NOVEL NEXT Inside the pub was a single cultivator surrounded by five people with daggers, wearing black thief attire. The man in the center had several cuts in his clothes, bleeding from various shallow wounds. He had long, black hair and sharp eyebrows. His sleeveless robes revealed the arms, thick like trunks. No wonder he was able to punch someone straight through a door.
Another was still held up by the throat. Despite being surrounded, he was not at a disadvantage.
When the five surrounding him, charged at him using assassin skills, they made a painful acquaintance with his feet. But they were not kicked.
The man jumped in the air, balled his toes into fists, and unleashed a shower of strikes at the quick and partially transparent foes. Facing the absurd scene, the group from Minas Mar could only watch incredulously.
At least one thing was clear, the thieves they were looking for were not innocent, so their conversation with them became obsolete.
“What do we do? Help them?” Bulko asked baffled. Were they supposed to save the villains they were about to beat up? Seth looked around, but it didn't seem like there were any civilians in the bar, most people present were cheering for the fight.
“Nah, neither of the parties pay taxes and they aren't endangering anyone. Let them tire each other out,” the bard said and simply shrugged his shoulders. The foot fister seemed to be in control of the situation, so they waited until all the thieved were knocked out on the ground. Mister Fister was also sensible enough not to kill them.
After the thieves were beaten black and blue, the man turned towards them. He joined his hand in front of his chest and greeted them with a light bow.
“You must be the benefactors from Minas Mar. My name is Hannibal Cho. I'm sorry for the commotion. These people tried to take my already lacking purse, so I was forced to defend myself.”
He even apologized. It was clear that this man was of a different caliber than the usual hooligans that made trouble in the city. At this point it might be worth mentioning, that there were probably more people like him, who were at least civil on the surface, than genuine troublemakers who unapologetically committed crimes.
It was just that the ones who started fights in public were more often the cultivators than not, it didn’t mean all of them were annoying hooligans. Hannibal Cho’s apology even seemed genuine. Very unusual.
“Do not worry, we are not here for you,” Ray said and stepped toward the thieves on the ground. As the Saint of Sol’Fiam, he was able to sense evil and lies with great accuracy. This was why he knew that Hannibal was not lying. To go even further, at no point had he gone for the kill, while the thieves had constantly tried to silence him forever.
“Are you the “five” thieves? Funny how there are seven in your group. Is that how you got rid of witnesses?” Mina asked, bending over the moaning assailants.
“We will take care of them if you don’t mind,” Bulko approached the cultivator and picked up the bruised brigands.
“Please do,” Hannibal answered with another bow.
Bulko piled them up, after which Ray’s miasma rose from the ground, grabbing and binding them. The seven of them would be photographed and put on the blacklist. Once they were thrown out, they wouldn’t be able to enter the barrier of the Pythian Village again.
“Do you intend to join the Pythian Games’s tournament?” Seth asked Hannibal curiously. The cultivator nodded with a benign smile. “What weapon would you ask for if you won? Gauntlets? Or Boots?” the blacksmith couldn’t help but ask.
Although it was a little unorthodox to call boots a weapon, depending on the design they could very well be. For example, Seth’s previous Disruptor Boots which could create a shock wave when kicking someone, were definitely a weapon.
“To be honest, I have not thought of it yet. There are many strong people and I dare only dream of winning. I’m joining tournaments to spread the name of our School, as the disciple of the Fist Emperor. I might not become first, but any youth with a talent for the Fist I can set on the right way, is a win for me,” he said righteously. The weird thing was, that his passion seemed real.
“Okay, you should give it a thought anyway. Goodbye.”
While Seth had been talking, the others had already finished cleaning up, so he hurried after them. Apart from the wondrous sight of a man, beating people with his curled-up feet, the day was peaceful. The group just walked around town, ate interesting street foods, and gawked at the ever-changing wares of traders on the streets.
--- The Next Day—
After spending the morning with Mina and Fin, Seth finally set off for Tree Station 7, Spring City, where Mike and the completion of his quest were waiting for him. On the way out he swung by the temporary workshop, to get Sivri and their stuff.
“Good Morning, Sivri!” he called out to her when entering. The golden dwarf was still bent over the jeweler’s table when he called out. She slowly raised her head when she heard him.
“Oh, Seth. I’m almost done with this one,” she said with a smile, showing off a bangle. She had woven the reddish-golden <Tempest Bronze> and set it in three dark emeralds. A big one in the center and a small one on each side of it.
“These are <Gust Emeralds>. They were left over from preparations, so they fit this metal quite well,” she explained with a smile, showing him the first bangle she finished. They were not just exquisite works of art, but their effects were quite good for a wind mage.
<Tempest Bangle
Epic
Durability: 800
1. +100% Storm Magic Damage
2. Tempest Born
4. +50 Willpower
5. +50 Intelligence
A simple bracelet created by Master Smith, the first Master Goldsmith and Master Enchanter of Urth. It inherited the essence of the Tempest and is a great asset for any Storm Mage.>
The <Tempest Bronze> had a similar effect to the <Blood of Maahes>, obviously. Instead of the divine skills, it improved storm magic and came with the special effect of Tempest Born, halving the cost of Wind Magic and raising Wind Affinity by 20%.
After checking the bangle, Seth agreed to wait for her to finish the second one. Only after it was done, did he unsummon the workshop, including Sivri, and left the branch office. On the way out, he used the communication orb.
“Mike? Yeah, I’m leaving Little Gamma now. Yeah, meet me at the System Church,” the blacksmith called the Chosen of Maahes. They met at the church because Seth didn’t have any interest in running around Spring City right now. After finishing the quest, he intended to travel back to Minas Mar, where Hoen was waiting for him.
There was barely a month left until the Pythian Games and Seth wanted to finish this mega project before the start signal for the games fell. Although he had only a superficial understanding of the enchantment on the Slaughterer’s Set, they had given him some inspiration to improve on his own designs, especially for this project.
From the system church in Little Gamma, the blacksmith ported to the Teleport Formation in Minas Palan. Lately, the crowd in Minas Palan had shrunk. Since the teleport hub of the Adventurer guild was finished, many traveled directly there. Minas Palan was now mostly a relay station for Ori Humas, to evade the System God’s “random” teleport. He wasn’t there for long, after the coordinates were calibrated, the bard appeared at the branch of the system church in Spring City.
“Tower Master?” one of the staff approached. “Sir Mike is waiting for you in private room Nr.9. Here is the key card,” he said and handed him a plastic card. One had to acknowledge the fact, that the system church had quickly adapted to local technology.
Although there was a comparable product created with magic engineering, they were quite expensive, to Seth’s understanding. Mass-produced technology on the other hand was much cheaper, leading to the money-minded church’s open-mindedness to change.
With the branch taking up a whole crown scraper tree and using key cards, the church was almost like a hotel. It actually did offer rooms for longer stays to visitors from other worlds, too.
“Mike, you here?” Seth asked, after opening the door to room Nr.9 with the card.
“Seth!” Mike greeted him with a very high voice. That was because it wasn’t Mike, but Lydia who greeted him first. They were watching something on the crystal ball when he entered.
“Lydia? What are you doing here?” he asked surprised, as he had not expected her.
“You have something for Mike, and I have something for you,” she answered and brought out a weird circular device with various cracks.
“The Hashing Bird we met at Morranto dropped this reactor when we looted it,” she explained. “I wanted to give it to you, but we kind of missed each other all the time.”
“You could have just left it for me at Minas Mar..?”
“I forgot,” she answered, sticking her tongue out. “After handing over the memory storage I kept it to give it to you personally, but I was busy and forgot after a while.”
“I see. Thanks?” he said questioning, as he took the thing she handed to him.
<Damaged Core Reactor, Crafting Material
Relic
The fusion of technology and magic. An energy source created from a great monster core and various mechanical parts. Currently damaged and lacking various support systems to function properly.>
“A relic, despite being damaged and incomplete?” Seth wondered. After a moment he turned to Mike.
“Didn’t you say you slew several of them, where are those reactors?”
Mike looked back like a deer in the headlight.
“I-I- err... I usually aimed for them to kill them?”
Seth wrinkled his nose, giving him a mean look.
“Well, fine. Let’s get this over with.”
.𝗰𝗼𝐦