Chapter 83 Yum yum yum!
6 hours later, at the Glaivewood Mansion.
Teresa and her father had no time to admire the 3-storey ancestral mansion that is currently owned by Sylvester.
Both of them were emotionally spent, and the first thing that Teresa did was to go to her room.
"..."
Her room was quire reminiscent of her taste.
Minimalistic with a touch of gold.
Teresa duly ignored the maids and their butler as she went straight to her bed.
A tired-looking Sylvester came in to her room a minute later, with his face looking quite unsure.
"Are you sure that you do not want to talk to me first?" Sylvester muttered as he looked at his daughter, who was sitting on her bed.
"Father, I…" Teresa looked hesitantly at her father, as if she wanted to say something badly to him. "Sorry, but I need some time alone first."
Teresa then proceeded to hug her knees as she laid down on the bed, with her back facing Sylvester.
It was quite obvious that Teresa is not reciprocative for any kind of talking right now.
"I see…" Sylvester seemed to have understood what Teresa wanted him to do, as he started to slowly leave the room. "You can take all the time that you want to rest. And you can rest a.s.sured you are safe here. None of those Monsters can take you away from me now."
"…I love you Father." Teresa faintly said as the door closed. "See you tomorrow…"
The door then closed with a slight thud, hiding the expression on Sylvester"s face.
But just a second after the door closed, the door opened once more, with Sylvester"s face looking at Teresa intently.
"Teresa…" Sylvester"s voice sounded grave, as if he just remembered something important. "You… have a special ability that only the two of us knew… Care to tell me what it is, and can you demonstrate it to me?"
"I"m an empath, Father." Teresa replied with a slightly fed-up expression on her face. "As for demonstration… I can sense two cats nearby, both with angry and territorial emotions. I think they are fighting over something, maybe for a mate."
"… That was precise." Sylvester said as he regarded Teresa with a more serious look. "You were never able to be this precise before."
That statement was not a question.
"Father, my experience with those Monsters made me realize many things, and it also made me… more mature." Teresa replied as she gave her father a deprecating smile. "My empath abilities… they were affected by this perspective change…"
"I see…" Sylvester looked down again, as both the and Teresa went silent again.
"How about your cultivation? Why could I not sense anything about it?" Sylvester worriedly asked, as he gave Teresa another worried look. "I could not help but notice that you are not letting out any hint of Golden Energy even until now."
"Ah about that…" Teresa looked around her, as if she was struggling to say something. In the end, she let out a sigh as she said,
"My cultivation… is currently sealed."
"Sealed?" Sylvester naturally raised his eyebrows at this, as he looked extremely angry. In fact, his anger was so great that the whole mansion started to shake. "Which b.a.s.t.a.r.d did that?"
"The Tentacle Monster." Teresa replied quickly as she let out a snarl.
"Since when?" Sylvester"s question sounded just as angry as he looked. "when did he put that seal on you?"
"On the day that they captured me." Teresa said as she let out a mocking smile, which was probably for herself. "They told me that that seal will lock my cultivation and until now, it is still sealing me."
"..."
"..."
"F**k that, let me remove that seal now!" Sylvester abruptly said as he stretched his hand towards Teresa, with his hands rippling with a golden glow.
But before he could touch Teresa"s forehead, Teresa stopped him, as she gave him a pleading look.
"Father, I think you should not do that." Teresa replied as she slowly backed away from Sylvester"s hand. "The Tentacle Monster told me that if anyone tries to tamper with the seal, it will erupt, which will heavily injure me."
"Are you sure that he is saying the truth?" Sylvester grumbled, as the floor beneath him began to crack. "Maybe he is just bluffing you."
"I do not know, Father, I do not know!" At that point, Teresa started to cry, with tears spilling down on her gorgeous face. "Father, I do not know if he is lying or not! But just to be sure, please don"t do anything that can trigger the seal, ok?"
"Ok darling, I promise." Sylvester said as he gritted his teeth. "I can do something like that, of course."
Because of the words that his daughter said, Sylvester could be seen carefully treading around Teresa, as he feared that he could do something detrimental if he went aboveboard.
"....."
"....."
Poor Sylvester could only stare at his distressed daughter, as he looked somewhat powerless to do anything.
In the end, Sylvester still could not hold it in as he said, "But Teresa, you should know that we cannot just let you stay that way forever! It will just ruin you if we do not do anything about it!"
"I know Father, I know." Teresa replied wearily as she let out a sad smile. "But according to the Tentacle Monster, the seal will disappear tomorrow, and once that happens, I will be able to regain my cultivation too."
"And do you believe that?" Sylvester slowly replied as he saw his daughter calming down. "Do you think that you will actually regain your cultivation tomorrow?"
"I do not know, Father." Teresa replied sadly. "I guess we just have to see it tomorrow…"
"Hmph, I do not want to take chances like that!" Sylvester replied as he stood up straight.
"No matter what happens to the seal tomorrow, whether it disappears or stay as it is, both of us will go to the Mage Division Headquarters. I am sure that they have something that can help you out. So, sleep tight so that we can leave tomorrow in good spirits, ok?"
"Ok, father." Teresa replied obediently, with most of her tears already gone. "Good night...."
"Good night to you too." Sylvester replied, as he closed the door to Teresa"s room.
"….."
At the instant that he left, Teresa suddenly leapt up, approaching the door and then locking it swiftly, all within a span of just a second.
She then went back to her bed, staying silent for another 30 minutes.
Once the 30-minute mark had pa.s.sed by, Teresa let out a sigh as she slowly said,
"Holy f**k, that Divine Knight is so scary… Good thing my disguise held up. That fairy dust really is hax…"
*****************
The "Teresa" that Sylvester had rescued from the forest earlier was naturally Alex, currently disguised with the Fairy Dust.
As for the "Carlie" that they saw earlier, that was disguised Alina.
They already started their infiltration plan earlier, and now they were on their way to its completion.
With the one-week period buffer time that they had, Alex and Alina were able to mindscour both the real Teresa and Carlie about the vital information that will keep their disguise safe.
With their upgraded minds, both of them were able to easily memorize the important info, with the minor ones skimmed over lightly.
But Alex was sure that even with his body having a great disguise and his mind filled with the right info, there is still a chance that his disguise is blown.
So in order to prevent that, Alex had acted like a sad and mopey kid earlier. This naturally forced Sylvester to limit his interactions with his disguised persona.
"Hehehe, good thing Teresa"s father did not grill me that much earlier." Alex thought to himself, remembering how quiet Sylvester had been earlier. "He must have been worried about his daughter"s mental state…"
Out of his interaction with Sylvester earlier, there are only two close calls.
The first one was with regards to Teresa"s empath abilities.
Alex was quite lucky that his FED Manipulation was extremely similar to Teresa"s empath abilities. This allowed Alex to pretend that he really was Teresa, as he showcased emotion reading skills that only "someone like Teresa" could do.
The second close call came from the fact that Alex had none of the Golden Energy that Teresa had.
Were it not for Alex"s bluff that "Teresa" currently had her cultivation sealed, then he could have been outed already.
The bit where "the seal will injure me when it was probed" was just another ploy placed by Alex in order to prevent Sylvester from inspecting him directly.
"Hehehehe…"
Even if he was in a tense situation right now, Alex still smiled, as he knew that his bluff had worked quite pretty well against Sylvester.
But Alex knew that this explanation will not hold merit for long.
The longer he pretends that "Teresa" was sealed, the more suspicious Sylvester will be.
So, Alex decided to say that the seal will "disappear" tomorrow, in order to appease Sylvester.
However, that statement gives Alex another problem.
Since he said that the seal will "disappear" tomorrow, then that means that he must have Teresa"s full abilities by tomorrow too.
If not, then he will really be in some hot water…
Fortunately for Alex, he already had a way to solve that.
"Asteria, regarding the Bonus Mission, am I considered to have infiltrated the Human Faction already?" Alex inquired at the sulky Asteria, who seemed to still be angry at him.
"Yes, the Endless Monarch determined that you have successfully infiltrated the Human Faction already." Teresa replied with a fed-up expression on her face. "But if you want to get the reward, then Alina must infiltrate the Monster Faction successfully too."
"Well, in that case, I will wait then." Alex replied as he laid back on Teresa"s bed.
His body, which currently looked feminine, looked extremely sultry as Alex stared up at the ceiling.
"Once Alina helps me complete the Bonus Mission, I will be able to gain 2 Years of Lifespan. Once that happens…" Alex grinned a little, as if he could see something interesting. "I will be free to roam the Human Faction already."
"….."
Alex waited for two more hours before he receiving a notification from Asteria.
"Hmph, Alina had successfully infiltrated the Monster Faction too." Asteria said as she gave Alex a dirty look. "With that happening, I declare you two completing this Bonus Mission. You, Alex, will get the 2 Years of Lifespan reward."
"….."
Alex suddenly felt a warm feeling inside him, as if there was something that rejuvenated him.
Alex tried to enjoy this feeling, as he knew that this feeling would not last for long.
"...…"
3 minutes later
"Asteria." Alex cheerfully said as he let out an excited look on his face. He looked quite refreshed, as if he was suddenly filled with life. "With the current Lifespan that I have, I want to buy another Abyss Tome."
"…And what Abyss Tome will buy, Traveler?" Asteria replied formally, with her face still wearing the slightest hints of smile in it. "But before you buy, let me remind you Traveler that you must be careful with what you buy. You might get the wrong one if you get careless..."
"I know." Alex replied as confidently, as he already had an idea on which Abyss Tome he should buy.
"Give me…" Alex"s words trailed, as he tired to make his answer sound suspenseful. "Abyss Tome: Greed."