The Mad Scientist

After being given a brief explanation of the part where only the original thirteen Clans representatives and leaders had remained the two were really impressed. "Told ya he could do it!" Zalbas taunted Vuldara that looked annoyed but then changed over to a more calm attitude.

She took Zalbas arm in a hook as they all started to walk towards the exit, there were a few more of the smaller clans leaders or representatives that had yet to exit and were taking their time discussing things among themselves.

They all looked at Samuel whenever he walked past of course, he didn't know if it was awe or annoyance or seeing him as a big opportunity. Just as they were reaching the exit area they heard a big commotion.

People were screaming and yelling, "Is it true that house Xaxiaz has returned, is it true? The guardian clan is back? They are probably just lying." All kinds of screams and discussions were about.

"Seems the news has already spread from all the ones partaking in the meeting." Vaz sighed and looked at Samuel, "It won't be easy to get out right now." At that moment the Head Scientist walked around one of the many corners and with a smile filled with glee she ran over towards them. "Yaho! Just the one I was looking for too!" She quickly ran all the way up and practically wrapped herself around Samuel.

"I have some very important things to discuss with you and ask you. If you would please accompany me to our main lab!" She smiled like the happiest little toddler in the world. But a sudden growl was heard as Vazmarx was clearly displeased he took a step towards the Moon elf. She quickly yelped and hid behind Samuel, "I-I-I am just saying it will take some time for the crowds to fully disperse and it would be very annoying for you to show yourself right now, but if you come with me and help me you won't regret it! I promise!"

Samuel took a step back and pondered upon his options and quite quickly came to a simillar conclusion that it would in fact be pretty annoying to draw so much attention.

Deciding that he didn't have much to lose he looked at his friends and although they did not speak it seemed pretty clear that they silently agreed, even if it looked like Vaz was unhappy with the womans conduct.

"I don't have anything to lose upon entertaining you for a few hours of my time." Samuel agreed but took a step back from the woman and looked at her with scorn for a few moments. "But try anything funny and I won't be having it!" He clarified and crossed his arms.

The woman grinned and nodded her head. "I promise to not make any funny business! I will ask for your permission for anything that might involve you beforehand!" She made a sign over her chest almost as a silent ritual.

Samuel took one last look at the open halls that now had become slightly more familliar, he could still hear all the commotion from the outside and turned back to the head scientist and held out his hand towards the halls while giving the slightest of bows. "Well then, lead the way!"

The woman didn't even hesitate to grab Samuels hand and started dragging him along. They indeed walked into a more central part of the building, but the longer they walked for the further down it felt like they were descending.

The hallways much remained the same, a sort of mixture of steel and marble, almost everything was a smooth surface and the signs of paint lined many of the walls. Samuel wondered how much the current Children of Mana had restored and how much remained undamaged since thousands of years back.

As had been made clear they did not have the same 'technology' these days which means that this place had been made to last. Much like Samuel, Vaz and the other two whom had tagged along were watching this place in a simillar awe.

Vaz looked the most flabbergasted out of anyone, he was walking around with big eyes most of the time and smelling the air. Several times they had passed by what seemed like old text, text which Samuel was unable to read.

But after they had passed by a multitude of text he suddenly came to a very short stop as he received a massive headache, it was only for a brief moment but he stopped and grabbed his head. Alfrith the scientist stopped and looked at him with worry, "Are you alright?" She asked in a melancholic voice that seemed to sing to Samuel.

Samuel straightened his back after the headache disappeared, "Temporary headache I-" He trailed off as he looked around the halls. The very same text that had been unreadable before now started making sense. He looked at a word and for some reason he knew what the word meant in his head.

"Center of Science?" He questioned loudly while looking at the wall with the text. There was a blue line that led in the direction they were going (away from the text) "What? What? What?" Alfrith shouted and then gasped. "You can read that?" She took a step forward with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Not really? I looked at the word... Words! After that I understood what it meant. I don't know if that qualifies as being able to read it completely!" Samuel clarified and the scientist took a step back and brought out a pencil and noteblock.

Quickly taking notes and then she continued to walk only remembering after she got several meters away where she stopped and turned around. "Come on it's just this way down!"

Vazmarx quickly walked up and loudly asked, "Can't you read that?" In a very confused tone. Alfrith visibly winced before turning around with a tiny smile. "Unfortunately there are many ancient languages, it seems that through the ages out ancestors had many languages..." She turned to the whole group while walking backward.

"But for some reason they all seemed able to understand eachother... Both spoken and written languages!" We still haven't been able to access the information that tells us how they knew."

But then she stared at Samuel with a very greedy smile creeping up. "But I was hoping we could get some answers from him, thats what my research is for!" She quickly turned around and it became clear that she actually viewed Samuel as some sort of great treasure find more than anything else.

"A scientist huh! Wonder if they are all this greedy?" Vuldara whispered to Zalbas behind Samuel. Samuel could not see her but knowing Vuldara he could almost feel her rolling of the eyes. Naught but shortly thereafter they arrived at their destination, a large sliding door that opened up on the side of the long corridor.

"So this is the supposed Center of Science?" Vazmarx exclaimed loudly at the large hall filled with papers and boards with writing on them. There were hundreds of boxes filled with all kinds of paper. But what instantly interested Samuel were the large tubes around the edges of the large hall.

The tubes were indeed filled with some kind of transluscent liquid and some were filled with creatures he had never before seen. Meanwhile Zalbas took the opportunity to ask Alfrith, "So where does the corridor lead too? It doesn't seem like many people go down here."

Alfrith shrugged and started digging around her boxes and papers as she walked over to a desk covered by a large cloth. "Those tunnels lead somewhere, unfortunately they are collapsed by the heavy underground water pressure... Probably from the sea outside this place!"

She quickly dragged the cloth away to reveal a weird desk with many buttons that started glowing after she pressed a few. Shortly thereafter several screens not much unlike the one Samuel had found at the hotel appeared from the walls.

All of them lit up and a solid panel with many buttons also appeared. Alfrith started pressing them at a rapid pace which caused many flickers and screens to turn to different text and other things that were hard to explain for Samuel and his friends.

Alfrith started taking up a few boxes more after that and seemed to prepare a few weird things. "I am just trying to access whatever remains about the House Clan of Xaxiaz... Unfortunately there isn't really much to go by."

"It is almost as if someone deleted everything about them from the systems so long ago. They are hardly mentioned unless its in things concerning the race as a whole!" Alfrith sighed and turned around to look at Samuel.

Giving him a slight smile, she spoke her mind. "But that is where I hope your help might help unlock things about them!" She walked away to another cloth and took it off. "If you don't mind I would like a little bit of your blood!" Samuel's eyes instantly darted to the many different tubes that seemed attatched to a machine and gave Alfrith a questioning look.

Alfrith trailed his look and seemed to realize that she needed to explain, "Oh right sorry! These tubes are filled with the blood of most bloodlines for the purpose of studying. I am bound by blood oath to not misuse anything at my disposal!" She held up her hand that showed a magical circle.

"But if that doesn't satisfy you I can make a personal blood oath to you as well!" Alfrith didn't seem offended at Samuels attitude when he looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "You wouldn't be the first person to request a personal oath." Alfrith snickered silently.