Abe the Wizard

Wizard Clemens of the Wizard Union Intelligence Branch hadn’t been feeling well lately. The Nation of God just launched another assault, and although they didn’t win this time, they did give a pretty hard slap in their faces. There was nothing the Wizard Union discovered in this particular operation. All the intelligence agents from the Nation of God held were ordinary people, and that was not what the Wizard Union was experienced in dealing with for any time. Now that there was a demand to reach out to a new group, they had to spend even more time and effort in making new developments.

This was not something that could be accomplished in the short run, of course. The original intelligence network took several centuries for the infrastructure work to grow to its current size. After learning that Iron Furnace Castle was attacked, Wizard Clemens was the first to order everyone to stay at the site for tracks. They went after everyone they could, but as for the inside information, the dwarves never gave him any permission to do anything in their sacred ground. That wasn’t the most annoying part for him. From what he read recently, out of the seven main law-defying wizards, he was the only one that didn’t visit Master Bennett’s residence.

He had no idea what the six law-defying wizards got from Master Bennett, obviously. He imagined that it had something to do with the totem pole investigation, but what captivated him more was its timing. The others had to go right after when the meeting he proposed ended. The reason was pretty obvious, too. Nobody wanted to offend Master Bennett and the legendary wizard, the Moon Goddess, and everyone else he had connections to. Master Bennett had been inactive many times, but what he created on the central continent was an invisible network of people.

This was the part that Wizard Clemens had to curse his colleagues for. They sold him out by leaving him out of a golden opportunity. The main cause happened to be one Wizard Hume. Wizard Hume happened to be good with Abel, so he was the first one who made it to his place in the name of purchasing sky ships. The others weren’t stupid, so they didn’t back away to use other sorts of excuses to visit Master Bennett.

“So I guess I need my own reasons for making Master Bennett a friend,” Wizard Clemens murmured to himself.

…

Druid Joseph was not feeling good these past few days as well. The main reason was that Master Bennett had gone to shutdown training again. He was left with all the administering work. It was not the workload he felt uneasy about since he got the most capable teams of representatives on the continent. The part he was concerned with, well, for that cause, was how influential each of these people was. He had to be extremely careful as not to offend any of them. He didn’t want to cause any trouble to his master.

Frankly, everyone came to negotiate about the sky ships. Right now, the sky ships had become the most popular war machines throughout the entire central continent. Everyone heard that Master Bennett was the only one who could manufacture the main material, so they all rushed to be the first one to receive a permit to a deal. It wasn’t like the dwarves wanted to push all the trouble to Master Bennett, but the stocks they had were just not enough for distribution.

As for the Wizard Union, it wasn’t all that hard to take care of the orders they placed. They could supply the ingredients themselves instead of seeking elsewhere, unlike the other groups that were just offering payment and none of the needed raw materials—the rare metals, especially. The dwarves didn’t even have enough for themselves, and nobody was going to spend the time and effort looking for a bunch to supply for themselves. Master Bennett was the only exception in that regard. He had the materials and the craftsmanship required to make use of them. In that sense, he was the only one who could decide what to do with the ingredients.

Druid Joseph sent another representative away, “I’ll send word once Master Bennett is out. Rest assured.”

He then took a long breath as he watched the meeting room with just himself in it. It’s only been a few days since he left the dwarves, but he was meeting more important figures during these times than ever.

Abel suddenly appeared with Frankenstein, “Good work you’ve been going, Joseph.”

Druid Joseph made a bow, “Nothing to be bothered with, Master Bennett.”

Abel waved his hands, “I’ve stored one hundred portions in the warehouse. Tell the dwarves we need fifty in total. Make sure to fairly distribute the rest to the other clients.”

The ingredients were trophies left inside the portal bag. Unlike what the Wizard Union did with the Defence Wall, they decided to preserve much of it in the same fashion as the Nation of God did. This made calculating the sum a little more difficult for Abel, but that was all well and good. With what he had at hand, he could make a total of a thousand sky ships if he wasn’t crafting anything else. Of course, he wouldn’t want to scare the dwarves too much, so he was probably just taking a little more than a hundred worth.

On the central continent, the Nation of God had been doing everything it could to increase the casualties on their side. It was working until the sky ships were introduced. Again, this made marketing sky ships a booming business for Abel.

Druid Joseph was keen to ask, “What prices should the ingredients be sold now, then?’

Abel contemplated for a bit, “Discuss it with the dwarves. Actually, make sure the payment is not in the form of magic gemstones and potions. Tell everyone to give what is most well known in their respective regions.”

It was a wise call. Master Bennett had no use for magic gemstones. There were no real ways of counting the total number, but there were just too many circles in this area for him to not think that the amount was close to infinite. There was a large-sized defensive circle, a large-sized teleportation circle, and a research spirit. The daily energy expenditure had been absolutely massive. If they didn’t have a bunch of gemstones in their hands, there was literally nothing that could keep them still living inside this residence.

Out of all the deals Master Bennett did, he never asked for any stones. It was the same for his potions. No one was going to offer a potion to the best potion’s master anyways. There was a limited number of stones available, but the middle-tier ones were piled up like mountains. Abel needed the “lightstone” the most at this stage, but it wasn’t like everybody had extra storage. The way he saw it, he might as well move on and look for special resources.

After leaving it all to Druid Joseph, Abel went straight back to Iron Furnace Fort. He was spending most of his time here because of how well-hidden and safe it was. Druid Joseph contacted the dwarves quickly. They seemed to respond very quickly, and Wizard Hutton took no time to arrive at his residence.

Wizard Hutton didn’t seem to take Druid Joseph kindly, “I’ve heard there are enough portions for a hundred vessels, is that correct?”

It wasn’t like Wizard Hutton didn’t believe Druid Joseph, but the dwarves only had enough for seventy after saving for a ridiculous one thousand years. This was not something he could process with what he was familiar with. Yes, he knew there was a lot to be explored on the front line, but the Wizard Union made things too strict for any excavation work to occur. It seemed out of place to think that Master Bennett went to the frontline for this, too. Tons of people died each year trying to sneak their way into the mining area. They usually find themselves stuck between the terrible conflicts between the central continent fighters and the sacred knights.

Druid Joseph made an inviting gesture, “Come with me, Sir Wizard Hutton.”

Wizard Hutton displayed his courtesy as well, “After you, then.”

The two then walked towards where the warehouse was. At the entrance, Druid Joseph used his sign card to verify his identity. The door quickly opened on its own as Wizard Hutton walked in. He immediately saw one hundred portal bags lying neatly on the ground. It was almost like they weren’t being sorted all that carefully.

Druid Joseph reached for a portal bag, “Check if the amount of ingredients is enough, please.”

When Wizard Hutton took the bag over, he could see that the volume was twenty cubic meters. Many different rare materials were inside, and the one that attracted his attention the most was a complete forgery piece. He never expected that Master Bennett would complete it so early. If he was to head back right now, he would just have enough for his blacksmiths to start working a whole sky ship.

The second bag he took over had the same materials and a finished main part.

Wizard Hutton didn’t know what else to say, “I can’t believe Master Bennett managed to get this all done by now.”

Wizard Hutton expected this in a few months, but Master Bennet’s schedule was ahead of everyone else. In truth, Abel spent several nights in the dark world to have enough for a hundred portions.

Druid Joseph could see how busy Abel was, “I don’t know the specifics, Wizard Hutton. As far as I know, Master Bennett was shut down recently. He’s been more occupied with himself than other goals.”

Joseph suddenly spoke, “Oh and Master Bennett made it clear that you have to return the portal bags on time.”

The portal bag was a war trophy Abel had been collecting. It was for his family, but some of it actually came directly from the elven palace. These elves didn’t have a choice since they already owed too many resources and favors to Abel. As distraught as it was for some of them, it was reached to the end that they had to have enough for one hundred worth of portions. By the way, he was starting to add the portal bag itself to the consideration, but he gave up as soon as he heard that special reminder from Abel. He actually couldn’t take the bag away that quickly.

Wizard Hutton touched the portal bag and smiled, “Of course. I’ll take the ingredients back, and I’ll go back here to return the portal bags.”