Later, the same day.

Lorin stood in front a typical house with four floors and pressed a button by the side of the door and kept waiting.

The sky was already dark and the purple moon in the sky could be fully seen. It was a warm night, and the sound of tiny insects could be heard from time to time. In that brief moment, Lorin felt at peace, ‘Thank god I didn’t need to pay for anything, just the tea was all I had with me.’ Then she looked at the books inside the finely decorated but transparent bag and could not but ponder how expensive each one of them were.

‘I could probably buy a house on my home planet with just these books’

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door was opened by Mack, then she quickly said, ” Harlack told me to bring you those items”

She was about to give them to Mack, but then quickly looked around, and said, “It’s better if I come inside”

Mack said nothing and made space for her to enter, then, closed the door again.

Once inside, Lorin could not avoid but notice that the entire house was fully dark, with not a single speck of light, “Sorry if I interrupted your sleep, I was supposed to come earlier but things happened on the way here”

Mack almost forgot that he could see in the dark and only now realizing that the house was pitch black, he clapped his hands twice, and the lights turned on. “No worries”

Lorin put the bag with books over a small table along with the flask with black powder and took the communication device than said, “This is the organization device, its somehow secure, I don’t know the details, but Harlack said no one expect you can use it”

Mack grabbed the small device that could fit inside his hand very well just like any smartphone from Earth. A screen appeared but all he could see were letters from a language he didn’t knew.

“The device is in Common Tongue,” said Lorin, then she pointed at the books and said, “The books are also in Common Tongue”

Mack looked at books, and for a brief moment Lorin could swear that she saw happiness in Mack’s eyes for the first time since they met.

‘I should stop wasting time and finally learn the common tongue,’ thought Mack while looking at the books, then said, “Is that all?”

“Yes, do you need something else from me?”

Mack shook his head in negation, but then suddenly remembered of something, “Actually, I have one advice for you… this perfume of roses you use….. hmm… its better to stop using it, it’s a bit too strong and can easily be tracked back to you during missions, try something more bland or odorless.”

Hearing similar words once again Lorin’s body froze for an instant, ‘What Perfume?!!!! I don’t use a perfume!’ she screamed in her mind, but refrained to saying anything aloud, ‘Those two freaks must have super human noses! That’s it! That’s the only explanation!’

Seeing Lorin lost in thoughts, Mack gave a small cough and said, “If that’s all, you can leave.” While he gestured his hand in the direction of the door.

“Ah, yes, sorry, I was thinking about this perfume, I really loved it, it’s a pity…” said Lorin than grabbed her things and walked to the door alongside Mack, that quickly closed the door behind her once she left the house.

Outside of the house, still a bit stunned, Lorin lowered her head and sniffed at her own armpit. “I smell nothing!” and walked away, lost in her own thoughts.

…

Inside the house by the corner of a window, and looking at the already distant figure of Lorin, “You should see her face! HAHAHAHA” laughed aloud Mack.

‘Man! She even sniffed her own armpit!!!’ 

[I told you it would be a good joke. On her planet they eat those roses as a kind of salad from young, everyone there smells like roses, that’s why they can’t tell!]

‘I think we broke her,’ said in his mind Mack using the mind link, but then suddenly started to laugh again. The girl even sniffed her own armpit!

[…]

‘For real, the girl seemed to lose the life in her eyes. hahhahahahah’

[I gave her a deodorant]

‘You old monster!!!!, hahahahahah’

[But she is progressing very fast, I think in about one or two weeks we can start, I also gave her a few spells so her abilities as spy can increase a bit]

‘Thats good. I hope that I can crack the shadow steps spell in two to three days. After that I will try to learn the common tongue and train until you feel that she is up to the task’

[No worries, I also have eyes on her 24h and she seems the type to easily make new friends, male friends, if you get it.]

‘Thats why she only came now?’

[Well…. cough… cough… she ‘came’ a lot today, that for sure]

Hearing that, the corners of Mack’s mouth curled up a bit, and he said, “So… she is the lewd type, uh, good to know. Good to know.” and closed the small crack on the window and went back to the main room of the house.

Looking at the books at the table Mack gave a small sigh, he would not understand anything if tried to read them now, and grabbed the flask of black chameleon skin powder.

Raising the flask to his eye level and inspecting the powder inside, Mack noticed that they were not fully black, but more like glistening black, as if depending on light, the powder would suddenly turn transparent.

“Interesting…. but how does this influence the essence around?”

Mack was still clueless about how the properties of things could influence essence. This was more to the level of alchemy than spells or runes. Thinking of that, Mack came with an idea.

‘Old man, has the alchemist arrived yet?’