Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
It was still a bit dark outside. The sun had just appeared upon the horizon, and the howling wind blew through the forest.
Angele lay down on the bed with his eyes closed, but his eyeballs were still rolling.
A layer of translucent distorted shield covered his head, which looked like glue.
The glue shrunk as the time passed. Initially, it was about the size of Angele’s head, but after ten minutes, it evenly spread on his face and became much thinner than before.
The morning sunlight passed through the window and brightened up the room.
The glue on Angele’s face had already been absorbed by his skin.
Crack
A red light dot appeared on Angele’s forehead. It was trying to fly out of the window.
PA
Angele hit the red light dot in the air with his hand.
The light dot was crushed into some fire sparks and it disappeared.
Angele opened his eyes and sat on the bed.
‘Finally, it’s gone.’ Angele was relieved. ‘Without the mentality compression, I won’t be able to get rid of this thing. Also, the wave motion of my mentality was changed after practicing mentality compression. I think even the Wizards that are good at divination won’t be able to track me down anymore.’
Angele relaxed for a bit before getting off the bed. He sat down by the desk, lighted the oil lamp, and started reading the scroll he acquired not so long ago.
After he recorded everything with the chip, Angele practiced some applications of the basic compression structures until the sun rose.
He sealed the scroll, opened the door, and left the room.
The living room was silent. The dust in the air was visible under the sunlight. Angele stretched his back and walked up the stairs.
A new scroll would appear on the desk in the study every morning that had been prepared by Markolov. Angele would take the scroll and study it in his own room. It already became a part of his daily routine. Markolov usually got up early. He would sit in the chair and wait for Angele to come. However, Angele found no one in the room this morning after he pushed the door open.
A yellow letter was left on the chair with a white seal on top of it.
Angele was a bit surprised. He walked to the chair and grabbed the seal. It was Markolov’s private seal. He then grabbed the letter and opened it:
‘Dennis, right? I’ll just use this name.
I already taught you everything I know. I can feel that my life energy is drying up… Last night, I talked to my son, Karen, in my dream. He’s still handsome and gentle. He told me that he purchased a large house in Valborg… I also saw my grandson. He told me they were going to have fun in the pool… Also, my old friend, Medivh, he was there too.
I’m dying, and I don’t know how much time is left for me. However, there’s something I have to do. You can do whatever you want to the house after you read the letter. Also, I beg you, study and master the energy compression application. This technique must be passed on to the future generations.
Markolov.’
The letter ended here, Angele put it down on the desk. Markolov wanted to finish teaching Angele as fast as possible, so he could pursue the last wish in his life. Moreover, he must’ve not wanted for Angele to witness his death due to his pride.
Dennis was the son of Markolov’s brother and he had many brothers. However, Dennis’s talent level was worse than his personality. Angele’s studying ability was much stronger than the real Dennis. Angele tried his best not to do anything suspicious, but Markolov still noticed Dennis’s change after all that time they had spent together.
At least, the old Wizard ultimately found someone who could understand his system.
Angele glanced around the room, feeling gloomy. He knew that the old Wizard had left the house while he was trying to compress his mentality. Although Angele knew that this day would come, he hadn’t expected to be so soon.
Angele already got rid of the seed and fully recovered from the injury, so he decided to travel to his next destination. He made sure that no one was around before he took down a black pouch from his belt.
It was the pouch found on Arisa’s body. He carefully untied the pouch and took out a bean-sized black crystal ball.
I shall leave too.
He sighed. He threw the crystal ball in the air and left the room without looking back.
The crystal ball dropped on the red carpet and turned into distorted dark waves, slowly spreading to all angles.
BOOM
Everything the wave touched — the carpet, the desk, the bookshelf, and the decorations — started burning in the raging flames.
Outside the house, Angele stared at the burning house for a second and walked down the path with a small black case in his hand.
The house perished within the intense red flames. All the traces of the mentality and the mana were removed by the waves from the black crystal ball, including the seed eliminated by Angele.
Angele purchased many meat jerkies, water kegs, and other general supplies from the town. He also purchased two horses after double-checking the location of the closest big city around with the locals.
He headed to a big city named Eracia and asked the workers at the inn about the direction of Six Ring High Tower. Angele did not want to waste any time. He purchased a map and left the city right after.
Angele was not too far from the Six Ring High Tower. He only needed to pass through two mid-sized countries. Also, this area was safe because it was in the middle of several major Wizard organizations. He did not even meet a single magic creature in the forest and the bandits had been cleaned out a long time ago. The mortals here were living a happy life. Some of them were hired by the Wizards to collect general materials for them.
Angele’s plan was to go to the Six Ring High Tower first and find the information on the ring. Also, he needed to collect the materials for making the Tree Killer Potion and the Potion of Tranquility. There was still a price on his head and it was impossible for him to hide for too long, so he had to proceed with caution in the area. The red beard Wizard was much stronger than him at the moment, so he decided to come back here after reaching the next stage.
Angele traveled as fast as he could while avoiding contact with the members of the Wizard organizations that were targeting him. He spent a year to reach the area around the Six Ring High Tower.
The area was called Highland Nola, and legends said this place was the favorite residential area of many strong Wizards.
The highland was empty, and the ground was covered by green or yellow grasses with pieces of tiny stones on top. The seemingly endless yellow path went straight to the horizon.
Marshmallow-like clouds were floating in the blue sky. Their shapes were changing every hour.
A man in a gray robe was traveling down this twisted road on a strong white house. His robe was covered in dust and his face with the hood.
It was the fourth day after Angele arrived at the highland. One of the horses he purchased died due to illness during the trip. The white one was now all he had.
The howling wind blew over Angele’s face. It was quite cold.
A brown road sign was lying on the ground in the front. The ink on the sign had already faded and it seemed that no one tried to repair it over the years.
Angele looked relieved after finding the road sign.
Finally, I’m getting close!
He stopped by the road sign and jumped off the horse.
He wiped the dust off the sign and saw several words written in Anmag: ‘Nola, the Land of Affluence.’
Angele raised his head and looked ahead. There were two twisted white pillars on both sides of the road. They looked like two humongous fangs that were guiding the entrance quietly.
He held the reins in hand as he walked to one of the pillars and rubbed its surface. It was rough and cold. There were many tiny holes that resulted from the weathering.
This is the border of Nola…
Angele rested beside the pillars for a while before leaving.
There were many random forked paths on the main road after about 10 kilometers. They looked like yellow cloth stripes that were laid down beside the main road. The main road was covered by tiny stones and was about ten meters wide.
The only thing he could see was the endless road. There was no other traveler around. After traveling for two more hours, he could find a random path about every hundred meters.
Angele finally saw a man in a gray robe came from a path from the left side. He was riding a yellow horse and he did not say a word while passing by. The man kept whipping the horse and he quickly disappeared in Angele’s sight. It seemed like he was dealing with something urgent.
More and more people appeared along the paths as Angele advanced.
Some were riding horses and some were driving carriages. Angele saw fruits and wheat in the carts attached to their carriages. Also, most of the people were wearing gray robes. Angele could sense the energy particles around coming from rank 2 Wizard apprentices.
The people he saw on the way were all Wizard apprentices. He did not even meet a single mortal.
Angele arrived at a large peaceful lake. He could see the gray mountains on the other side of the water.
The surface of the lake was like an enormous mirror. The clouds and the sky reflected on the surface of it. Two groups of people were resting by the lake. Some of them were washing their faces and some of them were setting up campfires by their carriages. It seemed like they were cooking something, Angele could smell the fragrance of fish soup in the air.
Angele jumped off the horse and held the reins in hand. He took down a large empty water pouch from the saddle.
The horse started drinking water by the lake. Angele crouched and refilled his water pouch with the clean lake water.
