Chapter 279
Fairy Stones were incredibly expensive. The reason was simple: they were exceedingly rare.
However, mages needed them in vast quantities. The Fairy Stone was the only medium with a higher mana conductivity than even the highest-grade magic stones.
They were an essential research material, so much so that it was said over three-quarters of a mage's research budget was spent on acquiring them.
Antonio swallowed dryly as he gazed at the Fairy Stone, which was perfect in its color, size, and condition. A stone of this quality was difficult to acquire, even for those with the coin.
"What's this? Oho! So you brought this as a bribe for me, did you? To think of bribing a mage with a Fairy Stone... you're a clever one."
"As much as you might wish it, it's not a bribe."
Antonio’s face scrunched into a frown.
"Not a bribe? No, no. I'm sure it's a bribe. Think about it again."
"It isn't a bribe, but an item for a trade."
At Zeke's words, Antonio tilted his head.
"A trade? Are you saying you plan to supply us with Fairy Stones?"
"I will supply a fixed amount in a processed form every quarter. I've heard that with the recent shortage, they've become difficult to procure not just for the Mage Tower, but for Nirvana as well."
Antonio ground his teeth and stuck the pipe back in his mouth.
"Damn it all. Some bastards have been pulling strings. They were already hard enough to find, but it's gotten even worse lately."
Before coming to Nirvana, while investigating the Blood Tear Stones, Zeke had learned that the supply of Fairy Stones on the market had been cut by more than half. It was highly likely that the forces of the Abyss were either buying them up or controlling their distribution to produce the Blood Tear Stones.
Thanks to this, the mages were desperate for Fairy Stones. For Zeke, who had discovered a massive Fairy Stone vein in the Southern Archipelago, supplying them was an easy task.
Antonio licked his lips, stroking the stone Zeke had brought.
"You can supply Fairy Stones of this quality?"
"The stones you find on the market often contain many impurities, but our supply, as you can see, is of the highest grade with over 99% purity. Furthermore, since they are processed directly by Dwarves, the loss rate is almost zero."
"Hmmmm."
Antonio's attitude had completely changed from when Zeke first arrived. He put on a magnifying lens and examined the Fairy Stone from every angle.
He nodded.
"Can you do twenty kilograms per quarter of this quality?"
"How does forty kilograms sound? The price, however, will be 110% of the market rate. I will guarantee the highest quality."
"Forty kilograms of the highest grade? Hell, if we can get our hands on it, we'll buy as much as you can offer!"
"On one condition."
"A condition? What is it?"
"You must promise that they will be consumed internally by the Nirvana clan and will absolutely not be sold to outsiders."
Antonio snorted at his words.
"We'd sell other goods just to buy more Fairy Stones. Do you think I'm crazy enough to sell these elsewhere?"
"As long as you uphold that promise, we can maintain a good business relationship."
A wide grin spread across Antonio’s face.
"Good, good. Can I borrow this for a moment? We have a system here, you know, so I need to go talk to the old-timers."
"Please, consider that one a gift, Master Antonio."
"What? Really? Mwahaha!"
Antonio, who had been dancing with the Fairy Stone in his hands, shouted toward the next room.
"Hey! Hixson!"
At his booming call, a clattering sound came from the side, and someone quickly entered the laboratory.
"Gasp! Master, you called?"
"Hey, I'm going to see the old-timers for a bit. Stay here with Sir Draker—no, Sir Zeke—and keep him company. Hahahaha, just wait here a moment."
Antonio pawned Zeke off on Hixson and left with a hearty laugh.
‘It feels like a storm just swept through.’
Although Zeke had brought that particular Fairy Stone specifically as a tool for persuasion, he hadn't expected an 8th Circle Master to be quite so delighted.
Hixson, who had been unceremoniously put in charge of Zeke, scratched his head and greeted him.
"A pleasure to meet you, Sir... Zeke Draker! Ah, you're the Knight of the Sea Lord, correct?"
"That's right, Sir Hixson. How should I address you?"
"Just Hixson is fine."
Mages had various titles. A typical magic-user was called a Mage. Once they entered the Mage Tower, they would choose a specialty, and upon mastering it to a certain level, they were granted a corresponding title.
Those who mastered elemental magic were Sorcerers, curse-specialists were Witches, weapon-crafters were Enchanters, combat-focused mages were Warlocks, and those who researched magical spells and their mechanics were Magicians.
Among these specialists, those who discovered new magical systems or theories were granted the title of Wizard.
The Nirvana clan, however, ignored the Mage Tower's classifications, referring to themselves collectively under the term "Sorcerers." It signified their belief in not defining themselves by a single specialty, but in walking the path of truth by fusing all forms of knowledge.
As Zeke was thinking that even the slightly oafish-looking Hixson was indeed a Nirvana Sorcerer, Hixson was pondering how best to fulfill his master's order to make conversation.
Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he blurted it out.
"Since you're a Draker, Sir Zeke, you must know a lot about dragons, right?"
"We learn the swordsmanship to slay them, but we have never seen a dragon ourselves, so we only know what is commonly known."
At Zeke's reply, Hixson's eyes lit up.
"You mean the famous Dragon Slaying Arts! Come to think of it, I heard that Pure-blood Awakened have the ability to repel magical power. Is that true? This is my first time meeting a Pure-blood Awakened from the Draker clan..."
"It's true. I would show you, but I suspect Master Antonio would faint if I took my gloves off in here."
Hixson was horrified.
"N-No, absolutely not! If anything in here breaks, I'm a dead man...!"
Hixson calmed himself down and continued the conversation.
"By the way, Sir Zeke, do you know about the way dragons used magic in ancient times?"
Zeke nodded at Hixson's words.
"Are you referring to the Dragon Tongue?"
"Gasp! How did you know?"
Zeke had answered correctly without even realizing it.
"I've picked up a few things here and there, but I don't know the specifics."
At that, Hixson's eyes sparkled.
"Actually, that's the very field our laboratory is researching."
"The Dragon Tongue?"
"To be precise, we're researching how to apply the principles of the Dragon Tongue to create more efficient chantless spells."
"Chantless spells. That sounds fascinating."
Seeing Zeke's reaction, Hixson spoke with excitement.
"Right? My master and I thought so too, which is why we've been stuck here for five years. The limit for a 5th Circle mage casting a chantless spell is the 3rd Circle. If a 5th Circle mage could cast 4th or even 5th Circle spells without an incantation, their combat efficiency would skyrocket."
Zeke nodded in agreement. One of the main reasons mages often died on the battlefield was their vulnerability while chanting spells. If chantless magic became possible, as Hixson suggested, the advantages held by Dark Mages would disappear, and it would undoubtedly cause a revolution in the world of magic.
As he listened to Hixson's explanation of how the Dragon Tongue worked, something occurred to Zeke.
'Come to think of it, are the skills I use also a form of Dragon Tongue magic?'
Normally, Zeke, as a knight, shouldn't be able to use magic. But through the system, he was using magic in the form of skills. Of course, it was only possible because of the Bahamut's Heart embedded within him, but thinking about it again, it was still an incredible feat.
'If I were to study magic, could I use my skills more efficiently?'
Magic was a realm he had never once considered until now.
As Zeke contemplated the correlation between his skills and magic, he spoke to Hixson.
"Sir Hixson. I have a question."
Hixson, who had been rattling off the theoretical aspects of Dragon Tongue magic, was startled by Zeke's interjection.
"So the mana moves to the mana organ and its very composition chang—huh? A question?"
"Are there any combat records of Dragon Tongue magic?"
Hixson thought for a moment at Zeke's question, then nodded.
"There are no direct records, but I think there are materials that have been reconstructed based on ancient texts. Just a moment. There's a specialist for that."
Hixson turned his head to the side and yelled.
"Hey! Xeros!"
Hixson shouted, but there was no response from the next room. He got up from his seat, kicked the door, and yelled again.
"Hey! Xeros! What are you doing?!"
Unlike before, Hixson's voice was powerful and forceful.
The door creaked open, and a mage with a face that looked half-dead shuffled out.
"Ughhh. Senior. Why'd you call?"
"You punk, you're lucky it was me. If the master had called and you didn't answer, you'd be dead on the spot."
"Uwaaah. Please don't tell the master."
The disheveled young man called Xeros collapsed into a chair and asked Hixson,
"So why did you call? I was just about to fall asleep for the first time in three days."
Hixson pointed to Zeke, who was sitting opposite them, and made the introduction.
"Pay your respects. This is Sir Zeke Draker, a guest of our master. He's the Knight of the Sea Lord..."
Instantly, Xeros shot up from his seat, climbed onto the table, and extended a hand to Zeke.
"The Knight of the Sea Lord! The continent's youngest Blue, no... now Red Knight! Sir Zeke Draker! It's an honor to meet you! I'm a member of Yong-Yong-Ee."
Zeke tilted his head at Xeros's words.
"A pleasure to meet you, Sir Xeros. But... What is Yong-Yong-Ee?"
Xeros was shocked that Zeke didn't know about his own fan club. He struggled to compose himself, gently cradling Zeke's hand.
"Th-This is Sir Zeke's hand... haa, haa. I won't wash this hand until the next fan club meeting. Hehehe."
Hixson smacked Xeros on the back of the head.
"You idiot, you're startling Sir Zeke. Cut the nonsense and share some of your specialized knowledge."
Xeros rubbed the back of his head and asked Hixson,
"Oww. What knowledge are you suddenly talking about?"
"Sir Zeke is curious about the combat records of Dragon Tongue magic."
"Huh? Really?"
Zeke nodded.
"I heard you were researching ways to improve chantless spellcasting by applying the principles of Dragon Tongue magic. From a knight's perspective, I'm curious as to how one would have countered such fast-casting spells."
Xeros nodded, deeply moved by Zeke's words.
"As expected of Sir Zeke. You truly are a true knight."
Hixson smacked Xeros on the back of the head again.
"Why is a mage getting all emotional about that, you punk? To put Sir Zeke's words another way, he's asking how to best slice the throat of a chantless mage."
Xeros nodded in agreement.
"Well, if it's Sir Zeke, he could obviously slice up even a chantless mage... Yikes, that's a scary thought, haha. Anyway... please wait just a moment."
Nodding, Xeros opened the door again and went into his room to search for something. Hixson gestured toward him and sighed.
"I apologize, Sir Zeke. Xeros may seem like he has a screw loose, but he was the top graduate of the Mage Tower and has already earned the titles of both Sorcerer and Warlock."
It was an incredible achievement for someone who still looked so young. The title of Warlock could only be earned by mastering at least two schools of combat magic and one school of support magic to the 5th Circle or higher, while the title of Sorcerer required mastering three or more schools of elemental magic to the same level.
A moment later, Xeros returned from his room, struggling to carry something.
"Phew, Senior, please take this."
Hixson took the object from Xeros and stood it up against the wall.
"What is this?"
"It's a holographic projector. The one you requested last month and then shoved in my room because you said you had no space for it."
Xeros set up the projector and channeled his mana into it to activate it. A translucent haze of light began to emerge from the device. He adjusted his mana, manipulating the light.
Soon, the translucent forms of a knight and a dragon appeared.
"Watch closely, Sir Zeke. This is my restoration of what actual Dragon Tongue magic looked like in use, based on the ancient records."
In the holographic image, the human knight raised his sword and approached the dragon. At that moment, a magic circle flared to life in front of the dragon.
CRACKLE!
The knight charging the dragon was instantly frozen, fried with electricity, and incinerated by fire, all at once.
After watching the hologram, Zeke stared at Xeros with a dumbfounded expression.
"What... was that?"
"That was Dragon Tongue magic. Six spells, cast chantlessly, all at the same time."