NOVEL NEXT Chapter 138: Healing Aurora
City Lord's Mansion, in Aurora's room.
Aurora slowly opened her eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling, lost in thought.
Jenny, who had been taking care of her, quickly picked up the meal prepared in the kitchen and asked:
"Cousin, how are you? Do you feel any better?"
Aurora slowly shook her head. After a pause, she said in a hoarse voice, "You've been waiting for me to wake up. You must be tired. Jenny, go get some rest."
"I'm not tired." Jenny said quickly. "Cousin, let me feed you a little."
Aurora pushed herself up bit by bit, sitting up with her arms. She glanced at the food beside her and said softly:
"It's no use. These things don't help at all."
"I know my own body. You should go rest. I'm used to the [Heart-Eater] acting up. I can take care of myself."
Jenny didn't know how to respond. In her memory, Aurora was always upbeat and cheerful, always caring about others' feelings and trying to comfort them.
Long ago, Jenny's parents died in an accident. Without Aurora, she wouldn't have been able to bear the pain and would have ended her life.
Jenny took a deep breath, set the bowl down, looked at Aurora, and said seriously:
"That player—he can definitely save you!"
Aurora's eyes moved a little. She turned to look out the window.
Just then, they heard hurried footsteps. Shawn knocked quickly on the door.
His face tense but full of hope. "Aurora, you're awake. Good timing—[Windchaser] has finished making the potion."
Ethan walked in holding a plain-looking potion.
He came to Aurora's bedside, handed it to her, and said, "This is a potion from the [Doctor's Secret Formula]. It can cure your [Heart-Eater]."
Aurora froze for a moment. She looked at the potion in Ethan's hand, took a deep breath, then slowly lifted her gaze to him and asked:
"Is your illness better?"
This time it was Ethan's turn to be taken aback. He hadn't expected her to worry about his condition right now.
He thought for a second and said: "Almost. It won't be long before I'm healthy again."
Aurora nodded. Her hand trembled a little as she reached out, took the potion from him, and drank it down without hesitation.
All eyes turned to her.
As the seconds passed, a look of sharp pain suddenly appeared on Aurora's face.
"Pfft!"
Black blood burst from her mouth.
She collapsed onto the bed and closed her eyes.
Shawn whipped his head toward Ethan. Somehow, the huge sword that had been on his back was already in his hand.
Furious, Shawn shouted: "How could this happen! Have you been lying to me this whole time? Damn it!"
Ethan stayed calm. He said evenly, "I didn't lie to you, and the potion is fine. Just wait a bit."
Shawn faltered at Ethan's calm look. He took a few deep breaths, trying to steady himself.
About three minutes later, Aurora slowly opened her eyes, then quickly closed them again.
Afraid to disturb her, Shawn didn't dare speak. He waited until Aurora sat up on her own and, under his gaze, got off the bed.
Shawn's hands were shaking. His greatsword crashed to the floor. With it fell the years of fear and worry he had carried.
The man who led the Ice City stronghold finally dropped his tough front. He pulled Aurora into a tight hug, eyes red.
Ethan glanced at Jenny and motioned for her to follow. The two of them quietly left the room.
As they stepped outside, Shawn's choked sobs sounded behind them.
Jenny went straight to Ethan, bowed, and said, "Thank you for saving my cousin."
Ethan stepped aside and said bluntly, "It was just a deal. You don't need to thank me."
Jenny shook her head. "It's a deal to you, but not to me. I was rude back at the gear shop. I'm sorry."
Ethan knew that if Jenny hadn't shown up back then, he might not have recognized Aurora, and he wouldn't have gotten the chance to come to the City Lord's Mansion.
Most of the time, Ethan tried to see dealings between people as trades or teamwork.
But even so, you still can't escape the mess of human feelings.
As the sobs behind them faded, Ethan took a deep breath and said to Jenny, "You can go back in. I'm going to check on my friends."
Jenny nodded and went into the room.
Ethan, meanwhile, went back alone to the mansion's main hall. As soon as he showed up, he saw Lucas and Sylvan eating like crazy.
Ethan let out a helpless cough. Lucas and Sylvan stopped at once, glanced at each other, then quietly wiped their mouths.
Among the members of [Tower of Fates], only Lucian was still missing.
That didn't really affect what Ethan planned to do next. Lucas and Sylvan could fill Lucian in later.
...
In the real world, on the Dawnfall Online forum, players who had been talking nonstop about [Windchaser] suddenly got big news: someone found [Windchaser]'s forum account.
Besides a previous clarifying post, [Windchaser] had posted something new:
[Attention all players in the Ice City stronghold: Tianji Pavilion will soon auction Intel on a regional crisis near the Ice City stronghold, as well as Intel on a hidden-map boss.]
[Note: This Intel is high risk and will require multiple guilds to work together. If interested, contact Lucas.]
In no time, Ethan's post was pushed to the front page of the forum by countless players.
Everyone was buzzing about what the "regional crisis" and the "hidden-map boss" could be.
Some comments:"The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. Intel that needs multiple guilds must be serious!"
"No kidding. A regional crisis and a hidden boss? That's gotta be a big event in Dawnfall Online."
"I'm curious—where did [Windchaser] even get so much Intel? I haven't seen a single Intel drop since I started playing!"
"Doesn't anyone think [Windchaser] is just hyping this up? Maybe he doesn't have that Intel at all!"
"The guy above is an idiot. Case closed! Does [Windchaser] need hype? The City Lord of the Ice City stronghold came out to greet his friend in person. Why would he need hype?"
"Yeah, exactly. By the way, can solo players like us join?"
"Sigh, with Intel this valuable, we probably won't get to see it. If I had that kind of Intel, I'd sell it to other guilds too, just like [Windchaser]."
Within just an hour or two, most players in the Ice City stronghold had heard that [Tower of Fates] would hold an Intel auction.
Many guilds from other strongholds even reached out to Lucas, saying they wanted in and asking him to talk to Ethan for a chance to bid.
Lucas was getting swamped. He hurried over to ask Ethan:
"Ethan, people from other strongholds want to join. What should we do?"
Ethan thought for a moment and said they could join, but only as multi-guild teams. No single guild could bid alone.
His reason was simple: if there weren't enough players, they might fail to fully wipe out the "Siphoner."
There are seven Siphoners near the Ice City base. Ethan plans to kill one himself to see if it drops any high-quality Intel.
After all, Siphoners are pretty special and probably very strong, so the Intel they drop shouldn't be low quality.
With a bit of luck, he might even get a gold-quality Intel reward.
If Ethan went alone, it would be hard for him to kill those Siphoners. Holding this Intel auction was his way to reach his goal and make some extra money at the same time.
As for asking Shawn, the City Lord of Ice City, to help take them down—Ethan didn't even consider it.
He knew that if Shawn made any move, Deputy City Lord Ford might transfer the Siphoners or pull some unexpected trick.
Players are different. At this stage, players aren't that strong, and NPCs usually don't take them seriously.
But players have one broken advantage: they can swarm with numbers, and they can respawn. That's enough to wipe out Siphoners.
Otherwise, why would players be called the "Fourth Calamity"?
Thinking of this, Ethan took a deep breath. He was already getting excited. Intel for a single Siphoner could go for more than two million.
It sounds high, but since guilds have to team up, the cost per guild drops a lot.
As for how to split the loot in the end—that wasn't Ethan's problem.
Ethan patted Lucas on the shoulder and said slowly, "Do a good job. It'll be a busy couple of days for you. Later, if I have extra high-quality gear I don't need, I'll set it aside for you."
Lucas's eyes lit up right away.