Information guru

As the bounty hunter leaves a wily old disheveled man with a waist length wily old beard wearing a uniform representing Gizardo's club approaches the table "I hope the young masters still have questions a humble old man could answer" he says in a respectful yet knowing manner.

Tral gets excited at his sight "Old man, we meet again! I've never skimped out on paying you so would you please enlighten us"

Gara visibly rolls her eyes as Darick gets ready for a story by ripping the top off a keg and drinking it like a big-ol-beer.

The old man nods his head before beginning "Then if I am correct what young master seeks is knowledge of the way beyond mortal flesh"

Impressed that the wily old man knew exactly what they were looking for without asking him the group eagerly asks him to go on.

"to start there are three main forms of energy. The raw mana of the world that people use externally. Personal charka or Qi which is mana refined through ones spiritual points to be converted into personal energy held in the dantian. Finally the blessings of the caretaker which is a highly refined energy most can't handle." The old man says while he drinks a cup of tea supplied by the same drow bartender. "There are many ways either magical, technical or biological in which a regular person can surpass the limitations of the body. Magical spells can enchant the users muscles and bones increasing their strength but requires a price of constant mana consumption to maintain as well as being incredibly complex to set up properly."

Gara interjects at this point "Is that what the people covered in runic tattoos are doing?"

The old man sighs "That practice is similar yet those people have been imprinted upon by an others persons energy either mana, Qi or blessing. This greatly increases their power but the price for using someone else's powers without the understanding to control that power is the permanent damage to the body that greatly shortens the users life span"

The group sucks in a deep breath surprised at the extreme toll this power takes.

The old man went further into the details "as opposed to using the magic enchantments that slowly improve the bodies constitution while adapting it to better receive and retain mana from the world. The down side to this way is the constant consumption of mana leaves the user without the ability to manipulate mana while the process is underwent as well as the fact that the time it takes is solely dependant of the mana absorption rate of the user which means that people without at least a basic affinity to magic can't receive any noticeable benefits even after using this practice for years."

Darick enthusiastically finishes his keg before asking "can someone not send mana into the enchantment to help this process so that the user can gain enough affinity towards magic?" this caused the wily old man to chuckle "While this is semi possible, it would take multiple mages a lot of time and energy but wouldn't increase the amount of mana the user can store or refine their bodies but even the wildly rich won't risk someone else's mana flowing through their body or it could cause similar damage as the runes."

The old man continued to sip tea while letting the information sink in before continuing "Now there is an other way that greatly improves the users body as well as allows them a range of uses that relies on training their spiritual energy, refining it into the bodies Qi before guiding it through the various meridians of the body. This way has much higher requirements as the practictioner needs to have a certain minimum amount of affinity as well as opening their third eye to be able to actively guide that energy through their bodies as Qi."

Everyone was really excited by this information. With the powers Prudence had shown they were more than eager to learn about Qi but first they would have to find a way to open their third eye.

The wily old man chuckles at their excitement and simply drinks his tea without talking any further. Tral was getting visibly vexed as he waited.

"Ok what's the deal, I know you know more if not the exact way to attain this spiritual awakening?" Tral asked impatiently.

The old man finished his tea calmly before putting it down and getting to business "I do know what you want but can only help you so far as it is. I will do what I can for you on a certain condition that is.. well costly from your point of view."

Gara laughs "what is costly, we literally have everything you can think of?". The old man shakes his head "one, you can't even imagine what I can think of and two, the cost will be a soul sworn oath to comply with a request of mine as long as it doesn't harm your family"

Tral gets worked up "This guy's haggling skill is on par with his complete level of information. You got us by the balls here old man. How does a soul oath work?"

"hehe I knew you would be tempted, the soul oath is quite simple yet effective. We both join hands and you swear on your soul to grant me one request as long as it doesn't involve harming you or your family. Then it will cause no end of irritation and pain to your very soul if you try to resist the request." The wily old man explained.

"wait, a second Tral." Gara interjects "just because it won't harm us, how do we know it isn't something long lasting or down right awful?"

The old man chuckles before shrugging his shoulders "I simply want something in the future that no-one else can provide and I will swear as well to have your groups best interests in mind when asking for it"

Tral eagerly performed the ritual without any reservations. The whole process was done in a matter of minutes. Gara had some serious reservations about the ritual but it was already done.

The old man got down to business "There are many ways to open the inner eye but most people are opened by a high level priest or cultivator of Qi sharing specific cultivation techniques or prayer rituals although this way will not work for you as people like that will just enslave you on contact in exchange for those methods. There is a few other ways one of which involves a mind altering substance that is quite rare and expensive but will send you into a state of deep spiritual connection with existence which may open your inner eye as well as show you other planes of existence."

The group of three was shocked at this information with Gara responding with "You are saying that doing a sketchy potion that might be able open our inner eye is our best method to start cultivating our bodies?"

The old man shrugged before continuing "It's either that or get turned into a vampire which will naturally open your inner eye after you drain a few people dry but will get you many weakness such as sunlight, silver and divine energies wielded by any priest or angel. The only way to get rid vampirism's weaknesses is to achieve a complete divine body which would basically make you on the level of angels and even then the sun would still be extremely unpleasant."

The group just stared in silence at the old man as if his head wasn't on straight before Gara spoke up for the group "How do you even know this?" to which the old man cried out "my secrets are my own!" followed by a teetering nigh insane laughter.

Before he immediately went back to business mode proceeding as if nothing happened "I personally recommend the potion although this way is much harder since it only temporarily unlocks a few doors in your mind but you must open them yourself and most of them are hard to find except the initial one which is opened up making you woke like no tomorrow to your spiritual surroundings which is the effects for this particular alchemical concoction" he explained in a rambling manner to the fascinated teens.

While the old man drank his tea between talking, the three teens looked at each other before Tral asked the obvious question "where is this magical potion found exactly and can I make it?"

The wily old man takes a long stare at Tral before replying "you barely understand basic chemistry after strenuous help from your friend Arc and your current level of understanding of your power makes it little better than parlor tricks, the only reason you are still alive at all is because the church wants to capture you alive and the heavens care very little for worldly affairs but you're in luck because the potion can be bought from an individual called DiMiTri at the Twisted Dragon lounge which is in the elite fifth district"

Tral had a sour look on his face as if he had just been slapped but before anyone could say anything the wily old man walked up the unconscious Arc and unceremoniously kicked him so that he rolled onto the floor before waking up with a start "What the hell just happened, where blazes are we and what the hell were those super strong guys?" he stands straight up his whole body on edge like most of his hair.