After listening to Rolynn's explanation of what she saw at Enke port, Du Wei's expression remained calm and collect. Giving a light nod, he said: "I understand."
Moving about, he acted like nothing major has happened and diverted the topic to something else: "Rolynn, first leave the goods at the warehouse. Wait till the summer festival is over then we can move them. No matter what, we still don't have the legal permit required to sell them properly. If we somehow get caught during this busy time, it will be an embarrassment for the household. It will be good enough to first send some of your people and safeguard the goods back at the Enke port."
Rolynn is a smart woman so she was quickly able to pick up on the true meaning behind Du Wei's unusual words: "You mean….. When the summer festival starts, there will be trouble afoot?"
Du Wei cries out a laugh: "I didn't say that so don't go making speculations. Also, even if there is trouble, it doesn't relate to us. It will be fine as long as you keep those pirates in check. During the summer festival, the security around the capital is much higher than normal, so make sure those guys don't go provoking for trouble. Once things are ready, I'll send someone for you, do you understand?"
Without reason to pursue the topic, Rolynn had no choice but to give a bow and leave.
Once Rolynn is gone, Du Wei finally revealed a dark complexion on his face as he closed his eyes in thought.
Puffing out a soft breath of air: "Heh... Fleet eh? This father of mine is truly restless, does he intend to do something on the summer festival?"
Whatever stuff on that fleet is definitely not your ordinary cargo, and to use soldiers as an escort? Other than people like his father, whom is a high ranking military official, can never reassign the army around the capital.
So then, does this mean they want to start making their move on Prince Son?
Upon this thought, he suddenly recalled the kind attitude from Prince Son. Unfortunately for Du Wei, he also remembers the begging cries his mother requested of him.... Shaking his head, he sighs and mutters to himself: I'm sorry Prince Son, you are my friend but also my enemy. With the family burden over my shoulder, I cannot help you."
Pushing the problem aside, Du Wei sat around for the next while drinking tea and studying some magic recipes. All was smooth and nice right up till the evening.
BOOM!!
A thunderous explosion rocked his room
In that blast, even the small building in which he resides shook a few times. Then from below the stairs, Du Wei can see someone knocking down a door from where he stood. Coming out from the billowing smoked room, the man sized mouse Gargamel came rushing out as he coughed violently.
"Cough, cough... That almost choked me to death..." In one single breath, the mouse rushed into Du Wei's bedroom and grabbed a drink from the teapot, all the while completely disregarding Du Wei's displeasure. Then letting out a sigh of relief, the mouse finally calms down. From top to bottom, the man sized mouse was covered in ash and even some of the whiskers looked like they were burned in the explosion!
Du Wei frowns: "What's the matter?"
"What else can it be? I figured out what that Nirvana's bow is. I tried to use a magic crystal to exam the magic circle on that bow, and the result is the explosion you just heard! Kid, that bow is not ordinary in the least! Prior to my experiment, I set up a two tiered barrier system around the room, but even that was easily dispelled in that explosion! If not for the safety measure I took, I fear this building would not have survived the blast!"
Smiling at what he just heard, Du Wei first went outside to dismiss the arriving that came due to the explosion. Saying it was all a part of his magic experiments, the people that came to see what was going on all left with an awe expression when they faced Du Wei. As a Mage, his identity is obviously above the idiotic son of the Earl from back then.
Once he finished driving away the guards, Du Wei had Marde watch the courtyard gate to keep others from returning. Maybe it was due to what the mouse said about safety, he had Gargamel set up another magic barrier around his entire residence. With everything ready to go, he and the mouse went into the laboratory downstairs.
With the smoke mostly dissipated, Du Wei summoned forth a low leveled wind based magic and blew away the rest of the lingering smoke. Right in the middle of the room, the "Nirvana's Bow" quietly lay there on top of a table platform as if the fact that an explosion never took place in this room.
Unlike the Mithril platform used by that crazy old Alley, Du Wei couldn't afford such luxury so his was only made out of stone. Carefully look over the bow, he can immediately sense something was different!
Still glowing with light, the bow had no obvious damage from the ground shaking explosion earlier. In fact, the bow looked brand new without so much as a dust on it! From the seamless structure of the thing to the transparent crystal embedded in the middle, everything about it gave off the feeling like it was not of this world. Also, the one thing Du Wei still couldn't quite understand is the curved barbs on the two ends of the bow. What are they for?
It's obvious the barbs are intended for the user to fight in close combat, but how effective can it be?
For that question, Gargamel has the answer. After a test, the mouse managed to poke a whopping whole in the middle of a thick chest plate with the barb!
"The material for this thing is not simple. I can only guess it is some specially processed crystal or a synthetic material. As for what it is exactly, I can't say."
Gargamel pointed his finger to the bow. After spending one day and night examining the bow, the mouse is obviously very excited at what it is: "The bow's shape is completely different from those currently on the continent. Right now no master archer is capable of mastering melee combat at the same time, but the design of this bow is an exception…. However, I can only guess that in order to fully utilize the bow, there is probably a set of martial skills that came with it."
A martial skill set that supports this bow….. Du Wei thought for a moment and shook his head: "I don't know about that then… The guy that fell by my hands looked strong, but he should not be fluent in the set of skills you mentioned. If he was, then he wouldn't have been so easily killed by me."
"If that's the case, then that guy is definitely not the original owner." Gargamel moved his mouth while thinking: "From the age of the material, I can tell the bow is at least a few hundred years old!"
Then Gargamel picked up the Nirvana's bow and pulled it in front of Du Wei: "You see the patterns? This is a strange magic array that I can't even begin to comprehend, but I am sure of one thing. This thing is imbued with a type of wind spell along with some kind of strength and agility speed magic... To be able to meld so many spells together and create such an amazing magic array, and such a small size at that….. There's no doubt the creator is at least a grand master in his field!"
Du Wei wasn't really concerned about all this: "What I want to know is how to use it."
When it came to this issue, Gargamel suddenly burst out into a laughing fit. Unlike how he normally laughs, the mouse looked so wretched this time around because he couldn't hide his greed: "This is what is the most fascinating about it! Let me tell you little Du Wei, you really hit the jackpot! The power of this bow is absolutely amazing! In fact, it is more than you can possibly imagine!"
After finishing his words, the mouse started to speak in an unstoppable rant: "The poor guy that you killed is a warrior, right? For this bow, warriors can still make this bow work by infusing it with their Dou Qi. Once the Dou Qi is inserted into the bow, the energy would form a dense arrow for the user to use. Regardless of the launch speed, accuracy, and power, the results would be top notch on the continent by doing that. However, the previous owner obviously didn't know how to truly tap into the full power of this thing! Humph….."
After saying that, the mouse suddenly reached out and gently touched the bow. Once he injected some magic into the bow, the thing immediately began to glow brilliantly like it was alive! Then, with a clicking sound from the bow, a small gap suddenly appeared at where the arrow slit should be and a magic crystal suddenly rolled out of the hole!
"Let me reveal the true face of this amazing magic weapon!" The mouse laughs with pride: "This bow is in fact not designed for a warrior to use; instead, it is specially designed for a Mage to use!"
"... Magician? "
Du Wei really didn't expect something like that.
A Mage equipped with a bow and arrow?
Why would a Mage need to use a bow and arrow? The image one would always have for a Mage is a wand in hand and casting some kind of powerful magic.
So using a bow in combat is something only warriors would use!
If Mages were to start using bows, then wouldn't it become the norm for them to carry around giant broadswords too?
"Stop doubting me! This is indeed a magic bow specifically designed for Mages!" Gargamel saw through the doubt in Du Wei's eyes so his voice became serious: "You are lucky no one knows the true use behind this bow little Du Wei. If anyone finds out and it spreads around, I guarantee you others will start knocking heads to come grab it off you!"
With that said, Gargamel gently pinched the tiny magic crystal that came out of the bow. This magic crystal is a high quality gemstone, but after many years of aging, the color seems washed out and deprived of any energy. If one were to look closely, they would notice some traces of cracks running across the stone.
Gargamel gripped onto the crystal and began to slowly insert his magic into the crystal. Like a miracle, the one pale and washed out color of the magic crystal suddenly began to glow like it was revitalized with life!
Then putting the crystal back into the arrow hole in the bow, a soft wave of magic fluctuated in the air and the small arrow suddenly closed without a single trace of it ever being there.
"Hold it!" Gargamel gives the bow to Du Wei and smiles: "Go to the roof and test out your new toy."
Like this, the two came up to the roof on this small building.
On top of this three story small building; Du Wei held onto the bow with both hands and looked out into the setting sun. Without saying anything, he pulled against the bow string only to find that it was more flexible than he had thought, although it was still hard on him, but it was workable. Then inserting his magic into the bow, he could immediately feel an immense fluctuation on the bow as the energy gushes out to form multiple wind blades...
There's no doubt about it. Clear to his eyes, the unusual wind blades flowing out of the bow started to condense into the shape of a small arrow...
Letting go of the pulled string, a shooting sound was all he could hear….
That's no arrow!
No…. The thing that shot out is clearly a shooting star!
Like a shooting star, the shot roared out from his hands and soared through the sky! Swift like thunder, the shining ball of brilliance was quickly gone from their line of sight!
He was left speechless Although he cannot see the impact sight, but just the way it moved through the sky is enough to tell him that the force behind the attack is not something to be trifled with!
Compared to what he saw from the previous owner, his one shot is notably many times stronger!
More importantly, he was able to fire out such a terrifying shot despite the fact that his body is only slightly better than the average person and he couldn't use Dou Qi!
"Just like I expected... Very strong!" Gargamel tiptoes to the side, he squinted his eyes as he looks in the general direction of where the shooting star went. With a complex emotion in his eyes, he said: "If this bow can be mass produced, then the day of Mages overtaking the archer profession would be upon us!"
Forcing the shock in his heart down, Du Wei slowly sat down and began stroking the Nirvana's bow back and forth.
Magic weapon! A real long ranged magic weapon!
Without needing any energy from the user, it only requires magic to fuel its projectiles!
"Little Du Wei, you guessed it too, right?" Gargamel's eyes were flashing with excitement: "Can you see? If you enlarge the bow several times and change the appearances slightly, then would it be the same as those magic cannons on top of the capital's city wall!"
"Magic cannon!" Du Wei replied without losing his cool, but his eyes clearly had a weird look in them: "If this thing is enlarged several times, then it would the same as a Magic Cannon! Or to be more accurate….. The manufacturing principle behind this thing is the same as the long lost methods of the magic cannon!!"
While he was saying this, Du Wei didn't know about a certain interlude happening elsewhere: On the day of his first test run of the Nirvana's bow, a small garrison force from a nearby town reported a certain event.
Year 960 of the Empire, June 10. During the evening of this day up in the southeastern sky, a shooting star made contact on the ground and caused the sky to burn a crimson red! Luckily, there were no casualties in this event and only the mountain roads were blocked after the meteorite destroyed half of the nearby mountain. Please send help for repairs…..
No one knows the truth behind this event, not even Du Wei knew the true strength of what he did!
The days before the summer festival, Marde was spending his time roaming the streets of the capital. No matter the place, his footprints could be easily found. The reason is very simple because Du Wei instructed him with these words: "Go out and enjoy yourself in every business you can find. It doesn't matter how much it cost, just bring the bill back after for reimbursement. What I want you to do during that time is to document every activity you see, whether it is the people or shows, record every noticeable thing you see."
As such, Marde didn't question the order and simply walked around the streets and enjoyed himself with the big bag of money.
Prior to the day of the summer festival, the main streets running through the capital were jammed packed with tourists and merchants. No matter the place, the mood of celebration ran rampant because the Emperor specifically instructed this year's celebration to be extra big. Due to the ominous shooting star that flew by on the national founding day a while back, the emperor became enraged and had the court astrologist executed; thus, this is the result of trying to dampen the jinx in the sky.
Once the word was spread throughout the continent, an abnormal amount of visitors came flocking to the capital. Overcrowded, just about every hotel was charging extra rates for their rooms; despite this, some tourists still couldn't find proper lodging. It wasn't just the emperor endorsing the festival, even his Majesty the Pope gave the word out that the Temple of Light would perform God's magic in the city square. Of course, if there is the Temple of Light, there is the Magic Union. In order to not lose face, the president of the magic union will also bring in some grand Mages to showcase their magic!
But more importantly, his majesty the emperor already gave the word out to power up the magic barrier in the capital!! Created during the era of Aragon, this thousand year old magic array was last powered up during the first triumphant return of the navy in the south eastern sea. Anyone that was present during that event would always deeply remember the grand scenic spectacle of it all! Shining brilliantly, a multitude of colors shrouded the capital's sky in an immense barrier! And just dimly, the onlookers would somehow be able to make out strange flying monsters floating across the sky! Of course, whether those beasts are real or not is up for debate!
For such a big event, a person may not ever have the chance to encounter it once in their lifetime. To miss it would be such a pity!
As such, the amount of visitors this year grew to several times that of a regular year. And in order to keep up with the security issues, the police force in the capital was on full alert. Despite their efforts, reports of robbery and fighting were endless. Anyone that had originally planned to take the day off were brought back into the office and in some cases, the officer would not even be able to go home for a few days to meet their wife!
It wasn't just the police force; even the city defense garrison was working overtime despite the fact that extra forces were assigned to the city gates. Pressured by the extra security measures handed out by the imperial court, every person entering the gates was searched thoroughly.
And because of how packed the capital was, the army organized a separate security force to keep the residential areas of the noble class safe. It wasn't just the nobles that were under heavy protection, the Temple of Light was also on high alert. After all, the temple has a lot of believers, so it can't be helped that extra measures must be taken.
As for the Magic union, it was business as usual. In the mind of the normal populous, the status of a mage is something to be feared and revered, so of course no one would want to go cause trouble at their headquarters!
Like this, Marde spent the previous few days roaming the crowded streets. During his time, Marde had his pockets picked by a thief and in some cases, some passerby ended up trampling over his feet…. Reporting all of this to his young master, Du Wei showed no signs of displeasure or happiness. The only thing Marde heard from him was this: "I understand, go reimburse yourself for the past few days."
Once Marde was gone, Du Wei tapped his forehead as he sat down for a moment. Then out of nowhere, a weird little smile appeared on his face as he muttered to himself: "Hmm, the city gate is stationed with extra soldiers... And the noble residential area is also stationed with soldiers. That's right, even the temple is stationed with soldiers…. It looks like this really will be a big fight!"