Supreme Magus novel Chapter 1680

"It's always a pleasure to meet an alumnus of the White Griffon, no matter how unsuccessful they have become." He said while extending his hand to Phloria first and Orion later. "You have grown into a fine mage, Lieutenant Colonel Beanpole."

"Thanks." She replied with a voice that carried the warmth of an ice age.

"Nice to meet you again, Jirni's plus one."

"For the umpteenth time, I have a name!" Orion tried to crush Manohar's hand but no matter how hard he tried, the god of healing didn't even flinch.

'He sure is stronger than he looks.' Orion thought.

"And I'm too busy to remember something as insignificant as a name so I call things as I see them." The Mad Professor had long since learned to keep a hard-light construct over his hand during greetings.

Petty people always held petty grudges for petty reasons.

"Then you have to fix your eyes because we are divorcing." Orion said.

"Congratulations!" Manohar patted him with such obnoxious honesty that only years of discipline kept Orion's hands off the god of healing's neck. "I was certain that no man could bear that hag forever.

"Let's toast to your new life as a single man."

Manohar offered him a drink that Orion poured into a nearby decorative potted plant that shapeshifted in front of his astonished eyes into a catatonic frog.

"Interesting. I didn't expect it to work even on plants, but there are side effects when it's not used on animals." Manohar poked the creature multiple times but obtained no reaction.

"What in the gods' name was in that glass?" Orion put his hand on the hilt of the blade in outrage.

"Compound 54. It's supposed to make humans-"

"I meant why did you give it to me?" Orion cut him short, glad that every single note of the army regarding Manohar mentioned to never accept food or drinks from him and to consume only meals preserved inside one's own dimensional amulet.

"To get rid of the two of you, of course." The Never Magus couldn't believe that Jirni's plus one was stupid enough to need an explanation for the obvious. "Beanpole here would have been too busy taking care of you to notice my escape."

"What would have happened to my father?" Phloria pointed her estoc, Reaver, at Manohar's throat.

Yet instead of showing fear or remorse, he exploited the opportunity to study the Forgemastering techniques of the Ernas legacy with his spells.

"Nothing much. He would have just fallen into a deep slumber for a few minutes before-" The frog turned back into a plant, except now it was bright pink.

Then it exploded, filling the air with fragments no bigger than confetti.

"Did you just try and kill a member of the Knight's Guard?" Phloria was there for less than five minutes and she was already sick of him.

"Of course not! That potion wasn't intended for plants and, as I said, at this stage of development side effects are to be expected. After all, Alchemy is a little more art than science." Manohar said.

"That's the definition of cooking, not Alchemy!" Phloria said while Orion had to use every ounce of his considerable strength to keep her from ruining her future with a charge for manslaughter.

At that point, he didn't care for Manohar's life more than for that of a rabid opossum.

"Alchemy, cooking, who cares? My point was to get out of here before-"

The door opened again and this time Archon Ernas and Assistant Professor Ernas walked in.