Both Ewan and Wang Qiang took a moment to size Izroth up. At first glance, there did not appear to be anything special about him and it was hard to get a grasp or understanding of Izroth. However, Ewan and Wang Qiang were no fools. No matter how harmless and carefree Izroth appeared on the outside, in the end, they considered him to be a player with many hidden talents.
It was no easy task to grab the 1st place spot in the event Protectors of Amaharpe for solo players. Also, when they added on all the previous information acquired about Izroth, it was not difficult to reach a solid decent understanding of who they were dealing with.
But, in the end, Izroth was an unknown entity and no one had ever heard of his name before RML. With that being said, even though Izroth had shown many amazing accomplishments and feats in the PVE area of RML, there was still really no widespread knowledge regarding his PVP skills.
In MMORPGs, especially a VRMMORPG such as RML, PVP would be the biggest factor to if a player was truly a top level player or just someone who was only good at fighting against monsters. However, Ewan and Wang Qiang's gut feelings were telling them that the player before them was not only skilled in PVE, but PVP as well.
"I was unaware that the guild leader of Cross Haven was looking forward to a meeting." Izroth responded in a carefree manner.
"As the player who snatched the 1st place spot out of my hands in the Protectors of Amaharpe, it's only natural that I would wish to meet with you face to face. Allow me to personally congratulate you on your victory, even if it is a few days late." Ewan said in a calm and steady tone of voice.
Ewan had maintained the number one spot throughout the entire event until one brief moment when a player, not even listed in the top ten, suddenly jumped ahead of him. In the end, he was knocked down to 2nd place. Although the rewards he got were still wonderful, there was still nothing like obtaining the 1st place spot in a major event.
"Just a bit of luck." Izroth stated. He was not attempting to be humble, but it really was partly due to luck. After all, if he had never obtained the Spiritual Essence trait from the Chaotic Dogma Realm and the AOE skill Behemoth's Quake from defeating the Brooding Behemoth Basbus during the event, then there was a good chance that he would have never soared to the 1st place spot over Ewan.
Everything fell into place perfectly for him and from another person's point of view, it could be considered Izroth's fortune and Ewan's misfortune.
However, no one took Izroth's statement seriously. No matter how much "luck" one had, it would be impossible for them to grab 1st place over so many other skilled players if they themselves were unskilled.
"I see, then next time I can only hope that my own luck is better." Ewan responded as he turned then turned his attention towards Mariposa.
"I heard guild leader Mariposa was one of the first players within the shop. It is your good fortune that you happened to be nearby." Ewan said as he watched Mariposa's closely.
Mariposa smiled in a coy manner and replied, "I was born under a lucky star. Maybe that has something to do with it?" She knew that Ewan was trying to probe her relationship to Izroth, or at the very least, try to determine if there was already some kind of partnership between them. However, she would not make it so easy for him to read the situation at hand.
"If I remember correctly, your younger sister was in the same party as Izroth during the event, right?" Wang Qiang said with a grin on his face.
That time when Zhang Jie went over towards the Blue Oasis sector during the event, Zhang Jie had brought along that information back along with him. It simply came up in a side conversation and he did not think much of it at the time, however, maybe there was something going on after all that he was unaware of.
"Who my adorable little sister chooses to hang around has nothing to do with me." Mariposa said.
"Hah! Who doesn't know how overprotective you are of your sister? Do you expect me to believe someone like you doesn't care about the people she keeps company? How laughable." Wang Qiang replied as he shook his head.
"Did the two of you come here to buy pills or not? If you did, then hurry up and go shop." Mariposa said waving the two of them away.
It could be seen from their interaction with one another that they had crossed paths plenty of times before. However, there were no hostile intentions by either party and, in fact, they appeared to be on close enough terms to not take offense to each other's words.
"Of course, that's only part of the reason we're here." Ewan said as he turned back towards Izroth.
He then continued, "I'll just be blunt and straight to the point. If you have the Five Cycles Pills for sale in this place it can only mean one of three things. The first is that you know the true identity of the Pill Emperor."
Everyone nearby within hearing range was shocked when they heard Ewan's words. Pill Emperor? The owner of this shop personally knew that famous and mysterious Pill Emperor who the top guilds had been combing all of RML for?! If so, this was bound to be the hottest spot within RML to obtain pills in the future! After all, who did not want to consume a pill crafted by the Pill Emperor?
"The second is that you somehow managed to obtain a recipe of the Five Cycles Pills and copy other recipes from the Pill Emperor. The last option is that you, Izroth, are in fact the Pill Emperor, a grade three Apothecary." Ewan explained.
The shop owner could be the Pill Emperor?! Was that really true? They were unsure since it sounded as if Ewan was only taking wild guesses, however, they were definitely listening closely while pretending the browse through the items.
Mariposa scoffed, "You sure know how to let your imagination run wild, Ewan."
Ewan only slightly smiled in response to Mariposa's words as he continued on and said, "I find the first choice to be the most plausible explanation. As for the other two, it's unlikely, but not impossible."
The reason Ewan said those words was due to the fact that a person like the Pill Emperor must have devoted countless hours and time within RML to creating his pill recipes. That was the only way to explain how the Pill Emperor was currently the sole player Apothecary within RML that had achieved the grade three ranking.
How could someone like Izroth who had time to take 1st place in an event and go off clearing dungeons, possibly have had time to practice his apothecary skills and research the massive amount of available reagents?
As for stealing the pill recipes, Ewan highly doubted that this was the case. Not only did his present impression of Izroth tell him this, but also, what player would not guard such pills recipes that could potentially make them millions of gold coins, with their lives?
Ewan understood that it mattered not which of the three were true. In the end, Izroth definitely had a tie to the Pill Emperor one way or another since there were three grade three pills sitting in the Mystical Realm Palace.
"It is as Mariposa said, you sure know how to let your imagination run wild." Izroth said as he inwardly shook his head. The thought of him stealing a pill recipe from anyone in and of itself was laughable.
"Oh? Perhaps you'd care to elaborate a bit. But first, I would like to know if there is anywhere private that I could have a conversation with the shop owner of the Mystical Realm Palace. There is much to be said." Ewan said as his gaze swept across the numerous eyes staring over in their direction. Even though some players hid it well, there was still a good amount who were blatantly obvious.
"I happen to know a place." Izroth responded in a carefree manner as he started to walk towards the room he created specifically for privacy or conference type gatherings. However, he did not expect to put the room to use so soon after the grand opening.
"Surely you would not mind my tagging along?" Mariposa said as she walked along with Ewan and Wang Qiang. The three of them were all following after Izroth.
"Even if I objected, I'm sure you would still come along." Ewan said.
Izroth changed the permission(s) to allow Mariposa, Ewan, and Wang Qiang to enter into the conference room. He took a seat at the head of the table as the other three sat down not too long after him.
...
"Mystical Realm Palace? This is the first I'm hearing any news about a shop opening. Why am I just now finding out about this?" Asgard frowned. At the moment, he was outside of Amaharpe on a dungeon run when he received a flood of messages from his guild members located within Amaharpe regarding the opening of the first player owned shop.
This was huge news! However, it came out of absolutely nowhere which was surprising considering the vast information network of Blue Oasis. For something this major to slip through their nets undetected was unacceptable.
"There must have been very few people involved for something like this to be kept so well under wraps. Is there any idea as to who is in control of the shop? This could greatly shift the current balance of power." Niflheim said with furrowed brows.
If one of the top guilds controlled the shop or even someone allied to another top guild, then it had the potential to drastically change things.
"There's more information coming in every second. Wait a sec, this is...!" Asgard raised his brows as he looked at the new incoming messages and there was shock written all over his face.
"Hm? What is it?" Niflheim looked over at Asgard in a manner of curiosity.
"We have to return to Amaharpe immediately! Niflheim, you will come along with me using a Returning Scroll. As for the rest of you, it'll be best if you continue on without us. This matter requires our immediate attention." Asgard said with a serious expression as he removed a Returning Scroll from his inventory.
Niflheim was a bit startled by Asgard's sudden hasty behavior. One had to know that a single Returning Scroll cost around 100 gold coins. That was more than 75,000 RMB with the current exchange rate! For them to use two Returning Scrolls could be considered a heavy price to pay for a non-emergency situation.
"The guild leaders of Sleeping Gardenia and Cross Haven have already arrived to greet the shop owner. Apparently, he does not belong to any guild. This is a chance for my Blue Oasis." Asgard said with a hint of confidence in his voice.
200 gold coins? So what! This was the first player owned shop within RML! Even if they could not directly get a piece of the profit, there were still other opportunities to explore.
"Are you sure that I should come along? I am more than capable of providing assistance over the messaging system." Niflheim said. He felt it would be a waste for both of them to use a Returning Scroll.
However, Asgard shook his head in response and replied, "I need you to be there with me in person on this one. After all, you have the most experience out of any member of Blue Oasis dealing with the shop owner. It would seem as though that friend of yours has indeed been up to some interesting things lately."
...
A similar sequence of events was taking place all throughout the top guilds within Amaharpe. Unknowingly, Mariposa and Ewan had started a wave that could no longer be stopped. For the first time since the beginning of RML, the leader of every single top guild gathered at the same location, the Mystical Realm Palace! The top guilds were scrambling to make a good first impression.