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So rather than looking for direct sources on how to upgrade his skills, he began researching the more general methods of upgrading Legacy skills and ways of upgrading skills close to what Jake had. Perception-based sensing skills to find herbs or toxic materials and whatnot were extremely common and well-researched, so Jake happily dove in and began reading. He decided to first focus on ways to improve the far less impressive Poison Sense Jake had merged into Sense of the Malefic Viper, hoping to find some inspiration.

His enthusiasm quickly dwindled as Jake went into the section on practice methods. As with most things, the best advice given was just to get practical experience. However, the books heavily advised against the alchemist trying to test and improve sensing skills during combat for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it was overly risky to try and focus on it during a fight. Secondly, you wouldn’t know your opponent properly and what skills they had to avoid your senses and their poison resistance, making progress far less reliable. Third, it was just hard to properly focus and think logically and analytically while in a battle. Using the poison on someone far weaker than yourself wasn’t as helpful when researching as using it against someone of equal or superior power, which is why the alchemists who had written the book recommended the same thing: living test subjects.

They suggested ”investing” preferably in a slave or a bound creature to do this with. As you needed someone or something stronger than yourself, it even mentioned that renting one was possible, but emphasized that another great benefit of living subjects was the ability to use the same one and track the progress that way. It reduced the number of factors that came into place with using new test subjects every time, and if one got a sapient slave that was professionally trained, they could even have skills to convey the effects of the toxins – something especially useful when experimenting with mind affinity poisons.

As Jake read all this, he was a bit taken aback. Not by what it said, but by how it was written. It was clearly considered normal and not at all something anyone would question. It mentioned using these subjects with the same phrasing as one would use about any other type of tool like a cauldron.

Needless to say, Jake was not going to get any test subjects, and the more he read about it, the more he understood why Meira had kind of assumed that would be part of her job when she first met Jake. It was, in the eyes of the Order, considered a task akin to tending the gardens or any other service the slave could offer.

Jake still wanted practical experience with his Sense of the Malefic Viper and ended up finding some good things. There was a training dungeon set up by the Order that one could spend AC to enter that housed a lot of different toxins with innate properties to hide as well as some beasts and monsters to practice on. Making a mental note, he decided to visit one of these places.

On the subject of Blood of the Malefic Viper, it was a bit of a dead-end as the lessons were either about how one could possibly gain the skill or how to use the skill in alchemy. There was one lesson that seemed worth checking, and Jake also mentally noted that.

As Jake was still researching and doing some light alchemy, whenever he got bursts of inspiration, he felt movement within his sphere. In the entrance hall of the mansion, four figures stepped out. One of them was naturally Meira, with the three others an elf, a scalekin, and a very tall dwarf or small ogre. Half-ogre, Jake guessed.

He didn’t move to greet them as they all headed to the library as expected. Jake saw them all walk and talk, and everything seemed nice. A cursory look made it clear the half-ogre was primarily a close friend of the scalekin while the other elf stuck closely with Meira. Meira did seem a bit out of place, but Jake saw her smile whenever she answered, making him a bit happy.

They entered the library, and Meira began finding some books as the other elf helped. The scalekin and half-ogre just sat down at a table as they waited. It almost looked as if they hurried Meira, but he wasn’t sure, considering he could only see and not hear anything happening.

After locating the books, they took their seats and began discussing things. Jake simply looked on as nothing noteworthy happened for the next fifteen or so minutes. Finally, Meira said something to the other elf, her customary nervous face on full display. The other elf nodded as the two of them left the library, the scalekin seemingly yelling something after them.

At that moment, Jake cursed the ever-present enchantments on all the doors and walls that isolated sound, effectively making every room the inside of an isolation barrier. Meira and the other elf headed straight for Jake’s laboratory, where he had spent the last few days. They talked a bit more, and just before Meira could knock on the door, Jake made it open telekinetically.

What? He wanted to show off a bit in front of Meira’s friend.

”My Lord,” Meira bowed the moment she saw him. Jake was sitting in a rather comfortable chair behind a table, feeling a bit like a boss about to interview a new employee.

”Hello there,” Jake greeted them with a smile. One they couldn’t really see as Jake had chosen to keep his mask on. Turning to the other elf, Jake nodded. ”You must be Izil?”

The other elf confirmed as he bowed slightly. ”Indeed. It is a pleasure to meet you, Hunter, was it?”

Oh yeah, I used that pseudonym. Kinda forgot about that, huh? Jake thought. ”Just call me Jake, and please, come in and take a seat,” he simply answered. He honestly couldn’t be arsed trying to conceal his real name. Irin knew it, which meant the entire Humanoid Resources department knew it, which meant anyone with just the slightest level of clout could find out.

”Thank you,” Izil answered as she entered the laboratory. She looked back towards Meira and then back at Jake. ”If possible, can we speak just the two of us?”

Jake wasn’t that surprised, considering she had asked to meet him. He did wonder what she wanted and really hoped it wasn’t something weird. Chances are she wanted to take advantage of his status even if she only believed he was a black token alchemist.

”Of course,” he still answered. ”Meira, if you will.”

She nodded and bowed but did look a bit nervously at both Jake and Izil. Meira was naive but not stupid and likely had some of the same thoughts as Jake… or maybe she was just afraid Izil would offend Jake, making Jake kill her. She knew who he really was, after all.

After she left, the isolation barrier activated, making no one able to spy on the two of them anymore. With great interest, Jake allowed Izil to speak first after sneaking in an Identify.

[Elf – lvl 141]

”Firstly, I must thank you for meeting me. I am aware you are a busy individual,” Izil said courteously, but Jake already knew there was a ”but” coming down the line. ”I am Izil, a royal associate of the Altmar Alchemy Association and currently a gold token outer member of the Order of the Malefic Viper.”

Jake nodded, having already introduced himself before. He didn’t see any need to explain he had a black token, as she clearly knew, though he was a bit surprised at her being a gold token.

”I believe you already have an inkling as to why I am here?” she then asked.

In a hurry, Jake tried to figure out if he should know why she was there. Nope, I have no bloody idea why or how I should know, but…

”It is related to Meira, right?”

It had to be. She was the only commonality between them.

”Correct. Just to clarify, then Meira is a slave which you own or at least have the ability to decide ownership of?” Izil asked very matter-of-factly.

Jake nodded.

”Firstly, and this may be overreaching, may I ask why you are having her attend lessons as she currently is? From the research I had done, then you have a backer making you able to afford some splurging when it comes to Academy Credits, but even so. What is your intent?” she asked, making Jake feel like he was being interrogated.

”You are overreaching,” Jake dismissively said. ”You do not need to know what I intend, but if you are worried, then I can at the very least assure you I mean no harm to Meira. All I want right now is for her to learn and grow.”

”How about the future?” Izil asked. ”I am aware you are from the new universe, so it is understandable if you do not know this, but the Altmar Empire has a standing order in place to free and help return elves found in involuntary servitude to the Empire.”

Okay, Jake did not know that. He was a bit skeptical, but when he thought on it further, it made sense. The Altmar Empire was an empire of elves, and according to what he knew, a bit, eh… ”judgemental” towards those who were not elves. For a race believing themselves superior to not want their brethren to be slaves or maybe even viewing it as an insult if some were wasn’t surprising. It did raise some questions as to why there clearly were many elven slaves around, but that wasn’t a discussion he wanted to start. However, even if such a standing order was in place from the Altmar Empire…

”I do not see what that has to do with me,” Jake answered.

”I mean no offense,” Izil quickly made clear. ”I am merely saying that the reason I approach you is backed and supported by the Empire, and so will any eventual compensation. In essence, I am asking for the possibility of buying out Meira’s slave contract.”

”Oh?” Jake asked, a bit interested. His plan had always been to find a way of freeing Meira. Currently, he wanted her to become a fully-fledged member of the Order by herself, but if there were alternatives, he was open to it.

Izil understood that Jake was not entirely against the idea and smiled.

”This proposition is not only to benefit the Empire or you but Meira as well. She has shown quite the talent from the moment I met her and seems to only be growing in potential. Especially very recently, she has had tremendous improvements. For her to remain a slave is simply wasteful in my eyes. If she was free, she could also return to the Altmar Empire, where even more possibilities exist. Additionally, and this is merely my own personal feelings, then I am fond of her and wish to see her grow and forge her own Path. One where she is free.”

Jake listened on, and while he didn’t say anything, he was debating it quite a lot internally. If Izil told the truth, it was a truly good offer. It would allow Meira to get her freedom and stop being a slave, and it would even allow her to go to the Altmar Empire. All around good stuff and a difficult offer to refuse. Oh, and of course Meira had made a lot of progress in recent times. She was being privately tutored by a god.

”it is worth discussing,” Jake concluded. ”But it is not something I believe the two of us should ultimately decide. It is Meira’s choice.”

Izil looked surprised at Jake’s response but still nodded a bit tentatively.

Jake then stood up and motioned for Izil to follow. ” I will admit, I have kind of been hoping to meet her friends, so I shall come along when we go fetch her.”

Izil now looked even more confused and surprised. ”Those two people in the library with her right now aren’t her friends. Nor mine, for that matter. We were asked to group up for a collaborative project for sparring purposes, and the two of them made her an easy target. I stuck around at first to try and recruit her, but I was hesitant due to her meek personality. And as I said… I have grown fond of her. But those two are definitely not friends, I can guarantee that.”¨

Jake frowned. ”Explain.”

”The scalekin is called Nella and is the daughter of a true dragon who got together with an influential B-grade member of the Order of the Malefic Viper, while the half-ogre Utmal is nothing more than an attendant of her family who managed to enter the Order due to sheer nepotism. Her status is not to be underestimated, and she knows it. I hear that she has even more powerful relatives, some even reaching above B-grade. In other words, they are not to be offended, even if you are blessed by the Malefic One and have a black token,” Izil explained. ”While I am not sure if I can call their treatment of her outright abusive, they…”

Sighing, Jake listened as Izil explained their group’s dynamic. Nevertheless, Jake was still insistent on going. He couldn’t say he was surprised that Meira’s interpretation of friendship wasn’t normal, but he was still a bit disappointed. But more than disappointed, he was just sad. From what Izil said, they were just taking advantage of her.

Taking advantage of him.

”I implore you to not make any rash decisions,” Izil said as they exited the library, and she sensed his negative emotions.

”I won’t,” Jake said.

The two of them walked toward the library as Jake observed it in his sphere, and now with some context, Jake saw that the scalekin’s yelling likely wasn’t just friendly banter. The snickering of the half-ogre also clearly wasn’t innocent.

Still, Jake wanted to keep a cool head and not pass judgment only based on the words of another. He would judge the situation himself and ask Meira to figure out what was going on. As they got close enough to the library, Jake noticed the door had been left slightly ajar, allowing some sound to escape.

”How fucking incompetent can you be? I can’t comprehend why the hell that owner of yours bothers to keep you around,” he heard the scalekin say as Jake froze.

Froze - and considered if Viridia’s offer of corpse disposal was still available.