[You have killed a criminal D-Rank Alchemist.
You've been rewarded with 150 EXP.
You level up.
You have killed an F-Rank Demon—a Contract Demon type.
You have been rewarded with 75 EXP.]
[You have completed the fourth stage: Breaking the Pact.
You've been rewarded with 1,500 EXP and a material drop: Infernal Binding Core, used for advanced rune crafting.
You have level up to 32.
You have gained 6 Free Stat Points.
To continue the last stage, you must ask Sister Elira Dawnwell to trigger it.
In addition, since you have completed all the stages given by Archmage Arlen Mireth, you were the only one who could trigger the last stage.]
Max was deeply satisfied with the series of notifications by the system, especially the last part.
He was even more satisfied by Julian's reaction, who was difficult to read.
In the end, Julian's face turned grave as he stared at Max with narrowed eyes.
He said, "So, it's a war, then."
Without hesitation, he turned around and left.
The other party members quickly followed Julian, leaving Jaden behind.
Jaden, on the other hand, didn't know what to do now. The village quest was significantly important to him.
Even that slipped through his fingers.
He thought. If even the Lewis Guild couldn't tame him, how shameful for me to believe I can make him my puppet.
He was even more certain of his assumptions after he saw Max's hostile aura was directed at him.
His shoulder dropped low as he turned around and left in silence.
He thought Max would stop him, but, it turned out, after he left by climbing to the roof where they entered, Max had not spoken a single word.
After Max was assured he had secured the village quest, he completely neglected Jaden.
The disparity between them was quite high. Max wouldn't even be surprised that Jaden was only rewarded with a single skill—Arcane Bolt.
He must have failed to gain a perfect evaluation from Archmage Arlen to be rewarded with the same rewards as Max.
Max, on the other hand, ruminated deeply on what it meant to be at war with the Lewis Family inside Apocalypse Online.
The Lewis Family was wealthy, no doubt. When a player has a war against them, it wouldn't always be good for the player, especially when the wealthy Lewis' son would put a bounty on the said player.
Max mumbled, "I wonder, how much I'm worth? I would feel better if it's higher than my parents' accumulated debt to that loan shark."
He chuckled. He shook his head and decided to return to Archmage Arlen to give the material dropped by the demon.
…
Archmage Arlen was currently teaching inside the Instruction Hall.
When the door was knocked, Archmage Arlen instantly had an idea of who it was.
He simply turned silent and said, "Come in."
Max opened the door.
He had to politely knock now. Last time, he just opened the door, which greatly startled Archmage Arlen.
He was scolded, as a result.
Archmage Arlen suddenly walked towards him and said, "We'll talk outside."
Max nodded and paved the way for Archmage Arlen to leave the door as he closed it.
He and Max were now talking in the hallway.
Archmage Arlen asked, "How about it? Did you get rid of the pact?"
Max nodded. "Yes. The demon, as expected, manifested. I killed him and got this from him."
Max took out the Infernal Binding Core and gave it to Archmage Arlen.
Archmage Arlen's eyes widened. After he accepted it, he scrutinized it closer and said, "This is quite a high-quality infernal demon core. I didn't expect this from a Rank F Demon.
You don't have any uses for it anyway. I'll buy it from you."
Max raised his index finger and smiled innocently.
Archmage Arlen was taken aback. "One silver coin?"
Max rolled his eyes. "One. Gold. Coin." He stressed the second word.
Archmage Arlen rolled his eyes. "Don't push your luck. 50 Silver Coins."
Max extended his hand, asking for a handshake, as he immediately said, "Deal."
Archmage Arlen was speechless.
He unwillingly took out a pouch of silver coins from his pocket, having exactly 50 pieces of them.
He stared at Max, who accepted it with an elated face.
This guy… He knows that a Common rank item like this is only 20 silver coins and less, but baited me to buy it for 50 silver coins.
He shrugged as Max caressed the pouch like a money-grubbing merchant.
Whatever. I just have to make a rune that is worth ten times more than it.
He turned towards Max and said, "Anyway, the mission is not done yet. The lingering demonic mana is still affecting other citizens.
Go to Sister Elira Dawnwell and lead her to cleanse the three corruption nodes you have discovered."
Max nodded.
He turned around and, for some reason, recalled the wise archer's story.
He sighed. His wife must have been corrupted by the demonic energy. As for his daughter dying from a disease… Perhaps, demonic energy is involved with it, too.
I have to avenge him, at least.
In fact, Max wouldn't know if avenging the wise archer would do any good to him.
The wise archer had already found peace, peace in his job, peace that he found within himself after having been swallowed by darkness once.
As Max left the Arcane Cottage to proceed to the Support Sanctum, where Sister Elira could be found, he finally concluded about the wise archer's circumstances.
He thought. I guess, I don't have to tell him about it. I just have to make sure that it won't happen again.
As Max proceeded to the Support Sanctum, he slowly came to the conclusion that at a certain point in his life, getting rid of the demon to avenge the NPC would provide satisfaction to him.
Even if it would turn out to be useless since the world inside Apocalypse Online was just a recorded story in the past…