I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 324: Collecting Crystals

Jack walked past the throne room, through the portrait hall where paintings of previous Soul Wardens watched with silent judgment, toward the eastern wing where Malakai’s garden waited.

The doorway revealed itself, and Jack stepped through into air that immediately felt different, charged with magic that made his skin prickle.

Seven sections, each one bursting with plants that glowed faintly with their respective elements.

”Boss!” The simple demon’s head snapped up, his face splitting into a grin so wide it looked painful. ”Boss come back! Kyren did good! Plants grow big! Look, look!”

He scrambled to his feet with the enthusiasm of a child showing off a school project, his arm gesturing wildly at the surrounding growth. ”Fire plants hot! Water plants wet! All plants happy! Kyren talk to them every day! They like Kyren!”

Jack couldn’t help but smile at the display. Pure, unfiltered pride from someone who’d been given purpose and had exceeded every expectation.

”You did well, Kyren,” Jack said, his voice swelling with approval. ”The garden looks perfect.”

”Kyren protect too!” The demon continued, his enthusiasm not dimming even slightly. ”Bad demon try to eat fire plant. Kyren break demon’s face! No one hurt garden! Kyren promise Boss, Kyren keep promise!”

”I believe you,” Jack replied. His attention shifted to the mature plants, specifically the crystalline formations that had grown from each elemental section. ”Have you harvested the crystals yet?”

Kyren shook his head vigorously, his expression becoming more serious despite his limited intelligence. ”No touch! Boss say let grow. Kyren no touch until Boss come back. But crystals ready! Kyren know they ready!”

Smart. The demon had followed instructions exactly, not taking initiative that might have damaged the harvest.

Jack moved toward the lightning section first, where Boltweave Spire crystals had formed along the stems of plants that crackled with electrical energy.

He reached out carefully, his fingers closing around the first crystal. It came free with minimal resistance, the plant releasing its prize without damage. The crystal pulsed in his palm, warm and alive with contained lightning.

Jack activated his inventory, storing the crystal before moving to the next. Five plants in the lightning section, ten crystals harvested. Then on to fire, where Magmaheart Lattice crystals burned with inner heat that didn’t actually scorch his skin.

Water. Earth. Wind. Light. Dark.

Each section yielded its harvest, consisting of ten crystals of each type, totaling seventy. Jack worked methodically, his movements precise, while Kyren followed along like an excited puppy, pointing out which plants had been particularly ”happy” during their growth.

”This one talked most!” Kyren indicated a water plant whose Tideglass Crest crystal gleamed like a frozen ocean. ”Tell Kyren about streams and rivers and big water places! Kyren like hearing stories!”

Jack paused, glancing at the simple demon with something approaching fondness. ”You did good work here, Kyren. Really good.”

The demon’s face lit up again, basking in the praise like it was the greatest treasure imaginable. ”Kyren keep doing good! Already plant new seeds! Ten in each section! Garden grow forever! Boss always have crystals!”

That initiative was worth noting. Kyren had understood not just his immediate task but also the longer-term purpose. Keeping the garden productive and ensuring continuous harvests for someone with his cognitive limitations, which showed remarkable comprehension.

”Keep it up,” Jack said, storing the last crystal. ”I’ll be back before the next harvest. Same rules apply, protect the garden, let the plants grow, don’t disturb them.”

”Kyren protect! Kyren promise!” The demon saluted awkwardly with his single arm.

Jack turned to leave, but movement near the garden’s entrance caught his attention. A figure stood there, shadows clinging to his form. He had been standing there for several minutes.

Loryn stepped into the garden.

”My lord,” Loryn said brazenly. ”I have a report on the prisoners.”

Jack’s expression hardened. ”The deserters from Starfell. How are they?”

”Broken,” Loryn replied in a smug tone. ”Minimal food and water. They’ve all lost at least 15% of their body mass. Most have lost the will to live. They sit in their cells and stare at walls, waiting for death that I won’t grant them.”

”Good. The cowards who’d fled Sorne in its hour of need deserved worse than a simple execution.”

Reaching into his inventory, Jack pulled out 7 different crystals. Seven crystals appeared in his palm, one of each element, glowing faintly with contained power. He extended his hand toward Loryn. ”Take these.”

The shadow demon’s eyes widened fractionally, the only indication of surprise he allowed himself. His hand closed around the crystals with careful precision. ”My lord?”

”Experiment,” Jack looked him in the eye. ”You’re known as the mad scientist among demons. Prove it. Find out what happens when you try to fuse these elements into living subjects. Document the results. Learn what works and what doesn’t.”

Loryn tilted his head, as a psychotic smirk replaced any smile that used to be on his face. ”And if they all die in the process?”

”Then they die,” Jack snapped at the answer. ”They forfeited their right to mercy when they abandoned their oath. Use them however you need. Just call for me when you have results.”

”Understood.” Loryn’s fingers tightened around the crystals, shadows writhing around his hand as if excited by the prospect. ”Ah, the screaming. That beautiful, beautiful music.”

”I don’t care about the noise,” Jack said. ”I care about the data. Find out how Malakai did it. Learn the process. Make it repeatable.”

He dipped into a low bow, a menacing grin plastered across his face as a low chuckle rumbled in his chest. ”It will be done, my lord. I’ll send word when I have findings worth reporting.”

He turned and vanished into the shadows, his form dissolving like smoke caught in the wind. The crystals went with him, their glow fading as they disappeared into the wind.

Kyren had watched the entire exchange with his usual limited comprehension, but even he seemed to understand the gravity. ”Bad people hurt?” he asked, his tone carrying neither sympathy nor judgment. Just simple curiosity.

”Bad people learn,” Jack corrected, though the distinction was largely semantic. ”Sometimes lessons are painful.”

”Kyren understand. Garden teach too. Touch hot plant, get burned. Touch sharp plant, get cut. Plants teach good lessons.”

An oddly philosophical observation from someone who could barely string together complex sentences. Kyren’s simplicity didn’t mean he was entirely without wisdom.

Just that his wisdom expressed itself differently.

”Keep taking care of the garden,” Jack said, moving toward the exit. ”I have other business to attend to.”

”Kyren do good! Boss come back soon!” The simple demon was already returning to his plants, kneeling beside an earth plot where new growth was just beginning to emerge.

Jack left the garden behind, the illusion sealing shut once he’d passed through.

He moved through the castle with purpose now, his boots clicking against marble floors, his attention sharp.

The key was the only thing on his mind. But where did it go?

Jack had searched most of the castle. No locked doors in the throne room. No sealed chambers in the garden. No hidden vaults in the portrait hall, the library, or the armory.

The key fits somewhere in this castle. Malakai wouldn’t have left it otherwise.

But after an hour of methodical searching, checking doors and walls and floors for any indication of a lock that matched the key’s profile, Jack had found nothing.

’Either it’s hidden so well I can’t find it without help,’ Jack thought, frustration building beneath his calm exterior, ’or it’s not in the castle at all.’

That second possibility bothered him more than the first. If the key opened something outside the castle, the search area expanded to the entire floor. Thousands of square miles of territory, most of it unexplored.

He needed someone who’d lived here long enough to know the floor’s secrets.

If anyone knew where the key led, it would be him.

Jack made his decision. He’d delayed this meeting long enough, focused on other priorities while the dragon waited in his mountain domain. Time to correct that oversight.

He moved toward the castle’s main exit, his stride confident despite the uncertainty gnawing at his thoughts.

The key’s purpose would reveal itself. Everything in Tartarus Spire operated on logic, even when that logic was hidden behind layers of secrecy and ancient tradition.

The castle doors opened at his approach, massive slabs of reinforced metal that responded to his status as Soul Warden.