Nod

It took a while. But Jake finally got used to that ice pillar's mana interference.

Focusing his mind more, spending more mana, Jake could see the mid-aged dude clearly now.

Jake took a look at Nathaniel Rogers, then took a look at Badger. Looked like father and son alright.

Jake took a look at Nick Rogers. Then took a look at Badger. Hmmmmm...

However, this was none of his business, so Jake didn't bother to think any further.

As Jake carefully observed Badger's conditions, small chatter started within the groups.

Some team leaders were quickly offering solutions. Go to Artisan Central and try their luck? Post a request? High level healers?

Others talked about their futures in joking manners. Joking tone. But the suggestions felt rather serious. Join the Iron Bison Guild? Or the local Iron Wolves Guild? Leave this city? Go off with their team as freelancers?

The family members were rather divided too. Some suggested giving up Badger. Quit the realm exploration industry. Start a new business.

Others had a heated discussion on which city they should move to.

By the looks of it, in this short amount of time, they had reached an agreement to give up on Badger.

Jake raised his brows hearing this. These people were talking about what to do after Badger had fallen... right in front of Badger.

Tsk. What could Jake say.

Rich people sure knew how to seek thrill and fun.

The chatter quickly got louder as some quarrels began. Especially among the team leaders, looked like they were planning to start a fight here.

The loyals finally have had enough. To these guys, leaving the guild now was despicable.

Oh. When you were weak, the guild protected you. No resources? No problem! No mentors? No problem! When the guild was doing well, you guys silently stuffed your pockets. Now that there's trouble, you guys just leave?

One subtle mockery after another, the conversations quickly got spicy on both sides.

Hidden mockery quickly escalated to open mockery. Open mockery escalated to cursing and pointing fingers.

Now. Yep. Weapons drawn.

The family members were trying to cool down the situation a bit. After all, even the splash damage could be fatal to these guys.

Jake continued with his work. No need to worry. Unranked spells could tickle him at best.

Inside the ice pillar, Badger finally woke up from the noise. Opening his eyes, Badger coldly looked around.

Meeting Jake's gaze, this guildmaster raised his brows in surprise.

Jake nodded at the mid-aged dude as greetings.

Badger nodded back.

Jake tapped his own forearm. As a detector, he could see a wood-type curse there. Looked like a green oily tattoo. Badger probably sealed himself to stop the spread of this curse.

Among the chatter, some people were still paying attention to Jake. Seeing Jake tap his own forearm, these guys just took this gesture as a thinking habit.

After all, they weren't detectors. And the ice pillar was now covered in a thick layer of frost. As a result, they couldn't see Badger's situation like Jake.

Seeing that Jake was 'having trouble too', the chatter became even louder.

Badger looked around with kill intent. He sealed himself in his own mana. He had perfect control over his own spell. So the discussion here was just as audible to him. However, at the moment, he was too weak to do anything.

Turning to Jake, he nodded in confirmation.

Jake returned an affirmative nod. 'Message received.'

Badger nodded in appreciation. Tiredly closing his eyes, the guildmaster sighed.

Jake thought for a moment.

Nodding at himself, Jake accepted the situation. Clearly, having an iron-tier as an ally was more favorable. After all, his deals with the Iron Sparrow Guild had been enjoyable so far.

Either way, even if things didn't go well, Jake was not that worried. In a battle against Badger, Jake was confident to go at least 50-50.

If Badger dared to attack an artisan that is. If this event was to occur, Jake could already see helping hands from bronze-tiers.

Thinking this through, Jake turned to Nick Rogers.

Blinking a few times, Jake thought of how he should explain the situation.

Nick's eyes brightened up seeing this. He clearly misunderstood the situation.

"Master Collins, if you can help us, I'll let you take any 10 items out of the Rogers storage!" Nick Rogers spoke like a machine gun.

'Oh?' Jake raised his brows. Any item... That included finished talismans and equipment right?

Yellow-tier materials too? Jake was interested now. After all, yellow-tier items were rather rare on the open market.

"Only 10? Our father's life is only worth 10 items to you?!" Nathaniel Rogers looked enraged by Nick's offer.

"Also, you can't disrespect Master Collins like this. At least 25! No. A first payment of 50 items is appropriate!"

Jake raised his brows. 'Trying to win over my appreciation? I'll take it.'

"You take care of this matter then." Nick Rogers looked like he didn't care anymore.

"Master Collins. Is this acceptable to you? If you'd like, we can discuss the details."

Jake nodded again. 'Or just trying to drag out some time?'

"Fifty is fine."

"You only gave Badger healing talismans?"

"Correct." Nick Rogers widened his eyes. Clearly, he didn't see any problems with that.

"Oh. So Badger has not received any water or nutrition this entire time." Jake raised his brows.

Fancy equipment sure helped. But got to admit, this iron-tier certainly had some high vitality.

Nick Rogers widened his eyes further in disbelief, as if saying: 'Why didn't I think of this earlier!'

Jake shook his head. "Should have asked me earlier. At this pace, Badger's mana would only last 6 to 8 hours max. Shorter than that is also very possible."

"Once his mana runs out, nobody here can save him."

Hearing this, the room quickly felt silent.

Jake looked around. As an iron-tier, he could easily capture the subtle expressions on those actors.

Going from the inappropriate relief and happy, transitioning to the overbearing sadness.

Some people here looked genuinely concerned though.

As mages got stronger, their abilities would grow in an overall sense. Reaction speed, motion vision, thought process speed, intelligence, mana capacity, mana density, mana control, and so on.

In other words, Badger was perfectly capable of viewing this transition as well.

However, sharing this information felt too troublesome. Might lead to various undesirable complications. So Jake chose not to.

"You can either contact Artisan Tower, or you can drop me off at my place. There isn't much time left."