Idea.

Feeling the depth of the gaze that was digging deep into him, Loki frowned, he felt like someone was looking at his very soul. It felt weird and icky. In fact if not for Mr. Fawley not saying anything yet, Loki held himself back and didn't pull his wand out on the old man.

"Nick, stop it! You're making him dislike you." A faint, feminine voice, spoke from beside the old man as thin hands wrapped around his shoulders snapping him out of whatever state he was in.

The man blinked quickly and Loki felt the gaze that was on his soul vanish, causing him to breathe a faint inaudible *sigh* of relief.

"Fawley, you're here again. I didn't think I'd get to see you so soon again." The man said as a woman dragged herself into view by pushing the man backwards.

"Fawley!!! It's good to see you again!!! I've been so very bored because of the previous mentors who've arrived here. None of them could even hold a conversation about anything outside alchemy!!"

"Mrs. Flamel! It's good to see you too. I've missed those custard honey tarts too!! I've searched for them all over! You need to give me the recipe!!"

"Oh! I've told you plenty of times to call me Prenelle young man. Don't disappoint me already. You'll teach the young boy beside you to do the same if you keep at it."

"Haha~ Loki meet them, they are Mr and Mrs Flamel. You will be spending some time with them starting from the end of the week if you succeed in the remaining rounds."

Loki's eyes had stayed on the old man all throughout Fawley's conversation with Mrs Flamel, his thoughts branching off in multiple directions.

'What did he mean by that?'

'Does he recognise me from somewhere?'

'And what sequence is he? For him to be able to give me the feeling of being able to see my soul?'

Even though Loki no longer felt that someone was staring at his soul, he could still feel that there was a sense of suppression from the old man.

So, even though it was a little rude, Loki asked foolhardly, "Are you a Saint or an Angel?"

The old man's eyes widened a little and both the man and the woman looked at Loki with some surprise but they immediately smiled.

"Of course I am!! But if it were up to me, I'd have to say she was the angel instead. Haha~" The old man joked while the woman playfully slapped his shoulder.

"I'm sorry for his manners-" Fawley started to apologise for Loki but Prenelle stepped in.

"Don't be a fool, Fawley, I already like him more than you. Let him be like he is. I don't want another noble that wants to curry favour with us!"

Fawley shut up while smiling but he still playfully slapped Loki's back.

"Come in boy! Don't stand outside. The door's going to change destinations if you don't step in soon."

"Huh?" Loki became confused, but Fawley pushed him in just in time along with himself.

Turning back, Loki found the door suddenly vanishing from being connected to the long corridor and opening instead to a vast garden filled with flowers and butterflies.

"Wha-"

"Makes you wonder how it works? Doesn't it?" Nicolas said with a smile on his face.

Loki turned back to him and looked at him with suspicion. "Why are you here?" his underlying meaning was clear from his tone, 'Don't you have anything better to do than spending time with a teenager?'

Nicolas rolled his eyes as he collapsed backwards, at first Loki thought he was going to fall to the floor but to his surprise, the cushy grey sofa that was two feet away slid over and caught him before he fell.

'Were there little feet that just sprouted underneath that thing…'

'The sofa's alive?'

"I've lived longer than your entire family generation probably. I deserve to relax while spending time with whoever I wish to!"

Nicolas gave a soft pause and then sent Loki a diabolical expression as he continued speaking.

"And shouldn't the question be the other way round in the first place? You're in the presence of the world's greatest Alchemist! Why are you just standing there instead of trying to learn from me?"

'This is bad.' Loki thought. 'Why is he making so much sense!'

'Aren't I wasting time by just breathing right now!? Shouldn't I be asking him all my doubts about the subject?'

Suddenly Loki started feeling nervous.

It wasn't the part about Nicholas being an Angel that got to him but the title he had, 'The World's Greatest Alchemist.' that sent him for a little spin.

He knew just how much higher above him Fawley was in terms of achievements in Alchemy, but to meet someone that was even farther than that?

To even look at such a great person's works would be a huge boon to him and would teach him more than he could ever read himself. Not to mention clarify his own doubts about the subject.

It suddenly felt like there was very little time.

"Ah! For my sake dear! Don't tease the little boy. His head's probably already spinning because of you! Come here little fella, leave him to it. I promise you that you have a lot of time to learn from him. Let's drink something to refresh ourselves." Prenelle complained while pulling Loki to the couch.

Sitting down on the couch Loki's eyes shifted from Nicolas to Prenelle who was smiling at him like a kind lady.

"Now tell us your name, you haven't introduced yourself. And I get the sense that you aren't a Beyonder of the Savant pathway, so tell us which pathway you belong to too if you wish."

Loki took a slightly deeper than normal breath and turned to Prenelle, "My name's Loki and I'm of the Sleepless Pathway, currently a Sequence 7 Nightmare."

"Oh? Sleepless? Wasn't that the Blacks? Are you a Black?" Prenelle asked with confusion since Loki hadn't stated it explicitly.

"Well, I did get adopted by Walburga." Loki nodded and continued to explain, "She said it was a prophecy that I would help the Black family regain its lost glory."

Since it was Fawley's first time hearing this, he appeared slightly shocked but it was Nicholas who responded first.

"Uff! I do hope that the Black family's glory remains lost to history. Most of them were mentally deranged idiots or as close to a dark lord one could get without directly being one uck!!!-" Nicholas started to say but Prenelle elbowed him.

"...." Loki pretended as if nothing happened and continued, "I hope to do so as well. So I'm not quite the commoner you'd hoped I was. I apologise for that."

Although Loki had revealed a little more than usual about himself, it wasn't something he had done unplanned, he had a simple reason for this and it was to leverage the help of Mr and Mrs Flamel for a strange idea that had popped up in his head.

'If 'She' possess the pathways related to the Lord Of The Mysteries then going to 'Her' place would yield me the most wouldn't it?'

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A/N : Sorry for the delay, I forgot to upload the chapter here after I did on Patreon.

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