too

Chapter 650 Grinding, grinding and more grinding

Liam did not have a death wish. He did not start hunting down beasts right away and first started heading deeper into the forests, away from the elven settlement.

From the information he had gathered so far, he knew the rough position of the areas around the elven settlement, and the place he was headed to at the moment was in the dark elf territory.

Unlike the elves, the dark elves did not have any restrictions for hunting, so he would be able to move more freely.

A couple of hours later, Liam finally arrived at a good spot. In front of him, there was a herd of winged horses quietly grazing the pasture.𝘣𝑒𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Ok. The first target is confirmed. Come out everyone." Liam sat down on the forest ground to take a break while a sizable group of soul minions of various figures and shapes appeared from within him.

"Hunt whatever you guys can find. Start with those horses." He ordered the condor alone to stay back while the rest stampeded towards the poor horses.

The herd of elegant winged creatures were slaughtered in an instant as the Level 40 horses didn't stand any chance against the soul minions.

Soon the drops from the bloody hunt were littered in front of Liam. It was a bountiful harvest with a lot of silver coins, horse feathers, horse teeth, and even leather materials.

These would fetch a pretty penny if placed in the auction house, but Liam frowned as the thing that he was expecting was nowhere to be found.

However, this was something he had expected, so he did not care. The item he was looking for had an extremely low drop rate, assuming it could even be obtained from this area.

Liam was not completely sure about it. He did not know any details about the elven territory. Even in his last life, there wasn't any information available about this zone.

The only thing he knew was from reading the item description of a very coveted crafting item that was sold by an NPC in the Northern Empire, one of the four main human empires in the Xion realm.

For all he knew, that might or might not be true, but right at this moment, this was the only shot he had.

Otherwise, he would really have to give up crafting that Epic ranked item, and the reputation grind would no longer be viable as it would take too long for him for it to be worth it.

"This better work." Liam sighed and let out a big breath of air. He just needed it to be here. As far as the abysmal drop rate was concerned, he wasn't all that worried about it.

He looked at the group of soul minions in front of him, busily hunting down another herd of elegant beasts, this time fire stags.

"Come on. Drop. Drop. Drop." Liam mumbled while lazily watching the show.

This scene repeated itself for a few more hours. The condor flew first and scouted the area, followed by the rest of the soul minions entering the said area and mauling everything in sight.

It was an added bonus that the beasts in the forest were automatically friendly unless they got tagged. So the soul minions were easily able to avoid the stronger Level 60 plus targets.

They did not even require Liam's assistance any longer. They were able to move freely and efficiently, with him barely doing anything.

The only issue was that… even after several hours, there was still nothing to show. Only experience points and silver coins were piling up, along with other miscellaneous loot.

Of course, there were also several herbs that Liam was able to harvest from roaming about the forest. Overall, it had been productive, but the item he was after was still eluding him.

A few more hours passed by just like this when suddenly a little rabbit popped out from his body and dashed towards the soul minions.

They had just killed a bunch of swans, ruining a small tranquil pond, and the rabbit dove directly into the bloodied water without any hesitation.

Liam now knew too much about the rabbit not to understand what this meant. He immediately stood up and rushed towards the pond as well. What could be there inside?

He didn't have to guess because the rabbit soon appeared. When the little creature popped out again, Liam could distinctly see the rabbit holding a small orb in her hands.

"YESSS!" He immediately jumped into the pond and grabbed the orb, inspecting it right away.

Thankfully, the system description was there, and he was able to confirm it. "Finally!" Liam laughed loudly in excitement as he stepped out of the pond water, appearing all bloody because of all the murdered swans.

Sure, the thing he was looking for was 'Orb of Earth,' but at least now he had the confirmation. He could indeed farm for these orbs in this area. This was more than enough for him to go on for the moment.

He bent down and examined one of the swans and asked Crawford, "Did these guys use any water element attacks?"

Crawford nodded. The swans had indeed used some water attacks.

This confirmed Liam's suspicions about something that was fairly obvious. For an earth orb, he needed to target earth type beasts.

Now that he knew he could indeed obtain these orbs as drops, he no longer had to cast a wide net. His hunt now would become far more efficient and effective.

"Listen up. Attack only the earth type beasts from now on, but if you come across something on your path, then feel free to kill it."

Liam then specifically showed the orb to Crawford. "I am looking for this. So don't lose it."

"Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Hunt faster!" With a loud shout, he also joined in the festivities as the group started tearing down and plundering the peaceful Forest of Echoes.

Chapter 651 Even when unconscious

When Liam returned back to the elven settlement, he made sure to wash off the thick stench of blood. He directly walked over to the blacksmith building to enter the forging room once again.

Weirdly, the building looked deserted, with fewer elves than usual. Even the guards assigned to him were missing, but Liam ignored it and went straight into his room.

Almost an entire day had passed by since he started farming for the orbs, and he was now ready to try forging the item once again!

Liam started with tossing the ores in the furnace and repeated all the steps until the end which was the most important part. But when he reached this last stage, he did not continue any longer.

He stopped and took out the special item from his inventory, a small brown orb. He brought it close to the raw, unrefined weapon, and the metallic ore instantly sucked in the orb as if it was hungry and starving for it.

Liam gulped and immediately started hammering the semi-finished staff. This was it. This was the last part, and if he could just go through this…

A lot was riding on this single thing, and his blood was boiling as he felt the energy thrum against the weapon wanting to break free. Just getting the orb was clearly not enough.

When forging the weapon, Liam could feel that he needed to condense a lot more earth elemental energy to perfectly forge the weapon, which he had done now using the orb of earth.

However, he now still had to make sure that the elemental essence was perfectly infused with the metal. Thanks to the recipe from the elves, he already had the best materials suited for this, but he had to also force this equilibrium using his own mana.

If he had an innate high affinity for the earth element, this would have been a lot easier. Since that was not the case, he had to work with what he had.

Liam closed his eyes and focused his very best as he struck the hammer against the weapon, injecting his mana every time he did. His mana core churned non-stop as he continuously worked to subdue the weapon.

Loud hammering sounds echoed in the room, and Lyana, who pushed the door open to enter, stopped in her tracks. The scene in front of her was simply too amazing.

She could feel it. A strong weapon was being birthed at the moment.

She gasped lightly, holding the fox close to her chest, and silently observed Liam from afar, not even daring to breathe loudly lest it disturbs him.

And just like that, she ended up standing still for the next two hours, when finally a loud explosion resounded through the room. The energy built up became too unstable and lashed out.

Lyana's pale white, elegant face became covered in smoke and soot, and the poor fox in her hand was also subjected to the same fate as the soft white fur became all black.

"Cough. Cough. When did you come here?" Liam chuckled, looking at the two blackened figures. He also had the same disheveled appearance, but he couldn't care less about it right now.

He was this close to finishing the forging process. He apologized to the elf and hurriedly chased her out, wanting to try the process all over again.

"Sir Liam, I… there is an auction going on." Lyana had actually come here for this purpose, but she almost forgot it after seeing the exquisite forging technique in person.

Oh?" Liam's interest was piqued. He had a feeling that just like the Milky Way auction house, this one would also be special, so he definitely wanted to take a look. "How long does the auction go for?"

"It starts today evening and ends at nightfall," Lyana answered.

Liam nodded. There were still 12 hours for him to give the weapon another try. This was good enough. He made plans with the elf to meet again in a few hours and quickly got down to business.

Outside, the streets of the elven city were slowly becoming crowded with the elves pouring in from several cities, all for the sake of the auction. After Lyana cleaned herself up and the fox, she once again walked over to the blacksmith building.

It was a little earlier than the scheduled time, but she wanted to see the forging of the weapon again. But when she got to the building, a familiar face greeted her.

"Lady Lyana, fancy meeting you here. Again." A tall, handsome elf stood rooted in front of the building.

"Lord Saevel. Greetings." Lyana was speechless. This person never paid much attention to her before, but now all of a sudden, she had run into him twice already.

"Greetings, my Lady. Would you be interested in accompanying me to the auction house today? I heard that some rare potions are going to be auctioned today evening. It is going to be a rowdy event."

"Ah, Actually, Lord Saevel, I have some business to attend to. I will be heading to the auction house after that. I do not want to inconvenience you by delaying things." Lyana awkwardly laughed.

She then proceeded to step aside and enter the building when the elf appeared in front of her once again, blocking her path.

"Not so fast, Lady Lyana."

Seeing that he was not even being subtle anymore, the woman glared back at him. "Lord Saevel, what is this?" He might hail from a noble family, but she was also from one, so she did not back down easily.

However, the elf merely chuckled. He casually raised his hand and said, "Calm down. Calm down. I just want to talk to you about another important thing."

"That would be?"

"I suggest that you stop spending any more time with that human being. He is just a useless piece of trash."

"Watch your words, Lord Saevel. Sir Liam is my guest." Lyana scoffed at him and walked past the elf, who was still only smiling wide.

"A filthy human shouldn't have been allowed here in the first place. It won't do any good to anyone. I am just trying to look out for you as a friend." The elf's voice rang loudly behind her.

Lyana ignored him and continued to walk inside the building, quickly reaching Liam's room.

She wanted to watch the forging process again, but when she entered the room, she found the human already seated and resting. It looked like she had missed it.

"Shall we leave?" Lyana awkwardly asked.

She did not pry about the results of the forging since it was not really a surprise. Crafting an Epic-rank weapon was not something easily accomplished.

The two of them then silently headed over to the teleportation gate where the auction house was located.

Chapter 652 Filthy rich elves

When the both of them arrived at the teleportation gate, Lyana was immediately prepared to use her tone of authority.

However, unexpectedly, the elven guard standing at the teleportation gate bowed respectfully to both her and the human being standing next to her as he made way for the two of them to use the gate.

Lyana had no idea what was happening while the person next to her continued to wear an obscene smile. "After you…" Liam politely stepped back, showing her the way.

"Ugh. uh.. Ok." Lyana nodded and used the teleportation gate first.

The auction house was located in a different place compared to the rest of the city as the elves from various kingdoms arrived there for the auction event.

The streets were heavily crowded, and the patrolling elven guards were also larger in number. Liam was once again amazed to see the thriving, vibrant city in front of him.

"This is a neutral place for all the elven kingdoms to meet and exchange goods," Lyana whispered.

Apart from the auction house, there were many other shops selling all kinds of wares. Only the more valuable items were sold in the auction house.

The other trades were conducted through street hawkers and shops. Since many elves were here, it was a good place in general to sell items.

When Liam pulled up the system map to take a look, he saw that they were no longer within the Kimoria Kingdom. They were somewhere in the middle of a bunch of elven kingdoms.

As the only human being caught in between the entirety of the elf population, Liam would have been more nervous, but… things had changed now.

With the big smile still plastered on his face, he followed Lyana as she led him to the auction house. Once again, the guards bowed respectfully and allowed the two of them to enter.

Though it was a huge auditorium with generous spacing, finding a spot to sit was troublesome. It took a while before the two of them could find seats.

And when the elf looked at Liam to see if he was comfortable, he still had the same big smile on his face. In all the time she knew this person, Lyana had never seen him so happy. The elf even began to wonder if something was wrong.

Soon the whole auditorium became filled with elves and loud bells chimed, indicating the beginning of the auction.

Liam's gaze finally turned serious as he stopped elf-watching and paid attention to the first item that was being currently announced.

"Gold potions! Starting bid! 500 gold coins!" An elegant elven woman's voice rang loudly. Next to her, another female elf stood carrying a tray of five small potion bottles.

Liam was waiting for an explanation but nothing of that sort came up. It looked like everyone was already expected to know about the items.

As a result, he could only ask Lyana, "What is a gold potion?"

"Oh? It's a potion that boosts your luck temporarily." The elf explained to him casually.

However, Liam immediately became shocked at hearing it. "What? Temporarily increases luck?" He had never heard of something like that. He definitely wanted to buy this batch as something like this could definitely come in handy.

He immediately prepared to raise his hand to make a bid when the next bid was read out aloud by the auction conductor.

"10000 gold coins. 11000 gold coins… 11500 gold coins… 13000 gold coins…"

The worst thing was that this bid kept on continuously increasing until it reached a final price of 50000 gold coins.

Liam was stunned speechless. He turned to look at Lyana who had a rather bored look on her face. "They really lucked out. Luck potions went for almost double this price in the last auction."

"Double this price?" Liam looked at his own empty pockets. It seemed like he would most probably have to sit this auction out. Just like the Milky way auction, this one also was beyond his limits.

But he was not completely done yet. He still had a trump card which he reserved for one and only one item in case something of that sort popped up.

After the luck potion, there was the high-grade health potion and mana potion up next.

This was followed by a long list of several other potions such as Invisibility potion, Strength potion, Focus potion, Transfiguration potion, Flight potion, Enlightenment potion, Beauty potion, Disguise potion and the list went on and on.

More importantly, every single one of these potions was high quality and had long-lasting effects. They were extremely useful potions that could potentially be life-saving in many instances.

Liam's hands were itching to buy them, at least any one of them, but all he could do at the moment was stare at them and drool over them. Each of the potion sets ended up going for 100,000 gold coins to 1 million gold coins and he did not have this sort of ridiculous gold.

"Are these damned elves mining the gold themselves?" He sighed in frustration when Lyana chuckled and nodded. "Yes, some of us have gold mines."

"What…" Liam was completely speechless. He shook his head and continued watching the show, now with expectant eyes. It should be anytime now, right?

Just as he was thinking this, the elf on the stage walked over, carrying the next item. This was actually a chest guard which meant that the potions section was finally over.

"Syllia's Blessing" The auctioneer announced listing out the stats of the armor one after another.

And to Liam's shock, this was a semi-legendary ranked item!

Legendary items were too few in the game and sprinkled across the vast world but right now he was actually able to buy this semi-legendary ranked item?

However, the next second, the harsh reality came crashing down on him. The starting bid was 1 million gold coins. He smiled bitterly and simply continued watching the show.

The next item, the one after that, and the other after that were also of the same semi-legendary grade, but every single one of them quickly shot up into the millions.

Finally, the last one had a lower value, only barely reaching one million and this was an Epic-ranked item. Liam's eyes immediately lit up. It was finally his turn. The big smile was back on his face as Lyana stared at him in confusion.

Soon, the subsequent item arrived when the human being sitting amidst the numerous elves almost couldn't contain his excitement.

"Staff of the Moon Temple" The auctioneer announced loudly and Liam's grin widened.

Chapter 653 Thief!

"Staff of the Moon Temple," The auctioneer announced loudly, followed by the weapon's stats.

Liam slapped his palm in excitement. It was finally his turn to make some real gold, to milk these filthy rich elves for a good profit.

The first bid quickly went up, and it was for a whopping 50,000 gold coins.

"Come on. Come on. 1 million. I need a million." Liam anxiously muttered. To his surprise, the next bid was from the person sitting next to him.

"60,000 gold coins," Lyana shouted. A few elves turned to look at them. However, her bid was quickly outdone by another couple of elves.

"80,000 gold coins!" Lyana bid for the staff again. It looked like she was not ready to give up easily.

"Huh?" Liam started sweating. Everything happened too fast, so he needed a second to grasp what was going on. Thankfully, another couple of bids came in quickly, raising the price to 200,000 gold coins.

Before the woman could open her mouth again, he hurriedly pulled the elf closer and whispered in her ears, "Why are you bidding for this?"

Lyana blushed and said, "To help you, Sir Liam." She mumbled in a low voice.

Yup. It was just as he had assumed. Liam shook his head helplessly and quickly explained the situation to her. "I forged this item."

"WHAT?" The elf almost shouted in panic.

"Shhh. I made this. I am selling this. So don't waste your gold coins." Liam wanted to say, 'You can buy me something else instead,' but he refrained from speaking his mind.

The truth was that he might really need her help soon. With all the items being auctioned here, finding something valuable, such as an elixir or a cure for Luna shouldn't be challenging.

Liam was precisely aiming for this specific item. Even if no such thing popped up in the auction today, he still needed to gather the required funds in case it becomes available in the future.

"I should also try auctioning the body cleansing elixir?" Liam made a mental note.

As soon as he finished forging the staff, an option to put the item in the auction house automatically popped up in front of him on the system interface as part of the quest.

This was why he was easily able to do this. He might have to come here personally for the next item and deal with the more minor details, which shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

Depending on his training schedule, he should definitely be able to forge more items and concoct more elixirs in his free time.

And as for the training schedule, Liam's grin widened. The old elf should finally accept him after today because…

"Are you okay?" Liam snapped out of his thoughts and asked the elf sitting next to him. She was still staring at him with her mouth wide open.

"Ahem. Yes. Sir Liam." Lyana quickly adjusted her posture. She knew how terrifying Liam was, but even in her wildest dreams, she didn't think that this was possible.

Forging an Epic ranked weapon! At such a young age! Gulp! She couldn't fathom the depth of his talent and prowess.

She clenched her fists in excitement as she and Liam started paying attention to the soaring prices.

Perhaps because some elves regretted not bidding on the previous semi-legendary item and losing out, the final bid for the staff was a whopping 750,000 gold coins!

Liam couldn't believe his eyes. With these many gold coins, he was probably the wealthiest player alive in the whole world at the moment. All the top guilds in the Gresh Kingdom combined wouldn't amount to his range.

However, this was nothing to be excited about. Money was simply a currency, a means to an end. And the end he needed was valuable precious items. If he could only get something good for Luna…

Silently, he paid attention to the rest of the auction house, but the specific item he was looking for never showed up. There was nothing related to a spirit beast put up for auction.

Slightly disappointed, he stood up and walked out along with Lyana and the hundreds of other elves pouring out of the auction house.

"Sir Liam! We should celebrate!" The elf excitedly exclaimed.

"Okay." Liam smiled and nodded. The two of them then tried to make their way out of the crowd to the auction house office first to collect Liam's gold coins.

The auction house usually takes 20%, so you should get around 600,000 gold coins, Sir Liam." The elf excitedly explained to him.

The two of them swam across the crowd and finally found the shore. They had only just entered the building when three familiar faces blocked their path.

"Lord Saevel!" Lyana was livid. She just couldn't understand how this darned guy managed to find them even amidst this huge crowd! Even Liam was impressed. This guy was a dedicated stalker.

"Lord Saevel, please move out of our way. We have some important business to attend to." Lyana spoke firmly.

However, the elf in front of her casually laughed it off. Since talking to her was not bearing any fruit, he no longer seemed interested in doing that. Instead, he started shouting loudly.

"Filthy human! How dare you try and steal from me!"

"Guards! Guards! Thief! Thief!"

The three elves started shouting loudly, immediately attracting the attention of every single elf around them. It only took a second, and suddenly all eyes were on Liam, the only human being in the elven lands.

"What? No. No. Sir Liam did not steal anything. These are all lies. False accusations." Lyana started panicking. She knew and understood the prejudice and contempt the elves held for human beings very well.

That's why she also knew how bad this situation was. If Liam was caught in the middle of something like this, he probably wouldn't even get a hearing and would be directly sentenced to death.

Chapter 654 Success?

What should I do now? Who should I ask for help? Lyana stood frozen, not knowing what to do.

She looked at Liam to see if he was doing well, but to her surprise, the other person was surprisingly calm, even smiling. Why was he still smiling?

As she stared in dread with her widened eyes, she watched a group of guards come forward, splitting apart the crowd of elves. Right before everyone's eyes, these guards directly arrested the culprit without any sort of explanation.

However, the next second, all the elves immediately gasped, and Lyana rubbed her eyes to see if she was hallucinating. This was because the person arrested was not the human being but the elf who caused the commotion.

Just what was happening?

"What are you doing? Let me go! Let me go! He is the thief! He is the one who stole from me!" Saevel struggled as he glared at the guards rough handling him. He couldn't believe it!

Just what the hell was happening? The other elves who were with him and had started the commotion were also quickly arrested.

"At least arrest him also!" Saevel yelled, his rage consuming him. In front of so many important figures, he was being completely humiliated.

And to make matters worse, one of the guards stepped forward and bowed in front of Liam. Saevel was dumbfounded. The guard was not arresting him but rather bowing in front of him.

"Please forgive us, esteemed Lord. We were negligent and caused you inconvenience."

"WHAT ARE SAYING? HE IS THE THIEF!" Saevel was livid.

On the other hand, Liam calmly stepped forward and looked at the elf being pitifully held captive.

'You should have created this drama a little sooner. Unfortunately, I am already out of your reach. I am a Forging Grandmaster with an Honored reputation with the elves.'

Liam smirked at him and then turned to wave at the elven guard. "Don't worry about it. I know you are working hard. I am just sorry that such unruly people disrupted everybody's evening."

All the elves also seemingly agreed with him and nodded in agreement. Such uncouth behavior! Everyone looked at Saevel in disdain.

The guards bowed again and quickly dragged away the culprits, while Liam was once again free to do as he pleased.

"Shall we go in?" He asked the other dumbfounded elf with a polite smile. Lyana nodded with a gulp.

After a quick trip to the auction house manager, Liam walked out with a big grin. The auction house only charged him a 15% fee instead of the usual 20% fee, so he was in a good mood.

His gold reserves had gone through the roof in the span of a day. More importantly, his reputation had gone up two levels, from [Friendly] to [Respected] and then from [Respected] to [Honored].

This was the effect of reaching Grandmaster status. It was an exalted status that basically gave a player a free pass in every region, even in the Empires, where none of the other reputations worked.

However, right now, Liam needed this reputation for another vital task.

Acalan had warned him about a corrupted mana core. Though he did not feel anything at the moment, he trusted the old man enough to take his warning seriously.

It was time to pay the old elf another visit. "Let me see how he is rejecting me this time." After putting in so much effort, Liam was quite confident in the final result.

Lyana had called him to celebrate, but the two of them took the teleportation gate to the royal city, where the main target lived.

They stopped outside the magnificent building where the old guy lived and announced themselves to the guards standing outside.

Just like the others, the two guards were also very respectful and rushed to do their bidding. One minute passed… Two minutes passed… Soon it was an entire ten minutes, and the two did not return.

Liam's face twitched. What was taking so long? The triumphant smile he had worn consistently was starting to fade as he had a bad feeling about this.

Do I need to increase my reputation even higher? A frightening thought popped into his head.

As if answering his question, the next instant, a tremendous pressure descended upon him as if a God himself descended from the heavens, and Liam fell face down, flat on the hard paved ground. Without any warning, he was being crushed all over again.

What the fuck! Liam was furious. He could hear the distinct, belligerent laughter coming from inside, which he was pretty sure was mocking him.

Just what the hell did he do to piss off this damned elf that he was being treated in this manner even with his Grandmaster status and Honored reputation?

Did his reputation mean nothing at all? Was his Grandmaster status a joke? Was Acalan really friends or enemies with this damned old guy?

Liam was going crazy as he picked himself back up again when the pressure eventually waned. He was speechless, utterly speechless.

He had done everything in his power, luck was on his side, and he even achieved something impossible using knowledge from his past life.

What more could he possibly do now? Who else could if he couldn't get this old man to give in? He was entirely out of his wits. He just did not know how to proceed with this damned thing anymore.

"Sir Liam…" Lyana worriedly looked at him. She did not know why Liam was hell-bent on making the eccentric elder acknowledge him.

The elven royal family was known for their arrogance, but even among them, the elder was a special case. She was also helpless here, so she could only silently watch.

Meanwhile...

Back in the Gresh Kingdom, at the Crimson Abyss headquarters, all the core members of the guild had assembled in the conference hall, and the group looked extremely serious.