Ball of Nothing

Chapter 319 Yin-Yang Tonfas

After that embarrassment at Titan Cliff, Zero finally got over it after a week. Merlin had been merciless with the teasing and in retaliation, the young doctor only cooked spicy dishes for his teacher who suffered greatly at the combination of wasabi and ghost peppers.

They called it a truce after that horrible incident and apologised to each other as an olive branch. Not a single word about it was spoken ever again. Zero was once more back in Arabesque waiting for news from the lab members in Half Moon Village. Wiser informed him that he shouldn’t go on his final quest before receiving his weapons and Merlin agreed. Instead, Zero found himself helping Lovina and Merlin out with some of the alchemy books. When he was bored with that, he would drop by Steve’s lab to check on the progress of the miasma converting device that Wiser and Steve were working on.

Apparently, Wii’s research notes were very helpful and the two inventors were able to create a prototype based on a heavily revised design after they confirmed certain points about the output of mana and impurities.

Twelve long days later in Heaven, Zero finally received a message from the lab members in Half Moon Village. Arabesque was a great place for Zero’s research of any kind but the teen couldn’t spend all his time here. He had one more quest to complete before he was able to unlock the system’s customising function. He promised Truen that he would give it his all for this final part of his training before their adventures. In terms of medicine and magic, Zero was confident that nobody could win him. Although Ruth still kicked his ass if they sparred without magic, Zero was sure that his combat skills were already considered above average. After all, dodging the kick from a full-blooded ancient race of vampires wasn’t humanly possible.

For the special graduation ceremony, Merlin allowed Tambolt to visit Arabesque with Zero’s new weapons. Merlin was long ready for the day and was oddly nervous about presenting his graduation gift later at the unofficial ceremony. A few people attended the ceremony namely Mii, Lily, Lovina, Wiser, Steve, Swift and Michael, for unknown reasons.

They were seated in the middle of the festive town. Merlin and Bib went all out on the decorations. Lovina took care of the food and Zero put his newly acquired culinary skills to use when he helped her. Wiser, Steve, Swift and even Michael were impressed by how luxurious the graduation ceremony was. It was weirder for them when they knew how Zero helped to plan and prepare his own graduation party.

Merlin was nervous about it as he stepped onto the small platform to make his speech. As Zero’s magic teacher, he had to put in a few good words to sound like a respectable wizard. Zero already had weapons that could both help with magic casting and combat. The grimoire was also created by his student. Ordinarily, magician teachers would give their students some tools to help them as young magicians like a mana recovery bracelet, an enchanted hat or even some alchemy teleportation device. However, Zero had just about everything he ever needed or wanted which made it very difficult for Merlin to get him something useful.

With a heavy sigh, the wizard walked up to the platform. He was supposed to present his graduation gift in front of the small party but for some reason, he was having second thoughts about it. Should he just give the speech and ignore the fact that he brought a gift? After all, nobody knew that Merlin intended to give Zero anything.

\"Ahem!\" Merlin cleared his throat and shoved the strange nervousness away. At the front row seat was Zero with a wide smile on his face. Merlin remembered how overjoyed his student was when he received a graduation gift from Hua Tuo and felt bad. Even if it wasn’t anything fancy, the wizard knew he couldn’t pretend to not give his student anything. He didn’t want to disappoint Zero’s expectations.

\"Thank you all for gathering today, as you know already, my student, Zero, is graduating from my tutelage. He is now a full-fledged mage who has contributed a lot to the world of magic. Some of his noteworthy contributions are the recreation of Mount Olympia, repairing the cracks in planes especially at Titan Cliff, establishing a new plane guardian for the abyss and discovering the very important relationship between qi, mana, miasma and chaos energy.\"

There was a round of applause and Merlin smiled, looking at his student with pride in his eyes. It was a rather conflicting feeling to be helped by the being who created Great Gods and to teach the same powerful existence what it was like to enjoy the process of discovering new things.

Merlin presented his graduation gift to Zero and the teen was slightly surprised that his teacher made the effort to prepare something. Naturally, Merlin smacked Zero for blurting that out. But the joyful laugh from Zero made the wizard forget about his earlier rudeness.

\"This is a charm that Steve, Wiser and I helped to perfect. It’s a one-time use that will be triggered when it senses similar energy to the ones attacking the planes within a certain radius of you. Until then, you can just keep it with your mindscape guardians.\"

Zero received the small pouch that reminded him of a potpourri sachet and felt it hum strangely in his palm. He didn’t question it and thanked Merlin before storing it away in his void inventory. He told Lily to hold onto that item and transferred temporary ownership of it to the flower fairy who seemed slightly frightened of the pouch.

Next, Michael gave Zero one of his feathers and Zero only gave the archangel a questioning look. The teen honestly didn’t think that the archangel who expressed so much contempt for him would attend his graduation ceremony, much less give him anything.

\"An archangel’s feather can offer protection against mind-control and ill-intents. Since you’re very gullible, it’s better that you don’t get manipulated without you knowing. It doesn’t matter if it is human or demon, treat everyone as an enemy when you go on your adventure until they have proven themselves worthy of your trust. Don’t hand trust out like charity, you wouldn’t know who will end up stabbing you in the back. Always listen to that wood elf of yours and don’t overdo it. If you need help, you can enter heaven at any time with your unique title. I can be found at the 7 Virtue Tower or the House of Gods.\"

Zero didn’t argue with Michael who pinned him with a glare, daring him to reject his gift. The young doctor smiled and thanked the archangel who didn’t stay for the party and left quickly. He must have been very busy and the fact that Michael took some time out of his busy schedule to attend Zero’s graduation ceremony and pass him a gift made the teen change his opinion about the stuck up angel. Maybe Michael and Lucifer were more similar than he thought. They were both rather awkward people who actually cared under that wall of arrogance.

Zero didn’t think that Tambolt and Raj would also present a gift. However, unlike the first two gifts he received, this was something Zero had been expecting.

\"Zero, we finally finished the weapon. Please test it out, we will still be around for a while to make the necessary adjustments. Lovina helped us to fuse King Yama’s ring into the tonfas. They can be detached to act as weapons when you require and will only appear as an ordinary walking staff when it is not required.\"

Zero took the wooden staff from the blacksmith and noticed that it was similar to the staff that he sometimes saw Lovina and Merlin carry around.

\"Is this actually a tonfas? It looks like a wand...\" Zero mused.

The djinn inhaled and sneezed a very basic wind cutter spell in Zero’s direction. At once, the weapon in Zero’s hands transformed and Zero instinctively blocked the attack while throwing up a mana barrier at the same time. The wind cutter forced Zero to stumble back a little because he was caught off guard but the amazement on his face put ear-splitting grins on Raj and Tambolt’s faces.

\"This is amazing,\" Zero whispered and the dwarf let out a belly-aching laugh.

\"It’s amazing he says,\" the blacksmith smacked Raj and continued laughing. Zero didn’t understand why the dwarf was laughing so hard. In fact, Tambolt wasn’t the only one with sly smiles. The young doctor couldn’t understand their reactions and looked at the tonfas as they went back to their walking staff state.

Steve coughed lightly and walked up to Zero. \"That weapon is a divine grade creation. It’s rarer than artefacts of the old world, more precious than legendary weapons and definitely one of a kind. To describe it as amazing is a little...\"

Zero blushed when he heard the explanation, only inciting more laughter. While it was true that the young doctor wasn’t very well-informed about the finer things in life and wasn’t materialistic, the teen couldn’t forgive himself for describing such a precious creation as simply amazing. These tonfas certainly deserved higher praise but Zero’s current vocabulary bank was lacking for good praise.

Seeing the burdened expression on Zero’s face, Lovina went over to console him and scold the dwarf who was heaving and choking on his laughter. The witch was a force to be reckoned with without the burden of her curse. Tambolt was made to apologise soon after.

Deciding that the atmosphere was too tense for a happy graduation party, Merlin officially ended the ceremony and called for Bib to ready the feast, a tradition of Half Moon Village to celebrate good things according to Lovina.

Steve was extremely surprised to know that Merlin broke out a few bottles of his good win for the feast. The men indulged in drinking and Merlin made sure to drink until he was completely drunk. Nobody stopped the wizard who was obviously trying to give himself an excuse to not see Zero off tomorrow when he left Arabesque to start on his final quest to address the gorgon’s grief and undo Athena’s curses. Steve already offered to take Zero back to Heaven so that the boy could meet up with Freya and to visit Valhalla.

Zero ate slowly and enjoyed the company while thinking of a name for his weapon. All good weapons had names. His grimoire was called Origin because of its purpose. Zero thought about his tonfas. Enma’s ring was infused in it and they were crafted from the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. It reminded the young doctor about the messy relationship between qi, mana and chaos energy in some way.

Zero could feel the differences in each tonfa even if they came in a set from wielding them earlier. The tonfa crafted from the Tree of Life was very light and moved quickly. It wasn’t very good at dealing damage but was great for deflecting attacks and defending against projectiles. On the other hand, the tonfa crafted from the Tree of Knowledge was heavy and landed hard blows. It was harder to control and acted very wild with a will of its own unlike the docile Tree of Life’s tonfa. There was no doubt that the tonfa crafted using the Tree of Knowledge was meant for attacking.

The two contrasting uses of very similar tonfas made Zero think about the concept of yin and yang Hua Tuo taught him. When in use, they were separated but when they weren’t in use, they became one. There really was no better way to describe them as inseparable twins that come in a set.

\"I will call you Yin-Yang, YY for short,\" Zero told his new weapon.

The staff glowed when Zero named it and the initials YY was carved on the bottom of the staff, surprising Zero. From the other side of the room, Tambolt took another swig of his beer and smiled. Raj also gave the blacksmith a knowing mood. Zero had finally given the weapon a name and the weapon had accepted it. With the weapon recognising Zero as its sole master, their job was done and the quest completed. Tambolt and Raj dedicated their brains, blood and soul into forging that unique weapon. Never again will there be a second weapon that can top this creation.

Merlin sulked. \"Yin-Yang tonfas... couldn’t he be more creative? I still think Origin has a nicer ring to it...\" he hiccuped.

Lovina laughed nervously and pulled Merlin away, excusing them while she took Merlin back to his room. The wizard was dead drunk and it was starting to be a nuisance to everyone else. If nobody stopped him, the wizard might just start making a fool of himself in front of his student. Merlin on a normal day was eccentric and highly unpredictable. Merlin with the influence of alcohol is pure chaos that nobody needed on such a happy occasion.