Chapter 2074: Departing Bleuelle
Aether crystals naturally formed in aether dense territories like cities. However, this productivity wasn’t high.
Even if the Lord didn’t use them, the number of noblemen begging for it was not low. It could be said that, if one considered all the noblemen above level 30 in the City, the amount of naturally-produced aether crystals didn’t even count as a droplet.
And to give five to outsiders could even be seen as a betrayal.
The couple just took it and noted the favor. Rejecting this good thing was hurtful and unnecessary, especially since the other side had already done it.
It also made Althea quite curious about how many Alterra would produce when it upgraded into a City, whenever that may be.
Who knows, perhaps they’d produce more than other cities. After all, their Upgrade mobs were always more intense than what their peers experienced at the same level—wasn’t it just reasonable to think they just had more aether?
Anyway, the couple took this chance to use one each again. After more than a day of absorption, Althea leveling up to level 26, and Garan finally breaking through to level 33 as well.
They were heading to unknown territory, they naturally had to gather as much strength as they could.
Two days since their arrival was just in time for the Rescue Mission to depart, and the two of them were heading in along with them.
It was one of the missions wherein people would rescue human women and slaves taken by extremist orc villages.
Normal human villages certainly couldn’t handle them. Meanwhile, towns and cities couldn’t attack the extremist villages either, as they would be penalised by the system instead.
So...they had to do some roundabout methods, like helping the women come out themselves.
They tagged along since they were heading the same way. The Lord recommended them as well.
There was power and safety in numbers, and a lot of these people were guards officially under the Lord, so they could be trusted. They might also help out a bit as a favor, since it was on the way.
Perhaps they could learn a few more things from the locals as well. For example, more information on the ’other side’ of the mountain range. Another, about the Elysean plant.
The fruit itself was not easy to find. It wasn’t like others where you’d just find a tree and wait for it to fruit. First of all, the plant itself was very difficult to see and locate, and a lot of cases when it was found depended too much on luck.
They heard many stories about mercenaries who succeeded during their earlier research sessions—they had started researching all the way back then, even before taking the current mission and right after Hoffen arrived at Alterra. They had a strong need for the plant even back then, after all.
There was someone who was crawling after his legs got cut off, finding the fruits by accident. There was also someone who fell down a cliff and saw it hanging there.
The stories were quite morbid, making people think one had to be unlucky first to be ’lucky’ enough to see the fruit.
It was somewhat of a crawling plant, but it would easily be carried around by nature. Even those that had been found by accident were unlikely harvested again by the same person at the same spot.
Whether it was the wind, birds, even bugs, it would crawl far from where it once found. It was an instinct of sorts, as if it would not fruit under the scent released by the previous fruit.
The plant also had a sort of passive that would attract birds and bugs to move it on their own. It was like the plant would secrete certain hormones that animals loved but then emit another scent to be released. The vines themselves were also very bitter and a bit poisonous, so the few herbivores of this world would actively avoid eating them.
As for the fruit, they were also very small and covered in a bean-like cover that camouflages as well. One had to open the shell up to see the actual colored fruits.
To summarize, it was very very difficult to even get a glimpse of, which was why the mission was so expensive despite being a perpetual one.
Hopefully, they’d find more techniques on how to effectively find or even grown time during this mission.
"Hello, I’m the leader of this group, Beru," the only level 40 said. He was a large guy with rounded ears. It was a black bear orc, though somehow diluted because his only animalistic quality were his ears.
They were curious whether his abilities were still that of orcs or was he essentially human?
The rescue team they were tagging along with was a group of three dozen people around level 20 to level 30, and one level 40. There were also two half-orcs at level 15.
They could not send too powerful a force here because the enemy were villages.
The orc-owned territories were mostly villages, though their comprehensive strength was far more than that due to its occupants, which was a great advantage over their enemies of the same tier.
Technically speaking, the rescue team could not cause damage to the territory since the levels were too far apart, which was why it was purely a rescue mission and they would only be on the defensive.
Even the two level 15 half orcs would be limited in movements, but at least they could enter the village without setting alarm bells everywhere. Even then, if they were not careful, they could still trigger the heavy penalties.
One had to know that penalties were in percentage, not a lump sum amount. If a village broke this rule, they might just owe a few hundred gold.
If a city did the same, they would definitely owe tens of thousands as penalty, if not hundreds depending on the damage they caused.
"Don’t you have associated towns? Why not send them?" She couldn’t help but ask. At the very least, towns had far less chances of getting penalized. Even if they did get penalized, the punishment was far less than cities.
This made Beru look at her. Surprisingly, he even activated a Voice Blocker.
"Because we have other missions."
"Us?" she couldn’t help but ask. If so, she’d feel bad. Fortunately, Beru shook his head. "We’ll explain when we get there."
It seemed like there was more to this rescue mission than just taking away the women and helping Althea and Garan reduce their travel time.
Judging by his tone, it was a secret only Beru and a few of the people there were aware of.
Regardless, even if she were curious, it was obviously not the time to discuss it, and neither of the couple pushed for it.
The entire group just headed out together, with many admiring people watching their departure (guards here had an even higher local standing). They didn’t expect that there was a late addition to the group, however.
A handsome buff man with a lot of tattoos appeared along their way. His strong arms were crossed over his chest and he looked at them in interest.
He had an imposing presence and even if they hadn’t gone close to him, people’s attention would gravitate anyway.
Immediately, the guards were respectful while the mercenaries were intimidated.
"Master Virion!"
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