After parting ways with Arthur in the forest, Kai didn't look back. He put back his hood and melted into the trees. By the time the forest thinned and the outer walls of the city came into view, the sun was already near the horizon, casting long amber streaks across the cobblestone streets.
Kai's boots echoed as he stepped through the heavy oak doors of the Mercenary Guild of Brightwater City. The air inside was thick with the scent of mead, and smoke. Laughter erupted from a corner where a brawl had just ended, and the winner was halfway through someone else's ale.
Kai headed straight for the bar.
Behind the counter stood a middle-aged man, stocky, with a greying goatee and a permanent look of 'I've-seen-too-much'. He was drying a chipped glass with a rag that had probably seen better days.
Kai didn't bother with pleasantries. "I'm here for information." He had reached the Mercenary Guild to get information as they were one of the well-known information brokers in Arkanis.
The bartender didn't miss a beat. He gave a short nod and said, "Follow me."
No questions, no fuss. Just quiet professionalism, the kind born from years of dealing with different types of people.
Kai followed him past the main hall and into a narrow corridor lined with steel doors. The bartender stopped at one near the end, opened it, and gestured for Kai to step inside. The room was bare, with no windows, no décor, just a small round table with two chairs and a low-hanging magic lamp above that cast shadows like a noose.
"The agent'll be with you shortly," the bartender said before gently closing the door behind him.
Kai exhaled and sat down. He waited in silence, the seconds dragging out like minutes. Just as he was starting to lose patience, the door creaked open again.
In walked a figure swathed completely in a black robe, face obscured by a shadowed hood.
The agent sat across from him, gloved hands resting on the table. "State your request."
Kai didn't waste time. "I'm looking for someone. An Archmage. Name's Lucian Blackwood. Head of the Blackwood family."
The room went dead silent.
The agent didn't move, didn't blink. Just stared, probably scanning Kai behind the veil of that hood. Then, finally, he spoke.
"…I'm extremely sorry, sir," the voice was formal, cold. "Information on any Archmage is restricted. We cannot divulge anything unless the inquirer has either high-level guild clearance… or is an Archmage themselves."
Kai sighed.
He had hoped he wouldn't need to do this, not yet. Ever since arriving in the city a few days ago, he'd kept himself cloaked with Chi Concealment, suppressing his true power to avoid unwanted attention and to not freak people out with his overbearing presence. The fewer eyes on him, the better, especially before tracking down Lucian.
But clearly, subtlety had its limits.
He leaned forward, just slightly… and let a bit of his aura slip.
A fraction, barely a whisper of his power.
But it was enough.
The room seemed to tilt for the agent. The air went thick. The magic lamp above them flickered a few times.
The robed agent jolted like he'd been slapped. A sharp breath escaped him, and he scrambled upright in his chair.
"I…I beg your forgiveness, Grandmaster," he stammered, his voice suddenly far more deferential. "Had I known, I would've never questioned your authority. One moment, please…"
Kai leaned back, expression unreadable.
The agent pulled out a sleek, black crystal from beneath his cloak, pressing his palm against it. Symbols glowed briefly, and then… data began to pour into a projection between them.
"Lucian Blackwood," the agent said, now in full report mode. "Patriarch of the Blackwood family, one of the oldest noble lines in the Thornholm Kingdom. Holds the title of Marquis. The Blackwoods specialize in elemental and blood magic. Lucian himself is classified as an Archmage, elemental alignment unknown. His last confirmed sighting places him at the Thornholm border, where the current war against demon forces is most active."
"Exact location?" Kai asked.
The agent shook his head. "Unknown. He's rumored to be leading a covert division of battlemages, possibly in contested territory. But the region's a warzone, there is no consistent intel flow."
Kai's eyes narrowed.
It would be difficult to find his exact location. But now he had a direction.
He stood and pulled a pouch from his cloak, tossing it onto the table. It clinked with the unmistakable weight of high-grade spirit stones.
"Keep this meeting buried," Kai said quietly. "And don't try to track me."
The agent bowed his head low. "Of course, Grandmaster. The mercenary guild values discretion above all else."
With that, Kai turned and walked out, slipping into the approaching evening like a phantom.
As the cold wind of the city met his face, he allowed himself a moment of reflection.
Lucian Blackwood.
The name alone made his blood boil. The man was more than an enemy, he was unfinished business, a shadow from Kai's past that still cast darkness over his present.
But before that confrontation…
He looked up at the evening sky, thoughts drifting to Arthur.
He needed to teach the kid everything he knew before his departure. Because if Lucian proved to be even half the monster he remembered, Kai might not even return from the Thornholm border…
There needed to be someone to continue his legacy. As he mulled over he went towards the orphanage.
…
That night, Arthur returned to the Dreadnought as he stepped through the glowing portal and into his room, his boots clinking softly against the polished metal floor of his quarters.
"Guardian," he called out, tossing his dark coat onto a nearby chair as he continued "What is the status of the task that I asked you about?" Arthur asked, already pulling up several holo-screens from his wrist interface.
[The directive you initiated regarding human augmentation, is currently at 99% completion. Two hours remaining.]
Arthur nodded. "Good. I want full analysis and delivery of simulation parameters once it's ready. But what is the status of improving the mana cultivation technique?"
[Negative Commander, data seems insufficient to improve the Astral Flow Technique.]
Arthur sighed, even utilizing the memories of the assassins that attacked him outside Brightwater City it appears the data was not enough to improve the cultivation technique. He might just have to raid the library of a noble at this rate. He shook his head and focused on the matter at hand.
For the past few days, something had been gnawing at him. The humans of this universe, while strong using their serums, their strength were fundamentally capped.
They lacked mana cores like the humans of Thyrandel. And have no way to manipulate ambient magic. To fight what's coming, they needed more than guns and grit.
He even thought of a theoretical procedure to transplant a mana core in the dantian of the humans of this universe. But the thing is this universe lacks mana and thus even if people have a mana core here, they would not be able to utilize it.
He wasn't about to play god… but maybe, just maybe, he could be the spark that gave humanity the power to stand tall against the Chimerians and that unknown entity.
He had seen the terrifying prowess of the Chimerians in Vorsk's memories. The ones that are attacking humanity right now were just cannon fodders. The real powerhouse of the Chimerians can wipe out humanity before they can even understand what hit them.
He can become extremely powerful in a short period of time and defend humanity, but a single person can do only so much.
That is when he got his hands on the Chi Manual from the memories of the martial artist that tried to assassinate him in the forest.
It was a blueprint, a pathway to power not reliant on mana, but on Chi, the inner essence that flowed through every living being, regardless of world or plane. Chi didn't depend on the ambient magic like mana did. It came from within. And that changed everything.
Though even after trying for some time, he was unable to cultivate Chi at that time so he gave up on it until Kai helped him.
He thought back to the day he got his hands on the Chi manual.
Flashback…
While Arthur found the best way to increase the strength of the humans of his universe, he figured there needed to be a failsafe.
"I can't just drop that kind of power into humanity's lap without a failsafe," he murmured. "The Chimerians… if even one of them got their claws on the original version of this manual…"
He didn't finish that sentence.
He didn't need to.
Because he can imagine it. Chimerians, already biologically superior, using Chi cultivation to become near-immortal engines of destruction. The kind of thing that would reduce entire fleets…hell, entire species, to footnotes in history.
And that's when the idea hit him. What if he was able to encode the manual to be only responsive to human physiology. If it was possible it could stop the Chimerians from gaining the power of Chi.
"Guardian, I want the manual restructured," he'd said, his consciousness standing in the central command chamber of the Spear of Heaven. "Is it possible to modify the chi cultivation path, and bind it to human physiology at the genetic level."
The Guardian took a moment to respond. [Elaborate.]
"I don't want just anyone to be able to learn this," Arthur had said, crossing his arms. "Not just 'humanoids' or whatever we call two-legged bipedals. I mean humans. Their DNA, their genome. Make it so that the Chi flows only if the body meets those exact specifications. Even if the manual is copied or stolen, it'll be useless without a compatible host."
[Understood. This will require significant computational restructuring. Estimated time to completion: 1 month, 6 hours, and 22 minutes.]
"Then start immediately," Arthur had said, no hesitation in his voice.
…
Now, back in his room, he closed his eyes and exhaled. That month had passed. And the waiting was worth it. Because once this new system was introduced, humanity would be ready to face the challenge that they didn't even know existed.
A sharp ping pulled his attention back to the present. The Guardian spoke again.
[Commander The Chi Manual Augmentation has been completed. All safeguards have been successfully encoded. The cultivation method is now genetically bound to Homo sapiens physiology. The encryption matrix includes quantum-laced obfuscation, uncrackable by any civilization below Type III.]
Arthur let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"Display the simulation parameters."
A cascade of data bloomed across the air in front of him. Projections. Models. Gene compatibility charts. Neural adaptation probabilities. Chi flow resonance. It was all there, gleaming like the first page of a new chapter for humankind.
He leaned back against his bed and let himself smile, just a little.
"They're gonna have a fighting chance now," he whispered.
But even as the words left his mouth, a darker thought crept in.
Was this salvation?
Or the first step into something far more dangerous?
Arthur rubbed his temples, gaze locked on the swirling blueprints of the modified manual. "Just don't screw this up, Arthur…" he muttered to himself.
Once the door was open, there would be no closing it. After all, power, true power was never free. He does not know what would be the result of revealing such power to humanity, would they embrace it and defend themselves using it or would they use it to become a tyrant that they are fighting against now.
Arthur hardened his resolve and muttered, "If humanity strayed from their path, I would be there to stop them."
***
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