"You look cute," Michael said, squatting down to brush Gaya's head. She was in her miniature snake form. Her scales were glimmering in violet, two round eyes with vertical slit pupils stared at Michael. In Michael's eyes, she resembled a king cobra of earth, only she was violet and one and a half meters long.
"I'm not cute" she hissed but Michael surprised her with a kiss on her snakehead.
"For me, you are" Michael already put the letter in his interlinked space ring so she could access the letter when she reached Jacob's room. Then, he took out a colorless liquid and poured the liquid all over her body.
"You're wet" He blinked at her, letting out a playful smile.
"And you are a pervert" she hissed again before leaving the room towards Jacob's.
A few minutes after Gaya left the room, Nightmare flew through the opened window to Michael's shoulder.
"I checked the surroundings, no intruders in the vicinity"
"It's better to be safe than sorry"
Michael patted Nightmare on the head. He then just sat on his bed waiting for Gaya to finally put his plan in motion. While sitting on his bed, he could see the shadows flicker outside the room through the gap under the door. It was obvious either one of the three ladies was waiting for him outside his room.
Ignoring the person outside his room, he began to control the spiders to move to every room in the manor. From today onwards, if anything happens in Noah's home, Michael would know it sooner than Noah himself. He did not have a clear idea about what he could learn from bugging Noah's home but he hoped that he would get some valuable information on Guardians.
After a few minutes of waiting, the violet snake slowly advanced into the room through the opened windows before transforming into her human form.
She then looked at him, giving him a thumbs up with a wide grin on her face.
"Everything's in place but before we go out, we need to decide what should we ask in return for what we did to them"
"What do you have in mind?" Michael asked as Nightmare stared at her curiously.
He could tell her by looking at her face that she already has something in her mind.
"License to open businesses in Pen Town with no taxes. Free permits from the Winstons"
Although Michael had no plans to open any business in Pen Town, he knew getting these free permits would greatly help him in the future. Until now, he had no need for permits as River town is said to have belonged to the Sunrise sect. Therefore, he didn't pay any taxes to Baron Totonk except a small percentage of the profits to the sect.
The only source of income for the Sunrise sect was this small percentage they got from the Majestic. However, this would soon change when they merge with the Broad River sect.
"Don't ask them before they ask what we need," Michael said.
"Alright"
Gaya knew they would try to repay Michael's kindness somehow and when they try, she would ask for free permits.
"Let's go"
With a plan to end both Giles and Jacob's lives, Michael walked towards the door.
"Sweetie"
The moment Michael opened the door, he saw Diana waiting for him with Amelda and Natalia.
The three ladies leaned towards him. expecting his answer.
"I have found a way to save Andrew but we need to act quickly"
"Thank the gods" Diana and Amelda heaved a sigh of relief as Natalia shed tears of joy.
"Lead the way" Michael gestured at Diana with a smile as she frantically nodded before walking towards Andrews's room. On his way to Andrew's room, he saw a large group of guards gathered at the hall on the first floor.
Sabrina was standing in front of them and seemed to coordinate with the guards.
When Michael opened Andrews' room, Samuel was covering Andrews with a thick wool bed sheet to prevent the cold from seeping into his body.
Sitting on the bed beside Andrews, healer Adele was applying an ointment on Andrews's forehead. The pungent smell of the ointment overwhelmed Gaya's sensors in her nose to make her frown. Yet, she controlled herself from complaining about the smell.
"Young Master, have you..." The old butler's voice trailed but when he saw Michael nod his head, Sameul's face brightened up.
"I'm going to use an ancient method here so I'd appreciate it if you all kept this as a secret" Except for Healer Adele who creased her brown bushy brows, everyone in the room nodded in agreement.
He noticed Healer Adele's expression but didn't give a shit because he just said that to make what he was about to do more dramatic.
"Don't panic, I need to take some blood from his body"
Natalia nodded as he said, staring directly at her.
"Aelia, dagger" Gaya retrieved the silver dagger from inside her winter coat and handed it over to him.
Michael then made a small cut in Andrew's right palm before placing an empty vial to collect the blood. They saw him add a few other herbs into the vial with the blood and conjure the green alchemy flames.
The blood and the herbs he added started to change color under the heat provided by the flames. Soon, the blood-red transformed into a pale golden color.
"When thrown into the air, this potion will lead us to the nearest source that contains the poison in his body. If I can get my hands on the poison's purest form, I can use it to brew the antidote, and then, the phoenix potion will cure him of the star pox as it should"
As they were staring at his potion, he waved the vial as the potion inside splashed into the air. However, the gravity couldn't get the potion to hit the ground but the pale golden liquid floated in the air before slowly forming a trail from the room towards outside.
The trail soon began to sparkle in the air like millions of tiny fireflies leading them towards something. They were all stunned by the sight, even Healer Adele's mouth slightly opened in surprise. She had never heard of such a method nor a potion but she knew the world is full of mysteries and new things. Therefore, she stood up from the bed, following the light trail behind Michael and the ladies.
"Hmm, the trail is glowing brighter than I expected," Michael said, rubbing his chin.
"What does it mean?" Amelda asked.
"It means the source is closer" they followed the light trail through the corridors to the front lawn. The guards who saw the sudden change in the air were tensed up, but Diana waved her hands nonchalantly, gesturing to calm down. Soon afterward, Sabrina joined the group to follow the light trail as she asked about the light trail from Adele.
Jacob's room was located on the far end of the first floor. To reach his room, one had to go through the hall passing several rooms. All of them expected the light trail to go through the door leading them outside but surprisingly, the light trail took a turn going towards the elders' rooms.
"What's happening?" Amelda asked in surprise. Though the others didn't utter a word, Gaya could see the shock in their faces. Fortunately, when Gaya went to Jacob's room in her snake form, there weren't many guards inside the house to notice a snake. She also had to thank the man or the woman who decorated the house with countless tables, flower vases, and sofas that provided her with the much-needed cover to finish her task without getting detected.
"Why is the light trail going into Jacob's room?" Everyone was thinking about it but it was Sabrina who spoke her mind.
This was a question that only Michael, Gaya, and Nightmare knew the answer for because Michael planned it in the first place.
"Weird" Michael pretended to be surprised.
"If my guess is correct, the poison's source is close"
"Look at the brightness of the light trail, I guess the source is inside the house" Gaya folded her arms against her chest confidently.
Diana and Amelda's faces lost their colors. They were bewildered about the light trail.
Michael followed the light trail until he reached Jacob's door. Standing in front of the door, Michael could sense the fluctuations of Arch energy in the surroundings, indicating Jacob has been cultivating.
"Lady Diana," Michael said, taking a step back from the door.
"Jacob" Diana knocked on the door, calling his name.
"Jacob, open the door"
"Coming" after a few more knocks on the door, they heard Jacob's annoyed voice.
When Jacob opened the door, his annoyed expression quickly turned into a somewhat surprised expression. Jacob took a brief moment to stare at everyone standing outside his door and noticed the light trail leading up to the middle of his room.
"Aunty, what's going on here?" Jacob frowned.
"Ghost" Diana called out to Michael. She had no idea how the poison in Andrew's body could be found in Jacob's room.
"It's here Lady Diana. Unless you have another way of saving Andrews, we can't turn back without searching this room"
"What?! Search my room?!" Jacob was already annoyed at Ghost for hindering his plans and when he heard that he wanted to search the room, Jacob snapped.
However, Jacob could only raise his voice while making a fist because Jacob knew as a Body Strengthening level 3 warrior, he had no chance of winning against a Core Formation warrior like Ghost. Since Ghost had already saved Sabrina and Diana, Jacob knew that the Winstons would definitely protect him even if his father wanted to take any action against Ghost.
"Step aside Jacob" Sabrina pushed Jacob away before entering the room.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Ghost," Sabrina said.