MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

As the triumphant celebration unfolded, Alex and his group also joined, showering Hecate with heartfelt words of congratulations.

Yet, as the fervor of the moment gradually subsided, Hecate, amidst the lingering echoes of cheers, gracefully beckoned Alex aside, her expression hinting at the need for a more private conversation.

Hecate expression unmistakably conveyed the burden weighing on her mind, signaling that she was not in the best mental state, and when they found a moment of privacy, she earnestly requested a meeting with the Domain Ruler, emphasizing her urgent need for his assistance.

She further made clear that the Domain Ruler could meet her, and she could explain the situation, or he could just come to the island, and the situation would be made clear by the Zaratan turtle, who was in the process of awakening from its deep slumber.

Hecate was even willing to give away her share of the Tomb treasure to make this deal, but Alex declined her generosity as he assured her that the organization could arrange a meeting with Domain Ruler.

Alex didn't need to make a wild guess to know that Hecate had learned the reality of the Devourer Curse and how it was only a matter of time before it spread like a plague on every continent.

However, such information would be seen as an opportunity by Hecate, even if she held compassion for the inhabitants of the Ancient World.

So Alex guessed her source of worry stemmed from the responsibility given to her, which could certainly involve Oberon the Dragon Monarch, because why else would Hecate be required to make the Domain Ruler visit the island.

Hecate was relieved with the confirmation and, following that, led Alex and his group into the treasure chamber while informing him how the key was her legacy weapon, so she couldn't keep her promise.

Alex didn't try to take advantage of her, even though she offered to compensate him by offering him two items of his choice instead of one from the Tomb Treasury.

Alex's deal with Ravenglades granted him one item of his choice and 60% of all treasures in the tomb, and to say the treasury was going to make both of the involved parties rich would be an understatement.

The treasury had little gold and, by little meaning, a few hundred space rings filled with currencies of various continents, but money held the least value in the entire treasury.

The Ravenglades guild never disclosed the amount they made from the treasury, but few estimated it to be in a range of 20 to 70 billion white flame coins worth of assets.

However, after Zero calculated the worth of all the items, the number came 17 times higher at 1193 billion white flame coins worth of assets.

The majority of value came from the various legacies, including the single SSS Rank legacy, various mythical and legendary treasures, and a number of highest-tier magical scrolls.

While the majority of high-tier items will only bolster the strength of the guild and do not directly benefit it, everything else, from the legacies, money, resources, artifacts, and so on, would truly give a guild a new life.

Besides the items whose value could be calculated, there was a treasure of information on many fields, ranging from research on various potions recipes, smithing, and magic circles to magical beats, races, diseases, cures, and so on.

Alex shamelessly selected the Dragon King's legacy, knowing whom to give, while earning a grand total of 716 billion worth of assets, adding several high-rank battle puppets, warships, mana canon, Pulse screechers, barriers, and other weapons of war.

Alex also took the majority of high-Rank blueprints of both potions and equipment, as he already had a Forgeking ready to work for him, and it wouldn't be hard to find a high-grade Alchemist willing to arm his organization.

They divided the collection of information 60-40, and after an hour, Alex and the group, happy with their haul, made their way back to the ship area, and minutes later, left the island.

Alex met with Hecate after a day to hear what she had to say, and as he had expected, Oberon was still alive even though he was in a cryonic slumber.

Hecate was given the legacy with the only condition that she would do her absolute best to cure Oberon, and she was told that her only hope of acquiring a cure was through The Ruler of the Malefis Domain.

In other words, Hecate was being told to become a servant to the Demain Ruler if needed and do as he says in the hope of one day acquiring the cure to the curse, and she was not shy to share it and even voice her agreement to work for him.  

Hecate shared that she and her guild were willing to cooperate with him and his organization, but if Alex or the organization planned to abuse their need, then she would be removed from her position as the guild's leader, and it could also mean the end of her career.

Hecate had indefinite times to make efforts to make a connection with the Domain Ruler, but she needed her best unless she wanted to experience temporary law restriction, which would get worse the more mistakes she made.

Whether by fortune or misfortune, Hecate had the means to contact the Domain Ruler, so she didn't have a choice but to come clean to Alex and offer everything she could and hope they could reach an agreement.

Alex felt a bit of sympathy for Hecate, as her life was in his hands, and if he wanted, he could take advantage of the situation, but by being a generous friend, he could have himself a valuable and dependable ally.

So, without any major demands besides telling her what being a friend of the organization would mean, he promised to heal Oberon when he acquired a survivable cure.

The meeting concluded as Hecate departed after handing him a tracker adorned with the distinctive soul mark of the Zaratan turtle.

After three days, Alex visited the Zaratan turtle simply to inform him of how he had received the request and to help his friend, and he would help Oberon to the best of his ability.

Nougnensal the turtle expressed appreciation and extended his unconditional assistance if ever needed, and with no other matters to attend to, Alex returned to the domain.

Alex returned to his old training routine, but as the Mythical Beast Continent event was going to begin in a bit over five weeks, he also began to focus on participating in the tournament matches.

It took Alex three, two weeks of time and seventy matches to reach the first rank on the leaderboard, and once he did, he stayed there for the remainder of the days, earning a solid chunk of event points.

Alex rarely received any challenges, as Zero knew none among the players had a chance to beat him, while the players knew challenging him would cost them both respect and at least a tenth of their points.

It was smooth sailing for Alex as he spent the five weeks grinding, reaching multiple goals as he not only almost completed his mana vessel but also pushed all his base stats to above 80k each.

The only disappointment he had was the demons, as he found little about what they could be planning.

When after two months, he visited all the clans he had hired, and they all had the same info that the demonic cult members were securing the places, places that imprisoned the Chaos Spawns.

Elder Darrien shared how killing Chaos Spawns would release dense chaos energy, which could ruin a landmass if not contained, which was why such deadly creatures had their chaos hearts, their source of power, removed and sealed.

After learning this info, Alex reached the conclusion that Ahrimon could be planning to plunge the landmass into a state of chaos and set free his devourer beasts to reap the benefits.

But Elder Darrien was quick to deny the possibility because releasing untamed chaos energy on the human landmass will not just affect humans and make them go mad but will burn through their vitality, killing the bulk of Mortal Rank individuals.

Anything with vitality will suffer the same fate, including the Devourer beats, who are vessels of vitality, but even if this was what he had planned, no more than 15% to 25% of the Human population would die, which didn't match the 80% confirmed by Zero.

So either Ahrimon was trying to trick Alex and his guardians to divert their attention, or he truly had something planned with the Choas Spawn Generals.

Elder Darrien even searched through the memories of a few of the ranked cult members to see if they had some info, but he found nothing related besides the orders to protect the Chaos Spawns.

While Alex felt panic at knowing nothing, he also knew that panicking and taking the wrong step would solve nothing, and maybe it was exactly what that manipulative bastard wanted him to do.

The only reason Alex was not putting all his attention into finding the plan was that he was given a timeline of one year, first by Ahrimon and then by Zero through the quest update after the life of the Human Emperor was out of danger.