Chapter 118: Gray Wizard
Magic Bug Forest was a resource area located in the southeast part of the Underdark Treesea. It had an area of more than 300 square kilometers. As the name suggested, it was mainly made up of insect-type demonized creatures. There were all kinds of strange demonized bugs living in it.
A few days later, at dusk, in a small forest about ten miles away from Magic Bug Forest.
Creak! Creak!
The sound of boots stepping on the soft road made of piles of debris was crisp.
On the rugged forest path, a figure was walking slowly.
His entire body was covered by a wide and large black cloak, and a black cross sword was slung across his waist. His signature black hair swayed in the wind. It was Heath.
As he walked forward, Heath observed his surroundings with a wary expression.
In the past few years in Shadow Tower, he had basically explored all the resource areas under the control of Shadow Tower. He had never been to the Magic Bug Forest.
The reason why he did not come was not only because this place was far from Shadow Land, but also because it was more dangerous.
The demonized insects here were nurtured by a Wizard in Shadow Tower who specialized in the research of demonized insects. There were many types and numbers, and their strength was not low. Rashly entering would be life-threatening. It was a red area worthy of its name.
In the past, the missions related to this place in the Tower were only open to intermediate and advanced Apprentices. From this, one could see how dangerous this place was.
Rustle…
After walking for a while, suddenly, there was a soft sound in front of them, and the bushes in front of them swayed.
Heath put one hand on the cross-shaped sword at his waist, and the magic power in his body also began to move.
But at this time, a similar spiritual wave was transmitted over from that side. The gentle wave was clearly sending a friendly signal to him.
‘There’s an Apprentice?’
Heath was stunned. Shadow Tower had already lost the owners.h.i.+p of Magic Bug Forest. The Forest Guardians here should have been removed by Shadow Tower long ago.
Soon, a young figure walked out from the bushes, with a fist-sized flying bug on his shoulder.
It was a male Apprentice in his twenties. He wore a gray cloak, and the curved wooden staff emblem on the upper right corner explained its origin: Gray Wizard.
The so-called Gray Wizard referred to free Wizards who did not belong to any specific Wizard organization. They did not belong to any Wizard organization, nor did they work for any organization. They were free and active in various places.
Heath could not help but raise his guard.
Gray Wizards were not necessarily a group that was easy to deal with. Freedom also meant that there were no restrictions and no need to consider any rules and regulations. Think about how these people would do things.
Although they were not as crazy as the Dark Wizards, most of them were not that clean. The difference between them and the Dark Wizards was that one was legal and the other was illegal. In fact, many Dark Wizards were evolved from Gray Wizards.
Sensing the wariness on Heath’s face, the Apprentice quickly put on a smile and greeted him, “Apprentice Heath, don’t be nervous. I have no ill intentions.”
Heath raised his eyebrows. “You know me?”
He could not remember what kind of dealings he had with the Gray Wizards.
The Apprentice laughed and said, “Haha, then you may not know me, but you should know…”
He took out a cloak and waved it in front of heath. It was the black cloak of Shadow Tower.
Heath asked, “Are you an Apprentice of the Shadow Tower?”
The Apprentice said, “Cyan 218, intermediate Apprentice Marcel. Nice to meet you. You may not know me, but we have actually met in Shadow Tower, haha.”
After a pause, he added, “But now, I am a Gray Wizard.”
After leaving Shadow Tower, these Apprentices naturally gave up their ident.i.ty as one from Shadow Tower and automatically became Gray Wizards.
This included Heath, who was also a Gray Wizard now.
After hearing the Apprentice’s introduction, Heath slightly withdrew his hostility. He had some impression of this Apprentice. It seemed that he had heard about him from Ender, Jessica, and the others.
It seemed that he was an Apprentice of the Tower who was very good at sweet-talking. It seemed that he had used this opportunity to hook up with an official Apprentice, and even got that girl to kick away the other boys around her. Ender and the others commented that he was very good at playing with women.
In addition, the heraldry on his Apprentice’s cloak was specially made by Wizards. It was identical to his own spiritual power and the characteristics of the organization, so it could not be fake.
Heath said, “Nice to meet you.”
Marcel said, “Apprentice Heath, you are going in this direction? If I’m not wrong, you are going to Magic Bug Forest to collect materials, right?”
Heath nodded. “Yes.”
Marcel invited, “Then why don’t we go together? We’re heading towards Magic Bug Forest as well. An extra person on the way will be able to take care of us. What do you think?”
Since it had already become an ownerless land, of course anyone could go.
Heath asked in puzzlement, “You guys?”
Marcel nodded. “They’re all Gray Wizards. They’re resting in front. If you agree, I’ll bring you there.”
Heath thought for a moment and said, “Sure.”
They were all going to collect materials and there was no conflict of interest. There was nothing wrong with forming a team. With his current strength, it did not mean that he was completely safe in Magic Bug Forest.
Although Gray Wizards were not very clean, their brains were still normal. Normally, Gray Wizards would not do crazy things if there was no conflict of interest. After all, people with a healthy mind would not want to become Dark Wizards.
Marcel left the flying bug on his shoulder and walked forward with Heath.
Heath noticed that it was a type of bug called the Spotted-Tailed Flying Bug. It was a low-level demonized creature. Because it was easier to raise it, it was often used by Wizards as a companion to patrol the surroundings in the wild. Marcel must have used it to sense that he was coming.
The two of them walked a few hundred steps forward and came to a small stream.
At this moment, there were a few tents by the stream. Around the tents were more than ten figures. Some were resting with their eyes closed, while others were busy cooking.
Heath observed for a moment. Most of them were human Knights. There were only two real Wizards. One was an old man and the other was a cold-faced young man. Both of them had the strength of an advanced Apprentice.
Marcel led Heath into the room and introduced him to the two of them. “This is the friend I met by chance. He’s the magic genius of our Shadow Tower, Heath Noen.”
The old man’s gaze swept over Heath in a friendly manner. He nodded and said, “He has the strength of an intermediate Apprentice at such a young age. He’s worthy of the name of a genius.”
After a pause, the old man introduced himself. “Gray Wizard of the Northern Kingdom, Jon Inno. Nice to meet you.”
Heath said, “Nice to meet you.”
As he spoke, Heath reminded himself that the so-called Northern Kingdom referred to a kingdom on the border of the Underdark Treesea. That region was very chaotic. There were always Dark Wizards roaming around. Among the Gray Wizards, that region was the least clean.
Marcel then introduced the cold-faced man to Heath. “That’s an Apprentice of Kirst.”
The man nodded at Heath as a greeting, then closed his eyes and continued to meditate.
Marcel said, “It’s a little late today. Let’s rest here for the night and enter Magic Bug Forest tomorrow morning. Apprentice Heath, what do you think?”
Heath said, “Sure.”
During dinner time, everyone chatted about their purpose of coming. They were all going into Magic Bug Forest to gather materials.
As Shadow Tower’s high-level resource land, Magic Bug Forest’s cultivation of precious resources could naturally be described as a ma.s.sive amount.
These precious resources used to be carefully guarded by Shadow Tower’s Forest Guardians. Outsiders could not get close to them, but now that the Underdark Treesea was in such a mess, Magic Bug Forest naturally became ownerless.
Jon laughed and said, “This is really a good time!”
The Gray Wizards, to put it nicely, were called Free Wizards. In fact, they were no different from the homeless vagrants in the city.
In the era of sound order, the resource areas all belonged to someone. One should know how difficult it was for stateless people to obtain resources.
But now…
It was really enough to pick up sacks everywhere.
Chaos was the chaos of the Light Wizards, but it was also the carnival of the Gray and Dark Wizards.
…
After eating the dinner prepared by the Knights, everyone returned to their respective tents to meditate.
After a silent night, everyone set off the next day.
After walking south for about two hours, a dense forest appeared in the distance.
At this point, the number of insects suddenly increased. There were mosquitoes, ants, c.o.c.kroaches, spiders, and countless other insects crawling on the ground. The buzzing and squeaking sounds were incessant.
At this point, Marcel stopped everyone.
“Magic Bug Forest is ahead, but there are defensive magic circles and guards left behind by Wizard Parker at the entrances to the forest. Those are enough to defend against official Wizards. I suggest that we don’t force our way in.”
Everyone was stunned.
Old Man Jon asked in puzzlement, “How do you know?”
Marcel explained, “When I was in Shadow Tower, I took on several missions here. The guards here happen to be Apprentices that I know, so I talked to them.”
The cold-faced man, Kirst, looked at Marcel meaningfully and said, “I’ll go take a look.”
With that, he turned into a cloud of smoke and flew straight ahead.
Seeing this scene, Heath’s eyes could not help but light up: flying spell!
The flying spell was a commonly used spell in the Wizard World. The transformation spell was combined with the lightness spell. It was common to turn into a cloud of smoke and fly hundreds of miles in a day.
However, most of the flying spells were Wizard-level spells. It was rare to see such spells being used during the Apprentice period.
In half an hourgla.s.s’s time, Kirst flew back.
Jon went up to him and asked, “How is it?”
Kirst said, “He’s right. There are magic arrays set up at the nearby entrances and exits.”
Jon frowned. This was the magic array left behind by Shadow Tower. Everyone knew how powerful they were in this land.
Although the shadow above their heads had disappeared, the shadow they left in people’s hearts was not so easy to erase.
Marcel suddenly said, “I know which direction the defensive magic array is the weakest. We can break in from there.”
Everyone was silent for a moment.
Jon asked, “What do you think?”
Kirst said, “I don’t care.”
Heath also nodded. “I don’t have any objections.”
Jon said, “Alright, then let’s go.”
Pausing for a moment, he said half-jokingly, “Marcel, our future is in your hands.”
Marcel said, “Of course.”
Heath looked at Marcel thoughtfully.
It was one thing to know that there was a protective magic array in Magic Bug Forest, but it was also possible to know which protective magic array was problematic… No matter how close to the Forest Guardian was, he probably did not have the courage to reveal this to him, right?