Chapter 63: Defection (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
Basic spell storage items cost 2000 magic stones in the market, but Angele needn’t purchase any of those at present. The other girl came over one after Angele had signed the contract, but he wasn’t too interested in her as he thought that having Ansett was enough. Furthermore, Ansett’s family had already sent him plenty of magic stones, resources, and some paid courses. Angele was satisfied with what he received upon signing the contract. The only thing he needed to do was to show others that he was related to Ansett’s family.
Another half-month pa.s.sed. Yet, Angele could only store the Stun Spell on his chip. The Hand of Exhaustion required Root Dust in supplementing the casting, and Angele couldn’t simply store it on the chip.
“What! Manas defected to another organization?!” Angele was so surprised that he stood up while eating. Other wizard apprentices looked over for a brief moment with unconcerned faces, checking if there was a commotion. Ansett had told him the news, but he himself had never thought of something like this happening.
“Well, it’s true. It happened yesterday.” Ansett seemed a bit despondent.
“He defected with Ur Caesar, the ‘Ice Mind Reader’, and several others,” she continued.
“What happened? He has no reason to do so.” Angele inhaled once first before he slowly sat down.
“I don’t know, but I heard that all people related to Manas’s family defected. Something big is going on, we just don’t know it yet,” Ansett said as she shook her head.
“A storm is coming.” Angele’s expression changed upon realizing something. Angele looked at Ansett, the girl whom he had a s.e.xual relations.h.i.+p and had s.e.x with occasionally. Ansett would rather spend more time meditating in order to reach stage 2. They were more than friends, but that was pretty much it.
“What do you think? I hear we’re on the losing side against the Northland Alliance,” Ansett asked in a low voice.
“How about you?” Angele asked back instead of answering her question. Angele hadn’t spent too much time with Ansett since his purpose was to obtain resources from her family.
“I’m afraid I have to return to my family. The situation here is making my parents worried,” Ansett said.
“You want to stay with me? I’m going to apply for a position at Ramsoda Empire’s border. I think the border is relatively safe. Only normal citizens live there and there are no important resources around that area, so wizards won’t care too much about it. I don’t think a war could change the situation at the border,” Angele spoke in a faint voice.
“Me? I think I’ll stay with my family. My parents, brothers, and sisters are all there. I’m not going to leave them,” Ansett answered after chuckling.
“Yea?” Angele stopped speaking. Both of them knew they wouldn’t be able to visit each other in a long time if they decided to choose different paths. Based on the contract, Angele must help Ansett’s family once he became a wizard, but such thing wouldn’t seem to happen anytime soon. Ansett spoke about going back to her family without mentioning an ounce about the contract, which meant her family had already made the decision to terminate the contract with Angele.
Ansett’s conversation with Angele didn’t involve anything about the contract. Angele could understand her underlying intent during the conversation. Her family was no longer going to support him anymore, and Angele didn’t have to return anything the family had given him. The family wasn’t going to wait for Angele to become a wizard due to the current situation of the school.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay with me?” Angele asked again. Ansett hesitated for a second. She was weighing the pros and cons of each option she had. After a while, she shook her head thinking that going back to her family was still the better option.
They finished their food in a silent manner before leaving the dining hall. Angele headed straight to his master’s office after lunch. Master Liliana, who was wearing a black robe that completely covered her body, sat in the middle of the study. Angele saw that the door was open, and then a lady in a white robe exited the study.
Angele bowed and glanced at her face. Seeing that she was wearing a white robe, she was definitely a wizard.
The lady seemed lifeless. Her eyeshades were black; if she closed her eyes, it would look like there were two black holes as her eye sockets. There were many scars on her skin but instead of her scars having a pinkish red color, it looked like black rotten meat.
‘A dead body that escaped its grave,’ Angele thought. The lady didn’t even look at Angele, only disappearing around the corner.
“Angele, right? Come in.” Liliana’s voice came from the room. Angele walked into the study and closed the door after hearing his master’s words.
“That was Wizard Christina, also a student of mine,” Liliana said as she smiled, however, she looked even more terrifying after smiling.
“Master, I…” Angele interrupted her.
“I know. You wish to go to the border, right? You’re the 15th student to come here today with everyone having the same purpose as you. I only have 18 students, yet 15 of you want to leave the school.” Liliana sighed.
“I knew you survived Khedira’s mission and every day, the school’s situation is becoming worse. I think your choice is right. Though there aren’t many resources at the border, safety is guaranteed and you won’t get involved in wizards’ battles,” she continued.
“Thanks for your understanding, Master,” Angele said as he lowered his head.
“There are many countries around the border, which one do you want to go to? The ones close to the school? Like Ramsoda Empire? Or somewhere farther? Like Santiago?” Liliana asked.
“Ramsoda Empire, then. I might return here someday,” Angele said.
“Good, but there are 24 provinces in Ramsoda Empire; most of the students applied to somewhere else. There are only two people who decided to go to Ramsoda Empire. You’re the 3rd one. It’s a huge country. I doubt you’ll meet each other in the future. You’re on your own out there. You need to obtain all the resources you need by yourself,” Liliana said.
“At least I don’t need to return to my homeland. There’s barely any magical resource overseas. Also, I’ve earned enough magic stones, could you still sell the Black Lead Potion to me…?” Angele smiled, and he asked.
“Sure, it’s right here.” Liliana smiled before taking out a small silver bottle from the drawer. Angele became ecstatic upon seeing this. He gave her one high-cla.s.s magic stone. One high-cla.s.s magic stone was equivalent to more than 10 mid-cla.s.s magic stones, which was more than sufficient to but the Black Lead Potion. Angele bowed again after obtaining the potion.
“I’ll talk to the guard so that they won’t stop you from leaving. You can go now,” Liliana said.
“Thank you, Master.” Angele bade his farewell before leaving the room.
Angele felt a bit down. He joined the school not so long ago but had to leave now. He would need to search for resources by himself after. The good thing was, he had already stored all the information he needed on the chip. All the information had been obtained from Ansett’s family, and it was enough for him until he became a wizard. However, he still needed to make plans for his future.
If Angele reached stage 3, he could become a disciple of Master Liliana. He would then have free access to many things such as the Black Lead Potion. However, people like Angele were merely normal wizard apprentices who paid tuition fees in order to stay in the school. The school didn’t give them too much attention, and the school wouldn’t hinder them from leaving.
“Leaving the school could be good for me,” Angele muttered as he walked down the hallway.
‘Zero, how’s my mentality?’ he asked.
‘Your Mentality is 3.4. You need 6 Mentality to reach the next stage,’ Zero reported.
“I think I’ll visit the market before I leave,” Angele thought aloud.
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The underground market.
Many stores were already gone. Angele could no longer find the man who sold him the potion concocting equipment. There were fewer wizard apprentices checking around as well compared before. Six stores remained at the square. Silence loomed all over the place with the lack of people within the vicinity. The only thing Angele could hear was the noise coming from the wall torches.
There was much garbage left on the stone ground. Angele could see cracked gla.s.s equipment, broken bronze rings, and torn apart gray robes. He could even see traces of blood on the ground. This made Angele scrunch his eyebrows as he walked in a small store. Several wizard apprentices were gossiping about the present situation in the school and the desertions.
Angele decided not to listen, quickly walking into the store instead. He looked over the goods and took a small pouch with silver dust inside.
“Phosph.o.r.escence Powder, two magic stones.” The owner was a wizard apprentice who had a goatee. Angele nodded before putting down two magic stone. He began browsing the inventory, intending to take everything he could because he didn’t know when he was going to see a Wizard market like this again.
Another wizard apprentice entered the store. It was the blonde boy he had seen last time. His features hadn’t changed at all.
“Owner, I got something of value here, can you check and buy if you’re interested in it?” the blonde boy yelled.
“You again. I told you last time, your items weren’t valuable at all. I only gave you three magic stones because we have the same master,” the owner answered with an annoyed expression.
“Take a look, please. Perhaps there’s something you need.” With a nervous face, the blonde boy opened his bag.
“I told you, I don’t need anything related to Potion Study. There’s barely anyone buying those things. I told you not to spend your magic stones like that. There’s nothing more I can do for you now,” the owner spoke kindly after calming down.
‘Items related to Potion Study?’ Angele thought.
“Can I take a look? I’m looking for items related to potion concocting,” Angele asked. He was now certain that it was the same blonde boy he had met at the time he was buying the potion concocting equipment.
“Are you sure?” The blonde boy looked at Angele, and he asked.
“Yea, I’m sure.” Angele still had around 5 magic stones, anyway. He had no other ways of using them when he leaves the school. Seeing that the blonde boy was trying to trade his items for magic stones or other materials, it could easily be speculated that the situation in the school was becoming worse, therefore causing him to have no time in studying potions anymore.