Chapter 111: Research

The Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Nemphis. Some said that it was the grandest establishment on Ervilia, even exceeding the Imperial Citadel and the Church of Ervil of the Empire.

When it came to exterior, the Church of Ervil was supreme. Nothing could beat the Imperial Citadel, the resident of the ruling family of the Empire, in size. According to hearsay, one could fit a whole city into that behemoth of a building.

These two had been the 'Two wonders' of Ervilia. And both of them belonged to the Empire. But somewhere around a decade ago, one more joined the wonders- making it 'three'. It was none other than the Royal Palace of Nemphis. Its specialty- its magical interior.

Its interior always had been the best in all of Ervilia. After all, the Royal Family bore the best Wood circlers in the continent. Furthermore, their research in the fields of wood magic circle had always been top class. Hence, the Palace was akin to a green house without glass. But it was not enough to go against the mystical exterior of the Church or the overwhelming size of the Citadel. Something else was needed.

Finally, one person came along with that 'something else'. And that 'something else' was light magic. Light magic was one of the rarer and more powerful attributes along with Darkness. The research in that field was difficult to the point of impossibility. But the Kingdom gave birth to a genius. She changed the entire face of the Palace with her amazing light magic circles. Furthermore, light magic went perfectly well with wood magic.

The reflection and refraction circles that have every rooms a sun of their own, the circles at the Etherwood court that emitted light akin to natural sunlight or the one at the hall which produced light with every footsteps- every one of these were her own designs.

Afternoon.

There were clouds, but no signs of rain or a thunderstorm. But it was windy outside, and inside. Winds swayed through the clean corridors of the Royal palace. Special wind magic circles that vacuumed in the dust, keeping the palace as clean at it was.

Adrian's black coat fluttered as he walked through the corridor and reached a door.

*Knock. Knock*

"Come in." A charming but strong voice came from inside.

Adrian pushed it open. A beautiful room clad in gold appeared. Everything- be it the walls, the furnitures, the chandeliers, or even the bedsheet gave off a golden hue. 

There was a desk tinted with gold beside the gold-sheeted bed. At the desk was sitting a bewitchingly beautiful woman. Her blue eyes were fixed on the contents on the table, not bothering to even give the newcomer a look. Her fingers were fidgeting with a pen.

A few meters away from the desk, stood a middle aged but beautiful maid. Adrian gave her a look.

The maid nodded and left the room, leaving the pair behind in the room. Adrian did not stand on ceremony and sat opposite her at the desk.

The previous Queen, or the now Queen Mother still did not give him a look, neither did she say a word.

Adrian looked at her eyes and followed it to the paper lying on the table. There was a magic circle sketched on it- a prototype.

"Ooh." He took the initiative. "A spell to blind the invaders I see."

The woman finally moved her eyes away from the paper and turned to the handsome youth sitting before her.

"You know light magic?"

He shook his head. "Those who know darkness can easily understand the light."

"They are antithetical after all. But they complete each other," said the Queen Mother.

"I beg to differ." Adrian shook his head. "Darkness is the origin. It is completion itself. Light is nothing but impurity."

"Well, we all have our own opinions." She looked back to the paper.

"Many say that darkness is evil, light is good. This superstition lies everywhere, except Nemphis and Darkshore of course. But little do anyone take into consideration that light…" A smile formed on his face, "Just like jealousy, can blind people."

The fidgeting pen in her hand suddenly stopped still. She looked at him again, but this time with a scowl. "What about darkness then? It clouds ones mind, taking them to forbidden places."

"Are you referring to 'her'… or 'him'?" He smirked.

"Hmph!" She snorted and looked back at the prototype with her eyes still knitted.

"But you are right, darkness can definitely lead people astray." His already charming voice turned even more charming as he arched forward, taking his face a little closer to hers. "It might make a person look for treasure somewhere far away when the treasure's right beside him."

She lowered her face even more, pretending as if she were looking for something there. But she could not hide the momentary reddening of her face from Adrian.

Adrian inwardly smiled. 'Complimenting a woman, a tactic that will not lose its effectiveness until the end of time.'

'Step one- complete. Time for step two."

He arched even more forward and faced down, looking attentively at the prototype. "What's troubling you?"

"Ahem…" She cleared her throat, her face was still down. "I am not sure of what to do. Should I just keep the blinding effect, or should I add some damaging perks? But that would negatively affect the blinding effect of the spell."

"Why not go with both, while not losing anything anywhere."

She looked at him and frowned. "You seemed to be quite knowledgeable. You should know that it's not that easy. To gain something, you have to lose something- that's the first law of creating magic circles."

"Use light for the blinding and fire for damaging."

"That's just using two spells, two circles- a waste of space."

"What if you create a dual attribute circle?"

"That's just a myth. Many have tried superimposing before, but they failed every time."

"Who said superimposing is the way to create a dual attribute circle?" He smiled.

"It's not?" She knitted her brows.

"Nope. I have found a way. I named it 'Hybridisation'."

"How did it go?" Her eyes became serious, even more so than before.

"It was successful." He said in his narcissistic tone.

She gasped. "What did you do?!" She arched forward.

"Wind and Dark- Netherwind."

She began to ponder. "Anything else?"

"I did not have any partner to research with." He sighed. "If only-"

"I would love to!" She almost jumped on the desk.

Adrian gave her a look. 

"Ahem…" She blushed, but composed herself soon enough. "Now that I have been relieved of my Royal duties, I happen to have enough free time."

Adrian smiled. 'Success.'