The Wizard World

The potions gave Angele a tremendous help when he was still a Wizard apprentice. However, after he became a formal Wizard, only high-level potions would increase his mentality. The Potion of Tranquility and the Awakening Potion were no longer effective. He needed high-level potion formulas and to collect the rare materials required for the concoction of such potions.

He quietly sat at the table for a while, yet he couldn’t figure out a better option as the main problem was the lack of resources.

"So that’s why Wizards spend hundred years looking for ways to advance. The gap between each stage is huge. No wonder they can’t reach the next rank. I must gather an enormous amount of resources for me to gain mentality quickly...but how did the ancient Wizards rank up so easily...What did they learn from the other worlds...?"

Angele muttered.

He was certain that Master Liliana and the old Wizards he had met before all needed an immense number of resources to progress.

Based on the knowledge he had, the increase of mentality required a physical body. That was the reason why converting oneself into energy form would be the last thing a Wizard wanted to do. Once he lost his physical body, it would be impossible for him to progress further, as his mentality would remain at a certain level.

A Wizard’s rank was determined by the level of spells one could cast, and casting high-level spells required a high mentality level. In other words, mentality level could be used in determining a Wizard’s rank.

Angele thought for a while but did not reach any valuable conclusion, so he decided to visit more ruins that were left by the ancient wizards when he had the chance.

The ruin Angele had entered was built thousands of years ago. However, he wanted to explore the ancient ones that were underground or in the dangerous zone of the Gem Sea. If he could manage to find those ancient ruins, it would be possible for him to uncover the secret of the ancient wizards.

He removed the black cloth covering the crystal lamp.

Under the dim light, Angele raised his right arm and a small bump appeared on his shoulder, moving quickly toward the center of his palm. A crack appeared on the surface of his skin, revealing a chain of keys.

Angele held the keys in his hand and tapped them with his left hand.

*CHI*

Light flashed upon the keys surrounded by a white glow.

‘Prepare to test the source of the illusions.’ Angele ordered.

‘Test no. 324, test preparation, ready,’ Zero reported right away.

Angele narrowed his eyes and shook the keys with his right hand.

*CLANK*

The noise made by the key hitting each other echoed in the room.

Intense heat hit his palm as Angele closed his eyes.

He was surrounded by darkness after opening his eyes again.

Angele was still sitting on the same chair at the same location, but he could not see anything in the room.

*ROAR*

He heard beasts roaring from all angles.

Angele stood up quickly. Three silver metal scars appeared on his face and blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes. Those light dots became the only source of light in the room.

He suddenly stepped forward.

*Kata-kata*

Clear footsteps kept echoing in the darkness.

Many red dots of light were spreading to all angles. Angele was in the center of it. They looked like wide-open eyes searching for something specific.

The light dots kept moving around and disappeared into the endless abyss.

*CHI*

Angele’s right arm was suddenly slashed by something. Fresh blood was dripping down his hand.

‘So this is the first stage?’ Angele slowly raised his left hand. The signet in the center of his palm was glowing.

*CHI*

A strange noise appeared from behind.

*KA*

The energy wave from the signet blocked the strike. Angele could feel the intense heat coming from the center of his palm.

One of the light dots extinguished as the attack missed.

*CHI CHI CHI*

The noise sounded like arrows leaving the bow; the beast roar echoed in the space.

Lines of black strings were stabbing Angele quickly, but the energy wave from the signet kept blocking in the incoming projectiles for him.

The number of red dots of light reduced as the time passed.

*PA*

The place became silent again as the last light dot disappeared.

Angele was breathing heavily. Sweat from his forehead was dripping down his chin. Bloody wounds were left on his face and arms. He closed his eyes again after calming down.

He returned to his chair again after reopening his eyes.

The surroundings were still same. However, the table, crystal lamp, bookshelves, and the carpet were decaying slowly, including the wall and the floor.

The objects were aging, almost as if they traveled in time.

The surface of the wooden table was covered in white dust. Its red color turned darker, and some cracks appeared on the edges.

The light from the crystal lamp darkened and slowly extinguished.

The floor, the carpet, and the walls, all lost their color and became rough.

Angele sat on the chair with a blank expression on the face.

"Stage two..." He raised his right hand.

The silver glint on his skin disappeared slowly. Wrinkles climbed up the back of his hand with dots of dark age spots.

"I shall not fail this time!" Angele’s expression turned serious.

He slowly stood up, raising the left hand in the air, and slightly waved.

"Hades! Mophillia!" Angele shouted.

A dark light ball was released from the illusion signet and strange noises echoed in the whole room.

The light ball was expanding; something was about to rip it open from the inside.

Time passed; wrinkles showed up on Angele’s face as well. His appearance changed from a young man to a dying man within minutes, but he was still channeling the spell with his left arm raised in the air.

*CHI*

The dark light ball was finally ripped open from the middle.

An enormous creature slowly moved out of the dark glow.

The creature had the body of a female human, the wings of an eagle, and a long snake tail.

The creature’s body was covered in metallic black scales and the noise made by her tongue sounded just like a snake. Her seven-meter-long body twisted around Angele slowly. It almost felt like the creature had bones.

Angele rubbed the great harpy’s head carefully and the life energy power returned into his body. The wrinkles disappeared within seconds.

The golden eyes of the creature narrowed slightly. Her long snake tail formed a circle around Angele and trapped him in the center.

The great harpy had a beautiful face. Her skin had a dark metallic color, giving off the impression that she was covered in armor. Instead of hair, Angele saw black twisting tentacles over her head. Under the black eagle wings, he did not see any arms, and the feathers were coated with dark energy particles.

*CHI*

The harpy was excitedly moving around Angele, trying to please him like she was a pet.

Angele raised left arm and the creature’s body started shrinking. She transformed into a strange snake that was about one meter long and twisted around Angele’s left arm, her tail still wiggling.

"Finally...I succeeded..." A relieved smile slowly appeared on Angele’s face.

He left the table, walked to the window, and carefully pushed it open.

The same forest and the same lake, but it was already late afternoon; everything looked golden under the setting sun.

The world outside the window was deadly silent.

"This, is the illusion world the keys led me to? Or...the great harpy’s bloodline opened it for me?" Angele muttered.

"Tell me, where is this place?" He turned his head to the harpy on the arm.

"Ha...Night...mare..." The harpy’s voice was hard to hear.

"The Nightmare Realm?" Angele was surprised. He just realized that he was probably walking on the same path the ancient wizards walked on.

Recently, Angele kept testing the evolved illusion signet and the keys. Zero tested the chip from inside the keys and slowly developed a method to strengthen the signet. Although he had not yet understood the principles, the method still worked.

He thought the illusions were from the strengthened signet, but it seemed like...

"The great harpy has the ability to communicate with the Nightmare Realm...so I’m considered as the inheritor of the harpy’s bloodline..." Angele quickly connected everything together and found a plausible explanation.

Legends spoke that great harpy could pull creatures into the illusion world, but no one knew that the illusion world was the Nightmare Realm.

There were no rules in the mysterious Nightmare Realm. It was one of the ancient worlds discovered by the ancient wizards.

The creatures from the Nightmare Realm still had many bloodlines left in this world.

The records in the book were true.

Angele slowly rubbed the harpy’s body. Flows of information were transferred into his mind and the information explained the connection between the Nightmare Realm and this world. It was the hidden treasure in the great harpy’s bloodline.

"I need to go back first. I need to collect more information about this world before proceeding." Angele barely had any intel on this realm. He could imagine how cautious the ancient wizards were when they entered an unknown world for the first time. The natural laws of different worlds varied. It was possible that his spell had a different effect here. Angele was not sure if he could protect himself from the attack of strange creatures.

Angele raised his left hand and pushed forward.

*BAM*

A circle of a translucent wave was released from the center of his palm.

His sight blurred for a second and finally returned to his real house.

"The Nightmare Realm..." A clean smooth metal mirror suddenly appeared in front of him.

The reflection of his face looked unfamiliar. His blue eyes turned golden, which was the color of the great harpy’s eyes.

"Amazing..." Angele looked at the signet on his palm. The color of the signet had darkened, like a distorted crack that led to the unknown abyss.