The barbecue shop owner carelessly poured a large glass of ale for himself and then began to talk about the Green Festival very excitedly.
Punk was eating the delicious barbecue meat while also listening to the shop owner's description.
It turns out that the middle of the tender season is when the seeds planted by the farmers germinate, and the Green Festival is the festival to celebrate the germination of those seeds. This is a way for everyone to express their hope for the healthy growth of crops. On this day, People wears emerald green clothes and grass rings in their head to celebrate. The most famous thing about this festival is a ceremony hosted by the church of the goddess of good harvesting "Meissen."
During that ceremony, young maidens from the Harvest Church perform singing and dancing. When the barbecue shop owner mentioned the dance, he displayed a thoroughly infatuated expression on his face.
After learning the reason behind the changes in Konola City, Punk ceased to engage in the shop owner's chatter and resumed eating the barbecue meat. He was now contemplating how to sell the large bag of magic materials he had retrieved from the wasteland to the Mage Guild. However, his train of thought was abruptly interrupted by someone.
Sitting upright, Punk was in the midst of cutting his barbecue meat when he sensed someone tugging at the hem of his robe.
Glancing down, he discovered a little girl.
She had pale blond hair and a grass ring dotted with many small flowers on her head. The light green grass ring was set against the soft golden hair, and she also had a tender and delicate little face.
Now Her big watery bright eyes were staring at Punk's face under the hood, and her small mouth was slightly open. She was expressing her astonishment, and with a fine jade nose and delicate face, she looked very adorable.
"Big brother... is so pretty..."
Although Punk was still expressionless on the surface, in his heart, he was cursing.
"WTF? How can someone praised a grown adult man as "pretty.""
The barbecue shop owner quickly came over while smiling with embarrassment and also a little bit of fear—
"hehe"
"This is my daughter; she is just too young, Lord Mage; please forgive her ignorance..."
Then he deliberately hardened his face and said to the little girl:
"Hurry up and go back inside, don't disturb lord mage"!
"No….., no, no, I want the big brother mage to show me magic"!
Little girl glared at the barbecue shop owner with an expression of " I will cry and cause trouble if you do anything,"
And then she looked at Punk again; little stars of expectation were almost coming out of her eyes.
"I'm really sorry, Lord Mage..." The barbecue shop owner said as he was getting ready to forcibly carry little Lolita back inside.
But how can the little Lolita who wanted to see magic was willing to leave like this? She clung to Punk's robe and refused to let go so that her father can't drag her inside the house.
"It's okay; This just a wish of a little child."
Punk waved his hand at the shop owner and stopped him. The Shop owner instantly became anxious after hearing Punk, but the only thing now he can do is stand aside. Punk ignored the worried shop owner and opened his hand with a gentle movement,
Suddenly, the water from the cup collected in his hand and transformed into a floating water-ball. Much to the astonishment and rapt attention of the little girl, the water-ball then shape-shifted into three tiny girls wearing skirts, who began to run and dance around on Punk's palm.
"Wow..." the little girl was completely fascinated, she kept a surprised and cute expression until Punk finally put the water back into the cup. Punk gently touched little girl's head with his hand, and she responded with a soft, purring-like murmur, clearly enjoying the attention like a contented kitten..
"This truly is a real-world!" Punk, who now finished eating the barbecue meat, sighed softly to himself, with an almost mysterious tone.
The shop owner hurriedly carried the little girl, who seemed a little sleepy, to the chair beside him, and asked after he was far away from Punk.
"Lord Mage, did you ask something!"
"Nothing, the barbecue was delicious, and your daughter is very adorable"!
"Yes...really, haha..."
The shop owner wiped the sweat on his head and heave a sigh in relief, then started to scratch his head habitually and didn't make any familiar response to Punk.Punk did not pay attention to the state of mind of the barbecue shop owner.
It is not worth spending time to speculate about the psychological activities of an ordinary person for him. Therefore, Punk just threw a silver coin at the table and left like a local tyrant.
"Keep the change."
Punk picked up the tattered cloth bag, turned around, and left the barbecue shop.
The pedestrians outside were all wearing emerald green clothes while talking and laughing with each other; only Punk was wearing a light blue robe and hiding most of his face in the shadow of the hood. He looked a little out of place in the noisy street, but Punk was enjoying this feeling, the path of the strong is destined to be lonely, and loneliness has already been defeated by him in the void.
When the Old man at the Mage Union noticed that Punk had advanced to the apprentice level, he was mildly surprised, though not as astonished as the old gatekeeper. After all, he had many years of life experience.
But his attitude toward Punk has changed significantly. The ridiculous expression of the "Senior and Junior" attitude seems to have never happened before; there were no traces of it anymore. Instead, Now the old man had a friendly and familiar attitude like they are long-lost relatives.
Punk quickly sold the bag of scrap magic materials and surprisingly got eight hundred gold coins for it. Originally Punk thought that he could sell it for about six hundred gold coins at most.
But Punk also knows that this is a trick of the old mage, who wants to befriend him.
After all, Punk's potential far surpasses that of the aging mage in every aspect. The old mage's approach of attracting future powerhouses is understandable. At least for now, Punk can take advantage of this situation.
However, the old mage's calculated favors are destined to fail. Punk is not a person who hellbent on paying back favor, not to mention that he has already decided to leave the mage union as soon as he finds a reliable mentor.
Therefore, no matter how many times the old mage tried to start a conversation, Punk completely ignored him. He placed an order for the eagerly awaited night vision potion from the alchemy puppet, along with a few other essential materials.
Then he leaned against the cool wall and closed his eyes while waiting for the puppet to get the formula book. When the old mage saw that his repeated efforts are all fruitless, he frowned but finally turned around and left helplessly.
"This old man is truly persistent? His constant noise was starting to make my ears heart." Punk rubbed his pointed ears with his hands while murmured inwardly.
Holding the old and flimsy "night vision" potion formula, Punk came to a very remote and gloomy alley in Konola City. Although the houses here were slightly dilapidated, they were secluded and far away from any noise. It was very suitable as an alchemy workshop. After all, alchemy is a delicate job, and beginners can't tolerate the slightest interruption. Otherwise, the chances of failure will become very high, and it might just explode in his face.
Although Punk is very confident in his own technique and the system's analysis, it is better to be more careful about these kinds of things.
Because in some cases, there is a 1 in 1000 chance of success.
With formulas, materials, and the equipment in hand, Punk's first alchemy experiment was finally about to kick off!