He spent most of his time meditating in these past three days. He hasn’t been practicing magic like this in ages. The rush from the escape, the rift in the s.p.a.ce of Consciousness... there were just too many factors contributing to his lack of meditation. Finally, now he has the chance to catch up with his homework.

Of course he did not spend all his time just meditating. He was not out of the woods yet as he was still within the borders of the Kingdom and could still be arrested by the Church. Therefore, he also spent time investigating further into the Crusader Gateway.

The tavern was the best place to obtain the latest information. He could just sit beside and eavesdrop or share a pint or two with other parties and he could easily find a lot of information he required.

He has met all kinds of people in the tavern. The solder at the gateway, the cook, the military supply officer, the cleaners and the craftsman who claimed to be engaged in the repair of the gateway... Benjamin dared not dig deeper into details but it was enough for him to draw out the layouts of the gateway.

He also managed to find out about the back-up crosses.

He heard from a half drunk military supply officer that apart from the ten crosses the guards at the gateway held, there was another fifty crosses kept in a storage deep within the gate. The key of the storage was in the hands of the military supply officer and as he spoke of this, he even took out and dangled the key like a kid showing off his new toy. He was obviously drunk. If it weren’t because of the crowd, Benjamin would have s.n.a.t.c.hed the key right there and then.

Benjamin wasn’t the kind to let go of such a good opportunity. As the military supply officer staggered drunkardly out of the tavern, he immediately followed. He was prepared to s.n.a.t.c.h the key when the officer reaches an empty street.

To his dismay that once the officer stepped out of the tavern, he immediately collapsed and cause such a commotion. Before Benjamin could offer a "helping hand", two kind hearted civilians had already helped the poor fellow up and towards the gate.

Benjamin could explode at the scene. He missed such a perfect opportunity. Those two were already up and about carrying him and he was quite a bit of a distance away due to precaution’s sake. He wouldn’t be able carry out his plan in time even if he wanted to.

He could only comfort himself that the officer seemed to be a drunkard and would always be at the tavern. Although he missed his opportunity now, he could wait for the next. That being said, when he returned to the tavern, the bartender told him that the officer never drank at the tavern and this was a surprising first. The officer would probably not return the second time. Benjamin was filled with regret.

Sigh... He could only figure out another way to obtain the key.

Well, every cloud has a silver lining. At least he found out about the back-up crosses and where they were kept. He also knew where to obtain the key. The next he could do was to dig deeper into the internal information of the gateway and an opportunity to sneak in.

The best case scenario would be as told by the lady boss of the textile shop when the people at the gates are out getting supplies. Benjamin could then hide in one of the dry food sacks and sneak into the gate to steal the crosses.

And just like that he mediated while formulating a plan to cross the gates, three days went by quickly.

On the morning of the fourth day, his peaceful life was interrupted. It wasn’t any major happening that interrupted his peace but rather the small Mage party that laid hidden within the Town of Crewe called for a meeting.

After the previous magic cla.s.s, Benjamin felt a sense of responsibility toward this group of people.

Therefore, he decided to stop his meditation and attended the meeting.

Benjamin used the secret pathway to reach the hidden bas.e.m.e.nt cellar once again. He realized that this time, the expression on everybody’s face was different. There were people gathered together and having full on discussions about the practice of magic. Their cheeks flushed red once they were at the heat of their discussions.

— It was different from the first time he met them where they were like nosy neighbours in a market place.

Benjamin let out a deep sigh of satisfaction by this turnout.

What more could he say?

Cheese changes fortune.

The rest quickly noticed the arrival of Benjamin and all raced towards him like a teacher’s pet.

"Teacher Benjamin, oh that’s not right... Sir Benjamin, you have arrived!"

"The technique is extremely effective, how did you come across such a good technique?"

"Sir Benjamin, I’m met with a tiny issue during meditation, I really need to seek your advice."

"..."

Benjamin was drowned by all sorts of sounds and appeals. He quickly waved his hand and raised his voice to calm twenty over overly inquisitive mages.

"Slowly now... Slowly now... If anyone has any questions during their practice, please ask one by one. As long as it is within my knowledge, I will answer. Please do not rush, one by one now..."

After much effort, Benjamin finally gotten them to calm down that it didn’t went out of control.

Next, he started the Q&A session.

He must say though, one could tell that their knowledge on magic has increased tremendously even if it has only been three days, from the way they were asking questions. They weren’t even sure what were magical particles and now they were a.n.a.lysing how magical particles bought about change to people.

Of course the questions they would ask now would be now harder to answer. Just as the merchant Varys who deliberated whether magical particles were a spiritual or an extrinsic matter. If it were extrinsic, why could they be used spiritually then?

How would Benjamin answer this sort of question?

In the end, he had to embody the Athenian spirit and concluded the answer would lay on continuous discussion. He encouraged everyone to discuss and debate a conclusion.

Once again they gathered together and engaged in a heated discussion.

Benjamin could finally let out a huge sigh.

Honestly speaking, the way he practiced magic was different from the rest. He could not appy his experience with them. They have to discover their own path and direction.

He couldn’t be of too much help to them.

Just when he thought that this meeting would end in an impa.s.sioned debate, suddenly there was a huge unpleasant odour. Everyone had to stop the ongoing debate to cover their nose and let out shouts over the huge stench.

"What’s going on? That stinks!" Someone whined in the crowd.

Benjamin wasn’t expecting such a huge turn of events.

... What the h.e.l.l?

Don’t tell him that the Church released a biochemical weapon.

Everyone was puzzled and so they turned towards the source of smell.

There was a young man who crawled out of the secret entrance. He held a wooden bucket with his right hand and the stench came from the bucket he was holding.

"Frank!" A young woman angrily shouted, "What are you doing? You’re this late to the meeting and now you’re stinking up the whole place. You’re really a disappointment!"

Benjamin was surprised by the response. He was one of them. He actually thought that the Church had caught up to them.

Well, this young man by the name of "Frank" did look familiar.

And... sounded familiar too.

If it wasn’t the guy who had too strong of a southern accent and couldn’t really take on magic?

Frank was embarra.s.sed that he scratched his head, facing everyone’s cold shoulder, "Please don’t be angry, I didn’t do it on purpose. I was late for a reason and I have also made an important discovery with this thing. Let me explain."

Benjamin felt like laughing, hearing him talk.

Just as lady boss introduced him, the young man spoke with a heavy accent that Benjamin could only understand a few phrases. He had to connect the dots in order to guess what message he was trying to convey.

It was no wonder he could only learn the Water of Life spell as he would have problem chanting with his heavy accent.

"What did you discover? That you could suffocate the Church with the thing you have in the bucket?" The young lady sarcastically replied with dissatisfaction while holding her breath.

Frank was used to sarcasm and ignored it. He giggled sheepishly.

"No, we don’t have to go pa.s.s the gates." He shook his head and said, "We could go pa.s.s the mountains from afar and need not be afraid of the griffin, all thanks to this little thingy in the bucket!"