Abel was woken up by his druid spirit. The time he set up was already up. He already used up five dark stones by now, and he had already memorized six out of ten of the lightning rules. Time was running out. The flash spirit flower was about the blossom. He took out a “town teleportation scroll” and headed back to his temporary residence with the lightning clan.
Wizard Field bowed as soon as he saw that Abel was out, “Respectful Master Bennett, Elder Hal just asked me to invite you over to look at the flash spirit flower.”
There was a lot of respect in his eyes. He thought that Master Bennett would take him over to look at the Land of Lightning Fall, but Master Bennett never showed up during these three days. From the looks of it, he’s been inside his room the whole time, creating more of the genius work he was famous for. Of course, from Abel’s perspective, he knew that he was doing nothing of the sort.
Abel said to his two followers, “Stay here now, Poly and Gunter. I’ll be off with Wizard Field from here.”
It couldn’t be helped. There was a limited number of names allowed to see the flash spirit flower open. Abel was no exception. He did receive a lot of privilege with his title as Master Bennett, but that’s not going to get him two extra spaces to invite whoever he wanted.
Poly, the druid, knew already, “Yes, Master Bennett.”
It was already clear when they first departed. The flower-watching ceremony was only for law-defying wizards and those who were friendly with lightning clan wizards. With that, the two followers waited as Abel followed Wizard Field towards the teleportation circle, which they would use to come to the Land of Lightning Fall’s surface. As they arrived, they could see eight lightning clan wizards spreading out a defensive circle that stretched over to cover a range of a circle with twenty meters in radius.
The teleportation circle was often used to let lightning clan wizards go in and out. It was the Same for law-defying wizards. This was pretty much the only way they could come over here. The underground space was perhaps the most important area to the whole clan. That was where the elites lived. That was Abel, in this case. Master Bennett was supposed to be a complete amateur in combat, but he was also a significant guest to the lightning clan. The underground basement, by that, would be the only appropriate place for him. As for the teleportation circle, the one at the surface was only enough to engulf the incoming law-defying wizards with the essence. If the incomers went out of the lightning clan wizards’ protection, the real way to not be affected by the automatic defensive mechanism was to leave the Land of Lightning Clan once and for all. This was just how the lightning clan protected itself. Most wizard organizations would do the same, but they were just not as extreme as the Land of Lightning Clan.
Wizard Hal and a few law-defying wizards went up to bow as they saw Abel showing up.
“Respectable Master Bennett!”
The other law-defying wizards had sparkled eyes when they saw Master Bennett. Master Bennett was a celebrity now. No one was going to be on his wrong side, and no one was going to berate him.
Abel smiled and bowed, “I can finally see the legendary flash spirit flower now.”
“All thanks to you, Master Bennett. Maybe the flower waited for you to open.”
The other law-defying wizards laughed as well. It was getting quite peaceful. Meanwhile, a flash of white light appeared at the teleportation circle. Two people were showing up. Abel could tell that one was a law-defying wizard and another was a rank sixteen advanced wizard.
Wizard Hal spoke in a rather straightforward manner, “Karmens! Why did you bring Hiram here?”
Wizard Karmens took a serious look at the wizard beside him, “I’m giving this chance to Hiram, Hal. His time is about to be up soon.”
Everyone became quiet quickly. They all knew who Wizard Karmens and Wizard Hiram were.
Wizard Field sent a message with his power of the Will, “Master Bennett, this is Hiram, Wizard Karmen’s grandson. He’s Wizard Karmens’ only relative.”
Wizard Hal nodded in approval, “As you said, Karmens. You’ve made the decision, so let’s leave the chance back to Wizard Hiram.”
There was one similarity about wizards. Having a long lifespan would mean that they’d lose all their close ones. The fewer ties they had to their close ones, the more unconventional their ways of being would become. This was why teachers and apprentices became much closer than fathers and sons. Not only would they share a lot more time, but they often became the pillars for each other to retain their sense of humanity.
Wizard Karmens noticed the message that Wizard Field was sending to Abel. He looked towards Abel and became quite confused when he sensed the rank eighteen druid essence on him.
Wizard Karmens smiled and introduced, “This is Master Bennett, Karmens.”
Wizard Karmens went up and bowed, “Respectable Master Bennett, would you be available after the flower watching? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
Wizard Hal said solemnly, “There is a time and place, Karmens! We’re in the Land of Lightning Fall now!”
The other law-defying wizards didn’t say out loud, but they thought the same. The only reason they hadn’t asked anything from Master Bennett was that they thought that he was an important guest, and an important guest was not supposed to be bothered. Here, all they really planned to do was to make a good enough first impression on Master Bennett so that there was a chance for a better talk next time. What Wizard Karmen did here was not very according-to-the-rules in that regard.
Wizard Karmens said apologetically, “I’m so sorry, Hal! It’s just that Hiram’s hasn’t got a lot of time. I’m starting to get worried.”
Wizard Hal turned to Abel instead, “The flash spirit flower will blossom for about eight to ten minutes, Master Bennett, and that is why we of the light clan invited seven guests in total. Each guest will get about a minute in total to interact with the flower, and once the time went past eight minutes, it will be up to the internal members of the lightning clan to use up the remaining time.”
Wizard Hiram suddenly spoke, “I’ll leave it to you this time, grandpa. Use the flower this time.”
Wizard Karmens was getting emotional, “Shut your mouth! I’m a law-defying wizard. I can turn myself into a mechanical puppet even if I don’t have much time left. You are an advanced wizard, Hiram! You need all the seconds you can get!”
Abel turned to look at Wizard Karmens. He never heard what the flash spirit flower was capable of doing to advanced wizards. If the flower could actually do something, he didn’t think that the lightning clan would disclose any information about it.
Wizard Hal suddenly spoke loudly, “Time’s up, everyone! Please, come along with me.”
Following that, the eight lightning clan advanced wizards activated “instantaneous movement” spells simultaneously. Everyone present was being teleported to the site where the flowers were. No one did anything to protect themselves because the lightning clan wizards were the ones that were keeping them safe. And they didn’t have to worry that anything would happen to the lightning clan wizard, either. It was tough to kill any lightning wizards here if they were not completely still. Wizards were good at surviving attacks. It was the reason that they owned the entire central continent, to begin with. It was also, by the way, how they managed to own the Land of Lightning Fall. They had the ability to keep teleporting to dodge the lightning attacks around here.
Right now, Abel was being brought by eight lightning advanced wizards to move continuously between the dark stones. Lightning continued to drop from the sky. It was scary, as safe as it actually was. Eventually, the group stopped at a dark plant in front of them, which, although it looked as though it was burnt to charcoal black, was actually alive and well.
Wizard Hal pointed towards the plant, “That! That’s the flash spirit flower!”
As difficult as it was to pinpoint the blossoming stage of the flash spirit flower, it’d be very hard to locate and let alone figure out when to use it. In fact, the vast majority of people had never seen a flash spirit flower in their life. They spent most of their time in shutdown training, so this was really a spectacular experience for them. Abel, too, of course. He was really keen on seeing the most beautiful flower across the entire central flower.
Wizard Hal spoke quietly, “Everyone! Allow me to announce the names. I’ll wait for everyone to take orders.”
As he did that, Wizard Hiram was put at the very back and Abel at the very front. No one objected to that. The order had nothing to do with hierarchy, and it wasn’t like the order affected the amount of influence the flash spirit flower was going to have on them. Wizard Karmens was an exception. He was worried that the last one watching would not get enough time, but he also realized that there were just seven people here. There was enough time, even if the flower didn’t blossom for too long this time.
Wizard Hal smiled and spoke to Abel, “You’ve done the preparation, Master Bennett! Here, I’ll let Wizard Field send you over!”
Abel could feel the life force that was erupting out of the flash spirit flower like a volcano. He could also see the slim flower petal that was growing out. Wizard Field didn’t place his hand on Abel this time. Instead, he wrapped his power of the Will around Abel, and once they were about five meters about, he activated the “instantaneous movement” and brought him next to the flower. He himself was about five meters away from the flower. He was leaving all the benefits to Abel. One minute was the amount of time that the lightning clan discovered to be optimal for absorbing the flower essence. Too long, and it would be a waste of resources. Too short, and there wouldn’t be the desired effect.
Meanwhile, Abel was standing closest to the flash spirit flower. When the flower petal opened, a strong, strange fragrance entered his nose. A white, dim light was what emitted to his eyes. A life qi transpired his soul. He could see the entire life of the flower in a span of a few seconds. It went from a dark seed that slowly grew as it continuously absorbed the lightning energy from the thin cracks of stones. It took about five centuries for it to develop to maturity. The flower grew slowly. Its growth was fueled by lightning, so naturally, it would possess the essence of lightning so that when they combined, it created this special energy that was transferred from the flower’s smell.
Abel didn’t know how long his episode lasted. As he absorbed the energy, he could feel a slight change to his body which actually made him lose the sense of time for a bit. He was just starting to accept the energy of the coexisting life tree. Meanwhile, his lifespan was just being reset. He was very young in contrast to the very long life ahead of him, however, so it didn’t really matter if the flash spirit flower was going to add a new year to his life or not. He wasn’t going to turn down the offer when it’s there, but the reason he came here was really, well, it was because Wizard Hal was looking for him.
Anyways, after a very precise one minute, Wizard Field brought Abel back to the eight lightning clan wizards with his “instantaneous movement” to where the barrier was set up.
