
Out of a sudden, three mounted figures passed by a dirt road at a great speed. However and contrary to what one would expect, they did not alert the ravens or any other animal in the surroundings. The movements of their horses were muffled by some kind of spell, and thus, were absolutely quiet even when they stepped on a puddle of mud.
No one could see the faces of these people, since they were cloaked and the moon was not full this evening.
Soon enough, the group reached a small clearing. They got off their horses and tied them to some trees.
Forthwith, the figure in the middle -which seemed to be the biggest man out of the three- stepped ahead into the clearing with a moderately belated stride.
Eventually, he stopped close to a sunken part of the ground. He crouched and examined the area with great care.
'This is it. The mana radiation is far stronger here.' -Leylin concluded with but a glance.
A few moments went by in silence until the partially-digitized voice of his A.I. sounded out in his mind.
[My threat scan of the underground facility is complete. Magically-sealed hatch; four layers. And there are arcane mine formations placed beneath the structure. But that's not all, Doctor.]
'Looks like my acne-ridden friend knew how to protect his base. Good. I can only hope that this presents a better challenge than what killing him was. So, you were saying?'
[I have detected several lifeforms with identical DNA signatures to the mutated lizards you fought before. However, based on the readings I'm getting, they are not as aggressive, and their brain activity has been reduced considerably as well. In other words, they are weaker and dumber. I calculate that famine will kill them in less than a week.] -The A.I. assistant informed.
'Without the Mankestre Snake parent, the parasitic neural organisms have died out. Their hive-mind superior intelligence is no longer an issue, which means that they are unable to ambush us as they used to.'
'Be that as it may, I better get down there already.' -Thought Leylin, as he threw a vial of silver goo on the sunken ground.
He then performed a brief incantation, and the goo assumed the form of several three-fingered hands. They looked like the hands of a golem.
"Create a passage for me." -Leylin ordered, as the hands immediately flew down into the earth, and began excavating a hole.
A few seconds later, there were multiple explosions that made the Knights behind Leylin recoil. However, the Baron was unfazed and continued to stare at the growing hole.
Leylin wasn't troubled by the possibility that someone would hear the commotion he was making either. After all, there wouldn't be a single person other than him and his bodyguards coming close to the vicinity of the withering woods.
Especially since Leylin had given the explicit orders that all travelers were authorized to use only the paved highway that connected the city to the next settlement for the subsequent month. The justification given was the withering crisis and the latent danger of the evil bandit factions surrounding them. Nevertheless, it had been all a ruse by Leylin to facilitate the exploration of Alfonse's lab.
[No golem hands left, Doctor. Have you any more of those potions?]
'It won't be necessary.' -Leylin got closer to the edge of the hole. It was 30 meters deep and 4 meters wide.
He leaped down, and then another explosion shook the terrain, much to the stupefaction of his bodyguards. They thought he had fallen on accident and had been caught in the blast.
When they approached the hole and peeped through, they saw Leylin nonchalantly using a giant green vine to finish up the rest of the hole.
"Stay up there." -Leylin said, and the Knights obeyed.
The golem hands and vine had quickly opened a massive cavity under the surface, and it uncovered a large granite boulder with runes all over it.
Leylin stroked the veneer of the black granite boulder. It was ice cold, damp, and had moss growing on it.
He exerted a bit of strength with his right index finger and collected some of the rock powder.
'Aralis, analyze its composition.'
[Task established. Gathering data...] -The A.I. intoned, and a holo screen appeared in front of Leylin that was densely packed with the various data of the granite rock.
[It seems like there are no differences between this and normal granite rock. Except of course, for the magical formation spread out evenly across it... Oh, and I almost forgot. There's something unusual with the structure of the underground lab. It's like it was rebuilt not long ago.]
'Hmm... little Alfonse was smart. This arcane defensive formation is designed to be opened after entering the exact combination of Mana Energy bursts in the unique wavelength of a level 3 acolyte. He knew that only he could enter it since he was the sole person who had the combination, and the only acolyte within a 20 km radius who had reached level 3. That idiot Murphy was out of the picture given his laziness and scholarly lifestyle.' -Leylin deducted.
'With that said, Alfonse was not nearly as smart enough to be an inconvenience to me or my plans. With your help, I can easily figure out the pattern to complete his ridiculous puzzle. The only problem would be my power level, but I was simply killing time for the necessary breakthrough preparations to be finished. I can't wait to see the results of my hard work...'
"We're doubling back to the villa." -Leylin jumped out of the hole, and landed between his slaves.
"Yes, Master." -Both Knights bowed their heads and then rushed to get the horses.
'Looting Alfonse's lab and finding the magic crystals are now a secondary objective. Breaking through to level 3 acolyte comes first.' -Decided Leylin, as with a turn of his hand, he created an elementary illusion that covered the hole he had previously burrowed.
[And what of the Grand Knight Technique you obtained?]
'That can wait. You've already scanned the whole document, so I can resume my physical training once I settle my foremost priorities.'