Todd Riordan's Academic Research: Continued

Todd Riordan's Academic Research: Continued is an Adventure Mission on The Xianzhou Luofu.
==Steps==
#Receive message from Todd
#Head to the designated location to meet Todd
#Talk to Todd and make your choice
*If Todd's proposal was declined:
*#Go to the Realm-Keeping Commission and report on Todd's doings
*#Go to Petrichor Inn to ask the Ten-Lords Commission judge for information
*#Maybe Todd will contact me tomorrow. Who knows...
*#(After daily reset) View the message from Todd
*#Head to the coast and meet with Todd
*#*(Optional) Talk to Blade
*If promised to keep it a secret:
*#Maybe Todd will contact me tomorrow. Who knows...
*#(After daily reset) View the message from Todd
*#Head to Starskiff Haven and meet with Todd
*#Follow Todd to the food stall
*#Fulfill Todd's wish and buy him a berrypheasant skewer
*#Give the berrypheasant skewer you bought to Todd
*#Accompany Todd to wander and stroll around the Exalting Sanctum
*#Head to the Scalegorge Waterscape coast and talk with Todd
==Dialogue==
===Receive message from Todd===
:
===Head to the designated location to meet Todd===
;(Talk to ???)
:???: Oh it's you, (Trailblazer).
: ...Todd?
::Todd: Same old me. The one and only.
::Todd: Although I probably shouldn't say "old," because this body doesn't grow old anymore.
: Who are you?
::Todd: It's me, Todd. The one and only.
:Todd: This is what I want to share with you. As a researcher of Xianzhou culture, my teacher and I have combed through all the literature. And I've gotten a good grasp of all the main precious parts.
: Have you gotten younger!?
::Todd: Hey — Shhh! The Xianzhou people are extremely sensitive to that kind of talk.
: Did you get plastic surgery?
::Todd: ...Now that's letting your imagination run wild.
:Todd: Immortality... The Xianzhou Alliance possesses a secret which all short-life species crave, but they keep it to themselves.
:Todd: The Guild is always keen to obtain stable and safe longevity therapies from the Xianzhou Alliance — In fact, it forms the basis for all research into Xianzhou culture.
:Todd: But generation after generation of scholars came here, grew old, and returned without success. Until finally, the Guild almost gave up this field completely.
:Todd: My teacher, Scholar Bernini, was one of them. He should have gone home empty-handed just like everyone else. But somehow what he found was adventure.
: So you want to enter Scalegorge Waterscape...
: Those patterns left in Scalegorge Waterscape...
:Todd: Yes. A Vidyadhara brought my teacher to this sacred place once, which switched his focus on longevity over to the Vidyadhara.
:Todd: But that violated the Xianzhou's "Ten Unpardonable Sins." Knowing he couldn't leave behind any traces, he used the Guild's marking and left behind a series of patterns that seemed to merely illustrate history.
:Todd: And now that I've deciphered the code to these patterns, I now understand their hidden meaning — the Vidyadhara pursue longevity in the correct manner.
: What did you do...
: That's a crime on the Xianzhou.
::Todd: A look of pain falls across Todd's young face.
::Todd: I never thought I'd ever have anything to do with "crime" in my life, but... Trailblazer, by the time I'd realized it, things had already happened.
:Todd: I took a few samples from inside a Vidyadhara egg. Nobody was harmed in the slightest.
:Todd: That egg also remained intact, but it just lost... a little bit of "egg white." That's all. But its benefit to society is obvious, isn't it?
:Todd raised his once dry and skinny hand to show that his wrinkles had disappeared, revealing fair, smooth skin instead.
:Todd: I could have just walked away. I could've just kept quiet — talking to anyone would mean risking jail time. But... It's you, and I wanted to tell you about all of this.
:Todd: My whole life I've always been sticking to the rule of reciprocity, and nothing's changed now. Without your help, I would never be where I am today.
:Todd: (Trailblazer), you are an outstanding young , and this old timer... Well, you've inspired me to reconsider talking of an apprentice.
:Todd: I've got a proposal for you: Join our Guild! We'll split all the glory, the riches and the extended youth granted by this secret. You'll be free to do whatever you want. Just keep this a secret until we leave the Luofu.
:Todd: How about you think it over? And then , okay?
===Talk to Todd and make your choice===
;(Talk to Todd)
:Todd: Thought things through yet, (Trailblazer)?
:Todd: As someone who's shown me kindness before, I will not treat you poorly.
: (Decline Todd's proposal)
::Todd: No? Why not?
:: I'm not interested in immortality.
:::Todd: Ha... Hahaha...
:::Todd: You don't get it. You don't understand the true value of this secret at all. I was just a know-it-all just like you at your age, thinking I'd have countless possibilities before me and that youth would never fade.
:::Todd: No, you don't understand! You could never believe or even imagine what kind of hell aging actually is!
:::Todd: You don't know what it's like to be soaked in the humiliation of your own incontinence. The never-ending torture of arthritis. Memory loss and dementia have yet to gnaw into your quick-witted mind just yet...
:::Todd: (Trailblazer)... One day, we'll all be old.
:: I have no intention of becoming a criminal accomplice.
:::Todd: You're scared? Are you scared of being hunted by the Xianzhou Alliance?
:::Todd: Don't panic. You'll find you have plenty of protection when the super-rich and powerful can profit from something. The Xianzhou will be helpless.
:::Todd: Do you have some sense of innate justice? Or do you believe that rhetoric about how the Xianzhou people forbid Abundance? Sigh, none of that matters now, anyway.
:: Todd sighs deeply.
::Todd: You've made your choice, I guess for the sake of my own safety, it's time for me to go.
: (Promise to keep it secret)
::Todd: I knew I was right about you.
:: I don't plan on becoming an apprentice...
:::Todd: Is the path of the Nameless more popular with the kids these days? I won't force things.
:: I'm not interested in immortality...
:::Todd: Ha... Hahaha...
:::Todd: You don't get it. You don't understand the true value of this secret at all. I was just a know-it-all just like you at your age, thinking I'd have countless possibilities before me and that youth would never fade.
::Todd: If you ever change your mind, come find me any time. My proposal stands in perpetuity.
----
;(The screen goes black, and white text appears)
:Todd bows and shoots you a smooth salute, before turning to quickly leave.
----
:You're not sure about Todd's future plans, but you somehow feel that your destinies will still intertwine somewhere.
----
;(Talk to Todd again, optional)
:Todd: Go, (Trailblazer). Leave me be here.
:The child gazes back at the sea, humming a nursery rhyme that nobody can understand.
:Every now and again, he seems to notice you and he looks on with curiosity. But before long, he can no longer concentrate as he's distracted by the fantastical landscape.
:The sea seems to be calling for the child.
==Other Languages==
==Change History==
==Navigation==
ru:Исследование Тодда Риордана: Продолжение