132 - 140

Chapter 132: Counterattack (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

In the morning.

It was a cloudy day. A sea of trees was leaning due to the strong wind. The noise they made drove the birds away. Several dark birds soared through the sky from time to time.

Between the trees, there was a black carriage slowly advancing along a gray path. Strangely enough, there was no coachman sitting in its driving seat.

Suddenly, the window of the carriage was opened by a pale hand, showing a brown-haired young man sitting inside. He was glancing at the bushes with his brows furrowed.

He looked at the left side of the path. There were many trees and bushes blocking his sight.

The trees' sizes varied. He felt like he was inside a primeval forest.

"Halt!" The man suddenly stopped the horses.

The wheels stopped gradually as the horse slowed down while breathing heavily.

The young man opened the door and jumped off the carriage. He then quickly walked to the roadside. There was a black crossguard sword hanging over his waist, and on his back, there was a large metal longbow along with a full quiver. The man's body was strong and his action was quick.

The man looked like an experienced hunter with a pair of clean-looking silver armor gloves on his hands.

He stomped on the ground several times and moved his feet around.

"You think I'm really going to fall for this? At least hide yourselves better." The man sneered. He glared at the bushes in front of him and pulled an arrow out of his quiver.

***********************

Inside the forest.

One black robe and two gray robes were trying to ambush Angele from the bushes, it was Maryland and his apprentices. They hid behind a large tree and slowed down their breathing, listening to the noises coming from the path.

There was a short wooden crossbow in Maryland's hand, already loaded with a special arrow. The arrow was coated in a white glow. It looked like it was made from white jade.

"Master, I think he's already here. We just heard him making noises, right? I think he's coming for us," the male Wizard apprentice whispered.

"Don't worry, stay here."

*CHI*

A ray of black light flew toward the female Wizard apprentice on the side.

*DANG*

A red barrier appeared around the female Wizard apprentice's body. The black arrow was blocked, causing it to deviate its path and pierce the tree beside.

The three were surprised by the attack. They looked at the black iron arrow on the tree and realized that Angele had already detected their positions.

"Watch out!" Maryland suddenly shouted.

The female Wizard apprentice turned her head around after hearing Maryland's warning.

*BAM*

It seemed that her barrier was on cooldown as another black iron arrow struck her forehead. Her skullcap was broken into pieces. Blood mixed with brain matter splashed everywhere.

The female Wizard apprentice's eyes were wide open. She died before knowing what had happened, and her body fell to the ground.

"Ria!" the male Wizard apprentice shouted in fear.

"God damn!" He pressed his left wrist with his right hand and chanted something.

After two seconds, he vanished into the air. A faint distortion moved through the bushes while leaving footprints on the muddy ground.

Maryland raised his short crossbow, white light coming out of his eyes. His expression was solemn as he was trying to catch every movement on the other side of the bush.

Maryland heard footsteps of a person walking on the dry leaves on the ground. A strapping man slowly walked out of the shadows.

Angele put his hand on the handle of his crossguard sword and stepped on a large stone. He was glaring at Maryland.

"I knew it was you, Maryland." The young man who had a pair of sharp eyes was speaking in a calm tone.

Maryland licked his lips.

"Angele, I didn't expect you to detect us first. Liliana found herself a good disciple. But why did you reveal yourself, you should've stayed in the bushes." He quickly aimed at Angele with his crossbow.

"Delan Siro, Frozen Death!"

The white arrow left the short crossbow and drew an arc in the air. It was flying at full speed, with only a white light dot indicating its direction.

Maryland threw the crossbow to the ground and took out a small bottle from his pouch. He then removed the stopper and poured some light-yellow powder onto his palm, sprinkling it into the air.

He was invoking incantations that Angele had never heard of before. A ball of white light slowly appeared in front of him. The light ball lit up the area, and a high-pitched scream was coming out of it.

As the scream became louder, Maryland pushed the light ball forward with his hands. The light ball traveled slowly in the air, approaching Angele.

Angele drew his crossguard sword. He turned around and started running. His body turned into a blurry gray shadow among the bushes. The white arrow dodged the trees and was pursuing him from behind. It only took the arrow several seconds to catch up, and it exploded in the air as soon as Angele slowed down.

*BOOM*

The explosion produced a white mist that surrounded Angele in the middle.

Countless layers of ice started spreading in the area, but Angele walked out of ice mist within seconds.

A thin layer of silver metal covered his body. The ice mist was blocked before it could reach his skin.

*Crack*

The silver metal on Angele's skin dropped to the ground. It then melted into a liquid ball and floated in the air.

The ice barrier in the air was broken into pieces by Angele's twisted power and dropped to the grass on the ground. Angele touched the surface of the silver metal. It turned into a large silver shield that covered his body.

The white light ball finally reached Angele and smashed against the silver shield with great impact.

*BAM*

The white light broke into seemingly infinite tiny light dots, flying to Angele from all angles.

Angele held his sword with both hands and slashed forward without hesitation.

The blade melted and turned into a group of tiny metal particles. They started intercepting the white light dots in the air.

Once more, all the white light dots exploded after the collision with the metal particles. The explosion created many broken ice pieces mixed with metal ashes.

Angele quickly stepped back and dropped the remaining handle of his sword.

He waited for the hail in front of him to stop. Maryland could not believe what he had just witnessed.

Angele raised his hand again and created another silver crossguard sword.

He suddenly turned around and slashed forward. An invisible man revealed himself after being cut into half on the empty ground.

It was the male Wizard apprentice who tried to attack Angele from behind. His eyes were wide open and his body was sliced into two. The man was holding a small black ball in his right hand, which had moving silver patterns on the surface of the ball.

The stench of blood spread in the air as the man's organs emerged on the ground.

"You're the last one." Angele turned around and blocked an incoming ice lance with his sword.

Angele waved his hand. The metal ashes on the ground slowly floated into the air.

He then pointed his finger at Maryland.

Countless tiny metal needles started flying toward Maryland.

Angele wasted no time and charged forward. He held his crossguard sword tight. When he was about four or five meters away from Maryland, he swung his sword and its shape shifted in the air. The sword became thinner but much longer than before.

*CLANG*

The tip of the sword stopped before it could hit Maryland. A white ice barrier appeared in front of him that successfully blocked Angele's attack.

Maryland's face turned pale from fright as leaned against the tree behind him. He did not try to stop Angele from attacking. He only kept doing weird hand gestures while invoking an incantation. A white glow appeared on the tip of his fingers.

The white ice barrier in front of him blocked all the metal projectiles. It sounded like rain dropping onto a window.

Maryland looked at Angele and increased the speed of his incantation. A diamond-shaped crystal slowly appeared in front of his body, it rotated while glowing and it seemed like the crystal contained some mysterious strong power.

Beside the white barrier in front of Maryland was a translucent ice barrier that only appeared when some of the metal needles attacked him from the behind. This barrier had only revealed itself after being hit.

"Die!" Maryland's expression changed. He pushed the crystal toward Angele with both of his hands.

Maryland looked tired after completing the strongest spell he knew. Two Wizards from Northland Alliance had been slain by it during the war. The cost of the spell was half of his reserves. Most of his mentality and mana was consumed by it.

Maryland ran to the side after the crystal was completed. He grabbed several blue mana potions from his pouch and poured them into his mouth one after another. Those potions could help him recover mana and mentality, but it took time, and he would not be able to cast the next spell immediately. He turned his head around and looked at Angele.

The speed of the crystal was fast, that Angele had to withdraw.

*CLANG*

He struck the crystal with the sword, but it was so hard that his arms turned numb.

"Raymancrisa Ignis…" Angele chanted an incantation in a low voice. Four lines of red flame gathered in front of Angele's chest and turned into a fist-sized fireball.

The fireball grew larger and its color became darker.

Angele pushed the fireball forward and it hit the incoming crystal.

*BOOM*

After the explosion, flames and pieces of ice blocks all flew toward Angele. He quickly conjured another silver metal shield and tried to block the approaching projectiles.

Chapter 133: Counterattack (2)

Translator: Leo

Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele did not stop after creating the first metal shield. He stacked three shields together to block the explosion.

*BOOM*

Angele was pushed back several meters by the impact. He supported himself with his left feet as he slowly stabilized. Three silver metal shields helped him defend against the energy explosion caused by the Lesser Fireball and the crystal.

'Such a powerful spell.' Angele had a serious expression on his face.

'My agility is high and my forcefield has caught most of the projectiles in the air. Otherwise, it must be impossible for me to take no damage. The power level of the explosion is over 30 degrees. After the enhancement of Lesser Fireball is done, I'll be able to deal with it easily.'

Angele's forcefield would automatically create metal scraps to block the particles coming for him. The field itself could handle 14 degrees of power, and after casting the Lesser Fireball, he successfully resolved a total of 30 degrees of power.

'So this is what a Wizard can do before reaching the Gas stage. It's my turn now.' Angele looked at Maryland and sneered, the old man's face was still pale.

Angele raised his hand and the silver shields were absorbed by his body again. He leaned forward and charged toward Maryland again.

Maryland was running away from Angele desperately.

"How? How is that even possible! All the power was brought to the kid after the crystal exploded, yet he was not hurt at all?! That's twice the original power! He just became a Wizard, but he actually successfully blocked such a strong spell." Fear was etched all over his face. All he could do was to try his best to escape.

Suddenly, his sight blurred.

*BAM*

Something struck Maryland's back with great impact, causing him to lose his balance. The translucent ice barrier blocked the attack coming from behind. Although he was not hurt, he was still blown away by the impact and he fell to the ground.

"Maryland, we are having fun, right? Why are you running?" Angele's deep voice came from behind.

Maryland struggled for a while before he stood up. Fear slowly filled up his mind. He trembled before he turned around and tried to invoke incantations, but he could not calm down at all. This unpleasant feeling in his head made his Mentality unstable, so there was no way for him to cast any spell in his current state.

"Angele… Are you seriously trying to kill me? I'm a contracted Wizard of the school! If you kill me, the school will place a bounty on your head! Think twice before you do that!" Maryland started retreating step by step.

Angele looked at Maryland. He was disappointed.

"You can't even cast any spell right now. I considered you as a worthy opponent." He walked to the old man and raised the crossguard sword in the air.

"Don't! Killing me is betraying the school!" Maryland yelled in fear. The white light in his eyes had disappeared. He tripped on a stone while trying to flee and he fell to the ground once again.

"I'll make sure that I'll take care of your dead body. We're in a forest far from the school, who'd know I killed you?" Angele smiled.

Maryland's ice barrier was impaled by Angele's sword.

"You!" Maryland's face was twitching.

*DANG*

The barrier had already absorbed a lot of damage for the old man, but without a mana supply, its surface started shedding.

Angele raised his sword again and slashed down with no hesitation.

*Crack*

The ice barrier could not take any more damage, so the translucent barrier around him revealed itself before breaking into pieces.

"No!" Maryland's barriers were gone. He stood up immediately and threw a black bottle to the ground.

*BOOM*

The bottle exploded and flames splashed into the air.

Angele took a step back and created a metal silver shield to block the flame. He could see Maryland running away through the fire, and he smiled.

He slightly leaned forward and charged forth.

Angele was so fast that the trees on the sides became blurry. He could hear the wind howling while approaching Maryland.

He tightly held the handle of his sword and slashed downward. The sword soared in the air and was about to hit Maryland.

*Clang*

A black creature deflected Angele's blade from the side. Angele stopped moving forward and stepped back immediately.

A well-built man slowly walked out of the bushes behind Maryland. The man was wearing a coat made from black bear skin, and his long hair was messy. There were two metal claws on both his hands. He looked quite calm.

The black creature returned to the man's side. It was a black panther that stared at Angele with a pair of green shallow eyes, its legs fully armored.

*Roar*

The panther was awaiting its owner's order.

Angele swung the crossguard sword in his hand.

"You're with Maryland?" He had a gentle smile on his face, but he was ready to strike at any moment.

"My mission is to bring Maryland back. He's already signed the contract with Liliado. From now on, he's one of us," the man spoke in a calm tone.

"Leave now if you don't want to die. You don't stand a chance against me."

"Is that so?" Angele stopped smiling.

"It means you're my enemy too."

The man stared at him.

"If you don't leave, then yes."

Angele narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at the man. He could sense the strong Mentality of the man just by looking at him.

Maryland was much weaker than the man.

"You already reached the Gas stage?" Angele suddenly questioned.

The man did not respond. He only patted the panther's head, which caused it to purr several times in response.

Angele's expression finally turned gruesome.

Silver metal liquid came out of his body and covered him completely layer by layer within seconds.

Three silver scars were revealed at the left side of Angele's face after the layers of silver metal slowly spread on his skin.

The man looked a bit surprised after seeing the changes happened to Angele.

"Metal forcefield…" He stared at Angele.

"It's the first time I'm seeing a Wizard with Metal Mastery as a Talent Spell."

*CHI*

Two bone armor appeared on the man's arms. The armor was covered with sharp thorns.

Maryland lay down on the side quietly, his skull penetrated by a sharp thin metal needle.

**************************

Inside a meeting hall in Ramsoda College, five people wearing black robes sat around a table.

"So, no one respects my word anymore?" Liliana questioned in a deep tone.

"We didn't authorize Maryland's action. He's not one of us anymore and we, Sparrow Family, already declared that." A middle-aged woman responded immediately.

"Master Liliana. We had no idea that he offended you. Please forgive us." There was fear in her eyes.

"Maryland has signed a contract with Liliado, thus it's treason." The black robe in the main seat spoke calmly. His face was covered in black mist.

"I agree, Mr. President."

"Me too." The other two black robes nodded.

Liliana grunted before standing up and vanishing into the dark shadows.

**********************

"Damn! How dare you!" someone shouted with a deep voice inside the forest.

"Retard."

Angele leaned to the side and dodged an incoming red sphere of light. The sphere hit the tree behind him, melting the tree into a pool of acid.

The strong man kept waving his metal claws and kept shooting red spheres of light toward Angele while blocking the silver metal needles infused with blue electric pulses.

Countless tiny metal needles were floating around Angele's opponent like blue flies. Angele controlled those metal needles to attack the man from all angles after dodging several red spheres of light.

Angele didn't have the upper hand, but the man was similarly having trouble in blocking Angele's metal needles. The black panther kept roaring, trying to find Angele's weak spot.

There were blue light dots in Angele's eyes. Zero was helping him predict the direction of those red spheres of light. Each sphere of light was about the size of an egg and it could track Angele's movements precisely. He tried to slash them with his sword, but the sword was melted by the acid immediately. It seemed like the man was using anti-metal spells.

The only thing Angele could do was to dodge and control those metal needles to attack.

"The Gas stage is strong I see," he whispered, but his voice still reached the man's ears.

"Why are you trying so hard for a dead man? This battle won't end easily. We both know that."

The man looked anxious.

"I underestimated you."

He took several steps back and lowered his claws. The black panther returned to his side as well.

"I shall leave for now. Angele Rio, I'll remember your name.

The man vanished into the forest with the panther after finishing his word.

Angele raised his right hand and all the floating metal needles returned to his body.

"I need to take care of the body before the people from the school show up." Angele looked at Maryland's corpse with no expression on his face.

He did not want the people in Ramsoda to know that it was him who killed Maryland. Although Maryland had betrayed the school, Angele would still be taken back to the school for interrogation. He did not want to waste any more time.

Angele also figured out what he was lacking after the battle. He had no high-damage spells. That was also the reason why he spent a long time trying to kill Maryland.

"High damage spells…" Angele started thinking.

Chapter 134: Farewell (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele decided to collect more spells later. He looked at Maryland's corpse again.

He walked to the body and crouched. Angele checked if Maryland was still breathing by touching his neck before looting his body.

First, he went for the two white leather pouches on Maryland's waist, and then he found two white jade arrows from the belt. He also found a small spell book with a brown leather cover. The book was about the size of a palm, and there was a glowing white diamond-shaped pattern on the front.

Angele returned to the place where the fight began and rummaged through the two Wizard apprentices' bodies. He took everything valuable to him.

After the place was cleaned up, Angele left the forest and returned to his carriage. The horse was still eating the grasses on the side. It seemed that no one had come by.

He opened the door and jumped into the carriage. Angele sat down by the table and started to check everything he acquired.

There were some spell materials in the white pouches, but Angele had never seen them before. They might be used for Ice spells. There was also a crystal bottle that contained several translucent capsules inside. The capsules looked similar to the fish oil capsules Angele had seen back on Earth.

Many basic spell models were recorded in the book, and Maryland's notes were all written beside them. Angele was a bit downcast that Maryland did not write anything important on the book, so it was basically useless to him. He read it through and burned it right after.

The only thing valuable from the two apprentices was a black sphere. The spell books contained nothing new to Angele. Furthermore, he also found several regular magic stones.

The enchanted ring from the female Wizard apprentice already broke and the spell materials she had could be found anywhere.

Angele put down the magic stones and the materials. He grabbed the black sphere and started observing it. The sphere was about the size of his fist, and there was a thin layer of silver metallic liquid on its surface. He had no idea what it was made from.

"Strange, it's soft and the only thing I can sense from it is Maryland's remaining energy." Angele checked the sphere for a while and concluded.

"Perhaps it's merely a one-time explosive item?"

'Zero, found anything similar in the database?' Angele wondered.

'No matching data was found.' There was nothing Zero could do if it was not stored in the database.

Angele carefully put the sphere into his pouch and with a flick of his finger, black smoke descended onto the horse in front. The horse started advancing slowly and the carriage moved again.

"I should've activated the battle mode during the fight against the Panther Wizard, but I still may not be able to kill him. The only spell he cast was conjuring those red spheres. I hope the range of my Metal Field is large enough to absorb more damage. Besides, the magic resistance is still too low."

Angele's eyebrows furrowed. He stopped the fight because he was at the same level as the man and he had already used a lot of mana in the previous encounter.

The Metal forcefield's defense and resistance were relatively low, so every time he blocked a spell, he needed to create another layer of metal barrier. Talent Spell's cost was low, but his mana pool was still limited. Without the spell stored in the chip, he would have a hard time fighting against the second enemy.

Casting one Lesser Fireball required 4 Mentality and 4 Mana.

Manipulating the metals and creating metal barriers to block Maryland's spells cost Angele 13 mana and using the electrically enhanced needles to attack the Panther Wizard almost drained the rest of his mana. If the fight lasted any longer, he would've had to retreat. Physical attacks would not damage that man there.

He had the type of the energy particles stored in the chip switched to metal energy particles. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to recreate so many metal barriers.

'It seems impossible for the chip to scan the information of a Wizard if his force field is on. The battle mode is good only when the opponent loses his barrier,' Angele thought.

'I don't know why, but Zero can now handle two tasks simultaneously after I broke my genetic limit… However, …'

Angele looked at the trees outside through the window. The tree leaves were shaking in the wind, and there were rabbits jumping around from time to time.

'How to break through a Wizard's forcefield…?' Angele tried to recall the basic knowledge of forcefields he had learned before.

If he wanted to break a common forcefield, he would have to use another corresponding type of forcefield to hit it accurately. Angele needed to switch to a proper forcefield when necessary, but Zero would not be able to do that.

It meant that the chip could help him reserve his energy during battles, but there was barely anything else it could do. It was still good for research, so Angele decided to collect more information he needed about further studies.

'After Zero finished the enhancement on the Lesser Fireball, I'll do the second modification myself.' Angele shook his head.

Wizards needed to learn how to modify spells. After all, the chip could only help Angele stored basic information and spell models. The enhancement Zero did for the spells was based on the data Angele collected, and without data, there was nothing it could do.

In order to get the best results, Angele had to do it by himself. Zero could help him select the right information to save some time.

'At least it can multitask now.' Angele chuckled.

'I should be grateful for what I have. I'm already progressing much faster than the others.'

**************************

Dock Nick.

Bright sunlight reflected upon the golden beach.

The coconut trees' large leaves were waving in the wind. Waves crashed onto the shore from time to time.

A black carriage was parked in front of a road sign beside the forest, its wooden wheels coated with the sand from the beach.

Angele already waited three days for the ship to come after he arrived at the dock. He sat inside the carriage and looked at the sea.

He already checked the date when the ship would come by. Every 4 years, a ship coming from another land would drop Wizard apprentices off at several docks and it would pick up those who wished to go back. It was the only way for him to travel from this land to another.

Angele opened the window and jumped off the carriage. He slowly walked to the beach and raised his head. He saw a blue ship with white stripes on its surface slowly moving toward him.

He waited on the beach, but he suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind.

"You must be Master Angele? Are you waiting for the ship?" A stranger's voice came from behind.

Angele turned around and saw a silver-haired in a white robe smiling at him.

"Yes, I'm Angele. Sorry, but you are?" Angele wondered as he had no idea who this man was.

"I'm Tymoral. Liliana has helped me several times before. I respect her a lot." The man named Tymoral smiled.

"It's the third time I'm chosen to be the messenger. My duty is to contact the countries overseas. If you need any help, just ask. I have the right to grant you noble status."

Angele hesitated for a second, but he still showed his gratitude while smiling.

"Thank you for your kindness. I'll talk to you when I need it."

"Sure." Tymoral nodded.

"Countries funded by mortals are weak, but Grand Knights can still fight us with enchanted items they possess. You should be careful if you must fight one of them. I suggest you contact your masters and find the Bloodline Nobles."

"Bloodline Nobles?" Angele had never heard of it before.

"Ah, sorry, I forgot to explain first." It seemed as if Tymoral recalled something, becoming a bit nervous. He even slightly bowed to Angele.

Angele immediately bowed as well.

"You did nothing wrong. It's not a big problem." Angele did not know why Tymoral was so polite to him.

Tymoral straightened his back and started explaining.

"Well, I didn't notice your… I'll explain it to you right now. Bloodline Nobles are personages who rule this world. Most of them are royal members who often possess the greatest power in their hands. The first royal members overseas were several old Wizards who failed to rank up, their lives about to end. They created their own empires. Some of them successfully passed their knowledge to the next generations. The higher their Wizard ranks were, the harder it would be for them to get women pregnant. Before they died, they left some strong enchanted items to their children to help them survive in wars. The children of the Wizards were the Bloodline Nobles. The Wizards without descendants lost their country after they died. I forgot that only royal members or very knowledgeable Wizards knew about this, so I apologized."

Tymoral stopped for a second and sighed with emotion.

Chapter 135: Farewell (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem, Frappe

"Bloodline Nobles are not gifted with special power. They merely have stronger bodies compared to mortals. Also, most of the royal members are not willing to study. They spend most of their time playing. The Wizard apprentices with high talent levels are usually related to the royal members. I think you already know what you will be facing if you don't get in contact with Bloodline Nobles. You're the first Wizard in your family I believe."

Angele thought for a while. He could imagine what would happen after arriving at Marua Harbor.

"Well, please help me get in touch with them then." He had a bitter smile on his face.

"Sure." Tymoral nodded. He already knew that Angele had no other choice.

"I have some old friends in your home country, Andes Alliance. You can disembark the ship with a concealed identity. You're the first Wizard apprentice from Andes Alliance to become a formal Wizard in the last ten years and you even joined the Land of the Dark Wizards. It's quite amazing actually."

Angele laughed.

"I'm just lucky, haha. I almost forgot, but when I left Andes Alliance, Rudin Empire and Saladin Empire were still fighting. Do you have any recent intel on that?"

"There are not many royal members left in Rudin Empire, so it's time for a change. Saladin Empire found the right timing to strike, so they must've already won in the war. I heard several royal members of Saladin Empire are studying on this land. Although they did not become formal Wizards yet, they are still much stronger than the strongest soldier in Rudin Empire's army," Tymoral explained.

"Why are we wasting time discussing mortals? They can't even handle a single energy particle attack. Let's change the topic."

Angele nodded. He started discussing the structural differences between positive energy spells models and negative energy spell models. They exchanged their opinions on the similarities of spell modifications with spells from different categories.

Both of them knew Master Liliana and both of them had not yet reached the Gas stage, so there were many things for them to discuss.

Their friendship had already deepened as the ship arrived at the dock, and Angele learned some more basic knowledge from Tymoral as well.

The ship stopped by the shore and released the anchor. The stairs were lowered by the workers on deck. A girl in black one piece ran down the stairs quickly. She must be one of the Wizard apprentices on the board.

The girl saw two Wizards standing on the beach, and quickly walked to them. She put her right hand over the hand and slightly bent her knees. It seemed that she was showing them her respect, but Angele had no idea where she came from. He was not familiar with her style of etiquette.

"Go wait by the road sign beside the forest. Someone will pick you up." Tymoral said in a light tone.

Angele glanced at the female Wizard apprentices and realized she was just a rank 2 Wizard apprentice, so he was not interested. A black-robed man walked down the stairs after the girl left.

"Ramsoda, huh? You're the ones in charge this time?" The man looked at Tymoral and Angele's robes.

"Tymoral, I'll be leaving now. I already spent too much time on the ship."

"I'll take care of it from here." Tymoral nodded without any expression on his face.

The man nodded as well. He put on his hood and quickly walked away.

"Let's board the ship and check the engine room first," Tymoral spoke to Angele with a much milder expression than earlier. It seemed that he disliked the man he just talked to.

"Sure." Angele nodded and boarded the empty ship with Tymoral.

The ship was large, just like the one Angele took on the way he came. The only difference was the building on the deck. The two looked like two tiny ants on the deck.

They walked down the cabin quickly and reached the engine room. The room was dark, but with a flick of Tymoral's finger, two lines of torches were lighted up, illuminating the place.

The room was about the size of a football court and Angele realized that the floor was actually the back of several humongous dark blue fish.

The fish was more than ten meters long and its upper body was fixed at the bottom of the ship. A thin layer of water coated the fish's skin, which prevented the water from breaching the inside of the ship.

These fish were the engines of the chip. Angele observed them and found no soul in their eyes. It seemed that they were controlled using spells or some special methods. They looked identical to dolphins but were much larger in size.

Tymoral smiled and pointed at the fish.

"Those fish have been modified by energy particles and are powering the ship. They last years in the sea. Their muscles are also enhanced by dark magic, preventing them from getting hurt."

Angele nodded while smiling. "That's some amazing techniques."

Tymoral continued, "The ship's name is Future. I'll explain the procedure to you. First, we need to pick up some people who want to go to other lands to the next dock. Most of them are Wizard apprentices who lost their hopes. After that, we need to repair the body of the ship and hire some sailors to hide the real purpose of the trip. Are you fine with the plan?"

"Of course," Angele answered without hesitation.

"But I need to get my cases onto the ship first."

"I can help you with that." Tymoral chuckled.

"I appreciate it." Angele started walking upstairs.

***************************

One day later.

The ship named 'Future' started sailing along the pre-determined route under Tymoral's control.

It would take them two days to go from Dock Nick to the next one.

Ramsoda was its final destination because the place was where the Dark Wizards lived. Another name for the Ramsoda region was 'Aikenhain'. The name Aikenhain meant 'where the sun rises', and it was relatively far from other organizations' territories.

Dock Nick was on the opposite side of the second dock. It would take years for one to travel from one side to another on land.

Angele stood on the starboard side of the ship.

The endless sky looked like a huge sapphire. There were white seagulls flying over the ship from time to time and the fishy sea breeze made Angele's hair fly about in the air. He put his hands on the cold railing and overlooked the surface of the sea.

There were two large ships in Angele's sight. The ships were connected with wooden bridges. The sailors with swords in their hands were fighting against each other.

"Pirates raiding an armored merchant ship. It's common around here." Tymoral walked to Angele.

"Don't worry. They won't come for us. I heard the White Tooth Castle already established a fleet to wipe the pirates off the sea."

Angele heard Tymoral's explanation and nodded, but he did not say anything. The ship slowly left the area and the two ships in conflict disappeared from his sight.

They finally arrived at the next dock on the second afternoon.

Dock Seahawk, it was the dock where Yuri and the others disembarked. The White Tooth Castle and Six Ring High Tower's territories were here.

Many people boarded the ship at the dock. More than thirty sailors and about ten Wizard apprentices, all heading back to their home country.

"Hurry up! You, yea, pick up the bread and fruits!" A bald, half-naked burly man was yelling beside Tymoral, his beard thick.

"I want everything on board within three hours! You hear me? Hurry up! Move your *sses!" the man shouted.

"Aye, aye! We're not deaf!" some of the sailors shouted back.

"Come here! I need help! This box is heavy as hell!"

"Hey! Tighten up the rope!"

"Damn, Cage! Move!"

The place was bustling. There were more than ships in various sizes docked by the shell-shaped bay and Future was still greater in size compared to other relatively large ships.

Several people in noble suits greeted Tymoral in an extremely polite tone, while the sailors were carrying boxes onto the ship. They sent several of their servants to help carry the barrels that had fresh water inside.

Some people were yelling in different dialects while waving their hands. Angele could not understand a single word they were saying. There were about forty people standing on the bridge beside the ships. It was crowded.

Angele could see carriages and pedestrians passing by along the road and he could hear the noise from here. Although he could not understand their language, he still felt quite happy to be in such a lively place.

The people suddenly stepped aside and made a path for the passengers.

About ten people wearing different types of clothes walked to the ship. Angele could sense the energy particles around them. Some of them were in their mid-thirties and there were also several old men with white messy hair.

They walked to Tymoral and bowed with respect. Tymoral said something and pointed at Future, looking unconcerned.

The group started boarding after heeding Tymoral's instructions. Angele took a glance at them and saw someone familiar.

A pretty girl with a black ponytail was staring at him. She was wearing a black swordsman's suit, looking confused.

"What are you looking at! Vel!" A middle-aged woman shoved the back of the girl forward.

"Don't stare at a master Wizard like that," she whispered.

The girl turned her head around immediately and followed the others onto the deck. Angele already knew who she was. It was Velvet, the girl he had met on his way to Ramsoda. Her talent level was 1.

It seemed that the girl failed to rank up and she had to go back to her family.

The strongest Wizard apprentice among the group was only at rank 2. Angele knew how strong they were just by looking at them, and Velvet was still at rank 1 after many years of studying. Her only improvement was the number of energy particles she could control.

The place was too crowded, so Angele decided to talk to Velvet later. He wanted to know how the others were doing. The sailors finished loading the containers within two hours, Future left the dock under the moonlight and started traveling to the next dock.

****************

*Knock Knock*

"Who is it?" Angele put down the feather pen from his hand and moved the oil lamp onto the paper before answering the door.

"It's me…" A sheepish voice came from outside the door.

Angele's eyebrows furrowed. He was currently trying to set up the plan for the enhancement of Mental Mastery. Moreover, it was already 2 o'clock in the morning.

He hated being interrupted while thinking.

"Come in," Angele answered in a low voice. He pointed at the door. A ray of green light came out of the tip of his finger and unlocked it.

The brown wooden door was pushed open and soothing wind blew into the room. A gray-cloaked person walked inside and closed the door.

"It's you?" Angele was a bit surprised.

"Yea, me, Velvet. I'm not sure if you still know me." The girl took off her cloak and revealed her emotionless face.

"It's late, why are you here? I wanted to talk to you tomorrow." Angele rubbed his temples. He was a bit tired.

*DONG*

Velvet suddenly kneeled down and knocked her head on the floor.

"Please! We were on the same ship. Master Angele, take me in as your servant!" She had not raised her head yet. Angele was not sure what her expression looked like at the moment, but he knew her voice was shaky.

"You wish to be my servant?"

"Yes!" Velvet raised her head up and stared at Angele. Angele could the complex feelings in her eyes.

"I spent four years in Six Ring High Tower. I'm already 20 years old. It's impossible for me to become a formal Wizard now, so I'm planning to serve as a Knight in my hometown, but I didn't expect to meet you here… and you're already a Wizard…" Velvet was not sure how she should talk to Angele. She chose to become a Wizard apprentice, giving up the chance to take the life energy seed. She gave up since she could not progress. However, the girl would not even become a top-level Knight without the seed. Angele's talent level was 2, but he broke the limit after just four years of studying. Velvet admired him, but at the same time, she was jealous of him.

Velvet argued with Angele when they first met, yet she was now begging him to take her in. She felt ashamed knowing this fact. Her face was flustered. She wanted to know how Angele could progress so fast as it was her last hope. Velvet had to leave her dignity behind.

"Stand up first." Angele creased his eyebrows.

Velvet stood up. She was not wearing her swordsman's suit.

Worn on her body was a skin-tight leather armor, which perfectly showcased those full round breasts of hers. Velvet's short black skirt barely covered her thighs, and the silky stockings made her legs look alluring.

"Are you trying to seduce me with the clothes you're wearing?" Angele glanced at her.

Velvet lowered her head. She did not respond to Angele's question but slightly nodded her head.

Angele knew that if he took her in. She would most likely fulfill all his requests tonight.

Chapter 136: Skirmish (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele closed his eyes and grunted after a while. The room was silent. The only noise was made by the waves. Velvet, who was nearby, waited for Angele to talk. She stared at Angele nervously, not knowing whether to ask again or not.

"How's Yuri? You disembarked the ship together with him, right? I think he went to the White Tooth Castle," Angele suddenly questioned.

"Yes, but I haven't talked to him in a while," Velvet responded right away.

"But I heard he went to the border with a team of Wizard apprentices."

Angele nodded in response. He opened his eyes and looked at Velvet without any expression.

"Sorry, I can't take you in as my servant," he replied in a light tone.

After finishing his words, Angele saw the change in Velvet's eyes, which was now filled with despair instead. Her flustered face had gone pale within seconds.

"Is that your final answer…?" Velvet was trembling, and her voice shaky.

"I apologize." Angele shook his head.

"To be honest. Your talent level is too low. If I take you in as my servant, it'll be my responsibility to train you using all the resources I possess. I just became a formal Wizard and I don't have that much spare time for you. You need a long time and a lot of resources to rank up. So… I'm sorry."

Velvet's face turned even paler upon hearing Angele's explanation.

"You're not satisfied with my body? I can do whatever you want me to! Seriously! Please!" There were tears in her eyes, and she was trying her best to beg Angele.

"You're my last hope. My family… My father…" Velvet sobbed. Her words were incoherent.

Angele looked at Velvet without saying anything. He was waiting for her to calm down.

"From what I know, your father is a formal Wizard, right? You have his blood. What happened to your talent level?" Angele's eyebrows creased as he asked again.

"I don't know." Velvet shook her head.

Angele suddenly recalled something.

"What's your father and mother's relationship before they got married?" he questioned.

"My mother is my father's elder sister," Velvet muttered.

Angele had realized that it could've been a consanguineous marriage. It was a common custom between Wizards' families. They wanted their lineages to be pure, so their children could be born with high talent levels.

However, the probability of success was low. Most Wizards chose to reproduce with their relatives, and only a small percentage of their children had extremely high talent levels. The rest was worse than an average mortal. Some of them were born with disabilities and low talent level. They could not even train in sword skills.

This custom had never changed in the Wizards' world as most of the large families were connected through marriages.

Velvet probably had many sisters or brothers, but she was the only one gifted with talent.

'Her father was quite unlucky,' Angele thought.

'Velvet probably is the only hope of her family at the moment.'

"Where's your father?" Angele wondered.

Velvet hesitated for a second and she looked a bit depressed.

"He's dead."

Angele stopped asking after seeing Velvet's crestfallen face. A lot of things must've happened to her family, but he did not want to get involved.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Although I can't take you in, you and I are still friends. I have a Potion of Tranquility here. It can increase your mentality." Angele took out a small glass tube from his pouch. The liquid inside looked like a cloudy orange juice.

It was a potion he concocted recently using the actual materials instead of the substitutes. It was more effective than the ones he had used on himself. Although the materials were expensive, he had plenty of magic stones left. He wanted to sell it for more later.

Angele placed the tube on his wooden desk. Its appearance was not appealing under the dim light of the oil lamp.

However, Velvet knew how valuable this potion was. The despair in her eyes was long gone. Now, it was almost as if she was looking at the most beautiful item in the world.

She put her hands on the short skirt and started to lift the edges up slowly. Velvet was shy, but she looked attractive with her actions.

"Take it and you can leave." Angele furrowed his brows and muttered.

"I'm not doing this for your body."

Velvet was a bit surprised. She lowered her head and just stood there for several minutes before grabbing the tube from the desk.

"Thank you for the potion. I'll be leaving now." She lowered her voice.

"Take care." Angele nodded and started writing again.

Velvet turned around and picked up the cloak. She then opened the door and left quietly.

Angele could hear her crying after the door was closed again. After some intense footsteps, Velvet returned to her room.

Angele shook his head.

"There's really nothing I can do for her." He sighed and focused on the paper again.

***********************

A lonely blue ship was sailing on the endless sea. Three white sails were shaking slightly as the wind blew.

The ship looked like a white sesame on a large blue curtain, and it was struggling in the strong waves.

There were eight people standing beside the railings, overlooking the sea. Sailors were busy with their assigned works. Some were repairing the mast, and the bald man was controlling the helm.

Angele stood beside the railing quietly in his black robe with Tymoral. They just finished discussing ways on breaking through different types of forcefields.

"Actually, I need you to do me a favor." Angele turned around and said.

"What do you need? Is it about the girl who sneaked into your room several days ago? She did for money? Haha." Tymoral blinked his eyes and chuckled.

"Well, I didn't even touch her. She's just a friend. I'm wondering if you can help her family after we reach Andes Alliance? I don't know the details, but I want to do something for her."

"Fine. You're really boring." Tymoral shrugged.

"She's just a rank 1 Wizard apprentice. You can do whatever you want to her. Also, she came to you herself. It's not like you forced her to have sex with you or something. I really don't understand you. Just ask her to go to your room at night and you'll have something to do on this long trip, eh?"

"I'd rather spend the time doing researches," Angele responded in a light tone.

"What? Why? We're Wizards and we're at the top of the world. We live much longer than those mortals and we have plenty of time to progress. For example, I have this aunt. She's just 39 years old, yet she already has 15 male servants. Just follow your instinct as long as it's not against the code." Tymoral was a typical Wizard. He did not care about mortals at all. Angele could hear the arrogance in his words.

"Well, maybe I'm just weird." Angele smiled. He did not want to argue with Tymoral since he knew that people's opinions varied.

"Alright, I'll do you a favor. After we arrive at the Andes, I'll talk to my friends about it." Tymoral gave up after realizing that Angele was not interested in the topic. He took out a black crystal pocket watch and checked the time.

"Two already. I must go meditate. I'll talk to you later."

"Sure." Angele turned around as he responded.

He stayed at the railings and looked at the beautiful sea.

Angele heard rumors about him and Velvet from the sailors. They heard someone saying Angele forced Velvet to be his sex slave and Velvet went to his room every night.

Angele decided not to explain anything to the crew because rumors like this could protect Velvet. She would be respected by people if she had a relationship with a Wizard. Mortals feared the Wizards due to the tales they had heard and usually stayed away from anyone or anything related to them.

The waves became smaller after sailing for a while and the sailors catching fish with the fishing nets.

"One, two, three! Pull!"

"One, two, three! Pull!"

"Pull harder!"

"Tom! Hurry up!"

"Aye! Another batch! Ha!"

A muscular sailor shouted in joy. Several sailors were pulling the net together while yelling and laughing.

An entire haul of fishes and prawns netted were thrown to the deck, and the water from the sea left gray stains on the deck.

Angele saw some silver fishes, translucent prawns, and strange red creatures the size of a meatball.

Angele crouched and pointed at one of the meatballs.

"What's this?"

"Sphere Fish, Red Sphere Fish, master." A sailor approached him and answered politely.

"It's good for fish soup, and adding some eggplants will make it even better."

The rest of the sailors all stopped what they were doing after realizing Angele was talking to them. They bowed to Angele, respect and fear etched all over their faces.

"Red Sphere Fish?" Angele never heard of something like that.

He poked this fist-sized meatball with his finger.

Its surface felt like a leather ball, cold and elastic. The fish had a dark red skin, and its skin was covered in wrinkles.

Angele did not find any eye, nose or ears on the meatball. The only thing he saw was a large mouth on the middle. Its lips were thick, which looked like two parallel sausages.

"Master, please be careful. This fish will attack you with water beam and sand…" a sailor warned.

Angele nodded and tapped the fish's mouth. Its body suddenly flattened as it sprayed Angele with a water beam.

Chapter 137: Skirmish (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

*PA*

A translucent silver barrier appeared in front of Angele. Suddenly, the water beam split into seemingly countless jets of water before hitting the barrier.

The water jets were too fast. Angele's barrier failed to block all of them, thus resulting to his chest becoming soaked.

Most of the water dropped to the ground after the silver barrier vanished into the air. Angele patted the water stain on his chest. He was really interested in the fish.

"Hey, can you put it in a tank for me?" he asked a sailor standing beside him. The sailor was still in a shocked state from witnessing Angele's silver barrier.

********************

Inside Angele's cabin, he stood beside a tall wooden table and stared at the water tank. At the bottom of the tank, there was a Red Sphere Fish the size of a fish blowing bubbles as it breathed, seemingly relaxed.

He observed the fish's behavior for a while before sitting down by the table. Angele grabbed a white feather pen and wrote down a title on a new paper.

'The Possibility of Simulating Ranged Splitting Without Forcefield'

The chip had already finished enhancing the Lesser Fireball and Angele asked Zero to help him construct detailed plans on how to maximize the power of Metal Mastery. He had saved the other task slot for easier analysis tasks.

Angele needed to figure out why this fish's water beam could split halfway in the air. If he could apply the results to his metal forcefield, his fighting ability would be greatly increased.

Furthermore, he also needed to modify the Lesser Fireball using the Wizards' method later. There were far too many things left for him to do, so he did not feel bored on the ship at all.

He stayed in his cabin the whole afternoon and kept forcing the fish to use water beam. He recorded all the valuable information he had acquired on the paper.

One of the books Angele found in the library had the explanations of the principle of forces in this world. He combined it with the knowledge he learned on Earth and finally discovered the core physics of this water beam.

It was a chain reaction. The 'water' inside the fish was not simply water but a special liquid that would explode after leaving the fish's body.

It took Angele three days to figure out how to administer the findings to his spell enhancement procedure.

Velvet visited Angele several times after the rumor spread out. Angele's potion had increased her mentality greatly, so she wanted to show her appreciation. She knew that Angele did not stop the rumor from circulating because Angele wanted to protect her. Velvet checked many times, but she had finally realized that Angele wanted nothing in return.

She felt grateful that Angele helped her simply because she was an old friend.

************************

Time flew.

The Future vessel finally arrived at the next dock ten days later.

Luc Lando, Nancy, and several other Wizard apprentices had disembarked here. There were barely any people around. The stones almost covered the beach, and Angele could only see a huge gray mountain beside the forest. There was also a simple wooden bridge at the dock.

The brown wooden bridge was supported by four rotten stakes that looked like they would break down at any time. The sky was covered by thick gray clouds and the wind was howling.

There were two people standing on the bridge, both wearing white noble clothing. The two looked like a young couple as the lady was resting her head on the young man's shoulder.

They boarded the ship and bowed to the two Wizards before walking down the stairs. Angele was not sure who they were, but people who boarded the ship had relations to Wizards. No one else boarded the ship apart from the young couple. The ship left the dock right away.

Angele stood on the deck and looked at the disappearing coastline.

"Are we heading to the open sea?" he asked the bald sailor behind him. It was a man with a thick beard and smoking a cigar.

"Yes, master. The next dock is on the other side of the sea." The man smiled. Those sailors were hired by the Wizard organizations, and they knew who they were working for.

"How long till the next stop approximately?"

"We're sailing against the wind and it is winter, so we need to be extremely cautious. We can get into trouble easily during this time. It'll take us about two months to reach the next stop," the bald man answered.

"Two months?" Angele's eyebrows furrowed.

"And what trouble?"

"Sick Sawtooth Fishes, forbidden area of Merfolk, mymarids, and areas with strong waves in the winter. Without an experienced navigator, no one would sail during this season." The man was proud of what he could do.

"Ah, so you're our navigator?" Angele asked curiously.

"Aye," the sailor laughed.

"Carthage Memnon is my name, Master Wizard." He held the wheel tight with the right hand and put his left hand over his heart to show respect.

"I'm counting on you, sir." Angele smiled.

"The best navigator from Dock Seahawk, at your service." Carthage looked relaxed. Angele knew the man was a noble after seeing the suit the man wore.

"We call it the cursed season. I think only a few navigators from the eastern lands have the guts to sail in the Gem Sea."

"Gem Sea, that's the name of the area between the two lands?"

"Yes, the name was found on the chart. This area is as beautiful and as shiny as a perfect sapphire gemstone."

Angele nodded.

"Wait, can you see those strange creatures coming towards us from the sky?" He pointed at the left side of Carthage.

Carthage turned his head around immediately and his expression changed.

"Harpies! Damn, I thought they wouldn't approach the Future since it's not an ordinary ship." Carthage waved his hands while yelling.

"Ready to fight, my brothers! It's the harpies. They're trying to raid us, protect the Future at all cost!"

"Harpies? How dare them! I killed three the last time!" a muscular man shouted.

"Grab your weapons and shields! Stop wasting time!"

"Don't get hit by their stones!"

The deck became busy as everyone prepared for battle.

The sailors grabbed spears and knives and equipped themselves with black iron helmets and arm shields. They looked like a well-trained army.

The Wizard apprentices stood beside the stairs but were just watching. Velvet was there too.

Angele and Tymoral stayed beside the railing. They raised their heads and looked at the sky. The sailors stayed away from them because they did not want to get caught in area spells.

Those Harpies looked like a bunch of black dots in the sky. Angele finally had a clear view of the creature as they approached the Future.

The creature had the wings and feet of an eagle, head of a maiden, and body of a bird. It was half-naked and its bottom was covered with gray feathers. Their wings were dark, and they were flying toward the Future at full speed.

Those Harpies had ugly faces. Angele saw two strange yellow claws on the tip of the wings. Their breasts were exposed to the air.

*GA GA*

The noise they made was loud and weird.

Angele could see them holding gray stones the size of a head in their claws.

"Take cover!" a man who seemed to be the leader of the sailors yelled. All the sailors raised their shields above their head to block the oncoming stones.

The Harpies arrived. They lined up and quickly dropped the stones onto the deck.

*BAM*

The first stone was blocked by a sailor and it broke into pieces.

The second, the third, and most of the stones were blocked by the sailors without any problem. Several people were hurt by the cracked stone pieces, but no one was hit directly.

Angele raised his head and looked at the sky. The Harpies were still hovering in the sky after they finished dropping the stones.

"Harpies shares a part of the ancient blood. Sadly, they're weaker than mortals now." Tymoral looked at Angele and smiled.

"They're dumb and they don't have a language. They're just beasts living in groups. Filthy creatures that only know how to rob ships around the coastlines," Tymoral continued.

"They're weak." Angele nodded.

Suddenly, a stone was dropped onto his head.

*BOOM*

A silver metal barrier appeared above Angele and blocked the attack. The stone bounced into the sea after the collision.

"They don't even know who they are attacking. Sad indeed. I thought beasts like them would choose to run when they know that their opponent was strong." Angele shook his head.

"I know the Harpy is an ancient species. They kidnap human male adults to help them reproduce, and the man will be eaten after they are satisfied. Each Harpy tribe has a queen, which has white feathers as the symbol. I read about them in a book, but I'm not sure if the information is still up-to-date."

"You know them quite well, impressive." Tymoral looked a bit surprised.

"I'm not familiar with their habitat. It's not important to me. However, I do want their blood. Many Wizards have tried to find out the secret of the ancient races, yet most of them failed and a lot of rare resources were wasted. I still think there is hope."

"Interesting." Angele blinked his eyes.

"Maybe I'll catch one for my future research."

"Haha, shall we see who can slay those Harpies faster? What do you think?" Tymoral chuckled and shrugged.

"For sure." Angele raised his hands.

Chapter 138: Arrival (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Clamors of Harpies blocked the sky and took the sunlight away from the deck. Some of them landed on the mast while making strange noises.

"Ha!"

A strong sailor hurled his spear toward one of the Harpies and penetrated its chest. The Harpy's body drew a curve in the air before it fell into the sea.

It seemed that the Harpies were enraged after one of them was killed. They finished dropping the stones and started attacking the sailors on the deck with their sharp claws.

The noises of Harpies' wings mixed with the sailor's battle cries fired up the battle. They engaged in close combat. The entire place was in complete chaos.

The Harpies left some deep scratches on the sailor's shields, but several of them had already been slain by the experienced sailors.

Angele stood there and watched them fight quietly while Tymoral was already preparing his spell.

Tymoral opened his arms and raised his head. His incantation was weird but fast. As he sped up the incantation, blue steam started rising from his body that looked like burning flames.

The steam was covered in a blue glow, which quickly spread into the air. Some of the flying Harpies fell into the sea and the others fell onto the deck after inhaling the steam.

Their bodies started drying up. The weird steam drained their life energy, turning it into blue mist within seconds.

*PA*

A Harpy fell beside Angele, who witnessed the strange change happening to its body. The Harpy's muscles started to shrink. Its appearance turned from young to old before dying and its body ultimately ended up looking like a dried-up mummy.

Some of the sailors had been frightened by Tymoral's spell and as they turned their heads around, they looked at him with fear. They wanted to stay away from him because they were not sure if the blue steam worked on humans as well.

The Wizard apprentices by the stairs were praising the power of a formal Wizard, but some of them had become scared because of the dried-up Harpy corpses, causing them to step back a bit. Velvet did not have the chance to learn spell models yet, so she envied people who could control such mysterious energy.

Half of the Harpies in the sky were killed by Tymoral's spell and the rest of them were flying around while howling. One of them started retreating to the direction they had come from. The Harpies on the deck had realized that they could not win and so wanted to escape as well. They swung their wings quickly with many gray feathers dropping onto the floor.

"Master Angele, what are you waiting for? They're already leaving," Tymoral yelled, and chuckled after.

Angele smiled and shook his head. He slowly pulled the crossguard sword out of its sheath and then looked at the Harpies in the air. He quickly stepped forward and brandished his sword.

*CHING*

The blade disappeared into the air, leaving only the handle of the sword in Angele's hand.

A rain of metal needles covered the area above the deck.

The remaining Harpies started falling after being hit, only two of them had dodged most of the needles as they flew away from the ship in desperation. Most of the Harpies dropped into the sea as the rest fell to the deck, causing it to produce loud noises.

Everything had happened way too fast. The people on the deck had not yet realized what just transpired. They stood there for a while before they started cheering.

"Yes!"

"Praise Master Angele! Praise Master Tymoral!"

"All hail the black robes!"

"The Future! The Future!"

Some of them were yelling the Wizards' names, while the rest were yelling the ship's name.

Angele looked at Tymoral and saw him smiling while shrugging.

'That's the power feared by the mortals…' The thought came across Angele's mind as he stared at the corpses of the Harpies on the deck.

****************************

Inside Angele's cabin, a pile of corpses of Harpies was at the corner. The dark blood on the floor made the room stink.

Angele stood beside a long white table in the middle of the room with one of the Harpies' corpses right in front of him. The body was completely intact. Only a long metal needle could be seen at its temples. Blood was dripping down the needle slowly.

The Harpy's body was facing up and its large wings were hanging down the table. Angele walked around the table before realizing that the torches on the wall did not bring enough light to the room.

His brows furrowed. With a flick of his finger, a small bright fireball appeared beside his face and the gentle light helped Angele to observe the body better. The fireball just floated there without moving.

Angele was satisfied with the light and started checking the Harpy's head.

The creature's skin was protected by hardened stratum corneum. Its face looked identical to a female human. Angele pulled its lips and saw the sharp white teeth.

There was still some rotten meat between the gaps of its teeth that stank.

Angele scrunched up his brows and slightly tapped the needle around its temple. The needle left the creature's body by itself and dropped to the floor.

The creature's neck was covered in white fluffy hair. There were nail-sized red moles under its armpits.

Milk came out of its breast after being squeezed by Angele. He quickly collected some of the milk as a sample for further research. It seemed that this one specimen was pregnant and it almost looked like there was a ball inside its abdomen.

Angele thought for a while and formed a silver scalpel in his right hand.

*CHI*

He carefully cut the creature's abdomen open and started observing.

Angele put his hands inside and slowly removed its organs one by one. After several minutes, some of the creature's organs had been lined up on the table.

"Wait, this thing has no respiratory system?" Angele was surprised.

"Liver, spleen, heart, stomach, and intestine, but where's the lung?" he muttered.

Angele stopped for a second and started removing the uterus. He quickly cut it open and saw a small red thing inside.

An embryo of a Harpy. It was about the size of a human's fist and it was turning dark purple. It must've already died.

Angele slightly nodded before putting the embryo on the side. The only thing he had not checked yet was its eyes. Their pupils were yellow and looked similar to the ones cats had.

'Now that I have a general understanding of its physical structure, I should start extracting its blood.' He walked to the other corner of the room. His lab equipment was there along with a large glass bottle with a long black metal pipe on its neck.

Angele clapped his hands and a flame appeared below the glass bottle.

He cut the creature's neck open with the scalpel and started harvesting its blood with a large metal beaker while the bottle was being heated up.

It took Angele two minutes for the blood to stop dripping and it already filled up several metal beakers.

After that, Angele brought the blood to a boil and with the special potion he added into the glass, the blood would not solidify after all the water was gone. He spent about two hours repeating the process for all the Harpy corpses inside the cabin.

The large glass bottle was already full of Harpy blood.

The dark red blood inside the glass was bubbling and the translucent glass bottle looked like a large red gourd.

Vaporized water went down the metal pipe, exiting the cabin as white steam that had the stench of blood.

Angele waited beside the table. He would pour some green potion into the glass bottle every ten minutes through the metal pipe.

One hour later.

Most of the water in the blood was evaporated, and Angele put out the fire under the bottle.

He then quickly drew a strange rune on the surface of the bottle. The red rune started glowing as Angele moved his finger.

"Crionnant, the Hymn to the Blood," Angele whispered.

*CHI*

The bubbling blood inside the bottle suddenly started moving toward the center and was turning into a walnut-sized ball.

After several seconds, only the dark red ball that remained was floating in the center of the bottle quietly.

Angele opened the bottle and the ball slowly moved onto his palm.

'This is the best I can do right now…' Angele mumbled as he gazed at the ball.

This ball of blood was not congealed. It had already solidified.

'Create task. Analyze the blood ball,' he ordered.

Seemingly infinite blue light dots started flashing inside in his eyes.

'Task completed. List of its contents will be presented now.' Ten minutes later, Zero reported.

Chapter 139: Arrival (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Rows of complicated data were transferred into Angele's brain.

94% of its contents were impurities. Dead germs, parasites, and random minerals. Only a small percentage of ancient blood was found and it would be hard for Angele to extract it.

Angele was at a loss on what he should do first.

'So many impurities. I need to eliminate them one by one.' He had a bitter smile on his face.

'At least it'll keep me busy. I collected so much blood, but the ancient blood is still hard to trace. Without Zero, I'll have to stop the experiment here. No wonder Tymoral said that most of the Wizards already gave up.'

'Zero, check the database and tell me if there's anything related to the ancient blood,' Angele questioned.

'No record found.'

Angele felt a bit helpless.

***************************

One month later…

The Future finally crossed Gem Sea and reached Angele's homeland. It only stopped once at a random dock for maintenance before heading to the Marua Harbor of Andes Alliance.

"Hey, how's your experiment?" Tymoral's voice came from behind.

Angele turned around and saw Tymoral smiling at him. The man was holding the railings with both hands and overlooking the surface of the sea.

People on the deck all stayed away from the two, including the Wizard apprentices. Everyone had been horrified by Angele's sanguinary experiment.

"Well, it's complicated." Angele shook his head.

"Too many impurities. I didn't even see a trace of the ancient blood. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Yea, that's the problem everyone is facing. Normally, you'll find the ancient blood after obtaining the Pure Blood Sphere. However, the Harpies' ancient blood is mixed in all the impurities," Tymoral quickly explained.

Angele nodded and overlooked the sea. He saw two large boats sailing slowly toward the same direction as the Future.

There was a blue lion with ax pattern painted on one of the ships. Angele saw sailors working on the deck and several noble women chatting by the railing.

"We'll reach Marua in a day or two. I already asked someone to send the message to my friends here. They'll come pick me up at the dock. I'll introduce you to them there." Tymoral looked at Angele and smiled.

"Thank you." Angele nodded.

"Someone wants to see me in the cabin and I need to check my schedule. Also, two of the Wizard apprentices had an argument yesterday. I will go check on them after."

"Sure."

"Alright." Tymoral nodded and walked to the stairs.

Angele stayed on the deck and watched the waves quietly.

There was no barber on the ship, so he started wearing long hair and it trailed over his shoulders. With the smooth, long hair, Angele probably looked identical to the young Baron.

He took out a small crystal tube from the pouch. It was the container of Water of Asu. Its crystal was extremely hard due to the vulcanization.

There was some purple liquid inside the translucent crystal tube. It was the two drops of ancient blood Angele extracted from 15 corpses of Harpies. He spent a whole month on the research, yet that was all he found.

'Zero, any new information on its possible effects on my body?' Angele wondered.

'More data needed for simulation. After the second analysis, there are some possible effects. Chance of your body mutating is 43.21%. Chance of no effect 16.5%. Chance of unknown effect 40.29%.' Angele had already asked Zero to analyze the blood twice, but the results he got were the same. He was not even sure if the ancient blood could help him progress.

Angele wanted to inject the blood into his body, but he needed to figure out what exactly it would do first. He did not want to take a gamble.

'I need to collect information for the database until Zero could show me a more detailed analysis.' It was not Angele's first priority so he decided to use them later. He lied to Tymoral because he did not want to become conspicuous.

Angele put the tube back into the pouch and returned his cabin.

***********************

The next afternoon.

The sun was slowly sinking into the horizon.

White and black seagulls were soaring through the sky under the dim sunlight. Marua Harbor was busy as usual. Many ships leaving the dock while the other ones were arriving. A blue ship with white stripes followed a large black ship to a slot on the right side of the dock.

The heavy anchors were dropped into the sea. There were many people waiting on the bridge. Some of them were the new Wizard apprentices waiting to be picked up by the Future, while the others were just normal passengers.

Angele and Tymoral walked down the boarding ladder. Angele was wearing a black robe and Tymoral was wearing a white robe.

All sorts of feelings filled up Angele's mind as he finally stepped on this land again.

"It has been four years. I'm back!" He could smell the familiar fragrance in the air. A gentle wind blew his hair into the air as he slowly stepped forward.

"Feels good, eh? We changed the route just for you." Tymoral patted Angele's shoulders.

They got off the ship and people on the bridge stepped aside to make a path for them. Several noblemen wearing luxury suits walked to them.

"Welcome to Marua. Master Tymoral, we haven't met for ten years. You really don't age." The chubby middle-aged in the front smiled and complimented.

"Justin, you have wrinkles on your face now. I didn't expect to see you waiting for me here." Tymoral chuckled.

"This is Master Angele. I need to pick up the newbies, so I have to leave for now. I hope you two get along." He introduced Angele to the nobles.

Justin's eyes narrowed into slits. He understood who Angele was immediately after hearing Tymoral's word. He then turned his head around and looked at Angele.

"Greetings, Master Angele. It's too crowded here. Let's head back first, I already prepared a dinner party for you."

Angele nodded and smiled. "Thanks. It's actually quite noisy here."

"This way please." Justin and the other nobles started walking to the street. Angele followed after them.

Most of the people here did not understand what the black robe represented, but they knew Angele must be someone important after seeing how Justin treated him.

The Wizard apprentices on the bridge quickly boarded the ship after talking to Tymoral. They were chatting and laughing, as though they had high hopes for their future.

Angele looked at them and recalled the day he boarded the ship. He had the same expectation of the Wizard's world just like those young people.

"Master Angele, I assume you'll stay on this land for a while?" Justin asked.

"Yes. I'll return to the other side of the sea in four years." Angele nodded and had a glance at the departing ship.

"Actually, I'm from Rudin Empire. Prince Justin, I wonder if you know Professor Adolf, the language master in the school."

"Well…" Justin stopped for a second. He had no interest in people whose rank was lower than the Governor's.

"You mean the Deputy Governor Adolf?" A nobleman helped the prince to answer Angele's question.

"Deputy Governor?" Angele was a bit surprised.

"I don't know actually. Professor Adolf taught me language course in the school, but he never told me that. He's the Deputy Governor?"

"He's your teacher?" The nobles around were surprised. They began reconsidering how they should treat Adolf in their minds.

"This is the Governor of Marua Harbor by the way." Justin pointed at the man who answered Angele's question.

"Nice to meet you. I'm looking forward to working with you." Angele had a gentle smile on his face.

"Of course!" The governor nodded and responded respectfully.

Angele had dinner with the Prince in a large manor, and the Prince assigned a team of guards to protect him in the city. Justin asked a noble named Rayben to assist Angele before leaving for a meeting.

Angele left with the guards and Rayben after dinner. He asked for a carriage and double-checked the location of his home with Rayben on the way. Baron's manor was still at the outskirts.

Angele sat inside a silver carriage with fine decoration on the door and looked out the window. On the right side of the road, he saw a white three-level building in the middle of a field. There were only some black fences indicating it was a private area.

Spring had already sprung. He could see farmers still hoeing the field at evening.

"Master, this the Rio Manor," Coachman Knight Lion reported with a loud voice.

"Stop by the entrance," Angele asked.

The guards in silver armor suits who were following the carriage on the side made sure that the route was safe. Knight Rayben was leading the way on a strong horse and was wearing a black suit.

The noise the guards and the carriage made attracted the people's attention. Angele looked out the window and saw several people walking to the entrance. The man at the front had a muscular body and his brown hair trailed over his shoulder. There was also a woman in a white one-piece beside him.

"Father." Angele recognized the man right away.

The Baron had a serious expression on his face. He stared at the carriages and creased his eyebrows while talking to the people beside him.

Angele stopped looking and opened the door.

"I'm back…" Angele closed his eyes for a second. He heard the horse in front of him neighing.

Chapter 140: Arrival (3)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

The guards lined up by the fences carefully as the Baron reached the entrance quickly with the family. A young man in a black robe opened the door and jumped off the carriage.

The man wiped the dust off the robe and looked at the people walking to him.

"Angele!" The Baron shouted after seeing the young man's face. There was an excited look on his face. He walked to Angele and hugged him tightly.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back?!" The Baron patted his son's back.

"Mails will take years to be sent to you." Angele patted the Baron's back as well, but for some reason, he did not feel the warmth he had imagined at this reunion with the Baron.

The Baron turned around and whispered to a maid on the side. The maid nodded and ran back into the manor.

"Come, you can have some rest in your home. I asked her to prepare a room for you." The Baron held Angele's hand and led him into the manor.

The workers in the garden area were staring at Angele and the guards curiously.

"That decoration on the silver carriage… He must be a Count," someone mumbled.

"Come on, they'll hear us!"

Justin asked Rayben to take Angele back to his home with the guards. Rayben had ordered the guards to leave after the mission was completed, but he still stayed with Angele and followed him into the manor.

Angele entered the main building with Baron. Two beautiful young ladies were already waiting for them in the middle of the hall alongside several maids and workers. They slightly bent their knees to show respect after the door was opened.

"Miran and Sarin, they're both my wives. Many things have happened." The Baron pointed at the ladies and smiled.

The two ladies bowed to Angele politely as they were being introduced, but they did not say anything.

Angele glanced around the hall and saw two children behind the two ladies. Their hands were being held by two maids.

The girl was about three years old and was wearing a white one-piece. The boy in a brown tight suit was staring at Angele nervously.

Baron saw Angele looking at the children.

"It's your brother and sister. The boy's name is Ansol and the girl's name is Ori."

Baron walked over and picked them up with his arms before turning around. He looked at Angele.

"They're cute, eh? Just like you. You were adorable when you were young." He was smiling gently.

Ansol and Ori chuckled. The boy started playing with Baron's hair and the girl grabbed his beard. The two ladies who were watching their kids play with the Baron smiled.

Angele smiled as well, but a feeling of alienation, of estrangement, as though he didn't belong here had already begun to sprout.

His father had changed. The Baron had been the only person Angele could trust in the family, yet he created a new family while Angele was away. He now had two wives and two kids. There were many faces in the hall that Angele was unfamiliar with.

Angele looked around. Miran, Sarin, all the maids, and workers were trying to avoid eye contact with him. They lowered their heads and just stared at the floor.

Angele could understand that the Baron wanted to rebuild their family and regain his honor. With Professor Adolf's help, it should be easy for him to join the circle of nobility in the city.

However, Angele hadn't seen any people he used to know, so he was a bit confused.

"Father, where's Maggie and Celia?" he suddenly asked.

"Celia is attending a party in the city. Maggie… Well… She suddenly got sick last and died. Her body was buried at the Red Mountain Graveyard." Baron stopped smiling and responded in a grim tone.

"What? She passed away?" Angele was surprised. Ge closed his eyes for a second.

"Father, is my room prepared? I want to have some rest."

"Yea." The Baron nodded. He did not elaborate what illness took Maggie's life away.

"Celia will be back soon. I'll tell her you're back."

"Thanks." Angele nodded.

********************

Most of the decoration in the bedroom was yellow. Angele stood beside the window and looked at the green field outside.

*Knock Knock*

"Come in, please." Angele turned around and leaned on the windowsill.

*Creak*

The door was pushed open.

A beautiful lady with an updo entered the room. She was wearing a gray dress, and there was a wooden violin in her hand.

"Angele, it's me, Celia," the lady spoke in a light tone. Before she could close the door, Ansol and Ori rushed in and grabbed her legs.

"Celia, you promised me that you'll play the violin for us," Ori said in a cute voice.

"Yea, you promised us before you left in the morning!" Ansol jeered.

"Come on, stop it." Celia was a bit anxious. She enjoyed playing with her young brother and sister, but she thought it was inappropriate to do so in front of Angele. She did not want to disappoint Angele. Professor Adolf was the only reason why the family was developing well in the city, and making Angele unhappy would directly affect their future.

"Stop. Go to the instrument room first, I'll be there later." She crouched and comforted them.

Angele watched Celia comforting Ansol and Ori. He realized Celia was not the naive girl he used to know. Celia had become the elder sister of the two children.

"It's fine. I never heard you playing the violin. How about we all head to the instrument room and enjoy some nice music?"

Celia hesitated for a second. She looked at Ansol and Ori before she finally nodded her head.

They left the bedroom and walked to a room by the end of the hallway on the second floor.

Celia opened the door. The room was about the size of a meeting hall, but it was half-empty. There were several violins hanging on the wall. Some of them were made from yellow wood and the rest was made from redwood.

The two children were not sure how they should treat Angele, but they knew he was their brother and they should respect him. Angele was a stranger to them not so long ago, thus he could understand why they tried to stay away from him.

Celia sat down on a chair with her red wooden violin and put the instrument under her chin. The way she played it was different from what Angele knew. She did not use any bow, only pressing her fingers on the strings.

Ansol sat down on a chair and Ori stood beside Celia. They were both staring at the violin in her hand.

The violin squeaked, but Angele thought it sounded like a zither. He stood beside the door and watched Celia play the violin.

The crisp melody flowed over Angele's ears. It was nothing surprising, but Angele knew Celia had been practicing it for a while just by listening to it.

Angele looked at Celia and recalled the shy girl who expressed her love in a passive way. She had already grown up and became a gentle lady. He missed the old days, but he knew things would not just stay as is forever.

Angele left the room quietly while Celia and the kids were still enjoying the melody.

He walked into the hallway and saw the lady named Miran coming from the other direction. She was the mother of Ori.

"Ms. Miran." Angele slightly nodded.

"Master Angele, enjoy the stay…" Miran had realized that she said something inappropriate and stopped right away.

"I'm sorry. I just…" She covered her mouth with one hand and apologized.

Angele could see the fear in her eyes. She was assuming that Angele would not stay in the manor for too long, but she realized that Angele was the Baron's son.

Angele looked at her and smiled.

"It's fine. I know I don't belong here anymore," Angele spoke calmly.

Miran's mouth was trembling. She lowered her head and carefully observed Angele's expression. She was not sure if Angele had already forgiven her or not.

"Mom!" A light voice came from Miran's back.

It was Ori, who jumped into Miran's arms.

Celia walked out of the room with Ansol as well. Miran quickly covered her daughter's mouth. She did not want to offend Angele further. Miran realized she was blocking Angele's way, so she grabbed Ori's hand and stood on the side quietly.

Angele knew why they treat him so carefully, but he did not think they were offending him at all.

"Ms. Miran, can you tell me where the Red Mountain Graveyard is? Or can you ask someone to take me there?"

"Of course." Miran nodded many times.

Angele smiled at the children again before walking back to his bedroom.

********************

Angele stayed in the manor for two days before leaving.

Many things had happened in these four years. The Rio Family had recruited a lot of new members. There was a growing estrangement between Angele and his father. He thought that it would worsen if he stayed in the manor for too long. The Baron was focused on regaining his leadership and Angele was not even related to the new family.

Every people in the manor was speaking to him as if they were speaking to someone with great power. They chose their words carefully and made sure Angele was not offended in the daily life. He was treated like a stranger who would bring wealth to the family.

Angele knew his presence would only bring trouble to the family and the old days were already gone. He wanted the family to live a happy and relaxed life, so he decided to leave right away. The Baron apologized to Angele before he left. The Baron knew that Angele could not stay here and lead the family in the future, so he had to find someone else to inherit the family.

The Baron talked to Adolf many times during the years. Although Adolf did not tell him any details, the Baron still realized what Angele was trying to accomplish.

He decided to rebuild the family by himself after that, so he got married again and decided to make Ansol his heir.

"This is the information of your mother and your elder brother. That's all I know." The Baron handed a scroll over to Angele before he left.

Angele gave his father a tiny tube filled with yellow liquid. It was a potion he had concocted that could help treat physical injuries. The amount of liquid was enough to cure the Baron's old injuries. Although the Baron was getting old, it was still possible for him to become a Grand Knight after his power fully recovered.

Angele, Rayben, and some guards arrived at the Red Mountain Graveyard alongside the navigator sent by Miran.

It was afternoon.

The orange sunlight from the sinking sun reflected upon the land.

Angele and the others stood in front of a white tombstone beside the trees.

"Rayben, ask the guards to drive everyone else away. I need to do some investigation." Angele had no expression on his face.

Justin had ordered Rayben to fulfill all Angele's request, so he immediately asked the guards to drive the citizens away.

Angele stepped forward and rubbed the surface of the tombstone.

The only thing written on it was: 'Maggie. 1542. 13. 1.'.

"Alright, dig up the body," he ordered.