Chapter 279
Chapter 279
Fairy stones are incredibly expensive. The reason they are expensive is because they are extremely rare.
However, mages needed a lot of fairy stones. Because fairy stones were the only medium with a higher mana conductivity than the highest-grade magic stones.
More than three-quarters of mages' research expenses were spent on purchasing fairy stones, making them an essential research material.
Antonio swallowed hard when he saw the fairy stone with a perfect color, size, and condition.
Such fairy stones were difficult to obtain even with money.
"What is this? OH HOHO, you brought this to bribe me. You know quite well to think of giving a fairy stone as a bribe to a mage."
"I'm afraid, but this is not a bribe."
Antonio frowned.
"Not a bribe? No. It must be a bribe. Think about it again."
"This is not a bribe, but a trade item."
Antonio tilted his head at Zeke's words.
"Trade item? Are you going to supply fairy stones to us?"
"I will supply a certain amount in processed form every quarter. I heard that lately, fairy stone quantities are scarce, making them hard to obtain even in the Magic Tower and Nirvana."
Antonio bit his teeth and put a pipe in his mouth at Zeke's words.
"Those damn people who are manipulating the market are already making it hard to obtain, and now it's become even more difficult."
Before coming to Nirvana, Zeke had discovered during his investigation of blood stones that the current market's fairy stone quantity had been reduced to half of its previous amount.
There was a high possibility that those from the Abyss side were buying fairy stones or adjusting their output for blood stone production.
As a result, mages were extremely desperate for fairy stones.
Zeke could easily supply the quantity because he had discovered a massive fairy stone vein in the Southern Islands.
Antonio licked his lips and fondled the fairy stone Zeke had brought.
"Can you supply fairy stones of this quality?"
"While stones in the market often contain many impurities, ours are top-grade with over 99% purity as you can see. Additionally, they are processed directly by dwarves, so the loss rate is almost negligible."
"HMM."
Antonio's attitude was completely different from when Zeke first arrived.
He wore a magnifying glass and examined the fairy stone from various angles.
He nodded.
"Can you supply 20 kilograms per quarter?"
"How about 40 kilograms? The price will be 110% of the market rate. I guarantee the quality is top-grade."
"Top-grade 40 kilograms? Damn, if I can obtain them, I'll buy them no matter what!"
"There is a condition."
"Condition? What is it?"
"It must be agreed that they will be sold absolutely nowhere externally and consumed only within the Nirvana family."
Antonio snorted at those words.
"We're talking about fairy stones that people would sell other things to obtain, and you think I'm crazy enough to sell them elsewhere?"
"If you keep just this condition, we can maintain a good trade relationship."
Antonio smiled slyly.
"Okay, okay. Can I borrow this for a moment? Anyway, there's a system here, so I need to tell the juniors about it."
"I'll give this to you as a gift."
"What? Really? HA HA HA!"
Antonio danced around holding the fairy stone and shouted towards the next room.
"HEY! Hickson!"
Following his loud call, there was a CRASH sound, and someone quickly entered the research room.
"Huh, did you call, Master?"
"Hey, I'm going to talk to the juniors for a bit, so stay here and keep Draker, no, Sir Zeke company. HEHE HEHE, just wait a bit."
Antonio handed Zeke over to Hickson and laughed heartily as he went outside.
'It was like a storm just swept through.'
Although he had brought the fairy stone separately for persuasion, he didn't expect an 8th circle master to like it this much.
Hickson, who was unexpectedly left in charge of Zeke, scratched his head and greeted him.
"Nice to meet you. So... Sir Zeke Draker! Oh, you're the knight of the sea, right?"
"That's correct. Sir Hickson. How should I address you?"
"Just Hickson is fine."
Mages had various titles.
Typically, "Mage" is used as a title for ordinary mages.
Those who become Mages usually enter the Magic Tower, specialize in their field, and receive a corresponding title after mastering a certain level.
Those who learn elemental magic are called Sorcerers, those in curse-related magic are Witches, those in magical artifact creation are Enchanters, magic users specialized in combat are Warlocks, and those who study magical spells and invocation are called Magicians.
Among those who pioneer specialized fields, those who discover new magical systems or theories are granted the title of Wizard.
The Nirvana family ignored these Magic Tower classifications and referred to themselves as "Magicians”(Magic Users).
This meant they did not define themselves by specialized fields, but instead sought to walk the path of truth by merging all knowledge.
While Zeke was thinking that Hickson, who seemed somewhat naive, was also a Nirvana magician, Hickson was pondering how to keep Zeke company according to his master's instructions.
Suddenly, he blurted out to Zeke,
"Since you're from the Draker family, you must know a lot about dragons."
"While I've learned dragon-slaying swordsmanship, we haven't directly seen dragons, so I only know what's commonly known."
Hickson's eyes sparkled as he said,
"You mean that famous dragon-slaying technique. By the way, I heard pure-blooded awakeners can repel magical power. Is that true? This is my first time seeing a Draker pure-blooded awakener..."
"It's true. I'd like to show you, but if I take off my gloves here, Master Antonio might faint."
Hickson was shocked.
"No, absolutely not! If something here gets damaged, I'll be dead..."
After calming down, Hickson continued,
"Sir Zeke, do you know about how dragons used magic in the past?"
Zeke nodded and said,
"Do you mean Dragon Speech?"
"Ah! How did you know?"
Zeke, who had inadvertently given the correct answer, said, "I just heard it in passing, but I don't know the exact details."
Hickson's eyes sparkled.
"Actually, this is the field we're researching in our lab."
"Dragon Speech?"
"More precisely, we're researching how to make wordless spells more efficient by applying the principles of Dragon Speech."
"Wordless spells. That sounds interesting."
When Zeke showed interest, Hickson became excited.
"Right? My master and I have been working on this for five years. Currently, a 5th circle mage can use wordless magic up to the 3rd circle. If a 5th circle mage could use 4th or 5th circle magic wordlessly, the efficiency would be tremendous."
Zeke nodded at Hickson's explanation.
Mages often died in battle because they were defenseless while reciting spells.
If wordless magic became possible as Hickson suggested, it would eliminate the advantages of dark mages and certainly create a new wave in the magical world.
While listening to Hickson's explanation about Dragon Speech, Zeke remembered something.
'Come to think of it, are the skills I use a kind of Dragon Speech magic?'
Originally, as a knight, Zeke couldn't use magic.
However, he was using magic in the form of skills through the system.
Of course, this was possible because of Bahamut's heart situated in the mid-dantian, but it was still an incredible thing.
'If I research magic, might I be able to use my skills more efficiently?'
Magic was a realm he had never considered before.
As Zeke speculated about the relationship between his skills and magic, he said to Hickson,
"Mr Hickson, I have a question."
Hickson, who had been explaining the theoretical aspects of Dragon Speech magic, was startled by Zeke's words.
"So the mana moves to the magical organ and the component itself changes... Yes? A question?"
"By any chance, are there any combat records about Dragon Speech magic?"
After thinking carefully, Hickson nodded.
"There are no direct records, but there are reconstructed materials based on ancient documents. Just a moment. There's a specialist for that area."
Hickson turned his head and shouted,
"Zeros!"
Hickson called out, but there was no response from the next room.
Hickson stood up and burst through the door, shouting with more force than before.
"Hey! Zeros! What are you doing?!"
Then the door slowly opened, and a wizard looking almost dead walked out.
"Ugh... Senior, why did you call me?"
"If it wasn't me, but Master who called and you didn't respond, you'd be dead on the spot."
"Uh... Please don't tell Master."
The shaggy-haired young man called Zeros sat down and asked Hickson,
"Why did you call me? I've barely slept for three days."
Hickson pointed to Zeke sitting across from him.
"Introduce yourself. This is Sir Zeke Draker, a guest of Master. The knight of Haejoo..."
Suddenly, Zeros jumped up and reached out his hand to Zeke from the table.
"A knight of Haejoo! The continent's youngest blue, no... now red knight! Sir Zeke Draker! It's an honor to meet you! I'm a member of the Yongyong!"
Zeke looked puzzled. "Nice to meet you, Zeros. But... what's a Yongyong?"
Zeros was shocked that Zeke didn't know about his fan club.
He collected himself and fondled Zeke's hand.
"This is Sir Zeke's hand... Ah, ah. I won't wash this until the fan club meeting. Hehe."
Hickson smacked Zeros' head.
"Don't make Sir Zeke uncomfortable. Stop talking nonsense and explain your specialized knowledge."
Zeros rubbed his head.
"Ugh. What explanation?"
"Sir Zeke is curious about combat records of Dragon Speech magic."
"What? Really?"
Zeke nodded.
"I heard you're researching how to improve wordless spell casting by applying Dragon Speech magic. As a knight, I'm curious how they responded to the short incantation time of Dragon Speech magic."
Zeros nodded, moved.
"Indeed, Sir Zeke. A true knight."
Hickson hit Zeros' head again.
"Why is a mage getting emotional? Essentially, Sir Zeke is thinking about how to quickly cut the throat of a wordless mage."
Zeros nodded.
"If it's Sir Zeke, he could certainly cut down a wordless mage... Ah, it's scary when I think about it. Anyway... please wait a moment."
Zeros went back to his room to find something.
Hickson sighed.
"I apologize, Sir Zeke. Though Zeros might seem like he's missing a screw, he's a top graduate of the Magic Tower who's already received the titles of Sorcerer and Warlock."
Being young and having received two titles was remarkable. A Warlock title requires mastering at least two combat and auxiliary magic schools at 5th circle or above, while a Sorcerer title requires mastering three or more elemental magic schools at 5th circle or above.
Zeros returned, struggling with something.
"Whew, Senior, please take this."
Hickson set up what Zeros brought against the wall.
"What is this?"
"It's a three-dimensional imaging device. You applied for it last month and left it in my room, saying there was no space."
Zeros activated the device with magic, and a translucent light began to appear.
He manipulated the light, and a translucent image of a knight and a dragon emerged.
"Watch carefully, Sir Zeke. This is what I reconstructed from records of actual Dragon Speech magic usage."
As the human knight approached the dragon with a sword, magical circles suddenly appeared before the dragon.
CRACKLE!
The charging knight was instantly frozen, electrocuted, and burned to death.
Zeke looked at Zeros, bewildered.
"What is this?"
"This is Dragon Speech magic. Six spells were cast wordlessly and simultaneously in an instant."