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C844

After receiving the delivery of the seeds he requested, Emery suddenly became even more obsessed with experiments as if he had been injected with a drug. He gradually lost track of time as he delved deeper into his experiments.

In Alfa station, the Arbor master shows him to grow the seeds exclusively using his spell. But then, the [Metamorphosis Theory], did state that planting and letting more natural growth would go a long way and also increase the chance of a successful result.

This gave Emery even more of a reason to quickly transform all the areas near the water source in the cave, turning them into areas suitable for his soon-to-be built garden. He even started planting a dozen of Earth's top plants, which he usually used for his apothecary recipes, including the Caracas Flower.

Emery specifically chose to plant this plant to test the effect of his newfound immortal cave. With just a touch of his finger, he could quickly and clearly feel the natural energy flowing from the surroundings into the plant, nourishing its growth rapidly.

Definitely a top-grade fertile soil.

This basically confirmed the potency of the immortal cave, and therefore Emery quickly went into action and planted all 15 of the seeds he had just bought, leaving them buried in the nourishing soil for the time being.

Afterwards, he took out his apothecary cauldron and started following the recipe introduction to the point. All twelve ingredients were quickly handled exactly as written in the recipe, one by one they were all tossed into the cauldron.

"Alright, it'll be ready in 2 hours 12 minutes, not a minute more," Emery said to himself after the last ingredient entered the cauldron.

He then did the cleaning and, as soon as all the chores were done, Emery sat down and suddenly fell into thought.

"I feel like I have forgotten something important."

While Emery was trying to think about what he had forgotten, a message came from his privileged class bracelet and woke him from his thoughts. His face changed when he finally realized what he had forgotten.

[Your duel will start in one hour]

Emery jumped to his feet in surprise. Thanks to the excitement over his experiment, he had completely forgotten about the duel. But then, just as he was about to leave the cave and head for the arena, his head turned and looked at the boiling cauldron.

"My potion, it would be such a waste of good ingredients..." Emery muttered to himself, conflicted about what he should do. "Maybe I should just not attend the duel? After all, I still have time to issue another duel."

However, just as he was thinking about this, a dark flying familiar entered his cave, before suddenly disappearing. Immediately after, the symbol on his palm shone with a message. Emery could guess right away who it was from.

[Where are you? Don't tell me you forgot about today's duel?! The place is already crowded with people. Come here right away!]

Well, on second thought, he was the one who issued the challenge, so it would be downright rude for him not to come. Thus, Emery could only hope with all his might that his cauldron would be fine until he returned.

"You're doing well there okay? Don't worry, I'll definitely be back soon," Emery said affectionately to the cauldron.

With this thought in mind, Emery proceeded to set up a teleportation stone formation, so he could return more quickly. After that, he quickly jumped onto the orbiter and headed towards the arena.

As he flew across the sky, Emery realized it would take more than an hour to fly from his place to where the arena was. Meanwhile, he only had about 40 minutes left before the duel began.

Understanding he would not be able to make it if he didn't do anything, Emery racked his mind for a solution and thought of his spell [Spatial Gate] to help him reach his destination faster. However, he soon discovered that creating a spatial gate above the gas giant was not an easy task.

In order to safely use the [Spatial Gate], Emery had to find a floating rock to tread on his way from the cave and the privileged center, which in turn only made the journey a bit quicker. In the end, he was still 10 minutes late for the duel.

When he arrived, Emery couldn't help but be taken aback by what he saw. For a moment, he thought he had come at the wrong time. He couldn't tell the difference between a normal duel challenge and the end-of-month arena fights.

The reason for his confusion was because, at the moment, there were probably more than two hundred people visible in the arena seating. Moreover, Emery could tell that there were more magus than acolytes, a discovery that naturally surprised him.

After all, he had not thought this many people would come to watch his duel.

As he walked into the arena, Emery noticed a young man with messy golden hair standing on the opposite side of him, staring at him with hatred. Before he could think of a reason for this behavior, the other party shouted from afar.

"You! How dare you be late! You are underestimating me! Diyooo!"

The atmosphere on the scene was quite awkward, as Emery found all eyes staring at him. Seeing Annara was on the spot, he quickly approached her.

"What's going on here? I'm just a little late, aren't I? And what's with this crowd? Why are there so many people in the audience?"

Hearing that, Annara snorted. "Huh! Don't you know you are the infamous Savage acolyte?" She scoffed. "Have you forgotten about the thing you've done? You won the famous 13 fights in a row, disappeared right after, and now return with a rank 9 score. I'm surprised that this place isn't more packed!"

As for his opponent's behavior, Annara said it was customary to arrive early before the agreed time to discuss rules and limitations of the duel. It seemed the annoyed man on stage heard Annara's words as he shouted again.

"No rules! No limitations! Come fight me now!"

This was actually good news for Emery, as he only had less than an hour before the concoction was finished. Putting in the time it would take him to return, he only had about 10 to 15 minutes to fight the man.

Emery quickly jumped into the arena. With the approval of the two, the magus refere quickly announced the start of the duel.

To be continued