Chapter 1093: Trace, Booster Ore
"I don't know how to ever thank you, Palace Master Izroth!" Green Ivy said gratefully as she gave a polite bow.
"You have already done your part. Now, it is time that we do ours." Izroth replied calmly.
Izroth turned to Azalea and handed her Empyrean's feather.
"Can you do it?" Izroth asked.
Azalea accepted the feather from Izroth as she closed her eyes. The next moment, a faint darkness encompassed the silver feather as the strong mana contained within it could be felt clearly.
A few seconds later, Azalea opened her eyes and nodded, "There is a trace. But it's strange. The trace that I sensed covers a huge portion of the Kifa Karsts-enough to span several territories of the top guilds. It is possible that what teacher is searching for is outside of Sleeping Gardenia's territory."
Just now, Izroth had Azalea use one of her skills, Phantom Trace.
Phantom Trace was a high-ranking tracking skill that could scan for traces of someone or something in a large area based on its mana.
After using Phantom Trace with Empyrean's feather as the mana target, Azalea discovered that there were traces of Empyrean's mana spread all over Kifa Karsts. The only good news was that she managed to locate the strongest concentration of mana. It was due to this reason that she told Izroth that what he was searching for may be outside of Sleeping Gardenia's part of the Kifa Karsts.
Not long after Azalea spoke, Izroth faced Zinnia and said, "Section leader Zinnia, you can inform the members of Sleeping Gardenia to call off their search. Of course, if they find any worthwhile clue while performing their normal duties, my offer still stands. However, I have used up much of you and Sleeping Gardenia's time."
Zinnia quickly shook her head and responded, "Palace Master Izroth is a special guest of our Sleeping Gardenia and a close ally. It is only natural that we should help each other in a time of need. I only wish that we were able to find something more worthwhile for Palace Master Izroth. Your generosity is something that I and the members of Sleeping Gardenia will never forget."
Zinnia then set her sights on Azalea and said, "I would also like to extend our gratitude to Miss Wraith. If not for your efforts, some of our guild members would have undoubtedly faced a great setback. You have our sincerest thanks."
"Your thanks is unnecessary. I was just following my teacher's orders. That is all." Azalea replied in a calm and straightforward manner.
"Regardless, we shall gladly offer it to you," Zinnia said with a lovely smile.
She then shifted her focus back to Izroth and continued, "We have already been instructed by the guild leader to allow Palace Master Izroth to take whatever he wants from this ore cave. Although the main gathering and processing group has yet to arrive, there are a few members among the combat group who are capable of mining resources. If there is anything that you would like to collect, please feel free to instruct the members of Sleeping Gardenia to do so as you see fit."
'Oh? That woman... It looks like she really took my words to heart. She has quite the foresight.'
It was clear that Mariposa wanted to do everything she could to show Izroth that Sleeping Gardenia stood by his side. Even if Izroth wanted to clear out the entirety of the ore cave, Mariposa would probably have no complaints. Of course, Izroth was not the type to take advantage of others, and Mariposa was well aware of this.
The fact that Mariposa gave him the green light to take anything he wanted from the ore cave was not done for herself, but rather for her guild members. She knew that, with his personality, Izroth would not take advantage of the efforts of her guild members and would reward them accordingly.
'I don't dislike this kind of approach to support one's people.'
"Then, I won't reject guild leader Mariposa's kindness. As for those who are willing to help me, of course, I will not be taking advantage of their kindness. Those who wish to collect the materials I list can feel free to step forward. I will make sure that they are not working for free." Izroth stated with a carefree smile.
"I'm willing to help Palace Master Izroth!" A voice quickly sounded from among one of the players of Sleeping Gardenia's combat group.
"Me, too!"
"I'm also willing!"
The moment those words left Izroth's mouth, the players from Sleeping Gardenia all jumped at the chance to assist Izroth.
Many of them heard about the pills Zinnia and the others received from Izroth; however, that was no longer their main goal. After they learned about the reward Green Ivy obtained in the party chat, the anticipation and excitement in their eyes could not be hidden.
Skill upgrade-he could actually increase the rank of one's skill! More importantly, it was not limited to B-rank to A-rank skills. He was even able to raise an S-rank skill to its more powerful SS-rank counterpart!
Unlike equipment that one had to constantly replace in RML, skills stayed with a player throughout their entire journey and, in the vast majority of cases, could be used an endless number of times. Therefore, their value was several times above that of equipment.
Green Ivy was fortunate. Most players in RML did not have even one S-rank skill. Yet, she was able to obtain an S-rank skill thanks to the rarity of her class. To have that skill upgraded to SS-rank, if one were to put a price on it, would easily cost tens of thousands of gold coins!
As the members of Sleeping Gardenia jumped at the chance to help Izroth, Zinnia cleared her throat and reminded everyone to mind their manners. That being said, Zinnia could understand the excitement of her guild members. Even she wanted to grab a pickaxe and help mine some ores.
Once the initial excitement died down a bit, Izroth took some time to examine the ore cave.
As for Azalea, he sent her out to search the area of concentrated mana that she located using Phantom Trace. Izroth instructed her to contact him at the slightest sign of trouble. After all, whatever caused Empyrean and Selene to disappear could be related to that area.
Of course, the only reason he was willing to send her alone was due to his confidence in Azalea's ability to escape should trouble arise.
"There are quite a few number of useful ores here. Sleeping Gardenia has hit the jackpot with this ore cave.'
This ore cave was filled with various ores; however, the most prevalent one was the Sygrix Stone. A superior ore that was easy to work with and could cause a finished product that it was a part of to have physical or magical enhancements was worth at least 25 to 40 gold coins. And, the size of the ore cave was not small by any means. There were possibly thousands of Sygrix Stones buried in the ore cave alongside other resources!
Something like the Sygrix Stone would be a highly sought-after material among blacksmiths. High quality ingredients were already difficult to come by, let alone ones that were also easy to work with. Having a material that was easy to work with would reduce the overall crafting time of an item. But, most importantly, due to its main feature to add physical or magical enhancements, an ore like the Sygrix Stone was something the blacksmiths in RML referred to as a "booster ore".
A booster ore was an ore that could be added to virtually any crafting process, be it a weapon or a piece of armor, without disturbing the original recipe. It, in all sense of the word, boosted the item's overall value and power just by becoming a part of it!
As Izroth explored the cave and made a list of the ores he wanted to obtain, a small glint of light managed to catch his attention from the corner of his eye.
'Oh? This is...'
Izroth approached the glint of light as the system information for the item popped up before
him.
Name: Unrefined High-Quality Sygrix Stone
Rank: Ancient (60)
Usage: This dark crystalline ore can only be found in dense mana areas without the presence
of monsters. It releases a gentle pulse at its core. The more gentle a pulse, the greater its
quality. Adding this ore to items will cause them to exhibit powerful physical or magical
enhancements.
Special Note: In its refined state, it is quite beautiful and is often a highly sought-after decoration by nobles.
It was a high-quality Sygrix Stone-an ancient ranked material!
'I figured there would be some of these lying around, considering the system listed the others as low quality. But, isn't the jump in quality a little too much?'
Under normal circumstances, an ore's rank would not change even if the quality was a little different. It was like this for most ores before the refining process. However, the Sygrix Stone
stood out in this aspect.
Even before it had been refined, its high-quality version increased by one entire material
ranking!
Additionally, higher quality versions of ores were well known for being even more difficult to work with their than lower quality counterpart. This was due to the fact that it was more challenging to manipulate high quality ores the way one wanted.
However, the difficulty of working with the higher quality Sygrix Stone was not that far off
from the low quality version!
"This should be useful for Gu Chao. Perhaps I'll have him add some to the weapons I'll have him create
for Azalea.'