City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

‘It seemed like you had already planned for everything,’ he finally said, after nearly a minute of silence.

‘What do I have to do?’ he asked directly, with the voice filled with hope.

This plan is the best we have. It gives me great joy to know that we are among the few in the world who can achieve it.

“Commit this method to memory, which you will use concurrently with the spell,” I replied and informed him of the method.

The method is a set of comprehensive instructions that he must follow at every step, as well as the way he should react to uncertainties that might arise.

Serathine’s Kiss is a very complex poison. Crafting is even more intricate than crafting alchfire.

It is why it makes me feel quite proud that my people and city are among the few individuals in the world who can do something about it. Though it will not be easy, and there is even a chance that we might fail utterly.

‘Ok, I understand it. When can we start?’ he asked after a few minutes. ‘We can start immediately, if you are rested enough,’ I replied, and he laughed if I said something funny.

‘I am imprisoned in my own body, Lord Silver. What is it here that could make me tired?,’ he asked back.

‘Then we will start immediately,’ I replied and pulled back my aura strings. My job was done; now everything will depend on him and Caena.

“What did he say?” asked Caena. “He is ready, we can begin immediately,” I replied, before getting out of the spell circle.

In the new design of the legacy, the ritual room is much bigger. It will actually be a hall made from a material that aligns with witchcraft.

Caena closed her eyes, and I felt the change from her.

The next moment, the whole spell began to burn in a purple fire. The spell consumes all the expensive resources. Materializing the power that raised all the hair on my body.

Caena is gaining power, and I am not referring to her levels, but rather the knowledge of the craft that is most important to the witches.

The tome of her family is helping her bridge the gap in her knowledge and enhance it.

It is why I looked in on her several times a day. Especially during her study hours, when Bell is usually with her. It’s too dangerous to study that tome while alone.

The mist around them begins to move and enter the fire, causing it to burn brightly before it starts moving toward Sir Schengen.

Within seconds, it covered him entirely before it started to seep inside him.

It is hard to see it happening from the outside, but it is happening in my legacy. I could sense it.

It continued for a few minutes before coming to a stop. Nearly half of the fire had seeped inside him, while the other half covered his whole body.

A minute passed, and another, and another, nothing happened, when suddenly a massive amount of mist began to enter the fire so much that a swirl of it had formed over it.

I watched it, and it consumed a massive amount of essence that I could have sold for a large amount of money.

It continued for over a minute when things changed.

A green crystalline drop came floating out of the fire. It is tiny — smaller than even a drop of water — but it contains dangerous power within.

This is Serathine’s Kiss—one of the most dangerous poisons in the world.

A minute passed, and another drop came, and a minute later, another drop. These drops floated in the air and not uselessly; the power of the spell is covering them, using them to extract more.

Over twenty minutes passed, and when the drops began to pick up speed.

It now takes them less than a minute and is getting faster. Every drop is coming out at least a second sooner than the one before, and it lasted for half an hour before it sharply slowed down.

“We have extracted 75% of it,” informed Caena. “We are doing well,” I replied.

“We are, but the real challenge starts now,” said Bell, and I couldn’t help but agree with her.

We need to extract at least 95% percent of Serathine’s Kiss; at that level, he could bring his aura out. At 97% extraction, he would regain his senses, and at 99% extraction, he would regain his motor functions.

People didn’t fear Serathine’s Kiss for nothing. It is a genuinely terrifying poison.

It took two and a half minutes before another drop came, and slightly longer for another one after that.

An hour passed, and then another. Extraction had slowed considerably, but it was still happening, and I began to sense things from the body.

Earlier, I could only feel Serathine’s Kiss from him, but now, I could feel his aura, which is waging war against the poison inside him.

To push it out of his body.

“90% extracted,” stated Caena. Now that we are close to our target, we need to extract at least 95% of it, or it would all be for nothing.

More essence entered the spell, and this time, not from the mist, but from the harvester planet itself. It had become difficult enough that mist is no longer enough; it needs a pure emotional essence.

The fire burned brightly, but the extraction didn’t become faster. It had started to slow down even further.

Nobody is surprised; we have extracted poison easily. Now, we are moving to the poison that bonded with the body; that one is tough.

Most experts on the continent couldn’t come this far with the extraction.

“91%,” she informed after some time. “92%,” “93%,” “94%,” she informed. Now, 1% more, and he will be able to bring his aura out.

“Best of luck,” said Bell and walked out of the room.

At 95%, he will be able to bring out his aura from his body. So, it’s not wise for her to stay here.

Bell would be able to stop his aura, but it would reveal her expertise. We do not want to reveal her aura mastery to anyone whom we do not absolutely trust, and absolutely not her identity.

We are also taking ample precautions with Caena.

She had transformed her face, enveloped in a thick mist that made it difficult to see anything beyond her silhouette. She is standing here as the Grand Witch, not the Madam of Velvet Garden.

“95%,” she said, finally and immediately, a powerful aura burst out into the room.

It is like a shout filled with immense power. It suppressed me immediately, nearly made my knees shake, before I brought out my own aura to protect myself.

I had sensed it was powerful earlier, but not this powerful. Stone and I shared a look.

We are not his match; there is one person in Greltheaven who is; two, if we count Irgal.

“My apologies, Sir Schengen, but you will have to keep your aura contained in the room. We do not want others to know you are here,” I said to him.

His aura is contained within the room; we have already taken ample precautions.

We wouldn’t want people to know we have such a powerful individual. I am quite surprised. The crown prince hadn’t been able to discover that we had ransomed him.

I had prepared a plan to deal with the hell he would raise about it.

I had paid Thalewin extra to keep the news secret and spread the fake rumor of his death.

He will have a new identity here, because if the prince found out he is here, there would be trouble, and I don’t want to deal with that yet.

The aura calmed down, but I could see it moving around the room.

Touching each person, or rather Stone and me, there is a powerful field around Caena that even that old man will have a problem breaking through.

“We have extracted 95% of the Seranthine’s Kiss and now we are going to try for more. So, please, focus your aura on that,” I said. ‘Ok,’ he replied.

His senses are still sealed, but his control over the aura is good enough that he senses when and what we are speaking.

To communicate, he just used his telepathic skill.

So, we begin again, and this time, things are even more difficult, and thus, we are going to use the most potent fuel we have to—true Essence of the legacy.

Not mine, but the one I had extracted from the emporium.

The spell exploded in power as true essence began to power it. The fire blazed wildly and moved to extract the Serathine’s Kiss.

Even with the power of true essence and the push from Sir Schengen, it is resisting hard.

It took minutes before the drop came out, and then another and another. Each drop came out after minutes of break, which became longer and longer with every drop.

“96%,” she said, and continued with the extraction, which is getting slower, but still happening.

We didn’t expect to go beyond 96, but here we are doing it not only because of our spell, but also because of his efforts.

“97%,” she said, and I felt the change in him and his aura. His senses have returned; he can now feel touch, smell, and hear things.

I could have said he could see and taste, but the bastard had cut his tongue and notched out his eyes.

The extraction is still continuing, and both of them are pushing Serathine’s Kiss hard. They want to extract it as much as possible.

“98%,” she said, and he finally moved, faintly.

It surprised me; it should have happened at 99%. Maybe it is because of his level? Or a particular skill he has, or something else.

It is hard to say.

He gained some of his motor functions. He is moving his body and his neck. If he had limbs, he would have been able to get up, but he couldn’t.

Though the next moment, he did not with limbs, but with aura.

“Sir Knight, focus on extraction,” reminded Caena. “My apologies, Grand Witch,” he replied, speaking without a tongue; once more with aura.

I felt envious for a moment; I do not have that kind of control. I could make sounds, but couldn’t speak. Much less so well as he did.

The next moment, he focused on extraction with even more enthusiasm than before.

Still, they had an immense challenge in front of them. The extraction had slowed down immensely, but both of them are trying, pushing drop after drop.

“99%,” she said, and his movements were not faint anymore. He could move his neck, control his eyelids, and every other part of his body that had not been cut apart.

Anticipation built in my heart, but a minute later, the spell deactivated.

“The last percent, it couldn’t be removed,” she said. It is said that the last percent couldn’t be removed by anyone other than the person afflicted with it.

It became part of them, and only they could remove it.

Now he has complete control over his body; there is no restriction or resistance other than one.

Regeneration.

He could not regenerate any limbs or body parts until the last 1% is extracted. Healing of normal injuries would not face any problem, but regeneration would.

Meaning, he will remain in this state until he extracts it.

“My apologies, Sir Schengen. The last percent, we could not extract it.” I apologised.

“You do not have to apologise, Lord Silver. You have done more for me than I had dreamed about,” he replied, getting up and floating in front of me.

He is smiling, his face filled with joy as he moves around before stopping in front of Caena.

“I will remember this favour, Great Witch.” He said and bowed. Even in this state, his bow was smooth and graceful.

“I may not have my limbs, but this old man is still capable. If there is anything you want, I will try to fulfil it to the best of my abilities,” he stated.

“You do not owe me anything, Sir Knight. Lord Silver had already paid me for this service,” she replied and walked out of the room, leaving only three of us behind.

He watched her before turning to me.

“You have done me a great favour, Lord Silver, but I have another one to ask.”

“I hope you will provide me with armor. I do not want an enchanted set, even a common one will do,” he requested, and a smile appeared on my face.

He is a Knight; armor is a part of his class.

“Oh, I have prepared a good armor. I hope you will like it.” I replied, and the armor appeared in the room.

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