Angor and Dave left the pub and took a sky bus toward the questing hall.
Before they could go for a counter, they saw Bobota waving at them.
“Who’s that man?” Dave said.
“Someone who gave me a quest. You go and report the other quests, I’ll get you later.”
Angor sent Dave away and approached Bobota.
“Wanna check it?” Angor took out a space capsule.
Bobota seemed surprised. “Finished? Already?”
Bobota did find it necessary to verify Angor’s work. However, the hall was too crowded for that, so they went to the private guest room again just in case.
Inside the room, Bobota eagerly crushed the capsule open, and a sky-blue chain materialized in the air. Out of instinct, Bobota reached for the object. However, a frighteningly solid touch immediately caused him to back away.
The chain fell down and created a loud noise, causing the floor to crack up a little.
This had proved the item’s weight to Bobota.
Next, the man proceeded to test the “Silencing” effect of the chain, which worked wonderfully.
As Bobota checked the chain, Angor explained the materials he used as well as some key points when wielding the item as necessary. When Angor’s explanation was done, Bobota was also finished with his inspection.
“The effect, weight, and its looks are all perfect. Good!” Bobota held up the chain and grew excited again. This artifact would almost ensure his success in his coming task.
The man was always straightforward about everything. Since the chain was fine, he immediately paid the remaining reward to Angor.
“Now that we’re done, I’ll take my leave.” Without further ado, Angor bid goodbye as well.
“You’re not using teleportation? There must be many people who saw us coming here.”
“My friend is still waiting outside.”
Angor left through the door.
Despite his neat display, Bobota still felt a bit sad when looking at his now near-empty balance.
But he quickly got over it when thinking about the possible profit he would soon earn from the chain. However, the task would determine the fate of his clan, and he would prefer that no outsiders knew about it. He could not do anything to Angor right now due to Angor’s particular identity in Brute Cavern. Otherwise, he would not hesitate to ensure a more perfect outcome.
Outside, Angor who was on his way to meet Dave was caught by someone, just as how Bobota assumed.
Someone he saw before.
“Hello, sir! Name’s Hercules, we met last time.” Hercules moved in front of Angor. His greasy and shiny muscle chunks jiggled on his giant body.
Angor sighed in his mind and put on his usual indifferent expression. “Something you need?”
Hercules’ eyes glimmered with joy. “Are you an alchemist, mister? Can I ask you to help me make a weapon?”
“I’m busy right now.”
Hercules realized that Angor did not deny being an alchemist. “When will you be free?”
“I don’t know,” Angor said and tried to move past Hercules. The bulky man did not do anything to stop him, which surprised Angor a little.
Angor thought that Hercules was one of the bothersome figures who could not leave him alone, but it seemed he was mistaken.
His eased mood did not last long though. When he joined Dave and made sure all the quests were handed in, Hercules showed up again before they could leave the questing hall.
“Are you free now, sir?” Hercules blinked innocently.
“No.” Angor shivered a little. He could not accept the fact that a big muscle man was talking to him in the same way as a young girl trying to act cute.
Again, Hercules let them go just fine.
About ten minutes later, when Angor and Dave were on their way to the bus stop, Hercules appeared again.
“Are you free now?”
“Can you hear me at all? I said no. And stop following me.”
“But you didn’t tell me when you’ll become free,” Hercules spoke in the same innocent manner.
“Not today. Just go away.”
“Tell me where you live, I’ll look for you tomorrow!” Hercules asked in an as-a-matter-of-fact manner.
Angor began to understand why Bobota said that this man only had muscles in his brain. He could not read human speech properly!
“Let’s… hear it first. What kind of weapon do you need?” Angor sighed helplessly.
“An ax! With a long handle,” Hercules described the weapon in his mind. “And I hope the ax can have a burning effect. Is that okay?”
A long-handled ax with Rune of Flame? Angor pondered. That did not sound so hard.
“How much would you pay?” Angor would rather get rid of this lubber as soon as he can. A lower payment was fine, as long as he could get away.
Hercules scratched his hair. “I have no magic crystals on me. Can I reward you with my body?”
“No, thanks!” Angor turned to leave.
Hercules followed on their heels. “I’m good at fightin’! If I get the ax, I promise I can keep you safe. For a year!”
“I don’t like being followed, so sorry, but no. I won’t accept no matter how strong you are.”
Angor did not tell the man that Toby would easily do a better job as a bodyguard.
Hercules slumped down.
Before they could keep moving, Dave suddenly spoke to Hercules. “Can you defeat a Steel Hedgehog?”
Hercules hesitated. “I think I can if I have a proper weapon.”
Dave perked up all of a sudden and turned to Angor. “Hey Angor, can I pay for his weapon?”
Angor already realized Dave’s plan when “Steel Hedgehog” was mentioned. “You want to go to the Moonfrost Passage too?”
A Steel Hedgehog was a weak monster living inside the Abyss Plane. It provided a bloodline which gave someone decent defense, and nothing else, so almost no Bloodline Wizards would choose to use the blood of this monster. However, the defense helped people withstood most explosion attacks, so there were many alchemists who found the trait useful.
Using the bloodline of a Steel Hedgehog meant permanently gaining a high-leveled magic barrier, which was extremely helpful during alchemy experiments.
Dave nodded and confirmed Angor’s idea. “The monster’s blood can help me study alchemy better.”
Angor frowned. “So you’ve decided you’ll keep going down this path?”
Bloodline could be removed, but not completely. The bloodline of Steel Hedgehog basically had no merit except for alchemy.
Dave was firm. “Yes! I don’t think I’ll ever find anything other than alchemy to prove myself.”
Angor thought about it. The favor was easy to grant, and it would help his friend realize his ambition, so why not?
Angor turned to Hercules again. “I’ll help you then, on condition that you must sign a contract with Dave, that you’ll protect him for one year while helping him get the blood of Steel Hedgehog when at it. If you agree, I’ll start making your weapon today.”
Angor’s condition was a little more than what Hercules offered. A Steel Hedgehog was weak, but its blood would still sell for a thousand crystals in auctions, while Hercules’ ax probably only cost several hundred.
But without the ax, Hercules would never be able to defeat the monster. The whole matter was kind of a paradox.
Hercules was sulking in despair when Angor refused him. When he saw another chance, he answered without giving it much thought. “I agree!!”
The two of them created a one-year contract in the name of the world’s consciousness.
Back at Angor’s villa, Angor and Dave worked together and finished Hercules’ request in one night.
Dave was the one forging the original weapon, so Angor only asked for 100 crystals, which was considered a payment for his effort in enchantment.
Angor’s bone card now had a balance of nearly 800 thousand points, which meant 8,000 magic crystals. Very few level-1 apprentices could possess such a fortune. In fact, many wizards would find it difficult to gather so much available fund in a short time.
…
The grand auction in Twilight Well was three days away.
With no other quests to do, plus that he had mostly comprehended Melodious Illusion, Angor decided to use the remaining time to craft the music box which he had been neglecting. Maybe he could also pay Lady Mirror a visit in the meantime.
He already made up a detailed plan for creating the trinket. His music box was going to have two special effects.
One was to trigger a Melodious Illusion using the music that it played. There were many problems to consider here, such as choosing the best illusion to go with the music, whether the illusion should be “animated”, and how much space it should cover.
The second one was applying Tranquility Rune to the music box which would help people calm down with the help of gentle music. Dave mentioned that music should be something that disturbed meditation. Angor did several experiments on himself, during which gentle music did not hinder his meditation. However, he was not sure whether other people would not be bothered by the same music.
He still needed to find out the result.
Before everything else, he had to first determine the appearance of the music box.