Assassin's Chronicle

Anfey turned around and saw Jacob standing next to Entos. He was so surprised that he could not help calling, "Master Jacob?"

Jacob nodded at Anfey and then turned to playfully look at Entos. Entos had been cheerful most of the time, but he looked serious now. He took a close look at the magic wand in his hand and did not seem to see Anfey at all.

"Bro Entos, what are you doing?" Anfey slowly moved toward Entos. He cleared his throat and said, "Master Jacob, thank you so much for your help. If it were not of you, it would have taken those gnomes hundreds of years to make senior magic arrows."

"You are welcome. I had nothing else to do anyway," Jacob said with a smile.

It would be wonderful if you could be free like this for a long time, Anfey thought to himself. Anfey could not help feeling admiration for Jacob. For the past seven days, Jacob had been walking around in the underground city. He was so bored that he made some gadgets. Some were gadgets for himself, but others were amazing magic crafts of high quality to give to other people.

"Is it daylight outside now?" Entos suddenly asked.

"Yes. The vanguard of Shield of Light legion has left," Anfey nodded.

"We should leave too." Entos passed the wand to Anfey.

Anfey was shocked. He thought Jacob had made some changes to the wand and wanted to test his reaction time. Anfey took the wand. An electric arch suddenly appeared as his fingers touched wand. The arch moved fast towards the ends of the wand. At that moment, Anfey felt the changes this wand gave him.

He had experienced the same feeling when Saul put the Dimensional ring on him or when the blood on his finger went into the bowstring. They all gave Anfey similar feelings, a feeling that these objects had some special bond with him.

"This..." Anfey was stunned.

"Jacob wiped my memories from this wand. This wand is now yours," Entos said casually. "I hope you can take a good care of it. Don’t just treat it as an object. Instead, this wand is your friend now."

Anfey froze. This gift was so valuable that Anfey did not how to respond. He had said things to give Entos a hard time, but never meant to take the wand from him. He was just joking with him and hoping Entos could figure a short cut for him to learn Instant Transportation since he wanted to learn it so badly and wished to master it as fast as possible.

Seeing Entos holding the wand, Anfey felt bad for him. He did not mean to take it away from him, but Entos seemed to remember what he said. Entos might have misunderstood, or perhaps Entos was a very serious, even though he looked playful.

"Why are you staring, wide-eyed?" Jacob said. "You and Entos are not pretentious people. If Entos is giving it to you, just take it, Anfey. This wand indeed is not that helpful for him anymore."

Anfey went quiet for a while, and said in a low voice, "Ok." He did not say thank you. It did not seem right, since words could not express his gratitude.

"Good." Jacob picked up a sword from a stone table and chuckled. "This is my gift. It could release series of lightning, but it takes a little time to cool down. Only use it when it is needed. I did not prepare any gift for your wedding so I played a joke on you. Saul made fun of me a few times because of that. Now I finally can tell him I got you a gift."

"Series of lightning." Anfey was stunned again. He knew well how powerful the Series of Lightning was. When he was on the run, Christian released a Series of Lightning magic scroll and killed all the knights in a Sacred Flame legion unit.

Alice stood behind Anfey, also shocked. She had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from yelling. As a princess, she not only knew how powerful the Series of Lightning was, but also how many magical ingredients it took to make such a magic sword.

"Take it!" Jacob raised his voice and then tried to sound nice again to convince Anfey. "Anfey, don’t feel any pressure, Ok? Saul, Mioritch, and I all received help from previous top powers. Do you really think it was easy to become a top power? No one could easily become a top power without others’ help. I would never have been able to survive till now if I was on my own."

Anfey took a deep breath. His fingers looked a little shaky, but they became stable again when they touched the shaft of the sword. He slowly took the sword and carefully hung it on his belt. He stood as straight as a spear, with lips tightly pressed. He knew that no matter what he said now would not be enough. He also knew Jacob selflessly helped him and cared about him, just as Saul had done.

They had overcome greed, killings, envy, hatred, desires and other sins in human nature in order to unite together as a whole and selfishly help each other, which magic beasts could not do.

"Right now there are just a few capable and talented young men. Even fewer of them are trustworthy," Jacob said quietly. "I still can help, but I might not have the ability to help you when the real Death War breaks out."

"Real Death War? The current one..." Anfey could not help looking surprised.

"Right now is just a preview. Necromancers haven’t made any moves yet," Jacob said. "The optimism from Fernando has affected many people. They thought killing all the death spirits in the Country of Mercenaries would help them turn their defensive position into an offensive one. Anfey, do you know Annunciata?"

"Yes." Anfey nodded.

"Necromancers have a long lifespan. Annunciata was a young one among them." Jacob had a bitter smile on his face. "I am telling you that Annunciata’s teacher, Morgan, is still alive. Morgan’s teacher, Minos, is alive too. Their top powers are no less than ours. How can you be optimistic knowing this?"

Anfey went quiet for a while and said slowly, "We will win in the end!"

"Of course," Jacob smiled. "but many people will give their lives in battle. Maybe I am one of them."

"Don’t say that, Master Jacob!" Entos said bitterly. "I know you are good at astrology. Don’t you know a prophecy could come true?"

"As an astrologist, I do not care about superstition," Jacob said, shaking his head. "I care about how much we could tell and explain from the astrological phenomenon."

"When you gave your dairy to Hagan, were you thinking...?" Anfey did not finish the whole sentence because he had a bad feeling about it.

Jacob chuckled. "It has nothing to do with it. The Death War had not broken out yet at that time. When I saw Hagan, I just felt like giving my dairy to him, and then I did."

Anfey went quiet. He could tell Jacob liked to do whatever was on his mind.

"Ok, it’s time for us to leave," Jacob said quietly. "If I stay too long, I am afraid Marquis Djoser will suspect me."

Anfey opened his mouth, trying to say something, but then closed it. He had come down to the underground city to find Jacob and ask him a favor. He really did not feel right asking favors now that he had accepted such an expensive gift from Jacob.

"Anything else?" Jacob saw Anfey was trying to say something.

"The thing is . . ." Alice understood Anfey had a hard time asking a favor from Jacob now. She was smart and asked on behalf of Anfey. "Master Anfey hoped you could turn these crystals into a sword shaft and sheath. It would be best if you could seal them together."

Anfey blushed. Anfey had a decent amount of experience and good vision among young people, but he still dared not look Jacob in the eyes. Anfey felt he was so greedy, but he had no one else to ask. This sword shaft and sheath were so important for Anfey so he had to ask Jacob.

Jacob took the crystal from the gnome. He thought for a while. "Do you only want a sword shaft and sheath? What size do you want?"

"Any size," Anfey murmured.

"Any size? Ok." Jacob could not help laughing.

This was the first time Anfey had watched Jacob make magic crafts in person. No wonder Jacob was an archalchemist. It was enjoyable to watch him making magic crafts. He poured out a half bottle of a light green chemical and quickly turned a dozen of crystals into a puddle of liquid. The liquid followed Jacob’s fingers, like the stars floating upwards into the dark sky.

Jacob took out a crystal stick and casually moved it to draft the shape of a sword shaft and sheath. He took out another magic chemical and pointed and moved along the liquid about twenty times before he complete his job.

"Do you like it?" Jacob did not even need to test the connection between the shaft and sheath before he passed it to Anfey. Confidence and capability were connected. As an archalchemist, he would never make stupid mistakes.

"Yes, I do." Anfey nodded. He did not test it either. He just put them in his Dimensional ring.

"Anfey, what do you need it for?" Entos asked out of curiosity.

"It takes too long for me to make magic weapons, which is really inconvenient. I am thinking of keeping elements in the sheath. That way I could join the battle at any time," Anfey said.

"It is not the best approach, but you can take advantage of this opportunity to practice your telepathy," Entos said.

"Telepathy?" Anfey asked.

"Yes." Entos walked up to Anfey and whispered something to him. Anfey looked like he had come to a sudden realization.