Edited by Aelryinth

Fenna was a general, so she could only ask an experienced soldier to help Mo Fan and the others search for the young Medusa. They could not afford to allocate more manpower, since Cairo was still in the middle of a battle. They were already short on men.

Heidi wanted to wait for Brianca to return, as it would be safer for them to enter the Medusae’s territory with her around. Even if they stumbled into a mature Medusa, Brianca should still be able to handle it.

Unfortunately, they had not heard from Brianca since she left. She had only told them she would regroup with them in Cairo in a week, but the Curse would surely worsen by then. By the time Brianca arrived, she would be retrieving their corpses instead!

“It seems like we are on our own,” Mo Fan said helplessly.

“It’s not like we can ask anybody for help, either. Who would be willing to risk their lives for us?” Zhao Manyan said.

The people of the European University Institute struggled to make up their minds, but they finally decided to search for the young Medusa, too. It was unlikely they could survive the torture of the Curse long enough to live.

Luckily, Vani was a mentor, indicating that he was at least a Super Mage!

A mentor that was in charge of students who were on an expedition to graduate with excellence was surely a Super Mage. After all, most of the students in the European University Institute had reached the Advanced Level for all their Elements. Their strength was more or less on par with Mo Fan and his crew, thus they might be of some help when the time came.

As a matter of fact, most Mages in the wild formed a balanced team, as different Elements come into handy in different situations. It was not a bad idea to bring these people of the European University Institute along as sacrificial victims!

The Europeans were clearly holding a strong grudge. They were here for their final trial so they could graduate, but their lives were now at stake because of the Curse of the Medusae. The plan to invade the Medusae’s nest to search for the young Medusa was basically a suicide mission!

—

The group restocked the necessary supplies to travel in the wilds of Egypt. Since they were mainly up against Medusae and Gorgons, antidotes were a must.

However, the antidotes were not useful in every situation. They normally served as an ingredient. There were many kinds of poison, thus they would have to mix the right ingredients according to the situation to produce the right antidote.

“Do we only have one herbalist among us!?” Zhao Manyan asked. He was shocked that the European University Institute did not have a single person that knew how to mix medicines!

Not knowing how to mix medicines meant the lives of the members in the group would be in danger if anyone was poisoned, suffered internal injuries, or was caught by corrosive substances!

“We have no healer and no herbalist, and we are about to invade a place with the deadliest poison in the world. I think it’s better for us to die comfortably in Cairo instead,” Zhao Manyan grumbled.

“I’m one,” Mu Bai said.

“Damn, what use does a hobbyist like you have?” Zhao Manyan said.

“Still better than a useless prick like you who does nothing but complain!” Mu Bai grunted in return.

“I’m a Plant Mage, but I don’t know how to mix medicine,” Sofia said.

“So we must collect as many antidote ingredients as possible. Don’t worry, I’m quite familiar with poisons. I should know how to deal with them, as long as they aren’t like the Curse, but I don’t know how to mix the antidotes either…” Chad said.

Mu Bai was no hobbyist. He was actually an Advanced Herbalist, certified by both the Hunter Union and the Magic Association. The mistake he had made with the aphrodisiac was only an accident…

——

As the others went to prepare themselves, Mo Fan noticed that he was not that far away from the local Hunter Union. He decided to take a look around.

The title of Hunter Master was applicable throughout the world, so Mo Fan could enjoy the benefits of being a Hunter Master at Cairo’s Hunter Union, too.

The truth was that news from the official channels was slower than the rate of news exchanged among the Hunters. The only downside of the news being spread among Hunters was their credibility.

“Tear of Medusa, has anyone submitted a quest for it?” Mo Fan asked the Hunter Mistress assigned to serve him.

The Hunter Mistress wore a smile at all times. She placed a cup of water in front of Mo Fan and asked, “Are you going to contribute to the reward pool, too?”

“The reward pool?” Mo Fan blurted out in surprise.

“Didn’t you know? The Tear of Medusa has the biggest reward pool in Egypt’s Hunter Union!” the Hunter Mistress said.

A reward pool was a group reward. It was normal for difficult quests that barely anyone could accomplish, yet had high demand. The rewards for those quests would eventually end up in pools.

Many people were asking for the same thing, so the rewards they offered all contributed to the pool. As the rewards continued to stack up, some experts would eventually take on the quest. Sometimes the government even formed a team of experts to complete those quests to earn the rewards!

Mo Fan and Lingling had earned a fortune from completing the quest of the Drowning Curse. His rank went from a few stars to six stars just by completing that quest!

A six-star Hunter Master was quite well-respected. If Mo Fan was tired of his current life of killing demon creatures, he could go to any city and become an authority with his identity of a six-star Hunter Master!

It had been a while since Mo Fan and Lingling had done any high-reward quests, not since the quest of the Drowning Curse. He was thinking of submitting a quest to see if he could acquire the Tear of Medusa with money, but it turned out that he had underestimated its value. There was already a reward pool for the Tear of Medusa in Egypt!

“How much does the reward pool have now?” Mo Fan asked.

“Around three and a half billion,” the Hunter Mistress said.

“Thr…three and a half billion? Is it the biggest reward pool in Cairo now?” Mo Fan was shocked.

The reward for the Drowning Curse was nothing compared to the reward pool of three and a half billion for the Tear of Medusa!

Mo Fan could not help but swallow in awe!

The size of the reward pool was directly proportional to the difficulty of the quest. Otherwise, why would the reward pool keep growing?

“Mm, I believe it’s equivalent to an S-rank quest. The reward pool has grown significantly over the past few years, mainly because the big female Medusae now have the Eyes of Vengeance, too. Many Mages are being tortured by the Curse. On the other hand, the Tear of Medusa can also make a person immune to Petrify, weaken the effects of freezing, and strengthen Psychic Magic. It’s very appealing to many Mages, thus the high reward for it… I believe some of the Senior Hunters are being tempted to take on the quest!” The Hunter Mistress was quite informed, and explained it all thoroughly to Mo Fan.

Mo Fan was utterly shocked. He did not expect the Tear of Medusa to be so precious and useful!

Immune to Petrify!

Wouldn’t that mean the Advanced Spell of the Earth Element, the Eyes of the Rock Demon, was basically useless to those that had the Tear of Medusa? Many Earth Mages treated it as their greatest trump card!

Not only would it make a person immune to Petrify, it could also weaken the effects of freeze, putting Ice Mages at a disadvantage!

It also had the ability to strengthen Psychic Magic, although it was not specified how effective it was. However, the first two effects were already quite insane!