Angele glanced around. "It seems you are fine with my plan. Let’s wait for those who have already entered the garden to come out and ask them a few questions first. What do you think?"
"I’m fine with that. We also need to set up barriers and patrols around the mountain so that no more strangers will come here and demand a portion of the treasure from us." Unos pursed his lips and looked at Angele.
Angele gently smiled, not even bothered by everyone else’s thoughts regarding his proposal.
However, Lyn was unhappy with what Unos said.
"Master, if we must fight for the treasure, leave that man called Unos to me. I am going to cut his tongue off…"
"Calm down, Lyn." Angele tapped on Lyn’s right shoulder and stopped her from continuing.
Lyn was a team captain of the Watchers, and Angele liked her more than Liv. Her face was pretty, her body well-toned. She was also powerful, and never questioned Angele’s decisions.
It seemed Lyn had the intention to become his servant.
Angele glanced at the members of the three families.
They must have thought Angele was a member of the Watchers, yet no one knew that he was actually the third elder’s son.
"Good idea. We do not want any strangers here. I agree." Angele raised his voice.
"We agree, too!" The Spender Family’s elder voiced out his agreement as well. To Gill, who was like a drowning man that would clutch at anything to survive, Angele was like a life-saving straw.
The heads of the other two families made eye contact with each other.
"The Philip Family concurs with such plan."
"The Morgan Family will comply as well."
The two other heads voiced out their decision.
"All right, let us send our respective patrols then," Unos advised.
Each of the forces picked several of their respective members to patrol the surrounding area of the mountain.
While the rest of them patiently waited for the gate to open.
Time flew quickly, and it was already late in the afternoon. The sky was becoming dark, and the frigid winds became much stronger than before.
Angele asked his group to build a wooden shelter on the mountaintop.
Several people had done so while the others were preparing for dinner. Liv and Angele had built several stone chairs by themselves, and already sat down and started meditating.
The three families similarly decided to do the same after witnessing Angele’s prior actions.
Unos was still seated in his chair. His group’s position was slightly awkward. Although they were the closest to the gate, there were a lot of boulders scattered around the area they were at.
He sent several of his subordinates to prepare the ingredients for dinner upon realizing the lack of space for them to build their own wooden shelter. After he thought for a while, Unos decided to build a campfire and focus on cooking for now.
Angele never bothered himself with what everyone else thought. At the mountaintop, they had the largest wooden shelter and the cooking ingredients of the highest quality. This made them look as if they were not here for the treasure but here to merely go camping.
He continued to silently stay seated on the stone chair and meditate. As he had already formulated a plan in his mind, there was nothing to worry about.
***************************
Five days later.
The gate to the secret garden still remained closed. The three families, Unos, and Angele himself tried to open it yet none succeeded in such endeavor. Spells, magic circles, and enchanted items—nothing worked.
The mirror-like gate remained tightly shut, so they had to wait for the heirs of the three families to come out.
The three families and Angele built several wooden shelters on a smaller scale during these recent days but on the contrary, Unos still had yet to build one.
The secret garden’s gate finally began to show changes in the afternoon.
The gate’s mirror-like surface turned from achromatic to light purple, immediately catching everyone’s attention.
Angele was sitting in his chair staring at the purple gate curiously.
"It is almost over, I guess. They will leave the garden soon. Stay alert everyone." Angele narrowed his eyes.
"We waited five days for this!" Hakeem laughed. "But before that, we should drive the Blue Eagle Nest out. They are way too close to the gate."
Angele shook his head. "It is fine. According to the information provided by Lance, they must channel a special spell before they could enter through the gate. We can easily interrupt it and once the spell casting is stopped, they will suffer heavy injuries due to the backlash. I don’t think Unos knows about the repercussions."
"They may have a different method of dealing with the gate." Lyn pursed her lips.
"Out of the question. The gate’s structure is complicated. The ancient barrier’s strength is beyond your expectations. You will know once you see it." Angele shook his head slightly. "All right, watch the gate. It will be opened soon!"
"Yes, master!"
The group of Watchers responded all at the same time and walked out of the wooden shelter altogether.
Angele was going through Zero’s report as he continued to gaze at the gate.
The third stage of Molten Core River had already been analyzed. If he could completely master it, he would then advance to becoming a rank 2 wizard.
There were two requirements in the third stage of the advanced meditation technique.
First, he must have a rich source of Fire energy particles that would assist in the building of his second body’s core. The fire source’s magnitude and quality would determine the strength of his second body. Vivian had already taken care of it for him.
Second, he must engrave the complicated magic circle provided by the Molten Core River technique on his mentality crystal and use it to aid in his progress as a wizard.
‘The first requirement is not a problem but the second…’ Angele frowned. ‘The magic circle must be engraved on my mentality crystal, which means I will have to give up one Talent Spell. I wonder how the Watchers solve this issue. Vivian never told me anything about this.’
Lyn, Hakeem, and Liv were wizards who had fully mastered the third stage of Molten Core River, which meant they had also encountered this similar issue. Angele was thinking of finding a plausible solution from them.
He made up his mind, activating a red ‘Z’-shaped communication rune. Within seconds, he had already sent out a message.
A blanket was being used as a door to their wooden shelter. People would not be able to see the situation from outside, but Angele could peek outside through the gaps.
Several minutes later, Lyn pulled the blanket to the side and entered the shelter in a courteous manner.
"Master, you wish to talk to me?"
Angele nodded. "I have a question regarding the third stage of Molten Core River. It is what every member of the Watchers trains in, right?"
"Yes, what question?" Lyn bowed in respect.
"I was checking the book and found one thing that bothers me. It seems I have to engrave the technique’s magic circle on my mentality crystal which means I will have to give up the next Talent Spell, right? I want to know how everyone deals with this issue." Angele had gone straight to the point.
As though Lyn was not surprised at Angele’s rapid progression, she calmly and unconcernedly answered his question, "Actually, it is not only Molten Core River. All advanced meditation techniques will take one of your Talent Spell slots. Don’t worry, though, the magic circle has a special effect that is stronger than the majority of average Talent Spells in terms of offensive and defensive capability. You certainly will not be disappointed."
"Huh?" Angele was flabbergasted. "All advanced meditation techniques will take one Talent Spell slot?" He did not find such a requirement in the Mask of the Black Wing technique.
"Yes." Lyn confidently nodded. "It is something you will have to live with. Advanced meditation techniques aid you in ranking up, and you will have to give up one slot for the Talent Spell. Wait…actually, I have heard that the legendary advanced meditation techniques do not require engraving a magic circle but…"
"Is that so?" Angele’s countenance changed. "But the third stage of Molten Core River only requires you to engrave the magic circle on your mentality crystal, right? Why is it so easy?"
"Easy?!" Lyn stopped speaking for a moment, seemingly confounded. "You will know just how difficult it is once you start trying to engrave it on your mentality crystal. You also need a core rich in Fire energy particles. Cores like that are difficult to find."
"I have heard about that from Liv. Wizards who trained in the Molten Core River technique usually use a Fire Earth Stone as the core of their second body, right?" Angele raised this question.
"That is correct." Lyn nodded. "I can demonstrate it to you now."
"Much appreciated." Angele smiled.
Lyn bowed slightly and took two steps behind.
Standing beside the shelter’s entrance, she started drawing lines in the air.
Lines of glowing red energy particles remained in the air as her finger continued to move.
*CHI*
Several seconds later, a magic circle appeared in front of Lyn, near her feet, and released a ray of crimson light, connecting the lines that had been drawn using energy particles together. It formed a three-dimensional magic circle with crimson runes spinning around it.
Suddenly, all the crimson runes gathered to between Lyn’s hands, like water flowing, and a crimson ball of light was formed in the air.
The ball of light looked like molten lava covered with cracks and golden liquid flowing between the gaps.
When Angele stood up, he could feel the intense heatwaves coming to his face. In fact, some of the leftover pieces of wood around the corner were blown into the air.
These leftover pieces were ignited and burnt into black ash when it fell to the ground.
The heatwaves were still being released at every angle from the lava ball on Lyn’s palms.
"Master, this is the ability you would acquire from the magic circle. All wizards who mastered the third stage gain this ability. The shape, strength, and features of the second bodies might be different but the only way to determine their actual power level is to check how many stages they have already mastered. The power difference between each stage is tremendous."
"Interesting, that should be the reason wizards who train in the Molten Core River technique could easily be recognized…Is the situation similar to other advanced meditation techniques?" Angele continued to ask questions.