Mythology: Ragnarok

Milton hesitated for a moment, then carefully took the glass of water and drank it all in one gulp. At that moment, Agreed pulled out a chair, sat down opposite him, and asked, "What's your name? Where are you from? What brings you here?"

After drinking some water and catching his breath, Milton answered to himself, "My name is Milton Usopp. I am an enchanter from the Tark Empire. I... am here to study."

Agreed chuckled and said, "I've heard that enchanters are high-paying professions, but how come you've fallen so low as to steal food?"

Milton, feeling a bit embarrassed, quickly tried to explain, "I only resorted to this because I ran out of money on my way to study. I could have run away otherwise, and I wouldn't have been caught if it weren't for you. But I'm very grateful that you saved me from being beaten. I've already eaten the food, so you can't get it back now. Consider it a favor I owe you. When I've mastered my studies and become a true enchanting master, I will definitely repay you."

Agreed jokingly replied, "You're quite the talker at such a young age, and you call yourself an enchanting master? Forget it, consider it a treat. I get bored living here alone, and seeing you is like seeing myself when I first came here. Let's consider it a good deed. By the way, do you have a place to stay?"

Milton shook his head and said, "No, but I can stay in the central square. No one will chase me away there. Thank you for the food. I won't bother you any longer." With that, Milton got up to leave.

Agreed stopped him and suggested, "Would you be interested in staying here for a while? You can work for me to pay for the room. It's run-down, but at least it's a place to stay."

The suggestion clearly appealed to Milton, who stopped what he was doing, turned around, and said, "But I can't do anything except enchant."

Agreed then continued, "How about this, you become my teacher and teach me about enchanting, and the tuition will be used to offset the room and board fees, is that alright?"

"Why are you helping me?" Milton asked Agreed, puzzled.

"Because I want to help, it's less about pitying you and more about pitying myself. If you keep rambling on like this, then this deal is off."

"No, no, no, I agree," Milton quickly replied, afraid that this windfall would slip away.

Thus, Agred made his first friend in Augustus. Later, as the two became acquainted, Agred learned of the immense courage Milton had taken to come here.

Milton's father was a renowned enchanter, and Milton developed a love for enchanting under his father's influence. Unfortunately, Milton never received formal enchanting education because he was an illegitimate child.

Agreed still doesn't quite understand the Milton family's relationship. It seems that Milton's mother was his father's childhood sweetheart. Later, his father married his current wife in order to leverage the influence of another woman's family. However, at that time, his father and Milton's mother had an ambiguous relationship and Milton was conceived in a confused state. During her pregnancy, his mother married his father's cousin. Later, that cousin died unexpectedly, leaving them as a widow and orphan.

So Milton's father could only secretly help the mother and daughter he owed so much. Although many details were omitted, that's roughly what happened. Agreed could only say that his head was about to explode from listening to this kind of family ethics.

Milton replied that this was nothing, that there were far more complicated situations than his own. Then, he surprisingly explained to Agred, "For example, the family next door to my dad's house is even more complicated. I can explain it in one sentence: the husband's wife eloped with his biological father, leaving behind a fourteen-year-old daughter. It turned out that the daughter wasn't his, and what's even more absurd is that the daughter later married the husband!"

A single sentence completely shattered Agreed's worldview. Agreed could only say that this complicated relationship had burned out his brain's CPU. He could only say that the relationships in rich families were really messy, no, he should say that city people really know how to play games. He couldn't understand it, but he was deeply shocked.

Under such family circumstances, Milton, with his passion for enchanting and thirst for knowledge, could only seek knowledge from all over the world. Therefore, he came from the Tak Empire, which was 30,000 miles away, and entered Augustus's 'Enchantment Academy' by virtue of his strength. Although Milton made full preparations and brought a lot of travel money, the journey was too far, and he ended up like this.

However, it was all worth it. Milton's hard work paid off, and he was admitted to the most authoritative magic academy for enchanting in Augustus, the "Enchantment Academy." However, after just one year, he was completely penniless. Since he had no money, he had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure. If his academy found out about this, he probably wouldn't be able to continue studying there. But there was no other way. When a person is about to starve to death, they won't think about anything else.

So Agreed offered to sponsor Milton's education, and Milton offered to pass on all the knowledge he had acquired to Agreed. Milton naturally accepted the offer, and the two children, who shared similar experiences, quickly became acquainted and good friends.

It was here that Milton Usopp, the enchanting master who would later shock the entire continent, and Agreed Raeler, the master of instant magic, met, though their fame didn't come until many years later.

The two are now just kids under twenty, with Milton even younger at only sixteen. It's hard to imagine how a child who wasn't even fifteen a year ago could have traveled tens of thousands of miles to Augustus.

During the following holiday, Agreed spent his days learning enchanting from Milton and his nights practicing Styx Soul Forging. It was during this holiday that Agreed gained a basic understanding of what "enchanting" was.

Enchanting is the process by which magicians imprint magic circles on weapons, armor, and other items, giving them more wondrous abilities under the blessing of magic. However, enchanting requires very high-quality materials; the better the material, the more magic circles can be engraved on it, and the better. Although advanced enchanters can enchant fragile items, generally no one would do so unless it's to hone their skills, as this is akin to replicating the precision of laser engraving by hand.

Magic scrolls are the most well-known practice tools for enchanters, and during these days, Agreed also learned his first enchantment spell, "Sharpness," under Milton's tutelage.

Sharpness is the most common enchantment. The essence of this magic is to attach a layer of extremely sharp magical energy to the blade of a weapon. You can think of this energy as a laser sword blade. A highly skilled enchanting master can even make the enchanted blade achieve molecular-level cutting ability.

Whether or not a weapon is enchanted with sharpness is the dividing line between ordinary weapons and legendary weapons. As we all know, no matter what material a weapon is made of, it will become dull or even damaged after a long time of use. However, an enchanted sharpness weapon will form a protective layer of magic, and it will not damage the weapon itself during use. Or, to be more precise, when attacking an enemy, what is consumed first is a light blade composed of magical energy.

Replenishing energy is much simpler than repairing weapon materials, so the weapon's lifespan is greatly extended. However, when using the 'Sharpness' enchantment, the magic circle must be replenished with magic power at all times, or the wielder must actively charge the weapon. Therefore, people who do not know magic must embed magic crystals in their weapons to supply magic power if they want to use enchanted weapons.