When the plot-skips players into the game world

Lily followed the Queen's instructions, leading Aiwass as they prepared to head to Isabel's chamber.

But before they arrived, they encountered Yulia, who was in the company of an old man.

"——Brother!"

Without waiting for Aiwass to speak, Yulia noticed him first.

Her eyes lit up instantly, and she dashed towards him with swift steps.

She landed lightly on Aiwass, her white hair floating like a sheer veil. Yulia wrapped her arms around Aiwass's neck and knelt on his thighs with her legs together, making Aiwass somewhat surprised that he didn't feel how heavy Yulia was... She was still as light as air, her body hollow as always.

He affectionately embraced Yulia, their foreheads touching as he said softly, "Yes... I'm back."

Meanwhile, the "Knight" David Barton, was somewhat anxious, but he dared not touch Yulia and could only call out softly, "Ah... Mr. Aiwass's legs..."

Clearly, he was subconsciously worried that Aiwass would be hurt by Yulia.

After all, who sits in a wheelchair if their legs are fine?

If one is sitting in a wheelchair, it's likely because their legs are injured, and being pressed down on like this would surely not be good.

"It's alright."

Aiwass shook his head slightly at David, who then remembered... Aiwass was indeed in the recovery period. He had even seen Aiwass pacing around in his own house.

During the whole encounter, Yulia did not glance at David nor respond to his calls, only murmuring softly, "I was afraid brother would blame me for not coming home..."

——She still remembered that her character didn't know Aiwass was in trouble, being kept in the dark by Isabel the whole time, the innocent girl.

Hearing Yulia say this, Aiwass instantly understood her meaning.

He continued vaguely with what she was saying, "It's okay. I feel more at ease knowing that you are with Isabel."

Following that, Aiwass paused slightly, then continued the conversation in a lowered voice, "How is Isabel doing?"

"... Her Highness the princess is not in good condition, Mr. Moriarty."

Speaking now was the old man who had been walking over slowly.

He had flaxen hair mixed with pure white strands, and wore an odd monocle that resembled a hanging microscope or telescope on his face. When the old man looked at Aiwass, it rotated and extended on its own to focus.

The old man did not look very tall, possibly even shorter than Lily. Aiwass chose not to look back at Lily, as that would be impolite.

He was holding a chestnut-red leather briefcase and wore a knee-length white coat that made him look like a doctor with a case full of medicines. Both he and Yulia were among the few people there not dressed in black.

"You are..."

Aiwass looked at the man and immediately recognized his identity from his signature equipment, the "Eye of Paul," "Master Nobel?"

"I don't deserve to be called a master."

The old man nodded slightly, clearly enjoying the respect but humbly retorted.

He obviously liked the respect Aiwass showed him, but he didn't know why Aiwass called him a master.

Generally speaking, being called a master had two possibilities. The most accurate referred to those Transcendents of the fifth Energy Level who had their own works, writings, or inventions, often from the Paths of Beauty, Wisdom, or Balance, though there are Transcendents from other Paths who also like to write books to share their insights.

The other possibility was when people praised someone's talents or achievements as "comparable to the above-mentioned masters," thus respectfully addressing them as master.

Nobel was the latter.

As a Transcendent, he wasn't particularly strong, but he was an exceedingly great Alchemist. In his lifetime, he developed over a hundred types of explosives and dozens of medicines, owning several companies and even holding technical shares in others...

For this reason, in the game's history, he didn't die but was instead detained by Star Antimony as a valuable asset and even directly relocated to the alchemy-valuing Star Antimony.

Nobel used to be from Star Antimony.

He just had a falling out with the Royal Alchemy Association when he was young. Now, the vice president who had a dispute with him had died long ago... So, with Star Antimony's warm invitation and respect, after some initial faint resistance, he slowly assimilated into Star Antimony. By the time the game's level cap was raised to 70, he had reached the fifth Energy Level and became a true master.

Aiwass remembered him because he had good equipment. Before leaving Avalon, he gave his "Eye of Paul," which he now wore, to his favorite student in Avalon. Later, this student went to Star Antimony to look for his teacher, just when the Necromancers and Demon Scholars were in-fighting, and he died on the way.

And the undead wearing the peculiar glasses was the quest trigger. Defeating it and obtaining the glasses meant you could acquire the "Eye of Paul."

This was part of a "Legacy Set," one of the rare pieces of equipment that could increase the success rate of Alchemy.

How scarce were these types of equipment? So scarce that, in the version of the game prior to Aiwass's rebirth, those that increased rates couldn't even fill half the equipment slots, and there were no higher alternatives.

If a player had encountered Nobel in any side quest before, they could gain information by investigating the glasses: these were Nobel's glasses. Then by continuing with the quest, they could eventually acquire the "Nobel Legacy" set.

This three-piece set would increase the success rate by 10% for Challenging Alchemy and 30% for Common Alchemy, and also prevent explosions in the event of a Challenging Alchemy failure.

With this set, one could engage the "Radical Experiment Strategy," which reduced success rates but increased output and chances of mutations while making potions. Without this set, there was basically no point in playing as an Alchemist.

Thus, every player interested in Alchemy needed to run this quest line. When synthesizing something in Alchemy, they had to swap equipment, or else they would spend several times more money to handle the probabilities.

But on the flip side, this could also be considered a free set. As long as you run through a long quest line, in the end, you would receive a three-piece essential set with no superior replacement.

At that time, Mr. Aiwass was unemployed at home, so he would take on some leveling job. People have to eat, right?

And this quest line, along with the Noble Red's quest line, were the ones with the most orders—the common point between these two quests is that they both have several consecutive stealth missions with not-so-low difficulty.

Although for Mr. Aiwass, the difficulty wasn't too high… after all, it essentially boiled down to either sneaking past vision blind spots at a turtle's pace or parkour, right? As long as you patiently analyze and then plan a route, it's quite simple.

But for players without this kind of gaming experience and those who don't like to play games with their brains, such missions can easily raise their blood pressure.

However, for Mr. Aiwass, this was a good thing.

All in all, he made at least a small fortune just running this quest line for others. It really helped Mr. Aiwass get through the time when he was most strapped for cash.

Because of this, Mr. Aiwass's gaze towards Nobel was subconsciously filled with respect and gratitude.

—They were his bread and butter, after all!

The side effect was, every time he saw Nobel, an image of Nobel's memorial portrait and funeral music would automatically pop up in his mind...

"I've been learning alchemy from Master Nobel recently!"

Yulia noticed Mr. Aiwass's attitude towards Nobel and spoke, half boasting and half taking credit.

Nobel nodded and didn't skimp on praising Yulia in front of her "parent," "Yulia's talent is quite exceptional... If she decides to follow the Path of Balance, and if Princess Isabel permits, I would also hope to become her mentor. She truly has the talent to touch the Path of the 'Master.'"

Which meant, he believed Yulia had a chance of reaching the fifth Energy Level.

That was Nobel's obsession, too.

He really wanted to reach the fifth Energy Level himself, but he was indeed not good at advancement rituals. After failing twice, he didn't dare to attempt it again—failing another time might cost him his life. If it weren't for the world level rising afterwards, which lowered the difficulty of advancing at lower levels, he wouldn't have dared to try for the third time.

In other words, Nobel had actually given up on becoming a true Master during this period.

That's also why he was so pleased when people called him "Master."

It was like an athlete who was always told they had a bright future and was about to retire without ever having won a medal or a championship in their whole career.

Because it seemed that Nobel didn't care anymore, but in reality, he cared very much about the title. The higher the status of the person who called him Master, the happier he was. Conversely, calling him "Mr." instead of "Master" might even trigger his annoyance.

—This too was a kind of information advantage. Serving dishes also required knowing what the other party liked.

After all, Nobel indeed had real skills.

The fact that he could craft a Legacy Set proved it—that wasn't ancient equipment he had unearthed through archaeology, but something he had created himself. Being able to manually craft epic gear definitely meant something.

I wonder if I could buy some equipment from Nobel...

"Have you decided to follow the Path of Balance?"

Mr. Aiwass asked Yulia for confirmation.

If Yulia had made her decision, then he would also have to help her find some stuff.

It just so happened that he knew of a fine Codex Book stored at the Noble Red's—not that the Legacy Set was urgent. If Nobel really values Yulia, perhaps it wouldn't have to become a "legacy" to be handed over to her.

But if he wasn't nice to Yulia, then she might get the Legacy Set two versions early.

Yulia nodded slightly.

She spoke earnestly, "Under the guidance of my teacher, I have now touched the wall of the second Energy Level, and I'm fully prepared for the other parts—the advancement ritual next week will be my first time attempting the ritual to advance to the second Energy Level."

Next week was mid-month, so there should be no problem.

Mr. Aiwass nodded slightly, feeling somewhat relieved.

And seeing Mr. Aiwass's somewhat worried expression, Nobel only laughed, "Don't worry too much about Yulia, Mr. Moriarty. Her talent might exceed your expectations... As for the specific Path traits she should choose, I've discussed them all with Yulia."

—That's quite something.

Hearing this, Mr. Aiwass was somewhat surprised.

In this world, there wasn't a "forum" or a site like "Bilibili" to consult guides and share information, and the natives wouldn't know the specific effects just by seeing the names of Path traits. To get information on the desired Path traits, one would need a complete lineage to try them out one by one. Therefore, a complete chart of Path traits could be said to have been figured out through exhaustive effort over hundreds of years.

This was incredibly secret knowledge, practically the same as being handed down directly.

They had only met a few days ago, hadn't they?

But with this in mind, Mr. Aiwass's resolve was set.

—Before Yulia's advancement, he would have to share the power of the Defiant Flame Butterfly with Yulia using Shepherd's Nurturing. This would make her advancement foolproof.

If they were lucky...

Perhaps she could even catch up with Mr. Aiwass and Princess Isabel.