Abe the Wizard

Just, as usual, Wizard Cyril came to the alchemy mission spot located inside Miracle City. He was there to do some low-tier alchemy missions. He was already an intermediate alchemist, but his skills weren’t enough for him to take the missions that would give him more war glory points.

He was halfway through the mission that would give him 1 war glory point in reward. Today, he came to receive the raw materials for his next few days’ work. It was not like he’s never considered doing the missions that would give 10 war glory points, but so far, he needed practice to really get that mastery going.

“I’ve brewed these. Take them and give me the next stock.”

Wizard Cyril was in a grumpy mood. There were several reasons for this. First off, K3516 wasn’t showing him any respect, and that made him lose a lot of face in front of others. Secondly, it was only a few days before he would have to go to the Orc Empires, but he was only halfway through completing his potion-brewing mission. This was a cold reminder of how mediocre he really was.

Wizard Cyril didn’t take this mission for the war glory points. As he was getting closer to becoming a “real” intermediate alchemist, he wanted to save up as many raw materials as he could get. Doing the potion-brewing mission was the perfect way of doing that. The low-tier ingredients were very expensive to buy, and once his success rate started to go up, he’d be able to save up more ingredients for himself from taking the job. It was the reason he had to get it done quickly. If he couldn’t finish on time, he wouldn’t be able to take the job this year anymore.

The staff member said apologetically, “So sorry, Wizard Cyril. You don’t have the permission to take the ingredients.”

“WHAT? What are you talking about? I’m halfway on this mission; what are you talking about?”

Nothing was going smoothly for Wizard Cyril today. He got turned down by Abel during the day, and now, he got turned down from being able to do his job.

“Ahem, ” the staff member tried to act professionally, “If you wish to object to what is happening to you, Wizard Cyril, please contact the miracle spirit for it.”

As soon as Wizard Cyril took out his war glory tag, a message started to show up.

“Cyril the intermediate wizard, the Alchemist Union has banned all supply of alchemy ingredients to you. You will be aborted from the alchemy mission you are doing now. You will also be permanently banned from taking any alchemy-related missions.”

Wizard Cyril was more shocked than annoyed, “How? What did I do to have this happen to me?”

All that for abusing a junior wizard. Like a madman in heat, Wizard Cyril ran out of the retrieval point. He then used his “instantaneous movement” spell to move to the exit teleportation portal at Miracle City. Whether it was his mana or his war glory points, he didn’t care about saving either one of them.

After teleporting to Logan City, which was the closest city he could move, Wizard Cyril tried to buy some ingredients off a shop that he found.

A staff member said in a very polite tone, “I’m so sorry for this, sir; you don’t have the authority to buy any ingredients that are within the category of alchemy-related goods. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Wizard Cyril was almost crying at this point, “I… Can I-I pl-please, please tell me who did this to me? I-I, h-he-he, who was the one that’s stopping me from buying alchemy ingredients?”

“I’m very sorry for what you’re going through, sir, but that is something that’s beyond what I am authorised to help you with. If you want to know more about this, please contact higher-ups of the Alchemist Union.”

That was a very sensible answer. It seemed too standard, however. So standard, in fact, Wizard Cyril actually couldn’t sense any sort of hope from it. He still had his teacher, though. Maybe he’d do something to help.

The name was Clapham. Advanced Alchemist Clapham. Wizard Cyril tried to use the teleportation circle to get to his teacher, and of course, the Alchemist Union wasn’t going to stop him from doing that.

Wizard Cyril was extremely devastated, “Sir! Sir! Sir! I was just told, I was j-just told that I got banned from getting access to any alchemy ingredients. C-can you look it up for me? I’m really, I just, I just I can’t-”

By the way, Wizard Cyril never had any talent as a wizard. If he couldn’t abuse a huge amount of potions, it’d be over for his career both as an alchemist and a wizard.

Alchemist Clapham tried to keep it calm, “Right, right, would you just stop crying like the baby now? Don’t worry about it. You know me. I’m pretty respected in the Alchemist Union. And what did you do, exactly?”

Wizard Cyril cried even louder, “I’ve been at the Miracle City this who-whole time! How-how I was, how was I doing anything wrong?”

“Right, that’s good. You didn’t do anything wrong. That’s all I need to hear. Let me ask an old friend of mine, alright? Stay right where you are. Nothing’s going to go bad for you, I promise.”

“You promise?”

“Yeah. Get something to wipe your face, alright?”

Alchemist Clapham was an advanced alchemist. Even if Wizard Cyril did end up offending someone, it would usually be over with a few talks. It’s not the first time he’s ever done this. He was pretty confident in his ability to smooth this down.

Soon, Alchemist Clapham made contact with a manager at the human Alchemist Union. The name was Afonso, the advanced wizard. The two of them had been good friends for many years.

“Hey, Afonso! My friend! Um, so why did Cyril’s name get on the blacklist? I know the rules. This stuff doesn’t happen unless it’s directed from someone at my rank.”

Afonso said in a serious voice, “Clapham, this is big. If you ask me, I’d tell you not to get involved.”

“Well, can you at least tell me who did this first?”

“It happened this morning. The elves explicitly told us not to provide any ingredients to Wizard Cyril. I’m sure you know this better than I do. Once the elven branch says something, we can’t do or say anything otherwise.”

Alchemist Clapham persisted, “Can I get a name or something? Who was the one that, you know, called the shots on this one?”

“Don’t you get it already?” a sigh came through the call, “A demand? No, it was a complete threat from the elves. The order was forced on all the branches we have on the Holy Continent. Who else could it be?”

Afonso paused a bit before continuing, “Let’s just stop right here. Cyril is already ruined. Don’t ruin yourself as well, friend. I’ll hang up the call.”

That’s where it ended. Alchemist Clapham continued to sit without moving at all. He knew that the request came from an alchemist order. As for the rest, he just wasn’t sure how he could break the news to his student.

At the same time, Wizard Cyril had been waiting for Alchemist Clapham for a whole day. Everything just felt cold to him by this point.