To the east of the Underwood farm, deep within the Red Earth Mountains, Kaleb sprinkled the last ingredient into his stone pestle. The crushed mixture didn’t look like much to the inexperienced but to Kaleb the mixture was only one step away from being an excellent poison. He removed one of his gloves and held it over the crushed contents and thought his command.

Create Greater Poison: Paralytic Death

Nature mana dripped steadily from his hand and into the mixture. The pestle's contents began hissing and reacting in response. Kaleb took a small step backwards and put the glove back on.

He was an expert poison maker but wasn't a fool. The complexity of a greater poison meant that there was always a chance for failure and a lab inside a dark cave offered many sources of contamination. Kaleb, however, was used to the poor conditions and had rarely made a mistake in similar circumstances in the past.

Having a pristine lab was a naïve goal. Kaleb had even sought after one in his early years but it just turned out to be a trap. Everyone who had the resources to provide such a lab had their own goals. The price of a state of the art lab was his freedom and nothing had irked him more than that. He was quite well off in his current partnership and if it didn’t work out, he was sure he could find a criminal organisation he could work with. Powerful poisons were hard to come by and skilled poison makers even more rare.

He waited patiently as he pondered his possible career choices. After a minute the ability had completed the creation of the poison. A dirty white powder was the only thing remaining in the pestle. The familiar colouration and consistency brought a smile to Kaleb’s disfigured face.

He began scraping the powder into small leather pouches that were paper thin. One of the side projects over the years had been perfecting the delivery mechanism for his favourite poison. Through trial and error he had settled on the paper thin leather which would pop at the slightest impact thus releasing the powder into the air. Victims were paralysed in seconds and dead in minutes.

He used several differently sized pouches based on what opponents he would face. Larger and more powerful opponents needed a larger dose especially if they had poison resistance. He made sure to make a few small pouches in additional to extra-large ones.

Thinking about his week, Kaleb found himself remembering the great news his fellow slaver, Mud, had given him and it had gotten him very excited. He thought back to a few days prior when their plans had abruptly changed.

Kaleb and Mud had been heading north to the Blood marsh since Kaleb needed some exotic ingredients and hoped to learn something from the elusive herbalist tribe living there.

They had been travelling in the Red Earth mountains for a few days since it was a good place to avoid people of the noble, good and legal variety. Mud welcomed the longer detour because he had a rare opportunity to absorb the natural Earth mana that filled the mountains. The mana was so thick that even Kaleb could smell and taste it in the air.

They had been in a small valley when Mud had stopped walking without warning. Kaleb had checked their surroundings in case they were under attack. When he hadn’t seen any imminent threat and Mud had regained consciousness a few seconds later, Kaleb realised it was another Baptism mind broadcast. As a Master Water and Earth mage, Mud was naturally informed when there was a baptism of the Water or Earth elements.

After recovering, Mud had a stupid grin plastered on his face. Much to Kaleb’s disappointment, Mud revealed that the baptism was a Water Baptism and not a Earth baptism.

Water baptisms were always false hope. The person would always be out in the ocean or on a distant beach. It was often too far for the slavers to travel and if they did, it was far too dangerous. The sea was the territory of the mermen and they were very possessive of Water mages. They would quickly reach the location of the Water baptisms to claim them as their own.

Their prized Water baptism merchandise had been stolen from them by the mermen so many times that Kaleb and Mud had given up on grabbing Water baptised people altogether.

It was then that Mud had informed Kaleb that the Water baptism had occurred inland.

Kaleb had grinned so hard that his face hurt. The news was a great stroke of luck and fortune for them. A Water baptised slave could fetch them a good amount of money.

The rarity of Water baptisms, especially on land, meant that not many true Water mages existed in the different kingdoms. A person could unlock higher Tiers of the Water Mastery by crossing over from a water hybrid mastery like the Mud or Temperature Masteries but without the Tier 1 foundations the person would have a dismal level of control over water.

The Sultans from the Northern lands would pay very good money for a baptised Water mage. He had heard that such mages would be used to find sources of water in the arid lands or serve as a servant in the bath chambers. Kaleb didn’t care where the product ended up as long as he got a good amount of money from the deal.

After the Water baptism revelation, the slaver duo had changed their plans to immediately head East through the mountains instead of North. They were familiar with what was required for a kidnapping so they had followed their usual routine.

Mud would begin scouting with his signature Mud crabs then make contact with the local gangs and bandits. The local criminals could often be convinced with some coin to assist in the attack. Most of the time they died or run away but they often were a good distraction for anyone wanting to stop the slavers. Sometimes the local bandits also had valuable information regarding the local authorities and general area.

Kaleb had moved to quickly contact their assassin for hire, Knives. He was a clumsy and reckless young man who didn’t have many aspirations other than killing people for money. Despite the young man’s flaws, when on the job he was a excellent assassin who was relatively inexpensive.

Mud disliked Knives but begrudgingly agreed to work with him purely out of necessity. No one could disagree that a tough opponent dying in their sleep were the best kinds of ‘accidents’ for their line of work. Kaleb’s relationship with Knives was not one of hate but rather indifference. Knives was someone they had hired and if he didn’t perform then they would just need to replace him.

"Wolf! You in here?"

Kaleb snapped out his thoughts as he heard footsteps before seeing Knives walk around the corner and into the cave he had made into his personal lab.

'Wolf' naturally wasn't his real name. 'Mud' was equally fictitious despite its fitting description. 'Knives' was a lazy name but worked nonetheless. Codenames made parting ways easier for everyone and no one had had a problem with it yet.

Kaleb was annoyed, he didn’t enjoy being disturbed and everyone knew this. A blade that was as black as obsidian formed from his right hand.

He glared at Knives and spoke.

"Knives, you are well aware that no one should disturb me whilst I am working!"

Knives lifted his hands in surrender but his smirk implied the blade hardly posed a threat to him. After a minute of awkward silence, Knives replied with a furrowed brow.

"Sorry Wolf, Mud asked me to give you a update."

Kaleb sighed as he retracted the blade back into his body. Mud knew he was making poisons in his lab. He was probably just hoping there would be an 'accident' which would result in Knives' death.

Ok, what’s the update?

Kaleb switched to Spirit Speech so that no one could overhear them. You could never be too cautious especially in his industry where backstabbing and murder were the norm.

Knives didn't react to the change in mode of communication and relayed the new information without pause.

The bandits want 20% of what the kid sells for and they want some coin upfront. Mud didn’t like their proposal but said he would discuss it with you. It seems the bandits didn’t believe him because some of them are already on the move towards the target.

Kaleb swore to himself. The bandits were greedy bastards and wouldn’t miss out on an opportunity to take the prize for themselves. Kaleb and Mud had made a name for themselves as slavers so the bandits had probably gathered their own information and now wanted the whole pie instead of just a piece. The other scenario was a different faction of the bandits. The gangs sometimes split into factions with one half wanting to bargain whilst the others wanted to take it all for themselves.

20% was daylight robbery but Kaleb didn't fault them because it was expected. Low life criminals were predictable and Kaleb had dealt with such types many times in his career. He would need to revise the plan with Mud if the bandits’ behaviour would inconvenience them.

Anything more on the target's location?

Kaleb had only received preliminary feedback from Mud regarding the target's location.

Mud confirmed that most of his Mud Crabs have expired after triggering their sensing seals. Some were unfortunately destroyed before they could trigger their seals but Mud seems quite confident that we shouldn't have a problem.

Destroyed? Someone had noticed the crabs then. As long as they weren't recognised as their modus operandi then they should be fine. However, precautions may still be required. Things were never simple.

What about the target? Anyone nearby who could give us trouble?

Knives nodded and continued.

The farm appears to house four people. Two Earth mana users left the farm early one morning and didn't return after a day and from our latest reports, still haven't returned. Mud stated that their Earth mana wasn't very aggressive but one of them had very dense Earth mana and may pose a threat. Most of the crabs that were destroyed had been near the house. Luckily one of the crabs managed to survive and trigger it's seal in of the rooms which contained the other two occupants. The last two are the target who is a boy and a Nature mana user who is a woman. Mud said he was surprised by the Water mana density in the target and suspects that he had nearly completed Water Mastery Tier 1. The woman had a high mana density but very low mana. Mud found it quite odd and guessed high Tier 3 or Tier 4.

Kaleb felt himself get a little excited. There were only two people on the farm! If only they had left earlier and travelled faster...

The Nature mana user at Tier 3 or 4 sounded suspicious. If she only had the Animal Caretaker and Farmer Masteries then she wouldn’t be a threat but if she had the Beast Mastery then it could get messy. Precautions would need to be taken. Kaleb wondered if they could send in Knives to get rid of the woman because it would make their job much easier.

Kaleb thought of the boy and struggled to contain his mirth. What a fool! He must've used Mastery points to gain the Water Tier 1 skills. There had not been enough time since the baptism for the boy to have earned it all. His lack of practice and experience meant he was just a boy with some water tricks that he doesn’t know how to use. Kaleb wondered if he was doing the boy a favour by kidnapping him because no master would be happy with an apprentice who had taken shortcuts.

Kaleb licked his lips with anticipation.

You done with your update, Knives? Where is Mud?

Nothing further Wolf. You can ask Mud for further details if you want. He said there were still some crabs that haven't expired yet. He is sitting on an outcrop above us, replenishing his Earth mana.

Kaleb grabbed the poison pouches and stored them in his poison inventory. It was especially useful because it kept the poison in hiatus and separate from each other. It also helped if you could materialise a pouch of death almost instantly.

He nodded to Knives and headed for the cave entrance.

Once outside the cave, Kaleb removed his leather gloves and dropped them on the ground. A tiny bottle appeared in his hand, he pulled the stopper and took a sip. The bottle disappeared back into his hand and he spread his arms as a notification appeared in his mind.

You have been affected by a Greater Potion of Weightlessness. 1 minute, 59 seconds duration remaining.

Kaleb’s body floating gently off the ground. He kicked off a nearby wall and grabbed onto the rock face and climbed up like a spider. It didn't take long before he was at the rock outcrop that Knives had mentioned. The expensive potion had saved him about an hour of walking which he wasn't willing to do and showing off was fun from time to time.

Once he was at the top, he drank a Potion of Clearing to remove the effect. After a few seconds, his feet landed on the hard rock. With no protection from rocks, the sun beat down on Kaleb’s face and blinded him slightly. He held his hand up as he looked around for Mud.

Mud was lying shirtless on his back with his eyes closed.

Kaleb took off his shirt and his pale skin was in direct contrast with the dark red rocks around him. He took in the view which was fantastic at this height. The mountain range they were in was very large, stretching north from the coast until it balloon towards the North-East. The high concentration of Earth mana in the mountain range caused red dust to coat everything whilst naturally helped all Earth mana based mages. The abundant mana was probably why Mud's crabs had be able to survive for so long.

Kaleb's upper body was covered in a multitude of burns, weapon scars and different mana seals. Mud’s torso looked equally as damaged as Kaleb’s. Slavery wasn't an easy profession because no one was ever a willing participant in the process.

Kaleb smiled to himself as the strong sunlight continued to beat down on him.

An idea came to mind and he checked how much Nature mana he had. He had used up a lot of mana when creating the poisons so it made sense for him to gain some more Nature mana, especially if it was free.

With a mental command he used one of his more enjoyable abilities:

Photosynthesis.