Chapter 35: The Hourbound Grove Training Ground

Sebastian was dressed to the nines in showoff style—a pink-toned shirt under a white suit, looking like some fashionista long resident in Europe or America, without a scrap of Commonwealth air about him. He watched Nathan with a smile, like an old cat toying with a mouse.

Before Nathan could get a word out, he launched right in: "I'd noticed it too—there was a problem with how we've been getting along. So I made time to pop back to the Order of the Deathless, and brought a Ironweave Grub back with me."

Nathan's guard shot up, and he thought warily: "No telling what big-shot bloodborn thing this Ironweave Grub is. He went and fetched it specifically to use on me—this thing has to be nastier than the black beetles."

Wren's face changed drastically. "Who did you use the Ironweave Grub on?"

Sebastian shrugged. "A certain lady! Her son goes by Nathan, I believe. You might just know him!"

A thunderclap went off in Nathan's head, and he understood instantly.

The Ironweave Grub wasn't a combat tool—it was a tool for controlling people. Sebastian hadn't fetched it to fight him; he'd planted it in his mom. Nathan said through gritted teeth: "What are you after? Take the Ironweave Grub back right now, or I'll kill you!"

Sebastian roared with laughter, then went grave-cold: "Killing me wouldn't be so easy—and even if you managed it, as the Hex's master, your mother dies when I die, and dies horribly. I've only once seen a Ironweave Grub victim die. That was one of my seniors in the order—he betrayed us, and the high council ordered the hex planted in him. He howled for days on end, clawing the flesh off his own body piece by piece, and still couldn't get a quick death! Would you like to see what a planted victim looks like when the hex poison acts up?"

Nathan's teeth ground till they creaked—but he had no way out.

Sebastian snapped his fingers, smiling. "That's more like it! This is a public place—shouting your head off is terribly rude. Whatever's the matter, can't we all sit down over coffee and discuss it nice and slow?"

He plopped himself down without ceremony, even flagged the café's waiter, and had a cappuccino brought over!

The waiters and customers whose attention the confrontation had drawn, seeing both parties now seated for a "chat," lost interest and stopped staring.

Wren seemed to fear Sebastian deeply. She slid over next to Nathan, quietly clutched the hem of his clothes, her whole body drawn taut, extremely nervous.

Nathan's face was as dark as a total solar eclipse, and he said, voice low: "What exactly do you want?"

Sebastian said, coolly: "I told you last time—I want the Phantomveil Vine. Bring me the Phantomveil Vine, and I'll cure your mother."

Nathan sneered. "Not one word out of you do I trust."

Sebastian spread his hands in a what-can-I-do gesture. "I have never lied to you! Before, I didn't think you were worth lying to; now I have no need to—everything you should or shouldn't know, you already know. That abandoned Between was originally a training ground jointly developed by the Concord and four of the Eighteen Towers, modeled on humanity's online-game template. But everything inside is real—including those bloodborn beasts, those chests, all the relics and dropped Art manuals. Even the currency inside is the Concord's universal currency."

Wren said quietly: "What he says is true! The Hourbound Grove Training Ground's design carried a massive hidden flaw. During one large-scale battle, someone accidentally detonated the void turbulence, and quite a few human magi and bloodborn died. After inspecting, the Concord and its partners found the training ground riddled everywhere with void fissures—no material could withstand a void fissure's cutting. It was beyond repair, so they abandoned the place and severed it from Elderrow. It was originally part of Elderrow."

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Nathan was slightly startled—only now did he learn the abandoned Between's origins.

Sebastian slowly raised his coffee, blew on it, and said, utterly indifferent: "Time to decide now—work with me, or watch your mother die?"

Nathan went dead silent!

That question, in truth, had only one answer!

Sebastian was very patient, sipping his coffee in little mouthfuls, looking not the least bit rushed.

Nathan was like a statue—not a motion, his body even losing its signs of life, sunk into a strange state.

Of the three, the most anxious was actually Wren—but she had no idea how to talk Nathan around. Of course she didn't want Nathan working with Sebastian any further; that was far too dangerous. Yet she had no way to stop it either—because if Nathan refused Sebastian, it meant Nathan's mom had to die, and die in the worst way.

Only after ten-odd minutes did Nathan gradually come back to life, and he asked, flat: "What does the Phantomveil Vine actually look like?"

Sebastian smiled slightly. "The Phantomveil Vine is like a ball of vines packed together, only much bigger. Born straddling life and death, it loves nothing more than swallowing living essence and blood. Wherever it lives, bones pile white and ghost-aether runs cold..." Sebastian very responsibly ran through the Phantomveil Vine's appearance, its properties, its likely attack methods, and every point of caution, giving Nathan at least a concrete picture of the thing.

A bizarre plant like this counted as a bloodborn creature in its own right; if it could awaken spiritual consciousness, it would be a full bloodborn.

Bloodborn creature and bloodborn differ by only a sliver of spiritual consciousness—but that sliver is the difference between night and day.

Only, naturally born bloodborn are extremely rare now; from the Age of Reason on, no bloodborn has ever managed to practice to sentience from an animal or object, so the odds of the Phantomveil Vine becoming one were vanishingly small.

Nathan listened patiently to the end, then said, cold: "The inside is plenty dangerous. The void fissures don't scare me—but I can't handle the tide of bloodborn beasts in there. Even if I go in again, I'd have no way to search out the Phantomveil Vine."

Sebastian laughed heartily. "That abandoned Between was a top-tier training ground, stocked free-range with countless fierce bloodborn beasts. Now it's completely out of control, so of course it's more dangerous. I can supply you with a batch of weapons!"

He produced a string of beads and handed it over with visible reluctance, saying: "Wear this, and at the very least you'll keep your life under most bloodborn beasts' attacks."

Nathan took it, turned it over in his hand for a while, and said, low: "Looks like little thunder-struck rowan seeds to me!"

Sebastian could no longer keep his composure, saying through gritted teeth: "These are Thunder-Struck Rowan Beads! How dare you compare them to a human's collectible prayer bracelet?!"