[WP] Chapter 13: Ring Wizard and Fate Ring (Life Ring) 

[WP] Chapter 13: Ring Wizard and Fate Ring 

The deceased detective Sparrow Hamilton took over a rather difficult commission about half a year ago. Baron Huntington, who lives in Tobesk, commissioned the detective to find the missing maid. The maid had served the baron's family for many and resigned a few days ago.

The baron asked his butler to bring gifts to invite the maid back, only to find that she had disappeared. Although the baron has a certain social status, he is not the maid's family after all, and he does not seem to trust the police, so he commissioned several detectives to investigate.

Detective Sparrow is not a famous detective, and the usual commissions are just small matters such as finding extramarital affairs. This time, there was a noble to come to commission, or because of the introduction of a former old customer.

Sparrow Hamilton took this matter very seriously. Even though he was only a baron, he was a big shot that ordinary citizens could not get in touch with. He investigated very carefully. He spent a month this spring, and through various clues, he found the abandoned sanatorium on the banks of the Ausel River and determined that this was the cause of the missing persons case.

"This sanatorium was abandoned about 30 years ago. I was just a child at that time, and I heard about it from my family."

Bill Schneider, a local, introduced, pointing to the buildings that were gradually becoming clearer not far away. Although there was also mist outside the city, the bell tower next to the main building, as well as the spire and the cross-shaped decorative spire, could already be seen.

"At that time, the royal family instructed the City Hall of Tobesk to re-plan the city to adapt to the huge population from outside and the development of the steam industry. The policy at that time was probably to move hospitals and other infrastructure to the city and factories to the outside of the city. This was originally a sanatorium for nobles. I hope you understand what I mean. It was used exclusively by bigwigs that we dare not imagine. After responding to the call, the sanatorium completely moved out of Tobesk and went to a nearby city. It only takes half an hour by train to get there, which is more convenient than here.

So, this sanatorium was abandoned. Even homeless people would not live here. There is no one around here. No one would know if they died."

There are large tracts of farmland and wasteland around, and the nearest country town can only be seen by walking for an hour. There is a manor and a horse farm nearby, which belong to a certain earl. During the horse racing season, people would choose the road where the two people are walking as a runway, but there are not many people now.

Although industry developed rapidly in this era, traces of the steam age can only be seen in big cities. Away from the city, everything was going back to the past. Shade understood the meaning of this sentence.

The two quickly followed the path to the abandoned sanatorium. The doctor did not mention the name of this place, and it was not important.

From the outside, the wall skin had completely peeled off, and all the windows and doors were missing. The sanatorium's wall was still there, but the courtyard inside the wall was almost the same as the wasteland outside, and there was no trace of the garden in the past.

High-rise buildings and spires stood in the wilderness, and only the decoration of the fence gate could vaguely see the prosperity of the past.

"Follow me; we will talk while walking."

The doctor said, kicking open the two fence gates that seemed to be rusted together. The fence gate fell to the ground with a bang, startling the birds in the nearby woods.

Even at the edge of the city, the fog only dissipated a little. The gloomy sky seemed to be about to rain, and Shade regretted not bringing an umbrella.

The two walked into the courtyard of the sanatorium, and two pairs of boots stepped on the weeds.

"The so-called ring wizard means that we have the [Wheel of Destiny]."

The doctor said, looking around, and led Shade to the main entrance of the main building.

"Wheel of Destiny?"

"Time, years, destiny, era, civilization, and the world, the wheel cast for us, symbolize ourselves. Pay attention! I want to show you the complete wheel of destiny, not just a corner. Please look carefully."

The doctor walked in the weeds, with his arms slightly open, his hands open palms up as if holding something, and his hands raised at the same level as his shoulders.

Everything behind him became hazy as if there was a layer of white mist. But he did not change at all, except for a faint smile on his face.

Then, Shade heard the sound and echo of a train whistle in this empty abandoned courtyard.

"What?"

He hurriedly looked around in the waist-deep grass, and at this moment his skin gradually felt the heat.

Turning around, it was not white mist behind the doctor, but steam. Scorching steam—steam that made people shudder for some reason—the steam seemed to blur the distance and space, making the doctor's back completely blurred.

In the steam, a huge black shadow was approaching, and the steam behind the doctor seemed to contain infinite time and space.

The whistle roared, the steam exploded, and the black shadow got closer and closer. The extremely fast speed brought about wind pressure, causing the doctor's clothes, the weeds in the courtyard, and the collar of Shade's coat to fly, and he had to squint his eyes.

What was more serious was the sense of crisis rising in his heart.

"What is in that steam?"

It was getting closer and closer. Behind the doctor, deep in the steam, a huge hammer appeared with momentum and energy. All I saw was silver-gray, as tall as the entire building, and it hit the doctor with a loud bang.

The sound of the bombardment made Shade's ears ring slightly, his eyes dizzy, and the strong feeling of vomiting forced him to cover his chest with his hands. The ground shook, the wind whistled, and the thunder flashed. In this series of hallucinations, the hammer seemed to open up the world and seemed to bombard Shade's soul.

But it was only the doctor who was bombarded by the giant hammer. The doctor did not move at all, but Shade thought he saw that Dr. Schneider was smashed into a copper cake.

"Copper?"

He felt that he was getting more and more confused about his perception.

It was indeed a piece of copper. After being bombarded by the giant hammer, a huge rotating copper ring appeared behind the doctor. It was a brass metal ring.

The steam gradually dissipated, and the brass metal ring with a pentagonal cross-section slowly rotated behind the doctor. Strange light accompanied by more than 20 spirit runes wandered on this life ring.

The halo shone on Shade's face. The stranger heard the woman's chuckle in his mind, and the magnificent, magical, and powerful ring was reflected in his eyes.

"This is the life ring. The ring wizard will only summon it completely when fighting with all his strength. Otherwise, it is OK not to summon the life ring, or just summon a part of it. Is there anything you want to ask?"

The doctor stopped in the weeds in the courtyard of the sanatorium and asked the stunned Shade. Shade could still feel the heat of the steam behind the doctor and the high temperature on the huge brass ring.

The life ring is not an illusion; it is a real entity.

"Why is it steam? Why is it brass?"

He didn't even notice the anxiety in his tone.

The middle-aged doctor smiled:

"Young man, power cannot be separated from the times, and the world is also affecting us.

I said that the life ring represents oneself and the world. This era is the era of steam and machinery, so the lifering emerges from the steam, is forged by the hammer, and presents a brass color. If this is the era of rainbows, then the life ring may be rainbow-colored, and if it is the era of the deep sea, then the life ring is water. Do you understand?"

Shade reluctantly nodded, and his heart beat faster because of the shocking scene just now:

"I understand."

He didn't even want to blink, wanting to imprint the full picture of the ring behind the doctor in his eyes. But the doctor waved his hand behind him, and the life ring slowly became transparent and disappeared, allowing Shade to remember only a few runes in it.

For the common language of the Northern Kingdom, even without the knowledge given by the woman's voice in his mind, Shade could understand and hear it, but he couldn't speak or write it. And now, Shade inexplicably understood the meaning of those powerful spiritual runes. The ones he glimpsed were [Joy], [Hound], and [Dust].

Suddenly, he felt a headache, as if someone had hit the back of his head, so he gave up memorizing those powerful runes.

In this world, knowledge is power. Therefore, it seems understandable that the extraordinary organization that the doctor invited Shade to join is an academy.

"But if my special ability is to be able to read and understand all texts, is this a good thing in this dangerous world?"

As Shade pondered his own secret, the doctor continued to walk forward in the weeds and introduced:

"The cross-section of my life ring is currently a pentagon, which means that I am a five-ring ring wizard and also a fifth-year correspondence adult education student at the college. The life ring of the first ring is a flat circular ring with spirit runes imprinted on one side. The second ring is also flat, but both sides can be imprinted with spirit runes. The cross-section of the third ring is a triangle, the cross-section of the fourth ring is a quadrilateral, and so on. Do you understand? The higher the ring, the closer it is to the most standard circular ring."

"Yes, I understand."

As they talked, they entered the interior of the building. Over the years, countless people have probably visited here. There is no furniture, and there is a layer of dust on the ground, which can be raised immediately when stepped on.

They did not stay on the first floor but walked up to the second floor along the seemingly unstable stairs. Shade was very worried about the safety of this dangerous building.

"Spirit runes are the core of the ring wizard system. By engraving spirit runes on our own destiny rings, we accumulate spirits, feel the four elements [miracle] [blasphemy] [enlightenment] [whisper], and continue to advance."

"Spirit? Elements?"

Shade was puzzled; his heart was full of excitement; he finally knew these things.

The doctor led Shade up the stairs:

"Regarding the spirit, in the past, it had many names. Magic, ether, mana, spirituality, light of the soul—but now it is uniformly called spirit. It is information, elements, energy, the sum of everything in the world you can understand, and one of the manifestations of the ring wizard's mind interfering with matter. The means to accumulate spirit is to contact elements, and the safest way to contact elements is to read those stories and knowledge before the era—culture, customs, heroic legends, and myths passed down by word of mouth.

It is also dangerous to contact this knowledge. If you are not careful, you will fall into madness. So we usually read the original copy or translation."

Shade simply translated "spirit" into a blue bar.

"But it is not that you can enter the next ring just by accumulating enough spirits. The most important thing for a ring wizard is not spirits but elements. By accumulating the four elements of spirit runes, you can effectively increase the upper limit of spirits, sublimate the soul, and temper the body. The four elements can be felt in many ways."

Shade thought of the woman's voice in his mind that had prompted him to come into contact with "whisper,"  "enlightenment," and "miracle,"  which were seeing Sparrow's death, stepping on the streets to see the world, and thinking about the meaning of God.

"It is not enough to just feel and touch. You need to engrave the elements on your own destiny wheel to prove your fusion with the elements. Every upgrade of a ring wizard requires a different combination of [miracle] [blasphemy] [enlightenment] [whisper] spirit runes. I will explain this to you when you decide to join the academy. Now, let me introduce you to the differences between the four elements."

The doctor paused, looked forward, and smiled.

"I think the person we are looking for should be here."

(End of this chapter)