The Way Ahead

Chapter 40: Pointed Questions

Edwins first instinct was to immediately grab something heavy and start clubbing Niall over the head, while shouting about them being murderers, but he restrained himself for the time being. This was not the time or place for that sort of action. Yes, he could be a little reckless at times, and he should have probably figured out sooner that the black-robed bio-alchemist in the ruined wizards tower wasnt exactly sourcing his ingredients from ethically agreeable places, but he had just gotten too keen on the idea of Science! and hadnt really thought about it too deeply. Though, even if he had known from the start, would that have actually changed his actions any? Probably not, in all honesty. Hed learned so much from Niall that-

You feeling alright? Niall broke him out of his musings with a concerned expression on his face.

Hm? Oh, yeah. Ill be fine, I just dont deal with, Edwin lamely gestured at the blood-covered minion in front of him, all that well.

Niall looked back and forth for a moment in confusion, before coming to a realization, Ah! Yeah, tha makes sense. Vitae can ge a bit messy at times. Go sit down, itll help. Drink some water, maybe lay down? Ill wash up and get food ready.

Edwin nodded mutely as he retreated to his room. Good, he wouldnt have to deal with the outlaws while he thought about how to, well, deal with them. Plenty of time to come up with a plan.

Edwin reclined on his bed, surprisingly clean for a bandit hideout, but it also made sense that a bio-alchemist could keep his lair free of bugs. It was still dusty, but that was. Tolerable. He retrieved his canteen from his belt and stared into the distance, thinking as he sipped at his water. Actually, first he should check his progress. He hadnt checked his notifications for a couple days now, and he should probably make sure everything was up to speed.

Level Up!

Alchemy Level 4346

Athletics Level 2527

Firestarting Level 3637

First Aid Level 1826

Flexibility Level 2223

Identify Level 3840

Memory Level 2328

Nutrition Level 2223

Outsiders Almanac Level 7477

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Packing Level 1617

Polyglot Level 3334

Visualization Level 4142

Congratulations! For breaking into a habited building undetected you have unlocked the Burglar path!

Congratulations! For successfully brewing an elixir you have unlocked the Potioneer path!

Congratulations! For brewing and applying an alchemical healing potion you have unlocked the Alchemical Medic path!

You have unlocked the Potion Brewing skill!

Accept Skill? Y/N

Ooh. Potion brewing. That was tempting. Really tempting. Hmm. No. Well, maybe? No. He already had alchemy at an honestly respectable level. But potion-brewing wasnt well, it also was Gah, he didnt know!

Hmm. He had a lot of Skills which were perfectly decent. Seeing, Breathing, First Aid, Survival, Nutrition they were all useful in their own right, and all had strong potential for their near futures, but he didnt want to clutter up his Skills list with all sorts of Skills which just reflected what he was capable of doing on his own.

He wanted the sort of power he saw with Tara, summoning silver walls and suits of armor, of snatching arrows from the air and no-selling powerful attacks. The sort of power that from what Rahin, Lefi and Tara had all told him was the result of high-tier Skills. And if he wanted to ever get to a halfway high Tier, he couldnt just go around accepting whatever Skills were offered him.

Heck, half of the cooler effects he wanted, like reflexes to snatch an arrow from midair or the ability to see the nigh-invisible he could probably get with Attributes if he was lucky, and that meant he really shouldnt take many more Skills unless they were either so broadly applicable that hed be able to level them constantly and easily while also benefiting all of his other abilities or were just so awesome he couldnt pass them up. Like pretty much anything with magic, actually.

But where did Potion Brewing fit into that? It was a really cool skill, and synergized with Alchemy and possibly Nutrition, but would he be able to level it easily enough? Would it help everything else he did enough to justify it?

Okay, fine. Hed decline it for now, because he didnt know how much potion brewing specifically hed be doing in the future, and he could always re-unlock it later. Anyway, back to the problem at hand.

So, hed need to take out five minions and one alchemist with unknown capabilities. Edwin knew that Niall had no combat or physical skills, unless he was lying, in which case Hm. Okay, Edwin would assume general supernatural physique, but also that he didnt have any hyper-powerful unknown combat attacks, because he couldnt plan for those anyway. Hed just assume that Niall was as unkillable as everyone except him, and maybe hed be pleasantly surprised.

Still, even if Niall didnt have any combat Skills, his minions absolutely did. They at least werent great at fighting, but they also couldnt be ignored, especially when fighting six-on-one.

His first priority should be neutralizing Niall. The alchemist was just too much of a wildcard, and was his biggest target besides. The minions would most likely disperse, joining other bandit groups admittedly, but without their boss they wouldnt be kidnapping random people and turning them into potions. He could kill the man, probably, but he wasnt sure if he wanted to. He still remembered watching Tara tear through bandits like they were paper, leaving them in bloody piles no. He would just need to try and find some ropes, he could Infuse those with the help of Packing to make them almost unbreakable, possibly even resistant to fire in case Niall had something like his Firestarting to let him burn through restraints. If worse came to worst, Edwin supposed, he would probably be able to slice Nialls throat without alerting the minions if he did it in the lab.

Ah, the lab. That was a set of complications of its own. There were some insanely useful things in the lab, but how would he know what was made out of murdered humans? Edwin shuddered. No. Just no. If he couldnt recognize something as being specifically not made out of humans, like dried herbs, it was going to be burned. That, sadly, included all the potions. A part of him ached to put it to the flames, but his skin crawled at the idea at the same time. Maybe one day, future-Edwin would scoff at his sentimentality, and that he should take whatever advantages he gets, and to not waste the sacrifices made by others, but future-Edwin wasnt here. Present-Edwin was, and present-Edwin was a sentimental ball of emotions (wait, how did they get here? Shoo.) whose mind and morality was still trying to cling to the Earth it had left behind. No, he wasnt going to use the potions that came from human experimentation. Maybe the notes, if there was anything useful there. But not the potions. Maybe not even the tower, for all he knew it was haunted by the ghosts of the bandits murdered victims...

Edwin had a thought and groaned. They werent cannibals, too, were they? Ugh. Hed have to try and figure out some way to ask without raising suspicions over dinner. They probably were, werent they? Ah, darn it all. This was probably above his paygrade, too. The smart thing to do would be to run and try to find Lefi or Tara, they handled this sort of thing all the time! But Edwin had decided that he was going to try and stand on his own two feet. He wasnt going to go running for help the moment he found something challenging. That wasnt how he got through college (for better or worse, he arguably should have gone to office hours more- focus, Edwin), the same thing applied to taking down bands of murder-cannibals. Also, whos to say how long it would take for them to actually get the message, track down the tower,

So, try and knock out Niall while he was in the lab, then tie him up with ropes, maybe chains if he could find them-

Oh! If he got into a fight with Niall, he needed to make sure that the alchemist wouldnt be able to reach a healing potion. It wouldnt do for him to fight through all the minions, only to be backstabbed by Niall, having healed a mortal injury through quick potion application.

Then, with Niall out of the picture, he could try to chain up the minions one by one. That would be harder, so hed have to take them by surprise, maybe club them over their heads and chain them up while stunned. Not ideal, and more than a little traitorous (at least he already had the Path, so the System wouldnt rub it in his face), but at least Edwin should come out the other side alive.

He didnt really expect hed be able to take them all alive, life-or-death combat would likely be just that, but he could at least try and then hed need to do something. He didnt know what, maybe lead them on a walk to the nearest town? Trying to remember where that was, relative to here, uh.

Level Up!

Memory Level 2829

Visualization Level 4243

Okay, there was one about a days walk back the way he had come. It hadnt been that big, but he remembered a stone building which looked like a small prison or something, they could probably handle the bandit group and let Tara deal with them, or whoever.

...Should he just let Tara take care of this whole mess? It was literally her job. Lefi, too, for that matter. Either one of them would be far more capable of taking down everyone. But no. Who knows how long it would take for Edwin to either find them or for a message to be passed along to them, let alone how long it would take them to get back here and find this place. That would put more people at risk, which he didnt want. Granted, if he failed, then theyd have no idea that this place was here at all. Did he want to take that risk?

Yes. He did. It may be suicidal-

It totally is.

Shut up, him. It may be suicidal, but if he surprised them, he might manage it. He might be able to whip up something in the lab, too. Though what, he didnt know. He wanted to make his move tonight. Yes, he should wait longer, but he wasnt sure how long he could keep his outburst contained and didnt want to warn them before he was ready.

His brain wandered slightly treacherously, wondering what he should take once he was done? He absolutely wanted the Grimoire, for one. It had way too much information on types of herbs and even creature body parts to leave behind. Before he left, he should also grab food supplies, as many non-human alchemical ingredients as he could manage, and oh! He should also check out the upper floors of the tower. He hadnt before, as there just hadnt been the opportunity to, and Niall hadnt offered to show him that far up, but he should make sure there wasnt someone caged up there, waiting to be rendered into potion ingredients.

Hm. What if Niall was able to kill and reanimate himself, Herbert West-like? It would be messy beyond belief, but if it came to that, Edwin should probably try to dismember him? Edwin shuddered.

No. No. He was not going there. Hed just make sure he tied up Niall even if he thought the Catabolic Alchemist was completely dead. Still, he should make sure he was absolutely certain that there hadnt just been some massive misunderstanding before he attacked Niall and his underlings. Probably wasnt, but he didnt really want to take that chance.

A knock on the door brought Edwin from his thoughts, Yeah?

Da boss sent me ta tell ya food is ready, was that Minfive? The voice was gravelly enough. He couldnt really tell them apart without Almanac, despite them all looking and sounding so different from one another.

Okay, thanks, Edwin called in response, Ill be up in a minute! he smirked. It was like high school all over again, being summoned for food. He schooled his expression and made his way up the creaking stairs, to where four of the six bandits were waiting. Minsix was on the balcony, actually awake while on watch for once, and Minfour was, when he asked, sleeping downstairs, recovering from the skin-regeneration potion.

So I have to ask, Edwin cautioned, as they served up the ladles of stewNiall had prepared, and waited for Niall to indicate he should proceed, These arent from the resupplies, right?

Niall immediately shuddered, Good heavens, no! Tha would be disgusting! the alchemist shook his head. Wait, had Edwin misjudged him? Were they actually not rendering humans into potion ingredients, if this was the reaction for that sort of thing, An a complete waste, too! No, the meat comes from either hunting or the supplies they migh be carrying. The suppliers themselves are much too precious to eat, theyre saved for potions.

And there it was. Well, at least he wasnt eating people, and he knew for sure that the potions did have travelers ground up in them.

I see. Well, thats a relief. Edwin honestly replied.

Could you imagine? Cannibals, ah! Truly disgusting. Potions, though, potions at least youre using them for good. Niall shook his head, apparently trying to get the image of eating people out of it, An now youve gone and ruined my appetite. He accused Edwin, who could only helplessly shrug in response.

Sorry?

Ah, not your fault. Ill finish eating another time. Ill be on the top floor, Edwin, if youd join me when youre done?

Oh? That was interesting. Edwin watched as the alchemist retreated upstairs, leaving him with the three hulking minions. He didnt stick around long, hastily gulping down his stew (it was really good, which Niall attributed to his Cooking skill) with a clear conscience before following Niall.

Edwin paused as he prepared to venture to the floor above the lab. He wasnt sure what he was expecting, some torture chamber with blood and viscera everywhere, or maybe children in cages as they waited for dissection, and he needed to prepare himself. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, stepping up to a perfectly normal room. Of all the things he was preparing for, that was not one of them. There werent bloodstains on every surface, nor rusty dissection tables.

A bit of quiet and brief poking around found some bloodstained cloth off against the wall, a table with a rust-colored discoloration right in the center, and discarded restraints against another side of the wall, iron manacles with the key in the lock. That worked pretty well, actually. Edwin didnt take them out quite yet, but it would be useful once he needed to disable Niall.

Still, he was pretty sure this was a dissection room, just one that was kept pretty clean. That was a relief, that while his host may have been a serial killer, he was at least a neat one. Small mercies. Still, he should get moving. Hed waited long enough, no need to make the bandit leader suspicious.

Edwin made sure his knife was loosened in its sheath as he ventured up the final flight of stairs, so he could draw it at a moments notice. It was hardly meant for combat, but it was still better than nothing, at the very least.

Ah! Edwin. Glad you could make i. Niall didnt turn as Edwins weight caused the weather-worn wood of the top to squeak in protest, Mind your step. The top can be a little rotten in places, its why I dont come up here often.

So then why are you up here now?

Its a good place to look out an think, you know? Especially if you come out after dark.

I can believe that. Edwin joined Niall as he watched the sun descend towards the horizon, washing the grassland in brilliant crimsons and golds. From up here, you could see for miles, all the way to the farmland in the distance, to the herds of either cattle, horses or something else, grazing in the grasslands here and there. Looking away from the farmland to try and see the end of the waving grasses was unsuccessful, the endless sea just fading into the distance beyond what he could even hope to see.

Level Up!

Seeing Level 2627

You mentioned wishing to leave?

Edwin shrugged, Yeah. Its been informative, working with you and reading the Grimoire, but I need to move on before my pursuers catch up.

Have you considered the possibility they are no attempting to pursue you, if you have yet to see them?

Edwin shook his head, I made the lord too mad, assuming he even survived, to let me go. He struck me as the sort of person to pursue a grudge to the ends of Joriah if he could. I have a head start, yes, but I need to try and keep it.

I see. Pity. Well, if you find yourself coming back this way, you are always welcome here. When will you depar?

Tomorrow morning, probably. Its a bit late to leave now, I dont want to travel at night again.

Niall chuckled, Smart. I trust I don need to tell you not to let anyone else know about us? Well be found sooner or later, but I like this tower an dont want to have to leave any sooner than I must.

Nah, its fine. Edwin sighed and shifted his position such that he was slightly behind Niall, who was still looking out over the grasslands. He so desperately wanted to give some witty one-liner, but settled for efficiency instead. With a single continuous motion, he drew his knife and slammed its pommel into the side of Nialls skull.