When it was almost time for the wedding ceremony to begin, Nick ended his meditation. Following that, Carla held his right hand using her left hand, and proceeded to lead Nick away from the dining hall using the same corridor that they entered through.
The two Magicians returned to the main hall before walking down a corridor that led them to a meeting hall where there were several rows of seats prepared, each consisting of ten seats. The seats were padded using royal-blue material; they were also decorated using blue, and white floral materials.
Most of the seats were occupied by Magicians that were either dressed in magician's robes, or pants suits. In front of the rows of seats, there was a raised, half-a-meter-high platform that included steps all around its perimeter that led to the flat top of the platform. Positioned at the top of the platform was a bronze, glowing image made of magic that depicted a hawk feeding on fish, which was the sigil of the Jenner family.
In front of the sigil, stood an old man dressed in a gold-coloured magician's robe, who also sported a large, silver ring on his right middle finger. The old man had wrinkled, pale-white skin, average height, short, brown hair, and dark eyes. He sported a wide smile as he waited on Carla, and Nick.
Carla used her magic to discreetly transmit information to Nick at this time:
(That is Haber Jenner, a very distant cousin of mine. He is one of our more powerful family members. He will be the one that officiates the ceremony…)
Nick remained silent as Carla filled him in on some details while she led him by the hand to the top of the platform. Haber Jenner warmly greeted Nick, and Carla when they were in place:
"It is good to see you, Carla. Nick Capitol, greetings. You could not have chosen a better bride."
Nick half-jokingly replied:
"It's actually more that she chose me than anything else."
Haber lightly chuckled before placing his attention on the audience. Nick recognized some of the people sitting in the front row, which included Vaughn, Alicia, Randolph Jenner, Donny Jenner, and Britney Jenner. When Nick identified Britney, his eyes lingered on her for a few moments before Spatial Awareness revealed Carla giving him the evil eye while he did so.
Nick immediately turned away from Britney to face Carla, who adopted a light smile after Nick corrected his attention. She then transmitted a few words to Nick using her magic:
(I advise you not to be alone with Britney going forward, for your own sake. Donny, and Randolph insisted on being here more than any of my other family members, so that is why they are in the front row. They have been wanting to study their silent business partner for a while. They probably want to draw you away from me to benefit themselves, but I am warning you, right now. Do not entertain them, or I will be furious.)
Nick was starting to become exhausted by Carla's words. He thought:
(She wasn't joking when she said that she was a demanding woman.)
Haber soon spoke to the audience:
"Family members. Let's all get this beautiful wedding ceremony under way. I do not want to keep the bride, and groom waiting because they have other duties to attend to tonight."
All the men in the audience laughed in response to Haber's suggestive words while most of the women, including Carla glared at Haber for his remark. Carla quickly transmitted to Nick:
(You will be attending to no such duties tonight.)
Nick internally sighed because Carla appeared adamant in determining how she would interact with him after they were married. Sensing the animosity from the women, Haber promptly began the ceremony by having the audience sit down, and making a speech directed at Nick, and Carla:
"You two are a great part of the future of the Jenner family. It cannot be underestimated how fortunate it is that you two have decided to come together as one flesh…"
After about ten minutes of flowery talking, Haber paused before raising both his hands, following which, two gold wedding bands appeared in his open palms. He continued speaking afterwards:
"Make this arrangement official by kissing each other in front of all these witnesses, and wearing your wedding rings."
Both Nick, and Carla moved closer to each other at the same time to engage in a brief kiss, before each taking one wedding ring from Haber. Nick took the wedding ring from Haber's left palm since he was standing at the older man's left side. Nick placed the gold ring on his left middle finger, not wanting it on the same hand as his magic tool, Sheer Soul. The ring did not fit properly at first, but soon, it adjusted its size to fit him.
At the same time, Carla put her wedding ring on her right middle finger. She then transmitted to Nick:
(The wedding rings are made from the rank 3, information path material, choice gold. That is why it adjusted to your proper size. Don't worry, it doesn't have any abilities that will expose anything about you, or track you. With that being said, if you lose it, or stop wearing it, I will treat that as betrayal. Do not make life difficult for yourself.)
Nick maintained his indifferent expression as Carla made her demands, thinking:
(This woman sure is pushy.)
After Nick, and Carla put on the wedding bands, the entire audience stood up and clapped in celebration. Carla then led Nick by the right hand to make an exit through the same corridor through which they had entered the meeting hall. She quickly took him to a room on the mansion's second floor, and locked the door.
The room was very tidy, it was carpeted using a red, and gold carpet, and had bronze-colored, brick walls. It consisted of a living room, small kitchen, bedroom, and a bathroom. Nick, and Carla stayed in the living room. Nick immediately threw his black jacket away, and untucked his red dress shirt. Following that, he sat on one of two grey sofas that faced each other at the living room's centre.
Carla did not mind Nick's behaviour, and silently waited at the door for something. Nick kept silent as well while thinking about his future plans. Two minutes after they arrived in the room, a knock was made on their door. Following that, Carla opened the door, revealing Grits, who was holding a parcel in his hands. Grits said:
"The treasurer just handed this to me to deliver to you. He said that you should have arranged for your husband to get better wedding gifts."
Carla ignored Grits' words, and took the parcel from him. She then said:
"Thank you cousin. You are always a great help."
Grits nodded his head once in understanding before walking away from the door. Carla then locked the door, and proceeded to take a seat at Nick's right side, silently handing him the parcel. Nick accepted the parcel, and silently opened it. The parcel was in the form of a box, so Nick just unsealed the flaps using his magic energy
Inside the parcel was a soul containing crystal that held six glowing lights. On of those glowing lights had a distinctive, dark-grey hue while the others had a white hue. Seeing the soul containing crystal, Carla spoke:
"You have your soul path magic beast souls. I have completed my side of our deal."
Nick nodded his head once in agreement, and stored the parcel into one of his space bands before asking Carla:
"Aren't you going to make me a sandwich?"
Carla's right eyelid twitched, and her expression became severe after hearing that question, following which, she bathed Nick in her magic energy. Nick's movements suddenly halted, and he became limp as he involuntarily reclined in the sofa. Nick bitterly mused at this time:
(Sure enough, a rank 3 Magician cannot defy a rank 4 Magician. But, will she dare do anything excessive?)
Seeing that Nick was immobilized, but that his gaze remained indifferent, Carla retracted her magic energy. She then said:
"We can afford to get you a maid if that is what you want, but sandwich making will not be one of my responsibilities."
Nick chuckled a bit in response to how Carla backed off while thinking:
(I am her family now. Even if she wants to hurt me, she will not get away unscathed, politically that is. Joining the Jenner family is a pain, but I might as well take advantage of the benefits, and not cause my thoughts to linger too much on the disadvantages.)
Nick soon spoke plainly:
"I will continue cultivating at my offices, for now. Oh, I want you to get me a few hundred kilograms of rank 5 hope marrow. Can you do that."
A few hundred kilograms of most highly useful, rank 5 materials cost hundreds of vatas, but Nick was not concerned about where to get the money. Now that he, and Carla were married, the wealth that she had made from the Magic Scroll Company was practically also his. He had paid back all that he owed the Magicians Association thanks to the money that he had received from the Nefaris, but with the sudden change in his circumstances, he had no need to pay exorbitant interest rates from now on.
Carla contemplated for a few seconds before saying:
"Hope marrow is a soul path material. I will get it to you. Since we are talking about things that we need, I will be needing access to all The Realm Exploration Company's documents to make sure that our company is not underwater."
Nick felt a little irked that Carla said 'our company', but he had no choice but to concede on that point. Nick replied:
"You are welcomed to send your people to my building to get what you need. If you don't mind, I don't need irrelevant people being aware of my marital status, so do not throw your weight around carelessly."
Carla chuckled before saying:
"I should be telling you that, Nick. In any case, I will mostly be busy with the Magic Scroll Company, and cultivating. I will consistently be at the factory in coming days. Come find me there if you wish, or I will come to you if it pleases me. Expect me to contact you regularly, though."
Nick nodded his head once in understanding. He then used his right hand to hold the center of Carla's back while drawing her closer to him. He proceeded to embrace her, and kiss her lips for a few minutes while they both had their eyes closed. At some point, Nick tried to undo her robe, but Carla immediately left his embrace and knocked him on the forehead using her right index finger, saying:
"This is where you start earning more of my respect. Will you be leaving the estate by yourself, or do you need me to drive you back to your building?"
Carla knew that Nick had to be skilled in space magic, and so there was probably no need for her to drive him around for him to return to London.
(I am a shadow path Magician, and even I only move by car because of habit. Nick is less likely to need such slow transportation.)
Nick did not seem disappointed at Carla's refusal to let him examine her, and indifferently replied:
"I will be leaving by myself, right now. Do you need anything else from me?"
Carla contemplated for a while before answering:
"At the very least, I need to know exactly what paths you cultivate so that I can work with you as efficiently as possible. Do not withhold that information from me."
Now, it was Nick's turn to contemplate:
(Should I be totally honest with her in regards to that? If she knows which paths I cultivate, I may be able to get her help later without question, and she will not misread my intentions. Hmmm…while it exposes me to the risk of her plotting against me, the benefits from full cooperation justify the risk. I will have to throw away any cynicism that I harbour while working with Carla.)
Cynicism was at times useful, and at other times harmful. It let you be suspicious when a scenario was deserving of suspicion, but it also caused you to be suspicious when there was no need to be. The latter point would often result in people walking into opportunities like traps, then ruining the opportunity.
A balance was often required, but in the absence of enough experience with a particular person, fully surrendering cynicism was often a good move until you knew them better. That would significantly lower the risk of ruining the possible opportunity.
Nick felt that mutual benefit was a good enough incentive for Carla to act rightly with the information that he gave her, at least for now. With that in mind, he spoke to her honestly:
"I cultivate space path, soul path, blade path, and formation path. I also have some attainment in earth path."
He was not planning to tell Carla about rule path, which was mostly undocumented, and unknown on Grand Earth, because doing so had implications that he could not manage. Carla had expected Nick to be a cultivator of several paths, but when hearing the list from him, she felt slightly uncomfortable:
(He cultivates four paths simultaneously, and even has attainment in an irrelevant path. Do I force him to reduce that load, so that he doesn't waste too much of his time? No…he has been doing fine so far, which means that there isn't a reason for me to force him, yet. I will watch how his growth progresses, for now…)
Carla maintained a neutral expression as she said:
"I knew that my hubby was smart. I will have the hope marrow sent to your building as soon as possible. If I need you, I will call you."
Nick nodded his his head in understanding before enveloping himself with his magic energy, and activating Cursed Vessel. Nick instantly vanished after that, leaving Carla by herself. When Nick left, Carla muttered:
"When I was attending the academy, I did not think that I would choose my mate like this. Ambition really leads you on paths that you cannot foresee."
****************************************************
Nick used Cursed Vessel six times before he was able to get back to his building's fourth floor, inside his office. It was now night time, and so only the security guards on duty were on the property besides himself. First, Nick got rid of the 'monkey suit' that he was wearing, and summoned a fresh set of clothing from one of his space bands.
Nick put on a dark-blue silk polo shirt, a pair of dark-blue jeans pants, a pair of black leather gloves, and a pair of black leather Kickers. He then sat at his desk, and summoned his tablet computer from one of his space bands. He began formulating his plans for what he was going to do with the soul path magic beast souls that he had obtained.
The next day, his lawyer, Sai Lee, called him to ask why people from the Jenner family were requesting that he hand over company documents. Remembering his promise to Carla, Nick replied:
"I am now in close partnership with one of their members. Let them have copies of whatever documents that they want. You can expect to be cooperating with them regularly from now on."
Although Sai was a normal person, he knew who the Jenners were, and was amazed that Nick somehow got a legacy Magician family to work with him. He was pleased because that probably meant greater job security for himself. He responded to Nick with praise:
"Great work, sir. I will cooperate fully."
Sai ended the call with Nick not understanding why he was praised. He quickly returned his attention to his tablet computer, and for three weeks, Nick did not do anything, but work on his plans. During that time, he was mostly designing a magic formation that made use of the soul-to-magic-energy conversion principles that he had initially worked out years prior to the current time.
He also received a few hundred kilograms of hope marrow that was delivered by a rank 2 member of the Jenner family who arrived at his office dressed in a black magician's robe, and a pair of black leather work boots. Nick stored the hope marrow into both of his space bands because the quantity made the soul path laws of the rank 5 material too concentrated to be stored into one space band alone. Riley also delivered magic materials to him during this period.
Carla had called him a few times during the three weeks, but only to speak about ordinary matters like what she ate for breakfast, or about employees that tried to be rude before she knocked them on the head painfully. During those conversations, Nick mostly listened, and did not speak, knowing that Carla was not calling him to have a discussion.
(She calls me to condition me to accept her influence. If I tried to talk back to her, she would see that as defeating her purpose, and in that case, she might start making personal visits to my office. Sometimes, you have to suffer one burden to prevent a greater burden from being levied on you…)
After his planning was complete, Nick went to his workspace on the third basement floor to begin executing his plan.
(The creep from the Order of the United Realm is unlikely to be here after so long, so I should be able to make use of this floor for cultivation again. While I can also use my house in Sidon, I need to stay on Grand Earth in case I have an urgent need to fulfill. What I am about to do is not a simple process, and is rather risky. I don't want to be isolated in Forgotten Peril while I take the risk.)
Nick began laying his new magic formation. He did not bother to give this magic formation a name because it was likely to be modified a lot going forward. For now, it was a rank 3, advanced grade, rule path, and soul path magic formation. It was considered advanced grade because the principles that it was based on made it too complex for an ignorant person to make use of it.
Its soul path aspects were mainly concerned with breaking down the magic power in souls, and converting it to Nick's own magic energy. Doing so was worth the effort because, based on Nick's calculations, a rank 4 soul path magic beast's soul should possess a sea's worth of magic power, enough for him to nourish his mindscape for a while.
Its rule path aspects were based on the principles of the 'blameless' rule that ignored impurities, and undue influence to produce a positive result. The latter point would ensure that Nick's mindscape would not face magic energy corruption from prolonged use of the magic formation, but he had to test it to see how effective its rule path power was. After all, he was only a rule path master, and the magic formation's overall function was beyond what a master should be attempting to do.
(If I was not a soul path scholar, I would have never figured out how to convert soul magic power to free flowing magic energy in the first place. The method seemed like a piece of coal to me until recently when, in fact, it was actually an uncut diamond.)
Nick spent five days laying the magic formation. He made use of the rank 5 hope marrow during the set-up, but as a supporting material to help with efficiently transferring magic energy to himself. The rest of the soul path, and formation path magic materials were assimilated into the magic formation like usual.
The magic formation consisted of over one million symbols, drawn in Valteese, Nickel, and D-Soul. The Valteese portion consisted of symbols related to formation path. At the end of the five days, the magic formation actually looked like a circular mix of floating, dull-grey, and red symbols that had a radius of about three meters, and that was positioned about two feet above the floor.
Nick observed the deactivated magic formation, and felt pleased with himself:
(My formation path attainment is progressing. I don't necessarily need a solid surface to lay my magic formations anymore.)
Nick soon activated the magic formation using its trigger phrase:
"Begin."
Immediately after he spoke those words, the magic formation began slowly, and silently rotating in place. It also increased its glow at differing places at regular intervals while reducing its glow at other places. Nick did not delay at that moment, and stepped onto the magic formation, which kept him in midair using its magic power.
Nick then sat cross-legged at its center before summoning the soul containing crystal that he had received from Carla, from one of his space bands. He immediately poured his magic energy into it, following which, the crystal shattered into fragments that turned into vapour before they hit the floor.
After that, five orbs of glowing, white light that had a diameter of about half a meter appeared, as well as one glowing, dull-grey orb that had a diameter of about one meter. Nick used the power of the magic formation to hold each orb in place. At that point, he could plainly tell that the souls originated from soul path magic beasts, with the white souls probably originating from rank 4, soul path magic beasts, and the dull-grey soul from a rank 5, soul path magic beast.
Nick did not know the identity of the magic beasts, but that was irrelevant for his current purposes. Nick soon began using the formation's power to work on one of the white souls, following which, the soul began to be slowly broken down while being kept stable as it emitted white sparks from its opaque surface.
During this process, Nick closed his eyes, and began meditating. The magic formation made most of the process automatic so that Nick did not have to consciously pay attention to every detail. When his consciousness entered his mindscape, he saw a blue void, the blue-scaled dragon that rested in it, the Advanced Blade Works Formation, and the brilliant stars hovering in the mindscape's artificial sky. Nick could not visibly see his magic energy, but he could sense it all around.
He soon began to sense that foreign magic energy was being poured into his mindscape before being converted to his own magic energy upon entry. Nick rejoiced at the apparent success of his method:
(My magic formation is working as expected. The quality of the new magic energy is extremely high, far higher than the magic energy processed by my own foundation laws.)
Nick quickly began exhausting his original magic energy by swirling it around the mindscape, nourishing the mindscape during a mysterious process. When his original magic energy was finally exhausted, he began making use of the magic energy that was converted from soul magic power.
Strangely enough, for this magic energy to be formless, and colorless, it also had to take on the characteristics of space path despite its dominant soul path characteristics. This was the rule path principle of blamelessness at work. Nick swirled the magic energy around his mindscape while seemingly being intoxicated by its very high quality.
(There is a certain joy that emerges when your efforts go as planned. Failure teaches, but success confirms what was taught.)
It took Nick one month of almost constant meditation to drain one rank 4 magic beast soul of its magic power, at which point, the soul dissipated. Nick had only stopped meditating occasionally to answer Carla's calls, and speak to his employees as well as to rest his mind. He slept little due to the power of his Soul Cradle talent, and ate little because he needed less food, and water as his cultivation advanced.
After using up the first soul, Nick was able to confirm one of his assumptions:
(A sea of magic energy can be obtained from a rank 4 soul path magic beast soul. The only dissatisfaction that I have is that meditating using this magic energy mostly grants my mindscape soul path laws. Usually, using my original magic energy grants my mindscape mostly rule path, and space path laws, but I suppose that increasing my foundation in soul path is not a bad thing. Maybe my magic energy will gain additional characteristics like it did when I used magic energy from a rank 4 space path dragon to cultivate.)
Nick's intuition suggested that latter point to him, but he did not really know if it was likely, or not. After some rest, Nick moved on to the next rank 4 magic beast soul, then the next one after that, and so on. After six months, he had made use of all the rank 4 magic beast souls.
(There is about eight months until I have to report to the Order of the United Realm. I should have enough time to make progress at the pace that I am going. I have not observed a qualitative change yet, but I can sense small increases in the quality of the magic energy that I process.)
Nick finally began to make use of the rank 5, soul path magic beast soul. At first, progress was slow, and tedious like always, but the quality of the magic energy derived from the soul of the rank 5 magic beast was undoubtably many folds higher than the quality of the magic energy derived from the souls of the rank 4 magic beasts.
As time went on, the quality of Nick's original magic energy surged, then fell before the quality stabilized at a higher level after a few weeks of peak, and valley results. After two months of meditating like this, Nick started to realize that his magic energy sometimes moved without his leading.
At first, he thought that this was strange, and suspected that he might have somehow caused himself to be corrupted by foreign wills, but further investigation revealed that he was completely healthy. Knowing that much, Nick ignored the slight phenomena.
He did not exhaust the rank 5 soul path magic beast soul until four months after he had started working on it. At that point, qualitative changes were finally observable.
At that time, Nick's consciousness rested within his mindscape, where his magic energy was not visible except for the slightly vibrating space that it induced.
Its lack of visibility did not prevent Nick, however from sensing that the magic energy that his foundation laws processed animatedly flowed around his mindscape like it had a will of its own. His magic energy somehow felt like a living creature. Not knowing what that meant, however, Nick decided to continue with his meditation for a few more months.
That being the case, Nick deactivated his soul conversion magic formation, and began meditating on the floor without its use. Nick did so for two more months until he felt a strange satisfaction well up inside him. At that point, the dragon sleeping within his mindscape opened its red-blue eyes, and spoke to him:
(More risky moves on your part. You are a very lucky in that your schemes have worked, or rather, you are lucky that your circumstances have allowed them to work.)
Nick wasn't exactly sure what the dragon meant, but he could make a few educated guesses:
(It could be saying that my unique cultivation gradually brought me to a point where my unconventional methods don't harm me, where as they would have harmed others, or…)
Nick listed several possibilities, but did not know which one was most appropriate, so he dropped the matter, for now. The dragon continued speaking:
(We have succeeded in making additional, advanced progress.)
After saying that, the dragon opened its maw wide, and made Nick's mindscape resound with its terrifying, beastly cry. Nick's consciousness was forcefully ejected from his mindscape as a result. Nick unconsciously laid back onto the floor of his workspace after his consciousness left his mindscape. Sweat poured down his face at this time like he had been in a sauna. He muttered:
"Another prolonged period of productive meditation achieved."
Nick rested for a few minutes. He noticed during that time that he was not passively recovering his magic energy. He experienced a similar phenomenon when he became rank 3 late stage, so he was not caught off guard, and even knew how to remedy the situation.
He rose to his feet, and soon began processing magic energy outside his body like he was used to. After doing so, Nick could not see the magic energy that he processed, but he sensed that it was present like he could sense his own right arm. He mused at this time:
(The dragon kicked me out of my mindscape for a reason, but I am not noticing any useful changes, yet…)
While Nick's thoughts were distracted, his magic energy began to condense on its own towards one point in front of himself. Nick sensed the change almost immediately, but did not attempt to stop it, thinking:
(This is probably the change that I am supposed to notice. 40,000 magical units of magic energy moving on its own counts as something weird happening…)
Soon, Nick could sense that all his external magic energy had become one 'thing' that stood in front of him. At this point, the hairs on the back of his neck, and his arm stood up, and a shiver went down his spine. After checking on his magic energy by actively scanning it using his magic sense, he realized that there was something akin to a large beast in front of him that lowered its head, and stared him down.
The outline of the 'beast' was vague using just his magic sense to form an almost useless depiction within his mind, and so he could not tell what invisible form the creature really took on, but Nick knew that it was there. He knew it in his bones, and marrow, and not only that, he sensed that it had a separate consciousness from himself. Nick was alarmed:
(What is this? Although I still cannot visibly see my magic energy, it has taken on a mysterious, beast-like form, and it even has its own consciousness…sort of like the dragon residing within my mindscape…)
After thinking for a while, Nick soon started to understand what was happening:
(...So, that is why the magic energy within my mindscape now moves on its own. Apparently, it has all been imbued with soul path characteristics that grants it a form of my will that is pseudo-sentient, if that makes sense. If that is the case, then…)
Nick willed, and the invisible, beast-like entity in front of him instantly became free flowing magic energy again, and was drawn into his mindscape. Nick lightly smiled in response to his conjectures being proven correct.
Nick then exuded a large amount of magic energy, about 100,000 magical units worth, and let go of his conscious control of it. Immediately following that, using his magic sense, Nick observed that the same invisible, beast-like form was almost instantly generated using his own magic energy.
The invisible beast once again lowered its head in front of Nick, and stared him down like it was waiting for something. Even if this was Nick's own magic energy, it made him feel a great discomfort that sent continuous shivers down his spine.
(This invisible form that my magic energy creates feels familiar, but at the same time unnatural, and spooky. That is probably the soul path characteristics imbued into my magic energy at work. I have meditated twice using magic beast derived magic energy, and both times, they resulted in serious changes to the behavior, and form of my magic energy. I can therefore conjecture that my unconventional meditation practices grants my mindscape an extreme amount of laws from one path, causing an alteration in innate characteristics…)
Nick soon, however, found one problem with his conjecture:
(Conventional meditation also grants the mindscape laws of a particular path, or many other paths depending on a person's affinities, but I have never heard of such extreme changes as what has happened with my magic energy. Parvone's magic energy had the form of visible light probably because he has a divergent grade mindscape that gives it those characteristics, but I do not think that the innate abilities of my special grade mindscape is entirely responsible for the changes that I am experiencing…)
Nick had heard about Parvone's probable divergent grade mindscape from Carla as she briefly spoke about the implications that his interactions with the Nefaris had. Thinking about the possibilities, Nick could only derive one assumption:
(Using magic energy derived from magic beasts to cultivate has bizarre effects on human mindscapes. No wonder the dragon within my mindscape kept saying that I was taking risks. I do not even know what is happening to me, but the obvious results are definitely beneficial. I do not mind some amount of uncertainty in my cultivation. Who in the world can be certain about everything that they do? I will surely figure things out as I improve, and depending on what I figure out, I will make adjustments…)
Nick was not going to worry about the possible ill-effects about how he was cultivating because he did not exactly know if there were any. In other words, worrying was a waste of his time; he needed to act, and improve, not worry. Nick soon willed, and the invisible, beast-like form of his magic energy scattered into free flowing magic energy, and was drawn into his mindscape within moments.
After doing some brief stretches to sooth his muscles, Nick exuded some of his magic energy again to envelop himself, and then activated Cursed Vessel. Following that, he instantly teleported to his fourth floor office. He sat in his office chair before muttering:
"I have two months left until I need to report to the Order of the United Realm."
Nick did not want his cultivation to be interrupted by such matters, but he had no choice.
(I have to at least show my face, and learn the rules before I can abandon such an appointment. For now, I should just continue my cultivation like normal. I still have to figure out how to get to rank 4…)
RING! RING! RING!…
Nick's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his ringing smartphone, which he then took out of his right pants pocket using his right hand. The caller ID indicated that it was Carla calling him, so he promptly accepted the call:
"Hello, Carla. What is the matter today?"
"Before I get into that, tell me, are you still non-stop cultivating?"
"No. I made some decent progress during my meditation sessions, so I am planning to take it one day at a time from here on out."
"That is good. I have a matter that I need a formation path expert to help me with, so I am reaching for my hubby. Meet me at the Magicians Association headquarters in three hours, and I will explain everything there. Clear your schedule for the next month, or so."
"You do know that I have a company to run, right?"
"What was that?"
"I will be at the Magicians Association as soon as possible, Carla. Your hubby will not fail you."
"That's what I thought you said. Sometimes my hearing isn't so good."
Nick sighed aloud into the phone after Carla said that, and in response, Carla laughed at Nick before ending the call. Nick went ahead to inform all his managers via calls that he would be absent for about one month, and that they should call him if they needed anything.
Nick then used Cursed Vessel to leave for the Magicians Association a couple hours ahead of time. It required Nick two uses of Cursed Vessel to silently arrive at the Magicians Association main building's entrance. Nick walked in leisurely, planning to take a seat somewhere to wait for Carla.
When he was about to head for an empty couch in one corner of the reception lobby, he heard a familiar voice call out to him:
"Nick Capitol, I did not even come looking for you, but here you are waltzing into this lioness' den. I will get my revenge today."
Nick did not need to turn around to know who the voice was coming from because Spatial Awareness had already revealed the person's identity. Nick muttered her name, as if to confirm it to himself:
"Jezda Auburn."
Jezda Auburn was a rank 3 Inspector of the Magicians Association that Nick had defeated in battle previously. She apparently held a grudge since then. Nick slowly turned around to face the approaching woman. His magic sense went into action, and he quickly discovered that she had become a rank 3 middle stage Magician.
When Jezda reached within two meters of Nick, her face paled as she sensed the magic energy that Nick exuded, indicating that he was a rank 3 late stage Magician. Jezda gritted her teeth in frustration before barking at Nick:
"How did you get to rank 3 late stage so fast? Do you dare to tell me the truth?"
Jezda currently wore a dark-blue magician's robe hat had red stripes all along its long sleeves. She furrowed her bushy eyebrows as she indirectly asked Nick for an explanation. Nick was not in the mood for nonsense, so he was just about to ignore her, when he heard another familiar voice ring out:
"Jezda, watch it. You lost to him once already when your cultivation was the same. Don't cause trouble for yourself."
Nick turned his focus to this person as he muttered his name, not failing to notice the man's rank 3 initial stage status:
"Jessie Auburn."
Jessie Auburn seemed to be in his late twenties, had slightly tanned, white skin, short, black, gelled hair, and brown eyes. He currently wore a green, and red styled military uniform that included a pair of black leather boots. He quickly approached Jezda's right side, and greeted Nick while sporting a somewhat bitter expression:
"Hello, Nick. It has been a long time. I did not think that you would have reached rank 3 late stage already. Don't mind Jezda. She is a good sister, just not so friendly to outsiders until she gets to know them."
Jezda furrowed her brows even more in response to Jessie's words as she barked at him too:
"What is the matter with you, little brother? Do not make excuses for me. Hmph! Is Nick Capitol anyone to fear. I can defeat him using just my left pinky finger!"
The few dozen people within the reception lobby heard such shameless boasting, and turned to focus on the excitement. Many Magicians were elitists, so they did not appreciate that a rank 3 middle stage Magician was talking down to a rank 3 late stage Magician. Some of the other rank 3 late stage Magicians seemed about to intervene in the situation, but sensing drama coming, Nick acted to nip it in the bud.
Nick quickly exuded a few thousand magical units of his magic energy to have it flow to Jezda's immediate front before letting go of his conscious control. Almost instantly, the same invisible, beast-like form was generated using Nick's magic energy. Nick vaguely sensed that the beast was several heads taller than Jezda, and was lowering its head to stare squarely at her.
Jezda, and Jessie froze in place as the hairs on the back of their necks stood up. They could not really see what was the cause but, using their magic sense, they realized something living was staring down Jezda, but could not determine its form clearly. They soon realized, however, that whatever it was consisted of Nick's magic energy.
Before Jezda could properly react, Nick sensed that the beast grabbed her upper body using one of its arms, and raised her four feet above the floor. Jezda felt so pressured, and uncomfortable as a result of Nick's magic energy that she still could not move, or focus enough to cast her spells. She thought:
(What the hell is this thing? It is entirely made of base magic energy, but it feels alive.)
The few dozen people that also witnessed the scene were shocked by Nick's power simply because they did not sense that he cast a spell, but he completely suppressed a rank 3 middle stage Magician using his magic energy. For most of the other rank 3 late stage Magicians, they did not think that they could achieve such a feat easily.
Jessie quickly snapped out of his fearful state when he saw that the situation had gotten out of hand, and tried to calm Nick down:
"Nick, just put Jezda down. She is a little arrogant, but you know how women can be. Not to mention that she is still an Inspector of the Magicians Association!"
Jessie thought that by invoking the Magicians Association, that Nick would back off, and to no one's surprise, he did just that. Nick quickly willed for his magic energy to return to his mindscape. Following that, Jezda fell to the floor, sitting with a dazed expression. Nick then turned to Jessie, and said:
"It is good that you should risk life, and limb for your sister."
The hairs on the back of Jessie's neck stood up again after hearing Nick's indifferent words that were filled with implied meaning.