Chapter 76：Going to Banquet

The ten days are of course, in the dimension.

Sam took out a sheet of fire bronze, he took out the make shift claws he made for temporary use and wore the one for right hand.

He spread the sheet of fire bronze open and placed the tip of the claw near one edge. He forcefully cut a small line of fire bronze with the claw.

He used a small bamboo pipe as a support and bent the wire on it in such a way that after some time, a small spring was in his hands.

He repeated the same method and made several springs. After that job was done, he took a cylindrical cup from each pile.

In one glance both the cups seemed to be of same size, but if carefully observed, one would realize that one cup is a little bit smaller than the other.

The dimensions are in such a way that, the inner diameter of the big cup is equal to the outer diameter of the small cup.

There are various types of runic symbols on both the cups and the symbols are so dense and complex too.

He picked up the bigger cup. There is a thin L shaped slit on the curved surface. The smaller cup has a small protrusion on one end.

Sam placed the spring and welded one end on the inner side of the big cup. He took the smaller cup and placed it inside the bigger cup, the cavities of both cups will face each other and the protrusion will enter the L shaped slit. He applied force so that the spring would compress then he placed his finger on the outer side of the smaller cup. The spot is exactly where the spring end would be inside.

He started heating the spot, the metal went soft and started melting. Just before the metal will drip and form a hole, he stopped, but the spring end already formed a bond.

After the joint cooled off, he made a hole on the curved surface area and started pouring the poisonous liquor inside it, until it was full.

After Sam placed his palm over the larger cup and rotated it. The protrusion on the smaller cup which just entered the slit vertically, moved horizontally. He took out a piece of metal wire of placed the wire, in the small hole, which he made on the small protrusion.

Sam stood up and laid a restricting formation a distance away, then he took out the small wire piece which is acting as pin, for holding the cup from rotating backwards in its place and immediately threw it inside the formation, while he ran away from it.

In a few seconds, a small explosion sound came and a smoke full of poison filled the restriction formation, Sam controlled the tower's second floor and eliminated the smoke before working.

He is repeating the same thing he did and created several of these. But he didn't use them like before and just kept them aside.

These are the things he wanted to use against the Black pond. Actually, what he is using is a simple make shift hand grenade which depends on the spring.

When he rotated the cups, the spring will also rotate and will have try to push them back to their original place. But the small pin made of wire, is holding it there. When the pin is removed the cups will move back to the original position, where there will be a hole appearing on the curved surface, through which, he filled it with liquor.

After a few seconds the liquor will catch a fire and the poisonous fumes will be coming out of the hole, with an explosion.

How is the liquor catching the fire? That is the reason the runes are for.

Sam placed an inscribed formation which is responsible for collecting the spiritual energy in surroundings, he made the inscription by combining the two cups. The first half of the inscription is on the bigger cup and other half is on the smaller cup. When both halves aligned, the formation will activate.

The formation will gain its aligned form, after the pin is removed. As for why, the formation didn't activate when pouring the liquor, it is due to the fact that Sam's actions are fast and didn't give enough time for the formation to fully activate.

Then for the next step. After the formation is activated, it will direct the spiritual energy to the consumable inscription which was laid inside of cavity of the cup. It is a flaming inscription.

The spiritual energy gathered through the formation will activate the flaming inscription which burns the liquor.

Sam actually, didn't want to make this poison liquor. But the liquor is the only way to burn it faster and spread the poison easily.

If not for the fact that there is no time, he wouldn't use these methods to deal with them. And time is not there because, Sam needs to take care of the panthers' body. The panthers need some nourishment to adapt to the changes in their bodies and there are only a very few methods to provide the nourishment. Otherwise, he would have took his sweet time to plot after understanding his new wind element powers.

He kept on making the sets with incredible speed. After he was finally done, he only has an afternoon left for going to the banquet. The ladies in the mansion are already making their preparations.

Sam came out of the tower, to take a shower before going for a nap.

When he woke up, all the people in the mansion are ready. He washed up quickly and wore his usual clothes. His black vest, black pants and his feather coat.

When he came downstairs, he saw everyone already sitting and waiting, even the Principal and the City lord along with few candidates who lived in the inn came here. All of them are waiting for Sam to come. When they saw that he is sleeping, nobody dared to disturb him. Apparently, the incident with Kelly's kidnap made them have a sense of fear towards him.

Philip and Jack didn't wake him up, because it is after all, rare for one to sleep. Most people will be cultivating. Since, Sam is sleeping, they though that he might have been too tired and just let him be.

Kelly immediately stood up as she saw him coming down. She is wearing the cheongsam Sam made for her. Her hair was tied up into a bun. She looked stunning. But he doesn't have much reaction. The little bit of awe he felt was that the dress really suited her just as he imagined.

Both Freya and Kelly are wearing the dresses he made for them. The dresses are of same design yet different colours. They are absolutely satisfied with themselves. And one could guess it just from their delighted expressions.

Sam walked out after greeting the Principal. The carriage is already prepared. The two Blazing earth bulls are strapped to the carriage.

Sam looked backwards and called Kelly over. The latter was a bit nervous as she walked towards him. Under the astounding gazes of all people, Sam opened the carriage door and let her board it first.

Everyone was looking at the handsome young man with incredulous expressions. Just a few days back they were almost sure that this guy was a king of hell in disguise. The impact from the kidnapping incident couldn't be forgotten for the life.

But now, this cold and arrogant guy, this ruthless and merciless guy is opening the door for a lady with a smile as warm as early morning sun.

Sam didn't care about what others were thinking. He is only doing this because, he is a man of his words. He promised Kelly that she would be her date for tonight and she will be treated as one. That's it.

After Kelly boarded the carriage, he followed along with the others. Soon, the carriage started moving and they arrived at the Count mansion within a few minutes. After all, the level 2 beasts aren't for nothing and the traffic was fully cleared as the people on the streets saw two beasts running.

When they came down the carriage, all of them were in awe to see the majesty of the Count's mansion. By far this is the biggest mansion they have seen and this place didn't place to impress them. Even Sam felt that the craftsmanship in the architecture is great.

The group entered the banquet hall. Sam is walking at the back of the group with Kelly linking her arm with him. When they arrived at the door of the banquet hall, they gathered all the attention from people.

The main reason is that they were the last to arrive. Even though, the banquet hasn't started, all of them came so early to curry favour with the Count if possible and to gain some connections. But Sam's group just arriving on time, made them surprised. After all, who would just miss a chance to leave an impression on Count.

The people from the noble families and other cities already arrived. After entering the banquet, Sam took Kelly to a place with less people, he has no interest in socializing right now, but his efforts are in vain.

Soon, many people started coming and greeting him. Some even came only for Kelly. He just replied to their greetings out of courtesy.

Actually, there are tables already arranged for them. But nobody is in mood for just sitting and waiting. Everyone is talking to each other with all kinds of intentions marked by their smiles.

Sam first went to an isolated corner to avoid this. But since he can't avoid this, he might as well go to the table and so he did.

When he went to the table, he saw that the chairs are already reserved specifically. Jack and Philip are already here. Even the weird trio are already sitting albeit silently. When Sam and Kelly arrived Jack and Philip cleared the two seats for them directly to let them sit side by side. He didn't reject and sat there.

Now, there are only three empty chairs at the table, which are seats for Hawk, Ray and Drew.

There are still a few minutes for banquet to begin. But these few minutes are torture for Sam. All kinds of people are coming to greet him, with flattering smiles. They are so obvious at their boot licking attempt that it felt like they aren't even hiding their intentions.

But they are all some small fries. Only they are coming up to suck up to him. When he saw that the rest of the members are sitting leisurely without any disturbance. Jack and Philip are looking at him with gloating smiles. Sam gritted his teeth as he thought.

'I will get my chance. You can gloat all you want.'

The rest of the people are really free. Nobody, is greeting them and even someone did, that out of courtesy. All the people are coming towards him, not because of his status of first place ranker, rather his status of the Artisan. He is a rank 3 Artisan after all.

Sam is getting frustrated over this.

After a few moments, all the people in the hall turned towards the entrance again, there are three people who are entering and three of them are Hawk, Ray and Drew.

Everyone greeted them as soon they saw. This time, even the noble family people also went to greet them.

Sam overheard something which piqued his interest.

"See, three people of the Big four are here. I wonder the last one will come today."

"Yeah. It has been a long time since the Big four has gathered."

Sam looked at Hawk and the others walking towards the table. When they arrived, Hawk greeted him first.

"Hi Sam. Thanks for coming." He said with a bright smile.

"Don't mention it. Thanks for inviting me." Sam also said with smile. Then he looked at Ray and Drew.

"Hello. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

They also exchanged greetings and made some small talk. Even Kelly, Jack and Philip are pulled in. Only the weird trio aren't talking.

Sam suddenly thought of the Big four thing and asked.

"What is the Big four they are talking about?" Sam asked with a curious expression. But it was Kelly that gave him reply.

"Haha, that is actually something made we made up when we were kids. At that time, we agreed that the top four people in the capabilities of our generation will be named as Big four and the rest of the younger generation should respect the four and treat them as leaders.

Even though, we started this as a joke, the thing actually spread among the city and the Big four were named since we awakened. Hawk is always the first in the rank and he still kept it that way."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at that. Some kids fooling around actually became this popular in the City and they even followed the suggestion.

"Then who is the fourth one?" Sam asked

"well, you might see her today. So, don't be in a hurry." Hawk replied.