It was a clear and sunny day, the students were in class or enjoying quality time in the spacious and beautiful campus.

In a popular open veranda, adjacent to the academy’s cafeteria, Arthur, disguised as Khalil, walked to a table near the fence and sat across from a black-haired youth.

Nader Coach, a Third-year student and a high-ranking member of the Unholy Blasphemers, had his legs crossed and his hand resting on his thigh. He was enjoying the summer breeze and the peaceful view until the parasite arrived.

A smile appeared on his face, which was triangular and neither too ugly nor too handsome. His coal-like black eyes focused on Arthur as he opened his mouth,

“Good morning. I’ve received your notice and I am glad that you are willing to talk.”

He scrutinized the solemn Arthur before commenting, “I expected you to choose a more ‘quiet’ place, but I suppose this is as good of a place as any. It’s totally understandable that you want us to be in a public place, but I’ll still say it again; You have nothing to fear from me. I will not provoke, antagonize, trick, or lie to you.”

His eyes let out a mysterious black light, which spread around them and formed a sphere, which quickly turned invisible.

“As we will be talking about sensitive topics, I had to place a minor illusion spell to fool any curious mice. It’s a precaution. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t.”

“Excellent. Before you ask anything, how about I start with the expository monologue?”

When Arthur nodded and leaned back, Nader cleared his throat and began,

“Seeing as you’ve met Jonathan and Verno, I’m assuming you know about the three groups of spies. Three members of the Sun Alchemists, Eight from the Brutal Prince Order, and me from the Unholy Blasphemers. Verno’s little group has been reduced to three thanks to Jan. Up until recently, things have been relatively quiet and each group minded their own business. Jonathan and Verno were after the Alchemy Scripture while I was devising a plan to catch Julian alive.”

“You knew he was working with Verno, right?” Questioned Arthur as he tried to read beyond Nader’s unchanging smile.

“Naturally. You possessed him, so you should know he’s capable of switching his appearance. However, even that was a cover-up. From my organization's standpoint, he’s just a traitor and even someone lower-ranked than I am would have been enough to catch him, but I still took the job. Do you know why?”

Arthur shook his head, but Nader chuckled and explained,

“Julian, otherwise known as, Zrayx Julian Parlon, is what we call a shapeshifter. So is all of his family, in fact. Put simply, I was ‘hired’ by his family to catch him alive and instructed by my organization to eliminate him. Since the Parlon Family promised a handsome reward, I was more inclined to listen to them. After all, by taking him home, I will also be getting rid of him, thus killing two birds with one stone. Alas, now that you’ve killed him, only the first option remains.”

Seeing slight confusion written on the parasite’s face, Nader leaned forward and continued,

“Zrayx Julian Parlon is quite elusive, but not from parasites. Shapeshifters are a peculiar race and one of a handful that are ‘useless’ to us. Meaning, we cannot imitate their abilities, not due to limitations but slight similarities between us and them. Think of it like this; Shapeshifters are like a degraded, restricted, and weaker version of Parasites, hence possessing them will lead to nothing. Anyway, I will not be able to bring a living Julian to his disheartened family, but that shouldn’t be a problem for you or me.”

“How did I know I possessed him?”

“Know? I didn’t. It was a hunch at first, after all, I wasn’t keeping a close eye on him. I’m not entirely sure about this, but he wanted to get the Alchemy Scripture to please Verno and officially join the Brutal Prince Order, thus ensuring its protection and rendering his family unable to reach him. Personally, I think he severely underestimated his family’s capabilities. The Parlon Household might be small and not that influential, but it is composed of the finest shapeshifters. Here’s a little pro-bono secret; The wife of Duke Frostrune is actually a shapeshifter.”

Arthur kept listening with an expressionless face, finding the revelation not that surprising or interesting. The Frostrune Duchy was situated far north, and with his recent ‘confrontation’ with Solas Frostrune, he wasn’t going to charge into their territory anytime soon.

“If your objective was Julian and you weren’t focusing on him, then what are you exactly doing here? Are you after the scripture too?”

Upon hearing this, Nader let out a self-mocking laugh and took out an unremarkable brown-leather book.

“I was stupid enough to believe in all that hocus pocus.” He pushed the book toward Arthur and patiently waited for him to check it out.

Although half-confused and half-surprised, Arthur inspected the exterior of the book before looking at its content, soon finding himself dizzy from all the unfamiliar and clustered blue runes and symbols.

His insufficient knowledge about alchemy made it difficult to determine the authenticity of the book. He couldn’t tell if it was about alchemy or something else as there were explicit designs of large structures.

“In case you’re wondering, this is the so-called ‘Alchemy Scripture’. I stole it not long after my arrival here. And what do you know? It’s actually a Black Magic grimoire! The Principal was lying all along.”

“Lied? So there was never an Alchemy Scripture?”

“Most likely not. I should have known from the beginning, but I indulged my morbid curiosity and succumbed to folly. Alternatively, there could be an Alchemy Scripture, but it would be closely and personally guarded by either the Principal or the Dean. My guess is that the ‘rumor’ was a way to lure those interested, but I’ve yet to figure out why.”

Arthur kept flipping through the pages, but there was nothing but rituals, material names, circular magical runes, and illustrations of statues, weapons, and creepy structures.

It really did seem to be about Black Magic, which made this whole thing all the more perplexing.

“Why are you telling me this secret? Wouldn't it have been a good bargaining ship?”

“Bargaining for what? And with whom? I just thought you might also be after the Alchemy Scripture. From your reaction, I now know I was wrong.”

He paused and subtly motioned toward the large elven building to their West: The Administrative Bureau Building, which housed the library and the Vault.

“My second guess is you want to infiltrate the Alchemy laboratory. There are a number of enticing and possessable corpses in there, but it had become more fortified than ever right when ‘Khalil’ showed up. From that, I concluded they wanted to protect something from someone, and since the only ‘rare’ thing hidden there are the experimental bodies, that led me to start suspecting the presence of a Parasite. There were also the lingering traces of fighting found all over the Blue Blossom Forest, the letter I got from the old janitor, and Jonathan’s outburst about my supposed ‘theft’. It was a combination of strange events, too successive and targeted toward all the spies. Last not but least, I am a parasite, and seeing a familiar pattern did make me more and more confident about my initial guess. Is there something more you’d like to know regarding your discovered identity?”

Arthur put down the book on the table and shook his head. He looked disgruntled and annoyed that, despite his meticulousness, he was still discovered.

“Melissa found out about me almost immediately. How?”

Nader smile slowly disappeared as he answered, “She knows? That’s troubling. The System. As you know, Astria is in the X-TR500 ‘universe’, which makes it easier for the System to find candidates and grant them its assistance. Melissa Crimson is what we call a ‘Player’, someone who has access to the System and can use ‘skills’. If she saw through you so quickly, then she must have an ability that can identify targets regardless of the camouflaging ability used. You have to be extremely… extremely careful of the Players. They are few in number, fewer than even us, but they sure are outrageously strong. They are linked to the System, and nothing good ever comes out of that.”

“Then how come she doesn’t know about you?”

Nader let out a relieved sigh and pulled his sleeves, revealing dark green slightly transparent tattoos.

“This host, specifically, has been enchanted multiple times, which makes it harder for Detection Spells to see through it. Furthermore, I’m an Abyssal Ghost Parasite, so I’m particularly good at masquerading. The real reason, I'd wager, is that Melissa didn't directly 'analyze' me. I'm sure she and the Principal know about all the spies, but they are refusing to act.”

Arthur creased his brows and inspected the tattoos before directing back his gaze to Nader’s face. The youth seemed worried, even a little restless after hearing about Melissa.

“Why are you so wary of the System?”

“It’s a vast network of information. Much like the rest of the world, It doesn’t like our kind either. It can incentivize and encourage players to hunt Parasite in exchange for priceless rewards. So, while it can’t directly come after us, it is still deadly. Then again, it’s not like it has absolute control over the Players. Melissa Crimson didn’t attack you, which means you two must’ve reached an agreement. Whatever it is, I strongly suggest you do not stick with it.”