Reading the description of the potion, Adam couldn't help but be shocked. However, because she couldn't see his face the female misunderstood his silence and said "Is it not enough?"
Adam came back to his senses, and couldn't help but smile wryly. Indeed, for the average people this potion was kind of useless.
Although +1000 to every stat was a good bonus, the requirement was too high. On average, someone who did not open the 3rd Gate would need to be Level 120 to have 1000 in every stat. But Level 120 Equipment gave out much better stats, the stats of those equipments were in the tens of thousands, so one thousand more wasn't a big deal.
However, for someone like Adam, this potion's was much more precious. This was because he had opened the 3rd Gate at a lower level, meaning he could consume the potion being only Level 35. For now, a boost of 1000 to every stat would make him quite a lot stronger.
After a moment Adam said "I can accept this payment, but I need to get the potion before bringing you in."
The female replied "If I pay you in advance, how can I be sure you will protect me?" Adam shrugged and said "I guess you will have to trust me then. But first, to which area do you want to go to? If it's too high leveled I won't be able to bring you there."
The female said "I don't want to go to a specific area, so you can bring me as far as you can go." Adam smiled and said "Good, that was what I intended to do too. Now it's your choice to make, you either trust me and give me the potion right now, or you wait for someone else."
The female seemed to hesitate for a moment before she said "I can give you the potion right now, but I want to put a mark on you."
Adam looked at her weirdly and asked "A mark?"
She replied "In case you don't follow our agreement, or harm me, then my family will be able to follow your trace anywhere in the world."
Adam raised an eyebrow, that was quite the scary ability. And for her to use such a mean, she must be from a powerful family. Adam asked "Are you a young miss from a clan who fled home to adventure the world?"
As expected, she looked away, and Adam was pretty sure that under her cloak's mist she was blushing. Adam finally said "Alright, you can mark me. But won't your family know you are here if you mark me?"
She shook her head and said "The mark will be deactivated, and will only activate if I will it, or if I die. Once activated, no matter where you go, you will be found. What do you say?"
[Ding! New Quest detected, 'Mercenary'!]
Quest Detail: A mysterious person has asked for your help in exchange of a potion.
Quest Level: 50
Quest Difficulty: B
Objective: Protect your client until she captures a special fire in the volcano.
Reward: Innate Strength Potion, ??
Adam shrugged and said "You seem confidant in your family… Fine, but you will have to erase it when we are finished."
She nodded and said "Of course. Come, I will put the mark on you." She approached closer to him and her hand shone for a moment. Adam felt her mana wriggle it's way into the skin of his arm, but it did not go any further after that and just laid dormant. Adam tried to circulate his Aura around this area and saw he had no problem doing it.
She said "That's it. Here you go." She gave Adam the fiery red potion. Now that he had a clear look at it, Adam couldn't help but think it looked more like magma than anything else.
He looked at the girl and asked "Is it really safe to drink this?" The female nodded and said "I concocted it myself, I am 100% sure it is safe to consume… Well if you have the right stats, of course."
Adam nodded and uncorked the bottle. A spicy smell assaulted his nose, almost making him sneeze. After erasing the last trace of doubt he had in his heart, he drunk the whole bottle in one go.
He felt the thick liquid turn into liquid and then energy as it went down his throat. The energy quickly spread to his whole body, and he felt like his veins and meridians were on fire. But this only lasted for a second, after which a cool wave spread from his dantian, neutralizing all the heat.
Adam could feel his body had been changed, somehow. With a quick look at his status, he confirmed he had received 1000 AP to every of his stats, a major boost.
Although, he had to admit, there was some disappointment. A part of his mind had hoped he would gain 1000 raw AP to every attribute, which would become 5000 thanks to the Third Gate. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case.
The girl said with a surprised voice "You absorbed the potion really quickly. Last thing before we go in, what's your name? I know you are hiding your identity, but only telling me your name won't hurt you. I'll go first, I'm Thalia."
He replied "Adam. What is your class, and what is your level of strength?" Thalia shook her head and said "I won't be able to help you much inside. I am a Fire Elementalist, they probably have a high resistance against my attacks."
Adam nodded and said "Then I will do the fighting. Come on, let's go. I heard it takes a long time to reach the high level areas in this volcano."
Thalia nodded and together the two of them entered the volcano. It didn't take long for the first monster to appear.
[Magma Slime] (Elite, Level 50)
HP: 25000/25000
However, Adam barely had the time to read it's status when a flying slash hit the slime, followed by three others. The slime was able to survive the first three, but the fourth one emptied it's HP bar, killing it.
Before Adam and Thalia's eyes, four men appeared from a sub branch, and walked toward them.
[Robber] (Silver, Level 80)
HP: 30000/30000
The four had more or less the same status, with a small difference in their HP and Level from one another, but they were all around those stats. They were all swordsmen too, and they didn't bother to hide their identities.
The leading one pointed his sword at Thalia and said "You dare come back in here? Do you think he can protect you?"
Adam sent a glance at Thalia, who said "I tried entering on my own, and those four tried to rob me." Adam nodded once and looked back at the four robbers and said "Don't stand in our path, I don't want to waste time."
The four snickered and one of them said "Don't blame us if we hurt you then, you shouldn't have tried to play the hero." The four prepared themselves to attack, but they heard a sigh, and then nothing.
-45 000 HP!
-45 000 HP!
-45 000 HP!
-45 000 HP!
The four of them were bisected by a flying slash sent by Adam, who had just sighed. The reason he had sighed was because no one had dared to try to rob him since the beginning of the game, but he had barely put on a cloak for ten minutes that they already tried to rob him.
Now the question was, was it more annoying for all his enemies, which consist of superpowers in the majority, to know his position, or for random people to annoy him?
Adam walked to the four and looted everything they had. There were quite a few [Magma Slime Core] on them, probably robbed from other players, and it was honestly the only thing that interested Adam, but he still took everything as a Bronze Coin was still money.
He turned to look at Thalia, and saw her frozen. He asked with a lazy voice "Is it the first time you see someone die?"
His words seemed to awaken her from her daze as she asked "Did it have to be so violent?" Adam snorted hearing her and he replied "There is no gentleness when you kill someone. You better get used to killing if you want to survive in the outside world."
Thalia gulped, and she couldn't help but feel that asking Adam for help was maybe more dangerous than going alone…
On the other side, Adam rolled his eyes, although he couldn't see her face he could see from her movements that she was starting to get scared. She was probably going to be a pain to protect if she doesn't toughen up.