Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 47 Curious Bantley
After much persuasion, Ska finally agreed to Zhang Yuan's suggestion to return together. However, as a wounded soldier, even after receiving treatment from the priest, he was ordered to lie on the supply wagon and not move around freely.

According to Ska, the priest's magic can indeed have an immediate effect on external injuries, diseases, and poisons, but this is not without its costs.

Ordinary skin injuries are fine; the body's inherent healing abilities, combined with healing magic, can heal them. However, for serious injuries that involve bones and tendons, while healing solely through magic is possible, the stimulated body cells accelerate their proliferation and metabolism, which essentially consumes one's lifespan.

So Skar concluded with one sentence: "There's nothing to hesitate about when it comes to life and death, but if there's a chance, divine magic is just an aid; you must always trust your body."

So the person simply accepted the priest's treatment to slightly speed up the healing of minor injuries and enjoyed a more professional bandaging technique, and then obediently climbed into the car and remained motionless like a turtle.

The convoy headed north, retracing its route along the coastal highway. Thanks to the clearing efforts of the previous period, there were hardly any wild beasts or monsters bothering the convoy this time.

Once again, the Flame Fist members arrived at the Arm of Friendship and entered the inn with practiced ease. They rested, drank heartily, and feasted.

A certain mage secretly approached Old Man Bartley and asked him about Tyrantir.

After hearing Zhang Yuan's purpose and learning about his relationship with Tyrantir, he actually began to envy Zhang Yuan:

"Are naturally awakened individuals so favored by the mysterious lady? Or are you actually Tamora's illegitimate children?"

Encouraged, Bantley even jumped up as he spoke: "What's so special about that? You can summon stone elementals or rock golems at level one? My Garr Goldshire (the chief god of gnomes, also known as the god of wisdom), what can you summon at level nine? Mithril golems or diamond golems?"

No wonder Bantley was so envious and jealous. Putting aside the practicality of this mutated summoning spell, the fact that it could be associated with the legendary Mechanical Realm was enough to make people green with envy.

It's important to know that dwarfs are incredibly curious. They usually enjoy tinkering with gadgets and inventing things, so they are also quite curious about mechanical environments full of various wind-up gears.

Hehe, someone with a plan in mind started coming up with some mischievous ideas.

"Ahem, let's not talk about that. I just want to know, is Tyrandeer really that hard to deal with? If I had performed better as his assistant in the research, would there have been any hope?" The person was still unwilling to give up.

"Performance? You? You're a complete novice who doesn't even know the basics of magic. What performance do you have to offer? You'd probably contribute more if you just lay on the platform being studied." Old Banter looked at Zhang Yuan with a sidelong glance.

Can we stop bringing up being studied all the time? Someone muttered to himself, but luckily he already had a plan and didn't care about the other person's sarcasm.

"So you're not interested in this stone golem? Or is your research level too low, incomparable to Tyrande's?" someone began to stir up trouble.

"Nonsense! How am I of low ability?" The old dwarf jumped three feet high. "My knowledge is no less than Tyrande's!"

After hesitating for a while, he still couldn't bring himself to say anything boastful like "far superior to Tyrantir," and just said resentfully, "Not much worse than Tyrantir. If you let me study it, I definitely will."

“Okay, I’ll take a look for you.” Zhang Yuan, who had been waiting for this, interrupted him before he could finish speaking.

"You stingy bastard, Old Bentley isn't going to steal it from you. Wait, you said you'd let me study it? Old Bentley didn't hear me wrong, did he?"

“Oh, yes, dear old Bentley, I swear in the name of my grandmother, I will lend you my summoned creature for your research, yes, as long as you can grant me one request, yes, my old friend, if you do so, I swear.”

“My God, my Gar Shining, your damn tone is even stinker than my cousin Gandler’s mouth! Yes, I swear, if you ever speak to me in that stupid tone again, I’ll kick your ass with my boots.” “Ahem, let’s get down to business.” The man ended his pretentious act.

"Speak quickly." The old mage was truly helpless against this guy, but what could he do when the stone golem was in someone else's hands?

"I have only one small request: I hope you can teach me for a while." The person's true intentions were revealed.

“I knew it.” Old Bentley sighed, his tone less resolute than before: “Your relentless pursuit of knowledge and arcane arts is commendable, but unfortunately, Old Bentley simply doesn’t have the energy to appreciate the scenery along this path with the young man.”

“Master Bandri, I do not aspire to become your disciple. I only hope to receive some guidance from you to help me embark on the path of becoming a Dharma Master.”

Bantley scoffed, "That sounds nice, doesn't it? You used to call me Old Bantley, but now that you need my help, you call me Master Bantley?"

As he spoke, Bantley raised his head and looked at someone sideways: "And tell me, what's the difference between your conditions and becoming my apprentice? Aren't you just explaining the definition of a magic mentor to me?"

Having his trick exposed, Zhang Yuan had no choice but to force a smile and let the old master vent his displeasure.

"Forget it, if you go to Highhold as an assistant looking like that, you'll drive Tyrantir crazy." After venting his anger, Bantley calmed down: "Ten days. I'll only give you ten days. Whatever I research or whatever you learn, it will all be over in ten days."

Although the deadline was short, it was better than nothing. The person who wanted to take the easy way out quickly nodded in agreement, afraid that the other party would change their mind.

The next day, Zhang Yuan got up very early and found Bantley. As agreed, he first summoned Xiao Xiao to confirm with him.

When Old Banter saw Zhang Yuanzhen summon a stone golem with just a level one monster summoning technique, his uncontrollable astonishment nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets.

"This isn't magic, this isn't arcane magic!"

"Yeah, of course this isn't magic, it's a cheat code. I added a cheat code to it!" someone thought to themselves.

The old monk kept circling around the tiny stone, stroking its body with his hands, as if every bump and crevice could pique his interest.

"Take a few steps, hurry up and make him take a few steps," Bantley kept urging.

Having no other choice, Zhang Yuan had to have Xiao Xiao perform different actions according to the instructions of the old man, Te Li.

The test results pleased Old Bentley: "A very good construct. Although it doesn't have the same level of autonomy as high-level golems and elementals, it can understand most common commands and moves quite nimbly, which is rare for a level 1 summon."

Zhang Yuan, who was standing next to him, also breathed a sigh of relief: "I'm glad you're satisfied. We'll have plenty of time to study this after I return from Baldur's Gate."

"Hurry up and finish your business, Old Banter is getting impatient."

(End of this chapter)