It had been two days since Siderius left the town of Scalize. He had arranged for his people to take over Santa Roberto with a substantial amount of coins. Then, he immediately set foot on the road again. Travelling with him were his two animal companions, Red as his steed and Lycan as a curious but relentless beast. Siderius had bought a new and more detailed map in Scalize. This map had a lot more locations and a more detailed description of the landscape. Between Mucktown and Scalize there were many small communes and villages that Siderius didn’t know about. They were made up mostly of hunters or gatherers. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹•𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖•𝗇𝗲𝘁 But those communes weren’t what Siderius aimed for. He wanted to go to the Rose Springs. On the map, it lay in a deserted land that was clearly described as abandoned. The Rose Springs were located in an arid region where even the spiky pine trees of the Rottin Woods couldn’t survive. Siderius entered this region after one day of travelling. The trees slowly disappeared, leaving nothing but short grey grass on the ground. At least Red would have something to eat on the road. On the second day, Siderius found it. The Rose Springs. Contrary to what its name suggested, the Rose Springs had a lustful green color with high bushes scattered all around and low tropical trees. The area surrounding the Springs lowered down in the middle, creating a natural valley of plants and humidity. In this arid area without any living things, the Rose Springs were an oasis. From where Siderius was standing, he could see the smoke floating up in the sky as the hot mineral water came crashing out from underground. Siderius jumped down and patted Red on the back, soothing him. "This place is not safe for you. Stay at the outskirts." The ground surrounding the Rose Springs was filled with roots, leaves and soft mud. A horse would quickly get itself trapped inside. Red let out a neigh to show its acknowledgement. Then it ran away, probably finding something suitable to eat. This area had weeds growing everywhere. Siderius wasn’t worried that Red wouldn’t be able to keep itself alive. Lycan stayed on his shoulder. He and the beast ventured into the Rose Springs. Aside from the lustful landscape, the Rose Springs consisted of many small bodies of water. They joined together to create many pools of hot mineral water. The smoke floated gently above the water surface, showing its high temperature. Siderius walked around the Rose Springs to learn more about its layout. The ground of the Rose Springs lowered down the more it went in the middle. The edge consisted of low tropical trees with high bushes and soft mud. The inner area was more open with small pools of spring water surrounded by natural rock formation. The central area was the largest pool of water with a medium-height hill. The hill had a cave of which the spring water naturally flooded out. Siderius stopped at the rock formation and squatted down. He picked up a piece of red rock. His lips curved up into a smile. "Cinnabar..." He had found the place to replenish his mercury reserve. Siderius quickly collected as much cinnabar as he could then found an even ground to sit on. He drew a Sulfur seal to separate the mercury out of the red rock. The cinnabar had a molecule of Mercury and a molecule of Sulfur inside. By separating the cinnabar, not only would he gain mercury, he would also gain sulfur back. When comparing between the two processes, separating Pyrite yielded more sulfur. But most alchemists preferred to extract Sulfur from cinnabar as it also gave them Mercury. The pieces of Cinnabar quickly split into pure Mercury and Sulfur. Siderius flexed his left arm to summon the system bracer. He dipped his hand into the mercury. The silver-colored liquid climbed into his skin and got absorbed into his pores. Then it found its way into the S.Y.S.T.E.M. Once the mercury was gone, Siderius began to separate a new batch of cinnabar. It took him half a day to collect the ores and fill up his Mercury reserve. [MERCURY EXTRACT: 200/200] "Finally. Now I can begin to graft the second mutation. But before that. It’s time to fill up the third sigil for the system." Vertigo was an offensive sigil. It could disorient the enemy, creating opportunities for Siderius and even protect him in some cases. Parave was purely a defensive sigil and it did its job well. There was more that could be improved and Siderius was planning to upgrade it after gaining the third sigil. An offensive sigil and a defensive sigil. Siderius was thinking of adding an utility sigil as the third one. Utility sigils were compact alchemical seals that could not hurt the enemies nor defend the witch hunter. However, due to their wide range of uses, their relevance was always prominent. In some cases, utility sigils could also be used for offensive and defensive purposes as well. It was the most flexible category between the three. "In this kingdom full of witches, the best utility sigil for me is one that can counter the uses of magic." Siderius mumbled. Dispell, or also known as its full name Dispellera, was a sigil designed dedicatedly to defuse the uses of magic. Its only use was to infiltrate into the flow of Dark Aether and disrupt any type of spell from within. It wasn’t the best type of sigil to deal with witches’ shenanigans as it had its limitations. Dispell could only disrupt a spell that had already begun. It couldn’t stop a spell that was already activated. Sometimes, that could be the difference between life and death. Dispell’s power was also limited and couldn’t affect high-leveled spells. However, despite its limitations, Siderius already made up his mind. "There is no better sigil." Siderius took out four pieces of dark red crystal from his bag. These were the Dark Aether he gained from killing Jeffrey. Jeffrey’s magic was stronger than Nora, yielding four crystals instead of three. To disrupt a spell, one could only use the same substance it was made up of. You have to fight fire with fire. And only the disruptive nature of Dark Aether could break itself. "Activate manual Mercury overdrive." [MANUAL MERCURY OVERDRIVE ACTIVATED] Mercury started to leak out of the tip of Siderius’ left index finger. He drew onto the black mirror of the bracer.