CHAPTER 265: CHAPTER265-ACCEPTING THE MISSION

"Meeting someone? Your friend got locked up, huh? It’s tough inside there!"

The elder showed a hint of sympathy, his expression turning into surprise as he glanced at the token.

It seemed he too found Owen’s level of access incredible.

Owen shook his head with a smile, speaking respectfully, "I’m going to see an enemy, actually. I have some questions for him."

"Is that so..."

The elder stroked his white beard, handing Owen a token.

"This token should facilitate better communication between you two."

"Elder..." Owen looked at the elder in confusion.

Although he found everyone in the Sanctuary agreeable, this kindness seemed almost too generous.

The elder, seemingly understanding Owen’s thoughts and stroking his beard, chuckled.

"Renat has done me some favors." The elder didn’t elaborate further, but Owen got the gist.

It seemed his teacher was indeed no ordinary figure...

"In that case, I’m deeply grateful, Elder," said Owen.

The elder laughed heartily, waving his hand, and a door-shaped rift immediately opened in the space before them.

"Go ahead, just call out if you want to come back."

Hearing the elder’s words, Owen, without overthinking or hesitating, stepped through.

The moment he crossed, Owen distinctly felt a protective energy surrounding him, presumably the elder’s arcanergy.

The Sanctuary’s arcanergy, though different from what Owen had encountered before, bore a certain resemblance in essence.

Without the elder’s protection, given his avatar’s current strength, being swept by these chaotic flows would mean dissolution into nothingness.

Quickly, the scene before Owen changed, no longer trees and rocks.

Owen looked around and found that his surroundings were indistinguishable from a typical prison.

However, he soon realized that the arcanergy here was so diluted it was almost nonexistent.

A sweep of his soul power quickly revealed Ribas’s cell location, and he walked over with a smirk.

Ribas, a nephew of Blois, was imprisoned for reasons unknown to Owen.

Yet, this presented an excellent opportunity for Owen to gather information related to Blois.

"It’s you!" Ribas recognized Owen.

Ribas’s hands trembled uncontrollably as he looked up at Owen with a grim tone, "What do you want with me? Are you here to mock me?"

Owen, hearing this, simply smiled and produced a token, placing it before Ribas’s eyes.

"Let’s skip the nonsense. This token in exchange for information about Blois."

"Deal!"

Owen was taken aback when Ribas immediately agreed upon seeing the token, his eyes lighting up without a second thought.

He knew this token could unlock the prison’s restraints.

Without hesitation, he betrayed Blois.

"Speak, then," Owen said, tossing the token to him.

If Ribas reneged on his agreement, Owen wouldn’t mind using the excuse of retrieving the token to ask the elder for permission to give Ribas a good beating.

Ribas, not as foolish as Owen might have suspected, cherished the token in his hands and began to reveal a hidden secret.

...

After listening, Owen glanced at Ribas and offered a piece of advice, saying, "It’s best not to be too greedy in life."

Without paying further attention to Ribas, Owen called out into the void, "Elder!"

As soon as he spoke, a rift appeared in front of Owen again.

Without hesitation, he stepped through, with the elder’s arcanergy wrapping around him once more.

"Is it over?" The elder looked at Owen curiously.

The entire affair had taken less than a quarter of an hour, giving him a new appreciation for Owen’s way of handling matters.

Owen nodded.

"I won’t disturb you any further."

The elder chuckled and waved his hand.

"Go on with your business; no need to be so formal with me."

Owen, hearing this, smiled and gave a bow, bidding farewell before turning to leave.

Since entering the Sanctuary, every elder had given him a sense of kinship, no wonder the Sanctuary held such a prestigious reputation in the world.

After his visit to the dungeon, Owen returned directly to Anderson’s residence.

By the time he returned, everyone else had also woken up.

"Has Marwan left?" Alison, back to her usual self, gentle yet assertive, asked.

Owen nodded.

"He didn’t want to cause a commotion. He bid me farewell not long ago."

"I wanted to have another drink with Brother Marwan. Seems like it’ll have to wait until next time," Kovacic sighed from the side.

"There will be a chance." Owen smiled.

He wasn’t just speaking out of courtesy; when the future calamities came, they would naturally meet again.

"By the way, Alison, why don’t you, Shannon, and Julia visit the Sacred Pool? If you can undergo a transformation there, you’ll become much stronger."

Shannon and Julia were Alison’s close friends, familiar to Owen as well, having escaped together this time.

Renat had given Owen a token for entering the Sacred Pool, which he now handed over to Alison.

"If the three of you enter together, you can only stay a bit over three hours. Remember to make the most of it..."

Owen briefly explained about the Sacred Pool to Alison and her friends, so they could better seize the opportunity when visiting the Sacred Pool.

The trio nodded obediently, with Shannon pulling Alison and Julia closer, telling Owen, "Then we’ll head over first."

"Go ahead."

Owen smiled, knowing their strength should significantly increase after this visit to the Sacred Pool, ensuring they wouldn’t be powerless in the face of future crises.

"Let me take you there," Bella said with a smile, approaching them.

"You’ve just arrived at the Sanctuary; it’s easy to get lost."

"We’d appreciate that, Sister Bella," Alison responded with a slight smile, her beautiful eyes twinkling.

...

After Alison and her friends, accompanied by Bella, had left, Owen approached Anderson, who was fishing nearby.

"Anderson, why haven’t I seen you working on alchemy lately?" Owen sat down beside Anderson casually.

Anderson, with a smile, glanced at Owen before refocusing on his fishing rod, slowly saying, "Constantly obsessing over alchemy will only lead me to a bottleneck. It’s better to approach it with a normal mindset."

Owen marveled inwardly; Anderson’s state of mind had reached a high level.

"What about you? Any plans?" Anderson asked with a smile, looking at Owen, "Now that Alison and the others have arrived, I presume you have something in mind?"

Owen nodded, "I plan to take on tasks with high reward points."

The Sanctuary releases tasks every month, offering corresponding rewards upon completion.

"It seems you’re implying I should join you?" Anderson’s voice was light, and with a flick of his fishing rod, a large fish landed in the bucket with a splash.

"Looks like luck is on our side today!" Anderson, looking at the big fish in the bucket, laughed heartily.

"Let’s go then," Owen also started laughing, standing up and heading towards the mission hall.

Anderson shook his head in amusement, following Owen.

In front of Owen, any slight slip would quickly be analyzed to reveal his thoughts.

He had guessed that Owen would take on a mission and invite him along, so he had teased him a bit, not expecting Owen to see right through him so quickly.

...

In the mission hall, Owen browsed through the tasks on the mission board but found that none met his standards for points.

Turning to Anderson, who wasn’t far away, he asked, "Anderson, which type of missions yield high points?"

Completing high-point missions would later allow them to exchange for valuable items in the Sanctuary, and the points had many uses.

"Naturally, those that increase the Sanctuary’s prestige," Anderson replied without hesitation.

"Prestige?" Owen, enlightened, began selecting missions related to boosting the Sanctuary’s prestige.

"Resolve internal strife within the Rosenberg family as a disciple of the Sanctuary, depending on the situation, can earn from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand points."

"Solve the disorder in Rivertown as a disciple of the Sanctuary, depending on the situation, can earn from two hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand points."

...

Indeed, missions related to reputation and prestige offered frighteningly high points, but the difficulty was also daunting.

"Owen, here’s a mission that’s not about prestige but offers high points," Anderson’s voice suddenly transmitted to Owen as he was picking missions.

Owen scanned with his soul power, found Anderson’s figure, and immediately headed towards him.

Approaching Anderson, Owen asked curiously, "What task?"

"Take a look for yourself," Anderson said with a smile, pointing Owen to the task’s location.

Owen looked up, focusing on the spot Anderson indicated: "Venture to the Ancient Ruins to investigate the cause of Elder Steff’s demise and report back promptly. Reward: 2.2 million points."

Owen’s eyes twitched slightly.

While the points were high, the difficulty likely exceeded his current capabilities.

"This task is high-level; with our current strength, we probably can’t take it on, right?" Anderson said with a laugh, "As for the strength requirement, I can handle that with the Saint Decree."

Being a saint of the Sanctuary, this wasn’t a difficult task for Anderson.

He then added, "The real question is whether we can survive it."