Casper watched the figure clothed in silver-white armour of his friend disappear in the distance with a bitter taste in his mouth, wondering if he had taken the right decision.

He had already agreed to fulfil the deal, and he was not going back on his words, but it didn't mean that there weren't some doubts still buzzing in his head. He was unsure.

What they were gambling wasn’t just about their future, but the ones of their respective families. It was a great chance nonetheless, Casper couldn't deny that, but the risks were just as great. The thought of failing made his stomach twist.

Letting out a sigh, Casper let his heavy body relax on the chair as his gaze lingered on the small pile of mushrooms on the table, then onto the rounded gadget. Casper’s machinations come to a halt as his son’s forest-green eyes obstruct his vision, sparkling with curiosity.

“So, what’s the deal with the formula?!” Lucas asked, not able to hide his excitement.

Casper thought for a bit, but he wasn’t in the mood to explain much. He tossed him the formula.

Lucas took it with a puzzled expression. “So easy?”

Casper nodded. “Is nothing great anyway,” he said, shrugging. “Check it as much as you want.”

Lucas threw him a sceptical look, but he didn’t ask more and directly immersed himself in the formula.

The minutes passed by as deep lines began to take shape on his forehead, Casper smiled at this but didn't utter a word.

“What's the deal with this thing?” Lucas muttered under his breath, rereading the formula a second time. A third. And a fourth time before looking in Casper’s direction for answers.

Casper shrugged. “You tell me.”

Lucas's frown deepened, he opened his mouth to say something but stopped midway, peeking at the paper in his hands a fifth time. “The pill's main components consist of about 99% of corrupted, poisonous, acidic or any other ingredients that suit the client’s attributes. A perfect choice for the Wiccan Physique. But the proportions just… just don’t make sense.”

Lucas's eyebrows furrowed much more than what Casper thought possible. “There is no way an orange cor— No, even a silver core would be blown up by the sheer amount of energy of this pill…

Looking at the palpable passion in his eyes, Casper couldn’t help but feel a warm sensation in his chest. Certainly, there are few things more gratifying than seeing your son share your passions, he thought with glee.

Lucas wasn’t a genius when it came to cultivation, but he was still among the top of his generation (in Darkhold City). Which was a lot, honestly. As a person who had experienced what the region has to offer, Casper knew far too well that his son barely fit in the above-average category.

It wouldn't pose him that much of a challenge to reach the White Core Stage before his late fifties, the resources were there, and with a good instructor and some discipline, success was practically guaranteed. He might even make it before the last deadline if he was lucky.

However, what shocked Casper, and the rest of the family the most was Lucas’ talents when it came to his external energy manipulation. It was insane.

He himself had never met someone with such precise energy control, probably not even the little monsters from the guild or the church were up to his standards. With such God-given talents, he would be welcomed as an elite in almost any force.

And they are more than a notch above my own, Casper thought rather bitterly. He would lie if he said he wasn't a little jealous of his son, but as a father, the bright future of his child flooded him with happiness.

Casper drew back his attention to his troubled son, who had been earnestly taking notes and running different kinds of simulations as he was lost in his reverie.

“I think you’re forgetting something.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Lucas answered back, not sparing a glance at his charming father. To this, Casper only shook his head. A quick scan from his experienced eyes was enough to spot his misstep.

“The variables are wrong.”

Lucas abruptly stopped, looking at him with a puzzled expression. “I used both the female, male and bestial constitution variables for the models. They can’t be wrong.”

Casper shook his head. “I think you're not getting the catch, son.” He pointed towards the paper laying on the side. “You're assuming the pill was meant for a normal human being or beast, but that’s not the case. You’re working with a formula meant for the Wiccan Physique, thereby, you have to use specific variables that suit them if you want your simulation to work.”

Lucas' eyes widened at the revelation, he didn’t waste time and immediately started tapping on the device. But after a few seconds, he stopped. Glaring at Casper, “we don't have information about them in the database…” he said with a downcast voice.

Casper wasn’t surprised.

“Our archives are quite complete, but there is no way something like that can be stored there. Especially not from a clan like that,” he said, folding his arms.

The archives contained all the information gathered from the last few thousand years, primarily about the secrets of alchemy, their enemies' Paths and anything that held sufficient value for the family. But information about the Wiccan Clan was scarce, even what they have didn’t differ much from what anyone could find in the public libraries scattered over the city.

The Scared Church and the Guild’s archives surely had something better, but Casper didn't even what to think how much it would cost him to buy a simple report.

“Either way, there is nothing we can do without one of their kin as a testing subject,” he said, grasping the black rounded device—the one Jason had brought—and sending a wisp of mana inside. Immediately, three images were projected, but Casper focused his attention on the scarlet-eyed one. The corners of his mouth curled up. “It seems your friend has made some good acquaintances.”

“It seems so.”

Both father and son were lost in thoughts as they scanned the images. Casper broke the silence after a long time.

“Do you think you can convince Seth to join us?”

Lucas nodded but then shook his head. “Well, my and Seth’s intentions were to have him in the team. I came here to tell you that, so that wouldn't be a problem.”

Casper nodded. “I was going to offer him a spot anyway. He has potential.”

Lucas nodded and changed the subject. “And the Wiccan and her brother?”

“We will follow Jason’s strategy, but I will still speak with Caldrin for a backup plan.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t the pill be more than a reason to join us? Uncle said she is probably just an outer member of the clan… and is not like you can find an aspect enhancing pill of that kin everywhere.”

Casper has to admit that for anyone else, an aspect enhancing pill would be impossible to reject, but her position was a bit special.

“Tell me, if you were in her position, but instead of a Gober Wendigo Pill I was offering you a Golden-stripped Pill, what would you do?”

Lucas didn't bat an eye. “Of course, I will take it. Even if I need to slay the entire city.”

“And if another faction offered you a better reward?”

Lucas hesitated. For him, at least, there weren't many items that could surpass a Golden-stripped Pill. But he could still imagine a few...

“That's the problem,” Casper said, folding his arms. “We are not sure what the other forces are willing to offer in exchange. Even if I believe we have everything to win, we can’t be 100% sure, there are a lot of variables to take into consideration. And even then, we are still in the dark about their intentions of coming to the city. Maybe their objectives have nothing to do with the Regional Ranking Competition, so we can't just put all our cards on them.”

There wasn’t a rule that restricted people from participating in the Regional Ranking Competitions of other regions, it was just rare. The distances between every region were enormous, and considering that the tournament of every region started at pretty much the same time, it was suspicious that they were willing to waste that much time and money to cross the Everwood Forest.

Which put another question on the table, just what was the siblings' status?

No matter how much Caper thought about it, the puzzle was still as messy as it could be. He wasn’t in control, and honestly, he didn't like it. Not when there were so many things at stake.

It wasn't a secret that forces put great importance on the natural talent of their members, the Wiccan Clan in particular to the quality of their physiques, which wasn’t, let said, a top-tier secret. At least the lowered graded ones.

If Casper somewhat managed to decipher the Wiccan’s physique grade, he would have an idea of the sort of genius and danger he was dealing with. And how far they could go with Jason’s plans.

But after reading the report, it appeared they were biting more than what they could chew.

While Darkhold City was relatively close to the Cimmerian Forest borders, they were still separated by tens of thousands of kilometers. And an environment that neither he, a Peak White Core Stage practitioner, nor a full-fledged Copper Ranker was willing to traverse by foot unless it was totally necessary.

At least not an Early Copper Ranker, he corrected.

Which means that they had been either escorted by someone strong enough to level Darkhold with a flickered of his/her hand… or some other means he was oblivious about.

Casper shook his head and put the matter at the back of his mind.

This will probably be his last chance to break the shackles of his bottleneck, so he couldn't put all his hopes on his son, Seth or Jason’s plan. He would still take care of his end of the deal, but it wouldn't be his priority. The competition for the 108 places would be fierce, and he wasn’t confident in beating the two behemoths nor the rest of the runner-ups, at least not for the moment.

Which left him with only a few options.