Angele threw the crystal orb in the air.
The orb floated above him and released several rays of white light that created a white screen in the front.
The image became distorted for a second and slowly displayed the scene.
In a dark forest, white mist was expanding in the air and the shadows under the trees were silent but horrifying.
One of the shadows suddenly flashed for a second and stood up, turning into a black, human-shaped living being.
*Ka*
The black robe covering the man turned into a cloak and dropped to the ground.
It was an old woman with wrinkles all over her face. One of her eyes was replaced by a bronze pocket watch. Her face, neck, and hands were connected by countless strings. She looked like a dead body that was brought back to life.
"Long time no see, Angele."
"It has been a while, master Liliana." Although it was just a recorded message, Angele still responded to her. He never expected for a letter to come from master Liliana.
Liliana stopped for a second and continued.
"I have learned that you’re now a member of the Six Ring High Tower from one of my students. To be honest, I didn’t have high expectations for you. However, you’re now one of the strongest students I have.
"I spent years recovering from my injury. Within that span of time, my students have helped me create an organization called the Night’s Hand. We’re now part of the underground world, and I’m no longer associated with Ramsoda. I have a favor to ask. I want you to help the members of Night’s Hand in Nola if possible. I’ll send you rare resources from the underground world. I’m certain you’ll need them."
Liliana stored the address of the Night’s Hand in the orb using a special encryption and she also told Angele how to enter the underground world.
The light from the crystal orb slowly faded away and the orb started dropping.
Angele caught the orb before it hit the ground and he noticed that the black rune inside was breaking.
After about ten seconds, the black rune completely disappeared.
He held the crystal orb in his hand and started thinking.
It seemed that master Liliana was somewhat related to the underground world. However, the unique resources of the underground world were extremely hard for him to get under normal circumstances. If Angele managed to fulfill her request, he could earn a lot of money by selling those materials in the black market.
Angele had already acquired the basic knowledge for body modification but there were several things that needed to be prepared first.
He had also successfully modified two relatively helpful spells in order to aid him during possible fights. One or two strong spells would be much more useful than five weak spells.
If he wanted to keep progressing to the next stage, he would have to start modifying his body. Increasing the attributes and resistances was required before Angele could advance to the Crystal stage. His body must be able to handle the extra mentality brought by the Crystal stage and he needed to do many calculations before trying to increase his mentality level.
The major difference between a Liquid stage wizard and a Crystal stage wizard was the mentality level. The spell power would increase as the mentality level increased. However, Crystal stage wizards harnessed higher rank spells.
Most of the Crystal stage wizards were strong because they lived much longer than the average wizards. They had many practical experiences and possessed many high-level enchanted items or even magic devices. Crystal stage dark wizards could cast level 2 damage spells and the power was incredible.
It was nearly impossible for any rank 1 wizard to kill a Crystal stage wizard using just one or two spells even if it was a sneak attack. And if the Crystal stage wizard survived the initial attack
, he would fight back using the unpredictable level two spells.
Angele knew that a small difference between mentality level would not affect the outcome of a battle. Rather, it was the high-level spell that the high-rank wizards could cast.
Angele needed to figure out how high his attributes and mentality should be before making any attempt to advance to the Crystal stage.
"I don’t really need the resources from the underground world at the moment, so I’ll leave that aside…But my mentality is not increasing at all using the current technique. Do I have to rely on rare items and potions?" Angele muttered.
He never switched the meditation technique after becoming a formal wizard. Angele checked with other wizards before, but it seemed that they all stuck with what they were using when they were still apprentices. Most of them were relying on low-level potions or rare enchanted items to speed up the mentality increasing process during meditation. However, they failed to find the required rare resources after reaching the Gas stage and they just stopped progressing.
The higher a wizard’s rank was, the more expensive resources he would need.
Angele found that ideology a bit unreasonable.
He was certain that there must be another way for wizards to increase their mentality as he had read from the books that there were advanced meditation techniques for wizards.
Angele thought for a while, then he changed into a long white robe.
He opened the door and stepped into the living room.
A glass of warm milk was prepared for him on the table beside the sofa.
Angele walked to the sofa and was about to have some milk but suddenly a white light flashed upon the back of his right hand. It was coming from a communication rune that looked like a flower.
"Green, I have a great news for you." Ander’s voice was transmitted to his ears.
Angele modified his communication rune so it would display the message right after receiving.
Majority of wizards only check their messages once a day so that they would not be disturbed while doing research.
"What’s the good news?" He sat down and responded right away.
"Our organization is sending wizards to the headquarters next year. I put your name up for the recommendation."
"The headquarters?" Angele was surprised. "Where is it?"
"Somewhere far from here. I’m sure you’ve never been there. The divisions need to send high-quality magic stones and many other rare resources to the headquarters each year and only 30 people will be selected this time. I have one recommendation slot. I thought of you right away," Ander was speaking in a strange tone.
"I appreciate it…a lot." Angele knew that if he was sent to the headquarters, Ander would be freed from doing tasks for him. And although the relationship of the two had improved recently, Ander still wanted to make sure Angele did not spread any rumor in Nola.
"One more thing, Green, don’t you think that normal mediation techniques are no longer effective to us?" Ander asked this question that Angele was similarly thinking about just several minutes ago.
"Do you why there are so many wizards researching on ancient bloodline in the west coast? We want to find out how the ancient wizards were not affected by the bottleneck. The ancient wizards with ancient bloodline in their bodies could progress without worrying about limitations."
"What does it have to do with the headquarters?" Angele wondered.
"There are several high-rank wizards on the west coast. However, the secrets of the ancient wizards became history and rank 2 wizards are almost considered the top brass right now. Most importantly, the rumor says that the method to activate the World Stone is stored somewhere in Omandis, the center of this land, and the headquarters of Six Ring High Tower is located there. You’ll find rank 2, rank 3, rank 4, and even rank 5 wizards in that area. Although they’re weaker than the ancient wizards that were at the same rank, they’re still much stronger than those wizards in the divisions.
"We can only build resource points by ourselves but at the headquarters, they can simply gather those rare resources in the area. The quality and quantity of the resources are much higher than what we have here. The headquarters also has advanced meditation techniques, so the wizards there are not progressing just simply by using rare resources. The wizards sent to the headquarters by the divisions will have access to those privileges. The only problem is the high mountains between the east and the west. The magical beasts, mutated creatures, and natural disasters are stopping people from crossing the line, so the only way to get there is to use the flying mounts. If you want to speed up your progress, accepting the offer is your best choice." Ander gave a long explanation. Clearly enough, he really wanted to send Angele to the headquarters.
Angele himself had never expected such a great opportunity to come to him. He remained silent and started thinking.
Ander waited for his response patiently.
Angele sighed after thinking for a long time.
"I still need some time."
"For sure, just reply to me by January." Ander chuckled and cut the connection. He knew that Angele had the intention to accept the offer.
It was a great opportunity for Angele if it was true. Angele hesitated because he wanted to dig deeper into this since old man Ander never mentioned any disadvantages of being sent to the headquarters.