Chapter 24: Mutual Decision!

Hancock and her two sisters who had just gone through a tough battle, their breathing at the moment was quite heavy while their bodies were also oozing a lot of sweat. Sandersonia and Marigold, who were currently using their respective devil fruit abilities, immediately lifted the ability back and instantly fell to the ground on their knees because their stamina was sacrificed so much.

It's the same with the two of them, however, the fatigue Hancock has is more than that of them. Hancock immediately fell to the ground. Before she had time to fall to the ground, Salome, who was close to her, immediately moved and formed a soft cushion using her own body for Hancock to use.

"Hahaha, that's really an intense battle" Marigold instantly opened the subject with the slowly adjusting the position of her body sitting quietly while slowly adjusting her breath.

"It's been a long time since I've been through a battle where it had to consume my energy" Sandersonia continued, "What was said by Rayleigh is true. We must not underestimate this dungeon. We must not assume an enemy who is only a little bit of a level compared to us. Just now, it was only against a bandit leader whose level was twice as high as ours. We have to use all the capabilities we have. If only we alone fight him..."

Sandersonia did not continue her words. Nonetheless, Hancock and Marigold knew what would happen later if they went one-on-one against the bandit leader. It is most likely that they will die in his hands.

"We have to become stronger" Hancock suddenly opened her voice while slowly adjusting his breath back, "We should be able to develop our abilities especially our Armament Haki capabilities. At the very least, our Armament Haki ability should be at the S level, otherwise we can increase the attack power we have using our current Haki. It will not have a good impact on enemies who are higher in level than us."

Sandersonia and Marigold fell silent at this and slowly adjusted their breathing. They are also sober at this time. Inside this dungeon, it is very different from that in the outside world. Just a slight difference in levels can affect the battle situation. Another thing is ability, as long as an adventurer has a large number of S-level abilities, the difference in levels will not affect too much as long as the opponent does not have an S-level ability equivalent to her.

"I have already decided!" Marigold suddenly said by holding her Naginata firmly.

"What did you decide, Mari?" Sandersonia asked in confusion.

"I want to improve my status later on defense points" Marigold said with a determined look, "I want to be more useful in the next battle especially in terms of defense. I'm not protecting a valuable thing for me"

"I guess, we do have to decide right now too" Hancock, who had begun to re-adjust her breath, slowly sat quietly looking at Sandersonia and Marigold, "We have already decided to build a team to improve our strength together in this dungeon. For a team to work effectively, everyone must have their own role. One must be a diverter by increasing her speed attribute, someone must be a defense by increasing her own defensive attribute, and someone must become the main source of attack power by increasing her attack attribute"

"Then, elder sister. You alone are the main source of attack power" Sandersonia said, "You are the most to get the role, especially with your ownership of your Conqueror's Haki. As long as you can reach the advanced level of the Conqueror's Haki, your attack power will be the best compared to the two of us"

"I also agree" Marigold nodded, "You are the most suitable to hold this role, Senior Sister. Sonia and I are not suitable for this role, especially since the potential of the devil fruit we have are not higher than the potential of your devil fruit. If you manage to develop all the abilities you have, it is not impossible that you can become one of the strongest adventurers in this dungeon later."

"That's right" Sandersonia nodded, "We also have the advantage of being the first to come to this place. We were able to leave far behind our competitors later on and become one of the people standing at the top of the dungeon at a time when this dungeon was recognized by many."

"Since you two said so, all right. I will be the main source of strength on this team" Hancock said seriously "Because Mari is going to take on a defensive role. Sonia, you will take on the role of a distraction"

"I understand, elder sister" Sandersonia nodded seriously.

"Remember! Although we have already taken on each other's roles like this. Don't forget to also increase other attribute points. Simply increase our specialist attribute points to a greater extent than any other attribute point. But, don't forget about other attribute points as well. These two are also very important."

"We understand, Big Sister"

Sandersonia and Marigolds also knew about this. An adventurer, although it has extremely high defense but no speed, it is the same. Because it is difficult for him to block the defense from the opponent's attack at a time when his friend is in a distant position. While an adventurer with high speed, although his task is only a distraction, it still requires attack power that can help him to reduce the blood possessed by his opponent even if it is only a little bit.

"We will rest for some time then go to the bandit camp," Hancock said calmly, "There must be quite valuable items in the camp there that we can make into our spoils of war."

'Is it ok for us to do so, Big Sister?' Marigold asked nervously.

"No problem" Hancock directly replied to her, "The task we received was to destroy the bandit camp and not to take back the spoils they had. It means that we are free to take the property they have or not."

"I wonder, is there maybe a lot of property they have?" Sandersonia said with a small smile, "Komadanan Suzaku previously said that these bandits are quite unsettling. Didn't it mean that they have a lot of things?"

"I wish they had the equipment we could use," Marigold said with a sigh, "We can increase our status points with equipment, and also by getting equipment from there, we don't need to buy it from Blacksmith"

"Speaking of equipment..."

Everyone's gaze instantly sank toward the axe previously used by the bandit leader. Sandersonia immediately got up from his place and walked in a tired state towards the axe.

Sandersonia immediately picked up the axe and instantly the axe status panel opened.

Axe

Quality: Normal

Level: 1

· Strength 5

Ability:-

"How is the quality, Sonia?" Marigold asked with interest.

"It's the same with Naginata yours, Mari," Sandersonia said, "This axe is only of normal quality with the level still level 1. This axe if used can help increase the strength by 5 points"

Sandersonia then tried to swing the axe. However, it was only a few times that she immediately felt a feeling of fatigue especially just passing the fight that exhausted her stamina before.

"Are you planning to use that axe, Sonia?" Hancock asked.

Sandersonia shook her head, 'I don't know how to use an axe. Compared to an axe, I would rather use my legs to fight"

"In that case, we can consider this axe for sale," Marigold said, "Maybe we can sell it at the Blacksmith store, and then the money earned through the sale of this axe we can use to buy equipment later"

"Good idea" Hancock nodded, "You can keep that axe inside your storage space, Sonia. By the time we got back later, we'd stop by a Blacksmith store and then sell it there."

Sandersonia nodded and immediately put the axe into the storage space that belonged to her.

Hancock, who had finished restarting a little energy that belonged to her, slowly got up, "We can't be here for too long. We are currently still in the territory of the monster zone. We have to go back soon. How is the stamina of the two of you? Have you come back a little bit?"

"Not bad," Marigold said as she slowly stood up, "At least doing normal activities, I can do it"

"Me too" Sandersonia nodded.

"Let's go to that bandit camp immediately and then take all their property and then destroy their camp so that this mission we are carrying out has been completed"

Sandersonia and Marigold nodded and they directly used the directional signifier which was the arrow that appeared in their sight immediately headed towards the bandit camp only a few hundred meters away from where they were at present.

1st floor, Atlantis City, Sarasa Alchemist Shop.

*Ring!*

The doorbell rang at the same time as the door of the store. Sarasa, who was currently inside cleaning the glasses that were going to be used to place Elixir, immediately raised his head, and instantly his face showed a look full of excitement.

"Mr. Rayleigh!"

"I'm back" Rayleigh smiled slightly looking at Sarasa who saw her full of excitement, "I guess, you must have been impatient to wait for me to come back, can't you, Miss Sarasa?"

"Eh" Sarasa, who heard this, her face immediately flushed with shame.

Sarasa couldn't hide it. Currently, she can't wait to make a Healing Elixir for her shop and then sell it so that her store can operate immediately.

"Thank you for the information you gave me, Miss Sarasa" Rayleigh smiled as she walked towards Sarasa who was at the store's administration desk, "Thanks to that information, I was quick enough to collect your request"

Rayleigh immediately went straight into the storage room and immediately issued the request desired by Sarasa. Immediately, 100 units of Grisal plants were neatly arranged on the table.

"This Grisal plant is according to your request, isn't it?" Rayleigh asked back to confirm this.

Sarasa immediately carried out the checking process one by one and it didn't take long for the checking process to be completed.

"This is indeed a Grisal plant and also the quality of this plant is very good," Sarasa said with great admiration, "How can you get a lot of Grisal plants of good quality like this, Mr. Rayleigh? Although plant Grisal is quite a plant. It's rare to find one that has good quality"

"Hahaha, glad you like it" Rayleigh laughed then continued, "I can be able to feel things and through that ability, I do a selection of the ingredients that are your request." Rayleigh paused and continued, "What quality of a material determines the manufacturing process of Elixir?"

"Of course!" Sarasa said seriously: "The better the quality of the materials used, the better the elixir will be produced. The better the quality of the materials, the easier it will be to be able to make the elixir. Finally, the better the quality of the materials, the more elixir will be produced"

"Oh, I didn't expect the quality of the materials to be so influential" Rayleigh muttered.

"This is..."

Suddenly Rayleigh heard a quite hesitant voice from Sarasa.

"What's the matter?" Rayleigh asked in confusion. Previously Sarasa had happy feelings and emotions now look like nervous.

"The materials collected by Mr. Rayleigh are materials of good quality and difficult to find. On the other hand, I can only give a small mission reward to Mr. Rayleigh"

"Hahaha, what are you thinking about?" Rayleigh laughed loosely at this, "Don't think too much about it. The information you gave me before can cover up this."

"This is..." Sarasa sighed, "All right. If Mr. Rayleigh doesn't mind I will accept this. If in the future, Mr. Rayleigh needs information or whatever it is. As long as I know it, I will tell Mr. Rayleigh about it"

Rayleigh's eyes instantly became shiny when he heard this. This is what Rayleigh needs, which is an information dealer for him.

"It's something I want to know" Rayleigh suddenly said quietly.

"Something? Just ask, Mr. Rayleigh" Sarasa said excitedly: "As long as the information is known to me, I will tell you"

"I just want to know, is there an item in this place that helps to restore the current appearance?" Rayleigh asked nervously.

"Items that can help restore appearance? What does Mr. Rayleigh mean is an item capable of rejuvenating a man who has the appearance of a parent back to his youth?"

"That's it!" Rayleigh nodded quickly, "Does the item exist?"

Sarasa frowned and said, "I don't know if this is true or not. But in this place, there is a legend"

"Legend?" Rayleigh muttered softly.

"There are many legends in this place and one of those legends is about a lake of life"

"Lake of life..."

"The lake of life is a magical lake whose location is within this place but the specific location is unknown to anyone. It's just that, according to the legend circulating among the people. The lake of life is in the territory of monsters and is often guarded by monsters with extremely terrifying power"

"... What is the lake of life..."

"That is the item sought by Mr. Rayleigh" Sarasa nodded, "The lake of life precisely the water from the lake can help to rejuvenate an old man back to his teenage age more precisely the age of 18 years"

"..."

Rayleigh instantly fell silent when he heard this and slowly processed the information he had just received.

"But, as said by me. It is just a legend circulating and until now no one has ever discovered or seen the existence of the lake of life" Sarasa paused and continued, "However, if the existence of lake exists. It is likely that the location is not in this place but is on the top floor of the dungeon"

"Legend? If this is indeed the case, the legend may exist. I guess, I really should talk to Ars about this. But, with information like this... There is a possibility that the price to get it is also quite large"  Rayleigh thought sighing, "Thank you for the information, Miss Sarasa. That's helped me enough"

Sarasa nodded and continued, "Mr. Rayleigh, I have already confirmed this mission. Mr. Rayleigh can already go to report on this mission and get the reward"

Simultaneously an information panel regarding the success of the mission immediately appeared right in front of Rayleigh

[The mission to collect 100 units of Grisal plants is successful! Please return to the guild to collect the reward for the mission that has been carried out]

"I understand" Rayleigh nodded and said, "Then I'm leaving first. See you soon, Miss Sarasa"

"See you again, Mr. Rayleigh! Please head over to my store when it opens! I will give you the best price!"

"Hahaha, it was good luck for me. I'll keep that in mind"

*Ring!*

Rayleigh immediately walked out of the store and then proceeded to return to the guild picking up the mission success reward while also asking for information about the lake of life.