Chapter 76: Devoted
The Willowmere Relay Hall was one of the most important government facilities in the town.
It served as a connection to Greyfen Village, other villages and town in Mirefall, Dunmarrow capital, and other provincial military outpost.
It was a circular stone structure located near the Garrison Hall.
At the center stood the Relay Core.
The Relay Core was a large cylindrical crystal surrounded by concentric rune rings. It was approximately 3 meters high.
The crystal continuously resonated with identical arrays across the province only.
The network functions similarly to a magical telegraph.
The maintenance and activation cost were absurd. It was enough to consume half of the town’s income.
Thankfully, each Relay Core was built, maintained, and covered by the Imperial Family.
Sergeant Roland led Max to the Relay Core.
A responsible Relay Master was stationed there.
He was a Rune Mage, responsible for maintaining relay arrays, monitoring communication traffic, encoding official messages, and detecting interference.
He spent most of his time in the Relay Core.
Being a Rune Mage required a comprehensive study about the rune language.
Relay Master Cedric Voss worked hard to attain higher rank with the Rune Mage as his foundation.
He aimed to become a noble, for he was born in the Willowmere Village as an orphan.
When Sergeant Roland arrived and came to meet him, he immediately knew it was a Red Priority.
He was wrong.
Sergeant Roland first words were, "Black Priority. Greyfen Village."
Relay Master Cedric immediately activated the Relay Core. It only took a minute before the Rune Resonance Array was activated.
Sergeant Roland said, "Enter this message."
He paused for a while until he glanced at Max.
Max nodded at him and said, "Teacher and Miss Branna are dead. A Greater Demon and his legion ambushed us. Be careful of their invasion. Max."
The Relay Master was utterly shocked he failed to process what Max had said for three breaths of time.
Even when Max tried to hide the identity of his teacher, the moment he mentioned about Branna, he instantly recalled an important announcement of welcoming Archmage Arlen and Blade Saint Branna visiting the town before returning to the capital with a great victory of reclaiming the watchtower.
His accumulated leave of absence should be enough to introduce himself to Archmage Arlen and be his assistant throughout his time in the town. He wished to gain knowledge and experience from Archmage Arlen.
But he died.
He fell into despair.
"Get a grip!" Sergeant Roland exclaimed.
Relay Master Cedric snapped awake and gritted his teeth. He input the messages through his mana, translating them into a rune encode. When he was finished, the array shone, transmitting the message to another rune resonance array in the Greyfen Village.
It took for half an hour before they received a reply.
Relay Master Cedric turned towards Sergeant Roland and gritted his teeth. "They said, "Thank you. We’ll lockdown the village.""
Sergeant Roland nodded and heaved a sigh of relief.
He turned towards Max and planned to provide him a place to stay, when Max continued to gaze at Relay Master Cedric.
Max silently searched through the items inside Archmage Arlen’s storage ring.
He left so many rune books behind, believing I might be convinced to become a Rune mage. I have no need for this.
After Max transferred all the potions and coins to his inventory, Max erased his attunement in the storage ring.
The storage ring only had items consisting books about rune language, so he didn’t feel it was a waste at all.
Relay Master Cedric felt overwhelmed by Max’s intense gaze.
His expression shifted, causing Max to finally snap awake.
He pulled the storage ring from his finger and handed it to Relay Master Cedric, who frantically received the storage ring.
Staring at it on his palm, he turned towards Max with a mind unable to process what had happened.
Max said, "Archmage Arlen gave it to me. The contents are all about rune books I have no use for. He might thought I’d change my mind and became a rune mage because he died.
Since you’ve received his inheritance, don’t disappoint him. Surpass him and revenge him."
Relay Master Cedric trembled. He had mixed reactions.
He was thankful, excited, overwhelmed, pressured... It took him for a while to fully process his thoughts and emotions and finally bowed deeply.
"Thank you!"
Max heard a notification from the system.
[Congratulations! You have established the apex level of relationship status with an NPC.
From "Familiar" to "Devoted".
At the Devoted level of relationship status, the NPC becomes a follower or companion potential. The NPC will take a risk for you. He will share secrets or rare items. He’ll definitely join your guild if you plan to establish.]
Guild... Max fell into deep contemplation.
Ever since Eva died, his conviction of saving the NPCs instantly vanished.
There’s no point in saving them anyway when they are bound to die by demons from the start. As much as I want to save them, their deaths are imminent.
Nevertheless, it’s not bad to establish a guild solely for fighting demons with NPCs as members. I can make use of them.
Max was aware of the benefits of being a guildmaster in Apocalypse Online. He didn’t want to exclude such opportunities.
Just as Max was consumed by his thoughts, Relay Master Cedric turned towards Sergeant Roland and bowed deeply towards him.
"May I ask a permission for Sergeant Roland to retire from my position as I wish to follow this gentleman forever?"
Sergeant Roland was taken aback.
Max, on the other hand, was startled awake.
He said in somber tone, "You should ask for my permission first.
Anyway, I won’t allow you. There’s no need. But in the future, I’ll need you to join my guild. Stay here first until Sergeant Roland find a better replacement for you."
Max turned towards Sergeant Roland and beamed a smile.
Sergeant Roland was dumbfounded. He thought Max didn’t want Relay Master Cedric to follow him at all, but it turned out he only didn’t need him temporarily.
Sergeant Roland sighed.
He nodded helplessly, causing Relay Master Cedric to shout in euphoria...
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