The shiny bubble associated with the teleportation device dissipated as we appeared outside, several meters from where we last parked our vehicles.

“Did Balthazar tell you anything useful by the way?”

“Helpful to us?... He didn’t have much to add aside from wanting me to continue onto the next stages of the trials.” Eris followed me to my bike.

“Oh?” I touched the midsection of the bike retrieving a helmet at a time, handing the first one over to Eris.

“Yeah…, he was very insistent that I continue. Saying that I had a high chance to unlock the core inheritance.” Eris shrugged indifference when I looked at her.

“Let me guess he didn’t give you any hints as to what this core inheritance is?” We were both in the process of putting on our helmets as she replied.

“Nothing at all. He’s strangely stubborn on some things and I wasn’t interested in continuing after that…” Eris went silent and I patted the seat for her to get on as a means to distract her.

“I agree with you, don’t worry too much about it. There’s always next time.” We departed to our home in the city.

<>

A nagging premonition that Balthazar pointed out was lingering on my mind. That the relief from Eris’s blood was only temporary. Even he and the doctor that Marcus brought in didn’t have a clue to help with my predicament.

“Hey, boss… Volatis?” Seric called out as I entered the research and development floor.

“Oh…, Seric. How are things going?” I returned his greeting, no longer spaced out from my worries as we walked past the sliding glass door to the partitioned workspace. Glass window panes extended along the entire perimeter, giving it the hamster in a cage type of vibe. There were metallic workbenches and stools with no specific tools of any kind yet to be purchased. The decked-out water drainage and emergency sprinkler system added to the barebones laboratory aesthetic.

“Things are great! Lily and I are finalizing the plans for the public dojo, schooling system. At this rate, the only hold up is instructors to teach the classes.” Seric held onto a clipboard as he led me to a nearby counter and stool to sit on.

“I’ll have Alexa inform you when I’ve chosen suitable people for that role.” I kept a short reply since his flipping through papers seemed like he had amassed a list of topics to discuss.

“The same thing goes for the bodyguarding services. I suggest holding an event as a form of publicity to gather both students and clients.” Seric paused to let me reply before continuing on.

“I’ll inform Jade to work with you on planning a suitable event to attract those we need.” I made a simple hand gesture to carry-on.

“Next, is expanding on the monster-hunting theme. The one section of the market that isn’t monopolized. Inscriptions, scroll creation.” He slapped the butt of his pen against the clipboard, finally lifting his head to make eye contact.

“Scrolls… We have a couple of those and haven’t found much use for them.” I remember Eris pilfering two from the corpses in the alleyway awhile back. Both low-tier, maybe if they were expert-tier or higher we might have used one since those were instant cast.

“That’s where normal hunter groups differ from your own. Not everyone has yours or Eris’s near-limitless mana pool.” I nodded along, thinking about the fact that he believed I used magic to fight.

“On average most groups have anywhere from ten to twenty scrolls on hand split between party members. For emergencies and to also conserve mana. Even expert-tier and higher rarity scrolls are sold in auctions as coveted items.” Seric was beginning to stir my curiosity.

“If there’s such a scarcity on higher tiered scrolls then it must be a huge production to create one.” I wanted to understand the logic behind his idea.

“That’s the whole point though! Once we figure out how to make them we will control the supply.” Seric’s enthusiastic spit caused me to lean back in my seat.

“Okay, I got it but where do we start with something like that?”

“Find someone that can teach us then take it from there. That’s where most of the fifty emerald coins will be diverted to, until we can replicate the scrolls ourselves.” Seric sounded less confident as his sight shifted in worry whenever it came to money.

“I’ll reach out to Vera to ask about it and see if anyone here knows a thing or two about inscriptions.” I tapped a hand on his shoulder to ease his mind.

As I was turning to leave Seric spoke up. “Boss, uh…, about training to get stronger. Can you teach me?” I remembered his main goals for approaching me revolved around money to help his sister and also wanting to grow stronger. My inability to spar with anyone due to the new fear side effect had me instantly letting him down.

“Now really isn’t the best time. It would be better to start once you finish the logistics with Lily for the instructor classes. That way you can take part in them too.” Seric’s shoulders slumped from the disappointing news and his eyes met the floor. I thought about the incident with him at Sage Kingdom and how they used him to get closer to his sister. Never intending to teach him anything in the first place, and here I was somewhat leading him on with a next time. Something he probably heard a million times.

I didn’t even know the type of magic he could use, much less his ambitions for wanting to become stronger. Seeing him go silent and accept defeat really didn’t sit well on my conscience.

“There might be a way to start your training sooner rather than later. What kind of magic do you have?” His rebound from my words was the spark of life that he so desperately wished to hear.