Chapter 88 - Arson

"Cyril! Did you hear that? Vanessa said it's Rank-B… It must be true!" Myrtle's eyes almost popped out after hearing Vanessa. She tapped Cyril's shoulder to make sure that he's also heard her.

"I heard. Didn't I tell you that it's precious?" Cyril smiled. It requires some skills to appraise an Artifact and determine its rank. Since he's an S-Rank Awakened, his sensitivity to the Aura coming out of an Artifact was very impressive.

Nevertheless, the experts here were also experienced.

Only Awakened like them could vaguely guess the rank of an Artifact just by looking at it.

"Cyril, where did you find this Magic Orb Crystal?" Allan suddenly joined the conversation as he fixed his cuff. The Magic Orb looks similar to the other low-rank Artifacts but the Aura emitting from it couldn't be mistaken at all.

This is definitely a high-rank Artifact which shouldn't be existing here in the first place!

"It's hidden somewhere at the shallow part of the lake. It's being hidden by many small pebbles and dirt… I was just lucky to find it since I was blinded by the sun's reflection coming from it."

Cyril truthfully answered. He didn't need to tell them that he was brought there because of his Pixie's Lucky Token.

'From their reaction, it seems they're really not expecting to find this item here. It means that it was probably from first Explorers who conquered this Arcane World.'

Cyril made a guess.

"This is a good item. Are you willing to sell this to me?" Vanessa asked seductively…

However, Cyril will no longer fall for such tricks. He already learned from his experience thanks to Karen.

"Ugh… I'm sorry, I might have a use for this… If I'm done playing with it, I'll be selling it immediately. I promise." Cyril replied with a smile.

As long as he didn't give an exact date, there wouldn't be any problems even if he makes such a promise.

Vanessa seemed to have understood this as she dejectedly put down the Crystal. She's probably regretting now that their Association has a rule that all treasures they found in this world would be their possession.

"Alright, alright…"

Vanessa answered as she looked at the other items… There's a couple of potion recipe books, an elementary array formation guidebook, weapons like knives, clawed gauntlet, and others…

"These are Arcanite Fruits… I suggest you guys eat them instead of selling them for money. Since both of you have just recently Awakened, you'll be able to benefit a lot from it." Axel said as he finished inspecting the fruits.

Nevertheless, only Myrtle seems to be excited about the fruits. Most likely, the others here have already eaten better Arcanite Fruit than the one they have.

Aside from that Rank-B Magic Orb, there's nothing that really caught their attention since most of these items are only at Rank-F or E.

"Ahh… we still have another one." Myrtle realized that she's still sipping some wine in her canteen from time to time.

Vanessa chuckled as she realized what kind of Artifact it is...

She took the canteen and checked it for a moment to confirm that it was indeed the Drunkard's Item before she returned it to Myrtle.

"Don't drink too much. It doesn't have infinite magic to convert water into wine… You have to savor it."

"Ahh… Yes… Cyril told me about it." Myrtle nodded as she kept that canteen on her body.

"Good—"

Vanessa was about to say something more when a light suddenly came and formed a human figure.

"Valerie? You're super late!" Vanessa recognized her immediately and called her out.

"Ahh… I'm sorry. There was a problem in another branch…"

"A problem in another branch? Why would you involve yourself on that."

"Ugh… It's a long story… Anyway, is that all the treasures they collected?" Valerie said as she pointed at the stone platform.

"Nope, that's just Cyril's collection. Oh, together with Myrtle." Vanessa answered.

There are about 20 treasures on the platform!

Valerie was impressed as she clearly knows how difficult to find more than ten treasures in just eight hours!

'Does he possess some sort of treasure detecting device?' Valerie immediately thought. However, she doesn't have much time for this so she immediately shifted her attention to Allan, the only Rank-B Expert Awakened here.

"Sir Allan, we need your assistance outside. I can handle everything here…"

"Oh? Is it related to the other branch?" Allan asked.

Valerie paused for a moment before answering.

"Well, everyone will know as well once we go outside so I guess there's no problem saying it here."

Her words caught everyone's attention as they listened intently.

"Unfortunately, our Awakened Association Branch at Torstein City was attacked by a group of criminals… Though the strongest in their group were C-Rank Awakened, there's over ten of them, so I had to make sure that everything is safe before I could return here…"

As soon as she finished talking, everyone was shocked especially Cyril.

'I didn't know anything about this… Xagan, are you sure I regressed and I wasn't transported to a parallel universe?'

'You're being too imaginative… Try using that imagination of yours and make some impressive wish, Contractor.'

'Never mind…'

Cyril pondered for a moment but he really couldn't recall any attacks against the Awakened Association at this date.

"Is it serious?" Vanessa asked. It's weird for a small group of criminals to attack the Association that holds incredible power throughout the whole country.

"Well, it was settled by our own groups of Awakened who arrived at the scene as quickly as possible. Though a few criminals managed to flee for a while, most of them were still captured by the members of the Saint Torido Clan who decided to help us. Only two people are on the run..." Valerie explained.

Thinking about it, the Torstein Clan was indeed the Saint Torido Clan's main headquarters. No wonder they got involved in this farce.

"Did you hear what's their purpose for attacking the Association?"

This time, it was asked by Leon who seems to be interested in the topic.

"It's still under investigation. However, what was told to the public was that this incident is just a normal arson case. So keep it in mind."

As soon as Valerie said this, Cyril finally realized why he couldn't remember this incident. They actually arranged a cover-up story to block the truth from spreading!

"Alright, enough of that…" Valerie said as she looked at the new recruits holding their bags.

"It seems that you guys have a bountiful harvest… Right, for the supplementary materials you guys found here, it's better if you sell them to our Association. As for the core materials, you can consider saving them up until you have use for it or just sell them to us right now so you don't have to worry where to place them."

Valerie announced.

The core materials she mentioned were considered treasures like the Ember Crow's eggs, precious beast bones, Arcanite Fruits, rare stones, and others.

On the other hand, the supplementary materials weren't counted as treasures. They can be called common items found in the Arcane World. This includes the red feather that Myrtle collected from the Ember Crows, the Spriggan's twigs and heart, and other common ingredients like herbs and flowers found here

Myrtle looked at Cyril as if she's asking whether it's alright to follow her advice.

The young man nodded as he was also planning to sell some of the treasures he found. After all, he felt that they weren't useful for Bonnie and for him. He could easily purchase something better if he wanted to.

He only decided to keep the recipe book, guide book, Rank-B Magic Orb Crystal, Arcanite Fruits, and a bracelet Artifact.

As soon as they have gotten out of the Arcane World, no one immediately left the room as they allowed the scanners to double-check whether something unwanted came out with them.

After 15 seconds of waiting, the alarm didn't sound so they were allowed to leave the premises…

"Those who are willing to sell their items to us, follow me…" Valerie said.

On the other hand, the experts and Vanessa went to check the situation of the Association Branch. One could tell that Vanessa seems to be pissed off by this atrocious attack.

'It shouldn't be something big, right? I never heard of any organization that is against the Awakened Association anyway. They're either eliminated quickly or they just do not exist at all…'

Cyril wanted to just dismiss this incident but he suddenly recalled that Torstein City is where the Vampire Outbreak would start and will gravely suffer.

'Is it related? Ugh… I guess I'm thinking too much.'

Cyril then looked around and noticed that only he and Myrtle followed Valerie for the items to be taken care of.

Myrtle noticed this as well as she sighed in defeat.

"I guess they're already too rich and didn't need money. They're probably thinking of displaying their first treasures in their house or something…"

"Well, that sounds about right. I don't think that they're lacking money aside from the two D-Ranked Awakened who became Leon's lackey..." Cyril agreed.

Since this is their first exploration, he thought that they might find their first treasures with some sentimental value and collect them instead to be displayed at their home.

'However, that Leon guy really ran so fast…' Cyril couldn't help but chuckle after noticing that he disappeared already. The previous arrogant guy has been silent whenever he meets his eyes a while ago.

Leon's ego was now probably so damaged as he couldn't even find half of the treasures Cyril found. found…

Soon, Cyril and Myrtle were introduced to Nancy, the clerk at the Trades and Industry Department within the Awakened Association.

She helped them convert their materials and Artifacts into money…

Cyril earned a total of 1.4 million Ains while Myrtle earned 320,000 Ains from the supplementary materials she collected throughout their exploration…