There was a commotion at the South Emerald High School. Two students were attacked by an unknown assailant. One of them was the son of a politician. It was a mess as the students' parents were pressuring the school.
Looking at the recent post on his phone, Cail couldn't help but marvel at fate. First, it was the victims' parents and now it's Diran's parents who were seeking justice from the school.
"He's dead." Cail was sure of it. On the post, it was said that he was a vegetable, but Cail couldn't be even more clear that he was dead because he saw the glow that represents life in Diran dim.
He's now lying in the hospital. It was a narrow escape, but he managed to pull it off by inflicting damage on himself.
Three broken ribs and a concussion.
"That was worse than I expected." The Sinner was slow. It couldn't seem to attack using the body that it parasitized. Its main body was stuck, but its long hands could smash anyone that dared provoke it. Cail dared. It was slow but strong.
"I shouldn't know anything about what happened." He felt a bit helpless when he remembered a strange man visited him and pulled out that weird pendant and swung it in front of his eyes. It was supposed to erase his memory, but it did not work for some reason.
"Diran is gone." One scourge out, but still a lot remaining. Cail knew that he's probably one of those.
Looking back at what happened, Cail thought, "I should probably equip myself with something offensive..." Like a gun? He could put it in his space and pull it out once he needed it. But would a normal bullet really affect those monstrosities?
Cail touched his stomach. When wearing his eyeglasses, he could see a small glowing ball inside. He had never seen this with anyone before, but Cail could sense it was void energy.
"I'm a void user now... But I have no idea how this works." He learned this fact yesterday. But the book was pretty unreliable. It just let Cail know that every void user has a different innate ability. Cail planned to experiment with his ability after he was discharged from the hospital.
"Ah, I need something to do."
He took out his phone and sent the pictures of the artifacts to Neris. He took the pictures under his covers with a flash; he also made sure to use his glasses to check if there was any void energy around.
An: JPEG. JPEG. JPEG.
An: These are the three binding artifacts that I have on hand. The first one is called Carnage. It's a rope made out of unknown leather. Range: 10 meters. Effects: It can bind void creatures and artifacts for 30 minutes. Three uses a day. Downside: It will deplete the user's void energy every use. And if your energy isn't sufficient, it won't activate.
An: The second is Piercing Lock. It resembles a rose. Same as the Carnage, it can bind void creatures and artifacts for 30 minutes. Range: 6 meters. Five uses a day. Downsides: It is a thorn bracelet. It will sink down into your skin like a parasite every use and absorb your blood.
An: The last one is Broken Brooch. I don't know the name since it's incomplete, but I think you'll be interested in it. It doesn't have any binding properties, but it has strong defense. It will form a shield for the user for 2 hours. One use a week. Downside: It can only protect the owner.
Cail smiled as he sent that. The last artifact was the other half of Neri's brooch. If he really managed to sell all of this, then he's only missing one artifact to fulfill his quota.
...
Tenebris, Void Academy.
Neris looked at the list of artifacts, humming as he chewed on gum. But the moment his eyes landed on the last picture he was shocked. He gulped and accidentally ate the bubble gum.
He coughed, feeling something was stuck in his throat. But of course, as a void user, killing him isn't as easy as that. He dug his hands into his throat and manually pulled out the gum.
He patted his chest after the near-death experience. But he quickly recovered and crawled towards his phone.
Sir 'Instructor' gave them good and detailed information about the artifacts, but the last picture struck Neris the most. He felt unreal that his hands were trembling as he held his phone.
Idris saw Neris looking very pathetic. He peeked at his phone and when he saw the artifact brooch, his eyes widened, "What?! Isn't that the artifact that your family is searching for?"
Neris looked unsure; he was still in a state of disbelief. "I think so?" He couldn't believe that something their family had been looking for for hundreds of years was found just like that.
Arcane Brooch was their family heirloom. It is an artifact passed to the eldest child of the family. It was unknown when, but a long time ago, the Brooch was destroyed from an attack. Only the other half was left in their family.
Because of that, their family ranking dropped. Arcane Brooch is not just an artifact but also a symbol of their family. It is a very powerful artifact that they are very proud of. It was on the top ten list of Mystic Artifacts made by the Void Regulation Authority (VRA).
The Arcane Brooch is a certified S-class artifact! Unfortunately, it is broken.
Now looking at his phone screen, Neris's breathing quickened that he almost hyperventilated. He could barely contain his excitement. Oh, how much he wished he could just crawl inside the phone screen.
Hal and Clea noticed the commotion. Seeing them coming over, Idris explained, "You know about Neris's family, right? About the Arcane Brooch?"
Hal nodded, "Yeah, so what's up?" It was already a well-known fact that they were searching like crazy for the other half of that artifact.
Idris pointed at the excited Neris, "After Neris contacted our Instructor, the Instructor sent a picture of three artifacts. Two of them are bind class and the last one is the other half of the broken Arcane Brooch!"
Clea gasped. She walked towards Neris and looked at the photo. Seeing that it was exactly the same, she urged him, "Quick! Buy it! Even if you don't have the money, as long as you tell your family about that, they'll be willing to spend money!"
Hal was also quite surprised, "Wasn't that artifact rumored to be lost at the void tear?"
Neris wasn't in the mood to listen to them. He hurriedly typed as if someone was going to steal that brooch away from him.
Neris: Sir, how much is that Brooch?
Neris: Please sir, don't sell that! I'm willing to pay anything!
Neris: Sir please, I wish you could hold it for me. (｡ŏ﹏ŏ)
Seeing the three of them very happy, Hal had his reservations, "While finding the other half of the artifact is a good thing, mending them together to become the complete Arcane Brooch is impossible. And still, we really don't know if that is really the artifact. Let's not get our hopes high." Hal was a bit skeptical. The manpower that Neris' family mobilized to find that artifact wasn't small. They have been searching for that desperately; even the Void Regulation Authority was involved.
Such a strong lineup of powerful people but the brooch still wasn't found. Then it just appeared like this? Suspicious.
Clea glared at him, "Why are you so pessimistic? Aren't you the one prattling about, whenever there is risk, there's reward? Where's that attitude now?!"
Hal looked at them. It was unknown what he was thinking.
Idris had a headache looking at the two bickering again. He patted Neris on the back, "Don't forget to choose an artifact that we need." Let's not forget our main agenda.
Neris nodded. He was still bustling with excitement about the brooch. Thinking about what his family's reaction would be after receiving it, Neris giggled.
The door opened. Bram came back looking exhausted. Clea frowned and poured him a cup of water. She asked, "So what happened?"
All of them stopped what they were doing. They looked at Bram, listening to what he had to say.
Bram drank the water and felt relief, "All those who participated in Void Exploration at the rip located at Duskworn are infected with Greedy."
Clea paused. She had a look of horror on her face as she looked at Bram. "Aren't you also a part of that exploration? Go! Let the academy doctors check if there's something wrong with you!" Seeing that Bram wasn't moving, she tried to pull him up. Being parasitized with Greedy was not a simple matter. It can damage foundation and worse, if it felt like its life was threatened, it would suck the host dry.
Bram gently shook Clea's hand, "It's fine, I already went for a check-up but nothing was detected on me."
Hal looked at Bram suspiciously, "Why is that?"
Looking at Hal, Bram felt a bit of irritation rising. After waking up from the injury, he was told by Clea about Hal's plan.
He was pissed, so he didn't give Hal any good face, "Why would I know? Your paranoia is acting up again? The teacher already said that I'm clear. Why are you doubting? Unless you're better than the academy doctors?" Bram had always been straightforward.
Hal didn't argue since he felt kind of bad. But he still took note of Bram's condition.