Chapter 241: The Wandering Wizard

Chapter 241: The Wandering Wizard

October 18, 2024

The gray-robed figure was utterly baffled.

Earlier at the tavern, he had cast a single spell, and the Star Alliance had immediately noticed and targeted him.

Could it be that the Star Alliance had some means of detecting large-scale energy particle fluctuations in the city of Duskfall?

The gray-robed figure's mind raced as he pondered ways to escape his current predicament.

However, the two girls across from him gave him no such opportunity. Seeing that he remained silent and unresponsive, they wasted no time in attacking.

Swish! Swish!

Countless blinding silver beams erupted, sweeping across the sky like a tidal wave, hurtling towards him!

The piercing sound of air splitting shattered the tranquility of the midnight forest.

The gray-robed figure's form flickered, and in an instant, he vanished from his spot, reappearing a hundred meters away.

But the silver beams quickly changed direction, relentlessly pursuing him.

The gray-robed figure swiftly drew an ethereal rune in the air with his hand, then pushed it forward. The rune shot out and collided with the incoming silver beams, exploding with a thunderous boom. The violent shockwave and flames instantly shattered the silver beams into pieces!

Before he could catch his breath, two long knightly swords stabbed at him from both sides!

The two girls had somehow caught up to him in an instant!

"Flash Step!"

The gray-robed figure was taken aback.

These two girls had cast the same third-circle spell, Flash Step, just like him. Could they also be wizards?

This suspicion was quickly confirmed in the ensuing battle.

As the girls continued to cast third-circle spells one after another, the gray-robed figure was left in shock.

The only thing that puzzled him was that the silver beams, their innate abilities, seemed a bit weak.

Regardless, the two girls undoubtedly possessed wizard-level strength.

Realizing this, the gray-robed figure dared not hold back any longer and immediately unleashed his own innate ability.

In an instant, countless dark threads emanated from his body, rapidly spreading out into the surrounding void.

In a matter of moments, the forest within a radius of four to five hundred meters turned as dark as if it had been doused in thick, black ink, spreading at an alarming speed.

In the blink of an eye, everything around him became pitch black, darker than the night itself, with no light visible even at arm's length.

The two girls found themselves enveloped in an endless darkness.

Even their dark vision could not penetrate this strange darkness, forcing them to expand their mental energies to locate the gray-robed figure.

However, the darkness seemed to impede their mental energies, which could only spread a few meters before being halted.

The two girls made a quick decision and shot upward, trying to escape the dark cocoon.

But in the next moment, the darkness around them surged.

It was as if numerous fierce beasts hidden in the darkness pounced from all directions, silent and deadly!

In an instant, the girls were hit by hundreds of attacks, and the invisible force field of their Guardian Rings was shattered almost immediately.

Fortunately, they quickly used their Magic Core to envelop their bodies, deflecting the subsequent attacks.

Taking advantage of their inability to break free, the gray-robed figure quietly retreated.

The Star Alliance, a wizard faction, was clearly not to be trifled with. He had no intention of fully enraging them, so he held back from delivering a killing blow, merely restraining the girls to buy himself time to escape.

But just as he used Levitation to fly over two hundred meters, the gray-robed figure abruptly stopped, his face behind the mask showing a mix of shock and uncertainty.

Under the cover of night, more and more girls emerged from the forest, surrounding him.

What was shocking was that these girls all looked exactly like the two he had just fought, with identical facial features, height, and build, as if they had been measured with a ruler, every detail perfectly matched.

Even the sense of danger they exuded was the same!

The gray-robed figure stood frozen in place, motionless.

At this point, even if he were slow-witted, he would have understood.

These girls, including the two he had just fought, were not human but puppets.

Wizard-level puppets!

Realizing this, he lost all desire to resist.

A wizard faction capable of creating so many wizard-level puppets must have immense power, far beyond what he, a wandering wizard, could hope to oppose.

And with their ability to detect energy particle fluctuations, he would never be able to escape as long as he remained on this plane.

Given the circumstances, it was better to accept his fate.

From their behavior, it seemed the Star Alliance was not an evil faction. If he surrendered, he might still be able to save his life.

"I surrender."

The gray-robed figure sighed, raising his voice, feeling both helpless and confused.

I wonder when this wizard faction emerged in the multiverse?

Why have I never heard of it before?

In the Starlight Wizard Tower, at the top control center, Su Nan sat cross-legged beside the elemental pool, his eyes closed, gripping an elemental crystal core as he absorbed divine energy.

Years of cultivation had brought his mental acuity to the brink of a breakthrough. As over ten standard units of divine energy gradually merged and assimilated, he finally took that crucial step.

Deep within his consciousness, the gaseous mental energy swirling around his talent crystal suddenly paused, then condensed like it had encountered cold, forming tiny droplets that fell like rain.

Before long, the mist had vanished, replaced by a stream of water encircling his talent Crystal, as clear and transparent as a river of light, flowing gently with a pleasant sound.

"Success!"

Su Nan opened his eyes, a gleam of joy in them.

It took over two hundred years, but he had finally broken through to the second level of Liquification!

"Advancing from the first to the second level of mental acuity is much harder."

Su Nan took a deep breath, calming his surging emotions and focusing on the changes in his body.

The higher a wizard's rank, the more difficult it is to advance, but each breakthrough brings a significant boost in power.

For example, a second-level Liquified Wizard, even with a lower-tier Talent Crystal, can easily outmatch a second-level Gaseous Wizard with two higher-tier Talent Crystals.

Higher-tier Talent Crystals can make a wizard stand out among their peers, even becoming the best in their rank, but they cannot help a wizard challenge a higher rank.

Of course, the super Talent Crystal Su Nan synthesized is an exception.

Even without using his Imprint Gems, Wizard Tools, and Alchemical Engravings, he could now take on a second-level Crystallized Wizard and have a good chance of winning.

With all his trump cards, he wouldn't fear a third-level Gaseous Wizard either.

Once he broke through to the second level of Crystallization, Su Nan was confident he could defeat a third-level Gaseous Wizard.

"However, breaking through to the second level of Crystallization is no easy feat."

Su Nan had initially hoped to advance to a third-level Wizard before the Planar Lock was lifted, but he later realized he had underestimated the difficulty of advancing from second to third level.

It took him over two hundred years to go from second-level Gaseous to second-level Liquified. The time required to advance from second-level Liquified to second-level Crystallized would only be longer.

It was already the year 1705 in the Starlight Calendar, leaving less than three hundred years until the Obsidian Throne's invasion.

In such a short time, advancing to a third-level Wizard was simply impossible.

Even breaking through to the second level of Crystallization, Su Nan had no guarantee.

Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible.

However, the energy particle concentration on the Starlight Continent has been steadily increasing. According to the Star Eye's detection, the current concentration is about 1.6 times what it was when he first became a Wizard.

Additionally, the number of Wizards in the Star Alliance has been growing, and they now have eighteen first-level Wizards.

This number will continue to increase in the future.

This means more tools to collect elemental dust for him, and the divine energy he can absorb will keep growing.

With these two advantages, breaking through to the second level of Crystallization within three hundred years, though difficult, is not impossible.

"Of course, if it were that easy, third-level Wizards wouldn't be so rare."

Third-level Wizards, even in large wizard factions like the Deep Blue Alliance and the Codex of Wisdom, are solidly in the upper echelons.

In a third-rate faction like the Starfall Society, they could even serve as core leadership or even the leader.

Such beings are exceedingly rare across the vast multiverse.

Shaking his head, Su Nan dispelled away the extra thoughts, left the elemental pool, and teleported to the workshop.

With his new breakthrough, his Imprint Gems, Wizard Tools, and Alchemical Engravings could be further enhanced.

First, the Imprint Gems. After a series of experiments, the synthesis limit was set at sixty.

Without a suitable test subject, Su Nan could only perform a simple test, ultimately determining that they could severely wound a second-level Gaseous Wizard.

The cost soared to nearly 16,000 gold coins, but given their power, they were still cost-effective.

"Unfortunately, using Imprint Gems requires sufficient mental energy. Otherwise, equipping each Puppet Master and Secret Puppet with one would at least double their combat power."

Su Nan thought, feeling a bit regretful.

Forget sixty Imprint Gems; even twenty to thirty would be too much for the Puppet Masters and Secret Puppets to use.

Forcing the use of a gemstone would result in the user being struck back by its backlash, potentially even more severely than the enemy.

Wait a moment!

Su Nan's mind suddenly sparked with an idea.

If he didn't care about the damage from the backlash, then he could forcefully use the gemstones, right?

For example, he could equip each of his puppet and secret constructs with a gemstone. When faced with an overwhelming enemy and no means of escape, he could simply activate the gemstone, causing the construct to self-destruct and take the enemy down with it.

That might just work!

Su Nan was immediately intrigued and decided to add this to his upcoming research projects.

Ideally, he would modify the gemstones to ensure that the damage from the self-destruction would primarily target the enemy rather than being wasted on destroying the construct itself.

After resolving the gemstone issue, Su Nan moved on to enhance his magical artifacts.

There was nothing complicated about this: he simply manufactured new "No-Go Zones" and "Black Thunder" artifacts, then synthesized them into more powerful second-tier magical artifacts.

Although he now had the "Absolute No-Go Zone" innate ability, Su Nan didn't abandon the "No-Go Zone" artifacts.

After all, these artifacts didn't consume mental energy and could still play a significant role in combat.

The last item that needed enhancement was the alchemical runes.

After advancing to the second liquidation stage, Su Nan's mental energy and physical constitution still couldn't support a third alchemical rune. So, he decided to enhance his "Talent Specialization" and "Mental Energy Storage" instead.

After completing all these tasks, Su Nan left the workshop, intending to return and continue his cultivation. However, he received a message from Liz.

"Other-planar wizards have been detected?"

Su Nan was taken aback and immediately rushed to the Restricted Zone, where Liz was waiting.

"What happened?"

Liz explained, "The monitoring network in Sunset City detected unregistered energy particle fluctuations. The enforcement team went to investigate and found that the target was most likely a formal wizard. After I received the report, I dispatched the nearest Hunter Corps squad to apprehend the suspect, and sure enough, it was a wizard."

The Hunter Corps was a puppet army proposed by Su Nan and recently formed by the Star Alliance, entirely composed of puppet and secret constructs.

Since its purpose was to deal with future invasions of the Starlight Continent by wizards, it was named the Hunter Corps.

However, due to its recent formation, the Hunter Corps was not yet at full strength, with a total of only just over a hundred puppets.

Even so, it was currently the Star Alliance's most powerful elite unit!

"What's the background of this individual?" Su Nan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He claims to be a traveling wizard. He was exploring the Shadow Realm when he was attacked by a Night Shadow Giant Worm. While fleeing the Shadow Realm, he accidentally ended up here."

Traveling wizard!

Su Nan's expression shifted.

A traveling wizard was not a profession or a race, but a general term for a specific type of wizard.

While wizards typically form or join organizations for better resource collection, there are always exceptions.

Some wizards dislike being constrained and are passionate about exploring various planes, enjoying the unknown and excitement of adventure.

These wizards are often quite powerful and possess various means of inter-planar travel, spending most of their time either exploring planes or on their way to explore them.

If a previous traveler successfully advanced to a wizard, they would likely become a traveling wizard.

"Does he know how he ended up here?"

Liz nodded. "According to him, the situation was too urgent, and something must have gone wrong, leading him to accidentally teleport from the Shadow Realm to here."

Su Nan's eyes flickered.

The Shadow Realm was a very unique plane.

There was no sun, moon, or stars, and the sky was always dark and gloomy.

No humans lived there, only various bizarre shadow creatures, many of which had been accidentally drawn in and assimilated by the plane's properties.

For example, nightmare beasts, shadow horses, twisted tree monsters, and night shadow giant worms.

Even wizards would gradually be assimilated by the Shadow Realm if they stayed there too long, eventually losing their sanity and acting solely on instinct.

Notably, the Shadow Realm was not a material plane like the Starlight Continent but an outer plane similar to an elemental plane.

One of the characteristics of outer planes is that the barrier between them and material planes is 'thinner,' making inter-planar travel easier.

Perhaps this is why the traveling wizard managed to cross the plane barrier and enter the Starlight Continent.

This also indicated that the plane barrier of the Starlight Continent had been largely repaired, and the lockdown was gradually lifting, leading to such low-probability events.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end