Chapter 657: Prelude to Chaos: Eternal Hardships for Eternal Growth

"Are you planning to take part in the conflict between the two organizations?"

Ari asked worriedly as she watched Marie slaving away at her project. The latter stayed busy operating on arrays while answering her.

"Well… I don't want to. But there's nothing I can do if there's an order from above. I've already upset my superiors by not finding any clue regarding that wretched Ronny."

Marie commented and her expression changed into that of anger. She and Ari had both come to realize that they had been played by Ronny into following him. It was because of this pursuit that the Beast Bloods had come into conflict with the Illuminati.

The guy had just disappeared from the face of this world after he had done what he did. It was he who made two cult groups fight each other for something the Beast Bloods weren't even sure what it was.

Ari pursed her lips before commenting.

"Yeah. We shouldn't have followed him. He baited us into doing exactly what he wanted us to do. But that was in the past, Marie. What's done is done.

And I have an idea where we can get our new start."

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Just then the remaining four cauldrons were imploded and Marie stopped operating on the controlling arrays. Despite her failures, she had a mild smile on her face as she mumbled to herself.

'Hehehe. I'm more sure of it now than before. This procedure works. It would work if I can get just the right neutralizer.'

Marie dusted off her hands and shut off the potion lab's experiments. She used the kill switch array and all the runic inscriptions on the apparatus and arrays stopped glowing. The mana fluctuations in the lab almost disappeared.

Marie then used a wind-element array to clean the foul air within the lab before replying to Ari with a smile on her face.

"Are you talking about Minerva's Utopia, Ma Cheri?"

Ari nodded before replying.

"That's right, Marie. Minerva was a Sage potioner. Her Utopia would surely have a solution for your problems. Or point you in the right direction.

Let's visit and check it out. I've heard that the guild that's handling the entrance to the Utopia would make the Utopia open to every adventurer for a set fee on some days. There's no reason for you to not try your luck. If you need me, I'll be there for you."

Ari said while playing with the empty test tube that was kept on the array control platform. Marie looked at Ari playing with the test tube intently before responding.

"Hehe. I had been planning to do just that ever since I heard that it was a Utopia created especially for potion makers. I can tell Beast Bloods that Ronny's trail ends near the city of New Beginnings.

We'd have a valid reason to visit the place after that. We would also avoid all the problems. There would be no need for us to participate in the conflict between two cultist organizations fighting it out.

But what about your duties as the guardian of the city of Silvermoon?"

Marie walked near Ari as she said that. She took Ari's test tube and began to play with it in the same manner. Ari smirked at Marie before answering her.

"Meh! I'll just quit. Let those elf fogies sort out their business. I can just say that I'll have to set off on an exploration."

It was decided that Marie and Arizihana would visit the Nightshade duchy and Minerva's Utopia in the future. But at this point, they had more pertinent things to do.

***

The borders between Besanc and LA. 3 PM.

A spacious check-post-like facility that featured array controls of all the nearby security and surveillance arrays. A ranker was sipping Frostfoam ale inside the spacious room with various amenities.

Drinking ale even before the day is over. This woman was used to a laid-back lifestyle.

She was assigned as the middle person between the Amazons and LA. She was also in charge of this check post.

This D-Rank woman had a very attractive and cute face. She had a curvaceous figure that never ceased to garner attention.

Her leisure hours were spent imbuing her mana sense into a runic stele to improve her elemental attainment while drinking Frostfoam. Usual stuff. Usual day.

Knock. Knock.

A knock was heard on the door and she let the visitor in with a loud "come in."

A young woman entered the room. She had dark brown hair and a cute face. She was in her complete ranger attire. Something she found comfy in.

"Adept Marla, there's an encrypted message that has come for you."

Almera gave Marla an array disk that she had collected from one of LA's facilities. It was an encrypted message intended for Marla.

Marla raised her eyebrows before taking the array disk from her and putting it in front of her on her desk. She scanned it with her mana sense to see who had sent it.

Almera was about to leave the room. But Marla stopped her.

"Almera, you might want to hear this."

Marla said and imbued the array disk with her mana. In the next moment, the array disk projected a miniature, spectral body of a young man with black hair and green eyes.

Marla knew this person. He had served as her apprentice for a while. And now he had sent her this message.

"Greetings, Adept Marla. I don't know where I'll be when this message reaches you. But I know where my guild would be when it does. Hehe.

You must have heard about the White Raven guild by now, I'm sure. Remember the opportunity I talked to you about at the time of my departure? I'm glad to announce that the time has come.

White Raven is my guild. And I would appreciate it if you could join my guild. Please consider this offer from your humble apprentice."

The mini Eren smiled and waved goodbye before his spectral image stopped floating above the array disk.

Almera was a bit surprised when she saw it was Eren who had sent Marla this message. She had heard about the commotion that had been caused by Minerva's utopia. She hadn't dug deep enough to discover Eren was the founder of the guild. The almost nameless guild master of the White Raven guild was just seen as something that was put in place by either House Derringer or House Montmorency.

Almera was about to ask Marla for something when the spectral message was played once again.

"Oh! By the way, if Adept Almera is listening, please allow me to extend the same invitation to you as well. I would like nothing more than to have a ranger like you onboard in my guild.

Right now, I'm not much. My guild has nothing to show for it.

I also know that I and my guild have been undermined in all of this. And I'm fine with it."

The spectral Eren had a smile on his face. The kind of smile both ladies had seen on his face before he would come up with his schemes. But this smile had another facet to it. As if he was speaking something extremely personal to them.

"I won't promise you anything right now because that would only come off as a sales pitch. Just know this. My guild and I won't be undervalued forever.

What's so fun about staying in a comfortable place all the time? A ranker's path demands eternal hardships for eternal growth.

That's it. Looking forward to seeing you both in the Nightshade duchy.

And yeah. White Raven would have plenty of Frostfoam in stock, Adept Marla. Just letting you know. Hehe."

Marla started laughing when she heard the scheming fellow's last words in the message. With an excited-for-adventure voice, she asked Almera.

"Almera, what do you think?"

The ranger had so many questions in her mind. But in the end, she just dropped them all for the time being and smiled before responding.

"I'll follow you in your decisions, as always."

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