“Urgh… What the hell happened?” I groaned, waking up in my bed with a massive migraine, and the immense magic from Bhin’s tattoos notably being gone from the paint. Then figuring, “The duration of the runes must’ve run out.”

Suddenly manifesting herself, Annihilation annoyingly spoke loudly to greet me, “Good afternoon, my little Voa! How are you feeling?”

“I would be better if you didn’t speak so loud.” I replied, slowly getting up from bed, “Now can you tell me what happened to me last night?”

“Nothing much.” She explained, with a knowing grin, “The duration of the levitation eventually passed after an hour, and you gently fell back down.”

“Urgh…I don’t smell like alcohol, so I probably didn’t get black-out drunk,” I deduced, “but then why can’t I remember anything?”

“Well the short story is: you got hit by some stray wind magic while floating down, were blown all the way over to the Roots, met up with a shady peddler in a dark side-alley, bought a single Bliss Crystal from him, decided to consume it to see its effects, immediately went back to buy 500 more and got scammed 50 Gold, and then blissfully partied until sunrise and clumsy found your way back here.” Kindly summarizing my night for me.

“Oh, is that all?” I said sarcastically, opening up my Inventory and pulling out a small rainbow-coloured candy crystal.

Bliss Crystal

Rare

-2 Vitality

-1 Sense

Consume: Feel a euphoric bliss of endless energy, causing you to be incapable of feeling the exhaustion of physical fatigue, or any harmful pain inflicted upon you. Gain the Statuses ‘Physical Exhaustion Immunity’, ‘Pain Nullification’, and ‘Dazed’.

Bonus Effects: Increases harmfulness and addictiveness with each consumption. Decreases effectiveness and duration with each consumption. Chance of memory loss. Permanent bodily damage can be inflicted upon consuming exorbitant amounts.

Duration: 12 hours

Craftable

“I bought drugs?” I asked in surprise.

“Well it’s not like I did, did I?” She teasingly responded.

“Wait, did you?”

“No.”

“Hmm...I guess I’ll believe you.” Tossing the crystal back into my Inventory, “And maybe I’ll find a good use for them later.” Then as sounds of clanking glass could be heard approaching my room, Annihilation quietly returned back inside my head.

“Excuse me, Lord Eyes." Shurtyrr politely knocked on my door, "Have you awakened yet?”

“Yes. But give me a moment to get changed real quick.” Quickly storing away my festival outfit and throwing on a random assortment of Lavie’s stylish clothes.

“Take your time, my Lord.” Informing me, “I simply have some of the things you asked me to procure before—newly purchased from last night's local black market auction.”

“Oh, okay." Finishing putting on a shirt and opening the door for him, "You can come in now.” Shurtyrr entered and carried inside a large covered-up crate, and gently set it down on the floor. Closing the door behind him, I asked “So whatcha got for me, Shur?”

“Before that, I feel that I should inform you that more would have arrived from elsewhere, but some unfortunate circumstances prevented my connections from smuggling the goods out of their cities.”

“Unfortunate circumstances? Like what?” I curiously inquired.

“From what I’ve been informed, the largest black market auction in Leon was attacked last night.” He elaborated, “Apparently some unknown slaves were somehow able to breakout and release all the others slaves from their cages and anti-magic shackles, as well as liberated all the exotic and powerful creatures from their controlling slave seals.”

“Those unknown slaves were definitely Dream and Faust.” Recalling they mentioned a plan like that in the Waiting Hub.

“The auction house went into utter chaos soon after, and by the time everything finally settled down in the early morning, the whole place was nothing more than a bloody and burned-down massacre. And as a response, all the black markets across the kingdoms have decided to temporarily restrict the underground passages, and the smuggling of goods to find out who exactly was responsible for the incident.” Openly divulging the news to me.

“I see…” Concerningly opening up the Rankings Menu, I was relieved to see Dream and Faust were both yet alive in the Rankings, and my worry for them quickly faded away for the moment.

“Though worry not, Lord Eyes, my connections were still able to safely secure many goods from the other auctions last night before the incident and restrictions were placed, so they will only take a little while longer to arrive here in the city.” Shurtyrr assured me.

“That’s fine.” Directing my attention back to the covered-up crate, “Plus, I’m sure these will be enough for now.”

“Thank you for understanding. And I hope these will be adequate enough for your...interesting collection.” Uncovering the crate, Shurtyrr presented a truthfully unsettling crate full of strange jarred-eyeballs.

“Oh, these will definitely make a good addition to my collection...” Grinning widely at all the unique new eyes I could use for myself, while at the same time suppressing the urges of the tendrils wanting to collect them immediately.

“I am glad to hear you are pleased, my Lord.”

“So how much do I owe you?”

“Nonsense. There is no need.” Shurtyrr refuted, “Besides, the Doppelganger, Pixie, Treant, and Vulcrin eyes are the only ones of really any value—the rest are quite common and not worth very much.”

“Okay, then how much do I owe you for those ones?” I insisted.

“I negotiated a trade-deal with a black market...harvester to smuggle some illegal goods, and those were given to me in return, meaning there is nothing for you to owe, Lord Eyes.” Declining my insistence.

“Hmm… Fine, but I’ll be sure to pay you back when the other eyes get here.” I relented, not wanting to go back-and-forth with him.

And moving on, Shurtyrr said “Oh, and I did not know if you needed something to identify the quality of them for yourself, so I brought you a Monocle of Identification just in case.” He pulled out a fine golden monocle from his pocket and handed it over to me.

Monocle of Identification

Epic

Effect: While looking through the glass of the monocle, you are able to see the specific and hidden details of objects as if using ‘Identify’ on them.

Requirement: Int 300

“Ooo… This could be useful. Thank you, Shur.” I then asked him to give me some privacy, and he gladly left the room and waited for my call. “Alright, you guys are free to go now.” Then instantly the golden ethereal tendrils bursted from my eyes, wrapped around all the jars, shattered the glass with a strong squeeze, and began siphoning each pair of the eyes.

You have collected the [Eyes of an Ankheg]. You have collected the [Eyes of an Axebeak]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Blood Scorpion]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Blood Wing]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Dark Elf]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Desert Lizard]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Doppelganger]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Giant Eagle]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Giant Lizard]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Giant Spider]. You have collected the [Eyes of a High Elf]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Nalka]. You have collected the [Eyes of a High Orc]. You have collected the [Eyes of an Ogre]. You have collected the [Eyes of an Owlbear]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Pixie]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Ramstrider]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Sand Scarab]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Treant]. You have collected the [Eyes of a Vulcrin].

I stumbled back as all the unique eyes were collected at once—including some eyes I’ve already collected. Then in a moment of adjusting blurriness, my vision quickly became corrected with an immense new clarity, and a greatly increased field of view. “Woah…” I uttered, able to clearly see the tiny specks of dust floating in the air, and practically being able to see directly behind me now. Collecting the eyes also increased my Seer abilities.

Eyes Of A Seer increased by 1 Level, and you now have vision of a Dungeon's Menu. Seer’s Eye Collection increased by 1 Level. Seer’s Eye Sacrifice increased by 1 Level. Seer’s Visions increased by 1 Level.

Skimming through the descriptions of my new eyes, I learned the animal-type ones benefited my vision the most: helping me better see motion, distances, field of views, lights, and in darkness. On the other hand, the eyes specifically related to creatures from the Blood Dungeon instead helped with hunting down prey through various forms of tracking and seeing blood. Other than that, eyes like the Ogre's and High Orc’s were quite ordinary. However, there were a few notable ones that stood out from the rest.

Eyes of a Dark Elf: Well accustomed to the darkness of the abyss, your eyes have no issues seeing in the dark, but are severely sensitive to intense sources of light. Gain the ‘Darkvision’ Skill Eyes of a High Elf: Comfortably spending time at higher altitudes, your eyes are accustomed to the exposure of direct sunlight, but trouble to see in pitch darkness. Gain visual resistance against intense light. Eyes of a Doppelganger: Unable to shapeshift along with your body, your eyes have developed to quickly and efficiently study and mimic a humanoid's movements to remain hidden amongst their society. Eyes of a Pixie: Inherently being a mischievous magical trickster, your eyes are used to seeing magics and illusions, and can no longer be tricked by them. Gain the ‘Truesight’ Skill. Eyes of a Treant: Carrying the responsibility of a Guardian of the Forest, your eyes naturally commune with Nature and see as trees do. Gain the ‘Tree Sense’ Skill.

Happy with all my new eyes I've received, I quickly read the description for my new Skills.

Darkvision: Gain the ability to see in complete pitch darkness regardless of any light or light source being present. Truesight: Gain the ability to see invisible creatures and objects, through magical darkness and visual illusions, and perceive the original form of shapeshifters and magically transformed creatures. Tree Sense: Becoming one with Nature, you are able to gain recent knowledge from any tree in sight, learning everything the tree has experienced in the last 24 hours. Recency decreased based on Skill Level.

“Seeing is just so useful.” I thought to myself, reverting my eyes back to normal and calling Shurtyrr back inside again.

“You called, my Lord?” Shurtyrr entered and immediately noticed the crate filled with broken glass.

“Don’t worry about that.” I said, dismissing his concern, “Now onto my next request. You wouldn’t happen to know how to forge a letter, would you?”

“As much as anyone in my line of work is able to.” He smirked, informing me “Although official letters do tend to be more tedious, and require more forethought before forging them. But what did you have in mind, Lord Eyes?”

“Oh, nothing that grand. I just need you to write three letters written in Odelia’s handwriting by tomorrow. Can you do that for me?” I asked him earnestly.

“What would you like them to say?” He replied with a smile.

Grabbing a quick bite of food from the kitchen, I asked Shurtyrr where everyone was. He told me Aelthar and Amariina went shopping for supplies to completely fix up the Training Chamber since Odelia didn’t get a good chance to, and that Verana was cleaning and organizing the library while she waited for me to awaken. Then deciding to head there next, Shurtyrr accompanied me as he realized he needed to find some references of Odelia’s writing in the books there.

While we traveled down the many flights of stairs, I thought this would be a perfect time to send a message to Da Vinci, Dream, and Faust. Though worryingly, neither Dream or Faust answered my questions of their whereabouts or current situation—but at least Da Vinci answered me.

Da Vinci

When you think you need a break and want something to inspire you, ask Gryphon (at the castle) to teleport you to Ven’Thyl’s Teleportation Circles, and then follow the road/merchants to the city (if you use Return Home to teleport to House Ven’Thyl, you might get arrested if the guards find out a Human illegally snuck into the city).

Apart from the natural awe-inspiring beauty of the city, there’s a guy here named Bhin Maerneplith, and I think you should try to learn a thing or two from him (I can lead you when you get here). He’s a true artist with genius talent, who can imbue his art with magical effects (even make them move and come to life).

Da Vinci- (★‿★)

Although he is admittedly a bit of a grouchy old man...

Da Vinci- (＞︿＜)

Yeah I know, but I think if you show him the art I’ve heard you’ve done around Asheton, then he might just end up liking you. So just let me know when you decide to come, okay?

Da Vinci- (〜￣▽￣)〜

I closed the Menu when I entered the library and saw Verana. She was organizing the significant books I gathered but couldn’t read. Then noticing us enter, she greeted me “Good afternoon, Lord Eyes!”

“Good afternoon, Verana.” I replied, walked over to her, while Shurtyrr left to go search for Odelia’s writings.

“Have you eaten already? I can cook something for you if you would like?” She asked, being overly considerate.

“That’s alright, I did eat already.” Then spotting two books Verana purposely set aside for me, I questioned “Are those it? The records written by the worst criminal in Elven History?” pointing out, “I don’t remember seeing these in the library.”

“That is because they were kept in the Treasury.” Verana stated, pulling out a chair and gesturing for me to sit.

“The Treasury? Were you trying to keep the others from reading them or something?” I wondered openly.

“I was.” She answered bluntly.

“Why?” Interested in her reasoning.

Verana let out a sadden sigh before she explained, “The others’ relationship with Ekayne, especially Aelthar’s and Odelia’s, is quite complicated—a habit our House carries on I suppose. And that is why I instructed Shurtyrr to keep the lead he found 75 years ago a secret from the House, as the lead itself was knowledge from Ekayne himself.”

“Wait, his name is Ekayne?”

“It is. Why? Have you heard of him before?”

“No. I just couldn’t help thinking that name sounded pretty cool.” I told her honestly.

Verana laughed, “Haha… I am glad you think so, Lord Eyes, I thought of it myself.”

“Well it was a great choice! Sounds really…” My mind took a second to process what Verana just said. “Uhh… What did you just say? You what?!”

“Oh dear, I forgot to mention that fact?”

“Verana, are you saying what I think you’re saying right now?”

“Perhaps... Are you thinking Ekayne is my son?”

“Yes...”

“Then yes that is what I am saying.”

“Woah, hold on. So let me get this straight; the so-called worst criminal in all of Elven History was not only a member of our House, but he’s also your son?! As in actually has your blood running through his veins?!” I exclaimed in utter shock.

“I would hope so, I did give birth to him after all.” Verana proudly claimed, with a fond and endearing smile on her face.

“Ugh… What an absolute mess of a House this is!” Laying my head on the cold wood of the desk, I listed out all the issues I have to deal, thinking “I got two love-birds that won’t confess their obvious love for each other, and that are inevitably gonna ruin a wedding for one of the wealthiest Houses in the Kingdom. A dead archery teacher that I killed, stuck in a prison stasis upstairs that I have to cure and revive, else her husband will be miserable and resentful for the rest of his life. Then the woman whose son is apparently the worst criminal in history, locked up and imprisoned somewhere by his own mother’s magic, and who’s almost assuredly gonna breakout at some point in the future. And on top of all that, I have to find wherever it is those descendants are in the world before the eve of next year’s festival, otherwise a civil war will breakout and destroy the city—and likely the Kingdom in the fight for the throne.”

“My sympathies, Lord Eyes.” Verana said, using her magic to soothe and relax my mind, “I, more than anyone, know the responsibilities and stress that comes with being the Head of a House—particularly a troublesome House such as ours.”

“Mmm… Just please tell me Aelthar doesn’t have some sort of big issue like the rest of you do, does he?” Hoping otherwise.

“Fortunately for us, Aelthar has always been a relatively good boy since he was born.” Verana affirmed, “And his only true desires in life are sex, coin, and the strength to be his loved ones shield.”

“Those sound like pretty solid desires.” I replied, finally raising my head from the desk.

“They sure do.” Verana chuckled, gently removing her hands from my head. “Now if you will excuse me, Lord Eyes, I will allow you to read the records without my disturbance.”

“Actually…Verana…can you stay?” Embarrassingly admitting to her, “I don’t know how to read Elvish…”