Paragon of Skills

chapter 278

Delilah gives Master Brendev some time to examine the herb.

This is the Lucullus’s Amphora, named after the man who discovered it, she thinks, looking at the wide sprout with a large opening in the middle. For centuries, it was thought to be a useless plant, but once you feed it three specific Diamond Rank ingredients, it will bloom into the Shattering Thunder Flower, with extremely powerful Lightning-Affinity Mana. It can be used to make potent elixirs for Lightning Mana practitioners.

Is Master Brendev really hesitating? A member of the crowd looks around, seeing many other confused faces all around him.

Master Brendev is in trouble, another person thinks.

Well, as long as Tutor Ocabj struggles as well, it’s understandable.

The bald old man looks around, with all shades of red in his face, examining the crowd and then resting his gaze on Jacob; then, he quickly whips his head toward the herb.

He suddenly picks it up, brings it very close to his face and squints at it as hard as one can possibly squint.

The audience frowns until people start realizing.

No, he can’t be doing this…

Is Master Brendev copying Mr. Cabbage?!

What is that shameless old man doing?! Does he think that looking harder at it will help him see better?!

The audience is, in fact, quite right. After seeing Jacob squint at the first few herbs, Master Brendev, who has absolutely no idea what herb is in front of him, starts doing the same, hoping that it will awaken some ancestral memory and give him the answer.

This display goes on for several minutes, with the background of shoes tapping on stone and echoing in the giant hollow chamber of Lily Hall.

“Master Brendev,” Delilah says, looking at the man. “Time’s up.”

“I—“ Master Brendev slowly puts the herb back in its box.

“Do you have your guess?” Delilah says.

“Dragon Cave Sprout,” Master Brendev says with a tentative voice, with the audience suddenly frowning.

“Dragon Cave Sprout? The Bronze Rank herb? What the hell is he saying?”

“I mean, it does look like Dragon Cave, no?”

“But why would they bring it out now if it was a Bronze Rank herb? Weren’t they going in order of rank? I expected this would be a True Diamond herb!”

“Master Brendev must have thought about this, come on. He wouldn’t just blurt out the first thing that came to his mind.”

Sadly, that was pretty much what Master Brendev has just done.

In other circumstances, the old man would have not acted like this. He was very well aware that True Diamond herbs usually show themselves as lower rank herbs, but he has never, never before seen this one. He’s still a Diamond Rank, for crying out loud! How is he supposed to know this clearly-unknown herb?!

“That is wrong,” Delilah announces to a stunned crowd.

“It was wrong!”

“Dragon Cave Sprout my ass! I could have made that guess myself!”

“I mean, that’s a True Diamond Rank herb, of course he would have struggled!”

“Well, following the rules, Tutor Ocabj now gets one guess. If he gets it wrong as well, I’ll show another herb and—“

“That is the Jolly of the Stars,” Jacob says, immediately shutting down the entire crowd.

“What?” A merchant says. “What kind of thing is that? I’ve never heard about it. I know the Dragon Cave Sprout but what the hell is a Jolly of the Stars?”

“Jolly of the Stars? What kind of absurd name is that? Is he making fun of us?”

“Does he know any herb at all, what the hell?”

Delilah sighs and shakes her head.

“Wrong. We’ll have to proceed to the next—“

“It is not wrong,” Tutor Ocabj interrupts her. “You should have that double-checked, Lady Delilah. That is, without the shadow of a doubt, a Jolly of the Stars. And it is not a True Diamond herb, it is an Adamantite herb.”

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The crowd goes wild at that.

“WHAT?! WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?!”

“An Adamantite herb?! Has he lost his mind?! Does he even know what kind of insane value would such a herb have?! Not even the Ashenmere Family could afford something like that!”

“Even Master Velnaris would not just casually toss around such an herb like that!”

“An Adamantite herb could build the foundation for a family to shoot up to the higher echelons of Ashenmere and beyond! What the hell is that guy saying! Maybe he was just guessing until a moment ago!”

“Tutor Ocabj,” Delilah says piquedly, offended by the man’s boldness, “I have evaluated all these herbs myself. This is Lucullus’s Amphora, actually. It’s commonly confused with Dragon Cave Sprout, but it’s actually a True Diamond herb that masquerades as a Dragon Cave Sprout.”

Master Brendev nods wisely, almost as if he had known the answer all along.

“It appears even my knowledge failed here. Thank you, Miss Delilah, you enlightened me on how little this old man knows about herbs,” he says, cupping his fists at the woman and then launching into a sneer toward Jacob. “It’s regretful that some of us cannot accept being wrong, despite being clearly so far from the truth they couldn’t even see it if it was right in front of them.”

Jacob, however, just has a perplexed expression on his face, clearly not ready to admit he’s wrong. And the crowd picks up on it.

“Why is he looking at them like that?”

“Does he really want to insist that he’s right?”

“Was he, perhaps, dropped on his head as a child?”

Lancelot, who has taken everyone’s bets, resorting to indebting himself beyond Jacob’s wealth reserves, looks pretty nervous and inches closer to his friend.

“Boss,” Lancelot whispers. “Are you sure we’re not about to be broke and have you killed?”

Delilah, not paying attention to Jacob anymore, opens another box in front of Master Brendev, whose eyes shine brightly.

“AH! That’s a Bladefire Walnut!” Master Brendev says, exhilarated.

“Correct,” Delilah says, sighing, looking at the still unconvinced Jacob. “Mr. Cabbage, it’s your turn.”

Another box is brought forward and, when opened, a thick True Diamond aura exudes from it, so strong even those at Silver Rank here can clearly distinguish it.

Dragon Claw Fruit, Delilah thinks, looking at the eccentric Tutor. This should be the easiest guess. The Bladefire Walnut was much harder to guess, being so rare to find around here. But the Dragon Claw Fruit is part of Ashenmere’s history. He will never get it wrong—

“That’s a Dragon Stinker,” Jacob says with extreme self-confidence.

Delilah, the audience, and even Master Brendev almost fall backward.

“A what?” Delilah asks exasperated.

“As I said, a Dragon Stinker,” Jacob says, not showing the tiniest bit of hesitation.

“Are you sure that’s the answer you want to lock in?” Delilah asks, bewildered.

“Clearly, it is,” Master Brendev says from the side. “And with this, this buffoon has finally lost. That is a Dragon Claw Fruit. It’s part of Ashenmere’s history and the Ashenmere Family. They have a marvelous garden where one of these grows every five years and is used to nurture the new generations. And from the aura of this one, it’s one of the most potent Dragon Claw Fruits one can find.”

Taking the Dragon Claw Fruit out of the box, Master Brendev examines it carefully, “it’s an honor to have witnessed so many powerful herbs from Master Velnaris.”

“Now,” Master Brendev says, turning toward Jacob with one of his hands glowing purple, “about the bet. I will promise to deliver a swift death to you, Mr. Cabbage. I am a kind man.”

“It’s regrettable,” one says from the audience, “but clearly he should have never challenged Master Brendev at this. He was a fool.”

“Truly. At least Master Brendev will end it swiftly. I hear his Purple Scythe Skill can kill a man so fast and clean not a drop of blood will be spilled here.”

“Right! We’re about to witness Master Brendev’s greatest Skill!”

But when Master Brendev disappears and reappears right behind Jacob… Mr. Cabbage is nowhere to be found.

In fact, Mr. Cabbage has moved so fast beside Delilah that no one here has noticed.

“I would like to verify two herbs here,” Jacob says, smiling widely. “Would you mind, Miss Delilah, if Master Brendev took a bite of the Dragon Claw Fruit?”

“The Dragon Claw Fruit is worth a hundred—“ before Delilah can finish, Jacob takes out another pouch of coin, surprising even Lancelot.

How much money did that bastard make with his rotten Runic Notation scheme?! Lancelot wonders.

“There you go,” Jacob says, and then takes the fruit out of the box and gives it to Master Brendev. “If you don’t mind, Master Brendev, would you eat this fruit before attempting to kill me again?”

Master Brendev narrows his eyes but does not refuse. This Mr. Cabbage has clearly lost his mind. Even for an expert like Master Brendev, eating the Dragon Claw Fruit, even raw, would help him advance his Rank by leaps and bounds, bringing him much closer to True Diamond by flushing his Skills with Mana.

If Mr. Cabbage truly wants to give him such a parting gift, why should he refuse?

And so, without being told twice, Master Brendev snatches the fruit from Mr. Cabbage and downs it in a few bites.

He can immediately feel a powerful burst of energy radiating through his body.

The audience is in awe of Master Brendev’s aura, which starts soaring and soaring, climbing higher and higher, until it’s expanded throughout the entirety of Lily Hall.

“AHAH! So much power!” Master Brendev rejoices, feeling the True Diamond aura coursing through his body.

What a waste of money, Delilah thinks, looking at Tutor Ocabj.

“He gave one hell of a gift to Master Brendev,” one merchant sighs.

“I wish my wife brought me such gifts after a long day of work.”

“I wish your wife brought them to me as well.”

“Hey, how dare you—“

But then, right when Master Brendev is about to harness this newfound power to kill the upstart, something shifts in his body. Suddenly, the True Diamond energy compresses, shrinks, and gets rerouted from his Mana Veins to his lower region, until…

The loudest fart explodes from Master Brendev’s buttocks.