It didn’t take long for Dame and his group to reach the city of Repton. Unlike many other places, there was quite a vibrant nightlife here. The night sky was out, but the street was littered with glowing yellow lights and red lanterns.
The buildings were grand, made of new materials, and next to none of them seemed like they needed any repair work done to them. At the same time, there were elegant places spread throughout large sections of the city, as well as giant pagodas placed in all sorts of different areas.
Even the streets were filled with the lively, the cheerful, and the drunk. Inside one of the buildings, there was a three-story restaurant. It was filled with customers even at this time of night, most of them drunk after drinking all night.
However, there were several of those that had been hired from a nearby clan to do cleanup work if there were any rowdy customers. On the second floor, a meeting was taking place. 𝒩𝒪𝐕𝔩xt.𝗰𝒐𝓂
A large low rectangular table was placed between the two, with cushions on the ground. On one side sat Dame, although he didn’t look like his usual self as he was wearing a bright multicolored fox mask on his face. It was made of plastic, something that anyone was able to pick up and buy. He was on his own while his men remained on the bottom floor.
On the other side was a woman with darkened skin and a hint of red pigmentation. It was unusual for a person to have, but it was eye-catching as well. The strange dark-red glow would make people’s heads turn, that was until they noticed who it was, making them turn away immediately.
This wasn’t because she wasn’t a pleasant sight to look at; it was quite the opposite. Her tight-fitting leather clothing seemed to accentuate the curves of her body, and similar to her red-pigmented skin, there was a slight pigment of red in her eyes around the edge, making them look as if they were almost glowing.
This was Alba, the leader of the Crimson Cranes.
“I can only think of one reason why you would come out of your way to look for me,” Alba smiled, placing both hands on the table. “You decided to finally accept my offer of joining us.”
Immediately, Dame started to shake his head.
“You know I could never do that. Look, I even have to wear this mask when I enter this city. There’s no chance I would be able to be with you as much as I want to.”
Alba folded her arms and gave out a big snort, turning her head to the side. She wasn’t interested in anything else he had to say after that answer.
“I promise, though, this is not a waste of your time.” Out from his robe, Dame pulled out the bottle and placed it on the table, then slid it across until it had finally reached her.
“What you have right there is a liquid that will allow you to regain all of your Qi, no matter what condition you are in, for an entire minute!” Dame said confidently, even though he knew full well there was a chance that it wouldn’t work.
“Ha, I didn’t realize that you had now become a con artist! Or maybe you are the one that’s being conned and trying to use me.”
“I would never!” Dame quickly shouted back, as if he was offended, even though she had hit the nail on the head.
“Do you even realize how great of a thing this is if what you said is true? I am a warrior at the Middle stage. Maybe something like this can work on those at the initial stage, but it won’t work on me.”
“And what if it does!” Dame excitedly said. “You said I don’t know its value, but I do, which is why I handed it to you. There are many fights that take place where one is extremely exhausted, just one slip and the other will lose in battle, but if they were to take this, then they would have all of their Qi back again! This will be something that every person in Pagna will be fighting for, and you will be the first person to have one.”
Alba picked it up and shook it, looking at it for a little while. She believed that Dame had no reason to poison her, but why was he so confident?
“Who gave you this, or who made it?” she asked.
“I can’t give you the full details, but it’s a man that goes by the name Dark Magus.”
Alba nearly burst out laughing. What type of warrior gave themselves a name like that? Perhaps Dark was a hint, stating that they were from the Dark faction.
“Alright, let’s go see if this thing works. If it does, you can always get more, right?” Alba smiled.
The two of them had left the main city and started to travel through the large landmass. They had eventually reached a mountainous area and stood at the foot of the mountain. Alba started to gather up all her strength; the Qi was visible on her body. It was lighting all over like a flame trying to burn out. It grew larger and larger in size and was burning fiercely above her head.
“It never stops to amaze me, just how much Qi you have,” Dame said.
Eventually, the flames started to die down; she didn’t want to completely exhaust herself because she had extreme doubts about this thing.
“Alright, so all I have to do is drink it?” She asked.
“Yeah, of course,” Dame answered.
She opened the bottle and started to chug it down.
“I think anyway, he didn’t really explain everything. I mean it’s liquid, right? What else are you meant to do, rub it on your body?”
Alba had already drunk all the contents of the bottle, but she was so annoyed at Dame that she crushed it with her hand.
“You idiot!” She shouted, and turned to look at him. After taking one step, though, she stopped and started to look at both of her hands.
“What is this… I can feel it, I really can, my dantian, it’s filled with Qi again. Just as much as I had before we got here!” Just in case, Alba started to burn the Qi like she had done previously and was able to produce the same level of Qi from her body.
‘If our clan had these, we would be able to complete the portal we’ve been struggling with for so long!’
Running over, Alba placed her hands on Dame’s shoulders, with a giant smile on her face.
“I see you liked the product, huh? I guess you would like me to get more for you?” Dame asked.
“No,” Alba replied. “This Dark Magus person, I want to meet him. I have to have him in our Clan.”