Born in Blood

532 Pandemoniumania

For the next few minutes, Liam went on a tangent of explaining, with perfect clarity, the details of the Search and Rescue. He didn’t add anything, nor did he play himself short. There was a slight chance that Bill could find out whether or not he was lying, but Liam honestly didn’t care enough to take the risk. It was a perfect arrangement that worked in his favor. Why ruin it?

After the explanations were done with, Bill gave Liam a shocked look. “You did all that in under two months?” Liam raised a brow. “It’s been two months?”

“And you weren’t even aware of it!” Bill slapped his knee and laughed. “Ah, my friend. I knew it was a good idea to bring you here.”

Liam genuinely didn’t realize the shift in time. Perhaps he was enjoying himself a little too much. Then, Bill’s lax demeanor grew serious. “This is a major blow to AG.” “You’ve just killed two of their most prized agents… the Hypnotwins.” Liam raised a brow and suppressed a laugh. ‘What a lame moniker.’

“There’s going to be repercussions,” Bill said gravely. “Once news of this travels back to AG, they’ll want to take revenge…perhaps with twice the lethality and force.”

“They’ll send someone over to investigate and ask questions. When that happens, they’ll figure out who did it.”

Liam hummed to himself. “Why didn’t you tell me to wear a disguise?”

It was a preventable blunder, Liam realized. If he didn’t reveal his humanoid form, he didn’t have to be under any scrutiny.

“No,” Bill said, shaking his head. “Even if you didn’t, they’d know. Although the ocean may seem primitive, it certainly is not.”

“Not sure if you’re aware, but the first inscription master in the known history of cultivation was an Oceanor!” Liam’s eyes widened slightly. He must have missed that part in history class. Before he could ask, Bill changed the topic.

“Regarding Aquamarine Global’s response, we still have time until we deal with those peculiarities. I’ll clue you in if anything urgent comes up.” Bill’s demeanor had taken a complete 180. From a seaweed smoking numbskull to an eloquent professional strictly speaking business. “For now,” Bill continued, “tell me what you’d like as a reward.” “Do I get a bonus for completing it four months earlier than normal?” Liam asked.

“No,” Bill said, laughing at the sly attempt to reap in an extra reward.

‘Cheapskate.’

“Tell me about what you can provide,” Liam asked. “Well…it’d be faster to just say what you’re looking for, but I suppose this works.”

“As mentioned before, I can point you to habitats used by individuals looking to explore unique Qualities.”

“I’d warn you now, though, most of them are heavily controlled and require a regular fee to enter, and they charge hourly…while the few that don’t have some sort of deadly threat in them no one bothered to, or couldn’t, neutralize.” ‘I hate capitalism,’ Liam cursed inwardly. ‘What happened to anarchy and raging against the system?’

“Of course, the comprehension of Qualities are not restricted just to habitats. Even fighting against a certain foe with specific Qualities could give you insight into them.”

Liam raised a brow. That sounded perfect—killing and attaining knowledge at the same time. Two birds with one stone.

It also sounded quite similar to what he did with Davy and…well, the Hypnotwins. Although Liam didn’t understand anything specifically, he figured that their Path had something to do with Manifestation and Camouflage. “On the other hand,” Bill continued, “I can link you up with a person of your interest. Be it an inscription master, forgemaster, or otherwise.”

“Other than that, there are natural resources I can offer you…1 kilo of a Rank 5 item, for example.” That sounded…okay. Rank 5 materials weren’t cheap, and past a certain point, most cultivators didn’t even sell them. Even those that did, often traded for something rather than ask for a sum of wealth. Wealth didn’t matter after becoming a Zenith, after all.

But that wasn’t Liam’s main cause of concern. He had already made an oath to himself to invent a Path unique to him…even if that meant twisting his arm and taking the long road. “That’s the gist of my services to you,” Bill said with a terse smile. “Of course, if you’d done an even better job, perhaps there’d be more for me to offer.”

Of course, Liam did the best he possibly could. Bill was just pulling his leg, and subtly nudging Liam to accept another job. “I want to know where I can understand the Chaos Quality,” Liam said after a short pause. “Whether it’d be by magical location, fighting an individual, or otherwise.” That’s what Liam decided to settle on. After all, most of his power stemmed from this one little Quality.

Chaos.

And it would be foolish not to give it precedence over the rest. It wasn’t to say that he was neglecting the other Aspects, of course. Starting with Chaos was part of a grander goal, which would help him understand his Pearl, and why it was capable of claiming other powers as its own.

‘In the first place, Chaos is the name I gave it,’ Liam thought. Its real name was Primordial Essence!

Perhaps learning about the Qualities of Chaos, Liam would better understand its ‘true purpose’, if it had any. “The Chaos Quality is actually not that sought after by cultivators,” Bill confessed, then reclined on his chair with a pensive expression. “Why?” Liam asked, genuinely curious. “More often than not, it causes one to go insane and berserk,” Bill explained, scratching his chin pensively. “Only those disciplined and hardened enough to work with it could tame its bewildering effects.”

Insanity?

‘Sign me up!’ Liam thought. “It’s also extremely difficult to get a solid grasp of,” Bill added, “as opposed to simpler Concepts like Control and Manipulation, like I’m familiar with.” That made sense…but the case with Liam was vastly different. After all, he spent most of his life practicing, fighting, and killing with his chaos. He was a force of chaos, himself.

“I can handle it,” Liam reassured with a wave of his hand. “Alright…” Bill said with a subtle smirk. “There’s a Quadrant by the name of Pandemoniumania.”