Chapter 123: Promotion (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
"As a rank 3 Wizard apprentice, Angele has already met the requirement for breaking the limit. Following the school’s rule, I’ll distribute one serving of Water of Asu to him." Liliana had a strange expression on her face. Angele could not tell if she was laughing or crying. She took a small tube, similarly made from vulcanized crystal, with golden liquid inside out of her robe.
Liliana placed the tube on Angele’s palm gently.
"You’re my 13th disciple. I hope you remember that you shall never lose yourself to power and unnecessary emotions."
"Yes, Master." Angele held the tube carefully with his hand.
"I wish you all the best," Liliana spoke in a deep tone, "Sorry, ladies and gentlemen. I still have a lab to attend to, so I have to leave now."
She looked at the bald man with a glass of red wine in her hand, "Gaz, you better be careful. If you’re captured in Santiago, there’ll be nothing I can do."
The bald man smiled, "Thanks, Master. I’ll take care of it and come back before you realized."
"Good." Liliana turned around and stepped forward. Her body vanished in a heap of black smoke.
The bald man became translucent slowly and disappeared as well.
"Master is much more cautious than before." A blonde woman chuckled.
"Be careful with your words," a masked man spoke in a deep tone, "We shall never judge our master."
"Whatever." The woman sipped some wine.
People in the room started forming several small groups, chattering in low voices.
After several minutes, most of them finished their conversations as soon as they finished their wine. They put down their wine glasses and vanished into black smoke just like Liliana.
Only several people remained in the room. Angele was standing in the middle of them, but no one approached him. Those Wizards were not here to greet him. They had an opportunity, so they decided to exchange some information or resources.
Liliana would use any excuse to hold parties like this, so they could deepen their relationships with each other. She had just taken Angele in as her formal disciple, so she used this as an excuse to gather all her other disciples here.
As a rank 3 Wizard apprentice, Angele did not attract anyone’s attention because the other disciples were already formal Wizards. Those ‘black robes’ already showed him respect by having a drink with him.
Angele was not concerned. His sole purpose was, after all, to obtain the third serving of Water of Asu.
"Angele Rio, right?" an old man with a pale voice walked over, and asked, "Although your talent level is low, and I’m not certain if you can break the limit or not, it’s still incredible for you to meet the requirement at such a young age. You have my respect. My name is Daniel Curtis, you can just call me Daniel. I heard you purchased some rare herbs from Master. I still have some left in my room, do you need them?"
Angele smiled politely, "Of course, but I can’t afford those super rare materials."
"How many magic stones do you have? Or do you have anything else to offer?" Daniel was a bit different from other black robes. It seemed like he did not care that Angele was still a gray robe.
"Name your price." It seemed that Daniel was a kind fellow. However, he noticed the others were looking at them scornfully after seeing Daniel talking to him. Daniel might be the weakest Wizard among Liliana’s disciples.
"Well, how about 1000 regular magic stones. Although my herbs are not that rare, they are still worth at least 1000 magic stones. I think you’re using them to practice making potions, right? You don’t need high-quality herbs," Daniel smiled.
Angele nodded, "Deal. When are you available?"
Daniel looked at Angele, "I brought the herbs back to the school. You’re talking to a real person. I’m not using reflections like the others."
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After the party, Angele made the trade with Daniel and asked two low-rank Wizard apprentices to carry the herbs back into his room.
He obtained 5000 magic stones earlier, yet he now only had about 2000 left. He realized that being a Wizard was costly.
Angele spent most of his time preparing for breaking the limit recently. He did not even try to find the three Wizard apprentices who killed his horse in the forest. He decided to take his revenge after he became a formal Wizard. Angele was not allowed to attack them at the moment. However, he would gain much more rights in the school after he successfully broke the limit.
1000 magic stones brought him a lot of various materials.
He purchased the necessary equipment from the Potions Department and had already prepared the materials for crafting the Nightmare Potion. The reason why he bought a tremendous number of random herbs was he did not want others to know he had the formula of Nightmare Potion. The Wizard apprentices would probably think that Angele was just practicing some entry-level potions.
Also, besides one more serving of Water of Asu, Liliana had offered Angele a better room that was reserved for a rank 3 Wizard apprentice, but Angele declined it.
There was no time for him to get familiar with a new room at the moment, so he chose to stay in his dorm to prepare for breaking the limit.
The vice president of the school summoned Angele and two other Wizard apprentices that were preparing for breaking the limit. The meeting was set up in a small study. It was the first time Angele met the school’s management team.
As Angele talked to the other two Wizard apprentices on their way to the study, he finally had a general idea about the structure of the school.
Ramsoda College was run by two vice presidents at the moment. Each faculty was led by its head, and the teachers worked under the order of the faculty head. Rank 3 Wizard apprentices would become formal disciples of their masters. People did not care too much about the low-rank Wizard apprentices.
No one knew where the real president was, but he would come back to check on the school every thirty years. This Wizard organization’s main purpose was not to train Wizard apprentices. It had fought many wars with other organizations. It seemed that the school was built to safeguard a certain item.
However, Angele had decided to focus on the preparation first after obtaining this information.
For the next ten days, Angele stayed in his room and tried to concoct the Nightmare Potion.
With the accurate calculation and simulation of the chip, his success rate was way higher than an average Wizard apprentice from Potion Study. Nightmare Potion was an advanced level potion and Angele’s success rate was over ten percent.
The formula of Nightmare Potion was complex to others, but Angele could analyze it easily.
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15 days later…
Angele stood beside his desk with a small bottle of red liquid in his hand. He looked satisfied.
"Finally," he muttered as he shook the tiny bottle in his hand. The color of the liquid changed from red to blue within seconds.
Angele shook the bottle again and the color of the liquid returned to red quickly.
"Incredible… so this is the mysterious Nightmare Potion."
Angele spent more than ten days to concoct one serving of Nightmare Potion, which was enough for his simulation.
‘I can proceed to the last stage now.’ Angele was a bit excited.
‘Zero, show me the data of the modified defensive spell.’
‘Spell model successfully modified. Models used: High Temperature Field, Metal Spells, and Twisted Barrier. 15 runs of simulation were finished. All succeeded.’
Angele nodded and smiled. He was satisfied with the result.
He took out a crystal clock from a bag beside the bed and checked the time.
19:23.
"Umm… The rooms in the school are protected by barriers, but…" Suddenly, Angele stopped talking.
‘High-energy living being approaching,’ Zero warned. Angele saw a black dot rushing across the floor of his room.
Angele stayed calm. He glanced at the black dot. It was a tiny black insect.
The insect had a round body and was about the size of a fingernail. It had six legs, and it was moving around very fast.
The energy particles on the door had no reaction to it. The appearance of the insect reminded him of the ones controlled by his master Liliana. Her beetles looked exactly like this one. Without the chip, Angele would never notice it.
Angele didn’t stop what he was doing, but he hid the Nightmare Pouch in his right sleeve.
"All prepared, I hope I can succeed…" Angele muttered. He looked a bit depressed, "Wish me luck…" He sighed and started organizing his messy desk.
The black beetle stopped for a second after hearing Angele’s voice before it moved toward the corner of the room, turned into black smoke, and disappeared.
Angele felt relieved after the beetle left.
‘Master sent her beetles into my room multiple times. They came here once every two days. I didn’t know Master had such high expectations on a rank 3 Wizard apprentice like me…’ He pursed his lips into a smile, ‘I don’t know why, but I think my preparation is done anyway.’
He took out the Nightmare Potion again and lined it up along with the three tubes of Water of Asu on the desk. Angele grabbed one of the tubes and stood beside the desk quietly.
"The eternal soul shall return to the motherland," he used the incantation.
*Crack*
The tube in his hand was opened, and the other two tubes on the desk were opened as well.
Angele had determination in his eyes, he raised the tube and swallowed the golden liquid.
He put down the empty tube and grabbed the other two.
He finished all the potions along with the Nightmare Potion and returned all the empty tubes into his pouch.
Angele crossed his legs as he sat on his bed. He could feel his throat and stomach burning as though there was a fire burning inside his body.
He slowly closed his eyes.
*BOOM*
Pale gray flame rose upon his skin, "I’ll make it…"