CHAPTER 850: THE ZENIA STORE

Taking the elevator back, Elias had a troubled expression on his face.

He was silent during the entire exchange. Yet the things he was hearing... He couldn’t help but wonder what Alice was planning.

They’ve made a contract to help one another. But he has yet to make any progress or see evidence of progress for his research.

However, he feels as though he’s already been dragged into something far bigger than he had originally anticipated.

As a healer, he knew about the Zenia family. The most influential family when it comes to dealing with Abyss Blood. But now... it seems as though they were in conflict with the Royals.

Elias sighed and massaged his eyes.

"Feeling the pressure?" Alice asked, leaning against the elevator walls with a relaxed expression.

After everything she had gone through, this could still be considered to be rather tame.

"You forget that not long ago, I was simply a healer in the Abyss. Doing my own research, enjoying my own freedom." Elias groaned. "But now there’s talks of royalty and the great noble families? How am I supposed to keep my cool?"

Alice tilted her head. He wasn’t wrong. Compared to her other friends, he has indeed been tossed into the deep end without any warnings.

"Hmm... if you’re having second thoughts, I don’t mind if you back out now." Alice offered.

If the danger was too much for him, she didn’t want to force him to be around. Everyone had the freedom to choose whether or not they wanted to help.

"Leave and do what? Rot away in the Abyss with no sign of being able to complete my desired goal? I’ll pass." He shook his head.

The answer is now closer than ever, how could he say no to this?

"Haha, that’s the spirit. I’ll admit that the danger is rather high. Even if you take into account of Lord level hunters. Depending on the situation... fighting Apostles might be likely too." Alice patted him on the back.

"The f*ck??? Apostles? Since when are the Apostles involved?!" Elias widened his eyes in horror.

Lords was one thing. He’s dealt with them before as they’ve sought him out for his healing prowess.

But Apostles? The left and right hand of the divine?

Even if his dreams and ambitions were presented on a silver platter in front of him, he refused to get involved with Apostles.

Doing so practically meant having a chain around the neck as they act as the messengers of the Gods.

"They’re not as bad as you think ya know? I think I’ve seen and interacted with... Seven? Yeah seven of the Apostles. One or two might be... scary but the rest aren’t bad. Especially Gwen’s dad and aunt. They’re kind people." Alice chuckled while Elias felt as though a sledgehammer was just slammed into his face.

Gwen? As in Guinevere, the daughter of the Apostle of Protection Arax.

And with the way she’s speaking... She had also interacted with Lady Shiera, Apostle of Preservation.

"Oh Griselda is similar. She’s got a tough outer shell but she’s kind and emotional on the inside." Alice recalled the way Griselda was acting when they had trained in the Abyss.

"So don’t worry yourself. Just think of Apostles as really really strong Lords with some extra authority." Alice poked her hand out of her giant sleeves and gave him a peace sign.

". . ."

His common sense wasn’t common sensing anymore.

How can one be so... casual about Apostles?

"Let’s... set aside the issue of Apostles for now. I have to ask, why the long sleeves? I noticed that during the clothes shopping you seemed to keep a special eye out for these." He asked, looking at the giant sleeves hiding Alice’s hands.

Despite it being a cropped jacket, her sleeves reached all the way down to her knees.

"What? They’re cute aren’t they? I think the big sleeves are extra cute points to me." Alice smiled happily, flailing her hands a little so that her sleeves whipped left and right.

"Combat wise... Well. That can be ignored since it looks good." She stuck out her tongue after making a blood blade.

Seeing the way the sleeves folded back due to the blade in hand, Alice decided to ignore it for now.

Regardless, she loves her large sleeves and refused to take them off.

[I can’t wait for you to enter combat and the sleeves get shredded to oblivion.] Cayla smirked.

’Even if they don’t get shredded, the moment I throw a punch the sleeves will be destroyed regardless. Unless they’re strong enough to fend against Destruction Point.’ Alyss laughed.

’Destroy one and I have two more! Destroy two and I have four more! If you destroy them all I’ll keep buying more!’ Alice pouted.

How dare they talk about destroying her precious large sleeves.

[Alright alright, no need to pout. Jeez, if Velouria saw you now, she’ll be ecstatic you know?] Cayla chuckled, kneeling down and poking Alice’s cheeks.

At first, Alice was against trying out new clothes. Simply sticking with her own stuff.

But over time, she’s opened up to the idea. Heck, she even spent eight hours figuring out new outfit combinations!

The old Alice would never be able to sit through that. Instead, she’ll be crying about wanting to train or do literally anything else.

Meanwhile, Elias stared at Alice who revealed a bunch of different expressions before settling down on pouting.

"Are... Are you okay?" He asked hesitantly.

"Don’t worry about it. Just talking to the voices in my head. How dare they slander my big sleeves." Alice complained, flailing her arms around and swinging her sleeves.

Leaving the elevator in a huff, she was surprised to see that the exit was different to where the entrance was. She thought she would appear back at the alleyways but instead, they appeared from the back of what seemed to be a tavern near the main square.

"Seems like there are different entrances based on needs." Alice muttered.

"There was a black market there after all." Elias reminded as Alice nodded her head.

"I’m planning on looking for a place to stay for now. What about you?" She asked.

They could probably do with a bit more scouting but she’ll leave that for tomorrow. For now, she wanted to consolidate everything she’s learned thus far and make a few initial plans.

"I’ll take a look around the city. As for my lodgings... I’ll sort it out so you don’t have to worry about it."

"Alright if you say so. Take this. If you ever get into any sort of danger, just crush it and I’ll pop right over alright?" Alice snapped her finger and solidified her blood into a single bead.

Holding the bead, Elias raised an eyebrow before nodding his head.

"I doubt I’ll run into anything major but I’ll let you know if I do."

Giving Alice a wave, Elias walked away and pulled out his umbrella.

Despite how strange this item looks, it actually helps obscure his presence.

The combination of a suit and umbrella was a strange one to behold in the middle of the day. Yet no one turned their eyes towards him.

’Main square... To the north is the main office it seems. There are a few small family businesses here but none of the noble families have a house here.’ Elias made a mental note while walking through the city.

Crouching down slightly, he hopped towards the rooftops and made his way towards one of the roots of the world tree.

Knocking it with his finger, a light hint of green pulsed out.

After the root, he made his way over to the markets where he observed a few of the stores opened by the Zenia family along with the other houses involved.

Each of the stores were large and eye catching. A large variety of blood was available along with testing rooms.

There was even a service where they will help concoct a counter agent for any side effects the body may be suffering. While the effects may be limited, it was still better than nothing.

But there was... something new. Something rather strange. A new offer where they’ll help merge certain bloods together to form something new. A specialised blood type for certain hunts.

Mixing blood was never easy. Depending on what’s being mixed, the effects are either cancelled out or weakened. Yet they’ve managed to merge it properly and maintain both effects?

Elias furrowed his brows.

Each of the stores was busier than ever with both civilians and hunters visiting alike.

They even made a new ’lite’ version of Abyss Blood. Minimal side effects with high potency abilities. The only drawback is the short duration but that doesn’t matter for civilians.

What troubled Elias so much was the price.

It was practically dirt cheap!

A strange merger of blood, a service to create counters on the fly and even dirt cheap effective blood with minimal side effects.

Elias didn’t like this. Everything he was seeing was telling him this should be a good thing. But his gut was screaming otherwise.

As a healer, he knew the lethality of the Abyssal powers. The Abyss was not so kind as to give things for free. Even if it may seem that way, a price was being paid.

They just don’t know what that price was.

Standing up, Elias turned towards the store one last time before looking away.

He’ll give this information to Alice first before they decide on their next move.

A choice of whether or not they wanted to buy the strange new samples and test them out to see what the Zenia’s have created.