Versatile Mage (Web Novel)

Translated by Xephiz

Edited by Aelryinth

At first, the shop owner was planning to sell the soul for five hundred million. However, many experts told him that the thing was not worth that much money. Lately, there had been many customers since many people had come to Venice, but to his surprise, many people had left after taking a few glances at it. None of them showed the slightest interest in it. Therefore, he was forced to lower the price further, and it was now at three hundred million.

Even so, no one was interested in it still, until the American came in the afternoon. He initially thought he finally had a chance of selling it, but to his surprise, the American left saying that he had to discuss it with his advisor. Hubert thought the man would not

return.

Not long after, the three Asians came and agreed to buy it right away. The two groups of people ended up crashing into one another.

The shop owner struggled to make a decision. It was true that the three Asians had agreed to buy it, and were already planning to pay for it, but he could not afford to offend the Vice Elder of the Sacred Hall of Liberty either!

The Mages of the Sacred Hall of Liberty were highly respected throughout the world. Any city would quake vigorously if they were to stomp their foot on the ground, let alone someone with the rank of Vice Elder.

“If you say so, I will…” Hubert reached out his hand, having decided to take Jack’s card.

“Humph!” Pang Lai harrumphed heavily, interrupting Hubert’s action. He said with a hint of disdain in his eyes, “Who would have thought, a Vice Elder of the Sacred Hall of Liberty would be using her identity to threaten a shop owner. You’re a disgrace to the name of the Sacred Hall of Liberty!”

“Old man, what did you say?” the furious Jake immediately rebuked.

Pang Lai’s gaze sharpened. His eyes immediately turned into a ferocious, pitch-black demon leopard lunging at the young Mage, even though it was a mere illusion.

Jack was taken by surprise. He subconsciously took a few steps back. His face turned pale as cold sweat started pouring down on it!

“Kid, watch your tone,” Pang Lai snapped coldly.

Jack was struggling to breathe. His eyes were filled with disbelief.

Vice Elder Gisele was startled when she noticed something. She observed Pang Lai carefully.

“May I know who you are? The little kid might be insensible, but was that really necessary?” The Vice Elder, Gisele sounded cautious, yet she had no intention of backing off.

“I’m not the kind of person that will threaten someone with my identity. We have already decided to buy the item, so please don’t intervene further!” Pang Lai declared.

“How are we intervening? We saw it first!”

“But have you paid for it? Did the shop owner say that the thing is yours? You said that you had reached a deal with the owner, yet he was trying to sell it to us. It’s obvious that your student is only interested in it, yet he didn’t say he was going to buy it! Mister, don’t you change your mind now just because she is a Vice Elder. If you aren’t doing business the way you should, I won’t go easy on you, either!” Pang Lai said.

Both Gisele and Hubert were stunned by Pang Lai’s words. First of all, Gisele was utterly dumbfounded, as she had always gotten her way whenever she revealed her identity as the Vice Elder of the Sacred Hall of Liberty. It was rare to stumble into anyone that dared to challenge her, and she had gotten used to it, yet the old man totally disregarded her status!

Hubert was even more lost in thoughts. The old man’s reaction implied that his status was no lower than the Vice Elder of the Sacred Hall of Liberty. Why would two people with formidable backgrounds come to his shop at the same time? What was he supposed to do?

“Mister, I’ll let you decide,” Gisele harrumphed coldly.

Hubert looked back and forth between the two. He finally decided to do business fairly and accepted Pang Lai’s card.

Since he could not afford to offend either side, he was obliged to do it the normal way. The Asians did express their willingness to buy the item, and the Americans had interrupted halfway…

“Aren’t you going to tell us your name?” Gisele asked in an unfriendly voice.

The item was quite a valuable find, yet someone else had taken it away from them. It clearly had put Gisele in a bad mood. She did not believe that the old man was actually an authoritative figure!

“Pang Lai,” Pang Lai responded, displeased.

–

–

–

Pang Lai made the payment and received the goods. He immediately left with Mo Fan and Jiang Yu without paying any further attention to Gisele and Jack.

Gisele was stunned for a moment. It took her awhile just to collect her thoughts.

Some time after Pang Lai left, Jack recovered from his fear and blurted out, “Advisor, why did you let them leave just like that? Who do they think they are, acting so arrogantly in Venice? How dare they not show any respect to the Sacred Hall of Liberty!”

“You better watch yourself around that old man. It’s not like you have to respect him or anything, but his status is rather special. You’re full of youthful vigor, yet you have to be careful not to step on his tail,” Gisele said.

“Who is he?”

“The Chief of the Chinese Royal Guards, someone ranked on the Tian Ranking; one of the top three Summoners in the world!” Gisele informed him.

Jack gaped. He was starting to feel a wave of terror rising when he was distracted by some noise behind him.

Jack and Gisele turned around and realized the shop owner had smashed some rare magic ores on the table in a panic.

Hubert quickly tidied up the mess, just so other people would not see how dispirited he was. After he was done, he drew a cross on his chest.

Oh Lord, luckily he had made a wise decision. Otherwise, he would have found himself in great trouble!

After leaving the marketplace, Jiang Yu caught up to Pang Lai and smiled, “Teacher, you were so cool there! You managed to overwhelm them without using your identity, and you only told them your name right at the end! You didn’t even bother abusing your reputation!”

“The people of the Sacred Hall of Liberty have always been full of themselves. I always find them annoying, and I happened to stumble into one today. The fact that I didn’t teach that Vice Elder a lesson is because my temper has improved a lot due to my age!” Pang Lai seemed like a righteous Taoist, yet he also had a wild temper.

Mo Fan enjoyed watching it too. The old woman had really walked right into the line of fire, thinking that she could secure the item because of her position…

Who was Pang Lai? Even though the Royal Guards of China was not as reputable as the Parthenon Temple, those who were familiar with it knew it consisted of a bunch of extremely powerful Mages who had devoted their whole lives to becoming stronger, and who rarely pursued fame or gain. If the Royal Guards and the Sacred Hall of Liberty ended up in a fight, the odds were fairly even!

On the other hand, Gisele was just a Vice Elder, but Pang Lai was the Chief of the Royal Guards. Even the President of the Sacred Hall of Liberty would have to receive Pang Lai personally whenever he went to America. Their ranks were three levels apart!

It was even worse in terms of strength. Pang Lai could easily defeat Gisele with his tertiary or quaternary Elements!

—

“Advisor Pang Lai, thank you for your help and generosity,” Mo Fan was sweet whenever he needed to be. It was necessary to be slick and sly at times. After all, Pang Lai did had done him a huge favor!

“It has nothing to do with generosity, I only said that I was paying for it just to make that old woman mad. You clearly owe me the money, since I don’t make a living from robbing, either. You can transfer all the money you have. As for the remaining amount… you can settle the debt by giving me some of the rare finds you get from the treasure hunt!” Pang Lai did not follow the script at all. His image of a righteous Taoist totally crumbled in just a few sentences!

Mo Fan sighed. Didn’t the powerful old men in dramas and novels always give huge gifts to the main protagonist when they were totally impressed by the protagonist’s talents? Why was it totally different in his case? The old man was so fussy about it, even when it was only three hundred million!

Mo Fan did not dare say that he was not going to pay the money. He transferred the one hundred and fifty million he had to Pang Lai, and promised that he would pay the rest after the treasure hunt.

“You now have everything you need. Just follow my instructions, and it should work. Speaking of which, the soul I stole for you is insanely good, I would have bought it for Jiang Yu if it was useful for him… consider yourself lucky!” Pang Lai said.

“Teacher, we bought it, we didn’t steal it!” Jiang Yu said speechlessly.

“Right, they were trying to steal it from us!” Pang Lai nodded, quickly reassuming his demeanor of a righteous Taoist.

Following Pang Lai’s instructions, Mo Fan first improved his Summoning Element.

Holding the Galaxy Vein he had bought for seventy million, Mo Fan could feel his heart pounding heavily.

He was really worried that the Galaxy Vein would deflate like a balloon just as he was at the crucial step of breaking through the barrier, and he would waste the attempt. He would then have to waste a huge sum buying another Galaxy Vein.

It did not help to be nervous. Mo Fan focused and began to meditate, as he needed to accumulate the energy needed to break through the walls surrounding the Nebula.

The Galaxy Vein continued to support Mo Fan in his attempt. Mo Fan could feel himself riding a fierce tide, aiming to break through the dam in front of him!

Taking a deep breath, Mo Fan clearly remembered the great pressure he was under in his past attempts breaking through to the Advanced Level. However, even though he could feel the same resistance this time, the energy he had accumulated was quite unstoppable. It had directly broken through the barricade, allowing the Nebula to expand into a Galaxy with abundant energy instantly!

The lunar-white Galaxy looked mysterious yet elegant, with two Star Orbits connected to his two Summoned Creatures like umbilical cords.

Both the Swift Star Wolf and Little Flame Belle cried out to congratulate Mo Fan. They could tell that their master had successfully broken through the barrier, and the world of the Summoning Element had further expanded, which meant they would be able to receive more energy in the future…

“Here, Swift Star Wolf, the first mouthful of milk is for you!” Mo Fan followed Pang Lai’s instructions and gave the Swift Star Wolf all the energy the Galaxy had.

Following that, Mo Fan immediately plopped down the ground to stabilize his cultivation.

—

When the Galaxy reached a stable state, Mo Fan’s eyes sprang open, his eyes shining with a brilliant, lunar-white light.

“Jiang Yu’s teacher is very impressive!” Mo Fan could not help but exclaim.

Mo Fan initially thought the Galaxy Vein he had bought with only seventy million was defective with insufficient energy, since most Galaxy Veins were sold for one hundred million, and some even had a price of one hundred and twenty million! It was difficult to tell the quality of a Galaxy Vein being sold at such a low price, but to his surprise, not only was the Galaxy Vein not a defective product, the energy it contained was more abundant, and better than the Galaxy Veins he had acquired from the auctions!

Old Pang Lai was sure impressive with his sharp eyes, able to pick out a great Galaxy Vein with lightning speed!