Mushrooms were evil existences created only to bring suffering to everything and everyone. No one liked them, and they only created misery and sadness for anyone unfortunate enough to interact with them too much.

This innate evil gave them only two valid functions: to be destroyed or be used to destroy others.

Jake refused to see them have any other purposes. Hence why he had decided their purpose would be the latter. He would extract their vital essence and use it to bring down others in the form of poisons. He would allow the mushrooms only this one honor in their entire miserable existence, at least allowing them to display at least a smidgen of goodness by killing Jake’s foes and-

“Lord Thayne? Izil said she would gladly visit later today. I finally got through to her,” he suddenly heard Meira’s voice from outside his lab, throwing him out of his incredibly productive thoughts.

“Great! Can you call me shortly before she is here so I can finish up and get ready?” Jake yelled back as he kept working on his current concoction, still not wanting to give the mushrooms any reprieve from their righteous suffering.

“Alright,” Meira said, bowing outside the lab door where Jake couldn’t even see her.

Shaking his head, Jake refocused his attention on the only proper use of mushrooms as he worked on creating some more poison for his stock.

It had been about two weeks since he returned from his final shopping trip, and Jake had only left his lab twice during this time. Once was to check up on Vesperia and ask how she was doing, and the other was to talk to Meira about seeing Izil concerning the upcoming ceremony and a potential ring upgrade.

During this time, he also cleared it with the King, Sylphie, and Sword Saint that they would all attend the ceremony. Miranda would naturally also attend, and the agreement was that Jake would go fetch them in Haven the day of, with Miranda handling everything with who from Earth would come. Jake just stayed out of it and let her take charge while she coordinated with the Verdant Witches on the Order side of things.

He had also called Draskil to inform him about the upcoming ceremony, but the dragonkin had already known as the news had gone viral through all the news streams across the multiverse. Merchants traded in not only items but information, and with news like this, they gladly spread it for free, as it only made them look good that a Primordial-level faction trusted them to communicate it.

The reason she hadn't visited earlier was because Izil had apparently been busy. This meant Meira could not get in contact with her, despite having tried several times. Where or what Izil had been doing, Jake didn’t know, but he assumed he would find out later when she came by to visit.

When it came to his alchemy, Jake had been quite productive if he said so himself. It took over a week to get back into the groove of things as he had to adapt to his improved mana and the C-grade ingredients that also had energy of a higher level. His time making potions helped tremendously here, but it wasn’t enough.

If Jake just wanted to make weak poisons, it would have been fine, but he wanted to make the good shit. He wanted rare C-grade poisons. Hemotoxins, necrotic poison, and his Sleeping Night Toxin, more specifically. Those were the three he focused on crafting rare variants of, and so far, he had succeeded with the first two, while the Sleeping Night was still a bit more challenging. It was also the most situational poison, but Jake felt like it could come in handy.

It had to be noted that, unlike skill rarities, items did not deteriorate in rarity between grades but were more set from the beginning. That was why something like potions had hard requirements for what they could restore, and the rarities of poison were pretty much solely dependent on the skill of the crafter and the materials used. Two rare poisons could also vary widely in potency based on who crafted it and who used it, with the rarity honestly meaning little in a wide context but only held meaning if you took the one using it into consideration. This was true even more so for Jake and all his passive skills related to using poison.

Jake kept working on his alchemy for a bit longer before Meira returned and prompted him that Izil would arrive soon. Finishing up what he was doing, Jake quickly cleaned himself up before heading out of the lab and towards the living room.

He saw Izil arrive as he walked over, and the two elves hugged after not meeting for a while. Jake stopped in the hallway and waited for a few minutes as he saw the two of them talking, not wanting to interrupt their small reunion. After they moved from the entrance area, Jake also resumed his walk and soon joined them.

As he entered the living room, Meira was bringing in some tea with Izil and her talking. They both became silent when they saw him and bowed in tandem after Meira put down the tea set.

“It has been a while, Lord Thayne,” Izil said while bowing in a respectful tone.

“That it has,” Jake nodded as he motioned for them to sit as he also dropped himself into the sofa across from them. “I hear you’ve been busy recently? I hope I didn’t take too much time out of your day.”

“It’s all fine, I needed a break anyway, and this was a great excuse to also catch up with Meira,” Izil shook her head, looking a bit frustrated. “Things are just a bit annoying right now with a lot of things to deal with.”

Jake got the feeling she wanted him to ask more for her to vent, and he gladly obliged. “What kind of things?”

“This entire ceremony business!” Izil complained. “As a member of the Altmar Empire, I need to try and figure out a bunch of stuff regarding this secret Chosen, but the problem is that so is everyone else, yet no one knows anything. Even when I am not tasked with that, I need to meet up with contact persons and other factions. Oh yeah, and then there is also some grand gift I am supposed to come with input for, but how would I ever know what some Chosen of a Primordial want? Do they think I have met this Chosen or what? At least all lessons have been canceled until after the announcement, or this would have been the death of me…”

Jake did all he could to hold his poker face as she ranted, cringing back a bit at the second and third-to-last sentence. He also saw Meira stoically resisting saying anything. She was helped by the contract that restricted her, and Jake got the feeling this was one of the few times she was grateful for literally being unable to reveal anything.

“You must be swamped, too, as someone blessed by the Malefic One, right?” Izil then asked Jake, just turning the entire situation even more awkward.

“Yeah… well, this entire ceremony business was actually part of the reason I asked to meet you,” Jake said, scratching the back of his head, embarrassed at the trouble he had unintentionally brought her.

“I will not lie, I had kind of figured it was related to that. I apologize, but I doubt I can help with anything; I am already overworked as is,” Izil said with a sigh. “But I will try in any way I can.”

“No, that isn’t what I meant. What I meant is…” Jake began before just shaking his head. “The thing is, I am the Chosen of the Malefic Viper.”

Izil looked at him for a few seconds before breaking into a smile and laughing. “You do have some talent in bringing up people’s moods, but I would be careful with such jokes. You may be branded a heretic even if it is done purely in jest. Thank you for the laugh, though.”

“No, it wasn’t a joke,” Jake clarified.

Izil stared at him for a few seconds with a confused look, clearly not quite sure what he was getting at. “I am not sure I get this joke…”

“I told you, it isn’t one. I have the True Blessing of the Malefic Viper, thus making him my Patron,” Jake said in no uncertain terms. “Ah, wait, this should do it.”

Jake manipulated Shroud as his full aura as a Chosen was unleashed upon the living room. Izil looked confused for several more seconds before her eyes opened wide. She barely managed to turn her gaze to Meira, who just nodded, confirming Jake was telling the truth.

“How is that…”

“Well, the short story is that I met the Viper through rather unique circumstances, we got talking, and I ended up walking away with a True Blessing, and now here we are. I wanted to keep it a secret for personal reasons, as I am not a fan of being treated like some semi-divine being just because of a Blessing, but I knew the cat would be out of the bag eventually. With this entire debacle involving Vesperia – the True Royal Hive Queen – I knew I would have to reveal myself. So, better do it on my terms through the ceremony,” Jake explained.

The elf seemed to realize something then. “That bee egg ritual in the garden…”

“Resulted in the True Royal,” Jake confirmed.

“How is… you’re human, and…”

“It is what it is,” Jake shrugged.

Izil then turned to Meira, who looked apologetic. “I am sorry, Izil, I couldn’t tell you because of the contract, and Lord Thayne wanted to keep it a secret…”

“Then… everything with Nella?” Izil asked, all the puzzle pieces slowly finding their places.

“I handled it,” Jake said. “With the help of the higher-ups from the Order, who knew my identity, of course.”

The elf looked lost for several seconds before her eyes opened wide, and she practically fell to the floor as she kneeled. “I sincerely beg for forgiveness from the Chosen of the Malefic One; I meant no disrespect with any of my prior actions or words. My senseless ranting just now did not in any way reflect the views of the Altmar Empire but was solely my own, and I take full responsibility.”

Meira quickly moved to help Izil stand up, with Jake not even needing to say anything as she comforted Izil. “It’s fine. Lord Thayne doesn’t get angry about that sort of thing.”

She looked at Jake for confirmation as he nodded. “I legitimately don’t really care about all these rituals of respect and whatnot, so don’t worry. I am the one feeling bad about swarming you with work related to finding out who the Chosen was when I could have just told you earlier or at least allowed Meira to tell you.”

“I thank the Chosen for his forgiveness,” Izil said in a small tone.

“Jake is just fine. If that feels like too much, Lord Thayne is also acceptable,” Jake said. While he respected others’ ways of calling him, he still wanted it to at least be related to who he was and not just his title as the Chosen.

Izil nodded but still looked stunned as if she was desperately trying to comprehend everything that had happened. Jake empathized as she tried to lift the mood a bit.

“Think about it like this: you were tasked with finding out things about the Chosen of the Malefic Viper from the Altmar Empire, right?” Jake asked.

She nodded without saying anything.

“Well, you got me right here. In addition to that, you are friends with Meira, who has worked here ever since the day I arrived at the Order of the Malefic Viper and is considered a friend of mine, too,” Jake smiled as he leaned back, happy at seeing Izil slowly realize the opportunity in front of her.

“Chosen of… I mean, Lord Thayne, are you truly serious?” Izil asked with a lot of doubt. “I am a daughter of a mere noble of the Altmar Empire, to discuss matters with me privately like this…”

“As I said, I don’t care about those kinds of things. You are here as a friend of Meira, and that you happen to also be a member of the Altmar Empire is just a bonus,” Jake smiled. “That was actually the main reason I wanted to meet. Can you take a look at this?”

Jake made his Altmar Signet visible as the ring appeared on his hand on top of his gloves. He hadn’t really looked at the description of the ring for a long time and used Identify on it as he also saw Izil move her gaze to his finger.

[Altmar N-Signet (Ancient)] – You have been judged by the Altmar Empire and found worthy. This ring is made of unknown metal with an unknown gem embedded in it. This signet is proof of your performance and contains an identifying script designed to only be readable by the Altmar Empire. Yet even if this ring is primarily a display of status, it is far from just a showpiece. For with great status comes great power. This ring has been customized by its owner to grant him the distributed stats he desires. Stats cannot be redistributed once set. Enchantments: +300 Strength, +300 Agility, +200 Perception, +100 Endurance, +100 Intelligence Requirements: Soulbound

The ring had been godlike when he received it at the beginning of D-grade, but it was only decent by now. Jake did love the design of the thing, though, with its ability to allow him to distribute stats himself rather than just receive something set. Especially as he was getting closer to stat limits, it would be awesome to be able to get the stats he wanted the most.

“That is… a trial ring?” Izil said with some surprise. “An N-signet version too. Did you encounter one of the test dungeons the empire created?”

Jake nodded. “Yep, and I cleared it, getting this in the end. I must admit, I love the design of the thing and would be interested in knowing if this is the kind of thing the Altmar Empire sells?”

“No, these items are usually not sold public-“ Izil began as she seemed to reach a realization. “You said you liked this kind of ring… would you want to have one? One for your current self that is.”

“I am heading off to Nevermore pretty soon and would like one, yes. That is why I asked if I could buy one. If not buy one, then maybe a way to upgrade the one I already have?” Jake tried again.

“Come the ceremony, would the Chosen be satisfied with being offered a similar item?”

“Oh, I hadn’t really thought about that,” Jake admitted. “But sure, why wouldn’t I? As long as I get it before Nevermore, I am good, and I plan on going shortly after the event.”

Izil looked like she had just been given a grand gift as she broke into a massive smile. “I shall relay it.”

Then, she seemed to realize something else and looked at Meira before turning her gaze back to Jake.

“Say… Lord Thayne, you said earlier you want Meira to be free, correct? As in, not a slave?”

Jake nodded, not sure why she asked. “Yep.”

“So…” Izil looked uncomfortable. “Would that mean slaves from the ninety-third universe wouldn’t be a desired gift?”

Elsewhere in the Order of the Malefic Viper, an old mage was hard at work. At the top of a mage tower, an intricate formation lined every inch of every wall. A large sphere of spinning discs marked the center, with a single man standing in front of it, slowly controlling the entire process.

The barrier mage stared at the magical screen as the central processor of the tower worked overtime to analyze everything the formation had gathered. He had it running for over two weeks until it gave the expected response.

”Failed, huh,” the mage nodded, having expected this outcome. ”I guess there is no other choice.”

Activating a seal on the processor, the rings stopped spinning as the entire framework began to collapse until it formed a small sphere that hummed with energy. The sphere contained all the gathered data from the masked man’s display of his arcane energy that his current mage tower simply didn’t have the ability to analyze. So he would have to send it somewhere that could.

He took out a formation disc and activated it as the formation formed. The old elf placed the sphere in the middle of the formation as he took out a small crystal and began to infuse it with his message to the head of the academy back at the Altmar Empire. He did not doubt that he would be able to figure out every detail of the arcane affinity, as even if the head couldn’t do it himself, he could escalate the issue to the top. Who knows, if the arcane affinity was interesting enough, a deity might even get involved?

After quickly relaying the information of where he had gotten the data sample, he placed the information crystal next to the sphere and activated the array disc to teleport it all away. The formation hummed to life as suddenly he froze.

The sphere disappeared the second before the formation activated, with the information crystal momentarily vibrating before it got teleported away.

Briefly, the old elf felt odd as his eyes opened in terror.

”Wha-”

The word lingered in the air in the now empty tower, no trace of life remaining.