Chapter 132: Chapter 132: Soul Iron
Siderius stared at the Baron. His gaze made Jude uncomfortable, like a piercing arrow penetrating inside his skin.
"What?" The Baron said.
"You and I may need to have a discussion. I know the identity of the Phantom."
And it seemed like Jude could also guess it by the looks of his face. His expression darkened, it was filled with guilt and sorrow.
Siderius didn’t push the matter further. He turned toward the newly awakened victims.
He already knew of Anna, the maid inside the Baron’s estate. The other one was a male servant. The soldier helped them up and carried them toward the infirmary. They had slept for a few weeks, their legs weren’t working like they used to before. It might take a bit of time for them to recover.
Anna turned her head back before leaving. "May I know your name, sir?"
"It’s Siderius."
"Oh..."
The soldier carried her away. He saw the light in her eyes. Another one fell into the trap.
"Stop looking. He’s a high lord." The soldier said.
"No way!"
The Baron didn’t say anything and rushed away. He found a secluded corner inside the estate and dropped down on his knees. His chest heaved up and down. His heart beat uncontrollably.
Jude grabbed his chest, trying to calm himself down. Sweats poured and filled his forehead.
Siderius was nearby. He witnessed everything. But he didn’t approach the Baron. The hunter quietly left.
Sometimes people need time to deal with their trauma. From the looks of it, Jude definitely had done some horrible things to his son.
He killed the kid and with it, birthed the Nightmare Phantom that had been wreaking havoc inside Scalize. Siderius wondered what truly happened.
He didn’t stay inside the Baron’s estate that night. The hunter rode to the Crossroads Inn and stayed the night there. He needed somewhere private to continue his tasks.
Yellow salt was not only capable of dealing with the Phantom. It was also crucial in creating Siderius’ new weapon.
Previously, when trying to extract sulfur from pyrite, Siderius had created pyrrhotite. An ore with the balance of Iron and Sulfur.
Because of its nature, pyrrhotite did not have any specific applications in and of itself. Back in Siderius’ old world, it was mostly a source to acquire Sulfur. After all, pyrrhotite was a very common ore.
However, with the new yellow salt, pyrrhotite could turn into a type of metal that was truly useful, an iron with the power of sulfur.
Once Siderius bought a room inside the Crossroads Inn, he rode Red to a secluded area inside the Rottin Woods. There, he laid the pyrrhotite inside a new salt seal made from the yellow salt.
The yellow salt shimmered in the night like star dust.
Normal salt had the capacity to conduct crystallization, a process that turned itself into crystal or to affect other elements. Crystallization was limited to the usual alchemical process and couldn’t cut into the bonds of the element.
Yellow salt on the other had Crystallized Suppression, an enhanced version of crystallization. With Crystallized Suppression, not only would Siderius be able to crystallize elements, he could also suppress the power and physical attributes within them.
By suppressing the sulfur inside pyrrhotite, Siderius turned the piece of metal into a true Iron ingot. But inside, within the connections of the molecules, the sulfur would lay dormant, ready to be activated at any time.
Siderius clasped his two hands together and called upon the power of Alchemy.
The yellow salt lit up, this time, in a golden color. It was staying true to its name.
Immediately, the golden hue on the surface of the pyrrhotite started to dim down. What was left was only the shiny color of Iron.
The process took a few minutes to be completed. Once everything was done. The salt turned back to its usual white color and lost most of its elevated properties. Now if Siderius wanted, he could turn these salt back into the yellow salt with the same process as before or by a synchronization process.
A synchronization process was an alchemical reaction to pull normal salt onto the same level as yellow salt. The difference was Siderius no longer needed the blood and urine of the virgin to create a vortex of Proton and Eschaton. What he needed to do was only a bit of yellow salt as the catalyst, the spirit of salt and normal salt. Then he could acquire yellow salt again without the need to collect those hard to collect ingredients.
Jude was the Baron of Scalize. He had the influence and men to request these types of things. He also had the perfect reason to say that it was needed to battle the phantom.
If Siderius was to ask a virgin woman for her blood, he couldn’t imagine how they would react. They probably killed him on sight or something similar.
Siderius grabbed the new piece of suppressed pyrrhotite, which he named Soul Iron. It wasn’t cold like usual iron but was warm to touch. Inside it held the power of one of the three Alchemy primes, sulfur.
"Now that I acquired Soul Iron. The next thing is to mix it with normal Iron and forge them into Dull Steel. This process needs the help from George and Finn. The two blacksmiths should probably be talking with each other right now.
I wonder what Finn will choose."
Finn was a blacksmith, a respectable profession that would always have a place to settle down in society. He didn’t need to join the guild of Xander like George.
George had been targeted by some nobles. It was the reason why he fled Mucktown to Scalize. George chose to join Xander because he needed someone to protect him, Finn did not.
Siderius would prefer Finn to join him. He needed all the manpower he got to grow the force needed to deal with the witches. Sooner or later, he would eradicate them from this world.
Siderius collected the Soul Iron and swept away the traces of Alchemy in the woods. Then he hopped back on Red and returned to the Crossroads Inn. His mind had been exerting itself too much for the last day. It was time to have a good long sleep.
In Scalize, Finn and George sat down together to have a heart to heart.
"So... You can know what I know unless you join our organization." George said.
"Organization? What organization?" Finn said.
"I can’t tell you. Just know that it is not an ordinary one. It is a place of much forbidden knowledge. A place where we can both grow into legendary blacksmiths."
Finn rested his chin on his hand while tapping the table rhythmically. "I guess the guy that gave you the schematics... Snow. Or Siderius. Whatever his name is. He is also part of the organization?"
"This I cannot confirm with you. For your safety and I, it is better that you do not delve into this matter too much."
Finn sighed. "Did you join a cult, George?"
George shook his head. "If it is a cult, it will be much simpler. You have to trust me, Finn. I can guarantee you that I will share whatever knowledge I gain from them with you. They can also provide us protection. Our identities are a secret. However..."
"Let me guess. They want total loyalty?"
George nodded.