“How wonderful it is to see you, my dearest friend,” Orion said with a hopeful tone, but Ophelia’s death glare told him a little sweet talk wouldn’t get him anywhere.
The snickering from the Basilisk Fang behind her didn’t help, and he knew for a fact that Pauline would much rather sit back and watch than step in.
Seothyn and Elodie seemed to be the only two not interested in joining the fun, and that was only because they were watching him carefully, clearly noticing that something was very different about him.
Fortunately, they didn’t say anything, at least for the moment.
Looking around for any escape routes, Orion brightened when he caught sight of a group of burly young men walking by.
“Oy! Jordan!” he called out, waving, and saw the older teen stop and look around in surprise before smiling when he saw him.
That didn’t spare Orion from Ophelia’s talons digging into his arm, but as the squires moved closer, she put on a facade of civility.
“Orion, good to see you!” Jordan cheerfully greeted, before his eyes shifted to Ophelia, and he got a sly look. “Out for a stroll with your lady friend?”
Choking back a laugh at the absurdity, Orion shook his head. “I’ve been cooped up in my lab for too long, and I thought to take a little break. I ran into Ophelia here by accident.”
His “lady friend” tightened her grip on his arm, squeezing with enough force that he would have yelped once. But the ten extra Body points he gained from ranking up proved their worth, allowing him to handle it with only mild discomfort.
“And who is this?” she asked, somehow sounding polite while grinding the words out.
Orion freed his arm and gestured between the two. “Ophelia, this is my friend Jordan Flanel; he’s a squire of the Radiant Vigil. Jordan, this is my friend Ophelia Leston-Ames; she’s the granddaughter of Minister Ames.”
The two exchanged polite greetings, showing that they were not part of high society without reason. Behind Jordan, the other squires, flanked by the ever-stalwart Onton Aspes and Burtes Mahira— the older knights who had guarded Jordan during their first meeting— tilted their heads and murmured their greetings.
“You know, it’s a good thing I ran into you two now. It saves me the trouble of coming to look for you later," Orion said cheerfully, aware that social rules kept Ophelia from venting her anger and took full advantage of it. “I’m leaving Valderun in a few days, and I wanted to invite you both to a little get-together the day after tomorrow.”
Ophelia blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting him to leave so soon after his father was announced the most powerful man of the Magocracy.
It wasn’t up to him, so he could only do his best while he worked to break free of the Sanctum’s yoke.
Jordan nodded, though he seemed saddened. “Sure, man. Things have totally calmed down now, so there shouldn't be any problem. Right?” The last question was aimed at the two adults, who exchanged glances.
“I don’t see why not, but we would need to get confirmation from the Lady of Battle,” Burtes replied, and Jordan sighed.
“Ugh, this inter-faction diplomacy stuff totally goes over my head,” he said, but Orion didn’t believe him for a second. He’d seen just how quick Jordan’s mind could be when it mattered, and while he might not enjoy the political side of being in a major faction, he’d been sent to Valderun for a reason.
The Radiant Vigil, an order of muscleheads it might be, wouldn’t have let an extra-ranker off the leash if they didn’t think he could handle himself.
“By the way,” Jordan continued, eyeing Orion with more than a little excitement. “Congratulations, man!”
Before he could reply, Ophelia cut in sharply. “Yes, congratulations. It would have been nice to know your father was about to become the leader of the Arcane Collegium a bit earlier, though.”
“Yeah,” Jordan nodded, smile still on his face, “getting to tier two at your age must be some kind of record.” Then, he paused as Ophelia’s words sank in. “Wait, what?”
The girl, on the other hand, was blinking rapidly, her head darting back and forth between the two of them. “What? Orion, what?”
“Surprise!” Orion replied sheepishly.
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Once he’d successfully disentangled himself from that mess, even if with the promise of a long talk with Ophelia before he actually left the city, his invitation to the Sanctum’s embassy not counting, and he had a loose agreement to return to the Radiant Vigil’s manse for another round of sparring now that he’d ranked up. With that, Orion was finally able to reach the last place he needed to visit for the day.
The Night Lands’ embassy was as gloomy as always, and he noticed Pauline tense up as they approached the gates, but he didn’t show any sign of discomfort.
There had been a few bumps the last time he’d visited, but nothing serious happened, and the Night Lord had made it clear he wouldn’t let anything that could damage their diplomatic relations occur.
Orion didn’t know if that protection would extend to him after he left the Sanctum, but other considerations likely would persuade the old vampire to keep his word.
There was a single stone knocker on the door, shaped like a snarling gargoyle, and Orion had to give it to the vampires for going all in on their unique style. They were among the most recognizable and intimidating factions, even though they were a minority within the Magocracy.
Of course, being monsters that prey on the majority and drink their blood really adds to that.
Orion went to knock, but just then, a female thrall stepped out from the endless darkness that surrounded the manse.
That was another thing that amused him. He knew very well that only the weakest thralls feared sunlight, and that the embassy had none of them, yet they had gone through the effort of warding it against the sun just to make the place look more intimidating.
Very on brand. Their marketing budget must be substantial. We promise immortality, stylish outfits, and a dark academia vibe all the time. Join us, we also serve pizza rolls.
“How may this one help?” the thrall asked, and Orion eyed her for a moment. He was pretty sure he could push [Hypotheticism] far enough now to get a good idea of what made a vampire a vampire, and possibly even break the magic keeping her under her sire’s yoke.
But was that wise? Even beyond it being something she’d agree to, since he simply couldn’t know, given that her current state wasn’t one conducive to full consent, it would put a big target on him.
One thing was for the Veil Priestesses of the Lunar Sanctum to come together and break the vampiric magic cast on the minor nobility of Silverpeak. That was probably the expected outcome, even by the most arrogant vampires.
Another would be for him to do it, especially since he was pretty sure more eyes than just the thrall’s were watching him right now.
He kept his shoulders loose and relaxed. Knowing he could defend himself up to the lower end of tier three now greatly boosted his confidence, though he would need to test it in the field before he could say he was completely safe.
“I would like to extend an invitation to Esmeralda. I’m hosting a small get-together with friends I made during my stay in Valderun the day after tomorrow, and I’d love for her to come.”
The thrall didn’t respond beyond a slight tilt of her head and patiently waited for him to speak again. After a moment, she nodded once more, “I shall convey your words to the Mistress.”
“Good,” he said, and turned around, realizing that waiting for any real engagement from her was pointless.
Pauline waited until they were a mile away, and the noises of the city shielded them from any kind of supernatural hearing, before letting out a sigh. “Vampires give me the creeps. I get why we can’t exterminate them, but I just don’t like them.”
Orion shrugged. “They aren’t the easiest to get along with, but there are worse people. Dragonkin, in my personal experience, are much more annoying to deal with.”
“True that,” she nodded.
In a few hours, Orion would meet his father and finally talk with him outside of an emergency.
He didn’t know what would come of it. Hell, he didn’t know what he wanted to come of it. Mentally, he was a grown adult and didn’t feel the need to be babied, but emotionally he was a teenager, and those weren’t known for their balance.
Still, Antares had shown more care, or at least respect for him, than he initially thought would be possible when he first heard of the man, so he decided to wait and see.
In the meantime, nervous energy kept him from getting any decent sleep, so he gave up after a few hours of tossing and turning. His new Body score easily allowed him to stay up for multiple days, if with some consequences, so one sleepless night wasn’t anything to worry about.
It also provided him the opportunity to finish experimenting with his new abilities, especially since he was about to reach a new level.
So far, Orion had perfected [Torchlight], and his [Heal] had also greatly improved thanks to increased power and control, as well as the data he’d gathered on how light mana could accelerate regeneration far beyond normal in the lizards he fought to get his rank up. Additionally, [Infinite Laser], which benefited from the same factors, had become a quite fearsome weapon.
It wasn’t the most powerful he could create—that title went to [Gamma Ray], which now responded to his commands much better—but it packed a punch.
Taming [Gamma Ray] would be a long effort, but at least he could now do more than just vaguely aim and hope.
Not that I've cast it yet, but my simulations worked well. It’s not exactly like the real thing, since there is always a margin of error, and it’s even higher for conceptually complicated spells like [Gamma Ray]. Still, I’m confident that when I need it, it will work as it should.
For now, however, he would settle for mastering another one of his higher-tier spells.
[Null Light] would have made his life much easier in the lizard cave, there was no doubt about that, but it was also a spell he was hesitant to show off, especially since he’d yet to fully realize its potential.
But with the addition of [Falsifiability Criterion] to his tools, he knew he could do it now, and it wouldn’t result in a big beam of radiation that would take a chunk out of the embassy.
From his coat pockets, he fished out two citrine-yellow crystals he had taken from the cave, placing them on opposite sides of the table. They were still packed with the lizard’s mana, ready to heal any biological material they touched, but that somewhat disturbing property wasn’t what he was here for.
No, he needed to test out his last Trait, and this foreign artifact would serve perfectly as a test subject.
Having already studied these crystals for a while, Orion didn’t really need to go through the entire process again, but he still did everything step-by-step to ensure he wasn’t compromising the results.
Once he’d confirmed with [Hypotheticism] that the understanding he’d developed was thorough enough, he let that same Knowledge take shape, allowing [Falsifiability Criterion] to guide him through it.
It felt quite surreal but perfectly natural. He knew the crystal inside and out, could pinpoint the exact placement of its molecules, and the amount of mana frozen inside it down to the last detail.
Why couldn’t he just use that same knowledge to make it stop?
And so, he did.
The crystal didn’t even wobble, yet something was undeniably different, because the mana that had been inside it was now gone, dispersed through the Local Field simply because he had willed it to be so.
Breathing out as the implications flickered through his mind, Orion turned to the other crystal and prepared to try the same with [Null Light].
Depending on the results, he might be able to create a single spell that surpasses both of the two.
I really love it when things come together.
