The Wizard World

Angele’s signet was strong, but he needed to hide it from the others. The extraction of the ancient blood was almost impossible, and the elders would force him to spit out the method if his signet was somehow found out by them.

He decided to only use the one-time heart bomb when necessary because the quality of his bombs was incredible, and a Gas stage wizard could not manage to craft enchanted items like that.

Angele could not trust anyone in the team, and he needed to make sure no one knew about the chip he had.

The only thing he could use all the time was the Metal Mastery. Sadly, the Talent Spell was not strong enough against a Liquid stage wizard. The last two times he had won his fights against the dark wizards were because he had used the signet.

Angele looked at Kuirman’s ship again and returned to his own cabin.

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

Three days later.

It was afternoon, half of the setting sun already sunk into the horizon.

The red light of the sun painted the surface of the sea.

The first thing that appeared in Angele’s sight after he left the cabin was the back of a ship-sized black whale, its skin coated with a golden glint.

On the left side of the whale, a group of muscular men slowly moved to the surface of the sea, holding black tridents in their hands.

There were about 20 men in the group. They were wearing blue leather armor. Their ears looked like fish fins and their skin was blue.

"Are you from Nola?" the leader of the merfolk team questioned.

"I’m Ainphent. Are you Sumail? Did the prince receive my letter?" a loud voice came from one of the ships.

The merfolk in Angele’s sight looked identical to human beings, the only differences being their ears and skin.

The merfolk leader named Sumail waved his hand and countless merfolk appeared on the right side of the ships.

A smaller team left the group and quickly moved to one of the ships. Angele looked at the ship and saw Ainphent preparing to negotiate with the merfolk.

The merfolk team boarded the ship after several minutes, and their leader started talking with Ainphent in a low voice.

Angele turned around and saw Isabell’s followers having a conversation beside the railing.

"Where’s master Isabell?" Angele asked, walking over to them.

The blonde man that had brought Angele the Black Rose oil quickly turned around and slightly bowed.

"The master is resting in her cabin. I was told that she did not want to be disturbed," he responded politely.

"What’s your name? When did you become master Isabell’s follower?" Angele asked. He wanted to know more about the woman.

"My name is Dell. We’re orphans, the master found us and raised us. Without master Isabell, we’d be dead on the street a long time ago. She gave us a home."

The blonde man had a bitter smile on his face.

"So, that’s how she found three Grand Knights as followers..." Angele finally understood.

"Do you know anything about master Ainphent?"

"Master Ainphent..."

The blonde man traded eye contact with the other two followers.

"To be honest, we’ve never heard of him, at least in Nola," the female Grand Knight replied. "I assume Ainphent is not his real name, and I think he has a special mask on his face... Ainphent knows one of the merfolk princes, so he must have a strong background."

"One more question. Which organization are you from? If you don’t mind telling me that."

The three looked surprised after hearing Angele’s question. Dell stared at Angele, looking confused.

"Master Isabell never told you that?"

"She didn’t," Angele said with a nod.

"We’re from Jones Family of the Six Ring High Tower." Dell lowered his voice. "The Jones Family was one of the three strongest wizard families in Six Ring High Tower. Third of the registered wizards in the organization are related to us."

"Jones Family..."

Angele memorized the name.

Ainphent finally finished his negotiation, and the merfolk team left the ship, returning to their group.

They then slowly sank into the sea with the whale after several seconds.

Melissa’s voice suddenly echoed in the sky.

"All ships, follow after Ainphent’s ship. Stay with the team, otherwise, you might get attacked by the merfolk."

Melissa was speaking in Anmag. She repeated the sentence one more time in a different language, then stopped.

Angele looked at Ainphent’s ship and saw it speed up and move to the front.

He heard footprints coming from behind while he was checking the other ships.

"Master Isabell."

The three Grand Knights and other soldiers on the decked bowed.

Angele turned around and saw Isabell walking toward him. She had changed into a white robe with purple edges and tied her hair up.

"We need to change our route. The merfolk aren’t letting us pass through the area. I was told that they had business here," Isabell said in a light tone, looking tired.

Angele did not say anything. He could smell the burning wood mixed with blood in the air.

His sight was blurred by white mist but he could still see what was happing on the right side of his ship.

Groups of merfolk surrounded a humongous black castle ship that was burning. There were flame rays and ice lances flying in the air, and he could also see some strange glowing acid balls.

The energy barrier around the black ship kept the merfolk soldiers away temporarily, so the soldiers were waiting for the barrier to break.

Those in the front line all had white wooden shields in their hands. There was a black eye-shaped pattern painted in the center of their shields, and for some reason, the spells could not break them.

"The merfolk soldiers are waiting for their chance. The barrier is breaking," Angele said, his voice low.

"The merfolk tribes are uniting. They always wanted to regain their position on the lands since the ancient times. They didn’t attack Nola because of the agreement. However, the situation is getting more intense lately," Isabell explained, but it almost looked like she was not talking to Angele. "Well, I hope the ship can return to the land if they can survive the fight..."

The Grand Knights and the soldiers had already left the railing; they did not want to interrupt the two wizards’ conversation.

"At least they didn’t declare war on Nola yet..." Angele smiled. "Did you try the rhino blood I gave you two days ago? How was it?"

"It’s great." Isabell nodded. "I was going to start the energy ritual, but it seems like I can do it later."

"Are you sure you want to do this? If your body is turned into the energy form, you’ll never be able to reach the next stage. Don’t do it if you don’t have to."

Angele’s expression turned serious.

"I won’t do it if the situation allows. I won’t be human anymore if my body is turned into the energy..." Isabell responded with a light tone.

"Wait... Are you going to drink the rhino’s blood? It’ll be a painful experience."

Angele smelled a hint of blood from her body.

"I know the consequences. Do you really think it’s an easy decision to make? I never questioned the diamond-shaped accessory on the back of your hand and you know the reason." Isabell wanted to end the conversation, she did not like the way Angele questioned her. "We’re getting closer to the island. I need to make some preparations."

"Sure."

Angele decided to stop asking questions—it wasn’t his business. He looked ahead and saw the edge of the island Isabell had been talking about.

The ship traveled on a different route and finally dropped all of the soldiers on a public mining area of the island.

The six wizards on the ships switched to a small boat with their followers and left the island during the night. They were heading to an area that wasn’t yet colonized by the merfolk.

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

Angele was not sure how long they had traveled.

Fog rose from the sea while the ship was slowly advancing. The visibility was extremely low under the dark sky.

There were six people standing on the deck.

In the front, it was a thin old woman wearing a white robe.

Melissa held a small stone plate in her hands. The plate was gray and a string was attached to its edge. There was a black-red stone tied to the string, and the stone was leaning to a certain direction. It was almost like the stone was pulled by an invisible force.

Melissa stared at the stone with a serious expression on her face.

"We’re getting closer. I left the other half of the stone on the island, and it’ll guide us through the fog," Melissa said in a light tone.

Ainphent and Belem were standing behind Melissa. They looked like a close couple.

Kuirman stood beside the railing with his arms crossed, staring at the stone.

Angele stayed with Isabell, and both of them had no expressions on their faces. The only thing he could see around the ship was the fog, and he had no idea what the area around was.

"This fog is ridiculous. I don’t think the others can track us down. There’s no point to drug the followers."

Kuirman shook his head.

"I don’t think you have the ability to predict the future."

Ainphent stared at him.

"That’s it!" Melissa suddenly shouted out.

The area in front of the ship turned into pure darkness with her last word.

The boat left the fog and entered a new area.

Gray clouds covered the sky, and Angele was not sure if the blue glare on the water was from sunlight or moonlight.

An enormous dark shadow appeared on the horizon, and it was the destination of the team. Rays of white light shot through the gaps between the clouds and landed on the island.

The place was quiet and mysterious.

"That’s our destination!" Melissa raised her head and examined the island, looking relieved.

"We’re here!"

The ship drew a white straight line through the sea, and slowly moved toward the island.