Team Ben has finished their mission, and now they are in the Mayor's office to get the completion letter.
"You guys are really fast at this. How did you manage to find them?" - Mayor
"We found their trail and followed it." - Ben
"Trail? We didn't find any trail whatsoever in our investigation." - Mayor
"They tried to cover it, but it won't fool us that easily. We're experienced in tracking because we are hunters." - Ben
"Hmm, well, even if we could track them, it will be hard to fight with a mage." - Mayor
"Do you have the identity of that mage?" - Ben
"Yes, he is a wanted mage, Allen Yuri, and his bounty is 1 million Jewels. He was a mage from Phoenix Grave Guild but committed a crime by killing one of his guild mates. He was caught by the magic council but succeeded in running away before imprisonment. His real bounty by the magic council is 500k, but his former guild added another 500k." - Mayor
"Ooh, never heard of that guild before." - Ben
"Well, I doubt you even know any legal guild except yours." - Mayor
"Do I need to know them?" - Ben
"... Anyway, your reward will be sent to your Guild. It will be 250k for the mission, plus 1 million for the bounty." - Mayor
"250k? I thought the mission reward was 150." - Ben
"Well, considering there is a mage among the bandits, additional reward is given to you. It's also because you completed your mission fast that we gave you the bonus. It's still lower than the bounty anyway, so I hope you don't mind it." - Mayor
"Oh, no problem then, additional money is always good." - Ben
Ben then takes the job completion letter and leaves the office. He'll take his team to explore the town as he had promised them. They leave the car in the Mayor's residence before walking to the town.
They go to the bank first to withdraw some money for their shopping. The receptionist's eyes pop out when she sees Ben's account. She even needs to recount and make sure she doesn't make any mistakes.
'This kid has 1 billion in his account? And this account, a VVIP, issued directly by Magic Council & Royal Family? Is he a son of a high-ranking Noble or Mage? I need to be careful with this.' - Receptionist
"How much do you want to withdraw, Young Master?" - Receptionist
'Must be because of my 1 billion jewels money, sigh.' - Ben
"Give me 500k." - Ben
"Yes, right away." - Receptionist
Ben gets his 500k soon after that and leaves before the receptionist tries to offer many useless programs. Then Team Ben starts their town exploration. They check almost every store and try the food that makes them curious.
They buy many items, especially clothes because they don't have many clothes. They also buy some daily necessities that they don't have in the village. After that, they go to the train station because Ben is curious about how the train works.
"I thought it also uses magic, but it uses a steam engine instead. Well, if it used magic, they'll need a high amount of magic power." - Ben
"If there is this train, then why are there many people who use carriages on the highway? Wouldn't it be easier & faster to use trains?" - Wendy
"Maybe the train is expensive?" - Carla
"No, I think it's because their destination didn't have a train station. It might be small towns or even villages. Even if the train is expensive, they'll still choose it because saving time is more important." - Ben
"Ooh, that makes sense." - Carla
"Ben, smart." - Bella pats Ben's head with her paw while sitting on his head like usual
"Thanks." - Ben
The 4 of them then leave the station and go to a store. This is a magic store, the last store that they will visit today before returning. They walk around the store, and Ben checks the magic spell books.
'Hmm, too bad they only show the title and description. Now I can't copy all of them. They're just low-grade magic spells, but it's always fun to learn magic no matter the grade.' - Ben
[They use it as prevention for mages who can copy the book without buying it.]
'I know. Have you counted the total?' - Ben
[73 low-level magic spells, each cost 10k jewels. 23 medium-level spells, each cost 100k, 2 high-level spells, each cost 500k. Total cost: 4,030,000 Jewels.]
'I'm surprised they even have 2 high-level spells here.' - Ben
[Although the spells are high level, they must be common-grade spells to be sold in a public store like this.]
'Yeah, definitely.' - Ben
Ben goes to the clerk and asks about payment.
"Do you receive payment using a bank card?" - Ben
"Yes, we receive bank payment through a bank card for transactions above 100k jewels." - Clerk
"Alright, then I want to buy all spells available in this store." - Ben
"... Eh? Pardon me, I think I misheard it." - Clerk
"I want to buy every spell book in this store." - Ben takes out his bank card
"V-VVIP?!" - Clerk
The clerk immediately runs off, leaving the stunned Ben. But then she returns with an old man who seems to be this shop owner.
"I heard you want to buy all magic spell books in here?" - Owner
"Yeah." - Ben
"I understand; then please wait in our VIP room while we pack all the books." - Owner
Ben & co then get escorted to a room where they can wait. A servant then comes in and gives them drinks & snacks. After waiting for a few minutes, the clerk informs them that the books are ready.
They go out to check the books and pay. After checking that every book that he ordered is there, Ben pays for the books with his bank card. It is similar to the cards on earth, but it uses magic tools here, and not every store has it. After finishing all the procedures, Ben & co leave the store.
They return to the Mayor's residence to take their car and leave the town. They return to their village immediately and reach it right before the sky turns dark. They give the job completion letter to Roubaul.
"Good job, you've completed the job, and more importantly, you're all safe. So how is it, did you learn something?" - Roubaul
"Yeah, I need to have more techniques to be used in a closed space. I also need more defensive techniques, especially for wide range attacks." - Ben
"I also need to train more for direct battle and train my stamina." - Wendy
"Good, review your mission to do a better job next time! Now, let's have dinner then you can rest." - Roubaul
Team Ben then has dinner with everyone like usual. It's their tradition to always eat dinner together. After dinner, they wash themselves, and then they sleep. Before sleeping, Ben reviews his battle today.
'A.I Chip, did you get the data from his magic spells
?' - Ben
[Yes, with the knowledge from Roubaul's magic book, I can find much information about both magic spells.]
Ben had given A.I Chip a command to scan all magic that he sees or even receives. A.I Chip can scan and find out the structure of the magic spell that it scans. Of course, it needs sufficient data to be able to do it, that's why Ben needs to buy many books about magic.
'Gramps said that there is a Magic Library that contains so much knowledge about magic. Maybe I'll go there one day in the future.' - Ben
Ben leaves that for the future because now he needs to sleep. Ben wakes up the next morning and goes to train in the cave. Wendy also joins him to train now after knowing that she can't fight too well in a real battle. Bella & Carla also train; they've started their training some months back, although just basic magic training.
[Name: Ben Cooper
Age: 12
Status: Alive
MP: 13,671/38,491
STR: 75
AGI: 72
STA: 80
INT: 91]
Ben has grown a lot last year because of his intense training. Roubaul even said that Ben is reaching the threshold of an A-Class Mage already. A.I Chip predicts that S-Class mage has a minimum average stat of 100, and their minimum MP is 50,000.
Of course, that's just A.I Chip's calculation on S-Class mage's stats. However, the most important factor for S-Class is their fighting ability. Still, strong stats mean they have more power in their attack, so it is correlated.
And to be an S-Class, a mage needs to have a lot of experiences too. That is the one thing that Ben lacks, experiences to do jobs. But now, he has been allowed to do real jobs from quests, not just guild-issued jobs like hunting.
Ben's current goal is to be an S-Class mage fast. The reason is not only that he will be able to take more exciting jobs but also because of their guild. Their only S-Class mage is Roubaul, but he can't take jobs as a Guild Master, at least that's what that old man said.
'If we have an active S-Class mage, our guild will be considered as one of the big guilds in Fiore or even Ishgar. I will surely spread our guild's name on this Continent and make it big.' - Ben grins