"Congratulations are in order!" Faust in his Professor Bishop disguise clapped as Li Mei opened the front door of her new house. He and Otto were waiting in the foyer, while the rest of the dusty old house remained mostly untouched and unexplored.

Otto looked exhausted, but he was still beaming with a smile that threatened to split his face in half. He clenched his hands, his entire body nearly trembling with excitement. "Boss... Miss Mei! I did it! I formed my Core!"

"In here?" Li Mei scowled, glancing toward the walls to see if anything was splintered or scuffed. Though with all the ectoplasmic grime layered on everything, who could really tell?

"The basement," Faust clarified, jerking his thumb toward the window. "Just in case, but it went well."

"My Gift though..." Otto's happy expression wavered, his shoulders slumping a little. "It's really..."

The word 'weak' got caught in his throat, prickling and scratching like a nasty burr. He already knew he was weak. Even compared to Hana, who was just a small child, Otto was weak!

But even his Gift, his one chance at redemption...

Li Mei glared at Faust, who simply shrugged his shoulders with a helpless expression. "It's not weak! I kept telling him, it just takes practice to be of use."

"What's your Gift, Otto?" Li Mei asked, patting the boy on the arm.

"Simulacra. I can create little... Puppets? Golems? Of things I've seen, using stuff like rocks or plants... But only if it's something weaker than me." Otto sighed, covering his face to hide his embarrassment. "I'm already weak, anything weaker than me won't be useful in fights! I don't have enough mana to make and control more than one at a time, it's really..."

The accusatory glare Li Mei leveled at Faust only grew sharper. The man just shrugged again, his helpless look turning to one of exasperation. "I didn't pick his Gift! And I gave him a decent mana circulation technique for his physique! Ah, that reminds me." Faust tossed a white jade chip to Hana. "It's best if your adjutants can improve themselves, hm?"

Li Mei glanced at her friends, both wearing happy expressions, then nodded. "Yes. But... Professor... May I have a word with you outside?"

"Certainly, Miss Mei!" Faust smiled, following her out the front door and well into the yard. When the girl judged only Bao would be able to hear their conversation, she turned on her heel and glared up at the man in his affable disguise.

"How much of it is true?" Li Mei asked softly.

"Hm?" Faust paused, then pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. "Of what, Miss Mei?"

"My Crest passed the scrutiny of high-ranking noble earlier today. The Yueluo Clan is real, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Am I really related to them? Are they... My family? My real family?"

"Yes."

"Then, my mother..."

"Was one of them. That's where your mana circulation technique originates. Practicing that technique is yet another proof of your identity. If someone without your bloodline tried to use it, they'd be dead." Faust lit the cigarette, placing it delicately between lips still curved into a friendly smile that made Li Mei's skin crawl with discomfort. "Your mother was the heir to the whole Clan, in fact. Slated to be the next Matriarch until she got herself killed."

"I see..." Li Mei clenched and unclenched her hands, her gaze drifting to the dry grass underfoot. "That's for the best."

"Oh?" A puff of dark smoke swirled around Faust's face, masking the look in his dark eyes. "Why so?"

"If my mother was alive and left me in your care, I'd never be able to forgive her. But if she's dead, it's easier to accept."

Li Mei stomped past him back into the house, keeping her head low and making sure he could hear her faint sniffling. She slammed the front door for good measure, then erased the pained expression she'd worn ever since first asking about the Clan. She glanced at Bao, who twitched his ears and had a suspiciously sympathetic look in his golden eyes, before turning to Otto.

"Show me your Gift."

"Yes!" At his Boss's command, Otto ran outside and returned with a handful of leaves. He held them close to his face and concentrated, completely oblivious to Li Mei kicking the door back shut behind him.

Gentle green mana welled from his fingertips, sparkling like little fireworks before the particles sank into each leaf. Seconds passed, then minutes. Sweat broke out on his brow, color draining from the boy's already pale face.

The leaves shifted, shuffled, and rearranged themselves into a mimicry of a small bird. It chirped and fluttered its wings, hopping back and forth on Otto's outstretched palms.

His expression was conflicted. Proud of his success, yet dissatisfied with the result. The boy didn't notice Hana's delight or Bao's interest, too busy comparing his useless puppet toy Gift against Hana's fire, Li Mei's barrier, and Bao's... Entire existence.

"Do you control it directly?"

"Um. It... Kinda copies the movements of whatever I visualize in order to create it? But I think..." Otto narrowed his eyes, and the leaf bird fluttered its wings until it hovered in the air, flapping a few circles around his head before returning. "Yeah! I can give it simple commands still. And if I concentrate, I can kinda... Shift my attention? Like. I can see things from its perspective. It kinda hurts my head though... And it's just little things like this bird, nothing strong that can help you fight..."

Li Mei's eyes lit up, and she patted the leaf bird with her fingertips. "Otto, your Gift is excellent! Not all Gifts have to be combat-related, yours is perfect for the sort of role I want to train you and Hana to undertake." Li Mei smiled as Otto's entire expression went from glum to delighted, a bright sparkle in his blue eyes. "I'll tell you both more later. For now... Let's go get our stuff from the travel box. I don't wanna spend another night in that cramped little thing."

The others nodded their agreement, and Li Mei hopped onto Bao's back to lead the way. Faust was in the yard still, though there was no sign of his cigarette. "Miss Mei..."

"We are retrieving our things, and will finish moving in to the house tonight. After that, I expect you to knock and announce your presence when you think to enter my home." Li Mei sneered, refusing to look at the man. She nudged Bao's flanks with her heels, urging him to move faster.

Faust chuckled, pulling a box of medicines, pain killers, and various assorted sundries from his storage artifact. He placed it all on the porch, then left the property with his hands in his pockets and a cheerful spring in his step.

Li Mei relaxed only when she could no longer see Faust's dot on her minimap. Light flickered across her eyes, sinister and cold.

Originally, she had a long-term plan.

For some reason, Faust seemed to think he could get on her good side. Providing shelter, knowledge, materials, goods, travel expenses. Ordering her to speak her mind and express opinions.

So she played along. She acted like a belligerent child, sassing back as though unafraid of consequences. As though she didn't spend every moment in fear of what his next orders might make her do. The moment he revealed she was under surveillance without her knowledge was the moment she decided to keep up a facade.

Wring him dry first, that was her plan. Get as much as she could out of him for as long as possible, as long as she could keep up the act. Get to civilization, to a place where she could live comfortably and establish herself. Whether she had shelter or money was irrelevant, she could earn those on her own one way or another. But living in the wilderness wasn't her specialty! Disappearing into the wilds wasn't an option she was willing to consider.

Especially as she learned more about the vast world of Elysium. Cities were few and far between. She could pick a direction and walk for the rest of her life, and never find a settlement without some luck and divine intervention. And that was assuming she could beat all the strong beasts she came across!

When Faust ordered her to wear the Dunce Boots, he revealed an important weakness.

He made her a noble, and tried to claim moving silently would make her appear too remarkable? Would he demand she have awareness of her own movement if he wasn't struggling detecting her?

Yeah, right.

But more importantly... The look on his face when he saw her broken arm.

Li Mei shivered, clutching at Bao's thick ruff to comfort herself.

That look in his eyes...

Was just like Cheng Yezi.

Obsession. Possession.

Revolting.

With the Enslavement Bind, who knew when his orders would start to change? He was pretending to be an asshole with a heart of gold who had her best interests in mind, but he didn't know about the single greatest advantage she had on her side: she'd already experienced dealing with a psychopath. She knew the signs, and knew how to behave to appeal to their obsession.

At least for a little while, she could appease him by pretending to fall for his ploys. Play nice. Smile pretty.

'Mother's teachings really came in handy,' Li Mei sighed to herself.

The enslavement bind was a knife at her neck. One wrong move, one sudden mood swing, and she'd be dead or worse. Finding herself in such a situation for the second time...

Did Fate think it was funny?

Seeing those eyes, those Cheng Yezi-like eyes, forced Li Mei to accelerate her plans. She knew herself well, and she knew she wouldn't be able to fake playing along much longer. If he hadn't looked at her like that, maybe she could have kept it up for another few years, suppressing her own anxiety and fears into a ball in her stomach while pretending he was her friend.

Faust showed his hand. Just a single card, but it was enough. He was fixating onto her, and once that fixation took root...

It would be too late for regrets if she let such a thing happen.

Confronting him in the yard was a specific calculation. Show emotion, show weakness. Question him in plain view where other people could possibly see or overhear, to make it seem she wasn't thinking clearly. A childish decision to keep his guard lowered, so he wouldn't notice she'd become unable to meet his gaze for longer than a second.

Li Mei brought up the screen explaining her Enslavement Bind, skimming the description with narrowed eyes.

-----

[Enslavement Bind]

A magic spell binds you. You are compelled to follow direct orders from your Owner. You will accompany your Owner and assist with his tasks unless ordered otherwise.

Owner: Faust

Standing Orders: You will do everything in your power to survive. You are encouraged to speak freely and share your opinions and requests with your Owner.

Standing Restrictions: You may not reveal any secrets your Owner shares with you in confidence. You may not conspire to kill your Owner. You may not through inaction allow your Owner to die at the hands of his enemies. You may not attempt to end your own life. You may not inform anyone that you are a slave if they are previously unaware of the fact.

-----

'Do everything in my power to survive... My best method of survival at this point is killing Faust. Plus, he only forbade me from conspiring to kill him, or allowing him to die through inaction. He probably assumed a child alone wouldn't be a threat to him yet. But...' Li Mei opened her archive, searching through the entries for the items she bought at the lapidary.

Of particular interest was the mist ruby. It had a similar composition to cinnabar, both in appearance and molecular structure according to Scan. Which meant the plain red rock was, in fact...

A sulfide! An excellent source of elemental Sulfur! Atomic number 16 on the periodic table of elements, and one of the most versatile for its ability to form compounds with almost all but a handful of elements.

She had Dismantle, which would allow her to break components down to usable parts. She tested it already on a glass of water, and was able to break it into separate hydrogen and oxygen gasses. If she used it on large amounts of mist ruby, as well as water, then used Synthesize to combine the resulting elements...

H2S. Hydrogen sulfide.

One ppm was equivalent to 1 milligram of something per liter of water or kilogram of soil. 800 ppm of H2S was the lethal concentration for 50% of humans for 5 minutes' exposure. 1000 ppm causes immediate collapse with loss of breathing after a single breath. 1000 ppm sounded like a lot, but H2S only needed 1000 ppm to be guaranteed toxic for humans.

Hydrogen sulfide is a broad-spectrum poison, meaning that it could affect several systems in the body, although the nervous system was often most affected. One full breath of H2S would kill an adult elephant without letting it know what happened. Surely, in a world where everyone breathed an oxygen-rich atmosphere, the bodies of Elysium would react similarly? The toxicity of H2S was comparable with that of carbon monoxide!

It didn't give time for someone to notice symptoms, or reach for some magic antidote or curing spell. If Faust inhaled a lungful of hydrogen sulfide, he'd be dead before he had time to even notice the smell of rotten eggs.

Many a traveler had fallen prey to it in marshes, swamps, or volcanic regions. Dead within the blink of an eye, if the concentration was high enough.

'Even if he's usually Rank 7, right now he's in a mythal that limits his level. He can't use powerful spells without being sniped by that weird magic tower in the middle of Brittalund. This is the best opportunity I have to get rid of him! I just have to make a few plans. And back-up plans. Perhaps after I'm registered at the Academy? My broken arm might get in the way if I make a move too quickly... But it might be useful as an alibi, too.'

Li Mei only felt a twinge of pity about how much information she'd be losing access to. Faust really did have a lot of knowledge, but...

His threat to her life outweighed his usefulness. She was no longer trapped in a forest, or isolated in a valley estate with no path through the surrounding mountain range. She knew about the Yueluo Clan, had a Core, had a Crest and a bank card. Her mana was valuable enough for her to support herself and her friends too.

She didn't need him alive anymore.