Chapter 60: Tranquility (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
“You two, come to the study.” Liliana’s voice echoed in the room before disappearing into the shadows again. The room became still once again as though everything that had just occurred was but an illusion. Yet, Angele could still feel the coldness emanating from Ur. He looked at Yale only to see his shocked face.
They walked down the pa.s.sage that led to Liliana’s study silently. No one had the mood to talk anymore. Master Liliana was one of the top wizards in Ramsoda College, but it wasn’t due to her horrifying look. It would be fine for them to just report the situation to her.
The study was devoid of light and heat. Angele and Yale stood by the door as they had already finished informing Liliana about everything they knew. Master Liliana didn’t show any other particular expression apart from a thoughtful one. Time pa.s.sed in silence inside the study.
“You two can leave now. Let me handle this. The Northland Alliance really has nothing else to do,” Liliana finally spoke after a while. She knocked on her desk several times and looked at the two.
Angele and Yale had nothing else to say, so they carefully left the room and returned to their own dormitory. They had already pa.s.sed the message. Apart from this, there wasn’t much that they could do about the situation since they were merely wizard apprentices.
Angele felt relieved after returning to his room. He took off his equipment and placed it on the floor, and then he lied down on the bed. He was extremely exhausted, so he stayed in his bed for a long time.
“I should be more careful when picking missions to take. High returns are always accompanied with high risks,” he murmured.
‘That was really a difficult mission. If the chip didn’t warn me about the attack, I would’ve become a pile of ash. I should have taken it slow. I’ve been too greedy,’ he thought as he shook his head. Angele got up and looked at the crystal clock. It was 2:15 p.m.
‘My sword skills and archery was useless in the mission. Fights between wizards are focused on spells. If I want to use physical attacks, I’ll have to break through their force fields first. I need to find a way to do it, but the Anti-Force Field spell can only be studied by wizards. I’m only a stage 2 wizard apprentice. There’s still a long way to go, but if I were to encounter a situation like this again, I’ll need to find a way to protect myself. Ur Caesar and the Northland Wizards could kill me with a breath… Why did Ur attack us…?’ Angele thought. He sat on his bed with his legs crossed.
‘I need to find a way to make myself stronger.’ Angele began thinking again.
‘High-level spells will be too much for me to handle. Enchanted items are too expensive. After reaching stage 3, I’ll be able to learn more spells, but I need to somehow increase my mentality. What if I can use my sword skills during battle…?’ He suddenly remembered the first time he used the spell on the ring.
‘The Agility Boost Ring’s energy had already been fully absorbed by the chip, but something occurred after I spoke the incantation. It was like I cast a spell using the stored energy. How is that even possible? The burst of energy helped me cast a strong spell unconsciously?’ Angele thought. He wanted to get to the root of what happened during the process.
‘It’s like I skipped several steps in casting that spell. Zero, can you find out how the auto-casting occurred?’ Angele asked.
‘Agility Boost… a.n.a.lyzing… Conclusion: After the absorption of the energy of an enchanted item, the spell model on the ring had been stored on the chip as well. The spell can be auto-cast when necessary.’ Zero reported.
Angele was surprised for a second, and then finally understood what had happened.
‘So the whole spell from the enchanted item will be stored on the chip? Does that apply to normal spells?’ Angele asked.
‘Yes.’ Zero answered.
‘It’s actually very helpful if I have several enchanted items. However, I can store my learned spells on it and even instant cast them when necessary.’ Angele scrunched his eyebrows as he thought.
‘Find me a way to break the force fields using physical attacks.’ Angele asked.
‘Mission established. Beginning a.n.a.lysis…’ Zero reported.
Angele decided to leave the chip to its own devices and started meditating on his bed. After a while, his body started to s.h.i.+ne, his skin and clothes all covered with green light. The green light illuminated for about half an hour before disappearing, and then some red spots of light appeared around him. These tiny red spots fell onto Angele’s skin like the rain.
‘Mission completed.’ Zero suddenly reported. The red spots disappeared in the air and everything returned to normal as though nothing happened. Angele opened his eyes, red and green light still being reflected from his eyes.
‘I chose the wind particles and fire particles when I reached stage 2. I used the other elemental particles to help lead these two types of particles into my body. I think I need to focus on studying one of them, though. It will be more efficient.’ Angele thought.
‘Show me the result.’ He asked.
‘Plan A: Enchanted potions. Not restricted by the level of a wizard apprentice or a wizard, and has the capability of breaking some basic spells. With the help of your archery skill, you’ll be able to injure a wizard, and an average wizard apprentice without enchanted items in possession won’t be able to handle your attacks.
Plan B: Obtain an elemental familiar. Some elemental familiars have special spell powers. They’ll be able to block some spells for you.’ Zero listed two plans in front of Angele’s sight. Looking at the data of the two plans formulated by Zero, Angele scrunched his eyebrows.
The second plan was practically unviable. Angele couldn’t afford an elemental familiar since one cost more than a hundred magic stones. Therefore, he selected the first plan. Basic knowledge on Potion Study was free, and there were several tested formulas Angele could use. However, merely knowing the formula didn’t mean he could actually concoct a potion.
Potions were too difficult to concoct. In Ramsoda College, only two out of all wizards could concoct potions. Their success rate in potion concocting was about 40%, which was already very high compared to others. One would have a higher success rate if one had plenty of recourses.
The steps in concocting potions were easy to follow. First, Angele would need enough mentality and enough control in mana usage. He also needed to learn all about the raw materials and how to deal with the occurring changes during the concoction process. However, he couldn’t learn any of those from the masters because he still needed to try concocting by himself even if he had already learned the fundamentals. Experience was most vital in potion concoction.
That was also the reason why potions were too expensive. The potions of lowest quality were worth at least 10 magic stones.
‘If I can master the art of potion concocting, I’ll be able to earn a lot more magic stones in comparison to taking missions. While an ordinary wizard doesn’t have the a.s.sistance of the chip, I have the capability of using the raw materials with utmost efficiency with the help of Zero.’ Angele thought. He wasn’t certain if it was a good plan, but at the very least, he had hopes of making this work.
‘Also, I hear that some potions could help increase my mentality. It’s worth a shot.’ Angele made the decision.
‘First, I need to get my hands on a set of potion concocting equipment,’ he thought.
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Twenty minutes later…
At the underground trading square.
The trading square was the size of a football court. Many small wooden houses were built upon it, though they weren’t too organized. Each house had a wooden board placed beside it with the list of goods and prices written on the board. Some wizard apprentices were moving from one house to another. Only one or two wizards were around.
There were three wizard apprentices lined up in front of a wooden house by the left. Two of them were male, while the other one was a female. The male wizard apprentice in front of the line looked as though he was about 15 or 16 years old and had a strapping outlook. His shoulders were nearly covered by his brown hair, and it seemed that he hadn’t had a haircut for a while.
It was Angele, who was carefully looking at the goods on the shelves. This store only sold equipment for concocting potions, and everything here was being sold cheap. A set of potion concocting equipment only cost one magic stone. However, the materials and colors of the sets differed from one another as some were second-hand sets of equipment.
The store owner was similarly a wizard apprentice who was about 30 years of age. He was currently sitting inside the house with his arms crossed and had an impatient look.
“You can see the price on the board, one magic stone for each set. Leave if you’re not buying. Just don’t waste my time,” the owner yelled. He never once saw a wizard apprentice becoming successful in learning the potion concoction, so he would his patience for those wizard apprentices every time. He had bought these sets of potion concocting equipment through special networks from the Potion Study students. The new sets kept becoming worse than the secondhand sets. Rich wizard apprentices would never buy items from him, anyway.
Angele took a glance on the sets on the shelves, finally stopping his sight upon a secondhand set made of light red gla.s.ses.
“I’ll take this one.” Angele handed over a magic stone. The store owner grabbed the magic stone and threw it into the wooden basket under the shelves.
“Help yourself,” the owner said.
“Sure. Wait, do you have raw materials for basic potions?” Angele asked.
“One magic stone per box. Each box has enough materials for you to practice concocting a Hemostasis Potion for about 10 times,” the store owner answered right away. He clearly knew what wizard apprentices usually came here for.