Chapter 305: Flatline
Ray stood in silence, staring at the door.
"They are coming out."
Ray announced suddenly, breaking the quiet tension in the corridor.
Gino blinked, looking around in confusion, but Svane and Rina understood immediately and shifted their posture.
A moment later, the brass handle turned, and the heavy doors swung inward. Before the nobles could step across the threshold, a flat, two-dimensional blot of vantablack darkness slithered out from the room. It glided rapidly across the patterned carpet and seamlessly merged with the heel of Ray's boot.
Call me next time you need a real professional, Master. I’m going back to sleep.
The sassy mental voice echoed in Ray's head.
Ray offered a silent, mental nod of acknowledgment just as Dylan Starr led the three 3rd-Circle Arcanum students out into the hall.
Dylan spotted Ray immediately. The young master’s face lit up with genuine relief.
"Lord Croft! I was hoping to run into you. I saw you being swarmed in the ballroom earlier, and I was dealing with the same, but since we both finally have a quiet moment, I would love to talk."
Ray knew he needed to isolate the alchemist, and a casual chat with the host's son was an obstacle he had to dismantle immediately.
"I would love to speak with you, Lord Starr. But this is not the right time. You should find your mother. She might need your support tonight."
Ray said, his tone dropping its polite veneer, replacing it with a grim, heavy seriousness.
Dylan, a 3rd-Circle Adept Sound mage, had spent his entire life trained to identify the microscopic inflections in pitch and tone. He instantly picked up on the dark, micro-tonal shift in Ray's voice. The cheerful smile faltered, sliding off his face.
Recognizing the unspoken gravity of the warning, Dylan gave a short, tight nod.
"I understand. When the chance permits, we will speak."
Dylan quickly turned and hurried down the corridor toward the main gala. As the other three nobles prepared to follow him, Gino stepped forward, clearing his throat to halt them.
The three students turned, looking confused at the senior staffer.
Ray stepped up beside Gino, smoothly taking the lead. He adopted the polite, enthusiastic persona of a curious peer.
"Forgive the interruption. Would I have the honor of speaking with Lord Sterling?"
The exhausted alchemist blinked, pointing a finger at his own chest.
"You... know who I am, my Lord?"
"Of course I do."
Ray said warmly.
"The path of Alchemy is notoriously unforgiving. Dedicated alchemists in the Arcanum are a rare breed. It is an honor to meet someone with the fortitude to pursue it."
Bastian looked taken aback, a faint flush of flattered pride breaking through his chronic exhaustion. He thought about it for a second, then nodded in agreement.
"It is... indeed a difficult discipline. Very few continue it."
"I would love to pick your brain for a few moments, if you have the time."
Ray said, gesturing back toward the vacant room.
Bastian agreed. Ray turned to his party, offering a subtle but firm hand signal. Svane, Rina, and Gino understood perfectly. They took up positions outside the door, standing guard as Ray and Bastian stepped back into the opulent room parlor alone.
As the doors clicked shut behind them, Bastian paused near the low table.
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"I hope you don't mind, my Lord. But it is time for me to take my medication. May I?"
Bastian said, pulling a small silver tin from his threadbare robes.
"Of course."
Ray nodded politely, watching closely.
Bastian walked over to the crystal decanters, poured himself a small glass of water, and swallowed a pale, chalky pill. He took a deep breath, setting the glass down, and gestured toward the leather chairs.
As Ray took a seat, he went to work immediately and initiated Tri-Concurrent Partial Immersion. He layered the Charismatic Conman's 'Lie Detection', the Gritty Detective's 'Interrogation', and the Scheming Courtier's 'Persuasion and Flattery' skills. His innate ‘Cognitive Network’ skill immediately kicked in to offset some of the mental load.
The Scheming Courtier immediately set the strategy.
Courtier: "He is a neglected academic. He feels underappreciated by his family and his peers. Speak his language. Validate his intellect, and he will drop his guard."
Ray leaned back in his chair, adopting an easy, genuinely curious posture.
"I have always been fascinated by the discipline, senior Bastian. Tell me, when dealing with highly volatile reagents, how do you prevent rapid degradation? It seems using a standard quicksilver suspension often suffocates the active properties."
Bastian blinked, surprised by the highly specific, technical question. The exhaustion in his eyes lifted slightly, replaced by the spark of a true academic who finally had an interested audience.
"Exactly! Most novices rely on quicksilver because it is stable, but it ruins the potency. You have to use a catalyzed, inert sap extract to suspend the reagent without binding it. It is the only way to maintain true efficacy."
Bastian said, his voice losing its raspy hesitation.
Courtier: "Perfect. Now stroke his ego. Acknowledge how difficult that is."
"Which must take a remarkably steady hand. Balancing the catalyst without causing a thermal runaway is incredibly dangerous. It takes a dedicated, precise mind to master that."
Ray replied smoothly, his tone laced with genuine admiration.
Bastian quickly relaxed, leaning forward in his chair. A faint, proud smile touched his lips. Visibly impressed by the young noble's foundational knowledge, he eagerly launched into a detailed explanation of thermal cascading and extraction techniques. As Bastian spoke, the Charismatic Conman went to work.
Conman: “Body language normal. Respiration is even. Vocal chords are relaxed. We have successfully established his baseline."
With the trap set, Ray seamlessly shifted gears. He let the Scheming Courtier's warmth fade, adopting the sharp, calculating edge of the Gritty Detective.
"There is another reason I wanted to speak with you, senior Bastian. Someone saw you earlier this afternoon in a very heated argument with the Head Butler, Warren Ramada. I need to know what it was about."
Ray said smoothly.
Bastian stiffened, his relaxed posture vanishing. He frowned, looking at Ray with sudden suspicion.
"I did speak with the Head Butler. But why are you asking me this? Why do you care about my private conversation with the head butler?"
Ray didn't blink. He upped the ante and initiated Quad-Concurrent Partial Immersion. Layer the Grizzled Commander’s ‘Command Aura’ skill. His innate ‘Cognitive Network’ skill now works overtime to handle the increased load.
The oppressive, suffocating weight of a warlord flooded the room, pressing down on the alchemist's shoulders.
"Because Warren Ramada was murdered earlier this evening, and you are one of the last people to speak to him before his death."
Ray stated, his voice ringing with absolute authority.
Bastian froze. He stared at Ray, the news hitting him in silence. He closed his tired eyes, letting out a long, heavy sigh.
"Alright…"
Bastian murmured, opening his eyes. He didn't look terrified; he just looked incredibly defeated.
"I went to him to ask for help. I needed a very specific rare botanical for my final thesis. It has been completely unavailable in the open and black markets for a very long time because someone kept secretly buying out the supply chain. But this past couple of months it suddenly appeared in the markets but... Warren beat me to it."
Bastian rubbed his face.
"I begged him for a share of it. I even offered him twice its market value. But the stubborn old man refused. He told me it was a 'matter of life and death'."
In the Ambient Presence of Ray’s mind, the Eccentric Scholar practically cheered.
Scholar: "He is talking about the Moonpetal! He needed the flower for his 'breakthrough', but Warren bought the entire market supply to cure Lady Jane's friends!"
"A matter of life and death?"
Ray repeated.
"Which is absurd. That specific flower is a relic of old magic and its main use is a cognitive stimulant and a conduit. It has practically zero applications in life-saving medical procedures. He was just lying to my face out of spite."
Bastian scoffed bitterly.
Ray listened, waiting for his internal lie detector to verify the story. But instead of verification, the Charismatic Conman sounded deeply confused.
Conman: "Ray... I am not picking anything up. There are no changes. You just dropped a murder accusation on him and hit him with a Command Aura, and his body language did not change. He isn't sweating. His vocal micro-tremors are flatlined. It's like he is completely numb."
Ray narrowed his eyes. The Charismatic Conman had never failed. Thinking the pressure wasn't high enough, Ray made a rapid adjustment. He deactivated the Scheming Courtier and pulled the Primal Naturalist into the rotation, activating the ‘Apex Predator's Aura’ skill.
Ray was now projecting the combined, terrifying psychological weight of a battlefield commander and a starving, lethal beast. The air in the room practically vibrated with hostility.
Bastian didn't even flinch. He didn't sweat. He just sat there, comfortably resting his burned hands in his lap, completely impervious to the pressure he was exuding.
For the first time since acquiring his system, Ray felt a cold spike of uncertainty. Someone was resisting his archetypes.