Chapter 87: Standoff (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
*DANG*
Benedict blocked Angele’s slash with the black enchanted item he had and leaped backward.
Standing several meters away from each other, they stopped fighting.
“Monkeys are fast,” Angele said in a light tone.
“Musclehead…” Benedict wiped the dust off his robe. “Since we both recovered, there is no point to stay here anymore.”
“True.” Angele nodded.
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It took them awhile to travel back to the logging site.
Angele and Benedict came up with the conclusion that there was no point for them to die for the people that were not even directly related to the Wizard organizations and got to know each other on their way back.
Benedict was from Manchester School and focused on learning Lightning Spells. He was also very good at the fundamentals of spells; his original plan was to travel back to Manchester and prepare to become a Wizard. Although Angele was a bit behind in his studies of the fundamentals and learned a lot from what Benedict told him, he knew a lot of things Benedict had never heard of. Thus, they both acquired some helpful information from each other.
They returned to the logging site to see that the body of the first Glowing Elephant was already gone. Its blood was everywhere: the grass and tree stumps were all soaked in it. Large groups of flies were attracted to the place by the stinky smell here.
Angele crouched beside a large area stained by blood and touched it with his right palm, asking Zero to analyze the sample. “I think they left right after we started to fight. Campbell didn’t start a real battle with Harland, and they both took some of the elephant’s body.”
“I think the other elephant is still around. Why don’t we kill it together? What do you think?” Benedict asked, walking out of the bushes.
“You know where to find it?” Angele asked, turning back.
“Of course.” Benedict nodded. “Also, can you give me the model of your improved Hand of Exhaustion? It’s a viable close combat spell after your improved it, and I’m really interested.”
Angele nodded. “Sure, I can give it to you, but I want two of your basic knowledge models. What do you say?”
“Very fair,” Benedict responded.
He took out a small crystal orb from his pouch—it was about the size of a walnut. The orb was very clear, and its surface was very smooth.
Angele knew it was a Memory Orbuculum, a rare magical item that was used to store knowledge and spell models. Usually, it could only be obtained by Wizards, so he was a bit surprised to see Benedict owning one.
“Which two models do you want?” Benedict asked.
“Do you have the Basic Enchantment Knowledge Model in there?”
Angele had seen Benedict apply a buff to Campbell’s sword with the energy particles, which helped Campbell to perform a sneak attack. During the conversation they had earlier, Angele had learned that Benedict knew a lot about item enchantment, and his Master was also a legendary item enchanter.
“Yea, I do, what else do you want?”
“Ranged spells. What do you have?”
Benedict patted the orbuculum lightly, and four rays of white light came out of it. Each ray of light demonstrated the basic property of a spell model.
There was a blue electrical ball, a lightning laser, a blue electrical bird, and a blinking lightning rune shown in the light.
Those models looked like holograms, and they were floating around Angele.
“Those are the ranged spells I know, pick one.” Benedict shrugged.
Angele nodded and looked at the spell models. He made the decision quickly and put his right hand on the lightning rune. It disappeared right after it contacted Angele’s hand.
“Lightning Rune, it’s a great buff spell for ranged weapons and is also a powerful ranged spell. Good choice.” Benedict smiled.
“I know what’s best for me.” Angele laughed.
“Good, let’s trade then.” Benedict threw the orbuculum into the air, and it started to float around them. There were many things appearing and disappearing inside the orbuculum; it looked like a slideshow.
Angele had read about the process in one of the books in the library, so he put his right hand’s first finger on the surface of the orbuculum and closed his eyes. Benedict did the same thing right after.
‘Mentality Tunnel created… Target, Benedict,’ Zero reported.
‘Transferring information through the tunnel. Improved Hand of Exhaustion model, transferred. Collecting: Lightning Rune model, Basic Enchantment Knowledge model. Done.’ Zero was monitoring the information transfer process.
About ten seconds later, they both put down their fingers.
“How convenient.” Angele sighed with pleasure.
“Of course. I killed three rank 3 apprentices for this.” Benedict opened his eyes.
“Let’s exchange our sigils so we can communicate through letters after we get the magic pets.”
“Sure.”
Angele drew a black rune in the air with energy particles. It solidified within seconds, was about the size of an egg, and was translucent. The black rune looked like a twisted snake with its mouth open while leaning forward to initiate a strike.
This was Angele’s sigil he had created based on an Ancient Baren Word.
Benedict drew his sigil in the air too. It was a special round magic circle with blue electric pulses sparking around it.
They pushed the sigils, and the two sank into each other’s bodies after a short travel through the air.
“Let’s finish off the other Glowing Elephant. We need to hurry because I don’t have much time left. I need to head back to the school,” Benedict said.
“Sure.”
“Make sure you write to me after you become a Wizard.”
“I will.”
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Two hours later…
Angele was holding a glowing heart in his hands. Its edge was red, but the center of it was green.
Benedict said goodbye and disappeared into the forest.
Benedict had said that Angele needed the heart more than he did, so he only took the elephant’s tusks and left the heart.
Angele had never thought he would become friends with his enemy. Benedict was strong and knowledgeable about spells. Angele really wanted to ask him a lot of things about enchanting, but he had to leave after taking the elephant out. So Angele decided to communicate with Benedict later, certain that he would be able to provide him some support later as a wizard.
Benedict had also told Angele that he would be able to become a Wizard sooner or later, but he himself would try to break the limit after he went back to the school. If he succeeded, he would become a Wizard right away.
Angele shook his head and stopped thinking, staring at the heart in his hands. The glowing heart was still beating, and it looked like there was a green flame inside. He could feel the heat just by holding it in his hands. Strangely, there was no blood on the surface of the heart; it was very dry.
Angele made a small bag from the skin of the elephant and put the heart inside it. He started to walk toward the Lennon City since he needed someone to carry the body of the elephant back.
It was early in the morning, and Angele heard people yelling his name after traveling some distance through the forest. They probably were people from Lennon City. He quickly headed toward the source of the voices.
It took him several minutes to go across the bushes and reach several soldiers walking around with extinguished torches in their hands.
“It’s Master Angele! We found him!” a soldier yelled in excitement.
“Where is Mr. Harland and Mr. Tinos?” Angele asked in a deep voice.
“They’re still looking for you,” the soldier answered politely.
“What?” Angele was surprised. He thought they would have returned to the city already. “They’re still here?”
“Yes, they’ve been looking for you since last night,” another soldier said.
“Really?” Angele blinked his eyes. “Take me to them.”
Ten minutes later.
The soldiers brought Angele to Harland and Tinos. Tinos’s arm was hurt, and he looked tired. There was a bandage on Harland’s right shoulder, and Angele could still see a hint of blood on it.
“Finally!” Harland walked over and hugged Angele. “I got you the heart of the elephant.”
“For real? Thank you a lot! I thought the people from Vader City got it.”
Angele smiled.
“I knew you needed it so we insisted on taking the heart. You need to buy me a drink after.”
Harland laughed.
“No problem.”
Angele turned back and hugged Tinos.
“Where is the other apprentice?” Tinos asked.
“He was not with the people from Vader City, just doing them a favor. I’m not his enemy, so we ended up finishing off the other elephant. Its body is extremely heavy, so I’ll need some help to carry it back.”
“The other one is dead too?” Harland was a bit surprised. “That’s great news. I’ll send some people there.”
Harland handed over the heart he got to Angele, and Angele was satisfied with what he received. However, he had wasted too much time fighting Benedict and was exhausted. He told Harland about the location of the other Glowing Elephant, then went back to his shop with the hearts.
He needed some good rest before he could make at least one low-level enchanted item with the two hearts. The procedure was relatively easy, and he could try again if his first attempt failed.