Chapter 56

With the group being so familiar with each other at this point, everyone had begun to exchange small gifts. Timothy had made everyone matching rings and although they had no real practical use, everyone chose to wear them immediately as a sign of their friendship. Ian gave everyone small self-portraits since he enjoyed painting in his spare time and since it was almost winter time when a national holiday of the founding of the empire was celebrated, instead of saving them until that time, he chose to give them all the paintings now.

As for Nora, her contribution as a gift was treating everyone to their final meal together and even tipped bigger and right away so that they could all share some alcoholic drinks. Most of them were sixteen which meant that no one publicly would show any contempt for them, but since Timothy was still fifteen, there could have been somewhat of an awkward situation if Nora had not done so. And finally Andrew being Andrew, chose to go last as he pulled out several items from one of his storage rings.

The Rising Tides Merchant Group specialized in selling weapons and armor and because of the emergency orders, their merchant group had sold majority of their on hand stock to the point where they needed to import much more using their branches in the two other empires that they were in that was close by enough to make it not cut into their profit margins. With so much newly founded wealth available to them as well as only a small handful of their competitors, merchant groups like theirs had begun to purchase many different stores and even one or two villages entirely in an effort to continue expanding.

The first person to open their gift was of course Nora and her present from Andrew was actually a magical cape that's effect was it could change to any color in order to match up well with whatever else wardrobe Nora chose to wear. Such a gift would normally go for over fifteen hundred gold coins and not many cultivators were willing to make such a purchase since it was very much only useful for certain occasions. As for Ian's gift, it was a complete set of painting tools and several vials of different colored liquids from demonic beast blood. Usually a painter would use different colored ink for their drawings unless they were well known enough to sell their paintings for a large sum. However, if a painter were to use demonic beast blood instead of ink, the painting would be able to last for many more years and up to one thousand years before it began to decay.

Seeing that Andrew went all out for Nora and Ian made Timothy nervous because he understood what kind of person Andrew was. Since Timothy did not officially belong to any forces, it was possible for Andrew to cover him in gifts and resources without needing his father's approval since Timothy could also be considered a very good future prospect as a member of their merchant group in the future. However, as ready as he was to be blown away by an extravagant gift, Timothy still could not believe what Andrew had chosen to give to him!

In his hands was now a Flame Sword that had a rank two demonic beast soul attached to it as well as its core. Such a weapon was at least five thousand gold coins because not just was it suitable for anyone who reached rank five or below as either a fire element mage or a normal warrior, but it had both the same demonic beast's soul and core which was extremely rare. Five thousand gold coins on a present for him from his brother was just too hard of a thing to accept and Timothy knew that accepting such a gift was more than just simply being a lifelong friend to Andrew.

"Hey man, I hope you like it, if it weren't for my father making such a big fit, I could have gotten you a Flame Sword that had a rank three demonic beast soul and core attached to it but I had to settle for just this. But the branch manager here in Willow City said that since you are a rank three dual expert, it would make more sense to give you something that you could use right away instead of a treasure that would take you many years to get used to using. If you try to give it back to me, I will have no choice but to not sleep for several months since losing so much gold coins on a transaction would make my father puke blood until I made back every piece."

"Do not worry about it man, but you will have to take this badge from our Rising Tides Merchant Group. In this way, it will show that you are an outer member and only affiliated with us. Such badges are given to experts who our merchant group highly values relationships with and because you are the first dual expert from the Grey Imperial Academy to reach the third rank in over two hundred years, this could be considered an equal trade for us!"

"Oh and before I forget, here are your badges Nora and Ian. But just to make a point, only Timothy's badge has a drop of blood inside since he will be considered a VIP rather than a normal affiliate. I am sorry you guys, but this is the best that I can do right now since my father has been plummeting with so many offers from so many different forces and we are not in any position to show favoritism to anyone."

Hearing Andrew's words made everyone chuckle while accepting the badges. If everything went well and like it usually did, the Rising Tides Merchant Group would continue to gain influence and power like any merchant who sold weapons and armor to the military during war time like this as other forces who were not so lucky would possibly see a big decline if during a big battle enough of their own experts who were considered to be a pillar would fall. Timothy after accepting these gifts decided to pour four cups with a special wine that he specifically ordered and paid for himself.

"We are all here tonight because we have been destined to know one another and whether that remains to be good or one of us kills the rest of us for no good reason is just something that cannot be predicted. However, Nora as you know Andrew, Ian, and I are all brothers and it is time to not just welcome you into the group on a probationary period, but we have yet to solidify our own bond as brothers in arms. Please everyone, let's drink this wine and seal the deal so that in the future if any one of us are in danger, the rest will assist and if any one of us betrays another, may their souls never be able to rest peacefully!"

After toasting to each other and drinking their cups, the group continued to have a wonderful night with each other and many promises were made, including Timothy promising them that no matter what, he would return from the battlefield alive and that one day if the heavens allowed it, all four would meet once more to share a meal and laugh and tell stories about their experiences after this night was over until that time in the future.