After a few hours of meditation Liam felt better and his reserves were somewhat replenished. He was standing in a B-grade world after all. The environment itself was enough to nourish one from the brink of exhaustion. He cleaned up a little and then walked out to the main hall of the sword palace to turn in the quest. He had a lot of rocks in his spatial artifact and he might as well check out how the whole reputation thing worked.
He entered the building and headed for the main counter in the big hall when he couldn't help but notice that the entire place was in a state of commotion. Members of the sword palace were going back and forth and several people were involved in heated discussions here and there.
Liam wondered what was going on. He arrived at the counter and informed that he was here to submit one of the quest materials. The woman behind the counter stared at Liam, her eyes widening in surprise. "You have a black ice rock?" she stammered.
"Yes. I managed to obtain one," Liam replied calmly, placing the shimmering stone on the counter.
She gingerly picked up the rock, examining it closely. The air around them grew noticeably colder, tiny frost crystals forming on the surface of the counter. "Incredible," she whispered, quickly tossing it inside a spatial bag that was near her.
Immediately afterwards she waved her hand and called someone over. "Please tell Elder Tristan that the material he is looking for has arrived."
A nearby apprentice nodded and hurried off. Liam couldn't help but notice the sudden shift in the atmosphere. The bustling hall grew quieter as whispers spread among everyone. Noticing his confusion, the woman quickly explained. "The world from which these rocks originate has recently become inaccessible. The world has completely disappeared from our array network."
Liam indifferently nodded. Inwardly, he was shocked. He did not think that the series of events he had triggered would lead an entire world getting annihilated. Did the voidlings absorb all of the world or did the giant monster whale destroy everything?
"You are really lucky." She interrupted his thoughts. "Elder Tristan places a very high importance on this material and frequently requests it. Now that the world is no longer, the value of these stones have skyrocketed. You should submit as many as you can. You will be rewarded generously with reputation points. Elder Tristan is very generous."
Liam nodded. The woman continued to process the quest and allocate reputation points. She even made his one week card into a permanent visitor card. Liam now had the permission to accept and submit quests any time he wanted.
As she was tapping away furiously on the system screen in front of her, the woman suddenly looked up and gaped at Liam. "Sir, one moment. I just heard the news! Elder Tristan wants to meet you!"
Hmmm? Liam did not like it.
The woman on the other side continued talking. "Meeting with an elder of the sword palace is not a trivial matter. Sir, you are very lucky. If I may suggest, please make sufficient preparations to make sure that you are presentable. You might also want to showcase your weapon. Sometimes, the elders tend to give pointers if something catches their eye."
She continued talking about how to make a good impression and how this meeting was going to open many doors for him.
Meanwhile, Liam's brain was quickly calculating his survival rate. He already had a soul clone stationed in the inn with whom he could switch with at a moment's notice. Other than that, he also had working teleportation tokens for whisking him away back to earth.
Sure, elders like Tristan were probably powerful figures in the Sword Palace hierarchy and meeting with one could be monumental for him but then again Liam knew or could make a decent guess why this said elder wanted to meet him in the first place.
Heck, why wouldn't the elder want to meet with the culprit who single-handedly orchestrated the destruction of a world by starting a fight between a hidden monster fish and a bunch of voidlings?
Naturally, all the suspicions were going to fall on him.
Liam took a deep breath, masking his inner turmoil with a calm exterior. "Thank you for the advice," he said to the woman behind the counter. "I will make the necessary preparations."
He turned away, his mind racing. It was probably better for him to teleport right away and get the hell out of here. He thought about it for a second but then relaxed his fists and let out a sigh. How could he leave just like that? This was probably the best chance he had to find out more details about the world Derek was stuck in. He couldn't give up now after coming so far.
Interrupting his thoughts, a few people walked over to him, one of them particularly domineering, letting out a crushing pressure even before exchanging pleasantries.
Liam was about to activate his domain to counteract the pressure when everything quietly faded away. The oppressive aura receded, and the group approaching him halted their advance. The domineering figure smirked slightly, a hint of challenge in his eyes, but made no further move.
"I take it you have the black ice rocks?" The tall and imposing middle aged man spoke without any introductions.
Liam regarded the tall man calmly, his eyes meeting the other's without flinching. "Yes, I have them," he replied. "Is there something you need?"
The man's lips curled into a thin smile. "Hand them over."
Behind the man, his companions fanned out subtly, their stances indicating they were ready for trouble. It was clear they intended to intimidate him into compliance. They did not even offer him anything in return for the stones.
Liam felt a flicker of irritation but kept his composure. "I'm afraid I've already committed them to someone else," he said evenly. "Elder Tristan is expecting them."
"Hmmm? Who the hell do you think you are to speak the Lord's name so casually?" The oppressive aura began to build again as the man stepped closer.