The Wizard World

"KAKAKA..." The two Hundred-Eyed Monsters roared with their high-pitched voices and were clapping their hands in a certain rhythm.

Angele was retreating slowly. He carefully put his hand into his pouch and grabbed the bomb made from Glowing Elephant’s heart. The surface of the heart was coated with a light green glow.

He stared at the monsters in front of him as he took out the heart.

"I didn’t want to use it," Angele spoke in a low voice, "Alright, come on. I know you understand my words."

The monster on the left leaned its body to the left. All the red eyes on its palms blinked once, staring at the heart in Angele’s hand.

"A bomb made from the heart of Glowing Elephant? We underestimated your power." A high-pitched voice came from its body that was covered with arms.

"Why bother talking to him, Mermura? He’s just an apprentice," the other monster interjected.

Angele chuckled, "Try me, this bomb was hard to make. I was lucky enough to successfully make it on the first try."

Angele raised the bomb above his chest with his left hand. He was holding the bomb and the sword with the same hand, as though he could detonate it any time he wanted.

The monsters remained silent after hearing what Angele just said. The three just stood in the middle of the forest as they kept staring at each other.

After several minutes.

"Fine, you can leave," the Hundred-Eyed Monster on the left finally spoke again.

"I won’t cover your ass if the elders ask about this, Mermura!" the other Hundred-Eyed Monster shouted before it turned around and began to leave. Its bull-sized body quickly disappeared into the bushes.

The monster named Mermura looked at Angele. "Tell me your name. It is the first time I’m failing my hunting mission," it spoke in a light tone.

Angele smiled, "If..."

*BOOM*

A white boulder suddenly flew out of the bushes, stopping Angele from speaking further.

His expression changed. He wanted to dodge the stone by stepping back, but he saw another boulder thrown by Mermura coming at him. Those stones were about one meter tall, which eliminated Angele’s escaping path.

Dark shadows covered Angele’s body.

*BAM*

Green flames exploded around him. Two boulders broke into pieces due to the explosion and turned into a large pile of ash after several seconds.

The green flames were spreading around as a circle. Rays of green light were howling across the forest. Everything at the place turned green under the light.

"Oh! God!" The other monster hid behind the tree. His eyes on the palms were staring at the explosions.

The furious green flames blew straight to the sky, and the green light rays cast a reflection upon the clouds. Most of the trees around Angele were burning.

*Crack*

A large tree broke in half and smashed to the ground. It became the fuel of the fire. The heavy smoke blurred Angele’s sight.

"Mermura... Mermura died? Unbelievable..." Someone mumbled, "How strong was that bomb?!"

Angele heard people’s voices coming from the burning woods. The surviving monster took one final look at the flames before it jumped into the bushes and disappeared.

*********************

Angele hid behind a tree, still thinking about what just happened.

He saw two boulders flying toward him and noticed that he had nowhere to hide, so he decided to throw the bomb directly at Mermura. Angele did not expect the power of the explosion to be so strong. He was pushed thrown away a distance away from the explosion radius by the flying boulder thrown by Mermura before it disintegrated in the flames.

"Ugh!" Angele spat out some blood onto the grass. He put his left hand on his chest.

"Thank god the stone blocked the flames for me. Otherwise, I’d be dead already. The power of the explosion was incredible! Zero, check my body condition."

‘Two broken ribs. Right arm broken. Internal bleeding. Immediate treatment is a must,’ Zero reported within seconds.

Angele heard people who must’ve seen the explosion walking toward him. He struggled for a while and made sure that the other Hundred-Eyed Monster was gone.

He then quickly ran toward the edge of the burning area.

"It was still here, great!" He picked the broken arm from the monster and made sure it was not burnt before he ran toward the other side of the forest.

****************

After Angele escaped the fire, he started advancing once again but with greater caution. He tried not to alert any living creatures detected by Zero. He finally arrived at the outer area of Ramsoda College on the second day.

"Finally, I’m back!" It was already afternoon. Angele walked out of the forest and surveyed the yellow ruin. The sunlight was a bit too strong for him, so he covered his eyes with his left hand.

There was a black crow hovering above the dusty ruin. It was Master Moroco.

Angele did not stop. With a flick of his finger, his gray robe was coated with a red glow, and the dirt was cleaned right away. He arranged his messy hair a bit, his right arm already temporarily fixed in place with a piece of modified plank.

After everything was done, he started walking toward the ruin. Moroco looked at him for a second. It knew Angele was a Wizard apprentice of the school, so it did not descend to check.

Angele bowed to the sky and ran to the entrance of the school.

He performed the gestures, which opened the door to the underground tunnel, and went straight back to his dorm. Angele met several other Wizard apprentices on the way, but he had no time to greet them.

*BAM*

The door of his room was slammed shut. The hallway was still quiet. No one had cleaned the dust off the floor. Only Angele’s footprints could be seen on the floor. It was obvious that others had not yet returned.

Angele pointed at the door after entering his room. Light green smoke came out of the tip of his finger, which stuck to the door immediately. He then pointed at the oil lamp on the desk and sent several specks of red light into the lamp.

*CHI*

The oil lamp was lit, causing it to brighten the room.

Angele walked toward the desk and removed the random items from it. He quickly took out the tubes that contained Water of Asu, the formula scroll, the arm of the Hundred-Eyed Monster and laid them down on the desk. The book containing the spell model of Twisted Barrier had already been burnt by Angele after he stored everything in the chip.

"I must not carry these around in the school. There are Wizard apprentices missing every year due to unknown reasons. I need to be as cautious as possible." Angele mumbled as he quickly put everything on the desk into a bag beside one tube of Water of Asu.

This small tube was shining under the light. The liquid inside almost looked like dust particles glowing with a golden hue.

Angele grabbed the tube before he shook it several times and rubbed its surface.

Red light slowly rose upon his palm, which climbed up the tube. A row of tiny twisted runes appeared on the translucent crystal surface.

"The incantation is..." Angele checked the runes carefully.

"The eternal soul shall return to the motherland!" he read the sentence in a whisper.

The stopper of the tube started rotating as Angele finished the incantation. He could hear it moving and the stopper broke into six silver spider-leg-shaped pedals right away.

It almost looked like a silver flower blooming at the top of the tube.

Angele narrowed his eyes, looking intently at the six sharp petals as he poured some Water of Asu onto his palm.

"Close," Angele said in a light tone.

The petals slowly returned to its original shape, reforming into a stopper.

‘Zero, simulate my success rate of breaking the limit, and analyze the Water of Asu.’

‘Analyzing... Simulation started. Time required, 11 hours and 32 minutes,’ Zero reported in its mechanical voice.

Angele returned the tube into his pouch and watched his skin absorb the golden liquid. He then stood up and sat on his bed with his legs crossed.

He had not sat on the bed for a while, as the sheet was still a bit cold and wet. He sat there without the blanket and closed his eyes. Angele started meditating, trying to absorb the life energy particles in the air to help him recover.

Time flew by. The room was getting darker and darker. It seemed that there was not much oil left in the lamp, which was finally consumed = from the last drop of the oil after a while.

The room sank into the darkness.

‘Simulation completed. The success rate is 17% to 33% with the help of two servings of Water of Asu and the defensive spell model.’

Zero’s voice suddenly echoed in Angele’s mind, causing the latter to be woken up by it. He slowly opened his eyes, and the green light dots around him disappeared.

‘What if I acquire one more serving of Water of Asu? Calculate the success rate again.’

‘Calculating... The success rate will be 47% to 59%.’

‘Add Nightmare Potion on top of that?’ Angele kept questioning

‘Potion effect unknown. Creating model... Analyzing... Possible increment in the success rate, 6% to 9%.’

Angele stopped asking. After several seconds, he had a smile on his face.

****************************

*Clap Clap*

A group of people in black robes were standing in a room with yellow walls. All had glasses of wine in their hands.

They were all looking at an old woman in a black robe and a young man with brown hair in the middle of the room.

The young man looked a bit shy while being stared at by so many people. He raised his glass above his head, "Thanks for coming everyone. As a new disciple of my master, I hope you could lend me a hand when I need help in the future. Thanks again and cheers!"

"Cheers." People raised their glasses together.

The old woman’s skin was covered with patches, almost as if her entire body was sewn up. She finished her wine in one sip, and put down the glass.