Ball of Nothing

After requesting for an appropriate resting area for Misana, Zero left Bob in charge of her safety while he went with Truen to meet the infamous banshee necromancer.

If Zero was expecting to see a hooded figure full of depressing vibes, he would have been utterly disappointed to see a young girl full of colourful eye makeup, thick mascara in a pastel-coloured puffy dress. Jynx looked very fashionable and certainly didn't let the depressing landscape affect her personality.

"Welcome, Zero! The handsome elf beside you must be Truen, I've long heard about you ever since you made an impression in Deadman Town. Please, have a seat."

They didn't know how to react to such a warm welcome by someone who should really hate them by now for all the things they'd done. However, Zero couldn't sense any lies, ill intentions or hostility coming from Jynx as she served up some strange tea.

As they shared a cup of homebrewed tea, Zero noticed the effect of his title coming into play before they started negotiations.

[Title: Tea Lover

Effect: Increase familiarity between Zero and tea brewer every time tea is drunk.

Due to the common interest in food and unique tea, familiarity with Jynx the Engraver is maximised to move from 'strangers' to 'friends'.]

From stranger to friends? That was a huge jump in familiarity just over a cup of tea that tasted like a mixture of bark and roasted meat. Jynx felt very at ease and decided to talk about Misana.

"The girl that you bought off the slave trader was a special order. While I don't mind giving her back to you, I'm afraid there would be some trouble if I don't get her perfect pinky nail. The client that ordered it isn't easy to please. But if you do me a favour and renegotiate the business deal with my fussy client, I can return her to you in one piece without any trouble! You can even get Grey Legion's support, we won't deal with Duke Zurich anymore. No more slave trafficking and kidnapping if you can fulfil the wish of my most difficult client."

Zero raised his brow. "So simple? No other conditions?"

Jynx twirled her hair and placed both feet up on the table, turning her chair using her propped feet. "Not as simple as you would think. If you can really satisfy my difficult client, you would also help me get what I've been wanting for the longest time. It's a deal that's beneficial for everybody but I don't know if you have such capabilities. I heard that you're looking for fraternal twin magicians who had been summoned back."

Hearing that Xvyal and Yxaan's whereabouts and condition were known, Zero leaned in to ask for more information.

Jynx raised her finger and pointed it at the eager doctor. "I can tell you where they are and how they are doing for free as a form of goodwill of our friendship. However, you must promise to help me convince that tedious witch and take care of her customised order. In return, I will promise to stop supporting slavery trades or dealing with Smargdas. In fact, I can get U.N.U. to provide aid to Half Moon Village. It's not fair that Black Mamba and Green Hawk get to benefit from becoming your friend and we're left out. Grey Legion has the greatest number of magicians, we're not a force to be trifled with when we join hands!"

Truen left the decision to Zero who narrowed his eyes. "Why are you so desperate for a partnership? Also, how come we're friends already? We just met."

Jynx pouted cutely at that. "I like you. Isn't that enough reason to become friends? I'm also very interested to meet the noble necromancer called Soon in your village. One of my underlings offended his summons and had been punished as a result. I want to see how hot his summons are. Do they really have rock hard abs and cold chiselled muscles? We don't have a lot of undead hunks in this area. It's severely lacking in aesthetics. It's not fair that the vampires get all the glory when it comes to visual appeal! It's about time zombies get some love here. Think about it, a new undead kind of model, size negative zero for skeletons who literally act as walking hangers for Haute couture while the zombie hunks model for the latest spider silk u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r..."

Hearing the kind of fashion line Jynx wanted to launch in detail, the doctor didn't doubt her passion for the arts. It would explain why a banshee would invest in lolita fashion. Her dress was probably handmade and the necromancer that Truen caught before must have been an artistic person too. The Grey Legion was very interesting with a leader like her so Zero decided to place his trust in the banshee.

"Alright, I believe you. Who is this difficult client you're talking about and what do they want? I can arrange a meeting for you with Soon, Peter and Manny after you cut off contact and ties with Duke Zurich. If possible, no slavery."

Jynx blinked. "Well, it wouldn't be a problem but our powers as necromancers come from harvesting souls. While we could replace bodies using earth and mud to fashion them, we still need to collect souls to animate them. Without slaves to harvest souls from, we're going to be useless necromancers."

Zero hummed. Indeed, that would be difficult. Necromancers get their source of power from the dead. While bodies could be artificially created, souls were slightly trickier. However, what about injecting the souls of necromancers into their puppets? It would still be considered soul magic right?

"What do you think about soul cultivation instead of soul harvesting? As a doctor, I really cannot approve of massacring lives for the sake of power. The souls that have passed on deserve to find peace and return to the cycle."

Zero was hopeful as Jynx considered it but the banshee shook her head. "Never heard of it. How does that relate to necromancy? We use mana to capture and manipulate souls into bodies to animate undead summons. Soul cultivation sounds like something alchemists like Sylvia would do. Her chimaera experiments are similar to your concept but she's looking at creating artificial bodies to host real souls. In my eight hundred years of living, I'd never heard of creating an artificial soul."

Zero blinked. Eight hund-?! He didn't want to think about it. "Not an artificial soul, just using the powers of your original soul to amplify it into animating bodies. It's different from summoning. Necromancy is all about animation magic, isn't it?"

Truen didn't quite understand where Zero's confidence and inspiration came from but he let Zero do all the talking while he listened. At this rate, the doctor might end up buying another lunatic over to their side, not that her help was unwelcomed. However, having Jynx on their side wasn't as important as buying Sylvia over. Sadly, he had a feeling Jynx and Sylvia were rooting for different teams, making the situation complicated.