A Serpent's Tale
Chapter 338: Fangstien Bonescend

Chapter 338: Fangstien Bonescend

I looked back up at her and said, "I see... That answers why, but still not what it is."

Her eyes shrunk a little as she hastily stammered slightly to tell me its name and importance, "I-It’s called Fangstien Bonescend. It’s a mineral that’s not quite bone and not quite metal either, rather a form of both that has properties that make it attuned to us Naga’s and us alone, making it useless in the hands of literally every other race."

"Our Scaled Oracles were the only ones who could find it, and the Veiled Gazers are the only ones allowed to distribute it. And even then, they have to get permission from the Emberin Ladies which could take weeks to-"

"Okay, I get it now." I stopped her before she could go on and on about many unnecessary details I didn’t ask for nor need to know.

Shayllaa shrunk back a little, realising that she had gone a little too far from the fiery passion within her, "Right, that’s basically it. It’s an incredibly important material to us that their ancestors stole from us."

"Right... And how exactly are you able to tell this is Fangstien Bonescend?"

"It’s an instinctual feeling. When you’ve come into contact with it before, it helps when identifying and confirming new sources as real."

I looked back down and brushed my thumb over the mask once more and could feel something from it. It wasn’t anything strong or anything, nor did I feel any change coming from it, but it was there.

’Guess she’s right and there is some kind of resonance.’

Then I looked to the oligarchs again, forcing more pressure on them through my Bloodline powers, and pressed them to answer this question next, "Do any of you have more of this stuff hidden away or know anyone who does? If you do confess MIGHT decide to make what happens to you less extreme."

I could see the struggle on their faces, this time not out of desperation to keep things hidden, but to see if they knew anything deep down so they could get out of this with a slightly less harsh punishment. Bit I lied, I wasn’t going to do that no matter their answer.

"We... We don’t know..." One of them eventually spoke up and answered.

And with a dispassionate tone I simply replied with, "Unfortunate."

They all clenched their teeth together at the false opportunity to have their punishment lessened.

Shayllaa shared in my disappointment, "It is indeed unfortunate. As I believe that the amount of Fangstien stolen was more than what was used to make this mask."

"This... Wasn’t the only mask though, there were three of them, see?" I got the other two out of my storage dimension and presented them to her.

She was initially shocked but soon became relived after she inspected them again and let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Good, I believe this amount to what was stolen back then. I think..." She sounded a little unsure of herself.

Then I remembered something, "Wait a second... Why where you initially relieved when you found out that I had the masks in my possession?"

"Hmm? Of, it was so that we could uhh... So that we could... Uhm... Something about... Connections? And allowing us to access secret rooms in their estates? Or something like that. It’s been a while since the Scaled Oracles told me about their purpose."

"Right... So, masks aside, the next thing that I wanted to ask you was what exactly is this place? Like, where in Kinlo is it?" I asked, referring to the room we were in.

"It’s in one of their estates. Hers specifically." She pointed towards some woman in the middle of the cluster of oligarchs.

"Okay. Oh, and what was this Vial that you asked those two to get also? Why exactly is it so important to you?"

"That vial is filled with the blood of the Goddess herself. We lent it to them so that they could use it to supress people for those that they claimed were detrimental to society. They did this by having it in a chamber underneath this room with a ritual formation above on the ceiling, which drew from its divine essence."

Everything she explained to me made sense, but if that was indeed how it worked, how come it had an effect on me? "If that’s the case, then why did it work on me then?"

"Eh? What do you mean it worked on you?"

Before I could answer that question, the object in question had been retrieved by the two from earlier.

One of them came up to us and presented it to Shayllaa whilst bowing. "We have retrieved the Vial, Fangbearer Shayllaa."

Shayllaa nodded and took it from the acolytes, or as I believe the correct term is called, ’Hatchlings’. But that gets confusing because that’s also what we call newborns, so they’re typically just referred to as acolytes or initiates.

Anyways, I looked at the Vial and felt nothing. Which was odd.

The blood in there should be the same as the stuff in me, or like the vials from the inheritance. Actually, I only used one of the three. What did I do with the other two again?

’Oh yeah, they’re in my storage dimension also... Should I take them out here or not?’

As I was contemplating that question, I was pulled out of my reverie by Shayllaa saying something, "-ou there?"

"Hmm? Oh, don’t mind me, I was just thinking. But that blood doesn’t seem to be the blood of the Goddess, I don’t feel any sort of resonance coming from it."

A look of concern appeared across the acolytes faces as they looked over the vial containing a stained looking red liquid. And I too looked at it closer, and it definitely was not Astraa’s blood.

And I made sure to reaffirm this with them also, "Yeah, this doesn’t have any traces of Divinity in it at all. Nor can I feel any connection to it. It also doesn’t look like the blood of Astraa either."

Shayllaa looked like she’d seen a ghost with how pale she suddenly became upon hearing this. It was as if someone had just revealed something that ruined her life.

"N-No... That can’t be... No, no, no, no, no, NO!" She started to panic and dropped the vial, letting it fall to the floor and shatter.

And the moment it shattered, an ominous Aura tried to spread out and kill everyone.

I’m not quite sure about that last part since I’d already focussed the Aura from both my Bloodlines to supress it.

"YYAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!!" And when I did, a snarly voice came out, the kind of voice that sounded like it came from a conniving coward.

The Aura from the blood then soon took shape. And it took the shape of the ancient Serpentine form, a long tail for a body with a slim, somewhat flat head with slitted eyes and fangs in its mouth.

It almost resembled a cross between a Naga and the ancient form.