Chapter 115 Stealing Session! Part-1.
Nicolas District was named after a previous SS-ranker Nicolas Arsene. He was famous for his love for great Wine and his amazing Earth magic.
After Nicolas died together with the Orc King in the fifty-year Orc war, his hometown's name was changed and named after him, in his memory.
Rio looked at the Giant statue of Nicolas standing proudly in the central area of the grand market. The statue depicts Nicolas as holding wine in one hand and a grimoire in another.
'It seems they take care of this statue regularly... It's so clean and doesn't even have a?single speck of dust on it...' (Rio)
The person in charge of cleaning this statue is taking his job quite seriously. (The families that Nicolas saved in his lifetime are paying his generosity back by taking care of this statue.)
Rio looked at the statue for a few seconds, he shook his head and walked towards the statue. He placed his right hand on the leg of the statue and embedded a little bit of his mana into the statue.
'Thanks, Nicolas, I am grateful to you...' (Rio)
After Rio thanked Nicolas for his sacrifice and admitted that he was grateful to him, he suddenly felt a strange warmth surrounding him, as if his thanks had been acknowledged and he seemed to have received a blessing in return.
[Ding! You have obtained the temporary favor of Nicolas Arsene!]
[Time left: 1 day.]
'Good, it's just as it was in the novel... Now to the next step...' (Rio)
Rio withdrew his hand back from the statue. Then Rio pretended he was about to leave. Suddenly, he heard an old voice nearby.
"To think there are still people who care about this statue... Even though it's been nearly 50 years since this statue was placed here... It's indeed a rare sight..." (???)
Hearing the voice Rio looked to his right and saw an old man sitting on a nearby bench. The person looked to be in his 80's, his old and wrinkled face proved, that time had indeed taken its toll on him. When he looked at Rio, a gentle smile appeared on the old and wrinkled face.
'Old man, you nearly gave me a heart attack! I didn't even notice when he came here... My detection is not even working on him... This old man is an S-ranker after all...' (Rio)
Although Rio knew that this old man would appear, he was still surprised how Rio couldn't even detect him approaching from such a close vicinity.
"Uh, are you perhaps... Thomas Arsene?" (Rio)
Hearing Rio, the old man's widened in shock and his smile widened even further.
"Oh my, to think there are still people who know about this old man, this is even greater of a surprise... I had already retired 50 years ago..." (Thomas)
"Haha, today must be a lucky day, I have met an interesting kid today... What's your name kiddo?" (Thomas)
Rio answered in his emotionless tone.
"I am Rio Flash" (Rio)
Then Rio glanced at the statue and said:
"I am one of his fans. I have heard many of his stories in my childhood. My mother used to tell me about his great deeds..." (Rio)
(Rio is lying. But it's true that Nicolas indeed was a good person and he did many great and noble deeds for the sake of humanity's future.)
Thomas glanced at the statue of Nicolas with a smile on his face and said:
"Haha, that kid indeed was a good child, he always had a great sense for justice..." (Thomas)
After seemingly reminiscing about something for a few seconds, Thomas looked at Rio and said in an emotional tone:
"He is lucky to have such a good-natured kid like you as his fan..." (Thomas)
After saying this, Thomas got up from the bench and slowly walked towards Rio. His steps were slow yet steady, if not for the fact that Rio knew beforehand no one would expect, that this frail-looking old man used to be one of the few strongest S-rankers of his time.
"Here take this, it's nothing special but at least it can be considered a lucky charm..." (Thomas)
Thomas stretched out his hand and a golden medal lay on his palm. His palm had many scars on them, which were left after he was tortured once during his military service in the war. (He didn't have access to healing potions at that time, the supply chain was cut short for his battalion, and he was captured by the enemies. Luckily, Nicolas rescued him on time.)
(Once your wounds are healed naturally and the scar is left for a long time, then even high-rank healing potions can't make them disappear. You would need the healing of either a peak S ranker or above, or you would need a supreme-grade potion for making those old scars disappear and recover your skin to its original state.)
The medal in Thomas's palm had the letter 'A' printed in the center of it and was surrounded by many stars, it's beautiful and elegant looking.
Rio took the medal from Thomas's palm.
After giving the medal to Rio, Thomas shook his head and sighed in relaxation.
"This is a remembrance that Nicolas left behind, age is getting up to me, it's better to leave it in the care of a youngster like you..." (Thomas)
Rio nodded his head.
"I will take good care of it..." (Rio)
Just when Rio was about to put the medal in his space ring, Thomas suddenly interrupted by saying...
"Hmm, that space ring... are you perhaps a student of the Great Freya academy?" (Thomas)
"Yes" (Rio)
"Haha...then, It seems you have a bright future... no wonder I can't even sense your rank, you must have some extraordinary talent...." (Thomas)
Thomas laughed for a few seconds. (Bro is trying to pull someone's grandma with that smile of his... cough! Keep your grandma safe fellow Cultivators... cough!)
"Sigh~ look at me wasting your time, I should leave now, take care kid, and grow up to be a fine man, haha" (Thomas)
After saying that Thomas nodded his head towards Rio and left with a gentle smile on his old face. He seems to be in a good mood today.
Thomas disappeared into the crowd after giving the medal to Rio. He left as fast as he had come, his temperament indeed matches, those of the big shots. (Most of the time, popular people don't stay more than five minutes after arriving at an unimportant place... it's just an opinion though don't take it to heart...)
Rio looked at the medal and put it in his space ring.
'This one was easy to get...' (Rio)
...
The 'A' printed on the medal represents 'Arsene', this medal was once rewarded to Nicolas Arsene by General Thomas Arsene, in honor of saving the lives of a hundred civilians during a dungeon wave.
Thomas Arsene may have retired from his position of 'General' long ago, but he is still a peak S ranker. He is not in the service right now, but he still has his indomitable strength under that old and frail body.
He was known as Thomas the 'Savage Beast', because he used to make meat-pastes of his enemies using his Earth magic, by crushing them in the grasp of giant stone hands.
His fighting methods were savage and barbaric. The soldiers under his service used to say that they would rather commit suicide than get punished by him.
(There's an old saying: 'The older a mage is the more knowledgeable they are and the stronger they are.')
After the death of his son Nicolas Arsene, Thomas retired from the army, he have no grandchildren or any other family members. Nowadays, Thomas regularly visits Nicolas's statue every day during the morning.
This medal is one of the key items to reach the chance Rio is currently looking for. With this one in hand, he only needs to collect three more.
...
Originally, Fade and Kira would pass by this Grand Market during a random hangout and while sitting on the bench near the statue of Nicolas, they would encounter Thomas staring at the statue with sadness in his eyes.
Kira would immediately recognize him. (She has an extraordinary amount of knowledge about history...)
She would take Fade and pay their respects to the statue by putting their mana in the statue. They will also get the favor of Nicolas for a day.
(A mana stone is embedded in the statue, which powers the lights around the statue. Thomas maintains the statue every day and puts his mana to power the lights.)
Thus, when they help Thomas by powering the mana stone with their mana, Thomas rewards them with this medal, which later turns out to be an important key item for receiving a greater reward.
As you may have already guessed, these heaven's blessed children are really lucky, they can get amazing things with minimal effort. If not for the fact that Rio already knew about how to obtain this medal, it would have been quite a difficult task.
Moreover, Thomas could have easily caught his lies if he didn't have 'True immunity' in his arsenal.
Those who lie to vicious-hearted people like Thomas, don't end well. (Thomas has a gentle smile on his face, but he is a cold-hearted person, he only understood the value of Nicolas after his death, otherwise, Thomas used to curse at Nicolas regularly saying that Nicolas was a cursed child who killed his mother at birth.)
Rio looked at the place where Thomas disappeared, one last time, before deciding to leave this place.
'It would be better if I don't see that old fox again, if not for the fact that I knew his real personality from the novel, I would have been fooled by him and would have thought of him as a gentle and kind old man he shows himself to be...' (Rio)
Rio shook his head and left the place. He didn't want to get involved in any other trouble right now. He still has quite a few things to do today.
The favor Rio got from the statue, would only last one day, he had to get it all sorted in just one day. (The favor he received from the statue is also an important thing for obtaining the chance Rio is looking for.)
'Now to the second one...' (Rio)
...
...
Author's Notes.
Yo! Your beloved author is here! This continuous upload day 10. Let's go!
Question of the day.
What would you do if you were to become as lucky as Fade, for one day?
1. Do the lottery (Getting rich would be a piece of cake with that much luck on your side.)
2. Confess (Perhaps the insane luck might get you a girlfriend for the first time in your life, thus confessing to your crush is also a great option.)
3. Gamble (With great luck supporting you, it may be the best job for you, thus becoming a gambler might prove to be a better profession for you.)
4. Other (Tell me in the comments.)
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