Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 108: Book 2: Chapter 25: Ploys and Failures

Read chapter 108 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 2: Chapter 25: Ploys and Failures Book 2: Chapter 25: Ploys and Failures Garret had just started to relax, which is why it almost worked. Henry and he had made it back to the main floor, lured in by the tables of food. Allie and Holly spotted them along the way and had decided to stick close by. Garret was already loaded up on pastries and what, he assumed, were the closest thing this world had to cookies, when it happened. The server glided past like all the others had. Dressed in house-neutral cream and emerald green, bearing a silver tray of glasswork and shimmering cocktails. He moved with the kind of forgettable elegance bred into the palace staff, designed to vanish into wallpaper and chandelier light. Then the tray titled, not by much, just so. And a glass slipped, and time slowed. The wine hit Garret’s jacket like an uncorked potion, which it was. Dark red soaked into the brocade fabric, and his startled shout drew half of the lower balcony’s attention. But it was the potion Allie noticed first, the way the aether in the wine shimmered a heartbeat too long before impact. The way it twisted upward over his skin. Her alchemy training with Celeste told her what she was seeing. The woman had warned her specifically about potions like these. They were sold as counterfeit version of other potions. Usually high grade healing or augmentor potions. The effect was almost like a beseker potion, but weaker. Those who were tricked by it, usually were killed in the fight before they managed to discover such a fact, and thus were rarely come back for refunds. It was a subtle effect, clever. A little heat under the skin, and a bit of suppressed cognitive control. Just enough to make someone shout, shove, or lose their cool in front of a hundred watching diplomatic and noble eyes. Garret flinched, blinking, teeth clenched shut tight. “Hey—!” “Hold still, it’s fine Garret,” Holly said sharply, already reaching for his shoulder. Allie’s hand moved just as fast, aether pattern forming, her two fingers sketching a tiny null-spiral near his collarbone. The light of her spell shimmered briefly as it attacked the rage potion. Angry red threadwork unraveled just below his skin, then guttered out like a snuffed ember. Garret blinked again, the tension bleeding from his shoulders. “What the hell was that? ” Allie whispered as she leaned near his ear. “Targeted rage-potion. Subdermal reaction. Someone wanted you to snap.” Holly’s gaze was already moving. She saw him before the others did. A young noble standing three tiers up on the left balcony. He was blonde and smug, leaning slightly into his wineglass while whispering something to his friend behind a poorly-masked grin. Allie and Garret followed her gaze, and when they locked eyes with him, the smile vanished. Then everything changed. The three of them saw the air around the server, who had been carrying the drink tray, fractured. It happened without noise or flare. Just a perfect stillness that sucked the breath out of the ballroom’s edge. Light seemingly froze in mid-flicker. A napkin hung a little too long in the air. The laughter, the clink of glasses, and even the music, stopped. All eyes turned towards them, to the server holding the now empty tray. Malric Vaunt stood behind the server like he had always been there. His hands were folded. His expression unreadable. The air around him shifted slightly, like heat over stone, reality stretched too thin, too still. He didn’t raise his voice. “This is not a battlefield.” The server’s eyes went wide. Their mouth opened, but no sound emerged. “Nor a courtroom.” Malric took one slow step forward. His robes didn’t sway as there was no wind. “But the Empire watches all, and it will not allow breaking of the covenants.” He reached out, and his fingers barely brushed the server’s face. A bright ball flame flared into existence instantly, carved into the air itself like branded starlight and then pressed into the man’s cheek. He screamed and he