Chapter 896: After the War
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
While the aqua blue teleportal portal disappeared in front of him, Abel teleported himself outside Johnson’s body. From then, he decided to put away the “bi-directional teleportation circle” first. Even now, he still thought that the 4000 points he’s spent on it was quite a good deal.
“You’re crazy, Wizard Abel!” Wizard Hog said as he appeared next to Abel. He shook his head when he saw the camp turn into ruins.
Abel smiled as he pointed towards the eight white pillars that were erected towards the sky, “It’s quite worth it for me. Wouldn’t you agree? We got eight advanced crusaders for one camp. It’s pretty worth it if you ask me.”
On the other hand, Wizard Ram had his eyes fixed onto Johnson, “Good job, Wizard Abel, I… good job.”
As of now, the t.i.tan armor Johnson was wearing had holes all over it. It’s slowly repaired over time, though. It shouldn’t be long before this divine item was completely fixed. It wasn’t like other wizards couldn’t tell how valuable this piece was. They knew, but it was just way too big for them to think about taking it away for themselves.
Wizard Hog couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the “light stone” on the ground, “Put away the Lightstone, Wizard Abel! What are you doing with your reward by not putting it back?”
Wizard Ram reminded Abel, “Hey, Wizard Abel! Remember, don’t ever use this light stone for your training. This is a very rare resource, so what you’re supposed to do is give them to the group until everyone comes up with an idea on how to split all the rewards. We must do whatever we can to ensure that there are enough intermediate wizards who can promote into advanced wizards.”
Abel didn’t hesitate to put away the stone, “Sure. So, if I may ask, is there a rate if I want to trade this kind of light stone to the Lightstone of an intermediate evil knight?”
Wizard Evans interrupted, “Are you serious about that? Wizard Abel! Why do you want to ever trade an advanced stone for intermediate ones? Sure, if you’re asking it for real, I suppose it’s one to thirty at least.”
“That’s the price, but you won’t have a market to put that price up,” Wizard Ram spoke, then paused for a bit, “Actually, if you’re going to use that for your training, Wizard Abel, I don’t suppose you should use a light stone of any quality. It’s just too costly no matter how you look at it.”
Wizard Ram clearly couldn’t empathize with Abel’s thoughts. In his mind, as effective as the light stone would be for meditation, time could essentially achieve the same thing. There was no rush here, by the way. Abel’s got all the time if he wanted to be more reserved about the times of resources he was using.
From Abel’s perspective, he just never thought that the Lightstone was so hard to get. He hadn’t been in the central continent too long, and he already had so many of them… More crucially, he’s already learned that it was a resource that could be traded, so if there was the need to do so, he knew that he could give out the ones he had to trade with the intermediate wizards in his own family.
Wizard Hog lowered his voice, “Are you certain, Wizard Abel, that you want to trade the advanced light stones?”
Abel nodded his head in reply, “Of course, captain! I don’t know a lot of wizards or friends on the central continent, so why not just give these out to those who can make better use of them?”
Wizard Hog advised him, “Oh, sure, if that’s what you think. Um, Wizard Abel, how about you don’t trade these outside your team? It’d make things easier if you trade with just your team members.”
By the way, while the entire third squad consisted of advanced wizards, every member had their own families. In that sense, they all had their own pressure of being in demand for these advanced light stones.
The not-so-advanced light stones here all came from rank seventeen advanced crusaders. There were also four that belonged to rank eighteen advanced crusaders, which, according to the level of the holy crusaders, would differ in the types of effect that they’d bring. The higher the quality the stone was, the better it could do to promote the wizards.
Wizard Hog’s motive simple: he wanted the collective good for his team. It’s not desirable to have if the other families came to fight for the light stones that Abel had on him.
Abel smiled and responded, ‘Sure, I suppose. I wasn’t the only one who got these stones, so it’s only fair if we all split it amongst ourselves.”
Wizard Evans was very glad to hear this as he was the captain, “Such generosity!”
Abel took out the eight advanced light ones and pa.s.sed them over, “Captain Hog if you’ll sort through these.”
Wizard Hog smiled as he took the light stones over, “I’ll thank everyone for you, then.”
Two very selfless acts. All the team members present were really starting to think of Abel as their real brother. If Abel was to sell these to the market, he’d have so much more profit than what he’d be getting now.
Wizard Evans smiled as he looked towards Abel, “You know, Wizard Abel, you’ve cost yourself another magic stone cannon, so you’re still at a loss here.”
Abel smiled without saying anything back. It wasn’t like he wanted to lie to Wizard Evans, but he didn’t want to tell the truth right away, either. Yes, the magic cannon was much more precious than the light stones. Everyone knew that, but not a lot of people knew about his #33 zod rune. For a zod rune, one would need a dark golden quality crystal core which was not going to be produced in the natural world.
Wizard Evans sighed as he looked towards where the seven advanced crusaders were slain, “That’s such a great cannon! Zero trophies? How do you have that?”
Wizard Hog spoke to Abel after throwing a glance towards Wizard Evans, “Do not let yourself be sunken in this power, Wizard Abel. Real strength is what you bring out of yourself.”
Abel was still too young. Wizard Hog didn’t want him to follow the wrong path by choosing to rely on just his other creatures. That would not matter once he became a wizard mediator, but for now, it’s very important for him to know the right fundamentals.
Abel bowed as he felt like the advice he was given genuine, “I got it, captain! Actually, I got a portal item from a rank seventeen evil knight on me.”
It was a portal bag he s.n.a.t.c.hed off from the first advanced holy crusader he killed. He didn’t open it at the time so instead, what he just did was to put it back. Come to think of it, now that he’s become a member of his squad, he was longer able to s.n.a.t.c.h whatever he wanted from the battlefield as he had always done before.
Wizard Hog smiled, “Well, Wizard Abel, you can keep your first trophy. It’s a custom we have to keep the morale up.”
Abel shook his head as he didn’t care, “The rules are rules, sir. Please, just take it.
When the team had its fun of sharing the rewards, dozens of shadows appeared from far to near.
Wizard Hog was almost on the ground, “Ha, haha! Reinforcements are here! That’s forty minutes. They just beat the record!”
It’s disappointing how slow the reinforcement came this time. It had been forty-minutes since holy knights destroyed the teleportation circle. That was two times the amount of time before the original twenty minutes. Without Abel, the third squad might just be forced to stand off against holy crusaders that were the same level as them for about forty minutes. A lot of casualties would’ve happened if the wizards decided not to abandon the encampment. If they decided to leave the spot for a retreat, time and, more importantly, the entire squad’s or lightning clan’s reputation would’ve been greatly ruined.
A white, fat advanced wizard appeared next to Wizard Hog. He looked scared when he saw the eight pillars that were towards the sky. However, he quickly switched towards a smile.
“I’m so sorry for coming so late, Wizard Hog. If I knew that it was the third squad, we would’ve contacted a few more teams for reinforcement. Still, you seemed to have accomplished a lot on the frontline this time.”
Wizard Hog was not very happy with what he was hearing, “Well, what do you mean “late,” Wizard Beecham? Explain.”
The reinforcement was not done out of a sense of obligation, by the way. It was a forced request done on behalf of the Wizard Union. If the wizards never had these kinds of mutual aids, it’d be very easy for them to become isolated when they were fighting on the front or second row. It also had to do with the fact that the sky demons could open s.p.a.ce portals quite easily. The holy crusaders would always target the teleportation circle whenever they initiate an attack, so it became especially important for wizards to be able to reach out to one another within a very short period of time.
What Wizard Beecham did just then was an indirect attempt at murder and a direct violation of the team’s trust. He was literally trying to eliminate the entire third squad by delaying his help. Of course, Wizard Hog was not going to respond kindly when Wizard Beecham, despite being a fire element specialist, gave this really sly, merchant-like look when he arrived. It wasn’t like he was in the mood to argue, though, so he decided not to say much at all.
Wizard Beecham still had this smile on his face, “Come on, Wizard Hog! We’ve come to help you, so shouldn’t you give us at least half of your advanced “light stones?”
It was almost like Wizard Beecham expected the third squad to be completely exhausted already after killing off so many advanced holy crusaders. He wasn’t even trying to do a low-ball when he’s making his demands.
Wizard Hog spoke coldly, “Are you saying that on behalf of the flame clan, Wizard Beecham, or are you saying that on behalf of the whole advanced wizard organization behind you.”
Wizard Beecham only laughed louder, “Why, ha! Ha, hahaha! The latter, of course! Wouldn’t you all agree?”
A few advanced wizards jumped up and called out at once, “Yes, if the captains say so! We’ll listen to whatever he has to say!”
That sounded like it was just the flame clan. Just Wizard Beecham’s squad, for that matter. The other team members didn’t sound like they wanted to embarra.s.s the lightning clan too much. They wanted the advanced light stones, sure, but it’s not like there were enough laying around for them to all get their own share. As a matter of fact, it might just be easier for them to get their own share if they stayed quiet, but for them to stand up and speak out, that’s not quite possible at all.
A terrifying presence came out of Wizard Hog, “I suppose we need to have a good match after this mission, Wizard Beecham.”
The presence petrified everyone in the scene. It got Wizard Beecham to realize his mistakes. Wizard Hog was never exhausted from the bloodbath just then. If anything, he was in his peak condition for a ma.s.s murder spree.
When Wizard Beecham realized what was happening, his pretentious smile on his face became something more genuine, like a child that couldn’t wait to break open his birthday pinata.