A few minutes later, a black figure soon appeared in the dense forest in the manor’s direction.
"Did the division send you? Are you people lacking this much manpower?" The black figure asked dissatisfactory.
"It’s a pity, your honor. Our division is the only one that is just slightly free." The green shirted girl replied respectfully with her head down. "Your request isn’t of the best timing; most of our forces are being mobilized at the moment."
"Whatever. You people of Green Shade aren’t half bad. It’s just that you guys may not be good at the mission that I am about to give. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to belittle your people." The black figure’s tone took a calmer stance.
"I understand. As long as your honor can forgive us." The green shirted woman replied with her head down as usual, which made it hard to see her expression.
"The current situation of the Lush Green district doesn’t bode well. A few major leaders are coming up with something fishy. I need you people to take out a group of bandits publicly to show off your strength. Can you do it?" The black figure asked softly.
"That won’t be a problem. However, they won’t be your typical bandits if your intention is to mobilize us, right?" The Green Shade woman raised her head and asked.
"That’s only natural. These bandits have high profits every year, and their locations are still yet to be known. We suspect that one of the major leaders are pulling the strings in the dark. Their strength is estimated to be at two General-levels, including the possibilities of any unknown external support." The black figure replied.
"No problem. Please pass us the mission briefing shortly." The Green Shade woman nodded.
"Please be careful. The mastermind could possibly be a Luminarist…" The black figure warned her with a a deep tone.
The Green Shade woman squinted her eyes and nodded lightly.
As the black figure was about to turn her body around, she suddenly stopped in motion. "Also, another small thing. Please send a person to test Vanderman." Suddenly, a familiar figure flashed through her mind. "Actually, you should go and probe his son Acacia first, since that old man Vanderman is very experienced. I can’t shake the feeling that they are hiding something."
"Yes." Green Shade woman complied with her head down.
"If Vanderman is indeed strong only in appearance but brittle inside, we will have to rearrange our plans. I heard that Vanderman was injured from his experiment when two Luminarists were fighting against each other and he hadn’t realised in time. This resulted in his son almost involved in the crossfire. I need to know if he really is injured. You can kill off his son as a warning to him if he doesn’t have enough strength." The black figure said coldly. "Do not get caught."
"Understood."
The Green Shade woman looked at the black figure entering the darkness, as the footsteps gradually went away into nothing.
"Other than Diaz, everyone else will be mobilized in this ambush." She said softly, as if she was talking to someone else. "I will assist you in going against two of those General-levels, and the rest of you will focus on encircling the remaining bandits. We need to show the communicator what we are made of, since the communicator looks down on us."
"Yes." Suddenly, multiple voices of different gender and age could be heard behind her.
"Diaz." The Green Shade woman turned around as she looked behind her. "You’ll go and scout Vanderman’s manor. Be careful out there."
"I understand, big sister." A dark green figure in the shadow replied with a clear and cold tone, which was clearly the voice of a young woman. "Don’t worry. We are all bowmen. Vanderman will not be able to stop us from escaping without any preparation beforehand if we’re far enough away."
"You’re just a below average General-level." An arrogant woman said from the other side of the dark corner. "In the eyes of the Luminarists, you are merely a worm if you do not have the weakening dust."
"Mind your own business." Diaz groaned as she turned around and disappeared into the distance.
She only stopped moving when she was away from her sister’s group.
Thud!
She stabbed the tree in front of her with a knife so hard that the tree leaves ceaselessly fell off from the impact.
"Someday, I will kill you!" She said with a cruel deep tone.
***************
Two days later…
Splash!
Garen’s head came out from the bathtub’s water. His naked upper body was completely soaked in the green medicine.
He wiped his face and dried his hair and upper body with a black towel as he got out of the bathtub.
The sunlight leaked through the gaps of the curtain and landed onto the floor, forming a golden, dazzling line. There were puddles everywhere in the bedroom, and the strong medicinal smell had made the whole room a stifling affair.
Garen took up a bowl of cold water and splashed it onto his face, and he instantly felt much better.
He let the female servant to drain away the bathtub water as he cleaned up his things. He then stood on a spot and examined his current physical status.
"The attributes are slowly increasing… I should be able to recover to a higher level when my body absorbs the medicine for another day." Garen gripped his fists as he felt the unstoppable blood flow from within his body. He was rather excited, he could feel himself getting closer to his peak form from his previous life.
He absorbed all three packets of medicine within two days, and his body had recovered by a large margin. These weeds in the eyes of the locals, had become an extremely effective medicinal herbs through his mixing and collocation.
He look at the physical attribute pane just below his eyeline.
‘Strength 1.4, Agility 1.3, Vitality 1.4, Intelligence 0.9, Potential 1772%. Possessed the requirement to become a Luminarist.’
"The medicinal effect has yet to be completely absorbed, so I should be able to recover even further within a day or two." Garen estimated in his mind. This ancient medicine had a gentle efficacy, and it had recovered his strength by a noticeable amount within two days. If this pace were to keep up, he would be able to fully recover in less than a month.
"When my strength and vitality has reaches 1.5 and above, I will be able to use the basic combinations of secret techniques and battle skills. This means my strength has recovered by half." He gently exercised his lower body and determined that his current body was able to fight against a Guardian-level at best.
After tidying up his room, Garen walked out and went downstairs. His cousin had dropped by to visit Vanderman today. Vanderman wanted him to apologize to his cousin on his own accord due to his hurtful sentences in his previous argument with Sofea Hathaway.
Garen reached Vanderman’s building in the central manor in no time as he left his building. As he arrived at the manor, there was a female soldier. She seemed to be his cousin’s companion, in white armor guarding by the door.
The female soldier even looked at him a few times as he entered the building.
Vanderman and Hathaway were sitting on different sofas in the first floor living room. Vanderman seemed to be inquiring something of Hathaway. The smile on her face immediately disappeared when both of them saw Garen coming in.
"Cousin." Garen greeted her on his own accord with a hesitant look. "You’ve arrived."
"It’s been a while, Cia." Hathaway sighed as she looked at Garen with a hopeless expression..
She had been looking after Acacia since he was young, and he was on the best terms with each other compared to the others. Although she was angry over the insensitive words from Acacia, she hadn’t place it in her heart. She knew that they were the words said by an angry child. Plus, she was the one who hit him first.
Upon this visitation, she heard from Malin that Acacia had become more sensible, and stopped going to the casino fooling around everywhere anymore. Originally, she had planned to teach him a lesson, to let him know words beget conflict. Now that she had seen Cia’s remarkable performance, Hathaway couldn’t help but feel soft-hearted.
The moment Garen saw her gaze, he knew that she had forgiven him. "Sister, it’s my fault. I lost control of my anger…" He lowered his head to show his sincerity.
"I’m glad you know you’ve owned up to your mistakes." Hathaway stood up and walked towards Garen, and gently stroke his hair, just like old times. "You’ve grown. You’re no longer the child you were. I heard from Malin that you have finally stopped going to the Casino. I’m glad."
"I promise, I will never live like that ever again!" Garen raised his hand and said with determination. "A few days ago, I’ve realized that it is meaningless to keep living like that."
"That’s a relief." Vanderman, who was sitting to one side, nodding. His ever stern look softened up," I have never heard of you saying such words. Looks like you’re really determined to turn over a new leaf."
"I am serious." Garen replied calmly.
"Don’t disappoint your cousin." After Vanderman finished drinking his coffee, he stood up and went upstairs. "You two have a good chat. I won’t be participating in you youngsters’ conversation. I have things to do and will be heading out later, so you two don’t have to wait me for dinner."
"Understood." Garen and Hathaway replied harmoniously.
They both sat down after they looked at the Lord going upstairs.
Hathaway asked about Garen’s recent situation in detail, and found out that he had not been fooling around recently. Her face was filled with joy upon this realisation. Both of them talked about the interesting events they had encountered; Hathaway wanted to admire Garen’s new creation, in which he declined. Those creations were embarrassing.
After sitting around for about two hours, Hathaway gifted Garen a miniature model of the knight’s sword, which could be used as a decoration for his study desk, before leaving the manor with the female soldier. She looked very cheerful as she left.
Garen could finally relax, as he was able to solve the issue regarding his sudden change in personality. He did not need to act and cover up his personality anymore. It was incredible stressful to act as a retarded child.
He just needed to slowly change, and not have any sudden change in personality.
It was almost noon when he came out of Vanderman’s building. He went back to his room and started his usual routine, which was the recovery of his battle skills and secret techniques. He felt calm when he was focusing on recovering his strength. His pace in learning the Precision Blueprint was increasing as well. The current him, who had not used any potential points, was already in the upper range of the Beginner-level. He just needed the time to master the basics of the Precision Blueprint, and he would be able to enter the next phase: the Intermediate-level.
"In a few more days, when my body’s strength and vitality passes the 1,5 mark, I will be able to safely use my technique levels which combine both secret techniques and battle skills. This would be equal to this world’s General-level. The effect of the thousand year old medicine is indeed exceptionally powerful!" Garen said emotionally.