"By the way, who was the woman you were with earlier?"
"Oh, she's my aunt, Berliana Athala. Coincidentally, she is the chief executive of this year's event, and I am her assistant. I am very grateful to have received this offer beforehand, this made me learn many things from her."
"Hee~ you seem to really admire your aunt, and if I saw from afar you two seem very close."
"Hmm?! You could say that Aunt Nana is the closest relative to me. She is a fashion designer who has her own brand, and I often model for some of her products, because of that we become together more often."
"Model huh, somehow it's not surprising to hear that Cecil is a model."
"Hmm? Does that sound unsuitable to me?"
"Come on you have such a beautiful face and great posture, how could that not suit you. Cecil... you are truly amazing, not only did you help with such a big event, but you also turned out to have talent as a model."
"A-arka, you keep praising me, that's a bit..." With slightly shaky words, Cecil's voice faded more and more, besides that her head was lowered as if she wanted to hide her expression.
Arka who saw this couldn't help but giggle, he then started patting Cecil's head. "Hmm? Does that make you flutter?" As if Arka's words hit the target, Cecil lifted her head. Arka was really stunned by the expression Cecil showed when their gazes met.
The way her eyebrows rose, the blush on her cheeks, and the quivering of her lips, all these things really caught Arka off guard. Coupled with Cecil's answer was the cherry on top of all that. "O-of course!"
Arka certainly didn't expect this at all, he didn't expect that his joke would end up like this, and there was only one response he could think of and say at that moment. "I'm sorry, it seems I overdid it."
"N-no, it's okay...."
"Damn it, looks like I really crossed the line," Arka thought.
"Ahhh!!! I knew that they were dating!"
"Eh?!"
"Eh?!"
A completely unexpected possibility occurred, amidst Arka who was patting Cecil's head each, the childrens had returned with the food they had brought. The funny thing is that their reactions are quite varied, surprised, disbelieving, normal, predicting, and even enthusiastic.
"Kyaa! How lovey-dovey!!"
"Well, it should be normal if they're lovers right?"
"Ugh! To think that Big Brother Arka would become my rival...."
"Are you two getting married?"
"Tch, lovebirds."
"Now… KISS!"
"Woah Woah, this is quite thrilling."
Arka instantly withdrew his hand from Cecil's head, and in less than a second they had put on an expression that looked as calm as possible. Cecil also started by approaching them slowly and began to explain, "Gosh, you guys got it wrong. Arka just helped me take something out of my hair."
Then from behind Arka also followed, it looked like he was once again touching Cecil's head, but this time in his hand there was a leaf. "Yup, this Miss Cecil's hair is quite a mess."
Unbelievable, that's what the kids thought. Previously they had been certain and had seen firsthand how the changes in expressions between Cecil and Arka were showing. But now that was all gone, and they both looked normal. "Is this an adult," almost all of them thought.
"Wow~! You all brought a lot of food. Alright everyone, bring it here, and let's sit down together. Look how Arka has been waiting for hunger."
"Oi, I'm not that hungry."
GROWL!!
"Alright, I admit I hadn't eaten anything since morning."
The sound of Arka's stomach roaring was very clear in all of their ears, the laughter was unstoppable, and in the end, they enjoyed the food together.
….
Time flies and the event concludes with stage entertainment. Seeing how the sun was starting to hide on the western horizon, signaled that it was now time for Arka to leave.
"Are you sure you don't need a ride? I can ask my driver to take you."
"That's fine… and thanks for inviting me today."
"No, I'm the one who's grateful, because Arka wants to make time for me."
Silence fell just like that between them, there was no response from each of them, but only two pairs of eyes looking at each other and a smile that was thrown at each other.
Seeing that the day was getting darker and remembering that he had to buy something, Arka realized that he had to leave immediately. "Alright, see you again Cecil."
"W-wait…."
"Yes?" Arka stopped immediately and turned around when he heard Cecil's call.
"Umm… be careful on your way."
"You too."
Cecil's gaze was fixed on Arka's back who seemed to be getting farther and farther away, a faint mumbling sound could be heard as her fists tightened.
"Maybe not for now..."
….
The days started as usual, Arka himself was still working as usual and didn't forget to be active in his second world.
After the end of the goblin extermination event, he immediately went to the center of the continent, an island surrounded by 4 kingdoms in each direction, a place where the economy continued to increase, that was Mesaia Island.
Departing from Ashround City, Zen headed straight West. Of course he didn't just walk, he managed to get a free ride by volunteering for a quest to escort a merchant carriage. Which made the journey that should have been 10 days in the game possible in just 5 days, and that included a night's rest and being stymied by some monsters and bandits.
When the game night comes, Arka will also use that time to log out. And listen to this, more or less time was running twice as fast in A-World, but once players were logged in, time actually felt the same as in the real world. It's quite mind-blowing huh, who would have thought that this game really shows that time is relative.
»Ottercroft Harbor«
"Alright, according to the agreement we will separate at this place."
"It's a shame that Sir Zen had to leave our party. You know it's been hard to find a competent adventurer like you lately."
"Ahahaha… you flatter me, I'm sure there will be someone out there better than me."
"Well then, goodbye and we wish you the best of luck."
"You guys too, take care!"
»Escorting Merchants - Complete«
As agreed, escort the merchant group's carriage from any obstacle to Ottercroft Harbor
- Reward: +100 Silver Zist, +150 Exp
"Alright, I guess I should go there first."
From a distance, Zen could see an area where many people were queuing up, and when they left the queue they took some kind of small piece of paper and headed straight for a ship, clearly that place was….
"Ticket to Mesaia Island for one person, please."
there is only one ticket to go to the island left
"Oh! You are very lucky sir, there is only one ticket to go to the island left. Well, one ticket requires 100 Silver Zist."
Stab!!
Like a sword stuck in his chest, Zen immediately felt weak hearing the price of the ship ticket he wanted.
"A hundred?"
"Yes sir, a hundred."
"Okay, here it is."
"Thank you sir, have a good trip."
With a heavy-hearted expression, Zen left the reception area with only a faint smile on his face. His Zist still remained, but losing 100 silvers in a single transaction was quite painful.
"Hah~ I guess I should focus on recovering my money when I get there. Maybe that plan should be put into action soon."
»Mesaia Island«
Zen was quite disappointed, he had thought that maybe there would be an impromptu event on the ship, such as a monster or pirate attack, but apparently nothing happened.
Feeling bored he decided to log out and only logged in for a few moments to just check the situation. Time passed, the evening after coming home from work Zen returned, and as he expected, only counting a few minutes before he reached Mesaia Island.
In addition to where the island's appearance is getting more and more visible, on the map menu Zen also seems to notice that the area that was previously covered in clouds is becoming more visible.
Mesaia Island, from the outside the island looks completely filled with a large buildings and is surrounded by thick high walls whose outer part is only a beach and a meadow that is not too wide.
This area is said to be a diplomatic place between the 4 great kingdoms, because of that the city is governed by a certain group that is in a neutral position, and the existence of royal troops is abolished. This is for the sake of maintaining the neutrality of the area.
But, what if there was a monster attack? Of course it wasn't a big deal, almost 90% of the residents were combatants, whether active or not, and it was also rumored that the walls protecting the city were the catalyst for powerful barrier magic that could cover an entire city.
Then what if the players themselves are causing trouble? Other players can report them to the system with valid reasons and evidence. After all, from the beginning there was an unwritten rule prohibiting illegal fighting on this island.
Essentially this area is a safe place where either players or NPCs make and spend their money. Without discrimination of race or origin of background, as long as they have the ability and money, they will be respected in this place.
"So this is Mesaia Island… oh, I didn't think that the tower would be so much bigger than I thought, even as high as it could pierce the clouds."
Zen's passion for exploring this island flared from within, he couldn't wait to explore every area he could reach. However, he had to focus this time, he couldn't play around because he had a goal he had to achieve first.
….
"Alright, no one around, it should be pretty safe here."
Back with Zen, after successfully passing through the entrance gate check, he immediately looked for a quiet place and ended up in an alley not far from the entrance.
For Zen time is money, so he doesn't want to waste it. To begin his plan, he needed to learn a skill first. He took out a thick book like a grimoire from his inventory. Yup, it's a skill book that Zen got from the Goblin Shaman.
When he opened it, there was only a blank page with no writing, but soon a notification screen appeared followed by a sound.
[ Do you want to continue to learn the skill [Zosimos Wisdom]? Make sure you have read the skill description first. ]
"Of course."
[ Continuing the process... ]
"Huh?"
Nothing happened, after Zen gave a response the notification screen in front of him disappeared and the book page was still blank.
"Huh?! What is this? Did I do it wrong?"
Whatever Zen does, whether it opens, closes, flips, slams, rips– nope, basically whatever Zen does to the book has no effect.
"Hah… never mind, maybe I should learn this from the basics first–"
Hisss!!
When Zen opened the skill book for the last time, an unexpected welcome came. A silver snake miraculously popped out of the book and bit the left of Zen's neck.
Zen's reaction wasn't fast enough to dodge, but feeling that if there wasn't any pain from the snakebite, he realized that this was only part of the game, and it could be that this was part of the process of learning this skill book.
Ten seconds, ten seconds the snake fangs lodged in Zen's neck. After that nothing else happened, the snake went back into the book, and the book slowly disappeared into ashes.
"I heard that every skill book has its own visualization effect when studied, but I didn't think it would turn out like this."
[ Skill [Zosimos Wisdom] has been learned ]
» Zosimos Wisdom – [P] [1%] [Active]
MP Cost: 50 every 5 minutes for the potion-making duration.
An ability that contained both the knowledge and experience of Zosimos, the genius Alchemist Potion who was considered the greatest potion maker in history.
- Mana Elixir, a method created by Zosimos for potion making, in contrast to the manual method using a crucible, this method fully utilizes the control of the Alchemist's magical energy, where all ingredients will be extracted to their maximum point and fused together in a mana compression. (Potion effect increased by 10%.)
- The Diary, a feature that displays all recipes Zosimos researched during his lifetime, players can open pages with different levels of potions as the percentage of mastery increases.
- Mix and Match, is not just an ordinary recipe that is known, Zosimos as the pioneer of combined potions certainly has various unusual potion combinations.
"Now the question is, how the fu*k does a Goblin Shaman carry this insane skill?!!"
It was clear that the skills that Zen had acquired were not ordinary compared to normal Alchemy production skills. A normal Alchemist who specializes in potions will usually have two basic skills:
- Brewing, using this skill makes them get system aids when mixing ingredients in the potion-making process.
- Research, they use this skill to get new recipes, usually it takes 1 bottle full of potions to be sacrificed, but the percentage of success for each potion is different.
Can you compare how overpowered Zen's skills are? Not only have a complete guide to recipes and mixing potions, but the Mana Elixir section is also the main focus this time.
"Hah~ forget it, no one will be able to answer me even if I ask."
[ Achievement obtained - Disregarding Alchemy Basics - title [Irregular Alchemist] obtained ]
•Irregular Alchemist•
Effect: Effect of potions made by player +30%
"This… looks like my plan will go faster."