Epic Of The Demonic Sage

Lucius looked at the information that had appeared and thought for a bit before using more Aether.

Gift Name: Muscle Strengthening

Description: The user can strengthen the power of their muscles, which allows them to exert greater force. Aether will be used for the entire duration that the gift is active.

Rank: Rare

Type: Physical 

Evolution: Possible

Evolution Requirements: 80x Aether Crystals, 2x Frenzy Ape Rune Crystal, 200 liters of Mixed beast blood.

Lucius narrowed his eyes upon seeing the requirements of evolution for Muscle strengthening. While he could understand the need for Aether Crystals and the rune beast crystal, he had not expected the third requirement to be there.

'Mixed beast blood? So it needs a different kind of a secondary material, unlike Kiana who needed Trivonite ore. But beast blood… this seems rather peculiar.' Lucius thought.

He tried to relate the changes that occurred in Kiana's gift after upgrading the gift and recalled them.

'Her projectiles changed from stone to metal and were now able to inflict the petrification as well. These properties were taken from the Trivonite ore and the rock bees, respectively.

If I compare the same in the case of Muscle Strengthening, then one of the materials should provide a qualitative change to the gift while the other one should add an additional effect to the gift.

Hmm… I'll need to search up the gift that this Frenzy Ape has to see what kind of an effect it would add. As for the beast blood… that seems a bit hard to estimate at this point.' Lucius thought to himself.

Lucius had been thinking about gifts and their evolution a lot and wondered if there was a way for him to predict what they would evolve into. Even if he was unable to find the name of the gift, he reckoned as long as he knew the potential changes, he might be able to narrow down the candidates.

Then once he cross referenced them with the books in the library, he might even be able to devise a more concrete method of predicting what kind of a gift a person would get after upgrading.

While he was thinking all this, another idea popped into his mind.

'Let's see how Hell Aether holds up this time, I got plenty of aether left right now since I already had the information about Gellor's gift.' Lucius thought before using Hell Aether.

~thud~

The moment he used it though, Gellor flinched and lunged to the side. His face seemed to be that of alarm, and his fists were clenched. He immediately entered a defensive stance and seemed ready to attack.

"Gellor!" Barty said out loud upon seeing his leader's action.

Lucius also narrowed his eyes with interest in seeing Gellor's reaction.

'Did he sense something?' Lucius wondered.

Gellor who now snapped out of the momentary state of alarm, looked at his teammates who had anxious expressions and then at Asher. The guards that were in the corridor were also staring at him and their weapons were pointed at him too, as if ready to act at any moment.

While this was all happening, Lucius took the opportunity to gaze through the additional information that had appeared.

Other Owners: Tommy Norris, Woody Riley, Tristram Harding… (Total Owners: 3598)

~gulp~

"Forgive me, Young Lord Asher!" Gellor hurriedly apologized.

What he had just done right now could easily be mistaken for trying to threaten the Young Lord's life and could become very problematic. Gellor understood the implications of this and knew it was best if he rectified it as soon as possible.

"Is there something wrong?" Lucius asked after quickly wiping away the information in front of him.

"No, nothing. I just… I don't know why I acted like that." Gellor replied, unable to understand the reason himself.

Lucius though, felt interested in it and felt like he needed to get more out of this man. 

'If it happened because of Hell Aether, then I may need to be a bit more careful when using it. And if it really is Hell Aether that caused him to react like this then I need to know why the servant did not feel anything. What would be the requirement for them to act like this?' Lucius thought to himself.

"Please, speak frankly. I can see the alarm on your face. Something must have caused you to act like this." Lucius said, trying to persuade the man to speak.

"Yeah, tell us Gellor. What spooked you? We've fought together many times and you've seldom had that kind of an expression." Barty said with concern.

"I… ~sigh~" Gellor sighed and shook his head. "I felt danger… an intense feeling of danger." He stated.

"Danger? What kind of danger would be here?" Albus wondered.

"I don't know either. That's why I'm confused too. This doesn't make sense." Gellor replied.

"Maybe you're just stressed from the entire Finch situation. Having a good's night rest should be a good solution for it." Lucius said in a calm tone, having gotten his answer.

"YES! That must be it, Gellor. We've been running around for over a week now, trying to get help for Finch. You were the most worried among us. No wonder you're acting like this. Your nerves are stretched too far." Barty assured.

Gellor thought over it and nodded his head.

"Perhaps Young Lord Asher is indeed right. I need to rest for a bit." Gellor replied.

"Don't worry and go rest now. If needed, you can delay your departure by a day or two." Lucius added.

"No, no, we'll be able to handle it on time, as agreed, young Lord Asher. I'll be fine by tomorrow." Gellor said, trying to placate the young Lord even though he didn't need it.

Gellor was sure that Asher was displeased by his actions but was not showing it on his face due to his image. But he knew better than to just take the young lord's words at face value and saw the underlying meaning. 

While this was what Gellor thought, Lucius was not thinking like this at all.