Chapter 23：The Changed Plot

The Starfall Forest had always been a nightmare for many of the citizens from the Serian Kingdom and the Portoroa Kingdom.

Even experts with a high-ranked profession would not risk their lives to go into the Starfall Forest. People with a low-ranked profession would enter the forest in groups. However, very few of the groups had ever come out alive. As a result, the Starfall Forest had become more and more mysterious and dangerous. The world inside the Starfall Forest was completely different from the world outside the forest.

There were no stars in the clear night sky above the Starfall Forest. The sky seemed to be a little darker tonight, but even so, it was still a lot more beautiful than the night on earth.

Around the outside of the Starfall Forest was a layer of thick fog.

People called the thick fog the boundary line of death. Anyone who crossed over the line would die.

Several figures suddenly emerged from within the thick fog and walked out of the Starfall Forest.

There were a total of eight people in the group.

Most of them wore shabby clothes, and some of them were injured. All the weapons they were carrying with them were damaged, but the degree to which they were all damaged was different. The oldest member in the group was nearly 50 years old, while the youngest member was only 13 or 14 years old. Anyone who saw the team would have thought that it looked extremely strange/ However, the murderous aura emitted from them was similar to an elite army.

The team was, of course, Sean and others who had come to the Portoroa Kingdom by passing through the Starfall Forest.

The leader of the team was no longer Sean. It had changed to Drouin.

They had entered the territory that belonged to the aristocratic viscount. Even if he had admired Sean and became friendlier with him during their journey, their statuses were still not equal. Therefore, as soon as they exited the Starfall Forest, the viscount had to display the aura of belonging to the aristocrats. Of course, he did not treat Sean as coldly or disdainfully as he had in the past.

Sean, however, looked at Drouin and sighed angrily. "It seems like starting a new rank-four profession will not be a problem for this old fellow."

His eyes turned towards Old Pete. He sighed helplessly. "Even though the personal attributes of this old guy have improved slightly, he will not be able to start a new profession. I'm afraid it's a hopeless case. If he is willing to give up his current career and change to another one, then it might be possible for him to break through to rank five."

"This is the Tindus Domain." Drouin took out the map and looked at it, then confirmed, "If it had not been for Sean on this journey, then I'm afraid we might not have been able to make it here alive. Now, Mr. Halle, the others, and I are going back to Tindus Castle. Sean, if you don't have anywhere to go, you can come with us."

Tindus Castle?

Some information about the territory appeared in Sean's mind. He remembered that the territory was not a safe place. Back when he was in the game, Marquis Perot, the lord of Tindus Domain, was a very cheerful old man. The territory had been very prosperous under his management. However, the territory and the marquis title were later taken over by his younger brother, Count Mario. All the members of Marquis Perot's family were pretty much dead.

Of course, the king of Portoroa Kingdom had sent people to investigate the matter, but Count Mario's methods were so clean that not a single shred of evidence could be found. If it had not been for a large number of players that joined Count Mario's camp, who later posted about the matter to a forum, no one would have known about it.

After Sean remembered all of this, he looked at Drouin and Halle with a little sadness. He had realized something important about Drouin's identity.

According to the plot in the game, Marquis Perot's son was killed by a group of mountain bandits on his way home from a business trip with people of Arctic Silver. Because of this, Marquis Perot had suffered a massive blow and later died from the Fire Dragon Poison. As a player, Sean knew very well that it was Count Mario who had deliberately made the effect of Fire Dragon Poison break out inside Marquis Perot's body. Otherwise, he would have been able to live for at least another four to five years. When Marquis Perot died, the leader of the Tindus Domain changed.

Currently, Drouin and Halle were living quite well, which was different from the plot development in the game. That meant that something had already changed with his involvement.

Sean could not help but wonder if he had somehow created a storm there. In the game, he had never heard of anyone who received the task to escort Drouin back to his kingdom.

Thoughts flashed through Sean's mind.

Sean seemed to have decided. "Ice Heart Grass alone cannot cure the Fire Dragon Poison."

Drouin had invited Sean to go back to Tindus Castle with him, but Sean had unexpectedly said something else. The others could not quite understand what it meant, but the colors on Halle and Drouin's faces changed.

"You..." After they came out of the forest, Drouin's face had once again shown the arrogance of an aristocrat, but now, it had turned into a panicked expression. He subconsciously pressed his hands against his belly. "How do you know?...No, who are you?!"

No one knew how to react, as they did not know what was going on. Everyone remembered that while they were in the Starfall Forest, no matter what kind of situation they were in, Drouin had always covered his stomach. During those times, everyone thought that it was because Drouin had never experienced that kind of suffering as he was an aristocrat, so he had felt some physical discomfort. But now, they all realized that it was not the case.

"Ice Heart Grass can cure the Fire Dragon Poison. However, it only works during the early stages." Sean did not answer Drouin's question, as he said to himself, "But the Fire Dragon Poison inside Marquis Perot has already gone a lot deeper, so the Ice Heart Grass alone is useless. It can only temporarily contain the Fire Dragon Poison."

Hearing Sean say the words so calmly, Drouin began to panic inside. The Ice Heart Grass he had spent so many years looking for was no longer useful. It made him feel extremely disappointed. It was as if all these years of hard work had been rejected. However, Drouin was a very determined person. When he heard Sean say the words so lightly, a kind of hope had emerged in his heart.

In an instant, Drouin's attitude changed drastically as he said respectfully, "Mr. Sean, please tell me what I should do."

"If you can collect the Snow Liquid, Condensed Ice Potion, and a rank-five Water-based Core Crystal, then you should go find the great alchemist Froy in the Northern Solitary Tower. Ask him to refine a bottle of Ice Crystal Dragon Breath Potion for you." Sean then casually said, "By the way, these three items are the main ingredients for the Ice Crystal Dragon Breath Potion. It shouldn't be a problem for you to collect other materials. You can even buy them at the Northern Solitary Tower. Out of the three ingredients, the real problem will be the Snow Liquid. As for the other two ingredients, it is possible to buy them with your financial resources or Mr. Halle's status as an Arctic Silver merchant."

The Ice Crystal Dragon Breath Potion was an extremely advanced alchemy potion. Its effect however was not used for healing and protection. Instead, it was used for attacking and destruction. A standard amount of potion could temporarily enchant 100 weapons, and the effect of the enchantment was very powerful. It added 50 points of ice-based damage, which made it the strongest enchantment potion. If it were directly used, then even people with a rank-six class would not be able to resist it. They would instantly freeze into an ice sculpture.

"But this potion..." Drouin had heard of the potion before, and the expression on his face had become a little strange.

"If you directly feed your father a bottle, then he will die." Sean shrugged and said bluntly, "One bottle can be divided into 100 drops. Each drop can be further diluted into 100 portions. Just take one portion before each meal every day. It is fine for him to take less, but he definitely can't drink more. If he takes a lesser amount, then it will only prolong the effectiveness of the treatment. But if he takes more than the required amount, then it will kill him."

"How do you know all this?" Drouin had a strange look on his face.

Sean smiled but did not intend to answer the question. How could Sean tell him that it was something a player had invented back in the game and that it was a special method for treating the Fire Dragon Poison that was inside the NPCs? Would Drouin and the others even know what an NPC was?

Seeing that Sean was not going to answer his question, Drouin could not help but remember the first time he had met Sean. Back then, nature and etiquette displayed by Sean had been above Drouin. Later, the commanding ability and aura displayed by Sean inside the Starfall Forest was something beyond Drouin's reach. All of it indicated the extraordinary characteristics of the person in front of him.

Remembering those things, coupled with the fact Cecilia's aristocratic background had always been very evident, Drouin seemed to guess a bit of Sean's identity. As expected of a young man, his mind was not calm enough. There were a lot of clues during their journey that Sean probably did not know he had given.

"Since Mr. Sean doesn't want to say it, then I won't ask." Drouin was now more polite towards Sean. "I wonder if Mr. Sean would like to come to Tindus Castle with us?"

"I won't be going to Tindus Castle. Cecilia and I still have some things we need to take care of," Sean smiled and refused. "Also, we won't be staying in the Portoroa Kingdom for too long. I'm afraid we will be leaving soon. Mr. Halle, don't forget those 10,000 continental gold coins."

"Of course, I certainly won't forget." When Halle saw that Drouin had become so polite towards Sean, coupled with Sean's performance during their entire journey, he naturally had to be a little more polite as well.

"That's right." Sean suddenly thought of something and said, "Mr. Drouin, remember to be careful around your uncle. Also, Mr. Halle, don't expect anything from your merchant group anymore."

After he spoke, both Halle and Drouin were shocked. Expressions of disbelief were displayed on their faces.

There was no way Sean would stay and continue to say anything else to them. Since he had done something of his free will once already and changed the course of things a little bit, it was better to change the plot entirely. However, that was all he would do, as he did not want to become deeply involved in those matters. He rarely came to the Portoroa Kingdom, so he still had a lot of things to take care of.

The first and most important task was to turn Cecilia into an official magician!