In the west part of Noser City, the Templar Code Headquarters stood.
There was a small courtyard and an outside training ground in front of a three-story stone building.
Most people and travelers who passed by the Templar Code Headquarters could see their people training in the morning because no walls surrounded its border. The founders of the Templar Code decided not to build a wall because they were confident their people could protect the headquarters with their strength. Of course, there was still a defensive array around the building, but its level was only seventh-tier, and the formulas used were average.
The three-story building was huge and was circular. The dormitories for female and male members, dining hall, infirmary, and reception area were found on the ground floor. On the first level, all rooms at the front side were reserved for ranked officers. While at the back, the armory and weaponry and the library and research department were located. As for indoor training rooms and assembly hall, it was situated on the second floor.
Inside one of the research rooms, Evan, Max, and Jason were waiting at the receiving area for the test results on the bodies of Owen and his team.
The three of them had been waiting outside the research department inner room where the walls were made of black material for almost half a day now.
They did not dally when they left the Shaiha Ruins last night and went straight to the headquarters. Unfortunately, although they were able to leave the body of Owen and his team in the research department, they still needed to secure approvals to use the device to perform magic energy tests. After all, the device needed plenty of spirit stones to operate and could not be used on a whim. The Templar Code might be a big faction and were not really short on resources, but their leaders, especially their Commander, emphasized living frugally. They would not be stingy in strengthening their members, but more than that, the Templar Code’s wealth was used for magic research.
After Evan submitted the request, the approval was only granted the following day. As soon as they received the approval, he immediately went to the research department with Max and Jason.
Now, they had been waiting for some time, yet they had not received any update.
After another half an hour, finally, the small door to the inner room opened a member of the research department stepped out.
The woman was wearing a white robe, and her black hair was tied in a tight bun. She was also wearing white gloves, and a thin film could be seen on her face’s skin.
“Evan?” The woman called.
Evan stepped forward and looked at the woman, “Yes. How are the results?”
He asked at once and did not bother for any formalities. It was also unnecessary since the Templar Code practices equality. Though there were still ranks and such, everyone was free to call each other by their names.
The woman heaved a sigh and shook her head.
“Aside from the Quilin’s magic energy, there are no other energies detected in their bodies.”
The expression on Evan and the other two immediately turned sour.
“You mean the Quilin really did this to them?”
The woman’s brown eyes turned cold. She shook her head again and replied, “No. The Quilin’s attack indeed shattered their bodies. However, after studying their armors and internal injury, we found that the armors had been destroyed using brute force, resulting in them receiving fatal internal injuries. From these findings, we guessed that they were either dead or on the verge of death before getting attacked by the Quilin.”
“Brute force?”
Evan, Max, and Jason looked at each other. Their expressions all reflected confusion.
Did the Quilin possess brute force? After years of hunting, the Quilin never retaliated with brute force.
“And…” The woman hesitated for a second before adding in a solemn tone, “After we simulated the impact that shattered their armors, we… confirmed that a single punch made it.”
The woman then took out a magic disc. The orb glowed white, and a simulated action of a punch shattering the armor was shown inside.
Evan scowled and asked incredulously, “A single punch did that?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“We have tested it using our very own magic battle simulator.”
Jason could not help but take a sharp breath.
What kind of punch could destroy an armor made of pure Aurum? That kind of force was impossible!
“Who?” Max’s deep voice suddenly spoke.
The three looked at him while the woman replied uneasily, “Err… We haven’t predicted that far but the initial impact on the armor had the shape of a… human fist.”
“Impossible!” Jason exclaimed in disbelief. “I would believe it if it had the Quilin’s hooves of something, but human fist?”
The woman did not refute. She and her teammates also felt the same. However, the imprint of the human fist was there. Though it did not prove anything, there was nothing to disprove it.
Evan fell silent as he thought of something.
When they first found the Quilin, they all believed it was strange. None of the Templar Code’s members had been to the Archadia, but they had seen reports and records of Quilins that lived there.
Quilins that lived there were not enormous. At most, they were as big as a Theihorn seen in the Valley of Morte. The reason behind it was, a lesser dragon, like a comodo, was not big. Thus their offspring would also bear their size.
But.
What if the Quilin in the Shaiha ruins was not the offspring of a lesser dragon and a unicorn, but a real dragon and a unicorn? Real dragons were enormous creatures. The smallest might be the same size as the Quilin in the ruins.
If this was true, like a beast that had real dragon blood, could it also have the ability to change into a human?
Dragons changing into humans was common knowledge before. But since fewer people were interested in studying beasts that no longer existed nowadays, this knowledge had not been in circulation anymore.
‘It is worth looking into,’ Evan thought.
“We’ll report this to Lady Freya,” he told Max and Jason. Then he looked at the woman and said, “Send us all the findings you have gathered.”
The woman nodded her head, “Yes. We are still conducting additional tests, so we’ll give the complete findings as soon as we compiled everything.”
“Alright,” Evan agreed and looked at Max and Jason once more. “Let’s go.”
He turned and went to the door.
Max and Jason followed close by.
“Evan. You’re not going to tell us that you believed all that?” Jason asked with a frown as they left the room.
“I need to look into something,” Evan replied, not bothering to answer Jason’s question.
Max remained silent. However, he was staring at Evan’s back. His eyes showed understanding. He grabbed Jason’s shoulder before he could argue with Evan and said, “Trust.”
Jason turned to Max in confusion. It was not that he did not trust Evan but a human shattering their armor using brute force? It was really impossible.
“Not you too,” he complained.
However, he no longer argued and followed behind Evan.
The three of them went to the library.
====================
At the cottage in the heart of the forest, outside Noser, Anette busied herself in cleaning and tending to the small herbal garden at the back.
Last night, Nolan and Gage did not return. However, she was not worried about those two brutes and focused on looking after Kyran.
When Silas returned, Anette and Zephyr saw his face full of scratches. They more or less had an idea where he got it. Since Silas did not say anything, the two also had a tacit understanding not to inquire.
Since Silas refused to grant Lumi authority to enter the cottage after she left to deliver the rare stone, she told him not to call her because she would stay with Stella until he prostrate himself in apology.
Silas steeled himself and planned to ignore her antics for the first time.
With Anette, Silas, and Zephyr in the cottage, the former started to discuss her plans with Silas while Zephyr listened in silence.
Anette suggested using the cottage as their ‘base .’ And to do that, they would need to renovate it and add more rooms.
Silas agreed at once.
The cottage had been abandoned for years, and Kyran also showed interest in it, so Silas was not against using it as a base. Besides, the cottage’s array was really good, and though Noser was close by, Silas was confident that it would remain hidden under their radar.
The next day, after confirming that there was no unknown presence nearby, Silas left to gather materials for the cottage’s renovation. And while he was away, Anette started cleaning the garden.
While the two were doing their own thing, Zephyr remained inside the cottage looking after Kyran.
Because he was connected to Kyran, Zephyr felt that he would be waking soon. It surprised him, to be honest. He did not expect his new master’s healing ability to be this good.
Just as Zephyr was thinking about this, Kyran’s eyes opened slowly.
Zephyr straightened at once and stood up. He walked from the foot of the bed toward the side to have a better look at Kyran.
On the other hand, Kyran, who had just opened his eyes, stared blankly at the ceiling. It took him a few more seconds before his vision steadied, and his memory of before he fell asleep returned to him.
Kyran looked at Zephyr and asked, “How long was I out?”
“Almost a day,” Zephyr replied.
Kyran was surprised. He did not expect to wake up so soon. Not that he was complaining. He just thought that if he knew, he would not have asked Silas to deliver the rare stone because he could still do it today.
Putting this thought at the back of his mind, Kyran slowly sat up and immediately felt immense pain in his body.
“Argh…” he winced as he rested one hand on his abdomen.
He knew that it was not really his body that was suffering and his magic core. But he felt the pain near his upper abdomen and wondered if magic cores were connected to it somehow.
“Your fever has gone down, but your magic core is still damaged. It would help if you were more attentive,” Zephyr reminded him.
Kyran frowned at this. He thought the Tonic Anette gave him would be enough to fix his magic core, but it appeared it was not enough.
“Is there any way to fix it?”
‘This conversation again?’ Zephyr thought with a sigh.
“Yes. Drink the Elixir you have with you,” Zephyr replied as he pointed at Kyran’s pouch.
Kyran looked at his pouch and then at Zephyr.
“What, Elixir?”
Heaving another sigh, Zephyr patiently repeated what he had said to Anette and Nolan yesterday. When Kyran found out that the white potion he took that made him pass out for a day was actually an Elixir, he was surprised and amazed at the same time. He had no idea he had been carrying such a good potion. Still, he was reluctant to drink it again. He really did not want to experience the excruciating pain from back them.
Seeing Kyran’s reluctance, Zephyr did not hesitate and also told him the other option. Of course, his reason for telling this was to dissuade him and take the Elixir.
Zephyr did not expect that Kyran’s expression would turn serious, and he even appeared to consider this option.
“I… may know someone,” Kyran said after a short pause.
Zephyr raised his brows. From what he had gathered from his conversation with Anette and Silas last night, the Soul Emperor’s family were not common people whom they could go to. Aside from this, they were not good people.
Ignoring Zephyr’s confusion, Kyran pondered again. He had been in a dilemma on how he should deal with Cyneah, and now that she could help him fix his magic core, then he had to tell the others about her.
To be honest, when Kyran found that Anette could see the surrounding energies, it reminded him of Cyneah’s ‘lights.’ If this was the case, then it was best to leave her with Anette. Maybe she could teach her how to improve her ability.
Kyran also had a feeling that Cyneah was not blind by birth. His reason was that she spoke of seeing ‘lights’ as if she knew what lights look like. And Anette was a better Alchemist than Malia. Maybe she had a way to treat her blindness.
After pondering for a moment, Kyran finally nodded and said, “I’ll talk to godmother first. Then I’ll improve the cottage’s array before going to Hanaan. After my magic core is fixed, we’ll go back to the ruins, and I’ll check the shrine’s array.”
Upon hearing this, Zephyr immediately perked up. He did not say anything about the shrine because he knew Kyran was worried about his magic core. However, he did not expect Kyran to keep his promise as soon as possible.
“Are you sure that person can fix your magic core?” Zephyr asked, trying to dampen his excitement. After all, he did not want to end up feeling disappointed. “Your not even sure if that person really had soul magic, right.”
Kyran nodded.
“True. If not, then I’ll… drink the Elixir,” he promised while his brow twitched involuntarily.
Zephyr could not help but sigh and say, “Why go through all the trouble then? Just drink it and pass out for days.”
Of course, Zephyr had no idea how much pain Kyran experienced when he first drank the Elixir; that was why he could say this.
Kyran ignored him while he got out of bed. He would not admit that he was scared of going through that unbearable burning experience again.
“Let’s go,” he said and went to look for Anette.
====================
Three people in a black coat appeared in the woods near the Misty Forest. These three were the Royal Army’s special ops.
They looked at the mutilated corpses on the ground that appeared to have been half-eaten by forest beasts.
A smile crept at the leader’s lips as he said, “It appears these bodies were killed recently.”
“Yes,” the woman agreed.
She knelt on the ground as she examined one of the bodies.
“Although the beasts in this woods had eaten some of their body parts, it was obvious that they did not kill them,” she added.
The other man sighed in response, “Yeah. I mean, would beasts normally eat their space storage?”
The woman frowned and glared at him.
“That is not what I mean,” she retorted as she stood up.
The other man only grinned.
Their leader ignored their banter and continued to survey the surroundings. After a few minutes, he finally said, “Let’s continue.”
The two nodded, and they left at once.