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Chapter 409: Meeting (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu, Frappe

Angele talked with the wizards for two whole days before leaving the Blue Gold Cave. He quickly returned to the carriage.

Turin, Victoria, and Lela accepted the important missions that Angele gave them. Turin was in charge of creating a basic army and Victoria was in charge of creating an army of assassins. Lela needed to check the intel collected by the team members and send the report to Angele.

Angele would have everything ready as long as the three wizards were under his control. It did not matter if those wizards were loyal to him as the organization's contracts took care of the problem. Turin, Lela, and Victoria were strong wizards and they were recruited by Dark Wizard Tower because of their talent.

It would take some time for the three wizards to get used to their new job and Angele needed the time to attend the Count's party. Angele wanted to see how strong the Count was as the man was also in charge of the area.

Also, the rumor said that the Count had been helping the organization for a while.

　　*************************

On the edge of the Tarry River area. In the deep forest.

There was a white castle standing quietly on top of a mountain, surrounded by green trees.

The white castle was surrounded by four twisted paths, with numerous white arrow towers built on them.

It was getting dark outside—the night was about to come.

On the main path to the castle, there were luxurious carriages, moving slowly toward the top of the mountain.

Platinum carriages, black carriages with silver edges, black carriages with golden edges, and golden carriages. The expensive carriages were all advancing on the main path.

There were nobles of both sexes in beautiful suits and dresses sitting inside the carriages. There were also wizard apprentices that were having short conversations.

Most of the formal wizards in the carriages were not saying a word.

Angele slowly looked out the window and checked the carriages around him. There were only two formal wizards in the carriages behind him.

However, there were more than ten wizard apprentices.

Angele sat in the carriage quietly. He could feel that the carriage was climbing up the mountain.

He looked at the vibrant forest down the mountain—the trees became shorter and smaller in his sight.

The setting sun was slowly moving down in the endless sky and the pale orange light illuminated the ground.

Groups of black birds were passing by in the sky, they were rotating and twittering.

Angele inhaled deeply once and slowly exhaled.

He sat on the carriage for several days, so he was getting bored.

"Ham, what do you know about the Wheat City? And who's this Count of the Riverside Empire?" Angele questioned the coachman.

"Actually, it's normal that you don't know anything about the Riverside Empire—it's a small empire with five cities, and Wheat City is one of them. It's also the only territory of the Count," Ham explained. "However, he's a Count after all, and he's the leader of the Red Scimitar. He has a strong force in hand."

"What's Red Scimitar?" Angele wondered.

"You don't know the Red Scimitar? It's an organization with three formal wizards; it's one of the stronger organizations in the Tarry River area," Ham said.

Angele was a bit surprised. "Three formal wizards and it's a strong organization? The families in the air transportation city have more wizards than that."

"You're a Master Wizard and you probably don't know how rare it is for an organization in Tarry River Area to own three wizards. This place is at the edge of the central continent and you can't compare it to the air transportation city. The air transportation city is an important city with what it does and it must be guarded by a strong force. Actually, it's rare for a mortal like me to talk to a formal wizard. It's an honor." Ham sighed.

'So, this area is similar to the west coast,' Angele concluded in his mind.

"Where did you acquire that information?"

Ham chuckled. "I was once a Grand Knight and a follower of a wizard at the Crystal stage. I've served as a mercenary for more than 30 years. I travelled around the land for jobs with higher pay, that's how I collected the information."

"That's interesting. You must have enchanted items then?" Angele wondered. He was not asking about the complete enchanted items, he was asking about the damaged enchanted items that could still be activated. Wizards would gift such items to their servants or followers. If the follower or servant's inheritor had the potential to become an apprentice, he could send the inheritor to the wizard with the enchanted item so the wizard would know who the person was.

Most of the Grand Knights owned enchanted items and it was different from the situation on the west coast. The Grand Knights of the central continent were more talented and the wizards could help them activate some low-rank enchanted items. They were stronger than the Grand Knights of the west coast who could not activate the enchanted items.

"I do, but I don't think you'll be interested." Ham smiled. "The Count invited the people with strong backgrounds in the area to his party, including their sons and daughters. He said that it was a birthday party, but I think he's trying to find a wife for his only son."

"So, political marriage? Interesting." Angele had a general idea about the Count's situation.

The man was a leader of the Red Scimitar, a Count of a small country, and a core member of the Dark Wizard Tower. Angele was just an assistant to him—the Count's skill level had to be high.

The man also had a strong force in hand. However, the Count put so much effort into faking himself as an average nobleman. It was no doubt that the Count had a big plan in mind.

Angele decided to be careful when communicating with the Count.

They would exchange communication runes during the party and Angele needed to find a way to increase his mentality after that. He wanted to make sure that the members of his team would follow his orders.

Also, it was impossible for him to fight back if the monsters of the Nightmare Realm invaded the main world.

The Molten Core River was the only way to increase his mentality at a relatively fast rate.

The problem was that his progression with the meditation technique had slowed down after completing the third stage. Also, it was nearly impossible for him to complete the fourth stage due to his low talent level.

Most of the wizards who practiced the Molten Core River could only complete the fourth stage. They could go for the higher levels, but their speed would be greatly slowed down and it was nearly impossible for them to increase their mentality to the required level before they died.

They could not advance to the next stage with just rare resources and that was why the rank four wizards were highly respected by the wizard society.

'I should probably try and find a creature with high mentality in the Nightmare Realm,' Angele thought.

He avoided using his true power in the Nightmare Realm, but he needed the ancient bloodline to support his true form. Also, he would not draw too much attention if he was just extracting the blood of the creatures he captured.

Eye Devil collected a lot of bloodlines and built the blood pools after she broke the seal. She was just trying to recreate her true form as soon as possible.

Angele pondered as the carriage arrived at the top of the mountain. The guards at the arrow towers did not check his carriage since the Count already informed them about Angele's presence.

The other luxurious were all checked by the guards, but Angele moved to the top of the mountain without any problem.

On top of the mountain, there were two rows of maids in white dresses greeting the guests by the entrance of the castle. A team of guards in black armors was patrolling the area; there were several middle-aged men and women helping the guests that were stepping off the luxurious carriages.

A woman in black approached Angele's carriage as it stopped and opened the door for Angele.

"Welcome. The Count has been waiting for your arrival." The woman bowed politely.

Angele glanced around, nodded, and stepped down the carriage. He changed to a luxurious outfit on the way to the castle and there was a white crossguard sword on his belt as a decoration. He changed his appearance and hairstyle using a simple illusion spell.

The guests that just stepped out of the carriages looked at Angele and noticed his white noble suit; however, Angele's short black hair and average-looking face did not attract their attention.

Angele looked just like a son of a noble family. Although he was not handsome, his behavior was gentle and elegant; there was also a hint of cruelty in his eyes.

Another normal white carriage stopped by the gate, inside the carriage, it was a merchant and his daughter.

The merchant was a middle-aged chubby man, his daughter was wearing a white dress and a black ponytail. The girl had a beautiful face, a thin waist, and large breasts. She was about 16 or 17 years old, but she already had a nice body.

"I know the Count only invites people with strong background to his party." The chubby man noticed the presence of Angele. "Can you see that guy? The man looks like a normal son of a noble family, but his behavior shows that he's well-educated and hates wasting time. I think he must come from a large noble family."

The chubby man nodded and his daughter nodded as well after hearing the words. "You're saying that the guy has a strong background?"

"Yeah. He's probably a friend of the Count's son. I'm invited to the party because you're a friend of Miss, Sasha. I'm honored to have a daughter like you." The chubby man rubbed his hands. "You're the pride of my life."

The girl glared at the chubby man. "Dad, Sasha is just a friend of mine. I didn't become friends with her because of her background."

"It doesn't matter, haha."

Chapter 410: Searching (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu

In the garden outside the castle, there were guests chatting while walking around. Most of them were the young ones of the noble families and the rest were the merchant families. They looked polite and elegant with the wine glasses in their hands.

Angele followed the woman through the door and arrived at the dinner hall.

The hall was painted in gold, with a thick yellow carpet on the floor. There were several servers putting down dishes on the long rectangular table.

There were crispy roast geese, colorful vegetable salads, soft white bread, saucy dark cow liver, and thick honey soup.

The guests could select the food they wanted and servers would pour wine for them.

Angele glanced at the guests. His sight fell upon a middle-aged nobleman that was surrounded by several nobles while talking with a noblewoman.

The middle-aged man was about 30 or 40 years old and there was a gentle smile on his face. He had a muscular body, hidden under his white army suit, and behaved elegantly. It seemed like he had been serving in the army.

He noticed that Angele was looking at him and turned his head to Angele.

"Excuse me." He bowed slightly to the other nobles and went across the hall, stopping in front of Angele.

"So, you're here? I thought you'd be late." The man raised his right hand. He was prepared for Angele's arrival.

Angele raised his right hand as well and gave the man a high five.

"Well, that's a weird way to greet people."

"Is that so?" The man chuckled. "Someone said the same thing to me before. Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself, I'm the Count of the Wheat City."

"The name's Green. I know you're the Count, but what's your name?" Angele grabbed a glass of green fruit wine from the server's plate.

"Name? Everyone knows that I'm the Count of the Wheat City. No one has called me using my real name for so long that I forgot what my name is. Just call me Count, it's fine."

"Alright." Angele shrugged. "Is there a better place to talk?"

"Follow me." The Count turned around and walked to the hallway on the left of the hall.

Angele followed after the Count, who stopped the guards or servants that wanted to help him.

The hallway was getting darker and the oil lamps on the walls started fading. Some of the oil lamps were already extinguished.

The light in the hallway weakened as well.

They almost walked around the whole castle while in the same hallway.

On the left side of the hallway, there were white stone pillars lining up. Outside those stone pillars, there was an unorganized garden, a gentle wind blowing over its plants.

The nobleman stopped by a round fountain and turned around.

"This is the back of the castle and also my private garden. No one will interrupt us here." The man was still wearing a gentle smile on his face, but the expression looked a bit strange under the dim light cast by the flame.

"As one of the people in charge, I need to know the details of the plan." Angele checked the surroundings using his mentality and asked directly.

"Details of the plan, huh? That'll take a while." The Count turned around and pressed on the white wall.

*WOO*

A twisted black rune that was about two meters long appeared on the surface of the wall, surrounded by tiny floral patterns on its edge.

Black glow flashed on the surface of the rune. The Count stepped into the wall without any hesitation. He disappeared into the wall without any problems.

Angele narrowed his eyes as he saw the man disappearing into the wall. He tapped on his pouch and created a translucent energy barrier.

The energy barrier turned invisible within seconds and Angele stepped into the wall as well.

*CHI*

He disappeared into the wall and arrived in a dark tiny room.

There was a fist-sized oil lamp on the wall, the Count was standing beside it. He just lighted the oil lamp up and turned to face Angele.

"This is one of the secret chambers in the castle. Alright, I'll show you my plan."

There was a yellow sand plate in the center of the room. The mountains, rivers, and forests were simulated on the plate and the cities were represented by tiny models. It felt like looking at the central continent from the sky.

There were several black arrows that were drawn with ink beside those city models.

Angele walked to the other side of the sand plate and approached the Count.

"That's how you improve your plan?"

The Count nodded. "I was the only one in charge of the area and I could complete the plan by myself. Purple Eye, you can write a report and inform the headquarters about the situation." He stopped for a second and pushed a city model slightly forward. "It's great to have someone to talk to."

"So, you're confident in your plan?" Angele looked at the sand plate. The sand plate successfully simulated the landscape of the whole central continent.

The Count chuckled. "It's not about how confident I am. The plan must succeed." He pointed at a city in front of him. "That's our current location. The edge of the Tarry River area and the Molten River area. The war going on in the Tarry River area is also part of my plan."

Angele knew that the Count did not want to tell him the actual situation so that the Count would be the one who contributed the most to the plan.

"If you're confident, I'll be your assistant and follow your orders. There's not much I can do if the plan is already completed, but can you tell me about the progression?"

"Of course." The Count smiled and pressed on the edge of the sand plate.

*KA*

Light flashed upon the sand plate; dozens of white light dots and red light dots appeared on the map.

The light dots slightly brightened up the room.

Angele looked at those light dots carefully and listened to the Count's explanation. "The white dots represent the locations or organizations that already joined the plan, but none of them knows about the actual situation. The red dots still need some work, but everything is almost done. It took me more than 30 years to finish all those."

The Count sounded relaxed.

Angele glared at the Count and looked at the sand plate again.

Most of the light dots were white on the map created with the sand plate. Some of the red dots were slowly turning white, they were still in the process of joining the plan.

"Impressive. I know why you were selected by the organization now. I'm willing to help you if you need." Angele smiled.

"Sure, I'm counting on you, Master Purple Eye." The Count laughed and rubbed his beard.

*PA*

One of the red dot suddenly exploded when the two were talking to each other.

"Huh?!" The Count's expression changed as he looked at the sand plate.

"What happened?" Angele wondered. "Is there anything wrong?"

"No worries, it's just a small problem." The smile returned to the Count's face. "I'll take care of it."

"It's probably not the first time it happened?" Angele looked at the red dot. It was a small city beside the river named White Elephant. "Do you need my help?"

"It's fine. I have my methods," the Count responded confidently.

Angele looked at the Count and he noticed that the man was trying to warn him. The Count wanted to be the one that was rewarded by the organization since he'd been preparing the plan for years.

The Count raised his right hand and tapped on the location where the red dot exploded.

*CHI*

A triangular white light screen with clear images flashing on it appeared over the sand plate.

It was night. Beside a building that was burning with intense flames, a wounded man and a girl were looking at the conflagration, their bodies illuminated by the orange light.

Beside the two people, there were many dead bodies in white outfits. It seemed like they were from the same organization. One of the dead bodies was a tall and muscular man. He died with his eyes open while he was still standing

Angele noticed that the Count's expression changed again as he checked the scene. It seemed like he knew the man and the girl. Those dead bodies were probably members of the Count's team.

Angele looked at the man and the girl. They looked familiar to him.

Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes.

"He's the son of the Lord from the Thousand Waterfall City. Why is he here?" He was a bit surprised.

Angele glared at the Count and noticed that the man's face twitched. He knew that he was correct.

"The girl standing beside him must be Suman's lover, Sella," Angele continued.

"You're… correct." Smile returned to the Count's face again. "You've only met them once at the party held by Shozo and you recognized them immediately. Ah, you and Shozo are taught by the same teacher, right? Sella is a relative of Shozo. I want to eliminate Suman and Sella, I wonder if it'll be a problem to you."

"Of course not," Angele responded in a serious tone. "However, it seemed like they defeated your men... again, do you need my help?"

"Don't worry." The Count calmed down. "Again, I'll take care of it myself."

Chapter 411: Searching (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu

"I hope the incident won't affect the initiation of the big plan," Angele suggested indirectly.

"It won't." The Count removed the light dots from the sand plate. "Let me show you the interesting intel I collected over the years."

Angele nodded and stopped talking. He had a general idea of how the Count would treat him.

The Count thought he could execute the plan by himself and he did not want a stranger to interrupt him. Also, the man only told Angele the basic information, and it seemed like the inheritor of the Thousand Waterfall City, Suman, was the biggest problem to him at the moment.

Angele was a bit confused, he had scanned Suman himself and he knew that the man was not capable of killing so many people. There had to be something the Count was hiding from him.

　　*******************************

Although the Count did not tell Angele the actual progress of his plan, Angele still had a general idea of the situation after the conversation. He was not really interested in the Dark Wizard Tower's plan; the reason why he followed the order was the contract he'd signed. The Count did not need his help and it was a win-win situation for him.

They returned to the party hall and the Count gave a speech after greeting the guests.

Angele stood in the corner of the hall with a glass of green wine in hand. He was checking the situation in the hall as it would be disrespectful if he left the hall when the party just started.

The dishes on the table were quite attractive to Angele since he only had meat jerkies on the way here.

The band started playing music as the Count finished the speech. There were also dancers dancing on the dancing floor.

The nobles standing beside Angele were introducing themselves to the people they met. The atmosphere in the party hall was light.

Angele picked up a plate of roast goat after finishing a whole bottle of green wine and walked to the balcony.

It was an empty balcony as it was on the other side of the hall; however, someone was already there before Angele.

There was a young girl wearing a long white dress standing on the balcony. The moonlight illuminated the girl's black hair and smooth skin. It was a girl with an average-looking face and a pair of clean eyes.

The girl put her hands on the metal handle and she glared at Angele surprisingly after hearing the footsteps from behind.

Angele smiled lightly. "Sorry, I didn't know there was already someone here."

"No worries." The girl shook her head. "You don't like the noisy environment, right?"

"Yeah." Angele nodded. "I prefer quiet places."

The girl nodded. "I prefer quiet places too. I don't care what the others think of me and I don't have to follow all those rules… I just want to relax."

Angele smiled and put down the plate in the corner of the handle and looked down, he did not say anything.

Under the moonlight, there was a sea of the dark forest below the mountain.

The wind soared over the trees; there was an orange line advancing slowly on the far side.

"It must be the merchants' carriages passing by," the girl muttered.

"Is this normal?" Angele wondered.

"Yeah, this territory is famous for its rich fruit wine, hence those merchants come here," the girl explained.

"What do you think of the Count? Do you like him?" Angele questioned.

"The Count is a nice person and he's kind to everyone." The girl had no idea why Angele asked that.

"I'm not familiar with the Count. Does he have any family?" Angele smiled.

"Yeah, he has a son and a daughter. He especially loves his son, Olive; he also has a beautiful wife. That's all I know," the girl answered honestly.

Angele smiled, but he was praising the Count in his mind. The man was probably a rank 4 wizard but he still made sure that the others thought he was just a mortal.

However, it was possible that the Count was enjoying the life of a mortal.

Angele recalled the conversation he had with the man.

Angele stopped chatting after talking with the girl for a while. He put his hands on the metal handle and enjoyed the night view.

The place was deadly silent.

Angele finished the meat on his plate as the party ended. He asked the girl about her name before leaving.

"Beatrice, what about you?" the girl responded.

"Green, just call me Green." The girl was different from the other girls he knew. Although she had an average-looking face, she left a deep impression in Angele's mind due to her unique personality.

Angele got on the black carriage that was waiting for him and left the mountain with the other leaving nobles.

He needed to find a way to increase his mentality and the ancient bloodline might be helpful. The Count declined Angele's offer, so Angele had no reason to help with the man's plan.

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

One month later, in the Nightmare Realm.

The sunlight of the early morning reflected off the surface of the Ness River.

Angele crouched by the river and looked at the water with his brow furrowed.

"Why is the water level increasing?" His sight fell upon the other river on the opposite side of the Ness River.

Last time, he retreated after encountering the mutated dragonflies. He decided to explore the other direction, but the water level of the Ness River was increasing for no reason, and the mansion would probably sink into the water if it did not stop.

According to the information Eye Devil gave him, anything could happen in the Nightmare Realm, and the change of the landscape was normal. The realm was called the Nightmare Realm for a reason.

A river could turn into a mountain in a day.

Angele stood up and looked at the other side of the Ness River. His sight was blocked by the white mist and the only thing he could see was something gray.

Freia and Orphie had improved over the days. Freia was no longer a lonely girl and Angele informed them that he would be outside exploring for a while. He wanted to make sure that they were not worried about him.

Angele's goal was to find a suitable ancient bloodline so he could use it in his experiment.

He walked past the small house by the river and kept advancing.

The mud under his feet was wet and cold. He was wearing a pair of leather boots, his steps the only source of sound in his surroundings.

Angele looked at the river that was running into the Ness River as he walked.

The shore of the river was covered with light-yellow mud and the path led directly into the mist.

The wind was getting chilling, so Angele tightened his collar. With a flick of his finger, the Fire energy particles warmed his body up.

Raising his head, the mist that was blocking the path turned into thick white fog. The fog was getting thicker and thicker as he advanced.

"The same as the last time?" He could feel that his dry skin on the hand was wetted by the fog.

Angele turned his head around—the mansion and the small house were no longer in his sight; the only thing he could see was the river.

He inhaled deeply and found the chilling air refreshing. He started advancing again.

Time passed.

Angele increased his speed in the endless fog, but the fog just would not go away. It felt like the river shore was leading him into the abyss.

He suddenly heard the noise made by the water as he walked. Angele stopped and noticed that the noise was coming from behind.

Turning around, the sky was getting dark and the light was fading away.

Angele found that there was an arched black stone gate on the place that he just walked by. The gate was about two meters tall.

The stone gate looked heavy. Inside the gate, there was a dark blue sky and the surface of a clear blue sea.

The sea waves hit the shore; they were the source of the noise.

Angele narrowed his eyes and looked at the gray sky over his head.

He then looked at the blue sky in the gate. The place inside the gate looked like a new world to him.

"Is this part of the changes?" He slowly walked to the gate.

There were complicated plant and monster engravings on the edge of the gate. The engravings were covered with dark green moss and some of them were damaged.

Angele put his hands on the edge of the gate, he could smell the fragrance of the sea.

It seemed like the gate led to a sea that was somewhere far away from here.

The blue light from the sky illuminated the spacious beach by the sea.

Everything on the other side of the door was blue.

The beach was surprisingly smooth, there was no stone or shell to be seen anywhere. It seemed like there was no living being in the world behind the gate. The beach and the sea were deadly silent.

Angele could still hear the waves hitting the shore, but he did not see any creatures.

It felt like he was the only person in the world at the moment. He felt depressed and lonely for some reason. Angele glanced around and again, the only thing he could see was the thick fog.

Chapter 412: The Gate (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu

"Is this an illusion?" Narrowing his eyes, Angele walked around the gate.

The black gate sat quietly on the shore of the river and there was nothing behind it.

Angele returned to the front of the gate and peeked inside again.

The smooth beach, the blue sea, and the clear sky, everything looked the same. However, the place was too empty and it looked like a large piece of sapphire.

He could hear the noise made by the waves and smell the fragrance of the sea.

Angele thought for a while, then raised his right hand and reached into the gate.

He did not feel anything; there was no defensive spell or barrier by the gate, and it seemed like the air inside the gate was also the same.

Angele hesitated but he still slowly stepped into the gate.

He looked back as he stood on the other side of the gate. Angele could see the thick white fog over the Ness River.

The black gate was still standing on the beach alone, and it was the only thing Angele could see in his sight. There was no stone or any living creature.

Angele stayed calm, he formed an eye-shaped circle with his hands in front of his chest.

The slow incantation echoed in the air.

*CHI*

A red eye appeared between his hands. The eye was formed by red flames and it was burning in the air, releasing eye-blinding red light.

Angele pointed upward.

The fist-sized eye quickly flew into the air, then looked down. The view of the eye was displayed in Angele's sight.

On the edge of the endless sea, the smooth beach looked like a large piece of blue paper with a tall black gate standing on it, and a young man in a black robe was looking around by the gate.

Angele could see that the area ahead was covered with thin blue mist and it seemed like there was something spinning in it.

*PA*

The fire eye burnt out and cracked.

Angele's brow furrowed, he thought about the scene he just saw and went around the stone gate. He looked at the other side of the beach, but the only thing there was the thin blue mist he saw earlier.

He tapped the edge of the black stone gate, leaving a glowing black rune on the surface, and walked toward the blue mist.

About ten minutes later, a large farm appeared in his front.

The farm was built on the beach, but it did not look like it belonged to the blue beach.

The farmland was divided into four equal areas and there was a tall windmill standing in the center of the land.

Strangely, the fans of the windmill were replaced by four black butterfly wings.

There was no wind in the blue mist. The fans of the windmill looked like spinning black butterflies that were flying without the help of the wind.

It was a large farm. Angele could see the blue mist on the other side of the farm and he could hear the noise made by the windmill. It seemed like the windmill he saw was not the only one on the farm.

The noise made by the windmill was mixed with the noise made by the sea waves.

Angele stepped onto the farm while checking the surroundings carefully. There were no crops on the farm, it was just a clean gray land.

He could smell the fragrance of flowers after walking for several minutes. Angele approached one of the windmills and stopped in front of it. The butterfly wings were moving above his head.

Angele touched the wall of the mill carefully.

It was cold, soft, and smooth. He pressed down and created a small hole in the wall.

Angele went around the windmill and noticed that there was no entrance to it.

*CHI*

Suddenly, Angele heard a noise that sounded like hoe hitting the mud.

*CHI*

The same noise went into his ears again.

Angele looked around and noticed that there was someone hitting the mud with a hoe in the blue mist.

Angele's lips moved, he chanted the incantation without saying a word. Red light flashed on the surface of his body quickly.

He took out a glass tube with blue liquid inside from the pouch and held it in hand as he walked to the man.

Angele could finally see the man as he got closer.

It was a middle-aged bald man that had the same height as him. He was wearing a black farmer suit, holding a black hoe in his hand; there was no expression on his face.

The man was hitting the mud with his hoe and it seemed like he did not notice Angele's presence.

"Hey…" Angele stopped when he was two meters away from the man and asked loudly, "Do you know what this place is?" He was speaking the ancient language.

The bald man turned around and looked at Angele with his soulless eyes.

Angele noticed that there was a white windmill on top of the man's bald head. The windmill was spinning slowly; it looked like a plant that rooted in the man's head.

The man looked at Angele and it seemed like he did not hear Angele's words.

"Can you understand my word?" Angele questioned.

There was no response.

Angele scrunched his brow and took two steps back.

The man quickly turned around and started hitting the ground with his hoe again.

Angele's expression turned serious and he returned the potion to the pouch. He touched the second pair of eyes he had with the right hand.

"I shall reveal my true form."

The second pair of eyes opened and the glowing golden eyes rolled.

Angele's body started increasing in size and a long black horn appeared on top of his head. His horn quickly reached his waist and the teeth in his mouth looked sharp like a sawtooth.

'I can check the memory of the creatures that are weaker than me. Let me see if this guy has any valuable information in his brain.' Angele's true form had the similar power as a rank 4 wizard, but his mentality was low. His body was strong, his defensive ability and recovery were incredible.

The petrification ability was eliminated by the bloodline of the ancient one-eyed giant. The bloodline of the scorpion woman had merged with the bloodline of the ancient giant and those two bloodlines created a balance in Angele's body.

Angele's high attributes came from the bloodline of the one-eyed giant, his memory check and the illusion abilities came from the bloodline of the scorpion woman.

He had used the memory check ability once on the human girl he saved from Eye Devil's party. The memory check ability was different from the one used by the wizards, it would not damage the target's body; however, it was weaker than the method used by the wizards. The only thing Angele could get was what the target was thinking and there were certain limitations.

Angele was more than four meters tall and he was wearing a black armor that was covered with bone spikes. His four eyes were blinking at the same time. With the long red hair and the long horn, the man looked like a terrifying monster from fairy tales.

He stood in front of the farmer, the shadow of his body covering the latter.

However, the bald farmer acted like Angele was not here; he was just working with his hoe.

"Alright, what're you thinking…" Angele reached to the farmer's hand with his enormous right hand.

The man's forehead was covered by Angele's hand and he stopped moving. The windmill on top of the man's head slowly stopped spinning.

Blurry images flashed in Angele's mind.

"Harvest in three days… Harvest in three days…"

A deep voice echoed in Angele's brain.

In the images, Angele saw golden sunflowers slowly growing in the farmland. Each of the sunflowers had a diameter of two meters. Their pupils looked like the faces of sleeping human beings.

Some of them were males and some of them were females, but all of them were sleeping.

"The flower…" The sunflower reminded Angele of the strange plant he saw during an exploration when he was still an apprentice.

However, he was certain that the sunflower he'd encountered in the mansion was much smaller than those in the farmer's memory.

"That's where those sunflowers came from. The flowers in the mansion must be from here." Angele heard loud footsteps coming from the blue mist before he could analyze the situation.

Two tall men in black rushed out of the blue mist.

"Juss!" The two men roared in a hoarse voice and rushed Angele. They were shouting in a shaky tone and the word sounded weird.

The two men's upper bodies looked just like muscular male human beings, however, the bottom half of their bodies were formed by waist-sized hooves. The hooves looked like the hooves of donkeys, but oversized.

They were not walking; they were jumping, and the earth was shaking with mud splashing everywhere under their steps.

Angele took two steps back and looked at the two men with donkey hooves. He noticed that they were just slightly shorter than him. They were wearing black farmer suits and had a crazed look on their faces.

The two men struck forward with their fists when they were about ten meters away from Angele. Two head-sized shock waves flew toward Angele quickly.

*BAM BAM*

Angele was pushed back by the impact as the two shock waves landed on his shoulders. He could feel the intense pain building up in his body.

Chapter 413: The Gate (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu

Angele was enraged, he roared and hit one of the hoofed men with his right fist. His long red hair was flying in the air despite there being no wind, turning into countless red spikes and striking the man on the other side.

*BAM*

The hoofed man hit Angele's fist hard with a thunderous sound, then took several steps back after the impact. His face turned pale and he was breathing heavily.

Angele's hair hit the other hoofed man's body; however, it felt like hitting a large piece of thick iron, and the hoofed man did not take any damage after being slowed down.

*BAM*

Angele's chest took a hard strike, causing blood to spurt out of his mouth. However, he made use of this opportunity to grab the hoofed man's neck, twisting it to the left.

*KA*

The man's head turned 180 degrees and it seemed like he was killed.

*NAA*

The other man saw it and started roaring; his voice sounded like that of a goat. It seemed like he was preparing for the next strike, and he indeed charged toward Angele right after releasing the roar.

Angele leaned to the side and hit the man with the black spike on his elbow.

*CHI*

The spike stabbed into the man's face and pierced through his brain.

*PA*

The last hoofed man fell to the ground.

Angele stretched his back, then looked at the two hoofed men on the ground and scrunched his eyebrows.

"I wouldn't have taken any damage if I'd already got used to my true form…" He turned around and looked at the bald farmer before finishing the sentence.

It seemed like the farmer was not disturbed by the battle. He just started to hoe the ground after Angele moved away.

Angele was not concerned. He walked to the two hoofed men's dead bodies and crouched.

He touched the wound on one of the men's face and sent some of the white blood into his mouth.

It was sour and bitter. The blood had a fragrance of durian, but the biochip showed no sign of bacteria.

'Create an analysis task and compare the results. Tell me if it's similar to the blood of any creature in the database,' Angele ordered in mind.

'Task created. Analyzing the blood sample…'

A hologram of a standing hoofed man appeared in Angele's sight and started spinning slowly. Rows of data were being refreshed under the hologram.

Angele was concerned about the progress of the analysis and decided to focus on the two dead bodies.

He checked the two hoofed men's pockets, but there was nothing inside. He then pulled the edge of their clothes lightly.

*CHI*

The clothes on the two men's bodies were torn apart easily and their naked bodies were exposed to the air.

The body of a hoofed man was weird; the man had no genitals, and the bottom half of his body was just a black donkey hind leg that was covered with hair. Angele thought that it was a man just by looking at his face.

The only difference between the hoofed man and a normal human being was the bottom half of his body.

'Analysis completed, display results?' Zero reported back.

'Yes,' Angele agreed.

'New file created: Donkey Giant.'

'Strength 36.2, Agility 11.3, Stamina 21.7, Mentality Unknown. Bloodline comparison result: Ancient Donkey Giant.'

'Ancient Donkey Giant: No detailed data. Talent Skill: Strong Reproductive Ability (a Donkey Giant can impregnate any creature). Note: If you meet one donkey giant, there will be more to come. Donkey giant usually doesn't appear alone.'

The data from the biochip was regenerated from the wizard who left the voice message.

Angele's expression changed as he heard the last sentence.

*NAA*

He heard the familiar roar from the far side.

Angele stood up and he was planning to retreat.

'I should probably kill them all. Although the bloodline is not useful, I may be able to convert it into a rune.' An evil thought somehow rose up in his mind.

However, he realized something.

'I took damage from just two donkey giants. If they come in groups, I won't be able to survive the fight. What was I thinking?'

Angele shook his head and stopped thinking. He grabbed the dead bodies and started leaving the farm.

He left an eye of fire in the air above the windmills.

After about half a minute, more than 100 donkey giants charged into the farm; they ignored the farmer and started to search for Angele.

Angele hid in the thick mist outside the farm and was monitoring the situation using the eye of fire. The giants had no way to track him down and they were just wandering around on the farm. They retreated as they did not find anything.

Peace returned to the farm and the eye of fire slowly disappeared into the air.

Angele was standing beside the stone gate on the beach. He had extracted all the white blood from the two dead bodies and turned it into a head-sized blood ball that was floating in the air.

The size of the blood ball was decreasing and there was white steam rising from its surface.

Angele reached into the blood ball with one of his fingers and the eyes on his brow closed, while the other pair of eyes was checking the surroundings constantly.

About three hours later, the floating blood ball turned into the size of a walnut.

Angele opened his mouth.

*CHI*

The blood ball flew into his mouth like a lightning and he swallowed it quickly.

Seconds later, his expression changed as he opened his eyes.

'There's not much this bloodline can do since it's similar to the bloodline of the one-eyed giant, but it'll increase my Stamina.'

He pressed his chest with the right hand.

Angele roared, his muscles started expanding again and his height increased from four meters to about five meters. The muscles of his balanced body were hard and strong.

He had already recovered from the damage he took earlier.

'The bloodline of the donkey giant is useless. I wonder what the tiny windmill over the farmer's head is. Sadly, it's not related to any bloodline. I'll name this area the Butterfly Farm; I should move on.'

The bloodline of the donkey giant barely contributed anything to Angele's body—it increased his strength slightly, but it just felt like an appetizer of a meal.

Also, the bloodline of the donkey giant failed to improve Angele's genes, most of its features were already in the bloodline of the one-eyed giant.

It was just a waste of time.

Angele's situation was a bit complicated. The strong bloodlines of the one-eyed giant and the scorpion woman had already improved his genes to a different level. He needed to find the bloodlines that were at the similar level as the two high-level bloodlines he had.

It was impossible for him to find anything like that in the main world. There were barely any valuable bloodlines in the main world and he would have to kill countless creatures to find them. The Nightmare Realm was the best place for him to search at this point.

For some reason, Angele noticed that his thoughts had changed after stepping through the stone gate.

Some random thoughts would jump into his mind and they interrupted Angele's normal thinking process.

Angele recalled the things that happened at the Butterfly Farm and assumed that it was an issue with the environment.

It seemed like something was interrupting the living beings' thoughts on this side of the gate.

Angele took a deep breath. He wanted to embrace the chilling air and calm himself down. He could hear the rhythmical noise made by the waves.

He noticed that the noise made by the waves was following a specific pattern and never changed.

Narrowing his eyes, Angele walked to the sea and the waves hitting the beach. He glanced at the endless sea, but did not find anything.

'Zero, record the noise made by the waves and analyze the frequency of the sound.'

'Task created… Sound collected… Analyzing the frequency…'

Angele closed his eyes and focused on listening to the sound of the waves that was recorded by the chip.

*Swish Swish*

The rhythmical noise kept repeating.

'Slow it down.' Angele gave the order as his brow furrowed.

The sound slowed down immediately, but it still just sounded like a normal voice made by the waves.

'Slow it down by 20 times.' Angele did some calculation and gave the order again.

*Swish*

The noise finally changed, it sounded like the TV static.

'Slow it down by 5 times.' Angele's expression changed.

*CHI CHII CHIII CHIIII*

Suddenly, Angele noticed something strange from the sound of the waves.

'Slow it down by three more times.' Angele thought.

*CHI CHII CHIIIII*

The noise made by the waves was gone, it sounded like a beast roaring.

The voice was making Angele anxious for some reason.

'Alright, slow it down by 30 more times.'

The voice changed again after the biochip modified its speed.

"Help… Help us… Please… Help us…'

It was hoarse, deep, and slow voice that was mixed with some static. The voice sounded like it was recorded on a device and was extremely slow.

Goosebumps rose from Angele's skin as he listened to the voice.

Angele looked at the sea and it seemed like there was something hiding under the water. He hesitated and started thinking.

Chapter 414: The Bridge (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu

Angele stood on the beach for about half an hour and checked all the belongings he had. He made sure that all his potions were still effective and started moving to the left slowly.

The smooth and clean blue beach was expanding; the black stone gate looked like a small black dot far behind him.

Angele was advancing at a fast pace as the waves hit the beach constantly. He checked the surroundings nonstop with blue light dots flashing in front of his eyes.

About two hours later, there was still nothing in front and the blue sea was still endless; everything looked normal.

Angele stopped, taking out a black nutrition potion and pouring it into his mouth slowly. The nutrition potion could prevent him from getting hungry or thirsty for the next several days.

'The waves are getting noisier,' Angele thought. He noticed that something was changing.

After finishing the potion, Angele rested for a while and started advancing again.

Minutes later, a white island appeared on the surface of the sea. The island was floating on the sea alone and looked like a large leaf.

Angele stopped moving and overlooked the island.

On the beach of the white island, there were several blurry shadows that looked like short men. The rest of the island was covered in a thick blue fog.

Angele checked the distance between him and the island as his brow furrowed.

The Metal Mastery still needed some time to be fixed. Although he had other methods to travel across the sea, he would not be able to fight back if he encountered anything on the way to the island.

Angele hesitated, but he still started approaching the island.

'A race with the ability to seal their voices in the waves. It must be a strong ancient bloodline with high mentality. Maybe I can find the bloodline or item I want from them.' A thought climbed up Angele's mind.

He stepped into the sea with his black leather boots.

"Agglomerate." He pointed at the water under his feet.

*CHI*

A thick layer of green light dots appeared and they quickly formed a green staircase.

It was a rectangular staircase that was surrounded by a green glow; its size was perfect for Angele to walk on.

Seconds later, the staircase started expanding in front of Angele and turned into a long staircase that led directly to the lonely island.

Angele walked on the staircase and moved to the island.

It was a basic spell that could form wind and water energy particles into a staircase. Angele spent years studying and learning about the spell models, it was the perfect time to utilize his knowledge. He knew a lot of weak spells that might come in handy sometimes.

Although those spells might not work during a battle, they could assist him in complicated situations like this.

The waves were still moving on the surface of the sea.

Angele's expression slowly turned serious as he got closer to the island.

There were broken brown wooden planks in the water around the island, they looked like pieces of wrecked boats. He could finally see the situation on the island.

Three children wearing white clothes were standing on the beach, waving and shouting at Angele.

"Help!"

"Help us!"

"Please, help us!"

Angele watched the children shouting and waving at him. However, the movements of those children were slightly mechanical, they looked like robots repeating the same behaviors.

'Rising tide, ship accident, or… they're probably already dead…'

Angele guessed and narrowed his eyes.

The faces of those children were pale, it almost looked like they were soaked in water, and blood was spurting out of their eyes, leaving two trails of blood on their faces.

Angele looked at the island speechlessly.

"You can see us, right? You can see us!" A boy on the island shouted at Angele loudly. He had a pair of large eyes but he was staring at Angele soullessly. "Please! Help us! Help us! Help… Help… Help… us…!" The voice changed, it became long and deep. It was no longer a voice of a child, the voice sounded like it was from an old man with his mouth covered by a piece of paper. The scene was mysterious and terrifying.

The voices of those children became deeper and deeper as the time passed.

Angele was not sure if he should keep advancing and answer those kids.

The voices of the children turned louder as Angele was about to retreat. It felt like those children were just several meters away from him.

Angele's head was dizzy and he could barely think of any solution.

"Trying to interrupt my thoughts again?" Raising his right hand, he pushed forward.

Red light flashed, a head-sized lava ball spun and flew toward the three children that were standing on the island.

The red cracks on the surface of the lava ball were filled up with golden lava. The temperature of the lava ball was extremely high and water started evaporating as the ball traveled by.

The lava ball started shrinking and it landed accurately in front of the three children.

*BOOM*

Red light stroke into the air as the lava ball exploded; the beach of the island was covered with the golden lava drops.

The whole beach was hot and there was white steam rising in the air.

The voices of the children disappeared after the explosion.

Angele looked at the beach and the three children were nowhere to be found, it felt like that they were never there as they left no trace on the beach.

Some of the blue fog disappeared after the intense explosion.

Narrowing his eyes, Angele started walking again.

'I should pay the island a visit since I'm already here.'

The island was getting closer and closer. Angele could feel the heat left by the explosion, and the melted stones already started solidifying on the ground.

*Ka*

Angele stepped on the beach and walked to the location where the three children used to be.

Only a two-meter-long hole was left there, created by the explosion of the lava ball.

Angele crouched and checked the hole, but he did not find anything there.

Standing up, he looked around.

It was a round island and he could see a large bridge deep in the blue fog that led straight to the sky from the ground.

The sky bridge was blurry, dark, quiet, and mysterious.

"Help us…" The voice appeared again and was echoing in Angele's ears. It felt like someone was whispering in his ears.

Angele's expression changed and he checked the surroundings.

"Pitiful…!" He snorted and took out a light blue potion from his pouch, inside it was some glowing blue liquid.

He threw the potion into the air.

*Crack*

The test tube cracked and it sounded like glass being broken.

A strong vortex appeared above the island.

The noise made by the vortex was getting louder and louder. It started gathering the blue fog and turning it into a blue vortex.

The bottom of the vortex was connected to the center of Angele's palm.

The thick blue fog gathered together and turned into some blue liquid after spinning for a while, slowly dropping into an empty bottle in Angele's hand.

The rest of the island was cleared as the fog disappeared.

The small island had a diameter of around ten meters and was surrounded by the sea.

Angele saw a long yellow stone tower, sitting on the other side of the island quietly.

The stone bridge was connected directly to the sky. The upper part of the bridge was old and broken, but it led to the endless sky. Angele had no idea what was above the bridge.

The voice had disappeared from Angele's ears. He returned the bottle to the pouch and glanced around.

There were three children in white standing in front of the stone bridge facing backward; they were looking at the sky without saying a word.

The bodies of the children started melting slowly without making any noise, just like a candle, turning into pools of white liquid and sinking into the ground.

Angele walked to the stone bridge quickly and stood where the three children disappeared.

There was a sentence written on the surface of the bridge in the ancient language.

'Nightmare Realm Year 544. We discovered the gate to another dimension. This is an interesting bridge. We three can't do any damage to it. It's a great exploration and I'm sure there is something exciting waiting for us.'

The words were small but clean.

Angele found a small piece of white cloth that was hidden under a small black stone.

He crouched and grabbed the stone.

"Give it back!" Someone screamed at him from behind—it was the voice from one of the children.

Angele turned around, but nobody was there.

He sneered and patted his pouch. A translucent energy barrier quickly surrounded his body.

The defensive barrier from the crystal scorpion could block the attack from the soul forms and that was the reason why Vivian gifted him this magic device. The barrier was weak to spells, but it was great against soul attacks.

Angele checked the black stone in his hand.

'The stone is not from this island.' Angele noticed that all the stones on the island were white and it seemed like the stone was from another area.

The white cloth quickly turned into ashes as he picked up the stone and disappeared into the wind.

Chapter 415: The Bridge (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu

The cloth was exposed to the sun and wind for too long. It was normal for it to decompose after the stone was removed.

Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes. "An ancient race, huh? That's what I'm looking for. I assume what's left of you is on the bridge."

Angele raised his head and looked at the bridge.

The yellow stone bridge led straight into the endless sky and had a smooth surface that was built with yellow bricks. The gaps between the bricks looked like the lines used in the runes. They were old but mysterious.

"It might be a ruin…" Angele guessed and stepped onto the bridge.

The footsteps echoed in the air and he was advancing at a fast pace.

Time passed...

About half an hour later, Angele was still walking on the stone bridge. There were no decorations on it, and the island below already looked like a palm-sized white cloth; it was quite eye-catching in the blue sea.

The wind in the sky was getting stronger and there were clouds around the bridge.

Angele increased his speed and kept climbing.

Angele had been walking for a while, but the only thing he could see was still the surface of the bridge.

Another hour later, the island below the bridge looked like a small dot and Angele felt like he was walking in the clouds.

The chilling air turned into white frost on the surface of Angele's black robe. He stood by the edge of the bridge and looked down.

Angele could see the white clouds boiling under the bridge, they looked like a large cotton farm.

The white clouds were moving slowly with the strong wind. Gentle sunlight was coming from the blue sky.

However, the sunlight failed to warm Angele's body due to the chilling wind.

Angele calculated his altitude quickly with the help of the biochip.

"154000 meters… and the bridge is still going." Angele looked in the front, the only two things in his sight were the stone bridge and the sky.

"I should keep advancing. I'm sure there is something I need here." Angele already noticed that this place was different.

The stone bricks under his feet were old and it felt like they were already here thousands of years ago, but they were only slightly damaged.

Angele increased his speed again; he turned into a blurry black shadow and charged forward like a lightning bolt.

Angele had no idea how long he had been running but he started to feel tired. Finally, something different appeared ahead.

He slowly came to a stop and stood on the bridge. The place was extremely cold and there was no wind here.

There were three piles of white bones that were covered with white outfits ahead.

Angele walked to the bones and crouched. He removed the outfits and observed the bones. They were dead bodies of three children.

"Those are the bodies of the three children I saw earlier. Only ancient races have the ability to survive on such altitude." He started checking the bones again.

Based on the bones, there were two boys and one girl. Angele found rings, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets on their bones. Only one pair of earrings was still complete but they were still covered with a light layer of ice.

The rest of the items all crumbled into dust upon being touched by Angele.

Angele collected the earrings and put them into the pouch.

Raising his head, the path in the front was still endless.

He looked down the bridges and the sea of clouds looked slightly different, there was something weird about the edge of the "sea".

"The height is getting ridiculous, even for me." Angele felt like he was standing on an enormous ball and he could see the edge of the planet.

However, he still could not see the end of the stone bridge.

"I can't do it anymore, I must return." Angele checked the temperature with the biochip and it was -307.5 degrees Celsius at the moment.

"It's lower than the absolute zero on earth. What will the absolute zero of this world be?"

Absolute zero was the lowest temperature possible on earth and everything would stop moving at that temperature. It was the rule of earth; however, it seemed like this world was different. The wind stopped and there was no gas here. The temperature was still decreasing and it seemed like a temperature lower than -273 degrees Celsius would not stop the living beings from moving.

'Maybe this is the High-Energy Realm of the tales?' Angele had an assumption in mind.

Angele wanted to keep advancing, however, he could no longer handle the temperature. He had stopped breathing a while ago as there was no air here. He would die if he kept exploring.

Angele had strong ancient bloodlines in his body and the help from the heat force wave, but he still felt cold. He was not sure who had the ability to reach the end of this stone bridge.

'Zero, how long have I been walking?'

'428 hours and 41 minutes,' Zero reported back quickly.

'17 days already? Seriously?' Angele was surprised. 'It seems like there's no day and night in this realm…'

Angele sighed as he looked at the stone bridge and pointed at the three piles of bones.

Nothing happened.

"Huh?" Angele hesitated and released more energy particles.

Still nothing.

He released a lot more energy particles.

Finally, a small string of green energy flew out of the tip of Angele's fingers and surrounded the bones, lifting them up to the air.

"It seems like energy particles are having trouble handling the temperature as well. That's more than 100 degrees of energy."

Angele collected the bones with his hands and rolled them up with his robe. He gave the bridge one final glance, turned around, and started running down.

He wanted to use those bones as lab materials; he was certain that the bones were what he was looking for. Without the blood, Angele could still find the cell structures with the bones, and it was possible for him to find some active bone cells for other uses.

Angele ran down the bridge. He was slow at the beginning due to the cold, but he sped up and turned into a black lightning bolt after several hours.

15 days later.

At the entrance of the bridge on the white island.

A black shadow jumped down from the bridge and landed on the surface of the island.

The man's black robe was damaged and his face was pale. The long dark-red hair trailed over his back and there was something inside the rolled-up robe.

It was Angele, who just came back from the bridge. It took him 15 days to come back from where he reached.

The trip on the bridge took him more than a month. The good thing was that Angele was a wizard and had plenty of time to spare.

Angele stood by the entrance of the bridge and checked the surroundings.

"I've found your bones, but I'm not doing it for charity. It's a simple rule," he spoke in the ancient language.

The island was empty and no one answered.

Angele did not wait, he started explaining what he was looking for.

"I need the bible of the true form. You're from the Nightmare Realm as well and I'm sure you know that my request is not ridiculous." That was Angele's true purpose. He had the bloodline of the scorpion woman, however, what he needed was the bible of the true form, and he was certain that the bible would teach him how to increase his mentality.

The worst choice was to go to the scorpion woman's place again. He was lucky the last time as he passed the trial of the Wall of Confusion and entered the palace of the scorpion woman. Although he was much stronger than before, the place was still too dangerous for him. He planned to negotiate with the three ancient soul forms that probably died a long time ago.

The energy rune he left on the stone gate had become unstable and it meant that the stone gate was about to disappear.

The dimension gate could lead Angele to anywhere and they would disappear or appear for no reason. The chance of him entering this area again was probably the same as getting hit by a meteor when walking on the street.

Also, the three children reached an incredible height when they were still young with weak bodies but high mentality. Angele assumed that they must have had a strong bible—it would aid Angele greatly.

A small amount of bloodline would only increase Angele's mentality by a small amount. However, with the bible, which was like the high-rank advanced meditation technique, Angele would be able to find the right way to train himself.

The bible from Eye Devil was pretty much fake; only the basics were helpful, and that was the reason why Angele created his true form. If he kept going with that bible, he might die from the traps concealed within. Angele needed to increase his mentality, but he also needed a real bible for his true form.

About ten minutes after Angele finished his words, a translucent crystal orb appeared on the ground in front of his feet.

The crystal orb had the size of a fist and its surface was smooth. Angele knew that the negotiations were successful after seeing the orb.

'They were trapped on this island because they were too far away from their dead bodies. Their soul forms were weak because of that.' Angele did some research about the soul forms and that was why he decided to negotiate.

The bible could not be practiced by the soul forms and it was reasonable for them to trade it for their bones.

Chapter 416: Sound of the Knell (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu

Angele walked to the crystal orb and picked it up.

The orb was clear and there was an invisible force slowly moving inside it.

Angele had read about the orb from the sacred book, it was used to record the knowledge as pure energy.

Raising his right hand, Angele tapped on the surface of the orb with his index finger.

*CHI*

White light flashed and the crystal orb turned into a ball of liquid, then disappeared into Angele's finger.

At the same time, a lot of complicated knowledge was transferred into Angele's brain.

"They're yours now…" Angele groaned and put the bones on the ground. "I'll be leaving now as the gate is getting unstable. This'll probably be the one and only time that we meet."

He took several steps back, turned around, and walked to the beach.

A green staircase appeared under Angele's feet, creating a path to the shore on the other side.

Angele was checking the surroundings constantly when he was retreating as he was not sure if the souls would attack him.

However, nothing happened after he stepped on the staircase and walked for a while. Angele turned his head around as he returned to the beach with the gate.

The island had disappeared into the thick fog and it seemed like the souls had no intention to return through the gate.

Angele's brow furrowed, he mentioned the gate since he wanted to see if the souls would follow him. It seemed like the souls had other plans.

He checked the unstable mentality wave of the rune he left on the gate and stopped thinking. He started rushing to the gate at full speed.

Minutes later, Angele returned to the black stone gate.

Blue electric pulses appeared inside the gate and the image of the Ness River's shore was getting blurry.

Angele wasted no time and entered the gate.

*CHI*

His body numbed for several seconds after contacting the electric pulses; the next moment, he already returned to the Ness River.

'Zero, record the energy movement and the frequency.' Angele remembered something and gave the order.

'Task created. Recording…'

The space inside the black gate twisted and it seemed like something with a moving magnifier.

*Crack*

Finally, a loud noise was made by the broken gate.

*Boom*

The stone gate fell to the ground and turned into a pile of broken stones before Angele could do anything.

The fog started disappearing and it felt like it was sucked in by something. He could finally see the riverside clearly again.

Angele picked up some broken stone pieces of the gate, observed, and scanned them using the biochip.

However, the result was a bit disappointing.

'The gate was built with the world stone, however, there is no energy or force left. If I can build a gate like this with world stone, it'll be possible for me to teleport to other realms,' Angele guessed in mind. 'But it can't be that easy… The place I went to doesn't feel like a complete realm… It felt like an abandoned ruin with nothing living inside.'

He stood up and put one of the black stone pieces into his pouch.

Angele glanced around.

Some mutated creatures were moving toward Angele slowly after the fog disappeared.

There were tall bald yetis with enormous wooden bats in their hands and a group of tiny black insects that looked like flies. They'd all noticed Angele.

Angele's mission was accomplished and there was no point for him to fight.

The bald yetis were charging toward Angele. There were two of them and the wooden bats were shaking over their shoulders. Both of them were only wearing just a piece of linen cloth.

They were looking at Angele like at a piece of fresh meat—Angele could see the greed in their eyes.

Angele raised his hands calmly and created two lava balls that were floating in front of him.

"Strike." He pointed at the two bald yetis.

*WOO*

Two red lava balls rolled and moved to the target accurately.

*BOOM*

The explosion made the earth shake, and the yetis and flies were swallowed by a sea of fire. The intense flames splashed with the golden lava drops, those creatures were evaporated within seconds.

Angele remained calm and the orange light illuminated his body.

'Alright, I shall return to my territory.'

Angele looked at the direction he came from, turned into a blurry shadow, and disappeared.

　　**************************

Five days later…

In the reading room in Nightmare Realm.

Angele wiped his hands and moved from the operating table to the window.

"How's your body's condition?" Angele questioned as he looked out of the window.

On the white operating table, Orphie stood up naked; her skin was pink and she was panting.

"I don't feel anything strange, but my eyes are turning pink for some reason," Orphie responded in a light tone.

"Pink? It's normal. I'm helping you regain the ability to reproduce with my bloodline and that's just a possible reaction." Angele nodded.

"How's Freia doing?"

"She's doing fine, but she was depressed since you were gone for…" Orphie put on her clothes quickly.

*Knock Knock*

Someone knocked on the door and interrupted their conversation.

"Hey! Green! It's a letter from my brother!" Freia's loud voice came from outside.

"Huh?" Angele was a bit surprised. "A letter from Frey?" He smiled and he felt relieved. "Alright, let's go have a look. Didn't expect to receive a letter in such a dangerous world."

He put down the white towel and opened the door.

Freia was standing by the door of the reading room with a brown envelope, which was sealed with red wax, in hand. There was a red insect that looked like a large mosquito on Freia's shoulder; it had four transparent wings and its body was covered with gold and green circles. The insect's large yellow compound eyes were rolling, looking in different directions.

Freia handed the letter to Angele as she saw Orphie stepping out of the room.

"Green, this is a letter to you from my brother. Also, come down for lunch after reading the letter." She turned around and walked down the stairs. It seemed like Frey also wrote a letter to Freia and she wanted to read it as soon as possible.

Angele grabbed the letter, removed the seal, and opened it.

'Dear Green,

It's been years. I wanted to come back and visit you myself. I also wanted to take you to where I live right now. However, I gave up after considering the situation.

You and my sister live in a remote area, where there's fewer issues and political wars. Moreover, someone found out about your shelter somehow. Please be careful.

Also, I'm doing well right now and I finally found a way to send letters. I sent dozens of letters to you and I'm sure one of them will end up in your hand.

Alright, I guess you already have a general idea of my current situation. I've seen a lot of things recently and apparently, human beings are much more evil than monsters.

Please don't worry. I've gotten everything sorted out. I'll write to you from time to time. You can reply to me through the following method.

Your student,

Frey.'

It was a short letter but Frey explained everything well.

Angele tapped the letter and smiled—he already considered Frey and Freia his own children after all those years. He was worried as Frey never contacted him after leaving the mansion, but he felt relieved after reading the letter.

Based on the contents of the letter, Frey was doing well in the outside world, and it seemed like he had acquired a certain level of power.

"As long as he's still alive…" Angele sighed. "I should stop worrying too much about him."

He should focus on his research before the chaos came.

Angele spent most of his time analyzing the content of the sacred book he got from the island.

After about five days of comparing, he confirmed that the content in the sacred book was real. Also, it was impossible for the soul forms to modify the sacred book as they probably did not expect Angele to bring back their bones.

Angele decided to practice the sacred book after making sure everything was correct.

He put down the letter and looked at Orphie who was waiting for his orders. The girl had not left the reading room yet.

"Go have some rest and help me take care of Freia. Don't let her stay in the garden for too long."

"Yes, master." Orphie bowed to Angele, lifted her white dress up slightly, and walked to the stairs.

Orphie disappeared from Angele's sight after walking down the stairs and Angele returned to his reading room right away.

He locked the door.

Angele walked to the bookshelf and took out a notebook with a cracked red shell.

*Ka*

He opened the notebook—it was filled up with notes regarding the magic circles and runes. Angele wrote down a lot of basic formulas to analyze the details of some runes. Data, characters, detailed graphs, and strings, there was a lot of important information on that notebook.

Actually, the information on that book looked like a blueprint of a certain device.

Angele remained calm while turning the pages.

Everything he found recently was also recorded in the notebook; he used the two sacred books he had, and compared the difference between the runes.

He was trying to verify the sacred book that was given to him by Eye Devil.

However, Angele finally confirmed that the sacred book from Eye Devil was at a lower level with a lot of mistakes that were set up as traps intentionally.

The sacred book he acquired from the three souls had a weird name:

Erin's Funeral Oration.

Translator's Thoughts

Leo Leo

Bible is now changed to sacred book.

Chapter 417: Sound of the Knell (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu

Angele arranged the contents of the sacred book and separated it into three parts: Prologue, Funeral Oration, and the Epilogue.

The sacred book had a normal appearance and it looked nothing like a book with the secret bloodline techniques.

The prologue was filled up with beautiful words that were praising the sacred book and Angele was not sure why they were even kept in the book.

The funeral oration part was all about the method that could help Angele with his true form. It was a method that could improve his soul and bloodline, this was what Angele needed the most at the moment. Also, the application of the true form was explained in detail by the book.

Blueprints of special items and equipment were recorded in the epilogue; however, Angele never heard of the required resources. He assumed that the resources were called differently now.

Angele decided to improve his soul and bloodline first after checking the book.

"According to the sacred book, every individual is different. I need to improve my soul and bloodline so they'll become part of my true form. I'll be able to form the core of the true form later and the true form can be perfected by absorbing resources or creatures that are rare or strong," Angele muttered as he turned the pages. He stopped at the second last page.

The content on light yellow leather paper was easy to view under the dim light from the oil lamp.

It was a magic circle that was drawn with black lines.

It was a complicated magic circle with dozens of patterns that varied in shapes inside. The whole circle looked like a luxurious pocket watch with a perfectly designed mechanical structure.

Also, the patterns inside the magic circle were all moving slowly. It looked like they were drawn with normal black ink, but it seemed like they were powered by energy particles or something.

"The Black Death Sacrificial Rite, huh? It sure sounds promising. However, it's way too early for me to try and improve my true form. I shall take it slowly," Angele said as he closed the notebook.

Angele noticed that it seemed like the Erin's Funeral Oration was strongly associated with negative energy particles. It was a terrifying energy wave that represented the death.

Although the technique focused on helping the owner improve his soul and bloodline, the whole procedure was based on the terrifying negative energy particles. The one who practiced the sacred book would be impacted by the energy wave since the technique would only work perfectly for creatures that were born with such energy.

Angele was a stranger to the negative energy so he decided to proceed with caution.

'Anyways, the mentality training technique on the book works.' Angele scrunched his brow and started thinking. 'I need to increase my mentality to a certain level before I can start on the Erin's Funeral Oration. I have a lot of time.'

Most of the mentality training techniques recorded in the book required the assistance of certain drugs. There was one way to increase his mentality without the requirement of drugs, the Sound of the Knell.

By affecting the resonance of the body and the mentality with the sound, his mentality and body would be improved at the same time.

The hardest part of this technique was the control of the sound. To a normal wizard, it was similar to removing the mitochondria from a cell without using the microscope.

That was the reason why this technique was ranked the lowest among all the mentality training techniques. It was the most effective technique, yet it was extremely hard to execute.

Angele was certain that the Sound of the Knell would be perfect for him when he read about it.

The only thing he needed to do was using a different combinations of his voice to create a resonance between his body and mentality.

With the help of the biochip, Angele could control his voice perfectly without any problem.

Angele went through the important points of the Sound of the Knell in his mind.

He sat by the table, put down his hands on the notebook, and opened his mouth slightly.

*Woo*

A strange vibration came out his mouth; it sounded like the noise made by some old machines.

Angele exhaled all the air from his chest and the voice slowly disappeared from his mouth.

He inhaled deeply and a slightly different vibration sound came out of his mouth.

The pitch of the sound was changing all the time; sometimes, it would change three times in a second.

Blue light dots appeared in front of his eyes, they were bright in the dark room.

Finally, the vibrating sound turned into the sound made by the bell.

*Dang Dang Dang*

Angele suddenly closed his mouth after the bell rang for three times.

The sound of the bell was still echoing in the air.

Angele's face turned red and there were tiny red dots all over his body. The red light and blue light were twisting in front of his eyes.

The noise somehow reduced the temperature of his body and he was slightly dizzy. It felt like circling at the same location.

Angele's sight blurred and it felt like he was having a dream.

'You have completed the Sound of the Knell once. Unknown force field detected…' Zero's voice echoed in Angele's ears.

'Unknown force field is weakening… Estimated duration: 15 seconds.

'Estimated duration: 10 seconds.

'Estimated duration: 5 seconds.

'Unknown force field had disappeared. You're no longer affected by the force field…'

Angele felt refreshed after the countdown finished. He woke up and the red dots quickly disappeared from his body.

'Sound of the Knell learned. Your body is damaged by the Sound of the Death. Damage taken: 1.2%.

'Your attribute is increasing. Mentality increased. Mentality will be increased to 162.7 in three hours.'

Angele smiled, his mentality was increased from 157 to 160 by practicing the Molten Core River, but it took him a long time to reach that number.

It was the first time he practiced the Sound of the Knell and the result was incredible. It seemed like the ancient techniques were much stronger than the modern meditation techniques.

Angele could feel that his mentality was strengthened and became denser after the practice. A lot of impurities had also been extracted from his body.

Although the Sound of the Knell would damage his body, there was no other limitation as long as Angele could handle the damage.

"Although the effect might become weaker later, my mentality would already be at an incredible level at that point," Angele muttered. Vivian's students all reached their limits and stopped progressing, it was the problem of their talent's level.

Many wizards with average talents stopped at rank 3 and only the geniuses could break the limit and become rank 4 wizards.

That was the reason why there were only few rank 4 wizards.

A lot of the wizards stopped progressing as they got old because they had low talent levels. Some of the rank 3 wizards spent hundreds of years trying to advance to the next rank but most of them failed.

...Unless they could find a way to extend their life expectancy.

Angele's talent level was below the average and the highest rank he could reach was rank 3. However, with the Sound of the Knell, he could at least increase his mentality at a fast rate.

If he decided to just keep practicing the Molten Core River, it would take him a long time to reach rank 3.

Angele started practicing the Sound of the Knell after the red blood dots disappeared from his body.

He felt much more comfortable than the last time.

His mentality increased by 4 points as the practice progressed.

Angele's high Stamina was helpful—it would take him several seconds for his body to heal from the damage.

He kept repeating the process after his body was fixed.

Angele forgot about everything else and focused solely on this procedure.

However, there was one thing that he did not pay attention to. As the practice went, blurry white faces appeared around Angele's body one after one.

Those blurry faces surrounded Angele and watched the young wizard practice the secret technique. It looked like the faces were wearing white masks and were composed of the fog.

Every ten rounds of practice, one blurry face of a human would appear beside Angele and there were already many faces around him.

A thin layer of black glow appeared on Angele's body.

Finally, Angele stopped after he got tired.

'Mentality increased to 192.5. Body damage 17.2%. Limitation reached.' Zero's mechanical voice echoed in Angeles' ears.

His recovery speed slowed down as the damage was getting serious after he practiced the technique consecutively.

Angele stopped practicing the technique as it seemed like his mentality was maximized.

He finally realized that he was surrounded by the blurry white faces after his head became clear.

The faces floated in the air and they were staring at Angele quietly.

"So, that's the consequence." Angele was not surprised as he had read about the situation from the sacred book. "The one who practices the Sound of the Knell will be haunted by ghosts."

Angele had a bitter smile on his face.

"Without the crystal scorpion, those souls would attack me already."

Suddenly, red glows appeared in his eyes.

He could hear the noise by flames from his heart.

*WOO*

Angele put his hand on the chest and he could feel the intense pain coming from his heart. The red scorpion sign appeared between his brow.

'You've completed the fourth stage of the Molten Core River and become a rank 3 wizard,' the biochip informed.

A hint of happiness appeared in Angele's eyes, he quickly took out a test tube with blue liquid inside and drank it all to sooth his chest pain.

'Abilities acquired from the fourth stage of Molten Core River: Summon Fire Elemental, Element Travel,' Zero added.

Chapter 418: Trace (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

"I guess that's where the summoning spells come from." Angele heard the wizards created the summoning potion after studying their Talent Skills.

He stood in the reading room and raised his right hand.

*Woo*

Red flame appeared in the center of his right palm. A tiny man with red wings that was surrounded by flames slowly appeared and landed on Angele's hand.

It was a faceless man glowing in red. He bowed to Angele politely.

"Different people will create fire elementals at different levels. It probably depends on how much energy I can put out." Angele stared at the tiny fire man on his palm.

He threw the man into the air. The fire man rotated around Angele and landed on his right shoulder, kicking his legs slightly. The man looked like a cute and energetic fairy.

"Okay, let me test the Element Travel…" Angele turned around.

*BOOM*

His sight was filled up with orange flames and he could feel the heat around his body. Seconds later, the flames around him disappeared.

Angele teleported to the training arena in the mansion and the fire elemental had disappeared from his shoulder.

The morning sunlight brushed over his body, it was cold but gentle. The arena was empty, Angele was the only one here.

He stood in the center of the arena and looked at the reading room that was on the second floor of the main building.

The windows were closed tightly and none of the doors was open at the entrances.

"A teleportation skill that won't be stopped by walls or solid objects? Interesting." Angele remembered the days he was jealous of the wizards who could turn their bodies into pure energy. It was a convenient ability, but he did not know that he could do something similar to them without turning his physical body into the energy form.

Also, it was a special skill from the Molten Core River, and the other advanced meditation techniques might have something similar but relying on different energy particles.

He did some quick tests on the Element Travel and the Fire Elemental.

Both skills could be casted instantly and the maximum distance for the Element Travel was around 400 meters. He could only travel through the space that was not completely sealed, like a room with a tiny gap around the door; also, it would take him around two seconds to complete the teleportation.

The Fire Elemental was simple, it was just summoning one elemental. With full power support, he could summon a fire giant that had a height of three meters and the power level of a rank 1 wizard. The fire giant surrounded by a burning aura had an ability called Burning Hand.

Angele started practicing the later stage of the Molten Core River after checking the new abilities. However, the mentality training technique of the Molten Core River's fifth stage would no longer increase his mentality.

Angele knew that he had reached his soul limitation due to his below-average talent level. A normal wizard would need at least 100 years to reach his position but he found several shortcuts during the progress.

Also, the only purpose of practicing the Molten Core River was to cover the fact that he was walking the ancient wizard's path.

Angele decided to focus on Erin's Funeral Oration in the future—it was a complete sacred book that would aid him greatly. Although most of the techniques were not suitable for him, the record about the true form was good enough. Also, the technique could help him increase other attributes.

He wanted to improve himself using the Erin's Funeral Oration and it seemed like the funeral oration would push the Molten Core River to the next stage.

Angele spent a whole morning making his future plans.

Freia just woke up as Angele left the arena. The girl was blushing slightly, it seemed like the letter from her brother made her sleep well.

"Green, you didn't open the door when I brought you dinner last night!" Freia's started blaming Angele as they met.

"I probably didn't hear, my bad. I was doing an important research." Angele had an apologetic smile on face. "Ah, right, what did Frey write to you?"

"Nothing important." A smile appeared on Freia's face. "It's still early, are you leaving, Green? When will you be back?"

Angele checked the time using the biochip.

"Yeah, I'll be back in a few days, sorry." He rubbed Freia's hair. "I really don't want to leave you here alone but I have to."

"I'm not alone, I have Orphie with me." It seemed like Freia was not disappointed.

'Sadly…' Angele sighed in his mind. Freia had no talent to become a formal wizard. It seemed like human beings in this realm were not able to extend their life expectancy, they would die in 100 years no matter who they were and what they did.

"Alright, you can leave now, Green." Freia chuckled. "I'll go and take care of my sunflowers in the garden."

"Sunflowers…" Angele remained calm. Freia believed the lie he told and thought she would be able to explore this world alone one day.

However, Freia would pass away before those flowers blossomed.

Angele turned around and walked into the hallway after Freia left. His body slowly turned into red flames and disappeared into the air.

　　**************************

The main world. In the reading room.

It was noon but the dark clouds covered the sky. There were thunderclaps echoing and white lightning brightening up the room.

*Rumble*

The thunder rumbled again after the lightning.

A man in black slowly appeared in the reading room. It was Angele; he took off the hood, revealing his average-looking face. The man just came back from the Nightmare Realm.

'Maybe there are other realm travelers just like him but they don't have the accurate coordinate like I do. I shall keep my coordinate as a secret.' Angele arranged his long robe and opened the door.

A maid in a white dress was walking down the stairs with a candle stand in hand. She quickly turned her head around after hearing the noise made by the closing door.

"Master, finally! Master Lyn is looking for you. It's something urgent."

"Lyn?" Angele nodded. "Alright, I'll talk to her."

"Yes, master." The maid walked down the stairs quickly and left.

Angele stood in the hallway of the second floor and raised his left hand. There was a glowing red rune flashing on his nail.

He tapped on the nail slightly and Lyn's voice echoed in his ears.

'Master, the negotiations ended and they reached an agreement which still requires the representatives' signatures. Master Vivian will be back in ten years if everything goes as planned.'

A smile appeared on Angele's face. 'It's good news to me. I just found the sacred book and I need time to practice. Maybe my true form will reach the power level of a rank 4 wizard by that time and I'll be able to use my Legacy Magic Circle Set,' Angele thought. He noticed that there were several other messages.

He stayed in the Nightmare Realm for too long and knew it would be like this.

Angele tapped on the other nails.

The messages echoed in his ears one by one. They were sent by the Count and wizards like Hikari and Reyline. One thing caught Angele's attention—there were several messages from the Human Resource Department of the Mermaid's Song.

The messages were from a rank 2 male wizard who worked for him earlier.

"Master, please respond if you receive the message. The department needs your help."

"Master Green, we found an underground tomb in the city and it looks like an ancient ruin. A professor and his students decided to explore the ruin with several wizards that were sent by our department. However, something unfortunate happened."

"Our wizards, the professor, and his students are missing. The negotiations just ended and the incident has already become a problem for the organization. Someone will be asking questions soon. Please help us."

Angele checked the time of the last message. It was sent two days ago.

"If the person is sent by the headquarters, it'll take him five days to arrive. I have enough time." Angele did not want to disappoint the organization. Although Angele was the only son of Vivian, he did not want to bring too much trouble to her.

"Someone!" Angele clapped his hands.

Two maids walked upstairs quickly. "Yes, master."

"Ask the workers to prepare the eagle for me. I need to go to the Mermaid's Song." Angele wiped the dust off his robe and walked down the stairs.

"Yes, master."

The two maids ran down the stairs and walked to the parking area with the flying mount resting there.

Minutes later, a red dot appeared in the sky above the Ness River.

A man in black was sitting on an enormous red eagle; they were traveling at full speed.

White lightning was flashing among the boiling dark clouds as thunder rumbled.

Angele lowered his body on the eagle's back and stared forward. It felt like the dark clouds were only ten meters above his head and a lightning could strike him anytime.

It almost looked like that the dark sky could fall down and destroy everything on this land.

The heavy wind brushed over Angele's face and his long wet hair was blown into the air.

A blue-whiteish lightning flashed in the sky and it was about to hit Angele's head.

"Is-a-lan!" Angele was prepared, he shouted and brandished his clenched hand forward.

Flames exploded on the center of his palm, turning into a large fireball, blocking the strike.

The fireball had a diameter of ten meters and it was covered with a bright glow.

*BOOM*

The fireball and the lightning exploded, turning into a large light plate that was expanding slowly.

The upper side of the plate was blue and the bottom side was red. The light plate stood out in the dark sky.

Angele tightened his legs and the eagle increased his speed again. They quickly passed by the plate.

*BOOM*

He heard the thunder rumbling from the behind.

After dodging the lightning, Angele's face turned pale, and he decided to lower the altitude.

After about two hours of flying, a large city with white light dots flashing around it appeared in the sea of dark forest.

The city looked like a machine among the trees from the far side, its gears created by the moving people and carriages.

Angele lowered the altitude again and moved toward the city with the eagle.

The strong wind was still brushing over his face. The city was getting closer and closer. It turned from a tiny dot to the size of a car wheel and the parking lot was getting clear in Angele's sight.