Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was afternoon in Avalon’s downtown. On the busy street, a white stone building took up much of Avalon’s golden mile. The front yard within the black gates was empty. Guarded by two statues of saints at the end of the yard, the front door of the Musician Union was always open. Even in the daytime, the candles were lit, exuding a vague coldness and seriousness. Here, people came and went in silence. In the stern atmosphere, everyone seemed grave and serious.
This was the Musician Union’s branch in Avalon. Across the street was the Westminster Church. Different from the Musician Union’s silence, the church was bustling and full of commotion. There was an endless stream of religious followers coming over in carriages, or merchants going to exchange, or store their money orders or holy emblems.
For hundreds of years, these two landmarks stood beside Avalon’s Royal Avenue. One protected the kingdom from demons. The other maintained the economy and livelihood of Anglo’s people, supporting the kingdom with the Royalty.
But now, a few elites sat impatiently in a fancy carriage before the Musician Union’s door.
“That’s what he said?” Edmund’s eyes were ice cold. His face was still bruised and swollen, and he looked laughable. But the coldness in his eyes sent chills down Bart’s spine.
“That’s right.” Bart grit his teeth. “He said he wants you to kneel in apology and forever be the academy’s laughingstock.”
“If that’s the case, then we won’t keep them…” Edmund’s eyes became even more poisonous. “Seems like I was too naïve. After all, they’re scum and we shouldn’t expect them to know their place.”
“You want to…” Bart’s muscles twitched and he broke off.
“Bart…” Edmund’s swollen eyelids lifted upward slightly. “You know that it’s always possible to make a mistake during a faceoff. The academy always has slots for the wounded or dead…”
Bart remained silent. They were in the carriage, but he seemed to smell the vile scent of the sewer. In the murky waters of the Thames, a white corpse could float into the ocean and disappear forever. What a pity that the girl, so white and delicate, would disappear into the sewer…
“Let them be cocky for a few more days. Life is short, after all.” The corners of Edmund’s lips twisted. “Wait for my uncle to come back, and I’ll show them!”
“Are you sure?” Bart asked quietly. “What if your uncle doesn’t care about this?”
“That’s impossible!” He rubbed his throbbing nose. “My uncle loves me the most in the family. He won’t let a redneck mess with me.” Edmund’s eyes flashed. “Just wait until I get the Dragon Breath Ring, and that mutt will see what the end of the world is like! Not even the teachers there will be able to save him!”
—
As they waited, the servant at the corner of the street noticed something. He waved his hat in the direction of the carriage. Everyone straightened. “He’s coming!”
Under everyone’s intense gaze, a column of horses galloped out of the crowd.
On the strictly monitored Royal Avenue, the group of men clad in gray cloaks galloped over on their stallions. As if they had rode through wind and dust, there was a layer of frost on everyone’s faces.
Some of the burly men held swords, while others had bows and arrows forbidden to commoners. Some were wounded, blood seeping through their bandages. The most shocking were the heads that hung from their saddles. The faces were hidden behind scraggly hair. Four sharp teeth gleamed from within their wide mouths. Two pointed ears were on each side.
Moon fae. They were the dark family that fell from mankind, a twisted demon tribe created by the Dark Mother. Often disguising themselves as humans, these creatures that hid within society were always on the list of the Musician Union’s wanted list. These seemingly elegant creatures, skilled in archery and swordsmanship, would turn into bloodsucking monsters, unable to control their thirst under the moonlight.
Following the middle-aged man at the head, they stopped before the Musician Union’s entrance. He jumped off his horse and handed his dusty cloak to his servant. Under his cloak, his elite hunting gear did not show any sign of travel or wear. Taking off his bloody gloves, he replaced them with new pure white gloves. Instantly, he transformed from a weary traveler back into an elite.
Seeing him, Edmund’s eyes lit up. “Uncle!”
—
Outside the door, the man conversed happily with his men. When he entered the union, he heard a voice behind him.
“Uncle! Uncle Bradley!”
The man halted. Turning back, his eyes lit up. “Little Edmund? Long time no see.” He smiled widely as he walked toward his nephew, pride written all over his face. “I heard that you were accepted by the Royal Academy of Music. I was happy for you when I heard the news. Are you here to welcome me back?” He hugged his nephew. After studying him, his brows furrowed. “What happened to your face?”
“Nothing.” Edmund smiled like a little boy. “I heard that you went to take care of the group of moon fae. How was it? I’ve been praying for you to come back quickly.”
“A group of pointy ears is nothing to me.” Bradley guided him forward. “There was some trouble with finding a guide though. Those scared commoners actually hid when they heard we needed a guide. Such a disgrace to Anglo.”
“Those commoners dared to refuse an elite’s recruitment?” Edmund asked in shock.
Bradley huffed coldly. “Her Highness is too soft with those people calling for human rights. Even the peasants and slaves are getting uppity. But don’t worry, I have the intelligence and techniques to teach them. Let’s stop talking about these unimportant matters. The contribution points for this mission are worth my effort.” He entered the hall of the union. Studying the list on the pillar, his eyes lit up. “It’s time to reap the rewards after working hard for so long.”
There were always three stone tablets in the center of the Musician Union’s hall. They had already been there before the building had been constructed. As the building was built, different equipment and aether worked on the tablets. In the end, a dozen alchemy musicians worked together and carved a music score with a few hundred syllables and finally created the end result.
The three tablets could display something different according to what the musician played. One of them recorded all rewarding missions and the contribution points that could be had after completion. This included attacks on natural catastrophes, capturing of dark musicians, and removing the demons that appeared.
The one in the center displayed the rewards. One could exchange contribution points for alchemy equipment, instruments, and musical scores. This included the handwritten notes of masters and saints, classic scores such as the Goldberg Variations and Missa Solemnis in D, and legendary instruments made by saints. If one had enough points, they could exchange them for practically mythical instruments such as Heaven’s Horn.
The last tablet showed the ranking of musicians worldwide. The Sacred City ranked a musician according to the missions they accomplished, and their actions. The musician could decide whether or not to display it.
Of course, the top of the ranking was always the Three Kings. Following them were Haydn, Chopin, Shikuang, Boya, and other saints. This was why the Musician Union existed. Through everyone’s cooperation and hard work, all resources could be kept in the same place to encourage naturally arrogant musicians to do something real for the world.
This time, Bradley was willing to go out for one month to obtain a rare alchemy item—Double Snake Time Meter.
Of the seven major schools of musicians, the School of Summoning controlled beasts, the School of Choir searched for the meaning of life, the School of Illusions was immersed in the nonexistent, the School of Mind controlled the mind and soul, the School of Revelation thirsted for the future, the School of Abstinence focused on aether. Of these, the most popular school was undeniably the School of Modifications.
The musicians of this school were experts at controlling all living organism’s nature and changes. This included the crazily powerful and dangerous Battle Musicians and the Alchemist Musicians who could create alchemy equipment and instruments with runes and music. In addition to his own power, this type of musician also needed other items.
If he had good equipment, an average third level musician could even break through the Barrier of Knowledge and gain the upper hand over a Resonance Level musician. Alchemy equipment had always been considered rare. They were snatched up as soon as they went on the market. Those that could be on the exchange list were considered the best of best. Some of them could help the musician like the wind, or activate different music scores. Others could boost a musician’s power.
This included the Double Snake Time Meter that Bradley had been pining for recently. The third movement of the Brandenburgische Konzerte was carved onto it.
One of its features was that the musician’s sense of aether would double within one minute! It was ineffective to musicians above level six, and could only be used once per week, but it was enough to make everyone crazy for it! If someone timed things correctly during a fight, and let his aether sense and control double instantly, even just one minute could turn the fight around completely.
Such treasured equipment obviously had a price. It costed two thousand points, but it was truly underpriced. Most people would never give up something like this, but the seller had been stuck at the Musician Level for too long and had no hope of enlightenment. He decided to go full out, and saved up his points to exchange for material needed for the Resonance Ceremony and break through the Barrier of Knowledge! Otherwise, he would never sell his treasure at the Musician Union.
If other people knew, they would definitely fight Bradley for it. But a week had gone by, and the equipment with serial code ST101 still had not appeared on the exchange list.
—
Thinking of this, Bradley could not help but smile proudly. He had heard of this news from his friend in the Union the day it had been sent over, and spent a lot of money to find a loophole in the selling process.
Usually, an item could be exchanged as soon as it was registered with the Union. But it needed a period of verification and storage before it could officially be on the exchange list. According to previous rules, this process could only be one week long. But after simplification in recent years, these two steps would not even take half a day.
In other words, Bradley had one more week than others to prepare. If he could exchange the item within one week, then no one would even know that this item had existed. No one would know about his secret weapon.
With uncontrollable ecstasy, Bradley strode to the front desk. He showed his identification card and evidence of his mission.
Behind the counter, the worker glanced at the thick book beside him. Silver font swam across the first page, displaying Bradley’s information.
“Congratulations, Mr. Bradley. You now have 2041 contribution points.”
Hearing this, Bradley could no longer hide his pride. “I would like to exchange ST101, Double Snake Time Meter. Please hurry. I can’t wait any longer.”
“Okay, just a moment.” The worker flipped open the book and searched for the records and documents of the union. After a moment, shock appeared across his face.
“My apologies, sir, but the Double Snake Time Meter has already been exchanged.”
