The Moon Thief

Chapter 83: Growing Doubt

Heinald went to see his master the next day. However, he learned that he had left the mansion in the early hours. So he postponed his plan to talk to him and he too left the mansion and went to Saylam City's Market Area. It took a lot of effort with the others to tear off Azarb Serpent's solid scales and remove the poison in its body as not be as died. Now it was time to reap the rewards of his hard work.

He would consume Azarb Serpent's flesh to strengthen his body, and he would use its blood in experiments.

He went to the shop called 'The Sleeping Owl', where he bought ingredients to make potions before. The price of the materials in this shop was the highest he had ever seen, but at the same time, he had never seen more materials in a shop than in this shop, and they were all of extremely high quality. Moreover, some of the materials in this shop were not even in the secret market area he had visited before.

"Greetings!" When Heinald entered the shop, he greeted the shopkeeper he had met in his previous trades. This shopkeeper was a well-built man who appeared to be in his 50s. He was a Level 1 Ainsar. His hair, beard and eyes were as black as night. Although he himself did not look very old, he felt that he was at least 150 years old. Ainsars could change their appearance with various potions and ingredients. By the time they became an Ainsar, their life expectancy increased exponentially, as they had ceased to be a normal human being both spiritually and physically. A Level 1 Ainsar could live for at least 200 years if they were not killed by someoneor something. Moreover, this time could be increased with various healing potions and cures.

The shopkeeper gave a light nod and said, "Greetings!"

"Heinald said, "I have valuable materials I want to sell."

"Oh? Aren't you going to buy supplies this time?" The shopkeeper thought that this young man, with whom he had traded several times before, had come for the same reason.

Heinald shook his head, "No, a few of my friends and I hunted an Azarb Serpent the other day. We shared various parts of his body, I want to sell my share."

"A-Azarb Serpent!? Where the hell did you find that creature in this part of the world?" The Shopkeeper had almost lost it.

Heinald scratched his chin and replied, "In some kind of underground ruin..."

"Ah! So you discovered a ruin, I really envy you." The shopkeeper sighed and continued, "If there is an Azarb Seerpent in an underground ruin, it was put there to guard a treasure. I'm sure you've found a precious treasure."

Heinald's brows furrowed slightly. After he and the others killed Azarb Serpent, they thoroughly checked the area, but they could not find any other path or passage. Later they thought that the treasure itself was the Azarb Serpent, and they abandoned their search and left.

Heinald decided pass the topic, "I have 500 Azarb Serpent scales and 200g of its venom."

The shopkeeper waited expectantly for him to continue, but when it didn't happen, he asked, "What about its flesh and blood?"

Heinald immediately replied, "They'll stay with me."

"Oh...I see." The shopkeeper's face fell, "Please let me see the ingredients."

After carefully examining the scales and the venom, the shopkeeper valued them all at 550,000 Arkana Stones.

Heinald gained 5 Singularized Arkana Stones and 50 Crystallized Arkana Stones in exchange for the materials he sold and left the shop.

On his way back to Redsand Mansion, he had some questions in his mind.

"Could that Azarb Serpent really be guarding something?" Heinald asked this question to himself.

At that moment, a possibility occurred to him.

Galer talked about the note he found from the remains simply by speaking. The note might have mentioned about a hidden treasure. He could have made the Azarb Serpent look like a treasure, thus manipulating everyone into believing that the serpent was the treasure.

He himself would later go and retrieve the hidden treasure by himself.

Although Heinald thought this possibility unrealistic, he still decided to check it out.

He abandoned returning to the Redsand Mansion and made his way to the Saint Mevson Temple. When he got there, he looked around but couldn't see Galer. When he asked the servants working in the temple where he was, the answer was that no one had seen him.

"Can it really be?" Heinald's suspicion and logic was in a conflict. Galer was not injured, but he was quite tired. This might be the reason why he didn't come to the temple.

The suspicion won over Heinald's internal war, and he decided to go to the secret passage in the southern plains.

After half a day's journey, he had come back to the area where the secret passage was. He quickly went to the place where they killed Azarb Serpent. At first, nothing seemed different to him. Aleinar's lifeless body was still on the ground, and the surroundings had been devastated by the fierce battle.

But then something caught his eye that was not the same. There was a change in the ceiling, there was a square-shaped gap that wasn't there before. He clearly remembered everything he saw, he had studied the ceiling before, and that void was not there.

"Damn! That bastard used us!" Heinald grit his teeth.

Galer had taken the treasure and left.

Heinald left there angrily and returned to Saylam City. He was also angry with himself for not noticing the hidden mechanism in the ceiling. Moreover, he was very curious about what Azarb Serpent was protecting. In any case, a Magical Beast equal Level 2 Ainsar power was guarding had to be valuable.

"When the time comes, I'll show him what it's like to use me!" Heinald had a piercing look in his eyes.

When he returned to Redsand Mansion, he decided to put this incident out of his mind for a while. He was curious about the new task his master would give him. When he went to his master's room, the priests waiting in front of the door said that Albin was waiting for him inside.

"Master!" Heinald bowed.

"Mmm." Albin gestured for him to sit down.

Heinald said, "Master, you said you had a task to give me."

"Oh, yes! I'm going to ask you something that is very important to me." Albin nodded. A box the size of two palms appeared in his hand.

"I suppose you want me to deliver this to someone." Heinald looked at the box and scratched his chin.

"Exactly!" Albin nodded.

Heinald nodded and asked, "Alright, so who am I going to deliver this box to?"

Albin said, "You will go to the Shadowmirage Mountains. There is a great castle on the peak of Ariek Mountain. It is known as 'Raghast Ghul'. Someone very close to me lives there, I want you to deliver this box to him. His name is Fredor.Treat him with the same respect as you treat me, and properly fulfill the duties assigned to you by him."

The Shadowmirage Mountains" Heinald had studied a detailed map of the Neuor Theocracy, he knew where these mountains were. The Shadowmirage Mountains were located near the northeastern borders of the Neuor Theocracy. There were three mountains: Ariek, Mlovid and Erdest. These three mountains were called the Shadowmirage Mountains.

Heinald said, "Don't worry, I will grant your task."

"Good! However, you have to be careful. The Shadowmirage Mountains are a dangerous area and there are many Magical Beasts living there. Prepare well before you go. If you successfully complete this task,in return, you can be sure that I will give you a great reward. "

Albin sent Heinald from his room after giving some necessary information. This task given to him was not urgent. Albin had given him time to prepare and for the experiments he had to do. After finishing his experiments, he would travel to the Shadowmirage Mountains.

******

A month went by quickly.

Heinald only went to three places in that time. Laboratory and Mansion Library and The Sleeping Owl. He spent half of the Arkana Stones he owned in the last one month on books he thought would help the experiment process and on the materials he had to buy to carry out the experiments.

There were two things he did in a month's time; gathering information and experimenting.

He had read all the books in the libraries in all the places he had been before. He was very careful with this because he did not forget a single word he read. He knew very well that for an Ainsar, knowledge was very, very important. A knowledgeable Ainsar could chart his own path and find solutions to the obstacles he would encounter.

It was known that an Ainsar could not be promoted to higher levels unless he had sufficient knowledge.

Heinald had more or less knowledge of many things, including Herbalism, Potion Brewing, Spells, Curses, Spirit Cultivation, Magical Beasts, Runes, and Formations.

In particular, the knowledge he knew about Herbalism and Potion Brewing was much more than other branches because his orientation to these two branches was much more than the others.

Relying on the information he has gathered so far, he entered an experiment process and carried out many experiments.

All of his experiments actually served one purpose; improve the potion formulas he knows.

In this process, there were both successful experiments and failed experiments. For example, one of them was the Low Level Fire Effect Potion. Although his experiments on the formula of this potion were very difficult for him, he succeeded. He had carefully studied the compatibility of materials used for this potion, and had prepared a list of materials that could be compatible, taking this as an example. After a detailed scanning process, he had experimented with materials that he thought could be successful, and he was successful.

The potion he brewed with the new formula increased the Fire Element Effect by 20% for 8 minutes, and the impurity rate was low.

He named the new potion 'Phoenix Feather Potion', which he developed based on the formula of the Low Level Fire Effect Potion.