44 Aether and C'sThalium

The same gigantic skeletons and liches were standing still around the small soul. The latter was inspecting the outcome of his intense session of swearing and complaints. Normally, Agnil would only have to give some pointers here and there to a talented living being, but this time, he had to deal with some brainless summons. While the undead where listening precisely to his instructions, he had to permanently change them every second, making it a nightmare for the decaying soul. Because they were lacking in good hammers and other instruments, he had to shape the hands of the giant skeletons just for this purpose, but only afterward did he realized that it was not perfect because there was a difference between holding a hammer and having his hand being a hammer. Provoking even more curses from the angry dwarf.

Even a soul could have sweat, Angil would have definitely created a small pond under him. But the result was still satisfying for the archaic methods he had to resort. Turning around to look at the incoming group, he ordered a lich to throw the sword that the undead was holding at Davion. The orodil had no problem catching it and contemplated the weapon in his grip. Dark veins were clearly visible on the blade and the iron structure of the latter was not as simple as it seemed. Turning around to look at Malakov, he inquired about that.

"Aether?" The Envoy of Leilade nodded at this word and without any prior notice, the blade suddenly burned of a dark flame. The sword, however, was completely intact and only the outer part was producing the fire. "Since I had some mana to spare, Ymir proposed that instead of just giving you normal weapons from our point of view, why not make them even better? In the last four days, I produce some grams of Aether and C'Thalium for both of you. And this because of master Agnil."

A lich nearby brought a small pound filled with pure gold coins. This world was mainly dealing with copper and silver coins, the better money being reserved for wealthy and powerful humans. At the same time, those terms were not really accurate, since only the outer part of the coin was forged with gold for example. Compared to the pure gold coin that Davion and Meridiana received, it would be at least 3 times the worth of a regular coin from this world.

"Who would have thought that a dwarf would have requested to produce gold before anything els…"

"HEY! I was the one doing all the work! You were just chatting with mister four arms over there and let me work for the past four days without any rest!" The fuming soul was arguing with the strong undead without any fear and at that sight, Ymir raised his eyes toward the heavens. While Malakov was the direct servant of Leilade, only her would be able to make the numerous souls from the Vault comply with ease.At the same time, a few times each day, the soul of the dwarf stopped in the middle of his sentences and then continued a few seconds later. The rate of decay was sustainable, but it provoked the worry of the Akûl, even when Malakov tried to reassure him.

"That's fine master Agnil, you have, as always, done an exceptional work. I can't wait to see what you made for me." The succubus approached the old soul and showed her most beautiful smile. Even if he was dead for a long time, the dwarf was still sensible to the charm of Meridiana and lowered a bit his voice. He kept murmuring a few things in his beard but that was it. Soon, the rest of the armors and weapons arrived and it didn't take very long for the two explorers to get ready.

The suit made for Meridiana was tightly tightening her entire body and let her entire body be displayed with a minimal place left for the imagination. The armor was made of an immense amount of iron scales linked between each other and able to expand and retract as she wished depending on her actual shape. To do this, however, Agnil had to rely on the C'Thalium, a crystal granting a small elasticity to the object desired. It reacted only with the Demonic Energy created by the succubus, meaning that no one else on this world would be able to use it against her. The armor covered her from her toes to her neck, leaving only the head defenseless.

To prevent this, Agnil proposed two things. The first was a proper helmet covering the gorgeous features of the succubus that will probably reduce the impact of the charms of Meridiana. Or the other was just … nothing. "WHAT?" The succubus lashed at the soul that was a little bit sorry for that. He only had a few days and Malakov already had a hard time creating those two types of crystals that were extremely potent in mana. Just a few grams of each prevented the creation of any additional undead for those four days. And while she was pleased by the armor, her head that was already the prime target of many monsters was without any protection. Regretful, she took the ugly iron helmet and didn't even look back at Agnil.

Davion, on the other hand, was extremely pleased by what he received. Unlike the succubus, he didn't need something as exquisite as the C'Thalium suit that was shaped as his body.What he got was a complete black armor leaving no empty gap and covering his blue skin. Trying to move a bit, he noticed that the joints were not stiffening his movements and was totally adapted to his immense size. Looking at the mirror that Malakov created for them, he saw only darkness in the small horizontal opening of his helmet.

"And in addition, you will have this thing Davion." Malakov extended an iron mask covered by the same dark veins that his sword had. The crystals of Aether were made specifically to improve the mana flow coming from the user to the object. Because the Orodil were incapable of using mana normally, this crystal was compensating that cruel drawback and allowing them to use one type of magic given to the Aether. Putting the mask on, Davion tried to infuse some mana in it. Suddenly, his original blue face turned into a normal looking human.

"That would have been perfect if I wasn't that tall." The mask would be able to fool most beings on this planet, but his size was making it impossible for him to be mistaken as a human. Even the trolls that he met only took Meridiana for one. The undead shook his head. "I can't do anything about that, let's just hope that a race of giants lives in this world." They had no knowledge about that, but the possibility for that was still high enough to be probable. But that was still probability in the end.

Concerning the weapons, the two travelers had no qualm with them. Two small daggers for Meridiana that would probably be never used and a shield to be used with the previous sword. All four were infused with Aether, with multiple properties. One dagger to create a direct beacon for the future telepathic connections and not waste any time, the other served only as a reserve in case Meridiana ran out of mana. As for the shield of Davion, he will be able to produce a dark mist around him. Only after the orodil questioned those choices did the Herald of Leilade realized that it was maybe not the best magic to apply.

"So, do you really planned to make me as suspicious as possible? An entire black armor, a sword, and a shield grey but filled with pulsating veins of a dark substance? If you wanted to make me look like a dark night, it is a success." After saying those words, the rest began to encircle Davion and examine him. And in accordance to his expectations, only Malakov didn't understand what he said. Even Agnil shook his head seeing the terrifying and brutal aura provoked by the combination of his works.

"We'll just … I will talk, you are mute. Otherwise, your calm voice will disturb the humans even more. It's not as cold as the voice of the Empress but still, there is a clear lack of emotion. Ok, fine, let's go." Meridiana tried to salvage a bit the visible issue, but if previously he was a giant, it was still relatively fine. A giant wearing some low-quality clothes and without any weapons could be allowed to enter the city of Archet, but now. They will search them cautiously and maybe even refused their entrance. Even the succubus was menacing with her helmet on so what to say about the monster next to her.

Warning the three residents of the base about not making the same mistake in the future, the succubus and the orodil left in the middle of the night. The same lich made another passage in the bubble of protection. Right after that, however, they noticed a heavy contingent of soldiers roaming around with their torches. They were exploring this area so the two waited a moment to see what will happen. The moment a soldier approached the zone where the spell was located, he stopped walking and turned around, without noticing his own actions. Because the spell was covering only the front of the base, it was not very massive and didn't provoke a lot of reactions. In the end, only two humans were affected but from the looks of it, they didn't even know that they were manipulated.

Since that was the case, the two began their travel toward Archet, the city inside the Republic of Avenio. This time, however, instead of avoiding the monsters in the tall mountains, they didn't deviate one time from the straight line they followed. But each time they encountered a creature, whether it was one of those big wolves, some elementals, a few scaly worms, and even a little drake, it always followed the same pattern. The monsters noticed them and ran away in fear. It was normal for them to have an instinct of conservation and not battle against stronger foes, but the drake was clearly scared by them and didn't waste any time before flying away.

Remembering the fact that the dark gods came here one thousand years ago, it looked like they were of the same level as Davion and Meridiana. And the primal fear that germinated in the minds of those monsters was transmitted across the generations until that day. The only ones that weren't affected were the numerous troll tribes. Each time they saw them, they warily told them to get out but they were only ready for a fight and not actively escaping. Profiting off the fact that they were always stunned by his proficiency at talking their languages, Davion always befriended them and gathered more information.

When they finally exited the mountains, they knew that their three passages were a disaster for the ecosystem. Numerous apex predators sought new hunting grounds because of their presence, provoking a massive exodus from the southern part of the peaks.Sometimes, the troll hunters saw packs of hundred wolves passing by them without even attacking. The formers weren't linking that special event with the arrival of Davion shortly after, but neither him or Meridiana were fools. The fact that those regions were not controlled at all by any civilized races was a relieving fact because otherwise, they would have been able to track them easily. The only one knowing about it was the trolls, and maybe those black and white humans. But apparently, it has been nearly two weeks since the last time they crossed the uncharted territory. Apparently, each month, at least one of those humans met the trolls and exchanged resources only found on those cold lands for food and weapons. Meaning that the possibility of a meeting was increasing after each day.