Chapter 51 (1/2)

Chapter 51: My Brother! (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Link’s current Maximum Mana limit was 99.1 points. When a Magician’s Mana was full, his body would glow with an aura and his eyes would look bright. These were simply the effects of magic. But right now, Link’s Mana was down to 9 points, and so the magic aura around his body dimmed drastically, and his eyes were now noticeably dulled.

When the three mercenaries first met Link, this unremarkable looking appearance was exactly what they saw.

Link considered Lucy and Gildern’s vow of loyalty towards him and decided to accept them. The three members were all equally important to the Flamingo Band of Mercenaries and Lucy and Gildern both showed promising talents and had proven themselves to be reliable comrades in battles. So Link nodded in agreement.

“I will grant you Battle Art too, but not right now because I’ve depleted all my Mana. By the way, I must remind you that Battle Art is only an instruction of the proper practice method. If you want to develop your Combat Aura, you’ll still need to work hard.”

Hidden Power was only a Level-3 spell after all, and it was only the basic version purchased with Omni Points. In other words, this was only an average-level Battle Art, so the resulting Combat Aura wouldn’t be too spectacular either. Link calculated that if the mercenaries practiced hard enough, at 35 years old they would be able to reach Level-5 but from then on it would get harder and harder to advance further. Lucy and Gildern would probably peak at Level-6, while Jacker might reach a little bit higher, but still, no higher than Level-7.

But that was only temporary, of course. If the three turned out to be very useful to him, Link might consider giving them a higher-level Battle Art in the future.

“Understood!” The three mercenaries all nodded. They never shirked from discipline and hard work. What they dreaded were useless and wasted efforts where they pushed through and gave it their all and but still remained at the same level.

The mercenaries noticed how bone-weary Link looked, so they excused themselves, said their farewells and left the attic. Once they reached the inn’s hall, Jacker exclaimed, “Now I can feel that my dreams are within my grasp!”

Lucy was still shaken by what happened in the attic. “These days, I feel as if I’m in a dream. Jacker, should we give Lord Link all the money that we have left? I heard learning magic uses up a lot of gold coins. Once the tuition is all paid, he might not have much left to use,” she murmured.

They still had 1500 gold coins left, and this was a sum too big to ever spend for them. In the end, all they could do was hide it somewhere safe and leave it there.

“Lucy’s right. Jacker, what do you say?” Gildern said.

Gildern felt no more resentment towards Link. With Battle Art, he now dared to hope for a brighter future. Money was nothing at all compared to how invaluable Battle Art was to Warriors, and yet Link had granted them such a precious thing so graciously. If he still begrudged Link because of money, then he was nothing more than a self-serving ridiculous little mouse.

Jacker had no objections, of course. He had devoted his life to Link. Now that everyone in the Flamingo Band of Mercenaries had become Link’s followers, he knew that whatever benefited Link would benefit them too. The more powerful Link got, the more promising their future would be as well.

And so, he would do anything in his power to support Link’s progress.

“Not only should we give the remaining money to him, we must also strive to strengthen ourselves as fast as we can, and earn as much money as we can to support Lord Link’s studies!” Jacker said.

Lucy and Gildern were both smart enough to understand the wisdom of Jacker’s words. They both nodded in agreement.

Jacker added in a low, serious voice, “One more thing, we must lay low for the time being. Let’s not make any commotion lest anyone takes notice of us, at least until this storm settles down. Right now, the best thing we can do is to go back and focus on practicing. I will share the instructions I received from my Battle Art with both of you, so you can practice them too.”

They were sailing close to the wind lately, with many people from the underworld trying to sniff them out. Even today, they had to be especially careful when coming to the River Cove inn, anxious that Link’s life might be endangered. In these circumstances, the wisest thing to do was to learn from the tortoise and hide in their shells for a while.

Once the three came to an agreement, they decided to go back to their makeshift headquarter to get the money. But just as they were making their way out of the inn, they noticed a carriage right in front of the entrance.

It was a handsome carriage, with a sky-blue top and silver-gilt edges. The horses were all majestic, long-legged pedigrees that looked stronger than the horses of some knights they encountered in the North. Even the coachman was wearing a luxurious livery. One look and it was clear that the carriage belonged to someone of high personage.