Chapter 41: Book of the Wizard (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
Angele became relieved as he calmed down. It seemed that he had survived the dangerous part of the book. Zero had also stopped giving out warnings. Angele read the next several lines where it all referred to the method how the meditation worked. The actual method was nearly identical to the one being used for training Qi back on Earth. However, the meditation in this world needed some special objects to support the process. It was also mentioned that before reaching the Wizard level, there were three different stages.
The stages were labeled using simple numbers: stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3. According to the book, the Wizardry practices were all about accuracy even when the targets could only be vaguely explained. All wizards were great scholars and their accuracy in evaluation could help them determine the stage they were at. Wizards were serious on their research endeavors that they would attempt to make everything proper and stable, including the book Angele had.
The author listed possible encounters during each stage and possible misunderstandings that might happen in the information on the book. Also, it had even a list of the possible reactions of people of differing mental states after reading the book. Every word in the book was helpful, not a single space was wasted. Angele spent about half an hour storing all the information on the chip in order for it to help him focus on the information he needed.
‘Analyze and find the information I need.’ Angele ordered as Zero started working on it right away.
’92.15% of unnecessary information was removed. Start transferring the rest?’ Zero asked.
‘Yes,’ Angele thought. He sat in front of the desk and closed his eyes. His temples were slowly throbbing like a beating heart; it looked very strange. The words on the book started evanescing like an ink dropped into a vast expanse of clean water. It continued to evanesce on the paper until nothing was left. It took about 10 seconds to wipe out everything on the book. Lines of words started appearing on the pages again. Everything was written in Anmag language, and the content had been changed into the biography of the scholar named Buckwill.
‘So this is meditation. I can sense special elements in nature and I can approach them myself. Those special elements could bring people different sensations. People who could feel them and even lead them must be gifted. The number of elements they could feel and the speed of being able to adapt to them determined how gifted people were. That was…’ Angele opened his eyes after a while and thought. He shook his head from being unable to find a proper word to describe it. However, he obtained the method of meditation, a chance he had to grasp.
Angele found the part pertaining as to how to start basic meditation. It said that there was one necessary supporting medicine called Dead Soul Grass. This plant grew upon graves and was something too difficult to find. It looked like a four-leaf clover, but it had a black color instead of green. Angele needed the leaves of the grass and put one into his mouth before initiating the meditation. Without the leaves, one couldn’t sense the special elements even if it were the most gifted ones.
“The Dead Soul Grass?” Angele muttered. He closed the book and began thinking.
The book was now useless to Angele, so he placed it back inside the bag. Without the grass, he wouldn’t be able to start the meditation. It seemed that there wasn’t much that he could do for now. Angele checked the time; it was already 3 o’clock in the morning. He never thought that it was already this late, so he took the black bag he got earlier from the bed. It was from his father, and there was a letter. Angele opened it and saw that it was pretty much about the recent situation of his family.
During the past half-year, the baron had bought a small manor outside the city with the assistance of Maria. However, he wasn’t a ‘baron’ anymore due to the situation in Rudin Empire. His territory was gone, and there was no more income being generated there. The baron had funded a mercenary corporation with the guards that he had brought here. They took orders from the mercenary guild, harbor guild, and the governor’s office. They were actually doing well and were even famous among the mercenary groups. The baron still had the skills of a mid-level knight. As a knight, he would be welcomed in any lord’s territory and get a decent amount of territory. The baron was at the mid-level and could easily help post knights to obtain Life Energy Seeds. More post knights meant greater strength for a territory, so all the lords would appreciate that.
However, when a knight helped others get Life Energy Seeds, he would lose a small amount of stamina himself. The children would get higher base stamina if the one helping them was at a higher level. It was possible for the post knights to have similar attributes as a real knight, so the lords wanted as many knights as possible in their territories. The baron’s pride didn’t allow him to serve others, so he decided not to join under anyone’s wing. Instead, he had funded a mercenary corporation to take orders such that he even made a decent amount of money with it. It was nearly the same to the income he had been earning back in the castle. The baron had mentioned the recent changes in the manor and also the new mission he had gotten. He would be escorting an influential character to the Anser Plain along with more than ten other mercenary groups. Only one of the groups was weaker than the baron’s, while the rest was as strong as they were. The baron said they might encounter mounted bandits from Saladin Empire during this mission, so the governor was paying them with a considerable amount.
The situations of Maggie and Celia were also mentioned in the letter. It was said that Celia was showing her talent in music, so the baron sent her to a good teacher to learn. There was nothing wrong with learning more anyway. However, Maggie showed absolutely no talent in the different fields that she had tried. If it were not for her having an intimate relationship with Angele, the baron would’ve just treated her like a normal worker. The only reason why she was living a decent life was due to Angele.
The rest of the letter was just greetings from his aunt and uncle. As he reached the end, written on the last line was: ‘To my dearest son, Angele. 1541. 12. 11. 2 am’. The letter had been written last night. After Angele finished reading it, he returned it inside his pouch. He thought of how time quickly flew past by. It had now been three years since he reincarnated into this body. Angele opened the black bag and saw some daily necessities, some white blankets, some papers, new ink bottles, pens, and also a dagger with a brown leather sheath. With a small black diamond-like gem embedded into the handle, it looked strangely beautiful.
Angele didn’t spend too much money, so he still had more than 800 gold coins. He became renowned in the school due to his close relationship with Master Adolf such that it caused many students to pay for his tutoring services in Language. He charged students about 100 gold coins each time, which was enough for him to pay for the classes. He spent most of his money on other objects, such as strange trinkets from the market. The crystal clock on his desk was one of the strange trinkets he had bought. Marua Harbor was, after all, the largest harbor by the country’s border, so countless merchants parked their ships here. They brought various goods to the city that you could buy anything you want, even slaves. As long as you had enough money, that is.
Angele played with the dagger that was a trophy the baron received from a mission for a while. He sent it to Angele as a birthday gift. Angele sometimes returned to the manor to meet with his father and some other people, but he only stayed for a brief duration. Most of his time was spent in the school and in Adolf’s residence. He studied in school and practiced his skills whenever he had a spare time. Life there was definitely not fun, but at least, he didn’t waste any time.
His attributes didn’t increase during the half-year that had passed, everything staying the same. Angele still was a mid-level knight. He would’ve been weaker if he didn’t have all the strong sword skills. His skill in archery had also improved a lot, gaining the capability of simultaneously firing two arrows without losing accuracy. At school, most of the students weren’t interested in fighting skills such as archery and horse riding. They only used those skills to show off during classes. No one would even practice after. The training ground was always nearly empty, and only the poor students sometimes trained there. Though, most of their time was spent on working, so they could pay for the fees in school. Barely anyone was like Angele, who went to the training ground every single day to train his fighting skills using the free weapons the school provided. After the countless of times Angele trained, he improved his sword skills again. Even his skill in archery was getting better as well.
Angele put back everything and went to wash his face and brush his teeth. He put out the oil lamp and lied down on his bed. According to the information on the book, the Dead Soul Grass was considerably rare and would only grow in a graveyard with a lot of graves. Angele was thinking of the things needed to be done tomorrow as he slowly fell into slumber shortly after.