Chapter 157: The Bloodstone

Calvin stared in shock at the transparent window and a bitter smile soon appeared on his face.

'Damn it... She really did design the Emperor's Commandment to be similar to a game's system! There's even a quest function!'

'But as far as I could remember, quests should have rewards for completion. I wonder what kind of reward would a Goddess give for an S-Tier Quest. Speaking of S-Tier, this is an incredibly high difficulty of a quest for a newbie like me. What is the basis for this difficulty measurement? Is it the dangers lurking in the Village of Tulog? That should be it...'

Calvin gave it a thought and the S-Tier Quest: Exodus was immediately accepted. He willed to open the quest information but he was floored to discover that the quest information tab only had these words in it.

[Uncover the secrets of the Village of Tulog and free the villagers from the curse of sleeplessness.]

[Bonus: If you gain at least five followers during this quest, you will be able to receive bonus rewards!]

'That's it?!' Calvin almost wanted to directly jump into the heavenly abode of the Goddess Grace and give her a good scolding.

The quest's difficulty is incredibly high, and since she should've been able to see through the secrets of this village with just a glance, she should've provided Calvin with more information regarding this quest, so the quest wouldn't be so hard on him.

But Calvin shook his head.

The quest wouldn't have the S-Tier difficulty anymore if he did receive the help of Grace.

Only without her help could this quest possibly have that estimated difficulty.

But Calvin was asking in his heart.

Just what was the purpose behind this quest function?

If she wanted to give him some benefits, she could've just sent it over to him directly instead of opening this quest function.

But maybe...

Calvin had a theory.

However, a theory was just a theory until it was proven otherwise.

The Goddess Grace might've created this quest function so that there would be a reasonable reason for her to give Calvin some rewards and benefits without arousing the suspicions of the other gods.

What's more, if she gave him rewards this way it would be far easier for her to explain everything to the others when they start questioning her.

Calvin was so focused on his thoughts that he somehow forgot about the existence of Madame Liz who was still waiting for his reply as she stood there bowing in his direction.

When Madame Liz noticed that Calvin was taking too long in his reply, she raised her head and coincidentally saw him shaking his head in disapproval.

Madame Liz let out a sigh.

A bitter smile spread on her lips as she said, "My request is indeed too great of a burden for someone that we just met. Still, I would like to express to you my gratitude for listening to my woes. I feel like a thorn has been picked off from my chest. I feel relieved that someone is finally able to listen to me."

Madame Liz smiled gently, similar to a genial old woman next door.

Then, she turned around and went over to her daughter.

"Wait..."

Calvin turned to look at Madame Liz with a frown.

"Why are you going away?"

"Hmm? Young man, I thought you were refusing my earnest request?"

"What? Who says I'm refusing... I was thinking about something else."

"Ah..." Madame Liz's lips repeatedly twitched as a bitter smile surfaced on her lips. 'How dare this boy think about something else when I was out here wearing my heart in my sleeves telling him everything that had happened to me and my daughter in the past!' Madame Liz felt somewhat angry and neglected, but she was still thankful that Calvin wasn't actually refusing her request.

It was because— even though she didn't really mind if Calvin refused her request since she knew the difficulty of the endeavor.

She would still be disappointed if he refused since Calvin was the perfect person to help her in her plight. To be honest, if she wasn't just so uptight and upright, then she would've already forced Calvin to accept her requests by planting a curse in his body or something.

But Madame Liz just wasn't that kind of a person, and she knew to respect a person's decision.

"I accept your request, and I will see to it that it will be fulfilled. But I have my own conditions, so do not be happy yet." Calvin said.

Madame Liz smiled, "What is it? I'll do my best to fulfill your conditions as long as you are willing to accept my request."

Calvin nodded his head and he turned to look at the half-bodied woman behind Madame Liz.

"I want your daughter."

"All right, that is not a... pardon?"

Madame Liz happily agreed, but she froze when she realized something wrong.

"You..."

"You want my daughter?!"

"Yup..." Calvin nodded with a smile.

"You... What are you talking about? My daughter is a Specter, she can't possibly be with the living!"

"Hmmm?" Calvin stared at her in confusion. But seeing the embarrassed look on Madame Liz's face and the fidgeting half-bodied woman right behind her who seemed to be in the same mood as Madame Liz. Calvin finally understood what Madame Liz was talking about. He hurriedly waved his hands in the air and patiently explained.

"No, no, no... Madame... You are misunderstanding something here!"

"I have no untoward intentions whatsoever towards your daughter!"

"I just want her to accompany me so that it'll be easier for me to locate her lower body! After all, it is her own lower body. There should be a degree of resonance between her and her lower body once they are close enough to each other."

Calvin's explanation was cut and dry.

Madame Liz heard it nice and clear and the realization that she made such a blunder made her embarrassed once more. The half-bodied woman behind her was also seemingly stunned as she floated there left to right as if she was a leaf in the middle of turbulent winds.

The reactions of the two to the misunderstanding was quite amusing. But since Calvin was never a man without daintiness, he only let out a smile and kept his thoughts to himself.

"All right, I will let my daughter go with you... It's not like she resents the villagers in the village. She only detests that young man for deceiving her. I am sure that you know what I am talking about, right?" Madame Liz stared at Calvin in a meaningful gaze.

"Yeah..."

Calvin nodded his head.

Madame Liz was basically saying that there was a low chance for the half-bodied woman to spontaneously explode in anger and hatred whenever she was near the villagers since her target of resentment wasn't them in the first place.

In short, it was safe for Calvin to have her follow him inside the village.

But this changes when Calvin goes near that young man.

After all...

Her resentment against that young man was the reason why she became an evil-attributed Specter in the first place. She would probably let loose of her hatred and fury once her eyes landed on that young man even for a split second.

"Follow me, young man... I'll give you a vessel where she can stay as she follows you around."

Calvin didn't say that much and he followed the old woman into the wooden hut where he had stayed earlier.

Madame Liz stood before the stone bed of the wooden hut.

She stretched her hand out and since she was a Specter, she was able to penetrate into the stone bed and take an item from within it.

"Here, wear it around your neck." The object in question was a necklace.

The necklace didn't look that great, it must be made out of silver due to its luster, but after being submerged deep within the stone bed, it had lost its luster and it needed to be cleaned thoroughly before it could display its shine once more.

But the fact that it was made from silver didn't matter as much as the gem attached to it.

The gem was called the Bloodstone.

Calvin instantly recognized it the moment he saw its deep crimson sheen.

"A Bloodstone! You actually have this?" Calvin stared at Madame Liz in astonishment.

"Hahaha... Apart from my late husband and my daughter. No one else knows that I have a Bloodstone apart from you."

Madame Liz let out a pleasant smile after having successfully astonished Calvin for once.

Calvin was indeed shocked. The Bloodstone wasn't an ordinary gem at all!

The Bloodstone was a mineral that could only be synthesized after the mineral itself has soaked in a pool of negative energy for at least a decade! Once it was created, one could use the Bloodstone for all sorts of things, and that includes the creation of Mystical Artifacts!

Calvin couldn't possibly use a Mystical Artifact for he was still too weak.

But in the future, when he must create his own Mystical Artifact...

Having a Bloodstone would significantly increase the strength of that Mystical Artifact by two-folds!

Calvin was pleasantly surprised.

Just the Bloodstone alone made Madame Liz's request worthy of acceptance.

"The smile on your face tells me that you seem to know a lot when it comes to gems. All right, once you're done with my request. This Bloodstone shall be yours." Madame Liz let out a chuckle.

"Hahaha..." Calvin felt awkward after his emotions were read like a book by Madame Liz.

"All right, I'll go talk to my daughter." Madame Liz didn't linger around for so long as she went over to her daughter and explained to her everything that was about to happen.

Eventually, she returned with the half-bodied woman now floating beside her.

There was a cold look on the half-bodied woman's face, but she was obviously nervous as to what was about to happen.

Her face may not be expressing her emotions, but the way she erratically floated as if she was a wind being blown by turbulent winds made it obvious that it was her first time being with someone else apart from her mother.

"It's all right, it's all right... You'll be okay, my dear..." Madame Liz coaxed her and she soon agreed.

Transforming into a beam of dark light, she flew towards the Bloodstone.

The Bloodstone shook for a moment but it eventually calmed down, indicating that the half-bodied woman had perfectly acclimated herself to the environment within the Bloodstone.

"It seems like the rumors were right, the Bloodstone can indeed house a Specter perfectly." Calvin let out a smile. He knew what a Bloodstone was, but due to its rarity and the intense competition over resources. He was unable to take a hold of one in the previous timeline.

He heard a lot of rumors about the Bloodstone and he condoned most of them as bullshit. But at this moment, he was able to personally confirm the legitimacy of one of the rumors that he had heard in the past.

"Yes, you're right..."

"The Bloodstone can house two Specters at the same time."

"What's more, it doesn't discriminate whether your attribute is light or evil. It will perfectly acclimate two opposing Specters until their attributes are balanced out and they also wouldn't be able to harm each other in any way while they are in the Bloodstone..."

"Furthermore, the Bloodstone is also indestructible." Madame Liz explained with a meaningful smile on her face.

Calvin felt a deep sense of foreboding.

"Wait..."

"Is that the reason why you gave me the Bloodstone to house your daughter instead of letting her hide in my shadow?"

Specters could hide in the shadow of every living being in this world.

In fact, it was easier for them to hide in a person's shadow than inside a Bloodstone. In short, Madame Liz has a hidden agenda and that was the reason why she made her daughter hide in the Bloodstone hanging around Calvin's neck.

"Yup... There's a huge chance that you will die trying to lift the curse. If you die while my daughter is attached to your shadows, she will also surely perish under the hands of the person that killed you..."

"That is why I gave you the Bloodstone."

"With its indestructible nature, it would be impossible for anyone to force my daughter out of the Bloodstone..."

"What's more, your soul would also be automatically sucked into the Bloodstone once you die while wearing it, so if you failed... I should be able to revive you through necromancy and compel you to try again."

Madame Liz stared at Calvin with the same meaningful smile that was slowly becoming sinister as the second passed by.

"That is why you must succeed at all costs, do you understand?"

"..."

Calvin didn't know what to say.