Chapter 8. Take An Action For First Mission

There was the explosion of smoke that Nordic witnessed when the wall door was fully opened.

Nordic stood motionless for a moment in his standing position, watching the puffs of smoke that made his eyes unable to see clearly. What's going on in this room?

Feeling panicked, Nordic hurriedly trotted into the room. Through the puffs of smoke while occasionally waving his hands so that his eyes could see clearly. Even though the results were nil, the plume of smoke was too thick, and... the stench was overpowering.

"Jeez, why did it get messed up like this?!" In between the sounds of coughing, a man grumbled.

After the Nordic broke through the fog, he could slowly make out two men looking distraught. They were standing near a long table filled with lots of laboratory equipment and tubes.

Nordic suddenly stopped walking.

"You really suck!" cursed a man, I don't know which one spoke.

"Why am I to blame? Gosh. You suggested mixing this tamarind liquid with Andelius flower powder!"

"You shouldn't have poured—huh? Wait, are we having guests?"

"What do you mean?"

Just as Nordic was shaking with astonishment, the two men in front of him simultaneously turned their heads. Right at him.

"Look. Someone is standing. Who is coming?" Then the man on the right side of the Nordics walked in one direction and picked up something. After returning, suddenly a cloud of smoke was immediately sucked into one point.

Nordic was again surprised to see all this smoke absorbed into the exhaust hole. Gradually the plume of smoke in this room lessened, clearing up the Nordic vision.

In front of him now, two men froze with confused and curious faces. The man on the left is stocky, tall, with a belly-length white beard, and wears a wizard's hat. His face showed middle age.

While the man on the right side was thin, tall—but no taller than the man in the wizard's hat, the folds of the skin on his face made him look like a 70-year-old man, and ... there was a thin white beard but only along the neck.

"Who are you? Why come into this room?" asked the man holding a vacuum cleaner. "I'm not familiar with your face."

Nordic didn't know how to explain. If he said his name, these two people still wouldn't recognize him, right?

"Wait, are you the 'Newcomer'?" The stocky man said after watching the Nordic intensely. He walked closer to the Nordic. "Ah! No wonder we're not familiar with you. What are you doing here?"

With an awkward smile, Nordic nodded her head and said, "That's right. I'm a newcomer here. Sorry if my arrival took you by surprise."

The stocky man, who was now on the left side of the Nordic, laughed lightly. "Ah, never mind! You must be dying to know what's in the House of Souls. My name is Professor Wirlly. And he is..."

The direction of the gaze of the stocky and Nordic man moved compactly to another man.

"Professor Randolph. I am certainly surprised, but it doesn't matter if anyone wants to come into this room," Professor Randolph replied.

Nordic just nodded in understanding. Then, Professor Wirlly looked uncomfortable noticing the messy state of the table in front of them. So, with a clumsy gesture, Professor Wirlly picked up a cloth that had been lying carelessly in the right corner of the table.

"Sorry, this table is a mess because we're doing an experiment. By the way, you haven't answered Professor Randolph's question. What do you need to come here for?" asked Professor Wirlly, spreading the cloth to cover the entire surface of the table.

“Actually, I came here because…” Nordic suddenly paused. He looked doubtfully at the two professors in turn. "...I heard that you are a magic professor who is good at concocting magic potions. I...want to see your potions."

Professor Wirlly and Professor Randolph exchanged glances. They both asked each other, but ended up both shrugged their shoulders.

"What are you curious about?" asked Professor Randolph.

"The potion!" replied the Nordic spontaneously, enthusiastically. "The form of the potion, the manufacturing process, how the potion reacts—"

"O, o, you can't, boy. You can't see it all at once," said Professor Randolph. "I mean, if you want to just see the shape, maybe you can. But for the manufacturing process and how the potion reacts, you need time."

Nordic fell silent. He did not know what to answer and how else.

"Then I'll just see how your potions look like." Nordic tried to look convincing so that the two professors would no longer give him suspicious looks.

Luckily, the two professors immediately turned unsuspecting. They seemed enthusiastic after hearing Nordic words.

"Fine. We'll show you."

Then Professor Randolph gestured for Nordic to follow his lead. The Nordics just go along with it. They moved to the right of the room towards a wide circular wooden staircase.

From the first floor of the room, Nordic can see a floor that is not large above especially for glass cabinets. As the Nordic steps arrived upstairs, he saw inside the glass cabinet there were potion tubes.

All of them differ in color and tube shape.

"You want to see the shapes of our potions?" offered Professor Randolph, pushing up the round glasses that slipped from the bridge of his nose.

Nordic doubtfully looked at Professor Randolph. How will he answer?

[System Alert!]

[Your Mana Points have decreased below 50%. Please increase your Mana Points through a special potion to increase your Mana Points or your energy will decrease drastically!]

The system warning caption suddenly appeared in front of Nordic's face. The Nordic nervousness increased instantly. An urgent situation like this made him confused about what to do.

"Can I have just one of your potions?" asked Nordic who couldn't help himself.

Professor Randolph frowned. "You asked for a potion? What's wrong?"

Nordic confused how to answer. "I... because I'm a newcomer, so I felt really tired on the way here. Someone said I could ask you for a potion any time."

At first Professor Randolph didn't seem to immediately believe the Nordic explanation. Professor Randolph looked at Nordic intensely, showing his suspicion again.

"Are you all right?" asked Professor Randolph.

“I…” Nordic paused for a moment. "Yeah, fine. I'm just tired."

Professor Randolph fell silent again. The direction of his gaze is so serious to the Nordic. During that time, Nordic suddenly thought of the possibility that Professor Randolph was reading his mind. Nothing is impossible in this place right?

"Wait a minute." Professor Randolph suddenly stepped closer and closer to the Nordic. He tilted his head, looked at the left Nordic neck, then reached up to it for a better look. "You have a mark on your neck. I feel I recognize this mark."

Nordic instantly remembered when Eglar did the same thing as Professor Randolph. At the same time, Eglar's words to Maglier flashed: don't tell anyone, he is Nordic, just treat him as a regular guest.

Does that mean that no one should know that he is a High Son, a descendant of the leader of the Gods of Mage clan?

"No, sorry." Immediately Nordic distanced himself so Professor Randolph would stop looking at the mark on his neck. "It's just a sign because I fell and hit my—"

"No..." Professor Randolph cut off the Nordic words.

At that time, there was silence between the two. Professor Randolph's gaze seemed to suggest something.

"You... have finally come after a century of us all waiting for you."