CHAPTER 69: CHAPTER 69: ELISE’S HELP

Ethan’s eyes lit up. He’d been thinking too narrowly. The [Blue Ice Potion recipe Intel] needs a [Pharmacist] to use, but it doesn’t say it has to be a player.

Instead of looking for a player who has done a class change to [Pharmacist], it would be easier to find an NPC with the [Pharmacist] job.

There aren’t many players who have finished their class change yet, and most of them chose combat classes. Non-combat classes like [Pharmacist] are usually taken by players who don’t like fighting.

And those players level up very slowly.

If Ethan wanted to find a player [Pharmacist], it would take a lot of time—and time was exactly what he lacked.

So he planned to get the recipe first and see if he could learn anything useful from it, like the names of the required materials.

With that in mind, Ethan turned to Elise and asked:

"By the way, Elise, do you know if anyone in our safe zone is a [Pharmacist]?"

"Not just our safe zone—nearby ones are fine too."

Elise looked up, gave him a strange look, then nodded. "Of course I do."

Ethan quickly asked: "Who?"

Elise pointed at herself. "Who else? Me. I own this item shop, and I make most of the potions here myself."

"But why are you looking for a [Pharmacist]?"

Ethan nodded. He hadn’t expected Elise to be a [Pharmacist]. That saved him a lot of time.

So he told her directly what he needed help with.

Elise agreed, but set her terms right away. "I can help, but I have one condition: I need to make a copy of the [Blue Ice Potion recipe]."

"Don’t worry. When you players use a potion recipe, it cuts down the learning time, but the recipe vanishes. For us, it doesn’t. I just need to copy it, then study and practice it slowly.

"Copy the recipe?"

Ethan looked at Elise right away. She quickly added: "The copied recipe can’t be used by players."

Ethan nodded with a bit of regret. Otherwise, that would be a great way to make a lot of money.

But if Elise could learn the potion recipe, then once she fully mastered how to make the [Blue Ice Potion], he could ask her more about it.

Like whether some of the [Blue Ice Potion]’s ingredients could be swapped for other things.

Ethan asked: "Elise, if you learn the recipe, about how long until you can make the potion?"

Elise thought for a moment and said, "Learning a recipe isn’t as fast as you think. You players are like monsters at this—you can master recipes and skills in a very short time."

"But for us, it takes a lot of time. We have to learn it bit by bit."

"For a normal pharmacist, fully mastering one recipe takes at least a few months, even a year."

Ethan caught the key point and said, "A normal pharmacist?"

Elise smiled and puffed out her chest a little. "Yeah. But I’m not a normal pharmacist. As long as the recipe isn’t very hard, I can fully master it in one to two weeks."

In Dawnfall Online, one to two weeks is only half that in the real world—about four to seven days.

That timeline worked for Ethan.

So he didn’t hesitate. He took out the [Blue Ice Potion recipe Intel] and handed it to Elise. "I agree to your terms, but please be as fast as you can."

"I don’t have much time."

Elise gave Ethan a puzzled look. The always-calm [Windchaser] in front of her now seemed a bit anxious.

Elise didn’t ask what was going on. She just took the [Blue Ice Potion recipe Intel], nodded, and said:

"I’ll be as fast as I can. I’ll use this Intel right away and get the recipe."

"If you’ve got things to do, go ahead."

Ethan nodded. He hadn’t expected Elise to help him with the most important part right now.

Once he walked out of the item shop, he felt a bit more relaxed.

With less than three months left, he was getting anxious. He even thought about just crushing the [Sensing Pinecone] that [Grinning Ghost] gave him.

Then he could contact [Grinning Ghost] and trade the Blue Ice Potion recipe Intel for a finished [Blue Ice Potion].

But if he did that, he couldn’t be sure the other side wouldn’t notice his urgency. And when picking up the [Blue Ice Potion] in the real world, it would be hard to keep his identity secret.

Unless he had no other choice, Ethan wouldn’t take that kind of risk.

Thinking about this, he headed toward a part of Safe Zone 9527.

He was going to find Lucas and the others.

About five minutes later, he reached a slightly run-down house with a sign on the door that said [Tower of Fates]. This was his guild’s base in Safe Zone 9527.

Besides Ethan, a lot of players were gathered here. They weren’t doing anything—just standing around by the road or squatting.

As soon as Ethan showed up, they went wild. They swarmed around him, shouting:

"[Windchaser]! Ethan, give me a chance—I want to join [Tower of Fates]!"

"Ethan, I’m a class-change player! I also have a piece of Blue-quality gear. I’m really strong—can you let me join [Tower of Fates]?"

"Guild Leader! Guild Leader! If you let me join [Tower of Fates], I’m willing to put in two hundred thousand as guild funds!"

"Don’t go! I really want to join [Tower of Fates]. Please consider me!"

With players crowding around him, Ethan struggled to get into the Guild.

Lucas, Lucian, and Sylvan were already waiting. Seeing Ethan a bit ruffled, they shared a knowing smile.

They’d just dealt with the same thing too—just not as crazy as what Ethan faced.

Lucas hurried over and said, "Ethan, I sent the auction money the same way as before. Check it later."

Ethan nodded. He didn’t log off to check. Instead, he patted Lucas on the shoulder and said quietly, "You did great with the auction. Thanks for the hard work."

Lucas froze for a moment, then said, "It was nothing. Compared to what you’ve done, mine doesn’t amount to much."

Chubby Lucian came over grinning. "Ethan, the ad fees total 1.8 million. I sent the money to you too. You can check it later."

"You have no idea how much my dad’s view of me has changed. He looks at me like I’m a rising star!"

"This feels way better than going on a date with an influencer!"

Only Sylvan stayed quiet. In real life, he’s the younger brother of the biggest gang boss in Dolren City, and this auction wasn’t really his area.

But after seeing how excited Lucian and Lucas were, he clenched his fist.

The best motivation isn’t a speech—it’s real examples around you. Looking at Lucian and Lucas now, he knew that when it was his turn to help [Windchaser], he wouldn’t fall short.

They chatted a bit more, mostly about the [Tower of Fates] Guild. Lucas said lots of players wanted to join, including some strong ones.

Other guilds have to beg strong players to join. They don’t need to—many strong players are begging to join [Tower of Fates].

Ethan thought it over. He didn’t need that many people yet. He’d wait until most players finished their class change and moved into the settlements, then think about taking in new members.

Safe Zone 9527 is just too small. The hub is where players from a dozen nearby safe zones all gather. There will be more strong players there, and more people with special classes.

After they decided not to recruit for now, Lucas looked at Ethan with a hesitant expression, clearly wanting to say something.

Ethan asked directly: "If you have something to say, just say it."

Lucas took a deep breath and said, "Ethan, here’s the thing—Morris wants to come back..."

Ethan remembered Morris—he’s the mayor of Dolren City’s nephew.

Morris chose to quit halfway back then. Now he wants to join again, and Ethan had no intention of agreeing.

But he didn’t answer right away. He looked over at Lucian and Sylvan.

Noticing Ethan’s look, Sylvan spoke first: "I think we should pass. Other things might be fine, but not this."

Lucian snorted and said, "The mayoral election is coming up soon, and the current mayor’s approval is low. Morris wants back in just to use us to boost his uncle’s numbers."

"I refuse."

Lucas sighed and nodded. Not everyone knows how to seize a chance.