“Well, you know arcane arrays better than all of us here, Mr. Chance!” Ghaylen said. They knew nothing about arcane arrays, so they couldn’t possibly detect spiritual energy waves like that. Jared stopped talking and carefully observed the building in front of him.
Given how lavish the surrounding architecture is, it doesn’t make sense for the count to leave this house unrenovated. As old and worn-down as this house may seem, it would still cost a lot of spirit coins to build. If the count stays here and is keeping it the way it was, then it must be something special to them!
Jared was snapped out of his train of thought when the door opened all of a sudden. Hester then stepped out of the house and said, “The count welcomes you all inside.”
Nodding, Jared proceeded to lead the group into the house. They were all feeling excited and curious as to what kind of person the count would turn out to be.
Upon entering the house, they saw a veil hanging from the top of the living room. Behind that veil was the silhouette of a person, which they all assumed was the count. Due to the veil obscuring their view, they couldn’t tell if the count was male or female.
“Please take a seat…” the count said. Jared and the others were stunned when they heard a female voice coming from behind the veil. The countess’ voice sounds so clear and pleasant to the ears!
Ghaylen and the others had their jaws dropped in shock as they did not expect the count of Jipsdale to be a woman. Jared maintained an expressionless look on his face as he stared at the silhouette with a frown.
“So, you’re Jared Chance, the guy who won first place in the Alchemist Fair and owns a Divine Cauldron and heavenly thunder fruits?” the countess asked. Jared knew he couldn’t possibly keep those a secret from the countess, so he replied with a nod, “That’s right!”
“You’re quite the honest one, aren’t you? So, what special prize would you like now that you have won first place?” the countess asked. Jared responded to the countess’ question with one of his own. “What would you like to offer me?”
Since the countess announced long ago that there would be a special prize for this year’s Alchemist Fair, then she must have thought of a prize beforehand! The countess fell silent for a moment before replying, “This is the special prize I have prepared for you.”
A white beam of light then came toward Jared at high speed. Jared reached out and caught the item mid-air, only to realize it was a chipped emerald badge.. While holding it in his hand, he felt a sudden chill spreading through his body and had to channel his spiritual energy just to block out the cold.
The cold from the emerald badge was a lot more intense than the one Jerison unleashed. For some reason, Jared found the emerald badge somewhat familiar. After racking his brain for a bit, his eyes went wide as he recalled something.
He then quickly retrieved the emerald badge that Vasily had given him and held it against the one from the countess. The two pieces of emerald badges fused together perfectly. As it turned out, they happened to be two pieces of a single emerald badge.
Jared was shocked to the core as he stared at the emerald badge in his hand. Who is this countess? Why does she have a treasured emerald badge from Archaic Body cultivators?
With that in mind, Jared asked curiously, “Who are you? Why do you have an emerald badge from Archaic Body cultivators?”
“That is not your concern. All you need to know is that you can now find the Archaic Body cultivators’ treasury and open it with this emerald badge. There are tons of magical items inside, so countless people are searching for it,” the countess replied calmly.
“This is the special prize you were talking about?” Jared asked. “Is this not good enough for you? Just so you know, the treasury contains Ice Soul Pills, which you can only obtain from Ice Soul Beasts that live thousands of meters underneath the icy grounds. Do you know how much Ice Soul Pills are worth?” the countess replied.
Jared shook his head. “I’m not interested in finding out, nor am I looking for any treasure.”
