Chapter 46: Aerona Marten

As the elf opened her eyes, SnowDew jumped away in an instinct while Wil stood there calmly and kept on staring at her without any fear as he realized the debuff because of Aerona's curse disappeared.

Meanwhile, the elf's body started floating in the air while emitting a glow for a while which slowly dimmed as she landed on the ground.

Looking at him, she opened her mouth, "thank you Angel-race warriors for bringing me back to life."

"You lied to us… Who are you?" Snow Dew stuttered while a slight fear can be seen on her face.

????

Level: ????

HP: ????

Looking at the question marks, Wil understood why she was feared. After all, the greatest advantage of players over NPCs is the skill of inspection. And an unknown always plants a seed of fear in your heat.

But, still, as though he expected it, Wil stayed calm as he asked her, "Are you Marten or Aerona? Or maybe, your full name is Aerona Marten?"

The elf was clearly taken aback by his response but then, she stared at him silently for a while. Wil felt as though she was piercing his soul and looking for the hidden secrets.

After a few seconds of silence, the elf smiled, "Now, that's interesting. I never imagined I would see the successor of Archangel Seraph one day. No wonder I get a strange feeling from you, all along. It's a pleasure to meet you, Elementalist."

Although Wil looked like he was calm on the surface, inside of him, he started to freak out. "How the f*** did she able to find it out so easily. I thought she is just powerful but it seems she's much more powerful than I thought. She might not be a mere Ascended."

While SnowDew was wondering what is this elf called him by, Wil didn't comment on that and asked, "Are you perhaps, a High-Elf?"

"Well, I'm not surprised that you managed to deduce it. Anyways, it's as you have guessed. I'm Aerona Marten, a High Elf and the High-Priestess of the Kingdom of Eden."

Wil saw a tone of arrogance as she was introducing herself. He thought, "Kingdom of Eden? Is it another ancient powerful Kingdom like Artemis, maybe?"

"Then, what are you doing here, in the Kingdom of Artemis?" Wil asked her using the ancient name as he guessed she might not know it was now the Llyne Kingdom.

Aerona replied, "Well, I came as an envoy to the Artemis Kingdom as a part of the treaty. The undead you have killed and the skeletons you have seen are some of the native people of this forest.

After helping out the people from the calamity, they served me for a while and treated me as a goddess. I stayed here for a while and who knows that just before I leave, that fallen angel King, Lucifer will pass by and kill me. Before killing me, I sealed a part of my soul inside the stone head.

Because it was tainted with corrupted energy, the spirit wasn't able to enter. As both of you removed the slab and unsealed my true body, I was able to revive again.

Sorry for deceiving you. If you knew it's me…"

Wil interrupted her, "I won't ever open it and take the risk even if I have to abandon our quest." Then, slowly mumbled to himself, "after all, I'm only here for the leaf."

SnowDew then said while looking at her warily, "How do we know you didn't lie to us again?"

Wil sighed, "She doesn't have a reason to. She's a High-elf, an Ascended."

"Ascended? What is that?"

As SnowDew asked curiously, Wil replied, "To put it simply, she's above level-500."

"500?" SnowDew's voice was shaken as she took a step back in a shock.

Ignoring her, Wil looked at Aerona, "either way, we finished our deal. You got what I want and I did what you want. We shall take our leave, then. Let's go, SnowDew."

As Wil turned around and SnowDew scurried towards him, they heard a voice from behind, "wait."

Wil turned his head and asked, "Is there anything else?"

Aerona smiled, "both of you freed me after 2000 years of my imprisonment. I should at least reward you something, right? Here…"

She started removing the two earrings that shaped like a silver cross and handed the pair to Wil and then, she removed a ring, she was wearing on her right hand and then gave it to SnowDew.

"Too bad, both of you don't use swords. Anyway, I'm leaving for my kingdom." Then, she looked at Wil, "Before I leave, I need to mention to you that the corrupted gold coins can't be purified. They were tainted by Lucifer's aura. It's best if your companion abandons them in the wild or hand over to your present King."

Wil replied, "Not if you have the celestial stone of light."

"Stone of Light? Sorry, young man but that was destroyed long ago."

Upon hearing her reply, Wil thought, "not really. Well, I have to thank Bran for that. If he didn't become famous while uploading the videos on the internet, then, I wouldn't have known its existence.

After becoming 2* Elementalist, my next goal should be clearing Level-200 dungeon and get the fragment."

Wil faked sadness as he replied, "I see. Then, it's too bad."

Aerona then said, "Anyway, I'm going back to my homeland. Something tells me that this isn't going to be the last time we meet, Seraph's successor. Until then..."

She disappeared from there leaving the two of them alone.

***

Aerona's Earrings (Bound)

Level: 100

Type: Growth

Grade: Legendary

Attack: 50%

HP: 125%

Mana: 100%

Critical Damage: 25%

Critical Resistance: 25%

*

Looking at the stats, Wil gulped in a surprise, "she's damn generous."

Meanwhile, SnowDew was over the clouds as she shared the stats with Wil and her dad as they exited the Ruins along with Huxley, Remia, and Hiro who were resurrected by Wil after Aerona disappeared.

"Wow, that ring had 50% Pierce and 50% Critical rate instead of mana and crt.dmg. That means, once she leveled-up to 200 and it increased to 100, even a 100 million defense will be useless before her. She'll be the bane of Guardians. Flame Emperor must be feeling a little troubled, hehe."

A couple of hours later, everyone reached East Ocean City.

Leaving SnowDew with Flame Emperor, who was waiting for them, Wil went to the Mayor's Manor and reported to complete the following quest only he received as the other two players were considered as just helpers.

Upon reporting, he received continuous notifications.

*Ding. You completed the Quest. You received 1000 fame, 5 gold.

*Ding. Favorability increased by 10.

With 85 points of favorability, the Mayor treated him almost like a brother and invited him to dinner with his family, two days later.

Looking at the quest, Wil nodded even though he doesn't have any intention of completing it, "Sure, it's my pleasure."

*Ding. You accepted Ravus' dinner invitation.

After completing his business with the Mayor, Wil exited the Manor and started to walk.

Just then, he received a message from Flame Emperor.

Flame Emperor: Don't you want to take your share?

Time Traveler: Meet me outside of the city. The coins can't be taken out as long as you are in the city.

Flame Emperor: I know. I'll wait for you at the entrance of the level-25 dungeon. Just to be on the safe side, let's enter a dungeon together and we can complete our deal. By the way, we can't apply.

Time Traveler: Good Idea. A dungeon is the best place for the transaction. And just a second, I'll send you the invite.

Right then, FlameEmperor and SnowDew officially joined the Scarlet guild.