It was night by the time Gaius regained full control over his mental faculties. Sweat and black filth had stained all the clothes of him with a dirty brown, and the smell wasn’t anything to sneeze at either. The bedsheets were also stained with a reddish-brown, and the boy, who was already naked, removed the bedsheets with all due haste.

The wooden sculpture was largely motionless. Its arm was twitching — the only proof that the artificial intelligence was still occupying that particular body. Wrinkling his nose at the stench, Gaius decided to ignore Nexus for a moment, and hopped into the small tub of warm water.

A rancid smell, one that overpowered the stench already in the room, assaulted Gaius’ nostrils, and the boy scrubbed his skin frantically with one of the many brushes hanging around the bathroom, rubbing his back and chest until it was red and raw. The bristles on the brushed was black by after a minute or so of brushing, and Gaius tossed it on the floor, before taking another brush of the wall.

The moon was high in the sky by the time the boy got out of the bathroom. His skin was cleaner than he’d thought possible, even when back on Earth, and as he pulled on a robe hanging near the door of his room, Gaius thought back to his findings.

Above his heart, where a layer of skin had covered the Stellar Core as it was somehow embedded into his chest, laid a small triangle of greenish metal. The Astral Wind, which he had worn on a chain when going back, had vanished, leaving only a chain behind.

Gaius didn’t need to ask Nexus to know what had happened. It wasn’t like he could either, judging from the ‘out of commission’ look the sculpture was giving off. The boy had been wholly focused on what was going on within his body, as per the artificial intelligence’s words, so he didn’t really know what his arms or legs were doing…if they were doing anything anyway.

But a preliminary examination of his own body brought to light the increased sensitivity of his body. The movement of air around him, the sounds on the first floor, the smell in the room…his senses had been amplified. But identifying other changes beyond that probably fell in Nexus’ specialities.

The boy sniffed again, and then grabbed the wooden sculpture, before leaving the room. Making his way downstairs, he beckoned the receptionist, May, over.

“How can I help you…” Her voice faltered. “You look different, milord. It’s like you’re glowing.”

Gaius made a noise in assent, and then passed ten gold over. “Unless you like stenches, go use this money to hire the best cleaners you can to clean my room. Something happened during my cultivation.”

“I see…milord, you had an ablution here?”

He didn’t quite understand what ablution meant, but it felt like a convenient explanation, so Gaius nodded. The receptionist’s eyes sparkled in response, but before she could say anything else, he bolted out of the inn and headed for Lower Elinaris.

Nexus was still twitching somewhat when he passed through the checkpoint between Lower and Upper Elinaris. The bodies that had littered the area near the area, however, were long gone, and the guards were clearly more attentive to people coming and leaving. The gates that controlled movement in and out of Upper Elinaris, for instance, had opened without any prompting when Gaius drew near.

The boy didn’t know how long this streak of hardworking-ness would last, however.

Without much ado, he headed towards the tavern, passing by the slums on the way. The smell of decay and whatnot once again returned to assault his senses, but they were nothing compared to the horrible stench he’d exuded in his room at the Merry Cats. His face unperturbed, Gaius sidestepped a drunken man, and entered the tavern.

A few faces turned his way as he pushed open the door, but clearly, something else had gotten the attention of everyone in the tavern tonight. Even the smell of low-quality booze wasn’t as pervasive as it was last night, and the boy pricked up his ears as he walked towards the information broker’s counter.

“What do you think of the Last Star’s words?”

“General amnesty for all commoners? Reform?”

“Thorough investigation my ass, he’s going to be brought over anyway.”

“He’s a chosen of the Human God…”

Gaius’ confident gait withered for a small moment as these words entered his ears. Red tinted his vision in that momentary pause, but his sight returned to normal almost immediately afterwards. His fingernails digging into the palm, Gaius walked over to the information broker, who was tapping his table impatiently.

The little boy, with the assistance of the Flight ability, got onto the chair, and Lupus twitched involuntarily from what looked like fright.

“Your Excellency, please don’t go popping up from nowhere!” The man massaged his chest, and then exhaled out slowly. After calming his nerves, he reached for something below his counter, and pulled out two thick files. He gave them a onceover, before sliding them over to Gaius.

“Details on the city’s guards and security details are in this file.” Lupus indicated the file in Gaius’ right hand. “There’s also a dossier about the pay that these guards receive every month, as well as their family details for the more…unscrupulous methods.”

Gaius smiled wryly. The information broker was obviously thinking about blackmail and threats, but if there was one thing the boy could remember from his incomplete memories, it was the fact that threatening someone’s family never worked well.

“In that case, the one I’m holding is presumably the information about the areas surrounding Elinaris, no?” Gaius asked, his hand fluttering in a gesture that he associated with nobility for some reason.

“Yes, Your Excellency.” Lupus inclined his head slowly. “As well anything I could tell you about the group us brokers belong to.”

“Excellent.” Gaius produced another small bag of gold. “I have another commission for you, if you are interested.”

“We don’t turn down requests as a rule of thumb, Your Excellency.” Lupus reached out and took the small bag. “What do you need to know?”

“The fate of House Lorenze. Any survivors…things like that…oh?” Gaius raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

Lupus stared at Gaius, an odd expression on his face. “How did you know that? News of that particular House just came in a few hours ago, and most of that was limited to the brass only!”

“Maybe a little bird told me, Lupus,” replied Gaius, a faint smile gracing his features. “That said, I do not have the details, so I’ll be relying on you.”

The boy stretched, and slid off the chair.