Chapter 163: Lay Low (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Those crests were symbols representing elemental categories. Angele found that out while purchasing spells in school.
‘So, Jerad focuses on Plant, Markolov focuses on Fire, and Para focuses on Rock. These crests are commonly used among the Wizards…’ Angele thought.
‘I didn’t expect Wizards to take in apprentices for a small price. What’s going on here?’
‘Wait, but the requirements are so low. They are not expecting talented students. They just want to earn some extra magic stones. The three are not contracted Wizards… There should be many Wizards in this area, which means there’s a resource point around. Nomadic Wizards won’t stay in the same area for too long unless something attracts them here.’
Angele read the poster and started planning.
‘I can go talk to them first and see if I can find some herbs to treat my wounds. Although nomadic Wizards don’t usually follow the systems, they still carry rare materials and spell books.’ Angele remembered acquiring his Metal spells from a nomadic Wizard.
Angele’s Metal Mastery helped him win against a Liquid Stage Wizard. Although the chip, the signet, and the enchanted item assisted him a lot during the fights, the barriers and the forcefield created by Metal Mastery were still a few of the main reasons he survived. Combined with his physical capabilities, he could often gain advantages when the battle started.
Angele stopped thinking. He turned his head around and looked at the tall guard.
"Where’s Master Markolov? Can you lead me to him?" He took out several gold coins from the pouch. The golden glint attracted everyone’s attention.
Those guards were from relatively rich families based on the look of their suits inside the armors. They chose to become gate guards because they wanted to earn some extra money by leading nobles who wanted to be apprenticed to Wizards.
"Of course, sir! I’ll take you there!" The guard gulped before responding.
He turned around and discussed with the other guards on how to share the reward.
"Please follow me."
"Sure." Angele nodded. He said goodbye to the coachman and followed after the guard.
They left the city gate, walked along the city wall, and entered a hidden path.
The path was dark and wet. The guard untied the torch from his belt and lighted it up with a flint stone.
The yellow light brightened up the area around the two right away.
"To be honest, I suggest you find the other two masters. Master Markolov is famous for his strictness with the students. Now, nobles only go to Master Para’s and Master Jerad’s places," the guard told Angele in a light tone.
"What is this strictness you’re talking about?" Angele asked. He was busy giving Zero orders.
"I’m not sure… I just heard that he was strict with the students. Many people were kicked out of his place, and he only took in three apprentices." The guard shook his head.
"However, the other masters have at least twenty apprentices at the moment."
"Is that so?" Angele was not too concerned. Blue light dots were flashing in front of his eyes.
He was far away from the location where the fight happened already, but he still felt uncomfortable. It was almost like the stickiness you get after sweating a lot.
Angele thought the old man he saw on the cliff probably placed a curse or mark on him. He kept asking the chip to scan him on his way here.
He assumed that seeing the cliff from the forest was due to the mentality surplus, but he did not know what triggered it. It felt like the prophecy spells Angele had read about in the school’s library, but such spells usually had small ranges. Also, Zero’s scanning ability was impacted by Angele’s body injuries. The chip scanned his body many times, but it did not detect any issue. Angele knew that the threat was gone or the source of threat decided to let him go, so he decided to deal with it after he recovered.
‘To recover naturally, you need at least three months,’ Zero reported.
Angele creased his eyebrows. His injury was severe and his power almost halved. After meditation, his mana already recovered, but he had only about 10 Mana at the moment along with the reduced attributes. He could not even cast a modified Lesser Fireball since it would cost him at least 10 points of mana.
Angele could not store the spell in the chip if he could not cast it. Also, the transfer of energy from the chip to his body was not perfect. Angele’s body needed one second to prepare for the transfer. For that reason, he could not just simply use the energy particles or mana stored in the chip to help him cast the spells.
The stored energy was for emergencies only. It could not replace Angele’s mana, so he could not store Lesser Fireball in the chip until he fully recovered from the injury.
Good thing was Angele’s signet still had two uses left, which made him felt a bit relieved.
After about half an hour, he saw a row of black metal fences barring his way on a small hill.
"That’s it. It’s Master Markolov’s place. I’ll leave here," the guard turned around and explained.
Angele nodded and threw a gold coin to the guard. The guard smiled, catching the gold coin before he left.
He waited till the guard disappeared from his sight before walking up the hill.
The fences were coated with energy particles. It was most likely an alarm. If Angele touched it, the people inside would know someone was here.
Angele thought for a while and decided not to enter it directly.
He walked around and found a thick bush. Angele hid behind it and used the stealth techniques he had learned before. He vanished into the darkness and left no trace behind.
About two hours later, Angele heard some intense footsteps from the path.
Two men in gray robes walked up the hill with torches in hands. The flames were dancing and there were two long shadows on the ground.
"…If we can capture him, the money we get will be good enough for the rest of our lives," the gray-robed male said. It would seem that they were discussing a certain plan.
"Even if he’s here, weaklings like us will die in seconds…" The other Wizard apprentice was a female.
Angele overheard their conversation as they got closer.
"30 high-quality magic stones and they only needed his location. They did not expect other people to capture the man for them. I think he must have some powerful spells." The man lowered his voice.
"So what? Our master is better. He can make a large tree explode with a single instant-cast Fireball. Even the two masters I saw in Ferrero were much weaker than our master." The girl disdained the man’s opinion.
"Well, yeah… Our master is better for sure. He was famous for Fire spells and that was the reason why I came here. However, I didn’t expect for the spell to be so hard to learn." The man had a bitter smile on his face.
"I spent three years here and hadn’t understood a single spell model yet. When can I actually start doing experiments…"
"Same here."
The two walked to the fences and opened the metal door as they walked in.
The girl was still talking to the man while walking.
"I think I’ll give up too if I can’t understand our master’s system in three months. It’s way too difficult for me… I wonder what the level-1 spells are like. A level-0 spell has more than 72 different structures… How is that even possible? I can’t even understand the spell books."
"Still better than me. I’m stuck on the fundamentals…" The man looked a bit depressed.
They kept walking and slowly disappeared by the corner. Angele stayed behind the bush and did not move an inch.
After a while, another man appeared on the path. He just stood there and watched the gray robes leaving.
"Natalia… You’ll be mine one day!" the man suddenly whispered.
"If that old prick didn’t trick me with a fake one…"
Under the moonlight, Angele saw the man gritting his teeth. The man had blue pupils and brown hair. He looked like he was at the same age as Angele.
Angele’s assumption was right. The old man with red beard had already placed a price on his head. He now needed to proceed with extreme caution.
The man in front of him was just a rank 1 Wizard apprentice and was weaker than the other two gray robes. The two were rank 2 Wizard apprentices and one of them was carrying an enchanted item.
The rank 1 Wizard apprentice was probably related to the old Wizard here since he was acting like a spoiled child.
Angele had a plan on the mind after staring at him for a while. He crouched and calculated the distance between him and the rank 1 Wizard apprentice.
About nine meters.
He slowly raised his hand and aimed at the man.
*CHI*
A dark shadow rushed out of his hand and hit the back of the apprentice. The shadow melted and then covered the man’s nose and mouth.
Angele pulled the shadow back with force, and the man was dragged toward him.
*BAM*
The man flew to the bush and landed on the grasses.
"*#%#[email protected]^#^[email protected]^..."
He struggled and tried to say something.
Angele narrowed his eyes and chopped the man in the neck with right hand.
The man fainted right away and Angele dragged him into the deep forest.
Half an hour later.
A man walked out of the forest from the side.
He was wearing a gray robe. His eyes were blue and his hair brown.
The man rubbed his chin, checking if the mask was done right.
After several seconds, his cheeks puffed up and a silver glint reflected on his skin. The skin returned to its original color after the shape of the man’s face was modified.
"I’m Dennis, I’m Dennis, I’m Dennis…" He kept muttering this phrase as his voice continually changed. The man coughed several times. He now sounded just like the rank 1 Wizard apprentice Angele dragged into the bush from before.
"Theoretically, it should work. Let me give this a try. I hope I can find the cure to whatever was planted on my body."
He was satisfied with the result, so he stopped talking. The man walked to the fences and opened the black metal door before disappearing into the corner.