"What do you say? Do we have a deal?" Asked Daniel with a calm and casual tone. He was looking at the red carp as if it didn't matter if it accepted the deal or not, and in fact, it didn't.
Daniel wouldn't want to kill the carp even if he could, as the red carp was a good-willed being. Therefore, if he couldn't obtain what he needed through trade, he would try his luck elsewhere.
"Very well." Responded the red carp before starting to vibrate in place, and forcing three red scales to detach from his body, and to float quietly on the surface of the water like three normal sized carps.
These three large scales were quietly picked up by Daniel through his use of water essence, and kept into a small box, which he then carefully placed on the ground.
Inside Daniel's mind, two familiar windows suddenly appeared.
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*No Time For Poisons*
Third objective complete.
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*Primary Quest started (Chain): No Time For Poisons*
-Description: Find a cure of the Poison of the Night Blue Thorn.
Fourth objective set: Create the cure for the Poison of the Night Blue Thorn
Reward: Unnamed cure for the Poison of the Night Blue Thorn / (Optional) Partial Poison Immunity / The Poisonous Rose Reputation +75%
Time limit: 29 days
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As always, the very mission did not offer a specific method to complete the quest, so, all that Daniel could do was to ask for Sewah's help.
"Oh, this is a special moment.. This might be the day you'll finally complete your first main quest!!" Said Sewah with an enthusiastic tone. "Options coming right away."
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Crafting approach
Difficulty: Normal
-Boil each of the three scales of the ancient red carp into three different snake poisons.
-Add a portion of the queen dryad's heart in the container where the poison of the black opal snake is being boiled.
-Collect the vapors.
-Condense them into a liquid state.
-Add five indigo puffer fish's thorns into the container where the poison of the white-scaled snake is being boiled.
-Allow the mixture to expel moisture until it will reach a semi-solid state.
-Mix the liquid poison mixture, the semi-solid poisonous paste, and the green-skinned snake's poison in even parts.
-Add a small amount of the original poison.
-Create the pill.
Time limit: None.
(Requirements: Three ancient red carp's red scales, five indigo puffer fish's thorns, a hundred years old queen dryad's heart, a ten years old black opal snake's saliva of, a fifty years old white-scaled snake's saliva, a two hundred years old green-skinned snake's saliva, sample of the Poison of the Night Blue Thorn)
Reward: Thirty-six unnamed pills.
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"Damn it.. I need a sample of the Poison of the Night Blue thorn.." Muttered Daniel to himself before falling deep into his thoughts.
"What is it?" Asked Roley with a curious expression. He could see that something was wrong.
Daniel's train of thought was distracted by Roley's question. He turned towards him, and said "It's nothing. I'm lacking an ingredient for the concoction.. We'll have to postpone this."
The red carp had just removed its scales and had given them to Daniel already. His four companions could not help but think that Daniel was trying to back away from the carp's deal.
"Why didn't you tell us about it? There is literally nothing you lack less than people to send on errands.." muttered Der with a hint of displeasure. They had come here for nothing, and Daniel now had to take a step back because he hadn't prepared properly.
"What did you just say?" Asked Daniel with confusion. There was something in Der's words that reminded him of something extremely important.
Der did not misunderstand the meaning of Daniel's words, after all, his tone was all but aggressive or domineering. So, he responded by saying "I've said that you literal-"
Before Der could finish speaking, "The letter!" Exclaimed Daniel out of the blue before turning towards Jerigh and saying "Jerigh, please go and look for Alesia. She is at the academy.. Ask her to bring Serf here."
Without saying a single word, Jerigh approached Der which was currently holding the ring that connected them to the pocket dimension, and teleported inside.
"Is there a problem?" Asked the red carp with curiosity.
Daniel shook his head in a slow motion, and calmly responded by saying "There is no problem. We Just have to wait for someone to bring me the last ingredient.."
It was only now that the matter of the red carp's scales had been solved, that Daniel had taken a look at his surrounding.
"Why are we in an underwater cave?" He asked with curiosity while looking at the dim light which was emanated by the fluorescent fungus that grew on the cave walls.
The first to respond was Heimart, which said "It seems that our new friend was not alone.. We will have a problem to leave this place.. We might have to leave the ring here and use the company building to go out of the pocket dimension from now on.."
"Why can't we just teleport away?" Asked Daniel with confusion. He could not understand how someone that could teleport could let himself be stuck underground.
The quiet red carp interjected in the conversation by saying "I would suggest against that idea.. He is waiting.. And he will see you appear at a distance of hundreds of kilometers.. If that is not enough, you would never be able to shake him off.. His kind can run freely in the strong winds."
"What winds?.. Maybe you guys should fill me in.."
-----
"Bring Serf? I have to bring Serf there?" Asked Alesia to Jerigh, which was staring at her with his usual serious expression.
Jerigh simply nodded at Alesia's words, confirming that she hadn't heard wrongly.
"Okay, tell him that we will be there in a few minutes." Said Alesia before turning around, and walking towards the direction were Daniel and Serf's room was.
After she took only two steps, she immediately heard the footsteps of somebody else behind her. When she turned around, she saw Jerigh, which was apparently following her closely.
"I said I'll bring Serf.. there is no need for you to control me.. Just go back." She said with a hint of irritation, before turning around once again, and walking away.
Unfortunately, no matter how many times she walked away at the top of her speed, Jerigh was always behind there.. Following in silence.
Unable to shake Jerigh off, Alesia could do nothing but walk around with a silent bodyguard that followed her closely.
The two of them arrived at Serf's room in a matter of minutes, and once in front of the door, Alesia knocked politely.
*Knock Knock Knock*.. But there was no response.
*Thump Thump Thump* "Serf, come out! We need your help with something!" Said Alesia with a loud tone in an attempt to call Serf, but once again, there was absolutely no response.
"Not in his room.. Where could he be.." muttered Alesia for a few moments, before her brows rose in realization, and said "The mess hall!"
With a new course, the two of them started to walk towards the mess hall with a fast pace.
When they reached the mess hall, they immediately noticed Serf. He was currently surrounded by ten young cultivators, four of whom possessed a platinum badge, while the rest were golden-badged students.
"There is nothing that will stop you from eating better than spitting on your own food.. I can help with that." Said one of the gold-badged cultivators before moving over Serf's food, and spitting a large amount of saliva on one of the dishes.
*Ptuh*
"Fatty, get up and flex your arms in front of your chest.. I want to see if the back of your robe will blow up." Said another of the gold-badged students.
The remaining few cultivators were standing around, enjoying the spectacle.
"Serf!" Shouted Alesia, catching the attention of each student within the mess hall.
After Serf heard his name reverberate in the room, he turned towards its source, and standing right in front of the entrance of the mess hall, he saw Alesia and Jerigh. She was waving her arm towards him, as if telling him to ditch the guys around him, and reach her.
Serf had an extremely good impression of Alesia, and despite the two of them did not know each other for long, he didn't want her to be caught up in his problems. So, he could do nothing but to pretend that he had heard nothing, and to ignore the two of them.
Unfortunately for him, Alesia was having none of it. She directly walked towards the group of students, and moved through the encirclement.
"Come with me, Daniel needs you for something." She said before turning towards the entrance of the mess hall and stepping forward.
Before she could leave the encirclement she had just entered, three different students had stopped her path, and one of them said "There is no need to leave. Why not join the fun."
"I would love to, but there is someone I do not wish to make wait.. Step aside." Said Alesia with confidence, and a complete lack of respect towards the 'superior' students.
To the various students, Alesia's words were clear. 'The person who I am going to meet, is way more important than all of you combined. Stop bothering me.'
Alesia's words caused something within their entitled minds to click.
One of the platinum badged cultivators was about to grab her arm and school her on how the academy ranks worked, but before his hand could touch Alesia's skin, she had already slapped the back of his hand.
"Do you dare to attack me?!" Barked the hit student with pure anger.
Alesia looked back at him, and with a deadpan face, she said "Only if you dare to touch me."
"You little.." muttered the student through his clenched teeth, before clenching his hands into two tight fists, and swinging one towards her.
Unfortunately, his motion was interrupted by Jerigh, which without anyone noticing, had appeared right in between the two, and had caught the punch in mid air.
Without waiting for him to react, Jerigh twisted the student's wrist downwards, and used his other arm to hammer his fist against the man's humerus, causing it to bend, and used his right foot to kick the side of the student's knee, causing him to fall forwards, and hit his face against his wrist.
The various students in the surroundings were quickly alerted by Jerigh's actions, and immediately prepared to attack him all at the same time.
Almost as if by natural response, Jerigh's hands moved on the hilts of his two swords, but before he could unsheathe them, he heard Alesia's voice say "No!.. don't kill them."
For once, Jerigh listened to Alesia's words, and removed his hands form his swords. Instead, he quietly walked towards the place where Serf was sitting, and took away the two chopsticks that Serf was using to eat.
He then moved back on his previous position, and stared at the various students in an aggressive manner. The two dirty chopsticks were now being held tightly in his hands, and appeared like the most deadly of all weapons.
Nevertheless, the sight of Jerigh's confidence was not enough to scare the prideful students of an elitary academy, which instead of running away, attacked Jerigh with as much power as the academy's rules allowed them to muster.
One student after the other dashed towards Jerigh, but their moves were easily blocked or evaded, and they would end up with the end of one of Serf's chopsticks hit their stomach, their throat, or their groin.
It took less than two minutes for the group of prideful and arrogant students to turn into a carpet of crying and sobbing young men.
The only people left standing, were two of the three platinum-badged students, which looked at Jerigh with deep hostility.