Chapter 279: The Unlisted Effect
Across the room, Rias stepped into the shadow of a display shelf and activated Shadow Step. Darkness gathered neatly around one boot, then fell away when she returned beneath the lamp.
"It doesn’t strengthen the skill," she said. "I can feel the exact point where my mana enters the shadow and Shadow Step’s pattern takes over."
Martin added a note about Elisebeth’s original-spell training. If Elisebeth could sense where one mana pattern ended and another began, separating three compatible skills might become easier.
As the two-minute effect wore on, the extra clarity became uncomfortable. Every enchantment in the shop pressed more sharply against Martin’s senses, and a steady ache formed behind his eyes. Rias had already noted the same strain and confirmed that the tooltip warned about it.
Once the fourth tasting registered, a notice from the central desk marked their circuit complete and confirmed that their included discussion-only consultation could begin at Lucid Current.
All four stores had delivered on their public claims. The prices were high, and the constant couple language made Martin want to argue with every painted sign, but the alchemy itself worked.
"This place may actually be worth negotiating with," he said.
Rias returned her empty vial to its matched stand on the counter. "What we tested holds up. Whoever may be pressuring Crucible Concord is a separate problem, and it stays out of the report until we can prove it."
A weak bridge of silver-blue light flickered between their two vials, linking the residue left inside. The effect timer showed only a few seconds remaining.
Martin placed his vial opposite hers. "Have we seen enough to show them the sample?"
"We still don’t know whether the Sea Dragon supply gives us leverage," Rias said. "But every potion did what its label promised, and our pass includes one controlled consultation. They can see one sealed fragment, but we say nothing about where it came from or how much we have. If they ask for more, it goes straight back into my inventory."
She removed a narrow glass capsule from her inventory. A small fragment of blue mana crystal rested inside. The capsule stayed sealed, and she offered no hint of where Night Espresso had obtained it.
Rias lowered the capsule into the gap between the two matched vials. The fading bridge snapped straight, and blue light flooded through the crystal to join both vials in a single bright line.
The timer reached zero. Instead of disappearing, the bright blue bridge held between the matched vials, shining as steadily as it had before the Clearthread effect expired.
Rias shifted the sealed crystal capsule a few inches to the left. The light curved toward it, then straightened when she returned the sample to the gap between the vials.
The clerk reached across the counter. Before she could touch the capsule, Rias rested two fingers on top of it.
"Before anyone opens this, show us the appraisal terms."
"I only intended to move it away from the vials."
"Then move the vials. The seal stays intact until you show us the fee and any rights you attach to opening it."
The clerk pulled her hand back and contacted a licensed appraiser. While they waited, the blue bridge finally began to thin, though it still showed no sign of breaking.
A stopper scraped against glass somewhere beyond the partition behind the counter.
Martin looked toward the sound. The partition blocked his view, but he heard a sleeve brush wood and a boot shift on stone. Farther back, a tray rattled and someone’s breathing quickened.
An assistant emerged a few seconds later, holding a copper stopper in one green-stained hand. Martin barely registered it before his gaze settled on the vulnerable line beneath the assistant’s jaw.
He pulled his attention away. Rias had also turned toward the assistant.
"You heard all of that?" Martin asked under his breath.
"I can smell the oil on his gloves from here too."
The Clearthread Pair description said nothing about either heightened sense. Rias opened their linked reaction log and found that an unknown secondary effect had begun before she removed the crystal capsule from her inventory. She recorded the onset time, then minimized the window when the appraiser arrived. The sample remained sealed on the counter.
The appraiser placed a black stone tray beside it and opened a service window for them.
[Nonbinding Material Appraisal]
[Scope: One destructive micro-sample test]
[Material ownership remains with the client.]
[No purchase, supply, or exclusivity rights are created by this appraisal.]
[Written result included.]
[Client participation is classified as material appraisal only and creates no formula authorship, sponsorship, development credit, or alchemical-lineage liability.]
The fee was higher than Martin had expected for a test that used one tiny shaving, although it still fit within the exploratory budget Cassandra had approved. Rias read every line and opened the additional terms. She left the optional priority-negotiation agreement unchecked and accepted only the appraisal terms.
Martin checked how much remained in their budget. "For one shaving? That costs more than everything we drank."
"It’ll cost even more once people know what the material can do," Rias said. "If the reaction is useless, we stop here. If it works, at least we know what we’re negotiating over."
The appraiser fitted two fresh pairs of matched vials into a measuring cradle and labeled one pair as the control. He scanned Martin’s and Rias’s visitor tokens for both pairs, ensuring that each would recognize the same two mana signatures. Then he filled every vial from the same fresh Clearthread batch and added equal measures of neutral bridge solution. The crystal shaving would be the only difference between the control pair and the test pair.
After Rias verified the sample number, the appraiser broke the capsule’s seal and worked a fine file against one corner of the crystal. Even removing a shaving no larger than a grain of sand took effort.
A sharp blue spark snapped from the file, and the shaving dropped into the neutral solution between the test vials.
Mana rose through all four vials, forming a wavering bridge over each pair. As the shaving dissolved, the test bridge narrowed into a steadier line. The appraiser moved the vials in both pairs apart by the same increments.
The untreated control failed at the posted limit. The crystal-supported bridge continued to shine.