Identify - Lvl 20

Time seemed to slow down when Asher saw the vial of magadrine powder on the wall, and not because he'd activated Comprehend's second tier ability. There it was, sitting out in plain sight of anyone walking by the workshop. Proof of Eight's existence.

It didn't make sense in the slightest.

Despite Asher's burning desire to pull a dagger from his rift and ram it into Leighann's freaky black void of an eye, instead, he finally did activate Comprehend's tier 2 effect, slowing the world around him to a crawl and buying himself time to think as he separated himself from the adrenaline rapidly flooding his body.

This… doesn't feel right, he thought, his eyes flicking between the glowing vial of powder and the kooky grin on the frozen alchemist's face. Eight is beyond cautious, to the point where they send their orders to the Guild via written notes secured to the backs of rats that travel through who knows how many miles of sewer. There's no way they'd keep their most deadly and prized concoction just sitting out where anyone could find it and draw this connection.

In that same vein, Leighann simply… didn't fit the mental profile he'd formed these past few days for the deadly leader of Whikoga's Assassin's Guild. While her eyes were a bit strange, she didn't come off as the cold and calculating assassin he'd been expecting to find. She didn't strike him as the type of person capable of leading a guild of killers from the shadows while managing to evade the truthseekers for over a decade. Her aura certainly felt as though she'd killed before, but only a handful of times across her entire life. It wasn't drenched with blood like he'd expect from somebody like Eight.

Deciding he needed more proof, rather than kill her the moment Comprehend ran out and the world returned to normal speed, Asher tried to cover up his half-finished sentence with a small cough and act like nothing was wrong.

"Theorn's told me a lot… about you," he finished, doing his best to smile like he hadn't just come a hairbreadth from killing her where she stood. "This is some workshop you have here."

"It's my little slice of paradise away from the backstabbing bastards that run the estate," Leighann cackled, not even removing her scaled gloves before shaking his hand. Asher tried to activate Eternal Mark and slip a sliver of his energy into her through her hand, but the scaled gloves seemed to prevent his skill from working, blocking the flow of energy from his body into hers. At the very least, Leighann didn't seem to notice, as she continued talking without pause. "I'd live here if I could, but Elnor won't let me bring a bed in here. Good for nothing sister. I should sprinkle itching powder over her bed instead to teach her a lesson!"

"Elnor's simply worried if you brought a bed in here, none of us would ever see you again," Theorn grinned, stepping forward and pulling the older woman into a hug. "...and I'm pretty certain Elnor would welcome the attempt, as it would require you to enter the main family building you've been avoiding like the plague all these years."

"Wait, sister?" Asher said, glancing between the two of them and forgetting about Eight for a moment at the realization he may have made a huge mistake. "So does that mean…?"

"Yes, Elnor is my mother," Theorn sighed, stepping back from his aunt and giving Asher a pained smile. Clearly, he'd gone through this exact conversation a number of times in the past, and it looked like he didn't usually like how it turned out. "I wasn't sure if you truly weren't aware or were just that good at pretending. You would not believe the number of nobles who try to get in my good graces simply because of the fact that I'm first in line to take over the Frent Estate and therefore all of Whikoga one day."

Crap, no wonder none of the guards bothered to stop and question Theorn about me, Theorn is practically royalty! If something were to happen to him, or I gave him reason to call the house down on me…

Suddenly, Asher was quite glad he hadn't taken out Leighann right in front of Theorn like he'd originally been planning. The last thing he wanted was to rid the world of Eight, only to draw the ire of one of the strongest noble families in the entire kingdom down onto himself. Unlike Eight, he had no doubts that the Frent family was more than willing to move against him in the public eye, and they probably had hundreds of extraordinarily powerful members to throw at him that made the senior assassins look like jokes.

Asher was all for taking the occasional one-on-one, but he didn't like his odds of trying to fight a small army of incredibly powerful nobles at the same time. Not all of the guards had all that deadly sounding classes, but seeing as how Moxy had the rather simple warrior class, Asher knew better than anyone not to count someone out just because their class wasn't dragon slayer, or king of beasts, or whatever.

"I honestly had no idea," Asher admitted, attempting to keep the surprise off his face as he tried to figure out how the hell he should progress forward at this stage. He had a potential candidate for Eight standing right in front of him who he couldn't mark to track down later, and a living, ticking time bomb watching his every move who almost certainly had exotic, powerful elements and skills of his own. He needed to handle this situation with extreme care.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"...So, what's that blue powder you have over there?" he asked, pointing toward the magadrine powder. At his change in topic, Theorn blinked, seemingly surprised by the fact that Asher had breezed right over his familial status like it didn't matter. Leighann on the other hand grinned, spinning around and snatching up the vial of powder before bringing it down for them to look at. Despite knowing the vial was almost certainly shatterproof, Asher had to mentally prevent himself from flinching back as the incredibly deadly powder was whipped around with reckless abandon. While he'd inhaled a significant amount of the powder the last time he'd interacted with it, after speaking with Draken, he now knew that only a few flecks of it would be more than enough to do any of them in.

"Ah, you have an excellent eye!" she laughed, holding up the glowing vial and turning it slowly, the blue light reflecting off the black pits of her eyes. "This is magadrine powder. It's odorless, tasteless, and quite possibly the most deadly concoction in my entire workshop. If I were to open this vial, the three of us would all be dead in seconds."

"Aunt Leighann, why would you even make something like that?" Theorn frowned, looking more worried for his aunt's health than concerned for his own. "I thought you mainly spent your time in here coming up with crazy experiments that never work?"

"Hush you, they'll work one day," Leighann snapped, finally tearing her eyes away from the deadly powder just to glare at her nephew. "And for your information, I didn't make this. I'm attempting to study it as a favor for your mother. Do you recall when your uncle Phileas died two years ago and we were forced to resurrect him? This was the culprit."

Whelp, glad I didn't kill her, Asher thought, mentally patting himself on the back for his restraint. There was always the chance she was lying, and unfortunately, without Honest Ears he wouldn't know for sure, but he wasn't getting that vibe.

"How did you recover the powder?" he asked, remembering how the powder had all but vanished by the time he'd recovered from his brief stint of being dead. "I'd imagine a magical powder as fine as that would vanish almost immediately upon contact with the air."

"Well now, I didn't realize you were an alchemist yourself," Leighann said, ignoring his question entirely as she tilted her head and peered at him more closely. The black pits she had for eyes that already seemed to suck in some of the light around the room appeared to grow wider and even deeper as she stared at him, sending a chill down Asher's back.

Though that was nothing compared to the next words that came out of her mouth.

"That's an impressive concealment skill you have there," she said slowly, drawing out her words. "Why, I feel as though it might take me an eternity to figure out your actual elements."

Asher's blood ran cold as he matched the crazed woman's stare, her crooked smile not wavering in the slightest as his fingers twitched and his mithral dagger suddenly appeared in his hand. He had no idea how she'd managed to completely bypass his tier 2 Hidden Presence skill he'd stolen from Loratta's necklace, a feat not even the truthseekers had been capable of, but she'd made the fact that she had quite clear. Even if she wasn't Eight, one thing was remarkably clear to him.

She had to die.

It seemed Theorn picked up on the sudden tension in the room, as he cleared his throat and took a half step in between the two of them. "I'm actually curious myself, Aunt Leighann. If what Asher says is true, how did you recover the powder?"

"Oh, this isn't from the same batch," she tutted, shaking the vial as if it didn't contain one of the deadliest materials in the entire world. "Hilariously enough, it was sent to me earlier this morning, unmarked, via courier no less. Almost opened it by reflex before my eyes alerted me to what was inside."

"Aunt Leighann!" Theorn gasped, staring at his aunt with his jaw dropped. "Are you telling me there was an attempt on your life, and you didn't bother notifying anyone? Why didn't the guards open it preemptively?! They're supposed to screen the mail!"

"Bah, what's an attempt on a life when resurrection exists," she snorted. "The estate already has more shards than it knows what to do with. And I don't let the guards go through my mail. I've got pen pals I wouldn't want them knowing about! I don't need them privy to those conversations, let alone the reagents we ship back and forth!"

"Wait, you were the one the powder was intended for?" Asher asked, growing more confused the longer they spoke and forgetting about the need to kill her for just a moment. "Why would the Guild want to kill you?"

"Beats me," she shrugged, giving him a curious look. "So, you're aware of the Assassin's Guild's connection with magadrine powder as well, are you?"

"I've heard of it," Asher said through gritted teeth, still wondering if it was wise not to just kill the alchemist right here and now and deal with the consequences. Now that he'd borrowed Theorn's signet ring enchantment, he could always slip back in later after saying goodbye to Theorn, but who knew if Leighann would tell anyone about his elements between now and then.

"We need to notify the house guard immediately!" Theorn declared, not budging on this issue despite the look of annoyance on his aunt's face. "I know you don't like the guard, but an assassination attempt isn't just an attack on you, it's an attack on the entire family! Asher, do you mind if I leave you and my aunt alone to handle your alchemical business while I notify the guard? It will only take me a couple of minutes."

"Of course not, you need to make sure your family stays safe," Asher said, never taking his eyes off the black voids that were Leighann's own.

"Thank you," Theorn nodded, pulling his aunt in for one last hug. "I'll be back soon!"

"Please, take your time," she said, waving goodbye at him. While she waved, a small part of Asher noted how she was missing the pinky finger on her left hand, but he was far more focused on listening to the sound of Theorn's footsteps fade as he ran off down the hallway. Slowly, Asher reached behind him and closed the door, cutting off the distant sounds of Theorn's running entirely.

"Well now," Leighann grinned, raising an eyebrow as she looked pointedly at the dagger clutched in his hand by his side. "...is that a mithral dagger you just pulled out of a pocket dimension, or are you just happy to see me?"

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