The Blue Cloak Shop Part II

“Did you see that kid’s cloak? Although it looked so shabby, it was still blue. Don’t you feel like that boy had something to do with the shop’s name?”

“Ah…that’s right! Maybe…that kid was the shop’s alphabet user.” A bald man answered amazedly.

“Maybe what you said is true. From the way he fought earlier, he was not even moving but he could bounce that guy off. Probably, the way I could not sense his magical power when he did that was because he is an alphabet user.” Said a warrior wizard.

His words blew people’s minds; maybe they had just met the unknown alphabet user of The Blue Cloak Shop.

Shortly, Reiry got Merlin to Matin’s office.

Reiry did not even have a chance to open the door when Merlin used his power to do so first.

BANG!

His action did not frighten Reiry even slightly. He knew how strong and proud this alphabet user was. But no matter how arrogant the boy was, because of his skills, he earned all the right to be so.

That loud door-knocking agitated Matin.

“Are you out of your mind, opening my door so obnoxiously loud!”

Matin shouted without looking up from the files and papers.

After a while, after all, he received was silence, he looked up.

As soon as he looked up, his eyes opened up widely. They showed how obviously happy he felt.

“Sir…Elen…it’s really you sir. You are back.”

Matin stood up from the chair and rushed to Merlin; he mindlessly cried. He had been so miserable because he was running out of the potions.

Merlin had vanished for four years; that problem tore Matin’s heart. So, Merlin’s appearance now was like a god appearing in front of Matin. He was no longer worried about all these problems.

Merlin was still quiet; he barely showed any emotions. This coldness really suited his identity.

Merlin did not care about Matin crying like a child. He walked to the chair in the center of the room which was the same one that Matin just got up from. He stopped and sat down.

And of course, nobody was against it. At the moment, nobody else was as worthy of this chair as Merlin.

The chief of staff who just got here watched the scene with his mouth wide open. The boy in the dirty cloak was sitting on the chair of The Blue Clock Shop’s owner.

Staring at Matin and Reiry, he saw that the two were standing quietly; their manners were really polite.

“How could this be? Who is this kid?” He thought.

With everything right now, the chief’s face turned as pale as paper when he realized that that dirty child before him was this powerful.

And with his manners right now, it seemed like he was the real shop owner. Even Matin and Reiry were treating him nicely.

So, what was going to happen with the head of employees? He had stepped on the feet of someone he should not have bothered. And that was a huge mistake.

His face was filled with concern; he looked really anxious.

“Do not worry, just go back and do your job. I will consider this never happened.” Merlin said calmly and coldly as if his words could freeze a person.

Hearing that, the head of staff felt like his burden was lifted up.

“Thank you so much, sir. I will not make any mistakes again.” He answered with relief.

Understanding the situation, Matin and Reiry said nothing. They just turned around to look at the head of employees standing at the door.

These things make it even clearer for the chief that this boy was really an important person in the shop. Maybe, this little guy was the alphabet user everyone was guessing.

“You guys may go right now. I have something to talk to Matin.” His monotonous voice was uttered powerfully.

As soon as they heard that, they hurried out of the room.

Now there were only Matin and Merlin left in the room.

He asked Matin a lot of things and he realized that he had been stuck in that strange hole’s dimension for four years. And as seen, The Blue Cloak Shop had become very popular when he was not here.

During these four years, there had been wars now and then between kingdoms. And unbelievably, the sides with the power-restoring potions could often turn the situations around and win their fights. It was considered one of the war’s variables.

Not only that, even the high-level adventurers who used these potions also succeeded in hunting lots of level-five beasts.

The power of level-five beasts was comparable to that at the top margin of wizard-warrior level. There were not so many brave men who were brave enough to challenge them. But when they used the potions, their hunts were easier.

For these reasons, this specific potion had become so popular, and it was every wizard’s desire.

Because Merlin had been gone for four years, that made him thirteen and a few months old now. But his appearance looked like that of a twelve-year-old boy. It was the result of him reaching the stem-building stage of Qi cultivation.

The practice could turn an ordinary person into an extraordinary one. Each time one penetrated through a level, his or her body changed. Basically, if he or she reached the stem-building stage, his or her body’s growth would slow down a fifth of the normal rate.

That meant every five years the body would get only one year older. And if that person could drill even higher levels, his or her body would get older three times slower than the previous rate. That being said, being in the zone of the budding stage, he or she would get older fifteen years slower, and forty-five years slower in the blooming stage.

Defying one’s fate, therefore, was the path of all practitioners. That was why the practitioners in high-stages zones got older slower than normal people and could live longer than any ordinary people.

After that, Merlin asked about Arthur. And surely, with his position right now, Matin could find all the information Merlin wanted to know easily. Aside from that, Merlin also wanted to know about the situations of all kingdoms.

Arthur’s news was related to the Aragon kingdom’s politics.

That was because Duke Cowe, Arthur’s father, was appointed heir to the throne, to succeed the present king of Aragon. The reason was that the current king had no heir; so, Duke Cowe, his beloved brother was appointed as the heir.

Not long after, Arthur was called back to Aragon. He had to leave his education at Waldecian Academy behind to assist Duke Cowe and learn about administration. If nothing went wrong, Arthur would become the next heir in the future.

Furthermore, there was also news saying Arthur became a disciple of the Aragon kingdom’s hero. That guy had refused the position as an honorable Knight of the Round Table several times; he said no every single time. His name was “Dragon S. Eric;” he was entitled the strongest guy in the Aragon kingdom.

His magical power was in the zone of archwizard level. People knew him as the best swordsman in the kingdom. Almost half of the Knights of the Round Table were his students.

Being Eric’s student guaranteed that Arthur’s future would be glorious.

Merlin was interested in Arthur because he remembered the time before he fell down the mysterious hole. He sensed familiar energy in Arthur’s body after he had pulled the sword out. From his guess, it was possible that that sword was another one of Solomon’s possessions.

But when he heard Arthur was Eric’s student, he got worried. It meant that if that sword was really Solomon’s possession, it would not be so easy for him to seize it. Arthur’s powerful teacher would probably become his obstacle.

He had to think carefully about everything relating to his life. Now he was only at the first level of the stem-building stage.

Xian vital essence and magical power were different. Merlin had not had a chance to fight in this realm. But from what he had observed in Waldecian Academy, with the first level of the stem-building stage, he could surely fight the sorcerers. But for the wizard warriors, he was not so sure.

In the future, he planned to get close to Arthur again, to test if that sword was really Solomon’s possession. If it was, he would have to find a way to take it. And if the situation went that far, he would have to think thoroughly again.

Another thing that Merlin was thinking about was how to use his magical power.

Merlin asked Matin more questions regarding obtaining the magical cloak.

The magical cloak was an important thing for every wizard. It made one superior to other wizards. Without it, that person might be at a disadvantage which could get oneself into great difficulty.

Before this, Merlin had limited knowledge about the magical cloaks due to his low servant position; he did not benefit much from it.

But everything was different now. Being at the stem-building stage made him now worriless about building Taoist Qi pillars. He could now practice magic as he wanted.

He no longer needed to live with a low status.

Even though the existence of a practitioner at the blooming stage still troubled him, he could probably avoid it being a stem builder.

When he became a wizard, his wizard identity would conceal his real identity.

From the information he got from Matin, he learned that the magical cloaks were not restricted to Waldecian Academy’s students only.

The Church of Light being the center of the world allowed outsiders to participate in their test.

But the attendees had to pay ten diamonds as the fees. With Merlin’s position right now, it was not a problem for him.

The next examination would start a month from now. So, Merlin decided to stay at The Blue Cloak Shop for one month to produce more potions before attending the magical-cloak-seizing test that was about to happen.