Orion didn’t forget things. His memory had always been excellent, and the improvement it experienced with every level-up only enhanced it further.

  His mind was his strongest weapon, and he took pride in it.

  It was, however, prone to focusing on those things that intrigued him—great mysteries he would have to devote himself, body and soul, to unravel, often at the expense of less important matters.

  Well, sometimes, those secondary things popped up again, and although it only took a fraction of a second to recall sending letters to the corners of the Magocracy, it didn’t give him any more time to consider what was happening.

  A vampire princess can only be Esmeralda. I guess that means she accepted my offer? But why wouldn’t she reply by letter instead of showing up out of the blue?

  Following his mother down the embassy’s corridors, Orion decided that it didn’t really matter. Esmeralda was a valuable contact to have, especially since Valderun's political climate was very tense right now. Having an insider in another faction to talk to could be useful, and he could start gauging her views on the future.

  That was assuming he didn’t finally get obliterated by Yue for being too much trouble, but he was hoping his mother’s surge in power would be enough to protect him a little longer.

  The embassy’s magic faded as they approached the sitting room Yue used for guests, and Orion was greeted with quite a sight.

  The fragrance of pungent herbal tea filled the air, so potent that he could tell it must have some medicinal and anti-corruption qualities just from the scent. The crystal light was turned up to its maximum setting, banishing all shadows from the room and making it feel nearly surgically clean.

  Yue sat with her legs crossed, sipping her cup with the composure of a Roman matron, only letting a rival into her home because of social customs.

  Opposite her sat a slim, beautiful young woman, or at least someone who looked like one, also drinking, though the tiniest twitch in her hands and lips showed that the drink wasn’t to her liking and that she was forcing herself to sip it out of sheer stubbornness.

  It was in this scene that Orion and his mother stepped into, and he had to suppress a snort at Asteria’s eye-roll. “Elder, do you really think this is the best way to greet our guest?”

  Yue’s eyes darted to them, but she didn’t look very impressed by the argument. Then again, politeness had never been her strong suit, which was quite something, since she was considered the most diplomatic of the Veil Priestesses. “This little girl thought she could walk into my embassy without following procedures, just because your son sent a vague invitation. Considering what she’s suspected to have done in Silverpeak, is it any wonder that I felt the need to test her nerve?”

  Orion noticed that among all the accusations, both subtle and obvious, the one that seemed to annoy Esmeralda the most was being called a little girl.

  I doubt it’s something she never experiences, given her appearance, but this is probably one of the few times she’s genuinely a little girl, at least compared to the ancient beast that is Yue.

  As if sensing his uncharitable thoughts, the woman eyed him with barely concealed annoyance, probably because of his involvement in the recent chaos. Still, considering how she had acted not long ago, parading the Archmage around the mess hall to “accidentally” see him and reveal his connection to Antares, he wasn’t inclined to apologize.

  “Well, sit down, you two. This is your guest, deal with her,” Yue finally grunted, and Orion hurried to take his place at the table, grabbing the cup that appeared in front of him out of habit. Being the son of a witch tended to make the impossible become routine very quickly, and teleporting teacups was the least shocking thing he’d dealt with that morning.

  He looked at his “guest” and noticed that Esmeralda wasn’t in her more humanlike form but instead was showing her full vampiric appearance, with wickedly sharp fangs, crimson eyes, and deathly pale skin.

  “It’s been a while,” he said, dipping his head in greeting, and she returned it with a gleam in her eyes.

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  “It has. I was quite surprised when I got your letter, especially since you never really picked up our correspondence as you said you would, but since I was already coming to Valderun, I thought it might be nice to visit a friend,” she replied, her gaze never leaving where the CC was hidden under his shirt.

  Of course, she can sense it. She was the one to give me the blood crystal in the first place. I wouldn’t be surprised if every vampire of a certain level can notice it.

  Unfortunately, without his glasses, Orion couldn’t really see how much stronger she’d become in the past few months since they first met and worked together to rid Silverpeak of its vampiric thrall problem. But given the confidence she radiated, even in front of Elder Yue, he could guess she had either been greatly rewarded for her actions or had managed to increase her personal power by quite a bit.

  Or both. She said that it was the Night Lord himself who sent her on the extermination mission, and while I doubt the undead feel much remorse in killing anyone, their relatives included, vampires are known to value their bloodline. Having to kill her cousin must have had some reward, or she wouldn’t have agreed.

  “Yes, it is always a pleasure to meet my son’s friends,” Asteria said with a cheery smile, her tone perfectly appropriate, yet a shiver ran down Orion’s spine, and he knew he wasn’t the only one to have noticed.

  Esmeralda’s eyes darted to her and widened dramatically, resembling a startled cat with slitted pupils, creating a quite amusing sight.

  Clearly, she had a way of assessing strength. Orion couldn’t see any specific jewelry piece that might have been responsible for it, like his glasses had been for him, but he remembered Antares’ words and knew an enchantment wasn’t necessary to access the upper levels of System information. It was possible she had some kind of spell or an instinctive ability to gauge strength, which skimmed the surface and gave her a rough idea of who she was facing. That would explain why she’d been so tense sitting alone with Elder Yue.

  And while Orion didn’t necessarily think vampires here needed to match the popular culture depictions back on Earth, it would make sense for such a predatory species to have a quick way to assess power, lest they bite off more than they could chew. Literally.

  “Ahem. Yes, it’s a pleasure for me too, my lady?” The questioning tone was as clear a request for Asteria to identify herself as possible within the bounds of politeness, which made sense. Only one Veil Priestess was known to live in the embassy, and if Esmeralda truly had an ability similar to [Inspect], she would know that Asteria was on the same level as one.

  Considering how difficult it was to reach tier four, even after decades of effort, someone as young as his mother must have set some kind of record.

  I’m fairly certain my father is even more impressive. But I don’t feel nearly as proud of him as I do of her.

  “Magistra Asteria Voidwalker, Orion’s mother,” she replied, toning down the intensity just a bit but still keeping a smirk that showed she knew her answer didn’t tell the whole story.

  Orion could almost see the gears grind in Esmeralda’s head as she tried to connect two and two, only to get five. Finally, she seemed to realize something. “Ah, I guess congratulations are in order.” She then turned to Yue and nodded to her as well, “You must be very proud, Elder. Your lineage is a strong one.”

  Knowing exactly what Yue thought of her apprentice’s rushed rank-up, Orion could only breathe a sigh of relief when she didn’t launch into another rant and instead simply acknowledged the praise.

  “Now, let’s get to the real reason you’re here, nightwalker. I doubt you were fooled by little Orion’s charm, no matter what youthful skin you might be wearing,” Yue pressed, clearly having had enough of small talk.

  For once, Orion didn’t feel annoyed with her. He had a lot of research to finish, and he could sense a nagging feeling at the back of his mind, where he knew his status was, telling him it wouldn’t take much more effort before he could advance to his own rank. The less time he wasted here, the more he’d have to perfect his spells.

  It won’t be today, and maybe not even tomorrow, but I’m fairly sure the data I harvested is enough to enhance enough spells to get there by the end of the week. I might even make it before the Senate convenes.

  Esmeralda didn’t seem put off by that and placed her cup down with a soft clink. “Of course, Elder. As I mentioned earlier, I came to visit Orion since I was already here for other business, but that doesn’t mean business and pleasure can’t be combined. I would like to extend an invitation to him and Magistra Voidwalker, as his guardian, to the Shadow Land’s embassy. My Sire is currently residing there, and he was very curious about the human boy that caught my attention.”

  His being invited to yet another embassy was a pretty big deal, but Orion wasn’t naive enough to fall for it. Yes, maybe Esmeralda’s sire was genuinely interested in him, but it was secondary to the real reason for the invitation, which was to get his mother there and start talks with Elder Yue through her for the Speaker’s election.

  Orion was surprised to find he didn’t mind too much. Yes, being used as a pawn by different factions wasn’t exactly pleasant, but he’d been in Valderun long enough to understand that was just how things were done here, and he was fairly certain he could use the opportunity to expand his contacts with the vampires beyond just Esmeralda, which would help him achieve his ultimate goals.

  Yue remained silent with a stoic expression, but her eyes shifted to Asteria’s, and they exchanged a silent conversation.

  Eventually, his mother turned back to Esmeralda. “We’d love to come visit. How does tomorrow evening sound? I know vampires prefer to be out and about at dusk, and it would allow me to handle a few matters that came up with my recent rise in rank.”

  Esmeralda’s eyes sparkled as she parsed through the hidden meanings, before she inclined her head. “That sounds absolutely wonderful.” She then turned to Orion and flashed him a fanged smile that could have been charming, if not for it belonging to a man-eating monster. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Orion. Wear your best clothes, and show off my gift a bit, will you?”

  Spending nearly half an hour being grilled for every detail he could remember about his vampire acquaintance by his mother and her mentor wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience, and Orion hoped they had gotten all they needed from him, because he wasn’t doing that again anytime soon.

  When those two put their minds to something, they could be frighteningly effective, and although they didn’t use any intimidation tactics with him, he still couldn’t help but feel wrung out.

  That was over, though, and finally, he could return to what truly mattered: pushing the limits of what was considered possible through science.

  And with all the juicy new data about light mana he’d gained for the low cost of risking his life, he was ready to push the field forward significantly.

  Stepping into his new lab, Orion sighed deeply, trying to release all his frustration before it could cloud his mind, and slapped his cheeks. “Let’s get this [Light Shield] sorted. I don’t want to feel it collapse ever again!”