“…How is it going?”
After a whole day of experiments, Julius glanced at Helos with furrowed brows and asked softly.
The candlelight flickered on her silver eyelashes, reflecting the fatigue and confusion in her eyes.
Helos took a deep breath, her gaze drifting back and forth over the lab table—the potion in the glass bottle before her had turned a clear pale green, completely different from the initially cloudy failed batch.
Scab.
At the other end of the workbench, the bound mouse had grown pale and ashen, as if it had been completely drained, but the small wound on its leg had indeed started to scab over.
“The effect isn’t that strong, but it’s definitely there.”
She murmured, her fingertips tapping lightly on the table. “It’s just…”
She closed her eyes, her consciousness sinking into the 《Ultimate Alchemy》 stored in her mind.
That emerald Lifeforce Crest still remained dull and lifeless, showing no sign of unlocking.
“Could it be that the dosage isn’t enough?”
Helos suddenly opened her eyes, a flicker of impatience flashing in her pale violet pupils.
Her gaze swept toward the pile of failed samples in the corner. “Did I miss some crucial step?”
Julius looked at Helos and instinctively scratched the back of his head; his short black hair swayed slightly in the candlelight.
“Ei…”
His voice was softer than usual, as if afraid to disturb the girl’s thoughts. “After all, we can only try bit by bit.”
The boy stepped up to the workbench, his fingers lightly brushing over the neatly arranged herbs.
“Don’t rush,”
He turned to Helos, a reassuring smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “We still have plenty of materials. Let’s keep experimenting.”
His eyes swept over the pile of failures in the corner; a trace of determination glimmered in his black pupils.
“I feel like we’re not far from success.”
Helos sighed deeply; her silver hair fell across the lab table.
She massaged her aching wrist and picked up the mortar again, crushing fresh Bleeding Vine leaves.
“One more time…”
She whispered, a stubborn gleam flickering in her pale violet eyes.
Julius stood beside her, the cuffs of his black uniform stained with traces of potion.
He skillfully snipped the roots of Silver Dew Grass and focused intently on helping her mix the potion.
Neither of them noticed—
Not far outside the window, a jet-black crow tilted its head, its blood-red eyes staring intently at the movements inside the workshop.
“How is it?”
***
Kyle leaned against the inn’s window, looking at Selina’s furrowed brow and couldn’t help but ask, “Has your little Summoned Familiar discovered anything?”
“Uh.”
Selina’s pale gray eyelashes trembled slightly.
She fell silent for a moment before slowly speaking.
“It did find her alchemy workshop…”
Her voice was lower than usual, as if suppressing some emotion.
“But my familiar can’t get close.”
She paused, her light gray pupils contracting slightly. “Whenever it approaches, the connection between us breaks off mysteriously.”
Kyle raised an eyebrow.
“Breaks off?”
“Mm,”
Selina nodded. “It’s like being forcibly cut off by some kind of power.”
She narrowed her eyes, her gaze seemingly piercing through the distance and resting on the silver-haired girl.
“From this distance, it looks like the two of them have been mixing a bunch of potions and experimenting on a mouse.”
Kyle rubbed his chin, thoughtful.
“What kind of potions?”
Selina was silent for a moment, as if carefully sensing the vague images the familiar sent back.
“They’re not like the ones circulating outside…”
She murmured, “But somehow different?”
“If we want to observe further, we have to find a way to get closer.”
The gray-haired girl stood up and paced back and forth inside the inn.
Finally, as if making up her mind, she stopped in front of Kyle.
“I have to infiltrate the Duke’s mansion myself.”
Her voice left no room for argument. “You’ll be the one to back me up outside.”
“If all goes well, I’ll have the key clues before dawn.”
“Isn’t that a little dangerous?”
Kyle looked at the girl before him, whose eyes burned with unwavering resolve, and hesitated for a moment before asking.
“It’s fine, as long as Eisende doesn’t intervene personally, I can still escape.”
Selina took a deep breath and waved at him.
“Wait for good news from me!”
***
The next evening, dusk deepening.
Selina stood in the shadow by the outer wall of the Duke’s mansion; her gray-white hair fluttered softly in the night breeze.
She tilted her head back to gaze at the towering walls, her light gray pupils contracting slightly under the moonlight.
“Now’s the time…”
She muttered softly, fingertips brushing the hidden pouch at her waist, confirming the life-saving items inside were intact.
Taking a deep breath, Selina’s figure suddenly blurred, as if dissolving into the night itself.
Her cloak moved without a breeze, the edges shimmering faintly with a sinister dark purple glow, completely masking her presence.
The next moment, her form became a shadow, silently climbing the wall like a ghost and slipping into the Duke’s mansion.
The dusk-shrouded Duke Olivias’ mansion was less a fortress and more a lax estate.
The Alarm Spell Formation on the walls existed, but for Selina, bypassing them was no challenge.
The patrolling guards, though punctual, often slacked off at garden corners, sneaking puffs of smoke.
Most of the alert formations were concentrated around the mansion’s center and east side.
As for the dilapidated workshop on the west side?
Not a single decent guard was posted.
The closest guards to the workshop were just two listless men; one was dozing against a tree trunk, the other idly counting stars.
But none of them were near the workshop itself—they all stayed in the nearby courtyard.
Selina lightly vaulted over the wall, landing without disturbing a single fallen leaf.
She swept across the courtyard like the wind, her black cloak almost enveloping her entire body.
The girl smiled faintly as she gazed at the solitary little cabin in the distance.
Passing the guards, she deliberately slowed her pace and waved a hand teasingly before one’s eyes.
In the corner.
The guard rubbed his eyes groggily.
“Did something just move…?”
But when he focused, the yard was bathed only in moonlight and swaying shadows.
Selina was already standing before the workshop door.
The lock on the door was rusted and spotted; the moment her fingertips touched the wooden panel, she felt it loosen slightly.
She raised an eyebrow and pushed lightly—
“Squeak—”
The door hinge emitted a faint creak, revealing a narrow gap.
“This is too easy…”
She silently curled her lips, her voice as soft as the rustling of leaves in the night breeze.
Her pale gray lashes trembled, casting a shadow under the moonlight.
Selina’s figure flickered and slipped inside like mist dissolving into the night.
Inside the workshop, candlelight flickered.
Helos stood with her back to the door, the silver tips of her hair swaying gently as she ground herbs.
Various bottles and jars were scattered across the workbench.
A mouse in a cage leisurely nibbled on a small piece of bread.
Now, only that silver-haired girl was here.
Selina’s form completely blended into the darkest corner’s shadow; her gaze, sharp as a hawk’s, swept inch by inch over every detail in the workshop.
Her light gray hair floated faintly in the darkness, ghost-like and silent.
“Let me see… just what exactly are you up to…”