Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Eren was seen thinking to himself while standing in front of Arizihana and Marie.

'If I can't get Adept rankers, I'll create my own. Potion-induced breakthroughs, forced breakthroughs, mid-battle breakthroughs, and special arrays. I'll do anything and everything to make these seeds mature early.

My plans won't wait for their natural growth. And I'll make sure that they don't have to.'

Eren thought to himself as he looked at the two ladies with stoic expressions.

Airzihana and Marie looked at each other as they processed what Eren was trying to say to them. Both the ladies were quite a bit away from their ranking breakthroughs.

Eren smirked when he saw the faces of his two guild members with stressed expressions.

"Don't worry. I will provide you with the right kind of resources to help you achieve your ranking breakthrough in the shortest time possible. I have given you a heads-up today to help you mentally prepare for the process.

You are not the only two. Each member of the White Raven guild will be treated the same way. Those who succeed in our program will be provided incentives. And those who fall back will be encouraged by being penalized.

They will be penalized following the effort they put forth and the results they received. I understand that no two individuals are the same. Therefore, penalties will not discourage you from participating in this rank-up program.

Agatha will manage this program in my absence. She is always available to assist you if you need anything special. Your payments will be adjusted accordingly.

The guild will try to provide you with the best-in-class resources. In exchange, I want you to do only one thing."

Eren said and checked his pockets. He took out his Sativa Stick and lit it up before concluding.

"Don't slack off. That's the only requirement to benefit from this White Raven special rank-up program."

Eren said, releasing clouds of smoke from his mouth. He felt a subtle calm wash over him when he did that. Half of Eren's stress because of being part of mana circuit training was washed away at that time.

Eren had once thought of subjecting every guild member to the same form of mana circuit training he was put through. But Alephee told him that it would be a terrible idea for his guild. Nobody would remain in his guild if he did that.

Eren had to drop the idea upon Alephee's suggestion.

Arizihana had handled administrative roles when she was in charge of the city of Silvermoon. She realized that there was another reason for Eren to provide such a top-of-the-line facility for Marie.

The avid smoker in front of Arizihana was getting his guild members accustomed to certain standards of living. He planned to provide them with rich resources so they would become accustomed to having them.

Only then could these guild members feel the true burn of being penalized. The penalty would revoke their access to the resources they would have gotten used to by that time.

If Arizihana's guess was right, the penalty for falling behind in Eren's rank-up program would make Marie lose privilege in her lab. She would face a similar kind of psychological pressure tailored to her needs and situation.

'This man is manipulative as hell.'

Arizihana thought in her head. But she froze in her place when Eren suddenly looked at her and smiled as if he had heard what she was thinking about.

"You know what kind of conspiracies I like, Arizihana? Those that they call open conspiracies.

Call it manipulation of psychological dependence. Or wrap it in flowery words like custom training modules. I don't care about the labels attached to the processes. I only care about the results they deliver."

Eren then had an extensive talk with the two ladies. He laid out his expectations for them. And also briefly told them about the rank-up program he was planning to start throughout his guild community.

In the end, he took out a vial of potion from his storage and threw it toward Marie. The halfling caught it easily even though she was surprised by his actions.

The butcher explained what the potion was before the potioner could ask him about it.

"This…"

Eren took the last puff from his smoke and dispersed it in thin air before speaking up.

"This is the information you were looking for. I sort of found it by accident when I was reading through your research."

Marie looked at the colorless liquid in the vial with puzzlement before looking back at Eren. It took her a while to understand what Eren was talking about.

"This… this can't be!"

Marie's hands started shaking when she realized what she was holding. Her eyes got wide open. His lips started trembling. And her breathing became uneven.

She looked at Eren with a mixture of shock and suspicion. She needed to confirm.

"This missing ingredient?"

Eren chuckled before answering truthfully.

"You were not running after a mirage. All your arduous work and all your efforts. The sacrifices you gave to achieve what you want. They were not in vain.

The vial of potion you are holding is indeed the fabled missing ingredient you had hypothesized about in your research paper."

Eren confirmed Marie's suspicions, which made her almost lose her grip over the vial. Instead of holding it casually, she cradled it like a tiny baby in both hands.

One part of her couldn't believe this was the thing she was looking for after becoming a cultist. It's been years. It's been countless experiments. Many sleepless nights. Doing things she didn't want to do.

She looked at Eren with tears in her eyes. No words were coming out of her shaky lips. Eren understood what she was trying to ask him.

"Hehe. Don't look at me like that. Why would I swindle you?

You can verify the potion's properties yourself by putting it through any form of test you had previously devised yourself. All the results you get will then scream at you to believe that the thing in your hand is the real deal."

Eren said confidently while pointing his index finger at the vial Marie was holding. In the next moment, he felt he was being embraced.

The halfling was so emotional that she forgot everything and hugged Eren directly.