Chapter 1165 Successor of the Legendary Apothecary, No More Formalities
Chapter 1165 Successor of the Legendary Apothecary, No More Formalities
Franz rested her chin on her fingers with her gaze downward as she seemed to be in deep thought.
A few moments later, she looked at Izroth and said, "I can agree to be a Guest Elder. However, three years is too long. One year—that is the most I can promise you. As I mentioned beforehand, I will not do anything that goes against my morals. I also am not fond of being restricted."
"Rest assured, I will not put you in a tough spot. As a Guest Elder, you will be granted full autonomy. You will not have to take orders from anyone in the Mystical Realm Palace. If there is a request that you don't like, there will be no pressure to accept it. Additionally, if you should need anything, we will do our best to acquire it as long as it's within our means." Izroth stated.
'A grade ten Apothecary is worth much more than this. If not for her circumstances, even if I offered conditions a hundred times better than this, it would not have been enough to catch her attention. With this, in the future, the Mystical Realm Palace can secure a strong foothold in Amaharpe's true capital city and remain safe even when I'm away.'
At the moment, the Mystical Realm Palace was located in the capital city of Amaharpe. But, despite its name, it was not the actual capital city of the Amaharpe kingdom. Instead, it was the old capital city that those in power abandoned due to the dangerous existence sealed beneath it. As a result, Amaharpe's official capital city had been moved to a different location. And, it was there that Izroth wanted to establish the main branch of the Mystical Realm Palace.
However, there were a lot of hurdles in the way to achieve this goal. For one, owning property in Amaharpe's official capital city was a thousand times more expensive than where the Mystical Realm Palace was currently located. Furthermore, one required a certain level of status, influence and power to establish a business there. After all, it was where Amaharpe's royal family, high ranking nobles and various influential powers gathered.
"Then, it seems we've come to an agreement." Franz said.
〈System Alert: You have received the quest «Successor of the Legendary Apothecary»! Would you like to accept?〉
Quest Name: Successor of the Legendary Apothecary
Quest Difficulty: S
Recommended Level: N/A
Recommended Party Size: 1
Objective: The «Franz Winsor» has requested that you find a suitable successor to follow in their footsteps.
Time Limit: None
0/1 Find a suitable successor for «Franz Winsor» and give them the legacy.
Reward:
-Gain favor with «Franz Winsor»
-12 True Seals of Creation
-??? [Quest]
Failure:
-None
'There is no time limit or failure penalty. I guess this is her way of telling me to take my time and pick a suitable successor. However, I already have the perfect candidate in mind.'
After briefly reading over the quest information, Izroth accepted the quest.
All of a sudden, parts of Franz's body started to become transparent.
Franz looked down at her hand that was now almost completely see through.
"It looks like my time is almost up. This fragment won't last much longer. I am unable to tell you everything right now, but everything that needs to be known is contained inside the Vault of Knowledge. If my successor is to craft the Life Resurgence Pill, they must first master what I've left behind in the Vault of Knowledge up to the seventh chapter. Once the requirements are met, the Vault of Knowledge will reveal the location where my real body is hiding. After that, everything will be up to you and my successor." Franz explained with haste.
By the time she finished, Franz's entire body had dissipated except her head. However, even parts of her head started to vanish and break away.
"I leave my fate in your hands, Izroth." Franz said as she closed her eyes, while the rest of her head vanished.
"I, Izroth, will make sure that you don't come to regret the choice you've made today." Izroth stated as he cupped his fists.
〈System Alert: You are now being teleported outside of the trial dungeon!〉
...
Not long after Franz disappeared, Izroth was teleported outside the trial dungeon. When he arrived, Haishe and the other party members, who had been waiting nearby, approached him.
"I'm glad to see you're safe, Palace Master Izroth. For a moment, I thought something had gone wrong during the teleportation process." Haishe said as he released a small sigh of relief.
If something happened to Izroth, Haishe knew that he would lose an important chance to build a potential relationship between Izroth and Fatal Touch.
Izroth gave a small nod and said, "Since the trial dungeon is over, the favor you requested has been fulfilled. Now..."
Out of nowhere, the aura around Izroth underwent a drastic shift as the atmosphere became heavy. This caused everyone present to instinctively go on guard and take a step back.
"What is this suffocating pressure?" Mystic Lock thought to himself as he felt cold sweats run down his back.
"What do you want to do?" Steel Mountain commented with a frown as he held up his shield with furrowed brows.
"Palace Master I-" Autumn Winds was about to speak up, but she was quickly cut off midway by Izroth.
"Since you are not a member of Fatal Touch, I suggest you step away." Izroth said indifferently.
"?!" Autumn Winds was shocked as she glanced over at Haishe, who briefly shook his head side to side in response to her gaze.
Autumn Winds slowly backed away and stood off to the side as she watched on with a troubled expression.
"Palace Master Izroth, have we offended you somehow?" Haishe asked with a forced half-smile. However, one could tell that he was placing a great deal of effort into maintaining his composure.
"I will only ask this once—what kind of relationship does Fatal Touch have with the shadahi?" Izroth asked with a cold and distant gaze.
When Izroth mentioned the word shadahi, a hint of shock seemed to flash through Haishe's eyes. Even though it was only for a split second, it did not escape Izroth.
'He definitely knows something. Based on his reaction, it looks Fatal Touch isn't complete strangers when it comes to the shadahi.'
Izroth could tell that the shock, which flashed through Haishe's eyes, was genuine. But, there was something else hidden behind that shock—fear.
Seeing that trace of fear caused Izroth to ponder momentarily. No matter how terrifying the shadahi are, it should not be to the point of making a player like Haishe fearful to this extent. After all, Fatal Touch was an organization with many strong and talented players. That, paired with the fact that the shadahi had severely limited influence in the Mortal Realm due to the seal in place on their realm, it did not make any sense for Haishe to be scared of them.
But, if it was not the shadahi, then what or who caused Haishe to have that kind of reaction at the mere mentioned of the word shadahi?
"It is... complicated." Haishe said with a troubled expression.
"That answer isn't good enough. If you don't explain things clearly, then—I'll have no choice but to take that as your answer." Izroth said firmly.
While Fatal Touch could not compare to a top guild in terms of size and resources, its core strength could be considered close to or maybe even on par with the core players of some top guild. The shadahi were already too dangerous of an existence to ignore. This was even more so if they were already embedded into player organizations as strong as Fatal Touch.
Not to mention, Izroth had a contract with the God of Craft, Mazi, to never look the other way when it came to the safety of the Mortal Realm. Therefore, if Haishe and Fatal Touch were close to the shadahi, they were bound to be enemies.
"I-" Haishe started to speak, but his words were cut short by a loud and angry voice in the near distance.
"Over there! Those are the guys!" A familiar voice sounded from the near distance.
Izroth glanced over toward the direction of the voice.
There, he saw Pill Master. However, Pill Master was not alone. He was accompanied by a group of over thirty players that emerged from behind the nearby trees, large rocks and other covers.
There was a haughty look on Pill Master's face as he stared at Izroth with burning anger.
'I wanted to deal with this first before anything else, but... This person—he has the face to crawl his way back here? I suppose I must have let him off too lightly last time.'
In truth, Izroth detected Pill Master and the group he brought along when he was first teleported outside the trial dungeon. By now, Izroth had already made it a habit to use his Energy Vision Sense whenever he was thrown into a different location.