Temple Anneke

The home improvement section did not limit itself to modern furniture, Beside an ordinary store called "Oliver's Cabinet Making Workshop", there was an alchemy based shop. The billboard indicated its name remained crooked and spelled out measly: Temple Anneke.

That name instantly told him he was in the correct place.

Although lit by floating candles, the dark alchemist shop refused to offer much vision. His footsteps echoed, despite the mass of objects. Glass vials radiated with eerie glows, mechanical wonders whirred to life, and shelves cradled ancient spell books.

A dulcet voice penetrated the mysterious veil and asked, "A customer? Mm, not many approach me. Who are you?"

The shadows seemingly stretched out and revealed a simple counter with a tattooed woman attending it. Her eyes were a judging shade of steel blue.

"Anna Roleffes, yes?"

The tattooed woman put an elbow on the counter, drawing attention to her puff sleeves and the black marks on her hand. Her style was distinct and dark, a fashionable black, baroque-style dress with a high-neckline, long sleeves, and a voluminous skirt. Red gemstones gleamed the collar and an eerie disposition hummed around her.

"My name isn't known to most." Her palm on her cheek, Anna waited for an answer. Dasha didn't give it to her.

"How much for a complete set of your best alchemy lab?" he asked.

Her fingers rolled the black tattoos on her cheek. "Mm. Assuming you have a workbench and a cabinet already, it would run you almost eight hundred thousand. The athanor doesn't come cheap. I have one that was gifted from Hermes himself. It's not for sale but that thing alone is worth almost twenty million."

Twenty million was out of his budget. 'So I'll have to settle for second best.'

"Distillation apparatus, alembic stand, alembic cooler…" Anna listed the items off casually. "Yeah, about eight hundred thousand."

"Then we have a deal."

Anna blinked. "We do?"

"Yes."

Albeit taken aback, Anna discussed the specific quality of each item. How with sufficient knowledge, talent, and magic, it could transform copper into gold and create potions of the highest mortal calibre. She elaborated on the cost of each piece and why it had to be that much.

[ Transfer details:

50,000 PP —> 1x Hermes' Distillation Apparatus

60,000 PP —> 1x Mary the Jewess' Mortar and Pestle

10,000 PP —> 1x Hermes' Alembic Stand

20,000 PP —> 1x Jābir ibn Hayyān's Alembic Cooler

600,000 PP —> 1x Meteorite Iron Athanor

Accept? ]

He saw the way her eyes lit up when she accepted the transfer. 'I already compared prices to the larger shops. This comes slightly cheaper.'

He had one million six hundred and sixty thousand prize points remaining. He spent two hundred thousand on Xavier and his services. Xavier worked better when motivated with more points.

Dasha didn't give thanks and quietly left. Anna Roleffes, one of the last witches to be executed in Braunschweig, Germany. To think she would go a mere name on a report to someone he talked alchemy with.

Upon his brief exploration of the sectors, he noticed a Templar regularly coming in and out of her place. Different men and women every time. If a guild member of the Big Three thought this place to be worthwhile, then there had to be some truth to it. Knowledge, materials, expertise; Anna must have possessed a great deal of one or all of those aspects.

'I should check the Hall of Players soon. Allegedly, it contains records of vital players and events in the Heavenly Games' history. No doubt, it will give me a better understanding of who is important and why. In fact, there's a good chance Anna was a former champion and if it that's the case I can reverse engineer whatever she's done by cross-referencing her recorded abilities and general alchemy.'

It didn't have to be Anna, really. All he needed were alchemists to follow. Multiple master alchemists for the best possible results. He checked the time through the open window of a furniture shop. The tiny clock ticked into the hour.

'It's almost 13:00.'

Time to go to Valhalla's Colosseum.

***

Tall, powerful, and oppressing—those words did not do Valhalla's Colosseum justice. By Dasha's estimates, it was larger than any colosseum on Earth by several magnitudes. Shadowy arches formed as entrances and exits. Humanoids with white wings flew in and out of the arches like portals.

While it wasn't as tall as the Heavenly Tower, it was certainly much broader. So much broader that if you were close enough, the start of the curve was impossible to see.

"Oi, oi, what are you standing there for?"

Two of the flying humans came down to Dasha, one with a furious face and the other sullen.

"Puriel," said the sullen winged creature, "please don't deviate from our work."

"Whatever." Puriel, whose name identified him as an angel to Dasha, rolled his eyes. "Are you waiting for someone? Or do you need someone to give you a tutorial?"

"I'm waiting for someone," Dasha said, moving past them.

"See? As always, I'm right. This human did not need our help."

"Of course, Dokiel…"

A frustrated sigh from Dokiel and a quiet smile from Puriel. 'Puriel and Dokiel, two angels mentioned in the Testament of Abraham. In the map, it said the archangel Michael operated Valhalla's Colosseum. Of course he has angels doing his errands, he's the leader of the Heavenly Host and the individual who fell the devil.'

Another bit of information, which he suspected from the map description, were the angels' attitudes. Among all the descriptions of the key locations, Valhalla's Colosseum was the least consistent. There were grammatical issues in it.

And now, meeting two angels face to face, he could say with absolute certainty the angels were a distinct bunch.

He went through the arch-shaped portal, feeling as though he was walking through water, and ended up in a massive hub area. A zone similar to an airport, ripe with people, receptionist areas, and large boards displaying the time, day, and the corresponding challenge.

[ TODAY'S CHALLENGE

Floors 1-9 —> Hand-to-hand combat with ninjas!

Floors 11-19 —> Battle against war dogs!

Floors 21-29 —> Encounter against Forest Goblins!

Floors 31-39 —> Face Sand Serpents that lurk beneath the dunes!

Floors 41-49 —> Confront Elemental Guardians representing the forces of fire, water, earth, and air! ]

The line for the receptionist was long. Too long.

To quote the map: to be able to book a floor, whether for sports use or training, five players were necessary (party or not). What it meant was that it required five players worth of points to buy a ticket. It was still possible for a lone individual to book a floor. The floors went by increasing difficulty and price, so while the challenge was technically the same for floors 1 and floors 9, it was on vastly different settings of strength.

A player needed to receive a ticket from the receptionist in order to participate in a floor challenge. The ticket would have a time and date. The early challenges, according to the groans of the drunk, were currently swarmed with new players. The backlog would take forever.

Dasha was nothing but prepared, however. Last week, for the inevitable purpose of testing his strength, he went to the receptionist to secure a ticket.

The familiar black mop of hair belonging to Paul came into sight.

'Today will definitely be a test of strength.'

But whose strength it would truly test remained to be seen.