Meanwhile, Lillian showed a puzzled expression and felt nervous inside.
She thought of those who had low affinity and instantly paled at that thought.
"Don't worry. You have a high affinity for darkness elements, and I think you have the talent to walk on the path of mages." Abium said with a bright smile.
Meanwhile, all those kids were startled and soon became wide-eyed.
They were not that clueless about these so-called mages. All of them knew they were the ones who were staying in those large towers inside the Capital and felt little envy towards Lillian. Soon, they cast that envy away and felt relieved.
Meanwhile, Abium took out the basic runic language book he got from Azolla and gave it to her.
"Once you finish memorizing this book, I will guide you to walk on the path of mages. Okay?" Abium asked.
Meanwhile, Lillian took the book with her trembling hands and nodded repeatedly. She knew how precious this opportunity was and almost cried.
"Good. I will also teach you guys a high-ranked sword technique but don't show your sword skills to anyone for now. Use it only when it is necessary like your life is in danger. Got it?" Abium shifted his gaze towards others and asked.
"Yes, Teacher." Aaron responded hurriedly, while other kids also started nodding. Abium was pleased by the kids' responses and continued.
"Next thing is about passing this warrior cultivation techniques and sword arts information to others."
"We won't tell a soul about it!" Lillian and Aaran answered instantly.
Abium shook his head and spoke.
"No, spread these techniques to anyone who is worthy enough. As long as you don't pass these warrior techniques and sword arts to thugs and evil cult members, I won't be mad at any of you guys."
Upon hearing his words, Aaron gave a strange look and asked.
"Is it okay to do that, Teacher? Wouldn't spreading these techniques to common people cause instability in the society?"
"It won't. In less than fifteen years, these kinds of techniques will be available even in the market for 5 to 10 white gold coins."
"How do you know that, Teacher?" Lillian asked with a curious gaze.
Instead of answering her, Abium smiled mysteriously and diverted the topic.
"Anyway, I advise you guys to spread these techniques after becoming strong enough to protect yourselves. From today onwards, come to this house daily and start your cultivation. I won't be staying here tomorrow, but my disciple will return from his mission and stay here for some time. He'll help you with your training. If you need some help, ask him anytime." As Abium finished his words, he started teaching the Royal Sword Technique to kids. After dusk, he sent them to the slum with a few silver coins and returned to read the elven book.
…
16th June,
It was around 2 A.M,
Abium suddenly closed the book he was reading and frowned.
At that moment, he felt severe pain all over his body and instantly realized that the two spell effects were going to end.
His height increased, and his physical appearance returned to normal.
'Should I go outside and construct my second spell?' Abium thought to himself but soon shook his head.
'I'll go tomorrow.' Abium nodded and continued to read the book he was reading earlier.
It was about various cuisines of elves. What surprised Abium was that most of the elves in the ancient time loved eating meat and weren't vegans!
…
Around 5.30 A.M, Abium silently closed the book and stood up from his seat.
Soon, he changed his cloth into a ragged one and stealthily left Black Street. He entered the Commoners' Borough's main street and soon arrived at the Slum Borough's entrance gate.
After waiting a few minutes, he entered the Slum Borough and went to a brick house on Pine Street.
It was Darby's current residence.
Knock! Knock!
A few seconds later, running footsteps came from the other side, and soon a slightly obese man with a face full of scars opened the wooden door from inside.
"What happened, Sir Jeeves?" Darby asked with a startled expression. He wore a linen nightgown and appeared to be in a half-sleep state.
"Nothing serious. I want to meet your new boss." Abium said with a sly smile, causing Darby's face to be pale.
'That's nothing serious for you? Aren't you asking me to accompany you to the death?' He grimaced inwardly.
After that, Darby went silent for a few seconds and replied stiffly.
"I will take you there, Sir. But if that knight showed a slight hint of hostility, please get away from there. That guy is dangerous."
Abium smiled lightly and nodded.
'He didn't even listen to a single word! I'm the next one to die in his hand!'
Darby's mouth twisted into a bitter smile as he locked the door and brought Abium towards a large single-storied building on Pine Street. Compared to other houses, this one looked neat and was guarded by three muscular men. At that moment, all three of them appeared to be chatting with laughter and looked relaxed.
"Who is this kid, Darby?" As they noticed their arrival, one of the guards looked at Darby and asked with a frown.
"He is a friend of mine. He-" Darby stopped his talking and glanced around. After confirming no one was nearby, he heaved a deep sigh and spoke in a suppressing voice.
"He wants to meet our new boss."
As Darby finished his words, the other two guys laughing earlier suddenly stopped. All three of them glanced at each other and showed nervousness on their faces. Soon, one of the thugs spoke with a hint of fear in his eyes.
"Darby, this is his sleeping time. Y-Yesterday, James knocked on the door slightly harder, but that damned knight chopped his hand off. After that, he ordered us to guard the door and forbade everyone from even knocking. If we let you knock the door, he might kill-"
Abium shook his head and quickly arrived at the door while they were talking.
As soon as they saw what Abium was planning, they couldn't help but widen their eyes.
On the other hand, Abium shrugged his shoulders and decided to see who this mysterious knight was.
"No! Don't knock on that damn door, young man. That knight is a complete moron and will kill you without batting an eye." A bald man said while chasing after him. But Abium didn't even allow that guy to stop him and kicked the door harder with much strength.
A second later, all four of them froze on the spot!
"Who dares to disturb me in my sleep?" An enraging came from inside as Abium walked in. A second later, Abium couldn't help but smile.
He felt the voice was familiar and soon guessed who this guy was.
The young man had black hair and deep blue eyes and wore a neat brown colored shirt and pants.
"Nicolaus, what are you doing here?" Abium couldn't help but ask.
"Who are you? Ho-" Nicolaus stopped midway and instantly identified it was Abium.
"Haa! You finally appeared!" He breathed out a sigh of relief and soon shifted his gaze towards the other four who stood outside with perplexed expressions on their faces.
"You guys can go now," Nicolaus said while waving his hand and turning his gaze towards Abium.
Meanwhile, Abium entered the reception hall, walked near the wooden chair, and sat on it.
"What are you doing here? Also, how did you become so strong in a few months?" At that moment, he felt Nicolaus had already reached Intermediate Swordsmanship and even entered the 5th-tier warrior stage.
Moreover, Abium also felt strange energy coming out of his left hand and furrowed his brows in suspicion.
Meanwhile, Nicolaus also sat on the opposite sofa and started explaining what happened after they separated from him. As Nicolaus finished his explanation, he took out an unsealed letter from his pocket and gave it to Abium.
"What is it?" Abium asked with confusion.
"After I bid farewell to Lady Fennelis and Umi, I returned to my hometown and simply stayed in my home. But about ten days ago, Lady Fennelis sent me this letter and mentioned that they seemed to have met some trouble in Keris kingdom." Nicolaus turned his expression serious and said.
'Trouble? With their current strength, Lady Fennelis should be able to take care of herself, right?' Abium knitted his brows and quickly started to read that unsealed letter.
"Good day, Nicolaus.
Umi and I are now staying in Keris Kingdom's Siverland City. But on our way, we met a troublesome enemy. I don't know who this unknown enemy was, but we barely managed to survive with the help of some adventurers. It all started when we stayed in Roguedale town. The enemy began to kill normal citizens in many places and left marks like some blood-sacrificial rituals all over the place.
I thought it was some cult members' work and began investigating. Although we managed to corner the killer, he (It) escaped at the last moment. Afterward, we moved towards the Roguedale Town Lord's mansion to inform him about this incident but discovered that he was already murdered. Only then I knew it was a trap set up by an enemy.
Thankfully, we managed to avoid being surrounded and finally escaped from Roguedale town. After that, we moved towards Silverland city. But along the way, we encountered that same killer and confirmed it was a shape-shifting creature. I have a feeling someone ordered that creature to kill us. If you are free, can you send some help?"
As Abium read through the letter, the frown on his forehead deepened.
'Shape-shifting creature? Are they after Umi?' Abium closed his eyes and activated the Seer's Intuition spell.
'Seer's Intuition Spell is showing a positive reaction. That means someone really is after Umi!… But if I go there to help them, the whole plan would be messed up. Wait! They are in Silverland City, right? Hmm, I heard that the city is under the control of a northern mage.' Abium instantly thought of a plan and shifted his gaze towards Nicolaus.
"Although I can't help them in my current situation, I'll try my best to offer some ideas. They are in a safe area. As long as they refrain themselves from going out of Silverland city, no one would dare to seek trouble inside that city." He stopped his talk as he took out five leather bags and put them in Baxter's spatial ring.
Then, he erased his soul imprint and passed it to Nicolaus.
"Take this ring and go to Silverland City. I put a sum of 500 white gold coins in this ring, so it would be more than enough for them to survive for years."
"500 white gold coins?! Isn't this too much?" Nicolaus muttered in a shocked tone.
"Compared to the treasures I got from the undead plane mission, it's nothing." Abium waved his hand and continued in a solemn tone.
"Once you reach Silverland City, try your best to conceal your relationship with Umi and Fennelis and protect them in the shadows."
While talking, Abium again thought about the danger of this unknown enemy and activated [Seer's Intuition] spell.
But to his surprise, nothing happened!
'Why isn't it working? Does that mean the enemy somehow nullified my spell?' Abium made a possible guess and activated another two times.
Alas, the results appeared the same as before!
'If someone has the power to nullify my' time' spell staying in Silverland City, Fennelis and Umi might be in big trouble!' Abium sighed heavily and said with a frown.
"If something out of the ordinary happens, take both of them and come here at all cost." Although he wasn't sure about Nicolaus's current strength, he vaguely felt he could go toe to toe with any first-tier mage!
'That's all I can do in this situation.'