Augmented Aspects: Chapter 228 What to Expect, When You Are Expecting Treachery (Patreon)

Chapter 228

What To Expect, When You Are Expecting Treachery

War.

The whole world was seemingly at war. Worse, the Legrand Empire, the largest and most industrialized force is the force that I might have inadvertently started a minor war with.

To my defense, I was given marching orders from the big shot herself, where I was all but ordered to go out and find two parents for a child.

From a magical perspective it was a great feel good story about using magic to sympathetically find genetic links to people who are displaced during a war time environment.

Even the rescue mission that occurred afterwards was something that should have been expected. This was why it shouldn’t have been a surprise when the act of war and preparing for treachery was the first thing that Mallory said to me.

Well that isn’t technically true, as her first true words to me after my awakening the Mythical portion of my bloodline was.

“AHHHH!” Mallory exclaimed as she dashed forward, grabbing me and spinning me about as if I was a weightless doll, and she was an overly enthusiastic child hosting a dancing tea party with her toys. To her defense I might have resembled this more than I care to admit, as I was officially a midget, being a few inches short of five foot tall. So compared to Mallory’s gargantuan size, I was tiny. Then added to that was the fact that I had a very slender form that looked like I was just a well proportioned barbie with ephemeral golden wings, and it was easy to see that her first comment was to congratulate me, though not in the way I wanted.

“Oh my gosh. Look at you. Congratulations,” Mallory said, finally stopping her spinning of my weightless body as she began peering directly into my skin and face. This is bad as I don’t know what oddities this newest transformation has done to my hair or skin, other than I have officially changed species. I went from what was originally a dark elf, to a Royal Arcanist Elf, to an Ethereal Elf, and now to my final transformation of a Quintessence Ethereal Colossal Pixie.

“Yeah, thank you.” I state, patting Mallory on the hand as I gently but forcefully push myself free and then summon my ephemeral wings into existence and float backwards.

“Oh, my gods, your wings, they are so beautiful.” Mallory exclaims, “I am so glad that you finally got to show the world that you are a fairy princess, just as you always wanted.”

Humph.

At that I cross my arms and stare angrily at the insult of wanting to be called a fairy princess.

“What? You have to be a princess, right? Or is it a queen?” Mallory guessed looking at me and trying and failing to guess why I would be annoyed with being called a Fairy Princess.

“I am a Pixie!” I shouted.

“What? You are? Aren’t you a little you know, big to be a pixie?” Mallory asks, making a small gesture with her hands, indicating the size she thought I should be. Technically she was not wrong, as that was my size originally, before my species flaw was assigned. A flaw that I could not alter at all. Then before I could rely, she continued her train of thought, “though the designation does sort of fit.”

“I am a Colossal Pixie.” I state.

“Well, yeah. I mean I guess we could all see that as part of your personality. So I guess the distinction does make some sense.”

By now Jhonny who was had witnessed all of this began to snicker, though he desperately tried to cover his face with his hand, not that this hid his actions from my view that saw everything.

“No, I have the Colossal flaw.” I correct her.

“Of being a Pixie?” Mallory asks.

“No, a Colossal flaw that increases my size as a Pixie by 400%.” I state, getting someone annoyed at this exchange.

“Oh, so you mean it. Your bloodline species is officially Colossal Pixie?”

“A Quintessence Ethereal Colossal Pixie, but yes.”

“Okay,” Mallory replies, as her mind clearly seems to be trying to process this.

There is a brief moment where her mind clearly engages, then she seems to view something. I take it this is her viewing the Guild chat.

“Yeah, okay, Colossal Pixie it is,” she says nodding to herself as her eyes grow wide. Then I can almost see the moment a realization hits her, as she sort of slumps.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

Pausing for a moment Mallory just sits still. Then seems to realize that her body posture is sort of negative. After seeing her poor posture, she collects herself and then seems to stand up confidently. “Yeah, well. Actually, there is one thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

Here it comes, she is going to ask me about the new mixed discipline of Qi and Mana that I just got, my newest school of energy usage that even I don’t fully understand at the moment. Still, it’s okay, as I am already prepared to tell the truth. The fact that for the first time in a long time I didn’t have the creativity to create a mixed blend Qi and Mana Fusion discipline. I am prepared to admit the fact that I all but had to be spoon fed Arcane Geomancy as a bloodline merit. That without out the system’s assistance in this point I would have completely missed the intricacies of what a Qi and Mana Fusion discipline was truly capable of.

Even now I have not had a chance to experience the new discipline, as it should be used on an area of Blighted land, so that we could see the immediate impact of utilizing this discipline. Better still, this discipline is bound to generate new Skills that should help in the implementation of such a rare and beautiful power.

Still, this effect does bring to the forefront my creativity and ability to understand the powers that I now have access to. For weeks I stumbled around, constantly working on ways to generate new skills or disciplines that could utilize both Qi and Mana and each time I was left wanting.

Then to find that the system just gave it to me, as if it was tired of me constantly chasing my tail around and decided to give me the blueprint that it saw.

Worst of all, the discipline in question is a thing of beauty. Weaving in Mana to strengthen Qi.

See, Qi is more solid, like molasses. While Mana is more gaseous, like vapors that can be easily shot out and expanded. This new discipline it fuses the two energies together in a way that strings them together in a way where the energy is shared through woven threads. The Qi forms a denser outer layer that is then energized and stretched by the mana that is on the inside, but the two are still fused in a way that only energy can be. Honestly the form of energy is a thing of beauty, and I am glad that it is something large like changing the state of a physical area.

At least, I get the impression that it can help me quickly alter and form acres at a time to fit almost any state I want. By changing the course of the mana within, I can make the place more tropical, more swampy, or even a freshwater river. While the Qi inside will form a basis to sustain and promote life. This is a problem that I didn’t even realize we were facing with our current formula, but it should have been apparent in that only level one creatures and the like can thrive in our petting zoo. A zoo that was spearheaded by Mr. Kujo and his want to provide the best sources of protein for his bonded mate.

Speaking of which, I should go and see the big lug. I know my Simulacrum is taking care of Ms. Kujo during my absences, but there is still a thing about doing something yourself. Or rather as me, even though my Simulacrum is also me?

Anyways, that is on the docket of things to do.

Yet, what actually happened next was something that I would have never expected, thought admittedly I probably should have given everything that had happened.

“So two things,” Mallory finally states apparently thinking that our brief introduction is over.

“Just two?” I ask, already feeling nervous. While I don’t mind admitting my faults, I still hate having to do so in front of the boss.

“Well three things actually.”

“Three?” At this, I know the question of my competency as a Qi and Mana Fusion expert will be called into question. Granted this is not part of our college yet, but I have a feeling that it will be something we offer shortly. That or Mallory will all but thrust it out as a new major.

“Yes, first, are you prepared for your Bloodline class?”

Groan!

Hearing that, I can’t help but feel slightly perturbed by this. The class seems so pointless now. Particularly as I managed to once again get yet another Skill and Attribute limit extension, this time it was thanks to my Bloodline Evolution.

Now with 75 more levels to gain in all my Skills and Attributes, I realized that I had more levels to gain in my own Skills than my students did. Well all the students that were actually part of my continuing classwork. This reminded me that I already had plans to implement newer more stringent training regimens for the students, though once again I had nothing for this stupid bloodline class.

“But you were coming into your own as a teacher, and how could I deprive you of the joy of passing on your knowledge to future generations of students?” I pose.

At that Mallory just stares at me, then pausing for a moment she continues. “You do realize that as the only person to ever unlock a Mythical bloodline you have established yourself as the expert in this field, don’t you?”

“What? I am the last person people should want to follow. I am an overgrown porcelain doll.” I pose.

“You are too precious, I agree,” Mallory says and then reaches out trying to grab me, but only gets a hand full of golden ephemeral energy to coat her hand.

“Ahh!” Mallory exhales and for a moment I can’t tell if she is in pain from the way the golden pollen of my wings is acting with her skin or if it is something even more deadly. I am about to cast a quick healing scan on her, when she begins to squeal, shrilly. “Oh my gods.”

“You okay?”

Looking at her hand that is coated with the golden residue of my wings that are not real wings, but just ephemeral constructs of wings made from energy. She looks at the residue and then shouts, “do you know what this is?”

Pausing, I look at her like she has gone crazy. Maybe there is a hallucinogenic effect of this energy on Mallory? I know that Mallory is under a lot of strain, but this might just be the breaking point as she looks from me, then to Jhonny, and then towards the other leaders and guards that are coming to join us in our little impromptu meeting out here in the middle of the landing pad that Jhonny decided to land his motorized flying bike at.

“Golden slime?” Jhonny asks.

Hearing his reply, Mallory turns towards me and then stares expectantly at me as if I know the answer. Which I sort of do, so I give the technical answer.

“Golden ephemeral energy residue,” I reply giving the closest description of this new energy source as I can.

“No, this is Pixie Dust!” Mallory shouts, then holding up her golden covered fist, she shows off her accomplishment. Or rather lack of accomplishment, as she clearly tried to grab my fluttering wings, only to be left with just that ephemeral energy resin that was left behind.

“Okay, I guess technically it could be called that.” I state, though I think by the manic look in her eyes that this might be a bigger deal than I think it should be.

“Do you know how rare of an Alchemical component Pixie Dust is?”

“Yeah, it was the component that all the senior Alchemists would assign to annoying and precocious children trying to learn some free recipes.” I state, remembering many times how I was sent out to try to track down Pixies, which did not exist. At least not in the mortal realm, as the mortal realm was deemed to be too caustic to their natures. Thinking about it, I realize that some of my new racial flaws, make sense. Well some of the flaws that were incorrectly noted as both Merits and Flaws together, but they were really flaws that I couldn’t resist. One of these new flaws dealt with my Skills being halved while in a magically void area.

Then I realize that like this, I am about to be highly hunted for my wing dust particles.

“No,” I state.

“No?”

“No, I’m not going to be harvested for my wing residue.”

“Pixie dust,” Mallory corrects. “Did you know that there are copies of an elixir of eternal youth that are formed with but a few specks of Pixie Dust?”

I had heard that, but again never seen the component, until now as such I mostly dismissed that and other crazier Alchemical concoctions as useless.

Trying to cut this topic off, “okay other than you teaching the Bloodline Class tonight what else did you need to talk about.”

With that Mallory pauses and looks like she wants to argue, but it is clear that she is evaluating which point she wants to nail me down with. So far, I think I have leverage to get out of another Bloodline class, provided I offer up some wing residue, or Pixie Dust as Mallory is now referring to it as. Seeing as I am a Pixie, I could see how this fallacy could be achieved, but I am almost certain that it is not in fact Pixie Dust. Though I am pretty sure the latter is mostly my own want to not be an eternal source of a very limited and highly sought after ingredient for many ancient recipes that have become lost to time.

“Second, I need you to devise a way to speed up the Undergraduate training program for our first class of Mages and Cultivators.”

Hearing that, a smile comes to my lips as I have already been thinking of newer and harder training methods for the same exact skills that I am teaching my students. Knowing that I am being asked to increase the intensity, I figure it will just be a matter of me implementing my own training method and having the students try to keep up.

“Oh, I think I can do this.” I state, but then clarify, “for the initial classes I was assigned to teach.”

“Fine,” Mallory states, realizing that I just have no clue what to tell others about awakening their Bloodlines.

That or Mallory has learned by now that I can be stubborn on points that I find totally annoying. Which bloodlines are, to me other than one or two aspects that come with every bloodline awakening the overall effect of a bloodline awakening seems to be a way to make fun of the awakener in the most annoying way possible. Take for instance, the fact that my wings are now part of a number of cooking recipes that I will have to also worry about.

“Okay and your third point?” I ask, wondering what Mallory is going to do with this one. Mentally I cross my fingers in the hope that it is not an attempt to get me to teach my new Qi and Mana Fusion Discipline to the students that have shown an inclination for both Qi and Mana at this point. Particularly as I am still learning this process on my own.

With that, Mallory nods.

“As for the third task,” Mallory begins, but then seems to pause as she looks from me to Jhonny and back. Then realizing she wants space I put up a Soundproof Bubble, around the two of us.  I also use this time to use some of my three minutes of Confidentiality, knowing that anytime the boss wants to speak with you in private away from other guild members it is likely important.

“Oh, nice.” Mallory states, as she looks around to see that even the outside is invisible, at least it should be. This is one of those mass-produced Thieves Guild spells that everyone with magic ability is taught. Seeing that the barrier has stopped all outside sounds, even the fast motorized movements of the support staff coming out to join us, Mallory continues.

“As for the third task, I need you to act as the Thieves Guild Leader.” Mallory states.

Golden Chains.

As she speaks, I feel thick threads shackle out from Mallory and all but suffocate me. Again this is part of my Disaster Foresight skill coming to life and showing me just how important this next request is going to be. The fact that this is the first true quest from Mallory the Leader of the empire where my Guild Hall resides to me, the acting Thieves Guild Leader also adds a level of importance to this request. While I could likely resist the others, this one I can tell will not be one that I can shrug off.

“Okay, what is your request?” I ask.

With that Mallory nods her head, as she seems to be thinking about something. Or at least she is seeing something in her Guild Screen interface that lets her know that she is about to make a big request.

“I need you to track all of the spies within our ranks,” Mallory states.

BINDING Golden Chains.

With that, I am given an unavoidable quest.

New Quest Confirmed: First World’s End Thieves Guild Request (Ongoing): Rooting Out The Traitors: You have been tasked by Mallory Valhalla, the democratically elected ruler of World’s End to actively remove foreign spies from your territory. Status: (?? / ??). Rewards: Experience, Variable.

Note: This quest cannot be refused as it is the first quest provided by the ruler of the area your guild hall operates in, and will be a sign of your prowess as a Thieves Guild Leader.

And like that, I realize that I have to do something that no other spymaster has ever been able to accomplish effectively before.

“Okay, thanks for that,” I say, but then I get an idea.

“Oh, do you have something?” Mallory asks.

“Yes, but I might need you to cover down on the Bloodline Course…” I admit.