As Nate walked into the guild, he was immediately struck by the size and grandeur of the space. The main room was spacious, with plenty of comfortable seating for guests. On either side of the room, a grand staircase led up to the second floor, where additional seating and private rooms were located. The counter desk, which was used for registering new members and handling tasks, was situated in the middle of the room. Overall, the guild exuded a sense of professionalism and attention to detail, making it clear that this was a place of power and status.
Nate noticed a group of people standing in front of the notice board, which was hung on the wall and displayed tasks and quests for adventurers. "Adventurers?" Nate thought to himself. "They look like an experienced group too."
"Wait here. I'll go report to the counter. It shouldn't take long," Robert said, motioning for Nate to take a seat. Although Nate didn't want to sit and wait, he agreed, deciding to take the opportunity to observe his surroundings and learn more about the guild.
'This isn't supposed to be grand and prestigious,' Nate thought to himself, annoyed at the fact that the current guild seemed to be putting out a powerful image. He wanted the guild to be a place where everyone felt welcome and included, regardless of their status or experience.
As Robert made his way to the counter, he was greeted by a man in his mid-forties with a mustache, dressed in a three-piece suit. However, the worker seemed to be ignoring him and focused on something else.
Almost a minute passed and the worker was still ignoring Robert. "Ahem!" coughed Robert to gain attention.
The worker, who had no choice but to attend to Robert, rolled his eyes and said impatiently, "What do you want, Robert?" Robert, who didn't seem to mind the rude behavior, replied, "Neikal, I'm here to report a death."
The worker, Neikal, suspiciously raised his eyebrow. "Let me get the report form," he said, opening a drawer and pulling out a piece of paper, ink, and a quill.
"Tell me the name, cause, and time of the death," Neikal said. "Dan Morger, ambushed by wolves, about an hour and a half ago," Robert replied seriously. Neil wrote down the information on the form. "I see. Dan Morger, what a shame," he said. He hesitated for a moment before saying "I assumed it was in the forest, correct?"
"Yes" answered Robert. He squinted his eyebrows as he knew what Neil was thinking. "What were you doing in the forest. You know it is the confederation's territory, right?" said Neikal.
"I know. It was for medicine. Kun needed herbs from there." said Robert. Neikal opened his eyes and looked at Robert with a mixture of concern and suspicion.
"I understand that you did what you thought was necessary to help Jamil, but the fact remains that you broke a direct order from the high guild. And with everything that's been happening lately, it's hard not to suspect that you may be involved in some way," replied Neikal with closed eyes, pitching his nose.
Nate, who was overhearing the conversation with his Origin sense hearing, was stuck on the word Neikal said. 'High Guild? Could it be a new organization that ruled mine now? Sounded like they are doing a lot more than handling adventurers too.'
"I know Neikal, but even if it's only a slight chance to save him, I'll do anything," said Robert with determination before walking back to Nate. "Let's go. I'm done," Robert said, and the pair left the building. Before leaving, Nate noticed that a girl with a brown hood and mask from the adventurer group shot him a hostile glance.
On their way back, Nate decided to put the guild matter aside and focus on his burning curiosity instead. "When you were fighting me, you said it was the power of the gods, Atwon. What is it?" asked Nate.
"Hmm? I see you've taken an interest in my power!" replied Robert with a laugh. He then added, "But as far as I know, only humans are capable of using Atwon. Most of them received it from the guild. Including me."
"I see, are most people with Atwon as strong as you?" said Nate, thinking seriously.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Hahaha!" Robert laughed out loud. "Of course not! I am one of the strongest you know!" he pointed to himself with his thumb. "I will be training Neili and Ben tomorrow, you can watch my power then," he grinned.
Nate only replied with a nod. 'If only humans can use Atwon, either the guild monopolizes the power source or worse, a rouge Ruler.'
As the two arrived back at their home, they found Kun finishing up preparing a batch of medicine for Jamil. Nate took a closer look at the strange, slime-like substance and was surprised when an unexpected notification appeared.
[A medium-grade healing substance found. Would you like to copy and store the formula in the system?]
In Nate's time, medium-grade healing potions were only used by the higher ranks of the army. So it was surprising for Nate to see someone like Kun make it out of simple herbs and plants.
'Copy and store it.' commanded Nate.
[Scanning and copying the formula 10% 30% 70% 100%
Medium-grade healing formula stored
The user will be able to create an instant healing potion if the user touches SeiKua herbs]
Nate, satisfied, decided to check out Jamil's illness. "Robert said Jamil was infected. Can I take a look at him? I might be able to provide some insights."
"Sure, that would be quite helpful," said Kun with a warm smile. Nate and Kun made their way to the second floor of the house. It was an empty hallway that had four rooms. "Jamil's room is at the end. Normally the kids share a single room but ever since he got ill, I moved Jamil to another room. So far, this seems to work. Others had not been infected." said Kun, "The room on the left is me and Robert's room. I also prepared a room for you, the one on the right."
Nate hesitated before finally giving a nod. On one hand, he harbored resentment towards humans due to the injustices he had suffered at their hands. On the other hand, Kun and Robert had been nothing but kind and welcoming toward him, and it made him feel conflicted. He tried to push these conflicting emotions aside as they entered Jamil's room.
Nate saw a little boy in the bed who was so pale that he looked like a corpse. There were a few toys such as a wooden horse and a ball on the desk but seems like Jamil hasn't played with them for some time.
"Jamil, son, wake up. It's time to eat and take your medicine," said Kun with a soft voice as she sat on the bed beside Jamil.
"Kun?" asked Jamil with a weak voice. "Yes, Jamil, come on, get up. There is someone I would like to introduce to you. Jamil, this is Nate. He saved my life today," said Kun pointing toward Nate.
Nate saw that Jamil's eyes were pale too as if his soul was sucked out of him. Jamil, although he was struggling to stay up, he still greeted Nate. "N..nice to meet.. you, Nate." Nate nodded to acknowledge the greeting and waited for Kun to finish feeding Jamil.
After Kun was done, Nate said, "Let me take a look at you."
Jamil weakly nodded and lie back down in a more comfortable position. Nate took a look at the arms first and saw that the veins don't have enough blood in them. 'It's quite surprising that he is still alive in this condition. Seems like Kun's medicine is helping his body fight with last force.' Just as Nate was examining Jamil, a quest popped up.
[Curse-type life-draining magic detected in the target: Jamil's body. The system found that curse magic infects people with different genes compared to most humans. Analyze the target more to create a cure.
Analyze: 25%
After completing the analysis, the system will be able to cure by disabling the curse magic with the user's mana. Mana requirement: 300 (Can be added up multiple times)
The user can use the medium-grade healing formula to directly heal the target to increase effectiveness and maintain the stability of the target's body.
New Quest: Cure Jamil
If the user fails the quest, the curse magic will get out of the target's body and infect everyone with the different genes, including the user.
Reward: Instant level up, 200 mana, Elemental unlocked.]