Linkle was a witch known for her knowledge of the most obscure of alchemy, curses, and magical items, yet even she was struggling to figure out the mechanism behind the mana-oozing ring.
It seemed to be trapped in an eternal cycle of converting atmospheric mana into mana that could be used by humans and other species, however, not exactly keen on putting her finger inside it, she couldn't quite conclude whether it actually worked the way she was thinking.
"Arcane for sure, but…" Leaning closer and closer with a magnifying glass pointed at its minute cogs and coil, she stared at the mechanisms lying underneath a transparent film. "It has some sort of, what the hell do they call it again? Tech…technology, yeah that's right. I don't know what those coils do exactly."
Letting go of the magnifying glass, Linkle closed her strained eyes for a moment before opening them back up and looking at the duo standing in front of her.
"So nothing?" Raven asked, visibly disappointed.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself after that insult, she slipped the ring closer to the mage. Smiling to herself, she leaned closer to him over the counter and whispered in jest.
"Go ahead try it and find out yourself if it burns your mana pores or enhances them to be in a state of inexhaustible continuity," leaning back away, she turned her head to the priestess as well. "If you guys think you can do a better job, go ahead and burn the magic out of your bodies forever!"
Needless to say, none of them even wanted to risk the possibility, even if the potential reward could be an infinite source of mana. After all, much like how an excess of blood can cause countless diseases, an overflow of mana through their bodies could do the very same.
"Well, no takers?" Content with herself, Linkle grabbed the ring off her work desk with a wide smirk plastered on her face. "Only undeads and possibly those automatons that you speak of can use this ring, any amount of organic matter with a functioning metabolism will be thrown off in a jiffy because of this thing."
Closing her fingers around the ring, Linkle swirled her fist around and then opened it back up. Now cased inside an iron box, the ring rested safe–away from anyone curious or stupid enough to try that thing on themselves.
"Consider this a gift and leave me alone–" Halfway through sliding the box towards Raven, she was reminded of something that she'd finished a while back. "Oh, those scales you gave me! I almost forgot!"
"You made something out of them finally?" Raven asked, his eyes following Linkle as she walked out from behind her counter.
"What scales?" Having forgotten about the Lamias already, Erika was somewhat confused for a moment but then Raven decided to let the monster girls out of the crimson bracelet.
Being let out after being trapped inside the jewel for nearly a day, Mino stretched her arms all the way back, cracking her spine as well as almost bursting her breasts out of her already tight shirt. Maine on the other hand, forced to chastise herself while the others were free to have sex with Raven, was huffing and puffing with her tongue sticking out of her mouth.
Trying to hold herself back all the time, her groin, though covered with a veil, was completely drenched with her juices.
"Hmm…" Taking note of the contrast in reactions from the monster girls, Linkle wondered exactly why one seemed energetic and the other like a sex slave whose mind had been broken to the point where she could only think about sex.
'A fae who hates lamias, not quite that uncommon but what the hell has she seen to be acting like a bitch in heat?' Linkle thought to herself, all the while her hands ruffled through the contents of one of her many shelves. Turning her attention to the front right after, she looked for a while longer and finally found a jar with a glowing dark orb floating inside.
"There we go," grabbing it quickly, she brought it back to her table.
Setting it down, she rubbed her hands together while her eyes glanced between everyone else who was present inside.
"What is it?" Mino asked, walking towards the table and leaning in like the other two.
Giving her a quick glance, Linkle opened the jar's lid. In a moment's time, the light inside the place was consumed by the dark orb. But as the witch placed the lid back on, the light returned as if it had never left.
"This orb can consume any and all light inside a closed space," Linkle explained, a cheeky smirk riding on her lips.
"Like my mother?" Reminded of her mother's ability to consume light inside her scales, Maine was pulled out of her lustful hysteria and could finally feel something other than the need to be fucked. Slowly slithering closer to the orb, her eyes were wide open with shock. A mix of joy and dread spiraled inside her.
In that orb, she saw herself and her mother, and to free it meant to free herself and even bring her back, but then–before she could touch the jar, Raven grabbed her by the arm.
Shocked by his touch, she looked at him with fear, however, instead of his usual disgust towards the Lamias, Raven seemed somewhat somber. He knew what was running through Maine's head. The loss of a parent, he saw it in her eyes and now Maine could see the same hurt reflected in Raven's eyes.
"She's dead, that orb's not her, it's better to accept it than let it haunt you forever," for whatever reason those words came out of his mouth, even Raven didn't know, but regardless, he felt like she needed to hear them at least once since Libyan's death.
'Fine…I've been too harsh with her.' Trying not to be too tough on her just because of her race, Raven shook away those thoughts and instead decided to focus on the task at hand.
"I also have a handful of more teleportation rings before you go," Linkle informed.
"Perfect," Raven replied right after.