Knock. Knock.
Two spaced knocks broke all three occupants of the room from the tense atmosphere.
Eric didn't need the System's warning to know who stood on the other side.
The air in the room had already grown cold.
"Come in." Victoria said, her tone even.
Each hinge of the door swung without releasing a creak as though perpetually maintained.
In walked Baskar, donned in the same clothes Eric had earlier seen him.
Stood in the sun's glareand with the absence of urgency, Eric finally had a good look at the strange man.
He couldn't have been over twenty.
Asides the rust coloured hair on his head, there wasn't another speck of hair on his face.
He stood tall with a lean, muscular frame like that of an athlete's.
And finally, what always caught Eric's attention the most, his eyes.
The solid orbs had an almost hypnotic tinge to them.
The looming man swiftly fell to a knee, bowing at Victoria.
"Thank you for your gracious acceptance, Your Majesty." His grinding voice was filled with reverence.
"And pardon my tardiness. I made my approach as soon as I sensed your waking."
Victoria simply nodded in reply. "Think nothing of it."
After she spoke, Victoria gestured for the large man to rise and take the last available seat, which he did.
Throughout their exchange, both Eric and Raz observed the man with narrowed eyes.
They were ready to pounce on him if he made any sudden moves.
"Is it the best idea for us to speak of such sensitive matters, in the presence of outsiders?" Eric voiced his disapproval while glaring at Baskar.
Before Victoria could reply, Baskar's voice filled the room.
"I am incapable of betrayal."
"I'm certain you believe so." Eric retorted mockingly.
"It's true Eric." Victoria sharply cut. Stilling the room into silence.
"His life is in my hands. If he so much as attempts treachery, I can immediately end him."
Her morbid words made Eric gain a scowl. "An extension of his Lord's graces to you?"
Victoria's silence was the only reply he received. He had no other tangible reasons for not allowing the man in the room.
Further considering Baskar's mysterious Lord seemed omniscient, Eric doubted there was much they could do to hide things from him.
The only good of it was the repeated help Eric had received from them, which further fuelled his suspicions.
"Plus he's to be an active member in our plans going forward. So can we get back on track?"
Eric calmly let his gaze move from Baskar and turned inward, his mind already racing.
After the massive explosion which had effectively destroyed Panacea's base, Eric could not be sure if Narcosa had survived.
But considering the powers she wielded, it wasn't an impossibility.
Yet, to Panacea the royal siblings weren't as privileged as the banshee. Such a blast would very well eviscerate their bodies.
Placing a search for them lower on their list of priorities seemed like the logical thing to do.
Especially when it seemed their most important asset in the base was the far more precariously places Heaven's Loom, located underground.
Taking into account how much time had also passed between them destroying the Base and entering the veiled estate, only a window of one day existed in which their locations and statuses could have been divined.
And the King, by whatever obscure means Victoria knew, already thought them dead.
Thus, the only possibility of Panacea placing importance on a search for them within that short time depended on Narcosa.
Eric turned back to Baskar and asked. "What state did you leave the banshee?"
"She was maddened but powerful," Baskar said, his voice cold and steely. "I only subdued her by a slumber curse provided by my Lord."
"And how long does that last?" Victoria asked, catching on to Eric's test for possibilities they had been compromised.
"That is difficult to say." Baskar replied. "But it is improbable she could have gotten out before the facility's explosion."
"So she's either dead or the closest thing to it." Eric muttered in suspicion. "Convenient..."
From his earlier observation of Narcosa, he could tell she didn't have the physical strength to survive such destruction unscathed.
"That means Panacea should be oblivious." Raz said, ignoring Eric's scepticism.
"But still leaves the continued weakening of the estate's cloak." Victoria countered.
"You can't stabilise it?" Eric asked, facing the two mystics in their circle.
"Beyond advice I cannot interact with any aspect of the wards, as I am not of your blood." Baskar replied without a change in expression.
"And I can't change anything because I have no clue how father even created this place." The frustration coming off Victoria was palpable. "I'll go through his personal study, I think details on the estate's mechanics will be there."
She uncrossed her legs and rested fully against the chair as she continued speaking. "Baskar will help in filling any missing knowledge I might have. But regardless, I don't think we have enough time."
At their new dilemma, Eric thought of the two system-granted formations—Warding and Cloaking.
But they were Qi-based constructs. He didn't know if they would even register to, or worse, react against, Veil-based scrying.
Until he tested them, the hypothesis was too dangerous to voice.
"I suppose that's all we can do for now." Raz concluded. "And you've still not answered how to leave the estate your highness."
Victoria smiled gently at Raz as she spoke. "Pardon my manners Raz. Eric or I need to open the gates personally or it will not budge."
Then she raised her palm at Baskar. "Or more conveniently, one of us can grant you permission to leave and enter at will. That's how Baskar delivered the tincture."
Raz nodded in understanding before getting up. "In that case, you must excuse me your Majesty. I must prepare myself before heading out."
"Baskar will also be going with you." Victoria replied, as Baskar stood and approached the older man. "My mind would be better at ease knowing he's with you. And you could both do much to learn from each other."
Raz pursed his lips in suppressed surprise.
He watched the man who'd be acting as his protection in interest. "Come then." He said dryly.
"I'll show you to your room."
Once the two of them were alone, Victoria asked.
"And what are you going to be doing in the meantime?"
Eric gave a strained smile. "Experimenting..."
------------------------------
"Scan." Eric said, his mouth full of a ration from the estate.
There was also a considerable chunk of preserved foods available, but Eric had found them inconvenient for his expedition of the estate.
Besides mapping out the entire place, his true motives were finding the perfect location to setup the Qi-Enrichment Formation.
[QI CONCENTRATION: MINIMAL]
[LEY LINE ABSENT]
Raz and Baskar had left the previous day, sometime in the evening.
Before then Eric had handed his butler a curated list of materials needed for the formations. Each item was selected based on the specifications listed by the system.
Eric was neither a polymath nor scientist, so when the formation art asked of materials with stable lattice structures capable of enduring high-pressure environments without fracturing he was only left confused.
Luckily, he had the greatest invention of the twenty-first century at his disposal —the internet.
Using Kai's laptop Eric searched for the best materials which fit the specifications mentioned not only for the Qi Enrichment formation, but also the four other formations.
As he wasn't sure when Raz would return with the necessary materials he compiled a comprehensive list and handed it to his butler before departure.
In the meantime he'd search for available substitutes within the base.
But before that he wished to find an immediate solution to his bout of futile meditations.
Because of that, while Victoria read through their father's old books and journals, Eric searched for areas of concentrated Qi within the estate, which were ideal for cultivation.
He hoped to obtain, at least to an extent, similar benefits gotten from the enrichment formation, through this area.
For his impurity blocked meridians, the system and the ring were his sole instruments of discovery.
Eric had circled the entirety of the estate almost three times now and he was back at the front of the mansion where a large artificial pond was created.
Eric stared at the placid water, the last unchecked space in his failed survey. A part of him whispered it was pointless, another part refused to leave a single variable untested.
Dispirited and seeing as there was no point in delaying, he began walking towards it with his right hand out stretched.
"Scan" He called once more, with an unexpectant sigh.
[QI CONCENTRATION: MINIMAL]
[LEY LINE DETECTED]
Eric's dilated eyes sharpened at the slight change in response.
A new flame of vigour burned within him as he walked further and further till his feet were submerged in water and the hem of his trousers soaked.
"Scan"
[QI CONCENTRATION: 25% DENSER RELATIVE TO ENVIRONMENT]
[LEY LINE DETECTED]
[LEY LINE NODE REACHED]
When Eric saw the completely transformed prompt, his heart skipped a beat.
He was at the very centre of the large circular pond now.
The water had reached his waist and was biting against his skin, but he paid it little mind.
In quick measure, he fell into a lotus position, submerging himself further.
When he sat, the water rose to his neck, creating a seal of silence around him.
Leaving only his head above the water so he could breathe, Eric slowed his breathing to begin meditating.
Eric went through the motions of the breathing technique with improving ease; cycling through his breaths till the chill of the lake escaped him.
When he shifted his attention to his dantian, it was as empty as he knew it.
Eric entered the familiar trance of meditation, forgoing his awareness and becoming led only by the single purpose of sensing the energy he held within.
At the cusps of what his mind could handle, and surrounded by dousing water; Eric suddenly felt a faint spark in the hollow space of his empty dantian.
Then a flame.