Limits

The next day, I went back to Florin with my answer. As Ulon left the room, and she again sealed the exit. I said "I will not accept your offer". She didn't seem surprised, and said "I already expected that. No matter", but then I felt something behind me. I jumped to the side, and tried to evade whatever was trying to attack me.

It wasn't an attack per se though. Some kind of glass broke and pink mist filled the air. My body immediately became weak, even though I tried not breathing in any of that. 'This poison works, even when I don't breathe' I thought, and asked "What is this supposed to mean?". She smiled, and said "I can't have you walk around, knowing all of this. Don't worry though, I will not kill you. You are too precious, to dispose of you. Instead, I will make that Blood Pact with you by force".

I laughed, and replied "You think I will agree? Kill me if you want, but you will not change my mind". She was still smiling, and said "I don't need your agreement. We will have some nice time, and the Pact will be completed". She then undressed herself, and walked over to me. I said "Don't even try that bitch". She didn't even lose her smile. and replied "We can play dirty too. I never had a human male, but I guess there is first time for everything. Wouldn't you agree?".

I was struggling to get up, but to no avail. I couldn't release my Aura either. Nothing worked. As she was about to grab me, I screamed "FROSTY! DO SOMETHING!". She became a bit confused, when she heard that. Frosty changed into corporeal form, and used its ice breath on her. She didn't expect that at all, and the ice breath hit her straight on. When she realised what has happened, she shouted "What is that thing! You! You are…", and then froze solid. Frosty came over, and rummaged in my bag. It took out the notebook and some coal, then wrote "I told you, we couldn't trust her".

I sighted, and replied "I know, but I didn't expect that kind of thing. Can you help me out here?". Frosty shook its head, and wrote "We need to wait, for the poison to stop working. It may take a few hours". I said "This is bad though. She was a Fraction Leader. We killed her, so how am I going to stay in this place?". Frosty made a "Mah" sound and wrote "We destroy those, wo stand in our way. Isn't that, what we always did?".

'Yes, but this place is to precious to leave just like that. If I can collect all my herbs, and some of those Ophilis Reeds and Aliris Plants, I can leave. I already know how to plant them, and seeds should not be a problem' I thought. Frosty wrote more "I know what you are thinking. Just take it by force. Although Atols will hate you, this is a minor race in the North. They will pose no problem for us, especially when you break through the Inner Limits".

I nodded, and said "You are right. I will not attack them, but take what's mine. Although this bitch wanted to enslave me, the other Atols I interacted with, were not bad people. We will try to leave silently, after taking everything". I was planning to take all, that I owned. I would also take all, that I could find in the Floral Fraction Leader's garden. I wanted to take all of those personal herbs of hers. This would be the payment, for trying to force me into her paws.

I laid like this for a few hours, before I could finally move. The poison was not dangerous, in a sense where it would take my life. It only paralyzed me, and would give her enough time, to do whatever she wanted with me. I broke the frozen Florin into pieces, and from that point on, she would no longer appear in this place. I then searched the whole place, and took whatever I found useful.

To my surprise, I found some seeds of different kinds, hidden away in the vines. 'These must be the personal herbs that she grew. Good, I will take that, and whatever has grown downstairs as well' I thought. I searched the rest of the place, and found some money as well. "She had quite a lot, this will solve my money shortage problem" I said out loud. She had 326 Black Hals stored in her drawers.

Besides that, I found nothing else of interest. The staircase was still blocked by the vines, so I couldn't just walk out of there. 'Destroying them, would make too much of a commotion, I need to get out through the window' I thought. Fortunately, the window was not blocked by the vines, but when I got closer, I noticed that it was blocked by something. When I touched it, it seemed like some sort of invisible membrane, that was elastic.

I tried pressing my hand through it, but it just stretched. I took out my dagger, and slashed. The membrane was still intact though. 'Although I used a small portion of my strength, this thing is durable' I thought, and tried couple more times. With the increase in strength, I finally managed to cut the membrane, after a few slashes. 'Now, I just need to sell them a story, and pack my bags. Staying in this place for a long time, is just going to bring more trouble' I thought, and left the room.

When I left through the window, I landed in her private garden. 'Great! I don't need to go around places specifically, and can take all of this as I wish' I thought. I took most of the herbs that grew there, but still left quite a good chunk behind. Some of them were still young, and someone would replace Florin in the future. 'She deserved death for what she did, but Ulon and other will need them in the future' I thought, and left the garden.

I circled around the building, and entered through the main entrance. To my surprise, Ulon was still there, sleeping nonetheless. I woke him up, and said "Let's go". He looked around, and asked "What took you so long?". I replied "I had to help her with the medicine. Don't disturb her, as she is still in the process of absorbing it. When she is ready, she will come out. My guess is, Florin will be much stronger, compared to before". Ulon nodded, and said "That's great! This way, our Fraction can have more prestige and funds. You helped us again, how are we ever going to repay you". I waved my hand, and said "Don't mention it".

We then returned to the fields, where I said goodbye to Ulon, and left. I went straight to the lake, in order to collect some plants. Sha had no problem with that. She came with me to extract the plants, that were the oldest. She mentioned, that they already planted new ones, to replace the old plants, so I could take them without any issues.

I got five Ophilis Reeds and Aliris Plants. 'This should be enough, for me to study. I can see the seeds in them as well. This is good, I can plant more in the future, if I need to study more of them' I thought, and said goodbye to Sha as well. I returned to my room, and started devising a plan. "We need to take all the plants in my field. It would be best, if no one noticed me, but we will see" I said to myself.