This was quite a huge ensuite here. It was much grander than the one Abel saw when he first came to Moon Guardian City. Everything here was arranged to suit the customs of human nobles. The light on the ceiling, for example, was made of countless giant magic gemstones, which together created a magic circle emits light all across the room. It was kind of wasteful, in a way, but that was just how grandiose this place was.
After the dwarf servant had left, Ivan, the Lord of Moon Guardian City, brought Bernie to Abel's room.
Ivan said as he gave a deep bow towards Abel, "Master Abel, Bernie and I were just talking about you back then. He said that you have been especially helpful during the mission back there. Apparently, you've also saved him when he was in danger, and for that, I will give you my utmost gratitude on behalf of the Goff Family."
Abel returned with a bow, "Bernie and I are friends. Friends help each other out when they're in danger. There's nothing special about what I did."
"Humility is a human virtue," Ivan smiled, "There's no need to bring yourself down in front of a dwarf, mister. What you have done for us has far exceeded what we have agreed on. After Bernie and I have some more discussion, you shall be rewarded handsomely for your services."
Bernie took a wooden box from the servant standing nearby. Judging from the four gems that were laced on all four corners of its lid, it must've contained something extraordinarily valuable.
"Here, Master Abel," Bernie handed out a box to Abel, "A token of my gratitude. I know that you have problems back in the human world. I hope this will be of some help to you."
Abel became interested as soon as he heard the word "helpful." Since he was so far from the human world and from Wizard Morton's protection, he needed everything that he could get to protect himself.
Abel decided to open the box right away. As he took the lid off, he saw something that he was very familiar with. It was an intermediate magic circle used for defense. He remembered the same circle being set up inside the temporary base. With just one intermediate gemstone, it could repel all the attacks of a novice wizard.
Because of how frightening a wizard's attack was, anything that could be used against it was highly valuable. Even a rune with some sort of defensive ability was much more expensive than a normal rune. In fact, the magic circle Abel was given wasn't even something that could be bought it a shop. That was how precious it was.
Bernie said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, Abel. I should've given you the lightning chain circle, but it's something that I've borrowed from someone else. I have to give it back as long as I am alive."
Abel held the box in his hands, "No, no. Bernie, this gift is already too good for me! I don't think I can find the same magic circle anywhere else?"
"Pardon me, Master Abel," Bernie took out another board with a magic circle on it, "But I didn't see you using any magic circles when we were in our mission. If you don't mind, please take this set I have for you!"
Bernie didn't have to go that far to make Abel accept the gift. If anything, magic circles were exactly what Abel needed right now. Because of how rushed his journey was, he never had the chance to visit any shops.
Bernie continued as Abel accepted his gift, "Uncle Ivan will hold a banquet for me tonight. It'd be a great honor if you can make an appearance."
Abel shook his head, "Thank you very much, but I don't think that's a good idea for all of us. For someone like me, it would best if I acted like I didn't even exist."
Abel didn't want the Wizard Union to keep chasing after him. He was pretty sick of those men in red already, so the more discrete he was, the better it was for his own safety.
That's probably the smart thing to do here. Because of how successful his escape was last time, the Wizard Union was already quite ashamed of themselves. Showing up in public would be a slap in the face for them.
In the afternoon, Abel told the servants to buy him some materials. He wanted the ingredients for alchemy recipes such as the ration potion, elven perfume, and the recovery potion. To his surprise, just after he made his order, a servant rode a carriage to his door. Inside it was all the materials that he needed, and the quality of them was all quite good.
When the night came, every part of the Moon Guardian City was brimming with streetlight. Today was a day worthy of celebration. To celebrate Bernie's return and recovery, Lord Ivan decided to hold a big banquet for many to attend.
Despite having not eaten for the last ten or something days, Abel finally felt hungry. The "ration potion" could last him for ten days, and Abel had his dinner with Loraine. While he ate all that he could, Loraine just had some juice. She might just not eat for the next few days, it seemed.
After dinner, Abel returned to his room to study the magic circle he received. It was an intermediate circle used for defense, which was actually the finest magic circle he's ever laid his eyes upon.
Abel opened the box that contained the magic circle. Inside were 24 cards and a board. There was also a book made of sheep leather.
Abel picked up one of the cards. It was a card glowing in blue, which was the typical glow of an intermediate spiritual beast crystal core. The same was for all the other cards, which just showed how valuable this entire set was.
If it's an intermediate spiritual beast, then it would've been in the same rank as the ice magic ape he's encountered before-one beast for one card. To make the whole set of 24 cards, 24 ice fire apes would've had to be hunted down. And considering all the artwork that was added in. No wonder it couldn't be found in a shop.
Abel opened the sheep leather book. The name of the magic circle was, well, fairly simple. It was a "standard, intermediate defense circle." That' just how not-special it was, or so Abel thought at first. The more he flicked through the pages, the more he thought differently.
The best thing about the standard, intermediate defense circle was that it could be activated by any type of intermediate magic gemstone, unlike every element-specific circle there was. Thus, it was much easier to find the magic gemstones to keep it activated.
While it was a lot easier to set up the barrier circle, the intermediate defense circle had a much bigger area and provided a better defense. In fact, if Abel wanted to, he could use it to defend a whole vineyard.
After studying the circle, Abel placed it back to the box and put it inside his kong kong spiritual beast bag. He could only use the intermediate defense circle after he found a stable place to live. For now, it was more practical for him to use the barrier circle.
Abel threw the barrier circle to the ground. After the barrier had separated him and his surroundings, Abel took out the Scroll of Town Portal from his Horadric Cube. He opened up a blue portal, then brought Black Wind back to the Rogue's Encampment.
Abel entered into "Akara's tent" and headed straight towards the alchemy lab. Like a madman, he started making as many potions as he could. The "ration potion" he made a few days ago, wasn't enough. Also, he needed a lot more "recovery potion" for back-ups.
Abel tried adding all sorts of flavor to the "ration potion." Out of consideration for Loraine, most of the flavors he came up with were based on fruits. Apples or grapes, for example.
The most important thing was the Elven perfume. It was Loraine's favorite gift from him, and since he was bringing Loraine home this time, he wanted to make enough of it to last. To improve the quality of the Elven perfume, he's even brewed it with "Akara's alchemy bottle."
After casting a "sublimation" spell at the water-dissolving potion inside the bottle, a rainbow light came out. After that, a dark golden light came out and was combined with the ray of rainbow light. The brew was working!
Slowly and carefully, Abel pouted the Elven perfume into another crystal bottle. He hadn't noticed before, but the perfume he created this time was not like the other ones. The liquid he poured out wasn't colorless. It was blue.
Abel didn't know much about perfume, but the smell was clearly better than all the ones he's made before. When he lifted the bottle close to his nose, his facial expression actually became somewhat perverted and out-of-control.