Chapter 970: Granting Reward
A total of five hundred “light stones.” This was the number that archpriest Horace handed over to Abel. This was the amount he was willing to give to demonstrate the sincerity of his apology.
Abel handed a “light recovery potion” in return. “Forgive me for striking too hard just then, archpriest Horace. Please, feed the potion to archpriest Ferguson.”
After taking the potion over, archpriest Horace pa.s.sed onto archpriest Ferguson very carefully. archpriest Ferguson didn’t take the potion, though. Instead, he looked at archpriest Horace for a bit before placing it inside his portal item. They knew the potion was enough to feel the injury completely. Still, they also believed that it was better to be saved than to be used on an intermediate-level injury that’s already starting to recover.
Anyways, since archpriest Horace was on the way to feeling better, the hostile atmosphere was starting to loosen up a little. As for the guests, they were still more focused on Master Bennett and the Beamon Giant Beast. They’ve heard about what the giant monster was capable of, but to actually see it made them realize just how terrifying it was than what they’ve heard from the intel they’ve collected. It was a beamon giant beast capable of performing the “instantaneous movement,” by the way. The super big stick, too. Two strikes were really all it took to give archpriest Ferguson a grave injury.
archpriest Horace and archpriest Ferguson were really starting to regret the att.i.tude they displayed to Abel. They were starting to change the way they behaved, but that’s not really enough as far as they were concerned. They were starting to see how important Abel could be to them. For starters, there was the incredibly valuable “light recovery potion” just then. There was also the Beamon giant beast, which was an incredibly important help to the orcs. No, they weren’t going to try stealing it. They just wanted to leave their marks on it. They believed that the reason it could perform the “instantaneous movement” was due to some sort of inherent ability pa.s.sed down from the orcs. They already doubted that it was a guardian beast from the ancient ruins already, actually. As soon as they realized just how resourceful the person they were dealing with might be, they thought that it was better if they formed a good relations.h.i.+p with Abel first.
So they went back to the grand palace. They did something that they’d rarely do, and that was taking off their hoodies to reveal their thin, death-qi infected faces. Unlike advanced priests, there were still little muscles left to make them look slightly different from mummies. What they were doing was a power move, by the way. The strong ones knew that these two really meant diplomacy with Abel.
Right now, there were a total of around fifty influential fighters inside the hall. Apart from a few minorities, almost all of the famous organizations had arrived. Butler Harty from the royal palace continued to read out the name of each one of them as they made their appearance. It was the first time Abel’s seen so many of them in one place.
Queen Luisa was watching, too. She couldn’t help but sigh as she remembered something in the past. The elves used to have their grand druid opening ceremony, but not even a third of the number here would make up the whole crowd.
Butler Harty announced one gain, “Her Holy Majesty has arrived!”
All the guests stopped talking and looked right over towards the entrance. They were paying their respect to the elven Sainte, who was the Moon G.o.ddess’s representative. With two at the front and two at the back, The guards accompanied Loraine and appeared in front of everyone. Lorraine looked a little different, by the way. She was in an aqua blue robe and had a fine-made crown on top of her head. It was not the appropriate thing to point out, but the crown stood out even more than Queen Luisa. She also had a crystal scepter in her hand. At her back, she wore a white robe which matched with her image of purity and sanct.i.ty. It was very different from Abel’s usual image of her. Normally, she’d be wearing an outfit fit for battle, and it was definitely a refres.h.i.+ng thing to see her wearing something else.
On a side note, the guests were all very smart people. They knew what it meant as Abel and Loraine smiled at each other. No one was going to make a joke here, though. There was a G.o.ddess here, and they’d all like to keep the atmosphere as it was.
Queen Luisa bowed to Loraine and then the guest, “According to the tradition of the elves, today we and each one of your honorable guests are to hold the promotion ceremony of Master Bennett. I would like to thank every one of you for the respect you’ve shown by accepting the invitation to come here.”
The guests smiled and responded with their own bow. They showed their goodwill to both Queen Luisa and Master Bennett.
Queen Luisa smiled and spoke, “First of all, I’d like to take back Master Bennett’s original t.i.tle. He is a powerful druid now, and I’d like to bestow him with something more befitting to his ability and status. Today, I shall declare him the elder of the elven race.”
Grand druids were pretty much already above all conventional t.i.tles, and according to the traditions of the central continent, they were not to a.s.sociate too much with worldly affairs. Of course, once they were in the rankings of advanced druid and advanced wizard. They’d still retain something of a common t.i.tle. Yet, even that was to be stripped away of them once they became elders because elders represented something that transcends even further than the advanced occupation holders. The elven elders, for example, had the ability to take a portion of the entire population’s resources while receiving a quite good sum of tribute each month. As for their obligation, it was really to just help the elven race only if there was a case of emergency.
Queen Luisa continued to speak, “Next, I will now declare Valley Hadian as the permanent terrain granted to Master Bennett.”
Now, Abel didn’t know where Hadian Valley was. He also didn’t know what a permanent terrain meant. He just thought that the land granted to a grand druid should be quite big in size. He was the only one here who didn’t know about Hadian Valley, actually. For the druids, they all gave this look like they wished like they were him. For the non-druids, they were having this perplexed look on their faces because they knew that Hadian Valley was very close to the temple, and it’s hard not to think that it was going to cause some sort of controversy when the land was handed over.
Grand druid Lucia stepped forward and announced loudly, “The Temple of G.o.ddess will now bestow blessings to Master Bennett .”
The statement made it clear what the relations.h.i.+p was between Abel and the Moon G.o.ddess. The religious leaders had just recognized their marital status because only the future husband of the Sainte would be allowed to have his name as the temple owner. In a way, they were protecting Abel’s safety by bestowing a religious t.i.tle on him.
Wizard Hume walked beside Abel and announced loudly, “You’ve done spectacularly in your war against the Nation of Evil, Master Bennett. On behalf of the Wizard Union, I would like to pa.s.s on the honorary badge to you.”
Having said that, he took out a hexagonal badge and pa.s.sed it to Abel’s hands. What happened next was pretty much standard for a ceremony. The guests received their welcome present, which was taken and put elsewhere by Butler Harty before they left. Wines, fruits, and fresh vegetables were served after that. Some meat also appeared to appeal to the taste of some of the guests.
Druid Rando came to Abel and advised quietly, “As the traditions have it, Master Bennett, you are to be expected to perform a top-level spell at the end. Has your “Giant dragon transformation” been recovered?”
“I thought I could do something else,” Abel replied. He didn’t want to transform into a giant dragon as that was supposed to be his last resort in a fight. It was very strange that he would do it to impress some people.
Druid Rando asked, “But you just had your promotion recently! Did you manage to learn a top-level spell lately?”
The promotion was usually achieved by mastering one top-level spell. That spell would be then labeled as a “promotion spell” to provide a faster and more advantageous boost to one’s spellcasting capability. For instance, if the promotion spell was “summon a giant bear,” the giant beat conjured would be strengthened much more than the spell’s original variation.
From Druid Rando’s understanding, Abel’s promotion spell was the “giant dragon transformation,” something specialized by a dragon-type druid. Learning that was thought to be a very demanding task, and it wasn’t like Abel had the time to learn other top-level spells in the meantime. If advanced spells could be learned so easily learned, there wouldn’t be so many druids doing shutdown training to focus just on their research.
To be clear, Abel would still gain his respect even if he didn’t go along with his. His summon creature just injured a archpriest, and that alone was enough for him to get recognition. The main reason Druid Rando asked was really to follow through with tradition.
Abel nodded confidently, “I was lucky, Grand Druid Rando. I managed to summon a grey bear in one of my attempts.”
Grand Druid Rando’s mouth twitched for a bit. That’s not luck if you could summon the hardest creatures within just a few days. For him, it took him several months to develop a relations.h.i.+p with the grey bear before he could call it out. The contrast between him and Abel just made him seem really, really incompetent.
Grand Druid Rando still tried to be polite, “Well, any top-level spell is fine if you don’t want to perform a “giant dragon transformation. The choice is really yours.”
Queen Luisa spoke loudly following the cue she was given, “Guests! From here on, Master Bennett will perform his grand druid top level spell, as followed by the tradition.”
Everyone was completely silent. Most of them came here for Abel’s status as a master potion master. It was really surprising for them to hear that he could also transform into a legendary creature. They had always thought that dragon druid was a myth, and they were really looking forward to seeing one in action. Still, Abel felt bad for them as he was about to disappoint. He shook his head, indicating that he would do anything related to the dragon transformation.
Wizard Hume tried to be helpful, “The s.p.a.ce here is a bit too small, isn’t it? Master Bennet, why don’t we head out for the live demonstration?”
Abel smiled and responded, “This is enough, Wizard Hume.”
After saying that, he waved his hand in the air and created a black hole. On the side, all the guests didn’t seem to know how to respond. They thought that they were here for the dragon, but they ended up watching a show of a five-meter-tall grey bear walking out of the black hole.
Wizard Hume spoke while not trying to be too disappointed, “A summoning grey bear! It’s quite different from the normal one, isn’t it?”
This grey bear was, indeed, quite special on its own. Whether it was a law-defying wizard or a archpriest, they all knew that the grey bear was much, much bigger than the ones they’d see. This was the largest they’d ever seen, actually, and it didn’t take them long before they realized that this was actually a grey bear king. The Grey bear king was a top bear that many had tried to call out, but literally, no one managed to do so. After centuries of failed experience, there was even a rule that advised the druids to not waste any time to call out a grey bear king, mostly because there’d be just too much time wasted to hinder any progress on future training.
As the guests gasped in awe, Abel called the grey bear away and put an end to the ceremony. From here on, all the time left would be spared for free discussion. This was a rare opportunity to speak with some famous figures, actually. Some would even trade their previous items here, while others might have something equal in value in return.
Wizard Hume found Abel and bowed, “I’ll now finish my trade with you this month, Respectful Master Bennett.”
Abel took out the portal bag and pa.s.sed over to Wizard Hume, “I have three hundred light recovery potions, Wizard Hume. Please, have them. It’s a token of my grat.i.tude to you.”
Wizard Hume caught on quite quickly, “Oh, sure! I’ve got some light stones, then. Here. It’s for you, Master Bennett.”
That was a fairly simple trade. If the Potionmaster Guild’s teleportation circle wasn’t destroyed, they would’ve just done this by recording everything via the trading system of the Wizard Union.
Wizard Hume started introducing something else, “Actually, did you know, Master Bennett? You can look up more items to trade for with your honorary badge. Also, for every bottle of the light recovery potion, you make in the future, we’ll always be ready to pay you an extra one hundred points for them. How does that sound to you?”