Guided by the two n guarding the hidden mansion, Ralph and his team learned of "Shacks," a bar and gambling den in the Flaheart Kingdom’s underbelly. Its dimly lit facade, nestled between crooked alleys, buzzed with raucous laughter and the clink of coins. To the Dawnless executives, it felt like ho.
At the counter, Donto flashed a wide grin. "Heard today’s al got sour."
The bartender, a grizzled man with rune-tattooed knuckles, calmly nodded and led them through a back door. An empty barrel concealed a hidden passage, its chanism eerily similar to the setup at Harper’s Hawks. As the barrel swung open, revealing a narrow tunnel lit by flickering mana orbs, the bartender bowed. "Welco to the Orion Assembly."
They erged into a chamber lined with cushioned seats and private compartnts, each veiled by shimring wards. Ralph sat, his executives flanking him, their cloaks blending into the shadows. A male voice sounded from behind a screened partition. "How can I help you today?"
"I want to know what’s happening in this kingdom," Ralph said, his voice low. "Why are there so many royals, and what are they looking for?"
Silence stretched, the air heavy. "Sir, that’s high-level information—"
Ching... ching...
Ralph tossed two pouches of gold across the partition before the voice could finish.
The speaker cleared his throat. "Alright. The Flaheart Kingdom is experinting on its citizens."
Boom. The words hit Ralph like a shockwave.
It suddenly clicked. Commoners bearing royal traits could only an one thing: deliberate breeding.
"And what are they after?" Ralph pressed. "Why spread their lineage?"
"They seek to rge their fla and ice powers," the voice replied. "They’ve scattered their bloodline to achieve it."
"Have they succeeded?" Ralph asked. It would be stupid to try sothing like this; such a reckless plan demanded a result.
"S-Sir, that’s—"
Ching... ching... ching... Three more pouches landed.
"Yes, sir. They’ve seen results, though temporary. But the potential was enough to keep them pushing."
"Earlier, you called it experints," Ralph said, leaning forward. "Mass breeding isn’t exactly an experint, is it?"
"Yes, several people are born with different traits, and those traits are taken to be used as experints," the voice admitted. "Which trait works best to combine, and how can they attain those traits?"
"Can you give us so locations of the experints?"
Ching... ching... ching... ching... ching. Five pouches followed.
"Yes, sir, docunts will be prepared and delivered as soon as possible," the voice said. "But in the anti, do you need anything else?"
"Has this kingdom also kidnapped outsiders for these... experints?" Ralph’s tone sharpened.
"Yes, sir."
Ralph fell silent, his jaw tight. Bang. He slamd a box of gold onto the table. "Tell everything."
The speaker hesitated, rattled by the wealth. "People were taken from Solaris, Vodal, even the Free Principalities."
Ralph’s face darkened. "Did they kill them?"
"No, sir. No subject had ever been killed. After a partial combination of powers, they’re released to see how normal life affects their mutations."
Relief flooded Ralph, his shoulders slumping. ’They’re alive.’ That was enough. He exhaled, the weight lifting of his shoulders. The executives also exchanged glances and nodded in relief.
"Thank you," Ralph said, standing.
Bang. Another box of gold hit the table.
He collected the docunts and left, the voice calling after him, "Be careful, sir. Visit us again."
....
They returned to the hidden mansion, its vine-covered spires looming under the violet moon. The team gathered in a cavernous hall, its air thick with the scent of old wood and mana.
It was now ti to spread out.
"This is our rendezvous point," Ralph said, addressing the group. "If you hit trouble, return here. Rector!"
"Sir!" A bald, middle-aged man stepped forward, his aura steady despite his unassuming fra.
After tethering the blood of dragons to them, what remained on them was assimilation. How much and how fast one could assimilate the dragon’s power determined what they could do.
Maybe it was due to their ranks, but these executives had been able to assimilate 60%, and the fourth person in Dawnless who reached 60% assimilation was Rector. It wasn’t just that, he turned out to be quite intelligent.
"Take command here," Ralph ordered. "Thanks to Wick, long-distance communication is possible, but the devices are limited, so keep ssages concise. We’re searching these locations." He unfurled the Orion docunts, marking experint sites.
"Carry the trackers. Anyone who gets a signal report, I’m not sure I still have to explain that your reward won’t stop until you die." He smiled at the excited faces of the n who were working hard. "Move out." He grinned, sparking eager nods from the n.
The docunts listed hundreds of sites, many in the mountains. Wick had crafted a hundred trackers, each pulsing with draconic mana. Excluding the sword units and Mistars, three hundred fifty Dawnless mbers split into teams of three, each assigned a tracker. They dispersed into the night, cloaks blending with the shadows.
Ralph, Wick, and two Dawnless mbers headed to their first target, a modest mountain, barely taller than a house. Wick’s mana easily sensed a hidden entrance. With a gesture, he activated a rune, and the rockface parted, revealing a dark tunnel. They stepped inside, the air chilling, heavy with a sterile tang.
The tunnel opened into a laboratory, its walls lined with twenty glass tubes—ten on each side. Figures floated inside, suspended in viscous liquid, connected to wires and rune-etched panels. The room was pristine, its surfaces gleaming under cold mana orbs, yet eerily empty.
No guards, no scientists, only the hum of machinery.
"They were right," Ralph murmured, nodding at the Orion’s intel. But the absence of personnel gnawed at him. There was no one present in the room. There wasn’t even a sign of anyone being here previously.
"Sir, are they alive?" a Dawnless mber asked, his voice hushed as he peered at a tube.
"I’m not sure." Ralph pressed his palm against a glass surface, its chill biting his skin.
Thud.
The figure inside twitched, its hollow eyes flickering open, forcing Ralph to back away.
Wick raised a hand, runes flaring to shatter the tube.
"Wait," Ralph stopped Wick. If they were alive, he needed answers.
Crack... shatter... shatter.
The tubes fractured in unison, liquid spilling across the floor in a viscous flood. The figures slumped free.
Splat... splat... splat... In rapid succession, fourteen of the twenty dissolved into blood and pulp, their bodies collapsing like failed alchemy.
"The hell..." Ralph staggered back, horror gripping him.
The remaining six rose, their deford bodies lurching upright. Bulges distorted their heads, backs, and arms, their skin stretched taut. Their eyes—one blue, one red—flashed, but a Dawnless mber whispered, "Is it just , or do they flash purple sotis?"
Ralph squinted. ’Did they succeed?’ He thought deeply as they studied the figures staring at them.
As the figures stepped forward, their bodies began swelling grotesquely.
"Shit, run!" Ralph shouted.
The group bolted, the tunnel trembling behind them.
BOOOM!
The figures exploded, consuming the laboratory in a roar of fla and ice.
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