Apparently, the old woman didn't believed Lander, but when he used her soul to check the ring she was so shocked that she stuttered, "Thi…. Thi… This... The…. The…. Ther…. There are….. actual… actually… fi.. five of… it …. it!"
The old woman then composed herself. She never believed that an outcast whom she asked for help whom she didn't even put her hope into came back with astonishing result. Realizing that she kowtowed towards Lander but Lander was fast enough to stop her, "I can't thank you enough young man but I can only give to you my Rank C mount as a reward."
"If Midas were to use that Energy Soul Stone, how many days can he recover?" Lander asked ignoring the reward.
"Using three of this stone can recover his health for half an hour, and using the two more can recover him to his peak state for another half an hour." The old woman answered.
"Good, then let him use the stones then," Lander said smiling as he nodded at Midas.
Midas nodded as he took in three stones at once. These Energy Soul Stones are really stones the size of a tablet medicine and was very hard but it was different because after swallowing it, it became like a medicine that melts into your stomach, according to the book he read.
After swallowing it, Lander and the old woman waited while Midas closed his eyes, his back leaned on the wall. For half an hour, the color of Midas' skin started to glow regaining its usual color.
Then he opened his eyes as he swallowed again the other two Energy Soul Stones and went back to his position, closing his eyes again.
For another half an hour, Midas opened his eyes full of vitality. He exhaled a warm breath as he looked up to Lander, "Thank you Elder Brother!"
"Good, off you go now to the Academy and register," Lander said casually.
"Register?" Both Midas and the old woman asked with creased brows.
"Are you just going to be mocked and degraded by the woman you use to love, Midas? Aren't you going to show her the regret of abandoning you?" Lander looked at Midas like an Elder Brother giving an advice to his younger brother.
Midas clenched his fists as another will was born in his heart but then he sighed, "But I don't have the necessary requirements to register."
"Elder? I suppose you have a Rank C beast to give to me right? How about you give it to Midas? And of course, get three golds from my storage ring and give it also to him." Lander said decisively. Of course, both Midas and the old woman knew the reason why Lander was giving them three golds, for them to buy pet and messenger beasts.
"But…. How can we repay you?" The old woman asked shyly. When her husband died everything changed, especially their lives. Midas' father was killed and his mother abandoned them for another wealthy man. Now, they were living their lives serving drinks and foods to criminals, pirates and bandits. But it was not enough to give them a stable life.
"Midas, let me ask you. Will you abandon your grandma when you are going to be accepted in the Academy? Will your heart be cold and forgot your pasts and live your life freely? Will you face the future alone and looked down on people below you?" Lander asked with seriousness.
"How could I do that Elder Brother? You've already seen me being abandoned by my love of my life, how could I abandon my grandma who raised me up?" Midas said as he also stared at Lander with seriousness.
"If that's the case, then I, an outcast will help you enter the Academy," Lander tested Midas, if he really was a man of his words then Lander would help him freely, but if he's not then Lander have ways to deal with him.
"Wait, Elder Brother is an outcast?" Midas was very shocked as he never expected that the man who could save him would be an outcast. He looked at his grandmother and the old woman nodded.
"Thank you Elder Brother and as what you have said, I will never look down on people below me especially that my benefactor was an outcast," Midas kowtowed in front of Lander full of gratitude. This made Lander approve of him.
"But how can I repay you?" The old woman asked then gave back Lander's storage ring after getting three gold coins.
"Did I ever ask you for a payment when you came to me for help, Elder?" Lander smiled then turned his back as he strode away. "Friendship is the best repayment you could give."
After leaving the two, Midas was very excited as he clenched his fists and asked her grandmother for the mount. The old woman agreed easily and clapped, after a while an 8 feet deer came into view and Midas excitedly hopped as he seated on the back of the deer. Then he and his grandmother headed towards the Academy.
Lander, who was thinking of going back to Lord Kazo's manor suddenly stopped when he heard something that peaked his interest.
"I've heard that the portal maker arrived in the Dragon Continent." It was a long haired blonde man with a bunch of arrows on his back while holding his bow.
"Apparently, this portal maker was looking for a young man. I wonder who he's looking for." Beside the blonde man was a middle aged man wearing a cape that has a sword on his waist.
Lander followed them until they reached a pub, Draconic Wyvern Pub. Upon entering, Lander noticed the place to be so messy, a very stinky odor of alcohol, drunkards shouting, women giggling, there were some who were also busy in one corner checking out the bulletin board.
Lander went beside the table of those two men he followed inside but as he was about to order, a drunk man suddenly hit him because of annoyance, "How dare an outcast set foot inside this place?"
But of course, Lander wasn't hit as he evaded and sat down nonchalantly, "A customer is a customer. Give me your finest wine that costs 10 golds!"
"Whoaw? Didn't expect an outcast to be so rich!" One of the customers proclaimed as he stood up with provocation smirking at Lander.
"Exactly, how about we shall see who was courageous enough to get him?" A fat drunk also stood up as he suggested before taking in another gulp of his alcohol.
They were about to start when they heard people rushing inside, "Thief!"
A hooded thief went inside being followed by dozens of guards, "Stop there thief!"
"I am not a thief. This is my parent's item!" It was a voice of a teenager filled with sadness and longing.
"Liar!" A beautiful fat lady entered fuming with anger.
"Mind if we know what item was he holding?" The middle aged man who was with the blonde man inquired as he looked at the lady.
Looking at the silent lady, while her lips were twitching, the blonde man compromised, "Then how about I pay for him? And he will be my slave?"
Lander noticed the teenager shivered when the blonde mentioned being a slave, "How about let me handle it? If you're not satisfied then let's go talk it out with Lord Kazo?"
All the present became dead silent, but after two seconds everyone laughed except the guards. Lander smiled and the middle aged man who was with the blonde man was the first one to stop laughing. He was apparently curious why he saw Lander's confidence.
"Take the thief and let's go to Lord Kazo and you young lady and the two sirs needed to come with us," The guard leading them said in an authoritative manner.
"Include those four who wanted to rob me," Lander ordered as he pointed at those four who had malicious intent a while ago.
The fat lady twitched, the two whom Lander followed inside the pub looked at each other and the four people whom he pointed started becoming nervous. And a lot of the people were curious, "How can a mere outcast order the guards around?"
Entering Lord Kazo's manor, the leading guard already told everything that happened and Lord Kazo's lips twitched, "Lander, why do you always give me works that I don't have to attend to?"
"You don't have to attend to?" Lander asked Lord Kazo with his one brow raised.
"Fine then! How about you call the Elder Druid here then?" Lander said impatient.
"Why? It's not his work to handle this kind of event," Lord Kazo said feeling a little bit angry. He was lowering himself towards an outcast but he can only do nothing, Lander kept quiet and he just asked his one guard to tell the Respected Druid to come.
"What do you want young man?" The Elder Druid now saw Lander as an outstanding elite because of how he came back with such outstanding result after giving him a mission.
"These two can be the slaves of that old man and tell him they knew about portal maker and as for that woman she can be his maid while I train these four to be his personal cooks," Lander said as he pointed at the two men whom he followed inside the Draconic Wyvern Pub, he then pointed towards the lady and he gave his smirks towards the four.
"And so who will be the other maid? Also, I remembered that that Necromancer only said a cook, why four?" The Druid just asked. Hearing all those, the people whom Lander pointed suddenly despaired. They were all thinking who was Lander, a mere outcast who was able to decide their fate?
"Elder, just let me handle these four and you don't have to worry about that old man and as for the other maid, I already told Lord Kazo to look for her," Lander said as he casually glanced at Lord Kazo the made the latter perked up.
"Also I need all those guards who troubled me during those times that I entered the Capital," Lander added as he sat down and opened his book, Book of Potionery.
Lander wasn't being disrespectful, but he should establish his dominance so he would be able to survive this world.
"And who's this young boy?" The Druid looked at the teenager but the teenager just looked at Lander terrified.
"Let me see that," The Druid asked the teenager.
The teenager gritted his teeth and was looking at Lander expectantly then the latter just gave him advice, "You can show it to him, if it's of great value then you can just ask him for anything."
The teenager was hesitant as he looked at the Druid, "Fine! As long as that item of yours are valuable."
Then the teenager nodded as he showed him a round item that was glowing in red emitting a little heat and it made the Elder Druid stutter, "Th..e the… the.. Orb of …. the.. the.. Archaic!"
Looking at the stunned expression of the Elder Druid, the teenager dropped to his knees as he kowtowed, "If you accept me as your disciple then I will give this to you Respected Druid!"
The reactions from the crowd were incredulous. They might not know what the Orb was but just by the name; they already knew that it was of a very great value especially when they saw the reaction of the Respected Druid. Especially the beautiful fat lady, she wore a very anguish face.
"I can accept you as my disciple, but I can't teach you for now. How about you enter the academy and learn all things you can before I can teach you things if I have the time?" The Respected Druid suggested.
"Thank you, Master!" The teenager was so happy so he kowtowed. He then faced Lander, "I will remember this with all my life, Elder Brother."
"What's the use of your life to me? I never asked for it! If you want to offer your life, then I'm not interested!" Lander casually said as he continued reading. "Furthermore, your life is not for someone to dictate. Your life is yours to be fully enjoyed and be used by you alone."