A Grand Welcome Banquet

The next evening, after wrapping up several projects and his meditation ahead of time, Locke headed to the venue where the Hellfire Club gathering was being held.

The gathering wasn't being held in the port city, but in a public reception hall belonging to the Academy beside the public plantation.

It seemed to have been specially prepared for celebrations and banquets within the Academy, with exceptionally complete facilities.

The interior was extremely luxurious, so renting it for just one night cost five hundred Magic Stones.

At the center of the Hellfire Club's banquet hall, Locke held a glass of Awakening Ice Brew wizard wine as he exchanged toasts with Harlan Vela's outstanding students present.

The banquet offered a great variety of wizard wines and delicacies prepared by Seasoners. More than a hundred wizards had even come in person to attend.

Even more powerful wizards who were no longer within the school chose to attend through magical projections, raising their projected glasses to toast him from afar.

These wizards attending through magical projection were generally First-Ring Wizards.

They merely symbolically shared a drink with Locke, giving the banquet's guest of honor some face, before turning their attention to speaking with the other Formal Wizards.

After all, they were Formal Wizards who had graduated long ago. Coming here and sharing a glass of wizard wine with Locke was already a gesture of goodwill.

The main purpose of these First-Ring Wizards attending their master's gathering was still to continue exchanging information with other Formal Wizards in Harlan Vela's network, even conducting transactions for rare magical resources on the spot.

That was one of the purposes served by a wizard mentor's network.

Harlan Vela wore a smile as he exchanged insights with those outstanding wizards who had already graduated, sharing in the accomplishments his