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Chapter 33: Philip (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

"Captain Mark, I'm here to get water." Angele smiled while shaking his water canteen.

"We don't have much left. One knight just took another bucket of water. He said he was going to wash clothes," Mark said in a helpless tone.

"Washing clothes? On a rainy day? He can just save some rain water in his bucket easily. Whatever, I need some jam and white bread. I'm a bit hungry," Angele scrunched his eyebrows and said.

"Well, only black bread is left. The loaves of white bread were taken by the two knights," Mark said with a bitter smile on his face.

"They took everything?" Angele was a bit surprised.

"Yep." Mark nodded. Knowing about that, Angele felt slightly angry.

"I'll take a look myself." Angele opened the door and got into the carriage.

The carriage that had been full of supplies before now looked empty. The brown wooden barrels were only half-filled. Angele walked straight toward one of the water barrels. Empty. He opened the second one. Empty again. Angele continued checking. The third, fourth, and the fifth were all empty as well and only the last two water barrels were half-filled. Those barrels were supposed to easily last the whole caravan for about a week, but now, it's nearly gone. Angele became infuriated.

Angele scooped some water into his water canteen and covered the water barrels with the lids after. He then opened the barrel that contained food such as bread, jam, and meat jerky. Black bread filled the barrel while not much meat jerky was left inside. Angele took a loaf of black bread and some meat jerky. He put the lid back after scrunching his eyebrows and headed back to the leading carriage right away.

The baron wasn't back yet. Angele sat at the table alone and looked at the black bread in his hand. The size was about half an arm and had a hardness comparable to a piece of wood. It had two yellow scars on its surface. Contrary to its outer appearance, its inside was white. Angele grabbed the bread and took a bit. It was very hard that it even made sounds akin to cutting through a board. White bread crumbs fell off the ground. As Angele ate it, he felt quite unhappy. It was hard, had a dislikable texture and no taste. Angele's mood worsened as every minute passed.

HUA!

Angele heard someone pouring out water at the back, so he opened the window to check. One of the knights in silver armor was returning to the count's carriage with a silver plate in his hand. On the ground, Angele could see spilled soup and pieces of white bread that were only half-eaten. It seemed they only ate the softest part of the bread and threw the remains away. It was really a waste.

Angele alternately looked at the black bread in his hand and the white bread on the ground, his mind in turmoil about the things that should be done. Horrifyingly enough, his face had already contorted to that of a demon that embodied wrath. But then, he took a deep breath and closed the window. Angele quickly finished the black bread and ate all the meat jerky he had taken. He then drank some water quickly, and finally, he felt a bit better.

Angele calmed himself down and leaned his back on the wall. He decided not to think of the count too much and started checking his own condition instead.

'Zero, check my body condition,' Angele thought.

'Checking… Angele Rio: Strength 2.9. Agility 4.1. Stamina 2.5. You have reached the limits set by your gene. Health condition: Good.' Zero finished analyzing quickly.

'I reached my limit…' Angele thought while feeling disappointed. His attributes were nothing compared to the strong warriors in this world, but at least he could protect himself against random scrubs. He, however, had mixed feelings about his situation. He took the emerald ring tied upon his necklace. Its gem had already lost its hue and cracks were all over it. The words engraved on the ring were also broken by the cracks. Angele rubbed on the surface of the ring slowly.

"If I cannot increase my attributes anymore, this mysterious power will be my only chance to obtain power," Angele said while carefully staring at the emerald.

He examined the ring over hundreds of times, but the only new thing he discovered was the sentence engraved on it, which meant 'The Ramsoda College – Venis'.

"The Ramsoda College… Where is this place?" Angele asked in a faint voice

"This Venis might be the original owner of the ring, and he could actually be a real wizard,"

Angele fiddled with the ring for a while, but he didn't discover anything else. He put it back to the necklace and hid it on his chest underneath his clothes. Though the energy in it had been completely consumed, this was still the one and only object that connected him to the world of wizards. Angele felt like he'd still obtain more clues from the ring, so he had it kept safe.

The carriages kept moving toward their destination, and then another two days had passed. The caravan members were in dire need of clean water, so people had begun filtering the water on the ground using gauzes.

The caravan stopped by a water puddle. At present, thick, heavy clouds blanketed the sky.

"Why are we stopping? Let's keep moving. We're already very close to the border. Also, the bandits are most likely still searching for us!" A knight in silver armor said with a disappointed face. He even put his arms in front of his chest.

Angele and the baron were standing at the back without a noise, but they were already completely enraged. The three took about three buckets of clean water from their supply carriage, which was the main reason why they were now lacking water. They didn't want to drink the water in the water puddles, thinking that they could get poisoned if they were to do so.

"It won't take long, so please wait a second," the baron said in a light tone, his fury completely masked. The guards and the maids were busy scooping water into the wooden barrels from the water puddles. The water was dirty and the puddles were full of grass and mud. However, that was what they could only find. The water would become clean if filtered properly, anyway.

Count Philip got off the carriage while rubbing his eyes and looked at the people around the water puddles.

"Why are we not moving?" He walked toward them and spoke with a deep voice. One of the knights explained the reason, which resulted in the count scrunching his eyebrows.

"Really!" the count said. He glanced at the group and saw someone who made him a bit excited.

"Mr. Karl," he yelled.

"Anything I can do for you? Count Philip?" the baron turned around and bowed.

"Well, I need a few maids to organize my carriage. Get those two into mine. That won't be an issue to you, right?" Philip asked as he pointed at Maggie and Celia. The baron became unhappy when he looked over.

"Well, it would be an issue actually," Angele said, hindering his father from trying to talk.

"Those two have their jobs. I'm afraid they won't be able to serve you well, Count Philip," Angele smiled and said. He knew what Philip truly wanted. Obviously, he merely wanted to have fun with the two girls. However, Angele had already considered the two girls as his own lovers a long time ago. With these facts laid out, he should've already unleashed his fury, but he controlled his anger well.

"I remember you. You killed about ten mounted bandits using your bow that day. You're good. I like warriors like you," Philip said in a light tone after carefully looking at Angele.

"Thanks for your praise, Count Philip," Angele bowed and said.

"It's getting late, so just bring the two girls to me after. I'm tired so I'm returning to my carriage." Philip started to walk back to his carriage with the two knights following him at his back.

Angele and the baron finally unmasked their rage on their faces. Angele placed his hand on the sheath, about to draw his sword, but the baron stopped him and shook his head.

"Don't," the baron said.

"I know, Father." Angele put down the sheath after he calmed down for a bit. He tried to smile, only to look slightly funny.

"Let me handle this, I'll talk to them. Think twice before you act, you know it's not worth it," the baron said with a light voice. Angele nodded and deeply breathed to calm his rage.

The baron continued talking with Angele for a while, after which, the former walked toward the count's carriage. The baron knew his relationships between Maggie and Celia, so he'd be able to handle this matter well. Angele took a deep breath and licked his lips. He then turned over to look at the water puddles. Maggie and Celia were carefully scooping water into the wooden barrels. The wind was blowing all over, making their hair flying about in the wind. Their clothes looked tighter because of the wind, thus emphasizing their sexy figures. Angele calmed down and even felt a bit better after looking at them.

"It's done," the baron walked towards Angele and nodded.

"Thank you, Father," Angele felt relieved.

"Don't make Philip mad. The only thing we need from him is the relationship that he has with the high-class nobles in the Marua Harbor," the baron said.

"Understood." Angele nodded and took a glance on the count's carriage.

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Chapter 34: Clue (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

After filling up the barrels, Angele and his father returned to the carriage and persisted along their present route once again in a slow pace. Outside was still cloudy and darkness covered the interior of the carriage, too. Angele and the baron sat opposite to each other around the table.

"Angele, why do you care so much about those two girls? You can get anything you want when we arrive at Marua Harbor. There's no point in disappointing Philip especially now," the baron said with his eyebrows scrunched.

"I understand, Father. I know what's more important, don't worry," Angele smiled and nodded.

"Remember, you're the most important person to me. Don't get yourself into dangerous situations easily," the baron said, staring at his son for a brief period. Angele nodded in response. He knew that his father thought that arguing with the count over two girls wasn't worth it. This kind of situation was fine if his family had its former strength. But now that their family had considerably weakened, they needed a wall to lean on. Namely, the count.

However, as a being that formerly lived on Earth, Angele disliked just handing over his girls to someone else. The thought of doing such things would hurt his pride. Angele sat in his seat continuously listening to his father's ramblings. This conversation of their lasted for about half an hour.

"If you make up your mind to give up something, just make sure your sacrifice won't be in vain. Don't blow it," the baron ended the conversation with this statement. He left the carriage to verify the route they needed to pass through. This was something he had been doing every day since their trip began.

"Philip isn't going to give up easily. Also, I can't do anything to him with these many people around. If anyone were to leak the information when we arrive at Marua Harbor, I'll be in deep trouble," Angele said with a solemn expression on his face. This time, he was alone in the carriage contemplating over a matter. Angele thought for a while, but he couldn't figure out a plan. He once again took out the emerald ring and stared at its gem. The emerald retained its color, yet its brilliance was already lost and had cracks all over its surface. Looking at the ring somehow calmed him down.

"Ah!" Suddenly, someone screamed from one of the carriages at the back.

"It's Maggie! That son of a bitch!" Angele jumped out of the carriages and got into the third carriage. He opened the door and saw Maggie's hand that had gotten injured by one of the plants in front of her and Celia. It seemed that they were organizing different plants, and Maggie's finger was punctured by a thorn.

"Young Master Angele?" Maggie became surprised at Angele's abrupt appearance, which undoubtedly made people assume that something must've happened. Angele looked over the people inside the carriage. He felt relieved when he saw not a presence of Philip and his knights here.

"Well, I heard your scream, so I'm just checking if anything happened. Maggie seems fine, though. I'm returning to my carriage," Angele said and went outside without waiting for a chance of them to talk. He closed the door and walked toward the leading carriage quickly.

The speed of the caravan wasn't too fast, making it possible for Angele to easily outrun the carriages. While passing by Philip and his knights' carriage, he witnessed Philip looking outside the window carelessly. He nodded his head when he saw Angele passing by, seemingly unconcerned about the two girls any longer. Angele saw his actions, thus he smiled at him in response.

"Wait a second, Young Master Angele," someone with a deep voice said. Angele knew it was Philip, so he bowed to him after turning around.

"Count Philip, is there anything I can help you with?" Angele said as he slowed his walking pace to keep up with the carriage.

"The ring on your necklace caught my attention." Philip stared at the ring on Angele's neck.

"You know something about this ring?" Angele was in a hurry, so he forgot to place the ring underneath his clothes. Philip inadvertently saw it when Angele was passing by.

"It's just a ring that my father had given me, like a special memento." Angele quickly returned it underneath his clothes and said.

"Could you take a look for me if you know something about this? It could be something rare, I suppose," Angele thought for a second before handing the ring over to Philip. Philip scrunched his eyebrows, but he saw Angele smiling at him. He then nodded and grabbed the ring. Philip looked at the words engraved on the ring, and in an instant, his facial expression changed.

"Did you discover something?" Angele was looking at him, feeling elated that Philip probably knew something about it.

"Give me a price, I want this ring," Philip said with a light tone.

"Well, if you find it charming, just consider it my gift to you. Can you just introduce my family to the governor after we arrive at Marua Harbor?" Angele said with his smile retained. For some reason, Philip found Angele's smile ice-cold. But he didn't let his suspicion show on his face, still nodding in response.

"No problem at all. Thanks, Young Master Angele. You guys saved me. I'll make sure you live a better life there. Now if you'll excuse me…" Philip closed the window and lowered the curtain.

Angele stopped walking and looked at Philip's carriage. A plan was formulated.

It was night. The caravan decided to camp under a hill, and so made an encirclement out of their carriages. Philip sat inside his own carriage, carefully looking at the ring.

"An enchanted ring! Yet, that dumbass just gave it away. Even one without energy could be traded for a hundred soldiers' equipment!" One of the knights beside him spoke in a tone brimming with excitement.

"It's a ring the Ramsoda College has. If you want to get into this college, you'll need a special recommendation from the Andes Alliance School… If I were to show this ring to the school, I'll get admitted right away." Philip excitedly nodded. He was looking at the ring as though it was a priceless treasure.

"If you can get admitted into the Alliance school, the marquis will treat you much better," another knight said, his happiness for him apparent.

The oil lamp brought light over the emerald on the ring. Green light reflected into the eyes of the three.

"Rings like this were trophies the school gave out before. I heard I could use it to get in without taking the exam. If this is one of those, the value will be extremely high!" Philip said with a light tone. He wasn't laughing, but the knights knew he was elated.

"That young guy is unlucky, knowing none of it. He treated it like an ordinary ring. Ha." One of the knights laughed.

"Well, he's just a low-class noble from the countryside and has no way to obtain such information. He probably doesn't even know of the Andes Alliance School, and you expect him to know about those trophies? And take it to the school?" Philip said after shaking his head.

HUA!

The door of the carriage was opened by someone.

"Andes Alliance School? Trophies?" Angele spoke in a gentle tone as he walked into the carriage with a smiling face. His black hunting suit blended into the shadows of the dark night; his brown hair rustled in the wind.

"You were spying on us?" The three became surprised, and Philip became furious.

"I'm not, ha. My hearing is just too keen, so your voices just lingered onto me. I didn't expect something so interesting though," Angele said as he continued to smile. The two knights looked at each other for a second and unsheathed the swords by their side at the same time.

BANG! BANG!

Angele drew his sword in but a second and moved around in the carriage as though he was dancing. His sword had blood smeared on it when he returned to his original position. The two knights started screaming as their hands were dismembered. They fell down to the ground after Angele managed to exploit the gaps in their armor.

"What are you doing?!" Philip yelled. He was trying to maintain a calm demeanor, however, his eyes betrayed such expectations as fear shone upon it.

"I am the son of Marquis Syrias, how dare you! I'm going to kill your whole family unless you kill everyone that'll know of this!" he continued.

"Angele! What are you doing!" The baron rushed into the carriage with a disappointed look. He saw the two knights screaming on the ground. Angele was about to explain, however, Philip threw his teapot that contained hot water inside toward them. Philip jumped out of the window, fleeing with a speed at the knight level.

"Huh!" Angele dodged the teapot and jumped off the carriage right away. He saw Philip mounting on a horse, clearly attempting to flee.

'Analyzing the distance, modifying the range…' Blue-colored information showed up in front of Angele. A red dot was marked on Philip's body.

'Analyzing necessary strength, modifying…'

'Completed.' Zero did a series of analysis and reported it to Angele.

Angele smiled and aimed his sword at the red dot. He threw it toward Philip at full strength, and the silver crossguard sword struck the right side of Philip's waist after spinning for a while. Philip screamed and fell off the horse.

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Chapter 35: Clue (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

The baron jumped off the carriage, looked at Philip, and threw the two knights to the ground. What Angele had just done upset him. Everyone around became startled, and people stopped what they were doing to check on the situation.

"Young Master, Baron… What's going on?" Captain Mark walked toward them with a surprised look.

"Everyone! Come here!" Angele yelled instead of answering his query. He grabbed Philip by his arm and threw him near the two knights.

"You! You want to die?! My father is Marquis Syrias. He'll hunt down every single one of you if you kill me!" Philip was hysterically screaming out of fear. Angele laughed before taking out the ring out of Philip's pocket. He hid it in his palm so no one else could see it and placed it inside his own pouch.

Angele looked at the baron and saw the latter feeling unhappy. They stared at each other for a second and started laughing after.

"I assume you have a plan," the baron said with a deep voice.

"Yes, Father," Angele nodded and smiled.

People walked over and encircled the three. No one said a word. Killing a count was probably too heavy a burden for them.

Angele looked around and clapped his hands.

"Alright, we're all in the same boat here. The trip is tough, but it makes us stronger. Now, I have a good method for us to deepen our relationships." Angele looked around and said while clapping his hands. The baron who looked relaxed threw his iron dagger to his son.

"Mark!" Angele grabbed the dagger and called the captain.

"Yes!" Captain Mark swallowed hard and took the dagger Angele handed over to him.

"Each one of you will cut them once, don't aim at the vital points," Angele smiled and said. Mark looked at Angele and felt a chill on his back from his smile. He kept nodding, and after he lowered down his body, Mark gashed a deep wound on Philip.

"Ah! You! You! Damn!" Philip was screaming like crazy.

"My father will do me justice!" he continued.

"Next," Angele yelled with such calmness. Another guard took the dagger and… The three kept screaming and cursing on the ground. After 5 minutes, everyone including the women and teenagers had already cut them once.

"Good, we're a very tight team now," Angele clapped and smiled. Philip and his knights had wounds all over their bodies and were losing too much blood. They were not cursing anymore, and instead, they kept begging for their lives with weak voices.

"Burn them. We need to continue on our way," Angele said as he glanced at the caravan members, but people were afraid to look at him.

"I don't know why you decided to kill them, but the result is fine. Let's just forget about what happened today." The baron sighed and stood on the side.

"I messed up your plan, Father. I'm sorry," Angele lowered his head and apologized.

"You've got your reasons. However, our family is weak now and there are many high-class nobles in a large city like Marua. As I said before, make sure you think twice before acting," the baron put his arm on Angele's shoulder and said.

"Understood," Angele nodded. They started a fire and threw the three into it. The three screamed for a second from the scorching pain until they were burnt to death quickly. The armors of the knights had become red and smoldering hot from the fire.

"Let's go," the baron looked at the fire and left. No one spoke a word as they returned to their own carriages. They decided to keep moving during the night. The thing that had happened today was too scary and people needed the time keep it off their minds. Teenagers like Maggie and Celia used the dagger too; their faces still looked pale from fright.

People heard the howls of wolves from the place they just left.

"Timberwolves, they will eat up the bodies there. They don't even fear the fire," the baron opened the window to take a look and said. Angele nodded. He learned about the Timberwolves from one of the books in the special library, and they were very different from the ones on earth. Timberwolf here usually lived alone and was the size of a buffalo. It had black fur and had no fear of fire.

"We left their carriage there, would that be fine?" Angele asked.

"Don't worry, so many Rudin nobles were killed in the plain. People would think it was the bandits' work, and we even left some money in the carriage. Bandits passing by will rob it clean, and they'll become the main targets of whoever attempts to search for Philip," the baron said. It was as though he had a lot of experience about such situations.

"We'll be safe after we cross the border in half a month," he continued. Angele looked outside the window. It was already dark, only the moon that hung in the sky and the grass on the ground near the carriage could be seen.

"Father, have you ever heard of the Andes Alliance School?" Angele suddenly asked.

"How do you know about it? Barely anyone knows of it," the baron said with a surprised expression.

"I heard it from the count," Angele said.

"Well, for him, it could be possible," the baron said before he drank some water from his water canteen.

"Andes Alliance School is the best school in the whole Andes. Its duty is to train elites in the country, only taking a small number of students in each year. People who graduated from the school all become influential people of the country. They all become high-class nobles. This school is vastly different from ordinary noble schools as it has high standards for admission. Also, it doesn't matter if you're a farmer or a noble. As long as you're talented, you'll get the chance. I thought of sending you to that school, but your body wasn't capable of accepting the Life Energy Seed…" the baron said with faint despondency on his face.

"Well, I found a ring not so long ago, and Philip said the ring could help me get into that school with exam exemption," Angele laughed and took out the ring. The baron was surprised and grabbed it to examine it.

"If it's true, this will be our family's only hope," the baron said with a tone that seemed a bit excited.

"I think it's true. The problem is, we need to find the location of the school and the way it tests its students," Angele said.

"Philip saw the ring and tried to take it from me. I thought he was going to kill us all after we arrive at the Marua Harbor just to make sure I wouldn't disrupt his plan," Angele made his own conjecture.

"That is very possible, especially since those high-class nobles are quite likely to do something like that. However, I think you showed the ring to him on purpose, right? Or were you trying to figure out how much it worth? Wait, did you do it for the girls? Angele, I really can't guess what you're thinking," the baron said.

"A bit of each. I'll make sure to think twice before acting in the future," Angele lowered his head and said. The baron actually knew him well.

"I've decided. When we arrive at Marua, I'll ask your aunt to find the information about the Andes Alliance School. If you get accepted as a student…." the baron didn't finish his sentence. He just began smiling.

Ten days later, the caravan entered the border of Andes.

Outside the Anser Plain were many hills around and thriving trees. There were also many different plants and animals. Angele could sometimes see some abandoned iron mines, and he started seeing other caravans traveling toward Marua. Most of them were merchants while some were Rudin nobles that were trying to join their relatives in Marua.

Angele kept analyzing different species and stored their information in the chip. Though his attributes wouldn't increase any longer, the information could still be useful in the future if he could get into the school. With the help of the chip, he would be learning much faster than others and he would never forget anything he saw. Studying wouldn't pose a problem to him. After all, what he only needed was the sources. Others probably had to go through many mistakes to find out the truth, but Angele only needed the chip to rule out all the false information. He would be able to find the easiest way to comprehend the materials.

"If I can get into that school, I'll probably be able to find the Ramsoda College mentioned on the ring. That college is connected to the wizards for sure." Angele was getting excited. Recently, he kept looking at the ring at least several times in a small span of time. He, however, was a bit disappointed that Philip didn't carry anything like that with him. It seemed that enchanted items were very rare, so Angele wondered how Dice managed to get one. Angele was curious, and he really wanted to know who Dice really was.

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Chapter 36: School (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele felt relaxed ever since they crossed the border. It didn't take long for them to reach Marua Harbor. Outside of its main city were merchants of great numbers gathered around. It seemed as though this faith of merchants had created small markets that encircled Marua. Many people walked around to and fro, showing that the markets were all bustling in activities.

It was about 3 pm in the afternoon when Angele's caravan arrived. The sky was cloudy and beneath it were carriages that were slowly moving through the bustling markets. They were together with a large merchant caravan that dealt with sea salt business. About two days ago, they joined with them. The baron paid 50 gold coins to the leader of the merchant caravan, so they could enter the city easily with the help of the merchants.

The baron was sitting in the leading carriage and gazing upon the huge city. He was met with gray city walls of towering height, and from his angle, it seemed as though it were endless. The entrance ahead of him was wide open that he could clearly see people busily partaking in their own activities inside. Some carriages were heading out of the city with heavy goods on their carts at the back while some were conversing with the guards to gain passage into the city. The guards were fully geared. Black iron armors covered and protected them. Lances were each held in their hands.

"This is Marua City?" Angele asked. He got out of the carriage and sat beside his father.

"Yes, we can head to the outer city once we pass through here. With the help of the merchant caravan, we can get in easily such that they don't to screen us individually anymore," the baron smiled upon saying this.

"If we didn't join the merchants, it would've taken us a long time just to get in. Although we ourselves have entry passes, the screening process would've been a pain," he continued.

Angele nodded before he glanced around. All the carriages he saw were quite similar to theirs. The guards took off their gears and stored them in the supply cart. When they arrived at the entrance, a fat young man got off from the red wooden carriage at the forefront. The man wore a black coat, and rather than looking like a businessman, he seemed more like a chef.

The man conversed with the guards for several seconds while maintaining a smiling face, after which he put a small pouch in one of the guards' hand. The guard then laughed and waved his hands to signal a legitimate entry. However, Angele noticed the guards taking a glance for a while on their caravan. They probably knew of their identities, but they couldn't be bothered with it.

The caravan entered the city swiftly. What they witnessed was the sight of a clean and tidy street, which had a minuscule amount of litters on the ground. Both sides of the street were filled with vendors selling countless different merchandise such as salt, seafood, and even some people were buying second-hand goods. Pearls were also being sold while some had strange animals that Angele had never seen before as merchandise. Occasionally, he could see some people haggling with the store owners.

Angele's caravan was moving in the middle of the street. A few of them looked at the streets with curious gazes. Some of the officers of the harbor were slowly going around the stalls and stores, collecting management fees. For a few times, several carts that carried massive amounts of salt passed by Angele's carriage.

They continued along for about half an hour and went past several streets before reaching an intersection. Alongside a gray stone building, a plump middle-aged noblewoman was standing with three workers.

"My lovely sister Maria, long time no see. It feels great to see you doing well," he yelled.

"Dear brother, I'm happy to meet you too." The woman smiled gently and they hugged each other. The baron then asked Angele to step outside.

"This is Angele, my second son. He was born after you got married. I think you've never seen each other before," the baron said as he patted Angele's shoulder. Maria looked at Angele for a while as though she was checking him all over.

"Good kid, I hope you can get along with my son Buster, your cousin." Maria smiled and said.

"Thanks, Aunt Maria," Angele lowered his head and replied politely.

"Alright, I have prepared a party for you guys at the manor. Also, the Rose Garden has been emptied for you, so you can move in anytime you want. But brother, I thought you'd bring a lot more people than this. Where's old Wade?" Maria nodded and asked.

"We'll talk about this later, let's get back first," the baron said with a deep voice, sadness hinted in his tone.

"Sure, let's get back. Anger, lead the way for the baron." Maria stopped for a second then nodded after.

"Yes, Ma'am," one of the workers answered. Angele didn't follow his father to the leading carriage. Instead, he got on the second one. He knew his father hadn't seen his sister for years, so they must have a lot to say to each other. Maggie, Celia, their relatives, the pharmacist, and Captain Mark all looked a bit worried. However, their anxiousness dissipated after seeing Angele getting on their carriage.

"Young Master Angele, what work can we do at the harbor? I know nothing besides killing…" Mark said.

"Don't worry; you've been with my father since long ago. He'll make sure you get a job you want," Angele smiled.

Maggie and Celia were sitting by his side with nervous expressions. They were now in a new environment. The baron needed to rebuild his base here. After he obtained what he wanted, he would only care about Angele while the others, especially the ones with mediocre talent, wouldn't be cared for anymore. Also, the baron had lost his territory and source of income. Because of that, they could no longer live the life they used to have, a reasonable outlook for the people as they started becoming worried for their future.

Angele sat in the carriage, thinking of ways to calm their unease. Suddenly, the carriages slowed down.

"Angele, get off the carriage," the baron yelled from outside. Angele was confused, but he still got off the carriage. He saw Aunt Maria and his father standing at the side, both looking excited.

"What happened, Father, Aunt Maria?" Angele asked. The carriages stopped by the side while others who were in the carriages started unloading the supplies. Angele walked toward the two.

"You father told me you want to enter the school. I think it's good for you, and your father supports this decision as well. You're lucky this time. Marua Harbor School is taking in new students. You can register as long as you reach the requirements," Maria said with a smiling face.

"Marua Harbor School?" Angele had never heard of it before. He looked at his father.

"That school has a long history, and teach nearly everything such as fighting skills, field experiences, music, literature, dancing, and painting. Also, they're qualified to recommend a number of students to the Andes Alliance School each year," the baron smiled as he walked close to Angele.

"If you want to learn about the Alliance School and how to get admitted into it, this step is necessary!" he whispered by Angele's ear.

"It's going to expensive, isn't it?" Angele asked.

"100 gold coins for the registration and additional expenses for the courses you want to enroll. However, it's nothing compared to all the things you can learn," the baron said.

Angele felt slightly relieved because they looted the treasures of the bandits they had encountered along the way and also Count Philip's possessions. They obtained about 200 gold coins from the bandits and 1000 gold coins from Philip, so Angele was actually pretty rich at present.

"Today is the last day of registration. You'll surely be admitted if you go to the registration area now," Maria explained.

"Your father told me you want to go to Andes Alliance School. If you achieve good grades at the harbor school, you'll be recommended to the Alliance School after," she continued.

"Aunt, please ask someone to lead me there. I'll go register now!" Angele said.

"Sir Siva is there working at the registration office. Not so long ago, his son wanted Bowater to do something for him. I'll let him know that I sent you there," Maria said after nodding her head. Bowater was her husband and also Angele's uncle. He was an officer at the harbor's inspector department.

"Thank you, Aunt!" Angele felt elated upon knowing this, thus politely giving her his sincere thanks.

"However, it's a boarding school. You'll need to bring your own things there such as your clothes," Maria said.

"Got it, I'll get on it right away," Angele said. Maria then asked a worker named Anderson to lead the way for Angele. Before leaving, the baron patted Angele's shoulder hard. He didn't say anything, but Angele could see the hope in his eyes. Maggie and Celia got off the carriage to wish Angele good luck. Angele kissed them in front of everyone to show that they were under his wing before leaving with Anderson.

Angele felt he was caught in a hurry, but the opportunity was right there. He knew his body had long reached the limits and knew what he needed to accomplish in the school.

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Chapter 37: School (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

By the west of Marua City, there laid upon mountains of great numbers. Valleys that were naturally formed between these mountains made up a two-lane road network used in transportation. These white carriages' paths looked endless, ultimately leading into the forest after several twists and turns. It was a cloudy afternoon. Many carriages were traveling on the road; some entered the forest while some exited. Owners of different carriages being politely greeted by whom they were acquainted with was a common scene and courtesy along the way.

An average-looking teenager with short brown hair was sitting in a white carriage, gazing at the carriages passing by. Many carriages had those luxurious insignias, yet Angele barely knew any of those. Clean, silky white shirt and a small gray linen coat; long blue pants and a pair of tight black boots were being worn by him. He looked just like any other noble child from the countryside and seemed as though he attempted to be fashionable yet knew nothing in that regard.

A bald coachman wearing gray worker clothes made from linen was sitting by the teenager. These two were Angele and Anderson, respectively, who were heading to the registration office in the school. Anderson started explaining the situation in the harbor school as the carriage moved forward at a swift pace.

"Young Master Angele, the madam asked me to tell you this. Please only take the necessary courses in school since the price of some courses might be too high for you at present…" Anderson didn't finish his sentence, but Angele knew what he meant.

"I understand. To get admitted into the harbor school, the only thing needed is money?" Angele asked.

"Never heard of anyone getting rejected after paying enough. I think so," Anderson licked his lips and answered.

Showing a tacit understanding of the situation, Angele nodded. The harbor school was most likely similar to those private schools on Earth where you need to pay a certain amount to get admitted. However, unlike on Earth, the quality of education in this world varied. For Angele, his sentiment was of needing not to waste time in the castle any longer, at least. He could actually learn something, and with the chip's assistance were many things that he could now do.

"Also, the registration fee isn't very high. Even children of merchants are studying in it, too. Some people couldn't afford the fee, thus they chose to pay the students to teach them instead. It's a cheaper alternative and moreover, such things are common in the school. You can consider doing the same if you don't have enough money to spare," Anderson kindly said.

"Thank you, I'll think about it," Angele smiled, no longer talking after. He was aware of the fact that just paying those students with money wouldn't be enough. He probably needed to be extremely polite to them while begging them for knowledge. This was something Angele wouldn't do. This would save him some money; however, he had the chip. He could do the things normal people couldn't.

The carriage entered the deep forest in a short span. Ahead of them was a 10-meter wide, large iron door waiting at the end of the road. Beside the entrance were towering walls going straight toward the mountains endlessly. Outside the door was a vast empty ground where several small carriages were parked. Several typical and ostentatious carriages easily distinguishable with just the insignias on them were there. From time to time, people wearing luxurious clothes went out through the door and got into the carriages. Teenagers ranging from 12 to 16 years old and of differing statures got out of the carriages, most likely here to register as well. It seemed the school didn't have age restrictions.

After parking the carriage, Angele followed after Anderson as they entered through the door. Just like any other students, Angele had the same spark of curiosity in him, proven by his actions as his eyes kept darting around. The first scene he witnessed was a grassy land and many white buildings that were about 5-6 floors tall. A stone path directed them toward one of the white buildings ahead.

Besides the path, there were copper statues that each had words engraved on it. Angele looked at one of the statues and saw words engraved. It read, 'Count Albert Parrington donated 20000 gold coins to the school on Year 1307. Angele became speechless because he thought those statues were created for successful entities that had greatly contributed to the school's reputation. He checked several others wherein he saw that they had donated at least 10000 gold coins to the school. By then he had already stopped looking and instead followed Anderson to the first floor of the white building.

A middle-aged man with a goatee was sitting in the middle of a hall that was decorated with glamorous furnishings as though there was a party. He was jotting down the names of students who came to register with a quill pen. Angele moved behind the 20 to 30 people who were lined up in front of him. Meanwhile, Anderson took the recommendation letter to Sir Siva, which caused people around Angele to have contemptuous looks and distance from him.

It didn't take long for Anderson to bring a blonde curly-haired man to Angele. The man took Angele straight to a room at the side of the hall.

Angele paid the fee in but a short moment and obtained the certification that would prove his identity. It was colored white and was made out of leather. Written on it were his student number, grade, room number, and his personal information. A red seal that represented the clearance of his payment had been stamped at the bottom of the paper. Anderson left right after he assisted Angele in the registration.

Angele headed to a building to the left according to the explanation on the paper. This building was the dorm. Many rooms were still open, but the hallway was crowded with students walking to and fro, looking for their own rooms. It was a lively scene that reminded Angele of the post knights in the castle. Most of the students here were vastly different, of course, as they wore luxurious clothes. People here also talked in a slow and gentle manner, which made Angele think they were a bit phony.

Also, Angele wasn't actually a noble here because he was from Rudin Empire, a dying country. His father had left his hometown and came to Andes because he decided to give up on his status there. Angele was a mere student now, yet Andes didn't set restrictions on the color of the clothes. He could still wear colorful clothes, even white clothes. On the contrary, he would've been in deep trouble if he had done so back in Rudin.

Each room could only fit one student because the school knew that noble children wouldn't like to share a room with others. The bedroom only had one bed, a desk, and a chair. Everything was made out of brown wood, and no paint was applied. Angele could smell the fragrance of wood in the air. He decided to settle down his possessions and change his clothes.

"New schedule is out!" A boy yelled outside the room.

"It was just posted outside the 5th building. The price is 5 gold coins!" he continued.

"We need to pay at least 100 gold coins; otherwise, we won't get our money's worth!" Another person said.

"The price is set by Master Banner. If you have any question, go talk to him. I'm merely a messenger," the boy said. By then, the students in the building were stirred, becoming noisy.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

Someone knocked on the door of Angele's room. He opened it right away. A black-haired boy wearing a red-yellow noble suit was standing outside.

"You're new here? You heard the price?" This black-haired boy who also had freckles all over his face asked. Angele nodded his head.

"Good, it's the price set by Master Banner. If you want to teach the poor students for money, that's the number of coins you can ask for. You must follow the rules, understood?" he continued, and Angele nodded again.

"Sure," Angele said. After all, he wasn't planning on earning money by doing this anyway.

"Good," the boy looked satisfied.

"Not bad for a newcomer. Remember to pay the fee stated on the back of the schedule," the boy said before leaving. Angele closed the door and thought of something. He took the paper and turned it over. The schedule was very long, each price was written beside each course. It was slightly blurry, probably not handwritten. Angele wouldn't have known of the schedule if it weren't for the boy who had informed him.

The price and course were as follows:

Music – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 20 gold coins.

Drawing – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 20 gold coins.

Dancing – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 20 gold coins.

Equestrianism – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 20 gold coins.

Free Combat Training – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 30 gold coins.

History of The Alliance – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 10 gold coins.

War Strategies – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 50 gold coins.

Sword Skills – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 20 gold coins.

Katana Skills – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 20 gold coins.

Dual-wielding Heavy Weapon Skills – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 30 gold coins.

Archery – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 50 gold coins.

Language – 2 classes, 1 hour in total. 20 gold coins.

The total number of classes necessary was about 10. The time schedule of the classes would be decided before the start of the courses. Payments were mandatory to be paid on the same day.

Angele scrunched his eyebrows. It would take him about 100 gold coins to finish one course. This was already costly to him. Though he brought only two high gold cards, it was still a lot. One high gold card could be exchanged with 1000 gold coins, which would be handed out by the school. Angele could convert it to gold coins whenever he wanted at the service department of the school.

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Chapter 38: Adolf (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Two thousand gold coins were already a lot to Angele since it could even completely fill a big, heavy bag. When he was still in the Rio Territory, he could buy plenty of things with that amount of money. But in Marua, he needed even more.

'Aunt Maria was right,' Angele thought. He read the course list once again. However, as he didn't find anything useful to him, he could only scrunch his eyebrows. Only the words at the bottom caught his attention:

"The recommendation exam will be held by the end of September. Students who pass three of their courses will be qualified."

"Pass three of them?" Angele muttered while re-reading over the selections he had.

"I'll take sword skills, archery, and language then. I'm good at those. The chip will help me get through the language course easily." Angele finally made his decision and put the sheet back into his pouch after.

People outside the room were still noisy. Angele could hear some of them laughing as they talked. He donned his favorite black hunting suit and checked the things he had brought. Angele put them aside before leaving the room. There were many students around, each forming their own groups. They were either gossiping about certain teachers or about some well-known students. Some were merely talking about the new jewelry and clothes that had just been imported into the city.

Angele walked across the hall, feeling alienated in the atmosphere around him.

'This place is so peaceful. I guess I'll need some time to get used to it. I fought too many battles back then at the plains.' Angele thought. He didn't plan on staying at this place for too long. After all, there was no point in interacting with the children of high-class nobles or merchants.

Angele walked out of the dorm and looked at the schedule that was pinned on the wall by his side. He took a note of the locations and timetables of the courses he wanted. He then walked straight toward the study area at the back. He could see that all the school buildings were indeed white. Angele headed into the most crowded area — the dining hall. He saw white bread, wine, fish soups, and pan-fried mussels there. He quickly finished his lunch and returned back to his room to get some rest.

The second morning, Angele woke up early. He changed his clothes and quickly finished washing his face and brushing his teeth. Many students hadn't woken up yet, which was the reason why the dorm was eerily quiet. Angele walked around the hall and saw several students coming from up ahead. They didn't wear luxurious suits, signifying that they most likely originated from small merchant families. It was likely that they were the most hardworking students in the school. Angele studied hard as well, but only a few nobles would try hard like him.

Angele walked out of the dorm. It was still a bit dark and the area was empty. He could barely see any people. The morning breeze blowing over him was still chilly, and chirping of birds could be heard.

'My first class is Language, and it's taught by Master Adolf. Location is at Building 19 Room 304,' Angele stored the information in the chip earlier, so he quickly found the location after seeing the black mark on the building.

It was a three-story building located at the rear end of the school. There were only five rooms on each floor. Outside the building was a board standing there. The words written on it were Rudin and two other languages Angele couldn't recognize. These words meant 'Language'. These words were written in an art form, similar to that of Chinese calligraphy on Earth.

The building was surrounded by wooden fences and between them was an empty ground. A young girl sitting by a red wooden desk that had a label 'Fee and Registration' was yawning. Angele looked around, only to find that he seemed to be the only one around.

"You're here for the Language course?" she asked while yawning. She who was dressed in red saw Angele standing outside the fences.

"Yea, can I register now?" Angele walked in and took out his high gold card.

"Yep, you're a new student? You don't know me?" she asked.

"I was just admitted yesterday," Angele nodded honestly. He handed over his card to her, and the girl wrote down his card number and personal information. She also wrote '-20 gold coins' beside it before returning the card to Angele.

"Haven't seen formal students waking up so early in a while. I'm the daughter of your language teacher, Adolf Runsol. You can call me Sophia. You can go inside now, my father is already in the room," the girl said as she looked at Angele.

Angele couldn't find any chance to speak. It was likely that she didn't want to talk to him too much. He nodded and walked into the small building.

The building was white, yet there was a hint of it being grayish. The stairs were located at the right-hand side of the building. By the end of the passage, there was a half-opened door with a label '304' that indicated Room 304. Angele walked in and saw a white-haired old man reading a book. The old man heard the footsteps and looked over Angele's direction. He didn't say anything, only staring at Angele for a while.

'A scholar with a specific daily routine, I suppose,' Angele thought. He sat down in the front row, waiting for the course to begin. After half an hour, students started pouring in from outside, but they still looked drowsy. When there were about 13 students, the old man closed his book and stood up.

"I'm Adolf, invited by the school to teach Language. You may or may not know about me, but let's just pretend we don't know each other. I'll earn some cash by teaching you while you kids pay to stay in this class. That's it. Any questions?" the old man said, his tone serious and stubborn.

"We know Master Adolf's rule. Please start the class," one of the girls sitting in the front row said. Her skin seemed a bit too pale white for a human being.

"Well, let's get started," Adolf went straight to the point, not wasting any time.

"I'll be teaching the universal language from one of Andes's neighbors, Polen Empire. I'll also be teaching the language of Holy Anmag Empire. Especially the second one, it's very useful and important. We use it in many different areas such as Marua, the capital, and many more cities," Adolf said.

'Zero, analyze all language-related information,' Angele ordered while looking at Adolf.

'Mission established. Analysis beginning…' Zero said. There were only about 10 students there, but Adolf was treating his job seriously. He talked about the basic structure of the two languages and the history of their developments. He also taught about the basic components of the words. Angele felt as if the time in the two classes flowed very quickly.

"Two days later, I have an applied course. To attend or not is your choice," Adolf said in a serious tone before leaving the room with books in his hand.

After Language, Angele attended the sword skills and archery courses. The two courses had everything Angele expected. The content was way too easy for him, but it was a chance for him to practice. He attended a class once, but then realized there was no point for him to attend again. The teachings were less useful compared to the ones he had found in the castle. The skills they taught weren't practical. They looked cool, but it wouldn't help Angele survive in a real battle. The sword skills of his father and Knight Audis were much better than the ones taught here.

'Well, at least the teachers are knights. However, they're just average.' Angele knew knights were still elites here. They were ones that students couldn't meet all day. With the help of the chip, Angele found the strongest person in this school. He was dumbfounded because the strongest was a teacher who had about the level of a mid-knight. There were not even many post knights here. Barely any people had experiences in actual combat. Most students were akin to flowers in a greenhouse living happy lives. They liked funny stories, fashion, and beautiful sword dances, but they were not interested in participating in a real war.

'This is the place rich kids want. Pay for some certificates and make themselves look better. No wonder why money is the only thing I needed to get admitted here,' Angele concluded. In the next ten days, Angele didn't do anything other than studying, eating, and sleeping. He had already mastered the two languages Adolf had taught. It took 6 classes for him to achieve this, and it cost him 60 gold coins. He was well-behaved in class and could answer the questions asked by the teacher. Adolf thought he was pretty good and smart.

"That's it for today. Come to my desk if you have any questions," Adolf said. Only 6 students were still inside the classroom. Angele was at the front row where he sat quietly. He was considered as the most hardworking student in the class. He raised his hand after hearing the words Adolf said.

"Master, I got a question. I wonder if you could teach me some other language besides those two?" Angele asked. He knew Adolf had mastered more than ten languages. He was, after all, the most renowned polyglot in Marua. People highly respected him in the academic world.

"Other languages? Angele, were the two I taught not enough for you?" Adolf said while scrunching his eyebrows.

"Well…" Angele was about to continue speaking, but several other students started asking questions. Adolf was instantly surrounded by several students. They just kept asking basic questions. Obviously, they were fawning on Adolf. Angele shook his head, only sitting there as he waited for them to finish.

Adolf's patience was running out, but he finished conversing with the students nonetheless. He saw Angele still waiting inside the classroom.

"What else do you want to know, Angele?" Adolf felt goodwill toward Angele, so he remembered his name.

"You haven't mastered the two languages I taught, yet. Don't be greedy," he continued.

"Master, may I ask what the language requirement is for the Andes Alliance School?" Angele asked after he stood up.

"Language requirement? You want to get into the alliance school? What do you want to do there? That's just a place for people who are wealthier than most," Adolf said while staring at Angele.

'Warning! Warning! Target is using an unknown magnetic field to scan your mind.' Zero suddenly warned before Angele could answer.

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Chapter 39: Adolf (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

'Unknown magnetic field?' Angele was both surprised and excited. He heard Adolf questioning him. He was feeling elated, but he tried to stay calm.

"Master Adolf, I'm just interested in the legendary power the Wizards have and I want to get into a better school. I think my research would progress faster," Angele quickly and honestly answered.

"Wizard?" Adolf stopped for a second and thought for a while.

"It is… very nostalgic…" He sighed with a sad look on his face. Adolf looked at Angele for a while with a face as though he had mixed feelings about the situation. Angele was nearly becoming scared.

"I think you're honest because you're telling the truth. Follow me." Adolf broke the silence and slowly left the classroom. Angele followed him from behind. Outside the door, Adolf's daughter who was wearing a tight red one piece, Sophia, was looking at Angele with mixed feelings as well. She didn't say anything. It seemed that she didn't overhear their conversation.

Adolf walked down the building with Angele and his daughter. Outside was a large red carriage that could easily fit three people awaiting them. The insignia looked like the Scales.

"Get on the carriage," Adolf said while pointing at it.

"Yes, master." Angele politely got inside the carriage.

Inside the carriage, Angele sat opposite to Adolf and Sophia. The coachman started driving the carriage, moving forward quickly. No one talked, but Angele noticed that Adolf was thinking about something. The carriage left the school and moved to the downtown area of Marua. They arrived at a block full of large houses and stopped in front of a red-white house. They had left the school at morning and by the time they had arrived, it was already noon.

Adolf still didn't say anything as he led Angele and Sophia into the house. They went to the study on the second floor and while they did so, several workers greeted them.

"Sit down." Adolf sat on a sofa by the desk. Angele looked around and saw two shelves full of books on the side. The book covers were all made of red leather and the words written on it were hard to read. It was highly likely that Master Adolf wrote it. On the desk was a golden oil lamp, a white quill pen, and a bottle of black ink. There was also a round silver seal above an opened letter.

"Ony, bring this young guest of mine a glass of Marconi. Also, you know what Sophia and I want," Adolf loudly said. Sophia was sitting beside her father with a face that seemed unconcerned about Adolf's decision. A chubby middle-aged woman brought 3 glasses of drink to them and closed the door quietly.

Angele smelled the fragrance of the drink in front of him. It looked like dark chocolate, yet it smelled like a lemon mixed with orange. It was nice and warm.

"Tell me about your decision. I mean, why are you looking for the Wizards?" Adolf asked.

"I think you know that the path to the Wizards' world is too difficult to find, and you need perseverance for it. You can't imagine the amount of effort you need," he continued in a deep tone.

"Master Adolf, to be honest with you, my body isn't capable of accepting Life Energy Seed. There's no way for me to become a grand knight. However, I witnessed the power of a wizard, and I found it incredible. I want to find out if the wizards could help me get stronger in a different way," Angele unhesitatingly said. He had his own plans, so he decided to tell Adolf everything he knew. It wasn't, after all, a big secret in any case.

"You witnessed the power of a wizard? There are still wizards around here?" Adolf was taken aback and even Sophia was curiously looking at Angele.

"No, I didn't see a real wizard in front of me. I saw someone using an energy from a cracked enchanted item," Angele said.

"That person must be a wizard then! Only a wizard is capable of wielding enchanted items," Adolf nodded.

"You're very honest. However, the talent requirement in becoming a wizard is far greater than of a grand knight's. Are you sure you have such talent?" Adolf asked.

"I wouldn't know until I try," Angele smiled.

"I think I should at least try. If I don't, then I will never know if I'm gifted or not," Angele said. He had successfully utilized the power of the ring, so he felt confident about it.

"Very good," Adolf started laughing.

"You're just like me. When I was young, I never gave up," Adolf continued.

"Wait, you're a…" Angele became excited.

"No, I'm not a wizard. I'm just an ordinary person who admires them." Adolf sighed, then he became silent.

"Sorry, I'm tired. I need to take some rest. Come by here next time," Adolf said.

"Thanks for inviting me here. I'm leaving now." Angele still had something to say, but he decided to leave.

"Sophia, see him off." Adolf stood up and grabbed a book from the shelf.

"It's a book of Erathia's language. You can read it first. Come here tomorrow and I'll teach you the language privately. If I see any potential from you, I'll consider recommending you to the alliance school," Adolf said.

"Thank you, Master Adolf!" Angele was jubilant upon seeing Adolf handing the book to him.

"Yea." Adolf waved his hands and ceased talking. Angele walked out of the study with Sophia and they went down the stairs. Angele got inside the carriage when they left the house.

"Father has expectations on you and he'll know if you're lying. I respect his decision, but I hope you don't disappoint him," Sophia said in a serious manner.

"I understand." Angele nodded politely.

Half a year later…

Adolf's house.

"If we can replace the word 'Kafka' with 'single wheel', it will be impossible when using the grammar of Anmag language," Adolf said while looking at a paper. He scrunched his eyebrows and pointed to the paper using his finger while making an encircling gesture around the word.

"And here, the word choice is poor. It should be replaced with the Rudin word 'ignite'," he continued. Angele was sitting there quietly while listening to Adolf's advice. After the passing of half a year, the two became really close. Angele used the chip to help him study the languages and the results were great. He learned much faster than others. Actually, he had already mastered the first two languages in the first week, but he didn't want too much attention, so he spent half a year to make it look like he was just progressing fast. He had mastered three different languages in half a year wherein this made Adolf think he was a genius.

Adolf was testing Angele's familiarity with different languages now, so he combined different languages into sentences to make sure that Angele understood each of them.

"You're right. I didn't notice that." Angele said as he lowered his head. Actually, he made these mistakes on purpose.

"You still need to improve, but… you passed the tests for the three languages." Adolf put down the paper before he smiled. Angele seemed relieved, but he already knew the results beforehand. Adolf carefully looked at Angele, and he even felt proud of him.

"Angele, you studied with me for more than half a year now?" he asked.

"Yes, Master," Angele said.

"I think you know who I really am?" Adolf smiled.

"As the assistant director of the security department, I did some research on you," he continued. Angele nodded, though he didn't say anything. He knew Adolf being an influential personage, but that wasn't his purpose. Adolf looked at Angele, unable to see even the slightest change in Angele's facial expression after hearing about his position. Adolf felt happy at the fact that his power and influence didn't affect how Angele treated him.

"Well, that's not important anyway. You and I have a larger target," Adolf said.

Angele knew that Adolf was about to show him something, which was exactly the opportunity he was looking for. Adolf stood up and handed him a book. Angele took the book and looked at its title, "Journey of Heart by Buckwill Henry".

"Master, what is this?" Angele asked.

"This is the biography of the great thinker, Master Buckwill Henry," Adolf said, and he smiled. He liked Angele because the latter had mastered three different languages within half a year. Adolf thought that Angele was gifted. Therefore, he thought that he must put great effort in studying languages.

"But no one knew that not only was Master Buckwill a great thinker, he was also a mysterious person," he continued.

"He's a wizard?" Angele guessed. The thought of it got him excited.

"You're right. Take it back and read it. Let me know if you have any questions." Adolf nodded with a satisfied look on his face.

"Thank you, Master!" Angele said. He knew that he was going to learn something of significance from the book.

"People from Andes Alliance School will come to recruit after half a month. Prepare for it," Adolf said.

"Yes. Now if you would excuse me." Angele stood up, holding the book in his hands. He knew Adolf wouldn't give him any meaningless thing, but he didn't expect being given a book written by a real wizard.

"I'm too old for this now. It's your time to shine." Adolf nodded while laughing.

"Yes, Master!" Angele nodded.

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Chapter 40: Book of the Wizard (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele left the house with the book Adolf gave him and got on a carriage that took him back to the school. A staff member by the entrance of the dorm stopped Angele before he entered the building.

"Young Master Angele, here's a letter for you. Also, a worker left something here for you. Please take all of those with you," the staff member who looked drunk said. The staff member was a middle-aged man who was a heavy drinker. Angele could barely understand what the man was saying.

"Thanks, House." Angele smiled as he nodded. He headed into a small room by the entrance and took a black bag along with a letter.

Angele quickly returned to his room and carefully closed the door. Angele put down the bag and letter. He sat in front of his desk and placed the book he had just gotten on it. He inhaled once and tried to calm himself before he'd start checking the book. Brown was the color of its cover and an earmark was sealed on it. This mark was quite large and was made out of black silk. There was a small line of words written on the bottom-right side that said, "By Buckwill". The book was thick and heavy, such that it even looked like a large dictionary. It was about 2 to 3 kilograms. Angele collected himself and sat straight before opening the book.

'Zero, start recording the information,' he thought.

'Recording started.' The chip started working quickly.

There was only one line on the first page: "I am listening…"

The words were written in a special manner, which made it slightly hard to read. They looked like special runes, but they were actually just regular Anmag words. It looked like the page had a bunch of tadpoles lined up in the middle. Angele stared at those words and started thinking. He scrunched his eyebrows, remaining at this page for a long time. Dusk was nearly upon him and darkness had begun creeping everywhere. Moonlight poured into the room, dyeing and reflecting light upon everything inside with its pale white hue. The oil lamp on the desk reflected yellow light over Angele's face. Shadows under his eyes and nose began flickering.

Angele finally moved to page 2 after thinking for a long time, but he still scrunched his eyebrows. There was a colorful painting on the second page. It was a noble lady wearing a white one piece and a red round hat. She was sitting in front of a mirror quietly with a gentle demeanor. Her face was fair and beautiful, and it looked like she was staring into Angele's eyes. The painting itself was vibrant and it made it seem as if the lady was alive. Angele felt something strange about it, so he moved the book closer. He scrutinized the painting such that he could even see the pores on her face.

The wind was blowing into the room from outside.

DONG! The window made a loud noise as it was blown open. Angele stood up and closed it. He returned and sat down again, looking at the painting. He was surprised because the mouth of the lady in the painting was now slightly opened. He was certain that it was closed before. She stared at Angele, seemingly trying to say something.

"I am listening…" Angele was suddenly reminded of the words on page 1 and felt slightly scared. The room was silent and people who were talking outside couldn't be heard. Even the insects outside had gone silent. The atmosphere in the room felt heavy and constrained.

Angele felt goosebumps and instantly put his right hand over the crossguard sword by the side. He sensed danger and thought something was closing in on him.

'Zero, analyze the situation around. Report to me immediately if you find anything wrong,' Angele ordered.

'Mission established. Analyzing…' Zero reported. However, the chip didn't report back to him, so Angele felt relieved. He looked back at the painting, once again becoming surprised. The lady's mouth was slightly more opened compared before as though she was in pain. She now had a hopeless expression on her face, not staring at Angele anymore. Angele couldn't see anything in her eyes. Angele felt more goosebumps and also a chill coming from his back.

He quickly moved on to the next page.

"I am listening…" He saw the words again where it was still in the middle of the page.

'Warning! Strange magnetic field discovered! Please move away from the source! At least 50 meters!' Suddenly, the chip started giving out warnings.

'You will see a different world from this book if you are qualified to become a Wizard.' A strange message somehow appeared in Angele's mind. It wasn't written in the book, only going straight into Angele's consciousness.

Angele was paralyzed; sweat was all over his face.

GA!

A black bird that looked like a crow flew by his window and made a strange noise. Angele was still feeling shocked, but he was alerted by the sound. He quickly stood up and wiped off the sweat on his face with his hands. Angele saw his own reflection on the glass of the window. His reflection had white pupils and the mouth was opened as though his reflection was trying to say something. The facial expression of his reflection perfectly depicted that of the lady in the painting.

"Damn!" Angele screamed as he pushed the chair down. He bumped the door open and ran out to the hallway. The whole world outside looked strange. Angele felt the loss of balance, and the hallway itself seemed distorted. No one was around, not even any student in the dorm could be seen.

'Your body is currently experiencing an abnormal condition. Your blood flow rate is 3x greater than normal, and your blood vessels are rupturing,' Zero kept warning.

HU!

Angele inhaled once, trying to suck air into his lungs. The warning of the chip woke him up. Angele opened his eyes where he found himself sleeping on the book. The window was still open, the wind coming from outside could still be felt by him. Angele was covered in sweat, and he found the wind to be soothing.

"I fell asleep?" Angele said as he looked at the book below his chest. He was still on page 1 of the book, the words still quietly lying in the middle of the page.

I am listening…

"Everything was an illusion?" Angele wondered, so he decided to check the record on the chip.

'Your body is currently experiencing an abnormal condition. Your blood flow rate is 3x greater than normal, and your blood vessels are rupturing.

'Magnetic field has weakened. You are now waking up.

'Radiation energy has disappeared. Magnetic field has disappeared.

'You are having trouble understanding space and time.'

"Nope, not a dream," Angele said.

Angele looked at the crystal clock he had bought not too long ago and seen that it was already 9 o'clock in the evening. The words on the book suddenly disappeared and words suddenly appeared in the air. They were blurry in the beginning, but now, Angele could easily read them.

'Congratulations, love. You passed the mental examination of the book,' it said. The book suddenly started shining with a light akin to a silver water flowing around. Angele could barely see anything from the brightness. The light stayed for about 5 seconds before disappearing.

Angele opened his eyes once again and looked at the book on his desk. The cover of the book change, though the color did not. Many strange runes appeared in the middle of the cover and the earmark was no longer there. Under the runes was a black door shaking slightly. Angele could even hear the noise it created; it felt like watching a 3D movie on Earth.

The color of the cover was still brown, but the material seemed to have changed. Angele had mixed feelings about this and was hesitant. The illusion he had experienced warned him on how dangerous the book was. However, the book was the only clue he had about the Wizards, so he didn't want to give it up. Angele could now hear the noises of people talking and doors opening and closing from the hallway. He slowly calmed down as he sought solace in such an environment. It was the dorm he was familiar with.

'Zero, check the book and tell me if it's still dangerous,' Angele thought.

'Analysis beginning… Item unknown. Danger unknown. Please proceed with caution.' Hearing Zero's report made Angele hesitate again. He turned the book to its second page. Nothing happened, but the painting of the lady had disappeared. Instead, Angele saw a page full of words. There was a title on top of the page, which told Angele of what the book actually was.

'This is just a starter meditation handbook.'

Following the title, it said:

'This book will help you lay the foundation. If you want more, head to Marilodan. I heard that the market there would open every 50 years. I just don't want to write down high-level skills in this one as I'm still researching. For your own safety, I suggest you do not attempt to touch the high-level meditation handbooks.'

The words were written in Anmag language, which made it surprisingly easy for Angele to understand.

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Chapter 41: Book of the Wizard (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele became relieved as he calmed down. It seemed that he had survived the dangerous part of the book. Zero had also stopped giving out warnings. Angele read the next several lines where it all referred to the method how the meditation worked. The actual method was nearly identical to the one being used for training Qi back on Earth. However, the meditation in this world needed some special objects to support the process. It was also mentioned that before reaching the Wizard level, there were three different stages.

The stages were labeled using simple numbers: stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3. According to the book, the Wizardry practices were all about accuracy even when the targets could only be vaguely explained. All wizards were great scholars and their accuracy in evaluation could help them determine the stage they were at. Wizards were serious on their research endeavors that they would attempt to make everything proper and stable, including the book Angele had.

The author listed possible encounters during each stage and possible misunderstandings that might happen in the information on the book. Also, it had even a list of the possible reactions of people of differing mental states after reading the book. Every word in the book was helpful, not a single space was wasted. Angele spent about half an hour storing all the information on the chip in order for it to help him focus on the information he needed.

'Analyze and find the information I need.' Angele ordered as Zero started working on it right away.

'92.15% of unnecessary information was removed. Start transferring the rest?' Zero asked.

'Yes,' Angele thought. He sat in front of the desk and closed his eyes. His temples were slowly throbbing like a beating heart; it looked very strange. The words on the book started evanescing like an ink dropped into a vast expanse of clean water. It continued to evanesce on the paper until nothing was left. It took about 10 seconds to wipe out everything on the book. Lines of words started appearing on the pages again. Everything was written in Anmag language, and the content had been changed into the biography of the scholar named Buckwill.

'So this is meditation. I can sense special elements in nature and I can approach them myself. Those special elements could bring people different sensations. People who could feel them and even lead them must be gifted. The number of elements they could feel and the speed of being able to adapt to them determined how gifted people were. That was…' Angele opened his eyes after a while and thought. He shook his head from being unable to find a proper word to describe it. However, he obtained the method of meditation, a chance he had to grasp.

Angele found the part pertaining as to how to start basic meditation. It said that there was one necessary supporting medicine called Dead Soul Grass. This plant grew upon graves and was something too difficult to find. It looked like a four-leaf clover, but it had a black color instead of green. Angele needed the leaves of the grass and put one into his mouth before initiating the meditation. Without the leaves, one couldn't sense the special elements even if it were the most gifted ones.

"The Dead Soul Grass?" Angele muttered. He closed the book and began thinking.

The book was now useless to Angele, so he placed it back inside the bag. Without the grass, he wouldn't be able to start the meditation. It seemed that there wasn't much that he could do for now. Angele checked the time; it was already 3 o'clock in the morning. He never thought that it was already this late, so he took the black bag he got earlier from the bed. It was from his father, and there was a letter. Angele opened it and saw that it was pretty much about the recent situation of his family.

During the past half-year, the baron had bought a small manor outside the city with the assistance of Maria. However, he wasn't a 'baron' anymore due to the situation in Rudin Empire. His territory was gone, and there was no more income being generated there. The baron had funded a mercenary corporation with the guards that he had brought here. They took orders from the mercenary guild, harbor guild, and the governor's office. They were actually doing well and were even famous among the mercenary groups. The baron still had the skills of a mid-level knight. As a knight, he would be welcomed in any lord's territory and get a decent amount of territory. The baron was at the mid-level and could easily help post knights to obtain Life Energy Seeds. More post knights meant greater strength for a territory, so all the lords would appreciate that.

However, when a knight helped others get Life Energy Seeds, he would lose a small amount of stamina himself. The children would get higher base stamina if the one helping them was at a higher level. It was possible for the post knights to have similar attributes as a real knight, so the lords wanted as many knights as possible in their territories. The baron's pride didn't allow him to serve others, so he decided not to join under anyone's wing. Instead, he had funded a mercenary corporation to take orders such that he even made a decent amount of money with it. It was nearly the same to the income he had been earning back in the castle. The baron had mentioned the recent changes in the manor and also the new mission he had gotten. He would be escorting an influential character to the Anser Plain along with more than ten other mercenary groups. Only one of the groups was weaker than the baron's, while the rest was as strong as they were. The baron said they might encounter mounted bandits from Saladin Empire during this mission, so the governor was paying them with a considerable amount.

The situations of Maggie and Celia were also mentioned in the letter. It was said that Celia was showing her talent in music, so the baron sent her to a good teacher to learn. There was nothing wrong with learning more anyway. However, Maggie showed absolutely no talent in the different fields that she had tried. If it were not for her having an intimate relationship with Angele, the baron would've just treated her like a normal worker. The only reason why she was living a decent life was due to Angele.

The rest of the letter was just greetings from his aunt and uncle. As he reached the end, written on the last line was: 'To my dearest son, Angele. 1541. 12. 11. 2 am'. The letter had been written last night. After Angele finished reading it, he returned it inside his pouch. He thought of how time quickly flew past by. It had now been three years since he reincarnated into this body. Angele opened the black bag and saw some daily necessities, some white blankets, some papers, new ink bottles, pens, and also a dagger with a brown leather sheath. With a small black diamond-like gem embedded into the handle, it looked strangely beautiful.

Angele didn't spend too much money, so he still had more than 800 gold coins. He became renowned in the school due to his close relationship with Master Adolf such that it caused many students to pay for his tutoring services in Language. He charged students about 100 gold coins each time, which was enough for him to pay for the classes. He spent most of his money on other objects, such as strange trinkets from the market. The crystal clock on his desk was one of the strange trinkets he had bought. Marua Harbor was, after all, the largest harbor by the country's border, so countless merchants parked their ships here. They brought various goods to the city that you could buy anything you want, even slaves. As long as you had enough money, that is.

Angele played with the dagger that was a trophy the baron received from a mission for a while. He sent it to Angele as a birthday gift. Angele sometimes returned to the manor to meet with his father and some other people, but he only stayed for a brief duration. Most of his time was spent in the school and in Adolf's residence. He studied in school and practiced his skills whenever he had a spare time. Life there was definitely not fun, but at least, he didn't waste any time.

His attributes didn't increase during the half-year that had passed, everything staying the same. Angele still was a mid-level knight. He would've been weaker if he didn't have all the strong sword skills. His skill in archery had also improved a lot, gaining the capability of simultaneously firing two arrows without losing accuracy. At school, most of the students weren't interested in fighting skills such as archery and horse riding. They only used those skills to show off during classes. No one would even practice after. The training ground was always nearly empty, and only the poor students sometimes trained there. Though, most of their time was spent on working, so they could pay for the fees in school. Barely anyone was like Angele, who went to the training ground every single day to train his fighting skills using the free weapons the school provided. After the countless of times Angele trained, he improved his sword skills again. Even his skill in archery was getting better as well.

Angele put back everything and went to wash his face and brush his teeth. He put out the oil lamp and lied down on his bed. According to the information on the book, the Dead Soul Grass was considerably rare and would only grow in a graveyard with a lot of graves. Angele was thinking of the things needed to be done tomorrow as he slowly fell into slumber shortly after.

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Chapter 42: Dead Soul Grass (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

At the second day, Angele was asleep until it was 10 o'clock in the morning. He stayed up too late last night, so it took him 7 hours to recover. Angele finished his breakfast quickly. He greeted the guard at the entrance when he was writing his leave notice. He then hired a coachman and traveled to Red Rock Hill Graveyard.

It was already afternoon when Angele arrived at his destination. The sunlight made everything look as if it was dyed in red that even the clouds passing over him had a golden orange hue. The hill was outside the vicinity of Marua City. A huge sloping ground was made atop it. Many graves were on the ground surrounded by thriving trees. If you looked at the hill from a far side, the entirety of the graveyard would be on a slope.

There were many people visiting the graveyard right now, and one of them was a young man from a noble family. He was looking through the grass around the graveyard instead of the tombstones, sometimes walking from one stone to another as though he didn't come to mourn. Following him around was a middle-aged man who seemed to be his coachman.

"Master Angele, it's pretty late. Shall we head back?" the coachman spoke with a light voice. For about two hours, he had been following him around. Angele paid him two gold coins, equivalent to the amount he would get for transporting 20 people. The coachman knew that Angele paid him quite well, but it was taking way too long.

"Getting dark already?" Angele finally noticed the situation. With scrunched eyebrows, he took one final look around only to feel disappointed.

"Fine, let's head back," Angele said. They started walking back to the entrance of the graveyard.

"Do you know how Rudin Empire is holding up? Is Saladin Empire still invading?" Angele threw out several random questions.

"In a tavern, I met several people who escaped from Rudin Empire. They said the only city left intact was the capital. Other places were pretty much conquered by neighboring countries. There aren't too many Saladins here, so I'm not quite sure what events had unfolded. I'm just a low-class coachman anyway. People like me have no right to ask such questions," the coachman said before laughing.

"Yea, but I think many Rudins have come to the harbor? Any big name you've heard of?" Angele asked. He knew coachmen were a great source of information as they dealt and talked a lot with their customers. The coachman didn't answer, only keeping a smile on his face. Angele took out a gold coin and threw it to the man.

"Well, I might have the information you need actually. I've heard two passengers saying that there weren't many people from Rudin Empire. Most of them were small noble families. The larger ones were hindered by the Saladins along their way, and the royal members were attacked by forces of several different countries. I can't even imagine…" The coachman grabbed the coin, and he said.

"Yea?" Angele nodded. It seemed that Marquis Syrias didn't make it. However, he wasn't going to completely trust the coachman because the source itself was suspicious. If it was true, he wouldn't need to worry about Philip anymore.

"Wait, ever heard of the Dead Soul Grass?" Suddenly, Angele asked as he took out several more gold coins.

"Dead Soul Grass? Could you describe its appearance? I might have seen it somewhere before, but with a different name." The coachman looked at the coins with a greedy expression such that Angele could see it clearly.

"It looks similar to a clover, but it has a black color," Angele said.

"A clover that is black? Do you mean Black Clovers? It only grows upon graveyards. You're here for those things?" the coachman said.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I've only heard of it being sold in pharmacies. It's very expensive. I'm afraid you wouldn't find any at this place since people wouldn't leave something so valuable on the ground," he continued.

"Pharmacy?" Angele nodded, "Drive me there." Angele threw another two gold coins to the coachman who happily grabbed them.

"No problem," the coachman said.

"As fast as you can," Angele said.

"We'll be there in half an hour!" The coachman laughed.

About 20 minutes later, Angele arrived at a pharmacy by the harbor. Around the place was bustling with noises from carriages and people minding their own matters. A banner with words written in Rudin language was placed outside of the pharmacy that said: Mass's Small Pharmacy. There were some herbs drawn on the side.

The pharmacy was located between two other stores on the first floor of a white building, its appearance furnished with simplicity. Many people dressed up in some strange suits were walking in and out of the pharmacy. All of them were different people of different statures. The pharmacy looked popular as it was recommended by the coachman, saying that the price here was fair.

Angele had his black-red noble hunting suit worn, which made him stick out in the midst of people like a sore thumb. People would glance at him for a second before entering the store. Angele stood outside for a while before entering. The owner was handing herbs over to two mercenaries that looked like a couple. The owner was a kind-looking old man with white beard on his chin. Angele knew that the old was an experienced pharmacist with just the initial impression. Several clerks were handling customers by the side, and one of them walked to Angele after he entered the store.

"Welcome, Young Master. Not feeling well? What do you need?" The young man had his business smile on.

"I want some Black Clovers. You have them here?" Angele asked.

"Black Clovers? You must be jesting. They're so rare that even the largest pharmacy in the city doesn't have them in stock," the young man answered.

"Really?" Angele asked with scrunched eyebrows.

"Yes, one Black Clover would cost you thousands of gold coins. It isn't something you see every day. People only auction them, and some of them are in the hands of some collectors. This herb has been restricted by the alliance more than ten years ago. Low-class citizens would be hanged just for purchasing it." The young man nodded as he said with a serious tone.

"Yea?" Angele felt a bit speechless. He was only at the 1st Stage, but he's already having difficulties. He didn't know what to expect after. He couldn't afford even just a single Black Clover as it would cost thousands of gold coins. It was already dark outside when Angele left the store. He asked the coachman to get him to Master Adolf's house.

The only thing he could do now was to seek help from the Master because Adolf was the one who had given the book to him, thus he must know something about it. The Dead Soul Grass, or Black Clover, wasn't something Angele would be able to obtain at present. Judging by the bell at the harbor, it was already 7 o'clock in the evening when Angele arrived at the house. The street lights by the roadside were already lit.

Angele got off the carriage and saw Sophia watering the garden. Four oil lamps hung around the entrance of the house. The visibility for a normal person was low, but Angele could see things clearly.

"Angele, you're early today." Sophia looked surprised when she saw Angele arriving, but it seemed as though she had already expected this.

"Let's go. Father's inside the study on the second floor." Sophia opened the entrance for Angele as she said. Angele nodded, going straight into the house. He need not Sophia to lead the way because he was already completely familiar with the place.

Angele lightly knocked on the door.

"Come in, it's open," Adolf said with a deep tone. Angele carefully opened the door and saw Adolf lying down on a reclined chair made of bamboo. He was wearing a white robe and had a book placed on his stomach.

"Have a seat," Adolf said. Angele bowed before sitting on a sofa by the side.

"Master, it looks like you already know I would come to seek help?" Angele asked.

"You didn't disappoint me. Did the book scare you?" Adolf opened his eyes and smiled.

"It actually caught me off guard." Angele stopped for a second before laughing.

"It means you have the potential to become a wizard if you can see its true form. I have lent the book to many young students, but you're the only one who passed the challenge. You would indeed come to me the next day if you know what you're looking for. People don't usually finish the book in such a short duration if they were to read it as a normal biography." Adolf laughed as he said this.

"You know I passed the trial?" Angele was still wondering.

"You just went to the Red Rock Hill Graveyard, am I right?" Adolf laughed.

"I'm not just a mere scholar in Marua," he continued.

Angele felt relived. It seemed that his master knew everything about him.

"Master, please tell me how I can get my hands on the Dead Soul Grass, or Black Clover. I heard that it's quite difficult to find," Angele said.

"I obtained one several years ago. You can use it," Adolf said while smiling.

"Well, how can I pay for it then?" Angele calmly asked. Though Adolf liked him a lot, it was still something of great value. Angele didn't expect to get it for free.

"I'm not expecting you to pay me anything right now. Though thousands of gold coins are not a small amount, I can still afford it. You have the potential to become one of the greatest, so I'm looking forward to it." Adolf stopped smiling as he spoke in a serious tone.

"Marry, get Sophia in my room," Adolf yelled toward the door. Within a few minutes, Sophia walked in without any idea of what was going on. She looked at Angele and Adolf before closing the door carefully.

"Angele, you think she's attractive?" Adolf asked.

Sophia, who had a pretty face, was just about 20 years of age. She wore a red one piece and had her hazelnut, curly hair over her shoulders; her arms and neck along with her well-proportioned body were attractive to one's eyes. Angele looked at Sophia without saying anything. When Angele first saw her, he already knew she was kind and clever.

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Chapter 43: Dead Soul Grass (2)

Translator_Leo_

Editor:DarkGem, VirtualFrappe

"She's indeed beautiful and… very attractive." Angele nodded.

"Well then…" Adolf laughed.

"Wait, Father! You can't be serious!" Sophia stopped her father from continuing.

"What? You don't like him?" Adolf stopped smiling and instead had a serious expression on his face.

"Angele is nice, but he's just not my type. Father, please let me at least make my own decisions." Sophia seemed adamant on this, so she insisted.

"Your type? You mean that bard from Westwind? The only thing he has is a pretty face!" Adolf spoke in a reprimanding tone, but Sophia kept looking at him, showing how serious she was about this.

"Since Sophia already has someone in her mind, how about just letting me treat you like my own father?" Angele quickly stood up and interrupted their conversation. Adolf still looked angry, but he stopped glaring at his own daughter.

"Well then… I'll just treat you like my own son," Adolf said. It looked like he now felt slightly better.

"Master, my father and aunt could use some help sometimes. Would you mind?" Angele said, trying to ease the anger of Adolf and make him feel comfortable. If he asked Adolf to help his family, Adolf would know someday that Angele would repay him well. Adolf looked much better after hearing the request.

"Get out of here, you're making me mad," Adolf yelled as he turned to his daughter. Sophia didn't say anything, only slamming the door close. Angele could hear her going down the stairs furiously.

"I'll keep an eye out for your father, and if he needs any help, I'll try my best. I think that will help deepen our relationship," Adolf said as he began smiling again. He stood up and opened the drawer on the desk. Adolf then took out a tiny, well-decorated box. There was a ruby embedded in the black box. Angele thought the box alone would nearly be as valuable as the grass.

"This box is made of Agilawood. It prevents the herb from losing its efficacy. I'm giving this to you as well." Adolf smiled, not caring whether Angele was his son or not. If Angele's family was in his reach, Angele wouldn't do anything stupid. Even if Angele gave up his whole family, the only thing Adolf would waste was time and money.

Adolf had wanted to make Sophia marry Angele since the union in matrimony would help them develop a close relationship, but his daughter was just unhappy with the decision. Adolf loved his daughter quite dearly, so he didn't want to disappoint her too much. He was just faking his anger to make sure that Angele understood the situation.

"I'm still just a low-level wizard apprentice. It's probably too late for me to pursue my own dream. However, I found you, Angele. I hope you will walk a bit further on this path." Adolf handed over the box to Angele and said in a serious tone.

"I'll try my best," Angele said after accepting the box.

Both of them knew it was an investment. Adolf was betting on Angele, thinking that he had a huge potential. Even if Angele were to die during the process, Adolf would just stop giving help to the former's family. However, if Angele were to succeed, he would never forget Adolf who had greatly helped him. It was a chance Adolf had to take.

Angele held the box that was the size of a fist in his hand. He carefully opened it, and lying inside it was a Black Clover. It looked exactly as the book described, and Angele could even see its roots. Angele closed the box, unable to wait in beginning the formal meditation.

"Wait, is there something important hanging around your neck?" Adolf suddenly asked, his sight falling on Angele's neck.

"Can't hide anything under your eyes, eh?" Angele smiled. He wasn't trying to hide it anyway. They had the same goal right now, which was to help Angele become a wizard, but Angele was afraid of laying bare everything he had to Adolf. He took the emerald ring carefully and handed it over to Adolf. The latter rubbed the ring several times, beginning to scrutinize it.

"The energy in this enchanted ring is gone, and the emerald is already cracked. It comes from… Ramsoda College? I've never heard of it. An ancient wizard organization, perhaps? This ring is going to help you get on the ship. With this, you'll be taken into consideration by whichever this wizard organization is. Lucky guy." Adolf laughed, looking quite jubilant.

"I think the luckiest thing that happened to me was meeting you, Master." Angele politely said, both of them laughing for a while.

"Wait, which ship are we talking about?" Angele asked.

"Half a month later, there will be a boat coming by. It will be full of wizard apprentices. Our harbor has been given the chance to recommend several students to them, so I can recommend one too. The boat will take you to the place where numerous wizard organizations are established. If you get into one of them, you will obtain the chance to read the books about the higher stages. It's a chance for you. I was planning on begging someone I knew, but I didn't know you have an enchanted ring. It'll save me much time and money," Adolf said.

"Sounds like those organizations are far away from here?" Angele asked.

"Yea, you will be traveling for a while. The ship will only take you to another land, and then you need to travel for another two months. However, this is a chance you cannot pass if you want to become a wizard," Adolf said with a deep tone.

"I understand. I'll talk to my family and finish other matters before I leave," Angele said as he nodded.

"Good." Adolf smiled. "If you want to become a great person, you must keep going forward. You'll be staying there for a very long time. Spend more time with you family before you go," he continued.

"Also, there will be about 100 other people from our harbor on the boat. There are also some things I must let you know before you go. I'll inform you of those later," Adolf added.

"Alright, I got it. Thank you, Master." Angele nodded.

It was already 10 o'clock in the evening when Angele left Adolf's house. He hired a carriage and returned straight to the school. It was still early, but he wanted to try meditating. Angele rushed back to his room after getting off the carriage, instantly closing the door. He double-checked if he locked the door and the window before taking out the box which contained Black Clover inside it. He went to wash and took off his boots and socks. He sat on the bed and began preparing for the meditation as the book had said.

He crossed his legs and opened the small box. He took out the clover and grabbed one of its black leaves. Angele put the leaf that tasted very bitter inside his mouth. Angele couldn't help but scrunch his eyebrows because it stank. He put the rest back inside the box and put it on the side. He finally started following the steps mentioned in the book, constantly imagining the runes in his mind. Those runes were called the 'Runes of Will' as recorded in the book.

Ordinary human beings could keep 3 to 7 runes in their mind, while the gifted ones could keep 8 to 12. People could train their mentality by imagining those runes constantly. When a person reached the 1st stage, he would gain the ability to sense various types of energy in the space. He would be capable of discovering the energy he should be focusing on by separating the one he could sense the most from the other energies. The number of runes one could keep in their mind determined which stage one was at.

Angele remained on his bed with his eyes closed. He could feel the passing of time, the noise outside subsiding as the students went to their beds. It was already 2 o'clock in the morning. Angele's eyes suddenly started shining with a green light. His eyelids were shaking as though he was currently having a nightmare. His eyes shone for about half an hour with Angele's face slowly becoming gray-colored. Another half an hour later, Angele's face turned black, even having an awful stench on him.

Angele started sweating black fluid. It was very sticky, and his clothes were soaked wet by this. Suddenly, Angele opened his eyes and spat out a considerable amount of black blood onto the ground. The blood stank, but Angele's face had an expression of relief after discharging everything.

"The combination of Black Clover and meditation somehow increased my attributes. I can feel it. After spitting out all those blood, I felt very comfortable," Angele said. He was clearly in good spirits and not even tired at all. The clover had already dissolved in his mouth, most likely flowing into his blood vessels.

'Zero, did you record my brain activity?' Angele asked.

'Everything was recorded and stored in the database,' Zero reported.

'Show me my body condition,' Angele asked.

'Angele Rio: Strength 2.9. Agility 4.1. Stamina 2.8. Status: Healthy. Genetic limit reached,' Zero reported.

'My stamina has increased by 0.3!' Angele was simultaneously flabbergasted and exultant. His stamina was formerly 2.5 when he checked several days ago. Meditating caused it to increase it by 0.3, a huge amount to consider. He had already reached his gene limit some time ago, yet the meditation was changing his body on a genetic level.

'I can't believe wizards developed such a training method!' Angele was absolutely elated, even feeling more expectant from it. He thought that not only was he training but was also evolving. Angele felt curious about the things he could do in the future.

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Chapter 44: Departure (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

After meditating, Angele changed his clothes and opened the window to let the air circulate. Whatever that was left on his body didn't smell pleasant. He grabbed his blanket and opened the door. There was no light in the hallway, and all the rooms were quiet. Angele could only hear the snoring of people and the noises made by the beds. There was a chilling wind blowing through the hallways, making Angele feel much better after walking out of his room.

Angele went straight to the bathroom at the end of the hallway and took a shower. He then returned to his room and wiped off the black blood on his clothes. Angele felt refreshed, then putting all his dirty clothes at the corner.

'As a wizard apprentice, I can only meditate for a certain duration each day. Otherwise, my body wouldn't be able to handle the pressure. There are still three leaves on the Dead Soul Grass, and when I finish all three, my body will change. By then, I won't need to find new grass anymore,' Angele recalled the information from the book. The maximum number of hours he could now do was 5 hours per day. He carefully put the box containing the grass beneath his pillow and fell asleep right after.

The second morning.

Angele awoke at 5 o'clock in the morning, brimming with strength and energy. He got off the bed and looked at the Wizard's book on the desk.

'The dorm isn't safe enough a place for this. I should ask Master to keep them for me,' Angele thought. He placed the book and the box inside a black bag and left the room with it.

It was still early in the morning, and no carriage for hire was there yet. He didn't return to his bed and instead walked toward the sword training ground. He passed by the dorm and dining hall before heading toward a hill west of the building. Built upon it was a platform, the place clearly being the sword training ground. Batches of equipment were stored in a gray stone house behind the platform, and more than 30 wooden training dummies stood on the ground, green grass surrounding the ground all over. It was still a bit dark, making the place seemed eerie. Insects cried and sang in the forest nearby.

Angele tied the bag around an arm of a dummy before grabbing a wooden sword from the stone house. He heard noises in the air as he did several basic slashes. Angele felt satisfied. He walked toward the dummy that had his bag tied on it and decided to start practicing.

'Unknown human beings approaching. Distance: 103 meters. Numbers: 3,' Zero suddenly reported. Angele didn't know that people would come so early just to hone their sword skills, but he wasn't too concerned about them. He knew several students who occasionally practiced very early. There were three males chatting while walking, slowly drawing near to Angele. With Angele's excellent hearing, he could easily hear their conversation.

" … I heard that several new faces joined the school's grand tournament, each of which was very strong," one of them said.

"Whatever, those people are always the champions. Asma's Storm Sword skill is way too strong. I heard he was selected to be the future leader of the harbor's police department, and Geline was working at the patrol already. There are some people who have exceptional sword skills such as Allen, Albert, Nancy, and Alger. They won't be easily defeated by newcomers," someone else said.

"They may be strong, but no one can stand a chance against Asma. He won the sword skill competition at Westwind, making the other contestants look like a joke. I choose to be a swordsman because I admire him. Also, I heard that Alger has been practicing at the training ground very early recently. We might meet him there," another one said.

As the footsteps were getting close, Angele shook his head after hearing their conversation. He laughed because he had seen Asma using a sword before. He was very strong and his skill set was refined. It might even be stronger than Angele's basic sword skill set. Angele met him once at this training ground, and he must be from a high-class family. Angele used his chip to collect data on Asma's Storm Sword skills, concluding after that those skills required the Life Energy Seed to unlock the full potential. The set was at the level of a grand knight, but it was useless to Angele.

Compared to the storm set's burst potential, Angele's basic skills were focused on technique and precision. If Angele tried to practice the set, he would just get a backlash as he didn't meet the requirement for it. After all, he didn't have the Life Energy Seed. The Grand Sword Tournament was a tradition of the Andes Alliance, which was held every other year. The school would become raucous during the tournament. Some high-class nobles would be invited to be the judges. Not only were the contestants the students in the school, even the alumni participated since the prize itself was tempting.

Angele never cared about it as his goal was reaching stage one as a wizard apprentice and awaiting the boat of the Wizard organizations. Angele stopped listening to their conversation, deciding to focus on practicing instead. He raised his wooden sword and initiated a front slash on the dummy — something which he kept repeating. As the three students arrived at the training ground, they became surprised when they saw Angele.

"It's Angele, the language genius! I heard he's Master Adolf's favorite student, and he even taught Angele privately," one of them said with a faint voice.

"Shall we greet him?" he continued.

"Nope, let's not disturb him. I heard he's also an impressive archer such that many students said that he has a 90% accuracy rate even when the targets are 100 meters away! If we have a tournament for archery, he'll be at the top 3 for sure! Also, I heard he doesn't like other students, very self-centered, and even has a bad temper. Some students once said in public that they don't like him, but after a while, they suddenly stopped saying things like that. They probably had a 'great time' with Angele," the other one said.

"Alright, let's just stay away from him. Just don't anger him," the one who was at the front said.

The three talked for a while, though they tried avoiding any eye contact with Angele. They picked a place far from him, and then began training with wooden swords they had taken. Angele found it funny when he heard their gossip while practicing. He thought he didn't attract any attention in school, but apparently, he was well-known. The students who didn't like Angele were just random small fry who knew a little bit about fighting skills trying to fight him. Angele taught them a lesson within several seconds. They left him alone after learning that he was Adolf's student. After that incident, rumors spread saying that Angele wasn't one to be trifled with.

Angele didn't too deeply about it. However, people were saying how he was self-centered and had a bad temper, making Angele speechless. He shook his head and decided to continue training.

In the next several days, the school became very busy as many activities organized by students were ongoing. Angele saw many students walking to and fro with swords tied to their waists. Many timbers were being carried to the training ground. It seemed that the tournament would be held there wherein the school was building the audience area.

Angele heard students talking about the champion candidates in the dorm many times, but he never cared about it. He continued his daily routine, but he now meditated instead of sleeping. He couldn't go to the sword training ground due to the recent event, so he instead went to the archery training ground. His meditation wasn't progressing quite well after his first experience. Angele's attributes didn't increase the same amount as the former 0.3 increment in stamina, but he could feel his body becoming stronger. The chip wasn't giving him exact numbers, but he could feel it was slowly but constantly increasing. Angele felt great as he could keep 8 runes in his mind now. His mind was clearer than before even without sleep.

The 3rd dorm building in the school. Inside a random room.

Several students were chatting together.

"Hey! Caesar, I didn't know Angele was in this school too!" one guy said.

"Angele? Angele Rio? That dumb playboy?" The young man named Caesar seemed surprised.

"Yea, him." The guys laughed.

"Lucky guy. He didn't get killed while running away? He was weak as a snail," a girl with short hair said, and laughed. She was eating something that looked like sunflower seeds, which looked tasty.

"Caitlyn, what courses will you and your brother choose? The fees here are really expensive, so I'll just stick with painting," she asked as she turned to a girl behind her. A beautiful girl with blonde hair draped all over the shoulders was sitting beside her, drinking some tea slowly.

"Angele Rio? I heard there's a talented student named Angele. Is that him?" The blonde girl didn't answer the question. She was more concerned about the previous topic.

"Yep, that's him." The first guy laughed.

"That prick is doing well. I hear he's studying under Master Adolf. He's a mere one lucky bastard. Who the hell does he think he is? Damn!" he continued. It was as though he didn't care, but people who knew him knew he was just jealous.

"Yea, Angele was never a smart guy," Caitlyn said as she laughed.

Five days later…

"Angele, do you know a girl named Caitlyn?" Roger, who lived alongside Angele in the dorm, suddenly asked. He was currently having dinner with Angele.

Angele didn't know Roger too well, but they occasionally had dinner together and would chat for a while. Roger was most likely the only person who would talk to Angele aside from Sophia in school. He was also the same person who told Angele about the course schedule at the dorm.

"Caitlyn? Why do you ask?" Angele thought for a second before answering. He remembered that the viscount's daughter was also named Caitlyn. The original Angele died when he fell off the horse during the competition, which was indirectly caused by her. Roger spread butter over his bread and grabbed the strawberry jam by the side.

"She just registered, but I heard that she and her brother got entangled in some trouble. They messed with Vivak, thus the latter surrounded them with his gang. They had no way out, so Caitlyn said you were her fiancé in front of everyone. Vivak was unwilling to fight you, so he left them alone after," Roger said before he laughed.

"Now it seems like you don't know her at all. Things will become hilarious, I suppose," Roger continued. He wasn't from a very large family, but he was certainly better than the typical Rudin nobles who fled from their own country.

"Yea?" Angele didn't want to say too much, so he just laughed. He grabbed an apple-like fruit and took a bite on it. The Candia family didn't prepare for the Saladin invasion, so their main forces were killed on their way to escape. They now had lost territory. Angele once saw one of the corpses of their dead men on the way, but he couldn't even remember the person's name. Viscount Candia was lucky enough to reach Marua alive.

"What's the girl's full name?" Angele asked.

"Caitlyn Candia," Roger said, then took a big bite on his toast.

'That's her,' Angele thought. He smiled at Roger, but he didn't say anything.

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Chapter 45: Departure (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Two days later…

The ship from the Wizard's organization was still on the way, more than five days away from here. Angele returned to his family's manor once, planning on talking to his father. However, the baron was already out on the mission on the Anser Plain, so he instead had some fun time with Maggie and Celia. He also left a letter addressed to his father. He decided to stay in the school awaiting the ship while continuing to train his sword and archery skills. As he also meditated every day, he felt as though he was living a quality life.

After lunch, Angele went to the archery skill training ground. The training platform was grassy and many targets were built under a large tent. Each person had an individual line in front with the bows hanging at the side. The grass shone as it reflected the light under the sun. A breeze blew over Angele, but the only thing he could feel was the heat from the sun.

There were already some people practicing in the archery training ground when Angele entered. He selected the line by the right far end like he used to. He took the brown wooden bow on the side and pulled the bowstring several times.

"Nice, someone is taking good care of these bows," Angele said and nodded. Several girls walked into the training ground, but they stayed at the lines at the left side. Angle could still hear their conversation.

"Mary, would you like to try it?" one of the girls asked.

"Sure," the girl name Mary answered. Angele heard the sound a bowstring would make when it was fully drawn. Angele felt slightly curious and looked over to their line. He saw a wooden arrow flying across the line, but it didn't even pass the 20-meter mark before dropping down to the ground.

"Nice shot!"

"Such skills!"

"Mary, you're so good!"

The girls around Mary looked surprised, an expression unable to be faked. They clearly thought the result was great.

"20 meters is most likely the best result I can get, yet Mary made it look so easy!"

"Me too!"

"Mary Sauron, you are such an archer!" The girls kept praising Mary.

"You guys are making fun of me, right?" Mary asked jokingly.

"We're not. Haha." The girls started laughing.

"If my brother was here, he would at least hit the target. 100 meters is nothing to him," Mary said.

"Yea? My sister can do it too. She can easily hit the 5th ring." The targets they used in school were the standard 9-ring ones with the bullseye located right in the middle. An average student could barely hit the target. If one were to hit the 5th ring, however, he would get a high mark in the archery course.

"Talking about archery skills, I hear Angele's impressive at it. He could hit the 9th ring 9 out of 10 times. Some even said he was one of the best in the school. Is that true, Caitlyn?" one of the girls asked.

"Angele could easily do that. He brought me to the shooting range several times when we were dating. Hitting the 9th ring at a 100-meter distance didn't pose any problem to him," a girl said with a calm voice, but she sounded prideful.

Angele felt a bit awkward after having recognized the voice right away. That was the girl whom the original Angele fell in love with, thus he decided not to listen to her nonsense. He grabbed an arrow from his quiver and nocked it onto his bow. Angele didn't ask the chip to assist in aiming; only shooting the arrow by relying on his intuition and muscle memory. Before, he could only shoot countless arrows accurately and precisely by relying on the chip. But now, he could aim targets precisely without requiring its assistance any longer. The wooden arrow he shot struck the bullseye from 100 meters away, an outstanding feat compared to other students'. Some of them began cheering as they barely had any chance to see someone with such accuracy and precision.

Angele didn't cease continuing to shoot arrows, but he stopped aiming for the bullseye and only choosing to hit the 3rd or 4th ring. He still landed every shot, but people stopped watching him. Angele didn't want to attract too much attention since he merely wanted to do some basic training. After about 15 minutes, he grabbed the blanket to wipe off his sweat after emptying three quivers. Angele didn't use the protective thumb ring because his finger was as strong as a knight's.

Angele put down the bow and walked along the hallway. He decided to greet the girls when he passed by them. It was the girl the original Angele liked, so he thought he should at least make things clear. Angele turned back, walking toward them. Five pretty girls were still happily chatting.

"Anything we could help you with?" one of the girls asked.

"You're Caitlyn, right? Long time no see. How are you doing?" Angele walked toward a blonde girl and asked with a gentle smile on his face. They stopped talking for a while, looking at each other confusedly.

"I… I'm not Caitlyn. She is…" the blonde girl said, pointing to another blonde girl on her right while having a strange expression.

"Well…" Angele showed a speechless face before he started smiling again.

"I'm Angele. Caitlyn, long time no see," Angele said as he turned to the girl on his left. Caitlyn was blushing, unable to maintain eye contact with Angele. She knew her lie had been unraveled and could feel her 'friends' looking at her disdainfully.

Angele's mission had been accomplished, so he became satisfied. He wanted to show to these girls that he wasn't familiar with Caitlyn. They would spread the rumor for him after. Angele died for this girl during the challenge, but she didn't even come to visit after. A worker placed him on a carriage and brought him back to the castle alone. Though Angele was a completely different person now, he didn't want her using his name to avoid troubles. Angele had been angered when he first heard what Caitlyn said when she was dealing with Vivak. The situation became awkward and in the end, Caitlyn ran away from the scene without looking back.

"Angele, Caitlyn said that you were her fiancé. Is that true?" the blonde girl asked.

"No way." Angele shook his head, "We were just classmates learning from the same teacher back in Rudin. I have no idea why she would say something like that," Angele continued before laughing.

"I knew it. Angele, you're quite famous in our school and we all know you're proficient in archery and language," Mary, the girl with short black hair, said. Angele talked with the girls for a while and returned to the dorm after. He had reached his goal, so he didn't want to waste time on them anymore.

Angele knew what Caitlyn was thinking and knew how much of a phony she was. Caitlyn most likely thought that Angele would be more than happy to come back to her if she said something like 'Angele is my fiancé' and try to make it seem as if Angele couldn't live without her. Dating Angele would increase her reputation and incur the admiration of other students since many students admired Angele at present. She thought Angele still dearly loved her, never giving up the chance to be with her. However, Angele wasn't the same weak playboy anymore and knew exactly what he ought to do.

After the rumor spread out, nothing much changed. However, people started treating the Candias' and their friends like a joke. No one treated them seriously any longer such that they would gossip about them during dinner. Vivak didn't try to teach them a lesson after hearing the truth, only warning them several times. He said it was because they used to know Angele. But no matter what, Angele didn't want to entangle himself into this anymore.

A week's time quickly passed, and Angele's stamina increased to 2.9. The galleon from the Wizard organizations finally arrived at the harbor.

Somewhere at Marua Harbor was a small path made of stone that led toward the sea. A thick layer of black stones was upon it with the ocean right beside the path. The waves ceaselessly crashed against the docks. Angele was waiting there along with ten other people. He had his white swordsman suit worn, a black backpack on his back and the silver crossguard sword by his waist. Angele's body was well-toned and robust, which somehow contributed to his charm. Adolf and two bodyguards were standing beside him. They were here because only they knew which galleon was of the Wizard organizations. Adolf wanted to ensure everything goes as he planned.

Noontime it was, with the sun pouring rays of light constantly as though it was about to scorch the ground. Heat came like the waves of the sea, making the people unable to stop wiping the sweat off their faces. Finally, a fleet of merchant galleons appeared on the horizon as it headed slowly toward the docks. All had the 'whale and trident' insignia on their flags and most of the galleons carried a lot of cargos.

"Those are the merchant galleons of Sea View Trading Company. Make sure you board the last one, don't screw up," Adolf whispered by Angele's ear with a serious tone.

"Understood," Angele said as he nodded in understanding.

Angele slightly raised his head and looked at the arriving galleons. The sky and the ocean were akin to sapphire, identical in color as though they had converged as one. The galleons that were adorned in blue and white were slowly drawing near to the docks. The wind was very strong, carrying Angele's hair with its every whim. Angele could also hear the constant noise of the waves hitting the docks.

Two white seabirds chirped and flew over the crowd. People around were talking. It seemed that they came here to board the trading company's galleons. There were about a hundred people on this 100-meter-long path lined up on the dock.

"Stop looking, those people are just here as a façade. Not many of them will actually board the galleon," Adolf said as he patted Angele's shoulders.

"The truth? How many are people here like me? Do you know, Master?" Angele understood what Adolf was trying to say, so he asked.

"I'm not sure, but the young ones who board the last galleon probably have the same purpose as you. You'll know once you board it. Someone will explain everything to you," Adolf shook his head as he said. The galleons were drawing near. From afar the horizon, they seemed like dots in their perspective, but as they drew nearer, they looked humongous. The merchant galleons were of the same size as the cruisers of Earth.

"Wow… What do they use to power those things…?" Angele was surprised at the size.

"They use something special. No way the sails are making them move. The sails are probably just for saving 'energy'." Adolf looked at the incoming merchant galleons and said.

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Chapter 46: On the Ship (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Ten minutes later, the fleet of merchant galleons had already set ashore. Workers began unloading wooden cargo boxes from nearly all the galleons and piled everything on the docks. Despite the weather condition, the workers were still doing their utmost to fulfill their tasks. Several merchants wearing luxurious clothes disembarked as well, and they started conversing with the people who were responsible for the clearance procedures of the newly-arrived goods. They were waiting to make sure everything was going well.

The last galleon in the fleet stopped by the dock where Angele was waiting. Several teenagers whom of which were mostly rich were looking at him and the dock itself through the windows of the galleon. Their faces were brimming with curiosity and at the same time, traces of arrogance were noticeable on their faces, something that Angele could clearly see. Large wooden planks had been oiled and secured at the dock as a catwalk for the people. These wooden planks were of black and red color, about 50 cm thick and had a width of about 7 to 8 meters.

A middle-aged man standing on the deck alongside several sailors yelled toward the crowd on the dock, "Get aboard the galleon!" With that as the signal, people started boarding the galleon one by one. Angele expressed his farewell by nodding to Master Adolf before boarding.

"Don't forget to talk to Nancy. She'll take care of you," Adolf said with a voice that only Angele could hear. Angele was already on the wooden catwalk when he heard this. He kept nodding to let his master know he got the message. There were about 40 people with him in total, partly having teenagers among of which 7 to 8 of them looked extremely young. They all looked calm and collected, trying to search for people of similar age among the crowd as well. Angele thought of the probability of them being a wizard apprentice just like him, while the rest were only façades to prevent the leakage of the galleon's true form and purpose.

Most of the people went to unload the cargos; only about 10 teenagers remained on deck. There was a handsome red-haired boy about 18 years of age standing beside Angele. He stood with a blonde boy, both carefully looking at others. On the right side of the deck was a girl wearing a white one piece a lace at its bottom. She was about 14 to 15 years old, and though her dress was beautiful, she didn't blend quite well with the people on the galleon and was also checking on others.

Angele had his sights on two of the teenagers because they had auras different to others. One of them was a ponytailed, blonde young man wearing a gold-white noble suit. His chin raised slightly in a proud fashion as though he was enjoying becoming the center of attention. The saber by his waist was supposedly used for fencing, yet he was merely carrying it as a decoration.

The other one was a girl who had a serious expression on her face. She looked like someone who wasn't fond of smiling a lot. Angele thought that she must be a hardworking student. Same as the young man, the girl also had a long, blonde ponytail. She had a slim but well-proportioned body and was wearing white clothes. What caught people's attention were her arm guards. The young men around the ship deck couldn't help but look at her. However, the girl didn't know how attractive she was to these men, thus it was clear how dense she was.

Angele obviously knew who the girl was. It was Nancy, the girl that Master Adolf had spoken of and the same person who would take care of him. Her father was a duke in Andes Alliance while her mother was a princess of a smaller country. Nancy was famous in the school and respected by nearly everyone there. She once studied the Anmag language under Adolf when she was young, and she respected him a lot. That was the main reason why she decided to help.

Nancy noticed Angele's gaze, then she walked toward Angele right away.

"You're Angele Rio?" Nancy asked in a cold tone.

"Yes, you're Nancy, aren't you? I've heard about you many times in school," Angele politely answered. When Nancy drew close to him, Zero sent out a warning as it sensed strong radiation energy from her and reported that the probability of her possessing an enchanted item was 79%. Angele knew the power of enchanted items. At present, he currently had no methods of dealing with such power even with his knight level strength since it meant nothing against anyone who possessed such items.

"Nancy? I've heard your name before." The young man with a ponytail walked toward them while smiling.

"My name is Ali Van Norman. I assume you know who I am," he continued.

"Yes. Ali, the son of Prince Amn," Nancy said politely as she turned to him. No one dared to ignore a son of the Prince.

"So he's the second son of the Prince…"

"I knew it was him." People around began buzzing around in discussions about Ali. When Ali approached, Zero warned Angele again in the same manner as what had happened when Nancy neared him. Apparently, he possessed an enchanted item as well.

Zero could sense strong radiation energy emanating from them, which meant that their items could be wielded anytime. The enchanted items alone would place their strength levels at the top, far stronger than anyone else on deck at this point. Angele knew the real of such items, able to change the tides of a battle in but a mere moment. The two knights he had encountered before began to flee as soon as they saw Angele take out the ring. Nonetheless, they were still slain. A grand knight most likely could stand a chance of surviving such ordeal, but the possibility of that to occur was close to nil.

Ali and Nancy started having a small conversation. Soon after, other students from high-class families also joined in the conversation. But because of the two's ranking in the hierarchy, they were quite reserved and barely had the chance to speak. After talking for a while, a man in a black robe appeared on deck along with the teenagers Angele saw before following the man from behind. The man had his body completely concealed by his robe such that Angele could only see his face.

"Students of Marua, I assume you know about the rules," the man said in a light tone.

"Yes, Master. Take the test and quietly wait before getting off the boat," Ali stepped forward as he bowed before speaking. The others seemed like they had no idea of what to do.

"The rule is simple. I know some of you hate each other, but on this boat, no one shall be your enemy. Don't do anything stupid just because you see someone you dislike," the man nodded as he said.

"You guys, head to the hall of the 4th floor," the man said while pointing at the entrance by the side.

"Follow me," Nancy looked at Angele and said.

Angele knew Nancy would help him out, and it was wise to stay with someone who had enchanted items. He nodded and followed her from behind. They went inside the cabin through the entrance. Without doing anything else, the ones who came with the man merely spectated as they stood there. Some of them were laughing and talking, and two girls who looked like twins caught Angele's attention as they were very cute. Zero warned him about enchanted items several times while he was being watched. It seemed that they possessed enchanted items, too.

The galleon traveled across many countries, picking up all the elites on the way. They most likely came from famous families as most of them were wearing luxurious clothes. From a perspective, it was as though the Wizard organizations were isolating normal people from their world. Even if the children of average families had the talent in becoming a wizard, they would never make it through this recruitment process. It was quite likely that Angele wouldn't have been able to get on the galleon if not for Adolf's recommendation.

Inside the cabin, they went down the stairs as the man in black robe led the way, quickly reaching the hall of the 4th floor. The walls were made of redwood and many beautiful paintings hung on them. There was also a large crystal chandelier at the ceiling; many unlit candles sat upon it. The hall was completely empty, not even a chair or a desk. After the man walked right into the middle of the hall, he turned around facing them.

"Is there any stage 3 apprentice below 18 years of age here? If there is, please stand behind me," he said in a gentle manner as though he was quite careful to not offend apprentices with such talent. Four people stepped forward and stood behind the man. Ali and Nancy were part of the four. Angele had already seen the other two before; one was the girl wearing a white one piece and the other was a black-haired boy. However, he was wearing clothes befitting of an average noble, so he barely caught anyone's attention. Never would Angele have expected him to be a stage 3 apprentice.

"Name and age?" the man in black robe asked.

"Ali, 17."

"Nance, 16."

"Gaben, 16."

"Jared, 14."

"Wow…" People around were all surprised, and they inspected on the black-haired boy. Even the man in a black robe was completely shocked, unable to prevent himself from examining the boy more closely.

"Are you really 14?" he asked.

"Yep, my birthday was last month. Is there any problem?" Jared calmly asked.

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Chapter 47: On the Ship (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Everyone looked at Jared with mixed feelings. Angele was surprised, too. After all, Jared was nearly a year younger than him, but Jared already reached stage 3. Angele realized that he really had no idea just how vast this mysterious world was.

"No, impressive actually. Jared, right? Can you spare some time after the test, so we could talk?" the man asked with an excited look on his face.

"Sure." Jared nodded, still having a calm demeanor.

"Stage 2 wizard apprentices under the age of 18, please stand by my left side." The man nodded before he turned back to the rest. Seven more people stepped forward while four people remained uncalled, not including Angele.

"Good, stage 3 wizard apprentices won't be tested. The rest of you, come with me," the man said before nodding.

"Come in here one by one. Stage 2 wizard apprentices first." He walked through a wooden door at the end of the hall. Angele attempted to peek, but he couldn't see anything but darkness inside. The stage 2 wizard apprentices went inside first. Within 20 seconds, they went out with different expressions on their faces. Some of them looked happy, while some looked despondent.

Angele didn't need to wait for long before it was their turn. He hadn't even reached stage 1 yet, but the man didn't seem to care. There were four apprentices who were at stage 1. The first one who went inside was a black-haired girl with a ponytail. She went in and after just a few seconds, she got out with a disappointed expression and tears in her eyes. Only a few who went in got out with happy expressions while the rest all looked disappointed. As they knew of this fact, Angele and the other two became nervous, merely looking at each other without doing anything. It was clear that no one wanted to go in first.

"Hurry up! Next!" the man yelled. He was speaking in Rudin, but he had a strange accent whenever he got nervous. Angele looked at the other two before deciding to head in first. He hesitated for a second when he was right in front of the wooden door, and then he went into the darkness. He inhaled once and smelled something fishy. It was the volcano grass, something that Angele had on his way to Marua.

"Can you sense my location?" The man's voice was coming from all directions. Angele listened carefully and used the chip to enhance his sensation.

'Analyzing… The sound waves are coming from all directions. The number of sources is 4. No actual location detected…' Zero reported. Angele scrunched his eyebrows as there was nothing else he could do.

"Yea, you can't." The man stopped for a moment before he started writing down something.

"Which directions does my voice come from?" he asked.

"All directions," Angele answered.

"How about up and down?" the man asked.

"Nope," Angele said.

"Good, you're being honest. Your name?" he asked again.

"Angele Rio," Angele said.

"There are five different levels of talent. You're at level 2, slightly better compared to level 1. You may leave now," the man said.

Angele felt a bit disappointed. Before leaving the room, he bowed toward the darkness.

The two outside the room saw Angele's expression, causing their anxiety levels to escalate. Nonetheless, they still went inside and took the test, but they had a lachrymose expression. After the test was finished, the man in black robe walked out of the room and locked the door. He then turned around and looked at all the apprentices.

"Stage 3 wizard apprentices, your rooms are on the 1st floor. Stage 2 wizard apprentices' rooms will be on the 2nd floor. The rest, just go to the 5th floor and pick any room you want. Dining room and bathrooms will be on this floor. The rooms above the deck are all full, and people there are from other countries. Don't go upstairs if you don't have any reason to do so. You do not want to mess with some of the terrible ones. As long as you don't go up there yourself, they won't come down here. I shall oversee the deck, and if you have any questions, you can talk to me there. You may leave now. I'll post the list later. You can come and check if you want," the man in black robe said before leaving the hall.

"Well, shall we go find ourselves some rooms?" Others all agreed when someone said this. The wizard apprentices of Marua Harbor were already divided into three groups: stage 3 wizard apprentices, stage 2 wizard apprentices, and stage 1 wizard apprentices. They didn't live on the same floors, and Angele needed to go to the lowest floor. They bade farewell to each other before going to their respective floors.

The passage here was very narrow and wet. Angele kept hearing footsteps coming from above, but he didn't see anyone other than his fellow wizard apprentices. Angele was behind the group of people. The one in front of him was a handsome-looking red-haired boy, and second in the line was a blonde boy. These two were the ones who were beside Angele back on the docks. The one leading their group was the girl who had her black hair tied pony tail and was wearing swordsman armor. She didn't let her emotions become apparent on her face, but she looked cool and beautiful. She wore tight shirt and pants under her armor, making Angele think that she looked like a European fencing player.

The tight clothes she wore made her look very sexy, especially the tight pants. She had a different style of beauty compared to Nancy. If Angele were to see her from a distance, he would've just thought she was wearing normal swordsman suit. However, the girl's body turned a normal suit into something charming such that the boys who were following her from behind couldn't help but stare at her butt. The four kept walking down in silence, but then, the talkative blonde boy finally decided to say something.

"Well, since we're all stage 1 wizard apprentice, we're all in the same boat now. How about introducing ourselves?" he smiled.

"My name is Lando Luc, 15 years old. Let's not talk about family though, they don't care how big a background you have there anyway," he continued.

"I'm Yuri, 15 years old. Talent level 2. I think we're the weakest in this ship," the red-haired boy spoke after his best friend. When he spoke, he had a bitter smile on his face.

"Angele, 14 years old. Talent level 2. I don't think talent matters that much. We're young so we still have a chance," Angele smiled while trying to uplift the atmosphere.

"Don't talk if you have no idea about what you're saying!" the girl turned around and spoke coldly.

"Do you know how long it takes for a stage 1 wizard apprentice to reach stage 2? We need to spend at least two years because we're not too talented! Compared to those who are already at stage 2 or 3, they're way ahead of us. Two years' time can help them become real wizards already. The school and organizations will allocate more resources to them. We really can't do anything!" The girl was almost yelling.

"You know how to become a real wizard?" Angele scrunched his eyebrows as he became a bit mad.

"At least they're more talented, and they'll get there faster than us." The girl calmed down.

"I apologize for my attitude. I was just feeling a bit sad," she said.

"No worries. As of now, we're in the same boat, and we might need to help out each other in the future. Don't get too upset." Angele nodded.

"Calm down guys. Girl, could you introduce yourself to us? We still don't know your name," Yuri said while smiling. The girl turned around and stopped looking at them.

"Velvet, 16 years old. Talent level… 1," the girl hesitated for a second before she spoke. Yuri and Lando Luc ceased talking. They now felt pity toward the girl.

"Talent level 1… No wonder she was so upset," Lando turned to face Angele and spoke with a light voice.

"Can you tell me how much of a difference is between each talent level? I really have no idea about it," Angele asked.

"According to some of the Wizardry books, the level is decided by your rate of progress in meditation. The best ones have level 5 talents, and they can become a stage 3 wizard apprentice within a year. They're quite likely to become real wizards, even barely failing the promotion tests. Only half of talent level 4 apprentices can become real wizards. Anything below level 4 is tragic. 4% chance for the ones who have talent level 3 and 1% chance for the ones who have talent level 2. For the ones who have talent level 1… maybe one out of a thousand or ten thousand chance and they progress very slowly. A month's time for some with talent level 1 is equivalent to one day for the ones with talent levels 2 and 3. That is definitely a huge difference," Lando smiled as he explained.

Angele nodded, feeling a bit sad.

"Actually, wizards don't really care about the ones with talent level 1, so they just place those who aren't too talented altogether. It's not a surprise," Lando continued.

"So, Velvet is hopeless now?" Yuri joined the conversation.

"Pretty much," Lando said. Angele stopped talking. He looked at the girl in front of him and saw her shaking shoulders. She must have heard what they were saying.

"She probably spent five years meditating to reach stage 1. Such a pity," Lando said as he looked at the girl. It wasn't that he was looking down on her; it was just because he really felt sorry for her.

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Chapter 48: Nancy (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

They didn't say anything else after their last conversation because the topic about talent levels only made everyone upset. They went down the stairs quickly and reached the 5th floor. There wasn't even a single candle lit on the 5th floor and the passage itself was completely dark. Velvet didn't hesitate to keep walking forward. She had two small black stones in her hands. After she struck the black stone against the other, both started to shine as though both were shining gems. Finally, the four could see things clearly.

"What are those?" Lando Luc asked while staring at the stones curiously.

"Light stones. Basic wizard item," Velvet answered in a light voice. Angele looked at the stones and asked Zero to analyze it. The result showed that both contained a certain amount of radiation energy that would make them shine after impact, but the amount of energy was too small for it to do anything other than lighting the way.

They reached the living quarters quickly. Neither light nor other people were around. Angele opened the door to one of the rooms, immediately inhaling the stench of mold inside. The room was also very wet, and nothing was visible. No one was afraid of darkness, so they picked their rooms right away. It seemed that there were only four people on this 5th floor, so they decided to live opposite each others' room in case something happened.

Lando Luc chose the room opposite to Angele and Velvet chose the room opposite to Yuri's that was beside Angele's. Angele lit the oil lamp on the desk and put the cover back on it. He took a quick look around the room. It was a very normal room: one single bed, two chairs, and a small wooden desk. Molds were all over the desk, walls, and on the ground.

"Just because we don't have much talent?" Angele shook his head and left the room with his nose squeezed. He saw others leaving their rooms too, doing the same as him.

"Let's clean our rooms first," Yuri said.

"Sure." Everyone agreed. Except for Yuri, all of them knew how to do the cleaning, and they quickly cleaned up their rooms after finding the tools from the washroom. Lando Luc ended up doing the cleaning for Yuri. Their rooms now looked a bit better. At least there were no more molds everywhere. After that, they returned to their respective rooms to meditate, and slowly, the ship left the shore.

In the following days, Angele barely communicated with other apprentices because they pretty much stayed in their rooms meditating and reading the books they had brought. He could only see others when it was mealtime and when he went up the deck to get some natural light and fresh air. Angele didn't do anything else apart from reading books and meditating. Every day, he saw Velvet, who always seemed to be in pain, on deck. Lando Luc once told him that some wizard apprentices with talent level 1 would experience strange pains during the meditation process. It seemed that Velvet was one of those wizard apprentices. Angele would never know how painful that could be since he had a talent level of 2.

Angele felt sorry for her, but he didn't care about others. Recently, his meditation was progressing well. He also found out that the method of meditation had to be obtained either by reading a Wizardry book or feeling a specific spell's effect. It was impossible for him to teach someone the meditation procedures through talking. Also, the runes were stored in the minds of wizard apprentices, and they had no idea how to describe them by words.

Also, Yuri told Angele that there was an age restriction in studying the runes. Anyone below the age of 12 wouldn't qualify to read and memorize the runes. If they were to try to read and memorize the runes, it was highly likely for them to lose their own minds. After five days of meditation, Angele could finally keep 10 runes in his mind, but the speed was average due to his talent level. The man in a black robe didn't even ask anything about the stage 1 apprentices because they were nearly close to normal people, just with a stronger mentality.

Another half-month passed. The galleon only stopped once on a dock and took in more than 10 new wizard apprentices. Only one girl was added to the 5th floor after the test. For the others, Angele didn't have any information on them. The new girl was green-haired and a bit dark-skinned and had a longbow on her back. She didn't look like she was in the mood to talk, so the four left her alone, and she just found herself a room at the end of the passage.

"Damn… 12 finally." Angele crossed his legs and sat on the bed with a face that looked slightly pale. He had stayed on the cold, wet floor for too long. His skin had also become paler and whiter than before due to the absence of sunlight. For some reason, however, he did look as healthy as before.

"I reached stage 1, so now I need to sense the unknown energies in the space. If I can lead them into my body, I'll reach stage 2," Angele excitedly muttered as he was searching for the information stored on the chip.

'It took me about one month to get here. According to Yuri, becoming a stage 1 wizard apprentice in a month is the average speed. Progressing after that is going to become hard. The youngest stage 3 apprentice, Jared, spent two years to reach stage 3. I probably need a lot more time than that,' Angele thought as he prepared himself for the future. Angele had once taken a peek at the list on the ship deck. He saw Jared having a talent level of 4 while Nancy and Ali having a talent level of 3. He stopped thinking and looked at the crystal clock he had brought. It was already 4 o'clock in the morning, so he could meditate for just one more hour. Angele closed his eyes and began meditating again.

Angele wasn't thinking about the runes anymore, and instead, he was trying to sense any special energy in the air. The energy should be mysterious and difficult to find. The type of energy Angele could sense would determine his future. Within the darkness, Angele had his legs crossed, sitting on the bed. His eyes were closed and his eyes weren't shining like when he was trying to memorize the runes. It looked like he was just sleeping.

'Zero, catch energy signals in the air and use any information you need,' Angele asked.

'Commencing mission… Now searching…' Zero started consuming Angele's stamina, trying to do the analysis as quick as possible. Yet, nothing happened in the next 10 minutes. Angele could no longer wait, so he opened his eyes.

'I should be more patient, I guess,' Angele rubbed his chin and started to think.

'Even the chip couldn't catch any energy signal in the air. This is going to take a while, I guess. Wait, I have the enchanted ring. The chip can absorb and store the radiation energy. If I have another enchanted item, I can probably release its energy around me and I'll become a stage 2 apprentice,' Angele kept thinking.

'However, the process of searching for the energy is probably the whole purpose of this training. My foundation in the basics will not be solid if I try this gimmick. Well, I guess I'll stick with the proper method.' Angele felt a bit disappointed, so he sighed. He closed his eyes and started to meditate again.

Anyway, Angele could still utilize enchanted items even without reaching stage 2, so he was happy about it. If he had an enchanted item, he would be safer in any environment. There were just too many things he had no idea about

The next day, Angele was woken up by frantic footsteps. He heard people speaking of Nancy and Ali fighting on the ship deck.

'Nancy?' Angele knew it was the girl whom Adolf had talked about and the person who would help him out on the galleon. She was the daughter of a duke.

"What happened?" Angele got up quickly and put on his clothes. He locked the door and followed the others to the stairs. He saw everyone running to the deck on the way. It looked like all of them heard about the fight.

"What's going on?" Angele asked Yuri while running.

"Nancy and Ali are fighting. I heard that Ali had his eyes set on a girl and approached her in a… bad way. Nancy saw it unfold and they started to fight after trading remarks," Yuri answered while running as well.

"They all have enchanted items, so we have to watch the fight," Lando Luc turned his head behind and said with an excited expression. Angele followed the crowd to the deck and saw Nancy's hands placed on her crossguard sword. Ali was standing opposite to her. Many wizard apprentices were watching the fight. Nancy, who still had her white suit and tight pants donned, stood on the ship deck with a serious expression with the wind blowing her ponytail up in the air.

"Ali, take back what you just said, and I'll treat it like nothing happened," Nancy said.

"Take back my words? Ha," Ali said before laughing fearlessly. He looked fierce as he had a pair of long black daggers in his hands and was in his gold-white swordsman suit. Each had an eye-shaped ruby embedded in the blade and many complex patterns engraved on it. The daggers looked exceptional.

"Nancy, we're on the sea. Duke Rocky won't be here for you. We're here because we're strong, but if you don't agree with the way of dealing with this girl, you must convince me using your power," Ali said with a loud voice, his pretty face having a tinge of arrogance on it.

"With my power, huh?" Nancy held her sword tight.

"As you wish! ELVIN!" After the utterance of the word, the bronze ring around her right hand's middle finger started shining. The light was white and too bright that Angele could barely open his eyes. Ali moved his hands and aimed the rubies on his daggers at Nancy.

"MAKASA!" The rubies started to shine and began to look as though there were two bloody eyeballs. Nancy lowered her body and rushed toward Ali. Ali raised his daggers and rushed to meet with Nancy's offense head-on. When they collided, they began trading countless strikes. Angele could only hear a light metal hitting noise and saw red and white lights flashing in front of his sight.

After a second, Angele saw Nancy's sword placed right beside Ali's neck. A barely visible thin barrier around Ali's neck was hindering the blade from advancing, but Nancy's left shoulder was injured. Angele could see blood flowing out of the part stabbed by the daggers.

"You win." Ali smiled before he pushed the sword away from his neck.

"I take back my words. That girl is yours," he said while pointing at a girl who was sitting on the ground at the side. She looked beautiful with her short hair.

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Chapter 49: Nancy (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Nancy looked at him before returning her sword back into its sheath slowly.

"I just don't like the way you deal with the girl. I'm done with you." Nancy was seemingly calm, and then she started to walk toward Angele. Angele was standing in the crowd while feeling a bit confused.

"You," Nancy said as she pointed at him.

"Come help me tend my wounds," she continued to say while maintaining a calm demeanor. It was as though she was talking to an old friend.

"Me?" Angele pointed at himself to make sure Nancy was talking to him. Suddenly, he saw a lot of blood oozing out of Ali's mouth. It seemed that Ali's organs had been injured during the fight, making Angele realize that Nancy wasn't the only one who got hurt. Though he didn't like the way Nancy approached him, he still decided to step forward due to her relationship with Master Adolf.

People around weren't surprised because everyone witnessed Nancy talking to Angele when they first met. Nancy walked into the cabin with Angele following her. Wizard apprentices weren't allowed to bring maids with them, so they had to do everything by themselves. Nancy trusted Angele because he was one of Adolf's students like her. They went into the dark staircase. Nancy could barely stand properly, almost falling down. Angele grabbed her uninjured shoulder to prevent her from falling down the stairs.

"Help me get to my room. He poisoned his dagger." Nancy, who had a pale face, gritted her teeth. Angele finally realized how serious her wound was. When she faced Ali, she was trying her utmost not to show vulnerability. Angele decided to help her first, so he took her back to her room. Nancy was sweating buckets when they walked down to the 1st floor. After reaching the room, she opened the door slowly. Angele assisted her to sit on a chair.

"You can leave now," Nancy said with a weak voice. Angele scrunched his eyebrows; he could smell the strange stench coming from Nancy's left shoulder.

"The poison on the dagger originated from the Snake Root Flower. If you handle it erroneously, you'll be paralyzed for days. By then, Ali can do whatever he wants to you," Angele said. He had confirmed the source of the poison after smelling some spiciness from the stench. Nancy's expression abruptly changed after hearing Angele's words and quickly grabbed a small leather pouch from the drawer. She took out a little paper bag out of the pouch and opened it carefully. There was some light yellow powder inside. When Angele saw the powder, it immediately reminded him of some data he had stored on the chip before.

"You…" Angele quickly stepped forward, but he blacked out before he could even finish speaking.

Angele woke up with a silver crossguard sword held against his neck. Nancy was coldly glaring at him. The blade already made contact with his skin, a thin line of blood slowly trickling down his neck. Angele felt his hair all over his body raising and he could feel the pain coming from his neck. He was already at knight level and had decent attributes among the knights, yet he didn't have enough time to react after seeing that powder. She must have used her enchanted item to catch Angele off-guard. Zero couldn't help him under such occasion.

"Wait, the dagger actually had mixed poisons on it. One thing I could distinguish is the poison from the Bolan Grass. If you don't deal with it within five hours, your whole left arm will be rendered unusable. I'm just trying to warn you about it, so don't get too angry." Angele raised his hands and slowly pushed the sword away.

"The man in the black robe wouldn't allow murder on this galleon. Besides, losing a left arm is probably nothing to a wizard," he continued. Nancy let Angele push her sword away, sheathing the sword right after. She was still staring at him coldly as though she wasn't too concerned about what Angele was saying. She decided to pour all the powder into her mouth.

"Universal antidote? Your premium item probably has the root of Gerro in it, but it will only slow down the mixed poison from spreading." Angele smiled, "You still need to give up your left arm." This made Nancy's expression change again, thus forcing her to swallow all the powder with some water.

"Do you have the cure? I can forgive your rude behavior if you do," Nancy spoke emotionlessly.

"Even if I do have it, why should I?" Angele had an evil smile on his face.

"Your father, Karl Rio, lives at Marua Harbor now, right? You also have an aunt there," Nancy said.

"I don't think you have the right to refuse," she continued.

"Threatening me?" Angele spoke as he squinted his eyes.

"I probably won't win a fight against you, but I can opt to not help you," he continued.

"No. One. Shall. Threaten. Me!" Angele said this word for word while glaring into Nancy's eyes. Their gazes intersected for a while. Then, Angele stood up after deciding to leave.

"You're going to lose your arm. Oh, wait. Also, enjoy being paralyzed for three days. You might die from excessive blood loss," Angele said while opening the door.

"Wait! What do you want? Just tell me," Nancy said as she stopped him. Angele turned around and looked at her again.

"Beg me for it," Angele said while looking at her with an amused expression.

"You're dead!" Nancy grabbed her sword again. Angele knew how serious she was, so he decided not to further anger her.

"Just a joke. However, I really don't like the way you talk to me. I'm not your servant," Angele said when he ceased smiling. Nancy slowly put down her sword after hearing his words.

"Fine, I apologize for my earlier remarks. Now tell me, what do you want?" Nancy said. The paper bag that had the antidote in it was twisted broken in her hands as she tried to calm down.

"Don't say anything that's not going to happen. I'll talk to the man in the black robe if I have to," Nancy said.

"He's not going to do anything about it. Last time, two apprentices fought each other on the ship deck. One had his leg broken while the other, his arm. They begged the man to heal them, but he did nothing. You think you're an exception?" Angele saw through her lie right away.

"You're testing my patience," Nancy said in a deep tone.

"Give me an enchanted item," Angele said.

"No way!" Nancy didn't even think about the offer.

"Losing your left arm it is." Angele turned back and tried to leave.

"I'll kill you!" Nancy said. For the second time, Angele felt a pain in his neck.

"Give me the cure and I'll give you something in return. Otherwise, I'll kill you before I lose my arm." Nancy coldly glared at Angele while drawing her own sword slowly.

"You have two enchanted items on you. I just want one of them." Angele was now barely smiling because he knew that she meant it. The girl had seen blood without a change in expression and behavior, thus confirming that she had killed someone before. He was just trying to get an enchanted item from her, but he didn't know how important they were to her.

"Again, No way!" Nancy said in a serious tone.

"Many people in my family sacrificed their own lives for them, so I can't just give one to you. You can't use it at your current level anyway. Instead, someone might just take it off your hand," she continued. There wasn't much Angele could do at present, and threatening her could put himself in danger.

"Well, what do you have for me then?" Angele asked.

"Ten Glass Gems, worth 10000 gold coins," Nancy answered right away.

"Aside from that, can I at least have a look at your enchanted item? I'll stay in this room, just so I won't be able to take it away under your nose," Angele said.

"Fine." Nancy thought for a while before she slowly nodded.

"Deal." Angele clapped his hands and smiled.

"I'll give you the cure before it is too late, but you need to go first," Angele said. Nancy nodded before taking out 10 small purple gems from the leather pouch. She then took out a silver necklace from her pocket. It seemed that the ring on her finger was just for decoration. Nancy put everything on her palm and handed them over to Angele.

"Also, you need to swear that you won't harm me after I give you the cure," Angele added.

"Then you need to swear that the cure you'll give me will fully heal me," Nancy said.

"Sure," Angele said before taking an oath to the gods upon their names. According to the rules of the wizards, one must never break promises after making an oath upon their full names. The worst a noble or a wizard could do was to break one's promises. Though Angele didn't believe in such a thing, he knew Nancy was a person who would keep promises. She could fight for a stranger just because of Ali's wrongdoings. Angele was just trying to take a look at the enchanted item. He wasn't going to take away anything important to her. Ten thousand gold coins were of a significant amount to Angele, but Nancy was the daughter of a duke, so she probably never cared.

Meanwhile, Angele was a son of a baron who only had several thousands of people in his territory. The Andes Alliance was much larger than Rudin Empire, thus a duke's territory was probably the size of half a Rudin. She would've had the power of a princess if she was a Rudin. Ten thousand gold coins were probably her allowance, so she wouldn't think too much of it.

Angele decided to treat her after taking a look at enchanted items. He knew the certainty of him being able to cure her. He had tried those two plants back when he was traveling, and Zero assisted him to find the easiest way to detoxify. It was the reason why he was so certain that he had the cure. Angele had tried thousands of plants and insects before storing all the data on the chip. Zero analyzed the data and found various ways for Angele to detoxify. What he was about to do was one of the methods.

However, he found Nancy being completely rude to him, thus he didn't like her. Angele decided to apply the most uncomfortable way to her.

"Now, lie down on the bed. Lie on your stomach, so I can have a look at your wound," Angele said with a light tone. The wound was behind her shoulder where the dagger had struck her in reverse. Nancy looked at him for a second before lying down on her stomach. She still had her hands on her sword, clearly signifying that she still didn't trust Angele too much.

Angele saw her lying down and unwittingly took a glance at her butt. In her white tight pants, it looked quite nice and sexy. Angele could barely see any gaps between her slim, long legs. He stood by the bed for a while, feeling an urge to touch her legs. They were just too enticing for him. Angele wanted to see how Nancy would react if he suddenly touched her legs and butt. However, he decided not to after seeing the sword in her right hand.

"Hurry up!" Nancy got a bit nervous and said.

Angele ceased staring at her body and started treating her wound quickly. He first spat some saliva over the wound and sprinkled some sawdust on it. The process was easy and fast, but it was too painful for the person being treated.

"If this doesn't work, I'll absolutely kill you," Nancy said while she was in pain after standing up. She didn't show her emotion on her face, but Angele knew how mad she currently was.

"Let's see." Angele smiled. He threw the silver necklace to her.

"Take a rest and bandage your wound," Angele said as he opened the door.

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Chapter 50: Ramsoda (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

After leaving Nancy's room, Angele took a deep breath. His smile was gone, now replaced with solemnness. He surveyed the passage; there were no other wizard apprentices around. He could only hear footsteps above him. Angele covered his wound on the neck with his collar and quickly descended the stairs.

'Zero, how much radiation energy did you absorb?' Angele asked.

'1.35% from the necklace. The item's surface was perfectly secured, thus the energy stored in it was barely leaking,' Zero reported.

'That's enough. She'll find out if we take too much,' Angele thought. By then, he had already arrived at the 5th floor. He just reached stage 1 not too long ago, so he didn't want to waste time after obtaining that energy from the enchanted item.

'Nancy won't be happy about this, but I don't really care whether she likes me or not. I don't even know when I'll return to the city. Master Adolf said the letters would only be shipped out with the newbie recruitment ship. It will take about four years for me to communicate to the ones in the city. By then, she would've already forgotten about it,' Angele thought.

He got back to his room quickly and locked the door. He was very excited, instantly taking out the book Adolf had given him. Angele turned to the page where he left last time. The content written on it wasn't about meditation. Instead, it was the author's biography. He needed to calm down because being excited wouldn't help him with meditation.

'However, I need to wait until I can sense the energy by myself. Otherwise, I won't be able to train my basic skills,' Angele thought. He knew just how crucial the basics were to him.

Fifteen days later, the galleon containing all the apprentices separated from the fleet, setting and turning its path toward land. It then stopped at a beach, and at that place, there was a man in a black robe waiting by the shore. He led the apprentices who were part of their respective organizations to someplace else. Ali, Nancy, and Jared left with them. Lando Luc left as well because the location of the organization he would be part of was here. The only ones who stayed on the ship were Angele, Yuri, and Velvet. When the ship departed once again, more than 10 wizard apprentices remained.

The wind carried the fishy and salty stench of the ocean. The sunlight brought just enough heat to the deck. Angele could feel the transition between the chill from the wind after the warmth of the sunlight. The sunset made the whole world look golden. Quietly, Angele stood on the deck, watching the light beyond the horizon quietly disappearing. Yuri was by his side, standing there as well. Golden sunlight was reflected all over the waves around the galleon.

"The galleon really is empty without them. I just don't see anyone around," Yuri said as he scratched his head.

"We'll probably never see them again," Angele calmly said.

"True. I heard our destination is more than ten thousand kilometers away from here," Yuri said. He had mixed feelings about leaving his friend.

"Which organization are you heading to? We probably have the same destination," Yuri asked.

"The Ramsoda College," Angele answered.

"Ramsoda College? Never heard of it…" Yuri was confused.

"It's possible that you don't know anything about it." They heard a girl's voice coming from behind. They turned around and saw Velvet walking toward them. She was wearing a white one piece and holding a long sword in her hand. Her black ponytail rustled in the air. Although she was breathing heavily since she had just finished training her sword skills, she still looked clean and pretty.

"There are many secret Wizard organizations in this world, so there's no way for you to know all of them. Also, if it's a college, it could be an ancient name formerly used by that Wizard organization. It's quite likely that the organization already changed its name," she continued.

"You're so knowledgeable," Yuri said while smiling.

"My father's a wizard, and he told me a lot about this world. My destination is the Six Ring High Tower," Velvet spoke in a light tone.

"I'm heading to White Tooth Castle, an organization settling at the White Tooth Highland. I heard it's a strong organization," Yuri said as he laughed. He was easy to approach even as a noble's child. He never paid much heed about fame or anything, and he was a very nice and honest person.

"We're good as long as the man in a black robe knows about them," Angele said before he laughed.

"Lando Luc told me that the Six Ring High Tower and the White Tooth Castle are at the same place. Even the man in a black robe told me to get off there as well. Since we're close to each other, we need to keep in touch and help each other if necessary," Angele continued.

"Sure," Yuri said.

"All of us who boarded the galleon are from Marua, so we need to unite after we get into a new environment," he continued before smiling happily.

"You guys don't care that I only have a talent level of 1?" Velvet bit her lips as she asked.

"Talent is just a base. It's not the most important thing to a wizard. We need to keep studying, research, and do whatever we can to imagine and create. That's what a wizard needs," Yuri said after his expression became solemn.

"It's my grandfather's words. He's a wizard in White Tooth Castle," he continued.

Velvet looked at him for a second before nodding. Tears had started forming in her eyes.

'Yuri is correct based on my current understanding of wizard. Talent may be the basic requirement, but it's not the most important. According to the book, talent itself will give me a good head start, but after that, I have to keep learning and researching. Knowledge is my power and my treasure. However, with a talent level of 1, it'll take Velvet tremendous amount of time to complete the basics and reach stage 3 by the age of 30 if everything goes as he plans,' Angele thought. He agreed with Yuri's points, but he wasn't sure if Yuri was just giving Velvet false hope.

He didn't speak out his thoughts, only telling Velvet some kind words before going back inside the cabin. He ate some food on the 4th floor and returned to his room. Angele already sensed some trial of unknown energy particles last night, but he wasn't certain if that was the energy particle he wanted.

Angele crossed his legs and sat on the bed. He closed his eyes and entered meditation. The crystal clock on the desk kept ticking. He had begun meditating at 6 o'clock in the evening. Now, it was already 10 o'clock in the evening. The room was dark, but suddenly, a speck of green light appeared near Angele's face. The speck of light was the size of a sesame seed that quickly went away. The speck of green light kept flickering, appearing and disappearing around Angele for about half an hour. Angele's eyelids were rapidly twitching, even starting to sweat. He woke up as soon as the green light completely disappeared, fatigue nearly overcoming him when he opened his eyes.

"Finally, I reached stage 2. My progression will become smoother after I become capable of sensing those energy particles. Now, I must help my body adapt to those radiation particles," Angele said.

'Zero, use the stored radiation energy and release it at a rate my body can handle.' Angele asked.

'Mission commenced… Using the energy… it will take 271 hours 43 minutes and 12 seconds to consume all of it,' Zero replied.

'More than ten days? Great.' Angele nodded as he was satisfied with the result. When the chip finished intoning, some green light appeared on the surface of Angele's skin. It disappeared quickly and nothing happened after, but Angele knew the chip was still releasing radiation energy. He could feel the life energy coming from inside his body constantly. Like a small sun in his body, he could feel the warmth of it. Angele felt very comfortable as he could no longer feel the chill inside his room. There was a grass-like taste in his mouth and a refreshing feeling all around his body.

"Positive energy of the plants." Angele determined the source based on the knowledge learned from the book and Adolf. Only energy from the plants had such positive power. According to the wizardry book, the world was filled with basic energy particles in the air. The term for such energy that could help plants grow or heal had been coined Plant Energy by wizards. They also labeled different energy into two categories: Positive Energy and Negative Energy. The wizards had also discovered different types of energy particles and classified them based on their effects.

The energy particles Angele absorbed from Nancy's necklace was definitely the Plant Energy; most of its effects were positive. Some of the plant particles, however, might have a negative impact such as destroying the balance of nature. There were just too many energy particles in the air, and the wizards hadn't understood each of them yet. Wizards had trouble proving the existence of negative energy particles until one of the wizards discovered the particles during his research hundreds of years ago.

'Zero, can you make a rating list for the radiation energies?' Angele asked.

'Please set the unit name and the equation,' Zero reported.

'Unit name: Degree. One degree of radiation energy is equivalent to the amount of energy produced by burning one match. Show me the stored energy amount using this equation,' Angele asked. Degree was the most common unit used by wizards and the equation itself came from the book. Angele set it as the universal unit to help the chip calculate the data for him properly.

'Calculation finished. 17.4 degrees of energy has been stored. Consumption is in progress,' Zero reported.

Angele nodded with a satisfied look.

'At this rate, if I can get the radiation going for the next half-year, I'll be able to lead the particles into my body and make them circulate. It will be much faster than just following the steps listed in the book,' Angele thought as he did the calculations in his mind.

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Chapter 51: Ramsoda (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Ten more days later, the ship had once again stopped at another dock. Yuri disembarked together with Velvet and several other wizard apprentices. Just like last time, someone was waiting for them by the shore. Only four people were left on the galleon: Angele, the two other wizard apprentices, and the man in a black robe. After two days of sailing, the ship had finally arrived at the final destination, Aikenhain. The name Aikenhain meant 'where the sun rises'.

"This is the end of the route. Disembark now." The man in a black robe pressed a button on the side of the ship and the landing ladder was quickly lowered down to the dock.

"There are two Wizard organizations here, Ramsoda College and Liliado's Cabin. You can follow the road signs for directions. They aren't too far from here, and the roads are safe," he said before leaving the three on the beach. He then embarked the ship once again and left the place right after.

There was no one else on the beach aside from the three. It was early in the morning; the sand seemed shiny under the golden sunlight. Angele looked at the other two. He had no idea who they were, so he didn't say anything. He saw a path on the beach, probably built by the people who walked on it. There was a road sign in the tropical forest not too far from them. There, a man in a white robe stood there awaiting their arrival.

Half an hour later…

Angele, along with the other two wizard apprentices, followed the man in a white robe to a humongous abandoned castle. The surface of the walls looked gross; it was dark gray and had green vines all over the walls. Several large, dark tree roots covered the surface of the road. From the sky, Angele could hear strange noises resounding throughout.

"This is the Ramsoda College you're looking for. You two follow me," the man said with a light tone. Angele stood there, watching the others leave. He was on a stone bridge just outside the castle, standing on green mosses and cracked stone pieces. Angele walked forward and took out his enchanted ring carefully. He then put it down on a small stone platform by the left side of the entrance.

Suddenly, a black crow flew over and stood on the platform while staring at the ring. It touched the ring with its claw.

"Young man, it's a newcomer. New blood." The crow started talking with a voice that sounded deep but sharp as though it had a hand in its throat.

"My name is Moroco, the watcher here. According to the rules, you can enter if you have the enchanted item. You're the first one here in recent years," the crow said as it turned to Angele; it was speaking in Anmag.

"Nice meeting you, Master Watcher Moroco." Angele bowed to the crow and took the ring back, returning it to his necklace.

"I'll be entering now," he said before walking into the entrance. Angele heard the sound of the crow flying away behind him.

The ancient castle looked as if it was modeled with sand. The walls and its passages had all been corroded by the wind with the passage of time. Tiny holes were all over the castle's body. Angele felt like he was walking into an ancient city in Egypt since the only color in his view was yellow. The wind blew away the dust on the ground into the air, and several dried leaves rolled around the corner with a few becoming stuck onto Angele's tall, black boots.

"You're the new blood?" A stranger's voice came from Angele's left. He looked over and saw a tall man standing in the corner. He was a gray-robed man who waved his hand toward Angele. The man had a wide shoulder and a messy hair. His face looked like a barbarian from some tale that made Angele think he wasn't a wizard.

"Master Moroco informed us of your arrival. He said you have the trophy of our school?" the man asked. Angele walked toward him quickly before nodding his head. He handed the ring over after pulling it off the necklace.

"Follow me, I'll bring you there. So many apprentices this year, more than 20, including you. However, you're the only one from overseas," the man said.

"Yea? I thought this is the school?" Angele looked around and noticed that they were the only ones here.

"How can our school be built upon a ruin? Though we're now weaker than before, we still have a decent place. My name is Aluta, you can call me Alu. I'm the guy that leads the new blood to the school," Alu said.

"My name is Angele, you can just call me with that," Angele replied politely.

"Well, I'm just an apprentice like you and only 14 years old," Alu said. He didn't like the way Angele spoke to him.

14 years old…

Angele looked at Alu speechlessly. Alu didn't have a friendly look. He was about 2 meters tall and had wide shoulders, most likely weighing 150 kilograms. Alu had the size of two Angele's. His footsteps were quite heavy that Angele could see the holes on the ground created by his footsteps.

"Alright… Alu, right? Can I just call you that?" Angele asked.

"Yea." Alu was pretty cold to him, still looking disappointed for some reason.

They turned around several corners in the city before arriving at a small house. A tunnel leading underground was in the middle of the house. In front of them was a door made of black stone and had two yellow, diamond-shaped gems embedded in it, each having the size of a fist. Alu walked toward the door and did a strange gesture.

"Aloda Sinba," he whispered. The door slowly opened, revealing to Angele the stairs leading underground. The underground tunnel was illuminated with torches placed on both sides of the walls. Alu quickly entered, and Angele followed from behind.

The door closed right after they entered. The passage that was built using gray bricks looked old as it aged after its conception. The same material was used for the floor, but some of the bricks of the passage had now been cracked. The ground was constructed in such a way that it was completely organized without any uneven parts. The light from the torches dyed the whole place yellow. As the two walked together in the underground tunnel, a strange smell wafted from below, but Angele couldn't determine the source. It smelled like mold and sweet olive mixed together.

"You're lucky that you're assigned to the same Master as mine. That's why I came to welcome you. We'll be 'classmates' after," Alu finally spoke after walking for a while.

"Yea? Assigned? How do they do that exactly?" Angele asked.

"Yea. They give the lists to the Masters and arrange the names in a random order to make everything fair," Alu explained.

"We're going to meet Master now. Master will let you choose one course you're interested in at first. Not the freebies though, you must pay for that. Just a friendly reminder, think twice, it's important. If you want to choose another course by yourself, you'll have to spend some magic stones or exchange record points from completing missions," Alu continued.

"Thank you." Angele was quite confused, but he knew Alu was trying to give him some tips so he kept them in mind. The conversation was cut off here before continuing forward. They went across the passage and turned left, reaching a hallway with several rooms on both sides after passing through two forked routes. There was a large, unopened door at the end of the dark hallway.

Alu led Angele to the large door and knocked on it lightly.

"Master, one new guy for you. I brought him here," he said.

"Come in." A hollow voice came from inside as the door slightly opened by itself. Alu pushed the door open and went inside the room together with Angele. The room looked like a normal study. A man in a black robe was standing between two big shelves filled with books. The man was reading a thick book.

"For me? You mean assigned to me?" Angele was surprised by the voice. He noticed that the 'man' sounded like a young girl. It was unexpected to him that it was a girl.

"Yea," Alu answered. Suddenly, the candle lamp on the desk made an exploding noise.

"Take him to Freydoni, my time is up," she said.

"Got it," Alu said. Angele was so confused as he watched Alu walking out of the room. Still, he followed Alu from behind. He took one last glance at the girl in a black robe. The girl already had turned toward them with her head raised, so Angele got to see her face clearly.

The 'girl' was actually an old woman who was smiling. Angele felt shocked and even scared at the fact that the woman didn't have her left eyeball. Instead, there was a bronze pocket watch embedded in the eye sockets. There was also a long scar across her face, and she looked like a patched-up doll. Without the sewing, she might even fall apart.

Angele tried his best to calm down and turn around.

'I'll be learning from such a horrifying wizard? At least, she looked scary,' Angele thought. He had already witnessed a lot of murders as he once killed plenty himself, but he was still scared witless just by looking at her face.

"Scary, eh? Master Liliana was severely injured during a spell experiment, so she now has this horrifying look," Alu explained after seeing Angele's expression.

"Actually, she's very kind, and among others, she's the most patient teacher. She tries her best to explain everything clearly, though not many wizard apprentices attend her class," Alu continued, his tone sounding slightly sorrowful.

"Is that so?" Angele tried to smile.

The master looked like a body that was patched up, so he thought people would try whatever it takes to stay away from her.

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Chapter 52: Magic (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele left the room together with Alu, walking down the tunnel once again. He began seeing people wearing gray robes walking to and fro, most of them greeting Alu. Some smiled and spoke with him while some just nodded their heads without speaking a word. After walking for about 100 meters, he faced a large, black wooden door in front of him.

PONG!

Alu knocked hard three times; the door opened a gap that would let one man pass through. Angele peeked through the gap and saw a huge underground cave inside.

"Let's go get your supplies first," Alu spoke with a low voice as he turned his head to Angele. Angele nodded, following Alu through the door.

Angele felt much better after walking into the door. He saw a huge cave that would easily fit an aircraft carrier inside. There were many holes, passages through the wall that twisted around the cave. Angele could see people wearing gray and white robes there with some entering the holes. It was highly likely that those holes were entrances leading to other areas. A huge 3-level glass chandelier hung over in the middle of the cave; many oil lamps sat on each level. It was the only thing that illuminated the cave.

"This way." Alu led Angele, who continued to follow from behind, toward the left.

The ground wasn't decorated at all and the roads were made of stone. Everything had become light yellow-colored under the large chandelier. The two's shadows shook and dance on the bumpy walls, seemingly mysterious and strange. They entered another path once again and then walked into a hallway. There were several people waiting; all of them had people without robes by their sides.

Alu talked to one of the men before taking Angele to wait at the end of the line. It took them several minutes to enter the door at the end of the hallway. Various types of linen bags and wooden barrels were inside the room. An old man who had a goatee was sitting behind a desk by the door, holding a feathered pen in his hand. On the desk were a small notebook, a candle stand, and an ink bottle.

"Alu, another one?" the old asked after laughing.

"Yea, he just arrived here today. He came here by ship, so it took him a long time to get here," Alu said with a smiling face.

"Tell him your name, stage level, and talent level," Alu said to Angele after turning to him.

"Angele Rio, 15 years old, stage 1, talent level 2." Angele stepped forward after nodding.

"Talent level 2, better than nothing." The old man nodded, and he wrote down something on his notebook.

"You got a trophy?" the old man asked.

"Yes," Angele said before handing over his ring to the old man.

The old man scrutinized the ring, his expression changing several times. In the end, he had a piteous expression as though he was feeling sorry for the item.

"Such a pity. Agility Boost Ring with a high-level spell. If it's complete, it will be considered as a mid-level enchanted item at least. It's from the past, at least 500 years old. We were still referred to as a college back then," the old man said.

"Well, I'll take the trophy. You'll be exempted in your entrance exam," he continued speaking as he grabbed a small gray pouch from the ground.

"It's your basic pouch." The old man handed the gray pouch to Angele.

"Thank you." Angele carefully received the pouch.

"One gray apprentice robe, one stage 1 wizard apprentice badge, one emergency magic stone, and your wizard apprentice number card. Don't lose any of those. There's a clean spell enchanted on the robe. It will clean itself once a day. It costs ten thousand gold coins outside, so don't break it. Otherwise, you'll have to reimburse it using magic stones or record points," the old man said.

"Understood," Angele replied. Alu toured Angele to the dormitory area, classrooms, laboratories, gardens, and various places after obtaining the supply. He led Angele back to the first hallway after everything. Angele thought of how the whole school was akin to a secret base underground. It was huge and its depth was unknown to Angele.

"First course is free. Make sure you make it count. Take care, my job here is done." Alu shrugged his shoulders and left after. He disappeared at a corner by the end of the hallway.

Angele took a deep breath before he walked to his new master's room and lightly knocked on the door.

"I'm the new apprentice, Angele Rio. Master Liliana, may I come in?" Angele asked politely.

"Come in, please." Liliana's voice still sounded like a young girl. The door opened by itself right away. Angele walked in and the door closed by itself. His new master was writing something on a paper using her black-feathered pen.

"Here for the free course?" Liliana raised her head and asked. Angele saw her horrifying face once again, the bronze pocket watch embedded in her left eye still ticking.

"Yes." Angele attempted to use the chip to analyze her attributes, but some unknown power hindered the chip from doing so.

Liliana smiled. However, she looked like she was crying to Angele. She moved the items on the table, making an empty space. She then put several things on the desk, but Angele didn't know where they came from. From left to right, the items on the desk were: a red banana-like fruit, a fresh eyeball of some animal, and a black leather pouch.

"The one on the left represents the basic shifting skill I'm good at. The eyeball in the middle represents the fundamentals of advanced dissection skills, while the last one represents biology. These are the options I offer, you can choose one to learn for free. You have one minute to think about it," Liliana smiled as she said.

Angele nodded. He started thinking while looking at the three items. Liliana didn't feel restless, only sitting there as she waited.

"One minute," Liliana said. Angele hesitated for a second. With a serious look on his face, he placed his hand on the black pouch.

"I'll go with this one," Angele said while looking at his master. Suddenly, the pouch started shaking as a swarm of black insects came out of it. Angele became surprised, immediately drawing back his hands. The insects were black, looking like medium-sized roaches. The pouch was, but the number of insects came out of it was great. In just a short time, they were all over the desk.

Angele's hand that made contact with the bag felt itchy. Liliana was still smiling toward Angele, whose face was pale. She took out a small mirror and placed it in front of him. From the mirror's reflection, Angele saw blisters all over his body; his arms, neck, and face all full of blisters. The blisters were large, shiny, and full of red pus.

"That's your choice." His new master's smile looked mysterious. Angele touched his face with his hands, but he could only feel nothing, only the flatness, and smoothness of his face.

Angele's face was pale; his mouth and nose stank. He saw a black human-like shadow in Liliana's right eye before he plunged into darkness. When he recovered his vision, he found himself in deep water. Though there was a white light over his head, he could see nothing around. It was dark and cold, even making Angele feel suffocated that he could barely breathe.

Angele tried to reach the light above him, yet something was pulling down his feet as he sunk. He looked down only to see pure darkness. He felt like he would never come back if he kept sinking.

'It's an illusion…' Angele kept convincing himself, but he couldn't stop the growing fear inside of him.

"You should come back." Liliana's voice echoed in his ears.

"The knowledge has been transferred into your brain. Go back and drink a potion that will help you stabilize your mind. This transfer spell has been harmful to you. Make sure you don't get any sequela," Liliana said.

"You can go now," she said as she waved her hand.

Angele, who was soaked in sweat, tried to calm down. He bowed and opened the door.

Angele left right away. Recalling the transference, the first line of the knowledge in his brain said: Necromancy.

The following days, Angele attended the free courses just like any other new wizard apprentices and went to the library after classes. He went to the sections open to stage 1 wizard apprentices. He focused on several different subjects such as Dissection, Neuroscience, Fundamentals of Negative Energy, Spell Models, Source of Mentality, and Fundamentals of Pharmacy, basic subjects, and many different languages. Angele could learn all of those for free.

Angele finally understood the meaning of the word 'Ramsoda'. In dragonish, it meant shadow and death. The most well-renowned researches the college had ever done were about necromancy and curses. The school had been considered to have the best shadow spells in the Wizard world.

The free course he chose was Necromancy wherein the main focus lied in studying the negative energy's impact on living beings. It was the core of utilizing spells created from negative energy, which was something he must learn. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to build the model for the negative energy spells. This course was one of the most expensive courses in the school considering how dangerous researching negative energy was. Because of how high the expenditure would be for someone to take this course, Angele was thinking of trading Necromancy knowledge with other wizard apprentices.

Angele learned the fundamentals of spell utilization from the basic spell model book. One had to use mentality to build the spell model and release the energy using a special method. Some spells even required certain materials as catalysts.

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Chapter 53: Magic (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Mentality model was the engine. Elemental energy was the gas. Both combined together to produce other forms of energies. It was the most basic of all spells, and there were much to be researched on such as the different effects produced by different models, the loss between each transfer, the strength of the final result, and the necessary mentality strength in constructing the model. Those were the factors that determined the level a wizard apprentice or a wizard had in spell manipulation. Being able to use a spell didn't mean one could control it well as most of the existing spells had been further improved by numerous wizards from each successive generation in the past.

Besides attending classes, Angele helped his master organize the laboratories, clean the spell room, and assist her in potion making. Also, he helped take care of the rare plants in the garden. However, Angele was progressing slowly, and there was only so much he could learn every day as his master only put a certain amount of content each day, though he could finish other works properly. It took Angele more than 4 months to be able to lead the energy particles into his body during meditation. Zero's radiation had doubled his speed.

"Today's 1st class is the Theory of Everything taught by Master Angelina," a girl said. She who had a long brown hair over her shoulders was sitting beside Angele.

"The Theory of Everything is too difficult to understand. I always feel like I have no idea what she's saying," a black-haired boy said. He was wearing glasses and was sitting beside the girl. The three sat together at a corner, creating a small group just like other wizard apprentices in the school.

"Ansett, why is Master Angelina wearing a white robe, while other masters are wearing black?" Angele asked.

"It's based on their specialization, whether it's positive energy or negative energy," Ansett answered. She was an average-looking girl. However, with her long brown hair combined with a shapely body, it made her very attractive.

"Masters who specialize in positive energy wear white and masters who specialize in negative energy wear black. That's the rule. You came from overseas and you never heard of it?" the boy with glasses asked.

"We barely have any wizards there. How would I obtain information like this?" Angele had the feeling similar to that of studying in a university on Earth. However, the students here had at least one magic stone with them while Angele had nothing. He didn't enroll in any other course except for the free one he had gotten at the beginning.

Magic stones were the main currency here. It was a black mineral that had a crystal-like appearance, which contained special energy that could help boost mentality. Many wizard apprentices kept enrolling in courses, thus gaining a huge amount of knowledge. Angele became nervous because he knew wizard apprentices who had more knowledge would be likely able to use spells and even advance to become real Wizards. Knowledge also helped them construct more spell models. Wizard apprentices who had more knowledge would've had more spells in their repertoire.

The good thing was, enrolling in a course didn't mean they didn't have to learn by themselves. Of course, their rate of comprehending the knowledge would've had a similar speed to that of reading a book. With the exploitation of the chip, Angele could use to reach twice their speed. The problem was Angele didn't have any magic stone with him.

"Angele, you said you're very close to advancing to stage 2. Is that true?" Ansett asked.

"Yea, very close." Angele nodded. There was no point in concealing it. Any master could distinguish the wizard apprentices' stages just by looking at them. Only wizards could block information probing by setting up their own force fields.

"That's fast… and yet, you're only 14," Ansett said, expressing admiration for him.

"I already spent a long time trying to reach stage 2. Now, I'm just very close to it," Angele said. He would never tell them he had started meditating only a year ago.

"I'm almost there, too," the boy with glasses calmly said.

"Angele, I remember you saying that you need a magic stone, right? I've got an extra here when my family sent some to me. How about I give it to you and you help me with the course?" he continued.

"Extra magic stone? Manas, are you sure about this?" Angele asked.

"Sure, your Theory of Everything is far better than mine. I need your help with that, and I have major problems with several basic structures," Manas said with a calm expression.

"I'm not as talented as you guys, so I have to work harder," he continued.

"No problem. I need magic stone anyway," Angele said. Trading was something common here. Wizards normally didn't develop deep relationships with others, though they loved trading objects. Wizard apprentices were like this too. Though magic stones were a very rare commodity to normal people Manas, who came from a large local family, could easily obtain them with his background.

"I'll give you a magic stone, too. I'll listen to your explanation together with Manas. I don't want to be left behind," Ansett said after hearing Manas's words. She wanted to keep up with the class. Angele smiled as he himself knew they couldn't jot down everything their masters taught. If they missed some notes, it would be very difficult for them to understand the material. The masters didn't care if the wizard apprentices understood the class or not because they were too busy with their own research. They were teaching only for the money the school had paid them, and they would leave the class right after they finished.

Angele thought that trading his knowledge for magic stones was a great idea.

"Manas, do you know how to obtain magic stones fast?" he asked.

"You can go accept some assignments given by the school and obtain record points after completion. The record points can be used to exchange magic stones and other items. You'll get one magic stone for one record point," Manas said.

"However, the assignments are difficult, so you need to think twice before accepting any of it. We need to reach stage 2 to be able to use enchanted items," he added. The three of them banded together not because they had close relationships to each other, but because they were the weakest wizard apprentices in their class. Manas was kind enough to tell Angele something like this. Angele could already lead the energy particles into his body, but he needed some herbs to make the Sensory Potion to assist him in reaching stage 2. He could also buy one from the school, but the problem lied in the number of magic stones needed for purchase.

"Master Angele is here," Ansett spoke in a low voice as he sat properly. The wizard apprentices ceased talking and everyone had their gazes fall on the entrance of the classroom. A stunning blonde lady appeared, wearing a white robe with a gray wooden wand in hand. As she quickly walked inside the classroom, the wizard apprentices could see her blue eyes, hair all over her shoulders, and a smile on her face.

"I am Angelina. It's my pleasure in teaching you, future wizards. Let's not waste any time. I'm going to teach you the plant section of the Theory of Everything. It doesn't matter what type of spells you use in the future. You'll need to understand different types of spells. Otherwise, you'll never learn the Spell Analysis skill," the lady said.

"Master, we already learned some basic models about botanical spells. The problem is how to transfer the pure energy to the real world. I'm wondering if you could demonstrate the process to us," someone said.

"Master Angelina, you're the best botanical spell user in our school," he continued.

"Vader, you sure know how to flatter people…" She shook her head as she looked at the wizard apprentice. Angele thought it was quite likely that she knew the one who was speaking from the way she was looking at him.

"It's Vader, her younger brother. Master Angelina raised him since young, so they're more like mother and son," Ansett explained with a faintly discernible voice.

"Yea." Angele nodded his head.

"Since Vader asked, I'll demonstrate one spell to you guys today," Angelina said.

She smiled and raised her left hand up. Angele could see a black seed in the middle of her palm. Angelina dropped the seed to the ground and chanted,

"I control you, a new form of life."

With a few noises, the seed started sprouting as it quickly grew into a green sapling. It didn't cease there, still growing incessantly. The roots twisted with the vines as it kept ascending. At its topmost was a white bud.

"Bloom." Angelina pointed her wand at the bud, and then the bud started to slowly bloom. In the middle of the flower, there was a shiny, white fleck. The white light it brought was gentle and warm.

"The Light of Life, something that could make your wishes come true." Angelina smiled.

"Of course, it's a joke. I'm just making it shine using the Botanical Light Spell. I tried my best to slow down its process," she continued.

Angele sat in his seat watching the demonstrating, staring at the shining flower.

"A wonderful spell…" He praised.

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Chapter 54: The Cost (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

In one minute, the strange flower that had the height of an average human blossomed. Angele was surprised by this scene. To him, it was really impressive. The wizard apprentices in the classroom started clapping, and Master Angelina waved her hand again. The light dot in the flower flew into the air, causing the plant below to wilt and die within a second. The whole thing fell apart and became a pile of black ash.

"This spell is for increasing the growth rate of the plant to its maximum. It's actually a botanical spell that consumes negative energy. If anyone is interested, you can come and purchase the basic spell model from me. Of course, only I have the right to sell the spell model. If I find anyone trying to sell it privately, I will hang him," Angele said in a serious tone.

Angele became nervous for a second. He planned on trading his knowledge about Necromancy for resources, but he didn't know about the 'copyright' issue beforehand. Thus, he had to abort his plan.

"Well, I'll just do my thing then. Meditating and earning magic stones are the top two priorities now," Angele said before shaking his head.

Half a year later…

Above the Ramsoda College.

In the morning, a group of people in gray robes were slowly advancing along a path in the large forest. They had various weapons on them such as swords and bows, while some had short, black wooden wands in their hands. There were black cross insignias on the back of their robes — the insignia of Ramsoda College. One of them carried a white, wooden longbow on his back and a silver crossguard sword tied to his waist. It was Angele, who didn't look attractive with his short brown hair. He was surveying his surroundings consistently just like what other wizard apprentices in the group did.

"Green, don't be so nervous. At least we're still in Ramsoda's territory, and people don't have the guts to invade us. They'll try to avoid us," a black-haired man said. He was about 20 years old and had a pair of green eyes.

"Last time I went on patrol, I got sneak attacked, and don't call me Green. I don't like it," Angele said as he smiled. Half a year ago, he joined the patrol squad, which had a monthly wage of one magic stone. He also tried to become familiar with the neighboring areas.

Ramsoda College was located at a wasteland. There were barely any people around such that only numerous dangerous beasts inhabited the place. Even if people were strong enough, they would be randomly assaulted by a swarm of flies. That was the reason why there weren't many people living here, even those adventurous people. The patrol squad's mission was to prevent those dangerous animals from breaching the school perimeter. Though this didn't pay very well, Angele could witness real wizards and high stage wizard apprentices fight, even obtaining some experiences.

"Alert! Human-eating Lizards!" one of the men at the front yelled.

"Alert! Watch out for weakness-focused attacks. Masha, get in defensive position." The black-haired man who was the leader started giving out orders with a serious expression on his face.

"Green, use your bow. Andrew, assist Masha in defense. Get in your positions and watch out. Don't waste our antidotes," he continued yelling. The five got into formation and a huge lizard emerged from the bush in front of them. This lizard had a green skin that made it easily possible to camouflage. It was looking at the five with its brown eyes.

"Only one. Take it out quickly." The black-haired man looked relieved.

"Narus!" He cast a spell as he invoked the incantation, and dark light covered his body. He drew his short sword and rushed toward the lizard, stabbing his sword right at its head. Another wizard apprentice cast a spell to enhance the power of Angele's arrows, making the arrowheads shine with a strange dark light. The arrow flew out at a breakneck speed as Angele shot it right toward the lizard's right eye.

The sword and the arrow struck its head simultaneously, creating a huge hole in the middle of its head and the arrow piercing its eye. The lizard's green blood started flowing to the ground; its wound started to rot quickly. A red laser came out of the short sword, killing the lizard right after. The black-haired man stepped back and reassembled with the team.

"Another lizard came from outside. People around all know this is our territory," he said while shaking his head.

"I can extract some infective poison from it. I'm recently doing a research on it. I think it is fine for me to have its body?" the man asked.

"One magic stone for each of us, and we'll let you have it," the girl who cast spell on Angele's arrow said.

"No problem," the black-haired man said. This was a bonus for the patrol members. If they wanted something valuable from what they found, they must pay others. Angele smiled; he knew the magic stone would help him in the future. They needed to spend a lot of magic stones and record points every year. If he didn't get enough magic stone, he wouldn't be able to continue studying.

Nothing else happened after this encounter, which was very normal for them. Angele finished his shift by noontime. He returned to his room in the school. It was a small room, having the same size of a dorm room back in the harbor school. The only thing special was the oil lamp on the wall. It had been said by some that the oil in it would never run out. In actuality, it was a spell cast by a real wizard to make it bring light to a room incessantly. Angele sat cross-legged on his bed and took out a small pouch which he poured its contents onto the bed. Five black crystals and a tiny red pearl were there. Angele took the pearl and stared at it for a while, but he didn't do anything to it.

He played with the magic stones for a while before placing them back into the pouch carefully. He began meditating again. He was already a stage 2 wizard apprentice, and he was going for stage 3. Angele had earned enough magic stones in order to purchase the new meditation method from the school. After that, his progress became much smoother. However, it had begun slowing down a bit recently. The red pearl he looked at earlier was obtained from a Red Pearl Bird when he was on patrol duty. It was something he obtained by paying a lot. This pearl could help him in his meditation, but he could only use it once.

He had trouble with meditation, so he wanted to use the pearl. Angele meditated for a while and asked Zero to show him his body condition.

'Zero, show me my body condition.'

'Angele Rio: Strength 2.9. Agility 4.1. Stamina 3.5. Status: Healthy,' Zero reported quickly.

'Did you get enough data to show the mentality as numbers?' Angele asked.

'Yes. Your mentality could now be presented in a numerical format at any time you wish,' Zero reported. Angele collected a lot of data to make it possible because he wanted to measure the strength of other wizard apprentices and wizards.

'Show me my mentality,' Angele asked with a serious expression on his face.

'Database created. Comparing data. Initiating…' Zero reported.

'Angele Rio: Mentality 3.1.' Zero gave the result within a mere moment.

'3.1… Zero, show me the requirements needed to reach stage 3,' Angele asked after thinking for a while.

'Mission created, collecting data… finished. Model created, simulations beginning…' Zero created a slowly rotating, light blue human body model in front of Angele. Inside the model, there were many silver lines flowing.

'Analysis initiated… Most optimal plan: Reach 6.0 in Mentality. Comprehend more than two spell models. 500 ml of Black Lead Potion. Success rate: 79.43%,' Zero reported.

'Your mentality is not being gathered. Analyzing… Please focus on increasing the density of your mentality,' Zero warned.

'I knew it!' Angele thought before he smiled.

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Chapter 55: The Cost (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

The best function of the chip was that it could analyze known data and give Angele the optimal plan. It could even list all the requirements and calculate its success rate. This function was extremely valuable to Angele. Many wizard apprentices had to spend a huge amount of time searching for the reason of their progress being hindered and must check the issue many times to confirm its authenticity. If they made any mistakes during the process, they would waste too much time and money, and they wouldn't be able to keep up with the set timeframe. No matter how talented one was, one had to discover the correct path by oneself.

Angele could find out in time the reason for his progress slowing down due to the chip he had. He kept advancing and wasted no time. Those were all of his advantages.

'Increase my mentality points to 6 first, and then I'll buy two basic spell models. Training in the construction of the spell models will also help me increase my mentality. One model will cost me two magic stones. I can buy two right away. The problem lies with the 500 ml Black Lead Potion,' Angele thought.

Black Lead Potion was made of special stones and ink. It could aid people in increasing their sensitivity, rendering the sensing of energy particles easier. It could also help people focus, but it had some side effects on the user's stamina. After using it, wizards or wizard apprentices needed to stay in bed for at least two days. The damage done to their stamina was permanent. It was one of the most effective low-level potions, but it had the worst side effect. If the chip didn't even mention it, Angele would've never thought of using it.

Angele sat cross-legged on his bed. He considered his following plan carefully before he got up. He wiped the dust off his gray robe and tied the pouch to his waist. He then opened the door and left his room.

More than 10 minutes later…

Angele stood in front of a huge stone wall with his head raised high to check the price list. Several other wizard apprentices in gray robes were around him staring at the list as well. There were about 30 people there, but no one made any noise. They just stood there and quietly looked at the stone wall. After some time, a few would leave and a few would join.

'I took the Necromancy course for free from Master Liliana, and it was one of the basics required for using spells with negative energy. If I want to go for the spells with positive energy now, I'll have to purchase new basic knowledge. It's probably better for me to just stay with spells that use negative energy. One course will already cost me more than 10 magic stones, and that's just too much for me. I can save some resources by doing so, and I'll even progress faster." Angele made up his mind and started checking the courses listed under the negative energy category.

Only three basic negative energy spell models were currently open:

1. Poisonous Cloud: Paid course. Necromancy and Basics of Negative Energy

2. The Hand of Exhaustion: Paid course. Necromancy and Neuroscience

3. Stun Spell: Paid course. Advanced Dissection and Neuroscience

Angele looked at the options and started thinking.

Basic spells models were the simplest models that most wizard apprentices could learn. As for improved advanced spell models, wizards would often keep them a secret. The same spell could've differing effects when different wizards used it. The spell duration, effect radius, casting speed, casting distance, the weaknesses, and the damage done by stun effects might all be different. The basic models were the only spell models wizard apprentices could purchase. They were easy to understand and had practical uses in certain situations.

Angele kept thinking for a while before deciding which one to buy. He walked toward a small window by the side, right when the wizard apprentice in front of him just finished his own activity.

"Which one you want?" Inside the window, an old man with white eyebrows asked.

"The Hand of Exhaustion and the Stun Spell from the negative energy category." Angele took out his magic stones and handed them over to the old man.

"That will be four magic stones, alright." The old man nodded and took the magic stones from Angele's hands. He then gave Angele two leather-covered books, and Angele saw the names of the spells on the books. Angele took the book and kept it inside his pouch.

"Hey, Angele," someone called his name from the side. Angele looked over only to see Manas, who was also wearing his gray robe and was quickly walking toward him. He saw Ansett following Manas at the back and found her looking at him with a strange expression.

"You came here for spell models?" Ansett asked. Learning spell models meant Angele had been progressing fast as a stage 2 wizard apprentice. Meanwhile, she was still a mere stage 1 wizard apprentice. She and Manas were just checking out the spells, not expecting for Angele to buy spells from the store. Manas wasn't good enough to learn the spell models yet. If he tried to draw the spell model without sufficient comprehension on it, he would only get hurt.

The three of them started together, and yet Angele was progressing much faster than the two. Manas and Ansett both had mixed feelings about this.

"Yea. I think I'll start constructing spell models, so I decided to buy two basic ones. How about you, Manas? I think you're nearly at that point as well." Angele heard Ansett asking, so he answered.

"Not yet. I need more time. I want the Hand of Mage spell, but I need to finish learning the Energy Cycle and the Force Field Transformation first. I have enough mentality, but…" he said as he slightly raised his eyebrows. It looked like there wasn't much he could do about it.

"Well, just don't get frustrated. Make sure you're fully prepared," Ansett said. She was trying to remind Angele about the importance of comprehending the spell models before starting.

"I know. I won't start constructing them before I could understand everything." Angele nodded and smiled.

"Sigh… I'm not sure when I'll be able to reach stage 3… People with talent level like us will spend at least three years for it. I don't even know if it's possible for me to become a wizard," Manas said.

"Do you know Bell Mini? He was promoted several days ago. He's now a wizard and he's only 19 years old… He was in our class… The Mini Family has all those resources for him to use and has a wizard in his family to guide him. The only thing we could do was to ask other talented wizard apprentices…" he continued.

"He's from one of the three largest families. Of course, he'll be faster than us. His talent level was improved by using advanced wizard technologies and was much stronger than us from the beginning," Ansett muttered. Angele finally knew why they were so upset. It was too difficult for stage 2 and 3 wizard apprentices to reach the wizard level, and the possibility of becoming one was most likely just 1 out of 50. It meant most of the apprentices would stay at stage 3 their whole lives. Then, they would just return to their hometowns or choose to stay at the school to contribute in other ways. The old man with white eyebrows was at stage 3. A long time had already passed after reaching that stage. He had tried breaking past his limits multiple times, but he never succeeded. Many people had similar circumstances with the old man in this school.

There were less than 50 Wizards in the school, but ever since Angele arrived at this people, he had never seen the president. Angele's situation was different because he had the chip. Before breaking the limit, the chip would help him formulate the most optimal plan. If the possibility of success was too low, he could keep studying until the success rate increased.

"I have to go see my master now. I'll see you guys in the evening." Angele talked to them for a while before leaving.

"See you." The two left after bidding farewell.

Several minutes later.

In a dark room of the Negative Energy Research Center.

Many strange runes were engraved on the ground and many complex magic arrays were drawn on them. The ground was black while everything on it was silver. There was a square stone platform in the middle of the room, and an old lady with a bronze pocket watch embedded in her left eye was standing beside it with a staff in her hand. She was pouring some white dust over the platform carefully.

A ray of yellow light descended from the hole above them, making the whole room illuminated. Angele stood by the door, waiting for his master to summon him. There was another apprentice inside the room, though he only looked at Angele once. He just kept watching the things Master Liliana was doing.

"What do you think?" the man asked with a light voice.

"Me?" Liliana poured all the dust onto the platform before raising her head.

"Do whatever you want. It's your own choice," she said while staring at the man in a gray robe.

"Understood, I'll leave now, Mother." The man bowed and left after.

"Why are you here?" Liliana finally looked at Angele and asked.

"You're one of my students?" She didn't seem to remember him.

"Yes, Master Liliana. I was accepted in the school last year," Angele introduced himself after stepping forward.

"Tell me what you want. I'm busy," she said.

"I would like to ask about the Black Lead Potion," Angele politely said.

"Black Lead Potion? Its side effect is the worst. Don't tell me you want to drink some?" Liliana seemed surprised.

"Yes, I would like to try it," Angele said.

"It's hard to make and it's expensive. I have one in my storage, but you better prepare enough magic stones for it." Liliana began to smile.

"How many?" Angele asked in a low voice.

"120 regular ones or 12 mid-level ones," she answered.

"120…" Angele had already expected it to be expensive, but he was still surprised by the price tag. He could purchase some low-level enchanted items with 120 regular magic stones.

"It's the best offer I could give. I already put a discount on it since you're my student. If you ask other masters, it'll cost you at least 200. You can check the price at the trading hall," she said.

"You may leave now. My time is up." The bronze pocket watch in her eye ticked once. Angele took a deep breath, and then nodded his head. He turned back and left the room.

'What's the best way for me to earn magic stones…?' Angele kept pondering over this question.

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Chapter 56: Mission (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele heard a beast-like roar coming from the room after he closed the door. He quickly left the place.

'This happens once a day. The sequela is really terrifying,' Angele thought as he shook his head.

One month later…

Trading hall, underground.

The place was completely crowded. Most of the people were looking at the stone wall. The mission information was displayed on the wall, and the information pages looked like paintings. The pages were automatically changing as though it was a slideshow. Most of the people here were wearing gray robes. Only several of them were wearing black and white. No one stayed near the ones in black, but Angele could see people greeting the ones in white.

Some people were talking, while some were just staring at the mission information pages.

"Level 3 mission! Is that even possible!" a wizard apprentice yelled, and the hall became noisy.

"This one has the best reward?" someone asked.

"It's level 3! Mary, shall we…?"

"The leader is Khedira…" Several other wizard apprentices were discussing.

Most of the people here were concerned about the leader. Even one of the male wizard apprentices in the corner also looked hesitant. Two wizard apprentices beside him started talking about Khedira.

"I can't believe the leader is Master Khedira. He had a talent level of 4, and last year, he became a wizard. He's one of the top wizard apprentices. How about joining the mission? The mission has no restrictions on the number of people and the reward is 50 magic stones per person," one of them said.

"50 magic stones… The mission must be very difficult. It has no number limit, so it means the mission is most likely not for young wizard apprentices like us," the other guy said as his expression changed.

Angele was carefully listening to their conversations from the sidelines. He was trying to take some suitable missions to earn enough magic stones for the potion. The missions had decent rewards. Angele had already finished 3 of the easier missions this month, earning him 30 magic stones. However, he almost died during one of the missions. The information page stated that the main purpose of that mission was to check on some dying trees around the school. Angele joined a 5-man group for it. Four of them got injured, while one of them died. The reward for the missions was good, but all of them were risky.

"50 magic stones…" Angele muttered. He couldn't give up such a great opportunity to earn a decent amount of magic stones. Although he knew the mission was going to be dangerous, he thought he would do a good job at ranged attacks. Usually, a group protected the ranged attackers well. That was the reason why he survived the first several missions. Angele's arrow became more powerful when enchanted with spells that could buff its damage.

'I have Zero aiding me in the surveillance, and it can check a larger area than an average wizard apprentice could. I can easily escape a stage 3 wizard apprentice if he isn't too close to me,' Angele thought. He saw a young man in a black robe walking into the hall. The man had a handsome-looking face, but he had a cold expression on his face. He was about 1.8 meters tall, and in his hand was an even taller black staff.

"My name is Khedira. Guys, an unfortunate event just happened 10 minutes ago under the Achslach Mountain." He lowered his head as he held his staff tightly. Angele could see his hands shaking from too much grip.

"My younger brother, Asan, a genius stage 3 wizard apprentice from our school, just got killed after he completed the mission," he spoke in a very sorrowful tone.

"This level 3 mission was announced by the masters after I begged them." Khedira raised his head, his eyes clearly emanating that of a person who dearly wished to exact vengeance.

"Someone killed my brother! He was one of the best wizard apprentices in the Ramsoda College! He was the second inheritor of the Caesar Family!" He glanced around the hall. Suddenly, his eyes began to gleam.

"No matter whom the murderer is! I'll make him pay!" he yelled, eyes looking red as it had been filled with bloodlust. Khedira quickly left the hall after saying these words.

"Someone is provoking us!" someone said with a deep voice.

"Asan died… The Caesar Family will send people there, too."

"It could be infighting with their own family. I don't want to be part of this."

"True, the Caesar Family now…" People began discussing the situation.

Angele stood in the corner, raising his head to take a final glance at the mission information page on the wall:

Vengeance: Make whoever disrespected lives from Ramsoda pay for their sins!

Basic Reward: 50 regular magic stones.

Danger Level: High.

Number Limitation: None.

The words were written in red; whoever wrote it was seeking the life of the murderer. Angele stared at the page for a while, and then he made up his mind. He touched the silver crossguard sword by his waist before he disappeared into the dark hallway.

One month later.

Abandoned Ancient City, above the Ramsoda College.

It was early in the morning. Angele could barely see the rising sun. By the entrance of the city, a group of people was standing on the bridge. Some of them were wearing gray robes, while some were wearing black. All of them had black cross insignias on the back of their robes and all had their hoods on, covering most of their features. The man leading the group had a tall, black staff in his hand and a black pigeon standing on the man's right shoulder.

The man knocked his staff on the ground, attracting everyone's attention.

"Everyone." the man had a deep voice.

"I'm not going to mention how dangerous this mission is again. Please use whatever secret weapon you have. If we complete the mission, my family will double the reward," he continued.

"Double? You have that many magic stones left?" one of the men in black robes asked.

"How do we know that you aren't lying to us?" he asked.

"I know the Caesar Family has become weaker at present, but we're not short on magic stones," the leader said in a light tone.

"We trust your promises, Wizard Khedira. Let's move then, don't waste any time," a wizard in a white robe said.

The three were the only wizards in this group, while the rest were all wizard apprentices. They could only follow the three's plan. There were about 10 people in the group; most of them were very young. Angele was in the middle of the formation, carrying a metal bow on his back. He looked like an average wizard apprentice in the group.

Three black carriages came to pick them up. The coachmen were three gnomes wearing gray linen clothes. They were too scared to look at the wizards and the wizard apprentices.

They started to board the carriages. Angele chose the one in the middle. There were four other wizard apprentices riding in the same carriage as him, two females and two males.

'Zero, can you check the attributes of these people?' Angele asked.

'Within range. Checking… Information is being shown in front of you,' Zero reported. Angele closed his eyes before opening again. Everything in his vision was coated with some light blue color. He looked at a male wizard apprentice in front of him.

"Greetings, I am Angele. I'm from the Faculty of Negative Energy. I'm adept at ranged attacks. I think I'll later need your cover," Angele said as he smiled.

"Sure. No worries. We should help each other. I'm Andre from the Faculty of Mutation." The man looked surprised; it seemed that he wasn't used to communicating with others.

'Andre. Strength 0.9. Agility 1.1. Stamina 3.1. Mentality 4.7. Stage 2 Wizard Apprentice.' Andre's attributes showed up beside him. Angele then greeted the others, but all of them seemed slightly uncomfortable with conversing with others. Angele's purpose was to gain intel on their attributes. Without the protection of force fields, Zero could easily obtain data like this within a certain distance. People who joined mission like this were usually poor, but they were confident with their skills. Zero had even found an enchanted item on a girl named Marylin.

Angele tried to start a conversation, but no one was in the mood to talk. Thus, he decided to stay silent. Everyone was at stage 2, though the girl named Marylin was probably the strongest in their group as she possessed an enchanted item. The rest of them were above average just like Angele.

The other girl was called Griffia. Both of the two girls weren't very good looking. Marylin was slightly plump while Griffia looked sexy. Griffia attracted the eyes of the males in the carriage. Andre and Griffia had no special items on them. Their gray robes looked like it had been patched up several times already. It was clear that the cleaning spell on their robes was weakening.

'They're really poor,' Angele thought as he shook his head. However, he himself would also not spend 5 magic stones just for a new robe. He would rather spend 1 magic stone and ask a stage 3 wizard apprentice to fix it. That was probably what the two in front of him did.

Half a month later.

The carriages entered a small town by the school at night. Several noble-like people were patiently and politely waiting outside the town for them. They welcomed the group to the town and led them to a private manor. The group stayed for the night before they left, heading to the place where Asan got murdered.

They traveled for another day and reached a canyon. It was a cloudy day, fog filling the valley.

The ground had dying grasses all over. There were some green trees with small leaves around. Angele could barely see the mountains on both sides as they had been canopied by the fog. The stones that were quietly lying on the ground looked strange. Occasionally, small animals passed across the grass, making them noticeable due to the movements of the grasses. By the entrance of the valley, a group of swordsmen who were all wearing iron armors was waiting. A man from the group walked toward the man in a black robe. He seemed to be the leader of the group.

"Master Khedira, you're here. We already blocked the whole valley such that not even a bird could escape," the man said.

"Good, keep guarding the entrance. We'll head in and deal with this," Khedira said as he nodded. The leader also nodded and took a glance on the people behind Khedira. He respected the wizards, but he also feared them.

Angele became surprised when he checked the attributes of the leader. The leader was a top-level knight. After entering the valley, Angele stayed in the innermost middle part of the formation. He nocked a black-feathered arrow on his metal bow while scouting the surroundings.

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Chapter 57: Mission (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

The rest of the group stayed alert as well. Due to the members being used to walking on the road, no one complained about walking in the valley. Everyone was checking the surroundings. No one seemed to be tired from doing so. If typical noble children had joined missions like this, they wouldn't have been able to handle it.

Clouds had completely filled the sky, and suddenly, the sound of thunder crackled. Khedira, who was leading the group, looked above.

"It's going to rain. We're very close to our destination. Stay alert, everyone," he spoke after he turned his head around.

"You two, please scout the surroundings. I'll track the murderer using my spell," Khedira said as he turned to the two wizards.

"Don't worry. You gave us the two items we wanted. We'll serve you well," the one in a black robe laughingly said. The white-robed wizard nodded his head but didn't say anything.

After walking for a while, they reached a pit. Its depth was about half a meter and looked like a huge bowl; its surface actually looked very smooth.

"We're here!" Khedira raised his hand, signaling the group to cease advancing.

"Get in your positions and stay alert. Make sure no one touches Khedira!" the black-robed man yelled. The apprentices nodded in response before they formed an encircling formation with the three wizards in the center.

Angele was standing inside the encirclement, holding his longbow. He utilized the sensory function of the chip to survey the area. He took a glance at Khedira. Khedira was holding his staff over his head and stood in the middle of the pit. Angele could see tiny tornados appearing under his feet, these wind gradually increasing in strength. The tornados ran into each other and surrounded Khedira. The grasses being uprooted and the branches being dragged from the ground began flying into the air. The sound of the wind howling gradually became louder as everything around was being drawn toward Khedira.

This strange scene lasted more than 10 seconds before the gray tornados started weakening. Finally, Angele could once again see Khedira, who still held his staff over his head but had an exhausted demeanor.

"You can't escape from me!" Khedira yelled with a cruel expression showing on his face.

"Everyone, there's a tunnel on our left side. Our friends are hiding in there. Let's welcome these f*ckers…" he continued.

From a tree close to the pit, a white-feathered arrow whistled toward Khedira after he finished speaking. A green silhouette jumped off the tree and ran into the forest after shooting the arrow. Before it could even reach Khedira's eye, the arrow ceased its movement in midair. An invisible barrier was protecting him.

"Come at me! You sons of bitches!" Khedira yelled with a frightening expression.

"Everyone, there are 18 males, 5 females, and 8 kids. Those disgusting green f*ckers. I'll put their souls on the colorless crosses. Kill all adults and do whatever you want to the kids! It's fine if you want yourselves some elf slaves," he continued.

Khedira grasped the arrow in the air and broke it into pieces. Angele saw a shining ring on Khedira's finger.

"Elves? Don't tell me they're wood elves," Andre, who was standing beside Angele, said.

"They're wood elves. Otherwise, they wouldn't murder Asan. Races other than them don't have the guts to do something like this," Griffia spoke in a low voice. They talked while following the wizards from behind, quickly walking toward the tunnel. They wouldn't bother too much with an average archer, but if the archer had superb skills, they would instantly change targets to the archer.

"Colorless crosses? Damn, that'll make their souls suffer. The stronger their faith, the more they'll suffer. Master Khedira is completely enraged right now," one of the male wizard apprentices murmured.

"There are elves living here?" Angele asked.

"In my country, they only exist in tales," he added.

"Really? Although there aren't many elves around, we catch several ones every year. I hope I can obtain some today. Elf slaves can be sold for a significant sum," Marylin excitedly said as she tightly gripped her wand. Others also had excited expressions. Angele made a conjecture about the wood elves having more worth than he had previously thought.

The group quickly discovered the entrance to the tunnel. It was covered with some branches and dried grasses. Khedira stood by the entrance and glanced at the white-robed wizard beside him. As if they already had something planned, the wizard nodded his head and stepped forward. He raised his hand and pointed toward the dark cave as he started to cast a spell.

Angele scrunched his eyebrows. He had never heard languages such as this. Only several languages could be used to cast spells, and Angele only knew two of the most common: Anmag and Advanced Elf Language. The wizard's incantations echoed in the valley. Fog began flowing out of his hand, spreading deep into the cave.

Khedira didn't merely stay there and watch, he was whispering something to the pigeon on his shoulder. After touching the feather of the pigeon, it flew into the darkness.

"Found them. They only have one knight and an enchanted item. They haven't eaten for days," Khedira said and laughed after.

"The Sleeping Fog will make those wood elves fall into slumber quickly. This seems like an easy mission to me," the white-robed wizard said in a ridiculing tone.

"True. The only thing we…" The black-robed wizard looked relieved as well.

PONG!

Suddenly, the white wizard's head splattered into pieces like a watermelon and blood spilled everywhere. Everyone became stunned at that scene. After wiping off the blood on his face with his hands, Khedira still hadn't figured out what had happened. Then, a strange voice casting a spell resounded from nowhere.

"Kano! How dare you! You killed Kano!" The black-robed wizard finally realized what happened, which caused his eyes to be filled with anger. He patted his chest with his head, white light began coming out of his eyes.

"Calm down! It's an illusion!" Khedira struck the ground with his staff and cast a spell. Gray waves appeared under his feet and spread out, billowing across everyone. Angele, who stood in the middle of the formation, felt dizzy when the waves passed him. The scene ahead of them changed after they became clear-headed.

Not too far away, he saw the white-robed wizard who had had his back against the wall and been surrounded by a white barrier. A tiny, green girl who had wings similar to a fly's was in the air flying around him, slapping the barrier several with her claws and laughing with a high-pitched voice.

The girl was the size of a human head and wasn't wearing any clothes. She looked exactly like a human being but had a dark green skin. Her short hair was also green. Green liquid was dripping from her body, which had an irritating stench.

Angele saw the grass corroded within seconds after it fell onto the ground. Some had even turned into black ashes after making contact with the liquid. It looked like it had been burnt to ashes.

"It's the Green Spirit!" Someone yelled after being able to successfully recognize the identity of the flying girl.

The wizard apprentice then cast a spell toward the Green Spirit. Angele saw a white laser materializing out of the wizard apprentice's hand, hitting the Green Spirit's chest. However, Angele saw something that successfully blocked the attack. In front of the Green Spirit's chest, a piece of green ice had appeared before it fell to the ground after blocking the laser. Angele quickly shot an arrow right toward the Green Spirit, causing a hole to appear on her body. She kept laughing with her high-pitched voice, not caring about the injury in the slightest. The Green Spirit moved away from the wizard and flew toward the wizard apprentices. Seeing this, Angele knew they were in danger.

'Unknown particle approaching in high speed… Optimal plan: Step back and crouch,' Zero warned in time. Angele had no time to waste; he instantly stepped back and crouched.

'Unknown living being within range. Analyzing… Force field detected. Analysis failed. Danger. Please escape.' Zero kept reporting, but Angele had no time to listen to it. The wizard apprentices present in the scene were screaming in fear, including Andre.

Angele glanced around. About 7 of them were struck by her claws in the face, causing them to fall to the ground while screaming. Only one blocked the attack with some sort of spell. Similar reaction to that of the grasses occurred to them and they turned to black ashes in seconds.

"Anya! I know it's you!" Khedira yelled.

"HAHA!" The Green Spirit kept laughing. After the first attack, she stopped attacking and instead flew to the left and landed on someone's shoulder. A black-robed lady suddenly appeared behind them. She wore a silver headband and had an attractive face and long blonde hair. The lady looked like a forest goddess. The Green Spirit stopped releasing the green liquid and sat on the lady's shoulder.

"I knew it…" Khedira's expression was ice-cold. The other two wizards who were standing behind him looked at the lady in fear.

"You killed my brother?" Khedira asked.

"What do you think?" The lady laughed without a care.

The lady was a wizard, and similar to the other wizards, none of them cared about the dead wizard apprentices. Angele felt slightly uncomfortable as he looked at the ones who had survived the attack. Most of their faces were pale and they were hiding in the bush without making any movements.

"You guys can leave now." Khedira talked with the lady for a while before saying that to the wizard apprentices. The wizard apprentices stood up with relieved expressions. They retreated carefully while staring at the lady. Angele walked away with them.

The lady didn't even spare a glance at them, only talking with the three wizards. The wizard apprentices continued to retreat, only stopping when they could no longer see the four in their sights.

"That woman can control the Green Spirit. Holy…" One of them said with a low voice.

"What should we do? Go back?" Marylin held her wand tightly, clearly feeling scared.

"Let's wait for the master wizards," Angele said.

After this, not a single one of them talked because of the shock they just experienced. This was the most dangerous situation Angele had ever encountered since he began taking missions. A single drop of the green liquid could turn him into ashes.

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Chapter 58: Crisis (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

"We can't just dawdle here and wait. We need to help Khedira kill that woman. The Green Spirit is one of the best familiars in the Northland Alliance. Since she controls the spirit, she must be someone special," Marylin finally stood up as she said with a worried expression.

"You can go. We'll stay here," one of the male wizard apprentices said. He absolutely didn't want to return to that place.

"You clearly don't understand! If Khedira dies, we won't escape that woman's attack!" Marylin yelled.

"But if we go, we'll end up becoming a pile of ash!" the male wizard apprentice answered.

"Khedira told us to leave because there's nothing we can do to help. Even if we go back, the situation won't change. I suggest we go back to the entrance and inform Khedira's knights of what happened," Griffia said with a calm demeanor.

"Yea! I agree with that," the male wizard apprentice said.

Angele never spoke, only standing there while listening to their exchange.

"Well, let's go to the entrance then," Marylin said. She began returning from the path whence they originally came while the rest of their group followed. In just a short span of time, they reached the entrance. What met their sights was the darkness that had begun covering the surroundings. The metal blockades were still there, however, none of the knights that were supposedly guarding the area was there. Even traces of battle were non-existent.

"Where are they?" Marylin asked. She had an enchanted item and was the strongest here; therefore, no one questioned her leadership in the group. They sought for clues around the entrance, yet they never found anything of use.

Suddenly, a bird began hooting from somewhere. The wizard apprentices searched for the origin, only to see a snow-white owl standing on a stone edge of the mountain. With its narrow eyes, it was merely overseeing them. However, to the group, it felt as though it wasn't the owl that was watching them. A strange sensation surfaced within Angele as he looked at the owl. Without making anyone notice, he immediately took a black-feathered arrow from his quiver. He nocked the arrow on the bow and pulled the bowstring.

"White owl," This reminded Marylin of something, and she yelled in panic, "Northland Alliance! It's the wizards from Northland Alliance!"

"Harryus!" With a face that had already begun to pale, she cast a spell toward the owl with her wand. Marylin chanted, and a speck of green light appeared on the tip of her wand. A slime-like, green substance separated from the tip and became a fist-sized green sphere. She waved her wand; the ball shot toward the owl, thus creating a green arc in the air as it flew.

Angele aimed right at the owl and loosened the bowstring, successfully launching the arrow. A silver dagger was thrown right toward it by someone at the exact moment Angele shot an arrow. The owl flapped its wings and began ascending. A small tornado suddenly appeared beside it, blocking and even pushing away the arrow and the dagger that successfully made their trajectories miss their target. Even the slime-like green sphere had been affected, causing it to fall onto a piece of stone beside the owl. At the place where the sphere landed, Angele could see green steam coming out of it.

The owl hooted and flew into the valley before it turned at a corner and disappeared.

"We have to go!" Griffia yelled, gasping for air. It seemed that the dagger was hers to begin with.

"Retreat to the school," Angele said in a grave tone.

"The guards here had already been killed. There's nothing we can do even if we stay," he continued. Apart from Marylin, who still wanted to say something, everyone else agreed with Angele's suggestion.

"We don't give a damn whether you love Khedira or not, just don't get us killed!" Griffia yelled. Marylin, whose face was pale, held her wand tightly in her hand. She bit her lips but ultimately didn't say anything.

"Come on, let's go. We already got detected by that owl. If we don't leave now, we'll all die. Angele decided not to waste time in other things, quickly taking out the map and finding the path back to their school. He began heading back to the school with others. No one bothered with Marylin anymore as she stood in place, unmoving.

They walked for a long time but didn't see Marylin catching up to them. It seemed that she went back into the valley by herself. A large forest lied in between the valley and the school. If the wizards decided to chase them, their group wouldn't be able to escape. However, not even a person pursued them, and instead let them leave.

It was nighttime. Everyone eased up a bit after making sure no one was tailing them. Originally, ten people were initially alive and kicking in their group, but now, only five remained. A campfire was lit; the light of the fire dyed Angele face red as he was reading the map beside it. He was trying to pinpoint their current location based on their initial route chosen. Others were also reading their maps.

One of the male wizard apprentices poured something like black seeds around the campfire.

"We should be around 10 days away from the school. I think we need to take night shifts to guard the camp in case wizards come after us," Griffia said with a low voice.

"It's not a revenge mission anymore since Northland Alliance itself is involved. We must return to the school and report this," one of the female wizard apprentices said.

"It seems like no one's tailing us, but they probably did it on purpose. They want us to send a message to our school. Otherwise, they wouldn't let us go," she continued. Angele and the other male wizard apprentice didn't speak upon hearing this.

"I poured some Flash Seeds around. If intruders breach within the 100-meter radius, it will explode and warn us." A male wizard apprentice sat down by the campfire, and said. He had been the one pouring those seeds.

"Thank you, Orio." Griffia nodded.

"There's still a long way to go. We need to make sure we have enough food and water," she continued.

"Yea. There's a small town ahead, but we have to hunt before we reach that place," Orio said.

"It's not a big deal. I used to hunt a lot when I was still with my family," the male wizard apprentice said. They stopped thinking about the wizards and started talking about other matters. Angele only sat there and listened, not even joining the conversation. He was busy checking the data the chip recorded from today's events, and he was arranging his personal data in order.

Today, he was able to take a glimpse at the true prowess of a wizard. He thought that he wouldn't have the power to contend against a wizard given his current abilities. The chip could increase his chances of survival, but it wouldn't help in fighting against familiars like the Green Spirit.

The fights between wizards all lied in their spells. If Khedira hadn't broken the illusion, their whole group would've been completely decimated. Because of that, Angele finally saw the gap between a wizard and a wizard apprentice.

'I need to start constructing mentality models. With that, I'll at least be able to protect myself,' Angele thought.

'Zero, simulate the process of constructing spell models,' he ordered.

'Mission created. Known spell models: 1. The Hand of Exhaustion. 2. The Stun Spell. Please choose,' Zero reported. Angele stood up and walked toward a nearby large tree. He sat down by the tree, causing others to think he was pondering over something. His line of sight remained at the direction of his fellow wizard apprentices, but he was actually communicating with the chip.

'I'll go with the Stun Spell,' Angele thought. He hadn't done anything else recently beside regular meditation. Anything related to the construction of spell models was left untouched. Before he could touch upon that subject, he had initially learned the complete fundamental knowledge necessary for the spell models. The courses for these fundamental subjects had been bought by him and stored on the chip. When Angele was traveling, most of his time was spent on revising and perfecting all the stored knowledge, and he tried his utmost to learn everything.

Constructing the spell models required a lot of mentality. Once he failed in the process, the consumed mentality would be lost. Therefore, Angele had decided to be patient in delving into the construction of spell models. He thought the chip and his skills in archery would help him survive this mission, yet never did he expect to face such strong enemies.

After seeing the battle between wizards, he began to realize how necessary it was to know a spell in order to counter other spells hostile to him. He completely comprehended the knowledge necessary for the two spells in his possession when their group reached the valley after fleeing. Angele had decided not to wait after they escaped. He wanted to at least be able to use one spell first. Also, he was very close to being promoted to stage 3; he looked forward to becoming a wizard in the future.

'Simulation initiated. 2 points of mentality will be consumed. Duration: 30 minutes.' Zero's mechanical voice echoed within Angele's mind.

He leaned against the tree and pulled up his collar in order to cover his neck. The forest had long been wrapped in darkness. The strange noises created by insects could be heard.

Angele opened his eyes and focused his sight on the grass. He started to see some thin blue lines forming various magic arrays right in front of his eyes. There were waves that only wizards could detect surrounding him, becoming stronger. However, the other wizard apprentices were unable to notice such changes. The magic arrays disappeared after half an hour's time had passed. Angele blinked his eyes after exerting such effort, so he felt relieved.

'Simulation completed. 2 points of mentality has been consumed. The model of Stun Spell has been constructed successfully. Every time you cast it, 1 point of mana and mentality will be consumed,' Zero reported. Angele had named the elemental particles in his body as mana, the energy wizards needed in casting spells.

'Check my current condition,' Angele ordered.

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Chapter 59: Crisis (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

'Angele Rio: Strength 2.9. Agility 4.1. Stamina 3.7. Mentality 3.3. Mana 3.0 (Mana is contingent on Mentality). Status: Healthy,' Zero reported.

Mana was a new attribute, which Angele had found before coining it with the term after reaching stage 2. This was the unit Angele had set for measuring energy particles — the particles stored on the chip and inside his body after reaching the new stage. He could store 3 degrees of energy in his body and more than 17 degrees on the chip. Angele had absorbed about 17 degrees of energy from Nancy's enchanted item, but he had yet to discover the maximum amount of energy he could store on the chip.

'3 Mentality and 3 Mana must mean I can cast three basic spells,' Angele thought while the chip kept reporting.

'Listing the data of Stun Spell:

Stun Spell (Basic) – Spell Level: 0

Cost: 1 Mentality and 1 Mana

Effect: Stun the target for a duration of 1 to 3 seconds

Effective Distance: Within 1.5 meters

You need to cast it within 5 seconds. Otherwise, it will fail.

Weak Point: If the target has high Stamina, the effect of the spell will be greatly reduced.' Zero reported.

Level 0 spells had a basic-level spell model and could be learned by wizard apprentices. Wizards place different spells into different levels based on their cost, damage, and area-of-effect. There were several different levels upon which level 9 was the highest.

'I didn't expect for the process to be so fast. Now, I just need to practice more after the chip finished sending me the data. I can easily learn the whole because of the chip. If I didn't have it, I might have thought of going to spell laboratories to experiment only to fail no small number of times and waste a lot of mana and mentality. Sleeping is the only way to recover those. Most likely, I can only experiment in the laboratory for 2 or 3 times. No matter how smart a wizard apprentice is, he'll need at least 25 days just to learn a Level 0 Spell. I heard the record was set by Garman, Jr. of the Faculty of Enchantment.' Angele thought. The result was something he was already satisfied with.

Angele didn't expect for the chip to show such a marvelous performance. He had been planning on going with it in a careful manner, even wanting to make sure he could use the spell before returning to the school. He never knew that he'd be successful on the first attempt.

'Improve the spell structure?' Zero asked. Angele became surprised upon hearing this, not believing it was possible to do so.

'Improve the spell structure?' Zero asked again. Angele finally realized the capabilities of the chip, causing him no small amount of excitement to fill him at this moment.

'What's the requirement for it?' Angele asked.

'It will cost you 14 Mentality, 14 Mana, 18 days 13 hours and 42 minutes. Currently, the requirement hasn't been met,' Zero answered.

'Why did you even ask then?' Angele felt a bit speechless.

'Will the 14 Mentality be consumed at once?' he asked.

'Yes,' Zero answered. Angele instantly abandoned this idea because he needed to increase his Mentality to over 14, something which was impossible for him right now. He needed to become a wizard first before he could improve the spell.

After simulating the Stun Spell, Angele felt very tired. No one brought tents, so he had to sleep by the campfire. Angele calmed down for a bit before he began meditating by the campfire.

The next morning.

The five caught a few rabbits and squirrels in the forest. They finally caught some meat, but they didn't bring any salt, making it harder for them to eat. Normally, they would have decent food in the school. At this time, however, they had no choice but to bear with the tasteless food. After breakfast, they began traveling back to their again. The Ramsoda College was located in the middle of nowhere with only one small town nearby. After all, people wouldn't think of living near a school specializing in necromancy. On their way back, Angele's group of five didn't encounter any trouble. When they became hungry, they would hunt wild animals. As for quenching their thirst, their water supply was obtained from the rivers they passed by.

Angele continued studying the information regarding fundamental knowledge on everything stored on his chip. He also learned the necessary information for the construction of his other spell model, the Hand of Exhaustion. He purchased the required course ahead of time and even stored everything on the chip. Angele had no time to read through the courses before, but now, he had some spare time to do so while on the road. He was planning on simulating the second spell model upon returning to the school.

More than ten days later…

On the surface area of the Ramsoda College.

The heat from the sunlight caused the ground to become burnt. The entirety of the abandoned city seemed golden under the sunlight. The wind was blowing the dust into the air. On the bridge, a group of wizard apprentices was walking. The one who led the group raised his head up to look at the city.

"Finally. We must report the situation immediately," he spoke in an excited tone. A black crow landed on the handrail and looked at the wizard apprentices. The crow didn't speak and only flew away. The wizard apprentice at the front was trying to say something, only to be hindered by the one behind him.

"Don't, Master Moroco won't care. He promised the president he would guard the entrance, but he never was one of us," the other wizard apprentice said.

"Fine." The leading wizard apprentice nodded.

Angele was at the back of their group with his face covered with dust and leaves. He followed the other wizard apprentices and reached the tunnels of the school. Angele and the other two male wizard apprentices walked to the door first, along with Griffia and the other girl following from behind.

"I'll inform Master Luas. He knows the assistant dean of the resource department. With him, he'll be able to quickly pass the information to the other masters. I hope Khedira made it out," Griffia said with a low voice.

"Inform your masters about what happened in the valley. They'll share the information to other wizards," she continued.

Angele and the others nodded in response. When he was heading to Master Liliana's study, he met a wizard apprentice named Yale, whom by a strange coincidence, was similarly a student of Master Liliana. There were many forked paths between the tunnels. Sometimes, there would even be a room with benches inside between the tunnels. People often used this for rest, and the room was usually connected to more than two tunnels. Angele and Yale entered one of those rooms, and they saw someone else coming from the other side.

It was a white-robed man whose face was devoid of expression. A silver shoulder guard was on his left and also wore a large, white cape that covered his back.

"It's Master Ur!" Yale happily said.

"Yale, it's you. I thought you're still on Khedira's mission?" Ur asked.

"This is what happened…" Yale walked toward Ur quickly and then told him everything. Angele stood by the side and listened. Master Ur Caesar was one of the top wizards in the school and was titled 'The Ice Mind Reader'. As Yale reported the situation, Ur's expression changed, clearly understanding the severity of the situation.

"The lady you encountered wore a silver headband and had a Green Spirit on her shoulder?" Ur asked in a grim tone.

"Yes, the Green Spirit killed 5 of us in a second! I would never forget!" Yale answered.

"It's the Northland Alliance," Ur said nervously.

"You two, report the situation to President Kyler now. He should be around the trading hall. I'll check if Khedira's sign is still intact. If the sign disappears, I'm afraid…" Ur spoke in a worried tone.

"Yes, Master Ur." Yale and Angele bowed before they walked toward the door. Ur looked at the two with a thoughtful expression. His eyes began gleaming, and he suddenly raised his right hand. There was a barely visible ball twisting in his palm.

"Damn! How dare you disrespect me!" Ur's yells echoed.

"You…" Ur yelled before reaching out to Angele. His hand became strangely huge, completely blocking the light inside the room. Both Angele and Yale became horrified because of that scene. What made it worse was that they had no idea why Ur was trying to hurt them. The words Ur had spoken were too unreasonable, but they had done nothing disrespectful against him.

"Ur, they're my students!" A high-pitched female voice came from behind, and an old woman suddenly appeared from their shadows. Two forces clashed against each other — darkness against frost. Many shadow-formed claws were flying toward Ur in the air, but the white, cold air around Ur froze the claws before breaking them into pieces.

"Liliana…" Ur had an apathetic look on his face. He looked at the horrible-looking old woman in fear as though he had no wish of fighting her.

"Huh!" He lowered his hand, opened the wooden door, and left.

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Chapter 60: Tranquility (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

"You two, come to the study." Liliana's voice echoed in the room before disappearing into the shadows again. The room became still once again as though everything that had just occurred was but an illusion. Yet, Angele could still feel the coldness emanating from Ur. He looked at Yale only to see his shocked face.

They walked down the passage that led to Liliana's study silently. No one had the mood to talk anymore. Master Liliana was one of the top wizards in Ramsoda College, but it wasn't due to her horrifying look. It would be fine for them to just report the situation to her.

The study was devoid of light and heat. Angele and Yale stood by the door as they had already finished informing Liliana about everything they knew. Master Liliana didn't show any other particular expression apart from a thoughtful one. Time passed in silence inside the study.

"You two can leave now. Let me handle this. The Northland Alliance really has nothing else to do," Liliana finally spoke after a while. She knocked on her desk several times and looked at the two.

Angele and Yale had nothing else to say, so they carefully left the room and returned to their own dormitory. They had already passed the message. Apart from this, there wasn't much that they could do about the situation since they were merely wizard apprentices.

Angele felt relieved after returning to his room. He took off his equipment and placed it on the floor, and then he lied down on the bed. He was extremely exhausted, so he stayed in his bed for a long time.

"I should be more careful when picking missions to take. High returns are always accompanied with high risks," he murmured.

'That was really a difficult mission. If the chip didn't warn me about the attack, I would've become a pile of ash. I should have taken it slow. I've been too greedy,' he thought as he shook his head. Angele got up and looked at the crystal clock. It was 2:15 p.m.

'My sword skills and archery was useless in the mission. Fights between wizards are focused on spells. If I want to use physical attacks, I'll have to break through their force fields first. I need to find a way to do it, but the Anti-Force Field spell can only be studied by wizards. I'm only a stage 2 wizard apprentice. There's still a long way to go, but if I were to encounter a situation like this again, I'll need to find a way to protect myself. Ur Caesar and the Northland Wizards could kill me with a breath… Why did Ur attack us…?' Angele thought. He sat on his bed with his legs crossed.

'I need to find a way to make myself stronger.' Angele began thinking again.

'High-level spells will be too much for me to handle. Enchanted items are too expensive. After reaching stage 3, I'll be able to learn more spells, but I need to somehow increase my mentality. What if I can use my sword skills during battle…?' He suddenly remembered the first time he used the spell on the ring.

'The Agility Boost Ring's energy had already been fully absorbed by the chip, but something occurred after I spoke the incantation. It was like I cast a spell using the stored energy. How is that even possible? The burst of energy helped me cast a strong spell unconsciously?' Angele thought. He wanted to get to the root of what happened during the process.

'It's like I skipped several steps in casting that spell. Zero, can you find out how the auto-casting occurred?' Angele asked.

'Agility Boost… Analyzing… Conclusion: After the absorption of the energy of an enchanted item, the spell model on the ring had been stored on the chip as well. The spell can be auto-cast when necessary.' Zero reported.

Angele was surprised for a second, and then finally understood what had happened.

'So the whole spell from the enchanted item will be stored on the chip? Does that apply to normal spells?' Angele asked.

'Yes.' Zero answered.

'It's actually very helpful if I have several enchanted items. However, I can store my learned spells on it and even instant cast them when necessary.' Angele scrunched his eyebrows as he thought.

'Find me a way to break the force fields using physical attacks.' Angele asked.

'Mission established. Beginning analysis…' Zero reported.

Angele decided to leave the chip to its own devices and started meditating on his bed. After a while, his body started to shine, his skin and clothes all covered with green light. The green light illuminated for about half an hour before disappearing, and then some red spots of light appeared around him. These tiny red spots fell onto Angele's skin like the rain.

'Mission completed.' Zero suddenly reported. The red spots disappeared in the air and everything returned to normal as though nothing happened. Angele opened his eyes, red and green light still being reflected from his eyes.

'I chose the wind particles and fire particles when I reached stage 2. I used the other elemental particles to help lead these two types of particles into my body. I think I need to focus on studying one of them, though. It will be more efficient.' Angele thought.

'Show me the result.' He asked.

'Plan A: Enchanted potions. Not restricted by the level of a wizard apprentice or a wizard, and has the capability of breaking some basic spells. With the help of your archery skill, you'll be able to injure a wizard, and an average wizard apprentice without enchanted items in possession won't be able to handle your attacks.

Plan B: Obtain an elemental familiar. Some elemental familiars have special spell powers. They'll be able to block some spells for you.' Zero listed two plans in front of Angele's sight. Looking at the data of the two plans formulated by Zero, Angele scrunched his eyebrows.

The second plan was practically unviable. Angele couldn't afford an elemental familiar since one cost more than a hundred magic stones. Therefore, he selected the first plan. Basic knowledge on Potion Study was free, and there were several tested formulas Angele could use. However, merely knowing the formula didn't mean he could actually concoct a potion.

Potions were too difficult to concoct. In Ramsoda College, only two out of all wizards could concoct potions. Their success rate in potion concocting was about 40%, which was already very high compared to others. One would have a higher success rate if one had plenty of recourses.

The steps in concocting potions were easy to follow. First, Angele would need enough mentality and enough control in mana usage. He also needed to learn all about the raw materials and how to deal with the occurring changes during the concoction process. However, he couldn't learn any of those from the masters because he still needed to try concocting by himself even if he had already learned the fundamentals. Experience was most vital in potion concoction.

That was also the reason why potions were too expensive. The potions of lowest quality were worth at least 10 magic stones.

'If I can master the art of potion concocting, I'll be able to earn a lot more magic stones in comparison to taking missions. While an ordinary wizard doesn't have the assistance of the chip, I have the capability of using the raw materials with utmost efficiency with the help of Zero.' Angele thought. He wasn't certain if it was a good plan, but at the very least, he had hopes of making this work.

'Also, I hear that some potions could help increase my mentality. It's worth a shot.' Angele made the decision.

'First, I need to get my hands on a set of potion concocting equipment,' he thought.

Twenty minutes later…

At the underground trading square.

The trading square was the size of a football court. Many small wooden houses were built upon it, though they weren't too organized. Each house had a wooden board placed beside it with the list of goods and prices written on the board. Some wizard apprentices were moving from one house to another. Only one or two wizards were around.

There were three wizard apprentices lined up in front of a wooden house by the left. Two of them were male, while the other one was a female. The male wizard apprentice in front of the line looked as though he was about 15 or 16 years old and had a strapping outlook. His shoulders were nearly covered by his brown hair, and it seemed that he hadn't had a haircut for a while.

It was Angele, who was carefully looking at the goods on the shelves. This store only sold equipment for concocting potions, and everything here was being sold cheap. A set of potion concocting equipment only cost one magic stone. However, the materials and colors of the sets differed from one another as some were second-hand sets of equipment.

The store owner was similarly a wizard apprentice who was about 30 years of age. He was currently sitting inside the house with his arms crossed and had an impatient look.

"You can see the price on the board, one magic stone for each set. Leave if you're not buying. Just don't waste my time," the owner yelled. He never once saw a wizard apprentice becoming successful in learning the potion concoction, so he would his patience for those wizard apprentices every time. He had bought these sets of potion concocting equipment through special networks from the Potion Study students. The new sets kept becoming worse than the secondhand sets. Rich wizard apprentices would never buy items from him, anyway.

Angele took a glance on the sets on the shelves, finally stopping his sight upon a secondhand set made of light red glasses.

"I'll take this one." Angele handed over a magic stone. The store owner grabbed the magic stone and threw it into the wooden basket under the shelves.

"Help yourself," the owner said.

"Sure. Wait, do you have raw materials for basic potions?" Angele asked.

"One magic stone per box. Each box has enough materials for you to practice concocting a Hemostasis Potion for about 10 times," the store owner answered right away. He clearly knew what wizard apprentices usually came here for.

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Chapter 61: Tranquility (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

"I'll take one please." Angele nodded as he put down another magic stone. The store owner looked at the magic stone before handing a black box to him.

"I'll take one, too," the male wizard apprentice standing beside Angele said. He was a blonde person who had an average face and narrow eyes. It seemed that he was about 20 years old.

"Failed again? Without someone teaching you, you're just wasting your money." The store owner looked at him and gave him a wooden box. The male wizard apprentice smiled but didn't bother responding. He took the box with him and placed down a magic stone. Only after he left did the female wizard apprentice behind him started browsing the store.

Angele watched the male wizard apprentice leave with a thoughtful expression for a moment. Then, he carried everything back to his room. There were many faculties in the school, and for every faculty, about 20 wizard apprentices occupied it. The underground area was as vast as an average-sized city. Angele barely knew people from other faculties, only familiar with the ones in the same classes he attended. He heard stage 3 wizard apprentices studied in other areas. After that instance where Alu had shown him around the school, Angele hadn't seen him at all.

Angele returned to his room with the items he had bought. Just after he sat down, someone knocked on his door.

"Angele, you there?" Ansett's voice came from outside the door.

"Yea." Angele stood up and opened the door.

"Your letter, from the White Tooth Castle," Ansett said, handing over a letter to him. She looked very attractive in her black hunting suit. Angele looked at the letter and saw that it was from Yuri.

"Yuri… Thanks, Ansett." Angele remembered the blonde boy who liked smiling often.

"No worries. You weren't here when the mailman came, so I received it for you," Ansett said. Her gaze fell on the potion concocting equipment as she closed the door.

"Angele, I heard you joined Khedira's mission?" She sat on the chair gently.

"Yea. I just got back. You heard about what happened there?" Angele nodded. He sat on his bed, seeing that Ansett occupied the only chair inside the room.

"I heard your group encountered the wizards of the Northland Alliance. Is that true?" Ansett asked. She was filled with curiosity, curiosity in everything related to wizards.

"Yea. I think the mission report will be announced to the public in several days." Angele looked at Ansett, noticing that she had another motive for coming here.

"Angele, you reached stage 2 not too long ago, right? How are you progressing recently?" Ansett asked but became flustered after noticing Angele's expression changing.

"Sorry," she apologized. She knew how impolite it was to ask such a sensitive question. Wizard apprentices and wizards didn't like others probing them when it could breach their privacy.

"It's fine," Angele said. He knew Ansett well, but he became flabbergasted when Ansett suddenly asked him that kind of question.

"If you need help, just ask." Angele would help her if he could since they were friends.

"I probably have to drop out of school…" While saying this, Ansett's expression changed.

"Why?" Angele asked in a surprised tone.

"I'm still at stage 1. I don't even know when I'll be able to reach stage 2. My family wants me to return and get married," Ansett replied with a sorrowful demeanor.

"Unlike you and Manas, my talent level is just 1, and I'm already 18 years old. It's most likely impossible for me to reach stage 3 before my 19th birthday. I'll never become a wizard if I can't reach stage 3 before 18 years old. I think you know how much money and resources we need just to stay in the school. There's no way I could pay the fees here by myself," Ansett spoke with a weak voice.

"So… your family will no longer support you if you refuse to return?" Angele asked as he scrunched his eyebrows. He wished to help, but there was nothing much he could help with in this kind of matter. Ansett wanted to reach stage 3 in a year's time and it had to be done by herself. Though Angele could impart to her his acquired knowledge, she still needed to learn and comprehend it by herself. Also, she, by herself, needed to find out how to lead energy particles into her body in order for her to reach stage 2.

"Actually, if I can find someone who could help me support my family name… I'll be able to stay," Ansett said, depression apparent on her face. Angele remained silent but had his eyebrows scrunched.

"Manas already has a fiancée who has a higher talent level compared to mine." Ansett raised her head and looked at Angele.

"I'm not going to get engaged with you. I'll return to my homeland in the future, so I can't promise you anything. Becoming my fiancée won't do your family any good," Angele said.

"We don't need to get married. Just tell everyone that I'm your lover, and my family will then provide everything you need to become a wizard. You know I'm from the Carter Family, one of the top 5 families in the school. I think should consider my offer," Ansett shook her head and said.

"You're not the only wizard apprentice sent here by your family?" After thinking for a second, Angele asked.

"Yea, there are two more, but they're the same as me. There aren't that many wizard apprentices who can reach stage 3 before turning 18 years old," Ansett answered.

"Why me?" Angele wondered.

"You're only 15 years old, yet you're about to reach stage 3 while Manas is still at stage 2. Furthermore, you survived such a dangerous mission. I think you're a suitable choice for me," Ansett said.

"Sign the contract with me and take an oath, then I and another girl will belong to you. I can assure you the other girl is also… attractive," Ansett continued.

Angele remained his sight on her. The offer she had given was something worthy to be considered for him. After all, he needed the support from a local family and he needed magic stones. He could also play with two attractive girls. This was definitely an offer that he had no reason to decline.

"That's an attractive offer, but I'm still wondering as to why you came to me," Angele said.

"You are the most talented apprentice I know," Ansett said.

"Only several wizard apprentices in our school reached stage 3 before the age of 15. You aren't the most talented one, but you can be considered to be one of the best wizard apprentices in Ramsoda College," she continued.

"I thought Alu reached stage 3 when he was 14," Angele said.

"He's different. People like him had high-level wizards in their family increase their talent levels using special methods. We call them Blood Inheritors, but their children won't be as talented as they are. My family does not wish to have their children married to Blood Inheritors." Ansett shook her head.

"Fine, I only see benefits in your offer. I'll sign the contract." Angele nodded.

"Great! I'll be able to stay in school then." Ansett happily took out a contract from her pouch. She obviously had come prepared.

"This is the contract. You can take a look." Ansett handed the contract over to Angele.

"You're similarly signing contracts with other people, right? I mean others from your family." Angele checked the contract and found nothing suspicious.

"Yea. There are many beautiful girls in other Wizard organizations that are from my family. If they can't reach a high stage, they'll try to marry the talented ones. You've no idea how large my family is." Ansett nodded.

"However, you're the first in Ramsoda College. If you sign it now, I and another girl will move into your room tomorrow," Ansett said while blushing.

"Can you leave the contract here? I'll read it carefully tonight. I'll sign it tomorrow if I see no strange rules I need to follow." Angele waved the contract in the air.

"Sure." With a relieved expression, Ansett bowed to Angele.

"I'm counting on you." She drew nearer toward Angele and embraced him. Angele could feel it, her decent sized breasts.

"Don't make me wait," Ansett whispered. Angele became slightly aroused. He attempted to grope her butt, but she backed off right before his hand could reach it. She bowed again before leaving. Angele closed the door and placed the contract down while smiling.

His thoughts still lingered on that arousing sensation of her soft breasts. Angele had been too occupied with his thoughts about the mission ever since he returned, but because of what had just transpired a moment ago, the thoughts about the mission was finally out of his mind. He calmed down and looked at the equipment on his desk before taking the chair and sitting down.

Angele opened the black wooden box. Two different herbs were contained within it. The one on the left was a red herb called Dried Grass Root. The one on the right was a fruit that looked like an orange. Those fruits had been cut in half, showing contrasting colors of the light yellow surface and its bloody red inside. Both herbs were dried already.

Angele set the equipment up. There was one retort bottle, one alembic, one glass conduit pipe, and several test tubes and beakers. They were placed in a large linen bag filled with cotton when Angele bought the set.

He assembled everything on the desk.

'Zero, show me all the necessary data for potion concoction and simulate the crafting process of Hemostasis Potion,' Angele ordered.

'Mission initialized. Simulation initialized. Duration: 2 hours and 15 minutes. Success rate: 15%,' Zero reported.

'15%.' Angele was satisfied with the success rate.

'I didn't expect it to be this easy. It's my first time simulating the concoction of a potion,' Angele thought.

The success rate was calculated based on Angele's current mentality, mana, and other condition. With the assistance of the chip and a proper formula, Angele had a very high success rate. An average Potion Study wizard apprentice only had a 5% success rate, while Angele had a 15% success rate mainly due to the chip.

The only thing he needed to do was to wait for the simulation result. The chip would enhance the success rate after the simulation finished. After that, he would be able to obtain an even higher success rate.

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Chapter 62: Defection (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

After two hours, Zero finished the simulation of the potion concoction process. Angele stood in front of the desk and measured the necessary amount of herbs in accordance with the results of the simulation. He put everything into the beaker and began heating it using an oil burner.

The oil burner in this world was akin to the Bunsen burner on Earth, but it used oil as its fuel instead. The blue flame of the burner had a much higher temperature compared to normal oil lamps. Angele added some water into the beaker, which soaked everything inside, and then he covered the beaker with the lid. It took about 2 minutes for the water to boil, and the herbs inside had changed colors. The boiling water inside the beaker turned light purple as steam kept leaking out of the lid, thus causing the room to be filled with a sour smell.

Angele silently watched over the beaker, occasionally checking the crystal clock on the side. He maintained calmness and silence such that the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the boiling water. Ten minutes later, Angele took some cotton from the bag and removed the lid off the beaker, causing the white steam to rise in the air.

Angele stared at the liquid inside the beaker and ordered Zero to display the information of what was inside. The beaker turned into a blue hologram in the air with the data listed beside it. The data continuously changed, showing the temperature, changes, activities, and elemental shifts.

Angele looked at the beaker carefully. Suddenly, he flicked his finger and a red object was shot into the water. Angele's lips were shaking as he kept invoking the incantation. His voice was sometimes high and sometimes deep. With the changes in his tone, the liquid inside the beaker began to change, and it suddenly stopped boiling. The bubbles and the steam disappeared slowly as well.

No matter how strong the heat was, the surface of the liquid started freezing. This strange reaction lasted for about 10 minutes. Finally, the flames under the beaker extinguished by itself, and Angele stopped chanting. He bit his lips, scrunched his eyebrows, and stared at the beaker. The liquid inside it started boiling again, even the color stopped changing.

"Did I fail?" Angele muttered. He grasped the beaker and dumped everything inside into the sink. The washroom and the toilet were separated into two sections in the room, and his desk was close to the washroom.

'Zero, tell me why I failed,' Angele ordered.

'Your mentality wasn't synthesizing with the materials' activities well,' Zero reported.

'Well, let's keep going,' Angele thought as he took a breath. He placed the beaker back on the oil burner.

In the evening, Angele held two test tubes filled with green liquid in his hands with a bitter smile on his face. Angele had spent 8 hours attempting to concoct the potions, yet he only succeeded twice out of ten attempts.

"A single Hemostasis Potion can be sold for more than 10 magic stones. I paid two magic stones for everything, but I can earn 20 magic stones, a 90% gross profit margin. Not bad at all. However, even with the assistance of the chip, I could only concoct two potions successfully." Angele murmured as he shook his head. He felt slightly disappointed, but he now knew the reason why potions were so rare.

'Good thing Zero is extremely helpful in tasks like this. This is my advantage, and if I continue learning, I'll earn a lot of magic stones with all the potions I concoct.' Angele spent the whole time concocting potions. At present, his mood was pretty good because of the fact that he wouldn't be worrying about magic stones soon.

'However, Ansett will come tomorrow, and she'll find out about this. It's impossible for an average wizard apprentice to have such a high success rate, so she'll try to spread rumors in order to increase the reputation of her family. I need to find another place for me to concoct potions. Should I just keep her out of my room or should I apply for a potion concocting station in the laboratory?' Angele thought.

He shook his head. He needed to figure out a better plan and hide the two potions he had concocted. He never learned from a Potion Master, but he could already concoct potions. People might attempt to assassinate him just to obtain the formulas. Angele didn't want too much attention to be drawn to him. He wondered what might happen if someone were to discover his secret chip.

'I guess I'll just hide these potions for now and sell them at a later time. It takes years for a wizard apprentice to successfully concoct potions, and I'll need a ton of resources. Maybe I should wait for several years before showing others my potion concoction skills. I can keep practicing and try the formula for the mentality potion, but I must find a source to collect all the necessary materials,' Angele thought as he decided to conceal his potion concoction skills to others.

Angele placed the two potions inside his pouch and started reading the contract Ansett had given him. No strange clauses were written on it, so he signed the contract right away. After signing the contract, he saw the letter sent by Yuri and opened it:

'Dear Angele, how's your life in Ramsoda? I hear your school is famous for Necromancy, and that it's a cruel place. I hope there are no skeletons or corpses interrupting your dreams during the night…' Angele laughed as he read this, and continued along.

'I didn't expect for the White Tooth Castle to be in such a bad shape. I worked very hard just to get admitted only to discover that the organization's relationships with two other top organizations to be awful. Apparently, only you can receive my letter as the other letters I had sent had all gone missing. There are two large countries barring us, so I'm afraid we won't meet in a while. By the time you read this letter, I would've already left the castle for a mission. In order to obtain resources here, there's no other way than to complete missions. I don't know where my next mission will be, but I hope that I will see you in the future.' The letter ended there, but suddenly, a silver dot appeared below the last line and drew a signature that says 'Yuri Safeco'.

'Arcane Insignia.' Angele knew this trick that was particularly easy to do. Yuri merely left some energy particles on the paper, only revealing themselves upon meeting specific conditions. Any decent stage 1 or 2 wizard apprentices could do it. Angele closed the letter and returned it into the envelope. He sat by the desk and thought for a while before heading to bed.

The next morning.

Ansett knocked on Angele's door early.

Angele opened his eyes and got off the bed still a bit sleepy. He looked at the crystal clock on the side and saw that it was 7 o'clock in the morning. The problem he had in studying in an underground school was that he never knew if it was daytime or nighttime. Angele put his clothes on and opened the door.

Ansett stood by the door with a smile on her face. Wizard apprentices were passing by in the hallway.

"Did I interrupt your sweet dream?" Ansett looked at Angele as she asked. She stepped into the room and closed the door.

"Did you sign the contract?" she asked.

"Done." Angele took the contract from the desk and handed it over.

Ansett took the contract with a jubilant face. She was still wearing her tight hunting suit, but she had changed the leather pants into a short skirt. Her legs were long and slim, looking quite nicely in her long black boots.

"You want me now?" She latched herself into Angele's arms and stared at him from below. She also moved Angele's arms onto her breasts.

"I have a Reflection Course with Professor Vivian in a few minutes." Angele calmed down and said with a low voice.

"We have more than enough time this evening," he continued. He reached his hands into Ansett's skirt and groped her butt several times.

"I knew you would choose the class over me. I like a man who can control himself." Ansett said as she smiled.

"Thanks, I guess." Angele slightly pushed her away.

Ansett stayed in Angele's rooms for the night. Since their rooms had excellent noise isolation, no one heard them having sex. Angele awoke with complete satisfaction the next day, but he decided not to have sex often as he had much more important tasks to do. He joined many different classes.

He attended and listened to several different lectures for the free courses in the next 10 days just like any other wizard apprentice. Angele went to the library to check the additional information he needed and also joined some spell laboratory to practice his spells. He was doing the tasks he must do and was also working hard to increase his mentality.

As a wizard apprentice, Angele's talent level had been average, but he had the chip assisting him in memorizing and storing the knowledge he had learned. However, other wizard apprentices didn't have the chip, so they needed to invest more time into comprehending everything.

Some wizard apprentices had to spend a whole month learning one language used for incantations, while some would need more than a year for it. Most of them had sufficient mentality and mana, but they failed reaching the next stage due to the lack of fundamental knowledge and they had trouble dealing with the changes which occurred during meditation. They clearly had no idea how to solve these problems, thus they were unable to reach the next stage.

Angele spent his day doing the tasks any other wizard apprentice would, while he spent the night testing different potion formulas. With the chip's assistance, he already learned the second spell model. He hadn't shown off his achievements, but he had already become one of the top wizard apprentices in Ramsoda College.

Angele could store the spell models on his chip and use them like a one-time enchanted item. However, Angele could only use the spells he learned and instantly cast them when necessary. No incantations were required; therefore the instant casting was faster than activating the enchanted items.

Only wizards were capable of instant casting, but the chip could only store one learned spell model at a time. Angele once tried storing two, but the spells failed to combine, leaving only pure energy. Still, it was extremely helpful to Angele since it was as though he had something that could be used to store the spells.

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Chapter 63: Defection (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Basic spell storage items cost 2000 magic stones in the market, but Angele needn't purchase any of those at present. The other girl came over one after Angele had signed the contract, but he wasn't too interested in her as he thought that having Ansett was enough. Furthermore, Ansett's family had already sent him plenty of magic stones, resources, and some paid courses. Angele was satisfied with what he received upon signing the contract. The only thing he needed to do was to show others that he was related to Ansett's family.

Another half-month passed. Yet, Angele could only store the Stun Spell on his chip. The Hand of Exhaustion required Root Dust in supplementing the casting, and Angele couldn't simply store it on the chip.

"What! Manas defected to another organization?!" Angele was so surprised that he stood up while eating. Other wizard apprentices looked over for a brief moment with unconcerned faces, checking if there was a commotion. Ansett had told him the news, but he himself had never thought of something like this happening.

"Well, it's true. It happened yesterday." Ansett seemed a bit despondent.

"He defected with Ur Caesar, the 'Ice Mind Reader', and several others," she continued.

"What happened? He has no reason to do so." Angele inhaled once first before he slowly sat down.

"I don't know, but I heard that all people related to Manas's family defected. Something big is going on, we just don't know it yet," Ansett said as she shook her head.

"A storm is coming." Angele's expression changed upon realizing something. Angele looked at Ansett, the girl whom he had a sexual relationship and had sex with occasionally. Ansett would rather spend more time meditating in order to reach stage 2. They were more than friends, but that was pretty much it.

"What do you think? I hear we're on the losing side against the Northland Alliance," Ansett asked in a low voice.

"How about you?" Angele asked back instead of answering her question. Angele hadn't spent too much time with Ansett since his purpose was to obtain resources from her family.

"I'm afraid I have to return to my family. The situation here is making my parents worried," Ansett said.

"You want to stay with me? I'm going to apply for a position at Ramsoda Empire's border. I think the border is relatively safe. Only normal citizens live there and there are no important resources around that area, so wizards won't care too much about it. I don't think a war could change the situation at the border," Angele spoke in a faint voice.

"Me? I think I'll stay with my family. My parents, brothers, and sisters are all there. I'm not going to leave them," Ansett answered after chuckling.

"Yea?" Angele stopped speaking. Both of them knew they wouldn't be able to visit each other in a long time if they decided to choose different paths. Based on the contract, Angele must help Ansett's family once he became a wizard, but such thing wouldn't seem to happen anytime soon. Ansett spoke about going back to her family without mentioning an ounce about the contract, which meant her family had already made the decision to terminate the contract with Angele.

Ansett's conversation with Angele didn't involve anything about the contract. Angele could understand her underlying intent during the conversation. Her family was no longer going to support him anymore, and Angele didn't have to return anything the family had given him. The family wasn't going to wait for Angele to become a wizard due to the current situation of the school.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay with me?" Angele asked again. Ansett hesitated for a second. She was weighing the pros and cons of each option she had. After a while, she shook her head thinking that going back to her family was still the better option.

They finished their food in a silent manner before leaving the dining hall. Angele headed straight to his master's office after lunch. Master Liliana, who was wearing a black robe that completely covered her body, sat in the middle of the study. Angele saw that the door was open, and then a lady in a white robe exited the study.

Angele bowed and glanced at her face. Seeing that she was wearing a white robe, she was definitely a wizard.

The lady seemed lifeless. Her eyeshades were black; if she closed her eyes, it would look like there were two black holes as her eye sockets. There were many scars on her skin but instead of her scars having a pinkish red color, it looked like black rotten meat.

'A dead body that escaped its grave,' Angele thought. The lady didn't even look at Angele, only disappearing around the corner.

"Angele, right? Come in." Liliana's voice came from the room. Angele walked into the study and closed the door after hearing his master's words.

"That was Wizard Christina, also a student of mine," Liliana said as she smiled, however, she looked even more terrifying after smiling.

"Master, I…" Angele interrupted her.

"I know. You wish to go to the border, right? You're the 15th student to come here today with everyone having the same purpose as you. I only have 18 students, yet 15 of you want to leave the school." Liliana sighed.

"I knew you survived Khedira's mission and every day, the school's situation is becoming worse. I think your choice is right. Though there aren't many resources at the border, safety is guaranteed and you won't get involved in wizards' battles," she continued.

"Thanks for your understanding, Master," Angele said as he lowered his head.

"There are many countries around the border, which one do you want to go to? The ones close to the school? Like Ramsoda Empire? Or somewhere farther? Like Santiago?" Liliana asked.

"Ramsoda Empire, then. I might return here someday," Angele said.

"Good, but there are 24 provinces in Ramsoda Empire; most of the students applied to somewhere else. There are only two people who decided to go to Ramsoda Empire. You're the 3rd one. It's a huge country. I doubt you'll meet each other in the future. You're on your own out there. You need to obtain all the resources you need by yourself," Liliana said.

"At least I don't need to return to my homeland. There's barely any magical resource overseas. Also, I've earned enough magic stones, could you still sell the Black Lead Potion to me…?" Angele smiled, and he asked.

"Sure, it's right here." Liliana smiled before taking out a small silver bottle from the drawer. Angele became ecstatic upon seeing this. He gave her one high-class magic stone. One high-class magic stone was equivalent to more than 10 mid-class magic stones, which was more than sufficient to but the Black Lead Potion. Angele bowed again after obtaining the potion.

"I'll talk to the guard so that they won't stop you from leaving. You can go now," Liliana said.

"Thank you, Master." Angele bade his farewell before leaving the room.

Angele felt a bit down. He joined the school not so long ago but had to leave now. He would need to search for resources by himself after. The good thing was, he had already stored all the information he needed on the chip. All the information had been obtained from Ansett's family, and it was enough for him until he became a wizard. However, he still needed to make plans for his future.

If Angele reached stage 3, he could become a disciple of Master Liliana. He would then have free access to many things such as the Black Lead Potion. However, people like Angele were merely normal wizard apprentices who paid tuition fees in order to stay in the school. The school didn't give them too much attention, and the school wouldn't hinder them from leaving.

"Leaving the school could be good for me," Angele muttered as he walked down the hallway.

'Zero, how's my mentality?' he asked.

'Your Mentality is 3.4. You need 6 Mentality to reach the next stage,' Zero reported.

"I think I'll visit the market before I leave," Angele thought aloud.

The underground market.

Many stores were already gone. Angele could no longer find the man who sold him the potion concocting equipment. There were fewer wizard apprentices checking around as well compared before. Six stores remained at the square. Silence loomed all over the place with the lack of people within the vicinity. The only thing Angele could hear was the noise coming from the wall torches.

There was much garbage left on the stone ground. Angele could see cracked glass equipment, broken bronze rings, and torn apart gray robes. He could even see traces of blood on the ground. This made Angele scrunch his eyebrows as he walked in a small store. Several wizard apprentices were gossiping about the present situation in the school and the desertions.

Angele decided not to listen, quickly walking into the store instead. He looked over the goods and took a small pouch with silver dust inside.

"Phosphorescence Powder, two magic stones." The owner was a wizard apprentice who had a goatee. Angele nodded before putting down two magic stone. He began browsing the inventory, intending to take everything he could because he didn't know when he was going to see a Wizard market like this again.

Another wizard apprentice entered the store. It was the blonde boy he had seen last time. His features hadn't changed at all.

"Owner, I got something of value here, can you check and buy if you're interested in it?" the blonde boy yelled.

"You again. I told you last time, your items weren't valuable at all. I only gave you three magic stones because we have the same master," the owner answered with an annoyed expression.

"Take a look, please. Perhaps there's something you need." With a nervous face, the blonde boy opened his bag.

"I told you, I don't need anything related to Potion Study. There's barely anyone buying those things. I told you not to spend your magic stones like that. There's nothing more I can do for you now," the owner spoke kindly after calming down.

'Items related to Potion Study?' Angele thought.

"Can I take a look? I'm looking for items related to potion concocting," Angele asked. He was now certain that it was the same blonde boy he had met at the time he was buying the potion concocting equipment.

"Are you sure?" The blonde boy looked at Angele, and he asked.

"Yea, I'm sure." Angele still had around 5 magic stones, anyway. He had no other ways of using them when he leaves the school. Seeing that the blonde boy was trying to trade his items for magic stones or other materials, it could easily be speculated that the situation in the school was becoming worse, therefore causing him to have no time in studying potions anymore.

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Chapter 64: The Journey (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

"You want them?" The blonde boy looked happy.

"You can have these in exchange for three magic stones." He handed over a bag. Taking the bag, Angele peeked at the contents inside. Several leather scrolls, some potion concocting equipment, and other random items were inside.

"A whole set of equipment? And the formulas?" Angele asked.

"Yea, two formulas, and my equipment. Some are broken though," the boy answered right away. Angele took one of the scrolls and opened it. The title said, 'Awareness Potion'.

"This is an entry-level potion." Seeing this made Angele scrunch his eyebrows.

"And it's a formal entry-level formula. Not many people can craft this, I think?" Angele asked.

"Well, you can put it into your… collection?" The blonde boy looked nervous.

"You know what, the school's already transporting the books out of the library for protection. You won't find any other formulas. I wrote my personal experiences on the two scrolls, too, so that'll improve your success rate for sure. Also, you'll find my notes much easier to understand than the information you can find in the library," the blonde boy kept explaining.

Angele didn't want to waste time, so he read through the notes. The boy was indeed speaking the truth. It was entirely because Angele had already stored most of the information he could find in the library on the chip, and the blonde boy's notes included information he didn't know. The boy also added some helpful notes about the Awareness Potion.

"Alright, I'll take these." Angele had no time to finish reading everything, so he placed the scrolls back inside the bag. He handed three magic stones to the blonde boy, causing the latter to become relieved.

"Thanks. Wait, I think you're one of the departing wizard apprentices, right? You're a decent guy, I have a copy of the local map. I'll charge you only one magic stone for it, what do you think?" The blonde boy lowered his voice as he asked.

"You have a copy of the local map?" Angele was surprised. He had been searching for a map ever since he first arrived in the school, but the only thing he found from the library was the information of the surrounding areas. He knew nothing else besides that, and now, the blonde boy was offering him a map. If the map was accurate, this would really be a great help to him.

He could've asked for a copy from Ansett's family, but the situation escalated too quickly.

"Are you sure?" Angele also lowered his voice as he asked back.

"I'm sure." The blonde boy nodded his head.

"Let's find someplace else to talk." Angele led the blonde boy to a corner.

Ten minutes later.

Angele returned to his room with the bag and the map.

Unlike before, the dormitory wasn't as noisy as before because there was barely anyone remaining. Most of the wizard apprentices were gone; Angele hadn't seen anyone else in such a big school. He lit the oil lamp and sat down in front of the desk. He then began reading the map.

The middle of the map was the Ramsoda College marked with a big, red dot. Many hills and forests surrounded it. By the northern direction of Ramsoda College, there was another Wizard organization called Liliado's House, which controlled a vast area at the north.

At the western direction of Ramsoda College, there was a sea that only had a single harbor. It was called 'Nick Dock', and written by its side were the words: 'Once every 4 years'. The Ramsoda Empire was located in the eastern direction of the college with only one forest lying in between them. The map was easy to read as many routes were marked on the map.

"Liliado's House is north, the sea is west, Ramsoda Empire is east, and the mountains are south." Angele finally gained a general idea about the country's terrain and its different locations.

Angele kept reading the map, but then, he scrunched his eyebrows. Apparently, the one who drew the map only knew of the situation around the school, and there were no details. The most valuable information were the two routes between Ramsoda College and Ramsoda Empire because Angele didn't know of it. He started searching through the information stored on the chip.

'The royalty here is pretty much controlled by wizard families. The wizards themselves are ruling the land. Countries with more resources will be controlled by stronger wizard organizations. If I want to lay low and live a decent life, I'll need to find a place that doesn't have many resources, but I still need the wizards. Otherwise, it will be difficult for me to become a wizard,' Angele thought. His finger was tracing around the map as he checked the route that would lead him to the Ramsoda Empire.

'I should head to the empire first, then go to the provinces that are close to the school. I need to find a quiet place. I hear the Ramsoda Empire has two neighbors, Northland Alliance and Janika Empire. Other countries barely have Wizard Rift, so the wizards didn't take any interest in them. I won't be able to buy any materials if I go there. I'm not even sure if the area is similar to my homeland…' Angele kept thinking.

Wizard Rifts were places suitable for wizards to stay. Since these places were usually good for growing magic materials, wizards labeled those areas as Wizard Rifts. There were many materials in each Rift, and some of the stronger Wizard organizations monopolized and mined in those places. Wizard Rifts were also the restricted areas in the wizards' world.

Angele learned everything from books. He understood why some places had a great number of wizards while some had little or no wizards, even causing the inhabitants in those places to think that wizards only appeared in legends. Wizard Rifts were the main reason for this. Wizard apprentices and wizards had to go to places that had the materials they needed. Otherwise, they would die without being promoted to a higher stage. In places that had good weather condition and various materials, many wizards lived here. Most of them barely had the need to travel to other areas, except for the hopeless wizard apprentices. They were everywhere.

Angele confirmed the route and returned the map inside the bag. He took out the two scrolls he had bought and spread them on the desk.

The first scroll was the Awareness Potion and the second was the Tranquility Potion. Both potions could aid people in increasing their mentality. The blonde boy was trying to increase his mentality by concocting the said potions. Many wizard apprentices had attempted to concoct these two potions, yet not many succeeded.

An above average Potion Study wizard apprentice could make one potion using a large amount of materials, and this alone would already cost them 100 magic stones. However, the potions were only worth 20 magic stones. Just the cost already far surpassed the benefit it was supposed to give.

Angele nodded his head in satisfaction from the items he had bought. He put the two scrolls inside the bag. Although he had already stored everything on the chip, he still wanted to keep the copies.

Angele stood up and placed every important item he had on his desk. There were the maps, the formulas, his silver crossguard sword, his metal longbow and quiver, his chain claw, several poisoned daggers, the box containing the Dead Soul Grass, the wizard's book, the crystal dagger, the red pearl, two magic tones, and a small leather pouch containing around 20 Hemostasis Potions. These were all very important to him.

He placed the survival tools and clothes onto the ground. There were some meat jerkies, two large bags of dried vegetables and fruits. These could keep him going for about three weeks.

'Three weeks' worth of supply is enough. I can hunt more if needed,' Angele thought before he started checking all his weapons.

The second morning, Angele woke up early and packed everything up. He left the school and reached the entrance of the abandoned city. There were several wizard apprentices selling horses there as they knew many people were leaving. Angele spent one magic stone to buy two strong horses and a bag of horse beans. He tied everything to the horses' saddles and leaped onto one of the horses. Just like the others, he quickly disappeared by the end of the road as he departed.

Four days later…

It was raining and the clouds covered the sky.

Two horses were galloping fast along a twisted path between the dark green forest. Under the gray sky, the sound of hooves stomping echoed throughout along with the sound of the wind blowing the tree leaves and the noise of the rain.

A young man in a gray robe was riding one of the horses wherein the other one had a lot of luggage tied upon it. The bags were covered with gray linen to prevent them from being soaked.

The young man had an average face and brown hair that flew about in the air due to the strong gust of wind. He had a crossguard sword tied to his waist and a black metal bow and quiver filled with black arrows carried on his back. The young man was wearing a tight black suit, looking very clean.

The young man was Angele. It was already the fourth day on the road since he left the school and was on his way to the Ramsoda Empire. He continued along the path for another half-hour before slowing down and deciding to rest.

Angele glanced around his surroundings while mounted on his horse, and then he took a black silk scarf out of the bag to wipe the water off his face.

The chilling gust of wind mixed with the rain blew across his face. The two horses were galloping forward slowly. Yellow mud flew into the air from the impact of the hooves stomping on the ground. From Angele's left, he could hear people talking and he could smell the meat those people were grilling. He also heard the crackling noise created by the campfire.

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