Chapter 32: Miach Familia's Settlement and Poaching
After the whole debacle with the former members of his familia, Miach once again directed his words to Nox.
"I'm terribly sorry to have given you such a poor showing in our own home after you have done so much for us." He started. "Please allow me to reimburse you for the potion you used to reattach Naaza's arm." He offered.
"Ah, no need, no need! I'm sure the world itself would punish me for letting such a cute lady suffer despite having the means to save her, so no need to worry about repayment!" Shiki refused.
'It's not like I'm lacking in money or materials and it's a good chance to make an even better impression on these two, specially Naaza." He thought.
"Even if you put like that . . . I would feel bad for taking advantage of your good will. Please, let us do this much." Miach countered.
"That's right Nox-san! I also wouldn't feel right!" Naaza agreed while thinking.
'Although our familia isn't exactly in good shape financially were still a middle ranked familia. Although that might change with the lack of members. And I don't want Nox-san to think I'm just taking advantage of the situation . . .'
'Wow! She's acting quite different from the series. Well, the Miach familia isn't in heavy debt with the Dian Cecht Familia at this point and I did heroically save her so I guess it isn't that surprising. Still . . .' Shiki thought.
"I mean no disrespect but I honestly don't think you can afford it . . ." He said.
'Mermaid Blood and that of a Xenos who has devoured a significant amount of magic stones and is even stronger than a normal Strengthened Species and other not so cheap ingredients, including my blood which after the change to the Archon skill became a powerful ingredient. In fact, that potion was one of my attempts to create a Panacea.'
'A potion capable of healing any injury including the regrowth of limbs that an Elixir can't accomplish and even clear poison, curses and disease. Although it's far from being at that point it still would cost several million at the least, probably over a couple dozen million actually. It also has the added benefit of extending lifespan and improving one's physique slightly.'
'That's why Naaza recovered so fast from a chopped limb, massive blood loss and exhaustion from injury and continuous fighting.'
"Don't worry about it, just tell us the price, even if we can't afford it, we'll pay you back in installments." Miach countered with Naaza's support.
"Well, it's an original potion made by me so it's not like there's a market value for it . . ." Nox started.
"You're also a potion maker, Nox-san?" Asked Naaza from the side, with admiration in her eyes.
'I thought he was a powerful adventurer who had nice equipment but it turns out he actually made that incredible potion himself!' She said to herself in her head, Nox's position in her heart and mind being further elevated.
"To think you're a fellow healer and one capable of making such high quality goods!" Miach added also surprised but not showing it that much on his face since it wasn't his way.
"Yeah, due to my talent in various disciplines, my goddess and I decided that I should make a point of learning about everything I could, healing and potion making being one of those things . . ." Nox commented.
"Then Nox-san is skilled in other things as well?" Naaza asked.
"I'm also quite curious." Miach supported.
"I mean . . . I can wield pretty much any weapon competently and I'm also proficient with magic, smithing, item making, taming and that's pretty much it." Nox added.
"Quite the eclectic child. It must have taken considerable effort as well." Miach commented.
"Of course I had to work at it but things just come naturally to me I guess . . ."
"Hmm, but let's not get side tracked. Since you're in the business, you ought to know around how much your creation is worth." Miach brought the conversation back to Nox's compensation.
". . ." After a bit of silence in pondering, Nox gave his answer. "I can confidently say that even if it's not at the level I envisioned it to reach, it's still better than everything else on the market and as a plethora of other beneficial effects other than healing so . . . At the very least . . ."
"At the very least?"
"Probably a couple dozen million valis . . ." Nox finally gave the price with no lies at all.
The remaining member of the Miach Familia and her god froze at the massive number. Truth be told, Nox didn't have to use that particular potion on Naaza but he wanted to see how good the effects were on somebody other than himself since his natural recovery covered up a whole lot of the benefits and just like he predicted, the effect of the Incomplete Panacea was much greater."
Wanting to give them a way out, Nox made a proposal.
"How about I take Naaza into my party and she can work for me? I'll just take a small percentage of her gains from the dungeon until your debt is cleared!"
"That's a great idea!" Naaza immediately said, blushing at her outburst afterward. It was funny how even when exited he voice sounded low and tired but her tail was very energetically swinging from side to side as she thought.
'This is perfect! Not only can I pay back my debt to Nox-san, i can also spend more time with him.'
Miach also offered to help sell his items without taking any money for himself but Nox said it was fine to take a small percentage for the familia and in the end, Miach accepted this after all, as kind as he was, he also didn't mind accepting the kindness of others just like he loved giving.
And so tomorrow, Nox decided Naaza would join Lili's party when adventuring so that they could both train and Nox would accompany them time to time but he still decided to hold on to his EX Pot until the chienthrope's loyalty was further developed even then, he probably wouldn't say how it was made and from what.
Some time later than this event, towards the end of the three months, Nox came across very interesting news from the Hermes Familia. Their god was returning to Orario with a special item from the far east called a Killing Stone, a renard specialty item.
'This is probably the first Killing Stone acquired by Ishtar, the one Aisha smashed in the original series to protect Haruhime . . . Hehehehe! Time to poach two capable people from the Ishtar Familia!' Were Nox's thoughts after hearing the news from Lulune who loved gossiping.
Although he knew his combat abilities were not enough to challenge the Ishtar Familia, Nox had serious stealth capabilities, in the next night or two, he would refine them to their limit before taking the opportunity to pull out Aisha and Haruhime after the Killing Stone is destroyed by the former but before she is charmed by Ishtar.
The results of his training was a comprehensive improvement of his Invisibility spell, Nox based on Asfi's Hades Head magic item, or at least, that was what he intended at the start of the project . . .
After starting to experiment with the spell, enhancing its capabilities through darkness spirit magic, the most compatible with it and most useful for stealth, Nox started to discover things that led to the creation of a whole other spell whose functions layed far beyond mere stealth.
Shadow Shift: The user crosses over to the Shadow Realm at varying degrees of depth resulting in different effects. A Shallow Shift will merely cloak the user's presence from detection as well as their smell, body temperature and magical signature. A Medium Shift will allow the user to phase through objects with no magic and move at an increased speed when using it.
There was also a Deep Shift but Nox could not use it at this point in time. Just a Medium Shift seemed to put some sort of heavy burden on his spirit so despite the extremely manageable Mind cost, Nox could not use it as he pleased.
The Invictus Shade helped to ease the burden if used together but he still couldn't activate the Deep Shift despite knowing it was within the spell's capabilities. Still, the Shallow Shift was the perfect stealth magic and he could use the Medium Shift for short periods of time when he faced physical obstacles. He could also bring others into the effect which was required for the escape.
As Nox approached the Ishtar Familia home in the Red District of Orario, with his disguise magic activated, just to be sure, he pondered on his experience with his most recent magical achievement.
'I really should make some time to research into pirit magic with more depth . . . Its capabilities are not only much greater than normal magic and more efficient too but it also seems to hide properties completely different no standard magic. I doubt I'd be able to access a Shadow Realm with normal darkness magic . . .'
Occupied by his thoughts on magic and utterly ignoring the flirting glances and calls from the working girls, Nox finally arrived at his destination and got ready for his mission to start in earnest.
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