Fragment Mayfly

Jeral's question made every extraordinary person present understand what he meant.

If there were Fragment Mayflies here, then they could forget about improving their talents or choosing mental-power meal sets. They could simply switch to one Fragment Mayfly per person, and the problem would be perfectly solved.

After hearing Jeral's words, the Wizard Apprentices had initially felt somewhat uncomfortable, but on second thought, they felt it was not entirely unacceptable. If there really were Fragment Mayflies that even Formal Wizards needed, they could trade them to wizards for potions that improved aptitude. Though it was a roundabout way, they might even earn a wizard's favor.

Thus, the Wizard Apprentices were happy to see it happen.

Outside the banquet hall, Flora kept roaring, "Agh, agh! Fragment Mayflies! Ahhh! I want them too! These people have no shame! Let me in already! I want to join the feast too!"

As for Angel's opinion, they had not considered it from beginning to end. They could just give him some compensation later, couldn't they? And what if they did not? Could an ordinary person possibly turn the heavens upside down?

"Do you have them?" Jeral asked again.

Gloria gave Jeral a smile that was not quite a smile, then glanced at Angel. His face was expressionless, but the trembling of his arms revealed his nervousness.

After a while, Gloria opened her folding fan to hide her expression and said softly, "Oh-ho-ho-ho, Fragment Mayflies? Of course I have them. They are my signature dish."

Every wizard's eyes lit up!

Sabo's face was full of shock. Sky Mechanical City was indeed a large wizard organization, but it was also a city with exceptionally thriving trade. It could be said that more than half the Wizarding World's flow of gold had a layer of skin peeled away here. Sabo naturally understood the value of Fragment Mayflies, and because he had long dealt with Sky Auction House, he knew more inside information than the others. Fragment Mayflies were artificially made, and rumor had it that they were created by a wizard using an original spell. Original meant difficult to replicate, and Fragment Mayflies truly lived up to that word. For nearly a century, they had been sold exclusively, and in extremely limited quantities.

Sabo had never imagined that he would encounter the maker of Fragment Mayflies here.

If he could establish a connection with Gloria... never mind obtaining exclusive sales rights; if he could just occasionally get a few Fragment Mayflies, he would make a fortune!

With that thought, the way Sabo looked at Gloria changed somewhat.

"Not only do I have Fragment Mayflies, I also have Snow-Night Mystic Tree Pastry, Sea-Cloud Raccoon-Dog Soup Set, Monong Crab Roe, Steam Magic Spiral..." Gloria rattled off a long list of names. Among them were things that increased Brain Domain Development, cleared mental obstructions, opened the Vortex Mana Sourceflow... every single one held immense appeal for wizards.

"I want the Fragment Mayfly!" Jeral declared firmly.

Heloline and Sabo frowned at Jeral's arbitrary decision. Heloline wanted something for Brain Domain Development, while Sabo wanted to increase his mana, but it seemed they could only choose one. In the end, neither of them spoke. Fragment Mayflies were not bad either. Even if they could not use them, they could simply sell them in exchange for what they needed. There was no need to offend an alchemist bearing the title Mithril Revolutionary over this.

"The one making the decision isn't you." Gloria pursed her lips toward Angel.

"He'll agree," Jeral said without hesitation.

After saying that, Jeral looked at Angel, his gaze faintly complicated. This time, they had only entered Barbie Restaurant thanks to this boy. Otherwise, not only would this trip have yielded nothing, he might even have lost face before the apprentices. Yet despite that, Jeral felt not the slightest gratitude. Instead, some inexplicable embarrassment made him vent a little of his resentment on Angel.

Though he harbored a trace of hostility toward Angel, Jeral did not completely cast aside his shame under everyone's watchful eyes.

"Angel, right? As long as you choose the Fragment Mayfly and give your share to me as well, I'll trade you a bottle of Frostnight Potion that raises your mental-power limit by 2 points."

After Jeral spoke, he paid no attention whatsoever to Angel's answer and looked directly at Gloria. Frostnight Potion was extremely useful to Wizard Apprentices. Yet compared to a Fragment Mayfly, its value was utterly incomparable. Perhaps a hundred bottles of Frostnight Potion could only be exchanged for a section of a Fragment Mayfly's tail.

Angel felt a faint anger rise in his heart at Jeral's words, but he did not let it erupt. He merely kept inhaling and exhaling, silently telling himself, Keep an open mind.

Ever since boarding the Bauhinia, Angel had often felt unable to control his own fate. This time was the worst of all, yet he still did not dare defy them. Just as Mentor Jon often said, "A wise man submits to circumstances," and "Forbearance in small matters prevents the ruin of great plans." Even if Angel wanted to indulge in a burst of youthful defiance, before such an absolute disparity in strength, he could only obediently rein in his temper and set his attitude straight.

"Little brother, have you made your choice now?" Gloria asked Angel with a smile.

Whether Angel chose the Fragment Mayfly or the customized meal set that improved aptitude, Gloria did not think either choice was wrong. The aptitude-improving meal set she made herself might not necessarily be better than Frostnight Potion. That was precisely why Gloria had not stopped Jeral from speaking. Otherwise, with Angel's gold-card privileges and according to the rules left behind by "that person," Gloria would definitely have intervened.

Angel remained silent for quite a while before saying, "I... think I'll choose the Fragment Mayfly."

When Jeral heard "Fragment Mayfly," he nodded. As for the uncertain qualifier "think" in Angel's words, he ignored it outright.

Angel said, "However, before I make my choice, may I ask about something?"

"Gehahaha, of course you may. As a gold-card guest, as long as you are within Barbie Restaurant, every one of your questions will receive the highest standard of response." Soup Weasel emerged from nowhere.

Angel glanced at Moro. A trace of bafflement flashed across the latter's face, but he soon seemed to understand something.

Moro probed, "Do you want to ask about your mentor?"

Angel nodded and slowly described Jon's condition to Gloria. Of course, he did not say much about Jon's true origins. He only emphasized the changes in Jon's body and his current state.

Gloria raised her eyebrows and thought for a while. "Your mentor's body has begun to deteriorate on its own? His limbs have started to atrophy as well?"

Angel nodded. At this point, Moro added, "I used Disease Detection on him. There was no cause of illness in his mentor's body."

No cause of illness, yet the body was deteriorating on its own?

An answer surfaced in every wizard's mind. Yet none of them spoke first. Instead, it was Heloline, who had remained very low-key throughout, who broke the deadlock.

"If the body is deteriorating on its own without any cause of illness, it is very likely that he has been rejected by the World Consciousness." After a pause, Heloline said lightly, "Your mentor may not be from this world."

Everyone nodded, and Gloria agreed with Heloline's view as well.

Angel said nothing. He knew his mentor was not from this world, but he did not dare say it aloud. At that moment, Moro helped him again. "I used Break Illusion to test him. His mentor should be from this world, because the detection result showed that he is an absolute human. Unless humans also exist on planes other than our Wizarding World."

Moro's words plunged everyone into confusion once more.

That humans existed only in the Wizarding World was a common understanding among wizards. Humans in other realms or planes were either migrants from the Wizarding World, or humanoid lifeforms. Genuine humans from other worlds could not possibly exist.

Moreover, even descendants of Wizarding World immigrants would not be rejected by the World Consciousness upon returning to the Wizarding World. Or rather, as long as one had human blood in one's ancestry, even if one now displayed the outward form of a humanoid creature, one would still not be rejected by the World Consciousness upon returning to the Wizarding World.

Much less Jon, who was a purebred human!

Now everyone was stumped. After thinking for a while, Heloline said, "If he is human, then he should not be rejected by the World Consciousness. Hmm... if it is not an illness, then it may be a spell similar to a curse."

Moro was about to say that there were no traces of spells on Jon's body when Heloline explained, "Perhaps it was caused by some otherworldly ability from another plane, so spell detection cannot detect it."

Thus, with everyone's additions, Jon's "illness" was given its diagnosis.

Angel had originally wanted to see whether Gloria had any food that could save his mentor. If she did, then even if it meant offending Jeral, he would find a way to obtain it.

But after everyone's excessive speculation, Jon's "illness" had been led astray. If food were customized according to the imagined "Jon's condition," it certainly would not be able to save Jon.

Because the reason for Jon's decline was actually that he was a "visitor from another time and space, unaccustomed to the local conditions."

Angel did not dare explain either, so he could only laugh it off.

"Any more questions? If not, I'll begin making the Fragment Mayflies now~"

"No more. Sorry to trouble you, my lady..." Angel bowed to Gloria and was about to step back when he suddenly remembered the inexplicable itch on his shoulder. "Oh, right. There is one more matter I would like to consult about. It concerns me..."