Chapter 301: Exploration and Thoughts (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
The wall was the only thing in Angele's eyes.
The engraving of a pale-faced woman was surrounded by black vines as she herself was silently staring at him with a pair of dark hollow eyes.
"You can understand my words?" Angele responded in the ancient language. He stood in front of the wall and looked into the woman's eyes which were akin to two dark shallow holes.
"Of course." The woman's face moved as though she was nodding in response. The vines around her were being dragged to the side.
"So, why did you decide to talk to me?" Angele asked.
"You heard the voice of that young boy, right?" The woman smiled. "This ruin is dangerous, very dangerous. Unfortunate things will happen if you are not careful enough. Tell me why you are here. Perhaps I can offer you some help. Seeing you is like seeing my long-lost children…"
"Why am I here?" Angele hesitated.
"Yes, one does not come here for nothing. This is the Nightmare Realm which will make you have an experience as if you had a nightmare. So tell me, why are you here?" the woman replied in a light tone.
"I'm searching for a bloodline that will help me enter this realm again." There was no point for Angele to hide his true purpose.
"Why do you wish to enter this realm once again?" the woman continued asking.
"For the sake of obtaining rare resources, knowledge, and... some other things," Angele answered in a serious tone.
"Why do you wish to obtain the knowledge and the resources?" Clearly, she would not stop any time.
"I want to become stronger, to advance to the next rank."
"Why is that? What will the high rank bring you?"
Angele stopped and pursed his lips.
"What will the rank bring me?" He lowered his head and started thinking.
'Power? Money? Beautiful women?'
'No, none of those.'
Angele once asked himself the same question but the conclusion he got was to keep moving forward.
"What are you seeking from this world? Have you ever thought about it?" the woman questioned him again.
"What's the purpose of your life?"
Angele was getting confused.
He recalled his former life back on Earth. The only thing he had done every single day was to have fun. This lifestyle made him feel like he was rotting from the inside like a worthless worm.
His past life was boring but safe.
Yet if he had not reincarnated into this world after the car accident, his dull, boring life would have continued as it was, forever.
This new world, on the contrary, was charming. His life was far more colorful than dull as it had been before.
At the beginning, Angele wanted to gain power in order to protect his family and to become a strong individual. His dream had come to fruition when he advanced to become a formal wizard, then the only thing he needed to accomplish was to keep progressing as a wizard.
There was no point in him stopping as all the resources he needed was near his grasp.
Angele could have chosen to return to the west coast and merely settle in selling potions the rest of his entire life. He could have enjoyed being in a peaceful environment for the next several hundred years.
However, such a way of life was not what he desired.
Angele now figured out the answer to the questions.
Suddenly, he raised his head and glanced at the woman again.
"What is your name?" he asked.
The woman smiled. "You may refer to me as the 'Wall of Confusion'. I can see through your mind and I shall guide you to your life purpose. Once you find the answers to my questions, I shall bestow you a special reward."
"What if I could not?" Angele narrowed his eyes.
As he lowered his head, he saw countless black vines climbing up his legs which nearly covered his waist. Angele's legs became numb, unable to move it in the slightest bit.
"If you cannot find the answers, I shall consume you. I feed on wanderers' confusion as it will let me become more powerful." The woman started laughing.
"Interesting." Angele blinked his eyes, then he slashed the vines with his cursed scimitar.
*Clank*
The scimitar was blocked, and the vines were not damaged.
He took out the Light of Thorns.
"It will not work. You must find the answer, then I will free you." The woman pursed her lips.
"Find the answer, huh?" Angele took a deep breath.
"You want to know what I'm seeking from this world?"
*KA*
The vines started climbing again. Angele had already felt tired and he could barely move his arms.
Back on Earth, Angele had no passion for his job and the only thing he wanted to do was to search for an exciting purpose in his life.
"I will keep moving forward to search for the things that will excite me; this world is vast. The higher my rank is, the more interesting things will I encounter. I will climb the peak of the mountain and enjoy the best view."
He had these thoughts in mind and spat everything out without organizing his thoughts too much; these were his pure desires.
"The horrifying Nightmare Realm, the mysterious Chaos Dimension, the legendary Void Domain—such adventures await me. Therefore, I must not stop advancing."
Suddenly, Angele's body set ablaze and was surrounded by translucent flames, burning the expanding roots. The roots were burnt into ashes in but a few seconds and fell to the ground.
"Never will I stop until I discover every exciting thing in this world. Perhaps I could even explore all realms one day..."
Angele blinked his eyes several times.
"I might also be able to find out the reason why I have been sent into this world…Ha, you cannot feed on my confusion."
*PA*
The last vine dropped to the ground and turned into black ash as Angele's life purpose became clear.
"Congratulations." The woman was not concerned that she just lost her prey. "I want to know how you solved the problem within such a short duration. Anyway, please accept the reward."
She opened her mouth and stuck her black tongue out. The tongue moved to Angele like a snake; it was more several meters long.
On the tip of the tone was a golden key.
The surface of the key was covered by complicated patterns.
Angele grabbed the key without any hesitation. He could not feel any evil intention coming from the Wall of Confusion. It seemed the key was a real reward.
The key was warm. Angele wondered if the woman had a body behind the wall.
"Go down the tunnel and you will find a garden. Don't talk to any living being you see inside it even if they speak first. Go across the garden and you will see a door. Once you open that door, you will find another door that this key will be used on. Everything you want is behind that door."
When the woman finished her speaking, her face sank into the wall behind the vines.
Angele held the key in hand, turning around, then he started walking down the tunnel.
He found an exit after walking for several minutes.
He left the tunnel and entered a garden with bright sunshine.
The roses were bloody red and the vines on the ground were covered with sharp thorns. It almost looked like red flowers floating on a black sea.
The sunshine came from the sky, but it was so bright that Angele could barely see anything.
In the center of the garden, there was a white swing.
A short man, wearing a white one piece and a flower band, was sitting on it.
Angele blocked some of the light with his right hand and looked at the swing.
It was an old woman with dry skin.
She was singing a nursery rhyme while swinging, her voice was high-pitched but hoarse.
"The tales say that…from the other side of the sea…there was a cute muffin…its skin was golden…its feet were white…" The old woman was singing and smiling, she sounded happy.
However, the old woman stared at Angele directly in the eyes after noticing his presence.
Her long sharp eyes were bloodshot as if she had not slept for a long time.
The strange song being sung by her was still continuing.
The Wall of Confusion had warned him about the situation. He stopped looking at the old woman and started walking to the other side of the garden.
Angele noticed the voice of the old woman was becoming increasingly closer, almost as if she was already right behind him.
Angele turned his head around and saw the old woman approaching him. She was singing and smiling while slowly walking to him.
His skull numbed, and he decided to proceed with caution.
The old woman was only several steps away from him.
*PA*
When Angele finally found the large door, he quickly rushed to it and pushed it open. The surface of the door was cold and hard.
He stepped into the door quickly.
The old woman stopped outside the door, still staring at Angele but she finally stopped singing.
Angele took a deep breath and closed the door.
He turned around and found himself in a narrow brown hallway. The hallway was about 10 meters long and there was another door by the end of it.
The door looked identical to the engraving in the world stone laboratory's that had exploded.
Angele compared the door to the record in the database and found some similar patterns.
The mysterious golden patterns on the door were familiar.
He walked to the door quickly and checked the key in his hand.
*CHI*
A small hole slowly appeared in the center of the door and it fitted the key perfectly.
Angele inserted the key into the hole and turned it to the left, but nothing happened.
He then turned it to the right.
*KA*
The door was unlocked.
'Warning! Warning! You have 10 minutes left. 9 minutes 59 seconds. 9 minutes 57 seconds…'
Zero's mechanical voice echoed in Angele's ears.
He quickly pushed the door open.
*BAM*
Angele raised his head. What he saw surprised him.
Chapter 302: Replacement and Reason (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
A spacious white hall was revealed before the opened door.
At the center of the hall was a large pool built with white stones and was surrounded by many strange blue sculptures.
The sculptures had been crafted from the image of attractive ladies with long scorpion tails on their backs. This tail they possessed was about one meter long and was the size of a human leg.
The ladies crouched beside the pool and raised their tails in the air as if they were ready to strike any time.
There was a vortex in the center of the pool spinning slowly. Its radius was about four meters.
Angele was not sure how deep the pool was due to the seemingly endless dark hole in the middle of the vortex.
He exhaled once and slowly stepped into the hall.
Angele glared at the sculptures and checked the scorpion tails quickly, then focused on the large vortex in the water.
Blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes and he looked a bit confused.
"This place…there are no energy particles here…" He muttered as he observed the hall.
There were four small stone pillars in each of the corners.
On top of the white stone pillars, the burning white flames brought light to the area, but Angele did not see any smoke.
He narrowed his eyes and noticed that something was written on one of the stone pillars.
He quickly walked to the right corner.
Words were written on the smooth surface of the stone pillar beside the flame, but Angele did not know the language.
He raised his hand and placed it on the written words.
*CHI*
A blue electric pulse appeared above the words and struck Angele's hand. He was startled by the strike making him take several steps back.
His face turned pale and it took him a while to recover.
*Crack*
Suddenly, Angele heard a noise that sounded like stones being cracked.
The strange noise was increasingly becoming more intense; it came from the sculptures around the pool.
He returned to the door quickly and stared at the large pool carefully.
The white stone layer of the beautiful scorpion women started dropping to the ground.
As if they were waking up from slumber, they then began to move.
*Hisssss*
A scorpion woman on the left made some noise that sounded like a snake's. Her long black hair spread onto her shoulders.
All the stone pieces had dropped to the ground, revealing her smooth, fair skin. She swung her black scorpion tail in the air several times. The scene was terrifying.
The scorpion woman had a pair of shallow eyes and her face looked identical to the one on the Wall of Confusion.
"Hisss…It has been a while since someone visited the illusion pool…" The scorpion woman slowly moved around the pool and looked at Angele. She was speaking in the ancient language.
"The Wall of Confusion asked me to come here. I have a question, what is this illusion pool you said?" Angele questioned in a light tone. He held the handle of the cursed scimitar tight, slowly taking out the Light of Thorns using his other hand.
"The illusion pool? Hisss…This is the portal to the other realms, but you need the specific coordinates…and we are the guardians of the portal…" It seemed like she was the only scorpion woman that could speak.
Angele had also noticed that the other scorpion women were having trouble moving their feet. Only the one who was talking to him could control her limbs freely.
"How do you enter the portal then?" Angele remained calm and kept asking.
"Jump into the black hole in the center but first…you need to survive the challenge…Hisss…" The woman scorpion was approaching Angele slowly.
"Challenge? What challenge?" Angele took one more step back with the door right behind him.
"You have two choices. The first choice is allowing us to have intercourse with us. We want your seeds. The second choice is for you to let me consume a part of your soul." The scorpion woman laughed.
Angele's expression changed, and he was about to respond.
However, the golden key suddenly started vibrating and it almost felt like a pumping heart.
The Wall of Confusion's voice was transmitted into his ears.
"Kill them…The guardians have the purest bloodline that will help you enter the Nightmare Realm. They are what you are seeking. The guardian's power is restricted by the illusion pool and what you see are merely images. Don't let fear take over your mind…Don't let fear…"
She kept repeating her last words until her voice disappeared.
Angele was certain that the scorpion woman in front of him did not overhear their conversation.
"Tell me your name first." He stared at the woman.
"Bella Cassia is my name. Just call me Bella. I like my name a lot." There was an attractive smile on the scorpion woman's face.
Angele slowly put the silver ring on his right index finger.
He did not have much time left and was wondering if he should follow the Wall of Confusion's words. Angele thought the wall had no reason to lie to him and she was being honest during their conversation. She gave him the reward right after the question was answered.
However, he did not want to trust the wall too much.
'Leaving the Nightmare Realm in 2 minutes and 36 seconds…2 minutes and 24 seconds…'
Zero was warning Angele every second and he could see the countdown timer in his sight.
'Alright, let me give this a try…' he thought. 'Activate "Combat Assistance Mode".'
*CHI*
Blue grids covered everything in Angele's sight.
He closed his eyes for a second, it had been a while since he used the combat assistant mode and he needed some time to get used to it.
"What's going on? Are you still thinking? Or do you want to leave?" Bella looked confused.
"Leave?" Angele suddenly opened his eyes and stared at the scorpion woman. "I won't leave. I was about to have intercourse with you." He looked at the scorpion women quietly.
"You almost…tricked me…" Angele glanced around and pursed his lips into a smile.
He raised his cursed scimitar and charged toward Bella, turning into a blurry shadow.
*CHI*
The cursed scimitar drew a silver arc in the air and slashed through Bella's body, hitting an empty space beside the pool. A white scorpion woman sculpture then slowly appeared from nowhere.
*KA*
The blade smashed into the sculpture's neck.
"No!" Bella shouted like crazy, all the scorpion woman around jumped to Angele like real scorpions. They were moving fast in the air while making the annoying snake sound.
Angele turned around and pulled the scimitar out of the sculpture. He caught the falling white sculpture right away and jumped into the illusion pool.
"See you." He watched Bella charging toward him and smiled.
*Blop*
Angele disappeared into the center of the vortex.
He held the broken sculpture in arms and started sinking.
He could see the anger on the scorpion women's faces. It seemed like the guardians were not allowed to touch the water.
The chilling water surrounded Angele and it was touching every corner of his body gently.
Several seconds, countless translucent blue human-shaped creatures swam up to him. They looked like mermaids, but their bodies were blurry.
The beautiful mermaids raised their arms, embracing Angele and the sculpture slightly. They were coming to him one by one.
The mermaids had clean translucent faces and their eyes were beautiful.
Angele could hear a lady singing from somewhere far away.
The lady's voice was gentle and attractive which sounded a lover whispering in his ears. He was not sure if everything around him were just illusions.
Angele felt relaxed as he found a hint of warmth in the chilling water.
He slowly closed his eyes.
'Sadly, the time is up.'
*CHI*
Angele and the sculpture disappeared from the illusion pool.
********************************
"Ha!"
Angele suddenly opened his eyes and took several deep breaths. He had almost fallen prey to the sweet dream of comfort and peace. It was hard for him to resist.
He slowly calmed down.
The white scorpion woman sculpture was still in his arms and the stone layer on her skin had disappeared quickly, revealing a dead body of a scorpion woman. Her white blood was still dripping down her chin.
Angele put the dead body on the floor.
He was still in the bedroom but there was no red mist in this world.
The familiar noise produced by the lava came from the hallway outside the door.
"I need to deal with it now." Angele looked at the dead scorpion woman while frowning.
He was surprised by how much life essence he had extracted from the scorpion woman when he stabbed the blade into her body. The illusion pool was similarly perfect for his escape as he did not have much time left.
"So, what should I do now…?" Angele raised his cursed scimitar, but he was shocked after checking the blade.
The silver blade of the scimitar was covered in cracks and they looked like a spider web.
*Crack*
Another crack appeared on the blade and there was red blood dripping down to the ground.
"The power of the guardian is too strong…" Angele found out the reason right away.
The guardian's power was so strong that the cursed scimitar almost broke after absorbing the life essence of just one scorpion woman.
'Create task. Find me the material that can help me absorb the life essence.'
'Task created. Analysis started. Simulation started. Checking for results…'
The biochip reported back after several seconds.
Angele's expression changed after he checked the results and he quickly turned the dead body around.
The scorpion woman's chest was covered by a thin layer of silk and he found a red musical note right in the middle of her chest. The musical note looked like a twisted rune.
Angele wasted no time and crouched. Aiming at the red musical note, he started sucking it.
The noise sounded like air escaping from a balloon.
Chapter 303: Replacement and Reason (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
The scorpion woman's corpse deflated like an inflatable doll.
What remained on the floor after about five seconds' time was merely the skin of the scorpion woman.
Angele remained calm as he stood up and wiped the white blood off from his mouth. He then quickly twisted the handle of the cursed scimitar.
Countless green energy strings connected to Angele's wrist which helped him absorb the life essence into his body.
'Attributes are increasing quickly…' Zero's mechanical voice echoed in his ears.
Angele slowly closed his eyes and stood in the bedroom quietly.
The skin of the scorpion woman turned into green smoke and disappeared into the air.
*KA*
Like small pieces of mirrors, the cursed scimitar shattered into pieces and fell onto the floor while reflecting the image of Angele.
Countless red branch-like lines crept around his body like blood veins as it gathered toward the center of his chest.
These bloody veins gradually disappeared in the span of several minutes. What was left on his chest was a symbol of a red musical note.
*CHI*
Angele opened both of his eyes. This time, they were as dark as a starless sky as if his eye's pupil never existed but only showed two empty holes.
'This is the change?' He raised his left hand only to see the illusion signet of the Great Harpy Bloodline slowly fading away.
'Affinity with illusion energy is increasing quickly…'
'Collecting information…'
'Finished. Do you need to see the affinity chart?' Zero reported back right away.
Angele was looking at the reflection of his own self on the broken fragments of the scimitar's blade.
'Show me the chart,' he ordered.
A well-organized bar chart was displayed in front of his eyes.
Angele's highest affinity was still with Fire energy, and the second highest was with Illusion energy which had now surpassed the bar representing Metal energy.
'I wish I could keep the illusion signet.' Angele shook his head slightly. He, for one, barely knew any illusion spell and the illusion signet was one of his strongest in his arsenal. But now, it was completely gone.
Moreover, he had yet to discover the method of activating the musical note in the center of his chest.
'Check if there's anything related to the scorpion woman in the database.'
'Task created…Searching…'
'No match was found.'
Angele pursed his lips.
'I'm on my own then.' He thought for several minutes.
'Check for any changes that might have occurred in my body.'
Zero scanned his body quickly and reported back.
'Your vocal folds have been modified. Your voice now contains a possible seductive effect and your blood has now been infused with the Illusion Pollution ability.'
'Illusion Pollution: Special ability. Anything within your body will be infused with illusion energy after a certain amount of time.'
Angele learned about several detailed changes that happened to his body immediately.
The chip created the report based on the information from the database.
Angele lightly sighed. The black shadow had disappeared from his eyes, revealing its former blue pupils. The golden glow around his eyes had also disappeared.
He inspected his bedroom for any possible damage that had been inflicted and collected all the broken pieces of the scimitar. The corpse of the scorpion woman disappeared by itself so there was not much cleaning left to do.
Angele walked to the table and sat down after everything was done. He took out the black box and opened it.
Henn's voice was transmitted to his ears right away.
"Damn it! Damn it! What did you do, kid? There were several times that I felt like I was dying or something!" Henn was enraged.
"Well, there was an accident during my experiment," Angele lied calmly. "Everything has been dealt with now."
"I don't even know why I picked you. I should have waited for several more years in the White Mist Town!" Henn did not even question his excuse but was just complaining now.
"I have already finished the thing you asked me to do. What else do you want me to do? I want to go back to Bass River.' Angele ignored her complaints.
"Bass River? Why do you want to go back? Just stay here. You can get free knowledge and a rank 4 wizard as the teacher. The place is also safe…Wait, never mind. Well, it's a great place!"
"First of all, it is not my territory. Second, I do not feel comfortable here. I still do not understand why you asked me to come here, and what is your real purpose? We are wizards. If you want me to do something else for you, you must compensate me with something else." Angele shook his head.
"You cannot run away from me now." Henn chuckled. "I lied about the soul pattern of Vivian's son. It has already become a part of your soul and for the process to be completed, I waited for days. You are now the one and only inheritor of Vivian whether you want this title or not. I have put a lot of effort into modifying that soul pattern. She will not let you escape the ruin as you are the only person who is related to her by blood in this world."
"What else do you want from me?" Angele frowned.
"Ha, what do I want you to do?" Henn sneered. "I want you to drag Vivian into the abyss! I want her to live a life of peril, pain, and suffering!"
"You…" Angele narrowed his eyes. "What did she do to you?"
"Ha…what she did to me was unforgivable," Henn responded in a cold tone. "She was one of the most talented students I had…But it's none of your business, I'll pay you good anyway."
"You already lied to me once." Angele narrowed his eyes. "To be honest, I do not really want to help you this time. I'd rather fight her face to face. I'm not a filthy rat that lives in the sewers. I have never trusted you but what you just said regarding the soul patterns just made the situation worse.
"Machinations may work sometimes but I believe that combining wisdom and pure power is the right way to go," he continued.
"You can decline my offer all you want but I can reveal your true identity to Vivian. Maybe you are confident enough to win a fight against a rank 4 wizard," Henn responded in a cold tone.
"You will die too if I'm killed." Angele gritted his teeth.
"I have died once already. I have nothing else to lose." Henn did not seem concerned.
The two remained silent for a while and the atmosphere was heavy.
"You know what, I'll make it easier for you. Just do three things for me and I'll keep my promise. I'll give you the reward and keep your identity a secret."
"Three things, huh?" Angele knew that she just wanted to finish exacting her revenge. "I won't do it unless you tell me what happened exactly. I have my reasons."
"You really want to know?" Henn sounded nervous.
Angele did not say anything but waited patiently for Henn's response.
"Fine, I'll tell you what happened. Vivian is just a b*tch who seduced my partner!" Henn was almost shouting.
"What…?" Angele was surprised. He would be speechless if the truth was so simple.
"Vivian seduced my partner and hired someone to assassinate me while I was doing an important experiment, resulting my body to become permanently damaged. That is why I died during the final fight against Arisma. Otherwise, I would have survived the ambush for sure…Also…" Henn continued and she was furious.
Several minutes later, Angele finally understood the situation.
Henn was injured after the assassination and for that reason, she failed to survive the ambush. However, it seemed she herself was the reason why Vivian's son died. There was one thing Angele still did not understand, however. He wanted to know why Vivian never sounded angry while talking about her master.
He could not get to reach a conclusion just by listening to Henn's words.
She was just cursing most of the time while explaining the incident. Henn emphasized on how innocent she was many times during the conversation.
Angele had almost lost his patience.
However, there was one thing that made Angele angry.
Henn said she could easily destroy her soul form and if she did that, Angele would die too.
Angele had no other choice but to accept Henn's offer. There was nothing he could do as he knew so little about soul relationship.
They talked for a while and Angele insisted that he needed to leave the ruin.
Angele never called Vivian his mother, but he himself knew Vivian had already considered him as her son.
However, Vivian never talked to him about the situation face to face. At present, their relationship was a bit strange.
The reason why Angele wanted to leave the ruin was that Henn could easily force him to speed up the process of her revenge, something he did not like.
He wanted to the expel Henn from his body. Although Henn was a legendary wizard, he did not want to carry a bomb that could explode at any time with him.
Angele checked all the books he could read in Vivian's library, but he found nothing valuable. Information related to soul separation was highly confidential and those books required high mentality levels to unlock.
He still did not discover a method on how he could expel Henn from his body.
Angele stayed in the ruin for several more days and told Vivian that he wanted to go back to his home as the environment in of ruin was making him uncomfortable.
Vivian did not force him to stay with her but told Angele to stay safe and let him leave. She sent him a female wizard as an escort.
Angele talked to the escort and learned a lot about the current situation of the organization.
The first elder Harris and the second elder Melo were fighting against the lords. They formed two factions inside the organization and the situation was getting worse.
The fight started when the first lord Effie decided to make his ungifted child the inheritor. The council was stronger than the lords in power and they used the inheritor as an excuse to question the future of the Thousand Waterfall City. Also, Effie was dying and barely had any time to attend the meetings.
The other lords were trying their best to help Effie and they were trying to modify the inheritor's body. The problem could be easily solved if Effie was able to have another talented child, but both plans were hard to accomplish.
Some people were suggesting that the elders should solve the problem in a violent way. There was a rumor spreading that the radicals kidnapped several relatives of the elders which made the situation worsen every day.
Vivian was the third elder and she supported the first elder's plan. Although she did not have a lot of right in the organization, her only son could still become the target of the radicals which was her only worry.
To deal with the problem and fight back, the council had already taken action. They gathered the army and the fifth elder was chosen as the captain. They wanted to pressure the Thousand Waterfall City before the hostages could be executed.
Angele had no idea that completing Henn's task would be so difficult.
Chapter 304: Message (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
The escort sent by Vivian was a female wizard of great power belonging to her army named Liv and was also known as the Snake of the East.
Contrary to Angele spending nearly ten days during the time he was still first searching for the ruin, it had merely taken them five days to leave the volcano.
Liv told him of many shortcuts around the snow-covered volcano. Immediately they reported back to the headquarters before heading to Bass River.
They had not wasted any time along the way and quickly returned to the small wooden house that had been built by Angele.
**********************
By the riverside, a small house with black ceiling enclosed in white walls stood quietly.
Green trees were positioned at an area covered in the abundance of yellow grass.
At this place, Angele and a lady wearing a dark red cloak both stood there without making any noise.
It was currently noontime, and the golden sunshine reflected on the two's faces. However, such bright light was unable to warm their bodies.
Angele looked at the wooden house he had built then turned around to look at a small mansion on the other side of the empty ground.
A pool had been built right in front of the mansion. The water was producing ripples and reflecting the sunlight.
"Was this built by master Vivian?" Angele looked at the lady wearing a dark red cloak.
"Yes, the third elder asked the best dwarf workers to build this mansion at this place. I hope you are delighted with the result though they did not have ample time for the finishing touches," the lady replied in a relaxed tone and with a crisp and clear voice. It was almost as if she sounded like a teenager.
"It is fine. I will live in my own house regardless, so you can have the mansion." Angele's brows drew together.
"Your wooden house is too small for us," Liv responded in the same manner. "The elder has asked me to stay with you at all times. Protecting you is my duty."
She took off the hood she was wearing and revealed her long black hair and her pretty face. With the addition of long and sharp eyes and thin lips, the lady looked like a twenty-year-old lady.
"Or we can share the same bed." Liv pursed her lips. "I do not think I'm that attractive to you, but I should make things clear first. You are not my type."
Angele was rendered speechless, yet he was unconcerned about what Liv had just said. "Well, why do you need to stay with me at all times? Just how bad is the situation?"
"It is worse than you would think." Liv turned around and walked toward the river. Scooping a handful of water from the river with both of her hands, she drank it quickly.
Angele hesitated for a while and nodded his head.
"Alright, let's go to the mansion then."
He had no intentions of building a deep relationship with a female wizard that was stronger than him. It would not be a wise decision.
"I will go pack up." He turned around and walked into the wooden house.
Angele walked out of the door with two large travel cases quickly.
"Let's go."
Liv nodded.
They started heading to the other side of the empty ground.
The main building of the mansion looked like the character 'T'. On the left side of the 'T' was the pool, and on the right side was a small square.
There was no one inside the mansion, so the place was silent.
Angele walked to the pool and entered the building through the side door. Liv followed him, their footsteps echoing in the hallway.
"Where are the workers and maids?" Angele asked as he walked.
"We can hire them from the towns around, or you can find some from the non-human races. There are more options to choose from, but those areas are dangerous," Liv responded quickly. "And if you want beautiful girls or elves, you will need to buy them from the slave market. You are a formal member of the Elemental Hand, so you have the access to the market founded by the council. There are many high-quality slaves being auctioned on the market every day."
"Can I find female wizards there?" Angele chuckled and shook his head.
"Why don't you just pay me?" Liv pursed her lips. "Actually, you are the third elder's son, so you do not need to in order to fight me."
"Is that so?" Angele walked to the main door of the living room and pushed it open.
*Creak*
The door was not locked. What lied ahead was a living room with walls painted in brown.
The yellow glowing crystals on the walls made the room warm and bright. Several sofa chairs were located around the corners and there was a large red tree stump in the middle. Several white robes were hanging on the back of the main door.
Angele did not stop but instead went across the living room and entered another hallway through the back door.
By the end of the hallway, there was a large empty training square.
The training square was built using white stones. There were complicated runes engraved on the surface of its ground.
A black weapon shelf was set up by the square, loaded with weapons and gears. All the weapons were surrounded by a white glow which meant they would not do any actual damage to human bodies. It was a simple matrix widely used in training areas.
Angele left the hallway and walked to the weapon shelf. He took two crossguard swords from it and looked at Liv.
"Practice match? What do you say?" His brows furrowing. "You know how to use a sword, right?"
"You're too weak to be my opponent." Liv had a blank expression on her face.
"Why are you so confident?" Angele was surprised. "I thought only wizards like me would keep practicing close-combat skills, but it seems you are different."
"I have lived in this world for too long, so I needed to find more things to do. I enjoy practicing sword skills." Liv grabbed a crossguard sword from Angele's hand.
"I prefer using spears more actually." She slashed through the air using the sword.
*CHI*
A light red trail was left in midair.
"What's this?" Angele narrowed his eyes slightly and checked the blade of the sword. It was pure silver and it was impossible for Liv to enchant the weapon in such a short period of time.
"This is the life energy of the Grand Knight." Liv swung the sword in the air several more times, seemingly as though she was trying to get familiar with the weapon.
"Grand Knight? You're a Grand Knight?" Angele was curious. His attributes were much higher than a Grand Knight's, but he did not have the ability to control pure life energy.
"Yeah, why are you surprised?" Liv was not concerned. She jumped to the center of the square. "Let's start then. I still have several experiments to finish. We have already wasted a lot of time on the road."
"Alright." Angele jumped to the center as well.
Then he also swung his crossguard sword several times.
*CHI CHI*
The wind brought by the blade blew the dried leaves away from the platform.
Liv's expression turned serious after seeing this scene.
She thought the young man reached the Crystal stage just because he had a good mother. However, it seemed he knew how to use a sword and he had a strong body.
Liv wondered if the elder modified his body with the best rare materials.
She narrowed her eyes and stared at Angele showing a bit of jealousy.
"Let's go! Watch out!" She quickly drew two straight lines using the sword, and the red life energy trail slowly vanished into the air.
"Star Blink!" Liv shouted and charged toward Angele after moving through the two life energy trails. The longsword in her hand was covered in a bright red glow.
She was so fast that the noise made by the sword piercing through the air echoed in the area.
Angele stood on the ground and watched the red sword approaching him.
*Clank*
The two wizards' swords clashed, and flames sparked between them.
Angele leaned to the side and disappeared from his original position.
Liv pursed her lips and released a distorted energy wave. She turned around and slashed forward.
*Clank*
*Woo*
Some warm air blew over her right ear.
"You are pretty good…but you don't stand a chance against me." Angele's voice came from the opposite direction.
*BAM*
Liv grunted and was blown away by the impact like a piece of paper, smashing into the edge of the square. The air was blurred by the dust from the ground.
"Damn!" Liv struggled and raised her left hand. A dark red glowing rune appeared in her right eye and it started spinning.
A translucent energy pulse formed an enormous hand in front of Angele, reaching out toward his head.
"I give up."
Angele held the crossguard sword in hand and smiled.
The hand stopped right before touching the tip of his nose.
*WOO*
The strong wind brought by the distorted hand made his hair fly in the air.
"I am yet to be ready to block an energy pulse used by a rank 2 wizard." Angele shook his head. "But I think my sword skills are better than yours."
Liv stared at him and gritted her teeth. The red rune slowly disappeared from her right eye and the translucent hand vanished into the air.
"You won," Calming herself down, she responded in a light tone.
"The sword skills are only useful under certain circumstances. I still need you to protect me. You have yet to reveal your true power, right? I was just lucky." Angele bowed slightly to show his respect and threw the sword toward the weapon shelf.
*KA*
The sword returned to the empty slot accurately.
He was satisfied with the result of the practice match.
Angele had no chance to test the bloodline power of the scorpion woman during his stay in the ruin. Only during the match had he finally tested it.
The scorpion woman was the guardian of the illusion pool, so her bloodline should be purer than the one from the great harpy. Angele was certain that the power of the bloodline would be strong than the illusion signet, but it exceeded his expectations. The mentality wave of a rank 2 wizard failed to track his motion and the illusion effect completely hid him from Liv's sight.
The full combo was incredibly powerful.
The burst of speed was a passive skill from the musical note on his chest. It would only take a split of a second to double or triple his movement speed. Angele could probably move faster than the sound when the requirement was met, and it was not even an active skill.
If the power of the scorpion woman was not partially sealed, she could have destroyed him easily.
Angele was not sure why the illusion pool restricted the guardian's power, but he felt lucky that he successfully assassinated one of the scorpion women.
He collected a lot of important data during the short fight against Liv and he asked Zero to analyze the real skill level of a rank 2 wizard.
Chapter 305: Message (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Angele stayed calm during the practice match, not nervous in any way as the enormous hand approached him.
He himself knew he could dodge the strike if his speed was increased to the extreme. Even though the hand could deal around 90 degrees of damage, it was not fast.
The cooldown of the speed buff from the musical note was around five seconds. With Angele's high attributes, he could deal serious damage in close combat and even had the confidence to survive an ambush of a rank 2 wizard.
When combining the speed buff with the illusion ability, Angele had the potential to become a top-class assassin.
Liv was a Gas stage rank 2 wizard who had many practical experiences from the battles she had fought for Vivian.
'I'll be able to even more damage if I have a stronger weapon. The best option is to find a concept gear, but I've only seen it once in my life…' Angele turned around and jumped off the platform as he thought. He walked back to the hallway and headed back to the living room.
Liv stood up slowly and watched Angele leave with her eyes narrowed. No one knew what she was planning.
*****************************
Three days later, in the morning.
Inside one of the bedrooms in the mansion.
Yellow carpet, yellow walls, yellow sofa, chair, table, curtains, and a large bed.
The bright sunlight went through the gaps of the curtains and illuminated on the floor.
Angele sat on the bed with his legs crossed. His face was covered completely by a plain black mask formed by black smoke.
*Thud thud*
He heard someone knocking on the window.
The mask slowly disappeared from Angele's face. He took a deep breath and looked at the window.
A small bird with golden feathers was flapping its wings while hitting the glass with its beak.
The golden bird was surrounded by a golden glow, but its eyes were red and looked like two rubies.
Angele's brow knitted. He got off the bed and walked to the window. He was wearing a long white robe.
*KA*
The window was pushed open.
The golden bird flew into the bedroom and landed on the windowsill.
Angele searched under the bird's wings and found two small brown scrolls that were tied up by two red strings.
He untied the red string of the first scroll.
'Wizard Green:
We are glad to inform you that you have been registered as a formal member of the headquarters. Your personal information and skill level will be evaluated from time to time. As part of the benefits program, you will be able to choose one advanced meditation technique. You can also apply for the rare resources once every year. Requesting battle support from the organization is restricted to only once every ten years. You can accept potion making missions and assassination missions. The more missions you complete, the higher rank you will be in the organization. The ranking system will affect the number of benefits you get from the program. You are not allowed to kill fellow members of this organization under normal circumstances. If you do so, you will be hunted down.'
The last line was an address.
'Head to Sherry Forest for the advanced meditation technique. Go find the no.1086 tree root.'
Angele put the scroll into his pouch carefully and opened the other one.
'Missions available to you. Expiring in a month.'
The first line was just an introduction.
Angele kept reading.
'Your mission point: 3.'
'Mission no.158: Kill the escorts of the Baby Grass. 10 points.'
'Mission no.159: Investigate the Zombie Cloud Swamp. 15 points.'
'Mission no.244: Kill the betrayer of the organization, Remi Style, a rank 3 wizard. 42 points.'
Angele's expression changed. It was impossible for him to kill a rank 3 wizard alone.
'Mission no.771: Use the hints in the book called If you forget me and find the ancient altar of the hydra. 50 points.'
'Mission no. 795: Kill one of the five wizards on the list made by Pander. 20 points for each confirmed kill.'
'Mission no.802: Concoct one serving of the Poison Cloud potion. 10 points.'
Only one of the six missions listed on the scroll was a potion crafting mission.
The Poison Cloud Potion was famous in the Potion Study. Angele heard about the potion before and he knew how hard it was to concoct just one serving of it. The success rate was lower than 1% for the majority of potion masters.
However, the power of this potion was incredible. It could turn a large area into a poisonous land that could kill all the creatures within the effective range. The poison cloud would last for about three days.
The effective area was decided by the amount of the potion used.
According to the information recorded in the books, it was nearly impossible for rank 1 and 2 wizard to concoct a Poison Cloud potion. Only a rank 3 wizard had the required amount of mentality and energy that would be consumed during the process.
The difficulty level of the potion concocting process was determined based on the requirement of mentality and energy. Some of the rare potions did not require a lot of techniques but they could only be concocted by potion masters that were at the higher ranks.
In another word, strong potion masters were usually high-rank wizards. There were so few of them that all the large organizations would try their best to recruit them.
Angele narrowed his eyes. He thought that the potion concocting mission might be a challenge from the Dark Wizard Tower. If he could successfully complete the mission, he might be promoted in the organization.
It was the only mission related to the potion concoction, and he was recruited to the organization as a talented potion master.
However, he was a Crystal stage rank 1 wizard and he had not met the basic mentality requirement for the potion yet.
The trials of the Dark Wizard Tower were all difficult which made Angele feel a bit uncomfortable. He did not understand why it was so hard to get promoted.
But at the same time, he wanted to know what the benefits were for the high-ranking members.
He hesitated for a while then he tapped on the last mission with his right index finger.
*CHI*
Several green light dots flashed on the tip of his finger.
A green seed appeared on the scroll from nowhere sprouting like crazy; its tender shoot was becoming longer.
Several seconds later, the seed turned into a green vine.
The vine slowly climbed up Angele's body which expanded as it moved around. The vine was getting longer and longer.
Vivid green buds emerged out of the vine's surface.
*CHI*
Angele remained calm. Blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes. He raised his right hand and found a ring with an amethyst on top from one of the flowers.
The ring was made of silver and there were complicated flower patterns engraved on its surface. The amethyst on top had the shape of an eye. It was beautiful and mysterious.
*CHI*
The vine and the flowers withered after Angele took the ring out. They dropped to the carpet turned into black ashes and vanished into the air, leaving no trace behind.
The golden bird swung its wings and left the windowsill.
Angele held the ring in hand and started thinking.
************************
He spent some time checking the ring, then he retrieved the mission information that was stored inside it.
Angele had reached the Crystal stage not so long ago and just acquired the bloodline of the scorpion woman.
He needed to progress further with the advanced meditation technique in order to advance to the next rank.
He had some trouble with the Mask of the Black Wing which caused his progression to become slow. Angele could barely feel the effect of the meditation and he had to do it when he was well-rested. The procedure was totally different when compared to the regular meditation technique.
He doubted if Henn told him the truth about the advanced technique.
Zero did the analysis and told Angele the requirement for advancing to the next rank.
First, he needed to increase his mentality to 120.
A special technique that could help stabilize the second mentality crystal was also required as the first mentality crystal would interrupt the process.
It was the natural reaction of the mentality crystal, but it must be dealt with.
The critical step was to infuse the mentality with elements. If the process could be completed before the second mentality crystal was created, Angele would have a much higher chance to advance to the next rank. However, the infusion was extremely difficult as he needed to level up the advanced meditation technique first.
The gifted wizards could skip this step, but Angele's talent level was below average.
The talent of an apprentice could be improved using special techniques, but the wizards never understood why some people were born with high talent level.
After the apprentices became formal wizards, their progression speed still varied. Some wizards thought it was related to the meditation technique, but some thought the strength of the souls was the main reason.
Thousands of experiments were completed on the subject, but no one had reached a valid conclusion yet.
Angele once asked Vivian about the ranking system of the wizards.
He learned that from rank 1 to rank 3, the wizards needed to create three mentality crystals and they usually came with a slot to support more Talent Spells. However, to advance to rank 4, there would be special requirements.
However, Vivian did not tell Angele about the special requirements, she changed the topic when Angele tried to dig deeper.
Creating mentality crystals required a high mentality level and the impurities must be removed.
The unstable energy waves released by the impurities would impact the creation or solidification process of the mentality crystals. The fundamental principle was still the same. The higher a wizard's rank was, the higher his mentality level would be.
Chapter 306: Changes (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Angele's cursed scimitar broke into pieces upon the extraction of the life energy of the scorpion woman which was too much for it to handle, resulting to him being no longer able to increase his mentality by killing mutated creatures or wizards.
Furthermore, the progression speed of the Mask of the Black Wing was slow. If he wanted to increase his mentality to 120 units just by meditating, it would take more than a century to achieve it.
He did not wish to spend too much time on increasing his mentality level.
Thus, Angele decided to look for a different method that could help him progress faster.
************************
*Dang*
Angele placed the knife and fork down beside his plate, then raised his head and looked at Liv.
"It has been months since we moved into this mansion. Is there any message from master Vivian?" he asked.
Under the dim light, the two wizards sat opposite to each other in the dining room.
Liv was wearing a red bathrobe which exposed her neck and face into the air. She was cutting the pan seared steak on the plate carefully.
Her hands stopped for a second after hearing Angele's question.
"Don't worry. Vivian is doing well. We just need to take care of ourselves," she responded calmly. "But there are many things she needs to take care of recently, so she is very busy."
"Is that so?"
Angele supported his chin with his right hand, looking at the night view outside the window.
The bright moonlight illuminated on the roof of the small wooden house he built.
"I haven't contacted my old friends for a while. I think you don't mind me sending them some messages, right?" Angele said.
"Sure, I'll go with you if you want to use the signal obelisk." Liv nodded slightly. "Ah, one more thing." She suddenly put down the fork and clapped her hands.
A maid wearing a maiden suit walked into the dining room quietly.
"How can I help you?"
"Take those away." Liv looked at the plates. "And bring the letter to master Green. I'm talking about the one we received several days ago."
Angele was surprised. "Several days ago?"
"You were doing experiments in the laboratory. Nothing was urgent so I didn't inform you on time," Liv responded in a light tone.
Liv had gone to the slave market and purchased some mortals to work in the mansion a while ago. The purification tower here could protect the mortals from being damaged by the radiation. She purchased about 20 young girls that were trained to do different jobs.
The maid returned with the letter after several minutes and handed them over to Angele politely.
Angele grabbed the letter and opened it right away.
It came from a stranger, a wizard named Dan.
Dan was a council member who worked for Vivian. It said that he would ask someone to deliver some resources to Angele in five days. The address and time were listed by the end of the letter.
Angele put the letter back into the envelope. "When did you receive the letter?"
"About three days ago," the maid answered.
"Thanks, you may leave now." With a flick of his finger, the letter was ignited and burnt into black ashes, dropping to the glass on the table.
The maid grabbed the glass and left the room.
Angele stood up. "I'll return to my room now. There will be a delivery here in two days. Make sure to pick them up."
"Sure." Liv nodded.
Angele turned around and stepped out of the door. He went upstairs and returned to his bedroom.
He walked to the window and took out a black box.
Henn's voice was transmitted to his ears right away.
"I already told you about Vivian's most important projects in the Elemental Hand, right? The Gravitational Magic Circle and the bloodline merging technique I taught her many years ago, I think she already mastered them," Henn was speaking in a cold tone, "We just need to find the right timing and destroy all her efforts…Ha…The only problem lies in how to make it look like an accident."
Angele grimaced. "What will the reward be? You know the consequences once she finds out the truth. I can't handle the wrath of a rank 4 wizard."
"I know that of course but the situation is different. The bloodline is important to Vivian. You would not understand the reason. Even if she finds out that you did the whole thing, she won't kill you. I will guide you through the process. Don't worry." Henn chuckled. "Just tell her that you need some resources to practice the enchantment technique. We need to use the resources well, so we need to pay the Snow Mountain Rift a visit."
She stopped for a second and continued, "For the reward…if everything goes as planned, I will give you one of my strongest magic devices. The magic device won't aid you in battles but I will help you increase the mentality in a…special way."
"Well…" Angele had a bad feeling about the plan.
"I'll keep my promise but you must do it for me, or we can just die together. I don't even care anymore," Henn spoke in a serious tone.
"Don't push me too hard, Henn." Angele narrowed his eyes. "This is the last task I'll do for you. If you ever threaten me again, I'll just kill myself. I'm not your puppet."
"Ha…Don't worry…Trust me…" Henn laughed. "We are wizards. You must put effort into it before getting the rare magic device. This device is special as it's related to the gravitational magic circle."
Angele looked at the ripples in the river quietly and started thinking.
'Gravitational magic circle…'
************************
Somewhere in the headquarters of Elemental Hand.
Inside a dark and deep cave, there were five 30-meter-tall stone pillars standing on a platform which looked like fingers of an enormous hand.
Gray stone chairs were placed on top of each stone pillars. The engravings on the back of the chairs were slightly different.
The smooth platform underneath the pillars was black.
*Ka*
The noise made by the opening door was loud, rays of white light sneaked into the cave through the gap.
Two tall muscular men slowly stepped into the cave. Both were wearing black armor suits with golden edges as decorations.
They walked to the center of the platform together and waited there patiently.
*CHI*
Strange noises came from the top of the stone pillars.
Several people slowly appeared on the stone chairs.
A bloody red fireball dropped on one of the chairs and turned into an attractive woman wearing a long red robe.
Her blonde hair and red dress were flying in the air. She turned around and sat down. It was Vivian, she glanced around and saw that the first and the fifth chairs were still empty.
"Sorry, I'm late," she apologized in a low voice.
"It's fine," a man in a black robe responded in a deep tone. "How's your son, Vivian?"
"I did some investigation and the things he told me were all true. Also, the soul pattern in his body matches my bloodline. I'm sure that he's my real son." Vivian pursed her lips into a smile.
"Congratulations then. I thought you were not interested in the organization anymore and now you're here again. I know you want to help your son to progress, but you don't have to work so hard." The man in black robe smiled as well.
"He's my only inheritor." Vivian nodded slightly.
They chatted for a while and some white mist appeared on the first chair. The mist quickly turned into an old man with long white hair.
"First elder."
Vivian and the other elders greeted the old man right away.
The old man nodded his head but did not say anything.
"Let's start the meeting then. Battle messenger Sora, you may start reporting the situation now." He looked at one of the men in black armor suits that was standing on the platform.
"Yes!"
The man named Sora stepped forward and took off his helmet. It was a tiger man with a white mark on his forehead.
"The situation is worsening. The fifth elder has led the army to the Thousand Waterfall City. Since the advent of war, both our sides have lost a number of wizards. Moreover, the second lord from the Star Fall City is helping the first lord by leading his army to the Thousand Waterfall City. The fifth elder tried to fight the two lords just by himself but he had been severely injured. There were three battle messengers in the team, but two of them has been injured and the last one is still missing. The morale of the army is getting lower and lower. Elders, we must react to the situation, right now!"
The tiger man responded in a loud voice.
"We need someone who can cast strong area damage spells. Third elder and fourth elder, are you willing to join the fight?" The first elder pursed his lips.
"Why don't you just send me there?" The second elder asked. It was a man with a long, black beard.
"I will go." Vivian stood up and looked at the second elder. "Rocky, you need to take care of the divisions, right? We have so many problems in those areas."
"She's right, Rocky, you need to keep helping the division. Let them join the fight." The first elder nodded.
"Well, Vivian and her watchers are great for tasks like this," The forth elder agreed, he was the one wearing the black robe. "She can finish the job easily."
Vivian nodded. "Alright then, I'll take my army there. Is the soul energy pool prepared?" She looked at the tiger man.
Sora slight bowed to Vivian as he replied, "Everything is settled."
"Good, I will leave tonight. I will win this war just for my son. Ha." Vivian had a strange expression on her face. "I haven't met those lords in years…"
She turned around and disappeared from the chair into flames.
Chapter 307: Changes (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Angele stood in front of the window.
"Since Vivian already gave you access to the ruin, you can enter some of the most important lab areas. First, she would not think you'd become her enemy. Second, she is certain you would not be able to discover the secrets of those areas. Last, only rank 3 wizards have the capability of destroying the gravitational magic circle," Henn explained.
"She will not even consider you the suspect once she finds out what happens. The gravitational magic circle is the source of her power, which can be interrupted in several ways. You only need several minutes to modify the circle while she uses it. It will look like an accident."
"So what exactly is the method?" Angele pondered.
"I will guide you through the process, just do what I say. I must first prepare something. If we succeed this time, the benefits will greatly aid you," Henn stopped talking right after.
Angele exhaled once, turning around, and left the window. He walked to the bed and slowly sat down as he looked around.
The silky smooth blanket of black color was comfortable and was infused with a hint of flowery fragrance.
He turned on the switch of the scorpion magic device and started meditating.
Black smoke slowly coalesced in the air and gathered toward his face which turned into a black mask.
Angele fell into slumber after several seconds.
'... Attempting the activation of the signet using energy particles ...' Zero's mechanical voice echoed in his ears.
'Signet activated. Forcefield has been modified. Tracking the process... Failed... Analyzing the result... Failed... Entering the Nightmare Realm...'
Angele heard the report and slowly opened his eyes.
The warmth of his body was still left on the soft blanket.
He stood up and straightened his back. The black mask turned into smoke and disappeared from his face.
White mist filled up the air and the mansion was deadly silent.
"I made it!" Angele was satisfied with the result.
'How much bloodline power is left?' he questioned.
'None was consumed,' the chip responded immediately. 'You can stay in the Nightmare Realm for as long as you wish.'
Angele sighed in relief. He walked to the door and pushed it open.
*Creak*
The door opened and the silence outside was familiar.
Angele walked down the hallway and started checking the mansion.
Liv and the maids all disappeared. The only thing here was the white mist which caused the visibility inside to lower.
After walking around for half an hour, Angele did not encounter any strange events.
He was the only one inside the main building of the mansion.
Angele walked out of the building quickly and started checking the area around the mansion.
However, he did not find anything. He stayed alert the whole time while asking Zero to scan the area constantly.
For some reason, he felt that there was a mysterious aura surrounding the whole area.
Angele decided to return to the main building as he did not find anything.
He sat on the bench by the swimming pool and stared at the bushes on the edge of the forest, he knew that something would happen if he tried to leave the mansion area.
It was late at night but there was no insect making any noise.
Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes as he checked the surroundings.
Time flew.
One hour later.
Suddenly, he stood up from the chair and walked to the other side of the pool.
The mist inside the mansion was white but the mist outside was black on the contrary.
The black mist looked like the remaining smoke from fireworks.
Angele walked to the fences and watched the wind blowing over the field of grass.
The gentle light from the moons shined upon the land. He could smell the fragrance of the grass in the air.
He narrowed his eyes and reached out of the fences.
A black shadow jumped out of the black mist and rushed toward Angele's hand right after his finger moved out of the fences.
The black shadow was roaring as it moved at full speed. Angele could see the sharp teeth in its mouth under the dim light.
His expression changed. A long metal needle emerged out of the tip of his index finger and pierced the black shadow's mouth.
Dark blood came out of the black shadow's mouth and splashed on the grass. It almost looked like that the grass was hit by strong acid, as white stinky smoke rose from the ground immediately.
Angele finished the creature off and retreated quickly after seeing what was hiding in the shadow.
Groups of black shadows moved out of the dark mist and waited patiently outside the fences.
The black shadows revealed themselves under the moonlight. It was a swarm of wheel-sized beetles.
Angele glanced around; the beetles were moving forward together slowly. He could see the long mouths on the top of their heads. Their bodies looked like opened purses and the teeth were the zippers.
The mouths of the beetles were enormous and their sharp teeth lined up like long saws.
Strangely, those beetles had no eyes or nose. The only thing on their faces were the mouths. They had eight legs supporting their bodies and they were increasing their speed.
The beetles were climbing up the fences fiercely, trying to enter the mansion. There were thousands of them and it almost looked like a black sea.
More and more shadows were coming out of the black mist.
Angele dropped the dead beetle to the ground and returned to the main building of the mansion.
*BAM*
He slammed the door close.
He then started observing the silver needle on the tip of his finger carefully.
The silver needle was smoking, it was bent and it started decaying after contacting the strong acid inside the beetle's body. The surface of the needle was covered with black marks.
'My alloy's resistance was not high enough for the beetle's blood…' Angele pursed his lips.
*PA*
The metal needle broke into pieces and dropped to the floor then turned into a small pool of yellow liquid.
The beetles were getting closer and closer.
Several silver light dots appeared between the gaps of his right hand.
Those light dots came from the silver ring on his finger and activating the magic device was the best option he had.
*Creak*
He pushed the door open hard and raised his hand. Countless black beetles were moving toward him.
"Light of Thorns!"
He shouted.
*CHI*
Countless rays of golden light pierced through the swarm of insects. It looked as if there were golden swords slashing through their bodies, and the strike wiped off most of the beetles in the front.
The dead beetles turned into pools of black liquid; the sour and stinky smell of their blood permeated the air.
The golden light shined upon the mansion and illuminated on all the objects around.
Angele's eyes were almost blinded by the strong light.
He lowered his head after making sure that most of the beetles inside the mansion were eliminated.
However, there were still seemingly infinite black beetles jumping out of the black mist outside the fences and the mysterious aura was getting stronger.
Angele narrowed his eyes and put his left hand on the signet in the center of his chest. The signet looked like a twisted musical note.
"Take me back!"
*CHI*
His body turned into a distorted white energy wave and disappeared from the area.
Angele's body appeared in his bedroom again and he successfully returned to his own world.
'If the black mist was the source of the beetles, I think I won't be able to leave the mansion as it's surrounded by the mist.' Angele bit his lips. For some reason, he thought that the Nightmare Realm was transforming, but he was not sure if it was due to the location difference.
'There's only one way to confirm my assumption. I need to enter the realm from a different area.' He decided to escape from the Nightmare Realm because he could not deal with all the beetles alone. It would just be a waste of time. Angele needed to collect more information about the realm.
He thought for a while, then he put on a long black robe and pushed the door open.
Angele sneaked out of the mansion and headed to the wooden house by the river.
He made sure that there was no one following him and put his hand on the signet.
*CHI*
His body disappeared into the air.
About one second later, his body appeared in the original location again.
White smoke rose from his body and the stinky smell in the air was familiar.
"Godd*mn it! This place too?!"
He was attacked by the beetles right after entering the Nightmare Realm. The forcefield protected him from being overrun by all those horrifying insects.
Angele pointed at the ground and a thin layer of metal barrier started dropping down from his body. It looked like a molting snake.
Several seconds later, the silver metal barrier turned into a pool of yellow liquid.
Angele was disappointed at the result. He spent years improving the resistance of the alloy that he created and he spent more than 100 crystal cards on the materials but the barrier could barely handle the beetle's blood.
'I shall explore the Nightmare Realm later…' Angele took a deep breath. He had to stay in the mansion area for a while.
His plan changed as he failed to explore the Nightmare Realm, so he decided to find a method of separating Henn from his body first. Angele knew that the situation was getting worse as it seemed like Henn could harm him if she wanted to.
The whole thing about Vivian was a trap that was set up by Henn.
'Anyway, I can enter and leave the Nightmare Realm freely now. I should focus on dealing with Henn.' Angele had a plan in mind.
There were three things waiting for him to complete: increasing the mentality level, separating Henn from his body, and completing the mission from the Dark Wizard Tower.
In order to separate Henn from his body, he needed to find more information regarding soul forms, but he had yet to discover where to start.
Chapter 308: Calm Before the Storm (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
The biggest problem lay in the fact that Angele had yet to discover the extent of Henn's strength in her soul form. He wanted to know what exactly she was capable of doing to his body.
Angele was certain that he needed to first rank up, even if he could find the correct technique.
He put his hand on the signet and left the Nightmare Realm. Once again he could hear the normal insects making noise by the river.
Angele calmed down before he left the wooden house and headed to the mansion.
He peeked inside Liv's room through the window before entering the building.
The light was turned off but he could see Liv meditating on her bed.
Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes while he made sure that Liv was not aware of what he did.
The mansion was surrounded by defensive magic matrices and it seemed like they would react to Angele's movement.
With the help of the mentality compression method and the stealth technique, the defensive matrix would have a hard time detecting him even if he was considered as an invader.
He returned to his bedroom and started drawing red lines on the floor.
The lines were covered by the carpet, so no one would be able to find them without knowing the secret.
Angele spent the next several days constructing the magic circle using the energy particles. Liv had no idea about the situation.
********************************
*Blop*
Angele jumped into the pool without making a big splash.
The bright sunlight shone through the water ripples and illuminated on his muscular body.
He was freestyle swimming, showing how he was a good swimmer.
Liv was sitting on a bench by the pool. Her long black hair spread over her shoulders, which looked like strands of silk with the highest quality.
Her clean skin looked soft and smooth. It seemed like that she did not wear anything under the long white one-piece.
She was reading a book with a brown leather cover carefully.
"Numinous…" Liv invoked the incantation and drew a V-shaped rune in the air with her right hand.
The red rune vanished into the air within seconds and the tip of her index finger was burnt black.
With a flicker of her finger, the wound was cured and it almost looked like nothing happened.
Angele climbed up the ladder and left the pool. He was wearing a black short and the water was dripping down his body.
He wiped the water from his brown hair with the left hand.
"You have spent so much time studying this rune, yet you are still having trouble drawing it?" Angele jokingly asked.
A maid handed over a dry blanket to him and he started cleaning his body.
"It's none of your business." Liv looked at Angele and noticed that he was staring at her breast. "What? I thought you were not interested in me."
"Well." Angele pursed his lips. "I like your style and your hair, but you're a stronger wizard than me, and that scared me a bit. I'm willing to develop a relationship with you if I'm the stronger one, ha." He finished cleaning his body and headed to the living room.
He heard carriages moving on the path outside the fences before opening the door.
"Are they delivering resources to us?" Angele looked at the direction of the sound but the view was blocked by the building.
Liv stood up from the bench.
"The resources have been delivered several days ago. It must be merchants. Let's go check them out. We might find some decent items if we're lucky."
"Sure."
Angele put on a long white robe and a pair of black metal boots. He started heading to the main entrance right away.
Liv followed after him. They walked down the hallway and left the mansion together.
A group of yellow carriages was slowly advancing along the path in front of the mansion. There were about ten of them, and Angele could hair the horses neighing.
The carriages were moving slowly and the escorts were wearing gray cloaks. The cloaks covered their full bodies, including their faces. They all carried swords with gray handles on their belts. The handles of the swords were either cracked or broken.
The carriages stopped on an empty ground by the side of the path.
Several chubby women got off the carriages and started feeding the horses. The coachmen began to check if all the carriages were functioning properly.
The escorts were checking the surroundings in small groups. Some of them were sniffing the cigarettes that they carried. It seemed like the smell of the tobacco would make them feel refreshed.
A short old man in a white suit and red cap walked straight to the mansion with several escorts were following after him.
Angele and Liv waited by the entrance of the mansion quietly.
The old man had a polite smile on his face. He stopped by the entrance and bowed to the two wizards right away.
"Master wizards, we're of the Starmoon Caravan. My name is Freywood. You might be interested in the special goods I have… Also, I'll buy items you no longer need off your hands at a very reasonable price."
"So, you have something that wizards need?" Angele was interested.
"I can't promise you anything, but you can check out the items by yourself." Freywood smiled.
Angele scanned the old man in front of him using Zero and found that Freywood was a rank 3 wizard apprentice. That was the reason why he knew what wizards were interested at.
"You know that you might be killed by an evil wizard and you'll lose all your items, right?" he asked.
"I know, but I'll take the risk that comes with great rewards." Freywood chuckled and it seemed like he was not concerned about what Angele just said.
"To be honest, my caravan is being protected by a master wizard."
"Interesting, I didn't think wizards would do something like this." Angele narrowed his eyes. "It means you do have something rare. Take me to your carriages, I want to see what you have."
Freywood nodded and he led the two wizards to the carriages quickly.
They started checking the goods from the cart on the left.
Most of the goods were spell materials and random eggs from different creatures. There were also gems and luxurious-looking wands, which usually were used to make special crystal orbs.
Angele collected much information of the common materials when he was on the west coast but he failed to recognize some of the spell materials.
Half an hour later, they finished checking most of the goods. Angele did not find anything valuable but Liv purchased a pair of beautiful earrings. The earrings were decorated with rubies and there were silver glints on the surfaces of the gems.
"That's all you have?" Angele frowned.
"I showed you so many items, yet none of them caught your attention?" Freywood was a bit speechless.
"Well, I won't buy anything if that's what you only have…" Angele shook his head and yawned.
"Alright, we do have something that I can't even recognize in one of the carriages but you might be interested."
Freywood led Angele and Liv to a carriage in the middle of the team quickly.
Freywood opened the door and entered the carriage first. He put down a long wooden plank as the stair.
Angele and Liv stepped on the plank and entered the carriage as well.
The carriage was spacious enough for about five people to stand inside.
There was a middle-aged man sitting in front of a black wooden desk, wearing a black cloak.
"Master Kodo, they are here to see the…special item," Freywood lowered his head and said.
"No problem." The man raised his head and looked at Angele.
Angele was a bit surprised as he did not see any pupil in the man's eyes, but he could feel the man's sight falling on him.
The man's white eyes were eye-catching under the dim light.
The man took out a small silver accessory box from a large iron case on the side.
*PA*
He put the box on the desk and opened it.
Some strange colorful dust leaked out of the box and dripped down to the desk, it almost looked like sticky liquid.
The colorful dust was actually formed by tiny cubes; the cubes were so small that they almost looked like strange beans.
Those colorful cubes left the box and moved around on the desk. They gathered together and turned into a small child.
The kid sat on the desk and it looked like that he was eating his fingers.
"Queen Christina's Cube…" Liv suddenly opened her mouth.
Angele and the other people inside the carriage all stared at her after hearing what she said.
"You know this item?" Angele turned to Liv and looked at her.
"Yeah." Liv nodded slightly. "I have seen it somewhere, but I don't remember the exact location. It was a long time ago but I still remember the name."
"What can it do?" Angele wondered. He watched the kid crawling on the desk, it seemed like the kid was curious about the people around him.
"I don't know. Queen Christina's Cube has always been a mystery. You need to find out how to use it yourself. I don't think it's a powerful item, though. Rumors tell that the cube was found in an unknown realm by the ancient wizards." Liv shook her head.
Angele rubbed his chin. "How much is it?"
Freywood was happy that something finally suited the young man's taste.
"How about 15 crystal cards?"
"I'll give you five crystal cards. I want to buy it just because I like to collect mysterious items." Angele shook his head.
"Well…how about eight crystal cards? This is the lowest price I can accept. We spent a lot of money purchasing this from a…Anyway, five is way too low."
The conversation lasted for more than ten minutes before they finally agreed on the price. Angele paid six crystal cards for the cube.
Chapter 309: Calm Before the Storm (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Angele left the carriage carrying his pouch that had the box which contained the cube.
After spending so long in checking the merchandise, it was now afternoon.
The orange light from the setting sun illuminated on the ground.
"La~Lalala~Lalalala~"
He heard someone singing from a carriage on the other side.
Angele turned around.
A young girl sat beside the opened door of the carriage; her long, black hair was eye-catching.
The girl's legs were long and slim. She was wearing brown leather boots and a pair of tight blue pants. The hems of the pants were slightly damaged, but she still looked attractive in them.
There was a white flower in the girls' hand and she was sniffing at it carefully.
The sun was still setting. The vibrant light shined upon her white one piece and black coat. She looked like a girl that did not belong to this land.
Angele looked at the girl for a while. She reminded him of someone familiar, but he just could not come up with the name.
"It's the daughter of a family we met on the road not so long ago. We're taking them to the city," Freywood jumped off the carriage and explained. "If you're interested, I can…"
"No, it's fine. I'm not interested. It's just that…" Angele shook his head. "Nevermind, I'll be leaving now."
Liv followed glaring at him as they started walking, but she did not say anything.
Angele took out the queen's cube and looked at it. He thought that it was the only thing related to the souls among the goods. He wanted to do some experiments with it after he went back. He had seen something similar back in the Six Ring Area, but he did not purchase it due to the ridiculous price.
Many wizards tried to study the secrets of the soul form, but most of the rules could not be applied to the souls and its properties were ever-changing; the thing they found helpful yesterday would become meaningless the next day.
Angele walked to the mansion and Liv followed after him.
Two maids saw the two wizards returning to the mansion so they opened the door quickly.
Angele heard someone calling him with a crisp voice right after walking past the fences.
"Masters…please wait."
Liv and Angele turned around and saw the girl that was singing running to them, but she was stopped by the two maids.
A middle-aged man and a middle-aged woman got off the carriage that the girl came from slowly. Their faces were pale and they both looked tired. Angele noticed the high-quality clothes they were wearing.
Angele assumed that the girl probably came from a noble family that had lost their territory.
"What do you want?" He waved his hands and asked the maids to let them come in.
The girl walked to the two wizards and lowered her head. She bit her lips slightly and her face turned pale.
"Iris! Apologize to the two master wizards and come back now!" The middle-aged man was almost shouting.
"Your name is Iris?" Angele questioned.
The girl nodded right away, she looked at her parents but she decided to stay.
"I…I…Could you hire me, masters? We're seeking shelter as my mother is too weak for long travels…" Her voice was so low that Angele could barely hear her word.
"If you can offer us a shelter, I can do anything for you!" The girl suddenly raised her head.
"What a waste of time." Liv shook her head and walked away. She did not think that the girl had such high value.
Liv knew what the girl was planning. She started singing right after Angele left the carriage and acted like she was doing everything just for her mother. The girl was begging for the sympathy of a wizard and she thought that Angele might be interested in her body.
Liv had lived long enough to see most of the dirty tricks played by the mortals in the society. Girls like Iris once lived in wealthy families and the long trips were just too tough for them.
The girl was a virgin, but Liv doubted if Angele would be interested.
He could just purchase a whole bunch of girls from the slave market instead if he had the intention.
Angele watched Liv leave as he pursed his lips into a smile.
The girl named Iris reminded him of the girl he trained back in the Lennon City. Tia was just delivering food to him.
"So explain to me, why are you valuable to me? Why should I offer you a shelter?" He was mocking the girl.
The girl lowered her head again, not sure how to answer the question. She held her fists tight and her body was trembling.
"Iris!"
Suddenly, a boy with a short brown hair jumped off one of the carriages and yelled. There was a bitter smile on his young face.
The girl bit her lips after hearing the boy's call.
Angele shook his head and turned around. He started walking to the mansion again.
"You're brave enough to walk to me, but you can't prove me that you're a valuable asset," he spoke in an uncaring tone.
The boy ran to Iris and tried to grab her right hand, but she just walked away.
Tia knew what she wanted at the beginning, yet the girl named Iris never had a clear goal.
***************************
Three days later…
It was early in the morning and the sun was still raising.
Angele stood quietly on the training ground.
*CHI CHI CHI*
It sounded like something was breaking through the air.
There were countless silver strings appearing and disappearing around his body.
It looked like Angele was just standing there with his right arm in the air, but the crossguard sword in his hand was moving so fast that it turned into a blurred shadow.
Several minutes later, the silver strings vanished into the air and the crossguard sword slowly stopped.
*CHI*
He did a front slash again as he took one step forward, leaving a silver trail of the blade in the air.
Angele had a blank expression on his face, he started swinging his sword again.
The chip was reporting back to him every second, 'Modifying the sword skill set…Combo is 88.75% completed…Slash combo is 92.11% completed…'
The faster Angele swung his sword, the more frequently the chip would report back.
It almost looked like there was a distorted shadow flashing on the platform. The trails left by the moving sword connected each other and turned into a long silver string twisting around the blurred shadow.
Angele decided to improve his sword skills after his attributes increased. The first version of the sword skill combos was now too weak for him.
*WOO*
The wind brought by the silver blade blew away the dust from the ground.
Liv was waiting quietly beside the platform, she leaned against the wall and watched Angele improving the sword combo.
Time was flying.
The wind brought by the sword was getting stronger and stronger.
*Crack*
It sounded like a wood stick broke into half.
Angele stopped moving right away.
He looked at the broken sword in his hand and asked the chip to stop the process.
The broken tip of the sword was left on the platform.
'Without the cursed scimitar's buff, my attributes are much lower than before." Angele shook his head slightly and dropped the sword to the ground.
"That's the fifth one." Liv pursed her lips.
"Well, these weapons are too weak." Angele took a deep breath and raised his left hand. The maid immediately brought him a clean blanket and a basket of water.
"High-quality swords are hard to find. You can ask master Vivian to find you one when she came back." Liv nodded.
"I will likely craft one myself later." Angele shook his head slightly. "I will go have some rest."
"Sure."
Angele left the training ground, went to the second floor, and entered the bedroom. He started meditating right away.
Half an hour later, he slowly woke up from the meditation.
'Show me my body condition.' he ordered.
'Angele Rio. Strength 12.0. Agility 11.5. Stamina 16.0. Mentality 79.5. Mana 57.2. Genetic limit reached. Status: Healthy,' Zero reported back quickly.
'I lost the buff from the scimitar after I broke it. Although the life essence of the scorpion woman is great, my attributes are still much lower than before.' Angele's brow furrowed.
"The scimitar can't be the only cursed weapon," he muttered as he turned off the crystal scorpion and took out the black box. "What do you think, Henn? Cursed weapons are great, right?"
"Don't rely on cursed weapons too much. The buff is great for sure, but you will regret once more and more impurities gather.
"Anyway, it's time for us to leave. Liv will be focusing on her study for a while, so we should go to the ruin right now. It will only take you about one week to finish the whole mission. You have completed the illusion magic circle in your bedroom already, right?"
"Yeah." Angele's expression turned serious. "I won't do anything to Vivian after this. Don't drag me into your personal revenge."
"Ha, don't worry, this is the last time. Activate the magic circle tonight when Vivian is about to leave the headquarters. This is our best chance." Henn sneered.
"Alright then."
Angele nodded slightly.