The day had passed rather swiftly after Lucius was done with his daily training with lieutenant John. He had read about how to deal with the Rock Bees, and a few ideas had already formed in his mind.

He was now taking a bath to get rid of all the sweat and grime he had accumulated throughout the day.

"Hmm… Gellor and those mercenaries should arrive soon." Lucius muttered to himself.

After he was done with the bath and dressed, he called over a servant.

"You asked for us, young lord?" The servant spoke.

"Yes, I would like you to gather a few things for me. See if they are available." Lucius said before passing the man a list.

The servant took a look at the list of things and showed a look of confusion. He wondered why his lord needed these things, but didn't question it. This was not his place to ask and he did not want to do anything offensive.

He swiftly went to do his task and brought back the things that his lord had asked.

Lucius was currently sitting in his bedroom, and writing some things in a book.

~knock~ knock~

Hearing the knock on the door, Lucius spoke up. "Come in!"

~creek~

The door opened and there were two servants standing outside. One of them was carrying a large sack that while another one was carrying a box in his hand.

"Here are the things you asked for my lord." The servant who was holding the box spoke.

"Did you get them all?" Lucius questioned.

"Yes, thankfully we had everything available in the mansion or nearby." The servant answered.

"Hmm… good job." Lucius said before sending them away.

Lucius then stood up and went to the large sack and the box before checking them. There were quite a few things in it, including a tin that contained a thick black liquid. There were also some tools like a hammer and more metal containers.

"Let's get to work…" Lucius muttered to himself.

For an hour, the sound of hammering and metal hitting metal was heard coming from Lucius's room. The sound continued until another knock was heard on his door.

~knock~ knock~

"The mercenaries are here, Asher." Kiana spoke from outside the door.

Lucius stopped what he was doing and took a look at his handiwork before nodding his head.

'Just in time.' He thought before opening the door.

"Let's go meet them," Lucius said, and Kiana nodded to him.

Both of them went downstairs to meet Gellor and his team, who were looking around curiously. The hall was definitely the most luxurious place they had ever seen or been too. This was quite a novel experience for them.

As mercenaries, most of their time was spent traveling out in the field, thus they had little time to enjoy things such as this if they ever got the opportunity.

"Did you guys finish whatever it was that you needed to do?" Lucius questioned.

"Y-yes, young lord Asher. We are done." Gellor replied, stumbling in his sentence as he had not seen Lucius approach.

"Good. We can get down to it now." Lucius said before looking towards Kiana, who understood what he was about to say.

"The Leather armors are in the armory, I'll get the servants to fetch them," Kiana said before swiftly going to order the servants and returning.

"I've taken the liberty to look up some things about the Rock Bees and I believe I have something that will make your task a bit easier." Lucius spoke.

"You do? What is it, young lord?" Gellor questioned.

"It is a tool… that should help repel the rock bees when you are done obtaining the required amount of Rune crystals," Lucius answered.

"What? Is it an artifact?" Albus questioned.

From what they knew there was little that they could do again Rock bees. The leather armor was the one thing that they knew of. They had never actually fought rock bees before and thus did not know of any other methods.

Rock bees weren't really a rune beast that was often hunted and thus there weren't many mercenaries that had knowledge about it.

"It would be better if I just showed it to you," Lucius replied. "Kiana can you get the box that is kept on my desk." He spoke.

"Sure," Kiana said, before getting what was asked of her.

The box she was carrying didn't feel that heavy to her, so she didn't know what Lucius had prepared for them.

~thud~

A low thud was heard as Kiana placed the box on the table, which Lucius then opened.

The lid of the box slid out and within it, a cylindrical container was lying. The container had a handle on the side, along with a movable lever at the top.

"Umm… what is this?" Gellor asked, feeling confused.

Lucius smiled lightly before explaining the use of the tool to them. The more they listened, the more their expression lit up. Even Kiana was surprised by what Lucius had made, that too, in such a short time.

"Young lord Asher is truly a genius. I never expected something like this could have been done with such simple objects." Gellor praised.

"I only hope that you get the job done properly," Lucius replied.

"Of course, with this tool and the armor, I believe we may even be able to get more rune crystals than asked." Gellor responded.

Lucius nodded his head before speaking, "well then I guess we are done here. I need to rest now."

"Ah, yes. Please pardon us for taking up so much of your time." Gellor said.

"We shall take our leave now," Finch said, with a calm look on her face.

Soon the team of mercenaries left the mansion's grounds, and Lucius was free again.

"I'd like to have dinner early today. I feel tired and want to rest." Lucius spoke to Kiana.

"Okay… I guess making that tool took up more of your energy. You shouldn't have put so much effort into it. Even if you gave it to them tomorrow, it would have been fine I think." Kiana replied.

~Sigh~

"Better to be done early than late," Lucius said before going to sit in the dining room.

Kiana had a slightly confused expression on her face, but then she went to get dinner for Lucius.

The dinner was quickly finished by Lucius, who actually ate more than he usually does. Kiana felt satisfied that he was eating well and bid him farewell for the night.

Lucius locked the door of his room behind him before sitting on his bed in a meditative posture.

~huu~

He took a deep breath before muttering, "today should be the day…"

Lucius stilled his mind and appeared in the same empty space he had last time. He could see his soul there and the mark that existed on its back. He started the process of forming the hell imprint and used the formula to devise the coordinates.

Time passed like this and hours went by. Lucius had lost track of time and was fully focused on his soul.

But outside in the real world, an illusory image was forming around his body. The image was of a symbol and was moving around his body, as if trying to find a place to settle down. But that image suddenly broke apart, and Lucius's body trembled.

~cough~cough~

Lucius suddenly coughed out some blood. But then, a wide smile appeared on his face.

"It works…"