𝒐𝔳𝓛xt.𝗇𝓔t

Revalor stared at the shadow. It had been fifteen minutes since his son was swallowed by the shadow. That made him anxious as every second passed. He was nervous that Lu An would kill his son. He did not even blink in those fifteen minutes. Then he noticed the shadow started to disappear, revealing the figure beyond the shadow. His son was stuck on the wall just like him, and his eyes immediately observed Arbane from top to bottom to look for the injuries.

He was relieved that he did not find any injuries on his son, but then he noticed the small pool of blood right below his son. It was not that his son did not suffer injuries, but everything was healed already. He looked at the blood, that was a lot of blood.

Arbane glanced at his father before looking down and did not dare to meet his father’s eyes. He had failed his father by revealing their deal with the Giteron Dynasty. He failed his father to take revenge against The Emperor.

“It’s okay, Arbane. As long as you are alive, I am okay,” Revalor noticed the guilt in his son, and he did not care if his son revealed their dealing with the Giteron Dynasty. Either way, he achieved his goal, of making more enemies for the Tang Empire. It would be a pity that he could not see the Tang Empire destroyed.

“Not for long,” Lu An shook his head, “You should know the punishment for the people like you, death. Not until His Majesty’s return though. He will decide your punishment, or maybe the Elven Kingdom will decide the punishment.”

Lu An left the father and son after that. He went to the portal and returned to the Capital. There was something he needed to confirm in the capital that only a dwarf could do it. The signal orbs from Arbane, he needed to confirm their uses before figuring out what they would do with it. They might use the orbs to bait Reinar Thamsen.

Lu An went to the underground city that dwarves named Dwarven Keep, and they also renamed their group as a whole as Dwarven Confederation. There was no more chief as they took a new system, a President and the Council. The Chief became the President, and the Elders took a position in the council. They learned something from the Earth’s government system and adopted it as their own.

He directly went to President Engin, and the guards did not stop him. He was a familiar face in the underground city.

President Engin sat at his table, wearing a suit for his size, enjoying a cup of his coffee as he went through the paper on his table. Another thing that dwarfs liked, was coffee. He looked up when his door was flung open. There was a frown, but the frown disappeared at the sight of Lu An.

“What brought you here, Sir Lu An?”

Lu An did not waste his breath, taking the three orbs and putting them on the table. He explained the function of the orbs to President Engin, “I need you to confirm their function. Is it true that orbs have such a function?”

“Interesting,” Engin immediately grabbed the red orb, observing the orb closer. He put the orb closer to his eyes, inspecting the glowing light, “This is not my expertise because what we need to do is to identify the magical energy inside the sphere. Can you leave the orb? I can message you the result, tomorrow at the latest.”

“There’s no tomorrow. You need to confirm the function right now.”

The dwarf jumped off the chair and ran out of the room. He noticed the urgency behind Lu An’s words and ran to get to one of his councils who were good at identifying the thing in his hand. What he needed to know was the red energy inside the orb, someone good with the enhancement.

They went to the Smithy district and went to one of the biggest workshops in the district. This was where they made the item and also trained their pupils, “Nommen! Come here. We need you to identify this orb!” Engin shouted, alerting the apprentices.

The dwarf with no beard, which was rare among the dwarves to cut their beards, ran toward Engin upon recognizing the voice, “I am here. Do we have an urgent situation…” his voice trailed off as he turned toward Lu An.

“Sir Lu An needs you to identify the orb. Tell us the function of the orb,” Engin handed the red orb.

“Oh, this is interesting,” He pushed the glasses in his right eye, bringing the orb closer. There was an interesting look on Nommen’s face as he inspected the orb, “This is an explosive orb. Something like a bomb if we go with Earth’s terms. These are interesting orbs as the explosive energy inside is quite complicated. May I know where you get this from? I want one of these so we can recreate it.”

“We will talk about the origin later. What about these two orbs,” Lu An took out the green orb and the orange orb.

Nommen picked up the orange orb and frowned. He inspected the orb longer and ended up shaking his head, “I don’t know. I need time to confirm this orb’s function and a lot of processes. I need a lot of testing.”

Lu An frowned as well. He believed Arbane, but Reinar Thamsen might have lied to them. In order to confirm the suspicion, he needed to confirm the orb’s function. He wanted to find Reinar Thamsen’s intention through this orb.

“Oh, I am actually familiar with the green one. I am working on a communication tool, and we are using similar energy with this one. The energy inside can be used to communicate, but there are many ways to communicate so I am not sure how this orb works specifically,” Nommen explained as he pushed the orb reluctantly. He wanted to have the orb as it could quicken his research, but it seemed the orb was quite important.

“Is it possible for the orb to send a signal?” Lu An asked.

Nommen’s face brightened up, “It might be since the only way to use the orb is to destroy the orb.”

“I see,” Lu An frowned. He got the big picture of what Reinar Thamsen tried to do. If Revalor’s plan worked, he would get the clue without needing Revalor to report to him directly. However, if Revalor’s plan failed, Reinar Thamsen wanted to get rid of Revalor and Arbane to get rid of the evidence, so no one could relate The Giteron Dynasty with Revalor’s move. In the end, Revalor was just a pawn for the Giteron Dynasty.

“You can have the red and the orange orb, but I need this one,” Lu An did not wait for Nommen to reply. He left the room with the green orb.

Lu An took the portal back to Paris’ border, and he was greeted by Aleesa. The former Elven Elder wanted to know the information from the interrogation, and he had not told her anything yet because he left after getting the orb, “I will message you the result of my interrogation. I need to rush back to meet Sis Mengyao.”

Aleesa did not force Lu An to stay to explain everything in person, responding with a nod.

*** ***

Reinar Thamsen sat on the balcony of his room. He went to the First Order Guild’s territory after his dinner with his father, and he was at one of the First Order Guild’s smart bases. A woman with thin clothes sat on his lap with her head leaned onto her chest. His left hand circled around her chest, fondling her plum breast while enjoying the moon. The cold night only encouraged him even more, setting up the pace for his last meal. Just as his hand was about to reach her vital part, the bracelet in his hand glowed green.

His hand stopped for a moment, looking at the bracelet with a wide grin, “Leave and tell your guild leader to meet me!” The woman stood up reluctantly, getting dressed up before leaving the room. The woman was part of the First Order Guild’s special treatment for their sponsor.

“Finally, it’s time for me to take action,” Reinar Thamsen dressed in his proper, Earth modern outfit which suited his taste. A navy blue suit, vest, and with a white shirt inside; pants with the same color as his suit, and brown boots. He looked at himself in the mirror with a satisfied smile reflected on the mirror.

“I don’t understand Lady Zhang’s taste. How could she refuse such a handsome lad like me?”

Not long after he dressed up, Herman Bonivido and Frans arrived in his room.

“Please sit. I have something to tell you guys about my original plan.”