As the day passed and their conversations continued, the Imperial Scholar slowly grew weaker and paler. Although his spirits never dwindled, it was clear that he was slowly dying.
Skymender watched solemnly as this happened, rarely talking. He was not in the mood. As the Imperial Scholar grew paler and paler, his mind wandered off to the same question he had spent weeks asking himself over and over.
He truly cared about the Imperial Scholar, but perhaps even those emotions were not real. Perhaps the Imperial Scholar himself was not real.
The Imperial Scholar slowly stopped moving, and when there was clearly only the slightest bit of life left in him, Skymender spoke. "Goodbye, Teacher."
On that day, bells rang throughout the Imperial Capital. Mourning occurred in all corners. The Imperial Scholar who, along with the Emperor, had brought never before seen prosperity to the Faceless Empire, was dead.
This was an event that caused mourning throughout the entire Empire, not just the Imperial Capital. Kings were downtrodden, Nobles were quieter, even commoners were solemn this day. The next day, a grand funeral was held.
Around his coffin, countless sticks of incense burned, sending the Imperial Scholar off. Thousands came in person, while others lit incense sticks from home, bowing to the Imperial Scholar.
The only death in the entire world that would have more of an impact on the people of the Faceless Empire was that of the Emperor himself.
A week passed, and the mourning was over. Most people were back in high spirits.
Nobody had forgotten, but they had all paid their respects. There was nothing more to mourn, as it was publicly acknowledged that the new Imperial Scholar was just as intelligent as the last.
However, in the throne room, it was clear that the Emperor was still affected. Skymender had rid himself of any emotions that had come after the Imperial Scholars death, such as mourning and sadness. He was once again to his usual self, though he was clearly colder and more indifferent than before.
When there wasn't someone to care about, it was hard to have emotions.
The Emperor, who was usually exceptionally lenient to most crimes, had been much harsher since the death of the Imperial Scholar.
Even small crimes such as robbery were punished with years and years in prison.
"Your Imperial Majesty, I think that you should take some time to clear your head." Skymender said, voicing his concerns.
"I know what I need, and it is not to rest. I am still the Emperor, and I still have an Empire to run." The Emperor said.
"For the sake of your reputation, as well as the sake of the people of the Empire, I must insist." Skymender said once again.
The Emperor looked at him for a moment before sighing. "One day."
He got up from his throne and walked away, most likely going to his chambers.
"You deal with this stuff." The Emperor said.
Skymender nodded. He got off of his chair from the side and sat on the stairs a few levels down from the throne.
The next person that came in was confused, but Skymender passed judgement just as the Emperor would. Despite Skymender arranging their punishments or fulfilling their requests, there weren't any arguments due to the fact that he was representing the Emperor. After all, he was almost perfectly imitating how the Emperor would handle most matters.
This lasted for a few hours, until he stopped taking audiences at the appointed time. He went to his office and got his affairs in order before he began to study. This studying was not how he had done so in the past, as there were no more books he needed to read. Instead of reading information written by others, he began to create his own information.
After all, there was very little for him to learn from others at this point, and whatever those things were, he didn't have access to anything or anyone that would teach it to him.
In the past, he had received some guidance from the Imperial Doctor on the practice of medicine and a few other things related to being a doctor. He had similarly received guidance on finance from the Imperial Treasurer, who was in charge of all the money in the Empire.
Now, he began to create his own insights into a possibility he had looked at long ago. Creating things through blood. He had added blood in a few of his poisons, but when it came to creating unique things from blood, he was lacking quite a bit.
He had only ever used them as partial materials or substitutes.
However, he knew the potential of blood. It carried the genetics of the creature it came from, and in relation, what made them unique.
He had long put in an order to receive countless gallons of blood from most of the known animals in the world. Of the rarer animals, he received just a bit, but more than enough to run a few experiments with them.
There was even a bit of blood from extinct animals.
All in all, he had plenty to work with and a bit more time before an all out battle took place between the Ancient Empire and the Faceless Empire.
Skymender began to experiment day in and day out, recording countless notes and observations along the way. He began to understand how various bloods interacted with each other to create something akin to a new blood.
He also began to add external objects in order to see how they were affected.
After three months, he seemed to be stuck. He had created some interesting blood compounds, but he felt as if he was missing something in order to give all of this a use.
He thought for a few days and eventually came up with an answer.
"Perhaps using human blood will give this some sort of new effect."
It was an idea that would not be allowed to be carried out, but Skymender felt as if this was a necessary step. Even if he had to do it behind backs, he would get it done.