9 Chapter 9: Claude Preston
“That’s fine uncle! I already appreciate the goodwill. But uncle, can I get the payment in form of mana stones?” Rezen asks
It was a pain in the ass if he have to make a trip to the city to exchange his credits for mana stones
Fierce Fire nodded his head at that, he wasn’t even surprised
In the world of ‘mortals’, almost every transaction is made in the form of credits but for mages, using credits can be a bit of a hassle
1 mana stone is equal to a thousand credits. High-level mages often have transactions with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of mana stones, it’s even completely possible for the transaction to reach millions of mana stones in price
If the mages were to use credits just how many zeroes would be in every transaction?
Besides, mana stones have real use while credits don’t. If society were to collapse today, credits would be useless and everyone would only accept mana stones
With a wave of Fierce Fire’s hand, 400 mana stones appeared on the table. They were sparkling with blue color and Rezen stared at these mana stones hungrily
He had never seen so many mana stones before!
As for the matter of Fierce Fire having void storage? Meh, even Rezen has his own storage and he doesn’t need to be shocked
“Thank you, uncle!” Rezen said sincerely as he send the guess off
When Rezen cannot see Fierce Fire anymore, he immediately used all the 400 mana stones that he just gained to buy more seeds
“Here comes the hard part” Rezen muttered as he dug 40 holes in total and placed one seed each on them before covering the seeds with soil
Rezen also did his usual watering act. Even if he doesn’t know whether watering the seeds is necessary it is better safe than sorry
“Other farmers or gardeners planted vegetables, fruits, or flowers but here I am, planting grass. Life is hard sigh…”
Only after finishing his farm work, only then did Rezen return to his house to wash up and wait for his crops to grow
——-
Around four hours later, Rezen checked his crops and as expected, they are already fully grown
While humming to entertain himself, Rezen pulled the grasses one by one while storing them in storage
Even with 400 blades of vismian grass, they still only used up one cell. It seems like as long as it was the same thing, Rezen’s storage only used up one cell to store all of them
“Sigh… to work this hard for some money…” Rezen felt bitter. Even if he can sell all these spirit plants, it might only be enough for him to ‘recharge’ for 1 or 2 blessings if he used all the mana stones he would get
But Rezen cannot possibly do that as his vismian grass needed to be divided into the ones he would consume and the ones he would sell
As such, even with 400 blades of vismian grasses, Rezen might not even have enough mana stones to ‘recharge’ for one blessing
Rezen just finished his farm work when he suddenly heard the sound of wolf howls
“Isn’t that where the Ratois Mountain is?”
Rezen can remember the military guy saying that there is some unrest in the mountain
Rezen’s farm is outside the Greenwood City itself but it is still part of the city
As such, his farm and the other household that also own their farm nearby are relatively safe
Magic beasts attacking the nearby households would rarely happen, at most, it would be once every few or more years
The Ratois Mountain is a bit distant from Rezen’s farm but he actually heard some wolf howls in that direction
Did the military guy lied to him or something? He said that the unrest in the mountain shouldn’t be a big deal but what is this?
“I swear, if I were to get attacked by wolves again, I would think that the gods don’t want me to live anymore!” Rezen cursed
An instance where a beast attack the nearby farms and household is once every few years. If Rezen were to be attacked twice in the span of 24 hours he would start to think that he has a shitty luck
However, to his displeasure, his farm was actually attacked yet again
From the distance, he could see five grey wolves running. When the wolves notice him, they all change directions to kill him
“Oi, oi, oi, what have I done wrong to deserve this?” Rezen cried out and he hurriedly took out his mystic gem
His eyes glowed with a light yellow light as the sun-type mystic gem hovered around him
“I am a peace-loving citizen, what did I do to deserve this?!” He questioned angrily before reaching his hand out to condense a magic circle
“Son of bitches, taste my [Sun Blast!]”
Since this is a matter that involves his life, Rezen wouldn’t hold back. He immediately cast the strongest magic spell he could cast and another orb of sunlight was released by him
With Rezen having complete mastery over the 1st fusion grade magic spell of his, his control over it was quite spectacular and he didn’t miss
The orb of sunlight hit one of the wolves and it instantly exploded
The surrounding temperature rises as if a mini sun exploded. Of course, that is merely an exaggeration since a 1st fusion’s magic spell even at complete mastery still isn’t enough to level the mountains and evaporate the seas
Although Rezen only attacked one wolf, the resulting explosion also gave another wolf a light injury and that is when Rezen’s face paled
“Shit!” He can’t help but curse. His mana is almost completely depleted now!
Rezen just finished playi— training hours ago and that used up a lot of his mana. Although he recovered some in the span of four hours, with his pitiful ungraded talent, his natural mana recovery could make the gods cry
After using one magic spell at 1st fusion level, he was basically more or less depleted
“Good doggies, why don’t we stop now?” Rezen said but after a moment of hesitation, the wolves started charging at him again
“Bad doggies!” He cursed before entering his house while swallowing several blades of vismian grasses at once to recover his mana. He even almost choked on them!
The narrow door of his house impeded the wolves a bit as only one of them could enter at the same time
The game of cat and mouse started as Rezen clumsily dodged and run away from the wolf until he arrived at his bedroom
The state of the things inside his house was already a mess but who cares about that now? He still has a more pressing matter!
Rezen shut the door of his bedroom. He even pushed the weight of his body into the door to prevent the wolves from entering
However, that almost causes him to get his eyes poked as the nails of the grey wolf pierces through the wooden door
The wolf’s nail was only inches away from Rezen’s eyes and that spooked him and he hurriedly moved away from the door
Bang!
The grey wolves broke the door, their salivas dripping down the floor while Rezen wiped the sweat from his forehead
“[Sun Blast!]”
Rezen just recovered his mana by eating his grass like a cow and he activated his magic spell again
Another wolf was blasted off but there were three remaining and without hesitation, Rezen broke the glass window of his bedroom using his body to come out
“Aya! You surprised me!” Rezen exclaimed after seeing a human running towards him
This is the second time that Rezen met this man
It was none other than Claude Preston, the military guy!
“Come behind me!” Claude hurriedly ordered. He can see the mystic gem hovering around Rezen but from its aura, it was merely an ungraded mystic gem. It hasn’t even reached the 1st fusion yet!
Rezen did not need to be told twice as he hastily went behind Claude
He doesn’t have any mana anymore and Rezen used this chance to eat more grass to start his recovery
Rezen watched as Claude raised his palm and a magic circle formed on top of it that held a black mystic gem
At this moment, the remaining three grey wolves also jumped out of the window and being the beasts they were, there is no room for negotiation at all
They directly attacked Claude without checking if they can defeat him or not!
Claude’s mystic gem floated behind him as he clicked his fingers together and three magic circles appeared below the wolves, one for each wolf!
“[Shadow Strike!]” he muttered before three sharp tentacles of darkness strikes out from below the grey wolves, impaling and killing them as a result
‘S-so cool!’ Rezen exclaimed in his heart. Comparing how he desperately and clumsily defeated two grey wolves while relying on vismian grasses to recover his mana to how Claude easily killed the remaining grey wolves made Rezen blush in shame
In gaming terms, one is like a newbie and the other is a veteran! Comparing the two would only make Rezen ashamed
“Are you injured anywhere?” Claude asks with a hint of worry and Rezen’s admiration for him grew
Really so cool!
This is what a soldier should be like! They should care for the masses!
“I’m not injured. Thank you!” Rezen said sincerely before he saw Claude’s face darkening and the man hurriedly moved
Claude stood with Rezen behind him. Only when Rezen turned his back did he know the reason why Claude seems to be protecting him
Several meters away from them, more wolves have arrived
Claude waved his hand and a phone appeared in his hand that he threw towards Rezen
“Use that and dial 911! Tell them that a beast tide of unknown magnitude is starting” Claude said seriously
He is not afraid of the hundred wolves that arrive that were still increasing in number since these wolves were all weaker than him
This group only contains wolves at ungraded to 2nd fusion magic beasts. It is not difficult for Claude to exterminate all of them
The problem lies in the fact that this might not be the entirety of the beast tide. There might be more wolves not just here but in other places
After all, there is quite a number of houses and farms in this area. People that don’t want to live in a populated and loud city would choose to stay here
If there are also wolves that appeared in other areas then who knows how many people would get killed
As unrealistic as it sounds, Claude doesn’t want there to be any casualties on the human side
“G-got it!” Rezen replied as he dialed 911
He is not aware of the extent of Claude’s power and he assumed that the man couldn’t kill all the wolves
At least for the sake of himself, Rezen has to call the authorities and he dialed 911 with the fastest speed he could mutter
“Captain Claude, what is the emergency?” The person at the other end of the call asks
Seems like this phone is something that the military owns or something and is used when there is an emergency
If not, how would the authorities know who was calling and that their first sentence would be asking what the emergency is
“Hello, there is a beast tide of unknown magnitude Sir Claude ask—” before Rezen can even finish his words, the call was already ended
“How rude” he complained with a pout and Claude heard that
“The phone has a tracker in it, they know where we are now. The military is sensitive with beast tides since it would often cause many casualties” Claude said
So basically, the phone is for military members, it has tracking devices, and the military of this world is actually competent as they would immediately move with the threat of the beast tide?