Dark King

“I will.” Dudian nodded in confirmation. He could take a look at their libraries for a way to restore his left arm.

Nightingale’s eyes brightened as she saw him promise.: ” Since that is the case then I’ll be waiting for you at the college. Speaking of which I can be your elder sister over there. Your code name is way too high-profile as I’m afraid you will get beaten…”

Dudian wryly smiled. He chose the code name on a whim and didn’t expect that no one had chosen it before. Now as he thought about it he didn’t choose the code name because of arrogance but to remind himself not to be carried away with temporary comfort and be wasted once again.

“I’ll find you when I get there.” Dudian changed the topic.: “My friend’s leg was smashed by a rock. Do you know a way which can heal him?”

“Fractures bones?” Nightingale was silent for a moment.: “In addition to ‘fountain of life’ there seems to be nothing else which can treat such an injury. But the price of ‘fountain of life’ is too expensive. A non-starred alchemist wouldn’t be able to buy as we don’t have permission to purchase something like that.”

“Fountain of life?”

“Don’t you know?” Nightingale was surprised.: “Your teacher is way too lazy. He hasn’t taught you anything! ‘Fountain of life’ is sold by the Holy Church too but only their internal stuff can purchase it. It is the best healing medicine that money can buy. It can recover bone fractures easily. It is said that it can regenerate a finger. Holy Church says that it is a gift from God of Light but in face it was developed by dark church. They had stolen the formula.” There was pride and disdain in her tone as Nightingale talked.

Dudian’s eyes lit up.: “How much it would cost to buy one?”

Nightingale immediately replied.: “Dispel the idea! It is not something that can be bought with money. You will need five thousand alchemy points to get your hands on ‘fountain of life’!

Dudian frowned.: “So expensive?”

“Of course. It is giving a second chance in life. ” Nightingale said: “Moreover as we haven’t reached a star threshold yet then don’t even think about getting one of those. Although your friend’s leg is smashed but there is nothing but him getting used to this new condition.”

Dudian slightly shook his head.: “I will check the shops to see if there is a potion that can help him out.”

Nightingale sighed.: “Well, I have activities in the college so I have to go back. I wish your friend quick recovery.”

Dudian waited until she left. Afterwards he continued to ask the other shops. He made a full lap around the shops but couldn’t get any gains. He was told that in addition to ‘fountain of life’ there was a method of life faction alchemists called ‘regeneration’. They were able to heal any wounds but the price was very expensive. In addition there was not a fixed market price.

Dudian had expected such an outcome as Nightingal had already told him in advance. So he was not too depressed. He exited the division of the dark church. After leaving the manor he looked around and found a place where no one was checking upon him while he took of the mask and robe. Later on he hired a carriage and returned to Ryan castle.

Dudian opened the envelope after he got into the carriage. The letter had lots of words. After reading carefully it seemed as if it was a poem but not one at the same time. There was no flow in it. At the end of the poem there were string of alchemy symbols.

Dudian understood the method to decrypt the message. He began to read the poem according to the method.

“Blood Reef Alchemy College … Address: Hongta Street No. 109 … ” Dudian read the message word by word and sorted out the information. After confirming that there was nothing left out he took out a match from his pocket and burned the letter into ashes.

It was almost dusk by the time he returned to Ryan castle. After the dinner was finished Dudian went back to his room. He used the pen draw on paper. It was a simple topographic map.

As he was half the way to finish the map, Old Fulin pushed the door open and joined the room.: “These are your cold crystals.” He handed out a small sachet.

Dudian’s eyes lit up as he took the sachet and opened it. There were four dark blue and round cold crystals. These were the ones he had hunted.: “Thank you”

“Your business is my business. No need for thanks.” There was faint smile on Old Fulin’s face.

Dudian looked at him.: “After a few days I would like to go outside the giant wall.”

Old Fulin was surprsied. ” You have just come back from outside. The radiation has been digested and discharded from your body. If you go out at this point then the radiation content of your body will increase. And your arm is…”

Dudian shook his head.: “Ordinary medical treatment would not be enough to cure my left arm. I asked the alchemist friend and was told that there is a way to cure my arm but we need too much money.”

“Are you talking about ‘fountain of life’?” Old Fulinasked.

Dudian looked at him in astonishment. “Do you know about it?”

“Of course I’m aware of the thing. The only thing is that it is sold by Holy Church only to its memebers. Mellon consortium could purchase it as they had a member which was part of Holy Church. Do you remember Melk the Knight of Light? He helps them to purchase stuff like that.” Old Fulin said.: “A few days ago I went to Scott consortium in hope that they could purchase on our behalf. But the price was too expensive, about fifty thousand gold coins. I asked them for a credit but they didn’t agree.”

Dudian said: “Don’t worry about this matter. I’ll solve it myself.”

Old Fulin smiled.: “It’s getting late. You should sleep early.” He turned away and left.

Dudian’s eyes feel onto the four cold crystals in the sachet. He took off his shoes and sat on bed. Dudian grabbed the knife from the table by the bedside and made a slice on his right hand. He took out one of the cold crystals and put it inside his palm. It didn’t take long for cold crystal to dissolve into silvery liquid. As if it was a living creature with consciousness it began to penetrate into his body through the cut on his finger. After a moment his body felt bursts of coldness and extreme hotness. The feeling gradually faded away. Dudian felt that his physical strength had grown up.

“I can’t be greedy. I can’t use more than one every time.” Dudian put away the remaining three cold crystals. He didn’t want his right arm to end up as his left arm.

Dudian continued to draw the previous simple map according to his memory. He felt tired after a long time and lied down to sleep.

The next morning Dudian got up early. He ate the breakfast and left the Ryan castle. Once again he came to division of dark church. He wandered around but most of the time he stood by the in front of the cage frozen storage capsule was kept.

There were dozens of people who were observing the object so his actions were not obivous to eyes.

In the blink of an eye two days passed.

Dudian was absorbing the third cold crystal. The extreme cold and hot feeling had gradually become dull because of regular absorption of the cold crystal. He was able to bear them eaily. He was thinking about other things as his body was absorbing the cold crystals. He recovered the moment he heard ‘Kacha’ sounds.