Chapter 284: The Crystal Stage (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Henn gave Angele two options in selecting the advanced meditation technique.
She had the complete version of two different advanced meditation techniques.
The first was called Banner’s Crystal Illusion and the second was called Mask of the Black Wing—both of which Angele had never heard of before.
‘The Banner’s Crystal Illusion will improve your illusion spells. The Mask of the Black Wing will improve your negative energy spells in many ways,’ Henn explained.
‘I’ll go with the Mask of the Black Wing then. I don’t think illusion-related skills are the best for me,’ Angele struggled for a second before he responded.
‘I haven’t finished yet. The improvement that comes with the Banner’s Crystal Illusion will become increasingly stronger as you progress through it. But the spell enhancement of the Mask of the Black Wing will only be applied if you’re lucky. Make the choice wisely.’
Angele slowly walked along the river thinking about the options given by Henn.
After several minutes.
‘I’ll go with the Mask of the Black Wing. There are just too many limitations on illusion-related skills.’ His expression was blank.
‘Alright, I’ll transmit the advanced meditation technique right now. Find a safe place, then we can start.’
‘Sure.’
Angele walked down the street and headed to Batall’s house. He was the one who welcomed Angele and he was also the boss of the Dream Inn.
He rented a small house in a remote area and notified Mincola through the communication rune. Angele started preparing for the ritual after moving into that house.
He was still accepting assassination missions and increasing his mentality level through the extraction of life essences.
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Half a year later…
A two-story gray house sat quietly in the remote area of the city. There was white smoke leaking out of the window on the second floor, and a strange stench suffused in the air.
The house was surrounded by greenery and the place was quiet.
The orange light of the setting sun illuminated the surface of the house.
*Creak*
The door of the house was pushed open from the inside and a young man with long brown hair stepped out of the door. His eyes were surrounded by a golden glow and his face was pale.
The man was wearing a long white cloak, he locked out and stepped onto the grasses.
‘Green, how’s your progress?’ A hoarse voice echoed in the man’s ears.
‘Not bad.’ Angele nodded. ‘But…’ He suddenly stopped.
He raised his head and looked around.
There were two men wearing gray cloaks waiting for him on the side.
One of them waved his hand as he smiled upon seeing Angele.
The other man walked to Angele as he spoke, "How’s it going? Green, the things you asked for is here." The man had an average-looking face, but his voice was deep and attractive.
"Great, you delivered them on time." Angele shook the man’s hand. "Mincola, when are you going to report to the organization?"
"It should take us about seven to eight days to travel to Elemental Hand. We can travel together if you want." Mincola smiled.
"For sure. Let’s go see the materials you prepared for me now." Angele nodded slightly and turned to the other man. "Rose, did you meet Mincola on the way here?"
The man called Rose nodded as he responded, "Yeah, I was heading to the inn and met Mincola by the door."
"How many of you are going to Elemental Hand? Do you have a number?" Angele asked.
"Yeah, I do actually. You, me, Rose, and a female wizard from the Drum Canyon. The date and time have already been decided. I’ll tell you about it later." Rose came to the city not so long ago and he acquired an Elemental Hand badge from his leader. Mincola was the person who introduced Angele to Rose during a mission.
Angele chatted with the two wizards on their way to a small store with a dark gold signage on the side.
It was late in the afternoon and there were many people walking on the street. He saw several farmers returning to their home and there were several noblemen chatting at the roadside. There were also several soldiers that had just finished their duty having dinner in small restaurants. They had placed their helmets on the tables and were chattering in loud voices.
The noise made by the river, the wind, and people talking mixed together.
There were several sandwich vendors on the side of the streets and the small restaurants started selling barbeques as night came.
The wizards had not put any badges on their cloaks, so no one knew of their identities.
They could be normal adventurers or Knights in disguise. Apart from them, there were also several elves walking around with their faces covered by masks.
The three wizards waited on the side of the store quietly. People were constantly entering and leaving the establishment.
"Alright, let’s enter the store," Mincola confirmed the location once again, then he stepped into the door.
Angele and Rose followed after him.
Angele checked the words written on the dark gold signage as he entered the door.
‘The Enchantment Shop’
There were already many people in the store.
"The price is the best you can get. You can check other enchantment stores if you don’t believe me. I have spent a lot of money on the maintenance and materials of this chest armor. My profit is lower than one magic stone…" The owner of the store was talking with a dwarf warrior.
Mincola made a hand gesture at the owner as he entered the door.
The owner stopped what he was doing for a second. Nodding at Mincola, he also waved his right hand.
A young girl walked to the wizards from the side. She bowed to them and turned around, heading to the back of the counter.
The three wizards did not say anything but just followed the girl.
The girl led them to the dark backyard behind the store.
The small backyard was surrounded by walls and there was white jade cylinder standing in the center of the yard quietly. The cylinder had the width of an elephant’s feet and it was about two meters tall.
"This is the item you ordered, master Mincola," The girl pointed at the jade cylinder and spoke in a low voice.
"What’s the price?" Mincola nodded.
"You don’t need to pay for this. The owner said the money you paid last time is more than enough," the girl replied.
"Alright, you can leave now. We need to have a conversation here."
The girl bowed and returned to the store.
Mincola walked to the jade cylinder and wiped the dust off it with a piece of cloth.
"Green, this is the ritual cylinder you asked me to purchase for you. It fits your requirement perfectly. It’s the highest quality you can find. With this, you should have a higher chance of advancing to the Crystal stage."
Angele nodded in response. He then walked to the jade cylinder and started observing it.
The surface of the jade stone was covered with strange runes and strings. Angele only recognized a small part of the runes.
He tapped the cylinder with his right hand.
*Dang*
It produced a crisp noise.
Angele was satisfied with the result. He took out a small glass tube that was filled with purple dust and threw it to Mincola.
"Thanks, here’s some healing dust for you."
Mincola caught the tube and checked the content, then he smiled.
"Green, everything is ready, right? You have your resources now, so you can attempt to advance to the Crystal stage." He looked at Green.
"Yeah, you’re right. But I still need to spend some time checking the materials." Angele had nothing to hide.
"Do you think you’ll succeed this time? I think you should slow down. You’re young and you have plenty of time," Rose advised.
"No one knows, Rose. I have already spent enough time on the preparation." Angele shook his head. "Alright, can you arrange some workers to carry this thing to my house?"
"I have already arranged the workers so don’t worry. Now that your requirement is fulfilled, we can go check Rose’s materials." Mincola turned to Rose. "You have time, right?"
"Sure, much appreciated."
"Haha, we’re friends." Mincola chuckled. "Let’s go. I spent a lot of time finding the materials you asked for this time."
"Sorry, but I want to go back to my house now," Angele interrupted.
"Wait, you don’t want to miss this. I’m sure you’ll be surprised. I’ve only seen it in the books…"
"Fine…" But Angele was not interested at all.
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Angele returned to his house after they finished checking out Rose’s new materials.
He heard some people yelling from the right as he stepped on the grassy field.
"Run! He’s back!" a freckle-faced boy shouted.
There were five kids peeking through the gaps between the fences curiously who ran away after seeing Angele return to the house.
The kids were from the mortal families and were not talented. In the central continent, the wizards would test the infants and check if they were talented. The gifted ones would be sent to the wizard organizations, but the chances were low for mortals. There were about ten talented mortals in the thousands of kids that took the test.
Children with insufficient talent would be sent to normal schools and taught by assigned teachers. Thus, they had plenty of time to play.
Angele chuckled and shook his head. He walked to his house and opened the door with a key.
Two muscular workers carried the white jade cylinder into the house and placed it carefully at the center of the living room. They then bowed to Angele and stepped out of the door.
Angele locked the door and walked to the jade cylinder. He slowly rubbed the surface of the stone. Blue light dots were flashing in front of his eyes.
‘What are you doing? I have always wanted to ask why your mentality wave gets unstable from time to time.’ Henn’s voice echoed in Angele’s ears.
Angele smiled but did not say anything. He knew that Henn could not detect the presence of the biochip.
‘Whatever. Have you removed your metal shield completely yet? And the metal elements in your body, eliminate them as well lest your progress will be affected.’ Henn was not too concerned about Angele’s unstable mentality wave.
‘Everything has been prepared.’ Angele nodded.
‘If you can successfully advance to the Crystal stage this time, the second mentality crystal will be much easier to form. The Mask of the Black Wing is helpful if you want to infuse your mentality with elements. It’s one of the best advanced meditation techniques in the category.’ Henn felt pride with what she had given to Angele.