The Thorne of Destiny

During the trip back to their residence, Adrian's mind was filled with thoughts about the recent developments. This situation, while others might call it a misfortune, was no doubt a fortunate boon for him. With his newly acquired movement technique,even though he had only scratched the surface on it gave him some reassurance.

He hadn't tested it yet, but he could probably outrun a rank 3 beast now. This gave him a newfound sense of confidence as a crazy idea started brewing in his mind.

He could barely contain his excitement by the time they reached home.

Aside from the fact that he would be able to gather much needed resources, the map on his possession was also a point of consideration.

Since the location shown on it was mostly in the inner regions, he thought he would have to wait a while before he could explore it.

However, now he had a chance.

The next couple of days passed by in a blur.

He went out to make various purchases. During his trips, he could clearly see the shift in the mood of the city. More and more people filled the streets as the city became more crowded.

Many small and medium sized noble families that reside in city rallied their warriors in order to face this challenge.

In a mansion in the heart of the city, a middle aged man with a burly build was seen looking over the city. A frown was present on his face as he continued to stare into the distance.

" It's been a week now yet no one has been able to find out what caused the beast tide. Just what is going on?" He said after releasing a long, withheld breath.

He was the city lord as well as the patriarch of the Richards family, Gabriel Richards.

A week ago, he had been living his best life when all of a sudden, he received a ghastly report about a beast tide from the Misty mountains.

What shocked him was that not only were the amount of beasts massive, but their strength as well. He was only able to breath a small sigh of relief when he found out that the beasts didn't leave the mountains. They all just crowded into the outer regions.

However, this situation was also strange as well. He had sent multiple scouts to try and find out what was causing the beasts strange behavior but none of them could find out.

He had even put out a request to some sects in the vicinity but it was all to no avail. No one knew how much stress he was under. Even though he seemed like he was in an enviable position, the dangers that lurked in the shadows were no joke.

While his family was the only large sized family in the city, there were several mid sized families that resided in the city. In public, they may display the appropriate amount of respect that befits him but he knew of their ambition.

Several of them were waiting for an opportunity for him or his family to commit a blunder that they could capitalize on and the recent beast tide provided such an opportunity. He knew that if he couldn't handle this matter properly, he and his family could be replaced. While they were the absolutes in Stonehold city, it was only because they had the support of the Vyre family.

A failure of this magnitude could see them being discarded by them and replaced as the top dogs of Stonehild city.

While he was deep in thought, a knock was heard on the door. " Come in."

He replied impassively.

An older gentleman with a long white beard entered the room. He quickly bowed his head while giving his greetings.

"What is it, Harold?" Gerald asked without even acknowledging the Butler's greetings.

"Master, we just received a letter from the young master. It seems to be something important so I brought it to you straight away."

The butler replied in a respectful tone while bringing out a letter from his robes.

Gabriel's eyes shone as he quickly grabbed the letter from the butler's hands. He basically tore through the envelope before unfolding the letter.

His eyes lit up the more he read before his lips curled up into a smile.

"Hahaha, this is good news. Spread this news through out the city. The War Machine sect is going to help us deal with the beast tide. The people can stop panicking."

The butler was startled a bit before his eyes widened at the implication of what he just heard. However, he was a veteran, so he quickly regained his composure before bowing his head and leaving to carry out the order.

Gabriel seemed a lot lighter as if a major weight had been lifted from his back.

Meanwhile in a manor on the outskirts of town, Adrian was in his room with his furnace in front of him. His eyes were focused on the cauldron in front of him as he maintained his concentration through our the refinement process.

After about thirty minutes, he lifted the lid off the cauldron before a aroma started wafting out of it. Immediately, he took out some bottles and dumped the contents of the cauldron into them before tightly sealing it shut.

Only after doing this did he breath a sigh of relief. What he had made just now wasn't a pill but rather a potion. He has spent most of his newly acquired funds in order to purchase a rank 3 herb called the'Slumberseed flower'.

This flower was mainly used in pills to treat insomnia and to generally put someone to sleep. The recipe for the pill usually varied but the common denominator was always the slumberseed flower.

Adrian, with his low level naturally couldn't refine rank 3 pills currently. However, this didn't hinder him this time since he was never planning on making sleeping pills.

In his memories, he found a recipe for a potion using the slumber hex that surprised him greatly. With the addition of a herb known as the 'Dusk fern', the effects of the slumber seed flower could be amplified.

The crazy thing was that the dusk fern was just a rank 2 herb that limited uses.

It could only be used as supplements in pill making.