【There’s a hidden apothecary here!】
System 12345 put up a portrait of a woman.
She was mostly concealed by a black cloak, with only her beautiful lower jaw and delicate collar bone visible for others to fathom the hidden beauty beneath.
【She’s Baysema, an exceedingly talented apothecary skilled at making all sorts of potions. Rumors have it that her beautiful hands can turn any unknown herb or miscellaneous crystal into a miraculous potion.】
【My host, since you’re going on an adventure, how can you not add a charismatic, beautiful, and mesmerizing apothecary into your party?】
System 12345 marked the location of Baysema’s town on Shu Yichao’s map—it made sure to double confirm that it didn’t mark it red.
【My host, you can approach her under the pretext of buying potions, then take on quests relating to finding herbs for her. Over time, you can get to know each other better and deepen your bonds. She’ll replenish your blue, and you can supply her with your white… Ehehe!】
【All right, I’ll issue the mission now.】
System 12345 began inputting the voice command.
【Conquest Target: Talented Apothecary Baysema】
【Description: I just want to peacefully research my potions. Can you don’t disturb me?】
【Requirement: Achieve a loyalty of 15.】
【Reward: A Ring of Holy Light—it’ll emanate a warm light even under the darkest night, dispelling coldness and yin energy.】
…
In a room suffused with the scent of herbs, a woman dressed in a black cloak was busy grinding the herbs in a mortar.
After grinding the herbs down into a paste, she placed a few crystals under the mortar and began murmuring a chant. Flames started to flow into the mortar, causing the paste to swiftly change colors and textures.
Eventually, the paste turned into a viscous fluid.
She took out a porcelain bottle and poured the fluid in.
Just then, she heard a rustling sound at the doorway as if someone had touched something. That brought a frown to her hidden face.
“You’re still there?”
“Lord Baysema,” the person outside respectfully called out. “The city lord sincerely hopes for you to become his vassal.”
“I’m not interested,” Baysema coldly replied, “I’ll deliver war slaves to the city lord once I am done developing the potion. You just have to activate them then. Please don’t disturb me for anything outside of that. Send the guest off!”
She heard some noises afterward—the guest appeared to have left.
Baysema opened the door and saw her apprentice staring at her with a frightened look.
“Bring a few slaves over!” she ordered, “We’ll continue creating war slaves.”
War slaves were humans who served as mindless combat puppets. Their bodies were enhanced by potions, but their minds were eroded by a bug implanted into their brain.
The quality of the war slaves could vary greatly depending on the creator’s skills. Some of the weaker shamans and mages even had to band together just to create a single war slave.
Baysema was neither a shaman nor a mage, but she had the ability to nurture an outstanding war slave by herself, not to mention that her skills as an apothecary were not to be scoffed at. Due to that, many powers had attempted to recruit her.
However, she didn’t want to become subservient to anyone, so she would rather ignore the invitations and remain in this remote place.
Boom boom boom!
Thunderous crackles suddenly echoed outside, then the sky darkened.
“Is there going to be a storm?” a Tibetan soldier stationed on a sentry tower murmured as he watched the dark clouds enveloping the sky, blocking off the sun.
“Wow.” His colleague looked at the sky as well and remarked, “I’ve been here for years now, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Indeed.”
“I wonder how heavy the rain is going to be… Why don’t we bet how many of those Tang slaves are going to be crushed to death?”
“Hahaha!”
The soldiers burst into laughter.
The Tang slaves had suffered a lot under the Tibetans’ rule. They had to wake up earlier than chickens, sleep later than dogs, work harder than oxen, and eat worse than pigs. Many of them lived in tattered houses that couldn’t weather the storm.
With a storm coming in, a bunch of them were likely to lose their lives.
However, someone soon noticed that something was amiss.
“Something is off. Why are the dark clouds rolling on the floor?”
The soldiers squinted their eyes to take a closer look. They saw the dark clouds surging like a raging tide, rushing toward the town with an unstoppable momentum! It was as if an ink tsunami had been raised in the middle of the Gobi!
Furious winds raged, hurling sand and rock pieces everywhere.
“Run!”
The Tibetan soldiers reacted fast despite having no idea what was going on.
“Run into the houses! This storm is out of the world!”
They were so flustered that they failed to notice the faint silhouettes amidst the dark tides, as well as a flag.
“It’s going unbelievably smooth. I thought that there would be a tough fight here since a hero unit is stationed here.”
When Shu Yichao and his army arrived in the town under the cover of the Eternal Blight, they found that even the gates were left ajar. They faced no difficulties entering the town at all.
Most of the Tibetans had sought shelter as they thought that there was going to be a storm. Only when darkness enveloped them did they realize that something was amiss, but it was too late by then.
It was so dark that they couldn’t even see their own fingers; how could they muster their forces to put up a resistance?
“AHH!”
Wails and screams suffused the darkness, causing the Tibetan soldiers to panic.
“What happened?!”
“Why did the sky suddenly turn dark?”
“There’s something wrong with this storm!”
“Who’s there? I hear the sound of horse hooves… AHHH!”
“It’s all dark outside! I can’t see anything!”
“It’s an enemy attack!”
“A torch! Anyone has a torch?”
“Does no one have a light crystal?”
“AHHH! MONSTERS! THERE ARE MONSTERS!”
The soldiers’ screams and the fighting sounds outside alerted Baysema. She drew her curtains and saw that it was completely dark outside; there was no light to be seen.
She retrieved a glowing crystal from her pockets and tossed it outside.
The glowing crystal swiftly dimmed, as if the terrifying darkness was devouring the light.
“This isn’t good!” Baysema murmured in alarm.
She rushed toward a small shed outside her house and opened the door.
Inside were ten brawny figures with pale faces and tightly-shut eyes. She took out a potion, poured it into her mouth, before spraying the content all over the war slaves. Then, she began murmuring a chant.
“Rise, war slaves!”
Kr krk!
With the cracking of stiffened joints, the war slaves began to move.
Baysema quickly issued orders to the war slaves—some were to head to the streets, some were to guard her backyard, and some were to remain in the room to guard her.
“Huu! It should be fine now.”
Baysema breathed a sigh of relief.
She had no idea what was up with the darkness, but ten infallible war slaves should be enough to keep her safe.
Kwang!
There was a terrifying explosion, and the room shook. Dust rained from the ceiling beams.
What happened?!
Baysema shot to her feet in shock.
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