Julian Lewis crawled out of his NovaPro Immersion Pod inside his bedroom, located in one of the Lewis family's mega-mansions in Manhattan.
There was a butler on a stand-by with a towel on his left arm, as he swiftly walked in front of him and asked, "Do you need something, young master?"
Julian was already infuriated. Having been interrupted in his thoughts by his butler, he glared at him and growled, "Get lost."
The butler bowed deeply and left in silence.
However, he stood on the other side of the door, so he could easily respond to his young master's call.
Julian, on the other hand, tried to calm down his boiling anger by controlling the rhythm of his breathing.
He unknowingly dazed at one of the finest paintings with a value of 600,000 US Dollars gifted by his father when he turned sixteen.
After some time of ruminating, he walked towards his desk and took out the latest generation of phone and called his big brother.
Since he and his brother started playing Apocalypse Online simultaneously, after spending 24 hours straight gaming, he was confident that his older brother had already left his gaming pod.
As expected, the call was connected.
He said, "The First Mage has declared a war against you."
The phone call was silent for a while, until a commanding voice echoed from the phone.
"Let's talk in the living room."
"Alright. I'll be there now," said Julian.
He and his elder brother only have a mild relationship.
Gone were the days where they always had each other's back.
Most of the time now, they would discuss business.
Especially when it concerned their personal status inside the game.
Julian's face turned serious as he recalled Max's face and his words.
He snorted. "Let's see how long you'll last."
…
Max, on the other hand, was carefree after offending the Lewis Family.
He had just arrived in the Support Sanctum, waiting for Sister Elira to finish taking care of the sick while instructing the other players how to take care of them.
Max scrutinized each of the players—most of them were female, while some male seemed to have only been interested in the support class to get closer to pretty girls.
He shook his head and felt pity at them.
Didn't they know that a man's downfall begins when they fall in love?
Max shook his head to forget about them and took the chance to reflect on his current status and his future goal.
Since there are still two weeks left before Archmage Arlen departs to the capital city, there's still enough time for me to venture to the local dungeon.
The local dungeon in the Greyfen Village was the only main reason why the village was established in the first place.
It was an old imperial post swallowed by swamp after magical backlash occurred centuries ago. The Empire aimed to establish the Greyfen Village was to reclaim it to expand their lost territories.
Of course, the lieutenant and the instructors could have easily conquered it by themselves, but due to the appearance of demons, they couldn't make a move.
Furthermore, their presence in the village was to help the villagers prosper, recruiting and guiding talented from time to time.
Humans would always need more talents if they wanted to survive in the next generation.
As Max was lost in thought, Sister Elira had been informed by another sister that he had been waiting for her.
Since Sister Elira was finished taking care of the sick and teaching the players how to treat them, she finally decided to entertain Max.
As soon as she arrived in front of her, Max was finally startled awake.
He was quite surprised that Sister Elira was the same height as him.
He gazed at her eyes and bowed deeply.
"Greetings, Sister Elira. I have gotten rid of the demon sneaking inside the village, but Archmage Arlen told me to ask for your help in purifying the lingering demonic mana in the village."
Sister Elira was shocked. She was even more dumbfounded of how Max casually dropped a shocking revelation to her.
She was silent for a while and said, "I see. You must be his personal students.
Thank you for saving the village.
I'm free now, please lead me to where the lingering demonic mana is."
[You have triggered the last stage: Purification.
Description: Residual infernal corruption remains in Greyfen even after the demon's defeat.
Objectives: Cleanse the three corruption nodes.
Rewards: 700 EXP, Greyfen Support Reputation +50.]
Max nodded and politely gestured for her to follow him.
Max led Sister Elira to the Chapel of Sustenance, Village Bell Tower, and Ranger Watchtower, starting from the last to first.
During the process, Sister Elira would simply clasped her hands, closed her eyes, and chanted a prayer with incomprehensible language, except the last word.
"Purificiation."
The purification spell was so powerful that it made Max shivered.
He could only sigh in relief, knowing he had not chosen a mana affinity opposing the divine mana of the Healer path.
After Sister Elira cleansed the corruption node inside the Chapel of Sustenance, she turned towards Max and bowed deeply.
"I'm really thankful for you for helping me cleanse the demonic mana. For some reason, I can barely sense it. It seems that a Greater Demon has utilized his power for it to escape from our senses.
Thankfully, Archmage Arlen was present, he has higher mana sensitivity proficiency than me.
I'm really grateful for your help. As a reward, I won't let your contribution for the village go unnoticed.
During my next homily, I will announce to the villagers your achievements."
[You have completed the last stage of the quest, Whispers Beneath the Marsh.
You've been rewarded with 700 EXP and Greyfen Support +50.
You level up.
You have gained 1 Free Stat Point.
To finalize the quest, you must proceed to Lieutenant Garrick to help you recognize as a demon investigator to reward you.]