"ahahahaha! What an experiment Rocky! I want to see Master Sage's shocked face when he returns!", Lylah's cheerful words echoed in the hallway where the walls were covered in flowers.
"shaaak"/ "haah... whatever you say! The important thing is that you're happy," Rocky replied.
Lylah who only heard Rocky's loud screech could only cover her ears with simple magic so that her eardrums were safe, especially since she was now sitting on Rocky's shoulder while eating her homemade snacks.
"hm! I don't know what you're saying, but because of this, I just thought that if this helmet was replaced with a living armor out there, would it have a similar effect?... how about Rocky? Do you want to try?" asked Lylah while climbing on Rocky's head and looking at Rocky's face upside down from above his head.
Rocky who heard Lylah's words now also thought, he unconsciously nodded immediately which caused Lylah to almost fall if she didn't grab the hair on Rocky's helmet reflexively.
"Rocky, you did it on purpose!"
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Meanwhile in a lush forest a silvery white magic circle appeared, slowly on top of it there was a kind of light that climbed upwards and formed a gate and in the center was a distorted space and from within it stepped a figure wearing a gray magic robe.
"huft... easy to get in but hard to get out" said the figure that came out which was none other than Master Sage.
He quickly looked around and walked, not long after he walked in the middle of the forest he found a path and he immediately followed the path.
Master Sage continued to walk accompanied by chirping birds while occasionally looking around as a form of alertness.
"tek..tak..tak..." not long after he walked, in the distance his ears heard the sound of horse treads walking towards him at that moment he stopped at the side of the road to see who was driving the horse that was heading towards him.
Soon he saw a group of freight carts slowly approaching, "merchants? Or farmers? Yes, hopefully they will help me hitch a ride," said the Master Sage.
A moment later the coachman passed Master Sage who was a man in his 30s to 40s. "hello old man?... do you want to go to town?"
Master Sage nodded, "right... can I hitch a ride? It's hard to travel with these old bones."
The man smiled and nodded, "of course, but who are you? From the clothes you are wearing are you a wizard?"
Master Sage nodded, "yes... my name is a wizard my name is Saga, I'm just an ordinary old wizard who occasionally wanders"
"oh... master Saga my name is Harlan, are you an elemental wizard?... can you repair our magic stone? We will pay if necessary" said the man who introduced himself as Harlan.
Master Sage nodded, "no problem, bring your magic crystal that you want to repair ... just think of it as my gratitude for you"
Suddenly getting this answer Harlan immediately got off the train and greeted Master Sage very politely, "really!? Then let's go, sir! We are the ones who thank you!"
Magic stone or can also be called a magic crystal (if it has high quality), an item that is similar to a mana stone but the object has been engraved with certain magic on it making it able to produce magic if given a trigger such as an injection of mana.
Magic stones/magic crystals can be used to cast simple magic according to what is engraved, be it for agriculture or combat. The difference with mana stones / mana crystals is that the stone can be used several times by injecting mana until the object is destroyed.
But to replenish magic stones requires good magic control so that he does not accidentally activate the magic stone, and it is the witches who are usually assigned to do it and some witches who are skilled enough to know how much the period of use of magic stones / crystals.
"hmm.... dari 20 kristal sebaiknya kau cari 7 untuk cadangan, karena mereka sudah akan habis masa pakainya, sementara 10 lainnya masih agak lama dan untuk yang 3 ini masih baru bukan?" ucap Master Sage setelah menyelesaikan mengisi batu-batu mana tersebut.
"Well you have a very good ability Mr. Saga! ... oh look just in time we will enter the city gates!" replied Harlan
Master Sage who had always smiled kindly immediately put on a serious face, he immediately put on the hood of his robe to cover his face and leaned on Harlan's luggage in the form of various piles of animal and plant skins in the back of the carriage and acted as if he was sleeping.
And soon after a long queue Harlan stopped his train of 5 wagons in front of the guards, "hello sir... as usual, 4 wagons of harvest! And 1 people's car"
The guards immediately checked the carriages and one of them shouted, "but harlan... you have an extra person in your freight car!"
Harlan smiled while checking behind, "oh .. hehehe, sorry sir guard, he is the wizard we met it seems he fainted when filling our magic stones"
A soldier climbed onto the train and checked, he found a box containing magic stones which were all glowing indicating that the magic stones were full and ready to use.
The soldier gave a code and was replied with a nod by his partner, "hmm... witch huh? Her name?"
Harlan smiled while rubbing his hands together because he was nervous. "She introduced herself as Saga... she said she was wandering...." Harlan said and he leaned closer and whispered something, "...from her shabby clothes she's probably a poor old witch looking for her family.... Do you know their fate?"
Harlan thought that Master Sage was a lonely old wizard, in this world wizards are introverted science freaks. Yes, if you compare them to a scientist who is crazy about researching the mysteries of the world.
They prefer to live in a secluded place just to not want to be disturbed by other people when they want to research about the magic they are good at, because of this they are reluctant to accept a student except when their bodies are no longer as strong as when they were young.
On the other hand they also rarely started families, and if they did their offspring would often leave them in solitude for various reasons due to their own nature.
And Harlan also thought that Master Sage was one of them, and for that reason the examining soldier nodded his head in acceptance. "Alright... you may pass"
"hehehe... thank you sir, thank you!" said Harlan as he gave the entrance fee to the officers.
When entering the city Master Sage didn't immediately wake up, he still pretended to be asleep while scouting around.
The city was quite large like a medieval city whose buildings were almost entirely made of flagstone, he also occasionally saw small alleys in which thugs or beggars gathered.
Until they had reached a market and Harlan began to unload his cargo, it was at this time that Master Sage woke up from his sleep, "oh ... Master Saga, sorry for disturbing"
Master Sage shook his head and smiled kindly, "no... it's okay, thank you for helping me at the entrance"
Harlan shook his head, "no, we are the ones who are grateful... compared to the help of the mana stone you repaired it is nothing"
"well then... I take my leave" said Master Sage while bowing respectfully.
The two separated at the market and Master Sage went straight to a dead-end alley filled with piles of wooden boxes, he thoughtlessly passed through the alley until he reached the end of the alley in the form of a stone wall.
Master Sage took out his magic Staff and tapped it on the wall several times, each tap made the tip of his Staff glow and magically the stone wall moved and formed a gate.
The side of the gate showed that inside was a secret door to a shop, a shop that contained various people such as; wizards, assassins, fighters, and there was even someone wearing various gold ornaments on his body.
"Greetings sir, what do you need in our shop?" said the servant who greeted Master Sage.
Master Sage looked at the servant who greeted him, he turned out to be a snake man.