Perceived Fate

Returning to the large wall and Malum felt an increasing anxiety as he made his way inside. Fear of the guards searching him and stealing his treasure unendingly clogged his brain but no matter how much logic his smothered his brain with he still found their gazes to be extra piercing.

His loss of the intuition ability only added to the feeling. Instead all he felt was that headache and it wasn’t letting up with just a few hours’ time.

His fear were indeed unwarranted as the second they saw his badge they all but rolled down the regal red carpet, with the soldiers looking at him like the maniac he was.

Once he entered the fear dripped away and instead happiness took it place. He quickly shuffled his way back to the inn where once he reached his room he finally let out his urge to dance.

...

Once that was over he retrieved the loot from his bag and began to read through them again.

The Sword of Poison was the technique he was going to practice and it held two separate parts to its Mortal section. Mind and Body. To reach the pinnacle of the mortal stage he would need to reach the limits of both.

For mind, was the creation of poisons both the 99 ones and new ones it profoundly restated was needed to reach the pinnacle. It stated the need of 50 new poisons, 40 of the lower tier and 10 of the middle tier.

Poisons in the book were ranked via tier, with lower killing small animals or humans with enough doses, to middle tier where it could kill humans in dose to higher tier where it could kill bears and a herd of cows.

There was no certain line, and just because it was low tier didn’t mean at all that it was a `bad` poison just that it was weak. Sometimes weak was what you wanted.

It was also much easier to make but still the idea of 50 poisons worried Malums mind. Still, he was up for the challenge and it wasn’t even the mind part he was most bothered by.

The body was to be augmented through a ritual of poisons. Taking regular doses along with strenuous exercise. It looked like hell even to Malums deranged standards luckily he still had to make the poisons before he could start it so he some time before it was possible.

He formulated a plan on his future actions and then began to get to work. There was no time like the present and he still had a few hours left of sunlight.

Malum woke to the sound of knocking. With the headache returned Malum rose with a sour smile on his face. He got the bare minimum on and opened the door.

“What’u want?” He said as the door opened.

It was Jameson and Malum saw his face shift into worry.

“Is your headache back?”

Malum nodded. He had complained about it to no end on their travels. His frown probably looked familiar.

“Poor bugger, okay then you got what, 10 days left before the wave so lets lay off the drinking on focus on you getting rid of it before your face the demons. Meditation works to soothe it right; I’ll get you your food and you can have a day of that. Sound good?”

“Thanks mate.” Malum said as he watched the man go down to get him some food. He waved back a don’t worry about it, but a twitch of pain made him recoil back into his room.

He didn’t come near to sleeping it off, in fact, Malum reckoned it had gotten worse.

Jameson was right about the meditation part so Malum coiled onto his bedding and tried to calm his thoughts.

He imagined a serene lake. The sun shining down reflecting off the surface. Perhaps a lone fisherman on a small fishing boat.

A calm seen. One that hardly changed at all as the hours past.

He opened his eyes rarely, only to the sound of knocking and when he ate.

He slept as easily as baby. Considering he was always centimetres away from sleep, it wasn’t hard to dip in and out.

The day passed as quickly as it could, and Malum woke the next day feeling far better than before. It was still there, and when Malum tried to use his ability he found no response at all.

No that he had some time, Malum visited the library as he wanted to check out some of the ancient sounding herbs he couldn’t’ recognise from the 99 recipes.

He met the nice librarian whome guided him towards the right area before he began to trawl through the books. Jameson thought he was still meditating which left him a few hours before lunchtime before he had to return.

With much left to do, Malum got to work.

Word over word. Page after page. At some point they started to blur. His mind was beyond tired and the content of the pages did nothing to help.

Why couldn’t alchemists sprinkle in a joke here and there. Instead they were about as comedic as his plain white shirt. He closed the book he was reading as it held nothing of interest and looked at the time to find that he should start packing up.

He had two piles, one which had useful information in it and another which didn’t. The second was much larger but at least Malum had a few which turned out well.

He dropped in the books as he planned out buying of few of the herbs he would never be able to collect himself. Rare ones which grew in deserts, for instance, he was never going to be able to get himself such he would need to fork over some pretty golds to get them.

For now though, he just needed to head back and act calm.

He returned and continued his stance. Entering again back to the peaceful scene. The fisherman was laying down as usual, only waking to a pull on his bait.

It never seemed to bite, so the fisherman slowly fell deeper and deeper into his slumber as his skin caught the sun.

His wrinkled face showed only a smile on the lake. For it was the only place he found peace.

It was Malums ultimate idea of peace. Manifested through his thoughts, Malum spent his time here and bathed in the sun with the fisherman.

The gentle swaying of the boat. The soft feeling of the sun against his body.

Until it was interrupted by the knocking of the door. Malum opened his eyes to see the cruel world around him and opened them to see his friend with a plate of food.

He thanked his friend and took the plate. A few good words of conversation before Malum closed the door again and began to scarf down his food.

Whatever cook made it was competent, the eggs just right, the bread lovely and soft. It was gone within 5 minuets and with hours left until the next meal Malum waited before his friend left the inn before he snuck out the back.

He went towards the herb market, with a his savings in his pocket he hoped to buy a couple good ones to begin his cultivation journey. He headed in with good thoughts and his hopes ran high.

It didn’t last long, hope died as quickly as Malum saw the price. 3 gold! Were they mad?! It didn’t do anything but heal sunburn and feel nice on a warm die and yet it cost it that much.

Malum could attest to its medicinal properties but that was besides the point. He couldn’t afford that and that was only one of the herbs.

Malum needed money and his first idea was his military points. His old ones could RIP but now he had cleared a wave he would have 3000 to his name. That was roughly 3 gold which was enough for one herb.

Only the one though and that was if he was willing to trade it all in which he most certainly wasn’t.

He needed another way of raising cash and with his strength he reckoned he could make a quick buck. Heading back to the inn, Malum thought of several criminal activities he could try out but as he arrived back to his room he realised he had treasure he could see for more than enough money.

The unlimited torch was cool and would save him much money but Malum’s eyes remained focused and with them he packed the torch into his backpack.

Progression was his goal and he needed the cash up-front. He headed to an auction house of which the city had many to choose from.

The one he decided on was one on the nicer side of town as he reckoned nobles would have field day with his unique item.

To avoid being scammed he purchased the finest suit he could with the 3 gold, that and a nice mask and now he gave off a persona of a rich noble wanting to spend some money.

He entered the auction hall and ordered the front desk to receive his item at once. He set the beginning price of ten golds after he explained the niche product. The eyes of the man at front practically glowed as he heard of its fantastical properties and accepted his offer with gratitude.

Malum then asked for VIP room for the coming event and was led towards a booth before he could even ask for the mans name.

Inside a small wooden box, Malum sat down as he saw out of a large whole out of the box. Large candles illumined a circular ring of similar boxes and at the floor was stone ring with a whole running down the middle.

He could see a few others waiting in their boxes, their hushed murmurings putting Malum on edge. He fought against beasts but these people’s eyes were more focused than the demons.

Roosevelt had an underbelly just as ugly as any other city, perhaps its wealth making it perhaps worse than others.

At least these slaves had golden chains. Malum could only wish them the best.

They would all die anyway, Malum was more focused on becoming the exception.

It didn’t take long for the empty seats be filled, and once that task was complete a man came out form the hole under the centre stage and announced with a jovial voice.

“Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 143rd monthly auction of Prestige House. Today we have curated the finest selection of goods all that is last is for them to find a home. Enough talking, now onto our first item!”

Malum looked at the item slowly rising from the same hole the speaker came from. It seemed to a sword and the mans words confirmed his suspicion. Apparently it was an ancient relic from a Fallen noble, considering how spotless it was Malum doubted it immediately.

Perhaps if his eyes told him it was treasure then maybe he would have purchased it but with nothing but a empty purse and a mild headache he wasn’t willing to bet on the ancient sword.

Prices rose from 10 gold to a hundred, it seemed the novelty of the item was higher than Malum expected. He opened the catalogue a read about the fallen household. It was from one of war hero who had taken down a couple countries and more than his fair share of demons.

He could see now why they wanted it. If it was the hero’s sword than it was beyond priceless, even the story alone was worth the gold.

Once gold got to heavy to move they moved up to the higher form of currency, it was mainly used by the upper classes and it was Malum first time seeing it. They were called Promises and were essentially papers which could be exchanged for whatever was written on the front.

It could range from a hundred gold to a hundred thousand gold, technically you could even buy a kingdom with it. How a small piece of paper could be worth so much lied behind the credibility of the one who wrote it.

It was an ingenious concept that the kingdom had initiated a couple hundred years ago. If paper wasn’t so expensive and the country wasn’t half illiterate, they would have rolled it out down to even the smallest of bronzes alas here they were.

Several items of less value went by. All auctions started strong, had a decent few in the middle then ended strong, it was like since ancient times and it was for good reason.

Slaves, sword, potions and even knights were sold to the highest bidder.

Eventually, the finale came around and whilst Malum was somewhat nervous he knew his item was special. For it to be a finale, well that would just mean he would fetch a higher price and once it was revealed and explained he wasn’t disappointed.

“700 gold!” shouted an bearded man at the back.

“900 gold!” croaked an old lady from the front.

“1500 gold!” said a cleanly dressed person sitting in the VIP seat next to him.

Malum looked over, and so did most of the crowd. 1500 gold was 150000 breads and a ludicrous amount of money to spend on a torch. Perhaps if it was learned then it was easily worth it but if not then it was just a novelty item.

Nobody said another word until the announcer counted down the bid before he struck the gavel. He said a few words of goodbyes and good lucks before he disappeared from the stage.

People began to fan out as they discussed the mans extravagant purchase. Malum was beyond confused as he thought it was going to only be a few hundred gold but to come out with more than a thousand was more than large shock.

He got given a hundred up-front and a promise of 4 hundreds and 1 thousand. With his money earned Malum headed towards the herb market as he continued on his plans.

A few curiosities made him want to tail that old man but he decided to stay on task and get his training up before he indulged in them. Strength would always come first, once he was immortal he could satisfy every need he ever could have so he focused up and ensured he wasn’t tailed.

If he was robbed, Malum was going to break a couple walls so he ensured he saved his fists the pain. After he had dodged through a couple alleys and changed his entire more than twice, he was happy to get shopping.

He checked the time to find the auction had taken longer than expected but he still had an hour to get himself acquainted with the market.

He met the suppliers and cross-referenced the prices. He checked a few of their products quality and he paid a little to hear the history of each store.

Waling back, he reviewed what he learned and decided upon Louis’ Goods and Services. They the same ones he started with but now he was sure they were the best option. They had a good reputation and charged slightly higher for higher quality goods.

If it was something Malum would digest on a regular basis, he needed to be sure that the ingredients weren’t going to slowly kill him. Happy with his investigation, Malum rushed home before his friend arrived back.