Chapter 1052: Reward 2
It was a little funny, to be honest. No one expected a law-defying wizard to be so hurt with a low-level fireball. No, especially not when the law-defying wizard was Wizard Hutton. Frankenstein was the only one that wasn’t laughing when he saw it. His power of the Will was on alert the whole time if someone was to go after Abel.
Wizard Hutton stared at the staff in Bernie’s hands, “What are you holding, Bernie? What did you do with that firebolt?”
Bernie wasn’t sure either, “Are you saying that something was special about this staff I’m holding, Mentor?”
It wasn’t as if he was completely clueless. As the young master of the richest family on the Holy Continent, Bernie had quite some understanding of this type of gear the wizards used. Still, he asked the question because there weren’t any runes on the staff he was holding. There had to be something else to it to have this sort of effect. There was just no other way to explain this, as far as Wizard Hutton could tell.
Once more, Bernie activated the firebolt spell by drawing a rune. He didn’t aim at Wizard Hutton this time but towards a tree that was on the side. The tree was lit instantly. He was becoming more certain that there was something special about this staff.
Wizard Hutton screamed, “Bernie! That’s my purple gold tree!”
It was one of Wizard Hutton’s favorite plants here. He used to talk about how far he had to get it from its original home.
Bernie quickly bowed, “Oh, no! I’m so sorry, Mentor! I forgot!”
Wizard Hutton shook his head, “Forget it! Just… hand me the staff.”
Bernie tried to offer something, “I’ll give it with what Master Bennett handed me just then, if you don’t mind.”
Wizard Hutton was almost starting to stomp on the ground, “Are you serious right now? Give me the flask if you want to, but the wine here is all made for you! You know what? You shouldn’t even take that big sip just then!”
Even a law-defying wizard like him would have a significant change by taking a drink. Of course, Wizard Hutton would be mad that Bernie was drinking it for the taste. If he didn’t tell Bernie early enough, Bernie might drink all of it for fun.
Bernie pleaded as he looked at the container Wizard Hutton was holding, “Mentor!”
Wizard Hutton spoke strongly, “One sip before every daily meditation. That should make it last for several years.”
And no, Wizard Hutton wasn’t going to ask for extras. Master Bennett was a resourceful man, but even he must have boundaries.
Bernie became quite upset after hearing the new amount. He was thinking about spending his days indulging in alcohol, but that fantasy seemed to fade away earlier than he would have thought.
Wizard Hutton thought of something else, “Give me the staff, if you will.”
As Bernie reluctantly handed the staff over, Wizard Hutton quickly made a scan with his power of the Will. He was starting to understand what ridiculous power it held.
Wizard Hutton looked towards Abel, “Master Bennett! This is too high-end for Bernie! He’s just a level three right now!”
This “leaf” staff could increase all fire-type spells by three levels. “Warm” was by six. “Firebolt,” “fire enhancement,” “fireball,” and “h.e.l.lfire” were by three. This staff was perfect for any fire-type wizard. Although it did lack some buffs of the middle-low tier spells, there wasn’t really a limit as to how many times the spells could be enhanced.
On the Holy Continent, even the most ordinary staff would have some threshold as to how many times it could be used. It was why wizards would only use them in the most important times. Not this “leaf” staff, apparently. Not only could it be used for a buff for an infinite amount of time. All the fire element spells could be increased by three. That was including even “command flame,” which was basically the same as elevating the entire rank of a fire wizard. Even Wizard Hutton would have no use for his other staff if he were holding onto this one.
Abel didn’t seem to mind, though, “I don’t need this one, Wizard Hutton. Bernie can use it, so why not let him have it?”
Abel’s nonchalance really made Wizard Hutton think. He wondered why he didn’t have a friend like this. There was one thing he hadn’t thought of. Abel meant that he couldn’t use a low-tier staff like this one. It was why Bernie was using it.
A dwarven wizard appeared outside, “Master Hutton! The king has sent an invitation!”
Wizard Hutton paused, “Wait, what? I have a guest here. Would you mind going to see what’s happened?”
The dwarven wizard spoke softly, “They’ve got all sorts of people coming over recently, all to make purchase of the sky s.h.i.+ps. The dwarven king wanted some of the senior advisers to go negotiate.”
Wizard Hutton bowed and apologized, “Much apologies, Master Bennett. Please wait here as I go and have a good look to see what’s happened.”
Abel laughed, “It’s fine. Don’t worry, I’ll just catch up with Bernie here. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good conversation.”
After Wizard Hutton teleported away, Abel, Bernie, and a few others were in the yard.
Bernie smiled at Abel, “Would you like to have a chat in the living room, Master Bennett?”
Abel smiled back, “Yeah, let’s take it inside. Frankenstein. Joseph. Go take a post here.”
Bernie sat on a chair as soon as he went in, “It’s been terrible today! All that wine was confiscated. Do you know how I was feel?”
Abel nodded and laughed, “Well, you see Joseph back there? Go contact him if you want more. He’s going to deliver some to you pretty quickly.”
Bernie laughed, “You’re such a good friend, Abel! All that wine, and I’ve only had a sip!”
Abel made a quick reminder, “Your mentor’s been good to you, Bernie. Make sure you spend more time with Wizard Hutton. The relations.h.i.+p between mentors and apprentices may well last longer than fathers and sons.”
Bernie understood, “Yeah, I know! Mentor’s been good to me. It’s not like he’s so stingy, too. He’s given me a bunch of stuff to help with training. Otherwise I wouldn’t reach three ranks so quickly.”
Abel couldn’t help but think of his teacher Morton. He was starting to miss him when he mentioned this bond thing between mentors and apprentices.
“He’s the first one to get me to safety when the a.s.sault happened,” Bernie continued, then made a firm look on his face, “I’ll share half of the wine with him.”
Abel squinted his eyes, “So you’re giving away my stuff?”
Bernie made a suggestion, “How about you do the same thing with what you did on the Holy Continent? Offer the grandmaster’s wine to the dwarves. I’m sure they can pay a sum that you’re satisfied with.”
The dwarves made regular purchases of the grandmaster’s wine for training purposes back on the Holy Continent. The words would’ve reached over here very earlier, actually, if the dwarven wizards here didn’t make the presumptions that nothing from the Holy Continent would meet their demands. By the way, they never bothered asking for the grandmaster’s wine from the same place. The dwarves on the Holy Continent were always very stringent in keeping the alcohol to themselves, so n.o.body really bothered trying to make them do any outsourcing.
Abel laughed and spoke to Bernie, “Are you afraid that you can’t smuggle any for yourself if I made the supply fully public?”
Bernie’s face flushed with that statement. He did have that sort of concern, and while Abel promised to secure a private supply to him, he was worried that most of the stuff would still be confiscated by his good mentor.
Abel tried to make it clear, “You know, I won’t be brewing every day. Just take the portion and use it sparingly, if you can.”
This wasn’t the Holy Continent. There were more dwarven wizards here than anywhere else he’s been. He didn’t have the time to make enough for everyone. It wasn’t like he needed to trade with the dwarves that badly, either. He could trade potions for whatever he needed. He was actually making a huge surplus with the potions, so much so that he didn’t really need to bow down to anyone for any rare resources.
Bernie spoke in an upright tone, “Can I use my portion for a mentor, then?”
It was agreed at the start that the portion would be spared to Wizard Hutton. From there on, Bernie would have to have Abel’s permission to receive however much he wanted. That was a continuous supply, not a one-time supply. They had to be more precise in how much was given to make it last for the long run. So far, things had worked well enough to boost Bernie’s level by three, but they always had to upgrade the number of resources to make it to the next stage. Bernie wasn’t a fool. He knew that he would need more for himself and, of course, his good mentor.
Abel nodded and smiled, “Have a private conversation with your mentor, then. Tell him to keep the grandmaster’s wine a secret. From here on, everytime you want Joseph to hand you the wine, bring some from your mentor.”
They could tell that Bernie was slowly integrating himself with the ways of wizardry. This made things easier for Abel. Bernie was one of the few friends he had, and as long as there was nothing too difficult to be done, he would try to make him as happy as possible.
Bernie said dishonestly, “I’ll make this a business call, then. Not going to say thanks on this one.”
Abel then left without waiting for Wizard Hutton to come back. He was still feeling tense because of the a.s.sault on Iron Furnace Fort. He could sense that the Nation of G.o.d was starting to grow desperate. The continuous attack was not only draining them of their divine power storage, but the years of effort they’ve spent on expanding their intelligence network. Basically, every time they launched an attack, the Wizard Union would scoop out more intelligence workers that the Nation of G.o.d had sent underground.
From the contact members to suppliers for the large-sized teleportations, then to the circle masters and the relevant staff, the Wizard Union could pick up pieces of information on where the Nation of G.o.d had branched out. This was where the sky s.h.i.+ps became really useful. Once a base was located, all the Wizard organizations, empires, and other forces would pay much more to have these vessels as expansions of their military might.