Necromancer Of The Shadows

"So, can you tell me more about this loan shark?" Sylvan asked Evan with an awkward look on his face.

Hearing Sylvan, Evan didn't answer his question and just stared at him with a speechless expression.

Even Alaric, Anastasia, and Ashley, who were standing beside Evan stared at the old man with disdain.

'This shameless guy... He really wants us to ignore what happened earlier,' Evan thought while taking a deep breath and glanced behind him.

Upon looking back, he saw Cedar lying unconscious near the world tree, with some of his bones broken but slowly healing under the effect of a healing potion.

Just one minute ago, when Cedar took out the World Core plant, Sylvan was so excited that he forgot to control his strength and jumped towards Cedar like a monkey to snatch the plant from him as if he was afraid Cedar wouldn't give it to him.

Since he did not control his strength properly, the action of snatching the plant generated a powerful wind pressure that blew Cedar away, slamming him into the wall of the Central Hall.

Because of the powerful impact and shock, Cedar didn't even understand what happened before he lost consciousness.

Once Cedar lost consciousness, Sylvan realized his mistake and immediately asked Ashley to teleport them back to his cave, where he placed Cedar near the World Tree to help him recover faster.

"There are many things that I want to say, but you know what... Just forget it. The serious image I had of you is completely ruined," Evan said with a shake of his head and decided to get over with this topic so he could leave. "Before I tell you about the loan shark, can you tell me what your plan is regarding this World Core plant?"

'I am not a loan shark!' Evan completely ignored Octavius, who was screaming and focused on Sylvan.

Hearing Evan, Sylvan pointed towards Alaric. "I am planning to give World Core Plant to this foxy bastard."

Evan raised an eyebrow when he heard Sylvan and looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

Seeing Evan's confused look, Alaric explained.

"To heal his core, he needs a pill called the Core World Pill. It is a rank five pill, so it is impossible for him to create it with the current situation of the Drayds. I am planning to use my connections to help him refine this pill."

"I see..." Evan nodded with understanding and asked the most important question. "Is there a chance that the alchemist you are going to use might fail in refinement, and the World Core plant would go to waste?"

Sylvan sighed upon hearing Evan and nodded with a bitter expression.

"Rank Five pills are not easy to refine, so there is a high chance the alchemist might fail."

Honestly, he was conflicted about whether to use the plant to refine the pill or directly use it. Although he wouldn't be able to get back to rank six without the Core World Pill, his strength would still considerably increase if he just ate the fruit of the plant and refined its essence.

'What about you? Are you confident you can refine it without failing?'

'Don't compare me with those trashes...' Octavius replied in a sneering voice. 'As long as it is a Rank Five pill, I can refine it with a hundred percent guarantee. I would have become a Rank Six Alchemist long ago if not for the low rank of my core when I was alive.'

'Good...' Evan ignored Octavius' prideful boasts and looked back at Sylvan.

"My loan shark can refine the Core World Pill with a hundred percent guarantee, but as his name suggests, it will cost a lot."

"What?" Sylvan, Alaric, and Ashley were stunned when they heard Evan.

Anastasia on the other hand, had a thoughtful look on her face.

'So, he found the soul of that old man...' She thought and her lips arched upwards. 'Since he found his soul, it means he also got the Prismatic Flame.'

"Who... Who is this loan shark you are talking about?" Sylvan asked in a trembling voice as the matter of the Core World Pill was very important to him.

'It's time for you to show up. Rank Five Octavius, I choose you.'

'What's with that weird way of calling...' Octavius grumbled when he heard Evan, but he still showed up in front of them.

When Octavius suddenly appeared in his spirit form, Alaric and Sylvan were taken aback and looked at Evan with a questioning gaze, waiting for an explanation.

Evan shrugged when he saw their expressions and gave them a brief explanation about Octavius' identity.

When they heard that the spirit in front of them was Octavius, both Alaric and Sylvan were stunned. They knew about him as he was quite notorious in Utopia a few thousand years ago for killing many innocent people through his weird experiments.

"I know this guy is questionable, but you don't have to worry as his soul essence is under my control, so he can't lie to me," Evan said when he noticed Sylvan's suspicious look towards Octavius. "If he wants to live and get a new body one day, he wouldn't dare to play tricks on us."

Although Sylvan was still suspicious of Octavius, he believed Evan's words and nodded. He then asked what Octavius needed to create the pill.

"All the pill ingredients and around one and a half billion high-level essence stones," Octavius replied.

Thud!

The moment Octavius finished speaking, a thudding sound rang out, and Sylvan fainted from shock.

Evan had already anticipated this reaction, so he wasn't surprised. He just summoned Aqua, who sprayed a jet of cold water on Sylvan.

"Whoa!" Sylvan instantly came back to his senses and jumped to his feet because of the cold water.

"What happened?" He asked in a confused voice after waking up.

"Nothing much, you were attacked by the heavy price of the medicines," Evan said in a plain voice.

Hearing the words "heavy price," Sylvan remembered the amount Octavius had mentioned and nearly fainted again.

"Can you lower the price a bit?" He asked Octavius with a hopeful look.

"What do you mean by lower the price? Do you think the essence stones could help me with my current body? I am asking for so many essence stones because I need a large amount of energy to perform alchemy in my current situation," Octavius said in an annoyed voice because they were acting as if he was asking for essence stones for his own use.

Upon hearing that Octavius needed the essence stones to perform alchemy, Sylvan was taken aback. But soon he remembered that the person in front of him was just a spirit without a real body.

'Although it's not impossible to take out one and a half billion essence stones, but still...' Sylvan felt conflicted about using so many essence stones on himself.

Seeing Sylvan's conflicted look, Ashley felt annoyed and wanted to beat him.

"Why are you thinking for so long? Do you think those essence stones are more important than your health? Besides, you don't know since you never leave this cave, but the storage vault is full of essence stones because of the essence stone mines. So stop thinking so much and take out the ingredients needed to refine the pill."

Sylvan was stunned when he heard Ashley, but upon seeing her fierce eyes demanding that he take out all the ingredients, he immediately handed her the World Core plant and other materials, afraid she would lecture him if he delayed.

After receiving the ingredients, Ashley didn't wait and asked Octavius to come with her since she knew he would need an isolated place to create the pill.

"How many days will it take you to finish the pill?" Evan asked when he saw Octavius leaving with Ashley.

"Ten days at most," Octavius replied in a flat voice without turning back and soon disappeared along with Ashley.

Once Octavius and Ashley left, Evan looked at Cedar who was still unconscious one last time and decided to leave as well.

"Well, since the problem of the pill is solved, I'll see you guys later," He said and was about to leave, but Alaric stopped him.

"Can you stay for a while? I want to ask you something."