Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 48: Confronting Lucius. Part 1

'How unexpected.' Lucius thought to himself as he was making his way back.

That conversation with Erik was truly something which Lucius had not expected. When he had been called to have a chat, Lucius; mind had rapidly drawn up all the worst case scenarios. He feared that his actions in the Pit, or his identity as the one behind that attack on warehouse in the Commercial district had been revealed.

After all, no matter how careful Lucius was in hiding his tracks, some evidence might have accidentally been overlooked by him. In fact, it was already quite commendable on how much he had been able to hide his tracks under the scrutiny of modern technology.

If not for Lucius' thorough understanding of mankind's technology and it's appropriate weaknesses, he would not have been able to hide for so long.

Thinking back to his conversation with Erik, the smile on his face completely disappeared. 'Should I have killed him to get rid of the unstable factor?', Lucius pondered seriously.

Although this course of action guarantees the stability of his plans, it had its fair share of demerits as well. The most obvious one being, Reyna's state of mind.

If, because of her Father's death, her mental state is affected and therefore leading to delays or even complete lack of her involvement in humanity's struggle, mankind has zero chance at making through it's tribulations.

She was simply that important. Even the 'Great Commander' Alex can be allowed to die. While his death might affect humanity's struggles to a certain extent, in the grand scheme of things he wasn't someone of crucial importance. Without Reyna's efforts however, humanity simply stood no chance.

Due to his future plans, Lucius himself can also not get himself too deeply involved in mankind's causality. And even if he did, he himself was not confident of his chances at humanity's survival without Reyna's existence.

Shaking his head, Lucius took a deep breath. What was done was already done, it could no longer be changed. As for what was about to come, Lucius could only prepare himself and face it in the future.

'If he is smart as I remember, he should understand my intentions and won't proactively try to mess with my plans.'

"Luuucciuss!!" he heard a loud cry.

Lifting his head, he could see Reyna and Olivia standing in front of them. It was obvious that they had been waiting for him to come back. Seeing that he had to go back to resuming his act, Lucius face slightly twitched.

'Sigh, it's too tiring to put on act to deceive everyone. If only I can drop the act sooner.'

Still pushing down the dissatisfaction he was feeling, he obediently put on a smile and walked towards them.

Reyna bounced towards him, her face slightly red and her demeanor shy. Arriving in front of Lucius, she opened her mouth to talk, yet hesitated. Drooping her face and joining her index fingers together, she mumbled under her breath.

"So, what did my father talk to you about." Her voice was so soft that if not for Lucius' hearing being bolstered by his soul power, he would not have caught her words.

"He was just asking for my opinion on his announcement today." Lucius cooly replied.

Hearing him, Reyna abruptly stopped her actions and carefully looked at his face, she then quickly asked, "That's it?".

Apparently confused by her words, Lucius asked, "Yeah. What else would he talk about?"

"Oh." Reyna's reply was short. Her voice dripped with dissatisfaction and disappointment. Her head dropped once again as she walked towards Olivia.

Watching her act like this, Lucius was genuinely confused. He wasn't sure why this girl was acting this way. If she was curious or embarrassed, he could understand that. But the sheer disappointment he felt in her voice, utterly confused him.

He looked up at Olivia quizzically, but was met with a light smile and shrug. Olivia patted Reyna on her shoulder and the three of them resumed their journey.

Lucius who was quiet for sometime suddenly called out, "Reyna, I need your help with something."

Reyna's low spirits instantly rose up, as she immediately bounced up with greater energy. Her eyes were shining as she looked at him with an intense gaze.

Lucius was inwardly shocked at her comeback, ' Such intensity. Is that fighting intent in her gaze. Why?'

Shaking off his unnecessary thoughts, he spoke, "In preparation for this expedition, I need your help in making me a weapon."

"A weapon?" Both Olivia and Reyna asked at the same time.

Seeing their confusion, Lucius explained, "Since the planet were are heading to, was said to be in the frontier, there will be no lack of dangerous species. It is always advised to remain cautious and prepared. Therefore, The Alliance allows us to carry tools or devices suited for protection. In fact, the army students will also be provided firearms."

"How do you know this?", Reyna curiously asked. While her father was announcing the event, he did not mention such things.

Unflustered by her question, Lucius immediately replied, "Your father told me. The academy will be sending this information to the students in a few hours."

Looks of comprehension could be seen in the faces of both the girls.

"So, what's the weapon you need?" Reyna questioned.

Lucius stopped his walk and opened the holographic screen in his watch. Opening a drawing screen, he used his fingers to trace the outline of the weapon he required.

Reyna and Olivia looked on with a confused expression, before being dumbfounded.

Reyna's eyes bulged as she looked at the screen and then Lucius. Repeating this process three more times, she stuttered, "This..? Are you sure this is the weapon you want?"

Lucius directly nodded at her question.

Confused, she asked again, "Can you even use this weapon?"

Lucius nodded at her question again. He then instructed, "Also please use the compacting technology so that entire weapon can be shrunk down to fit in my bag. The material used for its construction must contain, Starsteel- Prefect Iron- Graphene in a 3-4-3 ratio. Make sure it's edge is sharpened to the extreme."

Although she was still confused, Reyna mentally made note of his instruction. She then confidently declared, "No problem! I shall personally oversee the process of it's forging."

After they were done settling a few minor questions, the three of them parted to get back to their own classes.

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After a day of classes, Lucius was heading back to his room. It was already night-time. Due the announcement earlier in the day, the classes for the morning had been postponed, with Lucius having to attend the extra classes in the evening to make up for his earlier disappearance.

Having nothing else to do for the time being, Lucius simply decided to head back to his room to continue with his soul cultivation. Although he cannot increase its Stage, he can refine his soul energy and condense it.

In cultivating the soul at each Stage, there were three subdivisions. The lower, mid and peak levels.

At the lower level, one's soul energy would still be hazy, taking on a cloud like appearance. The energy would not flow without wastage, with a large amount of efficacy lost in transfer. This level was called the Gaseous state.

At the mid level, the soul energy would condense from it's hazy cloud like appearance to one that is more solid. It would resemble flowing water, with the level being named Liquid state.

At the peak stage, the soul energy would completely condense and form a solid figure. The efficacy at this level would be maximum with no excess wastage. It was aptly named, Solid state.

While the levels, were crudely named as Gaseous, Liquid and Solid, it precisely informed one of their progress.

Lucius having mysteriously broken through into Stage 1, was still in lower level. almost 30% of the reddish-black cloud had been condensed and refined.

In regards to advancing into Stage 1, even though 'that event' had not occurred, he himself was still clueless.

'After being in that weird 'hunger' state the other day, I have not being able to absorb the souls of the people I kill. Nor has that mysterious hunger revealed itself once again.' Lucius thought to himself..

Lucius had tried to injure himself once more, to try to force it, but nothing had happened. His wounds had continued to heal quickly at the expense of his soul energy.

As he approached his room, he could vaguely make out a shadow standing near his entrance. Approaching closer, Lucius identified the shadow to be Olivia. She had already changed from her academy uniform, into one more casual.

Seeing Lucius approach, she gently smiled and called out, "You are very late."

Lucius simply shrugged his shoulder and replied, "Extra classes.". He then used his ID to open his door. While he seemed normal on the outside, inwardly he was thinking 'Why is this girl here?'

Chasing her off was not an option, since Lucius had already noticed Olivia's confusion earlier today. She seemed to detect something off about Lucius behaviour. Knowing that he somehow made a mistake in his act with her, Lucius mentally sighed and invited her in.

'This is the second person today, who has seen through my act. Might as well resolve this one at one shot.'