November 3rd, 628

  “Success?”

  I took another mental look at the message Umara sent. After spending a couple weeks at the Gateway with the Dragon Zirion, her progress had been rapid. She had already been close to completing her objective, simply needing that final push. For an effectively self taught warlock, what she had done alone was extraordinary.

  With the help of a Dragon? I never expected it to take long.

  I received some blueprints for the enchantments, vastly improved from anything she had ever devised before. I wouldn’t know how good they were until she sent a report on the specs, but if she was claiming success, then they had to at least meet the standard.

  She wasn’t finished yet. She had already told me that she was going to make a few more spatial spells and then pry everything else she possibly could from Zirion. It would be at least another week until she returned, and then I’d have what I needed to begin the first phase of our heist. The intel I had received from the Key Master had already been verified, and we had several hundred vaults sitting around and waiting for us to intrude. We just needed the enchantments, and we could move.

  Though, her spells were promising much more than just a way to move Dragon corpses.

  I nodded and turned my attention back to the person in front of me.

  Marquess Verks was an Authority 10 Warlock who presided over territory in the southeastern regions of the Kingdom, below the Whetted City. He had fertile farmland and like another noble I knew, was a major exporter of coastal goods like seafood and unique resources. He was also human, which instantly improved my evaluation of him and was the only reason he was still alive.

  Erhan had delivered me a message just a day ago from the man. In short, he was begging for my help. With what happened to be unique enough to move me and my resources.

  I looked over his report. Currently his territory was experiencing an outbreak of viral disease. What made it unique was the fact that this disease was charged with the arcane, able to infect both Magi and common folk alike. Apparently he had an Authority 9 Knight in his retinue who was bedridden with the disease. That meant it was incredibly potent and a threat to far more than just his territory.

  Little was known about the disease other than its symptoms. The infected saw their bodies weakened before being sapped of all magical energy within two days. After that, their bodies took on discoloration of the skin, both veins and skin becoming blackish purple.

  Once most of the body had been covered in discoloration, a process that only took 4 days, the patients started regaining strength. Ordinary people gained control over poisonous magical power while experiencing a severe reduction in impulse control and an increase in anger. It didn’t affect cognitive ability. Some were able to resist, but there were firsthand descriptions about the depth of irritability and rage that the subject felt after enough time.

  Patient zero had taken on symptoms 11 days ago and had since been restrained and imprisoned for study, having lost most sense of self. Most others were in the beginning phases, not yet succumbing to the rage, but not far off either. Thankfully the disease had been restricted to a large town, but chances were it would spread beyond soon. A large portion of the town had been infected and there didn’t seem to be any sign of slowing despite measures being taken to limit the spread.

  Marquess Verks had already employed several high profile healers, but most of them had come back with nothing. Others simply refused to work on it after seeing that an Authority 9 knight had come down with the disease. It meant that nobody was safe.

  Now, he had come to Iron Legion for help. More specifically, he came to me. I was currently the world’s expert on biological and chemical warfare, given my protocols for CBRN hazard control written for the Kingdom. This Marquess had gone through several channels to find information about my protocols and then had sent the letter to Erhan, which was now in my hands.

  He was desperate, not because he necessarily cared for his people, but because it was threatening to wipe out life in his territories. Thousands had been infected and a hundred times more were at risk. This was a never-before-seen disease, and he needed help.

  I stared at the man for a bit before speaking.

  “I’m going to allocate three hundred of my troops to you, Marquess. They will be in your territory within 24 hours, ready to quarantine ground zero. You can consider that entire town lost. We can’t let anybody escape it.”

  “Only three hundred? Is that not too little?”

  I sighed, holding back an eye roll.

  “You should be so thankful I’m sending that much, given what I have on my plate right now. It would be less than half that if I weren’t thinking about how it's going to spread to other towns and cities. Those three hundred will be enough. We’re going to focus on containment and study. Once we find out what kind of disease it is, we can find out how to destroy it. For this, I will be allocating a significant amount of resources.”

  After all, I had a vested interest in this. It was possible that this was a Scourge spread disease, another plot of the dark forces within the Kingdom. The Verks territory was probably a testing ground, but more than that, what was being used was a biological weapon.

  I hadn’t devoted much at Wonderland to studying biological weapons, but now was as good of a time as any to start. I could put my eye on it and decipher exactly what the disease was and how it worked. From there, I could learn how to control it. It would become another ace in my back pocket, a weapon of mass destruction depending on how potent it proved to be, and the beginning of a long line of similar products.

  The timing of this was unfortunate, but it could be significantly worse. If I moved fast, I’d be able to solve things before war really kicked off at the Line.

  “If you have any issues with manpower, allocate more of your own. You’re hiring me to help with the disease. Well, creating a cure is more important than anything else. Quarantine measures will be taken of course, but I don’t have so many people to send. Every one of my men are valuable, not to mention the teams I will devote to study.

  “For this mission I expect you to compensate me for all costs incurred. You’ll receive an itemized bill every week to this end. Beyond that, my labor costs will be equivalent to five times my costs incurred. That’ll be my financial recompense. I’ll give you a report on my requirements for operation tonight, but basically, I expect no interference, and you shouldn’t expect details beyond need-to-know regarding the results of our study. We will quarantine, we will research, and we will either cure or contain the disease until it is eradicated from your territory. Since the duration of this mission is impossible to estimate, the contract will remain in effect until you decide that you no longer want our services. At that point, we would simply leave.”

  The Marquess was silent, pondering, before looking me in the eye.

  “How confident are you in solving the disease? What assurances can you give?”

  “Marquess Verks, I technically can’t give any until I see the disease for myself. However, I can assure you that there’s nobody in this world who knows more than I do about biological hazards and magical containment. More than that, if this turns out to be something from the Scourge, you can bet that I’m going to do everything I can to fight it. Who is more devoted than me to the fight against the Scourge? Besides perhaps the Church.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Marquess Verks slowly nodded, smiling a bit. I put out my hand, and he shook it.

  “I look forward to your arrival, John Cooper. You have my full support.”

  “And don’t you let your little heart be troubled, Marquess. One way or another, your territory will remain protected and prosperous. You’ve got Iron Legion helping you now, and we happen to be very good at what we do.”

  ……

  …

  “You’ve come far in such a short time. Do not let your paranoia sabotage the achievements you’ve made, my pupil.”

  Zirion gazed down at Umara, the walls and tables of her study plastered with parchments and esoteric devices.

  She was frowning at a massive formation on the floor, looking between the grimoire in her hands and the arrays she was trying to complete.

  “It’s not enough.”

  “Ambition finds no satisfaction in anything short of godhood. Your Great Barrier has already moved from the horizon. It is close enough to reach, proof of your progress and talent. You are young, Umara Talerria. At this point, rushing yourself will only be detrimental. You’ve not had even a week to digest your advances.”

  “My fiancé is pioneering a brand new path and yet continues to bring revolution to this world while making himself the biggest threat to the Scourge’s existence. I say it's not enough because I have yet to even attempt to match him in contribution, despite trodding down well-paved paths and receiving the help of a wisened Dragon.”

  “Hmm…”

  Zirion sighed with a rumble, watching Umara wave a hand and inscribe more formations into the array.

  “You work hard. Do not deny the acknowledgement of your efforts at the least.”

  “I simply seek results. How much effort it takes means little.”

  She finished the last array with those words, Mana pouring from her body and infusing into its complexes.

  She glanced to the side, at a device with a small container that rolled along a track loop. A moving object riddled with its own reception arrays.

  Zirion turned his gaze the same way.

  “Non-stationary teleportation using miniature and portable enchantments. Its range is exceptionally short, less than a handful of miles. What might it be used for that you’re so obsessed with getting it right? It could not even fit a normal human. Perhaps an adolescent.”

  “It’s not meant for people. It’s meant for ordnance and armament transfer.”

  “Weapons?”

  “Yes. I’m trying to eliminate the need for local supply lines. It would allow, let's say, a detachment of tanks to operate indefinitely even while surrounded by the enemy. They would never need to fear running out of shells or Crystals. And that’s after their rate of fire is multiplied by another derived enchantment: spatial autoloaders.”

  Umara suddenly paused, narrowing her eyes at Zirion.

  “This is classified information by the way. Don’t tell anyone.”

  “If it is secret, why tell me in the first place?”

  “I forgot that it was…”

  Umara felt a bit of embarrassment before focusing back on her objective.

  She tossed a large Fire Crystal over a foot in diameter onto the ground in front of her, graded Authority 9. Then, she quickly activated the enchantment.

  The Crystal flashed, the Mana coalescing around it before collapsing the space around it with a snap of atmosphere. The next moment, the moving container lit up with life.

  Umara ran over, stopping its movement and opening the container.

  There sat the Crystal, exactly within parameters. She had already outlined exactly where it should sit, and it wasn’t so much as a fraction of an inch off.

  She smiled widely, clenching her fist.

  “I did it.”

  “Congratulations. It only took six hours of adjustment. Quite efficient.”

  “Six hours…”

  Umara found a chair and slumped in it, rubbing her face as exhaustion set in.

  It had only taken six hours, but that was after weeks of unceasing study and testing. Zirion had provided her with an unlimited amount of materials and tools, including some of his personal ones. It had made the process infinitely easier alongside his guidance.

  Studying how things like Pocket Rings and Spatial Storage worked was but the first step she had taken. Then came cracking the secrets of teleportation as a whole. She had already studied that topic for months after having received her family’s special grimoires from her mother, so she was familiar with most of it.

  But devising her own unique enchantments that fit John’s purposes had been an incredible undertaking. He had often told her how he wished that he could use the absurd convenience of spatial tunneling and teleportation for his weapons. He had so many grand ideas, a painful amount of which involved weapon concepts Umara found exceptionally cruel and massively destructive. Not that she opposed.

  Above all though, the elimination of supply lines was perhaps his biggest wish. Logistics was the bane of every military and Iron Legion was so effective only because John had developed his own so thoroughly.

  Spatial magic could eliminate logistical bottlenecks, though. Whether it was teleporting supplies from the rear to the forward bases and the Line, teleporting ordnance from supply trucks to vehicles, or teleporting shells straight into the breech of a tank for rapid fire, all of it was capable of overhauling how Iron Legion worked and multiplying its efficiency.

  Now, Umara had just created the answer.

  She tilted her head backward, looking Zirion in the eyes.

  “On behalf of both myself and my fiancée, I thank you, Master Zirion. You’ve helped us more than you know.”

  “Oh I know perfectly well how I’ve helped you. But don’t relax just yet.”

  Zirion manifested some massive grimoires, books with metal covers and thick parchments as tall as Umara was.

  They fell to the ground with a loud crash.

  “It’s time for me to impart some personal spellwork and knowledge, both created by me and handed down from my own Master. For the goal of bringing all of Dragon kind closure centuries after the great wars and Paragon Genocide, I will spare no expense. May my actions bring my Master’s soul peace.”

  Umara felt chills gazing upon the grimoire. There was more than just magical arrays within it. She could feel life from it, intelligence.

  That’s when the book suddenly shifted, rising from its position to stand vertically. She watched its metal cover morph into darkness and mysticism, a slanted pair of eyes gazing from the deep space within.

  There was power behind them, and after glancing between Umara and Zirion, they suddenly narrowed.

  And the book warped, space folding around it and making it zoom off through the doors of the study.

  Zirion growled.

  “Get back here, you delinquent stack of paper! Before I bind you to the forbidden darkness of the outhouses!”

  The book froze, Umara able to see it despite it being invisible behind folds of space. Her awareness had already increased to such a level, far higher than it was before coming to the Gateway.

  Zirion motioned to Umara with his eyes.

  “You will expose to her the knowledge of Dimensions, including spells of the twelfth grade.”

  UNSHACKLE ME, ZIRION.

  Umara heard the book speak, not in words, but in reality. It revealed itself properly, and when it spoke again, Umara could see its influence write its words into the fabric of their dimension.

  Her Aura unveiled, she also managed to pick up on the frequencies behind it.

  SHE HAS NOT SO MUCH AS TOUCHED THE CONCEPTUAL. DO NOT WASTE MY TIME WITH A USELESS TASK SUCH AS TEACHING HER.

  “She is capable, more talented than I. She may not understand, but do not pretend that it will not bring the Conceptual to her. Dissent no further and cooperate. Through these teachings she seeks solace for my Master’s Auric soul.”

  SO YOU SAY. ARE YOU PREPARED TO PAY THE PRICE IN HER PLACE?

  “As prepared as I was when I stepped before the Armies of Ten Million. Hurry up and prepare your tapestry! She will slumber until you are ready.”

  VERY WELL.

  The grimoire stilled, its power retracting. Umara no longer sensed its life or deep presence, but knew it was preparing.

  Zirion turned to her.

  “Your days will be long, once he is prepared. Retire, and spend the next few days in respite. What you will absorb will take its toll just as Anarchy has on your soul.”

  Umara’s brows raised, Zirion’s smile surfacing.

  “Behold, my pupil. You are before the Weaver and his Tapestry of Abstraction.”