[Ring!!! Ring!!! Ring!!! Ring!!! Ring!!!]
[Pre-recorded voice call: Hello this is the hotline for Gwendolyn Mystralath, how may I help you? I'm currently busy as of now, if your problem is by any means severe and needs my attention then leave a message
[Secretary Kim]: Oh this is awkward... Ms. Gwendolyn, I've been told to inform you about the recently discovered clues from the dark forest. The chairman asked me to convey his message, he said that you shouldn't rush yourself in the middle of~~~
[Computer]: The call has been canceled!!! Adding the newly canceled number to the list of potential numbers to be blocked]
It's been a month since the world was shocked by the latest news circulating from the expedition team's current state of affairs. The broadcasted live stream with the aid of the system only shocks its citizens about the outcome of their trip. Not a single life was lost nor was anyone in the expedition received any severe injuries. However, no one could bat an eye at the most pressing issue of all, the broken tower
The description given by Eins matches the same thing the ruins scattered all over the depths of the forest. But before that, a lot of weird sightings have been seen, monsters who were known to be aggressive grew so wary of a particular location. There's also a sighting of a plane crash landing and all of its would-be passengers were presumed to be dead
[Today's new hot take is the mysterious guardians who raided the 78th tower. Many people are speculating it's one of the SSS rank guardians who's stationed near the vicinity of the Amazon rainforest. But many believe it to be a new face who's going to appear as a newly found talent. But there are a few people who'd believe it was the work of great alchemist Ernest Quelt~]
'Ungrateful scum!!! No matter how much you need viewers do you truly have to mention the dead? The world truly is such a dark and unforgiving place, I wonder how my master became a hero in this corrupted land. But I already know how cruel this world truly is, I guess this is the reason why he wanted me to stay in that village... Enough dwelling in the past, SSS grade guardian or not, whoever cleared that tower must be found,'
Though she says that along with her burning passion to help those in need of her assistance. She's nowhere near investigating the matter at hand and she continues to piece every single anomaly within the forest. The biggest lead she has was a piece of rubble that originated from the broken tower itself
[Appraisal: The aroma and effects of this rubble contaminated with fluid is similar to recipe# 19 labeled [Maceharru stimulus]
[Maceharru stimulus]: This drug was the lowest variation of an allrounder drug which temporarily increases one's overall stats. Though its effects are only temporary, having the ability to increase stats by about 25% per 5 minutes is nothing more than an oddity. The event is nowhere near old as half a decade and close to being produced in a time before your arrival]
'I could've easily called this investigation off with the excuse of reporting that someone used a potion of my master. I was about to conclude that they'd found his bag that we're rumored to be filled with his treasures. But that doesn't seem to be the case, this potion was brewed. The date is somewhere nearly a month before we ever arrived at the scene of this anomaly. I'm not getting anything else aside from my baseless accusations, I guess it's time to check the next clue,'
With most of her concluded outcome to be a bust, Gwen finally acknowledges her defeat and goes to check the newly found clue. But to her surprise what appeared before her desk solved everything from her worry and even about the missing corpse of his master. In front of her were a gooey stone slab and its sticky yet familiar scent made her scour her belongings
One of her inheritances was the same tapes and audio recording Eins had found in the building he lent to her master. After she finally found what she'd been looking for, she began searching for the particular tape. That's when she came face to face with the 2nd audio recording of her master's secret experimentation
[Audio recording #2 Preservation:
Day 13
The homunculus project's first procedure seems to have been a major success. However, I've always been having a problem maintaining the perfect temperature of the fridge to preserve my creations. After a few days, I throw away that idea and began experimenting some more
Day 19
It's been six days after my defeat, I just came back from the depths of the fountain located in the world tree. After a long time, I've managed to replicate the fluid labeled as the fountain of youth through the means of alchemy. What's more, this fluid of mine is temperature based, it can adapt and change its temperature to match the required item
Day 31
Looks like the preservation fluid will become slowly infected by the surrounding elements and im back to square one. Luckily, I managed to recreate the design of the homunculus, this version can now excrete preservation fluids as body sweat. What's more these fluids carry strong antibodies that will protect the unborn homunculus fetus before undergoing its final phase
Day 55
Just a side note to add the preservation fluid not only preserves anything inside it's also rejuvenating its youth. Since I was too lazy to go out and grab myself a meal, I found a bunch of rotten bananas I forgot to eat. The results after I took them out of the fluid are magnificent, the bananas are fully back to their youth. But too young I have to say, instead of yellow it's green, now I have to wait until it's ripe. I guess I can't ignore my meals, that'll be it for this audio recording]
In her realization, Gwendolyn was brought to her knees and she cried after knowing full well of her master's life. But when she was about to tell the rest about the news she'd found a simple question came to her mind. Why wouldn't her master destroy and even scatter the evidence in the first place? It was irrational of her if she didn't ask her this question and simply tell everyone about her master's survival. But what came to be her answer shocked her the most
'It can't be that... Someone killed him? Why would they do that in the first place? Come to think of it, the other SSS grade guardians back then were his comrade in arms. My master and his band of guardians led everyone to conquer and became victorious in the match... However, someone said he died trying to stop the catastrophe and the result was that he was buried alive. Because they spouted something about my master sealing the entire area no one questioned why his corpse wasn't recovered,'
[Appraisal: The targeted fluid is nowhere near old for it to be half a decade old!!!]
'That's strange I know for a fact that it should've been older than that...? Wait, the plane crash of course! He saved a bystander who was the sole survivor of the crash, and if I were to add both the tower's rubble and the corpse of the monster it checks out. That small cave which was avoided by the monsters must've been his base of operation. My master isn't someone who can sit idly by, if it's him then even a simple disadvantage wouldn't let him down,'
In the end, this master and apprentice weren't able to meet, but her face was already equipped with a huge and beaming smile
'Hold on, if he's been in contact with the preservation fluid for a long time... Does that mean he's going to look like a child? There's no way hahaha, right?'
"Achoo!!!" From a distant land, a young-looking man whips out a powerful sneeze due to the cold atmosphere of their region
"What's wrong, are you getting cold? I think we're already near the vicinity of our next stop. If you want I can whip out a meal to ease your cold," Alex quickly agrees with his suggestion, and soon after that they stopped at a nearby forest once the blizzard had past
There wasn't much to be said about his journey so far, but here's the gist of what occurred in his time. For instance, Neon was yet to find another piece of clue in his mysterious class. When he's frustrated about his shortcomings he's reminded of the unknown traitor who murdered him in his prime
Apart from his grudge, the first thing that came to his mind was an individual he'd aided once before in his journey as a wanderer. It was a psychic. Not many of them live in this world, but the few who are curious about their fate always try and visit their abode
'A lot of things have changed since I died half a decade ago, one of them is the new names of each country. Sometimes countries changed because of the effects of the growth of the world. The more we persisted in this never-ending war, the more we'll reap the benefits one of which is the expansion. 509 600 000 square km was the once size of the earth as of now it became 884 394 145 square km. If there's a newly added race then the size will expand more until it fits the required amount,'
"Master so did you pick this place for any particular reason? I've heard that this place was once a country called Russia, but now it grew too cold for humans to live in. Thus this piece of land was given to a new race that abides and follows the rules of world government. If I remember correctly, these races are said to be born with particularly high psychic powers. Because of that, they're known for making fortunes,"
'Stop playing the hero... I beg of you Ernest if you continue with this path then one way or another you'll be fated with a horrible death. I can't let my savior die when I know about his fate,'
"That's the reason why we're here... Fortune telling is great and all but I have an acquaintance. Get some rest I'll keep watching our surroundings," He says whilst he tucked his disciple in a thick and suffocating pelt of the monsters he skinned
Even though he thought that divination was nothing but his colleague's way of telling him to retire, since he declined it became his reality. His memories are particularly fuzzy from his fall, he's recovering as soon as he escaped that wretched forest. Neon was a man driven by logic and only believes if he were to see it for his own. But after his death, his behavior seems to be such a childish tantrum, and the very reason for his death
'I guess I owe you an apology, Merona... I told you that your fortune doesn't decide my fate and look what I become since I didn't listen to you. Hehehe, well I was such an ignorant fool, I can accurately say I was a fool for not believing someone like you. Even though it's not of my belief, I push you away and I never once contacted you since our last encounter,'