Wizard Of Cosmos

61 - The Secret To Jason’s Strength

“Two… Two Grandmasters….”

Frank’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was more than enough to be heard by everyone.

The old village leader and Lord Jason’s woman, both were Grandmasters.

He had seen Grandmasters in big cities when he was young and had witnessed their power, but this was the first time he was this close to one. 

Besides, this was supposed to be a small village at the edge of the human world, and he never thought there would be a Grandmaster here, much less a two. Honestly, he didn’t believe Jason’s words. Only now he felt he had walked into the tiger’s den.

‘This female Grandmaster… She is so young.’

Frank didn’t even think about the Grandmaster with disrespect. He feared them that much. 

All of his men were on the ground, and they looked miserable and terrified. 

“I….”

Xanders felt even more miserable. He miscalculated his aura suppression, and it went slightly off. The problem was that he was a Grandmaster and normal people had no strength to withstand his strength. 

Also, he was sure that Amelia was stronger than him. She countered his aura with no effort while he felt a slight pain in his chest after the collision. 

Luckily, no one was harmed. Although he just wanted to scare the former bandits, his aura could bring immense pain to the enemies. After all, he was an assassin. His aura was like a sharp dagger with a fine edge. 

“Ja… Jason… You… Didn’t tell us… Mr Xanders was a Grandmaster.”

Logan was shocked. 

He thought Jason was strong, but Amelia and Xanders didn’t even have to move to make a sky-shaking event. He even felt this wasn’t even the true strength of these two people. 

‘My report… I said only one Grandmaster and a wizard. Damn it… Jason is pretty weak compared to them.’

He glanced at his captain who looked stunned. 

“Huh?”

Jason looked at Logan after confirming that Hanna was unharmed. 

“Oh… I forgot to tell you… Mr Xanders is a Grandmaster.”

‘I know….’

Logan felt like crying when Jason looked away. He didn’t need to know it now. It was obvious. 

…

“Old man, if you can’t control your power, don’t use it.”

Amelia’s cold eyes focused on Xanders who was helpless at the moment. 

“Rude Grandpa.”

Hanna looked at Xanders with serious eyes as she tightly clung to Jason’s neck. This was her safe place.

She didn’t know what exactly happened.

However, Jason suddenly hid her in anger, and she felt Amelia also getting angry. They directed their anger at this rude grandpa. Also, both of them had an impulse to protect her. Hanna had felt many emotions from others, but this was the first time she felt such a warm feeling directed toward her.

‘Mommy and daddy love me.’

She wanted to jump and hug both of them, ‌but Jason was holding her in a tight, but caring grip. Which also felt nice. 

…

The air around Jason changed as if it was solidifying into crystals.  A shape that looked like a shattered mirror formed vertically from the ground.

‘An artefact?’

Jason watched his master walk out of the portal in amazement. 

Teleportation was a skill possessed by Master Wizards, and Merlin was just a Wizard. This could be the effect of an artefact.

An ancient magic device left by the wizards of old times. 

“I heard some commotion. What exactly happened? Ho ho… My young apprentice is here. Are you here to stay this time?”

Merlin stroked his beard out of a motion that looked like an old habit. 

“Master! I am here to stay.”

Jason gave a bow to his master, who had dark circles under his eyes. 

“Hanna, say hello to Master Merlin.”

“Hello, Master Grandpa.”

Hanna didn’t like strangers, but she felt a sense of respect from Jason toward this grandpa. Besides, she listened to Jason’s words. The wonderful-looking portal also distracted her. 

“Ho ho… Hello, beautiful lady.”

Merlin smiled at the cute-looking child. His eyes stopped at her green pupils for a second before he looked back at Jason.

“Well… No one is harmed, I guess.” 

He looked around with little interest. 

However, there was something that amazed him at the same time. Jason was unharmed, and he brought another surprise with him. Merlin felt mana around Jason. 

Jason had actually used his first spell, and it was the Enchanted armour. It was surprisingly good as well. Also, his speed of advancement was unheard of. 

Merlin didn’t teach this spell to Jason properly, but it was the same in the wizarding society. As the master, he already gave Jason the relevant books. If Jason was competent, he should learn them from those books. 

“I better be going then. Come see me tomorrow, Jason. My Genius student is already at the Apprentice level.”

He turned around after giving an acknowledging nod at Amelia and Xanders. He was so happy about Jason that he wanted to go back and do more research to celebrate it. 

“Yes, Master.”

Jason knew it was impossible to hide it from Master Merlin.

“Goodbye, little girl.”

Merlin stopped again when he saw the cute expression on Hanna’s face. She was staring at him from Jason’s careful embrace. 

“Goodbye, Master Grandpa. You are nice.”

“You are nice too.”

He smiled for a second before stepping back into the portal. 

Merlin wasn’t a fool, and he could easily put some information together. A young girl with green pupils who he never saw before, and she showed a sign of fear toward strangers. 

‘My apprentice is a nice person.’

…

“Dawn…?”

Olga whispered as she came out of her daze. She saw a man appearing out of thin air and then disappearing. 

“I… I didn’t know.”

Dawn knew she and Logan had no idea about a second Grandmaster in Light Shone. Also, she never thought Grandmasters were this powerful. She looked around at the fallen leaves and broken branches. There were many who were groaning in pain after the impact. Luckily, they were close to Jason and Amelia.

‘They are like real nukes. And… Wizard? I do not know what he can do.’

She looked at Jason, who seemed to be unaffected by anything.

…

“I made a slight miscalculation….”

Xanders saw Jason’s sharp gaze on him. 

He knew he had to take Jason very seriously when he saw the mana glowing on Jason’s body. He didn’t even see the magic pattern appearing when this young Apprentice Wizard used the Enchanted armour. 

‘Two weeks? He became an Apprentice from an Initiate within two weeks?’

Xanders knew the real reason for old Merlin to be here. That man wouldn’t even care about the end of the world, much less about a sound. It showed this old Wizard’s eagerness to protect his precious student. 

“Useless.”

“I….”

He really didn’t want to argue with Amelia, either.

“Hmm, hmm. Rude Grandpa.”

Hanna whispered, but she wasn’t looking at Xanders anymore. She was looking at the bluish glow around her body that she found fascinating. 

“Congratulations, Apprentice Jason.”

Xanders tried to ignore the whispering blame of the child, which made him feel even more guilty.

“It is nothing.”

Jason cared little about this achievement. He was actually nervous. 

This was where he was stuck in his last life. He felt the familiar drain and mana rushing through his nodes. It had been a while, but the speed mana rushed through him was too fast. 

Honestly. He didn’t even try to cast a spell out of the dilemma. Only this time, he reacted out of his instincts. 

‘Sigh, well… I guess I could only find out later….’

Jason had no choice but to push forward. 

He slowly used the mana in the second pattern, and he took his time. He wanted to feel if there were any changes in his magic. A bluish mana circle appeared in front of his chest as a response to the mana running through his nodes. 

‘Is daddy sad?

Hanna felt clear emotions from Jason, and it made her face darken. 

It was only for a second, but then she saw a weird bluish circle appearing in front of them. It was deep blue but transparent, and there were many beautiful complex patterns in it. 

Hanna slowly extended her small arm to the pattern that her daddy seemed to be carefully studying.

“Ah…?”

She felt slight unhappiness when her hand just passed through it.

“It is magic. You can’t touch it.”

Jason came back to reality when he saw Hanna's innocent reaction. When he looked at her, the burden in his heart lightened a lot. 

“Do you want to learn magic?”

“Uhuh? Can I make something beautiful like that?”

Hanna nodded her head.

“You can do much more.”

Jason patted her head before whispering the word of power relevant to this magic pattern. 

“Dispel!”

His target was the Enchanted armour on him and Hanna. Of course, he could have simply stopped this kind of lingering magic without dispelling it, but he wanted to try casting. 

Lingering magic was the spells that needed a source of power to continue their effect, while some spells like fireball would burn anything caught on fire even without magic energy.

The mana circle vanished, and he felt the enchanted armour around them shatter. 

‘Why am I so fast? Is it because I have my left hand in this life?’

…

"Stop showing off. We get it. You are an Apprentice-level wizard."

"I… Wasn’t…."

Jason felt speechless listening to Amelia.

"Let’s go, I have to finish cooking."

"Let me help."

Jason followed her in an instant. There was nothing much for him to do here.

"I will leave this place to you, Mr Xanders. The horses are mine, and I need those who know how to groom them."

"I thought we had an agreement."

Xanders frowned.

"We do. But I brought a lot of livestock and grain. Suddenly, I have a feeling they are going to be really expensive."

"Alright, you win! Horse groomers are yours."

Xanders gritted his teeth. These livestock and other matters weren't in their agreement, and Jason had control over them. He had no way to feed this many mouths without these supplies. He admitted that Jason was ahead of him with his thinking. Honestly, he only expected about thirty people, but this number was way bigger. 

"Great. See you tomorrow."

Jason focused back on Hanna, who was looking at his face, and Amelia, who was waiting for them.

"So, what did you do while I was away? Have you been a good girl?"

He smiled at the child.

"Ah… I am good. We… We went to the stream. We went to see birds. I saw a big snake…."

Hanna had so much stuck inside her that she wanted to tell. Her little adventure with mommy. Since her daddy was here, now she could share all of it.

…

A commotion broke out as Jason disappeared into the village.

"Did you guys see the power of Grandmasters?"

"What Grandmaster, did you see the wizard?"

The appearance of Master Merlin marvelled another.

"Stop blabbering, didn’t you hear? Jason has advanced to the next level."

"Did you see that man coming out of thin air?"

"I will buy any video of that beauty. She is mine."

"Dream on. Are you blind? Jason went with her. Didn’t you see what she can do?"

"This is too unfair. How can he hoard everything?"

"Come on, you are just jealous."

…

Players who were in good condition started discussing among themselves. However, many started logging out immediately because of the pain they had to endure after getting caught in the collision.

"You all are idiots."

A girl who stood in the middle rolled her eyes.

"What?"

"There are two Grandmasters and a Wizard in this small village. Have you ever heard of either one of them in Forestedge? Don't you think this village has some kind of secret?"

She paused after saying that much.

She was much more careful than the others, and she saw the amazing magic circle appear near Jason. It was a sight that marvelled her.

"Secret?"

Players started to pay attention to her.

"Yes. It is two weeks after the launch of The Endless, and Jason Hope is already ahead of us. What is the only thing he did differently from us? It is this village. This place has the secret to Jason’s strength."