Nick lied on his back for about half a minute doing nothing until he had recovered enough of his magic energy to cast Dragon Recovery. At that point, his healing spell took a few seconds to heal most of the physical damage that he had sustained from casting Malevolent Shrine more than once during a short period of time, mostly to his brain. Nick canceled Dragon Recovery after that.
While on the ground, he mused:
(Malevolent Shrine is complex, and uses a large amount of magic energy in an extremely short amount of time. It basically produces almost no waste as it does so, resulting in a lot of strain on my rank 3 mind, which then manifests as minor brain damage. It's not a pretty process, but it is an effective one. At rank 2, Malevolent Shrine didn't induce such strain…)
During battle, rank 3, and lower Magicians usually exuded a lot of magic energy as a kind of wasted exhaust. That is because lower ranked Magicians still cannot use their magic energy efficiently.
(Those goons probably expected that I would not have been able to use Malevolent Shrine back-to-back like other advanced grade spells, but whether such a characteristic exists in a spell depends mostly on the skill of the spell maker. Sometimes a spell purposely features a cool down requirement because the spell maker wants to limit the harm a caster does to himself, or it could be an unintentional feature because casting the spell puts an extraordinary strain on the body. Many high quality goods in the form of spells do not have a strict cool down time.
Just like how even body builders cannot lift heavy weights for an hour non-stop, Magicians cannot use complex spells repeatedly, non-stop without suffering physical consequences. At least that is until their cultivation rises sufficiently.
Malevolent Shrine originates from the wicked being, who could be a World Class Magician for all I know. His bloodline spell is not simple; it allowed me to cut down two Magicians with higher cultivation than my own, albeit, at a high cost. In the end, the only reason why I am so proficient at casting it is because the process is somehow instinctive to me. Otherwise, I would have never been able to cast Malevolent Shrine consecutively…)
Nick soon thought about the moment that Becker broke through Malevolent Shrine. His intuition was stimulated during his contemplation:
(Hmmm…Malevolent Shrine's special space seems to be strong on the inside, and weak on the outside. Meaning that it can be breached, and dispelled easily by people not initially within its area of effect. It is good that I found out about such a flaw now, before I used the spell elsewhere.)
Nick remained on the ground for about an hour before he stood up. First, he went over to the corpses to check if anything valuable was left behind, but he found out that the two Magicians' space bands were destroyed by Malevolent Shrine's power. Such minced-up corpses were of no value, so Nick paid them no mind.
The war hammer magic tool that Becker wielded was still intact, though, but it was a little damaged, having been cut through deeply in several places. Nick stored it into one of his space bands, thinking that he might use it as a reference someday to craft other magical tools.
Nick soon cast Dragon Hold, and flew away from the battle sight. Thinking back, he realized that he was quite fortunate:
(Our battle did not attract any rank 3 magic beasts, which I would have had trouble fighting after killing Samuel, and Becker. Luck really is an important aspect of strength…)
Two days later, Nick arrived in Samsar, but he stayed at its borders while he scouted the area immediately around him. The region was generally a grassy savanna that had sparse, but large mountain ranges at its interior areas. Based on the map that he received, he knew that Samsar had an average concentration of rank 4 magical beasts living here, and so that also meant that rank 4 Magicians might be in the region.
(Based on the incident two days ago, I realize that the most likely threat out here is actually Magicians, and not magic beasts. A rank 4 magic beast might ignore me if it noticed me, but a rank 4 Magician…who knows?)
Nick used Dragon Hold's power to create an underground space for himself, about two hundred meters below the surface, to hide like he did in the past using Saturn, and then used his Spatial Awareness talent to scout the surrounding area, mostly because it had a wide range. Spatial Awareness was also less likely to be noticed by troublesome Magicians, and magic beasts than Seeker Instinct's power.
Like this, Nick spied on many magic beasts while remaining hidden. Most were below rank 3, but the numbers of rank 3 magic beasts were copious, and eventually, Nick even spotted his first rank 4 magic beast. It was the size of four adult elephants combined, and looked like an iguana with black, spiked, leathery skin. Its eyes looked like large, purple gemstones, and its magic energy had the unmistakable signature of poison path; all the low ranked magic beasts that went near it foamed at the mouth, and were poisoned to death.
(That is one frightening monster to look at.)
Nick gulped down some saliva before using Dragon Hold's power to move through the underground earth by forcefully displacing the soil wherever he went. Spatial Awareness allowed him to chart a course that guided him past rank 3 magic beasts without being noticed, and allowed him to avoid areas with rank 4 magic beasts when he noticed them.
Three weeks later, Nick had moved hundreds of kilometers towards the interior of Samsar, having spent most of his time deep underground. He was making steady progress, and was proud of it:
(How many rank 3 Magicians would dare to come to this place, and stay so long?)
His progress would have remained unimpeded if he did not notice a situation as he passed by the foot of an arid mountain one evening when it was almost sundown. A group made up of four Magicians was actually being stalked by a rank 4 magic beast.
This rank 4 magic beast was the size of a passenger plane, and looked like a rabid mongoose with crimson fur, and protruding fangs. Its magic energy emitted the signature of fire path as the ground below its feet was scorched black wherever it passed, grey smoke rising briefly from those places.
Nick noticed that all the Magicians had blonde hair, pale-white skin, and dark eyes. They even wore similar grey magician's robes. There were two males, and two females, and all of them were retreating using their movement spells while the rank 4 magic beast approached. Nick thought:
(Based on the appearance of their spells, they should all be rank 3 at most. Can they escape?)
Nick soon received his answer when he received images that showed that one of the men was actually trying to have them split up to increase their chance of survival. Nick thought:
(Should I help them? That rank 4 magic beast looks like a grumpy soul, and I do not know what kind of people they are. Hmmm…but they might know where I can find some misfire dragons, so I might as well make a move…)
Nick was no coward in the first place, and he had the qualifications to be confident about escaping from a strong magic beast if he needed to. Soon, he decided to act.
******************************************************
Four grey-robed Magicians raced away from the quickly approaching rank 4 magic beast. One of the men cursed loudly:
"Dammit! It has not caught us yet because it is playing with us. We need to split up!"
The man rode on a ruby-red cloud as he spoke to his companions; he made wide hand signals that corresponded to his intentions to split up. The other male in the group gritted his teeth in frustration, but also echoed the same sentiments:
"Jenine, Aria, sorry, but Yarvo is right. We need to split up, so that at least one of us can escape."
The second male flew using the large pair of eagle-like wings on his back, while the two females both rode on a rank 3, horse-like magic beast that was the size of an oil tanker, had eight legs, two bushy tails, and was blue all over.
The woman named Jenine roared angrily at her male companions:
"Bobby, you, and Yarvo are dolts. I am an enslavement path Magician, and Aria is an enchantment path Magician. We cannot hope to escape on our own while in rank 4, and rank 3 magic beast country without you two. If you two did not convince us that we would be safe, would we have even come out here?"
Both Yarvo, and Bobby wore awkward expressions after Jenine scolded them. They had indeed bragged that they could protect the women as they trained out here in the wilderness, but a few days ago, they had wandered into Samsar without noticing, and now had caught the attention of a persistent rank 4 magic beast.
Yarvo, Bobby, and Jenine were all rank 3 middle stage Magicians while the short woman that hugged Jenine's back as they both rode the same magic beast, Aria, was rank 3 initial stage. Yarvo, and Bobby hesitated because they were all childhood friends, but ultimately, they both would not go against common sense because their lives were on the line.
Yarvo tried to convince the two women one more time:
"Listen…"
Before Yarvo could finish his words, a wave of formless, crimson magic power flowed pass them, and turned hundreds of meters of rugged terrain in front of them into a scorching inferno, making escape even more unlikely than before. The four Magicians stopped moving forward, and turned around to face their slowly approaching stalker.
Bobby sighed openly before saying:
"I guess that we were not meant to escape. Us four have done everything together since young. It might be fitting that we die together too."
Aria heard those words, and hugged Jenine tighter as tears escaped both her eyes. Jenine glared at Bobby in response to his ridiculous words while Yarvo began preparing a spell while sitting cross-legged on his red cloud. Yarvo's body exuded formless magic energy as he spoke to his three friends:
"I will try to cast an advanced grade defensive spell to block the way. We can try to escape through the flames after that."
Jenine despaired when she heard that plan:
(There is no way that your cloud magic will hold up against a rank 4 magic beast. Not to mention that the kind of defense that is needed to move through rank 4 flames is beyond any of our capabilities. Sigh, I suppose struggling in the face of death is better than doing nothing.)
As the rank 4 magic beast got closer, and the four Magicians became more tense, a white-haired man suddenly appeared behind the group of four Magicians, floating relaxed while the space suddenly developed a slightly grey hue. Everyone was shocked by the man's appearance, and taken aback once more when they noticed his rank 3 initial stage magic energy. Jenine awkwardly commented:
"Hey you. Did you show up to die with us?"
Nick ignored Jenine's question, and spoke:
"Quick, I can save you, but you have to promise me to tell me all that you know about misfire dragons."
Jenine, Aria, Yarvo, and Bobby all wore suspicious expressions at this time, but they also thought that some hope was better than no hope. Yarvo, being more assertive than the rest, made a promise to Nick:
"If you save us, we will tell you all that we know about misfire dragons!"
Nick nodded his head once to show that he was satisfied before he exuded 90,000 magical units worth of black miasma that engulfed all five Magicians and the horse-like magic beast. The black miasma then transformed into red-blue aura. The four Magicians, besides Nick, heard an ear-piercing, beastly cry following the appearance of the red-blue aura that momentarily froze them in fear.
Nick willed, following which, the Magicians, and the horse-like magic beast all vanished the next moment along with the red-blue aura.
The mongoose-like, rank 4 magic beast snarled when it saw what happened, but turned away, and then began walking up the nearby mountain when it realized that it had lost track of its prey.
**************************************************
Nick, the other four magicians, and the horse-like magic beast suddenly appeared within a clearing that had nothing but rocky soil, and wilted shrubs on its surface. Nick floated confidently in front of the four Magicians, who still had their movement methods active, and indifferently said:
"Okay, I saved you all. Start talking about the misfire dragons."
Despite Nick's tone, Aria, and Jenine were so grateful that he saved them that tears began falling from their eyes. Yarvo did a fist pump towards the sky using his right hand. Only Bobby remained composed, and answered Nick's question. The expression on his face, however, betrayed his gratitude as he first made introductions.
"Hello. My name is Bobby Nefari. This is Yarvo, Jenine, and Aria. We all belong to the Nefari family. About the misfire dragons…you are likely only to find them near the top of the mountain ranges. The stronger ones would likely nest in the farthest interior of Samsar."
Nick wore a thoughtful expression for a few seconds, thinking:
(That makes sense. I haven't sensed any dragons at all since I have been moving underground because I was never able to get a view of the top of the mountain ranges using Spatial Awareness.)
Nick replied:
"I appreciate the information. I am leaving now."
As soon as Nick said that, Jenine attracted his attention by asking:
"Wait! What is your name? We Nefaris might not have the best reputation, but we are not ingrates. We will pay you back later for your assistance."
Nick was not really interested in such promises since he knew that people were more often quick to forget them than not, but he told them his name, anyway:
"...It's Nick Capitol."
All four grey-robed Magicians nodded their heads almost in unison before Yarvo said:
"We will contact you when you have returned to Grand Earth to arrange repayment."
Although they were trying to sound noble, Yarvo had is reasons for reassuring Nick that he would be properly repaid:
(If we did not reward such timely assistance, who would help us Nefaris out in the field later?)
Nick nodded his head to show that he understood before engulfing himself in black miasma. In quick succession, the black miasma turned to red-blue aura, following which, the aura, and Nick vanished.
Yarvo quickly said to the rest:
"Let's leave Wide Crag."
*****************************************************
After teleporting away from the Nefaris, Nick ended up at an area with many grey, palm-like trees. He didn't waste any time in using Dragon Hold's power to burrow into the ground, at which point, he started making his way towards the farthest interior of Samsar.
Nick traveled for four months, at the end of which, he reached deep within the Samsar region. Once he thought that he found a suitable mountain range, he burrowed into it from below to move towards the top.
On his way here, Nick saw all kinds of magic beasts using Spatial Awareness, which included rank 4, and weaker magic beasts, but no dragons. He also saw people, but did not interact with them at all. Weirdly, he thought, he did not see a single rank 4 Magician while he traveled. He concluded:
(Either rank 4 Magicians don't frequent Wide Crag much, or their methods allow them to hide from Spatial Awareness' power.)
The mountain range that Nick burrowed through had all kinds of hard magic minerals buried within it, metallic and otherwise, but not wanting to distract himself, Nick ignored the minerals, and focused on his mission.
Half way up the mountain range, near the center of the belt that extended for tens of kilometers, Nick discovered many rank 3 magic beasts of various species, but did not stop moving until he discovered one particular magic beast.
It was the size of a house, had glass-like, opaque scales, dark-blue eyes, massive fangs, two folded wings that were leathery underneath, and it lied on the top of a large stone platform. Nick was glad to see the magic beast, thinking:
(That is a rank 3 misfire dragon. I am getting closer to my aim.)
Thinking about whether he should attempt to kill it, Nick resisted the temptation:
(Impatience ruins great schemes. I have not even seen a rank 4 misfire dragon yet. If I start fighting with this rank 3 misfire dragon, and end up attracting more magic beasts, I will be courting my own disaster if a rank 4 magic beast shows up. I remember that my Dragon's Advantage talent also aggravates dragons. I should lay low until I find my target.)
Dragon's Advantage was generally a talent that belonged to dragons but Nick had obtained it somehow. Although it increases his agility and endurance in proportion to his battle experience, it aggravated dragons that he came in contact with. The qi path dragon that he had met in Forgotten Peril had basically proved the latter point. The only reason that he survived that encounter was because that qi path dragon was a rank 5 mutant, and so was not ruled by its instincts.
Nick moved away from the rank 3 misfire dragon, and burrowed his way closer to the top of the mountain range. He had to make a few detours when he encountered some hard rank 4 minerals that resisted his space magic, but one month later, Nick managed to get near to the top of the mountain range where he finally discovered a rank 4 misfire dragon sleeping at the edge of a sheer cliff.
The rank 4 misfire dragon looked similar to its rank 3 counterpart except that it was three times bigger, and radiated much more magic energy. Weaker magic beasts instinctually stayed far away from the cliff where the rank 4 misfire dragon rested.
Not wanting to act rashly, Nick resolved to observe the magic beast before he did anything. Nick stayed underground for two more months to learn about the misfire dragon's habits.
(It usually spends most of the day resting on that cliff, but on occasion it leaves for a few days to hunt, bringing back the incomplete carcass of another rank 4 magic beast that it devours slowly.)
Honestly, Nick was afraid of the rank 4 misfire dragon, but he still intended to carry out his crazy scheme:
(I have invested too much time to leave Wide Crag empty handed.)
Having become familiar with the dragon's habits, Nick thought of a plan. He used Dragon Hold's power to dig out a wide platform beneath the cliff where the dragon rested without disturbing the visible structure of the mountain range by leaving stone columns to support the earth above him.
Nick then began designing, and creating a large magic formation on the surface of the platform. Without getting any sleep, Nick completed the magic formation in one month. The magic formation was circular, had a radius of fifty meters, and consisted of over one million D-Soul symbols.
It was a rank 3, basic grade, purely soul path magic formation that Nick had named Melancholic Altar. Nick did not include laws of other paths in the magic formation because he was only a master of his other paths while being a scholar of soul path. If his attainment in his other paths was lacking, and that left a flaw in the magic formation that alerted the misfire dragon to his existence, he would have no one to blame, but himself.
(Watching the rank 4 misfire dragon for these few months has made me cautious. It is a powerful magic beast, and I cannot afford for it to notice me yet.)
Someone unrelated might ask, 'Why hasn't the misfire dragon noticed you already?', but Nick would easily answer with his own question:
(Do you notice the ants that make tunnels under your house?)
After inputting all the necessary rank 2, and rank 3 soul path, formation path, and other materials into the magic formation's circuitry, Nick spoke its trigger phrase to activate it:
"Begin."
Nick had drawn the magic formation using a red paint, but the formation began glowing dark-grey after Nick activated it. Nick sighed, and sat cross-legged at its center, monitoring the magic formation's operations. Nick sat in the same spot for another two months while the formation influenced the environment on the surface.
During this two month period, a subtle mist had developed over the cliff that did not at all appear unnatural. Even the rank 4 misfire dragon seemed to ignore it. As time progressed, the misfire dragon stopped leaving to hunt, and slept for most of the day. At the end of the two months, the misfire dragon slept all day, and barely moved. It did not even respond in times of bad weather, or when other rank 4 magic beasts passed overhead.
Although other rank 4 magic beasts passed near its territory, they did not dare to defy the authority of a dragon, and kept there distance despite the misfire dragon's strange inactivity. One day, Nick felt that the time was right, and engulfed himself in his black miasma magic energy before using Cursed Vessel's power to teleport to beside the sleeping misfire dragon in broad daylight .
The misfire dragon did not react to Nick's appearance, at which point, Nick internally rejoiced:
(It's completely depressed. My plan worked! The Melancholic Altar Formation works by inducing deep, clinical depression. I got the idea from a medical drama that I used to watch when I was a teenager. Patients in deep depression hardly react to anything, and sleep all day. With my attainment in soul path, it was only a matter of magic materials, and time to induce the same condition on a magic beast with even less mental fortitude than us humans.
The mist above us is the manifestation of Melancholic Altar's magic power, but in discrete form. The mist slowly influenced the misfire dragon's soul over two months as it breathed it in, which has now completely suppressed its mind, although it is unlikely that the misfire dragon would still remain docile if I actually injured it. Right now, I am like an ant standing next to a giant. It is too depressed to care about me.)
Nick never felt so happy to be a weakling in all his life. He looked closer at the dragon's glass like scales, and saw that a small portion of scales at the dragon's left hind-leg had developed a pale-white hue. Nick smiled, and approached the white blotch, placing his right hand on it.
(This white blotch is a stain caused by the thirty kilograms of hope marrow that I took from the Magicians Association. Hope marrow is a soul path material that conducts magic energy at an incredible rate. When used correctly, it can be used to siphon magic energy, even from living beings, by influencing the soul. I added the strangely named hope marrow to Melancholic Altar to use its mist to precipitate the hope marrow onto the dragon's scales without it noticing. Now it's time for the interesting part…)
Nick proceeded to concentrate his magic energy into his right hand, slowly using up the magic energy from his mindscape. The hope marrow reacted to his magic energy by drawing the misfire dragon's own magic energy into Nick, replacing Nick's depleting reserves. Nick let the hope marrow do its work and, quickly noticed as the foreign rank 4 magic energy started to invade his mindscape.
Nick internally laughed as this was happening, and continued with his actions until one day later, his mindscape was empty of his own magic energy, but was saturated with the misfire dragon's rank 4 magic energy that was brimming with characteristics bestowed by the space path.
Nick let go of the misfire dragon's scales while thinking:
(Normally, this would be a crazy thing to do since over time, the foreign magic energy would remain within, and corrupt my mindscape, eventually killing me, but that is only a slight problem for a scholar.)
Nick then processed some black miasma magic energy outside his body, and used it to engulf himself before he used Cursed Vessel's power to teleport back to his Melancholic Altar Formation. He then sat cross-legged over the formation again while a translucent mist suddenly emerged from it, and entered his nostrils.
The translucent mist was allowed to enter Nick's mindscape, where it interacted with the foreign magic energy, which was formless, and basically colorless. Soon, the foreign magic energy began to transform to become a pitch-black magic energy that resembled miasma. Nick internally rejoiced:
(I'm succeeding in converting the misfire dragon's magic energy into my own…)
Another day passed, and Nick's mindscape was fully saturated with 200,000 magical units of black miasma magic energy once again. Nick could sense that this magic energy was many folds higher in quality than the magic energy naturally produced by himself.
Nick did not waste anytime because this opportunity was hard fought for. He quickly deactivated Melancholic Altar, causing its grey glow to fade. He then began meditating on the spot, following which, his consciousness entered his mindscape. In response to Nick's appearance, the black dragon that inhabited his mindscape slightly opened its red-blue eyes, and commented:
(What you did was reckless. If doing so didn't put my own existence at risk, I would kill you for almost destroying my home. Now, do what you need to do.)
The dragon's gravely tone frightened Nick a bit, but he was not going to hesitate to accomplish his intention:
(I know it was risky, but I had to try. I have my own pressures, you know. Besides, without risk, how can there be worthy reward?)
The black dragon silently closed its eyes after Nick made his will known. Nick then used the black miasma all around to form symbols in Valteese that he then used to alter and add to the symbols at the depths of his mindscape that made up his foundation laws, Dragon's Rock.
Nick had been traveling, and planning for a year, and so he already knew how he would change his foundation laws to enhance their effects. He could not change them too much or he would hurt his own foundation, but Nick's high attainment, and the use of his Eyes of the Fated talent made the chance of that happening almost nil.
When Nick was finished making his improvements to Dragon's Rock, the thousands of Valteesian symbols glowed a brilliant, deep-blue color. Following that, all the black miasma within Nick's mindscape also adopted a deep-blue hue. The black dragon then slightly opened its eyes in response before opening its mouth to greedily suck in all the deep-blue magic energy.
Before Nick could react, however, his consciousness was ejected from his mindscape.
Nick opened his eyes, then jumped to his feet, and uncharacteristically laughed maniacally. After one minute of laughing, Nick loudly rejoiced, ignoring the fact that he was still in a dangerous environment:
"I am now rank 3 middle stage! Finally!"
Realizing that he was not passively recovering magic energy, Nick tried to process magic energy outside his body. Immediately, deep-blue miasma formed in his immediate surroundings, and wherever it flowed, space seemed to vibrate slightly.
Nick did not waste any time drawing all the deep-blue magic energy into his mindscape. After that, he realized that he had recovered 40,000 magical units in moments. When Nick tried to process more magic energy, he found that he could not do so until twenty-four seconds after his initial processing began.
(So theoretically, to fill my mindscape by processing magic energy outside my body takes two minutes now. That's forty seconds longer than before, but now, the magic energy is processed immediately instead of over eight seconds. That is a slight advantage, I suppose.)
Nick then sat down cross-legged again, and began meditating. His consciousness soon entered his mindscape where he observed the changes. The most notable changes were that the formerly black dragon had developed deep-blue-colored scales, and was now breathing out deep-blue miasma as it slept.
Nick also soon realize that his meditating recovered him 2,000 magical units per second instead the previous 1,000 magical units. Since those were the only observable changes, Nick induced his consciousness to make an exit. When he next opened his eyes, he observed his passive recovery, and noticed that it had also doubled to 400 magical units per second instead of the previous 200 magical units.
Relieved of his pent-up anxiety about his promotion, Nick decided that it was time to leave Wide Crag. He waited until he had passively recovered all his magic energy before defacing the platform using his Dragon Hold spell to erase the Melancholic Altar Formation. He then instantly exuded a few thousand magical units of deep-blue miasma magic energy outside his body, which he had engulf himself.
Activating Cursed Vessel's power, the deep-blue miasma partly gained a red hue before it vanished along with Nick.
********************************************************
Two days later, Nick walked through the doors of the Nefari outpost while sporting his usual indifferent expression. It had taken him significantly less time to return to the outpost because along with the increase in the quality of his magic energy after promotion to rank 3 middle stage, the range of Spatial Awareness' power increase to almost ten kilometers.
Nick used Curse Vessel continuously to get back to the outpost as soon as possible, saving months of travel rather than by simply flying here. He immediately approached a staff member wearing an all-black, three-piece suit. He quickly realized that it was the same dark-skinned man that he had spoken to a year earlier, but he dismissed that as irrelevant.
"I need to get back to Grand Earth as soon as possible."
The dark-skinned, rank 2 Magician recognized Nick as the suicidal man who he had met a year ago. Surprised that Nick was still alive, he said:
"I am glad that you are still with us, sir. To get back to Grand Earth, you just have to walk through the same door that you arrived here through. It is at the back over there."
The rank 2 Magician pointed to a brown, wooden door a few meters away from them. Nick thought that the man's initial words were strange, but he was too eager to get back to Grand Earth to care. Nick proceeded to the wooden door, opened it using its knob, and then walk through it, returning to Grand Earth.
*****************************************************
Nick walked through the side door within the Nefari Travel Company. Currently, he wore a silver silk polo shirt, a pair of dark-blue jeans pants, a pair of black leather gloves, and a pair of black leather work boots.
(Finally back. I think that I might be getting used to being in the wilderness. That's not too good.)
He was about to make his way for the glass double doors, but was intercepted by a scholarly-looking, rank 3 middle stage Magician that wore a light-red magician's robe, and sported a genial expression; he was the same man that guided Nick beyond the side door three months ago, Grand Earth's time.
The red-robed Magician stood a few feet away from Nick, and stared at him for a while before coming to a conclusion:
(Yarvo said that the Nick Capitol that saved them was a rank 3 initial stage Magician. This man is rank 3 middle stage like myself. Then again, I do recall him being rank 3 initial stage when he came into our office three months ago. Did he really get promoted within Wide Crag? If so, the ₤50,000,000 that he paid for entry was a pittance.)
This Magician knew how hard it was going from rank 3 initial stage to rank 3 middle stage:
(If I did not have guidance when I made the final attempt, I would have stalled at rank 3 initial stage for years. Did this man get promoted by himself? He seems young…)
Nick didn't like being blocked all of a sudden, especially since this Magician said nothing the whole time, so he broke the silence:
"Do you need something?"
After being reminded, the Magician introduced himself:
"My name is Cylus Nefari. You are the Nick Capitol that saved Yarvo, Aria, Bobby, and Jenine Nefari within Wide Crag, correct?"
Nick's expression became blank for a few moments until he suddenly remembered four Magicians that he saved to get information about misfire dragons. He soon replied:
"Yeah, sure. What does that have to do with you?"
Cylus answered:
"Well…their teacher happens to be an Elder within our family, and he has instructed that you be repaid for the help. Could you tell me of something that you want as compensation?"
Nick was surprised that the issue of his compensation was being pressed like this:
(I guess wealthy legacy families do things differently…)
After thinking for a while, Nick decided that he needed some income since he had been traveling, and cultivating for so long without earning any money. He still had to repay the Magicians Association's loan, and he was running out of money. In other words, he was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and sneer at it.
"I wouldn't mind 30 vatas for my troubles."
Cylus thought for a while before replying:
"I think that we should make it 50 vatas instead. It was quite the trouble. Escaping from a rank 4 magic beast bent on killing you is no joke."
Nick internally commented after hearing the revised figure:
(The Nefaris seem to want to curry favor. Well…I guess it's natural that you are paid well when you deliver enough value.)
Nick responded:
"I will accept the money. When can I have it?"
Cylus answered:
"Hold on. Merely 50 vatas is not enough of a reward. The Elder was adamant that you were to be repaid for saving the lives of our four rank 3 Magicians, and not any less."
Nick realized that the Nefaris seemed to put a high value on their own people. Since that was the case, he was not going to be polite:
"I also want free access to the Greet Tree realm, and I want to have a battle with one of your family's strongest rank 3 middle stage Magicians. Can you give me those things?"
Cylus silently contemplated in response to Nick's demands:
(The Greet Tree realm is a valuable realm that is only accessible through certain legacy families around the world. Ordinary Magicians that are not family cannot just gain access to it. It is also filled with magic beasts up to rank 5. Hmmm…that demand will likely be approved since there is no real cost to doing so. As for battling one of our strongest rank 3 middle stage Magicians…)
Cylus developed a regretful expression as he said:
"I can promise access to Greet Tree, but I will have to seek permission to have a battle arranged. Do you mind waiting in the hall while I go make a call?"
Nick replied using a more friendly tone:
"I don't mind at all. Cheerio, then."
Cylus immediately walked away from Nick, and took the hall's only elevator to the upper floors where he would make the call. Nick proceeded to sit in one of the sofas while he waited on Cylus. He mused:
(I asked for access to Greet Tree because it has valuable resources that I can extract. It is also a cultivation center for rich people that I only found out about when I did research on the Nefaris. As for the battle, I need a whetstone to test my strength. An ordinary Magician will not do…)
*****************************************************
"What is it, Cylus?"
A seemingly middle-aged man held a smartphone to his left ear with his left hand, and spoke into it. The man had a pale-white complexion, a head full of short, grey hair complemented by two full sideburns, and a full beard. He wore a purple-colored magician's robe that had gold decorations pinned to various places.
The middle-aged man sat in his office where four of his students sat on an antique sofa in front of his wooden, antique desk. The room was well-carpeted using a bronze, and black carpet, its walls, and ceiling were made out of bronze-colored stone, and there were small statues and paintings attached to, or positioned near to the four walls.
Cylus replied politely:
"Elder Uranus, Nick Capitol has demanded 50 vatas, free access to Greet Tree, and a battle with one of our strongest rank 3 middle stage family members. I can arrange the former two rewards, but the latter demand will require your divine might."
Uranus criticized after he heard Cylus' words:
"Stop kissing my ass, Cylus. It is not fit for a promising Magician to do so. You say that he wants a battle. Hmmm…I can have Parvone fight him since he has left closed door cultivation, but is the man strong enough to amount to a worthy opponent?"
Cylus awkwardly replied at this time:
"...I do not know, Elder Uranus. I am not familiar with him, but he has been promoted to rank 3 middle stage during his time within Wide Crag."
Bobby Nefari, who had been listening to the call along with Yarvo, Jenine, and Aria, stood up at this time while declaring:
"Nick Capitol is very strong. When he saved us, his magic power caused all four us to be momentarily frozen in place. He is not ordinary."
Hearing one of his best students praise the man so passionately, Uranus Nefari granted the request:
"Nick Capitol will have his battle. Bring him to my magic tower, and we will have the matter concluded."