What Sunders achieved during the plane fusion was quite an exciting story to behold. While listening to it, Angor also tried to figure out whether it had anything to do with his Alien Eye.
As he remembered, Sunders and Flora left the cloud whale to do something elsewhere. But as soon as the Alien Eye “lit up”, Sunders and Flora returned on the same night.
Rossum explained that Sunders was simply running away from Sliv and a bunch of foreign invaders. After he did, the plane fusion came to a stop, and all the wizards who were waiting to seize resources from the fusion could only watch.
Also, Rossum mentioned that this was the first failed plane fusion ever recorded.
Don’t tell me the Alien Eye actually ceased the plane fusion, or it might even draw something from the fusion?! Angor thought. “Ahem, Mister Rossum, was there anything else related to it?”
Rossum explained several minor clues such as missing ships and sea monsters spotted near the plane fusion. But they probably didn’t have anything to do with the Alien Eye—these things happened at Devil’s Water all the time.
Angor still could not make sure whether the artifact was the true reason that prevented the plane fusion, but he decided to stay away from any from now on, just in case.
Today’s visit was fruitful. Now he had one more clue for better protecting the Alien Eye AND to help with his future research, if he ever wanted to examine the artifact more closely.
“Thank you very much for your help.” Angor nodded. “How much do I owe you?”
“Frankly speaking, it’s as good as free. For one, Mister Phantom will have no problem telling you everything. And if he does not, you can find an article in Grove of Time. If you insist on paying me... Here, you can buy something else, then we’ll settle the price altogether.”
“Sure.” Angor considered and asked, “Let me see, do you have a magic scroll that can temporarily improve someone’s luck?”
Rossum frowned. “Luck? There are many types, either related to the art of Prophecy or other domains. Which one are you looking for?”
For example, there was a famous spell called “Lucky Choice”. Depending on their situation, this spell could help someone select the better option from two. Despite its name, the spell relied upon logic analysis and had little to do with prophecy or luck.
“I need something that generally increases my luck, not letting me see choices,” said Angor.
“That will be difficult. Scrolls with similar effects are very rare in this world because no known scroll writers can create or replicate them. No, our team doesn’t have any for sale.”
Angor nodded. He expected as much.
“Can you help me find someone who might sell it then?”
“That we can do.” Rossum nodded in return. “Is it urgent? And how do we contact you if we do find one?”
“Not really. Look for it when you have time. I’ll make sure to tell you if I want to give up. As for getting in touch...”
Angor told Rossum where to find Freud.
The scroll was vital to the development of the dream wasteland, so Angor wanted to look as much as he could.
Rossum gladly agreed to the trade. Providing service to Angor meant the Ashen Traders could keep cooperating with this talented alchemist. What was more, they just obtained a way to exchange messages with Angor, which meant even more potential profit in the days to come.
“I think I should remind you, Mister Padt. Such scrolls are usually one-use only, and the effect expires within several seconds. You may or may not find what you need in such a short time. I don’t think such a tool is helpful to alchemy applications at all.”
“Thank you kindly.” Angor grinned. “I’m aware. I’ll only use it when absolutely necessary.”
Rossum believed that Angor needed more luck to do an important alchemy task, which was not the case. However, Angor wasn’t going to explain this one.
“Good.” Rossum chuckled. “Now you asked two things from me, neither of which was valuable information. Do you have other requests? If not, I’m afraid I must charge you one crystal for the sake of it.”
Angor didn’t say anything. He truly didn’t have other things to ask.
“I guess that’s it?” Rossum raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll ask about my professor then, just for the sake of it. What’s the situation in the Abyss?”
Rossum chuckled. “I recently heard that Mister Sumesh just left from there. As for Mister Phantom, he’s still staying at the Abyss Plane. I can’t tell you what he’s doing, though.”
Angor nodded and ended the conversation here. It seemed he still needed to find a way to contact Sunders later.
“Since that’s not really anything important either, I’ll ask for one magic crystal. Or we can simply round it down into... zero. There’s no need to pay, really.”
Angor still found a crystal for Rossum. Unnecessarily owing people favors was a lot worse than losing money.
Before he handed the crystal over, however, he suddenly remembered another matter.
When making Crimson Aegis, he met with a strange shadow in the omen challenge that gave him two choices. After he made the choice, the shadow “took” the other one away.
He still wondered if that was an illusion created by the omen, or if it was someone who truly existed in reality.
The Crimson Aegis came with an extra effect he wasn’t expecting. Could that be related to the strange man he talked to?
“I want to know about, well, a person.”
“Looking for people? That’s our profession. If he’s not strong or someone important, we can even lock him up and deliver him to you in a cage.” Rossum looked proud of his job.
“I don’t know whether he’s strong or not, but I don’t think he’s someone you can capture easily. Have you heard of the name ‘Cassini’?”
“Cassini?” Rossum took a while to think it over, but he couldn’t remember anyone by that name.
“This might not be his real name. Maybe Cassini is only his moniker or a small part of his full name.”
“Anything else you can tell me? How does he look? Which kind of art does he use?”
“Sorry, don’t know anything beyond that.” Angor shrugged.
Angor did not mention the strange question asked by Cassini as it might expose his Crimson Aegis.
“Wait up. I’ll talk to Chief Beals. Maybe he knows something.”
“There’s no need.” Angor quickly shook his head. “It’s not important. Let’s not bother Mister Beals. Here, your payment.”
Angor left a magic crystal, paid their bill, and left the room.
“Well, well, well... This is a fruitful day alright.” Rossum fiddled the magic crystal in his hand. “Lady Luck favored me today. Or is it the ‘Time Thief’? Heh. Hey, Beals, you there?”
“Angor came to you?” Beals answered through their transmission. “He finally wanted to do something about Eureka?”
“No, he came to ask questions. The plane fusion four years ago. No idea why he wanted to hear it. Then he’s looking for a luck-improving magic scroll, which means we need several men for the job.”
“I did know several geezers who possessed these things before, but I don’t think any of them are willing to part with them,” said Beals. “There’s someone at Moxa Westland I can talk to. I’m pretty close right now, so I’ll try my luck there.”
“Good to hear. I’ll just remain at Lloyds and wait for your good news.”
Beals nodded and prepared to shut down their link. This secret art used by the Ashen Traders was an efficient means for long-range communication, but it cost large amounts of energy to maintain.
“Oh, he asked for someone else in the end. I can’t answer that one, but he didn’t seem concerned about it.” Rossum suddenly recalled the last part of the conversation with Angor.
“Who is it?” Beals did not cancel their talk.
“Cassini. That rings a bell?”