*BAM*
Bright lightning flashed outside the window followed by the rumbling thunder.
The light illuminated Angele’s face.
He sat near the table beside the window, focusing on the notes he was writing down.
A black slim neck vase was standing on the table quietly. Its ceramic surface was clean and smooth. On top of the vase, there was a fist-sized glowing crystal that brought light to the room.
The light from the crystal was gentle and bright.
*BAM*
The thunder shook the ground again.
Angele put down his notebook on the table, stood up, and walked to the window.
It was noon. He had stayed in the house for about ten days and discovered that a storm would strike the area every three days. The weather here was quite queer.
Angele kept studying the spells he learned recently and once again he was certain that his mentality would not increase just by meditating every day.
He also did not see any people selling advanced meditation techniques, as those techniques could only be acquired through joining powerful schools. Without needed resources, it was extremely hard for wizards to progress.
Modifying spell models was a long-term task; he needed to spend years on the project. Angele had learned many spells over the years. He purchased dozens of low-level spells when he was in Ramsoda, and his goal was to complete the modification for all of them.
Angele thought for a while and sighed with complicated feelings.
Through the window, he could see the branches dancing in the wind. The screen created by the downfall was hitting the surface of the lake. The water in the lake looked muddy after the soil on the side was brushed down by the storm.
He saw two pedestrians passing by the further side of the forest. The only path around his house lay there. The two people were wearing long raincoats walking fast in the heavy rain.
Angele turned around and looked around. He was in the study. Two tall bookshelves were filled up with books, random notes and data sheets covered the table along with several small glass bottles with spell materials.
In the corner of the room, there was a black statue of a flying eagle standing in the corner. The eyes of the eagle were two glowing amethysts.
In the center of the white wool carpet, there was a dark Calatrava cross surrounded by a circle.
It was a beautiful house but the place was empty.
Angele glanced around knowing that he was the only person in the room. Raindrops were still hitting his roof and windows furiously.
Loneliness filled up his mind again.
"Well…" Angele sighed slowly, then checked the time. "It’s about time."
The study was on the second floor. Through the window, Angele saw blue steam rising from outside the fences and a tiny white pigeon appear in the intense steam.
He opened the window. The white pigeon slowly landed on the windowsill and shook the water off its feathers.
"Master Green, your transactions at the trading tower have new responses." The pigeon’s high-pitched voice echoed in the room, sounding like a young girl.
"Thanks, got it." Angele grabbed some black beans from his pouch and threw them on the windowsill.
The pigeon lowered its head and quickly finished all the beans.
"Also, master Green, please be careful with your belongings. We have multiple reports of wizards’ houses getting robbed when they were out. Many rare materials were lost. I think it’s a good idea to hire some guards or followers. Do you need any recommendations?" The pigeon raised its head after finishing the food.
"Thefts?" Angele was surprised. "Who’s doing this? Why are they targeting wizards?"
"It’s quite common here, you know, some races are gifted with such skills. If they become wizards, they’ll get even better," the pigeon said sarcastically.
"So
, who are you recommending then? I do need to build some small guarding posts around the house." Angele would be staying in this area for a while. Nola was safe and rich and also a great place to collect knowledge and rare resources.
"What type of guards do you need?" Pigeons like this were trained by Ivan’s family members. They were great at delivering messages from a long distance.
"Give me 3 Knights and 3 Wizard apprentices. That’ll be better. Apprentices can check the unknown energy waves and Knights can help with daily issues…" Angele nodded.
"Sure, I’ll send you a list of those who are available. The guard posts will be built soon for you too." The pigeon slight shook its wings.
"Now, if you’ll excuse me." The pigeon turned around and flew into the air. It became a ball of blue steam and vanished into the rain quickly.
Angele closed the window. With a flick of his fingers, the carpet and windowsill were dried up within seconds by the Fire energy particles.
He then covered the crystal lamp with a piece of black cloth. Angele pushed the door open, walked down the stairs, and put on his rain cloak.
He left the garden through the fence gate.
The rain hit his gray cloak hard. The howling wind was brushing on his face.
Angele put on his hood, lowered his head, and walked toward the trading tower along the narrow path.
Visibility was low in the heavy rain. He could barely see the road several meters ahead.
After about 20 minutes, the trading tower Angele visited before appeared in his sight.
Only five people were using the tower in the rain. Two white robes were chatting by a carriage.
Also, several white robes and green robes stood by the path. It seemed like they were waiting for their trading partners.
Angele glanced around. His sight fell upon a green robe with a blank expression on his face. The man had a scorpion-shaped scar on his forehead and an eye patch covering his right eye.
He noticed Angele’s presence and stepped forward after checking Angele’s appearance.
"Gray worm?" he questioned in Anmag with a low voice.
"Wisp?" Angele responded.
The green robe pursed his lips and shook his head, thinking that he should have given Angele a better codename.
"Well, let’s find a quiet place." He sent Angele a message using the energy particles.
Angele nodded, turned around, and led the man to the shadow of a large tree.
They stood under the shadow and stared at each other.
The one-eyed man took out a fist-sized translucent orb from a pouch.
"Let’s do the trade then."
Angele nodded his head and the man tapped the surface of the orb with the index finger.
A ray of flame came out of the orb and stopped in front of Angele. It floated in the air, slowly solidified, and turned into a crystallized strange rune.
The rune looked like a red ruby with a dot in the middle that slowly rotated in the middle of the air. The rain was dropping through it. Obviously, it was created with pure energy.
"You can read some to check the book." The man looked at Angele.
Angele nodded and pointed at the red glowing rune.
*CHI*
The rune turned into a red cloud. Information was being transferred into Angele’s brain directly.
After several seconds, Angele lowered his finger, and the red cloud returned into the orb.
"Great, that’s the information I needed." He only had a peek at what was inside the book, but he had already gained some helpful information about the whole enchantment system. Also, he was certain that he made the right choice.
"Shall we start then?" The man lowered his voice and let the orb float in the air. He pressed his hands against the orb and closed his eyes.
Angele raised his hands and put them on the orb with his eyes closed as well.
The orb floated in the air. Green and red glows appeared inside. Each of the colors controlled half of the orb.
After about ten seconds, the two moved their hands away from the orb at the same time.
They remained silent for a while.
The man in green robe suddenly raised his head. "I’ll assume the formula you gave is legit."
"Well, there’s no point in me giving you a fake one. Also, I hope you didn’t remove any chapter in the book." Angele stared at the man.
"I’ll never do that. I’ve been selling books like that for years and never had any complaints. If you find something that doesn’t seem right, you can come find me, I’ll do my best to make sure the book you get is proper," The man shook his head and explained.
"Good then." Blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes. Zero had already checked the content of the book and reported that there was a 90% of chance that the book was real.
"Alright, let’s exchange our communication runes then. If there’s a problem, we’ll be able to talk to each other." The man drew and flower shaped rune in the air as he spoke.
Angele drew his black rune in the air and the rune from the man sank into his hand.
"Great. See you then." The man turned around and walked away quickly.
Angele watched the man disappear into the rain. He then pulled up his collar and started heading back.
Trading like this was usually not protected by any organization. It took time to test the materials or the knowledge people got and that increased the risk of trading with strangers.
However, the Six Ring High Tower would record each of the tradings conducted using the trading tower. People needed to leave their unique communication runes in the system and if anything happened, the organization would track down the one who provided fake items. Even if he escaped, his family would have to take the responsibility.
The wooden token Isabel had given had a similar function. If Angele did anything wrong during the trade and ran away, Isabel’s family would be deemed responsible for his behavior.
Angele started checking the enchantment knowledge he just acquired after returning to the house.
He finished the lunch brought by the Wizard apprentice and studied until the sun started setting.
Angele sat in the reading room alone, the rain outside already stopped.
"Several important points were missing but the basics are there." Angele felt relieved, the first trade he did was successful.
‘Zero, how’s my body condition? Is my mentality still increasing?’
‘Checking…’
‘Angele Rio. Strength 3.6. Agility 5.3. Stamina 6.2. Mentality 23.4. Mana 22.7. Genetic limit reached. Healthy.’
‘How’s the illusion signet?’ Angele questioned.
‘The great harpy’s bloodline is affecting your body…Your resistance to illusions has increased.’
Angele felt disappointed, as his attributes were not increasing. He had no idea how long he needed to increase the mentality to 40, but the potion formulas that would help increase mentality was expensive and hard to find, even in an area with rich resources like Nola.