168 Conflict
After returning to the kingdom, Zevien and Vernisia first went to the clinic apothecary and regenerated her arm via a mixture of magic spells and a magic potion.
“We could’ve waited for an hour and left the magic labyrinth,” Vernisia wryly smiled. “The academy would regenerate my arm for free.”
“No,” Zevien shook his head. “I don’t want to see you with that injury for even a second. Anyway, let’s go now and inform the kingdom about the Night Temple.”
…
After informing the kingdom about it, the king was very grateful as Zevien and Vernisia prevented a potential disaster. The king even paid back the cost of Vernisia’s arm regeneration on top of giving 20,000 gold coins.
Once they left the castle, they roamed the kingdom’s market to find the materials required to activate Zevien’s new relic. After an hour of roaming the market and nearby town, they got all the materials. However, Zevien still needs to wait on the relic as he must get 10,000 magic power to activate it.
“The pull will come soon, let’s return to the inn and meditate,” Vernisia said.
“Yep,” Zevien nodded. Both of them returned to the kingdom and booked the best inn with separate big rooms with a big balcony that had a small pond. This inn was located on the outskirt of the kingdom, which was a beautiful natural place.
Both of them sat on comfortable chairs and ate some food while resting. When they felt the exit pull after a while, they entered meditation and tried to stay as long as they could.
When they couldn’t bear it anymore, they were kicked out and returned to their bedroom.
“How much increase?” Vernisia asked right after they returned.
“5675, which means that we stayed inside for six hours and twelve minutes,” Zevien said with a smile.
“Now it’s an increase of 1 magic power per minute,” Vernisia said with a nod before she closed her eyes. “Now, let’s enter my Shadows of Hex magic labyrinth. My regenerated arm is weaker, and we also still need to strengthen our body after this huge increase in magic power.”
“Yep, let’s focus on killing magic beasts in your magic labyrinth while completing chain quests to absorb motes,” Zevien nodded.
…
While Zevien and Vernisia entered the latter’s 1st magic labyrinth, the clan members who were on a mission encountered some trouble.
“We found the herb,” Lax shouted as he, Reika, Mihan, Jonathan, Carmaine, Laoshi, and Rinisha faced a group of six people in Earth Fall forest that was thirty kilometers east from the magic guild. This forest had some herbs and special magic forms that were only born here. Lax and others had accepted some D-rank missions that required things from this forest, so they came here but encountered trouble.
“Haha, we not only want that herb, but everything else you found as well,” said the bulky man wearing full body armor. He stabbed his sword into the ground before speaking nonchalantly. “Don’t resist pointlessly. Only three of you are 3rd class magicians while the six of us all are 3rd class magicians. You can’t beat us.”
“Bastards of Ravenous Wolf clan…” Carmaine muttered angrily. “Why do you want to antagonize us without reason?”
“We have a reason, hahaha. The reason is to loot you, so we don’t need to waste time exploring this forest.”
“We saw you leaving the Magic Guild five hours ago. So, you should have gathered quite some loot in five hours, hehehe. Obediently give us the loot you collected in this forest, and we won’t get rough with you.”
The other group threatened Lax and the others.
“You know that you can be punished if we report this to the Magic Guild headquarters,” Laoshi said while gritting her teeth.
“Oh my god, I am so scared~ Hahaha,” another man from the group said and mocked them. “Do you know what the punishment is? It’s money! Our guild leader will just pay for the offense we did by looting you, and the case is closed! Hahaha…”
“Let’s fight these bastards,” Lax said as he pointed his magic pistols at them and was ready to attack.
The other group became serious after Lax pointed his guns at them and instantly became prepared for retaliation.
“Wait! Don’t do anything reckless,” Reika stopped as she pushed down Lax’s arms. Murder was rare in the Lankrena region among people, but it’s not like it didn’t happen.
If someone killed an innocent and was found out, that person would get a death sentence as well. But it was not worth dying, so people stayed and conducted themselves cautiously.
There were cases of big feuds happening between clans that resulted in mass killings as well. Moreover, if you kill someone out of greed or anything, then you have to fear revenge from relatives of the person you killed as well. As such, people avoided creating blood feuds and killings.
However, robbing others by threatening them and beating them is a common thing.
‘We are at a disadvantage, but if we can call some helpers…’ Jonathan was at the back of the group and sneakily sent a message in clan chat.
[-Clan Chat-]
Jonathan- [We need urgent help in Earth Fall forest. We are at the center area of the forest and in conflict with the people of the Ravenous Wolf clan. If they loot us, we won’t be able to submit three D-rank missions that we spent five hours completing.]
Medro- [I will be there in five minutes. Oh, someone contact those students from Skyward academy if possible. Some of them are strong.]
Afina- [Dan, Erica, Tigger, and Kerolin won’t come. They told us yesterday that today is their magic labyrinth entry day.]
Kaal- [Afina and I are coming, try to hold on for ten minutes.]
Medro- [Did you two manage to become 3rd class magicians?]
Afina- [Yep. We just finished breaking through, haha.]
Jonatha- [Great! Quickly come, and we can turn the tables!]
…
Medro found them in the forest but didn’t approach them and stayed hidden to wait for Afina and Kaal.
Medro saw both groups were bickering, but suddenly, a man from Ravenous Wolf Clan pointed his hand toward Lax and others before attacking them with a spell as a giant pressure-filled water bubble shot towards them.
Lax and the others were already inside various barriers that they cast, so they defended themselves successfully.
“Hurry up and quickly hand us everything! Your barriers can’t block all attacks from us six 3rd class magicians!”
“Wait, we will do it,” Jonathan said. ‘I just need to buy a little time. Modred is already here.’