The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

It was quite fortunate that Lara lived alone, otherwise Isaac never would've got this opportunity: both her parents were Rank 4s who lived in the Silver Palace (where even Lara wasn't permitted to enter) and her brother, Johan, lived in the Rank 1 district.

Isaac thought about his good luck as he walked away. He got through the Rank 3 and 2 districts cleanly, and breathed a sigh of relief when he reached home turf again.

He walked all the way back to his house, prepared an early lunch, and sat at his table thoughtfully. He considered what to do next.

He already had a couple of ideas about how he might harm Johan, but all of them would result in Johan losing trust in him. He pondered the issue for some time while he ate, but he wasn't getting anywhere. He decided to visit the library; reading always helped clear his mind.

Isaac took the short walk to his favourite building in the sect.

As he entered the library, the smell of aged books greeted him and Isaac happily breathed in. He'd been working, cultivating and scheming ever since he accepted the Kirk Village mission, so it was finally time to relax.

Isaac picked up a book of the crime genre and settled down in a comfortable chair. Time flew by as he flicked from page to page...

Several hours passed and Isaac remained engrossed in the book. He flicked to the next page, but... it was blank. He'd gotten so lost in the story he didn't even realise he'd reached the end of this rather short book.

He put the book down on his lap and leaned back into the chair. His eyes were closed as he went over the plot of the book in his mind.

Then, one of the book's events sparked a sudden idea within him. That spark quickly grew and spread rapidly like a wildfire; it ignited twenty more ideas in Isaac's mind which all connected with each other to form more possibilities.

He got up from his chair with a start and pulled some paper from his inside coat pocket and then rifled through his other pockets to find a pen and started to scribble ideas on the page.

Some would be written, only to get crossed out moments later. Others survived and had several lines drawn to them, connecting them to other ideas. When the page was three quarters full, Isaac put the pen down.

He read what he'd written and considered it again. This time he made some more precise alterations to what was written; crossing out words instead of whole thought bubbles, or adding or removing a line.

Eventually, Isaac seemed content with what was written. It'd already been 3 minutes since he made his last alteration and it didn't look like he would make any more. He crisply folded the paper and put it back in his coat. Then he deposited the pen back in his pocket and found the shelf his book needed to go on.

After putting it back, he left the library and headed towards the market. He had a look around the alchemy section, then headed home without buying anything.

Back at his house, Isaac started a fire and burnt his piece of notepaper. Then he put the fire out and hopped out of his window: it was time to visit his neighbour.

Isaac knocked on Johan's door. There no response, so Isaac knocked again, harder. After a few moments, there was a muted shout from inside, then Johan came to open the door. He was rather unhappy – Isaac guessed he'd been meditating until he'd disturbed him.

However, Isaac didn't care. He didn't even wait to be invited in; he simply walked past Johan and entered. Johan looked on with a frown, then shook his head and followed Isaac inside. The two sat down by the table and Isaac was the first to speak,

"I'm trying to find a Spelunker Potion, but I can't find one anywhere. I was hoping you would know where I could buy one."

"Why would you even want one? Did you find an unexplored cave system?"

Isaac remained tight-lipped and didn't answer. Johan realised he wouldn't get anything out of the man, so he continued,

"That's a rare potion. Even in the Rank 2 district, only a few shops sell it; that's why I was so surprised when I saw some in the 'Herbal Fumes' shop, but..."

"I'm not going to buy it from her."

"If you're not going to buy it, then why not take it?"

Johan couldn't help himself. He still hadn't let go of his grudge against the alchemy disciple and he hoped Isaac would help him out.

To his surprise, Isaac paused for a moment to consider it!

Then, his lips parted as he uttered a soft, "Okay then."

Johan was delighted. They could finally get back revenge on the alchemy disciple! His unhappiness from being interrupted in the middle of meditation was completely washed away and he eagerly discussed the details with Isaac. They agreed to meet at the end of the street for 1 am, then go to rob 'Herbal Fumes' in the dead of night.

When they'd hashed out the particulars, Isaac left and Johan went back to meditating.

Isaac headed straight back to the market and used his last 5 reward points to buy an Ethereal Eye Talisman. He purchased a rather high-quality one with a wide detection radius and an average activation time.

After buying that, Isaac headed over to the training grounds and got a couple of hours of practice in. He swung his sword with power, used his off-hand to strike with precision, and moved with great agility using his Snowshoe Anima.

When he'd worked up a good sweat, it was already getting late.

Isaac deactivated the Snowshoe Anima, letting his sword dissipate as he wiped his brow on the fur collar of his coat, decorating the fur with glistening droplets of perspiration. Then he pulled the coat over his shoulders and started walking home, still breathing deeply from his exercise.

Back at home, he cooked dinner and made a cup of black tea to accompany it, since that would help him stay awake. While he ate, he recited the plan in his head to make sure there weren't any flaws. He couldn't find any.

After dinner, he sat on his bed and read a book he'd bought some time ago. It was a thick leatherbound hardback with the title in bold, gold letters, 'Dr. Foster's Compendium of Miracle Medicines – Extended Version'.

It was one of Terra's most famous books and it wouldn't be incorrect to say every alchemist on the planet owned a copy. Most people would also carry the smaller 'Abridged Version' with them whenever they went out into the wild, in case they stumbled across a herb they couldn't identify.

Isaac had bought the full version to help brush up on his knowledge of plants and Qi herbs. It wasn't the most interesting of reads, but the level of detail and breadth of knowledge it contained was truly stunning.

Isaac tried his best to read the book, but he felt himself dozing off after nearly an hour. He got up, made himself another black tea, and decided it was nearly time.

The pendulum clock on his wall read quarter to 11 as he got changed into black clothes. Isaac didn't wear his coat – he chucked on 2 dark jumpers instead. Then he hopped out of his window and into the perfect stillness of the night.

Isaac didn't disturb its tranquil air as he moved through the streets towards the market. He used the Snowshoe Anima to glide swiftly and silently, reaching his destination in a handful of minutes.

He came to a stop outside a store with large double doors, a row of ornate carvings above the doors, then the words 'Herbal Fumes' above that. The snow covering his boots fell loosely to the floor as he deactivated his Anima. Then he took a half-step towards the doors and looked up at the store's grand, proudly written name.

A slight smile coloured his lips as he took out a talisman and pushed some Qi into it. The piece of beast hide glowed slightly as the runes drawn on it activated.

1 rune... 2 runes... they all lit up in quick succession. *Vwoom* A wave of air emanated from the talisman as it fully activated and an image suddenly appeared in Isaac's mind.

The Ethereal Eye Talisman gave him a full picture of everything within a metre's radius. He could clearly see what was on the other side of the doors, and he immediately noticed there was a string wrapped around each door's handle. The string extended upwards towards the ceiling and the talisman's range wasn't far enough to show exactly where it led, but Isaac imagined it was linked to some kind of alarm or trap.

Pulling the handle would tug on the string and activate whatever it was attached to. However, as long as it wasn't pulled, Isaac assumed the string wouldn't do anything.

He created a thin, razor-sharp sword. Then he stood on his tip-toes and angled his sword through the thin gap at the top of the door. Just as the talisman's effect began to fade, Isaac managed to cut the string.

Then he cut between the doors to slash the chain locking them together from the inside. Splinters fell from the doors as his sword scraped between them.

The chain dropped to the floor with a clank.

Isaac froze at the sound, but quickly realised it wasn't loud enough to wake anybody. He was just too on-edge.

He took a deep breath and perfectly composed himself. Then he deactivated the Spirit Sword Anima and stepped towards the double doors.

He gently twisted the handle and the doors opened with a faint *Creak*

He was in.