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Forbidden Sphere Chapter 119
Lord Sevaril and Snowcloud descended the stairs, with Arran warily following a few paces behind them. Lord Sevaril's casual death threat had not come as a complete surprise to Arran — knowing Snowcloud's secrets obviously carried risks — but it had served as yet another reminder of his precarious situation.The fact of the matter was that he had no powerful backers or allies. If any one of the powerful mages he encountered decided to kill him, there would be nobody to avenge his death. If he was to rely on anyone to protect him, it would have to be himself, and for that, he needed to become more powerful. But gaining power required time and resources, and right now, he was short on both.A few floors below the chamber where they had first met Lord Sevaril, the man left the staircase and stepped into the hallway, coming to a stop before a heavy wooden door at its far end."This is the ingredient storage room," Lord Sevaril said to Snowcloud. "You'll find that I have made a fair effort
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 120
Arran got up at first light, already feeling excitement at his plans for the day. If all went well, in just a few hours he would have enough Essence Crystals to last him months, perhaps even years.Even so, he did not follow his urge to rush into the city straight away. Instead, he spent several hours going through his belongings once more, depositing everything he was willing to sell in Panurge's void bag — the only one he had that was large enough to accommodate it all.He went over the mass of items several times, making sure that it contained nothing he might need or want in the future. He also set aside a portion of the gold and jewelry, knowing that it would be foolish to part with all of it.Still, when he finished, the bag with goods he hoped to trade held a staggering amount of treasure. With this, he thought, he should be able to get all the Essence Crystals he would need for the foreseeable future.When he was finally satisfied that he had sorted out everything as well as h
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 121
Arran sat in silence as Master Xu kept a suspicious eye on both him and the bag. From his expression, it almost seemed as if he feared that Arran could snatch the bag and run off at any moment.If that was indeed what the fat man feared, he was entirely right to worry. The thought of fleeing had crossed Arran's mind more than once since the man had arrived, and the only thing that kept him from actually doing it was the certainty that he would be caught.Perhaps, he thought, things would not be as bad as he feared. Although the bag held what would be a staggering sum of treasure to most people, to someone as wealthy as Lord Sevaril the amount should still not be outrageous.But then, Arran also understood that Lord Sevaril's affection for Snowcloud did not extend to him. And if the man wanted to take Arran's treasures, it would be a simple matter to have Arran disappear.Time passed slowly for Arran as he found himself torn between hope and worry, but the truth was that he simply did
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 122
Both Arran and Lord Sevaril were quiet during the carriage ride back to the castle, Arran still thinking over the events of the day, and Lord Sevaril engrossed in his own thoughts.Now that he thought he understood the true purpose of Panurge's food, Arran was convinced he had been on the losing end of the deal. He had sold Lord Sevaril what amounted to an army of Body Refiners at a price of less than a quarter Essence Crystal per soldier, and although Arran had little idea of the value of soldiers, he suspected it lay far above what he had received.But then, Arran had no use for an army — he had neither soldiers to train nor lands to conquer, and the thought of leading a band of brigands or mercenaries did not appeal to him in the slightest. His only goal was to increase his own strength, and for that, the Essence Crystals were infinitely more valuable than the food had been.And when he considered the matter, he was certain that even if his treasures were worth a higher price, ther
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 123
Just opening the door to the treasury took Lord Sevaril some time, and Arran could tell that the door was protected by some sort of magical mechanism, though he could not see exactly how it worked.That Lord Sevaril bothered with such defenses even here, in his own tower, could only mean one of two things. Either he did not trust his own men, or he had such treasures to protect that doors did not suffice to protect them.Arran hoped it was the latter. If so, perhaps there would be something good to be had.Of course, he wouldn't be too greedy. Even if Lord Sevaril had said Arran could pick an item of his choice, he wasn't so naive as to think he could just take anything.As Arran thought about how to best handle the situation, Lord Sevaril finally finished disabling whatever magical defenses protected his treasury, and the massive steel door suddenly swung open."Follow me," Lord Sevaril said in an eager voice. Without waiting for Arran to respond, he stepped through the doorway.Arra
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 124
As Lord Sevaril showed Arran the rest of his treasures, the man's mood soon seemed to improve, and before long he was once more bragging about the items in the treasury. Shocked though he might be by Arran's revelations, it appeared that boasting about his riches brought him at least some comfort.Arran, on the other hand, found himself unimpressed by most of the treasures. Although there were plenty of them, few seemed to have any useful powers.There was a staff that could create Force Shields with the user's Essence, but the shields were weaker than those Arran could produce himself. There was a small green rod that could heal injuries, but when Lord Sevaril bragged that it could heal a broken bone in days, Arran knew his own Body Refinement techniques were more potent.Each time he thought he had found something truly useful, soon after there followed an inevitable downside that negated much of the item's value.Most of the items, it seemed, converted all kinds of Essence into a s
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 125
Back in his room, it took Arran some time to calm himself. Although he had spent the past several hours putting on a confident facade, the truth was that he had been absolutely terrified from the moment Lord Sevaril set foot inside the Golden Hall.He did not fool himself into thinking that he deserved the credit for the unexpectedly good outcome. He understood well enough that he been on the edge of disaster, and that he avoided it owed more to luck than it did to his own quick thinking.Only now that the immediate danger was gone did Arran have time to fully grasp just how close a miss it had been.Had Lord Sevaril not decided to put his faith in an artifact rather than his own reasoning, Arran doubted things would have ended so well. And even so, he'd been fortunate that the man already knew of Chaos, or else he might have been more skeptical of Arran's story, truth-telling artifact or not.Arran spent a good half hour thinking over the events of the day, reflecting on his mistakes
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 126
Arran worked through the night, then into the next day, foregoing breaks and sleep as he absorbed Essence Crystals one after the other. With each new Essence Crystal, he could feel his affinity to Essence growing stronger — more and more, it felt like his Essence was part of him, rather than some alien substance he could only barely manipulate.After just a day, Arran had finished absorbing the Purified Essence of close to a hundred Essence Crystals, and the effect left him marveling at how much his control of Essence had improved.Previously, it had been like writing a letter while holding the pen with only his elbows, and looking back now, he was almost amazed that he had managed to succeed in casting spells at all.But now, things were completely different. He could feel that the Essence was truly his to control, to be used however he wanted, and the awkward clumsiness he had always felt while wielding magic was rapidly melting away.He finally began to understand the real differen