Abe the Wizard

So Wizard Julian and Wizard Carnegie were using their “instantaneous movement’ to rush outside of the castle. They saw a white light before they reached the city, and a very powerful pressure came all over them.

“A rank eighteen advanced wizard!” both of them screamed in their minds. They stopped moving out of fear. That turned out to be a mistake because the next thing they knew, the city defensive circle managed to lock onto them and trap them where they were.

Rank seventeen wizards were supposed to be the main fighting force of the central continent wizards. They took up most part of the fight wizards. Rank eighteen wizards, on the other hand, took up a very small portion. They were usually the small elites of the Wizard Organisation. There were a lot of differences despite being just one level apart. By the way, rank sixteens were backup forces. They were considered inferior to rank eighteen wizards, which were the true forces that ruled the entire wizard organization.

And it was precise because of this that Wizard Julian and Wizard Carnegie were so afraid when they sensed the presence of a rank eighteen wizard. This was especially true when they could see a soul light flashing outside of the city. One advanced wizard just died when they felt a rank eighteen wizard coming in their way. It would make sense that they would be jumping on their feet.

Unbeknownst to them, the advanced wizard that just came was Wizard Godwin. Wizard Godwin didn’t really have the time to calm the two wizards down. As far as he was concerned, he just wanted to go to the teleportation circle and get out as fast as he could. He didn’t want to head back to Annual City at first, but after realizing that Abel wasn’t going to make a chase after him, he made the snappy decision to make a retreat to recover from having lost an arm.

Without caring for the city’s defensive large circle, Wizard Godwin quickly teleported himself to Annual City. He disappeared from the sight of the two wizards before they could ask him what was going on. That just made them even more scared of what was about to come. All they saw was a rank eighteen wizard running for his life with a missing arm. The sight made them become more afraid of what Abel was potentially capable of.

The two wizards couldn’t help but look at each other in the eye. They were starting to feel really lucky not to have started a fight with Abel back at the city lord estate. The consequences would’ve been drastically different if they decided to push further back then. They didn’t want to lose their arms, that was for sure. Being amputated would be considered inconvenient for most people, but for wizards, it was equivalent to losing their entire lifetime’s achievement. Most spells had to be drawn on runes, and runes were mostly drawn with hands.

There were a few options for Wizard Godwin now that he’s left with just one arm. He could choose to become an alchemist or spell master instead, but neither option was easy because he had lost his dominant arm. Of course, he could try to, say, ask the dwarves to help him create a mechanical arm. He could also ask the priests to connect other peoples’ arms to his. Whichever he chose, he had to face the sad reality that he must train for another few decades to really get back to fight mode. No, it was probably impossible for him to get back to his former peak because no replacement would be as good as his original arm.

Watching the rank eighteen wizard disappear, Wizard Julian and Wizard Carnegie sighed in relief. It was already unlucky enough for them to be trapped by the defensive circle while they were outside the city, and now that there was a rank eighteen wizard coming in their way, they were really starting to get confused and scared of what might be happening soon.

The two advanced wizards tried to boost their morale by activating their power of Will. Then, they used their power of the Will to push away some of the defensive circle’s influence. Once they had enough space to perform the “instantaneous movement” again, they teleported themselves to another location. It felt a lot more comfortable for them after they struggled for ten-something seconds to get out.

Wizard Julian tried to stay calm, “You think Abel did it? He was the one that killed the rank eighteen wizard?”

He knew that Wizard Carnegie wouldn’t know either, obviously, but he just had to ask.

Wizard Carnegie shook his head, “No, probably not. I mean, just look at the way that rank eighteen wizard was running. It looked like someone’s trying to come after him.”

Wizard Julian stared towards the soul fire, “Should we have a look?”

Wizard Carnegie replied, “Yeah, for sure.”

Both of them were afraid, but they tried to give each the push needed to investigate. The soul fire’s appearance was solid proof that an advanced wizard just died. Two questions remained to be answered. One was if they could retrieve anything from the dead body, and two was if they could see if it was Abel that was struck down.

Soon, the two advanced wizards came to where the soul fire was. They could recognize that it was Wizard Masin that just died. They didn’t know him that well, but the wizard crest in front of them made it clear who this corpse once was.

Wizard Julian said in disappointment as he flipped through the body, “It was not Wizard Abel. This belonged to a rank seventeen advanced wizard. Who do you think did it?”

Wizard Carnegie pointed towards the robe, “Haven’t you noticed? This advanced wizard was just like the one that ran away. They’re probably from the same organization.”

“Wait, really?” Wizard Julian spoke out in shock as he thought back about what Wizard Godwin was wearing.

The thought was just terrifying. One rank eighteen and one rank seventeen. One ended injured, and another ended up dead. This was not normal at all.

Wizard Carnegie spoke calmly, “Let’s see if Wizard Abel was still there. I got a feeling that it was Abel.”

“We’ll return to see if Wizard Abel was there,” Wizard Carnegie spoke calmly, “If anyone’s suspicious, it’s got to be him.”

His instinct reminded him of the time when Abel was casting advanced lightning spells. He needed to make sure that it was Abel that did all of this. If it was, he had to report to the Valley of the Raging Flame so that it didn’t make the wrong decision.

Wizard Julian shook his head, “No, I don’t think it was him. I reckon Wizard Abel’s still at the city lord’s estate.”

Instead of saying more, WIzard Carnegie went sent and teleported straight towards the city gate. Wizard Julian looked around to see if anyone was nearby. He couldn’t help but feel something crawling on his back. The man that killed a rank seventeen wizard and amputated a rank eighteen could very well be still here.

Having thought about this, he used his “instantaneous movement” and teleported himself towards the city gate. He arrived at the city gate. When the two arrived, they stopped using their instantaneous movement and called the taurens to get them two horses. They rode into the city to consult with the city lord.

As they arrived, the city butler came out to greet them.

Wizard Julian rushed to ask, “Greetings. Is Wizard Abel here?”

The butler replied anxiously, “Master just went out with sir Wizard Abel, sir.”

Right now, a lot of people just saw the soul light that was ignited into the sky. The butler was already pretty uncomfortable when the two advanced wizards came to him to ask questions.

Wizard Carnegie asked, “So how long were they gone?”

“Half an hour ago,” the butler thought and replied.

Wizard Carnegie was certain now. The dead rank seventeen wizard must’ve had something to do with Abel. The timing matched. There was still something that he didn’t quite catch, though. It wasn’t hard to imagine how Abel managed to kill the rank seventeen, but he just couldn’t think of a way that the rank eighteen wizard would’ve had his arm cut off. What he didn’t know was that, while Wizard Godwin was trying to lure Abel into his trap of the dragon-trapping spell circle, there really wasn’t a chance for him to put up a defensive circle for himself. This wasn’t really the case because he didn’t think that Abel would have the chance to get out when he’s just a rank sixteen wizard. No, he didn’t anticipate the rain of ballista arrows that’d be coming towards him.

It was the same for dead Wizard Masin, actually. Since he had to cover himself up, he didn’t really have the chance to cast a defensive spell on himself. Of course, that was only because he was confident of putting on the cover in time.

…

Abel lost interest in returning to Annual City after Viscount Ebenezer’s death. He summoned White Cloud, and after checking the map he just purchased, he flew straight to Silan City, which was the city that was the closest to him. Not long after, Viscount Ebenzer’s carriage was found, and at the same time, Viscount Ebenezer’s corpse was also found. The Stan Empire should’ve made a thorough investigation through this, but at the same time, they’ve also heard news that a rank seventeen wizard just died not so far away. They dropped their investigation as they thought about how deadly the culprit was. Viscount Ebenezer was technically royalty, but their status wasn’t really relevant if it was involved in a fight between advanced wizards.

When the Land of Ice Frost and the Valley of Raging Flame received reports from Wizard Julian and Wizard Carnegie, they went along with investigation through the intel system and made certain of how things progressed. Knowing what happened made them decide to elevate Abel. He went from a subcontinent recruit to an actual fighting wizard that was known for his fierce competitiveness.

For insight, the term combat wizard was what the central continent used to refer to wizards specialized in killing evil knights. The evil knights were known for their power, and since they were so strong against ordinary wizards, there had to be a special category of wizards in order to make a real resistance. Normally speaking, advanced wizards that were rank seventeen or above were just regular fighting wizards. Abel had a kill count and an injury count. It was only normal that he was placed into the fighting wizard group so quickly by the two Wizard Organisation groups.

Later, different organizations that wanted to recruit Abel appeared at Annual City as well, but since Abel was already gone, they left in disappointment. That was when they saw a route that appeared to be very short when it was labeled on the map. It took White Cloud about two hours to get there with its teleportation ability. It was actually a lot longer than it appeared to be. Once they reached Silan City, it was already dark.

Abel didn’t know if the Ice Wind clan continued to chase after them. After putting on a hooded coat from his Valaya’s ring, he wore it on himself and had the hoodie cover over his head. He had the rune staff of “leaf” in his hands, and once they were out somewhere in a hidden part somewhere outside the city gate, and he put White Cloud back into his portal beast ring and walked slowly towards the city gate.

The city guards of Silan City also happened to be orcs. They were bearmen, which were the strongest of the orcs. They were three meters tall and two meters wide, and they were frighteningly strong.

There was a group of ten bearmen standing outside the gate. They had heavy weapons like giant long axes as they stared towards any humans or orcs that were coming in and out of the gate. Yes, Abel was walking to the front of the gate. He had already figured out the differences between this city and Annual City, which was the previous city. There were various living beings that were here, for instance. Also, the large gates here explained just how much larger this city was compared to Annual City.

As dark as the day was getting, there were still plenty of people that were going in and out of the city gate. He realized that it was free to go in and out of the gate at his will, so there really wasn’t a problem of city blockage. Yes, there was still a special passageway for the high-classed people. It was the route that he decided to go in himself. Unlike him, almost all the people that chose this route rode on mounts or carriages. It took the guarding Bearman just one look at him and his magic staff. Nothing was said, though, so he proceeded without making a stop. It was quite common, actually. If the wizard didn’t try to start anything, most bearmen wouldn’t want to waste their time bothering someone trying to hide their identity.

Abel called for a carriage at the city gate to do business.

Abel said to a carriage coachman, “Hi there, mister! I happen to need to trade some gold coins with magic gemstones. Do you know where I can get them?”

Right now, he only had gemstone and no gold coins that belonged to the central continent. He definitely needed to trade some local currency if he wanted to get by.

The coachman replied, “Sir, most shops are already closed. The only place you can go is the pawn shop. They’ll take anything there.”

“Sure, then. Can you bring me to the pawn shop?”

On the way to the pawn shop, Able could see that the shops closed. The only things that remained bright were the street lights. The coachman followed the road for about ten minutes. After that, they came to the front of a building.

“We’ve arrived, sir,” the coachman spoke outside of the carriage.

Abel jumped down and said to the coachman, “Wait for me here, alright?”

Without saying anything, the coachman bowed humbly and returned to the reins. Abel pushed the pawn shop’s door open, and after ringing a bell, he called for the front staff. This seemed like quite a big pawn shop. Lighting circles were used to brighten things up, but those were usually used inside magic gemstones because of how expensive they were. It showed how rich this shop was. The level of luxuriousness displayed inside helped him gain some confidence in the quality of its products. Perhaps that was exactly what the pawn shop wanted its customers to think.

“The Moses Pawn Shop welcomes you, sir Wizard. Is there anything we can help you with?”

It was a middle-aged man in a Chinese robe that came to greet Abel. He was very polite in his demeanor but didn’t seem like a nobleman at all. He was probably not born as a nobleman, so it seemed. A lot of his actions seemed like he was mimicking a real one, but the movements of his fingers kind of revealed his true self.

Abel took out one intermediate gemstone and passed it over, “I need this for some gold coins.”

They could all see that he was holding an intermediate gemstone. The middle-aged man appeared somewhat disappointed to see this, but he still took the intermediate gemstone and looked at it under the lamp. He was the store owner, and after seeing the magic staff, he thought that it was a chance to get a good deal from a wizard. All he got was an intermediate gemstone, though. Intermediate gemstones were not a bad item, but to the Moses Pawn Shop, one intermediate gemstone was not something that they would be too enthusiastic about.

The middle-aged man looked at Abel and said, “This is one intermediate gemstone, sir Wizard. According to the standard trading price, it’s one intermediate gemstone for ten thousand gold coins.”

Abel knew the market quite well. Usually, it’d be ten thousand gold coins for one intermediate gemstone, but no one would actually do something like trading an intermediate gemstone with gold coins. This was a special case, though. The only thing that he lacked was gold coins, so he went along and nodded his head.

The middle-aged man put the intermediate gemstone away and asked, “So you want gold coins, or do I transfer through your magic card?”

Abel didn’t know what a magic card was, but he could guess that it was like a magical gold card.

“Give me gold coins,” he replied. He came here for cash. Besides, he didn’t even have a magic card yet.

“Wait for a bit then, sir Wizard,” the middle-aged man said, returning to the inside. He quickly came out with two servants with him. The servants carried a box and placed it in front of him. Abel scanned with his power of the Will, and after confirming that there were ten thousand gold coins inside, he went and placed them inside his portal bag.

Abel then went on to ask, “Does the Moses Pawn Shop offer any alchemy materials?”

“The name is Kinglake, sir,” the shopowner smiled, “I’m the owner of the Moses Pawn Shop Silan City branch. As the largest pawn shop business in all of the Stan Empire, the Moses Pawn Shop is dedicated to selling in every major city of the empire. If we don’t have the things that you need, we can go and have the other branches send out goods to us. It’d only take a day or two to get whatever that you need.”

The smile on Kinglake’s face grew thicker by the minutes. Every alchemy material was supposed to cost a lot.

“I need these materials,” Abel said, meanwhile writing out a bunch of names of materials on a parchment paper. A lot of these were replacement items. They were all used for recipes like the “soul-nourishing potion” and the “gecko wall potion.” There were two versions for each of them. One was the original. The other was the improved version. As hard as it was for Abel to find materials that could increase his strength as an alchemist, even if he had the help of the elves on the Holy Continent, he still needed a lot more ways of getting the ingredients for the improved recipes. Actually, it was the same for the ingredients of the same recipe.

Just then, after seeing that the store was lighting circles for lights, he became confident of the type of service that the Moses Pawn Shop was capable of providing. This was when he wrote out a list of a bunch of ingredients.

“Have Master Alchemist Jose come here, please,” Kinglake took the parchment paper over. He had a very confused look on his face. There were a lot of names for ingredients that he had never heard of before, so he shouted in a panic to a servant beside him.

“Come to the VIP room, Master Wizard,” he said, then turned to bow to Abel in a somewhat awkward nobleman’s gesture. Abel didn’t pick out the mistakes and instead followed him to the guest room. The servants quickly came to serve coffee, but he decided not to have any of it. He was becoming more aware of his diet ever since his level became higher. He didn’t like the idea of consuming food that was going to affect his psyche.

Soon, an old man with a flask white bear came in. He seemed quite relaxed. Prideful, even. Abel could clearly see the alchemist’s chest on his chest. It was a crest that belonged to intermediate alchemists.

“What are you calling me for, Kinglake? I’ve still got potions to brew.”

So this was Alchemist Jose. He’s started complaining the moment he opened his mouth. He probably didn’t like the idea of Kinglake interrupting his job.

Kinglake didn’t seem to mind, though, “Alchemist Jose! Can you check to see if we have the ingredients on this list?”

As reluctant as he was, Alchemist Jose took the parchment paper over. He looked towards Abel and realized that a hoodie was over his face. That’s when he saw the parchment paper that was in his hand. His expression quickly went from reluctance to shock, then to an extreme look of terror.

Alchemist Jose spoke very humbly, “Um, sir Wizard, are you an alchemist, by any chance?”

Abel replied, “Is there anything wrong with the ingredients I asked for, Alchemist Jose?”

It wasn’t a direct reply, but Alchemist Jose understood immediately.

Alchemist Jose continued to ask, “So are you an advanced alchemist, sir Wizard?”

“I didn’t know that it was mandatory to do an identity check here,” Abel replied in a displeased manner.

Kinglake bowed while dragging Alchemist Jose to the side, “Many apologies, sir Wizard. Here, I’ll have a conversation with Alchemist Jose first.”

Kinglake whispered, “What’s wrong with you, Alchemist Jose! Asking that in the Moses Pawn Shop is against the rule!”

Alchemist Jose was quite emotional, “Didn’t you know, Kinglake? Most ingredients here must be processed by advanced wizards. We can’t have regular alchemists sorting through most of them. Do you need to know what that means?”

“What does it mean?” Kinglake asked. He’s good at doing business, but it wasn’t his job to understand what it was that alchemists did.

“It means,” Alchemist Jose said in a softer voice, “If sir Wizard here is using the ingredients for himself, then he must be at least an advanced alchemist or higher.”

Kinglake dropped his jaw. He was not an expert in this sort of thing, but he knew what advanced alchemists could do, especially if they were at a higher level.

“Do we have the stuff then, Alchemist Jose?” Kinglake replied emotionally. Come to think of it, it would be important if he could be good friends with an advanced alchemist. Only alchemists could differentiate the materials that were needed for alchemy, so it was a lot easier to have someone else sort through the warehouses if he was to do business in selling alchemy materials.

Alchemist Jose replied, “No need to look. We don’t have the stuff in Silan City. We can only get the goods if we go to the headquarter. The problem is that these ingredients are pricey and rare.”

Kinglake turned back to Abel and bowed, “sir Wizard, please wait a day or two. I need some time to verify the materials that you request. By the way, are you confident that you have the amount needed to buy them?”

Of course, Abel knew how expensive things were here. Most of the stuff came from very rare climates.

“I’ll stay in Silan City for two days. Don’t worry about the pay.”

As he said that, he waved above the table with his hand. Several thousand magic gemstones quickly appeared and quickly disappeared.

Kinglake spoke after pausing for a bit, “Uh, well, rest assured, sir Wizard. Actually, you can come here tomorrow afternoon. I’ll give you precise news by then.”

Abel was brought out of the Moses Pawn Shop immediately after that. Instead of rushing back to his alchemy work, Alchemist Jose came to send Abel.

“Are you really an advanced alchemist, sir Wizard?” Alchemist Jose ran to the carriage and asked.

After thinking for a bit, Abel decided to switch on his transformation necklace and unleash his alchemy rune’s essence.

“Get me a good inn, coachman,” Abel said to the coachman.

Alchemist Jose watched as the carriage left him. He did guess that Abel was an advanced alchemist, but to really feel the presence of an advanced alchemy rune still had him quite shocked. The alchemist was a rare kind among the humans. It was like this no matter which continent it was. In the Stan Empire, alchemists were so rare that they served only the royalty. Abel didn’t know about this, of course. He only revealed his true colors because he trusted that the Moses Pawn Shop would help him get his alchemy ingredients.

Actually, there weren’t that many alchemists either back on the Holy Continent. It was most of the elves that produced the most alchemists, and they barely made any contact with human alchemists. It was probably because of this that he never really felt how few alchemists there actually were.

After coming to an inn that he quite actually liked, Abel went inside his room immediately. He didn’t notice how much effect there was for revealing his alchemist presence.

Alchemist Jose turned back and said, “That was an advanced alchemist there, Kinglake.”

“Are you sure about that?” Kinglake asked.

Alchemist Jose nodded like a maniac, ‘Yes, yes yes! Of course, I am! He just revealed an advanced alchemy rune! You can have anything fake, but that, you cannot fake that! I didn’t think I was going to see an advanced alchemist right here.”

“I’m going to report this to the headquarter. Let’s do it now,” Kinglake said emotionally. Unlike Alchemist Jose’s very enthusiastic attitude, he just knew rationally what an advanced alchemist’s title meant. If he could somehow trap this advanced alchemist to the Moses Pawn Shop, then he was going to get a lot of goods out of that.