Chapter 364 - Quest For A Soul Gem

A year passed in the blink of an eye, Mercury had spent his time working on a body for Qutil, the dragon spirit, to do that he had recreated a piece of cutting edge technology from his past life, a Hygieia cradle, the cradle named after the Greek goddess of health and was basically a tissue nano printer on steroids, Mercury even slapped the top of the completed Hygieia cradle once and spoke

"This bad boy can print so many new bodies"

And printed bodies it did, though that's when the two equally mad scientists hit a roadblock, as the first body was completed the dragon spirit tried to possess it before it violently exploded, the same happened with the 2nd and 3rd attempt, Mercury and Qutil was in a heated debate over why this was happening over the next few days until they finally settled on a plausible problem, that was that the dragon spirit's mind schematic was simply too dense to be successfully loaded into the body, that is as Mercury compared it, to try and fit a watermelon into a golfball, eventually they had to put the problem on the backburner as Mercury had a class to teach, or so he claimed anyway before he fell asleep behind the desk that was placed in the laboratory, Qutil floated around him a few times as she thought

'This guy claims he has a class to teach and then he falls asleep on the desk preparing for it… he's almost a little cute…'

Then she floated down right next to his ear before something flashed in her eyes, then after considering her options for a bit she eventually decided

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA---]

Mercury jumped awake before he yelled at the dragon spirit

"WOULD YOU STOP YELLING ALL THE TIME!?"

[AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!]

Mercury sighed before he asked

"What time is it?"

[Donno~]

"Really now…"

Mercury got up and wiped his droll before he looked around, then he muttered

"I'm late…"

Then he stood up and vanished from view, a few moments later he reappeared above ground, then he disappeared from view again and reappeared in on the academy grounds, from there he strolled into a building before he finally walked into a classroom where he was supposed to teach… Aporxmently 10 minutes later the dragon spirit came flying into the classroom and circled around Mercury a few times before she began speaking

[I remembered! It's the soul gem, that's the missing link!]

Mercury paused Then he looked over at Qutil and saw she appeared to be serious, then he turned to the students and spoke

"Class dismissed"

Then he turned and asked Qutil

"Soul gem?"

[It's more of a crystal but that's what it's called… It's like a memory drive, but for souls and probably also spirits]

"I see… the Hygieia cradle could synthesize this 'soul gem' if I had a sample… And possibly bind it to the tissue… If not we just need to make a new type of tissue that fits it"

[Exactly… And I know where there's a soul gem]

"...Are you sure?"

[Yes, the lock on my lab is impenetrable]

"Alright, can you prepare an instant gate there?"

[No can do… The entire island is covered in a time-space lock… But it shouldn't be so far from this continent…]

"Got it… Hmm… We should inform the others…"

[Or we could just go the two of us? AHAHAHAHAHA!!!]

"Yeah you would like that, wouldn't you?"

[AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!]

Mercury sighed before he walked out of the classroom, the dragon spirit followed after him while letting out maniacal laughter as it twirled through the air…

"You want to do what now?"

"Travel to an abandoned island in the middle of the sea that's covered by a time-space lock and several powerful formations that have made the surrounding area uninhabitable for millennia"

Julia showed a frown while Marie asked the important question

"...And why do you need to do that again, Mercury?"

Mercury kept a blank expression

"In order to retrieve a soul gem so I can synthesize it for research purposes… That and make a body for Qutil, you know one that won't violently explode"

"I see…"

"I'm going… Too…"

Mercury nodded and patted Asma on the top of the head as she usually liked, she showed a blissful expression, this swayed Marie somewhat too as she looked conflicted for a bit before she spoke

"Then I am going too"

Julia sighed before she gave in

"Fine… But only if you take me with you too"

Mercury showed a smile and spoke

"Great, who else are we bringing?"

Julia thought for a bit before she spoke two names

"Naila and Jey"

Mercury was confused for a moment before he remembered

"Oh right, Ben's wife is due to give birth in a few months… Great then let's find a date to set off"

[I wanna go at once!]

"Shh little one, the adults are talking"

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA---]

"Here we go again…"

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Your face Merucry, do that face again!]

Mercury sighed, meanwhile Julia showed a slight smile as she looked at the two of them

"You two are almost like brother and sister"

"What part of me is related to that thing!?"

[That's right, I can't be related to Mercury, he's too stupid!]

Julia sighed before she showed a teasing smile and commented

"That's exactly what a real sibling pair would say~"

The dragon spirit began twirling around before suddenly it let out another scream as it raced out of the room

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA---]

Mercury sighed, then he looked over at Julia and spoke

"Be careful of teasing her too much, she is after all our guide on this adventure"

"Noted~"

"So… What kind of ship are we riding?"

Julia thought for a bit before she suggested

"We could take one of my trade ships, They're built light and for long-range"

Mercury nodded, a trade ship made sense, and given that Julia had about 30 to her name as she was the princess of an island nation with millions of cel in her possession she could afford to have a ship running wild on adventures

"Alright, let's do that then… I'll go find Qutil and inquire about the finer details if you girls begin to prep a ship? Then we'll meet with the captain tomorrow and disgus the journey and leave the day after that?"

Julia nodded as she showed a smile

"I'll go talk with Amanda right away in that case, Let's go girls!"

Mercury watched the three of them leave before he closed his eyes and listened for a bit then he disappeared from  view and reappeared in front of the dragon spirit that still was screaming

[---AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OH HEY MERCURY!]

Mercury sighed again before he showed a smile and yelled

"WHY ARE WE ALWAYS YELLING?"

[BEACUASE IT'S FUN!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!]

"WELL, THAT MAKES SENSE!"

[AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Your face Mercury it's so funny!]

"Well, you made it that way… Anyway, let's go look at some maps and find the location of your super-secret lab"

[Yes! Let's!]

While Mercury and the dragon spirit Qutil was looking at maps Julia, Marie and Asma arrived at a trading company at one of the busiest streets of the capital, the name of the merchant company was of course Julia, and Julia herself had handled it as her coming of age test and turned it into a thriving success, this was one of the bargaining tips she had used when she had left on a journey where she eventually met Mercury, Julia strolled in, at once the clicks all bowed down and spoke in unison

"Welcome, owner"

Julia waved at them and walked up the stairs to the second floor with Marie and Asma following after her, soon they arrived at an office where Julia opened the door while speaking

"I am coming in Amanda~"

Julia stalled in like she owned the place, still the fact that she quite literally owned the entire place didn't make it any less of a rude thing to do, Marie and Asma was long used to Julia's lack of tact and followed after her, inside was an office with shelves covering all the walls, these shelves were filled with documents, books and charts with various routes plotted, most of the routes on the maps had been drawn by Julia while the other half had been drawn by the woman sitting illuminated by the light from the ceiling lamps and the lamp that stood on the table that was covered in documents, with 2 horns, blood-red eyes, and ash-colored skin the demon sitting behind the desk was surprised by Julia's intrusion, in fact, she didn't even look up from her documents as she spoke

"Hello Julia, to what do I owe this visit?"

Julia pouted a bit before she complained

"Muu… Where has the young, pure, cute Amanda that used to cling to me when we were kids gone?"

Amanda blushed slightly before she raised her face and hurriedly spoke, or rather stammered, her face in a full blush

"T-T-T-That's ancient history!"

Julia showed a cat-like smile as she contemplated laying it on thick