Chapter 676: New Materials - 676
As the police officers escaped beyond the trees, Skymender knocked one more arrow on his bow.
He aimed it at the Chief of Police. "Next time, don't make the same mistake." He mumbled.
He released the arrow.
It flew far, exceeding one hundred feet, and scratched the Chief of Police's arm.
"I had planned to bury it in his arm, but that works as well."
He did not disturb the Informant, who was laying in his bed, and returned to his house.
The next day, a memorial was held for the police officers who had fallen, including the one from the day before.
The Chief of Police had a bandage visible on his arm as he gave a speech to a crowd of concerned individuals.
"Last night, we attempted to raid a gang hideout. Although we were successful in our goal, it cost us the lives of multiple police officers. For this, I sincerely apologize. I should have never taken them without absolute certainty that there would be no deaths."
After he spoke a bit more, and a few more people spoke, the memorial ended. The entire time, the name of Skygod or the mention of assassination did not occur.
Neither was the Informant mentioned. That night, Skymender entered a house through a window.
The Chief of Police was there, waiting for him.
He turned around and looked at Skymender, any arrogance he previously had gone.
"So, I suppose you still want to work together." Skymender said.
The Chief of Police nodded. "How much for assassination insurance for the entire police force."
Skymender smiled a little beneath the mask. "Now we're talking."
He and the Chief of Police had a fairly long conversation, lasting around thirty minutes.
They came to many agreements about future cooperations.
The Chief of Police indeed felt a bit of hatred and anger at Skymender for killing the officers, but instead of pointlessly seeking out revenge, and most likely getting more killed, he decided to make sure that no more would die, even if he had to sacrifice revenge.
For the first time, Skymender realized that the Chief of Police was actually an intelligent individual. Not many could stand accepting defeat in a way that allowed them to gain the most, even at the cost of their pride.
Skymender eventually left. Now, he had the absolute upper hand in all negotiations and deals.
With everything now settled, he decided that it was finally time to purchase the classified materials he now had access to. He had narrowed what he wanted to use first down to three choices. One was a plant that he hoped could be used to enhance his corrosion poison even further.
Another should be able to enhance the mist poison even further.
The final one would not be used in the process of creating a poison, but was known as a neutralizer for a vast amount of poisons. With that one, he had a special plan, one he would need to go to the Imperial Capital for.
Otherwise, it was far too risky.
Skymender made the order, and sent it through the mail. This would naturally be a highly secure and even classified process, as it involved the purchase and transportation of classified materials.
Skymender waited around a month before he finally received the materials he ordered. He had ordered more than one of each, besides the last one. The last material alone cost more than the amount he had spent to purchase multiple of the first material.
Skymender placed all of them in high quality storage containers and got to work.
He first started with using the first material to enhance his corrosion poison. After a few attempts, he finally felt as if he had succeeded. There was only one way to find out. He threw it at the wall of his lab, which he had purchased a while ago, and put his hand on the dripping poison.
It began to corrode his hand immediately.
It felt just as bad as the first time he had done it long ago, which caused Skymender to nearly smile. The pain was bad, but his resistance to pain was beyond human at this point.
Even with the resistance he had built up to the corrosive poison, especially in his hand, he was still harmed just as badly as he had been the first time he had ever put his hand on the corrosion poison.
Once his hand healed, he could repeat the process. It was a bit dangerous, considering he was an assassin and using both of his hands was important, but he would survive.
After around two weeks, when he could hold his second hand steady again, he began to attempt to increase the potency of his mist poison. He was even more excited for this one, as the mist poison was his original poison, the first he ever created.
On his second attempt, he got a whiff of the finished project and smiled. His throat was closing in and a bit of blood seeped from his nose. However, he had essentially built up an immunity before, which meant that it would be unable to kill him unless he was able to increase the potency by at least five times.
He barely had a two times increase in potency after finishing up. It was incredible, but could not harm him.
Building up an immunity to the mist poison was far easier than doing so for the corrosion poison. As he spent another two weeks planning a trip to the Imperial Capital, he built up a near immunity to the improved mist poison.
There was around a month left before the summer ended. He began to make his way to the Imperial Capital once again.
The journey was the standard ten days. He entered through the gates without any trouble at all.
Without stopping, only changing his carriage to a smaller version, he made his way to the Imperial Palace.
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Scholar received word that Skymender had entered the city.
"What are you doing here?" He asked himself.
Chapter 677: Icy Heart Success - 677
Skymender's carriage soon arrived at the gates of the Imperial Palace. This was the first time that he had arrived without some sort of invitation, so before they even searched him, the guards asked what business he had there.
"I'm here to meet the Imperial Scholar." Skymender said.
The guards looked at each other. "You can't just meet the Imperial Scholar whenever you want. You need to have some sort of invitation or appointment scheduled."
"There are exceptions. Just send a message. He will agree."
The guards hesitated for a moment, but since Skymender was a noble, they took his word for it. It wouldn't be good for the guards or Skymender if he bothered the Imperial Scholar for no reason.
Surprisingly quickly, they received a response.
"You may enter after being searched." One of the guards said.
Skymender nodded, and after a brief search, he was allowed to enter. With a guard guiding him, he made his way to the Imperial Scholar's office.
"Here you are." The guard said before leaving.
Skymender knocked on the door and soon heard a voice.
"Come in."
Skymender opened the door and stepped inside. Behind a desk, he saw the familiar face of the Imperial Scholar.
"Hello again, Skymender. What can I do for you?" The Imperial Scholar asked.
Skymender explained quickly. "I want to attempt to create the Icy Heart poison once again, and I need your help to ensure that I don't die."
The Imperial Scholar stared at him for a moment before speaking. "And what makes you think that I will help you?"
"Regardless, I'll attempt it. I'm just seeing if you're willing to help me increase my odds of both success and survival."
The Imperial Scholar really did care about Skymender's survival, but he had no intention to show it.
"What will I get in return?" He asked Skymender.
Skymender thought for a moment. "How about a poison recipe?"
Although he would have never considered trading this before, he had managed to create a much more potent version of the poison he planned to give them.
"What kind of poison?"
"A corrosive poison." Skymender said.
The Imperial Scholar thought about it before nodding.
"You'll have to pay for any materials or medicines I use to help you. I imagine you plan to use that plant you bought to help resist the Icy Heart poison while you make it?" The Imperial Scholar said.
Skymender nodded.
The Imperial Scholar automatically began to assist in the planning for this poison creation.
"I have a recipe to create a medicine using that plant, but you can't have access to it. In the entire Empire, only I and the Emperor can. I can, however, create it for you and give it to you."
Skymender nodded without hesitation.
"Even if it is more effective after it is used in a medicine, it is still very temporary. If the effects of the Icy Heart poison weren't so dangerous, I would recommend only using it after you finish the poison. However, it is risky as I'm not sure how potent that Icy Heart poison is, and if the medicine will have a 100% antidote effect."
Skymender listened intensely.
"Also, if you have to create a hole in your chest, do it a bit farther from last time so that we can change it even more."
"Is there a place here that I can create it?" Skymender asked.
"There is. Go ahead and bring everything you need. Also, take this."
He handed Skymender necklace with some sort of design on it.
Skymender walked out of the Imperial Palace and reached the gates.
The guards looked at him with clear surprise as he walked towards them.
They opened the gate and moved aside without a single word. The necklace did its job. Skymender was able to take a few trips and bring everything inside without a single question from the guards.
He took all of this to a room on a lower level than the ground floor. It was a much more advanced poison room than those at the Imperial Scholar Camp.
Unlike before, Skymender would be able to use his cauldron to create the poison, which should both enhance its effect and increase the possibility of success.
He and the Imperial Scholar spoke about the Icy Heart poison, and Skymender even told him a bit about the recipe itself.
Eventually, someone came into the poison room and handed the Imperial Scholar a vial. Though the Imperial Scholar had created it while Skymender moved his things, it had needed to sit for a while.
"Here it is. Whenever you're ready, I am." The Imperial Scholar said.
Skymender nodded.
After a moment, the Imperial Scholar left the room, and Skymender began. He got to the point where he had been poisoned last time, and drank the medicine he was given.
Nothing happened for a moment, but then, he started to feel a coldness in his heart, as though ice was literally growing on it.
Though his emotions were permanently dimmed after the last time, he felt them dim even more.
However, he was able to control himself this time. At the very least, it did not feel deadly, just extremely dangerous and harmful.
The medicine was doing its job.
Skymender continued beyond where he had stopped last time. As he continued, using his masterful control over the cauldron to enhance the speed and quality of the process, he felt the poison slowly growing stronger in his heart.
It continued to grow, and just as his body began to shake and he felt as though he would be unable to continue any longer, he finished. He poured all of the liquid into three vials and capped them with a lid.
Instantly, the feeling of coldness faded, as though it had never been there.
Skymender looked at the poison in the vial.
It was a light, icy blue. It was mesmerizing to look at.
Skymender stared at it for more than a minute before standing up and leaving the room.
The Imperial Scholar looked at him with expectation. Skymender showed him one of the vials.
He looked at it.
"What a beautiful purple color."
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
stone 
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