319 Yin-Yang Tonfas (1/2)
After that embarrassment at Titan Cliff, Zero finally got over it after a week. Merlin had been merciless with the teasing and in retaliation, the young doctor only cooked spicy dishes for his teacher who suffered greatly at the combination of wasabi and ghost peppers.
They called it a truce after that horrible incident and apologised to each other as an olive branch. Not a single word about it was spoken ever again. Zero was once more back in Arabesque waiting for news from the lab members in Half Moon Village. Wiser informed him that he shouldn't go on his final quest before receiving his weapons and Merlin agreed. Instead, Zero found himself helping Lovina and Merlin out with some of the alchemy books. When he was bored with that, he would drop by Steve's lab to check on the progress of the miasma converting device that Wiser and Steve were working on.
Apparently, Wii's research notes were very helpful and the two inventors were able to create a prototype based on a heavily revised design after they confirmed certain points about the output of mana and impurities.
Twelve long days later in Heaven, Zero finally received a message from the lab members in Half Moon Village. Arabesque was a great place for Zero's research of any kind but the teen couldn't spend all his time here. He had one more quest to complete before he was able to unlock the system's customising function. He promised Truen that he would give it his all for this final part of his training before their adventures. In terms of medicine and magic, Zero was confident that nobody could win him. Although Ruth still kicked his ass if they sparred without magic, Zero was sure that his combat skills were already considered above average. After all, dodging the kick from a full-blooded ancient race of vampires wasn't humanly possible.
For the special graduation ceremony, Merlin allowed Tambolt to visit Arabesque with Zero's new weapons. Merlin was long ready for the day and was oddly nervous about presenting his graduation gift later at the unofficial ceremony. A few people attended the ceremony namely Mii, Lily, Lovina, Wiser, Steve, Swift and Michael, for unknown reasons.
They were seated in the middle of the festive town. Merlin and Bib went all out on the decorations. Lovina took care of the food and Zero put his newly acquired culinary skills to use when he helped her. Wiser, Steve, Swift and even Michael were impressed by how luxurious the graduation ceremony was. It was weirder for them when they knew how Zero helped to plan and prepare his own graduation party.
With a heavy sigh, the wizard walked up to the platform. He was supposed to present his graduation gift in front of the small party but for some reason, he was having second thoughts about it. Should he just give the speech and ignore the fact that he brought a gift? After all, nobody knew that Merlin intended to give Zero anything.
\”Ahem!\” Merlin cleared his throat and shoved the strange nervousness away. At the front row seat was Zero with a wide smile on his face. Merlin remembered how overjoyed his student was when he received a graduation gift from Hua Tuo and felt bad. Even if it wasn't anything fancy, the wizard knew he couldn't pretend to not give his student anything. He didn't want to disappoint Zero's expectations.
\”Thank you all for gathering today, as you know already, my student, Zero, is graduating from my tutelage. He is now a full-fledged mage who has contributed a lot to the world of magic. Some of his noteworthy contributions are the recreation of Mount Olympia, repairing the cracks in planes especially at Titan Cliff, establishing a new plane guardian for the abyss and discovering the very important relationship between qi, mana, miasma and chaos energy.\”
There was a round of applause and Merlin smiled, looking at his student with pride in his eyes. It was a rather conflicting feeling to be helped by the being who created Great Gods and to teach the same powerful existence what it was like to enjoy the process of discovering new things.
Merlin presented his graduation gift to Zero and the teen was slightly surprised that his teacher made the effort to prepare something. Naturally, Merlin smacked Zero for blurting that out. But the joyful laugh from Zero made the wizard forget about his earlier rudeness.
\”This is a charm that Steve, Wiser and I helped to perfect. It's a one-time use that will be triggered when it senses similar energy to the ones attacking the planes within a certain radius of you. Until then, you can just keep it with your mindscape guardians.\”
Zero received the small pouch that reminded him of a potpourri sachet and felt it hum strangely in his palm. He didn't question it and thanked Merlin before storing it away in his void inventory. He told Lily to hold onto that item and transferred temporary ownership of it to the flower fairy who seemed slightly frightened of the pouch.
Next, Michael gave Zero one of his feathers and Zero only gave the archangel a questioning look. The teen honestly didn't think that the archangel who expressed so much contempt for him would attend his graduation ceremony, much less give him anything.
\”An archangel's feather can offer protection against mind-control and ill-intents. Since you're very gullible, it's better that you don't get manipulated without you knowing. It doesn't matter if it is human or demon, treat everyone as an enemy when you go on your adventure until they have proven themselves worthy of your trust. Don't hand trust out like charity, you wouldn't know who will end up stabbing you in the back. Always listen to that wood elf of yours and don't overdo it. If you need help, you can enter heaven at any time with your unique title. I can be found at the 7 Virtue Tower or the House of Gods.\”
Zero didn't argue with Michael who pinned him with a glare, daring him to reject his gift. The young doctor smiled and thanked the archangel who didn't stay for the party and left quickly. He must have been very busy and the fact that Michael took some time out of his busy schedule to attend Zero's graduation ceremony and pass him a gift made the teen change his opinion about the stuck up angel. Maybe Michael and Lucifer were more similar than he thought. They were both rather awkward people who actually cared under that wall of arrogance.
Zero didn't think that Tambolt and Raj would also present a gift. However, unlike the first two gifts he received, this was something Zero had been expecting.
\”Zero, we finally finished the weapon. Please test it out, we will still be around for a while to make the necessary adjustments. Lovina helped us to fuse King Yama's ring into the tonfas. They can be detached to act as weapons when you require and will only appear as an ordinary walking staff when it is not required.\”