Training (4)

Arthur had spent the past six months completing missions with his subordinates, killing any acolytes they came across, and giving the loot to Dorian if they could not use it. Of course, Arthur was not just giving it to Dorian. He would sell it to Dorian, who would then reduce their debts.

"William still owe 30 Magic Crystals to Dorian, and the rest of us owe him roughly 20 Magic Crystals", Arthur said, "Each acolyte we kill reduce our debt by 5 Magic Crystals too"

"We know, we know", Evangeline said, "It's just...We haven't gotten anything for ourselves in the past month besides John, who got himself this nice wolf teeth enchanted pendant...It would be cool to upgrade our equipment again, don't you think?"

Arthur smiled: "Indeed...The Mud Golem summoning Artefact can probably fetch us 50 Magic Crystals. And it's not like you didn't receive anything in the past six months either!"

Indeed, although the equipment hadn't changed a lot, it's not like Arthur, John, Evangeline and William didn't purchase anything with the money they made from missions. Extravagant food, magical resources, alchemy ingredients, books...

John found out that eating monster food processed by magical means could increase physical attributes, and started to go in extravagant restaurants every week.

William continued his alchemy studies. Although he was a slow learner, he never gave up, and he could now more or less brew hemostasis potion. Still, it would take a few months before he would be able to make a profit out of his alchemy skills.

Evangeline was a knowledge seeker. Out of the four acolytes in this team, she was the most knowledgeable and she studied, analysed everything in depth. She was curious by nature, and she wanted to learn the truth about this world, as mysterious as it was. Still, it was this curiosity that led her to become an incredibly efficient healer and poisoner.

As for Arthur, he purchased toxins, elixirs and magical resources which he consumed raw to increase his EXP and stats.

Still, in six months, he hadn't managed to level up even once. It must be said that the EXP requirements had increased dramatically ever since he reached the intermediate realm, yet the dire beasts and acolytes still gave him the same amount. Worse still, elixirs were giving him less and less EXP due to his body forming some sort of resistance due to overconsumption. If not for his skill [Cruelty], he might not have even reached 3000 EXP by now.

Most missions only required them to kill a handful of orcs, subjugate a low-rank magical beast and investigate. After all, Arthur could not exactly reveal his intermediate rank cultivation, or else he would raise suspicion.

How could a grade 2 talent become an intermediate acolyte at 15? Dorian was too admirative and idealistic to doubt a fellow noble, but others might not be so naive.

Arthur then approached the bodies, and took out three high-quality glass flasks.

[Activating [Soul Seal] spell...10 points of mana have been consumed]

One of the vial immediately opened, and an ominous shadow-like substance filled it. As soon as the process was finished, Arthur sealed the bottle with its cork.

Repeating the process twice more, Arthur smiled.

William and the others were not surprised by the sight anymore: "You told us it is for research...But has it made any progress yet?"

Arthur shook his head.

What research was he talking about? There was no research.

[Cursed Flask - Medium-grade magical Resource

Contains the soul of [Level 6 Olaf]. It can be used by necromancers and ghosts]

Acolyte souls were beyond valuable, especially to someone like Arthur, who had necromancer friends! Each one of these flasks could be sold for roughly 20, perhaps even 25 magic crystals in a random criminal organization, since it was long and difficult to learn the spell [Soul Seal].

The Old Witch Diana Blackhope, whose daughter required fresh souls to grow stronger and survive, was especially interested. Due to a punishment imposed by Great Master Rutherford, she was unfortunately unable to leave the tower, thus being unable to assassinate her enemies or gather materials for her daughter.

Arthur was the loophole she was searching for.

However, Arthur hadn't met any of the Black Widow Brotherhood members in the past 6 months. After all, after becoming famous, he could not exactly move like he wanted to. He picked up small missions, since they were easier to complete and better to train his subordinates.

Perhaps it was time.

He had stacked 30 Cursed Flasks. It was enough to exchange for a magical artefact.

'I won't take anything less than a magical artefact, hehe', Arthur thought.

"After you finish your business with this little acolyte, we will start to target the Arcane Faction's convoys. We will start by the smaller ones", Arthur spoke

'With an additional magical artefact, it is unlikely for any group of acolyte to match us in terms of strength. With my ring, I can always scan them, and if they are too dangerous, we will back down', Arthur analysed.

"What if they are defended by the Mercenary Guild Faction?", Evangeline spoke, "Unlike the Arcane Faction opposing us and commiting atrocities, the mercenary guild gather all kind of acolytes, most of them being independant"

Arthur looked at her as if she was dumb: "What a question. We can't let them know our real strength, can we?"

Emma, who was listening to the entire conversation, was shaking in fear.

Who would have thought that the [Law Enforcement Faction] was nurturing murderous monsters?