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Ch189-Adventure Awaits!

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The dinner party was largely uneventful.

Sylver invited those closest to him, got drunk, and then told them how much he loved them, and then proceeded to threaten a hypothetical foe for daring to target his people. He thought he had been careful with his language, but nevertheless, Yeva ended up having to cover Benjamin’s ears.

Salgok joined in and somehow found a combination Sylver hadn’t heard before. Sylver in turn taught the old dwarf a “classic,” and they somehow ended up seeing who knew more swear words in dwarvish.

Sylver lost, but only because Salgok wouldn’t accept the words that were “outdated,” and “sounded like something a white beard would say.”

Aside from that, everything was peaceful.

Ciege and Yeva left early because Ben was tired, Salgok passed out and was carried to one of the spare bedrooms, Ron had to leave to tend to his guests, and Misha and Masha needed to go to sleep so they could wake up early for something Lola had asked them to do. Sylver had invited Zelvash and Ruslana over too, but they declined, and instead had their own banquet in Sylver’s honor.

The rabbits that had been running Sylver’s home for 5 years went to bed, and only Ging and Benny remained to top up people’s drinks, and clean up once everyone left. Sylver had initially insisted on having them go to bed as well, but Ging refused, and Benny added that Maul would be pissed if the plates weren’t placed in the proper cupboards.

The night ended with Sylver sitting in front of the large fireplace that had been installed in his absence, with Lola, Bruno, Faust, Chrys, and Ria sitting in a semi-circle next to him.

With everyone uncertain as to what to say, Chrys broke the silence.

“Do you know when you’ll be back?” Chrys asked.

Sylver turned so he was facing her.

“I don’t. I won’t be gone for long. Unlike last time, I’m not all alone. If there’s a problem, I can always send a letter home to ask for help,” Sylver explained, and vaguely gestured at a proud-looking Lola, and a nodding Bruno.

“What’s the plan when we’re inside?” Faust asked.

Sylver shrugged his shoulders and took a drink from his teacup. His body allowed him to be exactly as drunk as he wanted, and right now he was just a smidge above tipsy.

“I find out where Edmund is, rescue him, and we leave. It’s best to keep things simple,” Sylver explained.

Lola tapped the tip of her finger against her knee, and Sylver nodded for her to say whatever was on her mind.

“Are you sure this isn’t a trap? You didn’t exactly get the thing you’re using, from a very reputable source,” Lola asked. 

She was referring to Sylver using the mana inside the [Jester Hero]’s sword to track down Edmund’s location.

“As always, I am more than open to alternatives. Kitty’s group has had 5 years to search for them on the other side of the Asberg, not to mention you weren’t exactly sitting on your ass twiddling your thumbs,” Sylver said and felt something uncomfortable get stirred up inside him.

“There’s Carr De’Nerto. A man who simply found your book in a dungeon and copied it is suspicious enough as it is, but the fact that even I can’t find him, makes him 10 times more suspicious,” Lola offered.

The man she was referring to was the one who had written a book that somehow ended up in Yeva’s hands, and nearly killed Ben while he was still in her womb. He was on Sylver’s list of people to talk to. Even if he didn’t have a connection to Sylver, Sylver still wanted to have a word with the kind of idiot who would remove all the warnings from such a dangerous piece of text.

“There’s also Tuli, who might know something… Although even if I wanted to help her, it would take me years to repair her shell. I would need the help of someone gifted with healing magic, and something destructive enough to carve an impossibly hard shell,” Sylver said.

“What if I organized some people to help you? Level 500 mages, I know at least a couple that would be interested,” Lola offered and could tell by the look on Sylver’s face it was a pointless offer.

“Of course, they would be interested, everyone wants to carve up a demi-god’s corpse, even better if they get to kill one,” Bruno answered in Sylver’s place, with something akin to a sneer.

“You’ve met Tuli?” Sylver asked the old reincarnator.

“I remember that she was a demigod, but not much else. She moved around a lot, I remember that too. Either running away from something or trying to find something,” Bruno explained. 

Sylver turned towards Ria, who had her left hand raised.

“We’re among friends and equals Ria, you don’t need to raise your hand,” Sylver explained, as Ria lowered her hand.

“Who is Tuli? And what is a demi-god?” Ria asked.

“To keep it simple, Tuli is a very old, very smart, and very large, turtle. She is currently in a coma, and her insides are infested with various pests and monsters. One of the people we don’t talk about, set up a mining operation inside of her, and a man by the name of Nautis was loosely in charge of it,” Sylver explained and gestured for Bruno to carry on.

“A demi-god is a catchall term for a creature that has the capability to affect a god. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s as powerful as a god, but that is usually the case. A demi-god level healer could heal a god, a demi-god level necromancer could resurrect a god,” Bruno said, and Faust’s eyes opened up so wide they threatened to pop out.

Sylver made a so-so gesture with his hand.

“He’s not wrong, but he isn’t fully right either… Remember how I mentioned that ascended mages can find loopholes in their field of magic?” Sylver asked.

Ria nodded, while Bruno shrugged his shoulders and drank from his teacup.

“A demi-god, can ever so slightly bend the rules. In turn, he can create his own loopholes, he can do things considered downright impossible, and in some very rare cases, can invent a brand new field of magic. Any kind of “bloodline” related magic is almost always the result of a demi-god ancestor,” Sylver explained, and Lola looked like she was about to start taking notes.

“As I said, a demi-god level healer can bend the rules of magic to affect even a god that is immune to magic,” Bruno added, as Sylver shook his head.

“If an ascended mage is someone who specialized, a demi-god is a specialization of a specialization. Although… there is a certain level of power that’s required to be considered a demi-god… even if the creature in question doesn’t possess the specialization of a demi-god,” Sylver explained as he lowered his head slightly to figure out a better way of explaining it.

“Think about it like this… A demi-god is the strongest living creature and is just short of equaling the power of the weakest god. But the same way a 4th tier pyromancer could wipe the floor with a 10th tier healer, there is a matter of whether or not the demi-god’s specialization is combat-oriented. Dwarf demi-gods are almost exclusively craftsmen, whereas humans are very rarely anything other than combat, no offense,” Bruno explained, and Sylver could do little but nod along.

“None taken, but there’s more nuance to it,” Sylver said.

“We’re also not exactly “up to date” with our information. But, for the sake of simplicity, a demi-god is a creature that, in theory, is powerful enough to affect a god,” Bruno concluded.

Sylver put his cup of tea down and scratched his chin.

“Once again, he’s not wrong, but there’s…” Sylver searched around for a word.

“Nuance,” Bruno suggested.

Sylver stared at the man for a couple of seconds as he racked his brain for a good metaphor or something.

“Do you think sorcerers count as demi-gods?” Sylver asked.

“Why wouldn’t… Oh, actually… In the power sense, yes. In the specialization sense… yes?” Bruno answered.

“Name 1 single sorcerer who has ever created anything new, in terms of magic,” Sylver said with an accusatory tone.

“The Grey Witch,” Bruno offered with a smug smile.

“Despite her name, she wasn’t a witch, she was very much a mage,” Sylver countered.

“She very famously used wild magic,” Bruno countered.

“No, she seemed to use wild magic. Her demon familiars were the ones who used wild magic, she was, in every definition of the word, a mage,” Sylver countered.

“If she had a demon familiar that makes her a sorcerer, mages don’t have familiars,” Bruno countered.

“Mages can have familiars, we just don’t bother with them, because a mage powerful enough to summon a familiar, is powerful enough that it isn’t worth the effort. The Grey Witch was a mage,” Sylver argued, and Lola did her best to calm the situation down.

“Syl’s right, she was a mage,” Lola added quietly.

“Don’t take his side just because he’s older, I’m technically older than him. I’ve met the Grey Witch, she was a sorcerer,” Bruno said triumphantly.

“Well, I fought, and killed her,” Sylver concluded with a little too much pride in his voice given the subject of conversation

Bruno and Faust both stared at him, and eventually, Bruno was the one who decided to address the elephant in the room.

“I mean this in the best way possible, but how did you kill the Grey Witch? I’m confident enough in my understanding of magic to know that she was better than you, by a lot,” Bruno asked, while Sylver just blinked at him.

He answered with a slight grin.

“I used an artifact to trap the two of us in a dead zone, and then beat her to death using my fists. And as you’re well aware-”

“Sorcerers are immune to dead zones…” Bruno mumbled.

They sat in silence for a while, as Sylver leaned back into his seat and was just a bit too happy about being proven right.

“I thought she just disappeared somewhere? And took her family with her?” Faust asked, and knocked a bit of Sylver’s smug grin off his face.

“I don’t advertise when I kill someone with a lot of allies. As for her family… I asked them point-blank if they would leave me alone, and they answered honestly. Anyway… Is there anything else you would like to know, Ria?” Sylver asked, and turned to look at the floating woman.

“What’s the Asberg?” Ria asked, and Sylver sat up in his seat as he finally had an easy question to answer.

“It’s very simple,” Sylver said.