Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 28 - 20 Life Sect

"I'm sorry, we don't have the brandy you are looking for," the bartender politely said, "We have fruit brandy, but the brandy that contains 10 types of fruits does not exist. The different sugar levels in the fruits affect the layers of taste in the brandy. If you don't mind, I can mix you a drink with specified fruits and pure brandy."

"It won't do," Aske said regrettably. The recipe clearly specified fruit brandy, so it was impossible to mix it with fruits after brewing.

Nora's pretty face was also filled with frustration. The two of them had visited over twenty taverns in the city, none of which had the "brandy with 10 kinds of fruits" as described in the recipe. Even the reasons for its absence were the same everywhere.

"Do we really have to find a winery to brew it ourselves?" Nora said frantically as she ruffled her hair, "If it were at my family's winery it would be convenient; I could ask the wine-making experts to figure something out. Here, to have a winery specifically brew it would take at least a week by the regular process."

Aske ignored her mention of "my family's winery," which was an unintentional display of wealth, and said,

"Well, actually, a week isn't that long. For normal Transcendents, spending two to three years just to find the ingredients for a recipe is considered normal."

Of course, the "normal" here pertained to NPCs.

"I know," Nora said distressedly. She only felt such a pressing urgency because Eleanor had become a level 1 Transcendent before her.

"If that's the case, we'll have to use a more aggressive approach," Aske said.

"What approach?" Nora's eyes lit up.

"Take this." Aske threw her a yellow crystal ring he had taken off a corpse last night, "We're going to find someone from the Life Sect."

"Is this an identity token from the Life Sect?" Nora caught the ring and examined it, seeing two phrases engraved underneath the crystal.

Beware, druids.

(Many strokes through with a little axe, hew down and fell the hardest-timbered oak.)

"Oh," Aske also saw the phrase, "That's the introductory phrase of the Life Sect: the oak tree is the Holy Tree of the Life Sect, representing the sect itself; the repeated strokes of a small axe symbolize the unnoticed but continuous dangers from the outside."

"I understand," Nora said, impressed by the phrase. She pulled out her precious notebook and copied the phrase onto the flyleaf.

"What kind of people are in the Life Sect?" Reading over this famous saying, Nora imagined an ancient and secretive organization with a long history, enduring through wars, transformations, and the ravages of time. Countless Transcendents had sacrificed themselves just to ensure the survival of the sect through the ages.

"If we really had to label them," Aske thought for a moment and said, "Farmers, poor, vegetarians, antiquated, a bunch of old men and women."

"Uh," Nora felt as if her fantasies had been shattered.

After a few subway transfers in Imperial City, the pair soon arrived in front of a building. Nora looked up to see a sign:

Constantinople Municipal Park and Garden Construction Association.

Passing through the porch, they entered an open courtyard with numerous flower beds separated by pebble paths and planted with various exotic flowers.

There were researchers in white lab coats, gardeners in blue overalls, and some obviously nobles, pointing and discussing the plants.

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.

Aske led Nora directly to the oldest lady on site and showed her the yellow crystal ring.

The old lady's confused face: ???

"Sorry," Aske said, then turned to an old man nearby, waving the ring in front of his eyes.

The old man's puzzled face: ???

"Sorry," Aske continued, then turned to find the next target. Eventually, a middle-aged man in a gardener's uniform, unable to stand it any longer, came forward, grabbed Aske by the shoulder, and said,

"Sir, who are you? Our association does not allow non-members to enter freely."

He dragged Aske toward a secluded corner, while Nora, seeing this, followed hastily with a look of wry amusement and anxiety.

Once in the corner, the middle-aged man lowered his voice and asked,

"Who are you? How did you come to possess this ring?"

"Well," Aske honestly explained how he had spent 40 pounds at a Transcendents' gathering to buy a guide to Duloc 44 and how he had been attacked in the room, only to end up killing his attacker.

As for how they had found this place, he said it was due to the suspicion that mud on the bottom of the body's boots indicated someone from Imperial City involved in working with plants.

"So that's how it is," the middle-aged man took the formulas for Life I and Radiance I, along with the Yellow Crystal Stone ring he handed over, "Thank you for bringing these things back, they indeed belong to our Life Sect."

He sighed deeply, "The deceased was also a member of our sect. The Spiritual Body Sect has been attacking us more frequently recently. We have already had several conflicts with them in Constantinople."

"Lady, aren't you worried that we might be spies from the Spiritual Body Sect?" Nora carefully asked. She had originally thought that the other party would be full of suspicions and probing, ingeniously testing them just like what the legendary novels described. It turned out, Aske had simply told the truth and the other party readily believed it.

"No worries," the middle-aged man said with a smile, "Members of the Spiritual Body Sect are all wielders of the Spiritual Body Sequence abilities, surrounded by spiritual bodies that serve as their eyes and ears; hence, they have no need to hire spies or detectives."

"You came here for the materials for Life I or Radiance I, right?" He looked again at Aske.

"Indeed," Aske admitted honestly, "My companion here wishes to obtain the ingredients for the Magic Potion of Life I, and is currently missing a supplementary ingredient, brandy made from grapes."

"The main ingredient comes from our sacrificed member, right?" the middle-aged man asked solemnly. Nora thought the man might start a conflict, but then she saw Aske respond seriously:

"That's correct, do you want to buy it back?"

"200 pounds," said the middle-aged man, "Or an equivalent main ingredient, three flowers of the Eden Tree."

"Deal, we'll choose the main ingredient," nodded Aske, then explained to Nora, bewildered, "The Extraordinary trait harvested from a corpse retains the spirit will of the deceased. If turned into a potion and consumed, there's a higher chance of losing control. For the Life Sect, they can gain information from the residual spirit will, helping them track down the murderer; thus, this transaction benefits both parties."

"Is this lady still a commoner?" the middle-aged man asked, scrutinizing Nora with interest.

"Yes, she's just about to get started," Aske said with a smile, "There's still much hidden knowledge we need to explain to her."

"I have a proposal," said the middle-aged man earnestly, "Would you be interested in joining our Life Sect?"

"Me?" Nora exclaimed.

"Yes," the middle-aged man nodded, "Joining our Life Sect will give you access to more formulas from the Life Sequence and opportunities to trade for the corresponding main ingredients. If your merits are sufficient, we might even offer you our 'Shepherd of the Tree' Bloodline pathway."

"Why'd you choose me?" Nora looked bewilderedly at Aske, then back at the middle-aged man, feeling as if a huge pie had just landed on her head, giving her an almost surreal sensation.

"Because the Life Sect urgently needs fresh blood," the middle-aged man smiled, "you might think that joining our sect is still like the legends describe, with strict long-term political reviews, tedious scrutiny of temperament, and the use of a secretive, unilateral mentorship system? That was indeed the case in the past, but it has been proven outdated. At least in the last century, our expansion has fallen far behind compared to the Spiritual Body Sect."

"The Spiritual Body Sect has released low-level formulas of the Undead Sequence, using the lure of becoming a Transcendent to attract newcomers. Although this approach does bring in many with impure intentions, the rapid growth in numbers compensates for these flaws. Meanwhile, our Elder Council stuck to old familial ways of managing the sect, and the result was that our development lagged far behind," the middle-aged man pulled out his phone, "Both of you, could we add each other as friends?"

Your sect has really kept up with the times, hasn't it! Aske thought; this was somewhat different from the Life Sect he knew from the past. They both pulled out their phones and exchanged CM contacts with the middle-aged man.

(CM, or Community, is a mobile social app similar to a combination of WeChat and Renren, created by CM company located in Solomon City on the Italian peninsula, an international internet company)

The man's contact name was straightforwardly "Killian Bonnet," Aske bore only his name "Aske," while Nora's CM handle was "Princess.Norah" (Her Highness Nora).

Killian and Aske hesitated for a moment then simultaneously turned to Nora. She immediately blushed, her face filling with a mix of shame and embarrassment as she frantically waved her hands trying to explain:

"That! The CM account nickname was chosen when I was a child! Because once it's set you can't change it, and I have too many contacts in my address book to delete, so I've just kept using it..."

She almost couldn't continue, covering her face as if she was about to burst into tears. Who would have thought just adding a hidden organization would require exchanging CM friends?

"It's okay, Princess," Aske said expressionlessly, "I also had a 'chunibyo' phase once."

"That's right, Princess," Killian earnestly added, "I often call my daughter 'Little Princess,' and she seems quite happy with it."

"Stop calling me princess," Nora said weakly, with a resigned 'do as you please' look, "Please just forget it."

"Cough," Killian coughed, "I'll first send you a mini-program, you open the link, and fill out the form inside. Once your application is approved, I'll add you to our Life Sect's subgroup."

Nora, with a dispirited expression, began to fill out the form on her phone. Aske and Killian chatted for a while, exchanging some hidden knowledge, before finally taking Nora and saying their goodbyes.

Killian looked at the application form submitted by Nora on his phone, her name was "Nora Valerius Lysinius," a classical Solomon name not commonly seen now in the city-states of Italy. The lack of any connection to an Extraordinary Family was expected.

He then hit the approval button.

Approximately two hours later, while eagerly working in a flower bed, he suddenly received a call from the Great Elder Borrian.

"How's the new applicant?" the Great Elder asked gravely.

Killian quickly headed to the front of the association building, "She should have already departed."

"Good, if the party has any requests, contact me immediately," the Great Elder instructed.

"Is that young lady really some kind of princess?" Killian heard a strange firmness in the Great Elder's voice, prompting an unbelievable thought in his mind.

"She is not a princess," the Great Elder said in a peculiar tone, paused for a moment, then added, "Yet she surpasses one."