NOVPUBBefore leaving the auction house, Rita bought two more Magician’s False Teeth. If combining the false tooth and magic eye failed, she’d experiment with merging similar items to create something better using Renovation.
She placed a false tooth and the magic eye together, trying to mentally visualize how to combine them.
Nivalis hovered nearby, peering at the items. No matter how she looked, she couldn’t see how the two objects could possibly fuse. 𝑛𝘰𝘷𝑝𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝘮
After pondering for a while, Rita used A Big World, A Small Me to shrink the magic eye to the size of a grain of rice, placing it neatly into the socket of the false tooth. Only then did she activate Renovation, forcing the items to merge.
As the light of the two artifacts intertwined, Rita ignored it, instead pulling out the two additional false teeth she’d bought and trying to merge those separately.
The Renovation process was excruciatingly slow. It took nearly half an hour to finish.
[Magician’s Wisdom Tooth] (A-Tier)
An odd fusion with hints of Captain Beeter’s scent, alongside the refreshing minty traces of a magician.
Skill 1: Space – Contains 1 cubic meter of space. It occupies a socket in your jaw, allowing you to hide anything you wish to keep secret. Items placed inside cannot be detected by any skill or artifact but also cannot be used while stored. The space has some elasticity but exceeding 150% of its capacity causes mild pain in the tooth. Skill 2: Rewind – Bite down on an object recently used by someone to "see" the last six hours of their experience with it. Costs 20% mana per use. Cooldown: 24 hours. Skill 3: Mind Reading – Bite down on someone’s head to read their thoughts. Costs 10 mana per second during use.
Although still rated A-tier, the original magic eye barely qualified for the rank, while the combined artifact now felt like it truly deserved it.
The wisdom tooth was made of silver metal. It didn’t look cyberpunk—more like the dentures an old lady might use in the last century. Rita used Colorful Creations to turn it porcelain white, making it much more pleasing to look at.
Unfortunately, her attempt to merge the two remaining false teeth failed.
The result? [Magician’s Cavity], a broken and utterly useless artifact.
Rita compared the new wisdom tooth’s position with her jaw and found it didn’t fit quite right. Unbothered, she yanked out an unneeded wisdom tooth, installed the artifact, and had Nivalis use Expert-level Healing to complete the process.
Later, she returned to Apache’s Alchemy Shop, repaid some borrowed alchemy notes, and gifted Apache five bottles of Little Fish Kingdom’s King as a token of gratitude.
While Rita hadn’t made groundbreaking progress in alchemy during her time in High Tower, repeated practice with advanced recipes like Spring Not Late and Gold-Class Assassin had left her with a wealth of insights. Recipes requiring the breaking of physical or magical limitations, like Little Fish Kingdom’s King, now came easily to her.
Apache carefully put away the gifted potions, glancing at Rita. "So you’re really comfortable working with Mistblade Moon Sovereign, huh?"
Rita’s senses immediately heightened. There was meaning behind those words. She moved closer. "Teacher, are you trying to tell me something?"
Apache didn’t mince words. "Mistblade is proud but fair. If she decides to kill someone, it’s never from the shadows. Since she’s given you the chance to redeem yourself for stealing the World Tomb, you’d better not betray her again during your partnership."
She fixed Rita with a serious gaze. "Mistblade does not tolerate betrayal. Even if you offered her compensation a hundredfold, she wouldn’t forgive you. Not even Lucia could protect you then."
After a pause, Apache hesitated before continuing. "One more thing: be wary of Syntax Monarch. He despises deceit but is also a master of manipulation. He excels at using words to sway others and is fascinated by linguistics.
"I can guarantee you this: with his gift for languages, he’s already learned all the main tongues of your world."
Rita was stunned. "Even if there are nearly ten of them?"
Apache nodded. "Even so."
The alchemist said no more. Guiltily, she cradled her cauldron and retreated upstairs to repent. Before doing so, however, she detoured to the wine cabinet to grab two bottles.
Sighing, Rita decided to seek out Kayden instead.
Kayden was fairly well-informed but knew little about figures of the Monarch’s level.
"The four Monarchs rarely interfere with daily affairs," Kayden explained. "Most city matters are handled by their appointed city lords.
"Syntax Monarch and Mute Monarch, for example, are siblings who jointly rule Euphony City. But ever since something happened to Dark City’s lord, Mute Monarch has personally taken over administration, fearing something similar might happen to their own city lord.
"Wither Monarch hasn’t replaced Decay City’s lord, but that lord has stopped allowing anyone into their palace.
"As for Bone Shadow Monarch, he reacted the least to the Dark City incident. He simply replaced the city lord and borrowed a deputy lord from Wither Monarch before vanishing again… at least, on the surface. I can’t get any deeper intel than that."
Rita handed Kayden a hundred gold coins as a fee and gifted her a bottle of Little Fish Kingdom’s King for fun.
As she turned to leave, a nagging question resurfaced in her mind. Without much hope, she asked, "Do you know where all those monsters outside Lania Kaia’s cities come from?"
Kayden blinked in understanding. "Oh, you mean those creatures? They’re refugees. Homeless beings from destroyed source worlds."
Refugees… Rita left the shop deep in thought. It wasn’t until she had walked quite a distance that she asked Nivalis, "What do you know about the four Monarchs?"
Nivalis considered the question before answering.
"Syntax Monarch… He was the one who represented the Twelve Holy Clans in negotiating with Snow Pile on Dragon Island."
The small dragon frowned. "When he left, Snow Pile warned me to run if I ever saw him again. He said Syntax Monarch’s god-given talent is tied to language and that even dragons, with our sensitivity to emotions, could be deceived.
"Once, he almost sweet-talked a dragon—one we weren’t close with—into becoming his pet. Holy Cup, Wind Shear, and Emperor Umbrella had to chase after them, knock the dragon out, and drag it back."
Rita coughed awkwardly. "That dragon wouldn’t happen to be North Year, would it?" Your next chapter awaits on freewebnovel
Nivalis looked up at the sky. "Didn’t I just say we weren’t close?"
Rita smirked knowingly. "Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone… So, did he try to charm you too? You’re the youngest; you’d be the easiest target."
Nivalis thought back to Syntax Monarch’s gentle demeanor and scowled. "He probably did. He talked to me a lot, but I don’t remember much of it. I didn’t like him."
She added, "Holy Cup warned me to be wary of beings who seem too perfect. The more flawless they appear, the more you should assume the opposite of whatever they say. Syntax Monarch is the epitome of perfection, so I don’t trust him at all."
