Chapter 874 - 60,000 Merit Points

"Well done, Miss Rima! Though short, the battle was marvelous." Desmond walked over with two guys following him, a gentlemanly smile on his face.

Rima looked at him, and nodded in acknowledgement before looking at Kayla, "We are going for a meal. Would you like to come along?"

Kayla smiled, "I’m free right now. So, sure."

The trio walked away without sparing Desmond another glance, causing his frozen expression to darken.

...

"So, how much did you earn?" Kayla asked after they sat in a restaurant within the Inner Hall and ordered some dishes for Nia and themselves—because Nia was quite weaker than them, she couldn’t digest the food prepared for Five Star mages.

"60,000." Rima said, feeling relieved as she now had the required merit points to enter the minor realm. Now, she just needed to speedrun to the King realm and enter Golden Rankings. At that time, she would be able to enter the minor realm and look for her beloved.

As she thought this, her brows furrowed because she knew unlike in the mortal realms, One to Four Star, progressing within the spirit realm wasn’t easy.

"Wow! You had bet all your merit points. Quite a daring move." Kayla remarked while Nia’s eyes widened in astonishment.

’60,000 Merit Points... It would take me 50-60 years to earn that much from my job.’

While Nia marveled at the difference between them, Kayla noticed Rima’s frown and asked, "What’s wrong?"

After thinking for a moment, Rima decided to tell her, hoping she would have some solution for her predicament like she had for the Merit Points.

"I told you how I need to enter the minor realm, right? With the points I now have, I have fulfilled the first condition. Now, I need to enter the Golden Ranking to fulfil the other. But I can’t see how I can do that in a short time."

"I understand." Kayla nodded in understanding. Even if Rima’s talent in cultivation was supreme, she would still need months to enter the King Realm, especially considering she had just broken through to the Five Star realm.

Of course, it wasn’t impossible. She just needed the whole-hearted support of a Peak Emperor, preferably a Monarch.

However, if she had such support, she wouldn’t have needed to worry so much about entering the minor realm. They could have taken her inside.

After thinking for a moment, she said, "There is a way, but I’m not sure it’ll work."

Rima’s eyes lit and she hurriedly asked, "What is it? Tell me."

"Golden Rankers often go into the Hall’s minor realms to train or gather resources. And sometimes, they need more manpower, so they take unranked King Mages along. I have heard that a few times, they have taken the top Silver rankers too upon their request.

So, if you can enter the top three in Silver Rankings, you can try finding a party who might be willing to take you."

Rima became excited upon hearing this, but she composed herself and asked, "Just entering the top three would suffice?"

Kayla shook her head, "No. As I said, you would need to find a party willing to take you in. This isn’t easy because there are several King Mages, who are not ranked within the Golden Rankings, but are stronger than the top three of Silver Rankings.

The Golden Rankers choose from them as not only they would get decent strength, but they would also not have to go through the formal hassle of allowing lower-rank disciples to go with them and pay fines if they die inside."

Seeing Rima’s brows furrowing, Kayla added, "Therefore, if you want them to take you, you would have to get in their good graces somehow or pay them a significant amount of Merit Points."

Rima didn’t even consider the first option and directly asked, "How much?"

Kayla raised a finger, "From what I heard, last time a silver ranker had paid 100,000 Merit Points."

"So, I, at least, need another 40,000?" She murmured and began thinking if one more bet on a battle with a high ranker where her chances of winning might seem abysmal could earn her the amount.

However, she then heard Kayla say, "No. You would need at least 150,000 at that time because you would need to pay for your entry fee yourself. Moreover, this amount would increase if the party demands more than 100,000."

"Mm." Rima nodded in agreement. She also knew that she needed to spend a significant amount of Merit Points on resources to increase her strength to enter the top three of the Silver Rankings. So, the total number of merit points she needed was a lot more than just 150,000.

Seeing her get lost in thought, Kayla leaned back in her chair.

After a few moments, Rima took a deep breath and looked at her, "Miss Kayla, thank you for all the help."

Kayla smiled, "No need for thanks. Just don’t forget me if I need your help in future."

"Of course, I won’t." Rima said, "Whatever problem you have, just tell me. I’ll do my best to help you and if I’m not capable of doing it, I’ll ask my husband to do it."

"Your husband?" Kayla asked, surprised, "You are married?"

"The reason I want to enter the minor realm is because my husband has been left stranded in it." Rima told her.

Hearing this, Kayla got a rough picture of what happened and her delicate brows furrowed. Then, seeing the glint of melancholy and longing in her eyes, she sighed in her heart, feeling pity for her.

She could tell Rima loved her husband a lot and was in denial of his death.

"There is no need to feel pity, Miss Kayla, because I know for a fact he isn’t dead." Rima said with a smile, but this only made Kayla feel even more bad for her because she saw the hidden sadness and other suppressed emotion in her eyes.

However... she smiled, "Yeah. I have heard of a few people who weren’t transported out of the minor realms due to all sorts of reasons, but they were alive. One of these people is our current Inner Hall Master."

Rima could tell she didn’t really believe Max could be alive and was just saying this to give her some hope, but she really felt better upon hearing this and clenched her fists, "Yeah. If even they can survive there, he can definitely do it."

She had just murmured this when a cold hurrumph sounded out in the restaurant, immediately silencing the chatter.

"Humph!

’Even they?’

You think your pathetic man can be compared to our hall master and others who survived those hellish trials on their own and came out alive?"

As the restaurant became pin-drop silent, everyone’s gazes focused on two tables—one Rima’s and the other of the one who spoke just now.

"Hey, isn’t she...?"

"Shh! Keep quiet."

Someone recognised the person who spoke just now—a beautiful, green haired woman in an elaborate green dress—and spoke up, prompting his companion to shut him up.

’What luck!’ Kayla’s expression turned ugly when she saw her.

The woman was sitting on the table just a few meters away from Rima. She turned her head around, her expression cold as she scolded, "Did you become mute? I asked you some—"

Swoosh!

[Rima, no—]

Kayla had just noticed Rima’s expression and feeling a premonition, she hurriedly began transmitting a message to her, wanting to stop her from doing anything rash, but before she could do it, Rima had disappeared from her chair.

Slap!

Boom!!