Chapter 146 - Only One Step Away
"Who dared to kill my children!"
Somewhere in the capital, a furious roar resounded. A young man stood up in rage. His dark eyes were cold and his face trembled with rage. His red hair and handsome face gave him a devilish look. He was tall, wearing a white shirt, trousers and cowboy boots. But at this moment his face was red in fury.
However, after the initial outburst, he took a breath and closed his eyes, when he opened them again, all the rage and fury had vanished, replaced with calm and indifference. He turned around and looked at the man who was standing respectfully, not too far away.
"Go, find out who killed my children," he said in a soft voice, no previous anger remaining, "no one could escape after killing my babies," but there was a certain edge in his voice, a kind of chill we feel in the icy nights of December.
The servant bowed respectfully and left without speaking anything.
Then the red-haired turned towards the platform not far away from him, where lay a half meter long worm at the centre of the formation, struggling, twisting and turning, but to no avail.
The man grinned when he looked at the worm. "So what if I can't control you right now? I can still use your strength. I'm the one who summoned you, and I am the one whose command you will listen to. Maybe not now, but when my strength increases after devouring all those soul fragments you will be mine to control, HAHAHA."
——
After escaping from the precious place Kadyn arrived in another location. It was even more deserted than the last one. Amidst the trees and bushes. Kadyn exchanged a glance with the lady beside him and shrugged. Then he waved his hand and the shop appeared in front of them.
At first, it looked exactly like a toy house, but then it started to enlarge. In just a blink there was an entire shop standing in front of them. Tall and mysterious.
"Let's go," Kadyn said and strolled through the gate of the shop. Cecelia looked at the large shop with a serious expression and then rushed behind him.
As soon as they entered, everyone greeted them. After a short catch-up with everyone Kadyn excused himself and went into the shop where he entered his personal meditation room.
"Here I come, Spell Casters," Kadyn grinned from ear to ear when he thought about becoming Rank 1 mage. He had already awakened all the stars in the journey previously.
Now, he just needed to break the wall in front of him, and he will be one of the strong, maybe not one of the strong as the standard of the strong had increased when they arrived in the capital. Rank 1 could be considered an average strength for someone of his age, but if someone knew that he didn't take even a year to reach this stage they would definitely shake to the core.
"Let's start—" he closed his eyes and started to merge the glittering, burning, and twisting, and all kinds of stars — which were formed due to a combination of other elements.
As he was trying to break through a small bird was sitting on the tree branch, its small head buried into its white feathers.
But at this moment it lifted its tiny head and looked in the direction of the meditation room, and then again packed its head into its feathery chest, leaving an almost inaudible murmur. "Too weak. Why am I wasting my time with this guy? If not for that mysterious and powerful vibe coming from him… if I had my complete strength I would have been able to find the source of this shop and whoever is behind it… sigh..."
——
It was 4 o'clock in the morning when a burst of laughter came from the meditation room. The laughter resounded in the entire shop due to the silence, disturbing everyone, as they rushed out of the house and gathered in front of the shop, looking at each other in confusion.
Five minutes later Kadyn walked out of the shop. When he found everyone standing in front of the shop, he scratched his head in embarrassment, apologising. "I am sorry for disturbing everyone. I was too excited to control myself after breaking through."
"You are Spell Caster now?'' Everyone looked at him with a pleasant surprise. But they weren't too shocked by the revelation. After all, Elora had since long broken through. She just needed to build a rune before entering the ranks of Spell Casters. Even Khrom was about to break through after his problem was solved when he refined the Mermaid Pearl.
Kadyn looked at them and replied. "I have yet to build a rune. Only after forming a rune would I be able to call myself Spell Caster."
"I don't have enough energy points to buy a rune," Elora grumbled from beside him. "When are we going to start our business? I need a lot of energy points. I have seen a rune inside the library which would help my healing element to evolve into a life element." Her eyes glittered in anticipation when she thought about the evolution of her element.
Hot Rod looked envious when he heard her. After all, he still hadn't earned a single energy point since he became an employee. Cecelia on the other hand didn't seem to be that impressed.
She had seen the things inside the library; they were indeed far more precious than she had thought, but after all, she was not a Rank 1 mage anymore. She was Rank 2, and the shop had yet to evolve into Rank 2, so she couldn't find something appealing to her inside the shop.
"Don't worry," Kadyn replied to Elora, "if everything goes according to the plan, in two days we will have a place to settle our shop. You just focus on brewing potions."
Kadyn looked at everyone in front of him and hesitated for a moment but then he flicked his hand and a bunch of scrolls appeared in his hand. He eyed Barret and Zelie, Rayna and Nefia, Dion and everyone else. Only Kove and Melvona were missing from the group.
"You guys have helped me a lot in this period of time without a single complaint," he said as he eyed everyone one by one with a smile and twirled the scrolls in his hand. "I don't have much to return. These are the contract scrolls if you want you can become employees of my shop. There is no compulsion. It is your choice."
Without waiting for their response, Kadyn turned towards Rayna. "I have found a way to make you and Kove mage. After I form my rune, I will be able to solve this problem."
Everyone's eyes went wide when they heard his words. All of them were aware that Rayna and Kove were ordinary people, and had not even a single trace of magic power inside their bodies. It was impossible to solve this problem. It was as if someone was claiming to lit a lamp without oil.
Kadyn continued. "Don't feel pressure because of this, though," he smiled. "Even if you don't sign the contract I will still help you."
"It is impossible," Cecelia was the first to object. She eyed him and went on. "It is impossible to solve their problem. I have checked their condition by myself. They don't have a trace of magic power. Let's consider you somehow awakened their elements; they still won't be able to activate elemental stars. It will be futile."
Everyone nodded in agreement. They also felt as if Kadyn was talking about the impossible.
The bird looked at Kadyn in surprise from the rooftop of the shop. It also thought that Kadyn was talking nonsense, even if he could awaken their elements they would only have a mediocre talent. The cost won't match the result.
"Oh, don't worry," Kadyn grinned at Cecelia. "I will let you guys know how awesome I am. Also, Rayna and Kove's talent won't be less than any of you. It might even surpass you."
"Stop boasting," Cecelia said in an annoyed tone. She had spent a lot of time with Rayna and became friends with her, and she knew how kind she was, and she would never want to see her expectations shattered. She, of course, wanted her friend to be happy, but if Kadyn's claim was false, it would only hurt her.
Kadyn smiled at her and stopped arguing. It won't do any good. He just needed to show them how it's done when the time comes. He shook his head and said. "Don't worry, everyone will know, it's just a matter of a few days."
After that, he walked towards the house. Then he stopped and said to Rayna. "Sister Ryana, can you please make breakfast. We can't let anyone see the shop, so I have to go out early. But I am quite hungry right now."
"Ah, sure," Rayna came back from her stupor. Khrom grasped her hand tightly and whispered. "No matter if you have magic or not. I will always love you."
A sweet smile appeared on her face and her grip tightened on his hand before walking towards the house, but in her heart, she had already made her decision. Due to her incapability of using magic, she always felt inferior to others.
But no matter, she could still spend her life as she didn't have much ambition, but she could not see the disappointed expression on Kove's face. How could she not tell the thoughts of her son whenever he looked at others using magic?