City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

The Price Of Suppression

Besides the pen, the case held three little potions. Rosie didn’t know what they were, but the magic crystal vials alone were worth tens of thousands of gold and showed just how expensive the contents would be. When she picked up an attached note and read it, her hands started trembling.

The note was simple: “Mana Harmony Potion; legendary grade. For half an hour from consumption, one’s control over their mana is greatly enhanced.”

These three bottles were basically priceless treasures for any runemaster; unlike Richard, many faced bottlenecks in stabilising their mana output. This mana harmony potion would greatly enhance their control, allowing them to jump the grade of rune they could create when used during a critical moment. Rosie was confident this would let her craft true grade 3 runes, taking her a long way along the path.

However, even that wasn’t the end of it. Below the three potions was a wand that was less than a metre long, loaded with three defensive spell slots that could also serve as a small mana bank for the holder. Next to it were two epic-grade rings and a bracelet. All in all, this would increase the mana she could call upon by a third and strengthen all her spells by a tenth. It also made for a total of seven defensive spells that could be cast in an instant; even if they were all grade 3, they would still greatly increase her ability to survive.

“We’re going to battle?” she asked after looking through it all.

Richard nodded, “I’m planning to go to war with the gods this time, come with me. You won’t advance anymore without actual battles, I’m still waiting for you to become a grand mage.”

“Me too!” Rosie leapt up. Becoming a grand mage wasn’t just about mana or spell grades; her physique would change to the point that her life was extended. While the leaves of youth kept her looking twenty and the small amount of life blessing from Richard helped as well, such things only grew less effective with usage.

“Like them?” Richard smiled at her jumping like a child.

“Of course I do!” she hugged him.

Returning the embrace, Richard sighed, “I forgot about the flow of time; I should have visited you a few more times all these years. This present was long overdue.”

“Not at all! You know how fast time flows when you’re crafting; it’s like I last saw you a few days ago. It’s fine!”

He was about to respond to the obvious lie, but she suddenly pulled back and pressed his mouth shut, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she whispered by his ear, “I have a present for you too. Close your eyes and don’t move!”

Rosie didn’t even give him a chance to object as she took out a silk cloth and covered his eyes, starting to kiss and touch all over him before slowly heading down. Richard shivered when she eventually found her target, sucking in a breath. A long time had passed in Faelor with Rosie’s magic and runecrafting improving by leaps and bounds, but she had clearly not forgotten her other skills either.

…

Late in the night, Richard was on his back sweating profusely from the exertion, Rosie looking surprisingly lively having survived their most exhausting night yet as she was drawing circles on his chest. Moonlight was shining on them through the window, and feeling a cool breeze across his fatigued body Richard couldn’t help a wry smile. Even Rosie, who he had to be careful around before, could now keep up with him; it looked like the last bed he could win in was about to disappear.

It felt like half a day later when Rosie spoke up in boredom, “Why the sudden crusade?”

Richard sighed, “I need to take care of the issues here quickly, I don’t have much time.”

“Then what do you want? Influence? Strength? Something else?”

“Influence, strength… I want both, but that’s not the end goal.”

Now interested, she flipped over and put an arm on his chest, “Then what is?”

“The goal?”

“Mm, are you still unsure?”

“Of course not!” he shook his head with a smile, “I thought of it long ago.”

“Then? Tell me!” her eyes gleamed as the hand on his chest started crawling downwards.

Richard trembled, but he suppressed his desire and shook his head, “I’ll tell you when you become a grand runemaster.”

“Grand runemaster…” Rosie’s smile suddenly grew dull, “Sigh, will there ever be such a day? I don’t… have the talent to become a grand mage.”

This much was certainly true. While the Mensa Family had been wrong in misidentifying her talent at runecrafting, most of her achievements today still came from his guidance and her work ethic. If she were anywhere near normal, becoming a true runemaster would have been an enormous barrier in itself. Most families in Norland tested their core lineage thrice; birth, just before deciding on their class, and adulthood. Even the Archerons used their mages to test most of the family, with some of the most powerful warriors chiming in.

However, Richard just chuckled and patted her face, “Don’t worry. I can’t promise more, but I’ll get you to level 18.”

“You mean the dragon… That’s so much money wasted!” Rosie grumbled.

“Is it? Do you really think all your effort over these years isn’t worth at least that?”

“I’m already yours. You don’t need to compensate me for anything I do, it’s all yours.”

“All mine, huh?” Richard smiled maliciously and hugged her hard, “Then shouldn’t you shut up and let me do what I want with you? If that means making you a grand mage, you don’t get to complain.”

Rosie glared at him for a moment, but then she put on a flustered expression as she bit at her lower lip seductively. Richard almost pounced on her immediately, but she shifted down herself.

This time, he was left so exhausted he didn’t even want to move. For a moment, he felt like he would rather be in the Land of Dusk barely eking out victories over Daxdian saints.

……

The Land of Turmoil would leave adventurers pale far before Richard’s rise, but in the dozen or so years since the Crimson Dukedom had been established many had cast their gazes towards the mysterious land of spatial rifts in the hopes of finding a secret passage to a new world. However, none of those that actually tried had returned, not even a full expedition led by a sub-legendary being. The enigma of this place had only grown with time, and it was now considered a forbidden land that not even the strongest beings of the plane would venture into.

A strange forest covered the heart of this land, the eerily synchronised swaying of the trees causing anyone to shiver in fright. Underground, one would find their roots penetrating a hundred metres into the earth to absorb every last drop of nutrition that could be found. At the centre of this forest were four enormous organic constructions that looked almost like beehives, but the most striking sight of all was a humongous insectoid creature that seemed to have raised its upper body as it stared towards the Crimson Dukedom with its dozens of eyes.

“Just you wait!” Zangru’s now-sweet voice resounded through the forest, “We’re not done here! I definitely won’t let you off if you don’t let me down right away!”

“Broodmother, I’m serious! Why aren’t you letting me down yet?”

“You’ll have to put me down one day. I’ll show you what regret means when the time comes!”

One could see Zangru on top of one of the nests, hanging from dozens of tendrils of various sizes as others with hollow tips were buried deep into him and drawing blood at a constant rate. He seemed to be in great pain, but there were occasions when his expression warped into a moan. Even otherwise, he didn’t look like someone whose blood was being drawn at all, extremely lively and shouting so loud that his voice travelled kilometres in each direction.

Still staring at the sky, the broodmother eventually deigned to answer, “Don’t you enjoy this?”

“W-What do you mean? How’s that possible? I’m not that kind of pervert!” he shouted in a flustered voice.

“What kind of bastard god isn’t a pervert?” she countered.

“I’m a human, not a bastard god!”

“Forgive me, bastard demigod.”

“I’m human, I said! HUMAN! Both inside and out!”

…

Similar conversations were a regular occurrence, and they were only interrupted by a tiny black dot that quickly zoomed across the sky. The cloned brain flew quickly with its escort, but less than half of the elite wind snakes had made it back with many of even those injured. Even the cloned brain had two arrows stuck in its body, but it still had a magic sealing chest grasped tightly in its tendrils.

Although she knew everything that had happened along the way, it was only now that the broodmother allowed herself to relax. This kind of thing was strange to her; she was growing more sentimental by the day.

Zangru’s cries suddenly felt annoying to her, and without even considering it for a moment she sent a giant tendril out from the worm nest deep into his mouth.

“It’s not— GLUG,” he couldn’t even finish his sentence.