Chapter 679: Fear Poison? - 679
The man sat down in the center of the room and looked down at the vial. He naturally knew that what he was doing was dangerous, but it was his only chance of freedom. What he desired most was to finally experience freedom, and all of that was based on this very moment.
He took a deep breath, and opened up the vial. After five seconds, he closed it once again.
Nothing seemed to happen. He looked around. Excitedly, he stood up. He had done everything he was told to do, and he could now leave.
Suddenly, he paused, and his body fell stiffly to the ground.
Skymender and the Imperial Scholar looked up from above. Although it was hard to tell exactly what happened, it seemed that the effects were different for the man and Skymender.
They waited an hour, hopefully enough time for the poison to disperse, before the Imperial Scholar sent a servant down to retrieve the body.
He went in, and without issue, brought the body out.
"Imperial Scholar, he is alive." The servant said in surprise.
The Imperial Scholar examined the man, and after a moment, spoke. "He is not dead, indeed, but he has fallen into a coma. There does not seem to have been any sort of effect on the heart."
Both the Imperial Scholar and Skymender knew what this meant. Not only was the color of the poison different for different people, but effects were as well.
Based on the questions they had asked the man before, he had seen the vial as the color of grey. It was still hard to put any pieces together, but based on what they had seen, it seemed to be connected to the mind.
Skymender knew that whatever poison he had accidentally created may end up being greater than any other. Because whatever this was, it could not be created purposefully.
Neither the Imperial Scholar, nor Skymender, felt as though they could rest until they had an explanation for what was happening.
Therefore, they continued the testing. Since they had guessed that its changes in color and effect were based on the mind, they began to ask questions to prisoners before testing it on them.
The next person to enter was someone who saw the color blue.
It was not the same icy blue that Skymender saw, but the color of the sky.
The prisoner sat down and opened the vial. After five seconds he closed it.
He stood up, when suddenly, he got dizzy. He held his head, before beginning to scream.
His body began to writhe around on the floor, though he seemed unconscious. After around ten minutes, the man stopped moving. A puddle of blood had formed under him.
He stayed completely still. They waited an hour before sending a servant inside to retrieve the body.
"This one is dead, Imperial Scholar."
They had expected as such. The Imperial Scholar sent the servant away, and with Skymender present, began to dissect the man.
After around an hour, the Imperial Scholar spoke. "It looks as if his insides were squished. Though nothing abnormal happened on the outside, on the inside, it seems as though he had been crushed by a heavy force, or had fallen to the ground."
This made Skymender think. The man had said that his vial was blue like the sky, and the Imperial Scholar said that it looked as though he had fallen or been crushed.
"Perhaps the color one sees relates to the effect." Skymender said.
Since he saw sky blue, and his insides seemed as if he had fallen, it made sense. In fact, they had previously guessed such a thing, but this made it seem obvious.
"But what makes someone see a certain color, and in turn the effect. Or perhaps the effect decides the color." The Imperial Scholar said.
They began to go through the man's data. He had answered hundreds of questions. Skymender eventually stumbled upon a question and answer that made his eyes widen.
"Look!"
The Imperial Scholar looked at where Skymender was pointing.
"Biggest fear, heights."
They looked at each other.
"Could it be?"
It seemed to indicate that the poison's color and effect were based on fears.
This was an incredible conclusion to come to. It meant that the mind could affect the body through this poison.
They immediately set up another round of tests.
"Red like fire, as the servant had seen before, grey like metal, and green like a plant."
They had three prisoners test it all out.
The first one began to scream in agony and scratch at his skin, rolling around.
When he died and was examined, they found that his insides were hot, but not burnt.
The second one began to scream and run around. It wasn't constant, but around every five seconds, he would scream in pain and begin to bleed from the holes in his body.
He eventually died, and when they examined him, they saw that his insides had occasional holes in them.
The third one curled up on the ground and slowly suffered until death.
Upon examination, it seemed as though all of the nutrients and fats in his body had been used up.
"Biggest fears - Fire, being stabbed, and starvation."
Everything seemed to line up. This seemed to be a complete conclusion of the poison's abilities.
However, Skymender was confused. If this was the whole truth, then why did his heart turn icy?
He simply did not fear such a thing.
He shared this confusion with the Imperial Scholar, who agreed.
"I don't fear anything, yet it seems from holding it that I can be affected. If simply not having fear could counter it, then it would be a reasonable conclusion. However, that is not the truth. Or perhaps, it is only a part of the truth." The Imperial Scholar said.
The Imperial Scholar's mind was spinning as he spoke, and he finally seemed to think of the answer.
"Skymender. Do you value your emotions?"
Skymender didn't know how to answer the question. "I suppose."
"More specifically, your family, right?" The Imperial Scholar asked.
Skymender nodded his head. "Yes."
Chapter 680: Deprivation Poison - 680
"And what do you think these people valued?"
"Not facing their fears." Skymender said, understanding where he was going.
"So what if instead of making their worst fears come true, it took what they valued. For most, what they value is not having to face what they fear most. But for those like us, whose fear is just about non-existent, it truly takes what we value. You value your family and your feelings towards them. It took some of your emotions and made your heart colder. I value my intelligence most. Hence, the headache I got when holding it. The Emperor also does not fear anything, so what he was losing must be what he valued most." The Imperial Scholar said.
This logic applied to everyone that had been in the throne room, including Sword Master Shang, who most likely had less fear than anybody else in that room.
If his poison color was blood red, then what he valued most was most likely the lives of his people, and the blood represented the end of their lives.
He could also apply this logic to the prisoner from before, the one in a coma. Most likely, what he had valued was his freedom, and as a result, he was trapped inside of his own body.
Naturally, calling it a fear poison was no longer accurate. Instead, Skymender gave it a new game.
"Deprivation poison." He said to the Imperial Scholar, who nodded. It deprived the poisoned of what they valued most.
Skymender had started out with three vials of the poison, but after so much testing, he was now left with two and a half.
The Imperial Scholar finally seemed satisfied, as he had found out what the poison did.
Of course, its effects were still horrific, but the fear of the unknown was worse than the fear of the known.
"As agreed, I'll send you compensation and another one of the antidote plants that you used. Although the Deprivation poison is incredible, if it can be resisted by the plant, then you should make it even stronger."
He began to leave.
However, moments before exiting, he stopped. "If you are going to be the Imperial Scholar, then you need a reputation in the Imperial Capital. You already have one, but it is far too low, and has been lowering every year you remain unseen. Only once you have respect will you be able to function as the Imperial Scholar in its most efficient capacity."
Skymender nodded. He had already begun to build something akin to a reputation in his past visits.
However, if he was going to be the Imperial Scholar, then it was not nearly enough. He needed to not only have some respect, but to command authority. Only then would he be worthy of the position.
Skymender left the Imperial Palace and looked around. Although he would eventually begin that process, he was still too young to be taken seriously. He would wait until he grew old enough to enter the Imperial School, which was only around two years in the future.
He began his journey back to the Sky Barony immediately. He couldn't leave for too long, lest someone notice the extended absence of the Skygod and put some pieces together.
Skymender's journey took another ten days, and besides having an absolute trump card on him, everything was as usual.
With his aging, he noticed signs of growth.
This not only included growth in his already unnatural strength, but also growth in his height and weight, as well as the muscle that showed on his body.
School started again, and as he continuously studied, he continued to grow at an incredible rate. At this point, he wasn't even sure what level his intelligence had reached. It was increasingly hard to find material that he did not already know, so he began to branch out a bit.
He looked deeply into topics he was not even that interested in, but seemed as if they could be somewhat useful in the future.
Time passed, and he soon turned thirteen years old. Although he aged a lot, he didn't feel all that different from when he was even younger. Only his body changed, not his mind.
The assassination business grew as much as the city did over time. Under the new Baron Sky's leadership, Sky city had already firmly become a city. It was multiple times the size it had been before.
The police force had also grown, but there was still no sort of retaliation against his assassination business. Hopefully, they understood that they simply did not have the ability to do anything. Otherwise, they were most likely plotting under the surface.
If that was the case, he would have to kill some more cops.
More time passed, and Skymender was relaxing when Violet entered his room. "Baron Sky has requested your presence.
Skymender nodded and stood up. He walked through the halls, Violet following behind.
He arrived at Baron Sky's door and knocked.
"Enter."
He opened the door and walked through, Violet staying outside.
Inside was Baron Sky, the Chief of Police, and an unfamiliar man.
"Hello, Sir Skymender." The unfamiliar man said.
Skymender nodded in greeting before turning to his brother. "What do you need from me?"
He spoke. "This here is a detective from the Imperial Capital, here to help find the Skygod. He has worked with the Imperial Scholar before, and upon learning that you attended the Imperial Scholar camp, wondered if you would be interested in helping."
Skymender was stunned, though outside he kept a neutral expression.
"Naturally, this is top secret." Baron Sky added.
They were unaware that Skymender himself was the one they were hunting down.
Of course, there had been the slightest suspicions before, but those had been washed away by time and confirmation of Skygod taking action while Skymender was far away.
Naturally, this was Skymender's doing.
The detective looked Skymender up and down observing him.
"Although I am often busy, I can definitely help if you need me to." Skymender said.
"Thank you." Baron Sky said.
Skymender turned to leave, when the detective spoke. "Just one more thing. If you wouldn't mind, could you take your glove off?"
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