After that, he took the book about blood alchemy. The first few pages were about the basics of alchemy which he was already taught by his mother in this life. The most highlighted one was blood replenishment pills and methods to refine blood of others. He had a quick look and decided to practice them as soon as possible too.
Then, came the more sinister ones. They involved processes which would injure and torture living being to extract their essences most efficiently. Even before, he could read about the products, the basic processes made him feel a bit nauseated. After a long time in both his lives, he began to feel a bit disgusted and queasy about hurting others.
"Of course, in a world with mana, the methods would be much more brutal," thought Ajax as he shuddered in disgust. It was in that moment, he let his guard down and the same time when he saw the shadows move. Before he could get a word out in alarm, he felt pressure descend on him and a hand closing mouth preventing him from yelling.
He felts his arms and legs being bound quickly before he was able to notice that there was more than one person and they wore the guards uniform. They were able to silently capture him and after then they went for Timothy too. One of them quickly bound Timothy who fast asleep.
"Shit, I put Tim also in danger," thought Ajax. "Why are these idiots taking him too. It will be unnecessary baggage. That uncle of mine only wants me."
He tried to tell the same but only muffled groans came out.
"Finally, we are done with these offerings. With these two, we can get out of this fort," said one of them. It was only then realization hit Ajax.
"These guys aren't after the bounty," thought Ajax as a fist quickly struck him on the temple of his head knocking him out.
In his room when he was hit in the temple, he felt really dizzy due to it, but didn't actually lose consciousness. He faked it but kept listening in order to fool his captors. He can only make his move when they aren't focused on him and escape. So, he didn't move his body and occasionally squinted to check where they are going.
His captors slung both him and Timothy over their shoulders and made their way out. They didn't tie him or Timothy as they could easily over power them. They were not clearly using mana outside their bodies and thus were in mana refining stage.
Ajax had formed a mana core before the coup. So, he could easily tell that they weren't in first level of mana refining like he was. There were three basic levels of mana refining stage cultivators. They were called Knights, Barons and Dukes who had mana in the form of gas, liquid and crystalline states in their cores respectively.
Ajax immediately realized that there were at least above Knight. Being a prince, he had some of the best teachers and techniques. So, he had very good control over mana for someone when he was a Knight level cultivator. Seeing the speed and quality of their mana, he was sure that there above knights. To escape, he was need to find a chance when they were distracted and ambush them to kill, else he was bound to be caught again or even killed.
So, he waited. His two captors took him and Timothy to a building and then into a secret tunnel. The tunnel looked freshly dug. It was clear that it wasn't meant for permanent use as its walls weren't reinforced. The floor was filled with sand making him doubt if humans did it as anyone with a decent control over earth attributed mana, even a knight level one would do much better. This made him only worry more.
In a couple of minutes, they were out. Luckily, they were still in the city though out of the inner area of the fort city. They quietly took him to an all at the very edge of the city. The building on either side were old and needed renovations. They went into one of such buildings. It was an old house whose prior inhabitants clearly didn't care about it any longer.
"Today, we can finally leave. We are really lucky to have two new ones. One rumored to have bloodline. With these offerings we are good. Else god knows, when we would have had a chance," said the one holding Timothy as he placed him down on the floor. He started to check the other rooms.
"Offering? Damn, these are pawns of the beasts," thought Ajax as he confirmed that they were trying to use him and Timothy to buy some sort of escape out of the fort city.
"I hope they come in quick. It would have been best if they were here already," said the one holding Ajax as he looked around.
"You know, they need to lay down some false trails. Else, it would only be harder for us to escape. You did hear about the recent bust, right?"
"Of course. That is why, I wanted to get out. It is much dangerous for sleeper agents like us to be in the fort. Due to the prince's bounties, few foolish idiots have tried to capture some young ones and now they are cracking down hard on everything. Many have been captured. I am surprised that we are still unknown to them."
"That is true," said the other coming back. He had also removed the cloth mask covering his head. He was clearly someone past his prime with half his hair gone white with fair skin slightly wrinkled and small brown eyes.
Noticing that the man's head wasn't covered anymore, Ajax tried to open his eyes a little more to see him a bit better. "Everything is clear. You can put that one down. Wait is he awake?"
Before Ajax could even more or do anything he suddenly felt pain on his head as he lost his consciousness.
"Was he really awake?" asked the one holding Ajax as he uncovered his head. He was much younger like in his late twenties with dark skin, thick black hair and beard on a square face having brown eyes.
"Yes, you fool! How did you even become one of the shadow guards of the young lord?"
Suddenly, a clacking sound was heard. A huge brown spider with black legs about 4 feet wide and 3 feet tall came in from the door. As they saw it, the both of them took a step back and kneeled down on one leg bowing to it. The other one also removed the covering over his head to bow. This one was a middle-aged man who seem
The spider moved towards Ajax and placed a foot on him to observe and immediately started to make clacking noises. It spat a couple of webs at his hands and then it hung Ajax by his feet from the roof of the floor with webs and then left.
"What happened? Why is it leaving? Why isn't it taking us? What did it say?" said one who carried Ajax.
"You should really learn the language. How did you even join us?"
"It was too fast. I didn't get it. Why didn't it take the boys?" asked the younger one almost about grab the older one's collar.
"Relax boy, it is a good thing. It actually praised us. Apparently, these two are exactly what was required for the young lord. To escape, the security measures of the city, it is better if the young lord breaks through the next stage and these two supplements are apparently at the perfect time. This one especially," said the older man pointing to Ajax.
"Does he really have a good bloodline?" asked the other looking at Ajax.
"Probably, the spider did say that it was much physically stronger than a normal human and apparently also has a crippled core, which is only better for the young lord. It was clearly enough that it didn't even bother with the second one, but will be probably used to stabilize the lord after breakthrough. It is good that we brought the both of them."
"Really! So, it really was a good thing," said the other as he finally relaxed.
"Wait, much physically stronger, a crippled core? At such a young age? Did we really capture the escaped prince?" continued the younger captor.
"Who knows?"
"Who knows! We will ask him after he wakes up. The bounty after the prince is enough for us to become nobility ourselves."
"You fool!", admonished the older man. "The boy is to be eaten even if he is the prince. The bounty is probably a trap and we are way past the chance of getting back into human realm. Sooner or later, the captured ones will reveal our identities. We can only be among the beasts now. Just be quiet and wait for the young lord."
"Fine," said the other as he leaned against the wall. He was slightly dissatisfied but he understood that what his partner said was right and he had no other choice.
When Ajax woke up again, he found himself upside down hanging off the half-broken roof by his feet by some sort of dark sticky web. Even his hands were tied behind his back with the same. He didn't care about making his captors think that he was unconscious, he quickly opened his eyes and began to swivel to have a look around the room. He could see he was alone, but he could hear his two captors arguing.
"It has been more than two hours. Why aren't they here, yet? We should have left with that spider when it tied up the boy to the ceiling."
"I already told you. It wanted us to wait. It isn't only us who are having a hard time getting out. Even the young lord is currently stuck in the fort, hardly able to eat much. I didn't really expect them to allow us to escape."
"There seems to be some delay in their plans as I am still here. They also seem to be a bit frightened," thought Ajax as look around and heard them talking.
"That is true, who knew that one of them was someone is probably the prince. We really should have used some mercenaries. You did say you knew a few greedy idiots. We should have used them."
"If we knew he was the prince, we would have, but now it is a waste," said the old man. "Still, based on his attribute, we both thought that he couldn't be the prince, didn't we?"
"So, you know my identity, now?" asked Ajax loudly interrupting. "It isn't not much late now. You can still collect on the bounty."
"Cunning little fellow, aren't you?" said the old man. "As soon as I doubted if you are the prince based on your attribute, you insinuate you are the prince. That makes be believe more that you aren't that prince. The prince wouldn't agree to that so easily. Else, he wouldn't have escaped for so long."
"You sure that he isn't the prince, then?" asked the other traitor.
"Well, if he is the prince, he wouldn't open say that now, would he?" asked the old one.
"Unless, of course, if he knew that you would expect him to not announce his identity and thus, believed that if he did do so, you would strongly believe him not to be the prince," interrupted Ajax in singsong manner clearly mocking the old man.
"He might be right?"
"Take me to my uncle for the bounty. I would rather be a captive than end up being eaten by beasts," added Ajax.
"Even if that was true, he has a different attribute," yelled the old man angrily. He was being pestered by his partner for more than an hour due to the delay in arrival of the beasts. Even he was worried about the same putting him on the edge and he was also irritated.
"But he matches everything else including crippled core. It is perfect to get some money," said the other one.
"No," said the old man removing a blade out from his belt. "You talk about anything else. I will first kill you."
"Any you boy," he said pointing to Ajax. "You talk again. I will cut your tongue out. The young lord wouldn't mind."