Chapter 125: Chapter 125: Borderline Evil
Zia\'s eyes widened in surprise as she took in the sight of Eren sitting there, his foot casually resting on the glass table.
"You? How dare you enter this place after I banished you?"
She was surprised when she was told that an Elder had come here to sell herbs. The herb she was shown was not a regular herb. It wasn\'t even found in the East after all.
After looking at the sample herb, greed got the best of her. It became even more effective when the Alchemy Hall Manager told her that the man had even more precious herbs as per his own words.
Unfortunately, even in her wildest dreams, she hadn\'t thought that the person who came here to sell these herbs was the same person who was banished.
When she saw the man, she remembered all his actions. He was also the one who asked her to be his disciple, saying her talent was decent.
"Hey there, my potential disciple." Eren greeted without the slightest care in the world. He didn\'t even take off his feet from the glass table.
The last time he came to her, he wanted to be humble. He wanted to take her help and in exchange, reward her. But this time, he didn\'t intend to be humble at all.
When the Alchemy Hall Manager heard the way Eren addressed Great Elder Zia, her jaw almost dropped.
She knew he was arrogant when he said he wanted the Great Elder to come here personally. But the way he addressed her.... It was surprising that he was still alive.
"I must say, you are just as audacious as ever," Zia said, her voice filled with uncontrollable anger. "Will you leave yourself or should I kick you out after breaking a few bones?"
Eren smiled, his expression calm and composed. "You seem very happy to see me again. So... Have you thought about my offer?"
Great Elder Zia\'s face twisted with anger as she tightly clenched her fist.
This ongoing provocation had reached its limits, and she had already issued a warning to him previously. However, his blatant disregard for her words left her with no choice but to take drastic action.
"If that is truly what you desire, then so be it. I shall grant your wish."
She stepped forward, but only after taking a few steps forward, she came to a sudden halt.
Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stuttered, "How... how is it possible that you have that?"
"Have what?" Eren asked while playing with a herb that looked like it was made purely from crystal.
"Stop it! That thing is fragile! If you broke it-"
"If I what?" Eren asked innocently as he intentionally missed to catch the crystalline herb.
The herb fell from his hands onto the ground, shattering into a thousand pieces. The room fell into a scary silence as the shards glinted in the dim light before dispersing.
"You!!!"
Great Elder Zia couldn\'t take it anymore! This was the herb she had been looking for all her life!
She was a Seventh Grade Alchemy Grandmaster. To step into the next realm, she needed the Crystalline Herb which was the most precious thing for an alchemist.
This thing was so rare that even the Alchemist Organization that was spread throughout the four continents could only find a rare few of them. And those who found it, used it on themselves.
That\'s why there were so few Eighth Grade Alchemists or higher in the world. Even though she had been searching for decades, she failed to find any.
This herb and the eighth grade of Alchemy had become her obsession. This was the first time she had even seen this herb that she read so much about.
The herb was so precious that if Eren could even exchange a high position in the Alchemist Organization in exchange for this herb without having no know a single thing about Alchemy.
When she saw the herb, it was as if she had seen the most precious treasure in the world. But that dream came crashing down when Eren broke the Crystalline Herb.
"Oops..." Eren playfully responded.
"I will kill you!" Great Elder Zia had been merciful last time by now trying to kill Eren. But this time, he had gone overboard. He had crushed her dream right before her eyes.
"Now that I think about it, I seem to have one more of that." Eren ignored Zia\'s words and brought out the second crystalline herb. "Wait, were you saying something? I\'m sorry that I didn\'t hear it."
Zia\'s emotions fluctuated rapidly within the span of a few minutes. The sight of the herb in Eren\'s hand left her momentarily speechless.
Fearful of causing unintentional harm to the herb, she swiftly retracted her aura. This was the last thing that was standing between her and the Eighth Realm of Alchemy.
Eren observed the reaction of Zia. The arrogant woman was finally more humble in front of him.
He had never thought that the herbs he randomly found at the depths of the Bloody Ocean during his swimming session could be so useful for him.
If it wasn\'t for his Identification Skill, he never would have known its uses or value either.
He wanted to save these herbs for his meeting with the Alchemist Organization of Four Continents in the future. Until then, he didn\'t want to have to use this bargaining chip with anyone.
Unfortunately, things didn\'t go according to his plan. He ended up offending this woman who even refused to heal his Phoenix due to a small misunderstanding.
On top of that, his system was taken hostage. With no choice, he decided to use this bargaining chip to bring this woman\'s arrogance down a notch and retrieve his system.
His first disciple came because of an accident. His second disciple came because of a bluff.
As for his third disciple, he was willing to go a step farther and use something that could be described as borderline evil.