Read The Wizard World - Chapter 321: Confrontation (2) online free - Light Novel Full

Chapter 321: Confrontation (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Gill took a deep breath.

"All right then. Spender Family will no longer take part," he spoke in a loud voice while attempting to remain calm. "Let's go!"

"Wait, you must stay here until the end of the competition," the man seated on the chair suddenly said.

"You!" Gill became enraged and his face turned red.

"He is right. The garden's location is a secret. We do not trust you. You should just wait here." Christopher, Morgan Family's head, nodded slightly.

"Ha…When we first arrived at this gate, the Spender Family was the strongest family yet now they are the weakest…You should at least stand up for Kita's sake, considering how he is still inside the garden." An elder who belonged to the Philip Family sneered while shaking his head. "What a joke."

Members of the Spender Family had been utterly enraged due to those words. Some of them even had already placed their hands on their weapons, all at the ready.

The man seated on the chair curled his lips into a smile. He had immediately brought his subordinates in this place after learning the information on the garden. They had ambushed the two strongest elders of the Spender Family and murdered them, which was the reason for the Spenders' sudden plunge in battle capability.

He would have taken everything from the garden himself if not for him feeling uncertain of his chances of winning a battle against the entire three families. What he did not know, however, was the three families had never once thought of uniting due to their terrible relationship with each other.

The atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense.

The Spender Family was in a tough position. They wanted to depart but Unos, of the Blue Eagle Nest, and the other two families would not let them do so.

Although the Spenders seemed to have started cooperating now, the rest knew their priority was to guarantee that Kita could safely leave the garden and that they did not want to initiate a fight.

"Come on…We can let the Spender Family leave once their family heir leaves the garden. What do you think?" A woman who had long, black hair and was standing beside Unos said.

No one reacted to her suggestion. The other two families knew they could not win a fight against the Blue Eagle Nest once the Spender Family left.

Gill's plan was to avoid any battle then come back once the other two families' power was weakened. After all, he needed an assurance that his family could still survive once they returned to the city.

The current situation had reached a conundrum.

But suddenly, they heard intense footsteps which seemed to belong to people hiking to the mountaintop.

The members of the Spender Family looked happy. Since the situation was currently against the odds, to them, any form of outside interference was a necessity in order to disturb the balance.

The other two families, and Unos, were dissatisfied about such changes.

Unos' expression changed, and with a flick of his finger, his voice soon became louder and more powerful due to the influence of energy particles.

"We are having a meeting on the mountain's peak. I am Unos of the Blue Eagle Nest. Strangers, please leave the mountain immediately!"

Unos' voice echoed throughout as he glared toward the narrow path between the dark green trees.

"Watch your filthy mouth, you are addressing the representatives of THE Elemental Hand!" a cold voice belonging to a female retorted.

The family heads and Unos exchanged eye contact with each other upon listening to these words. They were uncertain on how to react to that.

"The Elemental Hand…We are in trouble."

"How did they find this place…?"

"One of the most powerful organizations in the region of Tarry River, ha, now that's interesting." Gill's expression loosened.

Several minutes later, a group of black-robed and red-robed men and women arrived at the peak led by a black-robed female who wore a face devoid of any expression, her eyes glowed in red. In reality, though, she did not expect to see so many people competing for the opportunity to enter the gate.

"I have already told you who you're dealing with, yet it seems you do not even care…I will…"

"Calm down, Lyn. This is a public place, and they came here before us," a gentle voice belonging to a man interrupted.

When Unos listened to the voice, he looked at a brown-haired man stand behind the female wizard. The man was clothed with a long, black robe. Him being in the safest position of the formation indicated him as the leader of this group.

The man had an average face but his overall appearance was eye-catching. A pink glow surrounded his eyes and a silver glint on his skin.

It was Angele; they had finally reached the mountain's peak.

"We are members of Elemental Hand, here for the garden's secret treasure. We will not harm you as long as you do not attempt anything stupid." There was a gentle smile on Angele's face.

His words were easily understood. Elemental Hand was a far more powerful organization compared to Blue Eagle Nest and the three families. With such authority and power, they should be the ones to take possession of the treasure.

"Elemental Hand…they cannot just come here and steal the treasure right from under our noses." There was a serious expression on Unos' face.

"Master, that is how Elemental Hand often deals with things. I think we should…" An aged female wizard communicated with Unos through energy particles.

"That is unacceptable! We have put so much effort into our plan. It's too late for us to step down. Through the garden's blessing, I will get promoted!" Narrowing his eyes, Unos replied through energy particles.

Angele stepped forward and stood in front of his group looking at the leaders of the three families and Blue Eagle Nest.

He expected them to recall their forces upon hearing the name of the organization, but it did not occur. The fairy garden's value was too high that they would not even mind stirring a conflict with Elemental Hand.

"It seems you did not clearly hear my master's words. Do not overestimate yourselves, or else you will regret your decision." Hakeem himself stepped up as well. "Master, it is pointless to try to negotiate with them. Let's just make an example out of them. If you can win against us, we will give you a share of the secret treasure."

Hakeem complied with the plan and spoke the words Angele told him to.

"While it is true that Blue Eagle Nest is a weaker organization than Elemental Hand," Unos inhaled sharply to calm himself down. "we are the ones who discovered the gate to the secret garden first, and some of our members are still inside. We can negotiate once they come out. What do you think?"

Hakeem was about to say something else but was held back by Angele.

Angele was not afraid of a fight, but if the three families decided to join forces with Blue Eagle Nest, it might pose a problem.

"Let me be honest with you. I am not interested in that so-called secret treasure. I just want to see the Fairy's Spring. You see, we are just a small group. It is impossible for us to take all the treasures away."

The formerly tense atmosphere eased up a bit after Angele finished speaking. However, he was unsure whether the family heads would trust him or not.

Angele was not lying in the slightest; the only thing he wanted was the secret garden's blessing and its Fairy's Spring. Although, he had doubts about whether the secret treasure could actually help him progress faster.

However, those people whose allegiance lay in Blue Eagle Nest were not happy with it. Their plan would go into shambles if he was only after the blessing.

Unos' cold gaze fell on Angele, and he was communicating with the old female wizard behind him through energy particles.

"Have you finished inspecting them?"

"Nearly done. They have three rank 2 wizards and several rank 1 Crystal stage wizards. Their leader is just a rank 1 wizard, interesting. Based on their eyes, they should be training in the Molten Core River," the aged female wizard replied.

There was a translucent crystal orb on right palm, glowing.

Unos thought for a while and made up his mind. "The three rank 2s are the biggest threat to us…Training in Molten Core River indicates that they are part of the Watchers and are all elite, seasoned fighters. Garcia, make arrangements for your team to ambush the three rank 2s. Command the rest to eliminate the rank 1s. Their leader must be an important entity to Elemental Hand. I will capture him myself," he passed this message through energy particles.

"But we need to inform the division leader first…" the woman who had long black hair interrupted.

"Do not worry about the division leader. Our headquarters is not within Tarry River, so it will not be a big problem if we can retreat after winning the fight," Unos coldly replied. "Use the secret strategy and separate their forces. It will be an easy fight."

"Master, you have only advanced to rank 2 not too long ago. I think you will need my help…" the woman advised.

"Their leader is merely a rank 1 wizard at the Crystal stage. We have already set the magic matrix. I don't think there will be a problem." While glaring at Angele, Unos shook his head.

Angele turned to the side and smiled after noticing Unos' line of sight focus on him

"Start the ambush once the gate opens. Watch out for my hand gesture." Unos pursed his lips.

"Understood," his subordinates immediately replied.

Lance had arrived with the Elemental Hand's members at the mountain's peak. Nevertheless, he complied with Angele's order to return to his own family right away.

The words Angele had said flipped the entire situation. The three families would no longer be in a conflict with Elemental Hand.

"And I agree with the point you have raised. We should start the negotiation only after the gate opens." His lips curled into a smile. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Angele."

Once the elder of the Spender Family, Gill, heard him introducing himself, he quickly stepped up to exchange introductions as a courtesy.

"I am one of the elders of the Spender Family, my name is Gill. You are certainly correct, master Angele. We should wait together for the gate to open. Since it is an ancient ruin, there might be guardians. We must combine our strengths to prepare for any possible encounter," Gill spoke loudly. Meanwhile, the one who brought Angele to this place, Lance, was standing behind Gill.

Christopher, the head of the Morgan Family, forced a smile on his face. "As long as you are not here to deprive everything from us, I shall be on your side."

The female head of the Philips' slightly nodded her head. Clearly, she agreed with Angele's point as well. Just like the rest of her family, she was not that talkative.

The mountains they were in were within the territory of Elemental Hand. Even high-ranked wizards must answer the call to the organization's guard posts. According to the intelligence report sent by the headquarters, the ranks of all the wizards in front of the secret garden's gate were below rank 3.

The family elders, Liv, Hakeem, Lyn, and Unos—all of them were rank 2 wizards.

The only problem was, wizards who trained in the Molten Core River could be easily recognized. Everyone knew of the fact that only the Watchers had the access to this advanced meditation technique. Vivian had defeated the lords and the storm giant right in front of Thousand Waterfall City alongside her Watchers. People would think twice before trying to mess with such a powerful force.

Members of the Watchers were trained to kill. Majority of them had served in multiple wars. Average wizards stood no chance in the face of their great strength.

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Chapter 322: Revealing (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

No one would want to mess with the Elemental Hand, including the Blue Eagle Nest.

Angele glanced around. "It seems you are fine with my plan. Let's wait for those who have already entered the garden to come out and ask them a few questions first. What do you think?"

"I'm fine with that. We also need to set up barriers and patrols around the mountain so that no more strangers will come here and demand a portion of the treasure from us." Unos pursed his lips and looked at Angele.

Angele gently smiled, not even bothered by everyone else's thoughts regarding his proposal.

However, Lyn was unhappy with what Unos said.

"Master, if we must fight for the treasure, leave that man called Unos to me. I am going to cut his tongue off…"

"Calm down, Lyn." Angele tapped on Lyn's right shoulder and stopped her from continuing.

Lyn was a team captain of the Watchers, and Angele liked her more than Liv. Her face was pretty, her body well-toned. She was also powerful, and never questioned Angele's decisions.

It seemed Lyn had the intention to become his servant.

Angele glanced at the members of the three families.

They must have thought Angele was a member of the Watchers, yet no one knew that he was actually the third elder's son.

"Good idea. We do not want any strangers here. I agree." Angele raised his voice.

"We agree, too!" The Spender Family's elder voiced out his agreement as well. To Gill, who was like a drowning man that would clutch at anything to survive, Angele was like a life-saving straw.

The heads of the other two families made eye contact with each other.

"The Philip Family concurs with such plan."

"The Morgan Family will comply as well."

The two other heads voiced out their decision.

"All right, let us send our respective patrols then," Unos advised.

Each of the forces picked several of their respective members to patrol the surrounding area of the mountain.

While the rest of them patiently waited for the gate to open.

Time flew quickly, and it was already late in the afternoon. The sky was becoming dark, and the frigid winds became much stronger than before.

Angele asked his group to build a wooden shelter on the mountaintop.

Several people had done so while the others were preparing for dinner. Liv and Angele had built several stone chairs by themselves, and already sat down and started meditating.

The three families similarly decided to do the same after witnessing Angele's prior actions.

Unos was still seated in his chair. His group's position was slightly awkward. Although they were the closest to the gate, there were a lot of boulders scattered around the area they were at.

He sent several of his subordinates to prepare the ingredients for dinner upon realizing the lack of space for them to build their own wooden shelter. After he thought for a while, Unos decided to build a campfire and focus on cooking for now.

Angele never bothered himself with what everyone else thought. At the mountaintop, they had the largest wooden shelter and the cooking ingredients of the highest quality. This made them look as if they were not here for the treasure but here to merely go camping.

He continued to silently stay seated on the stone chair and meditate. As he had already formulated a plan in his mind, there was nothing to worry about.

Five days later.

The gate to the secret garden still remained closed. The three families, Unos, and Angele himself tried to open it yet none succeeded in such endeavor. Spells, magic circles, and enchanted items—nothing worked.

The mirror-like gate remained tightly shut, so they had to wait for the heirs of the three families to come out.

The three families and Angele built several wooden shelters on a smaller scale during these recent days but on the contrary, Unos still had yet to build one.

The secret garden's gate finally began to show changes in the afternoon.

The gate's mirror-like surface turned from achromatic to light purple, immediately catching everyone's attention.

Angele was sitting in his chair staring at the purple gate curiously.

"It is almost over, I guess. They will leave the garden soon. Stay alert everyone." Angele narrowed his eyes.

"We waited five days for this!" Hakeem laughed. "But before that, we should drive the Blue Eagle Nest out. They are way too close to the gate."

Angele shook his head. "It is fine. According to the information provided by Lance, they must channel a special spell before they could enter through the gate. We can easily interrupt it and once the spell casting is stopped, they will suffer heavy injuries due to the backlash. I don't think Unos knows about the repercussions."

"They may have a different method of dealing with the gate." Lyn pursed her lips.

"Out of the question. The gate's structure is complicated. The ancient barrier's strength is beyond your expectations. You will know once you see it." Angele shook his head slightly. "All right, watch the gate. It will be opened soon!"

"Yes, master!"

The group of Watchers responded all at the same time and walked out of the wooden shelter altogether.

Angele was going through Zero's report as he continued to gaze at the gate.

The third stage of Molten Core River had already been analyzed. If he could completely master it, he would then advance to becoming a rank 2 wizard.

There were two requirements in the third stage of the advanced meditation technique.

First, he must have a rich source of Fire energy particles that would assist in the building of his second body's core. The fire source's magnitude and quality would determine the strength of his second body. Vivian had already taken care of it for him.

Second, he must engrave the complicated magic circle provided by the Molten Core River technique on his mentality crystal and use it to aid in his progress as a wizard.

'The first requirement is not a problem but the second…' Angele frowned. 'The magic circle must be engraved on my mentality crystal, which means I will have to give up one Talent Spell. I wonder how the Watchers solve this issue. Vivian never told me anything about this.'

Lyn, Hakeem, and Liv were wizards who had fully mastered the third stage of Molten Core River, which meant they had also encountered this similar issue. Angele was thinking of finding a plausible solution from them.

He made up his mind, activating a red 'Z'-shaped communication rune. Within seconds, he had already sent out a message.

A blanket was being used as a door to their wooden shelter. People would not be able to see the situation from outside, but Angele could peek outside through the gaps.

Several minutes later, Lyn pulled the blanket to the side and entered the shelter in a courteous manner.

"Master, you wish to talk to me?"

Angele nodded. "I have a question regarding the third stage of Molten Core River. It is what every member of the Watchers trains in, right?"

"Yes, what question?" Lyn bowed in respect.

"I was checking the book and found one thing that bothers me. It seems I have to engrave the technique's magic circle on my mentality crystal which means I will have to give up the next Talent Spell, right? I want to know how everyone deals with this issue." Angele had gone straight to the point.

As though Lyn was not surprised at Angele's rapid progression, she calmly and unconcernedly answered his question, "Actually, it is not only Molten Core River. All advanced meditation techniques will take one of your Talent Spell slots. Don't worry, though, the magic circle has a special effect that is stronger than the majority of average Talent Spells in terms of offensive and defensive capability. You certainly will not be disappointed."

"Huh?" Angele was flabbergasted. "All advanced meditation techniques will take one Talent Spell slot?" He did not find such a requirement in the Mask of the Black Wing technique.

"Yes." Lyn confidently nodded. "It is something you will have to live with. Advanced meditation techniques aid you in ranking up, and you will have to give up one slot for the Talent Spell. Wait…actually, I have heard that the legendary advanced meditation techniques do not require engraving a magic circle but…"

"Is that so?" Angele's countenance changed. "But the third stage of Molten Core River only requires you to engrave the magic circle on your mentality crystal, right? Why is it so easy?"

"Easy?!" Lyn stopped speaking for a moment, seemingly confounded. "You will know just how difficult it is once you start trying to engrave it on your mentality crystal. You also need a core rich in Fire energy particles. Cores like that are difficult to find."

"I have heard about that from Liv. Wizards who trained in the Molten Core River technique usually use a Fire Earth Stone as the core of their second body, right?" Angele raised this question.

"That is correct." Lyn nodded. "I can demonstrate it to you now."

"Much appreciated." Angele smiled.

Lyn bowed slightly and took two steps behind.

Standing beside the shelter's entrance, she started drawing lines in the air.

Lines of glowing red energy particles remained in the air as her finger continued to move.

CHI*

Several seconds later, a magic circle appeared in front of Lyn, near her feet, and released a ray of crimson light, connecting the lines that had been drawn using energy particles together. It formed a three-dimensional magic circle with crimson runes spinning around it.

Suddenly, all the crimson runes gathered to between Lyn's hands, like water flowing, and a crimson ball of light was formed in the air.

The ball of light looked like molten lava covered with cracks and golden liquid flowing between the gaps.

When Angele stood up, he could feel the intense heatwaves coming to his face. In fact, some of the leftover pieces of wood around the corner were blown into the air.

These leftover pieces were ignited and burnt into black ash when it fell to the ground.

The heatwaves were still being released at every angle from the lava ball on Lyn's palms.

"Master, this is the ability you would acquire from the magic circle. All wizards who mastered the third stage gain this ability. The shape, strength, and features of the second bodies might be different but the only way to determine their actual power level is to check how many stages they have already mastered. The power difference between each stage is tremendous."

"Interesting, that should be the reason wizards who train in the Molten Core River technique could easily be recognized…Is the situation similar to other advanced meditation techniques?" Angele continued to ask questions.

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Chapter 323: Revealing (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

"Indeed." Lyn nodded. "The earlier you start training in an advanced meditation technique, the more eminent the technique's features will be to others. The lava ball on my palm is of the ability I acquired when I completely mastered the third stage and is called 'Lava Rain'. Once I throw this ball in the location I designate and make it explode, it will then cause the descent of a rain of lava—it is great for large-scale wars. The power of this ability is dependent on the caster's mentality level. If the caster has high enough mentality, then they can even double or triple this ability's base damage."

Lyn explained as the lava ball disappeared from her hands. "And there is one benefit to it. You do not have to search for the best spell you can obtain when you rank up."

"Sounds good." Angele nodded. "That should be the reason wizard organizations in the central continent were founded with complete copies of advanced meditation techniques."

"With the assistance of an advanced meditation technique, we can easily cast spells that suit our rank. It is every wizard's dream," Lyn added.

She stopped for a second and continued, "You can use it to improve your Talent Spells, too—just focus on manipulating the energy flow. This is the method the majority of wizards would choose. Simply speaking, you can instantly cast multiple Talent Spells while your opponent is still preparing to cast their first spell. This sounds too simple, but it is truly effective in certain situations."

"All right, I understand." There were blue dots of light flickering in front of Angele's eyes. "Thank you for the detailed explanation. You may leave now. I will find the method most suitable for me."

"Very well." Bowing slightly, Lyn stepped out of the wooden shelter.

Angele, who remained alone inside, then took out a small red box from his pouch.

It was a half-moon-shaped wooden box with silver engravings on its surface.

PA*

Angele opened the box which revealed a blackish red stone inside. It had a smooth texture similar to that of a jade stone.

He took it out and carefully inspected it several times.

'So this is an Earth Fire Stone. Zero, inspect its energy structure,' he ordered.

A glowing light with the shade of blue surrounded Angele's eyes and illuminated on the stone in the box. It took about ten seconds for the biochip to finish the process.

Angele felt a tad surprised after seeing the result.

'It is actually a high-quality fire energy stone perfectly suitable for the Molten Core River technique…A stone like this can absorb Fire energy particles and store up to 100 degrees of energy. Vivian gave me the best material she had…'

'An Earth Fire Stone like this one is the perfect for wizards training in the Molten Core River technique. There is no longer a point in me trying to search for substitutes.' Angele was satisfied with the stone Vivian had gifted him and even felt relieved at the thought of not having to prepare anything for the third stage.

Although the power of this special ability would be akin to that of the other wizards who similarly trained in the Molten Core River technique, his main offensive skill remained to be the signet from the ancient bloodline. The power of the bloodline signet only lay in the source of the bloodline; his wizardry rank did not matter. The only difference it could make was that Angele would be able to extract stronger bloodlines if his mentality level was higher.

Ancient wizards had relied more on bloodlines, while modern wizards focused more on damage spells.

Yet Angele was attempting to improve bloodlines and damage spells both at the same time. The only problem was that no one had told him how to progress further through bloodlines. There was little or no information that had been left by the ancient wizards.

On the other hand, for the spells, he had the help coming from the wizardry books and Vivian.

Angele breathed deeply as he looked at the stone.

'I should try mastering the third stage before the gate opens. Let me see just how hard it is to engrave the magic circle onto my mentality crystal.'

After calming himself down, he threw the stone into the air.

He then quickly drew a rune.

Blast*

The stone was ignited floating in the air as it released countless heatwaves.

Angele's expression soon turned serious. He raised his other hand and pointed at the stone.

While checking the magic circles recorded on the book, he started engraving the first portion of the magic circle.

CHI*

Countless red lines appeared around the Earth Fire Stone and started drawing the first part of the magic circle.

Minutes and minutes passed. The lines were clear, and the completed magic circle surrounded the stone in the center.

Cold sweat was dripping down Angele's chin. It seemed a lot of mentality was consumed during the process.

'This is the first part…I'm not sure if my mentality is high enough for the whole process…'

PA*

Countless cracks appeared on the surface of the Earth Fire Stone.

All the flames, runes, and energy lines disappeared together. The Earth Fire Stone was no longer in the air, almost as if the stone had sublimated.

Angele was breathing heavily.

'I thought the process was easy…The entire magic circle has three parts. I have only completed the first, and there are still the second and third parts. Good thing is, I have the biochip helping me do all the calculations. Other wizards might need several years before they could complete the entire magic circle, but I will only need about half a month to master the third stage.'

The engraving of magic circle was a critical step in the third stage of the Molten Core River technique. He could advance to the next rank after the process was completed. Not like using a potion, advancing using this method would not create too many impurities.

Angele noticed that his mentality level increased slightly after finishing engraving the first part. And with the help of Zero, he could find the best way to finish the engraving while not making any mistake.

'Zero, create the task. Analyze the magic circles and compute my success rate of mastering the third stage,' Angele commanded.

Angele had stopped at the Crystal stage for three years with his biggest achievement, removing the impurities from his mentality. It was about time for him to try to advance to the next rank.

'Mission created. Analyzing…Estimated time: 12 hours,' Zero reported back immediately.

Angele had high affinity with the Fire energy particles, so his progress with the Molten Core River technique was relatively fast.

Completing the third stage and advancing to the next rank was no longer a big problem to Angele. The biochip could finish most of the complicated calculations for him.

He wanted to meditate for a bit longer, but he heard the loud noise coming from outside.

"Master Kita!"

"You finally came out…"

"Master Susana!"

Angele's brow furrowed as he stepped out of the wooden shelter.

A Watcher was about to enter the shelter, bowing immediately after seeing Angele.

"Master, the gate to the garden has finally opened!"

Angele nodded. "I know." He raised his head and looked at the gate.

There were three wizards standing in front of the mirror-like gate.

There was one female wizard and two male wizards, all at about 15 years old. Their clothes were messy and there were scars on their faces.

The two male wizards were wearing black robes and the female wizard was wearing a white shirt, but they were all damaged.

The three was surrounded by the families and organizations. They looked a bit nervous, as it seemed like they were trying to return to their own families.

Angele noticed that the three teenagers' bodies were translucent for some reason.

CHI*

A ray of blue light pierced through a translucent male wizard's head, but nothing happened.

The man was startled due to this and retreated immediately but he looked confused.

A blue robe behind Unos lowered his hand and scrunched his eyebrows. "Master, they are illusions. We cannot attack them."

"Is that so?" Unos narrowed his eyes.

A middle-aged woman from the Morgan Family saw the scene and was enraged. She was stopped by the other family members, but she was still cursing. It took her several minutes to calm down.

"Mother!" The man that was hit by the red light stepped forward and looked at the middle-aged woman.

"Mother! I'm here!" He looked excited.

"Wait, Henry!" The other male wizard stopped him. "Something isn't right."

"Master Kita!" The members of the Spender Family shouted together.

Kita turned around and saw the members of his family waving their hands.

"Master Gill?"

"Master Kita, are you in the Foreseer Form?" Gill questioned carefully.

Kita looked surprised after hearing the name. "How did you know about the Foreseer Form?"

He realized that the elders knew a lot about the garden and calmed down several seconds later.

Kita nodded slightly. "You're right. We're in the Foreseer Form right now but we don't know how this happened."

"Wait, the foreseer state? You can give access to the ones that want to enter the garden now?" Unos suddenly questioned.

"Alright, just give access to us!"

"No, pick the Philip Family, please!"

"Susana! You're a good kid, and you should give access to your brother Marino!"

Several members of the three families shouted. The elders and leaders did not say anything. They were the relatives of the three wizards that were in the Foreseer Form.

"Mother…?" The female wizard named Susana hesitated. She looked around and saw a beautiful woman saying something to her. Her expression changed and there were tears in her eyes. "Mother, why are you here? Alright, I will give access to…"

"Wait, Susana!" Kita suddenly interrupted in a deep voice.

"What happened? Kita?" Susana wiped the tears off from her eyes, looking confused.

"Wait a second. It seems like we're in trouble," Kita whispered to her ears.

"Kita, we can give the access to two people, and I want to give my mother one. That shouldn't be a problem, right?" Henry pursed his lips. "She has treated you well, you know that." He looked a bit disappointed.

"Think about it. We can give two people access to the garden but there are three families here. We need to proceed with caution."

Henry and Susana were young, but they quickly realized how complicated the situation was.

"What should we do then?" Susana and Henry looked at Kita.

"Let's find out what's going on first," Kita replied in a low voice.

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Chapter 324: Gate of the Garden (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

"Do not listen to him, Henry!" Right beside Henry's mother, an old man loudly shouted, "Kita only wants to save a slot for his own family. Give the right of entry to us now before it's too late!"

At the mountain's peak.

People divided into five groups had the gate to the elemental fairies' secret garden surrounded.

Susana noticed Kita's facial expression changing upon listening to the old man's words.

"Susana! It's me! Your uncle Nicole! Just give the right of entry to us…"

"Master Kita, please…" Gill stopped one of his family members from continuing. He and the two other family heads were looking at Angele sternly.

With a smiling face, Angele took a step forward with the Watchers doing the same.

"Just give the right of entry to us. I am one of the core members of Elemental Hand. We will reward you if you do so." Looking at the three teenagers in front of the gate, he spoke in a gentle tone, "You do know you can only send in two people at most, but all of us here want the right of entry, right?

"Just give it to me. We can make a fair trade. I have many resources of great rarity. Just tell me what you need." Angele narrowed his eyes.

"You do not want to see you beloved family murder each other, do you? An argument like that will destroy friendships and it never ends peacefully. Think about it. You are standing on the land owned by Elemental Hand. We can sign a contract. I swear I will not harm your families."

For a second, Angele stopped as he shrugged. "This is the only way in order to bring this matter to a peaceful closure. I am the only one who can control the situation here."

The three teenagers pondered if they should accept Angele's offer.

Those who belonged to the three families finally regained their composure and began to think of the best plausible solution.

For some reason, Angele seemed to be someone trustworthy—that was what they felt.

"I can actually offer you a bit more than that. Do you want to become a member of the Elemental Hand and work for me? … Why are you still waiting? Are you perhaps afraid of the Blue Eagle Nest? Do not worry. This is our territory, so they cannot possibly be at the helm here."

"You!" Unos gnashed his teeth as he scowled at Angele. Behind him, the wizards were readying themselves for the forthcoming clash.

The Watchers noticed that the situation had changed so in order to protect Angele they formed an encirclement with him located at the center.

Kita opened his mouth, about to say something.

"Now!" Unos chimed in with a shout.

CHI*

Underneath the blue robes' feet appeared a massive circle of blue light.

It began expanding to the point of nearly covering the entire summit. Angele heard a noise that of the waves of the sea out of thin air.

Steam that came out of the blue circle nearly moistened his clothes to the point of being wet, causing his eyes to narrow. A strange oceanic smell drifted across the air.

Angele immediately raised his hand. A speck of red light exploded in front of him.

BAM*

The explosion caused itself to form into multiple rays of red light but these were devoured by the mist coming out of the blue circle.

"Huh? It did not work?" Angele was startled. He hastily looked at his surroundings.

He was now surrounded by blue mist and had a feeling as though he was sinking deep into the ocean. He could still breathe but people near him had all disappeared.

"This is either a strong illusion spell or a strong void spell." Angele controlled his sangfroid. He then took a step and gradually released the full strength of his mentality wave. A blue laser dot was flashing in each of his pair of eyes.

He had already studied the illusion signet and created an anti-illusion technique, but it looked like the spell cast by the Blue Nest Eagle was much stronger than he had expected.

'My illusion-related skills have already reached the highest a rank 1 wizard can get. The anti-illusion technique I created should be ineffective only against rank 3 wizards but there is no such person in their group…which means…they must have activated a high-quality magic device.' Angele made his conjecture.

Kita, Susana, and Henry, the three of them, had already realized that the summit was covered in blue fog. They were getting nervous.

Members of the Blue Eagle Nest had surrounded them.

There was a blue horn in Unos's right hand. With a pale face, he was uttering the incantation. The blue smoke drifting out of the horn was the source of the fog, and it continued to become increasingly thicker.

The blue smoke created a sea of fog at the summit, such that Kita could barely see anything around him.

"Master, the eagle horn has created multiple divided areas that separated our enemies from each other. The only way for them to escape the fog is to break the illusion spell, but we do not have much time left. What should we do?" the woman with a long, black hair asked.

"Follow the plan. Take a team with you and take out the families. I shall deal with the man from the Elemental Hand." Unos had a heartless expression. "He is trying to break the spell. I must stop him as soon as possible."

"Why don't we just kill him first?" the old wizard advised.

"We cannot. Looks like he is an affluential member of Elemental Hand. I do not wish to face the possible repercussions." Unos shook his head declining the suggestion.

"All right, let us move. We must take out as many as we can," Unos ordered.

They now divided themselves into two groups led by the woman and the old wizard, respectively. Within seconds, they vanished into the blue fog.

Unos tied the blue horn to his belt and drew the black scimitar from his sheath. He was the last person to enter the fog.

Within the sea of fog.

Angele was advancing at a slow pace as he continued to draw red runes in the air that disappeared after several seconds.

At the same time, the blue fog surrounding his body was becoming thinner and thinner as soon as the red runes disappeared into thin air.

PA*

Suddenly, he heard a noise made by tiny rocks being stepped on.

Angele stopped and licked his lips. He lowered his hands and looked at the man in front of him.

"A random guy from Elemental Hand almost breaks my illusion spell. No wonder it's the strongest organization in the area.

The man stepped forward to reveal himself.

Short blue hair, a pair of blue eyes, and a handsome face—this person was Unos, who was wearing a long blue robe and holding a black scimitar tightly.

"Wizard Angele, it's you and me now. We are the leaders of our groups. Perhaps we can sort things out," Unos calmly spoke as he smiled.

Angele raised his right hand and conjured a silver greatsword. The sword-point was red-hot, and it released heatwaves into the air.

The glowing red sword-point was eye-catching in the fog.

Black smoke rose from the scimitar in Unos's hand, making the black blade even darker.

He sprinkled silver dust into the air wherein it slowly descended onto the ground.

CHI*

Unos disappeared from his original location. The black blade seemingly became a black string charging toward Angele.

For some reason, Angele's eyes lost focus, dropping his guard, after seeing the silver dust. He could not move his eyes away from it in the slightest as if he was looking at a precious treasure.

The strength from his hands seemed to have been sapped away, causing him to gradually lower his sword.

The blade was getting closer and closer, yet Angele still remained unmoving.

Clank*

Suddenly, Angele was jolted awake by Zero's warning and barely blocked the incoming strike. Sparks were created when the two weapons clashed.

'What on earth is that spell?! It somehow made me feel entranced.' Angele was startled.

The black scimitar changed directions and struck at Angele's back.

Clank*

Angele turned around immediately and blocked the strike again.

The black scimitar quickly moved away and Unos appeared once more.

The man's expression had turned serious.

"Your body is incredibly strong. I have spent so much time increasing my strength, but I am still weaker than you. Looks like I underestimated your ability."

After he finished, he raised his right hand. A strange, slimy, blue substance was discharged out of his right shoulder, covering his entire right arm within seconds and turning into a huge chunk of armor.

A black, diamond-shaped crystal appeared in the center of his right elbow.

KA*

Unos swung his right arm several times.

"My speed and strength have now tripled. Where is your special ability from the Molten Core River? Why don't you use it? Ah…I forgot you are still a rank 1 wizard." He sneered and raised his right arm.

WOO*

Clouds of dust, pebbles, and rocks were blown into the air. Unos's right arm was indeed terrifying. Covered in a blue glow, it almost had the same size as his body.

Angele narrowed his eyes into slits. Several heart bombs connected with silver metal fluid noiselessly slid into his left hand from his sleeve.

He suddenly raised his left hand and threw five heart bombs into the air.

BOOM*

Red flames and green venom coalesced together, with Angele at a distance away and Unos standing right in the center of the explosion radius, in great successive explosions.

The amalgamation of heated air and stinky poisonous gas started spreading in the area and even caused a small shockwave.

Angele did not stop but immediately retreated as he threw out several more crimson heart bombs.

BOOM BOOM BOOM*

The loud noise from the consecutive explosions echoed in the sea of fog.

Angele remained composed. He continued to move around and threw dozens of heart bombs at every angle. At present, he was surrounded by the furious flames and shockwaves generated by the explosions.

The intense light from the flames drove out the blue fog and illuminated on Angele's body.

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Chapter 325: Gate of the Garden (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

The odor of burnt meat permeated the air—it came from the heart bombs that had exploded.

Those were all the energy bombs Angele possessed. Three silver scars manifested on his face, and his skin now had a metallic silver glint.

He tightly grasped the greatsword and brandished it forth.

CHI*

The greatsword then shrank in size quickly and reformed into a long, slim blade. Its length had now increased from two meters to ten meters, and was twisting.

The blade formed a shell-shaped screen of light in front of Angele.

Clank*

The sword screen collided with a black dot and stopped.

Unos had blocked the sword screen with the black scimitar with a disappointed expression.

"I did not expect you to interrupt my spell!" He was not hurt in the least, seemingly as if the heart bombs had done nothing to him.

"Well, I think I know how to win this now." Blue glows slowly surrounded Unos's horrifying right arm and was becoming brighter and brighter.

Suddenly he raised his right arm and swung forward with his black scimitar. The blade's tip drew an arc in the air and generated a fierce energy wave.

This energy wave was initially a meter long and it started growing in length after it left the blade's tip, increasing to seven meters in length within seconds and soaring through the air.

Unos did not care whether the energy wave had struck Angele or not. He quickly retrieved a small yellow ball about the size of a fist from his pouch and threw it into the air while taking out another one.

Several seconds later, there were now more than ten yellow balls floating around Unos's body. Each of the balls was marked with a blue rune.

Unos began uttering an incantation in a low voice.

The yellow balls exploded in the air, like flowers starting to blossom, and conjured into miniature winged men.

The wings on their backs looked like the ones dragonflies had, but they were flapping so fast that they became blurry. The tiny men were thin and naked, and their blue eyes were the only things that could be found on their faces. Angele was not sure if they were male or female.

They were flying around Unos like bees.

"Go!" Unos pointed at Angele and gave an order.

All the winged men started flying toward Angele.

Sharp metal needles slowly protruded out of Angele's body and floated in the air. The air temperature around him began increasing. There were lines of red energy particles revolving around his body.

Several seconds later, each tip of the metal needles all turned red.

Angele pointed at Unos with his right index finger, while black light flashed in his eyes.

One of the metal needles had infused with the black light but regained its original color quickly.

CHI*

The needles soared into the air as it flew toward Unos.

The needles, winged men, and the black energy wave from the scimitar smashed against each other savagely. The winged men and energy wave dodged the metal needles, now flying straight toward Angele.

The metal needles, too, did not stop as they continued flying toward Unos.

Everything was traveling at the peak speed. It was nearly impossible for Angele or Unos to dodge.

BAM BOOM*

Loud noises echoed in the area.

The black energy wave exploded with the winged, yellow men and the damage they did was much higher than the heart energy bombs.

The silver needles directly struck Unos with such ferocity. As he was controlling the miniature winged men, he did not do anything to defend against Angele's attack. A screen of black light shattered into fragments after blocking most of the needles. Meanwhile, the rest of the needles pierced through his last defense and one needle suddenly accelerated.

CHI*

Unos leaned to the side but failed to dodge the accelerating needle. He grunted when the needle pierced his left shoulder.

The dust that had been blown into the air due to the collision slowly dropped to the ground.

A silver needle had stabbed Unos's left shoulder. No blood was coming out of the wound, but his shoulder was slowly turning gray. It was the effect of his petrification ability.

"Damn!" Unos quickly took out several small glass bottles filled with liquid and, one by one, poured all contents of each bottle. Soon, the rate of his shoulder petrifying slowed down.

Angele was standing at about ten meters away from Unos. He had blocked the explosion using the greatsword that had returned to its original form. His face was pale but there was no visible wound on his body.

"The explosion barely did any physical damage, yet it drained my mentality…How is that even possible?!" Angele was panting—he only had more or less 15 mentality remaining, and the situation was getting worse. The forcefield of the crystal scorpion was activated when the winged men exploded. That was the reason he still had mentality left but his head was now aching. Without the scorpion, he would have already lost consciousness.

"You are pretty good. Where did you learn the petrification spell from?" Cold sweat covered Unos's forehead.

The battle was stopped to a standstill. Angele was trying to predict what Unos would do next.

Since Unos was a rank 2 wizard, he thought he could easily win against a rank 1 wizard like Angele.

"I did not want to do this, but I really need to enter the garden." Unos took out the blue horn and tapped on it.

WOO*

A countless number of blue runes flashed on the horn's surface and the complicated pattern started shining. The intense blue light slowly climbed up Unos's right arm then turned into a thick layer of conflagrating flames.

Angele raised his left hand; the silver ring on his finger started releasing rays of golden light. His expression changed as he saw the eye-blinding blue light in the front.

The golden light coming from the Light of Thorns had been weakened by the blue light and was having trouble moving around.

"That magic device…" Angele pursed his lips as his gaze fell on the blue horn.

He put his right hand into the pouch and activated the crystal scorpion once more.

CHI*

Suddenly, a red scorpion-shaped rune appeared in the center of his forehead.

"Huh?" Unos hesitated after seeing the rune. "That mark…Don't tell me you are…"

It seemed the rune reminded him of someone. He quickly tapped on the horn again and the blue light began retracting immediately.

"You can have the access. I give up!" Unos forced a smile on his face. "I should have double checked…" He stored the horn back into his pouch and disappeared into the blue fog.

Angele's plan worked. Unos had realized that Vivian was his mother after seeing the rune.

About ten seconds later, the blue fog disappeared completely, and everything returned to normal again.

Angele was still with the Watchers, as if nothing had happened.

The members of the three families were still at their original positions but the Blue Nest Eagle disappeared from the top of the mountain.

Unos probably did not want the situation to get worse so he decided to retreat.

'That blue horn…Had it fully activated, I would have had to use my signet and see if it could help me survive the attack…' Angele bit his lips when he recalled the horrifying forcefield from Unos's magic device.

"Master, are you alright?" Lyn's black hammer was covered in fresh blood.

"I'm fine, is everyone alright?" Angele glanced around.

Most of the Watchers were injured but Liv, Lyn, and Hakeem's weapons were soaked in the enemies' blood.

Liv's face was pale. It seemed like she used a lot of mentality. "The blue fog must be from their strongest magic device called the Eagle's Horn. I didn't expect them to bring it here."

"How strong is that thing?" Angele asked.

"Well, it can deal an incredible amount of area damage instantly," Liv replied in a grave tone.

"Instantly…?" Angele then realized that it was probably much stronger than the Light of Thorns.

"Unos must have discovered your identity and decided to leave. If you ever got hurt or killed, master Vivian will no doubt slaughter the Blue Eagle Nest. But yes, none of us can handle the power of that magic device. From the beginning, Unos should have realized your worth to our organization. That is why he did not use the horn right after the start of the battle," Lyn added.

"It is about time to enter the garden." Angele did not comment on Lyn's words. Inwardly, he never thought Unos stood a chance of winning if he was without the magic device since he still had his signet. The outcome of the battle was difficult to predict as well.

However, Lyn did not know about the secret of having an ancient bloodline and thought Angele was going to lose. Angele was not concerned as he had learned a great deal from the battle. He now knew he could win against rank 2 wizards that had no ridiculous magic devices.

Angele remained calm and looked at the gate to the secret garden of the elemental fairies.

"Let us go. Who wants to come with me?"

At present, the heads of the three families were injured so no one was making any decision. This ought to be part of the Blue Eagle Nest's plan.

Angele led the Watchers to the front of the gate.

The three teenagers retreated. Although they were in the Foreseer Form, they still feared the young man approaching them.

"Do you swear to keep your promise?" Kita questioned. He gazed at Angele and narrowed his eyes.

"Of course." There was a gentle smile on Angele's face.

Kita looked at the members of the three families and shook his head. "Fine, I'll give you the access."

He exchanged words with Henry and Susana. It seemed they finally made up their minds.

"Take one more person with you, please. We do not have much time left," Kita said.

Angele thought for a second and replied, "Lyn, come with me."

"Yes! Master!" Lyn stepped forward looking excited.

Kita, Susana, and Henry turned around and disappeared into the gate.

About ten seconds later, the surface of the gate was covered with a distorted energy wave.

"You can enter the gate now, masters." Kita's voice came from inside the gate.

Angele nodded and grasped Lyn's right hand as they stepped into the gate together.

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Chapter 326: Fairy (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

For a moment, a white, eye-blinding light prevented their eyes from seeing.

Angele and Lyn had stepped into the gate, which felt like passing through a gargantuan ball of slime with their bodies then soaked in a strange, sticky fluid.

They regained their consciousness after several seconds.

On the other side of the gate was a patio of average size. Overall, the place looked to be worn out as there were withered plants remaining on the ground.

At the central part of the patio, there was a fountain which contained no water. The walls of patio were of great height that Angele had no idea what was going on outside.

The sky was gray, the sun blocked by the thick clouds. A rotten, musty smell spread into the air.

Both Angele and Lyn were standing near the patio's entrance.

He then used his biochip to scan the surroundings.

"Stay alert. Something is not right."

"Understood." Lyn nodded but then rubbed her temples. "I do not know why but I am feeling dizzy—I want to sleep—There might be an ancient magic circle that prevents outsiders from entering the garden here."

"Feeling sleepy?" Angele was surprised; he quickly read through Zero's report.

'No peculiar forcefield…no hypnotic gas…I need to check this place myself.'

Angele walked to one of its walls and observed the entirety carefully.

The walls of the patio were dirty and damaged; the engravings on the surface of the walls were decaying.

Most of them had already lost their original shape.

Angele walked along the gray walls slowly and touched a few of these engravings carefully with a confused expression.

The texture of the engravings was soft and elastic. When he applied pressure on one of the engravings, it bounced back immediately.

"That is unusual. Lyn, you should…" Angele turned around; what he saw surprised him.

The rank 2 wizard, Lyn, was standing there with both of her eyes closed. She was still breathing, nonetheless, as it seemed like she was under a sleep-like state.

"Lyn?" Angele had gone so much as to increase the volume of his voice with energy particles, yet she did not wake up.

He retreated several steps away, but Lyn continued to follow him as though she was sleepwalking.

Angele's countenance soon turned serious. He raised his hands and moved her eyelids up.

Lyn's eyeballs were rolling around rapidly, and her pupils were contracting.

He put his finger into her mouth and acquired a sample of her saliva.

"Monti…lion…scrying…" Angele spoke the incantation aloud and pointed in the air with his finger.

A small, dark red magic circle appeared on his fingertip.

In a blink of an eye, the magic circle disappeared and the saliva sample on his finger turned blue.

"So she's having a queer dream." Angele's brow furrowed.

Since she was not in a life-threatening situation, he decided to go check the fountain first.

This water fountain had a white finish and had three tiers.

Angele stood beside the fountain and looked down. The only things he could see were white bones and dried mud. The bones were covered with black leaves. It looked like this place had been abandoned years ago.

Suddenly, a tinge of red flashed in his eyes, but it was blocked by the base of the fountain.

Angele quickly walked to the other side—he was surprised.

There were three teenagers lying shoulder-to-shoulder on the ground. The girl's face was covered in dried-up blood. Their condition was similar to Lyn's.

Angele frowned. 'It seems like I will have to fall asleep in order to find the true location of the garden, but I'm not affected by the mysterious power here…'

He turned around and saw that Lyn was still following him.

She was wearing a long, loose black robe with a white outfit that looked like a swordsman's suit. There was a pair of brown leather gloves on her hands. The tight chest piece showed the outline of her magnificent chest. The long, white battledress failed to cover her slim legs.

Lyn was wearing a black ponytail; her face was clean and pretty. Although she was sleeping, there was still a serious expression on her face.

Angele raised his hand. He could easily touch the girl if he wanted to.

He swallowed hard but then realized something not right.

"Wait!" Angele suddenly bit his own tongue. The pain woke him up.

"Something is distracting me…" He quickly turned away from Lyn and started surveying the surroundings once more.

On the other side of the patio was a hallway, which emerged out of the shadows, leading to the endless darkness.

Angele noticed that on the black walls of the hallway, there was an enormous spiral engraving which looked like a compass with a radius of one meter.

He quickly stepped into the hall and stood in front of that wall.

The engraving looked like a normal spiral pattern, not releasing any energy wave.

However, Angele discovered, to his surprise, that he could not turn away from the engraving after looking at it for the first time. He just stood there and stared at the center of the spiral pattern.

About 15 minutes later, he still had not found any helpful information.

Suddenly, he noticed that a petal from a black flower dropped to his feet.

"The black rose?" Angele turned around and looked at the direction where the petal came from.

The patio was covered with the black rose's buds and they were slowly blossoming. Angele had no idea when they appeared.

The whole patio was sinking into the seemingly endless sea of black roses. The hallway was the only place that was still empty.

Clean water flowed out of the fountain that was located in the central-most part of the patio. There was no sun in the air but there was still light illuminating the rippling water.

Under the gray sky, there were beautiful roses and a shiny water fountain. The patio looked old but attractive.

Angele licked his lips and stretched his back. Raising his right hand, he conjured a silver longsword with the Metal Mastery.

Kata Kata*

He heard intense footsteps coming from the corner where the sight was blocked by the fountain.

It was a woman in a long, silky dress. There was no expression on her pretty face. She noticed Angele's presence as well.

The woman slowly walked to Angele. She was not releasing any mentality wave.

All the black rose's buds blossomed as the woman approached. They were quiet and mysterious, almost as if time was accelerated.

The woman stopped walking and stood outside the hallway.

She had pale skin and dark purple lips. The woman just stared at Angele with a pair of deep, black eyes that looked like amethyst.

The woman raised her right hand slowly and reached into the hallway.

CHI*

A black lightning flashed on her hand.

The woman lowered her hand when she failed to break through the lightning.

"Isn't this the elemental fairy's garden?" Angele questioned in a deep tone, "Who are you?"

The woman did not react to his words. She just stared at Angele as though she could not hear anything.

Angele was not sure how he should deal with the situation, so he deactivated the crystal scorpion immediately.

"Henn, are you there?" He took out the black box.

"Yeah? I'm still resting…What's the matter? Wait…this place is…the Spiral Garden?! What the hell? How did you enter the Spiral Garden? You need to leave the area immediately. This is the portal to the fairy's realm. Anything can happen. Listen to me, leave the garden as soon as possible!"

Henn noticed the situation around Angele. Her voice sounded serious and nervous.

"Fairy? I'm looking for those elemental fairies. They should be friendly and kind, right?" Angele asked as he looked at the woman outside the tunnel.

"Those are elemental fairies you read from the books! Elemental fairies were created by wizards. Fairies, in reality, feed on human beings since the best snack in the fairy's realm is human flesh. You really need to read more history books. There had been many times that ancient wizards had to fight against fairy invaders. You are currently in a portal called Spiral Garden. You should be safe for now. It seems like this is a new portal that opened about one hundred years ago…but how…?"

CHI*

The black lightning flashed again.

Angele quickly raised his head and saw the head of the woman in a black dress fly away from her body; the stretching long neck of the woman looked especially terrifying. The woman opened her mouth, about to bite Angele in the face.

The head was one meter away from Angele and there was a twisted smile on her face.

Angele could smell the fishiness from the woman's mouth.

"Ha…"

The woman's mouth opened like a zipper from a handbag, revealing the white sharp teeth inside.

Her head was trying its best to reach Angele, but it was being hit by the black lightning inside the hallway. The woman's elastic neck was more than three meters long and its length was still increasing.

The pulses from the lightning formed an electric web that was trying to stop the head from advancing.

"This monster…" Angele narrowed his eyes and raised his sword.

CHI*

The sword drew a silver arc in the air and slashed through the woman's head.

However, Angele was hit by the black lightning, causing him to tremble and be blown away by the impact.

BAM*

He hit the wall hard and fell to the ground.

"Ha…you're too weak to break the realm barrier…" Henn chuckled. "You thought that that was just an energy barrier separating the hallway from the patio? You need to understand the laws of both our world and the fairy realm to break the realm barrier."

Angele coughed several times, every bone in his body was aching.

"Damn! What should I do then?"

"Wait for her to leave."

The woman was still trying to break through the realm barrier with a maddened expression.

CHI*

The woman's head returned to her body. She looked at Angele and swallowed hard as if she was looking at a piece of tasty meat.

WOO WOO*

Suddenly, a noise that sounded like a beast roaring came from the sky.

A large shadow appeared in the sky. Angele could see the creature swinging its wings.

He raised his head.

A gargantuan black dragon was flying around above the patio. The dragon had a long neck similar to that of a snake's tail. Its eyes were black, and poisonous green fluid was dripping down its sharp teeth.

The dragon looked like a strange lizard that possessed a pair of wings.

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Chapter 327: Fairy (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

The woman showed a disappointed look upon seeing the dragon. After hesitating for a second, she turned around and jumped onto the dragon's back.

A purple dragon, a terrifying banshee, and a patio filled with black roses—this combination were what made the entire place mysterious.

The petals of the black roses were blown into the air as the dragon, alongside the banshee, after she jumped onto its back. Their figure immediately turned into a black dot and soon disappeared into the gray sky.

"Good, looks like she had to leave," Henn said with a relieved tone. "Only wizards over rank 4 have the ability to tame dragons. If this was a stable portal, you would have been killed by the dragon's breath right after you entered the patio."

"But you and that woman should have been separated by the realm barrier completely, making it impossible for her to detect your presence. It might be possible if you possess the ancient bloodline of a creature that possesses illusion-related abilities…Don't tell me…" Henn was becoming suspicious of Angele.

"Anyway, is there anything valuable here? This is a portal to the fairy realm, right?" As he decided to change the topic immediately, Angele stood up and looked at the cracked wall behind him.

"Well, you can certainly find something valuable here, but I just noticed, you are training in Molten Core River now?" Henn sounded slightly surprised. "So the Mask of the Black Wing really does not suit your style…"

"My style? Don't tell me you already knew that from the start, when you gave it to me." Angele narrowed his eyes.

"The Mask of the Black Wing is extremely powerful, but its stages are hard to master. If you could master the first several stages, I would give you the next part then you may be able to become the second Shadow Lord in history. Sadly, you are just not talented enough." Henn sighed. "In any case, let us first leave this place. You need the magic circle engravings to master the stages of Molten Core River and you must find the right way to finish those engravings. With the help of a rich and strong fire source, you will be able to progress at a much faster rate. The third stage should be easy but for the fourth and fifth stages, there is no shortcut. You do not need much talent training in Molten Cover River, but you will have to put a significant amount of effort and dedication into it."

"Strong and rich fire resource, huh?" Angele watched as the dragon disappeared into the sky, then grasping Lyn's hand, they soon returned to the patio filled with black roses.

"These are no ordinary black roses. You can only find them in portals. Try igniting them," Henn explained.

Angele nodded. He quickly tapped on the black roses in front with his burning hot sword's point.

Soon immediately, the black roses were ignited. The flames' temperature was so high that Angele had to take a step away. Even though there was no wind, the strange red flames were still leaning toward him.

"Let me teach you a technique that will allow you to carry a large amount of those black roses back. You can infuse this technique with your Metal Mastery." Right after Henn spoke, she started transmitting the information to Angele's brain.

'Unknown information wave detected, accept?' Zero's mechanical voice echoed in his ears.

'Yes,' Angele confirmed.

The technique was then transmitted to his brain quickly.

After checking the information, he closed his eyes for several seconds. The sword in his hand melted and formed into a ball of metal fluid.

The ball exploded as soon as Angele raised his hand that caused it to shower on the entire patio.

All the black roses in the patio were covered with the silver raindrops after several seconds.

"Come to me." Angele waved his right hand.

WOO*

Gentle wind was released from his hand and all the black roses started flying toward the center of his palm.

The sea of the black roses' petals was controlled by a distorted force field and they were compressed into a fist-sized metal ball that floated on Angele's palm.

Several minutes later, all the petals had been completely absorbed resulting in the color transition of the metal ball from silver to black.

"All right, let us leave now. The twisted realm barrier will cause a permanent damage to you if you stay here for too long," Henn warned.

"I know. I still need to attend that dinner party." Angele observed the black metal ball for a while before he put it in his pouch.

"I am still disappointed, though. I was expecting the blessing of the elemental fairies." He shook his head and sighed.

"Take the teenagers with you. They survived in the Spiral Garden, so you can study them," Henn advised.

Angele had nearly forgotten about the heirs of the three families. He walked to the fountain and saw the three teenagers still asleep in the colorful water of the fountain.

The colorful water turned into a distorted energy wave as Angele approached.

The water quickly disappeared, and the fountain returned to its original form.

Angele pointed at the three teenagers.

CHI*

Three metal strings emerged out of his fingers and tied up the teenagers, using his forcefield to lift them up after.

"Wait!" Henn suddenly stopped Angele as he was about to leave the patio.

"Check the top tier of the fountain, use your hands."

"The top tier?"

Angele walked to the fountain and created a staircase with the metal strings.

He climbed up the stairs to reach the top tier, then he touched it with his hand.

The material was cold and hard, but he quickly discovered a square item that was warm and smooth.

PA*

Angele carefully grabbed the item and lifted it up.

It was a square box made of white jade stone.

He opened the box but there was nothing inside. The only thing he could see was a dark hole that led to nowhere.

Angele narrowed his eyes and released a thin silver string into the box with his index finger.

CHI*

The silver string continued to increase in length.

The box was small, yet the string could not reach the ends of that black hollow. It seemed like it was an entrance to an individual space.

"Do not even try. This is the box of the abyss. The very concept of infinity itself is sealed within. You will not find the end no matter how long your silver string can be," Henn explained in a calm tone.

"Concept?"

"Do not worry about it for now. The knowledge of concepts originated from the chaos world. Keep it well, you will need it in the future. Come on, time to go."

Angele nodded, and the silver string returned to his finger.

He closed the box, then he returned to the entrance and stepped into the mirror gate with the slumbering people.

White light flashed in the air.

Angele and the other four people appeared on top of the mountain again.

Several black robes were chatting beside a campfire.

Liv was checking the surroundings by the bushes.

Hakeem was conversing with the female head of the Philips' and sneaked glances on her chest. Though it was obvious that the female leader had no interest whatsoever in him.

The members of the other two families were waiting quietly at their own camps.

"They are out!"

"Yeah, that was fast!" Someone shouted as soon as Angele stepped out of the gate.

Hakeem, Liv, and the Watchers ran to them immediately.

"Master, how was it?" Hakeem inquired.

"This is not the secret garden of the elemental fairies but the Spiral Garden. If you want to, just enter using the gate. I have no idea how those kids tricked us with this so-called Foreseer Form." Angele looked disappointed.

"The Spiral Garden?" Liv's expression became grave the instant she recognized the name. "I must inform master Vivian now."

"Yes, go ahead. I still have to attend a dinner party at a city nearby." Angele already knew what would happen the instant the portal stabilized. "Do not worry. It will take at least one or two hundred years for the portal to stabilize."

"Alright, I'll go take a look." Liv nodded walked toward the gate.

"Sure, the hypnotic aura is no longer there."

"We want to check the garden too."

Several members of the three families entered the gate with Liv. It seemed like they did not even know what the Spiral Garden was.

Angele returned the three sleeping teenagers to their parents.

Lyn slowly woke up as well. She rubbed her temples, and it seemed like she was still struggling.

"I apologize for disappointing you…" She bit her lips and apologized in a light tone.

"It's fine. The situation was complicated." Angele nodded slightly. "Alright, let's head straight to Rofo City."

Henn's voice suddenly echoed in his ears.

"Return to the mansion after the party. I will teach you how to combine the box of the abyss with the queen's cube. They will help in building ignition magic matrix. You can activate it with energy particles. The matrix is extremely good for Molten Core River. Just throw in certain materials into the matrix and it will convert them into pure mentality for you. The petals of the black roses are one of the best fuels you can get. With the matrix, you will be able to master the third stage with no problem."

Henn stopped for a second and continued, "As a matter of fact, anything that does not belong in this world can be used as fuel. The flames acquired by igniting special materials, especially ancient bloodlines, will greatly help in your progression. There will not be consequences or impurities. If you can, try to find ancient creatures and extract their bloodline."

"Huh?" Angele hesitated for a second. "Igniting an ancient bloodline will help me complete the stages of Molten Core River?"

"Yeah, let me explain the advanced meditation technique in a different way. You're training in the technique because you want to become the strongest living being in this world. Strong bloodlines will accelerate the process."

Angele nodded slightly but did not say anything.

He slowly walked down the mountain and activated the crystal scorpion.

Angele quickly took out a glass tube with purple liquid inside. With a flick of his finger, the liquid inside the tube was ignited and the flames were absorbed into his body by the back of his hand.

The feeling was comfortable and refreshing.

Angele turned around and noticed that his team already caught up. He quickly extinguished the flames and returned the tube to his pouch.

'Unknown life essence absorbed, mentality increasing…' Zero reported.

'It's true…' Angele was satisfied with the result.

There were countless black beetles in the Nightmare Realm, it would be incredible if he could use them as the fuel.

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Chapter 328: Dinner Party (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

It was a peaceful night at Rofo City.

Many carriages adorned with luxurious decorations were parked in front of a manor in the southern part of the city. Two servants in black suits were patiently waiting at both sides of the gate, bowing in greeting to every carriage that entered through it.

The noises made by the rolling wheels and galloping horses were loud. They slowly came to a halt along the grassy field within the manor.

Kids stuck their heads out of the carriage windows while looking around curiously.

The clear moonlight glowed on the green grassy field.

A black carriage slowly entered the manor and traveled down the white path. Then it went around a mermaid fountain and headed to a complete halt at the grassy field.

KA*

The door was pushed open.

Angele was wearing a silver-hemmed black robe. Behind him was Lyn, also wearing a black robe with her long black hair draped over her shoulders. Angele could see her neck through the gaps in her hair.

'This ought to be the right place.' Angele looked around.

Carriages continued to arrive at the parking area.

A woman wearing a long dress and a brown headdress got off the carriage at the right side. She was also wearing a pair of pearl earrings and a pair of white evening gloves. In hindsight, she looked gentle and cute.

The woman noticed Angele's gaze on her and winked at him in response. She then turned around and left with her butler.

"That is mistress Isabella, the first elder's second granddaughter," Lyn casually explained.

"All right, let us go to the main hall." Angele dusted off his robe and headed to the end of the white path.

There were ten or so carriages parked at the grass field. Many people were asked to get off their carriages before they could enter through the gate. It seemed that they were treating the visitors according to their status in the organization and prohibited them from walking around the manor freely.

Two middle-aged butlers with mustache noticed Angele's presence and approached him right away.

"Master Angele?" The one with red hair bowed to Angele.

"Yes, has master Shozo arrived yet?" Angele slightly nodded.

"Master Shozo will arrive in approximately 20 minutes, but he can only stay here for about 30 minutes. He still has an important meeting to attend to at the headquarters," the butler replied objectively. "Please follow me."

"Certainly." Angele, alongside Lyn, followed the butler from behind.

Several other guests they came across with were greeted by the butlers. It looked like all of them were influential personages.

Guests of lower ranks had to wait for the distinguished guests to enter the main hall first, as a show of respect.

The normal guests smiled and politely bowed when Angele walked past them. They did that to every distinguished guest walking along the white path.

Behind Angele, there were also people guessing his identity.

Suddenly, he heard people screaming when he stepped on the jade stone staircase.

"It's Suman…Did master Shozo really invite him to the party?! How is that even possible!"

"Yes…it is Suman."

"That's crazy! Master Shozo should…"

The guests tried to hush their voices, but Angele still heard every word they said.

"Suman…? Damn! What is master Shozo thinking?" Lyn immediately recognized the name and her expression turned sour.

Angele had no idea who Suman was, so he quickly turned around and looked toward the gate.

He saw a young man in a black outfit enter the gate alongside a tall girl in a long, green evening dress. The servants by the gate stepped aside and the surrounding guests moved away from them.

Angele stood on the staircase listening to Lyn's explanation. His expression changed as soon as she finished. Raising his head, he looked at the young man and the young woman again.

"You must be master Angele." A clear male voice came from behind.

"Yes, I am Angele. You are?" Angele quickly turned around.

It was a man wearing red formal clothes completely fitting his size, a dark cloak, and a gentle smile. Two white-robed wizards were standing behind him.

"My name is Ivan, grandson of the second elder," the man introduced himself. "I've heard master Vivian finally reunited with her only son. I feel happy for her."

"Thank you." Angele smiled as well.

They chatted for a while before moving to the side so that other guests could pass.

"You know who Suman is, right? It is understandable for master to invite us to the party, but I have no idea why he invited Suman here." Ivan's gaze moved toward Suman and toward the girl then squinted.

Angele pursed his lips and nodded. "Suman is the heir of the first lord of Thousand Waterfall City and our enemy. Master Shozo is master Vivian's student, so he definitely knows the situation. This is like inviting an enemy to our own home. However, I hear Suman is just a mortal. The first lord did everything he could, but Suman could not sense the energy particles in the environment no matter what…

"The reason is simple. Did you see that woman in the green dress?" Ivan pursed his lips and looked at the girl. "Her name is Sella, master Shozo's beloved cousin. It looks like Sella fell in love with that weak boy, Suman. The rumors might be wrong, but they are developing a relationship. I think master Shozo wants to test Suman during the party."

"Interesting." Angele felt a tad surprised. Lyn had not told him about this rumor.

"Let us enter the main hall. I saw Bella walking by. It almost feels like this dinner party is being held solely for the heirs of the elders, ha." Ivan turned around and walked to the main hall.

Angele, however, did not go with Ivan but only stood there and looked at Suman once more.

The young man had a somber expression on his pale face. He looked like a patient that should be in his sickbed. Angele even believed Suman would need Sella's help just to stand up if he ever somehow fell.

"Is this kid truly the reason why the council decided to wage war against Thousand Waterfall City? And he is the heir of the first lord? Seriously? I can see the dedication in his eyes, but he is not talented at all." Angele then stopped looking and turned away. "Let's go, Lyn."

"Understood."

They stepped on the jade stone staircase and headed to the hall.

Two maids in white dresses bowed as they stepped into the door.

Angele noticed he was being scanned by someone's mentality wave after entering the door. It looked like the owner of the mentality wave then sent information regarding him to some of the guests inside the main hall.

"Angele Fenrir, welcome to the party." A gentle female voice slowly echoed in the hall. Some of the guests were curiously looking at him but none tried to approach. They only stayed put with the people they knew.

The walls were painted in gold. The wizards wearing luxurious clothes chatted among each other, but the one who attracted the most attention was the man called Ivan.

This grandson of the second elder was courteously talking with several women.

Meanwhile, Isabella, the granddaughter of the first elder, was talking with a blonde-haired, handsome young man. A few people made attempts to intrude into their conversation but were stopped considerately by the servants.

Three black robes and two red robes were sitting on a sofa located at the right corner of the hall, discussion the modification of a certain magic circle. It nearly sounded like they were debating.

Maids walked to and fro in the hall with food and drinks. Guests could take drinks and appetizers from the plates on their hands if they wished so. On one side, many guests of lower standing were conversing with the servants, seemingly knowing each other.

Angele frowned. He loathed places like this since it was too noisy, and he barely knew anyone here. He came to this place only because the invitation was personally sent by the rank 4 wizard, master Shozo.

Glancing around, he soon found an empty table surrounded by several white chairs near the sofa area.

Angele walked to the table with Lyn quickly and sat down in a chair.

The table was right beside the windows. The pure moonlight pierced through the glass pane and shined on Angele's lower body. In contrast to that, his upper body was covered by the shadows, so people could barely see his face.

Lyn silently remained standing behind Angele.

"I think master Shozo held this party just for Sella and Suman," Angele spoke in a low voice. "Suman sure is fortunate. Without Sella, he would never be invited to a party like this. The first lord did not even send guards to protect Suman. Don't tell me, master Shozo is related to the first lord."

"I do not want to comment on master Shozo's decision, but I think he has his own reasons," Lyn replied.

"Perhaps." Angele had nothing else to say.

At that moment, Suman and Sella slowly entered the main hall drawing everyone's attention.

Suman remained his composure and took a quick glance at the guests. Angele noticed another person following him besides Sella.

It was a tall man that had a pair of red, glowing eyes which might have resulted from a Talent Spell or an advanced meditation technique.

Angele's expression abruptly changed after seeing the man's face.

'Mincola?' The tall man was also a member of Dark Wizard Tower. Mincola had left a deep impression on Angele because of the short encounter they had at the Dream Inn. He had helped Angele several times when they were in the aerial port city, but they had not get in touch with each other for a long time now.

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Chapter 329: Dinner Party (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Mincola and Suman seemed like close friends. He led Suman to an empty table and settled down together. They were even laughing and patting each other's shoulders while talking.

A handsome man in nobles' clothes walked to the table holding a glass of wine. He was adorned with golden bracelets and a silver necklace. Then, the man greeted Sella and stared right at her.

The man seemed to be Sella's suitor.

Angele had a blank expression on his face. He knew Mincola was, like him, a member of Dark Wizard Tower. Both of them knew that this organization was much terrifyingly stronger than Elemental Hand.

Angele had doubts on whether Mincola had already completed his first mission. He did not understand how Mincola had time to attend a dinner party like this with Suman.

Suddenly, a black flame appeared on top of a small staircase on the other side of the hall. Within seconds, the flame grew from thirty centimeters to two meters.

The flame did not, in any way, bring warmth to the hall—it was cold and mysterious.

The guests immediately stopped talking, then stood up together and bowed to the black flame.

Angele quickly did the same thing.

He could sense the cold, powerful mentality wave coming from it which had the entire main hall covered.

Soon, the black flame slowly extinguished and revealed a man in a formal black suit.

The man had a strangely pale-white skin and had a deadpan expression on his face, as though he was an emotionless zombie. His black hair, eyes, and suit made his skin stand out even more to make it look even paler.

"Master Shozo!" the guests lowered their heads and said the man's name aloud.

"I thank you all for accepting my invitation to attend this dinner party. I apologize for my slight tardiness." Shozo slightly bowed and forced a smile on his face.

An old, messy-haired wizard came to him and handed an item over.

Shozo took the item and looked at it, then he immediately turned to Angele and nodded slightly at him.

Angele noticed Shozo's eyes falling on him, so he gently smiled.

Shozo's particular behavior drew everyone's attention.

Mincola soon noticed Angele's presence finally, resulting in him becoming a bit surprised.

"What happened? Mincola?" Suman noticed that Mincola's countenance changed. During the trip, he had saved him from many dangers and became more familiar with him.

"Nothing…I am just a bit…tired." Mincola rubbed his temples and smiled.

Shozo asked the old wizard several questions, and the smile on his face disappeared. He quickly questioned several servants and greeted a few of his friends.

"Help yourselves! I must leave for a minute." Once he finished speaking, he left the hall through the back door.

The heavy atmosphere eased up once again after he left, and the guests began to chatter with each other again.

Crack*

Near Suman's table, a wine glass dropped to the floor and broke into pieces. The red wine splashed everywhere.

Sella's suitor was coldly glaring at Suman, with his nose twitching.

Angele's brow furrowed as he noticed the scene, too.

He quickly activated a white communication rune and was about to communicate through it.

PA*

Another crisp noise.

Sella, who now seemed angry, had slapped her suitor's face with great force.

"Sella! Why are you protecting this untalented bastard?!" The man was shocked.

His friends who heard the argument came to Suman's table as soon as possible.

"What happened? This is master Shozo's dinner party. We should not start a scene here," a silver-haired man spoke with a deep voice.

"I am Sella's fiancé! Damn it! Yet she slapped me for the sake of that untalented bastard?!" the man started yelling and he waved his hand. "Guards! Guards! Help me!"

"Something's not right…" Angele activated the communication rune and listened to the message Mincola had just sent him. His expression soon changed upon listening to Mincola's explanation.

"Master?" Lyn walked closer and asked.

"I am fine. This man is trying to make a scene at a dinner party held by a rank 4 wizard. He must have a strong background." Angele pursed his lips.

"He is the youngest son of the leader of the organization called Black Earth. Master Shozo is a member of that organization. If I recall correctly, Black Earth's leader has at least a hundred children." Lyn communicated through energy particles.

"Black Earth? What is the vision statement of their organization?" Angele had never heard of this organization.

"They wish to recreate the world the ancient wizards lived in. In the ancient Rondo language, 'Black Earth' means rebirth, which some people nicknamed this organization 'Rebirth'," Lyn explained. "We, the Watchers, have once served master Shozo during a mission related to Black Earth. It is a powerful organization within Molten River, with a size similar to Elemental Hand."

Angele had heard a lot of rumors about the relationship between Shozo and master Vivian. But after seeing him in person, his opinion on him changed. An emotionless man like Shozo would not spend that much time just to have a romantic relationship with his teacher.

For some reason, Angele was thinking that Shozo might have a similar personality to him.

He sat down in his own chair, wanting to exchange more information with Mincola through the communication rune.

However, the old wizard who talked to Shozo suddenly appeared outside the window.

"Master Angele, master Shozo wishes to see you." The old wizard communicated with him through energy particles.

Angele looked at behind the old man and saw Shozo standing on the grassy field under the moonlight, waving at Angele with a wineglass in his hand.

"With pleasure." Angele bowed slightly and stood up. He went out of the main hall through the side door with Lyn following behind him of course.

He was still a bit concerned about Mincola's situation but did not care too much about the argument between Sella and her suitor. Angele was certain Mincola could easily solve this problem.

Members of Dark Wizard Tower all had either strong backgrounds or great potentials. All of them were elites of the elites that had been selected from different divisions. Talented wizards from normal organizations were incomparable to them.

Although most of the members never revealed themselves to the general public, they were still considered as the most talented wizards in the normal organizations they joined in.

Angele took a deep breath and walked toward Shozo.

The cold air outside was quite refreshing. It was a tad humid but still perfect for a night like this.

Angele stopped when he was about two meters away from Shozo.

After greeting each other, Shozo immediately went straight to the point.

"Angele, I heard a lot of great things about you from Seth." Shozo looked at Angele as if he reminded him of something. "I was but a rank 3 wizard when you had been taken away by someone. At that time, I was still an assassin in the Watchers. Vivian should have told you about Master Henn, right? Forty years have passed in a blink of an eye…"

"Yes, time does fly. I heard that master Henn and master Arisma were ambushed and killed while they were fighting." Angele nodded slightly.

"Indeed, the situation back then was complicated. I have watched the scene several times using a visualization spell…Master Henn and Master Arisma were two of the strongest wizards in the central continent, so it was…sad. Are you trying to figure out the one responsible? Their faces were blurred in the light screen created by the visualization spell. I cannot help you." Shozo's voice was soft and gentle, not in the slightest bit of the man Angele had seen back in the hall.

"Yes, it is fine. I am still too weak to avenge Master Henn anyway." Angele shrugged. "I have already brought too much trouble to Master Vivian. I do not want her to worry too much."

"You are Master Vivian's only son. She loves you more than anyone…she is just trying to protect you from danger." Shozo chuckled.

Angele nodded slightly. "I…understand."

"Take this." Shozo suddenly retrieved an item from his pouch and threw it to Angele.

Angele carefully caught the item. It was a fist-sized, black ball which looked like a strange fruit. "What is this?"

"A Giant Star Grass's seed from the dark lands. Plant it into the soil and imagine the creature you want in your mind. Human or monster, it does not matter. Cut the bud open when it grows, and you will find the creature you have imagined lying within. The creature is alive but has no soul. You can play with it if you want," Shozo explained.

"Interesting. Thank you, Master Shozo." Angele recognized it immediately after listening to his explanation. This particular seed was often sold as an adult toy in the dark lands. A "toy" without a soul, most people would use it to vent out their sexual desires.

Angele soon asked Shozo the questions he had regarding the Molten Core River technique, and the latter told him everything he knew about the advanced meditation technique.

"Do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions. I think we can become good friends." Shozo took another glass of wine from the table on the side.

Angele did the same and raised it up high.

"Cheers. Thank you for your help, Master Shozo."

"Just call me Shozo. I am Master Vivian's student, and she is your…"

BOOM*

An explosion interrupted Shozo.

Angele immediately turned to where it occurred with a frown.

The main hall's windows had been blown into pieces by the impact. White smoke was drifting out of the doors and broken windows. It nearly looked like the hall had been set alight.

WOO*

The entire thick smoke was blown out of the hall with the wind spells cast by the wizards inside.

"Let me go check the situation." Shozo narrowed his eyes. His body then turned into a black flame which disappeared into thin air before Angele could say anything.

White communication rune flashed on the back of Angele's hand.

He checked the message quickly and squeezed the wineglass into pieces. Angele's expression turned serious.

"Let's go back to the hall."

Once Angele stopped speaking, he returned inside the hall with Lyn following him quickly.

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Chapter 330: Conflict (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

It was deadly silent inside the main hall.

All the guests were looking at a corner without making a sound. Many of them were communicating through energy particles; only their lips were moving.

As Sella helped Suman stand up, she furiously glared at the son of Black Earth's leader.

There was a black footprint in the middle of Suman's chest and blood was trickling down his chin. The cakes, glasses of wine, and roasted meat on the table had all been blown into pieces.

The fruit wine's aroma drifted in the air.

"That is enough, Doris," Suman said with a deadpan expression. "Sella is but a good friend of mine." He might be an untalented mortal, but he showed no fear standing up against a formal wizard.

"Are you mocking me?!" Doris's face turned red from rage. "You have never treated me seriously, even when we were in Coran City…You must learn to respect me…" He rubbed his cheek and looked daggers at Sella.

"Master Doris, please do not…" A girl wearing a long dress came to Doris and tried to calm him.

"Get away from me!" Doris shoved the girl, and she fell to the ground.

The wineglass she was holding fell from her hand and drenched her dress wet. A maid walked to her at once and lent her a helping hand to clean the mess.

The other guests decided to stay away from Doris upon witnessing what happened, knowing that Doris had lost his mind.

"Doris…" At this instant, Shozo entered the main hall apace after he stepped out of a ball of black flame that appeared beforehand.

"This is my party…" he warned with a deep voice.

A black shadow appeared behind Doris and released a strong mentality wave.

"Master Shozo, it's not that I'm disrespecting you, but it's the girl who hit Doris first."

Two incredibly powerful mentality waves clashed.

The atmosphere inside the hall was growing increasingly heavier as the two mentality waves tried to overwhelm one another.

An invisible vortex was created between Shozo and the black shadow.

But as soon as Angele stepped into the hall, the two calmed down and the hall became silent once again.

Mincola, standing behind Sella, shook his head slightly. All the guests were looking at Mincola, Sella, and Suman.

Mincola only gave Angele a slight nod when he saw him look at him. Both exchanged eye contact without being noticed by others.

Angele immediately walked to the crowd and stepped forth.

"Master Shozo, what happened?" he asked in a low voice.

"Do not worry about it, Angele. There is just a small problem. I will take care of it," Shozo replied with a forced smile.

"Actually, a friend of mine is part of that group…" Angele turned to the side and his eyes fell on Mincola.

Shozo noticed Mincola's presence when he looked at the three. He nodded slightly and looked at Angele again. "Like I said, I will take care of it."

"Thanks."

Angele no longer said anything else but nodded and retreated into the crowd. He wanted to steer away from trouble but Mincola had helped him a lot back in the aerial port city.

The black shadow must be someone part of Black Earth and seemed to have personal issues with Shozo, so the situation at present was quite complicated. It was no longer simply a conflict between heirs of their respective organization and Thousand Waterfall City, but this conflict had already touched the political conflicts within organizations.

Angele was the third elder's, Vivian's, only heir, so he was far more notable than anyone else inside the hall. Isabella and Ivan were merely one of the children their parents had, easily replaceable if anything happened.

Angele decided to make use of his backing to help Mincola when necessary. Vivian had won the war against the lords for Elemental Hand. Everyone inside knew about her achievements, so they would not give Angele too much trouble if he desired anything.

Wizards' strength was not simply determined by their own rank. Vivian herself was a rank 4 wizard, but her mentality and spell power were both at the summit at this rank.

The young man called Doris finally settled down a bit and began exchanging words with Shozo through energy particles. The black shadow behind him started releasing their mentality again as if to showcase their power to everyone else in the hall.

"Fine, you are right. I should have thought twice before inviting them here," Shozo said aloud. An agreement seemed to have been reached. "Sella attacked Doris first, so she should be the one to apologize."

Doris rubbed his cheeks once more. It seemed that the girl had slapped him too hard.

"Master Shozo and I have reached an agreement." He suddenly pointed at Suman. "This untalented bastard is the reason why I got slapped! I think you all witnessed this unpleasant event. Sella, if you leave Suman, I will not punish you for slapping me in the face!"

"That is impossible!" Sella bit her lips. "Suman and Mincola are my best friends!"

"Sella." Shozo scowled. "Whatever, do what Doris says and leave Suman now. I love you, but you cannot act too selfishly. Also, do not hit Doris ever again."

"Master Shozo!" Sella paled. It seemed that Shozo was not going to cross swords with the son of the leader of Black Earth. Even though Shozo loved Sella, she was merely one of his many cousins. Shozo was a wizard, so he would go with the decision that would benefit him the most.

Sella was someone important to Shozo and sending her to Doris would resolve the matter at hand. He did not want to fight with that black shadow at a dinner party he himself hosted.

Standing at the side, Angele had just finished communicating with Mincola.

"I told Master Shozo that you are my friend, so you will be fine. But I suggest you do not try to help that girl. This is none of your business."

Mincola knew Angele was helping him. He only shrugged when he looked at Angele.

Shozo and Doris had already decided how to peacefully resolve the issue while Angele was communicating with Mincola.

"All right then. I will leave Sella to you. You can do whatever you want with Suman and that young man. This matter ends here now. I do not owe you anything anymore."

Shozo did not mention anything about Mincola. He hesitated for a second before he finished speaking, but it seemed as though he did not care too much about Angele's friend.

"Thank you, Master Shozo. Capture them for me now!" Doris commanded after nodding to Shozo's words.

Both Mincola and Angele's expressions changed.

Angele no longer had any other choice if he wanted to uphold his promise.

"Master Angele." Lyn immediately grasped Angele's hand and shook her head.

Shozo realized what Angele was about to do, so he quickly communicated with him through energy particles. "Come on, Angele! This is not a joke. Step down and calm yourself. Forget about your friend." Shozo could not comprehend why Angele was insisting on helping out Mincola.

Angele knew that the black shadow behind Doris was a rank 4 wizard and was uncertain if that person would not kill him simply because he was the only son of the third elder. It was impossible for him to best a rank 4 wizard. When Vivian learned of the situation, he would already be long dead.

Mincola was his friend at Dark Wizard Tower and had gifted a lot of important resources to Angele.

Angele was doubtful of what would happen to Mincola if he got captured. It looked like Doris was mentally unstable. At any time, Mincola could possibly be executed.

Angele squinted his eyes, hesitant on what right choice to make.

He was currently a rank 1 wizard. Members of Elemental Hand treated him simply because Vivian was his mother. Members who had helped him were merely currying favor with Vivian.

Shozo had his own plans and had only done what Vivian would do in such situations. There was no point in becoming enemies with Black Earth's leader just for a friend. The benefits would never justify the cost of a trade like that.

Angele was slightly dejected knowing that if he was the strongest wizard in the hall, then the outcome might have been completely different.

Several guards wearing black armor that had dark flame symbols on their chest entered the main hall. They were holding black spears of great length and quickly surrounded the three "culprits" in the middle.

CHI*

Purple flames gushed out of the tips of their spears.

The flames connected with each other and formed a chain, preventing the three from escaping.

The black shadow was pressuring them with the strong mentality wave. They could only watch the flame chain approach.

Doris's expression changed several times as he stared at Sella. He looked depressed, excited, and happy at the same time. It seemed like he was trying to recall the days he had with the girl.

Angele was still trying to figure out a way to help Mincola but knew that Doris probably would not ask the guards to stop even if he asked.

He looked at Mincola. The man had already lowered his head as if he was about to give up.

The purple flame chain would tie them up in seconds.

There was no time to waste. Angele stepped forward and yelled, "Wait!"

His voice attracted all the guests' attention.

Angele had a blank expression on his face as he stared at Doris. It seemed like Doris was woken up by his loud voice.

"Master Doris, that man is my friend. He didn't try to help Sella or Suman after the unpleasant event happened. I'm wondering if you can forgive him and release him from the chain." Angele pointed at Mincola.

It meant nothing to Shozo even if Doris decided to kill Mincola. However, Angele would never just stand there and watch someone that helped him die.

Doris glared at Angele and a guard approached him, telling him who the young man was. He pursed his lips after learning about Angele's background.

The other guests were curious about how Doris would deal with the situation.

Doris shrugged and waved his right hand. "Take them away." He stopped glaring at Angele and turned his head around after giving the order.

The result was not what Angele had expected.

Angele was the only hope the three had but it seemed like Doris was not afraid of Vivian's power.

Angele watched Mincola, Sella, and Suman being tied up by the purple flame chain. They could barely move under the strong pressure from the black shadow's mentality wave. The guards dragged them out of the hall with the chain as though they were dragging dogs.

He gnashed his teeth as his expression turned grim.

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Chapter 331: Conflict (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Without uttering a single word, Shozo glared at Angele while shaking his head and disappeared into the air as he stepped into a ball of black flame.

The rest of the guests looked at Angele as if they were watching a clown performing.

The scene was absolutely humiliating.

Lyn stood behind Angele and pulled his sleeves.

"Master Angele, I think we should just leave."

Angele nodded and gave Doris one final glance. "Let's go."

He turned around and departed from the main hall, with Lyn swiftly following him from behind.

Outside the main hall, Mincola, Sella, and Suman had already been shoved into a black carriage. The door was closed instantly. "Go!" the coachman shouted. The carriage soon started moving.

Angele looked at the carriage sighing with mixed emotions. He then began heading to his own carriage.

Suddenly, he heard a loud noise coming from an explosion before he entered.

BOOM*

The black carriage was set into a ball of conflagration after blowing into pieces. Sparks of the orange flames fell and lit some of the grass. Angele heard the butlers near the gate shouting in fear.

The light of the flames illuminated the grassy area.

Red mist quickly left the exploded carriage then sank into the ground.

"What happened?"

"They escaped?!"

"The carriage exploded!"

Two shadows jumped off the hall and landed in front of the exploded carriage which reformed into two human beings.

The one on the left was Shozo, whom Angele thought he had already left the place. The one on the right was a man in a tight black suit with a mask holding two crimson tridents.

Doris, too, rushed out of the hall with a disappointed face. The guards and the guests swiftly ran outside through the side door.

Shozo pointed at the burning carriage.

At once, the carriage was quickly enveloped by his mentality wave.

The flame weakened and soon extinguished several seconds later. Only green smoke continued rising from the remains of the carriage.

"They are gone. Three guards have been killed," a guard checked the remains and reported back.

"They broke the flame chain then cast a short-distance teleportation spell. We can still find and capture them," the masked man spoke in a deep tone.

"Guards! Search the entire mansion!" Doris pointed at the guards and commanded.

Angele and Lyn stood beside the carriage watching the guards running around like chickens that had their heads cut off.

"They have already escaped anyway…Let's go." Angele opened the door and jumped into the carriage. Lyn nodded and jumped onto the driving seat.

"Let us return to Elemental Hand. Tell Hakeem to wait for us outside the city," Angele commanded.

The carriage started moving toward the exit slowly.

No one paid too much attention to his carriage. Many guests had lost their initially higher opinion to Angele due to the way Doris had treated him inside the hall. In any case, Angele did not want to deal too much with those people. There was no longer any point for him to remain.

The carriage left the mansion.

Angele sat on his seat quietly while he listened to the noise of the rolling wheels.

Lyn was not sure what she should say, so she decided to focus on driving the carriage instead.

"Wait! Stop!"

A deep voice came from outside.

Lyn suddenly stopped the carriage, and Angele pushed the door open.

He saw Doris and the rank 4 masked wizard standing in front of their carriage. Their carriage was also surrounded by a troop of guards in black armor.

"Huh? Master Doris? What are you doing?" Angele asked innocently.

"It was you, right? Where did you hide them?" Shozo revealed himself from the shadows and questioned in a grim tone. "You were the one who blew up the carriage."

Angele was not sure why Shozo was treating him as if he was nothing. If the man truly was still trying to develop a romantic relationship with Vivian, then he should be helping him resolve the matter at hand. But instead, he chose to help Doris, a man that was not even a part of Elemental Hand.

The rumor telling that Shozo was a cold-blooded bastard seemed to be actually true. A wizard who only cared for things and people that would bring benefits to him.

"Me?" Angele chuckled. "Master Shozo, I am but a rank 1 wizard. Do you really think I can cast such a powerful spell without being noticed?"

"Shut it. You are the only one who tried to lend them a hand." Doris walked to the carriage. "Get off the carriage. I know you are the third elder's son. Hand them over to me, then I will let you go."

"I told you already. It wasn't me," Angele coldly replied.

"Cut the crap. We have already searched every nook and cranny of the area. Your carriage is the only we have yet to check." The masked man raised his tridents.

"You will not trust me no matter what I say, will you?" Angele shook his head and jumped off the carriage.

"Hand them over, then I will let you leave." Doris's cold gaze fell on Angele.

"What if I don't want to?" Angele knew that there was no longer any point in arguing with him. Black patterns flashed in his eyes.

"Well, if you don't…" Doris pursed his lips.

"You will regret your decision!"

A sharp spark manifested out of Doris's shadow as soon as he finished speaking. Angele quickly conjured a silver shield to block the attack.

CLANK*

Flames sparked between the two.

With a flick of his finger, countless silver metal needles appeared in front of Angele.

BAM*

Silver light flashed in the air and countless silver needles rained above Doris. There was a black needle mixed in with the silver needles, aiming at Doris' chest.

Doris was not fast enough to react, but the black spikes from his forcefield blocked most of the silver needles for him.

BAM*

Nevertheless, Doris had still gotten struck by the black needle. He lost consciousness while his chest was constantly being petrified.

"How dare you!"

The masked man raised his right hand and aimed at Angele.

The powerful mentality released by a rank 4 wizard restricted Angele from making any movement.

He could only watch as the masked man grasped his neck, while the trident's tips were infused with dark red energy particles. Angele was uncertain of his metal barrier being able to handle the attack.

The man had gotten completely infuriated that he was now actually trying to kill Angele.

"Wait!" Shozo nervously shouted from one side.

"Arrogant bastard!" Suddenly, a deep, hoarse voice echoed in Angele's ears.

A translucent blue hand appeared in front of Angele's chest and seized the incoming trident.

BAM*

A noise that sounded similar to metal being squeezed by an immense force reverberated.

The masked man grunted, and he almost looked as if he had been struck by lightning. He retreated several steps. Blood was leaking out of his eyes and ears.

His hand holding the trident melted like candle, falling to the ground and turning into a puddle of red sticky fluid.

Shozo's black energy barrier finally arrived and somehow hindered the blue hand from striking the masked man once more.

Then, the blue hand lightly tapped on the energy barrier, causing it to break into pieces in but a moment. It was still going after the masked man.

CHI*

The blue hand increased in length from one meter to ten meters. However, it had been blocked once again, now by a black vortex that had appeared out of thin air.

There was noise coming from the black vortex which sounded like a beast roaring in pain.

The vortex disappeared immediately.

The blue hand swung to the right and almost struck Shozo.

Shozo's expression changed. His right hand reformed into black mist that contained flashes of lightning within.

Red light flashed in the air as the blue hand made contact with the black mist.

BAM*

The shockwave from the violent explosion blew everyone away.

Angele noticed that his body was covered by a thin layer of energy barrier while he was flying away.

His sight blurred, and his head ached. Angele could not see what was happening in front.

"Henn, was that you?" he asked.

"I was the only one who could help you in that situation." Henn sounded exhausted. "Escape with your friend now. Shozo and the masked man are severely injured. This is your chance. I wasted too much mentality during that fight. There will be nothing else I can do after two minutes."

"Thanks." Angele knew it was not the right time to talk and he could finally see things clearly again.

Most of the people had been blown away by the impact. The blue energy barrier around Angele absorbed most of the shockwave and protected Lyn from the explosion.

Blue mist permeated the air and the visibility was extremely low.

Lyn was still feeling dizzy. Angele grabbed her right hand quickly and ditched the carriage. He checked the direction using Zero and ran into the undergrowth.

'Shozo should never be trusted.' Angele confirmed his conjecture. He was not certain just what Shozo was up to but his 'love' towards Vivian was most likely fake.

Shozo hesitated when the masked man attempted to kill Angele. He had plenty of time to release that energy barrier earlier, yet he had not done so. It was almost as if he was trying to protect that man from being killed by Henn instead. Those two must be very well acquainted with each other.

Angele knew for sure that it was Mincola who destroyed the carriage and cast the teleportation spell. He was an elite of Dark Wizard Tower, so he definitely had the capability to break the chain.

Angele took one final look at the middle of the explosion radius. Shozo and the masked man were both lying on the ground coughing loudly as if they had caught a bad cold.

Blood also trickled out of their eyes, mouth, and ears every time they coughed. Such a scene was terrifying to behold.

"Move." Angele turned around and dragged Lyn away from that place.

With but a few moments, they soon disappeared into the blue mist.

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Chapter 332: Mission Complete (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Two blurry shadows were moving swiftly along a dark path between the trees of the forest.

Even though it was supposedly dark, the glowing blue mushrooms on both sides of the path provided them with minimum visibility.

Angele, who was advancing at full speed, swiftly checked the sky. Several specks of red light that looked like fireflies were chasing after them.

In reality, however, these were fully-armored knights riding enormous red eagles. The knights were wearing glowing red helmets that looked like a bunch of light bulbs flying in the night sky.

The cries of the eagles were piercingly sharp and loud.

"Master, what should we do?" Lyn communicated with him through energy particles—she sounded nervous.

"I have already notified Master Vivian. She will send a team to help us."

Angele maintained a calm composure, organizing his thoughts before he spoke, "I severely injured Shozo and that masked man using a magic device Master Vivian has given me. They will not be able to catch up in two hours. They need that amount of time to recover, so we must leave the area before they completely recover."

"Two hours?" Lyn knew there had been a fight earlier, but her head was aching. Thus, she was completely clueless regarding what happened. She only saw something blue flying around then at the next second, Angele had already dragged her into the shrubberies.

Their conversation ended there. Both of them knew that the best option they had was to return to the headquarters of Elemental Hand since it was also the main base of the Watchers, and they would certainly lend them a hand.

Each elder of Elemental Hand had their own private army. The Watchers that Master Vivian had founded would comply only with her commands. They were members of Elemental Hand, but they had the privilege to ignore direct orders from the council. This kind of situation would change only if Vivian somehow lost her life.

Wizards and wizard apprentices all needed to sign a special contract upon joining the Watchers to ensure that their loyalty lay with the third elder.

"What? Angele nearly killed Doris?!"

Inside the secret chamber of the ruin underneath the volcano. At present, Vivian was rubbing her temples in disbelief at what she had just heard. The message had been delivered by a translucent human in front of her.

It was a young woman wearing a tight black suit and a silver headband. Her body was surrounded by thick, black mist.

"Yes, master. Master Angele injured Doris and even used a strange spell to heavily injure Shozo and a rank 4 wizard from Black Earth. He is being pursued as we speak, though I think they will not be able to catch him. He is running towards us while being accompanied by Lyn," the woman responded.

"Are you sure it was Doris? The beloved son of Black Earth's leader?"

"I'm certain."

"All right…I think I am getting used to Angele getting into trouble…" Vivian sighed with mixed feelings. What Angele had done definitely was giving her headache.

"The strange spell should be a special rune that was applied to him by Master Henn. Otherwise, it would be nearly impossible for him to injure two rank 4 wizards at the same time. A long blue hand, huh? Anyway, just tell me what's going on now."

"Master Angele has already left Rofo City. It will take him about two days to reach the closest Watchers guard post. Doris's guards, the flying knights of Black Earth, are still pursuing him but I have not seen Master Shozo," the woman spoke objectively.

"Give me a break…" Vivian closed her eyes for a second and continued, "Send the 'Triumvir' out to help Angele stop the pursuit of the flying knights. Be careful when interacting with them. I do not want the situation to get any worse. We still need to focus on the problem with Thousand Waterfall City first."

"Understood."

PA*

The translucent woman disappeared.

Only Vivian remained inside the chamber. She walked to a chair and slowly leaned her back as she sat down.

"Black Earth…Perhaps I should never let Angele leave the mansion again…" It was not that Vivian wanted to be seen as overprotective, but Angele was her only son.

She did not bother herself too much with the blue hand that Angele manifested.

Wizards at higher ranks often had stronger power but it also depended on the spells they knew and how high their mentality levels were. Vivian still had the advantage facing the six lords, and all of them were rank 4 wizards. She had also driven the storm giant away. Had Angele not touched the birth flower, she could have ended the war then and there.

The five elders were the reason why Elemental Hand was considered as one of the most powerful organizations within the region.

The council would only send out elders to fight in a war when it was necessary. Each elder had their own unique abilities and magic devices.

Vivian's unique skill lay in drawing power from the gravitational magic circle. It could double or even triple her spell power and it could be activated anywhere as long as it was within Elemental Hand's territory. This aspect was what drew a line between her and the other rank 4 wizards.

The gravitational magic circle could still be activated outside the organization's territory, but it would no longer have the same potency.

'I should keep him within the headquarters. I have won the war for the council, so they probably will not question my decision. It will be much easier for me to train him properly if he's in the headquarters. Other members of the organization will also treat him well because I'm his mother…'

Vivian had already deduced a plan in her mind.

The only reason she decided to serve in the war for the council was to help Angele reach a higher position within the organization. Vivian herself knew that she might one day leave the council, but everything would be fine if Angele succeeded her to become the new third elder.

'I loathe politics but at least Angele will be safe in the headquarters…' Vivian rubbed her temples again. She walked to the table and started writing a letter addressed to the leader of Black Earth.

Vivian was not actually afraid of the Black Earth organization, but she did not want to initiate a war merely because the Black Earth's heir had been injured by her son.

It was late at night.

Angele continued traveling at full speed within the forest. It looked like he was nervous about the current circumstances.

Blue light dots were flashing in front of his eyes which looked a bit queer in the dark night.

Lyn was having difficulty keeping up with his speed. Angele's Agility stat was 12 units, so he looked like a blurry shadow while running at full speed.

Angele had gripped Lyn's right hand and used his other hand to cut down the undergrowth in front of him.

They were running so fast that the thorny bushes might injure them. Angele had his metal barrier and an extremely high Stamina. He did not care too much about the thorns but was not sure if Lyn could properly handle the thorns.

Lyn's barrier from her forcefield was not built for withstanding relentless attacks. She did not have enough mentality and mana to support her barrier, so the thorns had already left several wounds on her arms.

Angele noticed this issue and decided to clear the path for her.

They had been running nonstop for about two hours already. There were not many red specks of light, which were the helmets of the flying knights, left in the sky. It seemed that they had already lost track of Angele and Lyn.

"I probably cannot win against the flying knights, but I am confident in my speed." Angele could still talk without him getting out of breath while running.

However, Lyn shook her head. She was crazily panting, so it was impossible for her to respond at the moment.

'This is ridiculous…'

Lyn realized that Angele was a much stronger wizard than her. Angele's speed was much faster than the flying knights. She could not believe how much distance they had covered in such a short amount of time.

Lyn tried to push herself forward using energy particles. That was the only speed boosting technique she knew, yet she was still much slower than Angele. Moreover, the energy particles generated a lot of unnecessary noise. Right now, she wished she knew a better speed boosting spell.

The specks of red light finally disappeared from the sky after several hours of continuous running.

Angele checked the sky and suddenly turned towards his right.

More and more trees, strange trees appeared on both sides of the path. These strange trees had uniquely-shaped, enormous roots.

'That is…the Sherry Forest?!' Lyn instantly recognized those roots, knowing that only trees of the Sherry Forest had such characteristics. She wanted to communicate with Angele through energy particles, but she did not even have enough mentality to manipulate them.

Lyn had used most of her mana and mentality to support her own energy barrier.

Sherry Forest was one of the most dangerous locations within Elemental Hand's territory. There were countless mutated creatures and human beings living within. The five elders once explored the forest together but found no valuable resources, so they marked it as a forbidden area. Lyn did not expect Angele to lead her to this place.

Several minutes later, Angele suddenly released Lyn's hand from his grip.

She only heard a calm voice coming from the darkness. "Have some rest. I will find some dried branches." When Angele finished his words, he disappeared.

Lyn sat on the ground heavily panting. Beads of sweat kept dripping down her hair. Her long robe was completely soaked, so it was sticky and uncomfortable.

There was still dim light coming from the glowing mushrooms on the ground, but she could barely see her surroundings.

Lyn stood up but then decided not to move around anymore since she no longer had mentality left to manipulate fire energy particles. She leaned against a giant tree and took out an enchanted item to prepare for any possible attacks from mutated beasts.

Angele walked for another several minutes before stopping under a gigantic tree.

He rubbed the ring on the middle finger of his right hand three times.

CHI*

Rays of white light were released from the ring and brightened up the surroundings.

Angele soon noticed that a mysterious energy wave appeared on his left, and it was connected to the ring.

He turned to his left and quickly rushed towards the source of the energy wave.

Several minutes later, he found the place where he first met Mocco.

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Chapter 333: Mission Complete (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Many fruits completely identical to each other were hanging from the trees.

Under those brown fruits, there were many black flowers the size of a carriage wheel.

Translucent fluid was dripping down from the fruits which were quickly absorbed by the flowers' pistil.

One of the fruits cracked open as soon as Angele entered the area, revealing the glowing flesh inside.

Several seconds later, a strange human face manifested on the white flesh.

"Hey, you. We meet again," the face greeted Angele. Angele could only see its eyes and mouth. It had no nose or ears.

The green eyes of the face were glowing. Angele tried his utmost to avoid eye contact with it since the green light was making him feel uncomfortable.

"Mocco, long time no see." A gentle smile appeared on Angele's face. He then stepped forward and stood in front of the cracked fruit. "I am here to complete the mission."

"Mission?" Mocco was a tad confused. He started checking the database immediately. "Don't tell me you have already finished concocting the Poison Cloud Potion."

"Yeah, it is done." Angele shrugged.

Mocco hesitated but ultimately scanned Angele with a pair of its emerald-like eyes. "Do not even attempt to trick me. No offense, but I do not think you could possibly finish concocting that potion that quick."

"See for yourself…" Angele did not want to waste any time and quickly retrieved a small tube from one of his pouches.

The tube was sealed with a wooden stopper and there was a boiling, sticky, brown fluid contained inside. This was the concentrated Poison Cloud Potion.

"Drop this small tube to the ground. Most creatures will die within its effective range. It is not effective on wizards above rank 2, but it is still quite potent. I invested a lot of time and resources into this," Angele explained as he tapped on the test tube. "Hurry up. Someone is still waiting for me in the forest. I need to keep my identity a secret."

"Ah…alright…" Mocco was still completely shocked. "Your talent on potion concocting is incredible. Three years, and you actually completely concocted a Potion Cloud Potion. I will immediately report back the situation to the headquarters. Actually, you know what, I am not 'alone' here. Mocco is actually the combination of 32 wizards' mentality waves from the headquarters. The information you told me will be disseminated to the 32 wizards. They gave you this mission. I have not seen a Potions Master with such talent in at least 50 years now…The last one was the son of the grand wizard, Finn…" Mocco spouted a bunch of facts and trivia to Angele.

Angele scanned Mocco using Zero and it detected ten different mentality waves. Perhaps they were the wizards who wanted to talk to Angele and were fighting with each other to gain control of Mocco.

"Sorry for the delay. All right, your mission points have been sent to your ring. Please do keep the ring with you always. Once you lose it, you will have to fill out a pile of complicated application forms. You can exchange items and services using the points you earned from the first mission. Here is the list."

Mocco opened its mouth at a strange angle, and a long, brown leather scroll slowly rolled down its tongue.

The scroll was tied with a black string and there was a metal shoulder piece inside.

Angele took the scroll and removed the seal. The benefits of being a core member of Dark Wizard Tower were listed on it alongside the required mission points that were marked on the side.

He needed to return to Lyn's side before she could completely recover her mentality. Angele then tied up the scroll again and hid it underneath his sleeves.

Angele picked up the piece of armor that had dropped to the ground and did a quick inspection on it.

"What is this?"

"You are now an authorized member of the organization, so we have sent you a small gift. It is called the 'Crystal Spaulder'. This spaulder may seem like a chunk of metal, but it is made from black crystal and is enchanted with a buff spell. The spell can improve your offensive or defensive spells by 50%."

"Crystal Spaulder…" Angele was inspecting the armor piece using the biochip.

"Remember, this armor is only gifted to the members who have completed the first challenge. Do not wear it like a normal piece of armor as you may be recognized by people who have knowledge of our organization. With this armor piece, you can hire mercenaries of the Shadow Company, but you must use your mission points in order to do so. One or two shadow mercenaries will be sent to you in a week by the headquarters. The cost is already covered by the organization. Also, information regarding ruin exploration, treasure hunting, and secret meetings will be delivered to you from different divisions. You are, however, not forced to attend any of these events since they all have an admission fee."

"That means I can hire mercenaries, purchase intelligence reports, and join in special events as long as I have enough mission points, right?" Angele was curious about these.

"Yes—all the intelligence reports, secret events, and special items. You only need to exchange them with your mission points. Secret treasures and ancient techniques found from the ruins will not be sold to the public. Only the strongest members of the organization have the right to purchase them. The concoction of the Poison Cloud Potion was not a simple mission but was a truly difficult challenge. You are one of the most talented potion masters in our organization. Work hard and keep on improving. Then your future will become as bright as the sun…" Mocco smiled and disappeared into the fruit's flesh.

The crack on the fruit closed and the white light disappeared.

Angele pondered for a short while before keeping the crystal spaulder into his pouch. Then he turned around and began returning back to Lyn's location.

He acquired 10 mission points by completing the challenge. There were many things he could do using the points he currently had according to the information on the scroll.

His interest was also piqued due to the shadow mercenaries Mocco had talked about.

Several minutes later, Angele found Lyn leaning against a large tree with her eyes closed. Her mentality seemed to be recovering.

Angele brought back several dried branches he found along the way and quickly built a campfire.

The orange light from the flame brightened up the surroundings and brought warmth to the two wizards.

Lyn slowly opened her eyes. She lightly bit her lips as she watched Angele build a campfire.

"Master Angele…I should be the one building the campfire…I am sorry, and…"

"Get some rest. It was I who brought you into this mess. We are in the Sherry Forest where there are countless mutated beasts roaming around. We cannot stay here for too long." Angele stopped Lyn from continuing.

The light from the dancing flames illuminated their faces. They no longer continued their earlier conversation.

Lyn rested for a while and decided to cook food with the ingredients she had on her.

They began to travel once more the next day and finally saw several archers in black armor suits near the forest's edge.

"It's the 3rd regiment of the Watchers." Lyn immediately recognized their identities and approached them.

The archers surrounded Angele and Lyn with them right in the middle of the encirclement. They wanted to make sure that there were no enemy scouts around. A tall man carrying a black bow on his back walked to Angele and bowed.

"Master Angele, I am the captain of the 3rd company. We are here to escort you home. Let's move now." The man's voice was deep and loud. He called Angele "master" but did not express too much of a fawning attitude.

"Sure. The flying knights have already lost track of us. Do not be too nervous." Angele sighed in relief.

"Our mission is to escort you to the second secret guard post. Majority of the Watchers are still serving in the war, so this is only a temporary company. Please hurry, we still need to join in the war after we finish escorting you," the man explained with a face devoid of any expression.

"All right, let's go." Angele nodded. He himself knew just how crucial the war against Thousand Waterfall City was, so he did not want to waste their time.

More or less a hundred archers were part of the company. All of them were rank 3 wizard apprentices but all of them possessed a body comparable that of knights'. Angele also noticed that the archers carried a lot of low-level enchanted items with them.

Angele was ambushed by a black boar that was five meters tall on their way back.

However, searching for the boar's weak point had only taken the archers several seconds.

Hundreds of black metal arrows escaped from the bows and rained on the boar's head.

The boar's Stamina stat was over 19 units—it was a terrifying number. The arrowheads had been infused with fire energy particles, so they exploded together resulting in the boar being blown into pieces. Only a pile of black ash was left on the ground.

Not a single arrow released by this company of archers missed. The accumulated damage their arrows dealt was over 1000 degrees.

Angele would not even believe that a company of trained rank 3 wizard apprentices possessing attributes at a similar level that of a knight could deal such a high damage had he not witnessed the battle with his own two eyes.

He initially never once thought wizard apprentices could actually aid him during a battle, but this company of wizard apprentices could easily ambush and even kill a formal wizard with such a formidable teamwork.

Lyn, too, finally showed her full capabilities after her mentality had fully recovered.

She applied a speed boost to everyone in the company. With the aid of energy particles, they were now traveling at an incredibly fast speed.

Although it was slower compared to Angele's speed, they still arrived at Angele's mansion in just two days, with Vivian there awaiting his arrival.

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Chapter 334: Rank Up (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

It was noon. The hot sunlight shone across the land.

Angele and Lyn, who were right in the middle of the formation, were being protected by the archers as they traveled back to the mansion directly. Angele looked tired, adding to the fact that his black robe was completely in tatters.

He looked ahead towards the mansion and noticed someone in red standing beside the lake looking at them.

The red robe was eye-catching while beside the green lake under the golden sunlight.

"It's Master Vivian." Lyn communicated through energy particles.

Angele nodded, not expecting Vivian to return from the battlefield just for him.

The captain of the archer company bowed to Vivian from the far side and activated the communication rune to report the situation.

The archers moved aside and cleared the way for Angele and Lyn.

The two hesitated for a moment before they directly came to Vivian quickly.

"Lyn, get some rest. Thanks for your service." Vivian's voice echoed in the air.

Nodding in response, Lyn bowed to Vivian and waited at one side.

Angele stopped in front of Vivian and cleaned his robe.

"I have already told you to think twice before doing anything," Vivian reprimanded him in a calm manner, though it did not sound like she was blaming him.

She crouched by the river and scooped up some water with both of her hands. There was a four-legged, black fish swimming in the water slowly.

"I'm sorry for doing what I did." Angele was not sure how to explain the situation to her.

"Yeah, you should be sorry." Vivian rolled her eyes. "Doris is a renowned troublemaker in the Black Earth. Furthermore, his father never questions any action he makes. I do not fear their organization but right now is not the right time. Elemental Hand still needs to deal with the lords first."

She soaked her hands in the clean water thereby causing her sleeves to become wet. Angele noticed that there were two black bands around her ankles, but it looked like they were just normal accessories.

"I was only trying to save a good friend of mine, but it looks like Doris does not even care that I'm your son," Angele explained in a low voice as he shrugged. He knew he would have been successfully tracked down by the assassins of Black Earth had Vivian not come to his rescue.

Vivian shook her head looking a tad speechless. "How important was that friend to you? In any case, I know you regret your decision. That is a good thing." She stood up, and the water on her hands had been evaporated by the fire energy particles.

"All right then. Let me check your progress with the Molten Core River technique since I am here already. Just ask me if you have any question."

"Sure." Angele nodded then he started asking the questions he had in mind regarding the fourth and fifth stages of the technique.

Time continued to flow. The sun began to set and the orange light it released shone on the surface of the river.

They talked for several hours just standing beside the river.

"All right, that is enough for today. I still need to talk to Black Earth's leader. Doris's bodyguard did not hesitate when he tried to kill you, so I need to teach them some manners…" A golden glow surrounded her eyes. "Stay in the mansion, and do not leave until you completely master the fourth stage of the Molten Core River technique."

She rubbed Angele's cheeks with both of her hands before pulling and kneading them into a strange shape.

Angele tried to escape Vivian's hands, but she suddenly released her powerful mentality wave just to stop him from moving away from her.

'That's one way of utilizing mentality waves…' Angele tongue-tied but there was nothing he could do about it.

Angele's face should be covered with a thin layer of metal, but Vivian seemed to completely ignore his barrier.

"I have also learned of the portal to the fairy realm. Do not worry too much about it. Many portals have opened during the recent years but none of them stabilized."

"Got it."

Vivian continued to play with Angele's cheeks for a short while before she turned away and disappeared into a ball of dark red flames.

There was a wry smile on Angele's face. He himself knew Vivian was merely protecting him from any harm, but he did not want to stay put in the same place forever.

He shook his head and rubbed his chin. Angele soon walked to the mansion as he activated a red communication rune.

Lyn received his message and headed to the mansion as well. Under Vivian's direct command, the archer company had already left.

The mansion was completely empty except for the two maids who were waiting for them in the living room. They were the only two wizards left here.

Angele entered the living room and sat down on a sofa.

"Lyn, pick any room you like. Thanks for attending the party with me."

"My pleasure." Although Lyn looked tired, she still replied to Angele in a courteous manner. She bowed after she finished speaking and went to check out the rooms.

Angele leaned his back on the backrest of the sofa and spread out his arms.

CHI*

Suddenly, two communication runes flashed on the back of his hands simultaneously.

The one on the left looked like a white toad, while the one on the right was a green spider.

Angele tapped on the white toad rune. It was a message coming from Mincola.

"It's me, Mincola. Thanks for the help Angele. I met Suman and Sella along the way to the party, but never did I expect for the situation to be so complicated. I apologize for bringing you into this. We have already left Rofo City. I will contact you later. We will repay you in the future."

Angele slightly nodded before he tapped on the green spider rune.

"Dear Angele, this message is sent in February from the aerial port city. Although I used the signal tower, it will still take several months for this to be delivered to you. I am glad that you wrote a letter to me. Master Arisma wishes to talk to you one day, thinking you are more talented than me. Also, please inform Master Henn that Master Arisma said she wanted to first track down the people who ambushed them before continuing their fight, but they have a powerful background. By the way, I have already advanced to rank 2. I hope you are doing well…"

It came from Stigma. The Wizard of Destiny, Arisma, was currently inhabiting in his body. He stayed in his family's territory and wanted to gain control of the family when the time was ripe.

"She wants to work with me?" Henn heard Stigma's message as well. Angele had deactivated the crystal scorpion since he knew that there would be information related to Arisma.

"It should be a real problem if that old bastard says those people have a powerful background…" Henn's tone of voice sounded grim.

"It is way too early to think about it. If you want me to fight for your sake, I will have to rank up first." Angele deactivated the communication rune.

"You have already found the advanced meditation technique suitable for you. I am certain that you can advance to rank 3. Rank 1 is the hardest to surpass as a wizard but ranks 2 and 3 are relatively easy with the help of your meditation technique. Then things will become more difficult again once you attempt to advance to rank 4. But as long as you can progress in the Molten Core River technique and be given enough time, ranking up will not be too much of a problem to you," Henn explained.

"Does this rule apply to other wizards who possess advanced meditation techniques?" Angele asked.

"It depends on the resources you have and your talent level. Average wizards normally need one or two hundred years before they can rank up even with the aid of advanced meditation techniques. You will be able to rank up relatively easier if you know how to completely master each stage. But if you have trouble comprehending and mastering one stage of the technique, then it might take you forever to reach the next rank," Henn continued.

"So most wizards in the central continent can reach rank 2. Then, they will be considered elites in their respective organizations?" Angele narrowed his eyes.

"You are correct. Every time you fail to advance to the next rank, there is a possibility of losing your physical form and you will have to give up. There are many wizards who meet the requirements in order to advance to the next rank but are too afraid to attempt. Anyway, I still need more rest. I wasted way too much mana and mentality in that last encounter. Do not disturb me if you do not have anything of importance to say." Henn soon stopped talking after she gave an explanation.

Angele activated the crystal scorpion once again and started examining Zero's analysis progress.

A maid brought him a hot cup of tea and desserts.

Just then, Angele realized that there should be more workers in the mansion.

"Wait, where are the other workers? They should have come here with you, right?" Angele took the teacup.

"Many of them died from the plague while you were away, and we buried them in the forest…Master Liv also had to ask several workers to leave," the maid answered sheepishly. "We are the last two maids remaining."

The adolescent woman was about 19 years of age. She was speaking with a shaky voice, seemingly afraid of talking to Angele.

"Plague?" Angele had not received any information regarding such situation. "Why are you still here, then? You might die too, you know."

The maid opened her mouth, seemingly a bit low-spirited, "We do not have anywhere else to go…"

"So Liv could not cure the plague…" Angele closed his eyes and sighed. "You may leave now. Talk to me immediately if you don't feel well."

"Yes, master!" The maid raised her voice slightly. Angele was her final hope, and she believed that this master wizard could stop the plague if he wanted to. She bowed to Angele and swiftly left the living room.

Angele leaned back on the sofa again and rested for a while. He stood up after several minutes and returned to his room.

KA*

The door was pulled open.

Angele stepped into the room and locked the door. With a flick of his finger, a flickering black rune was imprinted on the middle of the door. The rune looked like a twisted black snake.

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Chapter 335: Rank Up (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Angele carefully retrieved the small, white jade box. This was the Abyssal Box he found in the Spiral Garden.

He reached for a small cylinder from the bookshelf inside the room. The cylinder was made out of yellow bamboo.

PA*

Angele removed the seal and saw several colorful magical cubes inside. The cubes had gathered together and formed a figure of a child's head trying to peek outside.

"Queen Christina's Cubes and the Abyssal Box. I can now build the energy conversion magic circle…" Complicated formulas were displayed in front of Angele's eyes. Concurrently, Zero was still simulating the most optimal method of building the magic circle.

Henn had already transmitted all the necessary information regarding the magic circle to him. There was no longer any point for him to continue training in the Mask of the Black Wing technique, ergo Henn decided to help him out in training in the Molten Core River technique.

The figure of a child formed by the cubes' fusion slowly crawled out of the bamboo cylinder and climbed up Angele's hand.

After thinking for a moment, Angele carefully placed the child in his right palm then covered it with a thin layer of silver.

He collected all the required materials and started to prepare the building of the magic circle. He had made a resolve to advance first to the next rank before doing anything else.

It had taken Angele approximately half a year to finish all his preparations, including the concoction of several potions.

Meanwhile, the Dark Wizard Tower's Shadow Mercenary had already been sent to him and arrived several months ago. It was an unusual entity covered in black mist and looked like a terrifying shadow that had a pair of glowing red eyes.

This Shadow Mercenary technically had no soul. Nevertheless, Angele made sure it had not been sent to him as a spy of the organization. He could command the Shadow Mercenary using the ring used to store his mission points. Angele tried to damage the creature using every means he had yet nothing worked. The creature seemed to be at a much higher level than him.

Most importantly of all, the Shadow Mercenary would only reveal itself to Angele while others, including Lyn, could not even see it at all.

His days living in the mansion were eventful but peaceful. He had asked Lyn to purchase the strongest magic matrices she could from in the public market since he needed these to fight against the black beetles inhabiting in the Nightmare Realm.

He opted to advance to the next rank once he was in the Nightmare Realm in order to keep his methods a secret. Angele similarly wanted to experiment if it was possible that the ancient bloodline he possessed would mutate if he were to successfully advance to rank 2 in the Nightmare Realm.

It was currently night time. The floor's surface was reflecting the pale white moonlight.

Angele was seated at the table without a noise, delicately inspecting three unknown items using a magnifying glass.

Three items were laid out on the table. There was a striped wristband, a wooden plank covered with tiny green roots, and a black plate covered in tiny white dots arranged from left to right, respectively.

"These are the best offensive and defensive magic matrices I could buy in the nearby cities. I could design matrices myself, but I do not have sufficient professional knowledge." Angele put down the magnifying glass and sighed.

The wristband was the Rippling Matrix, the wooden plank was the Twisting Matrix, and the plate was the Light Voice Matrix.

The Rippling Matrix and Twisting Matrix were mainly used to damage targets, while the Light Voice Matrix was used for general area defense and scanning.

The three magic matrices had been improved by countless wizards to the point that their energy lines and runic structures were nearly perfect.

Angele could find magic matrices far more powerful than what he had right now if he contacted Dark Wizard Tower or Vivian. Yet, that would be overkill for the black beetles in the realm. Besides, he wished to see if he could create low-level magic matrices himself.

Angele did not rely too much on Vivian. After all, he was not her real son and was unsure of what would happen if Vivian ever found out about the truth one day. He wanted to learn as much as possible so that he could modify and improve the magic matrices to the way most suitable for his use.

Angele soon finished inspecting the materials and the magic matrices.

He then took out a small, white jade box from his pouch and tightly held it in his hand.

"Everything has been prepared. Time to start the final step."

Angele enveloped all the items with a silver fluid.

He lightly tapped the middle of his chest with his hand.

CHI*

A ray of red light was unleashed from the signet, and his body disappeared from the room.

The Nightmare Realm.

There was dark red mist drifting around in the air.

Right beside a black table in the study, Angele's initially distorted physical body slowly stabilized.

He opened his eyes and looked around. The mansion was deafeningly silent. He did not hear any noise of the beetles roaming outside. Angele picked up all the items he needed before opening the door.

He once again saw the familiar hallway and was the only human being in the building.

The white floor of the hallway was covered in black dust, seemingly as if no one had ever stepped foot on it.

Angele soon walked to the end of the hallway and went downstairs. The red carpet in the living room was rotting in decay.

The main door was open, incessantly shaking in the midst of the cold gusts.

Most of the glowing crystals in the room were broken.

Angele used his stealth technique and walked to the center of the room, and then he slowly took out the three magic matrices.

He held the black plate in his hand and pressed it against the red carpet.

The Light Voice Matrix was surrounded by a white glow but did not produce any noise. The white glow started expanding after several seconds and manifested a large circle on the floor.

Something was beginning to slam upward coming from the center of the circle.

Approximately one minute later, a black pillar about one meter tall stood in front of Angele. There was a small map on top. The internal structure of the building was clearly drawn on the map and the area outside the fence was also within the range.

There was nothing around the main building, but there were countless red dots moving outside the fences. On the top-right corner of the map, there was a signature of someone named Angie, who was likely the wizard who created this magic matrix.

Angele looked at the dark forest outside before ramming a piece of high-quality magic stone into the stone pillar.

PA*

It sounded like an egg being cracked.

A translucent energy barrier appeared around the mansion.

The energy barrier surrounded the whole mansion, including the fences.

Suddenly, he heard approaching noises produced by the beetles that were swiftly moving towards the mansion from all angles.

Angele's expression became alarmed and he quickly set the two other matrices.

KA*

The offensive matrices generated a lot of noise. Two more stone pillars began rising from beneath the floor.

PA*

A black beetle had forcefully smashed against the energy barrier form by the Light Voice Matrix.

PA PAPAPA *

More and more beetles started smashing onto the energy barrier.

However, it seemed as if the magic matrix was strong enough to hold against the damage done by the beetles.

Angele checked the map on the first stone pillar once more. It would still take some time for the other two matrixes to be activated. There was a small bar on top of the map.

The length of the white bar was slowly decreasing and it indicated the amount of energy left in the high-quality magic stone.

The magic stone's energy would be consumed completely once the bar disappeared.

"Approximately ten minutes. One magic stone can support the matrix for ten minutes." Angele did a quick calculation using the biochip.

KA KA*

The control panels of the Twisting Circle and Rippling Circle were fully activated.

Angele took out two more magic stones and inserted them into the control panels.

He quickly finished setting up the effective area and strength of the two offensive magic matrices.

Woo*

Under the night sky of the Nightmare World Realm, distorted energy waves were released from the main building of the mansion.

The energy waves were slowly expanding like water ripples.

All the beetles that touched the distorted waves were slowed down and their bodies started glowing.

Countless green vines had also begun growing around the mansion. Materializing out of the mud, these climbed onto the black beetles' bodies.

Some of the vines had been torn by their sharp teeth. The vines still successfully killed many beetles nonetheless.

The advance of a large number of black beetles was hindered by the energy waves and green vines. The corpses soon turned into acid pools with some of it splashing onto the energy barrier.

Angele was standing in front of the three stone pillars constantly checking the information displayed on the control panels.

The Light Voice Circle's bar almost stopped decreasing but the other two circles' bars still continued to decrease at a fast rate.

However, the energy consumption of the three magic circles slowed down after about ten minutes. It seemed like the first wave of the beetles were either cleared or trapped.

Angele maintained his composure as he stepped out of the door and walked to the fences. He surveyed the situation outside the barrier.

Countless black beetles were either slowed down or trapped by the green vines. Although more beetles were moving out of the darkness, the two offensive matrices were holding up well.

The ice waves from the Rippling Magic Circle were ceaselessly injuring the beetles trapped by the green vines. More beetles were being killed than beetles moving out of the darkness from the other side.

An unusual harmony was produced on the battlefield.

"Great. I should be fine for at least three days if everything goes as planned." Angele was satisfied with the result.

Then with a flick of his fingers, red flames were thrown outside the barrier and fell on the acid pools.

BAM*

The acid pools ignited in flames even though the beetles remained unaffected by such scene. They continued moving across the flames without taking any damage.

Angele took out the Abyssal Box and Queen Christina's Cubes and began drawing runes on an area within the confines of the energy barrier.

Once the energy conversion magic circle was completed, the flames from the acid pools would directly be converted into his own mentality. This was the most powerful function of the secret magic circle that had been designed by Henn. His progress rate with the Molten Core River technique would substantially accelerate.

Minutes later, a glowing red energy barrier appeared inside the defensive energy barrier. The red light shone on Angele's face.

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Chapter 336: The Second Body (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Within the endless blue sky, golden sunlight shone upon the thin clouds.

A black airship was traveling amidst the clouds in the sky.

The airship's control center was located right at the tip of the ship. It was an average-sized room that had minimum visibility due to the lack of light.

A woman in a long, crimson dress stood in front of the glowing control board, her hands rapidly moving around its surface.

The walls of the control center were embedded with glowing white crystals. The gentle glow it produced cast a light on her body.

CHI*

A translucent image of a human being appeared beside the control board.

It was a bald woman wearing a tight black suit.

"Master, the Lords of Thousand Waterfall City are mustering their army at the Ana River. Black Earth seems to thirst for waging war against us as well." The bald woman sounded unfazed.

"We have defeated the lords during the last battle, so they should be recovering from the damages. The problem is their city's magic device that can hold the line against us for a while. But what I do not understand is why they decided to rendezvous at the river…" Vivian sounded surprised. "Did Black Earth summon their Earth Legion led by Rumpetto, the Stone-caller?"

"No, it is the Lightning Legion," the bald woman immediately replied.

"That is strange. The Earth Legion should be their strongest army. They must have forgotten how I annihilated their aerial knights years ago…They cannot do anything to us if it's the Lightning Legion…" There was a confident smile on Vivian's face.

Suddenly, Vivian detected movement in front.

A black string appeared just a meter right in front of her face and moved towards her forehead at lightning speed.

"Again?" Vivian raised her hand and released a ray of red light that blocked the incoming attack.

CHI*

The black string disappeared after it touched the red light.

But at the same time, a translucent hand appeared behind about to grasp her neck.

BOOM*

Another ray of red light was released from her hand.

The translucent hand was destroyed by the light.

Roar*

A clamor that of a beast's roaring reverberated not far from their location. The translucent hand shattered into pieces and soon vanished into the air.

Vivian turned around; her face had now turned cold-blooded.

"There is a spy in our airship. Check each and every one's identity immediately!"

"Understood!" The bald woman nodded in affirmation and disappeared. She seemed to be used to seeing such assassination attempts.

Inside the control center, Vivian turned and started modifying the control board again while looking at the map of the scanned terrain nearby the airship.

After a while, she slowly raised her head and gazed at the endless sky ahead.

"He is coming…Justin, the Storm Giant…"

The situation was increasingly worsening. Vivian's army was being targeted by three different enemies. Even if she was confident triumphing against them in the upcoming battles, she was uncertain if she had brought enough manpower to war.

The lords were assembling their army, while the storm giant was a well-known rank 4 wizard. Justin was comparable to Vivian in terms of their level of skill and his army was well-trained.

The biggest problem lay in Black Earth's Rumpetto, the Stone-caller, though the Earth Legion itself was not a big problem. Vivian was the second most powerful council elder of Elemental Hand and had rarely lost battles.

The positions of the council elders were not determined by their skill levels. Instead, it was hereditary as all elders had their own successors who would take over once they retired or died. Molten Core River had been passed on to Vivian. The same thing happened with the gravitational magic circle that had been continuously improved over the years by her predecessors, the former third elders. This was the strongest magic circle that could aid in increasing the overall power of Molten Core River. Without it, her power would greatly reduce.

The other elders were similarly successors of certain advanced meditation techniques and special abilities.

Vivian thought for a while, feeling a bit anxious at this time. 'The situation is getting worse for Elemental Hand. Good thing is, Black Earth did not target Angele. He should be fine.'

Angele had still been receiving assistance from Henn, but she needed more time to restore her mentality. Average wizards could not possibly handle her attacks.

Aside from that, Vivian had sent a special troop that would patrol around the mansion without her telling Angele.

The Nightmare Realm. The mansion by the river.

The mansion was being protected by a transparent energy shield. The entire shield looked similar to a glass dome which reflected the image of the surrounding trees.

Distorted energy waves were extending to all angles. Green vines were rapidly growing to form into green undergrowth that encircled the entire mansion.

When dawn arrived, the black beetles finally began to retreat as they feared the light.

There was a bell-shaped, red energy ball on the ground.

It was flashing rhythmically as though it was breathing.

But as time passed, its surface turned transparent.

After ten minutes, it completely dissipated only to reveal the person standing inside.

Short brown hair, silver skin, and a muscular body.

It was Angele, who had stayed inside the ball for three days.

He opened his eyes slowly and checked his body.

His appearance seemed to have slightly changed and he seemed to have gotten more handsome than before.

"The magic circle is more effective than I expected." With a flick of his finger, silver metal formed a white shirt and white pants on his body.

There was a dark red band on his naked right arm.

The surface of the band was covered with complicated runes. The Abyssal Box and Queen Christina's Cube had already disappeared from the ground, forming into this metallic armband.

"Henn has told me how to create this. I can now absorb the flames from the beetles better." Angele lightly patted the armband.

"But something does not seem right. My mentality only increased slightly." Angele knew he had nearly mastered the third stage.

He practiced the engraving process of the magic circle as he absorbed the flames.

After completing the second stage of Molten Core River, he needed to master the magic circle and rune engraving technique in order to progress to the next rank.

Angele only stood there for a while thinking, but he was still not sure if his flame absorption rate was normal. At this rate, it would take him about an hour to fully master the third stage then he would become a rank 2 wizard.

Taking a deep, long breath, he turned around and walked to the main building of the mansion. The magic stones used to supply energy to the matrices needed to be replaced. He needed to return to the real world to see if everything was fine.

The mansion in the Nightmare Realm was relatively safe since the beetles could do nothing to him. Angele could merely enter the realm if ever the mansion in the real world was invaded by enemies.

With the defensive and offensive magic matrixes, the black beetles were no longer a threat to him. The only problem was if his opponent's mentality wave was too strong, he would not be able to enter the realm instantly.

Angele still carried more than sufficient supply of food and water to the Nightmare Realm. The bloodline extraction method and the Nightmare Realm were two of his biggest secrets at the moment.

He spent most of his time in the Nightmare Realm for the next week.

Angele rested at daytime and killed countless black beetles during the night.

The flames created by burning the dead black beetles were absorbed into the energy ball by the armband. The energy was then converted into fire mentality that was required by the Molten Core River.

Angele needed to infuse his mentality with fire energy particles as soon as possible.

He had never stepped out of the mansion in the Nightmare Realm. He decided to advance to the next rank first before doing anything else after the encounter in the dinner party.

Ten days later…

The Nightmare Realm.

Inside the mansion.

BOOM*

The windows on the second floor were blown into pieces.

The broken glasses fell to the field of grass like it was raining.

Angele stuck his head out of the window and coughed several times.

There were tears in his eyes, but there was a grin on his face.

The scorpion mark on his forehead was as crimson as fresh blood.

White smoke was slowly coming out of the room through the broken window.

After the thick smoke drifted out, Angele turned to look at the middle of the room.

There was a complicated magic circle on the floor, a combination of runes and a hexagram. The three largest runes looked like the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Countless tiny runes and complicated strings surrounded the three major runes.

There was a tiny red bird flying around right in the center of the magic circle.

The bird was enveloped in flames and its tail was glowing. It looked like a mutated wild goose but smaller in size.

Angele observed the flying bird carefully.

The bird was approximately the size of his palm. Its feathers, claws, and eyes were completely enveloped in golden flames. From time to time, it would breathe out flames from its beak.

Angele felt puzzled. Was it him or the advanced meditation technique that decided the appearance of his second body?

According to the book of Molten Core River, the second body's appearance depended on the owner's personality and properties of their soul.

'This bird looks familiar…' Angele hypothesized in his mind after observing the bird for a time. He was now becoming excited.

Angele could control the beautiful and mysterious creature using his mind and if he did not command it, the bird would just fly around him.

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Chapter 337: The Second Body (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Angele would feel greatly delighted if his hypothesis turned out to be correct.

Blue light flashed in his eyes.

'Zero, create task. Check if you can search the name of the creature in front of me from the database.'

'Task created…Checking…Data found…Matching the characteristics…completed…Possible names: 2.'

'Show me the names.' Angele was excited upon finally advancing to the next rank, but he was currently more interested in his second body.

Zero did not immediately respond. For some reason, the biochip somehow hung up.

'Warning…Loading failed…Checking…Searching for errors…Unknown bug detected…System update initialized…'

It was a familiar warning message. Every time the chip found a new update, the message would pop up.

Angele had already advanced to rank 2 and successfully infused his mentality with the elements, so the biochip started to have a new update. This time's situation was a tad different, however. Usually, it would only take seconds for Zero to complete the update.

His body condition was soon slowly displayed in front of his eyes.

'Angele Rio: Strength, 12.0. Agility, 11.5. Stamina, 16.0. Mentality, 123.7. Mana, 57.2. Genetic limitation reached. Healthy.'

Angele's mentality had increased significantly, from approximately 90 units to 123 units, through the usage of the energy conversion magic circle.

The only drawback of him infusing his mentality with fire energy particles was that he could no longer cast any other elemental category spells apart from fire category, or he needed to discover a way to infuse the spells with fire energy particles. Nevertheless, all his fire category spells' power and area of effect would be tremendously improved.

He could still activate his bloodline signet as always since it would not be affected by the changes in his mentality.

Angele started observing the bird that was flying around in the center of the magic circle while he waited for the system update to be completed. He was trying to compare it with the creatures he knew of.

"It certainly looks like the Phoenix…" This was his initial impression.

The Molten Core River technique itself seemed to form his second body basing on his soul pattern and personality.

In other words, the bird most likely had similar characteristics that of Angele's ancestor. It was not simply a second body randomly created from the advanced meditation technique.

Angele's mother was said to be a tree elf, but it was possible that his ancestor was a phoenix.

Interestingly enough, there was another name for the Molten Core River technique's second body—Ancestral Spirit.

His Ancestral Spirit had its own physical form. Even though it could be kept within Angele in order to sustain it, it still needed to be fed with food and water.

Angele found a few 'nutritious' worms and grass and placed them in front of the bird.

The bird only glanced at the food for a moment before turning its head away, indicating that it did not like the food he had given to it.

Angele noticed that there was a red scorpion mark on the bird's forehead, identical to the one he had.

The bird suddenly stretched out its wings and started singing. It spun several times as it sang as though it was dancing.

It completely ignored Angele and only continued singing and dancing.

'Don't tell me that is my true personality…'

As Angele continued to observe the bird as it moved, he felt confused.

The bird was completely engrossed in its own voice that it even had a satisfied look on its face. It then raised its wings and slightly shook its head.

Somehow the bird was not interested in Angele and the food he provided in the slightest.

Goosebumps arose from Angele's skin. He immediately checked the information related to Ancestral Spirits.

'One's Ancestral Spirit will manifest the true thoughts of its owner through its behavior. It neither has a soul nor is it intelligent. If the owner does not learn to properly control their Ancestral Spirit. It will only act on its own instincts.'

Angele was rendered speechless as he looked at the dancing bird again after checking the information.

The red bird started to groom itself with its beak after it finished dancing and singing, just like how a narcissist would.

Angele pursed his lips. He could not believe that the bird's instinctual behavior represented his true personality.

This bird looked like a narcissistic person who only cared about their own self.

"Well, let me try to manipulate the bird." The scene was too unbearable to watch. Angele sent his mentality into the bird.

Angele felt like he had two bodies that could be controlled at the same time.

However, the mentality he sent out into the bird's body did not seem to be enough.

The red bird started singing again…

BAM*

"What the hell!" Angele stumbled two steps backward and smashed into the wall. White dust had fallen to the floor. Angele knew something was not right, but he had realized this too late.

It was not a pleasant experience. He had failed to gain full control of his Ancestral Spirit.

Soon finally, Zero's system update had been completed and the chip immediately reported back.

'Update complete. System checks complete. Continuing task. Do you want to see the result?' The familiar mechanical voice echoed in Angele's ears.

'Yes.' Angele took a deep breath and left the bird alone.

'Ancestral Spirit of Molten Core River. Possible matches of the creature: (1) Five-colored Phoenix: A red bird that has the head of a goose. Special ability: Rebirth by fire. The bird enjoys singing and dancing and does not like to be controlled.'

Angele shook his head and looked at the red bird in annoyance.

"Well, at least it might be a phoenix…"

He looked at the information again.

'Possible matches of the creature: (2) Sun: Five-colored Phoenix's sister. A golden bird that only lives in certain areas and feeds on specific types of food. It must be fed with high-quality food and spring water.'

"Wait…now I am confused…" Angele was speechless. He had initially thought that the bird somehow acquired a soul, but the bird seemed to be acting by its own instinct.

"This is my true personality…?" Angele could not believe that he might be one selfish narcissist that sang and danced.

"They are both related to the Phoenix. Guess I will just name it Phoenix." Angele immediately decided.

Although the bird's voice was not ear-friendly, it was impossible for him to modify the appearance of his Ancestral Spirit.

"Whatever, let me just keep it within my body for now." Angele grabbed the red bird and pushed it into his chest. The bird turned into a ball of flames and sank into his body.

It was a special characteristic of the Molten Core River technique. One's Ancestral Spirit could live within the owner's body and be summoned instantly.

Angele resolved himself not to summon it in front of others temporarily. He wanted to learn more about its abilities and learn how to fully control it first. Otherwise, the people who would see the bird would just laugh at him.

He definitely would never admit that the bird's instinctual behavior represented his true personality.

Angele calmed down and started cleaning the room.

He walked to the broken window and looked outside after everything was done.

The morning sunlight reflected on the surface of the river. There were several tiny fairies that looked like dragonflies flying above the water.

The fairies had translucent wings and bodies that usually lived near bodies of water around the Nightmare Realm.

Angele had never caught any of them. The fairies' body was not formed out of energy particles or physical materials, and they could only be seen in the morning. Moreover, their appearances would change every single day, so it was impossible for Angele to know whether the ones he saw yesterday were the same ones he was looking at.

'It must be a natural phenomenon just like thunder and lightning,' Angele thought.

He slowly raised his hands and formed a ball of lava between his palms. The lava ball was crimson and covered in cracks that had golden lava moving within.

This was the special ability Lyn had demonstrated to him back on the mountain. After mastering the third stage, he could now release a lava ball the size of a head that dealt area damage.

'Lava Ball. Effective range: Within a radius of 10 meters. Average area damage: 134 degrees.' Zero scanned the lava ball and reported back.

Wizards who were training in the Molten Core River technique would focus on training their Ancestral Spirit after fully mastering the third stage. Ancestral Spirits of different wizards had different special abilities. They needed enough time to figure everything out.

There was no point for Angele to learn new spells after completely mastering the third stage. If he could strengthen his Ancestral Spirit, he would be able to acquire different fire-related abilities that did not require any incantation.

In the later stages of the Molten Core River technique, Angele would be able to gain more special abilities by mastering the successive stages and training his Ancestral Spirit. For wizards who trained in this technique, their ultimate goal was to give up their physical forms and contain their own souls into their Ancestral Spirit so that they could become the mythical creatures of the legends, creatures that had an infinite lifespan.

This was why the Molten Core River technique was considered as one of the strongest advanced meditation techniques.

Angele thought for a while and turned away, then he wiped off the dust from his robe sat down with his legs crossed.

He soon decided to check what special abilities the bird had.

Under normal circumstances, Ancestral Spirits were intrinsically born with one or two special abilities. The Phoenix was a mythical creature of the legends. Angele believed that the bird would not disappoint him.

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Chapter 338: Nightmare and Chaos (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Angele closed his eyes and silently remained seated right in the middle of the room. Blue light continued to flicker beneath his eyelids.

'Checking body condition…'

'Listing data…'

'Checking the Ancestral Spirit's condition…Listing data…'

Several minutes later, two information-filled message boxes were displayed right in front of Angele's perception.

His own information was displayed on the left and Phoenix's information was displayed on the right.

Right then, Angele noticed that there was another piece of information below his.

'Physical attributes no longer increased after advancement. Limit already reached.' His physical attributes had increased by a huge margin during the time he was using the cursed scimitar to absorb life energy. Angele seemed to have reached the physical attributes' limit of a rank 2 wizard. Only his mentality level was increased significantly.

Phoenix's information, on the other hand, was simpler and easier to comprehend.

'Phoenix. Special Characteristic – Elemental Form. Strength, 2.0. Agility, 3.0. Mentality, 0.'

'Talent Skill(s): Rebirth by Fire (Revive from your heart after death. Cooldown: 30 days). Eagle Eye (Scouting skill, Phoenix has a large field of vision).'

That was it.

Angele had already known that the initial form of the Ancestral Spirit was weak and useless, but this kind of result was way too disappointing for him. The talent skill could be considered 'powerful' only when it could gain the capability to assist him in battles.

He slowly stood up from the floor after pondering for a while.

Raising his arms, Angele checked his both of his armpits and saw one dark-red rune on each flashing.

'This means I have successfully acquired the special ability from the third stage of Molten Core River. Two runes indicate that I can release two lava balls at the same time.' Angele was not at all surprised by this.

The special ability took up the talent spell slot Angele had acquired from his advancement in rank. This was a common problem with all advanced meditation techniques of present time and the magic circle required to be engraved on the surface of one's mentality crystal was the main reason.

In order to further make progress with the meditation techniques he was training in, Angele would have to engrave the required magic circles onto the mentality crystals.

Most of these magic circles were used to aid wizards in modifying their bodies. The special abilities they acquired were but merely a bonus given to them as they further progressed onto the meditation technique they were training in.

Wizards who trained in the same advanced meditation technique would have the exact same special abilities, though the power that could be released would vary.

For examples, wizards who had completely mastered the third stage of the Molten Core River technique would be able to release lava balls, as this special ability was considered as a Talent Spell. Although it would increase their fire resistance by a certain amount, it was still weaker than a few powerful talent spells.

This was considered as the Achilles' heel of this advanced meditation technique, but this could also be its unique characteristic.

Angele could release two lava balls at the same time so wizards who had mastered the third stage of the Molten Core River technique should be able to do the same.

He lowered his arms and seriously contemplated regarding this matter.

"So I learned a spell that can be cast without any incantation and my fire resistance has increased. Nothing else has changed. Well, it will now become easier for me to learn level 2 spells…"

He checked his body condition again but meticulously.

His attributes had already increased to great heights with the aid of the cursed scimitar. Advancing to the next rank only increased his mentality.

The cost of casting level 2 spells had also been reduced after he had successfully infused his mentality with fire energy particles.

Angele knew two level 2 spells, both of which had come from Henn.

Pyroblast and Eye of Fire.

Angele recalled that day when he had a long conversation with Vivian by the riverside.

He learned of the fact that wizards above rank 2, especially those who trained in advanced meditation techniques, did not rely too much on instant-cast spells and special abilities during battles.

They would rather use magic circles or magic devices instead.

Defensive high-level enchanted items would automatically be activated if its wielder were to face a perilous situation. Meanwhile, high-rank wizards would often use magic devices to buy time so that they could prepare their most powerful spells.

For that reason, Angele realized that he must find a magic device suitable for himself.

He organized the entire data and information.

Angele now had a general notion of his present circumstances.

It was noon at present. Angele walked downstairs and ate food.

Afterwards, Angele opened the door and stepped outside the mansion.

There were no beetles or mutated creatures at daytime in the Nightmare Realm. It looked exactly the same as the real world albeit the fact the he was the only human being in this realm.

Angele had stayed inside the mansion for too long already, so he decided to explore a few of the nearby areas.

However, he must first make preparations in case anything unfortunate happens.

Kata Kata*

Wearing his black boots, Angele stepped on dried branches within the forest.

The forest trees had large, green leaves. The golden sunlight pierced through the gaps between the tree leaves and shone on the ground.

Angele was wearing a brown leather suit with his sleeves rolled up which showed an eye-catching, dark-red armband on his right arm. In both of his hands were two baselards.

The blades of the baselards reflected the sunlight.

He proceeded slowly with caution. The mansion was right behind him at a small distance away.

WOO*

The gentle wind brushed along the tree leaves. Angele did not see any birds or insects.

For about half an hour, he had continued to walk in the forest.

Soon, through the gaps between the trees, Angele saw a gray building up ahead.

It was a mushroom-like building that had opened doors and windows that were shaking in the wind.

Angele's countenance changed. He advanced several steps before he finally got a clear view of the building.

Several mushroom-like buildings had been built on the open area just a small distance ahead. Most of them were broken.

There was a white obelisk in the middle of these mushroom-like buildings.

The doors of the buildings were opened, yet he did not hear anything making any noise.

The place was cozy and peaceful as the sun gave light and warmth to it.

Angele used the stealth technique he had and walked towards these mushroom-like buildings.

He looked around these buildings but did not see anything inside. The only sound he could hear was generated by the wind blowing.

Angele headed towards the white obelisk. Writings—or rather, runic writings—could be seen engraved on the surface of the obelisk.

While the sun provided warmth, the wind was freezingly cold. Moreover, it carried with it the stench of decay and dust.

About ten minutes later, Angele finally arrived right in front of the obelisk.

The white obelisk had dimensions of about two meters in height and one meter in width and a surface covered in complicated runic writings and strings.

Angele surveyed the surroundings using his biochip and made sure that no one else was around before he started checking the runic writings on the obelisk.

These runic writings looked like tiny men executing various poses and looked like bizarre paintings.

When he looked at the bottom part of the obelisk, he finally found several writings that had been written in a language he could understand.

It was the language of the Chaos Domain.

It told, "19/52, A riot occurred in Moses and a plague has struck the mushroom city. All residents have died due to the plague. Only the…"

Parts of the writings had been erased.

Angele then skipped the incomplete portion as he continued to read.

"21/02, Morphia has finally returned. This has brought us pain and nightmares, but I know the world will soon descend into the shadows and our hope taken away from us…"

"02/78, All cities where there were once living beings have been destroyed. The entire world is about to end, and everything now belongs to Morphia."

"I cannot believe we are still alive! All hail the chaos. Morphia's strength is failing. I must bring the good news to Ian!"

The several successive sentences had also been erased.

Angele frowned. He skipped this part of the writings again and continued to read.

"I do not know how many days have passed…10 days? 20 days? 50 days? 1 year? Morphia is dead. Now, the world is filled with monsters and mutated creatures…I do not know if I can complete my research…"

"My dearest friends, if you are reading this, that means we must have all died. The obelisks in the cities will record everything that has happened until at this moment. I can feel that I am about to return to Mother Iicolin's embrace ten minutes from now. My friends, you must persevere in this collapsed world. Hide yourselves well, you are our last hope…Night falls, danger comes…"

The last part of the writings had nearly been covered by dark mud as it had been written at the bottommost part of the obelisk.

Angele slowly stood up.

"Looks like the Nightmare Realm was once an inhabited realm but something unfortunate occurred…then the realm turned into this mysterious and dangerous realm."

He checked the surroundings again.

Still no movement coming from within the mushroom buildings.

"'Night falls, danger comes…'" Angele knew exactly what it was referring to.

He walked around the white obelisk.

There were some faint bloodstains on the other side of the obelisk.

It looked as though someone else's blood had splashed onto the obelisk.

Angele looked around and found more bloodstains several meters away from it.

Narrowing his eyes, he walked to the second bloodstain he found. Angele slowed down his breathing and tried not to create any noise.

He soon discovered a trail of bloodstains around the corner, one that might lead to revelations that could answer all his questions.

The blood must have dried up centuries ago since there was no fishy smell at all.

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Chapter 339: Nightmare and Chaos (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Angele followed the blood trail and soon arrived at one particular white mushroom-like building.

The windows and doors had long been destroyed. The light coming from outside poured in and gave light to the interior.

It shined on the floor.

Angele cautiously entered the room; his skin was engulfed with a thin layer of metal. Due to the metallic glint in his body, it made him look like a metal man.

The room was small. Several wooden chairs could be found lying on the floor.

On the wall was a painting of a family portrait which seemed to belong to a family of three. A happy family of which there were the husband and wife and their cute, blonde daughter seated in their arms. She had a sweet smile on her face.

All of them wore gray hunting suits. They looked exactly the same as the human beings in the main world.

Angele had decided to refer to the real world as 'main world' so that it would become easier for Zero to compile and organize the database. However, the human beings in the Nightmare Realm seemed to be identical to the ones in the main world.

He walked towards it and brushed off the dust aside.

KA*

The painting loosened and leaned down. Only a nail remained on the white wall.

Angele lowered his hands and glanced around.

There was a large bed beside the tables and chairs. A white blanket had covered two corpses that now looked like mummies. Their dried-up arms and feet looked like decaying branches.

Angele walked to the bed and removed the blanket.

The stench coming from the corpses rushed into his nose.

Blue light flashed in the pupil of his eyes. Angele stepped back several steps and covered his nose with his hand, staring at the corpses.

"Huh?" That was when he noticed something peculiar as he looked at the gaps between the two corpses.

There was a girl in dirty clothes slumbering quietly in her parents' arms.

There were hints of blondeness among her gray hair. She was wearing a black shirt and black pants and no footwear.

The girl looked absolutely nothing like the one on the painting. Her skin was gray.

She was holding a black object in her arms. It looked like a cracked human skull.

Angele scanned the girl using the biochip and walked near to her. He tapped the girl's face with the baselard in his right hand.

CHI*

A black blade was swung toward Angele's legs.

The girl was grasping a hunting blade tight in her hand. Clearly, it was her who attacked Angele.

CLANK*

The baselard collided with the hunting blade.

The girl could not withstand such force. She grunted and rolled backward, only stopping after smashing against the wall.

"Ah!" the girl screamed. Dark-colored blood was leaking out of her eyes and ears. The rotten stench in the air thickened even more.

The girl leaned against the wall and glared at Angele. A greater amount of blood was leaking out of her eyes as her screams became louder.

The sound waves turned into transparent energy waves that spread out to all angles.

Angele frowned. He raised the baselard high in the air and slashed downwards.

CHIN*

The baselard increased its length until it reformed into a silver longsword with a blade more than two meters long. The girl's head was cut in half.

The screams finally stopped.

The girl's body fell to the ground unmoving. Angele soon noticed that there was no skull in her head. It only looked like an empty ball.

Angele walked to the girl's body and crouched beside her. He pulled a necklace down her neck.

It was an eye-shaped, wooden-carved necklace hung on a string.

'I thought she was still alive. Oh well…' Angele stood up. 'They must be the victims of that plague that had been recorded on the obelisk.'

Angele turned the girl's body to the other side with his sword. The necklace should be the only valuable thing she had. The cracked skull was not an enchanted item.

He cleaned the blade of the sword and stepped out of the building.

Kata Kata*

Angele heard intense footsteps coming from one mushroom-like building on the right.

He hesitated for a second before he rushed to that building immediately.

There was a man in black behind that building but he quickly disappeared into the corner.

Angele held the sword tight and quickly turned around at a corner. The man in black was still running forward.

He raised his left hand and released a silver string, barring that man's path.

The man stopped immediately and turned around.

He had his entire body shrouded in a black cloak and was wearing a pair of strange, dark sunglasses. None of his skin was exposed.

The man was around 1.6 meters tall, shorter than Angele. The man looked at Angele and started to slowly flee. He seemed to be scared.

"Are you a survivor?" Angele narrowed his eyes and asked in the unfamiliar Chaos language.

Speaking in the Chaos language sounded like a male and female speaking at the same time. The words were extremely hard to pronounce.

The man was both surprised and excited at the same time upon listening to Angele speak.

His body started trembling.

"Molasuxiliyeji?" he suddenly replied as he looked at Angele.

"Yehu! Thjjlinan!" He was trying to communicate with Angele.

"You don't understand the Chaos language?" Angele was confused.

"Gofanliya?" the man tried to communicate using another language.

"What do you mean?" Angele pointed at his lips and waved his hands.

"Who…are you?" Finally, the man began to speak in the universal ancient language, but it was a bit strange.

"Don't repeat my words…only those mutated freaks do that!" He sounded nervous.

"Me? I am…only a hermit. My house is in a remote area. I decided to take a stroll and you are the first person I met." Angele quickly made up a random story and introduced himself in the ancient language.

"A hermit…?" The man's voice was deep. "I am the only survivor in this town." He was slowly getting used to communicating in the ancient language.

"Can we find a safe place and have a short talk? I am not sure what is going on right now. I have just been attacked by a strange girl several minutes ago." The silver string returned to Angele's body.

"Definitely." The man nodded and inspected Angele. Several seconds later, he sighed in relief.

"Did you apply something to your skin? It is silver. I have to cover my entire body…"

"Yes, I was wondering…" Angele hesitated. "Why did you dress up like this?"

"You do not know about them?! They will attack anyone who is not wearing black. They can penetrate your body, suck your blood, and feast on your flesh!" The man was surprised. "Anyway, let me take you to our shelter." He turned and started walking again to his left.

"Alright."

Angele tied the baselards to his belt and followed the man.

They arrived at a decaying mushroom-like building several minutes later. The building was severely damaged; half of its roof was missing.

The man stepped on the broken wooden floor and started checking for the entrance to the basement. He found a handle quickly and pulled it up.

BAM*

A large piece of stone was pulled up from the floor, revealing the dark space under it.

"My family found this basement about three years ago…" he explained as he walked down the stairs carefully. "Come in and close the door."

Angele's brow furrowed. He quickly scanned the basement using the biochip and went down.

The basement was about ten square meters.

The walls and floors were all built with black stones. The visibility was low. Angele could barely see the wooden barriers and furniture on the floor.

The air smelled like rotten eggs mixed with urine. The floor was sticky and slippery.

The man was standing beside a bed in the corner and two children jumped into his arms.

"Isa!"

"Isaliqu!"

It was a girl and a boy, but Angele was still not sure what language they were speaking in.

The man took off his black outfit. Turning around, he looked at Angele.

"This is my son Frey and my daughter Freia."

Angele nodded. He watched the man give dried bread and stinky meat jerkies to the kids.

"This is the shelter you talked about?" he asked in a low voice.

The two kids hid behind their father and looked at this stranger with fear in their eyes.

"Yeah…it has been three years. There are 64 months in a year and 100 days in a month…That should be about twenty thousand days…This is the only shelter we have…" The man sighed with mixed emotions.

"What happened?" Angele sat down in a chair. He immediately did some calculations using Zero. One year in the Nightmare Realm was equal to 17 years in the main world, which meant that this family lived in the basement for more than 51 years already.

"Let me explain the situation to you." The man wryly smiled. "Everything changed five years ago. This plague that came out of nowhere struck the land. All creatures mutated, that even the Mother of Iicolin failed to cure the plague. The last grand priest left a desperate record on the obelisk before the entire realm sank into complete darkness. Occasionally, illusions become reality, and reality turns into illusions. The world has gone messed up."

"Huh? What do you mean? Illusions and reality?" Angele was getting more and more curious about this realm.

"Yes." The man sat down beside Angele. "Sometimes you would see lakes, houses, and trees randomly appearing on an empty ground. Many buildings would also simply disappear from cities and towns. Mutated creatures have occupied the land and the sky. You know what? I have once seen a human leg walking in the forest. It was not attached to a body, but it continued to walk without stopping…"

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Chapter 340: Storm Is Coming (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Nou

A hint of fear appeared in the man's eyes as he recalled the terrifying event that he witnessed in the past.

"That leg was definitely a part of a human's body but it was walking like it was attached to an invisible person... slowly but steadily…"

Angele narrowed his eyes, but he did not say anything.

The basement became silent.

Angele opened his mouth again after several minutes. "Well, although the environment was bad, it should be a safe place to stay since you've been living here for so long."

"Of course"—the man nodded—"the entrance is sealed with the last blessed stone slate and the monsters won't be able to detect us."

"What's your name? I'm Green by the way." Angele pursed his lips into a smiled, deciding to use his fake name.

"Just call me Todd."

The man hesitated for a second and asked, "Actually, can you let us stay in your place for a while? I'll be fine, but my kids deserve a better environment…" He looked at Angele in the eyes and started begging, "I can stay in the basement my whole life with no problem but my kids can't. I can do anything for you, what do you think?"

Todd patted his kids' heads. "I'm the best Colin Hunter in this area and my soul stone card level is three. Although it has no energy left, with the soul stones, I'll regain my power and I can teach you how to fight."

'Colin Hunter? Soul stone card?' Angele had no idea what the man was talking about. He assumed that those terms could only be understood by the people living in the Nightmare Realm. It seemed like they have some unique fighting skills.

Colin Hunter did sound like a class.

"So, with the soul stones, you'll be much stronger?" Angele wondered.

"That's correct." Todd raised his right hand, pulled his sleeves up, and revealed his bare arm.

There was a black mechanical device, which looked like a metal armguard, attached to his arm. In the center of the armguard, a blue stone sat there, covered with cracks and surrounded by a dim glow.

Todd shrugged and pointed at the blue stone: "There is still some energy left in the stone and I'll use it when I have to. Although I tried to save the energy, a lot of black smoke beetles appeared in the area for some reason and I had to use my power. Also, living in such an environment had already permanently damaged my body; however, my kids still have hope."

He looked at his kids and the dedication in his eyes could be seen by Angele.

"Your clothes are still clean in such an environment, meaning you have access to clean water. You also don't look tired at all, indicating that you have enough food supplies and a place to rest. Green, you have a nice and safe shelter, right?"

Angele shrugged. "You're right. That's the only possible reason why I can keep my body and clothes clean. However, I want to see what you can do first. You said you're a Colin Hunter and your soul stone card level is three. Prove it to me."

There was a bitter smile on Todd's face. "This is the last soul stone I have and I can only release an offensive or defensive skill with a power level of two. I was once a high-rank hunter that was given the title called 'Sky Locker'… I just need more soul stones…"

"Power level of two, huh? Can you control the effective range and demonstrate it to me here?" Angele questioned in a deep tone. He wanted to compare the power level in the realm with the power degree in the main world.

"Of course, but, without the energy…" Todd hesitated.

Angele raised his right hand without saying a word.

CHI*

Flame spurted out of the tip of his index finger, the bright orange light brightening up the basement immediately.

Todd was surprised.

"You still have soul stones?!"

"NAPA! WUINAPA!" The two kids started yelling with excitement after seeing the fire. They stepped forward and stared at the burning flame.

The light illuminated their faces. Angele noticed their faces and saw that the two kids were trembling due to the low temperature in the basement.

Angele smiled but did not respond to Todd's question. However, he learned that it seemed like people in the Nightmare Realm could use the soul stone to control the energy particles.

"Alright, show me what you are capable of." He extinguished the fire and lowered his hand.

Todd smiled and nodded several times. He thought Angele was their new hope.

He raised the right arm and drew a line in the air.

CHI*

A blue string appeared in the air, it was glowing with crystal-like texture. The temperature of the air around the string was decreasing rapidly.

The blue light illuminated on the people inside the basement.

Todd took one step back and looked at the string quietly. He moved his right hand to the chest and started doing strange gestures.

WOO*

It sounded like something was vibrating.

Suddenly, the whole basement was filled up with the blue strings. The strings were about one meter in length and they were releasing strong energy waves.

Angele's expression changed as he scanned the strings using Zero. He was surprised after checking the report. Those strange blue lines were like time bombs and there were hundreds of them. They could easily deal more than 100 degrees of damage if detonated together.

"That's it…" Todd suddenly sighed.

All the blue strings disappeared from the basement like they were never there.

"What happened?" Angele looked at Todd.

Todd showed the crystal on the armguard to Angele, it has lost its color and it looked like the crystal could break at any time.

"Crap!" Todd covered his mouth with his right hand and coughed several times. Blood leaked out of the gaps between his fingers.

"I'll look after your kids if you can teach me that ability and your language." Angele scanned Todd using the biochip and the man's attributes were identical to an average mortal but his mentality was high. The man did not have much life energy left, it seemed like he would be killed by the disease he had soon.

He had wanted to find someone to take care of his children before he died.

"You want to accept my offer?" Todd questioned.

"Yeah."

Angele stayed in the basement and asked Todd to teach him the language first. The language was similar to the universal ancient language but it was slightly improved. Angele mastered the language after studying for two days.

As a wizard with a biochip in his brain, Angele absorbed new knowledge faster than others.

Todd even said that Angele was the smartest man he had ever met.

Angele finished learning the language and acquired some basic information about the ranking system in the Nightmare Realm.

The hunters and the hunter kings were the main ranks in the Nightmare Realm.

Strong monsters and mutated creatures were everywhere in this Realm. The human beings had to learn to kill other races just to survive.

Some people developed the method of utilizing the energy from the soul stone and soul stone cards. Those people were called the hunters and the strongest hunters were given the title "hunter kings".

There were not that many hunters, only one person out of a hundred could become a hunter. Only the hunters that were awarded titles were considered as elites and the hunter king was the strongest.

Hunters with titles were stronger than normal hunters. The most basic title was "Colin Hunter", and it was awarded by the Mother of Iicolin.

Mortal, hunters, hunters with titles, and the hunter king. This was the basic ranking system in the realm.

The hunters from different continents had different skill levels, including the hunter with titles. The hunter kings were authorized by the churches and they all had recognizable achievements.

Of course, things had changed after the plague struck the land.

So many years had passed and—according to Todd—most of the survivors were hunters. The rest of the survivors were lucky mortals that somehow found a way to live in this mess.

Todd told Angele most of the things he knew and his condition became worse day by day.

The third day.

"Thanks for your meat jerky. They taste great." Todd leaned against the wall and put on his black outfit.

"The black beetles are coming. I need to drive them away. I don't want to risk anything although I have the blessed slate." He was still chewing the jerky.

"You should rest. Let me handle them for you." Angele stood up. "Even though I replaced the soul stone for you, you're still too weak to fight."

The soul stone was identical to the high-quality magic stone that Angele had. Although the energy structure was different, it was still better than nothing. However, the energy from the magic stone contained too many impurities so Todd had some trouble using it.

"But you're not familiar with the landscape!" Todd hesitated. "I'm not looking down on you, it's just there are certain situations you don't know how to handle. Let me go."

"It's alright, I've fought those black beetles before. Don't worry." Angele smiled. "I'll be going now. I've already told you the location of my shelter. Head to there if the situation allows."

He walked upstairs before Todd could respond.

"Green, please come back in one piece!" The boy shouted with a loud voice.

"Of course." Angele smiled again. He gave many different foods to the two kids in the last several days and warmed the place up with a force field. The two kids had never experienced the warmth from the energy particles before since they could not burn dried branches in the basement as they needed the oxygen.

Angele had engraved the temperature-increasing magic circle on his mentality crystal and it was the first time he had activated in such an environment.

Pushing the slate up, he scanned the surroundings using the biochip, but no danger was detected.

Todd and his kids remained silent. It was the most important moment as they could not expose the location of the basement to the mutated creatures.

It was dark outside. The blue stars in the sky looked like diamonds that were laid down on a large piece of black blanket. They were beautiful and shiny.

It was such a beautiful thing to look at.

There was no moon in the sky, only the stars were blinking.

He carefully opened the slate and stepped onto the floor.

The air was clean and refreshing; however, a rotten odor was blown into Angele's nose by the gentle wind.

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Chapter 341: Storm Is Coming (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Nou

Angele sealed the entrance with the slate again. He was standing in a mushroom building with a broken roof.

Stepping out of the mushroom building, under the night sky, the entrances to the mushroom building looked like they led to an endless abyss as no light came out from there. The wind was getting stronger and it was bit cold.

Angele rubbed the silver ring on his left middle finger several times. It was a magic device called Light of the Thorn. A strong spell could be released from that ring with just a small amount of mentality.

The power of the Light of the Thorn was no longer strong as it would only deal about 50 degrees of splash damage. Angele's special ability from the advanced meditation technique could easily deal more than 70 degrees of damage. However, he still carried the magic device with him because it had a low cost and a large effective range.

If 10 mentality and 5 mana were required to cast a spell with a similar damage, using the magic device would only consume 1 mentality.

This was the main advantage of magic devices and enchanted items.

He slowly walked past the mushroom buildings and saw a large group of black beetles marching on the empty ground.

The beetles were moving toward Angele like a black flood.

Raising his left hand, he aimed at the beetles with no hesitation.

"Light of the Thorn," he called out.

CHI*

A ball of golden light was released from the ring, exploding after several seconds and turning into rays of golden lights. They were flying toward the sea of beetles in a shell formation.

PA PA PA*

The beetles were skewered by the golden light and they exploded into pools of sticky liquid. The stinky and sour smell permeated throughout the air.

Angele did not lower his hand and, instead, he just stood there and watched the golden light kill the beetles calmly.

The Light of the Thorn could be channeled for half a minute and he was certain that no beetle could approach him in that duration.

"Green! Don't waste soul stones like that. There are too many of them!" Todd's voice came from behind.

Angele turned his head around. Todd and his kids were standing behind him and there were blue strings floating in the air. It seemed like he wanted to help. They were not considered as a threat so Zero did not warn him about their presence.

"Take my kids with you. Let me deal with those beetles!" There was a serious expression on his face. It seemed like he was ready to sacrifice himself for his children.

Angele's brow furrowed. "Come with me. I don't think I'll be able to protect your children alone." He wanted to help Todd because the man had potential. Todd was sick and he could still deal more than 100 degrees of damage within seconds. If Todd could recover from the disease, he would be able to aid Angele greatly during the battles.

Angele was the only one who had access to clean water and food supplies in this infected world. He needed someone that was familiar with the realm to help him explore the area.

Todd shook his head slightly. "I know my condition, Green. I'm dying."

He looked at Angele and noticed the serious expression on the young man's face.

He hesitated for a second and responded. "Well, alright, I'll leave with you."

"Good decision."

Angele nodded and looked at the beetles again, but he was surprised.

They only talked for about half a minute and the beetles already moved closer. The sea of black beetles was only about 10 meters away from the four human beings.

Angele stopped channeling the Light of the Thorn and raised his right hand, creating a lava ball on his palm.

The head-sized lava ball floated above Angele's palm, releasing heat waves and rays of red light.

"Do your job." Angele threw the lava ball forward.

It was one of his strongest skills at the moment. The petrification and the bloodline signet were the only two abilities that were stronger than the lava ball.

He wanted to do some simple tests with those beetles.

The lava ball drew an arc in the air and dropped into the black beetles.

"Move!" Angele turned around and tied Todd up with the two kids using the metal strings. He then lifted them up with the force field and started running.

"What the…!?" Todd wanted to say something but they were traveling so fast that the wind was rushing into his mouth and nose. He was surprised by how fast they were moving.

Angele, Todd, and the two children turned into a blurry silver shadow that was moving around the mushroom buildings. They finally stopped behind one of the buildings as Angele could easily check the situation from here.

BOOM*

He heard the explosion from behind.

Angele dropped Todd and his children to the ground carefully. He then quickly turned around and looked at the location where he dropped the lava ball.

The orange light from the flame illuminated the clouds flowing in the dark sky.

Waves of intense heat were expanding in all direction. The mushroom buildings in the front were swallowed by the fire, and the dancing flames engulfed everything in the area.

Thick smoke filled the sky, and the smell from the burning wood permeated the air. The buildings perished in the flames within minutes.

Angele watched the scene quietly. It was the power of just one lava ball and it could deal a similar amount of damage as an average level 2 offensive spells. The area of effect was why wizards with stage 3 Molten Core River were so strong on the battlefields.

'That's why people don't complain that the skill takes one talent slot…' Angele had a general idea in mind.

The terrifying area of effect had a radius of five to a hundred meters—depending on the situation—and the spell could be cast instantly. The official name for the lava ball was the Lava Rain.

It was the reason why Molten Core River was one of the strongest advanced meditation technique for wizards with high affinity with fire energy particles.

The lava ball exploded while dropping to the ground, turning into a rain of fire.

Also, it seemed like the Phoenix's passive ability helped Angele gain better control of the fire energy particles and the lava ball he released was slightly stronger than the ones released by some of the Watchers.

He stood behind the mushroom building and watched the burning flames. Blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes as he wanted to know how much damage the lava ball dealt in total.

Todd and his children stood beside Angele. They were shocked after seeing Angele's terrifying "ability".

Todd leaned to the side and looked at Angele. He had no idea where the young man hid his crystal card device. However, he knew that he could only use an ability like this once a day when he was still healthy. Angele's skill level exceeded Todd's expectation.

The red light from the flames illuminated their bodies and their shadows were waving on the ground.

"Alright, let's head to my shelter." Angele turned around and the blue light dots disappeared from his eyes.

"Sure." Todd nodded. He felt comfortable staying with the young man in front of him. He had not felt relaxed like this for a long time.

The two kids moved closer to Angele carefully and put their hands on his legs.

There was a gentle smile on Angeles' face. He carefully picked two kids up, held them in arms, and walked to the forest.

Todd gave the burning buildings one final glance and sighed. He turned around and followed Angele into the forest. He knew that he would probably never visit the place again.

About an hour later.

The four arrived at the mansion beside the river.

Behind the trees, it was a luxurious looking mansion with white walls and a red roof.

The mansion was protected by a translucent bell-shaped barrier and there were many green vines outside the barrier. There were several red flowers on the surface of the vines. The dark mud on the ground was clean and smooth. The place looked like a beautiful castle from the fairy tales, the only thing missing was the rose with thorns.

Angele walked to the mansion with the two kids in his arms.

"This is my shelter. I have more than enough food and clean water for us." He stepped on the vines.

"That's beautiful…" The girl named Freia spoke first, "Green, is this our new home?" She stared at Angele and blinked her eyes.

"We can do the cleanings for you!" The boy named Frey said quickly. He patted the girl's leg slightly as he did not want his sister to say something that would make Angele angry.

Todd had no idea that there was a place like this in the realm. Todd thought that "Green" must have a strong background before the world collapsed, otherwise, it was impossible for him to have such a heavily guarded mansion.

"Of course. I'm counting on you guys." Angele chuckled. As long as he could take good care of the two kids, Todd would probably do anything for him. Also, cleaning the house would be a good exercise for the kids.

Angele was certain that Todd was still hiding something since he survived in the Nightmare Realm with the two kids for so long. Angele was not sure if he could win a fight against a healthy Todd without using the bloodline signet.

Angele spent some time observing the crystal card device Todd had and he had an idea on how to increase the defense of the mansion.

The structure of the device reminded him of something from the Earth: the auto attack system.

Also, Todd told him that the black beetle was not the only dangerous creature in the area. Angele had the feeling that there would be stronger mutated creatures invading the mansion.

If the situation got worse and his mentality wave was interrupted by the energy waves from the battle, he would not be able to return to the main world instantly. Angele had to prepare for the worst.

"Let's go, have some rest. You're tired, right?" Angele stepped forward and the vines moved to the side by themselves like they were living beings.

Todd and his kids were scared by the vines. Todd followed after Angele, he noticed that there was some sticky liquid on the ground and the unique sour stink reminded him of the black beetles.

The four slowly entered the energy barrier and stepped into the door of the main building. The vines moved to the center and blocked the entrance again.

In the clean water of the river on the other side of the mansion.

A blue butterfly slowly left the river and the water splashed in the air.

The butterfly's wings had the size of a human's palm. No pattern could be seen from the pure blue wings. The butterfly swung its wings slowly and circled above the river.

An enormous blue shadow appeared under the Ness River.

Blop Blop*

Large groups of blue butterflies started leaving the river and they circled above the water just like the first one. The rotating butterflies looked like pieces of blue tree leaves. The scene was mysterious and beautiful.

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Chapter 342: Changes (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Nou

Angele walked to the control panel and tapped its surface. He then grabbed a coat from the cloth stand nearby.

Todd and the two children looked excited and relieved as they stepped into the living room.

"Green, how strong is that glass-looking barrier? Can it keep the black beetles away?" Todd wondered.

"Don't worry. The defense system here is good enough. I've survived waves of attacks from the black beetles and they finally figured out how strong the barrier is." Angele walked to the sofa and sat down. "Take a seat. You're safe here. Trust me."

He sat on the sofa and saw the two kids looking at the translucent energy barrier curiously.

"Green, can we go check out the barrier?" Frey questioned in a loud voice.

Angele smiled. "Of course you can."

"I'll go with them…" Todd hesitated.

"It's fine. The barrier won't break."

"I trust you but… I'll just go with them." Todd nodded slightly and responded in a deep voice.

Although the defense system around the mansion looked promising, Todd was still worried that the kids might encounter the mutated creatures if they accidentally stepped out of the barrier.

Angele told Todd that the defense system had killed countless black beetles, but Todd decided to not to trust him until he saw it himself.

Angele sat on the sofa and leaned back. It felt like his body was sinking into a large piece of soft sponge.

He knew that Todd did not have many days left in this world; however, with his special treatment, Todd would be able to live for a bit longer. The lone survivor of the mushroom city would become his greatest assistant in the Nightmare Realm.

The defense matrices around the mansion were the best he could get from the market. Angele wasn't sure he could block all the vines in the energy waves—which would slow him down—without getting hurt. The defense system should be good enough for the black beetles.

Todd and his children returned to the living room while Angele was still resting.

"Take a seat." Angele pointed at the sofa in front of him.

Todd whispered something to the kids and sat down on the opposite side of Angele.

The two kids were still looking around curiously.

"Green, can we go play in the building?" The girl called Freia questioned in a low voice.

"Go ahead." Angele nodded as his sight fell upon Todd. "Alright, let's talk about the illusion zone you mentioned in the basement. What exactly is that?"

Todd nodded. "Your shelter is great and I'm glad that you promised to take care of my children."

Angele was his only hope, otherwise, he would not ask a stranger to take care of his children. Although Angele was kind to Todd, Todd knew that if the young man wanted to do something to them, he would have no way to protect themselves. There was no law or rule in the Nightmare Realm, he had to think that the young man still had a warm heart.

If Todd passed away in the basement, his children would not be able to survive on themselves.

"The illusion zones are areas with the strange phenomenon and they appeared after the world collapsed," Todd started explaining. "I can feel that this world is impacted by other realms and the situation is getting worse recently. As a Colin hunter, my job is to communicate with the soul stones and I can sense the changes much faster than others."

Angele nodded slightly. "Yeah, but I want to know if the illusion zones are dangerous."

"You can find the phenomena that can't be explained in the zones, and there are mutated beasts. The landscapes and the buildings will shift and transform without any warnings, and it has killed many people. Imagine a building randomly dropping on your head when you are just walking." Todd scratched his head. It seemed like the topic reminded him of someone he knew.

"Six of my teammates were killed by the transforming buildings…"

"How do you know if you're standing in an illusion zone?" Angele kept asking.

"I don't know." Todd shook his head. "I wouldn't be staying in that basement if I knew the details. I don't want to die while just exploring the surroundings. If the landscape shifts, I'll probably die in the lava or something. Also, sometimes the time will go backward for no reason."

Angele thought for a while and looked at Todd. "Where's is the closest and most populated city?"

"There's a city called the Dark Cloud about 15 kitto northeast from here. There were more than three million people living there before the terrifying event happened." 15 kitto was about 1.5 kilometers according to Zero.

"Thanks." Angele stood up. "Pick any room you want on the first floor. You can find food and water in the kitchen. There's a swimming pool outside and you can take showers in there. The water is clean. There's something I need to take care of and I'll be back later."

He walked to the staircase and turned his head around.

"One more thing. Don't touch the stone pillars for any reason. They are the reason why the mansion is safe."

"Wait, where are you going? Do you need my help?" Todd stood up as well. "I have the soul stone now and I can aid you in battles. I don't have many days left anyway."

"It's fine. Have some rest. I'm just going back to my room to do some research." Angele smiled and walked upstairs.

He walked down the hallway and opened the door to the reading room.

He tapped on the back of the door after stepping into the room.

A black snake pattern appeared on the surface of the door. It was glowing and flashing.

Angele sat down on the bad and carefully pressed on the bloodline signet with the left hand.

CHI*

Rays of red light flashed around his body.

He opened his eyes again and it was noon in the main world.

Golden sunlight went through the window and brought warmth to the room.

Red light flashed on the back of Angele's right hand. It was the communication rune.

He raised his hand and tapped on the finger.

A red scorpion rune appeared on the nail of his index finger.

Vivian's voice was transferred to his ears: "Angele, I secured a position for you in the headquarter. It'll be beneficial to your future if you can accept the offer. Go to the headquarter before it expires in about half a month. Don't forget."

Angele scrunched his eyebrows.

He had no interested in working in the headquarter, but he knew Vivian was just trying to help him to know more people in the organization and it was nearly impossible for him to decline the offer.

Vivian's intention was good and Angele knew that he should accept the position.

"Whatever, I'll think about it later." He turned around, walked to the window, and looked down.

It was noon. The green river looked like a long emerald with images of white clouds and brown wooden houses reflected on its surface. A group of white birds was resting on the riverside and they were drinking water quickly.

Refreshing fragrance of the white and red flowers from the shore permeated the air.

The rippling water was flowing slowly in the gentle wind.

Angele sat down at the table and grabbed a white-feathered pen. He wrote down a title on an opened leather scroll: The Auto Attack System.

It was something he wanted to build the next.

He needed some time to stabilize his mentality waves after completing the third stage of Molten Core River.

With the help of the advanced meditation technique, the third stage and the fourth stage did not require him to complete the Gas, Liquid, and Crystal stages like the wizards on the west coast. Angele could advance to next rank if he could complete the next stage.

He completed the third stage and advanced to rank 2 not so long ago so he barely knew any level 2 spells.

In order to reach rank 3, he needed to complete the fourth stage of Molten Core River.

Also, the fourth stage of Molten Core River was important and he needed to be fully prepared for the challenges.

The first four stages of the technique were related to fire energy particles, the fifth to eighth stages were related to earth energy particles, and the last four stages were the combination of all the previous stages. Molten Core River had an unfriendly progressing curve.

Angele spent the next several days studying the auto attack system. He needed the system to be versatile as he did not want the system to lose control under special circumstances.

He gave part of the job to the biochip and divided the whole plan into multiple steps.

Five days later.

"Master Angele, Master Seth and Master Nicole are here."

Lyn's voice came from outside.

"Got it. I'll be there soon." Angele sat beside the table and moved the documents to the side. He spent days on designing the system, but he was still waiting for the calculation results from Zero. Seth and Nicole were Vivian's students, they were like a senior brother and a senior sister to Angele as they all acquired the Molten Core River from Vivian.

Angele took a deep breath and stood up.

The muscle on his face was a bit stiff. He stepped out of the reading room and walked downstairs.

Seth and a pretty girl with clean skin were sitting in the living room waiting for him.

"Seth, Nicole. What brings you here?" Angele pursed his lips into a gentle smile.

Seth and Nicole stood up and hugged Angele one by one.

Seth was wearing a yellow coat and a pair of shorts. He looked like someone lived by the sea with his sun-tanned skin. There was a golden headband hiding under his black hair.

Seth looked like a man in his mid-thirties. He was not handsome, but the smile on his face was charming.

Nicole was quiet, she looked like a cute girl from the neighborhood. She was wearing a white one piece with a short white wand in hand. There was a dark red ruby on the tip of the wand.

The girl's long black hair trailed over her shoulders, and she looked like a twenty-year-old girl. The tight one piece was quite revealing. She was looking at Angele with a pair of red eyes and there was a gentle smile on her face.

"Haven't visited you for a while, and I heard you were grounded. Is that true?" Nicole questioned in a light tone.

The three wizards sat down, and the maids brought them the tea.

"I know. It's true. The situation is complicated, but I heard Angele had an intense fight with master Shozo. Master Vivian asked him to stay in the mansion until he finishes the fourth stage of Molten Core River." Seth chuckled.

"You're not here just to laugh at me, right?" Angele rolled his eyes. "Seth, I thought you would stay in the headquarter for a bit longer. Where's the gift you promised me?" He turned to Seth.

"Well… my situation is complicated as well…" Seth pursed his lips. "We were kicked out. I met Nicole on my way to the headquarter, and we wanted to travel together, but something unfortunate happened…"

Nicole shook her head and sighed. "Something unfortunate…? You had a fight with someone for a woman, and we were both kicked out… Why are you even trying to hide it from Angele?"

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Chapter 343: Changes (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

Nicole sighed with mixed emotions. "If you could complete the fourth stage by now, we could've won the fight, and there would be no need for us to run."

Seth scratched his head. "What are you talking about? It takes a lot of efforts to advance to rank 3. I'm 240 years old, but I'm still having trouble with stage 4. I guess I'll stay at rank 3 my whole life…"

"I advanced to the next rank when I was 260 years old. Don't give up." Nicole looked at Seth.

"Baton, Greenland, and you advanced to rank 3 years ago. Why don't you try harder and advance to rank 4? You'll be promoted in the organization and the situation will be totally different once you became a wizard of dawn." Seth wondered.

"It's more difficult than you think. I can find the special flame, but the main problem is the engravings of the magic circles. There are no shortcuts to it. You have to learn it step by step." The smile disappeared from Nicole's face. "There are five of us and Shozo is the most talented one. He met the requirement when he was 300 years old. Stage 5 is hard to complete and I'm not overstating it." It seemed like the topic reminded her of something.

"You only need to finish stage 5 of the Molten Core River to become a wizard of dawn, right? Why does it sound so hard?" Angele wondered, "You three reached rank 3 years ago and you still haven't figured out a way to finish the engravings?"

Nicole shook her head. "No, our potential had burnt out. We won't be able to complete all the engravings even if we found a method that'll help us speed up the progress. I wish I had more time…"

"Also, for the fifth stage of Molten Core River. It's much harder than you expected. You're moving into a whole different level," she added.

"What about your family, Nicole?" Seth's brow furrowed. "Your younger brother is in big trouble right now…"

"That's why I'm heading back to my family." Nicole smiled again. "I don't visit my family a lot, but my brother still likes me the most. I should support him when he needs my help."

"Why don't you just take him with you…?" Seth pursed his lips. He did not look like a man that was 240 years old.

He turned around and looked at Angele.

"Angele, how's your progression? Done with the first stage, right? You need to finish the second stage in 50 years. You're still young and you might be able to become a wizard of dawn." Seth was smiling like a kid.

"Me? I'm doing well." Angele did not want to tell Seth that he already completed the third stage. It was way too fast for a wizard with average talent level to progress so fast. He did not want to draw too much attention.

The wizard of dawn was much stronger than a rank 3 wizard, there was a reason why rank 4 wizards had such a special title.

The wizards of dawn had a life expectancy of almost 1000 years, and average wizards only had 500 years. Their bodies and mentality levels would be improved significantly.

The three sat there and talked about the engravings of magic circles.

The magic circle engravings from the Molten Core River were critical to the increasing of mentality level for the wizards who practiced it. Also, the magic circles were needed for the completion of the later stages.

Angele noticed that his magic circle engraving speed was similar to Nicole and Seth.

The method he used was also identical.

He used the special technique taught by Henn to increase mentality level and complete the last stage. It was a shortcut. He did not follow the instructions provided by the Molten Core River.

In another word, he skipped several steps using the energy conversion magic circle.

However, there were no shortcuts for the later stages.

Also, although Henn told him the special method would not produce a lot of impurities in his mentality, he still needed some time to stabilize his mentality and use the meditation technique to convert the mentality from the flames to his own.

It was not a serious consequence.

During the conversation, Angele learned that Nicole, Seth, Baton, and Greenland were all stuck on the magic circle engravings. They already met the mentality requirement but they had a lot of trouble trying to break through.

Angele knew that his biochip would save him a lot of trouble when he met with the bottleneck. He had been confident in the ability of the chip, but he felt a bit uncertain after hearing their words.

If he wanted to eliminate all the possible consequences, he would have to follow the instructions step by step. Angele might not be able to advance to rank 4 if he failed to understand all the fundamentals.

He wanted to know why Henn told him that there would be no consequences.

Angele learned a lot from the conversation and he decided to give up the energy conversion circle for now.

He needed to learn the magic circles just like the others who were practicing the Molten Core River and find a normal way to increase his mentality.

Seth and Nicole decided to leave after the conversation ended.

"I'll see you to the gate." Angele stood up.

"Sure, I want to catch some fish from the river before I leave." Seth chuckled.

"Nicole, let me know if you need any help." Angele ignored Seth and looked at Nicole.

"Thanks." Nicole nodded. She needed to solve the conflict between the families and she might need Angele's help.

Nicole was one of Vivian's five students and her relationship with Angele was good. She would just ask for help when she needed and find a way to pay Angele back later.

They stepped out of the living room and walked to the gate.

Angele watched them jump onto their horses and disappear into the forest.

He turned around and returned to the living room.

"Don't interrupt me. I need to continue my research," he looked at Lyn, gave the order, and returned to the reading room.

Angele walked straight to the table.

However, he encountered a problem right after picking up the pen.

'Well, I should probably stop for now and go check the situation in the Nightmare Realm.'

He put his left hand on the bloodline signet and disappeared from the room.

In the Nightmare Realm.

Angele slowly opened his eyes and saw that there was a red mist in the air.

He was still sitting at the table by the window.

Angele looked out of the window and noticed that there were many blue butterflies flying outside the energy barrier.

The blue butterflies looked like pieces of blue paper, rotating around the mansion.

Angele's expression changed, he pushed the door open and left the room immediately.

He walked down the stairs and saw Todd carefully wiping the crystal card device on his right arm. The man had a blank expression on his face and he was ready to fight.

"What's going on?" Angele walked to Todd and asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen those butterflies." Todd raised his head. It seemed like he was not surprised to see Angele walk down the stairs. "You saw them from the window, right? More and more butterflies appeared over these several days."

"My defense system can block their attacks. Have you tried to attack them from inside?" Angele questioned.

"I did." Todd nodded. "By the way, your potion is unbelievably helpful, my body is recovering rapidly. Those butterflies only have one special ability. They can absorb and interrupt the energy from my soul stone. We must deal physical damage to them or release energy strikes at a rapid rate so that they can't absorb it fast enough."

Todd bit his lips and continued, "I'm not sure if they really can't break your barrier." He looked worried.

"Don't worry. I'll go check the situation." Angele glanced around. "Where are the kids?"

"I asked them to stay in their rooms and have some rest," Todd responded in a deep voice.

"Good. Do you want to go with me?"

"Of course." Todd stood up and swung his right arm.

Crack*

The lid on the crystal card device opened. There were countless gears and strings in the core of the device; a blue crystal card was lying in the center of the core quietly.

Complicated patterns covered the surface of the crystal card.

Todd tapped on the crystal card, closed the lid, and nodded at Angele.

Angele nodded as well and two long silver daggers slid into his hands from the sleeves.

BAM*

He pushed the door open, and they stepped out of the building together.

The sky was occupied by the flying blue butterflies.

The blue butterflies were rotating around the mansion without making any noise. The scene was quiet but terrifying.

"Only physical damage, huh?" Angele muttered as he narrowed his eyes. He raised his head and looked at the blue butterflies.

The seemingly infinite blue butterflies almost blocked the sunlight. Their abdomens were vibrating slightly. There were so many of them that they almost covered the whole barrier.

The sight numbed Angele's skull. The two were standing in the large shade created by the butterflies.

"Let's do it." Angele clapped his hands and turned the two silver daggers into one. Raising his left hand, he pointed at the blue butterflies outside the barrier with a silver ring.

"The Light of the Thorn!" he chanted the incantation.

A ball of golden light appeared above Angele's palm.

CHI*

Rays of golden light were released from the light ball. The golden rays looked like sharp arrows, being shot in all angles.

Todd remained calm. He raised his right arm, clenched his fist, and closed his eyes. He just stood there quietly.

CHI*

The familiar blue strings slowly appeared around his body.

More and more blue strings were being created every second; they started rotating around Todd.

Several minutes later, Todd was standing in the center of a blue vortex that was created by the strings. The flashing blue light illuminated the objects in the area, and it was much stronger than the golden light from Angele.

"Sky Lock!" Todd raised his head and reached out with his right arm.

All the blue strings gathered upon his fist within a second and disappeared into the air together.

Angele detected the energy movement in the air, he turned around and leaped several meters away.

BOOM*

All of the blue strings exploded at the same time.

Eye-blinding blue light was released from Todd's right hand. The blue strings turned into blue chains and passed through the barrier, flying toward the rotating blue butterflies.

All the butterflies that touched the chains were trapped in blue bubbles and they stopped moving.

The whole sky was blocked by the strange blue bubbles.

Following after the blue chains, the golden rays penetrated the trapped blue butterflies. The butterflies exploded and their glowing remains started dropping to the ground like fireflies. It almost looked like blue snow coming from the sky.

Crack*

The high-quality magic stone in Todd's crystal card device cracked. Its color turned from black to translucent, and the stone melted into a pile of white ash, disappearing into the wind.

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Chapter 344: Time Flies (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

The flying blue butterflies broke into pieces and their remains slowly dropped to the ground.

The whole mansion was surrounded by the glowing blue dots.

Angele took several steps forward and reached out of the barrier with the right hand, catching several blue light dots.

The blue light dots landed on the center of his palm and turned into a small pile of ash.

"It's over," he muttered as he turned to Todd. "Todd?"

Todd just stood there quietly with his eyes wide open.

Angele hesitated for a second and realized what happened. He walked to Todd and put his right hand on the man's chest. It was cold and there was no heartbeat.

"He passed away…" Angele doubled-checked Todd's condition using Zero and concluded.

Suddenly, he heard people crying from the main door of the building.

Angele turned around and saw the two kids crying by the door. They stood there and stared at their father. There were tears brushing down his cheeks.

Angele felt a bit depressed, he carefully put his right hand on Todd's left shoulder.

Silver metal liquid covered Todd's body and Angele's force field slowly lifted him up.

He brought the dead body to the two kids.

"Let's go. We can bury him in the backyard so you can pay tribute to your father anytime you want," he spoke in a low voice. Angele wanted Todd to help him explore the realm but he did not expect Todd to use up all his remaining strength and lose his life so easily.

Angele walked to the backyard with the two kids.

There were already many tombstones in the backyard. The gray tombstones lined up the empty ground behind the small garden.

It was late in the afternoon. The orange sunlight shone upon the land.

Angele buried Todd carefully and engraved his name on the tombstone. The two kids broke into tears.

Angele was not sure what he should say to comfort them.

The Nightmare Realm was dangerous and most of the people already died.

The ancient wizards from the main world probably communicated with the intelligent creatures from the Nightmare Realm before the unfortunate event happened. However, it seemed like the realm was uninhabitable at the moment. Angele did not understand why Todd decided to burn himself out when the energy barrier was still holding up well against the blue butterflies. He should have demonstrated the strength of the barrier to Todd.

"Did your father teach you how to use the crystal card device?" Angele waited patiently until the two kids calmed down and questioned.

"Yes, we know how to use the device." Frey nodded slightly. Freia grabbed her brother's right hand; they knew they had to learn to survive in this chaotic world.

"Great." Angele nodded and patted the two kids' heads. "Your father did everything for you and I'm sure he wants to see you live a happy life. Take good care of yourselves."

"Yes." The two kids' expressions turned serious.

"Go have some rest. Use the training method your father taught you and start training tomorrow. Here, take this." Angele handed the crystal card device that he removed from Todd's arm to the two kids.

The black crystal card device weighed about seven kilograms; it might be a bit heavy for the kids.

Frey wiped the tears from his eyes and grabbed the crystal card device carefully.

"Green. I'll work hard and learn to use the device." He bowed to Angele.

"What do you want to do in the future?" Angele looked at Frey calmly.

Frey bit his lips and looked at the crystal card device.

"I want to protect my sister. Green, please let me work for you. I don't want to take clean water and food supplies from you for free."

Angele looked at the boy and smiled.

Frey knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world—it seemed like Todd taught them well. He wanted to protect his sister and he knew that he needed to earn the supplies by working in the mansion.

Angele learned a bit more about the hunters in the Nightmare Realm.

The hunters were strong fighters with a lot of practical experience. However, they were just mortals that had the ability to control the energy particles. Their skills were powerful, but their life expectancy was not extended like in case of the wizards. Many of them were killed by the illusion zones and some died in their mid-thirties due to the energy radiation and the polluted resources.

In this collapsed word, it was nearly impossible to find clean water and food.

Frey decided to stand up and protect his sister from the danger.

Angele stared at the boy and he could see the dedication in the boy's eyes. There was only one crystal card device and the boy had the potential to become a hunter.

'This kid might become a great hunter in the future…' Angele thought.

"Sure. Let's go. Work for me and I'll provide you with a safe environment to live." Angele nodded, turned around, and walked to the main building.

Most of the things in the Nightmare Realm were taken care of. Angele would deliver the clean water and food supplies to the kids from time to time. Also, he replaced the magic stones in the control panels with crystal cards.

One crystal card could provide the matrix with enough energy to last for more than three years.

Frey kept practicing the skills using the crystal card device in the mansion's training ground. Angele provided him with a large number of high-quality magic stones and Freia did a lot of housework.

Angele was the only person they knew in the Nightmare Realm and they were getting closer and closer. Frey and Freia almost treated Angele like their father.

Although Angele sometimes disappeared for several days, he would bring back various types of drinks and food. Also, he gifted Freia several interesting toys for her to play with.

With the help of the energy barrier, their life in the Nightmare Realm was peaceful and happy.

In the main world, Angele already traveled to the Elemental Hand's headquarters and accepted the offer as Vivian wished.

Elemental Hand's headquarters was in a large city called the Mermaid's Song.

Thin clouds covered the gray sky and the atmosphere was heavy.

There was a yellow, rectangular castle standing quietly on a small hill in the green sea of trees, a white square in its center.

The castle was surrounded by a moat, its water crystal-clear. Gentle wind was blowing over the rippling water, the image of the castle reflected on the latter's surface.

On the bridge above the moat.

Two carriages were slowly moving into the castle gate. The guards in white armor suits were yawning, they glared at the carriages but did not do anything.

The carriage on the left was black, and the carriage on the right was white. A pattern that looked like a yellow flute was painted on both carriages.

The noise made by their rolling wheels was quite loud.

Angele was sitting inside the black carriage. Wearing a black robe, he was peeking outside through the window.

There were mercenaries with greatswords and longbows on their backs passing by. They were also apprentices with books, crystal orbs, and short wands in hands. Some of them were showing off their recent rewards acquired by completing missions and the rest was just moving forward with their faces covered by the hoods.

The bridge was bumpy and it felt a bit uncomfortable, sitting in the carriage.

No one was talking inside the carriage. There was a man with silver hair wearing a black robe sitting opposite to Angele.

The man crossed his legs and put his hands on the knees. He was looking at the pedestrians outside the window curiously.

"Cruise, what do you think?" Angele opened his mouth. "We arrived in the morning and the mercenaries of the Mermaid's Song are returning to the city. It seems like the situation is complicated."

The man named Cruise nodded. "Yeah. The situation is complicated. It's a large city on the border and it's common for mercenaries to stay here. However, some of the wizards here are not from the central continent and it reminded me of something." The man had an attractive voice and he sounded confident.

"What's that?" Angele already knew the answer but he still asked.

"The illegal slave trade." There was a gentle smile on Cruise's face and he was stilling looking out of the window. "We're transferred here to accept the two most important positions in the human resources department, but it seems like there will be some trouble…" he sighed with mixed emotions.

"I don't care." Angele chuckled. "You're the department head and I'm just here to assist you."

Cruise rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Of course you don't care… I wouldn't work so hard if I had a mother like Vivian either."

The conversation ended here. Angele could see the clean water in the moat from through the window.

Beside the moat, there was a line of small buildings with identical appearance. There were people standing by the windows, observing the bridge.

"Our job is to evaluate the apprentices, wizards, and knights who want to join the organization. There'll be a lot of politics involved during the process. Also, many new members are sent to the headquarters by the human resources department of Mermaid's Song every year. The previous department head died during a mission and that's why we're here," Cruise explained.

"I'm here because I have a kind mother, but you were selected as the department head by the council, which means the elders think you have the necessary skillset for this position." Angele decided to praise Cruise a bit as they would be working together in the future.

Cruise knew what Angele was thinking.

"Thanks. I'll try to take care of most of the things for you. However, there will be times when I can't offer you help. I hope you can understand that it was not me who dragged you into this mess."

"I understand." Angele smiled. He knew that Cruise was a strong wizard that knew how to deal with people. Cruise came from a large family and he probably wanted to earn some achievements as the head of the human resources department.

However, Angele was not concerned. He would finish the assigned job, but he was actually here just to make friends with people in higher positions. Everyone knew that Vivian was Angele's mother and they understood the reason why Angele was sent here.

Angele spent a lot of time trying to stabilize his mentality after completing the third stage of the Molten Core River. Also, he learned several more level 2 spells and studied the potion crafting theory, advanced enchantment techniques, and fundamentals of magic circles in his free time. Angele was still very young compared to other wizards and he could take his time when studying complicated subjects.

The magic circles required for the fourth stage of Molten Core River were much harder to learn than the ones from the third stage. The difficulty was on a different level.

Angele checked the process, he needed to combine four different magic circles to finish the engraving. However, his mentality level was too low to finish all four magic circles. He could only finish 20% of the first magic circle.

There was nothing Zero could do to help Angele learn the magic circles. Angele needed to overcome the challenge by himself—just like the other wizards that were practicing the Molten Core River.

There was no shortcut for the fourth stage of the Molten Core, so he had to be patient.

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Chapter 345: Time Flies (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

The carriage slowly advanced into the gate, arriving at a large white square after passing through a short tunnel.

There were many guards clad in white armor patrolling the square. They were well-organized and they were holding long spears in their hands.

In the center of the square, there was a bronze mermaid statue standing there quietly. The mermaid was covered with a large piece of silky cloth. It had the body of a woman and the tail of a fish. Clean water was coming out of the small vase in her hands. The water dropped to the pool under the statues and splashed slightly.

The square was surrounded by shops with bronze signs and dark brown curtains. There were many people entering and leaving those shops, most of them were mercenaries wearing green and black outfits.

Their genders varied, but all them had scars on their bodies. They were battlefield experts.

There were also some apprentices and wizards entering the square in their carriages.

On the opposite side of the main gate, Angele saw a tall, large building that looked like a library.

The walls of the building were painted in yellow and there were three towers on top of the building. On the tips of the towers, there were small statues of different animals: the eagle, the lion, and the scorpion.

In front of the building, there was a long staircase with almost one hundred stairs. Many people were walking up and down on the stairs.

"That's the government's city hall of the Mermaid's Song. The animal statues on the top represent three different departments and schools. The eagle represents the Eagle Eye School, the lion represents the War School, and the scorpion represents the Scholar's Tower or Spell Tower. These are the major stakeholders in the Mermaid's Song and they have access to all the resources," Cruise explained.

"Where do we belong to then?" Angele was not interested.

"Of course we belong to the Scholar's Tower… the symbol is a scorpion, doesn't it remind you of something?" Cruise shook his head.

"The Scholar's Tower is related to my mother?" Angele was a bit surprised.

"That's correct. It's not only related to your mother but also your mother's teachers. We might be working here for the next several decades."

"That's way too long…" Angele pursed his lips. The carriage stopped, and he opened the door and jumped off it quickly.

Cruise followed after him, they headed directly to the city hall on the side.

The life in the Mermaid's Song was not what he expected.

He did not need to stay in the department all day. Angele went to the Mermaid's Song to check all the documents at the beginning of the month but he did not meet a lot of people. He decided to return to the mansion and enter the Nightmare Realm to check the situation of the two kids after all the documents were completed.

The mansion was still attacked by different mutated creatures from time to time. Angele noticed the level of those creatures was increasing and he sometimes had to fight them himself. The defense system was still holding up and the mansion was not damaged.

The studying progress of the enchantment and magic circles was slow. The biochip could help him store the information and take care of the calculations, but he still needed to learn the theory by himself.

The difficulty of the subjects was on a whole different level, it was nothing like the knowledge he learned when he was still a rank 1 wizard.

He did not spend a lot of time with the Phoenix and the shadow mercenary. The bird was too weak and he was still having trouble controlling its behavior, so Angele would only summon it when he was in the Nightmare Realm. The shadow mercenary was locked inside a room of the mansion, he had not yet found a way to test its strength.

Angele spent most of his time studying in the mansion and he attended several parties held by his colleagues in the human resources department. He also communicated with Mincola, Reyline, Stigma, and Hikari using the communication rune and the signal obelisks.

Angele knew that rare resources would not help him progress after he reached rank 2. He needed to learn the magic circle engravings to progress. That was also the reason why the highest rank on the west coast was rank 2.

He tried to construct the required magic circles using the mentality every day but the progress was slow.

Angele spent all his time working in the mansion, the Nightmare Realm, and the Mermaid's Song. It was a peaceful life and everything was going as planned. His goal was clear and he was patient with the progression.

Time flew, and ten years passed in the blink of an eye…

In the Nightmare Realm.

Clank*

Fire sparks splashed between Frey and Freia.

The two took several steps back and looked at each other.

The golden sunlight of the early morning shined on their bodies.

Frey already looked like a grown man with a handsome face. Short black hair, tanned skin, and white armor, the young man looked like an experienced fighter with the silver greatsword in his hand.

CHI CHI*

He swung the greatsword several times in the air and it looked like he could use the sword easily with just one hand.

"Alright, let's stop here, Freia." He wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The girl at the opposite side nodded slightly with a thin sword in her hand. She was wearing a ponytail and her skin was a bit translucent, the blue veins easily visible on her arms. The girl had a balanced body and a cute face, it looked like she was full of energy.

Freia was also wearing a female version of the white armor. The edges were decorated, the waist was a bit tight, and the chest area was loosened.

"You're improving." Frey chuckled. He walked to the weapon shelf and inserted the greatsword into an empty slot. "Did Green teach you some special techniques?"

"No. I heard Green was trying to craft a unique potion. Do you remember the snakes that attacked our garden? Green made one into a potion and asked me to drink it. Now, I feel that I'm full of energy and that's why I practice a lot more often recently. Also, that's why you think I'm improving." Freia returned her weapon to the shelf as well. "Frey, when will you let me help you fight against the monsters around the garden? I think I can easily fight them off."

The girl clenched her fist tightly and looked at Frey. "I blocked all your attacks in the last twenty minutes." The two teenagers decided to call the mansion 'garden'. They had been living in the shelter for more than ten years and the place was like a garden from the tales to them.

"I'm not the one who makes the decisions here. You need to ask Green. Why don't you just stay in the garden and live a peaceful life?" Frey looked Freia in the eyes.

"It's getting boring… I want to explore the world and see the changes myself… just like you…" Freia had stayed in the mansion for so long that she forgot how dangerous this world was.

"Anyway, why Green doesn't age at all? He looks exactly like the day we first met… It's a bit strange, don't you think?" she lowered her voice and asked.

Frey shook his head. "I don't know… Maybe he has a special potion or something…" he was also curious.

"Let's go to the reading room. He should be back by now." Freia dragged her brother to the main building.

They walked down the hallway, entered the living room, and went upstairs.

Freia knocked on the door carefully.

Knock Knock Knock*

"Green, are you there?"

"Yeah, come in, you two." Angele's voice came from the reading room.

Crack*

The door started opening by itself.

Freia pushed the door open and dragged her brother inside.

A young man with long brown hair was sitting at a table between shelves full of heavy books. There was a gentle smile on the man's face.

"What happened? You want something?" Angele put down the quill and put a small silver scorpion on the leather scroll.

"Green, I want to help eliminate the monsters around the garden, can I go with my brother?" Freia walked to Angele and grabbed his right arm. There was a cute smile on her face.

Angele scrunched his brow.

He understood that Freia was just bored. She had stayed in the same place for ten years and most of the time she was just waiting for his brother to come back.

Angele tried to spend more time with the girl when he asked Frey to eliminate the weaker monsters.

He treated the two children like his own during all those years. Freia was a cute girl and he told her many things about the realm.

They lived as a family of three in the last ten years and Angele felt relaxed when the two kids were around him. He was the only person in this world the two kids would rely on. He could feel the warmth in his mind just by looking at them. The two kids trusted him so much that they would not question any of his decisions.

"Come here, girl." Angele patted Freia's head and dragged her to him. "This world is dangerous. Your brother is much stronger than you. I'll let you help eliminate the monsters if you can win Frey in a sword fight, what do you think?" Angele smiled and rubbed Freia's cheeks.

"What?! No way… I can never win my brother in a sword fight…" Freia rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "Hmm… Green, can you give me something that will protect me from those monsters?"

Green was a mysterious person in Frey and Freia's eyes. The man knew everything and he did not age at all. He also told them so many things about the world that they had never heard of. He would pat their heads every time he saw them.

The man's hand was warm and gentle, Freia enjoyed every moment she spent with Green.

"There'll be nothing I can do for you if you can't win the fight against your brother." Angele shrugged and chuckled. "Remember those seeds I asked you to plant in the… real garden?"

"Of course." Freia nodded several times. She stared at Angele in the eyes, it seemed like she still had hope.

"I'll let you leave the mansion when the flowers blossom." Angele nodded slightly.

"Promise?"

"Yeah." Angele rubbed her cheeks again. "Alright, go play with Phoenix. I still have some research to finish."

"Sure." Freia nodded and ran to a bookshelf on the left. She quickly dragged a red bird with a long tail out of the shadow. The bird struggled several times and tried to escape but Freia quickly grabbed its neck.

"Phoenix, don't even try to hide from me!" Freia dragged Phoenix out of the reading room. Phoenix left a trail of glowing red dots on the floor.

Frey sighed and closed the door after his sister left.

"Green, are you really going to left Freia leave?" he looked worried.

"Maybe…" Angele did not answer the question directly, "If the flower actually blossoms…" It was a sunflower that would not blossom in at least one thousand years...

"You're talented, Frey. Your father would be proud of you. The training started several years ago and you're almost at the same level as your father." Angele stood up and looked at Frey.

Ten years ago, Frey was short and thin, he could barely reach Angele's shoulders. However, he had become an experienced hunter after all the hard training he went through.

"Do you want to explore the word?" Angele knew what Frey was thinking.

"I want to find the people who survived the unfortunate event. We'd be dead if we didn't meet you. I can't be so selfish. I believe there are people in the cities or forests. They are waiting for someone to help them." Angele could see the dedication in the boy's eyes.

Angele knew that Frey was serious. There was something dancing in the boy's eyes, it looked like a bright flame of hope.

"I should be the one to save them!" Frey spoke his wish out loudly. He kept the plan in mind for years.

The two remained silent after Frey finished his words.

Several minutes later.

"Alright, I understand." Angele closed his eyes. "But, your sister…"

"Green, please take care of my sister!" Frey took two steps back.

PA*

He suddenly kneeled.

BAM BAM BAM*

He hit the floor with the right fist hard for three times. It was his way to show respect.

"I'll be back," Frey raised his head and spoke in a serious tone.

Angele looked at him quietly. The boy looked exactly like the Todd he met years ago.

Frey stood up, bowed to Angele deeply, and left the room.

Angele watched Frey leave. He knew that it was not an easy decision for the boy to make, but it might be a decision that would change his life forever.

Todd was a hunter from the church. The Colin hunters represented the spirit of the Iicolin church. The Colin hunters were brave and unselfish, Frey probably learned that spirit from his father a long time ago.

Angele was a wizard and he would do anything to accomplish his goals.

He sat down again.

Angele thought for a while and grabbed the quill.

"Well, it's not easy to be a father…" he sighed with mixed emotions. Angele leaned against the window and peeked outside. Phoenix was watching Freia watering the thousand-year sunflower seed.

The bright sunlight illuminated Freia's white armor, creating a colorful glint.

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Chapter 346: Reunite (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

Angele knew that the siblings were born in the basement, they had no chance to explore the world by themselves before he found them.

The day Frey and Freia left the basement was the first time they saw the actual situation of their world. They spent most of their time in the mansion after that and Frey was allowed to eliminate the weaker monsters around the area for practice.

However, Freia was not strong enough to leave the mansion on her own, so the only thing she could see was the forest and the river. Phoenix and Angele were the only two that would play with her from time to time.

Although Angele knew that one day he had to leave them, he still felt a bit depressed.

He lowered his head and exhaled once.

'I'm still wondering, where did the strange creatures I encountered and the strange things that happened come from if this world was a peaceful place several decades ago…? Like… that turtle…'

He was checking a yellow leather scroll, it was a map of the area around the mansion. There was a large city beside the forest and the rivers.

'Todd told me that most of the mutated creatures were not intelligent. They were just following their strange instincts. If that's true, the ruin under the volcano will…' he rubbed his chin and started thinking.

He recalled the day he met the wall of confusion in the ruin and the scorpion women. The scorpion women were the guardians of the illusion pool, but for some reason, they could not get close to the pool. Their behavior was restricted by the illusion pool, but it seemed like the pool was the source of their power.

The guardians feared the woman in a white one piece dress that was playing on the swing and it seemed like they were not allowed to leave the garden.

'Those guardians might be the residents that lived in the Nightmare Realm before it collapsed…'

A weird expression appeared on Angele's face. There were too many strange things in this realm and he wanted to know why.

'This realm is like a hell that's full of nightmares, but it's also somehow related to the main world,' Angele assumed.

'What a mess…'

Angele marked several locations on the map carefully.

He flattened the surface of the scroll with the small silver scorpion, rolled it up, and tied it with a metal string.

It was part of the gift to Frey. A map would aid him greatly in his adventure.

The gift contained some magic stones, healing potions, a lot of food, and this map. That was all Angele could do for the brave boy.

Outside the mansion, Frey was holding a large bag in his right hand. There was a high-quality sword on his back.

"Alright, I'll be leaving now. Don't miss me too much, I'll be back before you know it." Frey smiled and waved his left hand.

"Bring me gifts and take care!" Freia shouted.

"Sure!" Frey turned around and started walking to the Dark Cloud City. He did not tell Freia anything about his plan, he did not want his sister to worry too much about the trip.

Freia thought it was a common mission given by Angele and Frey would come back after the mission was completed.

It was noon and the sunlight was strong. Angele and Freia watched Frey disappear into the forest by the gate. Freia turned around and walked to Angele after Frey was no longer in her sight.

"Alright, go play with Phoenix." Angele patted Freia's head.

"No… the only things Phoenix does are singing the weird song and dancing in circles… it's boring." Freia pouted. "What are you going to do, Green? I want to stay with you."

Angele knew that the Phoenix was just acting on its own instinct as it had no intelligence. Freia had some fun with the bird at the beginning but she got bored after all those years.

The girl did not want to be alone in such a large mansion so she asked if she could stay with Angele.

Freia and Frey treated Angele like their own father after what he did for them.

"I still need to do some calculations. You can stay with me in the reading room if you want to." Angele rubbed Freia's cheeks and headed to the main building.

They returned to the reading room together.

Freia decided to add some firewood to the fireplace after closing the door.

Angele walked to the table and sat down. He grabbed the quill and started doing the calculations again.

"Green, it snowed last night… I think there'll be a thunderstorm today," Freia said as she threw the firewood into the fireplace.

"That's possible, but don't worry. I just replaced the crystal cards with new ones," Angel responded.

The weather in the Nightmare Realm was strange. There were no four seasons here. It was hot and wet in the morning but it might snow and the air would become dry during the night. The fireplace helped Freia a lot during the chilling nights.

Angele had high affinity with fire energy particles so he did not really need the fireplace. There were many trees around the mansion and he could easily turn them into firewood.

Freia finished adding the wood and walked to Angele. She just stood by the table and watched him doing all the calculations.

The tip of the quill left countless complicated symbols and words on the leather scroll. The noise the quill made echoed in the room.

Several minutes later, a ball of red light appeared by the reading room and turned into a red bird. Red light dots were dropping from the bird's tail, it was Phoenix.

Phoenix flew to a wooden bird perch behind a bookshelf. It was a cross-shaped brown perch that was specially made for Phoenix.

Phoenix's head leaned to the left and it started sleeping. The bird's tail was about half a meter long and the fire energy particles from it warmed up the whole reading room.

Angele glanced at Phoenix, smiled, and continued his calculations.

Several hours passed quickly.

Freia already fell asleep on the sofa. Angele covered her with a blanket and added some more firewood to the fireplace. He knew it was about time to return to the main world.

It was late in the night when he arrived in the main world.

Angele stepped out of the reading room and a maid brought him two wooden cylinders.

The pretty maid was already more than thirty years old. She was still beautiful, but she was not as energetic as before.

"Master, your letters." The maid handed over the wooden cylinders politely.

Angele grabbed the cylinders and glared at the maid.

"Time flies. How long have you been working here? More than ten years, right?"

"Yes, Master." The maid nodded.

"Go find a decent guy and get married. You served me well," Angele said in a light tone.

The maid looked excited after hearing the words. "Thank you, Master!" she already earned a lot of money as Angele paid her well. The girl was purchased by Liv as a slave and she never thought the master would release her.

Angele walked downstairs and sat down on a sofa after the maid left. He opened the first cylinder and found a red leather scroll inside.

The scroll was slowly opened under the dim light.

It was written by Hikari from the Molten Lava River, a friend Angele met on the airship to the central continent.

Stigma was laying low in his family and kept ranking up. Hikari joined the potion master's guild and Reyline joined the wizard's guild.

Angele started reading the letter with help of a glowing crystal.

'Dear Green,

Long time no see. I have a great opportunity here. It's a secret from the legends and I'm sure you're interested. I sent the letters to the others too. We shall meet in the air transportation city again. Same location as the last time. I'll tell you the details there.'

It was a short letter.

'Air transportation city, huh?' Angele raised the scroll to the air and ignited it with a dark-red flame ball. The scroll turned black quickly and was burnt to ashes.

Angele threw the ashes into the garbage bin on the ground.

He raised his left hand—there were two rings on his middle and index fingers. One had an amethyst that looked like an eye on the top, and the other one was a silver ring without any gem adorning it.

He rubbed the surface of the amethyst carefully and the color of the gem turned from purple to light blue.

A ray of blue light was slowly released from the center of the gem.

Angele aimed at the surface of the table with the ring. The ray illuminated the table and turned into a light screen.

Several lines of words appeared on the light screen:

'This is the intel center. Please submit your question.'

Angele remained calm. He made sure that there were no intruders around using Zero and questioned in a low voice, "I need to know the important events that happened around the air transportation city recently."

'Please wait…'

Several seconds later, several more lines appeared on the screen.

'Based on your security clearance level, following information can be provided.'

'1. Partial map of the city's hundred-year-old treasure.'

'2. The locations of the strongest wizards around the city.'

'3. Special service locations in the city.'

'4. Detailed information of…'

Rows of words appeared on the screen and Angel was reading down quickly.

The Dark Wizard Tower's intel system was surprisingly strong. He could easily find out what the elders of Elemental Hand were doing every day.

The intel was collected by the Dark Wizard Tower's elite members; the good thing was that the members' information was protected and most of them did not have access to the top secrets.

It took Angele several minutes to find the information that was related to what Hikari mentioned.

'The ruin with secret treasure: You need the Iverson's Flute to enter this ruin. Danger Level: 3.'

The danger level was set using the wizard's ranking system. Danger level 3 meant that only wizards above rank 3 could acquire the treasure safely.

Angele narrowed his eyes and looked at the details.

'Possible Treasures: Half-body lizard, Horror Vines, and Iverson's Flute (Genuine).'

'Half-body lizard is a mysterious creature from the tales. It'll help a wizard progress faster with his advanced meditation technique. Finally, something worth fighting for.' Angele smiled.

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Chapter 347: Reunite (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

Angele acquired a lot of information about rare resources through the Dark Wizard Tower's intel system in the recent years. He was only interested in the resources that would help him progress, but the main problems were the danger levels and the distance. Without Hikari's letter, he would not notice that there was a decent treasure ruin around a small city like the air transportation city.

'However, the Iverson ruin is known for its enormous size and it's different from the other ones I've visited. The half-body lizard will aid any wizard under rank 4 greatly. If Dark Wizard Tower has the intel, the other organizations might've already found out about it as well.'

Angele's expression changed, he was pondering if he should join the team.

Angele spent many years to stabilize his mentality and learn level 2 spells, nothing really changed. Advancing to rank 2 and rank 3 was relatively easy when compared to rank 4, but his body might suffer permanent damage if he failed. That was the reason why wizards would try to advance to the next rank only when they were fully prepared, even with the advanced meditation techniques.

It seemed like Hikari acquired the information related to the treasure and wanted to test her luck, but exploring the ruins was extremely dangerous. The danger level of the ruins was 3 but anything could happen when there were so many wizards going for the treasure.

Angele's last several visits to the ruins did not end well. Most of the members in his teams were killed during the exploration.

The wizards in the central continent were different from the wizards on the west coast, they had clear goals and progressing with the advanced meditation techniques would be a much better choice than risking their lives in the dangerous ruins.

Only the wizards that enjoyed adventures or did not have access to complete copies of advanced meditation techniques would explore the treasure ruins.

The Elemental Hand already recognized the relationship between Vivian and Angele; he doubted if Vivian would trust Henn's words if she somehow told Vivian about the truth.

The half-body lizard was nearly impossible to find under normal circumstances and it could help Angele during the meditation. He could ask the wizards in the organization to explore the ruins for him as he did not want to risk his life.

Also, it would take him a while to travel to the air transportation city from the mansion.

However, Angele missed Hikari and his other friends. He decided to attend the meeting first and decide if he wanted to join the exploration team later.

He rubbed the ring again and the words on the table disappeared as the light screen faded away.

"Lyn!"

"Yes, master." A young girl with a black ponytail stepped out of a bedroom on the first floor. There were several drops of ink on her sleeves and it seemed like she was writing something down when Angele called her name.

"I'll be leaving the mansion in several days." Angele stood up. "Make sure you're fully prepared as I might need you to aid me during battles."

"Understood." Lyn followed Angele's order without any hesitation. Angele liked her a lot just for her obedience. He gifted the girl a lot of resources and enchanted items as rewards for what she did for him.

The girl did not age at all after ten years, just like other wizards—they had so many ways to make sure that their appearances did not change.

"Should I inform master Vivian about it?" she sent the words through energy particles.

"It's fine. We'll be back before she notices and you'll protect me, right?" Angele responded.

Lyn was one of the strongest rank 2 wizards he had ever met and that was the reason why Vivian sent her to Angele as a bodyguard.

"Understood."

Vivian, Lyn, and the Black Earth all knew that Angele was carrying an item that would save him from the worst dangers. Also, there was no reason for him to tell Vivian about every decision he made.

"Alright, go prepare now."

"Yes, master."

The air transportation city.

The sun was setting and the city was quiet.

There was a white carriage with silver vine engraved on its body parked outside the gray walls of the humongous arena in the center of the city.

The door of the carriage was opened—inside it was a girl with long black hair. The girl had a pretty face and elegant bearing. There was a silver scale embraided on the chest of her long white robe.

The coachman was a muscular man in gray armor. Currently, he was taking a nap on the seat.

There were several pedestrians passing by on the street, most of them were wearing thick coats.

The light from setting sun did not bring warmth to the land.

Time flew.

The woman in the carriage was looking at the street silently.

Finally, a smile slowly appeared on her face as a tall man in a black cloak walked toward the carriage from the street. The man stopped in front of the carriage and jumped onto it quickly.

"Nothing changed, Stigma, nothing changed." The woman smiled.

"Yeah, Hikari, nothing changed." The man took off his hood, revealing a pale face. The color of his hair and pupils changed from black to dark purple, but it was hard to notice.

"Where are they?" Stigma questioned in a low voice.

"I don't know if they'll meet with us here. Although we've been still exchanging information with each other throughout all those years, no one is talking about their progression due to the restrictions set by the organizations. I'm not sure what they were doing recently," Hikari explained, "How are you doing in your family?"

"I'm doing well. Believe or not, my sister and my mother still think that I'm a rank 3 apprentice. However, the situation is getting worse and worse in recent years. If everyone comes this time, I want you to help me solve my problem. It won't be too much trouble." Stigma went straight to the point, he had nothing to hide.

"It'll be an easy task I presume." Hikari was a bit surprised.

"Yeah. A very easy task." Stigma chuckled.

"Sounds good."

"Reyline joined the wizard's guild and Green joined the Elemental Hand. That's all I know. It takes months for the messages sent using the signal obelisks to be delivered. I don't even know if they read my message." Hikari sighed.

"I hope they all come. I prepared a special gift for everyone." Stigma looked at Hikari.

"Well, I told them what you said in the message. Don't disappoint us." Hikari shook her head slightly.

"Come on, I'll never lie to my friends, and we're all from the west coast."

They chatted for a while in the carriage.

"Let's head to that coffee shop and wait for them there," Hikari advised.

"Sure."

The coachman just woke up and heard the words. The carriage started slowly advancing and headed to the opposite side of the arena.

The carriage went down the empty street and arrived at the coffee shop; it was the location where they had their last meeting.

The brown sign of the shop was shaking in the chilling wind. The name of the shop was written on it: Snow Mountain Coffee Shop.

Stigma and Hikari jumped off the carriage. They stepped into the shop after the carriage left.

There were not many people buying drinks. There was a middle-aged chubby woman standing behind the counter—she was still a pretty girl when they last met in the shop.

There were several pretty girls standing beside the counter. They were wearing tight white pants that looked like washed jeans and their legs looked quite attractive in those pants. It was cold outside, but their outfits were still quite revealing.

Most of the customers were here just for those pretty girls.

"So many years have passed. She was still a young girl the last time we met." Hikari sighed with mixed emotions.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It feels like we're trapped in time." Stigma nodded slightly. "Let's find an empty table."

"Well, most of the tables are empty."

They walked to the corner and tried to find the table they sat at the last time, but it was already taken by a bald man wearing a black leather suit. He was having a conversation with a waitress.

PA*

"You. Take the coin and walk away. We want this table." Hikari dropped a gold coin on the table.

The bald man hesitated for a second and glared at the two strangers. He quickly checked if it was a real gold coin.

"It's yours." The man looked excited. He stood up quickly and dragged the waitress to another table.

The two strangers' interaction with the bald man attracted the other customers' attention.

The middle-aged woman behind the counter was a bit confused. The two strangers looked a bit familiar to her.

The atmosphere in the shop was getting heavy. The customers knew that the two strangers were wizards and most of them were short-tempered. Wizards would just kill those who offended them without any hesitation. Some of the bandits and violent people from the canyon would also wear long robes. The citizens would never try to mess with people like that.

Several minutes later, the customers paid their bills and left the shop. Only the waitresses and the middle-aged woman were still in the shop.

The sun disappeared on the horizon and night fell.

The door of the shop was pushed open again as Stigma was still chatting with Hikari.

A young man with long brown hair slowly stepped into the shop. He was wearing a black suit with a dark red armband on the right arm. There was a mysterious silver glint on his skin. A beautiful girl with a black ponytail was following behind him—she was also wearing a black outfit.

"Green, I thought you were not coming." Stigma stood up and looked at the man beside the door.

"Long time no see. I'm just here to meet my old friends." There was a gentle smile on Angele's face.

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Chapter 348: Trouble (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

The three sat down again and they all ordered hot coffee.

White steam rose from the three glasses and they looked like three smoking cylinders standing on the white table.

"Time is up. I think Reyline is not coming." Hikari checked her pocket watch.

Stigma grabbed his glass and took a sip. "It's fine. Let's get to the point. I have a favor to ask. Although we're friends, I'll still pay you well."

Angele held the glass in his right hand and spun it several times.

"What do you want us to do? Just say it, Stigma. We survived the trip to the central continent together. Although fair trade is the first rule for the wizards, you don't have to pay me well," Angele said.

Hikari looked at Stigma without saying a word.

"I'll tell you later. The situation is… complicated," Stigma stopped for a second and continued, "It seems like Reyline won't make it."

"What are you talking about?" a calm male voice came from the entrance.

The three raised their heads.

It was a man in a silver armor with a black cloak on his back, stepping into the shop. His shiny blonde hair and handsome face were eye-catching. It was Reyline—he did not age at all.

Reyline's footsteps were loud and deep, it seemed like his armor was heavy.

He walked to the table and sat down by Stigma. Reyline glanced around and his sight fell upon Angele.

"Alright, since we're here, I think we should pay Morrisa a visit, what do you think?" Hikari advised.

"Sure."

"Let's do it."

Angele and Reyline agreed.

Stigma shook his head. "Morrisa is enjoying her peaceful life after she got married. Her husband's family used some secret technique and helped her get pregnant. The child was born without any problems, but she lost half of her mentality. Her child is already 10 years old now. I've visited her once, but she just looked like a middle-aged local woman that you can see anywhere." There was a bitter smile on Stigma's face.

"She's not one of us anymore, but she probably made the right decision." Hikari looked a bit depressed after hearing the words.

"Alright. Let's get back to the topic. What do you want us to do? I thought we were going to explore ruins," Angele interrupted, "I don't have much time."

Stigma took a hit for Angele and almost died back on the airship. Although Stigma did it for the team, it still left a deep impression in Angele's mind.

"It's simple. I want to solve the problem completely," Stigma started explaining, "There are five strongest wizards in my family. I can fight two of them by myself and I want you to help me deal with the rest."

"You want us to kill them or just capture them?" Reyline questioned.

"Capture them if possible, but you can kill them if you have to." Stigma chuckled.

"When do we start?" Angele sipped some coffee from the glass.

"Tomorrow morning." Stigma finished the coffee and slammed the glass on the table. "It's a bit earlier than my original plan, but the situation is getting worse. My sister is considered a traitor to the family and she's being tracked down by the assassins."

He stood up. "Let's go, guys. I'll kill anyone who tries to touch my sister."

"You saved my life once and I'll treat your sister like my own." Angele clinked his glass with Reyline.

"Well, yeah, he's right." Reyline realized he never liked the man named Green after clinking the glasses with him. Reyline's expression changed and he stared at Angele.

Hikari shook her head and chuckled.

"I can find some wizards from the potion master's guild to help us. Also, the guild can easily give your family some pressure. What do you say?"

"Well, I can summon a team with a maximum of 100 formal wizards and 2000 experienced soldiers. Tell me the location. We can set a barrier around your family's territory. No one can stand against the will of the wizard's guild." Reyline glared at Angele.

Angele rolled his eyes. "Why are you looking at me…? My organization is weak so I don't have a team of wizards or something like that."

"Don't bother the wizards from your organizations." Stigma opened his mouth, looking a bit surprised. It seemed like Hikari and Reyline were doing well in their organizations.

"Five rank 2 wizards. I think we can win the fight just by us."

"Alright, let's move. It'll take us some time to reach my family's territory." Stigma put on the black hood and covered his face with a mask.

Surrounded by tall yellow grasses dancing in the gentle wind, a brown wooden house sat quietly in the center of the plain.

Stigma was sitting opposite an old woman with white messy hair inside the house. He was wearing a long black robe.

"Mother, tell me what happened to my sister." He stood up and walked to the window as he questioned.

"Nothing happened." The old woman shook her head. "Did you pack up all your belongings? Just leave. I don't care if you go to the Bass River area of the Molten Lava River area. Don't stay in the family. You're their next target." The old woman's voice was deep and hoarse.

"Leave? Haha…" Stigma's expression turned serious. "Don't worry about me. I'll deal with it. Alright, mother, there's no time to waste. Tell me the location."

The woman raised her head. It was the first time Stigma talked to her like that. The young man's gentle smile was replaced by a cold expression. She never saw Stigma spend any time on learning the spells or meditating. Sadly, Stigma's mother was a mortal, and she did not notice that Stigma was no longer hiding his mentality.

"I'll find the location myself if you don't want to say anything." Stigma put on his hood and left the wooden house.

"Don't worry, Della, I'll be the one to protect you this time," he muttered.

Stigma raised his head and saw three people waiting for him quietly on the horizon.

He closed the door and headed to his friends.

The Abyss Canyon.

There was a deep black crack in the middle of the yellow plain. The crack was stretching endlessly, emitting chilling wind from its depths.

The golden light shined upon the land, but it did not bring warmth to the canyon.

A red dot was advancing slowly on the edge of the canyon.

There were three green dots following after the red dot.

Squeak*

A shadow soared through the air—there was a black eagle rotating above the red dot. The eagle's wings were blocking the sunlight from time to time.

The red dot glared at the eagle and kept running, but it was slowing down.

It was a young girl wearing a tight leather suit. There was a complicated V-shaped rune between her eyebrows and her face was pale. Cold sweat was dripping down to the ground from her chin. The girl's black hair was covered with dust and sweat.

The girl was breathing heavily, glancing at the people behind her. It seemed like her right arm was hurt as her sleeve was soaked in blood.

"Della, Philip went to the Molten Lava River and no one can save you now. Come back with us and hand over the item, otherwise, we'll kill everyone you love." A young man's voice came from behind.

Della was not concerned about the man's words.

"If I give that thing to you, you'll kill me immediately. Half-body lizard is not the only thing you want. The family leader asked you to kill me and take the item."

"What a waste of time." The young man was enraged. They spent days chasing after the girl and they were all getting tired.

The assassins from the family did not expect Della to travel so fast and only three of them could keep up with her speed.

"Northrend, stop chasing me. I don't have the item." Della sent the words through energy particles.

"Ha, we'll capture you sooner or later. Della, you're a wizard that served the family well and we want this to end peacefully. Listen, you're a girl and you know what will happen if we successfully capture you. This is the final warning!" the man named Northrend shouted.

"Don't even try to activate your communication rune. The energy wave released by my enchanted item already blocked the energy flow in the area. Haha."

Della bit her lips—Northrend already knew what she was trying to do.

"Philip will not come back for you on time even if he learns about the truth." Northrend sneered. "Just give up. Someone wants your body and your item. Listen to me. Let's return to the family together and we won't hurt you."

"Huh? Who wants Della's body?"

"The first inheritor of the Sherman Family, Master Oscar. Don't waste our time. The family gave you all the resources you asked for and it's about time for you to pay the family back." Northrend's head was a bit dizzy and he did not realize that it was a different person that asked the question.

Suddenly, Della jumped forward and fell into a young man's arms. It was a young man with black hair.

"Stigma?" the assassins stopped. Northrend narrowed his eyes and stared at Stigma. "How did you find her location?"

"Well, it's not important." Stigma raised his right hand and aimed at the assassins. A dark red vortex slowly appeared on his palm.

"This spell…?!" Northrend's expression changed and took several steps back. "Three…"

BOOM*

Northrend and the other two assassins were surrounded by the dark red light before he could finish the sentence.

"Brother…" Della was crying in Stigma's arms. She looked at Stigma. For some reason, she believed that Stigma could help her solve the problem.

On the endless yellow plain.

Angele and Lyn stood in front of four green robes calmly.

"Who are you? Our family is one of the strongest families in the air transportation city and we're hunting down a traitor." The leader's left eye was covered by a white eyepatch and there was a black mace in his right hand. The man looked more like a barbarian warrior than a wizard.

"Yeah, yeah. You're tracking down a traitor and you're not the only assassins, right?" Angele was not interested at all.

The leader of the green robes pursed his lips. "Who're you? This is the final warning. We have a strong background. The masters behind us are from…"

"Lyn, go ahead." Angele took a step back. He knew it was just a waste of time.

Lyn nodded and stepped forward. Raising her right hand, she created a red lava ball on the palm. The bright red light illuminated her body.

The high-temperature heat waves were spreading to all angles. The grass around her was drying up quickly and some of the taller grass already perished in the flames.

The four green robes stepped back at the same time as they finally understood the situation.

Lyn threw the lava ball forward.

The red ball exploded in the midair and countless drops of red light dots fell to the ground. Lyn, Angele, and the four green robes were all within the range of the explosion.

The lave dots splashed all over their bodies, but they were blocked by a translucent energy barrier when they were about to hit Angele and Lyn.

It was a feature of the Molten Core River. Although the lava drops would not select the target by themselves, they would not damage the ones who could release the lava ball. Their fire resistance was so high that the flames or lava drops would not do any damage to them.

The best defense is a good offense considering the situation.

The exploded lava ball had a large effective range and the wizards who could release it would not take any damage, but the opponents would have to release their energy barriers.

Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes as he quickly checked Lyn's lava ball's damage.

'110 degrees of area damage… interesting. The lava ball doesn't require any incantation but its damage is still great.'

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Chapter 349: Trouble (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

The four green robes took several steps back but they were still within the range of the explosion.

The leader of the green robes threw a green band into the air.

The green band floated on top of their heads and created a green light screen.

The green robe then took out a white bird statue from his pouch and tapped on it lightly.

The stone bird was brought to life and flew toward the lava drops, leaving a trail of freezing smoke behind its tail.

PA PA PA*

The lava dots kept striking the green light screen and broke it into pieces.

BAM*

The lava dots hit the white bird after destroying the energy barrier. White and red energy flows exploded in the air.

The four green robes were pushed back by the shockwave.

"Damn! Stop them!" the leader shouted and hid behind the other three assassins, carefully pulling out a necklace with white gems from his neck.

The man looked at the young man and the woman, it seemed like they were still preparing for the next attack.

The leader knew that he had no time to waste, so he quickly removed the necklace from his neck. It was an important magic device that he had been carrying for years and he could only activate it when necessary. The man decided to use it after seeing his strongest spell, Froze Hawk, perish in the rain of lava.

The necklace was his last hope.

The man held the necklace in hand and shook it slightly.

The necklace slowly disappeared into the air.

"Ah!" the leader screamed in pain, he sounded like a dying beast.

His head was moving down his neck slowly—several seconds later, the man's head completely sank into his chest, and only a bloody hole was left on his neck.

The man took off his long robe, revealing his naked body, and a long red scar appeared on his chest.

Crack*

The red scar turned into a one-meter-long mouth—it looked like a human mouth, but much longer and larger.

The mouth stuck its red tongue out and licked its lips.

"Move away!" the man shouted, his voice was deep and loud.

The three green robes were having a hard time blocking the lava drops, their faces turned pale and there were beads of cold sweat dripping down their chins. They quickly moved to the side after hearing the leader's voice.

"Mouth of the Abyss!" the large mouth in front of the leader's chest opened.

The mouth looked like an endless black hole that was about to suck every object into it.

The lava drops were dragged into the mouth by a mysterious force and they all sank into the darkness.

Mud, grass, and the broken band in the air mixed into the lava drops and they were all flying into the mouth.

Lyn's expression changed. She rubbed a red ring on her left hand. There was a total of four red rings on her left hand and the one she touched was on her pinky.

"Let me see how much you can swallow!" she suddenly raised her left hand.

BOOM*

The fire sparked in her hand and an enormous illusion of lava ball appeared on top of Lyn's head as she held her fist tight.

The lava ball's illusion had a diameter of three meters and it could easily fit an adult inside it.

Several seconds later, the illusion slowly turned into reality and the heat waves started spreading in all directions.

The grass on the ground was ignited and a dark smoke cylinder rose into the sky as the heat waves spread.

The dark red lava ball was covered with countless tiny cracks, with golden lava peeking from within them.

"Die!" Lyn pointed at the leader of the assassins.

BOOM*

The terrifying lava ball flew toward the man.

Angele stood behind Lyn quietly. It was the first time he saw a real fight between two rank 2 wizards. They traded several spells within seconds.

However, it seemed like the leader of the assassins stood no chance against Lyn. Lyn just threw several lava balls at him without making any defensive moves. The rain of lava blocked most of the incoming projectiles for her.

Her fighting style was very aggressive.

The humongous lava ball completely blocked Angele's sight.

The earth was shaking violently. The golden lava and the flames swallowed the four assassins. Rays of blinding golden light illuminated the land.

Large areas of grass were ignited and the furious fire was expanding quickly. The grass was burnt to ashes and left on the ground.

Black smoke rose from the land and the whole plain turned into a mess. Meanwhile, the red flames were still expanding.

Angele raised his right arm.

"Kel'Zula's Hand," he chanted a short incantation.

A red glow appeared on his armband.

WOO*

A ball of flame came from the opposite side, it shrank and sank into Angele's right arm.

WOO WOO WOO*

More and more fireballs flew to Angele and were absorbed by his right arm. They looked like birds returning to their nest.

About ten seconds later, all the burning flames in the area were absorbed by the armband. The black smoke slowly disappeared into the air.

Angele lowered his right hand and looked at the four dead bodies on the ground.

"Let's move. They are not the only ones."

"Yes, master." Lyn lowered her right hand and the red light slowly disappeared from her ring.

Suddenly, Angele detected a strange mentality movement from behind.

Angele's expression changed as he turned his head around.

'It's Stigma… He already advanced to rank 3…' Angele was a bit surprised.

It took Stigma only a decade to advance to rank 3 from rank 1. His progression was extremely fast even when compared to the wizards from the central continent.

'Henn, what do you think?'

Angele tried to communicate with Henn through the mentality wave.

'Why are you asking me? You're not working hard enough. Well, Arisma won't ask Stigma to attack you before we find out who ambushed us that day. Don't worry.'

'The Mask of the Black Wing was the only thing you gave me but it didn't suit my style and you're saying that I didn't work hard enough… Seriously?' Angel responded quickly.

'I helped you become Vivian's son. She helped you a lot, right?' Henn sneered, 'Also, do you really think I don't know why you kept your long hair?'

'Huh?' Angele narrowed his eyes. 'What else do you know?'

'I know everything,' Henn replied in a cold tone. 'Alright, don't waste our time. Find Stigma and Arisma. I want to know what intel she had. Those bastards… I want them dead…'

'Well, I don't want them dead. Like I said, I'm not your puppet.'

'We're in the same boat.' Henn chuckled. 'If they found out that Arisma and I are still alive in your body, they'll track you down and kill you. It's something you have to live with. Haha.'

'I need to get my hands on the Thousand Shadow Orb as soon as possible.' Angele pursed his lips.

'I know you have the recipe, but you have to be extremely lucky if you want to craft that magic device by yourself. Also, you need to collect all those rare materials. How long do you think it'll take for you to complete the device?' Henn questioned.

'Whatever, let's go.' Angele sighed and started heading to the source of the strong mentality wave.

Lyn followed after Angele and they disappeared into the horizon quickly.

The Abyss Canyon.

The chilling wind was coming out of the deep dark crack.

Stigma held Della in his arms; they were surrounded by two groups of people.

The assassins in green robes were led by a man named Northrend, and a group of young swordsmen wearing white leather armors was led by a man in a long white robe that was standing in the center of their formation.

"Northrend, that's the inheritor of the Sherman Family?" Stigma looked at the man in a long white robe and questioned in a deep tone.

Northrend was breathing heavily, he was so scared that his body was still trembling. If Oscar did not help him when Stigma casted the spell, they would already be dead.

He had no idea how he should answer Stigma's question.

Northrend was not sure how Stigma suddenly became so strong. Oscar was his partner, but the man was from a different family. Northrend suddenly thought of something—if Stigma could lead the family with his incredible power, he would no longer need the help of the Sherman Family. The current family leader was trying to save the family by sending Della to Oscar as a gift.

"Don't give him too much pressure. The man is just following orders," Oscar interrupted, "Della, hand over the half-body lizard, you have no choice. The situation is getting worse and I'm doing this for your family. I'm not saving this thing for my own use. Someone else wants it…"

Stigma and Della's pupils constricted.

Stigma's strike was blocked by the man named Oscar. Although Oscar's barrier was buffed by the swordsmen he brought here, it still survived the attack. Stigma had no idea who was behind this whole thing.

"To be honest, I can't win a fight against you. However, the wizard guild has my back. I will not try to defend against your next attack, but do you really want to kill me?" Oscar looked at Stigma and Della. "I'm an authorized member of the wizard's guild and information about you will be transferred back to my organization if you kill me. I know you don't care about your own life, but what about your sister, your cousin, your mother, and your family? They will be dragged into this unfortunate event. Do you… understand?"

Stigma's expression turned serious, and he just stood there without saying a word.

"Oscar, wizard's guild has you back, huh? Do you remember me?" suddenly, a voice came from behind. A handsome man with short blonde hair was walking to them quickly—it was Reyline. Hikari was following after him. As for Angele and Lyn, they joined the scene as well several minutes later.

"Reyline… You again!" A tall man behind Oscar stepped forward, staring at Reyline with hatred in his eyes. "You're everywhere. Why do you have to get in my way again and again?"

"Those should be my words, Rumple. How dare you call yourselves authorized members of the wizard's guild?!" Reyline shouted in a cold tone.

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Chapter 350: Conflict (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

"It seems like you don't know anything…" Rumple took off his white leather armor. The other swordsmen quickly backed off and Oscar was standing behind Rumple, sneering.

"What are you talking about?" Reyline scrunched his eyebrows.

"You came here but you don't know anything about the situation? Whatever, I still remember what happened ten years ago and I won't let you escape this time." Rumple licked his lips and waved his right hand.

The swordsmen spread out and some of them rushed toward Reyline.

Rumple took out a small silver hammer and spun it several times.

"Goodbye, Reyline." The man sneered and threw the small hammer forward.

CHI*

The hammer turned into a blurry silver shadow.

Reyline's expression changed and quickly raised his right hand.

BAM*

A distorted silver barrier appeared in front of him and he blocked the hammer with the right hand. The hammer quickly disappeared into the air like it was never there.

Reyline narrowed his eyes and green veins appeared on his neck.

"Hikari, let me take care of this guy. Go help Stigma and his sister."

"Sure." Hikari turned around and headed towards Stigma.

Reyline turned around and started running. Rumple was chasing after him and his silver hammer would become invisible every time it hit the silver energy barrier. The two wizards quickly left other people behind.

Oscar and the rest of the swordsmen started running toward Stigma. The green robe assassins on the other side also started moving.

"You sneaked into the ruins and stole most of the treasures from us, didn't you?" Oscar looked at Stigma. "There were so many representatives of the major organizations in the ruins and you still did it. Don't you know we have a prophet in our organization? You can't escape his tracking spells."

Stigma shook his head and was about to respond.

However, Oscar and his men were getting closer and closer. Oscar waved his right hand and the swordsmen all took out an item that looked like a white lantern.

The lantern was lighted up. Green flames jumped out of the lamp, rushing toward Stigma and his sister.

"The Lantern of the Fog?!" Stigma's expression changed. "That's why you decided to attack a wizard that's one rank higher than you!"

"We're just here to waste your time. More and more wizards from other organizations are heading toward us. You have nowhere to run."

Green flames from the mysterious lantern surrounded Stigma. He casted multiple spells but none of them could drive those flames away.

The green flames were like a curse that would never go away.

Freezing energy waves penetrated Stigma and Della's bodies. Hikari was also trapped by those strange green flames.

'We need to leave now!' Stigma knew that they could not win the fight against a large group of wizards even with the help of his friends.

'Master, I think I have to use it.'

'Do whatever you want, just finish the fight quickly.' A deep female voice echoed in his ears.

'Sure.'

Angele and Lyn were running to the Abyss Canyon. They lowered their bodies and they were traveling at full speed.

They could see that Stigma stood by the edge of the canyon and raised his hand, releasing green mist into the air. A blurry shadow that looked like a female in a long white robe appeared behind his body.

The female had a pair of green eyes, her pupils were replaced by the green glow.

'Damn! It's Arisma, that old bastard. How did she recover so fast?' Henn sounded angry and surprised.

'Well, Stigma already reached rank 3 and he can help Arisma recover faster. It's understandable.' Angele remained calm. 'The problem is, those people are just waiting for the reinforcements. This is not an easy task like Stigma said. We should finish the battle as fast as possible.'

'What do you have in mind?'

'Let me give this a try.' Black light flashed in Angele's eyes.

Lyn did not notice that Angele was communicating with Henn.

Stigma was fighting with the swordsmen in white armors when Angele and Lyn finally arrived at the scene. About ten seconds later, the swordsmen all fell to the ground. Their movements were so slow that they could not defend against Stigma's attack at all. It felt like watching a slow-motion scene in a movie.

"That's poison. Be careful, Master!" Lyn suddenly sent the words to Angele through energy particles.

"Poison, huh?" Angele stopped immediately as Lyn dragged his sleeve. "It's fine. Stigma is one of us. Just go help Hikari."

"But, Master…"

"Go. I'll be fine." Angele looked at Lyn.

"Sure…"

Lyn was a bit speechless but she decided to follow the order. She turned to the right side and headed to Hikari's location.

Angele walked to Stigma slowly as the battle was almost finished.

Reyline and Rumple were rank 2 wizards but they had a lot of magic devices and enchanted items. Most of those items had long cooldowns and could be activated with just a small amount of mentality. It almost looked like there were two rank 3 wizards casting a lot of strong spells.

Angele glared at them and shook his head. He had many magic devices as well—most of them came from Vivian, she asked Angele to carry the magic devices with him all the time. Angele tried not to rely on those devices too much as he could deal the same amount of damage with his own spells. He already developed a unique battle style in the Nightmare Realm and it did not involve the use of magic devices.

Broken body parts of the swordsmen covered the ground and their blood was running into the endless canyon.

The chilling wind quickly blew the smell of the blood away.

Stigma stepped on Oscar's chest with his left foot and he was saying something.

However, there was no fear on Oscar's face and he was not responding to Stigma's words. Della leaned against Stigma's body, it looked like she was unconscious.

BOOM*

Something exploded between Reyline and Rumple. Rumple's energy shield broke. He quickly turned around and ran away with no hesitation.

Hikari finally escaped the green flames with the help of Lyn.

"You're late." Reyline glanced at Angele and sent these words through energy particles.

"Let's regroup and leave the area as soon as possible," Angele responded in a deep tone. "They have reinforcements and we need to find a safe place."

"Alright, come with me." Stigma carried Della in his arms and started running forward.

The others followed behind him.

They were moving on the edge of the canyon at full speed. Hikari set up several traps on the way, which turned invisible after several seconds.

"Thank you, everyone. I wouldn't be able to escape just by myself." Stigma started a conversation using energy particles as he ran.

"Well, I thought you said it was an easy task that was related to your family. Where did all those random enemies come from?" Angele's brow furrowed.

"They believed the rumors and thought my sister acquired the treasure from the ruins near the air transportation city. Those people want to kill my sister and take the treasure," Stigma quickly explained.

"Actually, I think the people behind them are related to the wizards who ambushed Henn and Arisma." This sentence was only delivered to Angele.

"So, what exactly is going on?" Angele kept asking. He did not respond to Stigma's words.

"My family and several other organizations around the city want to kill my sister. They want a share of the treasure. It was not part of my plan, but I think we can win the battle." Stigma sounded confident. "I only need you to kill four people for me."

"Just four? That's it?" Reyline joined the conversation.

"Yeah. The four elders of my family, they made most of the major decisions in the last ten years. We should separate into four teams and kill those old bastards after we get rid of the ones following us. The other organizations will stop if all the elders are dead. The only problem is the wizard's guild. Reyline, can you…"

"No problem," Reyline nodded, "I didn't expect Rumple to be here. He holds a grudge against me since our last encounter. I can pressure the guild and make him stay away from this mess."

"Good. I'll tell you the locations, let's separate now. Also, get rid of the remaining assassins." Stigma threw several leather scrolls into the others' hands.

"Stigma, this is the last time I'll help you for free. I'm just here to pay you back." Reyline checked the scroll and turned in a different direction. Stigma heard the words and nodded slightly.

Hikari glared at Stigma. "I can get rid of the assassins with the help of my friends from the potion master's guild."

Stigma took out a wooden statue from his pouch and threw it to Hikari. "Thanks. This is a small gift for you, I'm sure you'll need it."

Hikari grabbed the wooden statue and checked it. Her expression changed slightly and she turned in a different direction as well.

Only Stigma, Angele, and Lyn were left.

"I owe you one and I don't need any gift." Angele stopped Stigma before he tried to say anything.

Stigma's sight fell upon Lyn.

Angele looked at Lyn and talked to her using energy particles.

Lyn hesitated for a second but she quickly turned around and walked away.

Angele asked Lyn to wait for him in the air transportation city. Lyn never questioned Angele's decision and she knew that Angele could handle the situation by himself.

Angele increased his speed and caught up with Stigma after Lyn disappeared into the horizon.

"So, back to the topic. You were telling the truth, right?" Angele scrunched his brow.

"Yeah. I'm on their list already. They will find out that you entered the White Mist Town to save us sooner or later," Stigma responded.

"I understand, but the thing about your sister... You're hiding something from us."

Stigma looked a bit surprised and a bitter smile appeared on his face. "Yeah, it was my fault. I didn't want to bring Della into this, but I didn't know that they had a prophet that could cast high-level tracking spells."

"I want to know the truth. There are too many holes in the explanation you just told us." Angele shook his head.

"Alright."

Angele finally had a general idea about the situation after Stigma told him everything.

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Chapter 351: Conflict (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

Stigma collected a lot of valuable information when he was still in the family's territory and he noticed that the ruins around the air transportation were recently opened. He sneaked into the ruins and found a lot of resources that would help Arisma recover. Stigma took away most of the valuable resources, but he was ambushed by a group of wizards that hid their faces with black masks. He was injured and returned to the family to recover. However, an exploration team with members from several major organizations found out someone entered the ruins before them. They then asked a prophet to find the one who "stole" the treasure from them. However, the prophet made a mistake and thought the target was Stigma's sister. This was how the whole thing started.

Stigma put the half-body lizard into Della's pouch without being noticed and the lizard helped Della recover her stamina on the way. However, it seemed like those assassins realized that Della was carrying the half-body lizard. They knew the situation about the ruin and they thought Della was the one who raided the ruins before the exploration team. The leader of the assassins quickly contacted the prophet and confirmed the target.

Stigma learned that his sister had become the scapegoat and he decided to ask his old friends for help. That was the truth behind the whole situation.

"So… you already took most of the valuable resources from the ruins?" Angele was a bit speechless.

"Well… yeah. Sorry." Stigma nodded slightly.

"That's why your master is recovering so fast. Did you notice anything special about the ones who ambushed you?" Angele rubbed his chin.

"Of course. They were using the shadow power." Stigma took out something small from his pouch and threw it to Angele.

PA*

Angele caught the item easily. It was a small raven statue with a black body and a pair of green eyes. It seemed like the eyes were made of emeralds.

"No, not the statue. Look at its shadow on the ground," Stigma advised.

Angele heard the word and looked down.

The raven's shadow twisted on the ground, it looked like a living bird that was swinging its wings.

Angele looked at the statue—it was not moving at all.

The raven's shadow on the ground was trying to leave Angele's hand.

"The hell… Don't tell me this is…" Angele's expression changed.

"Yeah. This is a shadow fiend that comes from the abyss…" Stigma confirmed Angele's assumption.

"A shadow fiend from the shadow realm…" Angele blocked the sunlight above the statue.

Suddenly, the raven's shadow jumped out of the statue and it started moving around Angele on the ground.

CAW*

The voice of the raven was loud and terrifying. It jumped straight into Angele's shadow.

Angele's expression turned serious, he knew that he could not let the raven touch his shadow.

With a flick of his finger, a ray of fire energy particles hit the raven's shadow with precision.

BAM*

A small hole appeared on the ground.

Crack*

Countless tiny cracks appeared on the raven statue in Angele's hand. Several seconds later, the statue turned into a pile of stone debris and dropped to the ground.

"Fairy's realm… and now it's the shadow realm… It seems like the wizards in the central continent are trying to study the ancient world…" Angele muttered.

"Yeah. I heard that there are wizards who can enter other realms using the world stones as portals so it's possible that those wizards brought the shadow fiends to our world. Maybe the wizards who ambushed our teachers were related to the shadow realm," Stigma spoke in a deep tone.

"What if those wizards are from the shadow realm?" Angele narrowed his eyes. "What's your plan? Any advice from your master?"

"Well, we need to rank up fast." A bitter smile appeared on Stigma's face. "No matter how perfect my plan is, I can't win a fight against someone with extreme power."

"How strong were the ones who ambushed you?" Angele questioned.

"Three rank 3 wizards and two rank 4 wizards."

"What?!" Angele gasped. "How did you survive the ambush? Is that even possible?"

Stigma sighed. "Arisma saved me. Otherwise, I'd be dead. However, her soul form was almost destroyed by those wizards. They knew how to deal with strong opponents."

"That's a problem." Angele narrowed his eyes. If Henn could not protect him under a similar situation, he was not sure if he could survive the attack. "Do you know why they put so much effort into finding Arisma and Henn?"

"According to the words said by one of the rank 4 wizards that attacked me, I think there's a person named Alicia that can communicate with the living beings of Shadow Ream and she's behind the whole thing," Stigma explained.

It seemed like the situation was much more complicated than Angele thought.

"So, we probably should…"

"What? Alicia?!" Henn's voice interrupted, "So, it is her… the lord of the shadow, Alicia… It was a possibility, but I didn't think she would do something like this…" Henn's illusion visualized behind Angele.

It was a beautiful lady with long dark hair and a tight silky black dress. The woman was attractive and mysterious. She was wearing a pair of long black gloves and the brooch on her chest that looked like a lightning.

For some reason, Angele thought he was looking at Vivian. The two women gave him a similar feeling but Henn looked more attractive.

Angele had thought Henn was an old woman, it was the first time he saw Henn's appearance.

A woman with a pair of green eyes appeared behind Stigma slowly, she was wearing a long white robe and her face was covered by a silky mask.

"Long time no see, old bastard." Henn pursed her lips into a cold smile and stared at the woman behind Stigma.

"Henn, the invincible banshee from the hell… Ha… What a joke. Your soul power is weaker than me right now. How sad that is." Arisma's voice was soft and gentle but her words were quite heavy.

"Cut it out. We are no longer who we used to be. I think you're the reason why Alicia is going after us. What's your plan? You need to bring this to an end." Henn was not mad about what Arisma just said at all. She just looked Arisma in the eyes.

They were both in the soul form and there was not much they could do. Angele and Stigma were the only two that could see them.

"Come on. It's not all my fault. The lord of the shadow was one of the strongest wizards in the world. I don't understand why they ambushed us. She can kill us in a face-to-face battle. She's one of the three lords from the Anfaria High Council. We stand no chance against her in the soul form," Arisma explained.

"What about the other two lords? She can't decide the future of the council and she can't break the balance. That's the reason why she ambushed us. Whatever, just tell me about your plan."

Arisma shook her head. "I don't have a plan. I can't wait for Stigma to rank up and fight for me. I suggest we go to a different area. They'll find us soon or later. I think Alicia did not expect us to turn ourselves into soul form, but now she knows and she will send assassins to kill us."

"So, the best plan is to…" the two strong female wizards exchanged eye contact but did not finish the sentence.

"But, it took me years to find a body to live in…" Henn hesitated. The woman had an attractive appearance but her voice was hoarse.

"It's fine. Let's enter the Thousand Shadow Orb. Stigma found two orbs from the ruin," Arisma advised.

"The Thousand Shadow Orb?" Angele interrupted, "Master Arisma, it is the item that can separate the souls from the living beings' bodies, right?"

"Yeah, however, we are like symbionts and the orb can't separate us completely. We can still use the orb to recover. Also, the orb will remove my mentality wave completely from this world. The only downside is that I can only wake up once every ten years," Arisma responded. Her personality was much better than Henn.

Arisma cleared her throat and continued, "Let those two kids progress in the next 100 years. I need time to recover. Also, it'll be great if Alicia thinks we're dead."

"She'll kill the two kids to ensure that we're dead." Henn shook her head.

"She won't send strong assassins just to kill them… Well, I don't know. It's our destiny. We'll die sooner or later. I don't think they can win the fight against rank 3 and rank 4 wizards yet. Alicia is… smart, but her strongest servants are important people to many large organizations, and they can't reveal the truth to the public," Arisma said slowly.

"That's why you're called wizard of destiny, huh? I'm not going to let destiny control my life. I will make the decision myself." Henn's illusion slowly landed on the ground.

"I shall fight till my last breath."

"Good luck then." Arisma nodded, then she turned into countless green light dots and sank into Stigma's body.

Henn stood beside Angele and put her hands on his cheeks carefully. Angele was a bit confused, he was not sure why Henn could touch him.

"Look at my eyes, young man…" her voice was no longer hoarse, it was crispy and gentle. "What do you think? Do you like me…?"

She leaned against Angele's body and it looked like Henn was trying to seduce Angele. He could not even turn his head away from the woman.

"Relax… Young man… I'll teach you how to enjoy your life…" Henn's eyes turned from dark red to scarlet.

"It won't take very long… I'll be your woman for the rest of my life… No matter where you are and what you do. You'll become part of my… body… Don't you want to live a happy and peaceful life…?" Henn's voice slid into Angele's ears.

Angele stared Henn in the eyes with a blank expression on his face. He opened his arms and grabbed Henn's waist tight. It almost looked like he was trying to drag Henn into his body.

The fragrance of Henn's body rushed into Angele's nose, the soft touch on his fingers was hard to give up.

WOO*

Angele's eyes slowly turned from black to scarlet. They were glowing and the feeling was hard to describe.

Henn's voice echoed in his ears. It felt like she was talking to Angele from the sky and it sounded like a siren singing.

"Come to me… Let me tell you what is the ultimate happiness in life…" Angele whispered, his voice somehow sounded like a young lady's.

Henn's expression changed. She wanted to push Angele away but she could barely lift her arms. Henn was surprised, she just stood there and let Angele hug her tightly. Her head was dizzy and she had no idea what was happening.

"Damn!" she quickly turned her head to the left and avoided eye contact with Angele.

Crack*

Henn's body turned into red light dots and returned to Angele's body.

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Chapter 352: Trace of the Enemy (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Leo

The strange scarlet color slowly disappeared from Angele's eyes as Henn gave up.

He glared at Stigma and rubbed his temple. It felt like there were a hundred needles pricking his head.

"Damn it. That old woman almost took over my body…" He grunted. "Let's go. We need to rank up as fast as possible after this."

Stigma gave Angele a strange look. "Master Henn is so beautiful and attractive… Lucky bastard…"

"You think I'll be happy if you praise her…?" Angele was speechless. "Come on. We need to go." He took out the scroll and checked the location.

"Later."

"Yeah, see you."

They started heading in two different directions.

Angele turned left and started running at full speed.

He left the canyon and traveled down the path on the yellow plain. The grass was more than one meter tall and it was dancing in the wind.

About half an hour later, the texture of the mud changed, it became wet and soft. Angele stopped and glanced around.

'That's it… this is the place marked on the scroll.' He took out the scroll, confirmed the location, and dropped it to the ground.

WOO*

Red light flashed in the air, the scroll was burnt to ashes and blown away by the wind.

Raising his head, Angele saw a large white tent sitting on top of a small hill quietly. There were several green robes roasting some meat by the campfire.

Angele walked to the tent, it only took him about one minute to reach the tent.

The green robes quickly stood up after noticing Angele's presence.

"Who are you?!" an old man with white messy hair questioned loudly, "We're members of Unochi Family, please stay away from this hill!"

"Unochi Family, right? Good, this is the correct location." Angele scanned the green robes using the chip.

The old man was a rank 2 wizard and there was a rank 1 wizard on his left, the rest of them were just apprentices.

"What do you mean?" the old man's expression changed.

"Nothing. Ha." Angele smiled and raised his right hand, creating a head-sized lava ball on his palm.

He pointed at the four green robes. The lava ball drew an arc in the air and flew to them.

"Move!"

"Block it!"

They shouted. An apprentice quickly put up a large tower shield and tried to block the lava ball.

BOOM*

Red light exploded in the air, a rain of lava drops fell to the ground and turned the area into a sea of fire.

Two of the green robes were blown away by the impact. Their bodies were burnt black and it seemed like they died.

One of the wizards rolled out of the rain of fire quickly but his robe was ignited and he was trying to put out the fire with water energy particles. The other wizard blocked the lava drops with a white energy shield.

"Bastard! You'll pay for what you have done!" the rank 2 wizard shouted furiously. He took out a small crossbow and shot an arrow at Angele.

CHI*

A blurry dark shadow disappeared in the air; it was only one meter away from Angele when it reappeared.

Angele quickly created a silver shield in the front.

CLANK*

The steel arrow sank into the shield but it failed to penetrate through the thick silver metal.

Seconds later, the steel arrow melted into a ball of black liquid. The liquid formed another steel arrow and was fired back at the old wizard.

Angele raised his right hand again and he was about to create another lava ball. However, the musical note in his chest vibrated slightly.

Henn tried to take over Angele's body and her plan failed. Angele almost absorbed Henn's power. He had not activated the bloodline signet—the signet countered the seduction by itself.

The musical note was slightly heated up at that moment, it just saved Angele's life. He really needed to find a way to deal with Henn, that woman never changed.

'Well, let me give this thing a try.' Angele tapped at the center of his chest.

DING*

It sounded like a bell was rung once. It was a clean and crisp sound.

Angele saw that the old wizard was about to cast a spell after dodging the arrow, however, he suddenly stopped moving and just stood there.

The rank 1 wizard beside him also stopped moving. The man was preparing a spell. It almost looked like they were trapped in time.

Angele was a bit surprised.

The signet was only partially activated but its power was already incredible.

Angele quickly approached the old wizard and walked around him.

The white barrier around the old wizard disappeared. There was an angry expression on his face. He put his right hand into the pouch and it seemed like he was about to take something out.

Angele observed the old man. His heart rate was much lower than a normal human being's but he was still alive. All vital signs were normal.

He scrunched his brow and moved his left hand toward the old man's pouch.

WOO*

Suddenly, the old wizard's body was ignited, and his body was covered in bright red flames.

The old wizard's body melted like a candle before Angele's hand could reach the pouch. His body was quickly burnt into a pile of white ash, including his clothes and belongings.

Angele was not sure what just happened. He looked at the other people.

He checked the two apprentices and the rank 1 wizard. The rank 1 wizard just extinguished the fire on his robe before he was hit by the energy wave from the bloodline signet.

However, two of them were ignited and started burning. The red flame swallowed a rank 3 apprentice and a rank 1 wizard seconds later.

The last apprentice was burnt black by the lava drops but he was still alive.

'Huh? He survived the attack? So, the sound wave released by the signet did not kill everyone.' Angele walked to the apprenticed, crouched, and checked his muscles.

His muscles were hard like stone and it seemed like the apprentice was trying to resist the illusions.

'It's related to their willpower.' Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes.

The light dots disappeared a minute later.

'Ability of the bloodline signet: Illusion Sound Wave. It can be countered by the target's willpower. If he fails to resist the illusions, his body will be burnt to ashes. The effective duration of the sound wave is half an hour. The stronger the target's willpower is, the shorter the effective duration will be. Effective range: 20 meters.'

Zero finished the analysis and reported back quickly.

Angele was satisfied, he nodded slightly and stood up. Raising his left hand, Angele released a silver needle from the tip of his finger and sent it into the apprentice's forehead.

Blood leaked out of the tiny wound and the apprentice's suffering ended. The silver needle returned to Angele's finger as he walked to the green robes' camp.

The entrance of the tent was open and there were black travel cases lying down on the ground.

The campfire was burning quietly outside the tent. They were roasting two skinned wild rabbits on a metal rack. The top of the browned meat was covered in fat and the bottom of the meat was already burnt.

Angele raised his right hand and absorbed all the burning flames on the ground.

He couched and pulled a piece of meat off the roasted rabbit. It was very hot but he still threw it into his mouth.

Salty, crispy, and the juice from the caramelized fat was tasty.

Angele stood up and stepped into the tent.

It was a bit dark inside.

It was a large tent with a plain interior. Three beds were lined up by the wall, the white blankets on them were unorganized.

On the left, there was an opened book lying quietly on top of the nightstand.

Angele walked to the nightstand, grabbed the book, and checked the content.

The title said: Adventure Log of Abyss Canyon.

Someone was reading this book, it was full of dog ears. Angele turned to a random page and started reading.

'April 12. Our team entered the Canyon and traveled about 1 kilometer. There was a cave on the left. Oh god! We found…'

The rest of the page was torn off and he quickly turned to the next page.

'Red grass… Yellow sky… What the hell is this place?! Maybe we can never escape… We'll die thirsty and hungry. I hate those dirty monsters and…'

A small object jumped off the book and slowly dropped to the ground.

Angele picked up the object.

It was a slim piece of red leaf. The leaf was still wet and soft. He carefully put the leaf back into the book.

Angele closed the book and held it in his hand. He turned around and left the tent.

After walking for several minutes. He created a head-sized fireball on his right hand and threw it into the tent.

BOOM*

The furious flame swallowed the tent, the campfire, the dead bodies, and half of the small hill.

Angele saw that the tent fell to the ground and hit the campfire. Everything was covered in the burning flames and black smoke rose into the sky.

The orange light from the fire brightened up the area. There was nothing left to burn on the small hill and the fire stopped expanding seconds later.

Angele nodded. He held the thick book that had a brown cover tightly and walked away.

He had finished his job. The rest was on the others.

Angele started walking back from the way he came. About half an hour later, he saw Stigma, Della, and Hikari standing together, talking about something.

Hikari waved at Angele after seeing him walking to them.

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