Chapter 88 Making Preparations
Name: Crystal Sea Head Ornament(Rare)
Level: 23
Type: Unknown
Requirements: None
HP: 700
DEF: 30
AGI: 100
Crystallization(Active): Encases yourself, an ally, or an enemy within a case of powerful magic crystal for 20 seconds. While within the crystal, the target is unable to perform any actions. If the target is an enemy, they can channel their mana or energy. By channeling their mana or energy, the enemy can reduce the amount of time spent crystalized. The crystal integrity will always start off at 100%. The encased target cannot take damage or heal while crystalized. The user of this skill can deactivate it at any time.
Cooldown: 10 minutes
Special Note: An old relic that still retains some of its power that was left behind after first Great Sea War. It once belonged to a famous merman of great status.
The equipment gave great stats for a headpiece. In fact, the stats were even better than that of his level 15 rare torso piece, though that was to be expected. Usually, however, the torso piece would be the item that gave the most desirable defensive stats to the majority of players.
Even though the defense stat itself as fairly low, the agility, HP, and active skill made up for it.
Izroth was a little surprised by the 20 seconds listed on the skill. Rendering an opponent helpless for that amount of time could be devastating during a team fight! Even more so for an item that was only level 23! He could also use the item to save allies in a pinch.
'It must be due to the enemy being able to pour in mana or energy to reduce the amount of time spent within the crystal. I do not know how much effort one would require in order to break free. It is even more difficult making an estimate when it comes to boss monsters.'
There were still quite a few things Izroth had left to figure out about the Crystallization skill attached to the Crystal Sea Head Ornament. However, he understood that he would naturally obtain that information after using it a few times.
Izroth wasted no time and instantly equipped the Crystal Sea Head Ornament after he finished reading it over. With this, his overall combat power and arsenal had risen to another level.
Name: Izroth
EXP: 98,561/120,000
Level: 22(Stat Points: 0)
Title: None
Class: Combat Master
HP(Hit Points): 2,500/2,500
Energy: 100
ATTACK(ATK): 430
DEFENSE(DEF): 155
AGILITY(AGI): 400
MAGIC(MAG): 0
Physical Resistance: 15%
Magical Resistance: 15%
Luck: 1
'I should head to the auction house to put the Five Cycles Pills up for sale. However, since I'm already here and have some time, I should experiment a little.'
Before he started, Izroth examined the miscellaneous reagents sitting within his inventory.
'Ah, I should probably give them a heads up.'
Izroth opened up his friendslist and sent out a message to three people on his friend list, but he kept the message a little vague. It would be much easier to tell them all at once in person rather than discussing it with them on at a time.
The first to return his message was Luna. At the moment, she was out completing a quest. However, she said that she would return to Amaharpe within the next hour with plenty of time to spare. Of course, she had no problem tagging along.
Izroth then saw the fourth name on the list, however, he was unsure if they would be able to journey with him to the Chaotic Dogma Realm.
That person was Halls, who said that they had to head to work shortly after Izroth logged off earlier. As a tank, Halls would be on the frontline and therefore, he would be in the most dangerous position. It was an SS-ranked quest with a recommended level of 25.
If he left and only returned to RML a few hours ago, it was highly unlikely that he had even reached level 20 yet! If that were the case then, the risk of Halls facing an existence wiped was almost guaranteed.
Izroth decided to still send Halls a message. He wanted to, at the very least, know what level he was able to reach. After all, there was still a chance that the portal itself would not open up for another 23 hours.
After sending off his message, Izroth received a message in return near instantly. When Izroth read the contents of the message, he did not think it was right to call such a situation fortunate, however, it was fortunate for Halls. Or else there was no way he would be able to tag along.
It turned out that just when Halls was getting ready to head to work, he received a call from his boss at the last minute informing him that they were closed for today.
Apparently, the daughter of his boss had an emergency and they were unable to open up for business today. It was a locally owned place and so there was no one who could replace or cover for his boss.
Therefore, Halls was only offline for a few minutes before logging back into RML. He was then, by chance, offered a party invite and had simply been leveling up since then.
To Izroth's surprise, Halls had already reached level 22! Although he could still not be compared to Luna who had already reached level 23.
Even though Izroth took on a dungeon by himself and had the assistance of the temporary passive skill Equalizer, he was still offline for 30 to 40 hours in game time. Such a gap was not easy to close right away and it could already be considered as a frightening leveling speed after he caught up so fast.
The other two people Izroth messaged was Guan Yu and Zi Yi, who Izroth had just become acquainted with only hours ago. Before going their separate ways, the both of them sent Izroth a friend request which he, of course, accepted.
Guan Yu did not hesitate to accept Izroth's vague request and did not ask for any additional details.
Zi Yi, however, was a bit more inquisitive. However, Izroth did not mind that kind of personality at all. It was good to gather as much information as possible before deciding on your next course of action.
Izroth was being barraged with question after question. After not seeing an end in sight, he simply told Zi Yi that she would be allowed access, at least temporary access, into the palace.
With that, she may have a chance to inquire about access to their library. When he said those words, Zi Yi immediately accepted without asking any further questions.
Izroth let out a small sigh as he finally turned his attention back towards the reagents within his inventory.
'Now that everything is settled, it's time to experiment a bit.'
Izroth then started his various experiments with the miscellaneous reagents like the Merfolk Scale and Yellow-Razored Kryco Shark Fin that we're within of his inventory.
...
After spending slightly more than one hour experimenting with the various reagents, Izroth grasped a much better understanding of the way Apothecaries functioned within RML. While some ingredients bore nearly the exact same traits as others he had encountered before back in the Seven Realms, there were sometimes slight variations.
However, correcting such variations only required him to run a few tests and mostly correct the distribution ratios. Although, he may be required to waste a few ingredients in the process.
There were multiple tools available for players to use inside of the rooms located on the 3rd floor of the Apothecary building. Grinding tools, a liquefying kit, and many other items were usable.
Izroth had to admit, RML went all out when it came to the process of pill creation for apothecaries. However, it was still nowhere close to the level of apothecary reached within the Seven Realms.
He made a few interesting discoveries during his experiments, but he still required more resources so that he could solidify his basic understandings of the ways of an Apothecary by RML standards.
Izroth still around one hour left until the gates had a chance of opening.
'By now, everyone should already have returned to Amaharpe, or be on their journey back.'
Izroth believed that it was best if everyone met ahead of time to discuss the specifics of the situation. Luna and Halls had yet to meet with Guan Yu and Zi Y and vice versa. It was not exactly ideal to have them wait until it was time to enter into the Chaotic Dogma Realm to meet one another.
After making sure he had everything with him, Izroth left the room on the 3rd floor and started walking towards the exit of the Apothecary building. His next stop was the auction house to put up the Five Cycles Pills for sale.
It only took a few moments for Izroth to arrive at the auction house and set 135 of the pills up for auction. He chose this number because he planned on giving away four of the pills, in total, to the four who would be accompanying him on his journey into the Chaotic Dogma Realm.
He kept the remaining bit of pills as a bargaining chip. Just in case he came across an item that someone was reluctant to part with, or if he ever needed to obtain information from someone, he could use the Five Cycles Pill to his advantage.
Izroth had only one more major preparation to make and that was obtaining potions. At the moment, he had only acquired the lower grade HP potions, which were slowly becoming useless. It would become even more apparent once he entered into the Chaotic Dogma Realm.
Therefore, he needed to acquire a higher grade HP potion. He checked the auction house, however, there was not nearly enough. In total, there were only around five medium grade HP potions.
'The large guilds much be sweeping the auction house clean... I suppose I'll have to use plan B.'
Izroth still did not know much about that person and so he was not sure if that person was worthy of his trust just yet. There was an Alchemist Izroth had met when he arrived in Amaharpe for the very first time. While that person was fair in his exchanges, there was still something off about him.
Izroth was referring to Metronome, the player he sold the Goblin's Essence too. He checked his friendslist and saw that Metronome was still online. He sent him a message about a potential business opportunity.
However, before Izroth could further elaborate, Metronome said that he would rather speak face to face when discussing business.
After thinking about it for a moment, Izroth saw no harm in agreeing to meet him face to face. Besides, there was still some time left before he had to meet up with the others.
...
Around fifteen minutes later, Izroth was sat down at a small INN. A familiar player sat across from him. That player was naturally Metronome.
"Hey, hey... That's a little unreasonable. You're asking for the impossible." Metronome let out a long sigh. He did not think that Izroth would be so stubborn with his request.
"The words from your very own mouth just moments ago said that it was not impossible, just highly unlikely. The question is no longer whether or not you're capable of achieving the goal in time, but rather if you're willing to." Izroth said with a carefree expression on his face.
Metronome could only give a helpless smile. "Alright, fine. I got it. I'll make it happen somehow." He wanted to build some kind of solid connection with Izroth and so it would not be beneficial to his goal if he turned Izroth down now.
"I'm sure you're more than capable of handling the matter." Izroth stood up from his seat and removed 20 gold coins from his inventory. "I'll give you the remaining 20 gold coins once the job is finished."
Metronome placed the 20 gold coins into his own inventory before he stood up. "I still can't say that it's 100% possible, but I'll nevertheless try." He then left in a hurry as he did not have much time to complete Izroth's ridiculous request.
Izroth understood that his request was a bit harsh, however, this was his simple way of testing Metronome. Not long after Metronome left, Izroth received a system alert as he headed out of the INN.
〈System Alert: Player Luna has sent you a message, "We're all at the meeting spot. Just waiting for you now. Please hurry, I don't think Zi Yi can survive much longer."〉
Izroth had already informed the others about who would be in the party once everyone agreed to meet. Therefore, they should have all already added one another.
Although, Izroth was a bit confused as to what Luna meant by Zi Yi would not survive much longer. Their meeting point was clearly located in a safe zone within Amaharpe.
'I'll head over now.'
Izroth sped towards their agreed meeting point.