~Crack~

~shatter~

The spell matrix suffered under the attack of the Aether and ended up crumbling into nothingness. Surprisingly Lucius was not disappointed by this.

"No, I definitely did not expect this…" Lucius muttered.

He had fully expended his Aether and there was none of it left in his body. Yet even after that, somehow Nexus regenerated Aether at a much faster pace than normal and then used that to attack the Spell matrix.

"So the Nexus will actively regenerate more aether if there is none left… this seems like an extra way to get more Aether when it gets depleted. Though… considering the cost of the spell matrix and hell energy it will not be worth every time." Lucius said to himself. "But… it will do in a pinch." He added.

The additional discovery was still wroth in Lucius's eyes and he did not feel like he had wasted his time. He got to reconstructing the spell matrix for the basic fireball again. In fifteen minutes and five attempts, a new spell matrix was built and Lucius could finally rest.

"Need to be well rested for tomorrow… reaching the territory of Baron Harrels will take three hours…" Lucius muttered and laid down on the bed, falling into a deep slumber.

~knock~knock~

The next morning, Lucius was woken up by someone knocking on the door of the bedroom. He rubbed his eyes and reckoned it must be Kiana. He had locked the door last night and thus she was unable to come in.

"Coming…" Lucius said in a slightly groggy voice before getting up from the bed.

"You should hurry, up! Paul already sent a letter that he will be waiting for you at his house. Oh, and another letter came for you from the artificers guild." Kiana said quickly.

"Okay, just put the letters on the table, I'll get ready," Lucius stated before washing his face and rinsing his mouth.

He sat down on the table and broke the wax seal on the letter. 

'Looks like Kain was quick to respond. Didn't expect that he would find the information so fast for me.' Lucius thought.

Lucius had asked Kain for the information on the Mist Veil Beasts since the library didn't have much on them. And Kain definitely did not disappoint him.

He learned that Mist Veil beasts were shaped like a round ball that had legs and hands attached. It had a single eye in the center of its body and small holes around it. The beast ate fog by sucking it in from the air which was one of its peculiarities.

Lucius also learned that the reason why so few people ever saw its body was because their bodies would dissipate into mist the moment they died. Only their rune crystal would be left behind which was what most people wanted anyway.

The only reason the Artificers guild knew about the physiology of the beast was that one of their old members had managed to capture the beast using their special gift which could make a prison made of wind.

Even hunting the beast was difficult and one needed two people to do so. One of the people needed to have a gift that could manipulate wind while the second one needed to be able to use fire. The one with the wind type gift would cut off the fog in the area where they suspected the Mist Veil beast was and then the person with the fire type gift would heat the area and wipe out all the fog in the cut-off area.

With the combination of these two, the beast would have no fog to hide its body in and would be burned to death, leaving behind their rune crystal. This entire ordeal meant that it was even harder to commission mercenaries to hunt them.

~Sigh~

"This will take a long time…" Lucius muttered to himself.

Though not all hoped was lost as Kain also mentioned that the artificers guild had a few rune crystals of the Mist Veil beast in storage. If Lucius wanted to, he could buy them, but the cost of that would be quite a lot.

Kain did not mention the price as even he would need to discuss it with his superiors but he did say that if Lucius wanted them, he could put in a request to the guild. Usually, the Artificers guild would not sell their inventory to outsiders but with Lucius' identity as the son of Count Gabriel, the guild would have to give him some face.

Lucius straightaway wrote another letter in reply to Kain and mentioned that he was interested in this. He asked him to inquire about the price and reply to him once he had it. He then sealed the letter before handing it to another servant.

Kiana had been watching him this entire time and was wondering what was it that he was writing.

"What did the letter say and why did you reply to it so fast?" Kiana questioned.

"I was just inquiring about a rune beast crystal," Lucius answered.

"A rune beast crystal?" Kiana asked feeling a bit lost, but then realization dawned on her.

"Do you mean to repeat what you did with me?" Kiana asked.

"Yes," Lucius replied as he started to dress.

"Who… who do you want to test that on?" Kiana questioned.

"John seems like a good candidate," Lucius replied casually.

"Hmm… John is indeed loyal and with Alessa's involvement with the Brewery I guess this is the right choice." Kiana agreed.

"Exactly. If I'm able to increase his strength we will benefit from it too." Lucius replied.

Kiana simply nodded her head as Lucius got ready. He wore the dress that was specially prepared for the party and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Once they were done with everything, he bade farewell to Lita and Gabriel before boarding the carriage.

"Shall we leave, lord Asher?" Donald Asked.

"Yes, head out!" Lucius ordered with a mysterious look in his eyes.