Chapter 254: Chapter 53 Farewell Words, Unexpected

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“Such a bold little fellow.”

“I can’t wait to see the look on Peter’s face when he finds out.”

“Hehehe…”

“Hehe…erm…”

Wizard Palo didn’t stop the low murmurs of discussion, allowing the atmosphere to simmer.

Link focused stintedly, undistracted, and initiated the puppet duel once more.

This time, the background music began right from the start.

At first, it was calm and uplifting, with a heavenly, ethereal voice softly singing.

The duel between the two puppets was devoid of passion, one took steps, the other rotated in a circle.

You flung a water ball, I shot a wooden arrow.

They feinted and parried, it was all probing, absolutely lackluster.

This went on for more than a minute.

Suddenly, the background music exploded.

The woman’s singing turned from calm to vigorous, as though narrating an epic battle from history.

Link here borrowed some melodies from “Victory”.

Under the atmosphere of life-or-death, the duel between the two puppets entered its aggressive clash stage.

They bombarded each other relentlessly as if the Zero Ring offensive magic did not require any magic power.

Each was attempting to suppress the other.

However, spiritual power and magic power are limited resources.

High output in a short time results in the rapid depletion of spiritual and magic power.

In less than a minute, the casting speed of the two puppets visibly slowed down, seemingly about to return to the initial lethargic pace.

Unbeknownst to them, both puppets had the same idea.

Almost simultaneously, they launched another round of fierce attacks.

Then both their spiritual power and magic power were completely drained.

With magic useless, they resorted to close-quarters combat.

The two puppets began swinging the Great Eight Fist in mid-air, rolling and tumbling.

The wizards present, including Wizard Palo himself, couldn’t help but find this somewhat amusing.

Is this a battle between wizard apprentices?

It’s less exciting than a mundane knight’s duel.

Between rising and falling, the main puppet pulled off a clever trick.

With both hands gripping the twelfth puppet’s arms, its right knee shot upwards in a brutal knee strike.

The background music abruptly stopped.

Switching to sound effects, a crisp ‘snap’ sounded, clear yet somehow muffled.

The shattering of a luminous effect told everyone;

The egg is cracked!

The main puppet gave a contemptuous glance towards the twelfth puppet cradling its crotch with a twisted look of agony, then looked around and shouted defiantly, “Who’s next?”

The battle ended here.

And so did the exhibition.

“Very good, indeed!”

Wizard Palo was amused by that final shout.

He recalled his own brash outburst in the past, which had been, “Fuck! You dare to fight me?”, equally arrogant but somewhat vulgar.

But this modified version was still as arrogant, even more flamboyant, but the choice of words was more refined and domineering.

“Not bad, not bad.”

Wizard Palo began to praise, “I like it, I like it very much. Link, you really put in effort.”

“As long as you’re happy.”

Link summoned back the main puppet and the twelfth puppet, and placed the 13 puppets back into the gift box, and closed the lid.

Simultaneously, he voiced the sincere blessing he had prepared: “May you wander half your life and still return as a youth!”

At his words, Wizard Palo was taken aback.

He quickly regained his composure and murmured the blessing, which matched perfectly with the set of puppets, twice to himself. His smile grew even brighter.

He patted Link’s shoulder, softly saying, “Thank you for your blessing, I appreciate the sentiment. Now go and rest. Come find me later, we’ll have a good chat.”

“Yes, Wizard Palo.”

Link obediently agreed on the arrangement and returned to the side of the Serene Wizard.

He had garnered enough attention for tonight and should not outshine the master.

Wizard Palo laughed and chatted with the guests for a bit to lighten the mood before nonchalantly storing the puppet gift box in his Storage Magic Tool for safekeeping so it wouldn’t get lost.

Only then did he start opening the gifts given to him by the second-class wizards.

“How do you feel?”

the Serene Wizard quietly asked.

“Like being on the edge of an abyss, like treading thin ice, in constant fear.”

Link thought for a moment and used a phrase he often heard before to express his feelings.

Anxious, nervous, uneasy, afraid of making mistakes.

“Maintain this mindset, never be complacent.”

The corner of Serene Wizard’s mouth lifted in a faint smile as he advised, “Thanks to Palo’s public support for you today, you will face less hostility from other factions and wizards. However, Lionel, Lucia, and their allies will regard you with even greater hostility. This can be both a good and a bad thing. It all depends on how you manage. Your current mindset, it is very good.”

Upon hearing this, Link fell into deep thought.

He had been mentally prepared, he had a faint premonition since the first time he received support from Wizard Palo.

His allegiance was decided then and there.

Friendships would be formed, but there would be more enemies.

Countless times tonight, Link sincerely thanked the Serene Wizard, “Thank you for your guidance, I will pay more attention.”

“Hmm.”

The Serene Wizard gave a nonchalant reply.

After all the presents were opened, the promotion ceremony had nothing special left.

Like other social events, it moved on to the small talk stage.

The Serene Wizard had her own circle of wizard friends, so she didn’t continue to stay in this comer.

Link remained in the same spot until the end of the promotion ceremony. Only when he received an invitation from Wizard Palo did he follow him.

“Come for a walk with me.”

Wizard Palo signaled to everyone else not to follow, and led Link towards Boundary Lake.

Link lagged a few steps behind.

“Do you ever wonder why someone like me places so much importance on an insignificant wizard apprentice like you? Even if you have your secrets and circumstances, you only became a third-class wizard apprentice within less than a year..”