169 - 177
Chapter 169: Requirements (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
Those workers did look different, their skin was blue and scales covered their cheeks. Also, their faces had the shapes of horses, and they all had bronze earrings on one of their ears.
The other group members were discussing something else in low voices while Asuna explained the basics to Angele. Suddenly, they heard a horse stomping from behind.
Angele and Asuna moved to the side immediately, seeing a black unicorn rushing past at full speed.
The rider was an old man wearing a white robe, his long beard flying in the air.
"A wizard," Asuna told Angele in a low voice.
Angele nodded, he could sense the force field around the old man; he was the first wizard Angele had met in Nola.
People all moved to the side to let the light wizard pass, and he disappeared from Angele's sight after several seconds.
"Let's keep moving. The next market is not far away. You can trade for materials there."
Asuna wiped some dust off her skirt.
Angele nodded.
"I'll have to talk to my father first, but before that, I'll take you to the market owned by the Six Ring High Tower, you can take a look there, and I'll be right back," she added.
"Sure."
Angele was not in a hurry anyway.
********************************
*PA*
A black pouch was put down on the table, full of magic stones.
Angele put his hands on the table as well and looked at the clerk behind the counter.
"Tree Killer Potion, do you have it here?"
The clerk was a tall and strong man, his body covered in a dirty gray robe which was a bit too small for his size.
"Tree Killer Potion? Are you kidding me, sir? You're in a potion shop, but it doesn't mean we sell potions from the tales." The clerk shrugged. "I'm sorry, but can you ask for something more common?"
"Really? You don't have it?" Angele scrunched his eyebrows. "I'm in Nola, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. You can find everything in Nola they say, but there are things that can't be purchased with just magic stones," the clerk explained, his lips pursed. "Our shop sells things that are attractive to apprentices, but the potion you asked for is from the tales, used by the legendary ancient wizards…"
"Well, do you know where I can find it?"
Angele had followed Asuna to the closest market and found a potion vendor, but the result was disappointing.
Asuna returned to her home after taking Angele to the vendor, but she had already exchanged a communication rune with Angele.
The market owned by Six Ring High Tower was in the same canyon as the public market, so it only took them several minutes to reach it. Silen and his group had gone to the other side to clean the materials.
"I'll be honest with you, sir. The master wizards keep the rare materials, formulas, and potions for themselves. They won't trade it with you. Also, you need to at least join one of the organizations here to get the permit to purchase relatively rare materials. I suggest you talk to Master Vice."
"Master Vice?"
Angele was about to ask for the details about Vice.
"Hey, you! How long do you need? I didn't see you buying anything."
A strong man in a leather suit was losing his patience.
Angele turned his head around and stared the man down. The man's expression changed and his face turned pale.
Angele looked at the clerk again. "So, where's this master Vice?"
"Turn left and you'll find him in the first stone house you see…" The clerk felt the tension in the air and he answered anxiously. "Sir, again, you need to at least join one of the local organizations, otherwise, he won't sell any rare materials to you."
"I thought you were joking." Angele's brow furrowed. "I have to join a local organization for that?"
"Yes. He'll only sell you normal materials if you don't."
The clerk nodded.
The potion vendor was inside a small stone house as well; Angele could still hear the waterfall brushing the rocks.
The five people behind Angele lowered their heads after seeing his eyes, deciding not to say anything.
The aura around Angele was horrifying. The man had stared down a strong mercenary like he was going to kill him the next second. They knew that the man was strong. Only wizards and apprentices that focused on damaging spells would have bloody auras like that.
"I hope you're telling the truth."
Angele nodded, grabbed the pouch, and left the vendor.
'I need to join a local organization before I can buy those things… Damn.'
Angele had a plan in mind. He took a glance at the people outside the vendor and decided not to hide his aura anymore.
The apprentices on the street noticed Angele's presence and stopped chatting, staring at him.
"Hey, do you know how to join the Six Ring High Tower?" Angele suddenly shouted out.
The apprentices looked at each other, no one knowing how to answer Angele's question.
He took out a mid-level magic stone and threw it into the air. The magic stone spun several times before dropping on his palm.
The people around looked over with excitement. They were scared by Angele's aura and serious face when he walked out of the vendor, but no one could resist a mid-level magic stone.
"Me!" A short man with a cap raised his arm. "I can take you to Six Ring High Tower's communication stand."
Angele nodded, about to throw the magic stone to the man.
Suddenly, a familiar face appeared in the crowd - it was Asuna. She had already changed to a tight leather suit, and she was breathing heavily.
"Don't. Your local guide is here. Sorry, I'm late."
Asuna's tight brown chest armor revealed her slim waist and large breasts. Although her face was just average, she still had one of the most balanced bodies among the girls Angele had ever met.
"Great, I thought it would take you awhile." Angele stopped releasing his mentality waves and the aura around him disappeared. "Let's go."
Asuna nodded and they left together.
The short man shrugged, looking disappointed.
The potion vendor's shop was built on a cliff with a huge square. Countless stones covered the square, their sizes varied. The mountain ended here, but it was connected to another humongous cliff with a bridge.
Asuna led Angele to the other side of the square, walking downhill on another path. It was a smaller one and not many people were here.
There were many apprentices on the square checking different stores, but it seemed most of them ignored this path.
"Those vendors are for the normal apprentices, the better ones are down here, but only wizards or high-rank apprentices need those rare materials…" Asuna explained in a polite tone. "Green, are you a rank 3 apprentice?"
Angele shook his head. "No, I'm a wizard."
There was no point to hide anymore, he had already entered a safe area. He thought disguising himself as an apprentice would only bring him trouble later.
"Wait, what? A formal wizard?!"
Asuna's eyes went wide open, surprise evident in her expression. She stopped walking and just stared at Angele.
Two of the apprentices walking down heard Asuna's word and took a glance at Angele.
Angele scanned them using the chip and learned that the two were rank 3 apprentices. The light wizard on the unicorn was still the only wizard he had met here.
"Move. We still have things to do," he said in a low voice.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. I'll take you to the vendors reserved for wizards." Asuna realized she still needed to guide Angele. "Only wizards are allowed in that area. I'm sorry I didn't know you were a wizard on the way here. I'll return the magic stones to you now."
She put her hand into the pouch and tried to take out the magic stones.
"It's fine. You deserve those. So, there's an area for wizards? I should've told you earlier."
Angele had wondered why the largest residential area for wizards was full of apprentices.
"Hey, sorry for interrupting. Are you going to the wizard area as well?" a young man's voice came from the side.
A handsome man with short white hair smiled at Angele from the side. "I'm going there as well, why don't you join me?" His voice was gentle and deep.
Angele had a glance at the man and nodded. "Yeah, I'm looking for some materials."
The man was wearing a white robe, and there was a bronze circlet on his head. Many complicated patterns were engraved onto that circlet, and the man's body was surrounded by a dense force field.
"Is this your first time here?" the young man asked, not interested in Asuna at all.
Asuna stood beside Angele. She lowered her head and did not say anything, the magic stones she just took out from the pouch were still in her hands.
Angele nodded. "Yeah, it's my first time in Nola."
"There should be someone by the black pillar welcoming wizards, did he miss you?" The man scrunched his eyebrows a bit. "Actually, let's chat on our way to the wizard area. You can call me Ainphent."
"My name is Green. No one talked to me at the black pillar."
Angele's eyebrows furrowed. There was only one possibility, his mentality wave must have reduced after he had compressed his mentality. He could control the energy particles and mentality usage much better than before, and it seemed like the black pillar had not detected his true mentality level at all. It could be a good thing for him.
"Maybe the black pillar needs maintenance?" Ainphent rubbed his chin. "Well, I'm not sure what happened. I'll take you to the wizard area first," he said and pointed at Asuna. "But not this woman, unless she's your servant. I don't want to offend you, but why do you take her with you? She's not even cute…"
"Is that so?"
Angele pursed his lips, he did not like Ainphent's attitude toward Asuna. He would not disrespect apprentices just because he was a wizard. However, it seemed like Asuna was not angry at all, she just stood there and did not say a word.
"Hey, Ain, long time no see."
A small black carriage came by.
A chubby woman stuck her head out of the window and greeted Ainphent, her voice intentionally made to sound cute.
The woman had a triple chin and cheeks so fat like nothing Angele had seen before.
"Hey, Med, you're still adorable. Long time no see, I heard you just came back from Northland Alliance. How's the war with underground races?" Ainphent greeted the chubby woman with a smile on his face. It seemed like they had known each other for a long time.
Angele heard Ainphent say the word 'adorable' before seeing the woman and then he felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Ain, I purchased several strong ones from Northland Alliance this time. I can give you one if you want. You're my best friend, haha. And actually, I didn't gather any intel on the war." The woman turned her head to Angele and said, "Hey, be careful. Wizard Ain is especially interested in muscular men like you."
Ainphent's expression changed. Angele looked at him and slowly took a step back.
The carriage slowly left, but Angele could still hear Med giggling.
Ainphent had a bitter smile on his face. "Well, I did find you charming and I hope you don't mind… Nevermind, let's just get moving…"
Angele was speechless—the second and third wizards he had met had some unique personalities. He was not sure if it was a good thing or not.
Asuna finally raised her head and Angele saw a weird expression on her face.
Chapter 170: The Trade (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
Angele followed Ainphent, telling Asuna that he would contact her later since they had already exchanged their communication sigils.
Asuna understood that she would not be allowed in the wizard area so she nodded and left.
Angele followed Ainphent down the hill, and he started seeing more wizards on the way after passing several intersections with other mountain roads.
"I don't mind it if you prefer to date men, however, if you're interested in me, I'll have to say sorry," Angele said with a low voice, his eyebrows furrowed.
Ainphent smiled. "What if I tell you, I was once a woman before the accident happened during an experiment, will you believe me?"
Angele was surprised. "What? You were a woman?"
He stared at Ainphent and observed him again.
Ainphent's face was handsome, his white short hair clean and straight. His skin was a bit pale, but his body was balanced and strong. Angele found nothing that indicated the gentleman in front of him had once been a female.
"Do you mind if I ask what the experiment was about?"
Angele found it hard to believe, but he understood that wizards did strange experiments all the time.
"I can't tell you the details, but I was infected by polluted energy leaking out of containers. Something in my body changed and I failed to find a way to stop it. My appearance became like this after several years," Ainphent explained. He sounded depressed.
Angele did not know what he should say after listening to Ainphent's words. They stopped chatting and walked down the path quietly.
The left side of the path was a mountain and the right side was a large cliff. A waterfall was cascading down the rocks under the cliff and the water was joining a river in the canyon below.
On the farther side, there was a high, white obelisk hidden in thin mist. The surface of the obelisk was smooth like a mirror, and it looked identical to the black pillar by the entrance except for the pyramidal top.
Angele raised his head and saw a white glow on the top of the tall obelisk.
A tiny black dot was slowly leaving the top of the obelisk, flying to the left, however, it was too far away from Angele for him to see what it was.
Ainphent noticed what Angele was staring at and explained, "Are you looking at the obelisk? There are six of them and they are called 'Signal Obelisks'. The six obelisks are arranged in such a way that they form a giant circle. The place is named Six Ring High Tower not because of the layer but rather that each obelisk exists as an individual ring that completes the circle. It's also one of the most famous visitor attractions on the west coast."
He pointed at the areas that were blocked by the mountains.
"Without those mountains, you'd be able to see the other two Signal Towers. They have the same height and look exactly just like the one you're staring at."
"Indeed, they're magnificent."
Angele nodded.
"These obelisks were built at least 3000 years ago, and they were almost destroyed during the wars. However, after years of repairing, they're now in good shape. The obelisks have witnessed the fall and rise of the west coast," Ainphent added.
It was the first-time that Angele had seen one of the wonders of this world.
The two were walking down when they heard something wings flapping on the side.
There were five large black vultures in the air, flying down the mountains.
Each of the vultures was about five meters long, their feathers all black and their necks bald. Angele saw several people wearing dark green long robes sitting on their backs.
One of the vultures flew by Angele and the strong rush of wind blew the lap of his robe. The vultures flapped their wings from time to time, slowly gliding down.
Ainphent smiled. "They're probably members of one of the local wizard families; they're the guards of this market. I think they just came back from patrolling since their shift is over."
"You mean… They send formal wizards just to patrol the area?"
Angele was a bit surprised.
"Things like this will only happen in Nola, haha."
Ainphent chuckled.
They heard other wizards chatting about the landing vultures. The place got noisy within seconds.
Angele heard many different languages mixed with dialects and only two of them were found in Zero's database. He looked at Ainphent, wanting to ask if he knew what the others were talking about.
The other saw Angele looking at him and shrugged, it seemed like he did not what others were saying as well.
They stopped the conversation and reached the bottom of the canyon after several minutes.
A small square appeared in Angele's sight.
There was a tall black stone gate on the surface of the rock. It looked like the gate was built a long time ago, the components already having started to decay due to the weather. On top of the gate, there was an oval-shaped white stone and an eye-shaped complicated pattern engraved onto it.
The gate was about ten meters tall and eight meters wide, and closed. Green vines climbed up its sides, and there was a small flight of stone steps in the front. On the right side of the steps, there was a brazier with burning firewood inside.
The vultures had already landed on the square when Angele and Ainphent arrived at the gate. All the wizards in green robes jumped off their birds and walked toward the stone gate.
Ainphent whispered to Angele, "You saw the green robe leading the team? The one with a huge scimitar on his back? His name is Kuirman, one of the strongest wizards in the three major families that rule the Six Ring High Tower. Also, people say he's a member of the hunter force."
"Really?"
Angele's sight fell upon the leading green robe.
The man was tall and strong. There was a silver scimitar on his back, and his face was covered by a hood.
An old light wizard stopped the green robes as they approached the door. Kuirman turned around. It seemed like he knew the old wizard since they started chatting.
Angele finally got to see Kuirman's face.
He had an aquiline nose, his cheeks were thin, and his skin had the texture of wax. The man looked cold and ruthless with his sharp green eyes.
Although he was laughing while talking to the old wizard, he still gave Angele an uncomfortable feeling.
Angele knew the man had plenty of blood on his hands; he had to have a lot of experience from battlefields.
Angele stopped staring at Kuirman and walked to the gate with Ainphent.
Kuirman turned around and walked past the gate as well after he finished the conversation with the old wizard.
*CHI*
All the wizards who contacted the gate, including Kuirman and his team, all turned translucent and vanished into it.
Angele and Ainphent sank into the gate too, and Angele felt like he had just gone through a thin layer of water screen; it was cold and smooth.
A simple small town was behind the stone gate. There were black wooden houses, their walls made of gray bricks. The place was quiet and peaceful.
On the opposite side of the gate, there was a well surrounded by some black bricks, and beside it, there was a wooden bucket.
An old lady wearing a dark red robe was fetching water with the bucket beside the well.
Angele stood at the entrance and overlooked the town.
The street was full of wizards wearing white, green, or red robes. It was the first time he saw so many wizards in one place. All of them were chatting and walking around.
Several maple trees were planted between the black houses. Those torches of fire brought some energy to the gray town.
Angele turned his head around and looked at the gate; it was still closed.
"So, you want to purchase materials, right? If you want the rare ones, you'll have to join an organization. What are you looking for if you don't mind me asking?" Ainphent asked.
"The formula and materials for an ancient potion. Do I really have to join an organization just for that? Isn't there another method?"
Angele's brow furrowed.
They followed the crowd into the town, walking on a cobblestone road.
"Well, there are several ways you can bypass that requirement. However, only a few wizards have such rights in the whole wizard area. What formula and materials do you need exactly?"
"The Tree Killer Potion. I heard it's a potion from the tales."
Angele finally understood how rare the potions listed by Zero were. However, without the potion, his chances of reaching the next stage would be much lower. And since that was his first priority at the moment, the increase in success rate by 45% from the Tree Killer potion would be extremely helpful.
"Also, I need some books on potion crafting," Angele added.
Ainphent pursed his lips.
"The Tree Killer Potion? If I'm not wrong, it's a potion that helps you reach the next stage by energizing your brain… It's a high-level ancient potion and it's hard to craft. Do you really need it?"
"I do. Is there anything you can do for me?" Angele nodded.
"Well… Any potion that helps wizards reach the next stage is rare, let alone the ancient ones… Also, even if you have the formula, where can you find the materials? They might have already gone extinct. If we could just drink potions to level up, why would we meditate every day…" Ainphent shook his head. "I know a wizard at Crystal stage who I'm sure knew something about this. She owed me one, so I'm sure she'll help. What do you think? We can just go ask her."
"That'd be nice, but why are you helping me?" Angele had to ask. "As a wizard, I should at least give you something of equivalent worth in return, but you didn't mention anything. You're confusing me."
Ainphent shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I help you now so you'll owe me one too."
Angele wanted to know what Ainphent wanted. He wished for a fair trade.
"Come on, let's go." Ainphent laughed. "I'll make sure the trade is fair."
He turned around and started walking, Angele following after him.
They went past several houses until arriving at a brown wooden house with a wooden deck built in front of it.
Chapter 171: The Trade (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
Angele followed after Ainphent and they heard people arguing before knocking on the door.
*BAM*
The wooden door on the opposite side of the house was smashed open, and a middle-aged woman was kicked out. She struggled in pain, her face turning pale.
Two strong man wearing brown leather suits walked out of the house and a tall man wearing a white bone helmet was behind them.
The helmet was made from the skull of a wolf, and the man's face was right between the sharp teeth. It looked like a wolf that was trying to swallow his head. The man's appearance and clothing reminded Angele of the barbarians he had read about in the books.
The man was about thirty years old with a serious look on his face, his arms toned.
"You know I'm Jerries, right? How dare you sell this fake crap to me? And you became a formal wizard not so long ago? What the f*ck is wrong with this Six Ring High Tower's vendor?"
Angele could see the anger in the woman's eyes, but she was severely injured, and the only thing she could do was lie on the ground.
The wizards on the street noticed the fight and gathered by the house. Some of them were trying to help, but they were stopped by their friends. Obviously, they knew who was behind these three strong men.
"Hey, it's none of our business. They're from the White Tooth Castle and they bring trouble everywhere. Don't worry, Kuirman and his group will take care of them."
Ainphent looked at Angele and his word echoed in Angele's ears.
Ainphent knocked on the door and the brown wooden door unlocked by itself. Angele had one final glance at the three men, then followed his new acquaintance into the house.
The first thing Angele saw was a large wooden table under a window that was covered by random items.
Potion containers, crystal lamp covers, incomplete books, strange-looking black wooden pieces, and tiny statues with complicated patterns engraved on them. None of these items seemed valuable to him.
A short woman stood up from a chair behind the table, her hair a mess. She forced out a smile on her face.
"Oh, hey, Ain. I didn't expect you to come. Long time no see."
She walked to Ainphent and hugged him.
"My dear, Melissa. Well, we just met two days ago."
Ainphent smiled, hugged the old woman, and patted her back.
"Why are you here? I still need some time."
The old woman smiled.
Ainphent pointed at Angele.
"This is my friend, Green. He's looking for the formula and materials of the Tree Killer Potion. I thought you might have some information about it."
Angele bowed to the old woman immediately. He could sense the strong mentality the woman had. It was like standing in front of a sea of energy. He was certain that this old wizard in front of him was much stronger than master Liliana. It was the first time he had met someone that had reached Crystal stage. Also, Angele thought, she would probably have reach rank 2 sooner or later based on the ancient ranking system.
"Interesting, you're young but I can smell blood on your hands."
The old woman took out a pair of glasses from a pocket and put them on slowly.
"Anyways, if you're Ainphent's friend, I'll help you. I owe her one." She stopped for a second and said. "Follow me, I need to find the notebook."
Angele nodded.
"Thank you for your help."
"You should thank Ain."
Melissa turned around and walked down the stairs. There was a door at the end of the staircase.
She opened it and Angele followed her into the basement.
Random materials were piled up in the corners, Angele even saw several dolls and toys.
After about half an hour later, Melissa finally found the notebook she was looking for.
"I recorded everything related to the ancient wizards here."
She opened the notebook and started searching for the information.
Another half an hour passed.
"Sorry, this potion you need was hard to craft even for the ancient wizards."
Melissa put down the notebook.
"So, you don't have it here?"
Ain was a bit surprised.
"I do have the formula, but I don't have the materials."
Melissa shrugged and dropped the notebook on the floor.
*Clap-clap*
Melissa clapped twice.
A small black box flew out of the item pile quickly and landed on her palm.
"Take this."
She threw the box to Angele.
He caught it and held it in his hand.
It was a metal cube, probably made a long time ago. Under its black paint, Angele could see a hint of silver.
He opened the lid and saw a piece of folded leather paper lying on a silver cloth. Opening it, he saw countless random runes mixed with strings. It seemed like the formula was encrypted.
Angele used more than ten different methods to crack the encryption and finally understood the title.
'The secret of Tree Killer Potion – Dark Elf Shiva.'
"That's it." Angele nodded and returned the paper to the box. "How much is it?"
Melissa waved her hand. "Ask Ain, I don't want anything."
Ainphent smiled after hearing her words.
"Actually, it's not the first time I bring someone to you, but I think Green fits all the requirements, right?"
"He does fit all the requirements, but are you sure you want to take a Liquid stage wizard there?"
Melissa scrunched her eyebrows.
"Yeah, I believe he can do it. You know I'm good at finding talented people," Ainphent responded.
Angele already knew Ainphent would not help him for no reason, but he understood that there was no free lunch in the wizard world. He would be more cautious if Ainphent didn't want anything from him.
"Just tell me what you want me to do," Angele said, interrupting their conversation.
Ainphent nodded.
"We're creating a team to explore a ruin. We need wizards that can fight and know strong damage spells. I go to the entrance every day, trying to find someone to come with us, but only a few of them meet the requirements."
"A ruin?"
Angele had heard about ruins several times already, but he had never planned to go to one. Ainphent's word caught his attention and he was interested.
"What kind of ruins?"
"An abandoned area of an ancient wizard organization. We've already entered it three times, but we never reached the core. However, I found a wizard that's a master of seals and I need a wizard that knows how to fight. Sorry, I didn't tell you about it earlier, but there were too many people around, and this is a secret mission," Ainphent explained and apologized.
"It's fine. So, what can I get from this secret mission you said?" Angele asked in a calm tone.
"This formula, plus the materials for the potion. Actually, most of the materials are common, but the Oil of Black Rose and the Heart of the Tree are extremely rare. I have a small bottle of Oil of Black Rose here, I obtained it from a dryad wizard about 300 hundred years ago, and I'll give it to you after the mission is finished." Ainphent stared at Angele. "For the Heart of the Tree, we might have to try and find it in the ruins. There's no way you can find it on the market now, you have to visit a ruin like this."
"Is that so?" Angele hesitated. "How many people are in your team now? And how strong are they?"
"I already found three wizards, but I'm not sure if all of them will come. Some wizards just won't keep their promises. Melissa will come too and she'll lead the team. Two wizards are at the Gas stage, including you. The rest are at Liquid or Crystal stage," Ainphent said, trying to earn Angele's trust.
Melissa joined the conversation as well. "The ruin was discovered not so long ago, we need to finish exploring it as soon as possible. If other wizards find out about it, we won't be able to collect the rarest materials."
"So, when will we go to this ruins?" Angele nodded. "I still have something to take care of here."
"Sure, you have two months." Melissa nodded. "The ruins are in a hidden area, and other wizards have not found it yet. If you decide to accept the mission, please keep the information to yourself. Do you know the Ball of Secret?"
"Of course."
Angele raised his hand.
Melissa clapped her hands again, and a translucent ball flew out of the pile of items, landing on her right palm.
The ball was about the size of a human's head, and there were three floating black dots inside.
With a flick of Angele's finger, a black energy particle sank into the ball and joined one of the three black dots.
"Great."
Melissa and Ainphent smiled.
"Now if you excuse me."
Angele bowed again and turned around.
"We'll wait here for five days after two months are up. I hope you'll be here on time," Ainphent said in a light tone.
"Sure."
Angele walked up the stairs, opened the door, and left.
Ainphent started discussing with Melissa after they made sure Angele left.
"I'm sure he can help us. He must be a black robe."
Melissa pursed her lips into a smile.
"Yeah, I'm sure he has plenty of blood on his hands. Black robes like him can fight much better than us white robes. Although he's only at the Gas stage, he should know some powerful damage spells. We need to find out what's hidden in the ruins. We've already wasted too much time."
"Ethio is doing work as well. They're already planning to snatch the crystal, so we need to finish this quickly." Ainphent looked at Melissa. "I hope we'll succeed this time."
"Hope so."
Melissa sighed.
Chapter 172: Crafting (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
Angele realized he was sweating after leaving the old wizard's house. He thought if he declined their offer, the two would try to kill him right away. They had told him everything before he had accepted the mission which was strange.
The light wizards would usually avoid fighting, however, they would still do whatever benefited them the most when necessary.
Angele left Melissa's house and walked down the wooden steps.
The fight he witnessed before entering the house was already finished, but he could still see some broken wood pieces on the ground.
No one came to clean the mess, but it seemed like the situation did not get worse.
Angele walked down the street while taking a look around. There were only several wizards checking different vendors here, the place was much quieter than the entrance of the town.
He turned around and returned to the entrance, deciding to learn the structure of the town first.
The town's size was average, there were about sixty stone houses mixed in with some wooden ones. There were many stores with bronze signs hanging on the top. Angele found potions, gear, and materials stores. None of them were crowded and for some reason, most of the wizards just stayed on the street.
He saw several wizards buying items, but most of them were communicating using the energy particles. Their lips were moving but no sound was coming out of their mouths.
Angele entered a random gear shop. It was dark inside, and a U-shaped counter was in the front. Two wizards were checking the items displayed on the tables.
The owner was a bald old man wearing a pair of glasses. He stood behind the counter, staring at a light wizard beside the table.
"The price is fair. This is a black eagle spiral shell, I paid three tri-colored orchids for it."
The owner was speaking with a low voice, but all the people in the shop could hear him clearly.
The light wizard that was holding the spiral shell did not say anything, he just kept observing it.
The owner took a glance at Angele when he entered the store. Stores here were different from the ones in the mortal world, the owners never greeted the customers.
Angele noticed some energy particle movement on the door. The owner had probably applied some to make the room soundproof, but Angele wondered why he did not want the wizards on the street to hear the conversations in the store.
He walked to one of the tables on the right side and started observing the items on it.
There was a silver metal helmet, leather armor pieces, short sword, hats, and a large black tower shield.
Some of the gear was coated in a white glow; it looked like there was liquid flowing on their surfaces.
Suddenly, Angele found something he was familiar with.
"Hey, can you open that for me?"
He pointed at one of the boxes on the table.
The owner looked annoyed, but he walked over and unlocked the box.
There was a glowing green heart bumping inside, the core of which was filled up with green flames. Angele could still see the lines of vines on its surface.
He grabbed the heart and started observing it.
'Not the heart I know, but it's close. Items like this contain huge amounts of power and are great for making bombs.'
Angele had a plan in mind. He needed to prepare for the exploration of the ruins and something like this would fit his plan perfectly.
The heart in his hand contained higher power than the ones he had obtained from the elephants. Some special modification must have been done to it so the heart would work like a tiny flamethrower.
Angele utilized 90% of the heart's potential with the help of the chip when he was making the bomb. However, without the chip, the best a wizard could do would be around 30%, wasting the rest of the power.
Enchanted items like this could be crafted relatively easily, and the requirements were not high. Even apprentices—with enough knowledge—would be able to make them. The only problem was finding the raw materials.
Angele held the heart in his left hand, its size that of a fist. He could feel the heart still pumping. It was soft and warm.
"How much is this?" Angele questioned.
"One crystal card," the owner responded, "and, the price is final."
"One crystal card?" Angele was surprised. "You mean one black crystal card?"
One black crystal card could be exchanged for 1000 regular magic stones.
"Yeah, are you buying it or not?"
The owner was losing his patience.
Angele felt a bit speechless. It seemed like the owner really did not care about his customers.
"Well, do you have the raw materials? If you do, do you sell them?"
He returned the heart to the box.
"Raw materials?" The owner heard Angele's question and stared at him. "Haha, you want to craft it yourself? Seriously?" The owner sneered. "I have a lot of raw materials. You can try as long as you don't fear the possible explosions."
The other two wizards in the store looked at Angele in surprise. They did not believe he would try to craft the items by himself. They shook their heads and chuckled.
Angele nodded. He knew why the others laughed at him. Enchanted items like the glowing hearts were easy to craft but a certain amount of knowledge was still required. Also, whoever tried to craft the item must proceed with caution, and accurate mentality control was required for that. The results might be completely different based on the crafter's skill.
If the crafter did not proceed with caution, the heart might explode, and even if he escaped the explosion, the enchanted item he acquired would be worthless.
The owner crossed his arms and sneered again. "Well, I warned you already. If the energy leaks, the hearts will explode for sure. If you really want to try it yourself…"
He assumed that the wizard in front of him was not capable of crafting the item.
Angele nodded again. "Where are the raw materials? Can you show them to me?"
"Of course."
The owner walked into the storage room and carried out a large basket. It was a rattan basket full of hearts from various creatures.
Green glowing hearts from the glowing elephants, blue hearts from the frozen elephants, and several black rotten hearts.
Angele recognized most of the raw materials.
"How much is this?"
Angele grabbed one of the hearts from glowing elephants.
"I purchased these materials to make one-time explosives, and they aren't worth that many magic stones. If you really need them, I can offer you a discount. For the whole basket, it'll be…"
The owner smiled.
*********************
Angele walked out of the store with a whole basket of hearts, but he looked a bit disappointed.
There was a piece of black cloth on top of the basket and others would not be able to see what was inside. All the hearts in the basket contained high power and they could be used to craft simple enchanted items. In another word, these raw materials were extremely dangerous.
Although most of them would not explode if Angele threw them to the ground, he might still get hurt.
He purchased this basket with all the magic stones he had, and thus, all the magic stones he had earned by selling the rare materials from Moon Gin Garden were used up.
However, the hearts were worth the price. Angele thought of the first heart bomb he had made using the heart of a glowing elephant.
'About 40 degrees of power… That's almost the same power as my enhanced Lesser Fireball. What if I can successfully make all of them into one-time bombs…'
Angele felt a bit better.
'I need to find a place to stay first.'
He looked at the sky. It was already noon, and several rays of golden sunlight passed through the gray clouds.
The town was small but he still found a hotel. However, he did not have any magic stones left. The owner used some special method to find out how many magic stones Angele was carrying and showed him the price. Angele instantly regretted that he did not use the force field to block the scan spell.
Enchanted items were much more expensive than raw materials. The flamethrower type heart Angele had seen in the store could be used many times, and it could deal at least 18 degrees of damage, the numbers close to the ones Angele made by himself.
He had made two enchanted items with the two glowing elephant's hearts last time. The heart bomb was used on the monsters and the other one was left in Lennon city. However, the raw materials he had purchased this time were much better preserved than the ones he had previously.
Angele had high expectations for this basket of hearts. Most of them contained more than 50 degrees of energy according to Zero's report. Several of them even contained more than 70 degrees of energy, which was a surprise.
However, Angele needed to be even more cautious while crafting this time. Higher energy content came with higher risk. If the energy leaked, the explosion would be fatal.
He held the basket in his hands and walked toward the exit. He had already created the map for the town using the chip, and he could easily find the shortest route.
There was no reason for him to join any organization at the moment after obtaining the formula. However, his mentality had barely increased recently and meditation was not helping. He decided to find another way after finishing the work at the ruins.
He probably would have spent a long time trying to increase his mentality as an apprentice without the Black Lead Potion. Apprentices with talent level 2 usually needed dozens of years to raise their mentality to the next level.
Chapter 173: Crafting (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
Angele was leaving the wizard area when he saw several wizards with strange appearances entering the gate. One of the female wizards in a green robe was riding a boar slowly down the hill, and it seemed like she was enjoying her time.
Angele walked up the hill and returned to the square. He saw Asuna sitting on a bench, still waiting for him to come back.
"You're here?" Asuna asked with an excited voice after seeing him walking toward her. She looked a bit tired but she still stood up immediately.
"I thought I asked you to go back." Angele's brow furrowed. "Why're you still here?"
"You paid me so I need to finish my job. I haven't guided you through the area yet."
Asuna blushed.
"Well, find me a place to stay then, please?"
Angele had no magic stones left, so he had to find a place that accepted gold coins.
"Of course."
Asuna nodded.
The square was still crowded and noisy. The apprentices were yelling at vendors as they negotiated the prices. Angele even heard pets making loud noises. The place looked exactly like the markets in the mortal countries.
Asuna and Angele went around the square and walked down the hill using a different path this time. There were many people here, and Angele even saw several mortals on the way.
After about half an hour of going down, they arrived at a suspension bridge.
Under the bridge, it was an endless abyss. The white mist blurred Angele's sight, but it seemed like the people walking on it had already gotten used to it, only several of them looked nervous.
Angele followed after Asuna with the basket in hands. The bridge was shaky and he was surprised by how many people it could handle at the same time.
On the other side of the bridge, he saw countless caves on the surface of the mountain, and it looked like a honeycomb. The distance between each cave was about eight meters.
"You can rent a cave to stay here. You can also purchase one of the larger caves if you want. The price is fair and the place is quiet," Asuna explained and led Angele to a small stone house by the end of the bridge.
There was a small window on the wall, and a middle-aged chubby woman was sitting inside.
"Talk to her to rent the cave."
Asuna pointed at the window.
Angele nodded and stepped forward.
"I want to rent one of your best caves for four months. How much will that be?"
"Do you have magic stones? If not, what kind of gold coins you have? For four months, it'll be 10,000 regular gold coins of the empire," the woman answered carelessly.
"Do you take this?"
Angele took out two purple gems from his pouch. He had obtained them from Nancy, and their quality was high.
"Well…" The woman grabbed one of the gems and observed it. "I want at least 10 of them."
Angele spent all the gems and gold coins he had and rented one of the largest caves in the mountain. He searched his bag and put down several other valuable items on the table to purchase the food delivery service for one year. His priority was to craft the Tree Killer Potion, so he could sell things later if he needed more money.
Asuna was a bit confused at to why Angele hadn't just purchased a cave with a magic stone. The only possibility was that he had used up all his magic stones in the wizard area.
The woman gave Angele a number plate after she received the payment. They walked along the caves and quickly found the one Angele had rented out.
There was a large brown stone door at the entrance of the cave. It was about the size of an average adult, and there were some simple string patterns engraved on its surface.
Angele put the number plate on the door, and the door opened by itself immediately.
A well-decorated living room appeared in Angele's eyes, its walls painted yellow. There was a total of eight rooms on both sides of the living room. Angele did not expect the cave to be so large before opening the door.
A gray fur blanket covered the floor and some crystal lights were hanging on the walls. The yellow gentle light brightened up the whole cave. The rooms were fully furnished. They were luxurious-looking and cozy, the only drawback of the place being it had only one entrance.
"Worth the price."
Angele nodded, satisfied with the environment.
Asuna stayed by the door. She had not followed Angele into the living room.
"The cave is great, but the wizards or stronger apprentices can easily invade your privacy if they want. People usually only stay here for a short period," she explained.
"You're right." Angele nodded and turned around. "Also, can you help me sell these? I'll give you 10% of the profit."
Angele took out a bunch of small glass vials with green liquid inside. They contained a potion he had crafted awhile ago, but it could only cure general physical injuries.
"Ah, high-quality healing gel. I can sell them for you for sure, thank you."
Asuna looked happy, she grabbed the glasses vials and counted the number—there were twelve of them.
"But you already gave me a lot of magic stones and 10% is a lot," Asuna stated honestly after calming down.
"Well, thanks for the help then."
Angele started to like this girl, she was honest and selfless. Asuna reminded him of Tia. The last time he'd seen the young girl was about five years ago, and he wondered how was the situation in Lennon City now.
Asuna left with the twelve vials of healing gel. Half an hour later, a servant delivered food and drink to him, and Asuna returned to the cave at the same time.
There was a small black leather pouch in her hand, and it was full of magic stones.
"24 mid-level magic stones in total."
She handed the pouch over to Angele.
Angele grabbed it, took out a magic stone, and threw it to Asuna.
"That's the reward for your help. Don't refuse it, I might need you later."
Asuna put the magic stone back into Angele's hand with a serious look on her face.
"I can't. You already paid me well."
"Alright."
Angele put the magic stone back into the pouch.
He closed the door after Asuna left, then sat down in a wooden chair, and grabbed a glowing elephant's heart.
'Simulate the process of making the heart bomb for me,' Angele ordered, and blue light dots started flashing in front of his eyes.
'Task created… Initiating… Simulating…'
Rows of data lined up on the bottom left corner beside the glowing heart in Angele's sight.
'Energy: 56.13 degrees. Category: Fire. Simulation Success Rate: 98.78%. Cost: 2 mentality. Duration: 3 hours. Estimated power: more than 50 degrees, less than 53 degrees.'
There was also information on energy loss, the possibility of structure optimization, material content, procedures, and many other small notices under the main data.
The blue light dots disappeared from Angele's sight. He raised his right hand and created a sharp silver scalpel.
The tip of the scalpel slowly turned from silver to gray in half a minute.
Angele held the scalpel in hand and stood up. He walked around the room and applied some energy particles to the walls. By doing that, he could prevent some of the invasions, and the energy particles could warn him about unknown mentality waves. However, they could not stop scanning spells.
But he was not trying to hide the process of crafting the bomb, he just did not want other wizards to know how accurate and fast he could do it. Although fighting was forbidden in the area, people still might go after him when he was out on a mission. Wizards would want to know how he could manage to use such small amount of energy to craft an extremely high-quality heart bomb.
Angele started drawing lines and runes on the surface of the heart carefully.
The time flew by, more and more runes were left on the heart until they almost covered the whole surface. Surprisingly, the blood leaking out of the cuts was black.
Black blood was dripping down the heart slowly. Angele finished the last rune and his skin absorbed the silver scalpel. He then quickly pointed at the center of the heart.
*CHI*
The green flame inside the heart flashed and almost disappeared. One second later, the flame was about to explode, filling up the heart. The green glow surrounded Angele's hand.
He narrowed his eyes and started chanting incantations to activate the runes on the heart.
"Comella, the eternal moon, sink the ice into the abyss, and pour molten lava onto the glacier."
*BAM*
The explosion inside was stopped, bright white glow coating the runes and patterns on the surface of the heart. The white light almost covered the green glow from the inside, and the lines between the runes were pumping.
*CHI*
The white light disappeared and the green flame returned to its original state.
Angele held the heart in hand, satisfied with the result.
'A heart bomb that can deal 50 degrees of damage. Such high-quality raw materials can only be found in a place like Nola.'
Angele could win a fight against an average Liquid stage wizard because he could surprise the opponent with the signet. However, the signet could only be used twice more, and the enhanced Lesser Fireball could not one shot his enemy. He had tried it on two Liquid stage wizards but neither of them died because of it.
The two Liquid stage wizards were wounded but their injuries were not critical, and without the signet, he could not even land the Lesser Fireball on their weak points.
Angele needed something that was powerful and easier to use for the mission in the ruins. He had purchased a whole basket of high-quality raw materials, planning to make a dozen of heart bombs with the help of the chip. Although he paid a lot of magic stones for the hearts, he still wanted to be fully prepared for the high-risk mission.
He wondered, though, at how strong a Crystal stage wizard was and if he might have to rely on those bombs when necessary.
Chapter 174: The Team (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
Two months later…
The brown door of the cave opened.
Angele walked out looking tired, his brown hair messy. There were two dark circles around his eyes, and he was wearing a loose gray robe.
'Making the heart bombs is tiring… Although the required mentality is low, I still need to stay focused during the process. It's so boring…'
Angele rubbed his temples and closed his eyes.
He could make three to four heart bombs every day, and each one of them would take him about three hours. Without the help from Zero, it would have been even worse.
The chip could do the simulation and help him during the procedures, however, he still had to make the bombs with his own two hands.
Also, the raw materials could explode at any time during the process, and since Angele had so many of them, he was worried that the explosion could easily destroy the cave
After two months of crafting the heart bombs, he had turned the whole basket of raw materials into enchanted items. The completed heart bombs were about the size of a human's fist, and he could only carry a certain amount of them with him, but he still managed to hide most of them inside his large gray robe.
'Time to go to the wizard area.'
Angele checked the time—it was already noon. The golden sunlight warmed his body up.
He stood in front of the door, and with all the bombs he had hidden inside the robe, it almost looked like he had gained a ton of weight during the two months.
He closed the door, walked down the hill, and arrived at the bridge.
Asuna, Silen, and the group were waiting for him by the small stone house. The girl had already told them that Angele was a formal wizard, and they had visited Angele's cave several times recently.
"This is the map and some metals with high resistance you asked for." Silen greeted Angele and handed the items over to him. "We tried our best but that's all we found in the market areas around here. Are they good enough for you?"
Angele grabbed the map and opened. Detailed information of Nola was all recorded on it.
The map had a light yellow background, and it was divided into three major areas. The Six Ring High Tower, White Tooth Castle, and the Snake Bird Cliff were ruling those areas.
In the middle of the three major areas, there was a long slim line. It was the public area that was not in anyone's control. There were five red dots on the public area which represented the markets owned by the three major organizations, the public market, and the market funded by smaller organizations.
The map's quality was quite high and the notes were clear.
"Nice map."
Angele nodded. Blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes and the map was recorded by the chip. He asked Zero to compare the routes on the map to the routes he had actually traveled on to minimize the errors.
Besides the map, there was also a small black pouch made from leather. Its surface was elastic and smooth.
Angele untied the pouch and looked inside—it was full of metal cubes that varied in colors.
He grabbed a blue metal cube with a blue glint on the surface.
Silen looked at the cube and explained, "It's called the Blue Devil, a special alloy that's made from more than ten different metals with high resistance. The white ones are called White Silver Iron, and they are usually used to build spell labs."
Angele nodded again.
"You guys did a great job."
He threw two mid-level magic stones to Silen.
Silen smiled, happy with the reward. They could only earn about 100 regular magic stones for completing one high-difficulty mission. Working for Angele was much easier and the reward was much better. Angele only asked them to find him various items, and most of the requests could be fulfilled by just checking vendors in the markets.
"Master Green, I assume you haven't joined any organization yet. Why don't you join my school? I'm sure you'll be a great professor. The Riven Arrow is smaller than the three major organizations, but we have a great number of apprentices, and we have a decent selection of materials in the storage," Asuna asked, looking Angele in the eyes.
"River Arrow?" Angele shook his head. "My plan is to join the Six Ring High Tower and I'm not considering other organizations at the moment."
Some of the rare materials Angele needed could only be purchased by the apprentices or wizards that were registered in an organization, and Silen did the job for him. He himself stayed in the cave while selling dozens of low-quality potions. He had made thousands of regular magic stones in these two months, with the help of Zero, his success rate in crafting potions was much higher than an average potion master's.
The River Arrow was an organization with many registered apprentices, however, they did not care about their students' talent levels. They would take the apprentices in as long as they could pay the fees. Members of River Arrow could be found everywhere in Nola, but most of them were weak.
There were two other organizations that were close to the area. The first one was named Seagull Alliance. It had about 50 wizards, and the strongest one was a Crystal stage light wizard.
The second organization was called The Bronze Torch, and it only had about 10 registered wizards. The leader of the organization was a light wizard at the Liquid stage. They were famous for their huge library, and it was also their main source of income. Without the books, The Bronze Torch would run out of money within a week.
There were about 20 organizations like those in Nola based on the information Angele had gathered from the people in the markets.
Some of the organizations only had one or two registered wizards. They just stayed in their territories and kept doing research using the resources purchased from the market.
"I'll think about it later. There's someone waiting for me right now, so I must go. Asuna has my communication sigil. I'll contact you later."
Angele refused their invitation and walked to the bridge.
Silen and Asuna looked a bit disappointed but they did not say anything. Angele suddenly saw a black distorted rune moving around on his right wrist while stepping forward.
"It's about the time."
He pointed at the rune and it turned into a sentence that floated over his palm.
'Come to Melissa's house before two o'clock.'
Melissa contacted him through the black dot Angele had left to her. The black dot contained Angele's communication sigil so she could send messages directly to him.
*********************
Inside the wizard area, Melissa's house.
It was dark inside. The long table beside the windows was already cleaned up and covered by a white lace blanket. There were three light wizards sitting around it.
A thin old female wizard was sitting in a long chair, carefully wiping the edges of her glasses.
Ainphent had a white-feathered pen in hand, and he was writing something down on a piece of leather paper.
There was also a young female wizard beside him. She had no expression on her face, and her eyes were closed. It seemed like she was thinking about something. Her body was surrounded by a freezing aura.
Ainphent put down the pen and shook the paper slightly.
*CHI*
The ink on the leather paper vanished into the air and lines of sentences disappeared within seconds.
The feather pen on the table turned into countless white light dots and slowly disappeared as well.
"I already notified Green and the other two wizards. They'll be here today."
Ainphent smiled.
"So, Green was the last wizard you needed?" the female wizard asked in a cold tone. There was no emotion in her words.
"Yeah. He's at the Gas stage, but we believe he can assist us during the mission."
Ainphent nodded.
"Oh wait, Green asked me for the formula of the Tree Killer Potion. I think he wants to ask someone to craft the potion for him. Isabell, I remember you still have a bottle of Black Rose oil, right? I think the chance of successfully crafting that potion is extremely low, but why don't you make a trade with him?"
The light wizard named Isabell nodded and said, "Sure, I don't mind trading with him if he has the items I need."
*Knock-Knock*
Someone was knocking on the wooden door.
Melissa slowly put on her glasses and pointed at the door.
"Come in, please," she said in a loud voice.
The wooden door glowed for a second. It seemed like Melissa removed the energy particles she had applied on its surface.
*Creak*
The door was pushed open.
A ruthless man in green robe walked in. The man had a pair of dark green eyes and an aquiline nose. Although it was sunny outside, the man's hair looked wet for some reason.
"Kuirman, have a seat, please."
Melissa pointed at a chair on the side.
Kuirman forced a smile on his face.
"So, I'm not the last one."
His voice was deep and hoarse.
Kuirman walked to the chair and sat down. He stopped talking and closed his eyes. Ainphent did not expect to see Kuirman in the team; he looked surprised.
The room remained in silence.
Wizards all had long life expectancies and most of them were patient. There was still some time before two o'clock, and they were willing to wait.
The four just sat there until someone knocked on the unlocked door again.
A muscular man with short brown hair opened the door and entered the room.
The man had an average looking face, but his eyes were sharp and deep. He was covered in a long gray robe, only his neck exposed to the air. The man glanced around and Melissa noticed a silver glint on his neck.
"Green, here you are."
Ainphent turned around and greeted Angele with a smile on his face.
Angele nodded.
"I started moving as I noticed the message. It seems like I arrived on time."
He glanced around, the presence of Kuirman and Isabell catching his attention.
Chapter 175: The Team (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
Ainphent introduced Angele to the crew. The others took a glance at him but did not say anything. Angele walked to an empty chair and sat down.
"One more to go. I found a new guy several days ago. He came to Nola not so long ago, just like Green, but he knew some strong spells."
It seemed like Ainphent was still searching for new members recently.
"One of our original team members decided to quit due to some personal matters and I had to recruit someone new."
He shrugged.
The members did not seem surprised and no one said anything. Another half an hour later, the door was pushed open again.
A bald old man with a cane walked into the door. He was covered in a dark yellow cloak, and only his head was exposed to the air.
"Sorry, I'm late…"
The old man had a muscular body, while his voice was deep and loud. He would have looked much younger without the goatee on his chin. He had a serious look on his face, giving the impression that he was stubborn.
Ainphent stood up immediately and winked at the old man.
"Mr. Belem! You're here. Welcome!"
"Ain, where's my material?"
It seemed like the old man named Belem liked Ainphent a lot, and he smiled after Ainphent greeted him.
"I'll ask my family to prepare it for you after the mission is completed. Don't worry, I'll keep my promise," Ainphent responded with a gentle tone.
"Sure, that's great."
Belem nodded and sat down on the last empty chair.
Angele sat in the chair and saw the old man touching Ainphent's leg under the table. He shuddered for a second, pursed his lips, and turned his face to the other side.
Melissa coughed and glanced around the room.
"So, we can start discussing the mission since everyone is here."
The female light wizard named Isabell moved her lips. "I'll take three followers with me, they're all Grand Knights."
Ainphent took a glance at Belem and said, "I have 8 followers, 5 rank 3 apprentices, and 3 knights."
"That's way too many people, we need to set up the agreement with the merfolk, and we need to keep the location of the ruins as our secret."
Melissa scrunched her eyebrows.
Ainphent chuckled. "Don't worry. Nosdana Prince is a good friend of mine, and the agreement can be reached in five minutes. Also, you know most of my followers. They were with me on our last mission and you can trust them for sure."
"Fine."
Melissa looked at Angele and the bald wizard Belem.
Belem stopped rubbing Ainphent's leg, and his face turned serious again.
"I have two followers. They're Grand Knights as well."
Angele glanced around, he did not know everyone had their own followers. He was always alone since he carried too many secrets and could not afford for his followers to betray him. He needed someone he could trust, but that person also had to be strong. People like that were hard to find, so he decided not to take in any followers at the moment.
"I don't have any followers," he said lightly.
Others in the room looked a bit surprised after hearing his response.
Most of the wizards would take in followers or servants after they reached the Gas stage.
However, no one knew it had taken Angele only several years to reach the Gas stage.
"It's fine." Melissa pointed at the map on the table. "Now, let's discuss our plan and the route. I have three different plans here…"
*************************
Ten days later.
Public area, the Bull Dock.
Several white clouds were floating in the blue and endless sky.
Angele stood on the deck of a docked ship and looked around.
Bull Dock was small and empty, only several white stone bridges built by the water.
There were more than ten ships docked by the bridges, their sizes varying. They were much smaller than the Future he'd used to go back home, and they had white harps painted on their flags.
Teams of soldiers with white armor were boarding the ship while wizards were giving orders from the decks.
"Master Melissa will stay on the leading ship. Our ships are disguised as transport ships for soldiers. We don't want any trouble on our way there," a cold female voice said from behind.
Angele turned around and saw Isabell staring at him quietly. The lady had no expression on her pretty face.
"I saw Ainphent and Belem board the same ship…"
Angele pursed his lips into a smile.
"I know. They'll use the same ship this time." Isabell slightly nodded. "Kuirman took a ship too. I'm on your ship because I need to discuss the trade with you on our way there."
"You have the Black Rose oil, right?" Angele's expression turned serious. "What do you want?"
"I have about four kilograms of Black Rose oil. What do you have? I want something that at least has the same value as the oil. Although it has no use to me, I still need to follow the rules."
"Of course. How about one bottle of Jacqueline's Neutralizer?"
Angele was a bit speechless. He only had one common potion left. He had crafted it while practicing awhile ago, and it was the only valuable item he had at the moment.
"Wait, did you craft it yourself? Are you a potion master?"
Isabell was surprised.
"Yes, I am."
Angele nodded. Although he had never learned from a true potion master, he had still created his own crafting method with the accurate simulation his chip could do.
"I heard Jacqueline's Neutralizer is common but extremely hard to craft. However, it can only be used to make potions so it has no value for me. Actually, I have a special formula. If you can craft the potion for me, I'll give you the Black Rose Oil as a gift," Isabell said with a serious tone. It seemed like the potion she mentioned was important.
"What do you want me to craft?"
Angele's brow furrowed.
"There are not many potion masters around even in Nola. To train a potion master, it takes a ton of resources, and even the three major organizations can't handle it. I already visited more than 50 potion masters but none of them could fulfill my request. If you can successfully craft the potion for me, I'll pay you some extra besides the promised Black Rose oil."
This was the longest speech that had come out of Isabell's mouth since Angele met her.
"There's nothing I can do without the materials and equipment."
Angele was a bit curious, he wanted to know how complicated the formula was.
"That's not a problem."
Isabelle walked to the other side of the deck. Her three Grand Knights were chatting beside the cabin. Two were male and one was female, all of them equipped with black leather armor.
The three stopped talking after seeing Isabell walking toward them.
Isabell whispered to her followers and one of them talked to a soldier that was still on the bridge. The soldier nodded and ran to the carts with supplies.
After several minutes, a team of soldiers boarded the ship with black cases in their hands.
The cases were lined up on the deck. Isabell nodded and walked to Angele, looking satisfied.
"We decided to use the sleeping powder after the ships start moving. We need to make sure that no one leaks our location. You can start crafting after that," she said in a low voice.
"Sleeping powder? Why? Even we wizards are having trouble with the ruins. Why do we bring so many soldiers and followers anyway?" Angele wondered.
"Not all of us can fight like dark wizards," Isabell answered lightly. "I think everything you need is here. The potion equipment and the necessary materials. Give it a try first."
"It's not that easy. I need specific materials…" Angele was speechless. "I may find better materials to use during the crafting process. The formula is important for sure, but it doesn't mean I can't improve it. The materials here might be essential but I need more."
"Is that so?"
Isabell was confused. Angele assumed this lady had never read anything about potion crafting.
"Well, show me the sample first. Maybe I can make it without any special materials. I can't promise you at the moment, though."
He looked at Isabell.
"For sure."
She quickly took out a small crystal vial from the pouch on her belt.
The vial was about the size of a finger with some bloody red liquid inside. Isabell handed the vial over to Angele.
"That's the sample."
Angele removed the stopper and sniffed the liquid. The fragrance smelled like lemon mixed with flowers. He then poured some of the liquid into his mouth, the taste was bitter and spicy.
"This is the blood of… the earth rhino?"
Angele was not sure if he guessed it right.
"You're right. It's from an adult female earth rhino."
Isabell nodded.
"So, you want me to make this into a potion? It's extremely unstable, no wonder you can't find a potion master that will accept your order…" Angele scrunched his eyebrows. "Rhino blood is usually used in making explosive potions. Are you sure you want to neutralize it and make it a normal potion?"
"Is there anything you can do?"
Isabell stared at him.
"Well, I can try and make it more stable, but I'm not sure if I can do it well."
Angele shook his head.
Isabell looked disappointed.
"Fine. Do that for me then, but make sure the blood stays active."
"No problem." Angele pointed at the cases. "Send the equipment to my room. Also, find me some fresh roots from a dark-skinned tree."
He turned around and walked into his cabin with the vial in his hand.
Isabell sent her words to Angele using energy particles. "I'll prepare the Black Rose oil for you."
"It'll take a while before I can finish it. Also, if you find the heart of the tree in the ruins, just keep it for me," Angele responded to the message using energy particles as well.
"… Heart of the tree…" Isabell replied. "… That's nearly impossible…"
Their trade was completed. Black Rose oil was much more valuable than a vial of rhino blood.
Angele still had no idea what Isabell wanted to do with the blood, but it seemed like obtaining stable rhino blood was one of her priorities at the moment.
Chapter 176: Arrival (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
Five days later…
Angele sat beside a table inside his cabin, carefully engraving a white rune circle on the surface of the brown table with a silver knife. There were two triangles inside the circle and the crystal vial from Isabell was placed in the middle.
The edge of the circle was surrounded by strange runes; there were at least one hundred of them.
Angele kept carving the runes onto the table while blowing away bits of wood.
After about 20 minutes, he finished the last one and lowered the knife.
He felt relaxed, and the knife was quickly absorbed into his palm. He put his hands on both sides of the circle, the rhino blood right between his palms.
Suddenly, something started vibrating in the air.
Two rays of light came out of Angele's palms: the one from the left was green and the one from the right was red.
The lights went across each other right above the crystal vial and turned into a translucent string. This string was parallel to the stopper of the vial.
It looked like the light rays released by Angele were being absorbed by the rhino blood.
The light brightened up the whole cabin, and it started flashing after several seconds.
After about one hour.
Strings of white light suddenly rushed out of the circle, and the countless runes outside it slowly vanished into the air.
The light rays slowly disappeared, and Angele lowered his hands after everything was finished. The circle on the table was coated with a light white glow, the rhino blood still in the center.
Angele stood up, looking tired.
"Now all I have to do is wait."
He walked to the door and pushed it open.
A blonde man wearing red leather armor was standing outside the door; it seemed like he had waited here for a while.
"Master Green, this is the Black Rose oil, please accept it."
He put his right hand over the chest and spoke in a low voice.
Angele looked down at a small wooden case beside the man's legs. Iron needles were hammered into the corners of the case, but its surface itself was smooth.
"How generous… So she was certain that I'll be able to fulfill her request?" Angele smiled. "Tell Isabell I appreciate her trust and I'll take the reward."
"No problem."
The blonde man nodded politely, turned around, and left.
Angele watched the man leave, then sighed with emotion. He knew Isabell had some strong background, but he hadn't expected her to give away the rare ancient resource so easily. Also, she had told him that she'd visited all the potion masters in Nola. Wizards from average families would never be able to that.
He stepped forward, picked up the case, and opened it. A black ceramic pot was covered in bits of wood. The surface of the pot was rough, and it was sealed with a piece of white waterproof cloth.
Angele removed the cloth and the fragrance of rose permeated the air. The oil inside was dark and sticky; it looked like black honey.
He raised his right hand and several silver needles came out of the tips of his first finger. Angele dipped the needles into the oil.
The needles were coated with a thin layer of black oil after Angele brought them out of the pot.
*CHI*
Dark flame sparked on the needles as Angele lighted the oil with fire energy particles, and the fragrance of rose was replaced by some rotten stinky smell.
"It's real… The Black Rose oil…"
Angele nodded, satisfied with the result. He carefully blew off the fire and the needles were slowly absorbed by his skin.
He sealed the pot and put it down on the table before leaving the room.
There were only two wizards on this ship, and Angele was not worried that someone would steal his items. He doubted that Isabell's followers knew what Black Rose oil was used for. He applied some energy particles on the surface of the pot just for alarm.
He had picked the cabin on the deck from the many empty ones on the ship, so he could switch anytime he wanted.
On the right side of his cabin was the railing. White sea waves were hitting the body of the ship from time to time.
The seemingly endless blue sea was pure and vibrant.
The wind was chilling, and it took away the heat of the sunlight from Angele's skin.
He turned left and walked to the front side of the deck.
Several soldiers were controlling the rudder and checking the sails. The words they were yelling were in a strange dialect that Angele was not familiar with.
Several white seagulls were lined up on the railings while organizing their feathers with their beaks.
Isabell stood beside the seagulls, playing with them.
It seemed like the seagulls enjoyed being touched by Isabell. They twittered happily.
Angele quickly walked to Isabell, and the seagulls flew away after noticing his presence, but they were still rotating above the ship.
Isabell turned around. She stopped smiling, and her expression turned serious in a second.
"How's the progress? Done already?"
"Last step. Ask your people to guard my cabin, and it'll be completed in three hours," Angele responded calmly.
"No problem."
Isabell looked at one of her followers. The Grand Knight had overheard their conversation already, so he nodded and walked to Angele's cabin with his right hand on the handle of the sword.
"What else?"
Angele smiled.
"I just want to know if we're getting closer to the destination."
"We need to go to a public island first and leave the soldiers there. Also, we need to switch to another ship later. I think it'll take us about another seven or eight days on the sea," Isabell replied in a light tone. "We're moving into the merfolk territory. You saw the seagulls here, right? It means we're getting closer to the land or islands."
"I'm a wandering wizard so I'm not familiar with Nola. Can you explain the system here to me? Like what happens after you join an organization?"
Angele wanted to know the answer to the question since a long time ago, but he did not have the chance to ask when he was making potions in the cave.
"Sure." Isabell's hair was flying in the wind. "I heard you were a dark wizard, so I assume your life has been different from ours. In Nola, most of the light wizards will meditate or do research in their own territories. Most of the races around are friendly to us, and we communicate with each other a lot.
"However, Nola still has its own enemies, such as natural disasters, the pollution caused by dark wizards' experiments, the damage done by ancient races, and wizard invasions. We need to deal with those issues. The biggest trouble is Nola's relationship with merfolk. There are five markets and 15 towns in Nola, and half of the organizations ruling the towns are related to merfolk. It basically means that we obtain most of our general resources from merfolk merchants. If the situation gets worse, the consequences will be ridiculous."
She stopped for a second, then continued, "If you're considering joining any organization, my suggestion will be the Six Ring High Tower. They can provide you with the best resources. Also, Six Ring High Tower is the only major organization that is not controlled by a certain family. The Snake Bird Cliff and White Tooth Castle hate outsiders a lot."
Angele was surprised.
"If they hate the outsiders, how do they take in new blood then?"
"They intermarry and combine the bloodline. The Snake Bird Cliff is trying to protect their pure bloodline… and the White Tooth Castle just simply combines random bloodlines. Snake Bird Cliff is not funded by human beings, and they just mind their own businesses, but the White Tooth Castle is fighting Six Ring High Tower at the moment.
"People say that White Tooth Castle is weaker than Six Ring High Tower because Six Ring High Tower has a lot of money and resources, but White Tooth Castle has many wizards that know great damage spells."
Angele nodded.
"So, White Tooth Castle is actually stronger than Six Ring High Tower? But why doesn't the latter recruit more wizards if they have the money?"
"You need to find dark wizards to fight for you. It's hard." Isabell stared at him. "Also, White Tooth Castle has aligned with Northland Alliance recently."
The two stopped talking.
Angele saw another ship sailing on their left.
It was Kuirman's ship. He was walking to his cabin through the deck. Kuirman suddenly stopped and turned to Angele. It seemed like he had noticed him staring.
Kuirman shook his head and sneered at Angele before starting walk again.
Angele narrowed his eyes.
"What does that mean?"
"You really don��t know? He has killed dozens of dark wizards, and most of them were wandering wizards like you," Isabell explained. "Obviously, he's not happy that you're in the team. He hates dark wizards, and you'll take a part of the reward."
"Whatever…"
Angele's brow furrowed.
Isabell looked at him.
"Don't provoke him. He won't do anything to you when you're on my ship, but I'm afraid he'll try to stab you from the back if I'm not around."
Angele pursed his lips.
"How strong is he?"
Although he was not enraged by Kuirman's taunt, he was still a bit anxious.
"Just don't die. I need you to stabilize the rhino blood for me."
Isabell walked straight to the entrance of her cabin after her words.
Angele stood where he was, then shook his head. He felt speechless.
Chapter 177: Arrival (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
Angele's signet was strong, but he needed to hide it from the others. The extraction of the ancient blood was almost impossible, and the elders would force him to spit out the method if his signet was somehow found out by them.
He decided to only use the one-time heart bomb when necessary because the quality of his bombs was incredible, and a Gas stage wizard could not manage to craft enchanted items like that.
Angele could not trust anyone in the team, and he needed to make sure no one knew about the chip he had.
The only thing he could use all the time was the Metal Mastery. Sadly, the Talent Spell was not strong enough against a Liquid stage wizard. The last two times he had won his fights against the dark wizards were because he had used the signet.
Angele looked at Kuirman's ship again and returned to his own cabin.
**************************
Three days later.
It was afternoon, half of the setting sun already sunk into the horizon.
The red light of the sun painted the surface of the sea.
The first thing that appeared in Angele's sight after he left the cabin was the back of a ship-sized black whale, its skin coated with a golden glint.
On the left side of the whale, a group of muscular men slowly moved to the surface of the sea, holding black tridents in their hands.
There were about 20 men in the group. They were wearing blue leather armor. Their ears looked like fish fins and their skin was blue.
"Are you from Nola?" the leader of the merfolk team questioned.
"I'm Ainphent. Are you Sumail? Did the prince receive my letter?" a loud voice came from one of the ships.
The merfolk in Angele's sight looked identical to human beings, the only differences being their ears and skin.
The merfolk leader named Sumail waved his hand and countless merfolk appeared on the right side of the ships.
A smaller team left the group and quickly moved to one of the ships. Angele looked at the ship and saw Ainphent preparing to negotiate with the merfolk.
The merfolk team boarded the ship after several minutes, and their leader started talking with Ainphent in a low voice.
Angele turned around and saw Isabell's followers having a conversation beside the railing.
"Where's master Isabell?" Angele asked, walking over to them.
The blonde man that had brought Angele the Black Rose oil quickly turned around and slightly bowed.
"The master is resting in her cabin. I was told that she did not want to be disturbed," he responded politely.
"What's your name? When did you become master Isabell's follower?" Angele asked. He wanted to know more about the woman.
"My name is Dell. We're orphans, the master found us and raised us. Without master Isabell, we'd be dead on the street a long time ago. She gave us a home."
The blonde man had a bitter smile on his face.
"So, that's how she found three Grand Knights as followers…" Angele finally understood.
"Do you know anything about master Ainphent?"
"Master Ainphent…"
The blonde man traded eye contact with the other two followers.
"To be honest, we've never heard of him, at least in Nola," the female Grand Knight replied. "I assume Ainphent is not his real name, and I think he has a special mask on his face… Ainphent knows one of the merfolk princes, so he must have a strong background."
"One more question. Which organization are you from? If you don't mind telling me that."
The three looked surprised after hearing Angele's question. Dell stared at Angele, looking confused.
"Master Isabell never told you that?"
"She didn't," Angele said with a nod.
"We're from Jones Family of the Six Ring High Tower." Dell lowered his voice. "The Jones Family was one of the three strongest wizard families in Six Ring High Tower. Third of the registered wizards in the organization are related to us."
"Jones Family…"
Angele memorized the name.
Ainphent finally finished his negotiation, and the merfolk team left the ship, returning to their group.
They then slowly sank into the sea with the whale after several seconds.
Melissa's voice suddenly echoed in the sky.
"All ships, follow after Ainphent's ship. Stay with the team, otherwise, you might get attacked by the merfolk."
Melissa was speaking in Anmag. She repeated the sentence one more time in a different language, then stopped.
Angele looked at Ainphent's ship and saw it speed up and move to the front.
He heard footprints coming from behind while he was checking the other ships.
"Master Isabell."
The three Grand Knights and other soldiers on the decked bowed.
Angele turned around and saw Isabell walking toward him. She had changed into a white robe with purple edges and tied her hair up.
"We need to change our route. The merfolk aren't letting us pass through the area. I was told that they had business here," Isabell said in a light tone, looking tired.
Angele did not say anything. He could smell the burning wood mixed with blood in the air.
His sight was blurred by white mist but he could still see what was happing on the right side of his ship.
Groups of merfolk surrounded a humongous black castle ship that was burning. There were flame rays and ice lances flying in the air, and he could also see some strange glowing acid balls.
The energy barrier around the black ship kept the merfolk soldiers away temporarily, so the soldiers were waiting for the barrier to break.
Those in the front line all had white wooden shields in their hands. There was a black eye-shaped pattern painted in the center of their shields, and for some reason, the spells could not break them.
"The merfolk soldiers are waiting for their chance. The barrier is breaking," Angele said, his voice low.
"The merfolk tribes are uniting. They always wanted to regain their position on the lands since the ancient times. They didn't attack Nola because of the agreement. However, the situation is getting more intense lately," Isabell explained, but it almost looked like she was not talking to Angele. "Well, I hope the ship can return to the land if they can survive the fight…"
The Grand Knights and the soldiers had already left the railing; they did not want to interrupt the two wizards' conversation.
"At least they didn't declare war on Nola yet…" Angele smiled. "Did you try the rhino blood I gave you two days ago? How was it?"
"It's great." Isabell nodded. "I was going to start the energy ritual, but it seems like I can do it later."
"Are you sure you want to do this? If your body is turned into the energy form, you'll never be able to reach the next stage. Don't do it if you don't have to."
Angele's expression turned serious.
"I won't do it if the situation allows. I won't be human anymore if my body is turned into the energy…" Isabell responded with a light tone.
"Wait… Are you going to drink the rhino's blood? It'll be a painful experience."
Angele smelled a hint of blood from her body.
"I know the consequences. Do you really think it's an easy decision to make? I never questioned the diamond-shaped accessory on the back of your hand and you know the reason." Isabell wanted to end the conversation, she did not like the way Angele questioned her. "We're getting closer to the island. I need to make some preparations."
"Sure."
Angele decided to stop asking questions—it wasn't his business. He looked ahead and saw the edge of the island Isabell had been talking about.
The ship traveled on a different route and finally dropped all of the soldiers on a public mining area of the island.
The six wizards on the ships switched to a small boat with their followers and left the island during the night. They were heading to an area that wasn't yet colonized by the merfolk.
**************************
Angele was not sure how long they had traveled.
Fog rose from the sea while the ship was slowly advancing. The visibility was extremely low under the dark sky.
There were six people standing on the deck.
In the front, it was a thin old woman wearing a white robe.
Melissa held a small stone plate in her hands. The plate was gray and a string was attached to its edge. There was a black-red stone tied to the string, and the stone was leaning to a certain direction. It was almost like the stone was pulled by an invisible force.
Melissa stared at the stone with a serious expression on her face.
"We're getting closer. I left the other half of the stone on the island, and it'll guide us through the fog," Melissa said in a light tone.
Ainphent and Belem were standing behind Melissa. They looked like a close couple.
Kuirman stood beside the railing with his arms crossed, staring at the stone.
Angele stayed with Isabell, and both of them had no expressions on their faces. The only thing he could see around the ship was the fog, and he had no idea what the area around was.
"This fog is ridiculous. I don't think the others can track us down. There's no point to drug the followers."
Kuirman shook his head.
"I don't think you have the ability to predict the future."
Ainphent stared at him.
"That's it!" Melissa suddenly shouted out.
The area in front of the ship turned into pure darkness with her last word.
The boat left the fog and entered a new area.
Gray clouds covered the sky, and Angele was not sure if the blue glare on the water was from sunlight or moonlight.
An enormous dark shadow appeared on the horizon, and it was the destination of the team. Rays of white light shot through the gaps between the clouds and landed on the island.
The place was quiet and mysterious.
"That's our destination!" Melissa raised her head and examined the island, looking relieved.
"We're here!"
The ship drew a white straight line through the sea, and slowly moved toward the island.