Chapter 54: The Cost (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
In one minute, the strange flower that had the height of an average human blossomed. Angele was surprised by this scene. To him, it was really impressive. The wizard apprentices in the classroom started clapping, and Master Angelina waved her hand again. The light dot in the flower flew into the air, causing the plant below to wilt and die within a second. The whole thing fell apart and became a pile of black ash.
“This spell is for increasing the growth rate of the plant to its maximum. It’s actually a botanical spell that consumes negative energy. If anyone is interested, you can come and purchase the basic spell model from me. Of course, only I have the right to sell the spell model. If I find anyone trying to sell it privately, I will hang him,” Angele said in a serious tone.
Angele became nervous for a second. He planned on trading his knowledge about Necromancy for resources, but he didn’t know about the ‘copyright’ issue beforehand. Thus, he had to abort his plan.
“Well, I’ll just do my thing then. Meditating and earning magic stones are the top two priorities now,” Angele said before shaking his head.
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Half a year later...
Above the Ramsoda College.
In the morning, a group of people in gray robes were slowly advancing along a path in the large forest. They had various weapons on them such as swords and bows, while some had short, black wooden wands in their hands. There were black cross insignias on the back of their robes — the insignia of Ramsoda College. One of them carried a white, wooden longbow on his back and a silver crossguard sword tied to his waist. It was Angele, who didn’t look attractive with his short brown hair. He was surveying his surroundings consistently just like what other wizard apprentices in the group did.
“Green, don’t be so nervous. At least we’re still in Ramsoda’s territory, and people don’t have the guts to invade us. They’ll try to avoid us,” a black-haired man said. He was about 20 years old and had a pair of green eyes.
“Last time I went on patrol, I got sneak attacked, and don’t call me Green. I don’t like it,” Angele said as he smiled. Half a year ago, he joined the patrol squad, which had a monthly wage of one magic stone. He also tried to become familiar with the neighboring areas.
Ramsoda College was located at a wasteland. There were barely any people around such that only numerous dangerous beasts inhabited the place. Even if people were strong enough, they would be randomly assaulted by a swarm of flies. That was the reason why there weren’t many people living here, even those adventurous people. The patrol squad’s mission was to prevent those dangerous animals from breaching the school perimeter. Though this didn’t pay very well, Angele could witness real wizards and high stage wizard apprentices fight, even obtaining some experiences.
“Alert! Human-eating Lizards!” one of the men at the front yelled.
“Alert! Watch out for weakness-focused attacks. Masha, get in defensive position.” The black-haired man who was the leader started giving out orders with a serious expression on his face.
“Green, use your bow. Andrew, assist Masha in defense. Get in your positions and watch out. Don’t waste our antidotes,” he continued yelling. The five got into formation and a huge lizard emerged from the bush in front of them. This lizard had a green skin that made it easily possible to camouflage. It was looking at the five with its brown eyes.
“Only one. Take it out quickly.” The black-haired man looked relieved.
“Narus!” He cast a spell as he invoked the incantation, and dark light covered his body. He drew his short sword and rushed toward the lizard, stabbing his sword right at its head. Another wizard apprentice cast a spell to enhance the power of Angele’s arrows, making the arrowheads shine with a strange dark light. The arrow flew out at a breakneck speed as Angele shot it right toward the lizard’s right eye.
The sword and the arrow struck its head simultaneously, creating a huge hole in the middle of its head and the arrow piercing its eye. The lizard’s green blood started flowing to the ground; its wound started to rot quickly. A red laser came out of the short sword, killing the lizard right after. The black-haired man stepped back and reassembled with the team.
“Another lizard came from outside. People around all know this is our territory,” he said while shaking his head.
“I can extract some infective poison from it. I’m recently doing a research on it. I think it is fine for me to have its body?” the man asked.
“One magic stone for each of us, and we’ll let you have it,” the girl who cast spell on Angele’s arrow said.
“No problem,” the black-haired man said. This was a bonus for the patrol members. If they wanted something valuable from what they found, they must pay others. Angele smiled; he knew the magic stone would help him in the future. They needed to spend a lot of magic stones and record points every year. If he didn’t get enough magic stone, he wouldn’t be able to continue studying.
Nothing else happened after this encounter, which was very normal for them. Angele finished his shift by noontime. He returned to his room in the school. It was a small room, having the same size of a dorm room back in the harbor school. The only thing special was the oil lamp on the wall. It had been said by some that the oil in it would never run out. In actuality, it was a spell cast by a real wizard to make it bring light to a room incessantly. Angele sat cross-legged on his bed and took out a small pouch which he poured its contents onto the bed. Five black crystals and a tiny red pearl were there. Angele took the pearl and stared at it for a while, but he didn’t do anything to it.
He played with the magic stones for a while before placing them back into the pouch carefully. He began meditating again. He was already a stage 2 wizard apprentice, and he was going for stage 3. Angele had earned enough magic stones in order to purchase the new meditation method from the school. After that, his progress became much smoother. However, it had begun slowing down a bit recently. The red pearl he looked at earlier was obtained from a Red Pearl Bird when he was on patrol duty. It was something he obtained by paying a lot. This pearl could help him in his meditation, but he could only use it once.
He had trouble with meditation, so he wanted to use the pearl. Angele meditated for a while and asked Zero to show him his body condition.
‘Zero, show me my body condition.’
‘Angele Rio: Strength 2.9. Agility 4.1. Stamina 3.5. Status: Healthy,’ Zero reported quickly.
‘Did you get enough data to show the mentality as numbers?’ Angele asked.
‘Yes. Your mentality could now be presented in a numerical format at any time you wish,’ Zero reported. Angele collected a lot of data to make it possible because he wanted to measure the strength of other wizard apprentices and wizards.
‘Show me my mentality,’ Angele asked with a serious expression on his face.
‘Database created. Comparing data. Initiating...’ Zero reported.
‘Angele Rio: Mentality 3.1.’ Zero gave the result within a mere moment.
‘3.1... Zero, show me the requirements needed to reach stage 3,’ Angele asked after thinking for a while.
‘Mission created, collecting data... finished. Model created, simulations beginning...’ Zero created a slowly rotating, light blue human body model in front of Angele. Inside the model, there were many silver lines flowing.
‘Analysis initiated... Most optimal plan: Reach 6.0 in Mentality. Comprehend more than two spell models. 500 ml of Black Lead Potion. Success rate: 79.43%,’ Zero reported.
‘Your mentality is not being gathered. Analyzing... Please focus on increasing the density of your mentality,’ Zero warned.
‘I knew it!’ Angele thought before he smiled.