A week after, Luis almost finished half of the ingredients he got to complete his contract with Ingrid. The library was also finished 3 days ago and Luis already read a quarter of the books inside his library.
"Luis! Are you in here?" A loud familiar voice suddenly rang around the house.
"Come in! I'm inside the library!" Luis shouted a reply towards the voice.
Footsteps can be heard slowly approaching towards the library and the door frame appeared a handsome young man with a lean body wearing a white robe.
"What's up Luis? Why are you locking yourself inside this room? Come out and breathe some fresh air!" The young man teased as he walked around the room touching some stuff.
"What is it Serion? You need something again?" Luis asked while he still kept his eye on the book.
"You really know me, best friend! Actually, I was sent here by Vice Dean Mufar asking you to join the quest to find the rare Mystique Flower inside the Black Smog Forest." Serion smiled and looked towards Luis.
"What do you say? Are you coming? Oh! To inform you, the hot chick beside you during the Appointing Ceremony is also coming!" Serion smiled widely towards Luis.
"What does that girl have to do with me?" Luis asked and looked at Serion intently.
"You know? You can help me pursue her or ask for a date? Please, help me, bro!" Serion kneeled and begged in front of Luis.
"Okay, fine! You win! I'm coming!" Luis sighed and closed the book he was reading after putting a bookmark on the page.
Together, they walked towards the academy square and met with the other people accepting this quest.
There are 5 students from the School of Combat and Achilleas is with them, 3 students from School of Production and Serion is with them, 1 from School of Prophecy which is Alyssa, and only Luis from the School of Medicine.
"I'll brief you first before heading out. Alyssa will be tagging along as a support for the whole team, Combat students will be in charge of protecting the whole team, Production students will be in charge of detecting natural formations, and Luis will be in charge of the classification of Herbs. Combat students, your priority should be Luis your key to accomplish this. Now go!" Theriud briefed.
The group immediately departed as they traveled towards a town called Cluxia.
They walked for almost a day and they reached the Town of Cluxia at around midnight.
"Welcome to the Town of Cluxia, students of Divine Prophecy Academy! I am the Mayor of this town, I hope that you will have a pleasant stay here." A chubby old man greeted them.
"Thanks, Mayor, where is the best place to take a rest here?" Alyssa stepped in to speak to the Mayor.
"You can ask for lodgings at Brilliant Smoke Inn." The Mayor answered and pointed them towards the inn.
As soon as they reached the Inn, Alyssa paid for the rent of the whole second floor to be occupied by their team only.
They gathered at a wide hall on the second floor of the inn.
"First, our objective is to find the Mystique Flower. Combat students will lead the way and behind them will be the Production students so they can easily detect natural formations at front. Luis will be behind them and I'll be behind this weakling to look out from the rear together with another 2 Combat students. Is that clear for everyone? Any objections?" Alyssa informed them about their quest.
"Why am I the only one from the School of Medicine?" Luis asked.
"Vice Dean Mufar decided to, so you don't have a choice!" Alyssa snubbed.
"If that's all, then you can take your rests, we will continue our journey when the sun rises." Alyssa adjourned as she stood up and head towards a room.
All of them head towards their respective rooms except Luis.
He heads down towards the first floor of the Inn where the bar is.
The first floor is full of drunkards drinking all night. Shouts and cheers can be heard from the merry men and a couple of voluptuous ladies are dancing on a side of the bar with the instrumentalists that are playing a jolly upbeat song. The noise can't be heard at the lodgings because there is a noise barrier that separates the first and second floors.
Luis heads towards the counter where the bartender was wiping some wine glasses and neatly places them.
"Even though you came from Divine Prophecy, I can't give liquors to the minor." The bartender casually said while he was still immersed in cleaning the glasses.
"No, I'm not here to drink mister, I'm here to inquire about the Black Smog Forest." Luis waved as he inquired at the bartender.
"Nothing is a free service nowadays, young man." The bartender casually said.
Luis threw a pouch with 100 energy crystals. When the bartender saw the contents of the bag, his eyes widened for a second and immediately changed back into his usual look.
"Come!" The bartender gestured to Luis to follow.
They walked towards a room at the back of the counter, there is a desk at the center and a shelf at the side of the room.
The bartender walked towards the shelf and took a book and a folder. He laid them on the table as he gestured Luis to come to him. Luis sat at the opposite side of the desk.
"This is the map of the Black Smog Forest, you need to be careful treading inside the forest because there are a lot of Level 3 to Level 5 beasts roaming around the forest." The bartender started as he placed the map below.
"The red marked places are the dens of the beasts so whatever happens, do not go towards the dens of the beasts." The bartender pointed to the red marks scattered around the map.
He placed the book in front of Luis and flipped it open.
"These are the beasts that roam around the forest. They all have poisons in either their fangs or claws so be careful and always bring antidote with you." The bartender informed as he took a paper from the folder and placed it in front of Luis.
"If you have an Alchemist, ask him or her to make these masks for your group because the fog inside the forest is poisonous so you need these masks to protect yourselves from poisoning." The bartender handed the paper to Luis.
"There is a beast called Black Demon roaming around the forest and it usually preys among humans who go inside the forest so always beware of your surroundings." The bartender warned as he laid a picture of a quadrupedal shadow.
"Last but not least, the forest is also the boundary of Divine Prophecy and Black Cloud Sect so you need to be aware of those people too. That's all of the information that you need to know." The bartender stood up and walked towards the door leaving Luis inside reading the book and papers.
After half an hour, Luis exited the room and nodded at the bartender as he heads upstairs towards his room.
"Okay! It's time for another all-nighter!" Luis exclaimed as he summoned his cauldron from the storage ring he spent 3000 energy crystals to make.
Herbs piled from a side of the table as the cauldron was placed in the middle of the table. He threw the herbs inside the cauldron and started to concoct a batch of antidote pills using the Solidifying Pill technique he named himself.
After 2 hours, he successfully made 5 batches of Antidote Pills with 5 pills on each batch. Luis stored the pills and immediately started making the mask with the recipe which was given to him by the bartender.
Luis took out his old clothes and cut them into a size that befits a mask. He made a total of ten masks enough for all of them to have one.
Luis didn't notice it but it's already 4 am and he still doesn't felt tired so he made a few more batches of Antidote Pills just in case.
It's already 6 am as the sun slowly rises on the horizon. A loud knock can be heard as the door of the room where Luis resides suddenly opened and revealed a young man which is Serion.
"You did an all-nighter? Damn, Luis! Alyssa will be mad if she discovered this!" Serion exclaimed.
"Discovered what?" A voice of a female suddenly rang behind Serion as a good looking lady appeared.
"So you did an all-nighter on the first day of our quest! Are you dumb or out of your mind?" Alyssa shouted as she pointed towards Luis who was in the process of congealing pills.
"Done!" Luis exclaimed as he opened the lid and took 5 pills and put them on a case filled with the same colored pills.
"This is damned! This is damned! You dimwit! If this mission because of the all-nighter that you did! I will skin you alive!" Alyssa shouted as she stormed outside the room.
"I knew it! She is now mad, pray for yourself, Luis. Go and prepare now! We will be departing soon." Serion said and walked out of the room.
After a few minutes, the team already gathered at the exit towards the Black Smog Forest.
"Where is that dimwit? Don't tell me that he took a rest right now?" Alyssa angrily asked.
"Don't worry, he will come, I'm sure of it!" Serion assured.
"I'm here!" Luis shouted from afar as he ran as fast as he could carrying a small backpack behind him.