Chapter 67: Making Friends
By the time they were done talking it was dark outside so he went to the closest inn, and surprisingly it was the same one he and Matilda had stayed in during his first time in Versal.
On his way to the inn, Ben kept on thinking about his conversation with Mr Grant. Was Mr Grant just an ordinary blacksmith or not? Well, Ben would say, not. And the aura that came from him, Ben had never felt anything like it. And what did he mean when he spoke about 'the right time' for the strange black rock.
"Oh well, guess I'll have to wait then." Ben thought aloud to himself.
He arrived at the inn, went into his room he had prepared for a rest. Twelve days without comfort and limited sleep was so exhausting.
The next day, past noon, more than ten Fifty-base skill swords were in water cooling off. The sound of metal clashing against metal could be heard at the left corner of the big smithy shop. Ben was making a large stock before he would be leaving for his Magic Institute, The Phantom. And of course Mr Grant would usually make Ben meditate for two hours in a special room he kept specifically for Ben's meditation.
Ben, when returning from Apanas had Ben going through the books he found in the Badlands, although he couldn't go through the entire collection, he was quite lucky to find a meditation method different from the ones given to the Chosens' back in his home town. Although Ben wasn't having that much change in his Mindpower, it was increasing better than it used to.
Before now he could at most see as far as twenty metres using Mindpower, but now his Mindpower has increased by three points. Each point means one extra metre meaning he could see up to twenty three metres with Mindpower. And this was just in a few days compared to his seven months of meditation previously.
"Looks like your Mindpower has seen an increase." Mr Grant took a bottle of green wine and poured himself a glass as walked in.
"Yes sir," Ben answered, a little bit still angry by what happened yesterday. No matter when, he would never believe this man before him was a normal person. "Sir, I came to tell you that I'll be leaving soon." despite what he did to Ben, Ben felt sad to leave.
"Hmm, is that so?" Mr Grant who was about to take a sip of his wine paused and dropped his hand holding the glass. "Tell me, what field would you be taking when you're there?"
"I really don't know their actual details. My mom was a wizard and she left me some things with my father that was meant for me if I ever become a Chosen, there was a journal she left, some topics about Runes, Potions, Spellcasting, and Alchemy. I don't know the details though. Well I'm quite interested in pretty much everything. Spellcasting is of course a must. I'll do that and every other thing will be substitute."
"Hahaha, do you think wizardry is child's play. Ben, don't be hot blooded, it's good to have knowledge but you won't be able to study all four to perfection if you do that. However, it's a pity you are an Ice elemental swordsman, if not the Fire element would have suited you more since you've been close to furnaces, that should have given you a better understanding. But still what other elements do you prefer to learn, there are many." Mr Grant explained.
"I don't think the Fire element would be of that much use to me so, I'll go for the Lightning element." Ben said after some thought, but in fact he had already decided this a long time ago.
"Ah yes, it should be a good element and you'll be glad in the future for your choice," Ben didn't know why Mr Grant had said that but since he already has both the flame and ice halo it would be useless to create their elemental sphere, 'wait, aren't they the same thing?' Ben thought. "Anyway let me give you a piece of advice before you create your Lightning-type elemental sphere, be sure to get the Tear of Thunder, this will boost your spells and output power."
"The Tear of Thunder, what is that?" Ben asked.
"That is one of the things I might not say," Mr Grant says with a grin. "oh, and that's because I just don't want to."
"Hmm, more things to find out myself, okay, Mr Grant I will take my leave." Ben said then turned on his heels towards the door.
For the next four days Ben was able to increase the quality of the words he forges from a Fifty-base skill sword to a Fifty two-base skill sword with the help of the Intermediate furnace he bought.
After having made the necessary preparations, familiarized himself with the new boys and even guiding them on their mistakes he left Versal on the fifth day.
***
Six days had passed since Ben left Versal, he was on the road at the back of a red stallion he bought. Having the money meant he could spend it as much as he wants.
Along his way he has been seeing Lucy's progress in recovering her damaged functions, but somehow it stopped, temporarily.
"According to Lucy's words I need more data or to read a lot of books to be able to know what aspect would be of use to repair those damaged functions. They may or may not be useless to me but it will be good to have a calculator without a missing number 6." Ben made a mental note to study as much as possible once he arrives at The Phantom.
Lucy made a nice discovery stating that it doesn't have to be written knowledge, it can be a everything around him, as long as it hadn't been recorded, it will.
"Lucy, do you know how I can have a Lightning halo in my Universal Plane instead of an elemental sphere?" been had had a problem with this same issue for some time now.
"You have very little understanding about magic and wizardry. Once you know more you can come back and ask again, hehe." Lucy's female voice laughed in Ben's head.
"Okay, so according to this world strength, just how strong am I?"
'Well, if you combine your swordsmanship with your Ice halo, you are as strong as lesser Third-level elemental swordsman. And with your Flame halo, you are as strong as a beginner Second-level elemental swordsman. If you want to be versatile with all three abilities then a Fourth-level elemental swordsman is your match.' Lucy gave a detailed explanation about his prowess.
"WHAT??!!" hearing the report Ben was shocked. "Why would I only be that strong with swordsmanship and my Flame halo? Isn't fire stronger than water in most cases, then how?"
'Master, one of the reasons is that you have little to no experience to combine both abilities to have a better result unlike your Ice halo. Two; the Fire element itself has a lot of weaknesses such as the Ice element, Earth element and Air element, these are all the Fire elements weakness if they are used by a someone who don't have experience... like you, be it wizards or elemental swordsmen.'
"Hah...!" Ben sighed.
When the evening came, Ben would find a lake or stream to wash himself and his horse clean. Ben got some nonpoisonous fruits from the forest to feed the horse, while he would hunt rabbits and other little creatures to eat. He has just enough for two days before going out for another hunt
The forest however wasn't a Land of Roses during that's times. Ben never thought that, of all the things to be running low on he found out that his clothes were being destroyed faster than he could say Alexander McQueen.
Whenever he meets a fierce beast that cannot be easily passed, his clothes gets shredded!
"When I get to the next village I must get some more clothes. Stronger clothes at that. Something like a Mercenary or Hunter's hunting suits." Ben mumbled as a city wasn't too far away from his current position.
...
Eight days later of his continuous journey through the forest and wastelands, with almost little rest, Ben has finally left the borders of the Moonlight Kingdom and is in one of the commercial cities of the kingdom of BlackAsh. When comparing the commercial cities back at his home town, it is just lacking.
"Whoa! I never thought this backwards world could have such fine structures. if this just the outskirts I wonder the capital will be." just thinking about it made Ben remember the high and luxurious building in his previous life.
In front of Ben was a very long queue of migrants and merchants. Carriages, horses, even tents could be seen. This is to say people had slept in the cold ground waiting to enter this glorious kingdom of opportunities.
Ben like every other person decides to wait outside. It's not like he could just walk pass everyone and enter the gates as though there was no one in sight.
"Damn those bunch are lucky." a young man barely twenty said groaning.
"Which bunch?" a young girl about sixteen or seventeen stood by the young man's side and asked.
"Those Chosens that came earlier today." the young man replied. Ben who had been minding his business all along looked at where the conversation was coming from.
The young man wore a pair glasses, red hair unlike the died one of Trick's, he was a bit on the slimmer side and was tall. The girl had the same colour of fiery red hair and round green eyes, a big contrast to her vibrant red hair and a round face. She was your definition of the word 'Cute'.
Despite these features Ben decided to pay closer to what they were discussing.
"...Oh come on Stephan, what did you call them? Chosens. And what are you? You are just some ordinary guy." the girl replied with a displeased tone. Looks like this Stephan had been nagging about it... a lot.
"So what Vivi? There are a lot of them who don't even know how to read, much less write their own name. Our parents worked hard just so we could be educated, yet, it looks like it was all for naught." Stephan said dejectedly.
"Excuse me, but what do you mean?" a voice suddenly came from behind the two. The two red haired people turned to look at who it was.
The person has pitch black hair that was shoulder length with sparkling purple eyes, he wore a black Hunter's suit draped with a long coat. His sword can be seen hanging from his back. This was of course Ben.
Ben did this only to get the necessary information he needed. Since the topic concerned him, he wanted to mingle with the two. Because he wasn't here earlier he thought it wouldn't be bad making a few friends.
"Well met. I wanted to ask, what did you mean that only Chosens can pass freely?" Ben asked.
"Well met. One, it isn't only the Chosens that can pass freely, but nobles too. Over there." the young man Stephan, pointed towards a small sized gate with luxurious carriages going in and out from the gate.
"Why's that?" it wasn't like Ben didn't know why, he just wanted to fain ignorance.
"That is because they all think themselves above everyone else who can't become wizards or don't have a title. Bunch of self centered people." the girl, Vivi, chimed with indignation.
"You sure have a thing about them?" Ben asked out of curiosity.
"Humph, not exactly. They are just too full of themselves." she said.
Ben thought her words were logical as he remembered a certain wizard, Tricktavon. "I wouldn't say it like that. Not all of them are the same, you know?"
"What do know? Do you have a wizard who..."
"Vivi!" Stephan yelled. Vivi turns and breathed out a frustrated breath. "I'm sorry on behalf of my sister. Please don't mind her annoying behaviors." Stephan apologizes to Ben.
"No need to apologize, she may hate them because of her own reasons. In fact, wizards took something very dear to me, so she has all the reasons to be angry." Ben wasn't lying, wizards were the main reasons his mother died. Hearing what Ben said calmed Vivi somewhat.
"What happened?" Vivi's soft voice was heard from the side. She was starting to feel dirty for bursting out on him earlier.
"Vivi!!" Stephan's eyes went wide. 'Why would she ask such sensitive questions?' he screamed in his head.
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