…
3 days later...
'It's finally ready.'
Jin had been informed earlier that day that the new house he purchased was ready to be moved into. After all, they could not possibly stay in a hotel room for the rest of their lives.
The money generated by his Mystical Realm Palace made it so that Izroth did not have to hold back when purchasing a home. However, Reilei insisted that it be kept simple as she would feel out of place in something too fancy.
Therefore, Jin compromised and purchased a house that was neither too grand nor too humble. He understood that this kind of lifestyle would be challenging for Reilei to adjust to given the years she spent struggling just to get by. So he felt that it was better to slowly ease her into it. But, he also wanted her to know that she could, in the truest of sense, relax without any worries.
Jin and Reilei were currently riding in the backseat of a car. Jin did not plan on walking there with Reilei and so he hired a driver to act as their chauffeur.
Reilei could not help but smile when she looked at Jin. He sat there with the side of his face rested upon his right fist and a calm expression with his gaze set outside the window. Whenever she looked at her son, Reilei had this feeling of peace that she often found herself experiencing. In her eyes, Jin would always be that same baby she held in her arms for the very first time and promised to treasure forever.
It was difficult for her to do so, but over the past week, she realized that without even noticing, she had started to depend on Jin more and more each day. A part of her felt a little sad that Jin no longer needed her to take care of him, however, there was a large part of her that was filled with joy and pride. This was her son and he had become a man before her very eyes.
"Jin, I may regret many things in my life, but being blessed with you will never be one of them." Reilei said as she placed the palm of her hand on Jin's cheek and a lovely smile blossomed on her face.
Jin smiled as he turned to look at Reilei and said, "I'm grateful to you, mother. You've sacrificed your dreams so that I could focus on accomplishing my own. For this, I promise that you will never have to face such hardships again."
"Silly child, when did you become so good with words? Do you still not know that it's improper to make your mother shed so many tears even if they are ones of joy?" Reilei said in a joking manner as her eyes began to tear up.
A few minutes later, Jin and Reilei arrived in front of their new home. The outside was well maintained and the house itself was sizable and yet not overwhelming.
"How pretty." Reilei said as she saw a small garden nearby. The flowers there looked as if they were taken care of by a professional gardener and there was a good variety of them that grew in the small garden.
As they entered the house, the inside was quite spacious. The house itself was two stories and the interior was already decorated appropriately as per Jin's request. Overall, it had a very homey feeling to it with a hint of elegance present.
Jin and Reilei took a moment to look around to see how everything turned out. In the end, both were satisfied with the end results. This place would be their new home.
After taking a while to settle in, Reilei did not waste any time in making a meal to celebrate the special occasion with the ingredients she picked up before they headed over. Once the meal was finished being prepared and the table was set, Jin and Reilei sat down for their first meal in their new home.
"Have you thought what I said about giving RML a try?" Jin asked. He left the spare headset he purchased out on the table just in case Reilei was willing to give it a try. He was curious as to if Reilei had tried playing it yet.
Reilei nodded and replied, "I've thought about it."
"And?" Jin asked.
"I gave it a try." Reilei said as she ate one of the dumplings that were sat out on the table.
'Oh?'
Jin was surprised that Reilei took the initiative to play RML given her history with playing video games.
"What do you think about it?" Jin questioned.
"It's certainly different than the other games you've had me play before. I can't say that I dislike it." Reilei stated with a gentle smile.
"What's your in-game name? I'll add you so that-" Jin, however, was quickly cut off by Reilei.
"Not telling." Reilei said without hesitation.
"Not telling?" Jin repeated her words as if to make sure he wasn't just hearing things.
Reilei stayed quiet as she enjoyed the meal before her. In truth, she felt that Jin was doing great things in that world and she did not want to interfere or slow him down in any way. Therefore, Reilei decided that unless she could stand entirely on her own two feet within RML, she would not risk being a burden to her son who was currently out to accomplish his dreams.
Besides, how could she tell her son about the embarrassing name she had gotten by mistake?
"You're really not saying?" Jin asked as a helpless smile appeared on his face.
However, Reilei did not budge in a rare moment of stubbornness. In the end, Jin gave up on getting her to disclose her in-game name. He understood her intentions due to the nature of her personality. He knew that Reilei probably felt as though she would only get in his way since she lacked any proper gaming experience. But, even if Jin did not care about such things, he knew that Reilei did. Therefore, he decided to respect her wishes on this matter.
"My in-game name is Izroth. If you ever come across any trouble, you can send me a message at any time. No matter where you're at, I'll come and find you." Jin stated.
"On this, I can compromise." Reilei said as she slightly chuckled.
After Jin and Reilei finished their meal, Jin went into his new room and took out his virtual reality headset.
'It's already been a little more than nine days in-game since the announcement was made. Today is the day Xing Bai said that he would deliver the pills to the Mystical Realm Palace. Also, that person will be coming along with Xing Bai. The head of the Fireheart Apothecary Society. There's also that other matter...'
Jin lied down on the bed and put on his headset.
'Well, I'll deal with one matter at a time. For now, I'll meet with people from the Fireheart Apothecary Society.'
Jin turned on the headset and logged into RML.
...
〈System Alert: Welcome Player Izroth, to Realm of Myths and Legends!〉
Izroth opened up his system interface and immediately went to check the messages he received while he was offline. Sure enough, there was a message from Hand In Fire, Xing Bai's character name, that they would be arriving at the Mystical Realm Palace in around twenty minutes. That message was sent fifteen minutes ago.
'Xing Bai's expecting to meet with the Pill Emperor. However...'
There were not that many individuals aware of Izroth's identity as the Pill Emperor. It was not that he was afraid of making this knowledge public, he just felt that the "Pill Emperor" being a separate and mysterious entity was the best course of action for what he had in mind. However, from his previous conversations with Xing Bai, Izroth knew that he could be trusted.
The only question now was, could the head of the Fireheart Apothecary Society be trusted?
'I suppose we'll find out.'
Izroth left Amaharpe's auction house, the location he last logged out at and went over towards the Mystical Realm Palace. He had long since returned to Amaharpe after his trip a few days ago to Proximus. For the past few days, Izroth had spent the large majority of his time exploring the unnamed areas of Amaharpe and crafting pills to increase the inventory of his Mystical Realm Palace.
Surprisingly, everyone that he usually partied with was busy over the past few days which made it so that he had to solo quite a bit lately. He had come across a few parties that wanted to invite him to join them, however, after finding out that he was a combat master, the same mocking expression appeared on all of their faces.
Unfortunately, the combat master class was still considered as trash by players within RML. After all, not a lot of people knew of its true potential or of Izroth's feats with the class.
Soon enough, Izroth stepped into the Mystical Realm Palace. It was busy as usual with a steady flow of players entering the shop. Since it was only possible to purchase one of each pill every day, there were those players who simply came in every day to buy pills. Of course, it was not for themselves but rather for whatever guild they were a part of or to sell it for a slightly higher price to those big guilds that were willing to pay.
Izroth took a seat in the conference room, however, only a few seconds after taking his seat Opal entered into the room.
"Handler Izroth, you have guests who wish to meet with you. One of them is called Xing Bai. He is accompanied by the head of the Fireheart Apothecary Society and said you are expecting them. Shall I grant them permission to enter the conference room?" Opal said.
"Yes, they're my guests. Invite them inside." Izroth stated.
"As you wish." Opal replied as she gave a respectful bow before she exited the conference room and returned with two players. The first was, of course, Xing Bai. As for the second, they wore a cloak that hid their identity and facial features.
"Allow me to make proper introductions. Izroth, this is the head of the Fireheart Apothecary Society, Worldly Skies." Xing Bai said as his eyes scanned the room. After he finished doing so, a slight look of disappointment appeared on his face. He only saw Izroth and not the Pill Emperor. What was the meaning of this?
"I welcome you to my Mystical Realm Palace, Pill Emperor Wordly Skies." Izroth said with a carefree smile on his face.
"You do me honor, but I do not deserve such an overbearing title as my skills are still quite lacking in comparison to yours, Pill Emperor Izroth." Worldly Skies replied in a swift manner.
Xing Bai was shocked. Pill Emperor Izroth? Could it be she thought that Izroth was the Pill Emperor? No, that shouldn't be the case, he had already informed her that Izroth was just the owner of the shop.
Izroth kept a straight face and calm expression. From Worldly Skies' tone, he could tell that they were testing him for his reaction. It was their way of probing for information in the best way possible, by witnessing how the opposing party responded to a statement. What a sly individual in this regard! But, would Izroth give himself away so easily?
Though there was something else that caught him off guard.
'This voice... A woman?'
Worldly Skies removed their cloak and a magnificent looking robe revealed itself. A gorgeous woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She had short blonde hair with one part covering nearly the entire left side of her face, baby blue eyes, and she possessed curves that were in all the right places.
"Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am the head of the Fireheart Apothecary Society, Worldly Skies. I have heard much about you." Worldly Skies said as a small grin formed on her face.