Inside the game…
Liam was now busily preparing the eighth batch of potion. Out of these eight batches, he had 5 of them successfully condensed, so his day had been good so far.
And a few minutes later, the eighth one also worked out.
[Ding. Greater Body Cleansing Elixir created]
[Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]
Kyuuuuu!
While Liam nodded with contentment, Luna danced happily, seeing that the cauldron didn't explode on her face.
"Six out of eight! This is a good improvement." Liam smiled. He wanted to take a break, but he had prepared fifteen sets of ingredients, so he wanted to use them all up.
Also, he wanted to make as many batches of potions as possible for the auction. So he ate a few recovery berries, adjusted his breathing, and dove right back into the task.
Time slowly ticked by and Liam as well continued to concoct. He was fully immersed in his work and had a calm and balanced attitude.
His face also revealed signs of maturity far beyond his age. Seeing him right now, anyone would want to respect him and make acquaintance with him. However… one person alone was fuming in rage.
The old man shivered and trembled with anger. Every time Liam started another batch, his heart sank a little more. Watching him work hard was making his forehead veins pop.
"This brat is going to suffer a backlash. I am sure. I am sure. Idiot. Doesn't even know that he is supposed to take breaks in between. Just because he has some achievements in alchemy, he thinks too highly of himself. Hmph."
"Expert alchemist? He is equal to the fly that sits on dung. How many expert alchemists I have seen in my lifetime. This brat is overestimating himself. Hmph."
The esteemed tower master revered by the King himself continued muttering to himself and stalking his new enemy.
This continued for a while, but after making the next two batches, Liam stood up to leave. He could only do ten batches, and the last two ended in failure. So he decided to take a break.
"Six out of ten. Heh. Our success rate now became pathetic." Liam chuckled along with Luna at his misery and walked out. "What shall we do now? Log out and meet our guests?"
This was his plan, but he remembered something else he could do. He opened his system interface and looked at the quest plaguing him since the beginning of this game.
This was the first ever quest he had received and was still incomplete. "Ok. Let's submit this and be done with it."
He checked the quest details, and it showed that the instructor was back in the same village he had visited previously.
"Luna, Vala town." Liam clutched one of the vials and sat atop the fox.
The duo reached the small village in no time. However, this newbie village was completely different from the one they had previously visited.
In fact, it was no longer a newbie village. There were orcs everywhere, each around Level 60, and no player or villager was in sight.
"Hmmm… the quest says he is here… so where is everyone?"
Liam paused and looked around for a while. He then hopped back onto Luna, "Circle this place. See if there is a cave or burrow."
Kyuuu… Luna got to work, and soon they spotted a small cave hidden among a dense cluster of trees. "I knew it. These guys are hiding here."
"Land here."
Kyuuu!
Luna landed at a spot slightly away from the cave, and as soon as she did, two orcs came running at them with massive clubs.
However, these level 60 orcs were only a terror to the newbies, not to Liam. He instantly cast [Ring of Fire] on one, stopping the guy in place, and sent a [Dark Cutter] towards the other orc.
These orcs relied on their superior physical strength to tackle their enemies, and since Liam was playing as a mage at the moment, they were completely out of their element.
He kited them and finished them off in a few moves without breaking a sweat.
[Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]
[Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]
"Heh. That felt good." After brewing potions for a long time, fighting felt terrific. The experience points were also not that bad. "Let's do some more warm-up."
Liam grinned and started running around. Just those two orcs didn't entirely satisfy his appetite. He needed more!
[Fireball]
[Fireball]
[Fireball]
He started tossing out balls of fire at every orc that caught his eye.
In 'Evolution Online,' aggro was a tricky thing. It was easy to gain but difficult to lose unless something else catches the monster's interest.
And here, only Liam was interesting. He was the juiciest piece of meat in this newbie forest with low-level villagers and no players.
So within seconds, Liam had a train of orcs behind him. He managed to gather an entire dozen of them!
"Perfect! Now it's time to start the grind!" He stopped running and turned around to face the train of orcs.
[Sizzling Tornado]
[Dark Cutter]
[Lava Rain]
[Ring of Fire]
[Fire bullets]
Liam rained one spell after another on the bunch of orcs, letting his mana core spin wildly without reserve. After tanking all of his mana, he then dashed forward and took care of the remaining health with his sword.
[Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]
[Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]
[Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]
…
…
…
It took him all of two minutes to trash the dozen orcs and get a good bump of 26k experience points.
"Alright. That was fun, but now we should go back to the main task at hand." He let Luna collect all the drops and walked over to the small cave.
It looked like he had created a lot of ruckus by attacking the orcs because several villagers were standing right outside the cave, watching him in awe.
They had worn out clothes, some even torn, and had tired, weary looks on their faces. They were watching Liam as if they were looking at their savior.
And among these people, the instructor Liam was looking for was also present. There was a strange expression on his face, something that resembled a mixture of guilt and regret.
"Young adventurer… you came back." He lifelessly spoke.
Liam chuckled inwardly at the man's sad plight. He could see that he had gone through a lot, but the damned guy had made him take multiple trips for this single quest which he was not very happy about.
Either way, he was here to finish this quest. So he took out the vial from his inventory to hand it over to the guy when the instructor unexpectedly spoke first.
"Young man, I am willing to take the incomplete elixir. If you still have it with you…"
***
Mass Release Part 2 Chapter 1~
Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!
