Chapter 340: It isn’t enough.

"Neroth Vhalzaryn."

Varek instantly froze at the name.

Lucian did not miss that.

Instead, he looked into his eyes and—

"What do you know about him?"

He asked.

"How do you know that name?"

Varek questioned back.

Lucian smiled at that.

"I ask the questions."

Varek’s eyes narrowed.

Lucian then stared at him and—

"The Contract people mention you formed with an Archdemon, there wasn’t one, was there?"

He spoke. Varek’s face changed. For the next few seconds, he remained silent. It felt strange having his secrets out in the open, especially when the guy saying them out loud was an enemy.

Varek was sure that Lucian didn’t know half of what he knew when they met a few days ago.

Just... what happened in these past few days?

"I need some level of cooperation if you want my help, Varek."

Lucian spoke and Varek—

"No. There wasn’t one."

He answered honestly.

Lucian’s eyes changed.

[He is speaking.]

Aurelia commented. She could see how things were going in their favour.

"It was a lie created by them."

Varek answered truthfully.

"Who’s them?"

"House Arcelis."

His face distorted when he said the name. Lucian nodded at that, this was exactly the direction he wanted it to go.

"Why did they lie?"

"Because they wanted to hide what they did to me."

"What did they do to you?"

Lucian asked.

He had the answers, he just wanted Varek to get talking. This was also his way of trying to assess how much Varek was willing to cooperate and how much he knew.

And Varek began talking.

"They have been experimenting with something for years, they call it Project Crimson Crucible..."

And with that, Varek began talking.

He told Lucian everything he knew about Project Crimson Crucible, when he learned about it for the first time, who approached him, what they did to him, how they experimented on him, how his body changed, how he gained the power to get stronger through others’ suffering, and how House Arcelis hid this using a lie and exiled him.

He also mentioned that at that time, they exiled him, promising a bright future once he returned, that they were ’letting’ him go so he could explore his potential.

He didn’t know they were preparing to do all this.

Varek told him everything.

Most of it matched the records Lucian read, he also learned a few things that were never mentioned in any of the records. There were a few discrepancies as well, but it wasn’t a big deal—

Varek’s memories of those days were fuzzy, not to mention it was impossible for him to know everything.

But from what Lucian could tell, he did tell him everything he knew.

[He is cooperating.]

Aurelia felt the same.

Lucian nodded.

He stared at Varek, all of this didn’t make him innocent. Varek was still a man who tortured others for power, the things he had done were beyond questionable, they were repulsive.

If it was a normal situation, Lucian wouldn’t even be here. He’d rather filth like Varek die than remain alive. Heck, some part of him thought Varek got exactly what he deserved.

But...

Be that as it may, what Varek deserved doesn’t change the fact that he needed Varek’s help right now.

And for that, he needed to help him.

Of course, he had no intention of doing that unless he was absolutely certain he could get what he wanted out of him.

"Neroth’s Heart."

So Lucian asked another question.

"Do you know about it?"

Varek’s Crimson Eyes glowed at those words as he nodded.

"What do you know?"

"What do you want to know?"

Varek questioned back.

"Was it ever destroyed?"

"No."

Varek answered instantly.

"Are you sure?"

Lucian asked with a serious look on his face.

"The Heart should have been destroyed, but they didn’t do it. That is where they get Neroth’s Blood to experiment on, they could not destroy it."

And that was it.

That was what they wanted.

[Ask him how he knows about the Heart.]

Aurelia instructed.

All of this felt a little too convenient to be true, she wanted to be sure.

"How do you know about the Heart?"

Lucian did what he was told.

He could tell where Aurelia’s doubts were coming from, Varek wasn’t exactly the most trustworthy man he had met either.

"I heard them talk about it."

"The researchers?"

Lucian tilted his head.

Varek nodded.

"They spoke about the Heart."

"You specifically remember them talking about the Heart?"

"Yes."

Varek nodded.

"During experiments, when they injected me with a medicine that would render me unconscious, I started a habit of trying to keep myself conscious.

It was a form of training.

I wanted to raise my natural resistance to it and it worked, with time, I became more and more resistant to it.

So there were small moments when they thought I was unconscious and talked. I heard them then, I can even tell you the names of the ones I heard."

Lucian’s face changed.

This was big.

He also hated how Varek tried to keep himself conscious to ’train’ his resistance, that was... exactly the kind of thing he could imagine doing if he was in his position.

It showed him the similarity he had with Varek and he found it disgusting.

[Ask what they said.]

Aurelia, on the other hand, was focused on something, something more important than Lucian’s feelings.

"What exactly did you hear?"

Lucian asked like Aurelia told him to.

"Not much."

Varek closed his eyes for a moment.

"I don’t remember it well because my consciousness was close to fading away most of the time. I only remember bits.

Something about how only a select few researchers were allowed near it, how they wanted to see it as well, how they should contain it...

It’s... mostly hazy."

[...doesn’t seem like he is lying.]

Aurelia commented, Lucian nodded at her words.

It honestly sounded pretty fucking definitive to him.

Varek was actually useful, his statement could help them—

Or at least, that’s what he thought but...

[It isn’t enough.]

Aurelia shook her head.