Chapter 144 - Closer

During the past month, Cyril had become even stronger.

Though he could no longer find any undiscovered Entrance Crystals, he decided to join several Arcane Explorations which allowed him to gain more battle experience.

Right now, he can confidently say that he's already used to his S-Rank Aura.

Unfortunately, he had only been to mid-class Arcane Worlds so the strongest Magical Beasts he had ever fought with was only a Werewolf. It is even a lone boss monster, or the strongest magical creature, within that world.

"Cyril! You're really strong! Why don't you just become our permanent member?"

A man in his late twenties patted Cyril's back as soon as they got out of the Crystal Room. This man is wearing full armor, a helmet, and even a red cape. It is completely unlike Cyril who's only wearing a set of leather armor.

The contrast is too huge.

One appears like a noble knight while the other seemed to be a poor mercenary.

However, if someone with keen eyes looked closely at Cyril's leather armor, vambrace, and shin guard, they would notice that they are all made of a Werewolf's Leather! They are all at a Rank-A Artifact and he managed to have such a set thanks to the Old Crafter's help.

A couple of weeks ago when he dealt with the Boss Werewolf during one of his Explorations, he received the leather as a reward.

He then commissioned the old man to make him a set of armor which cost him more than a million Ains just for the labor cost as it includes a bit of enchantment as well.

This leather armor has an active defense and even allows him to reflect some magic damage! Though it is not at the peak of a Rank-A Artifact, it is still quite a decent one amongst the Rank-A.

In short, his leather armor is still a lot better than the steel full-body armor of the man beside him. After all, it is only for B-Rank Awakened.

"Sir Ryuzaki… I'll think about it. However, in case you are planning to explore some unknown Arcane World, I would be thankful if you let me join." Cyril replied shamelessly.

"Haha! I'll think about it as well." The man just laughed before he left with his team.

"Bye, Cyril! See you later!"

"Call me if you need a Transporter!"

"Me too, I will give you a discount."

A group of three Rank-F Awakened waved to Cyril before following Ryuzaki's team.

They have just completed an Arcane Exploration and these three are their Transporters or Helpers. After all, unlike Cyril, the Phantom Troupe doesn't have any Interspatial Ring or Dimensional Storage Space. They needed some people who would carry things for them.

"Don't worry… I'll ask you if I needed help." Cyril could only reply trying not to look like a snob. After all, he's confident that there will not be a time that he'll need transporters.

Anyway, the three Transporters had a good impression on him after he performed really well during the Arcane Exploration.

His sword skills including his great movement technique made an impression on the group. His skills seemed like he's one of the veteran Arcane Explorers of the Phantom Troupe!

'Ahh... Should I exchange my contributions points again?' Cyril recalled that he now has 7,100 Contribution Points.

Just now, they explored a mid-class Arcane World filled with Orcs so they didn't find that much here. At the very least, they have completed their mission and mapped the Arcane World allowing them to earn a total of 3,000 Points which was divided among the team.

'Ugh… I guess I should wait a bit more. I already have a good set of Artifacts anyway. I'll just use it to buy top-level information later.' Cyril thought as he looked in the direction where Ryuzaki left.

Apparently, one of the perks of joining their Exploration Team was to access their precious treasury and the Association's Contribution Points can be used to transact there.

Not only that, but he could also access their trading system that is connected to other private organizations sponsoring their team. However, Cyril's concern is that he would have to be tied with that team of elites for a very long time and their schedule is a lot busier.

If he focused too much on his exploration, then he wouldn't have time to complete his real task.

He can't allow that to happen for the sake of some Artifacts after all.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Cyril just got out of the Association Headquarters when he received a phone call from Britta.

"Hey! I finally got a connection with that guild you mentioned! Keke! I used up five Lesser Healing Potion for that, by the way." Britta didn't say unnecessary things and got to the point.

"Finally! It's a good thing you made a connection to them. How did you do it?" Cyril asked curiously. The guild that she mentioned is actually the Nine Crows Guild!

It is a guild in Traoland Archiplego which is really far from the country.

Though the Black Market here is quite influential, it shouldn't be at an international level at the moment. Unless he's only clueless… which seemed to be the case.

"Hehe! I was lucky. It seems that their group is investigating something about the new S-Rank Awakened who appeared about a month ago. Then, they heard about my shop dealing with the Lesser Healing Potions you produced. He didn't even hesitate to purchase an expensive artificial Entrance Crystal to gain access to the city after our deal. Haha!"

"Great… I assume you already know some things about the Arcane World I'm looking for?" Cyril was now excited. He's getting closer to his goals a lot faster than he expected. It might not even take a year for him to find the Fruit of Life!

"Hehe… Of course. Their Nine Crows Guild indeed has a High-Class Dragon World! However, their exploration cost them too many deaths and sealed it for now.. They are only thinking of exploring it again once they found a couple of Rank-S Artifacts for their S-Rank Awakened."