Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 243 Left and Right

If, after years of honing their skills, a wizard's apprentice finally completes their transformation and becomes a full-fledged wizard, their power increases, their horizons broaden, and they are able to see and participate in more previously unseen realms, and their lifespan, which has been expended by more than half, is extended, but in the face of all this, this person, who can no longer be called a wizard's apprentice, still has a gloomy face, then there must be an unspeakable problem that is causing them great pain.

Ruger twitched his ears, looking at the old woman laughing uncontrollably; the answer was self-evident.

At the same time, he relaxed a little, which indicates that the old woman's amazing attempt has made some good progress.

Could the man in the yellow robe and withered hair have played a part in this? Luger wondered.

Judging from his low-key and respectful demeanor at this moment, it's probably somewhat related.

Ruger curled his lip.

However, there are two sides to every story. At least this Mutress is still alive and has become a wizard. In Ruger's original guess, she might die after a while, at the hands of the old woman. Perhaps her survival is also thanks to the yellow-robed, withered-haired man.

"Hahaha……"

The old woman suddenly grabbed with both hands, and a strange thing with eyes on its own eyes was pulled out of the void with a hiss.

*Clap!* Clap your hands together!
Upon opening it again, a round eyeball lay in the old woman's palm.

A small puddle of water surrounded the eyeball. The old woman tossed it with her hand, and when the small eyeball left her hand, the puddle of water still surrounded it, making it look particularly strange.

Gulp! Its eyes darted around, seemingly still trying to look at Leiden and Ruger.

The old woman smiled and put her small eyeballs away.

Every movement of the old woman seemed to touch the line that surprised the yellow-robed, withered-haired man. Luger guessed that this guy probably hadn't had as many changes in expression as he had today in years. This also showed that only someone with a certain understanding of the Nightmare World could see some amazing details. Perhaps this guy could also roughly judge the quality of the Eyeball Nightmare Demon.

The long staff stuck in the ground only stopped shaking when the small eyeball was completely retracted.

The old woman reached out and pulled out her long cane.

"I'm starting to feel reluctant to use you for experiments... Any experiment carries the risk of unforeseen consequences..." the old woman said.

Ruger glanced at Leiden.

This guy had only just recovered; he had already spent a much longer time by the pool than him.

"Never mind, I'll try out those guys outside again..." the old woman said again.

Having just recovered, Raiden immediately bowed to the rather old-fashioned wizard upon hearing this, and Ruger followed suit.

“A qualified wizard is forbidden from wasting resources. Letting you make mistakes in your experiments... is a shameful waste. I think I mentioned before that you are my lucky stars, hehehehe…”

The old woman began pacing back and forth in the room as she spoke.

Ruger knew this was her way of thinking, but he didn't know what she was thinking about.

“Fate is an exchange, not something to be taken for nothing. This aligns perfectly with the old school of wizarding philosophy, which is why many ancient texts believe that the power of fate should be the ultimate goal of wizards. Although I am not good at it and do not want to touch it again—I am who I am, and I want to walk a new path—I still understand some things. I obtained that little eye and saved you all; that is the exchange,” the old woman said, waving her hand as she tossed two items over. “But it’s not enough, because that Nightmare Demon is more valuable to me…”

Ruger reached out and caught it, then looked at the round, black thing in the small bottle, somewhat puzzled.

At the same time, they were even more confused by those words. Their lives should be one of the most valuable things to them, so how could there be an inequality between the two sides, unless the standard was not measured by their respective values?

He glanced at Leiden, who was also looking at what he was holding with the same bewilderment.

"This is a seed from an ordinary Dream Tree that I have specially cultivated. I'm giving it to you. Try your best to plant it in the dream world created by the Clear Dreaming Technique. The longer you maintain the spell, the easier it will be to succeed. Of course, you'll also need a little luck." The old woman's tone made it seem as if giving this thing away was a tremendous reward.

This tone piqued Ruger's interest; it seemed to be something good. "If it succeeds, that will be your greatest fortune," the old woman continued, "It will make it easier for you to survive the next phase of the experiment..."

Luger's good mood had just begun to rise when it quickly faded again.

The wrinkled old woman pondered for a moment, then waved her hand to indicate that they could leave.

The two bowed respectfully again.

The two finally breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the stone door close behind them.

Ruger and Leiden exchanged a glance and slowly walked upstairs.

This was the gentlest the old woman had ever been to them, yet it was also the most stressful. Those words still echoed in Luger's ears, and he believed Leiden felt the same way, because this guy would most likely become the old woman's experiment before him.

Ruger walked slowly, leaving a trail of fresh footsteps in this corridor that had existed for countless years, seemingly both real and unreal.

The pressure from the old woman's casual tone was forcing them, and also forcing fate to force herself, so that when she crossed that invisible boundary, Ruger had to risk everything and follow the instructions in the poetry collection to reveal that symbol.

She was forcing them, and she was also forcing herself step by step on the scales of fate.

Luger flapped its wings and lightly touched the ground to quicken its pace.

As for now, of course, we should first go to the library and make some more gains.

After getting away from the old woman's side, Ruger and Leiden quickened their pace as usual, heading straight for the library upstairs.

For Ruger, this was a place to reap the rewards before a desperate gamble, a place to seize the time to loot; but for Leiden, it was practically the last few dinners before a terrible outcome, and the only time he was in this place that wasn't so bad.

Ruger secretly admired Leiden's composure. Despite his bloodied face and bloodshot eyes, he remained as calm as someone sitting by a campfire, listening to the bubbling and crackling of soup as he stared blankly at the fire.

The two rushed into the library and began searching.

Theoretically, even if they had already searched the bookshelves, there was still a possibility of finding new books with legible text. However, Ruger decided to search sequentially, one book at a time. He had checked beforehand, and the first book he found was still legible, so the probability of finding the treasure was higher on the shelves that hadn't been searched yet.

Ruger flexed his fingers, feeling that as he continued searching, his hands became more dexterous, but it was a false dexterity; he only remembered a few movements, and only those few movements became faster.

Suddenly, he paused, almost instinctively shoving the book back into his hands.

The book's cover reads: "On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Sublimation Ritual."

The crystal pen was put into operation immediately.

The exact time of the Ascension Ritual is unknown. The world is too vast to be imagined, and even the existence of the Temple of Knowledge could not unravel everything. By the time people came to their senses, the Ascension Ritual had already begun to spread. It is believed that in much earlier times, some wizards were already using the Ascension Ritual in private to help themselves and make it easier for their lives to complete their final transformation.

As the Ascension Ritual becomes increasingly elaborate, some people still have concerns. Compared to those who achieve advancement entirely on their own, what are the essential differences between those who use the Ascension Ritual and those who are essentially at the same level of First Ring Wizard? And how will these differences affect their future paths and advancement?

This will be a long-term experiment and observation. First, I found three pairs of twin brothers with similar wizarding talents. I am grateful for their dedication. To complete this experiment, one must be confident that they can advance without using those ascension rituals. Therefore, they must be people with extremely high talents. Of course, I reiterate that I have not wasted their talents. The contract stipulates that they can only try once. If they fail to advance, they can leave as they please. I will also provide them with an additional ascension ritual that will satisfy them.

Ruger frowned as he watched, while the crystal pen scribbled notes beside him.

It even mentions an advancement method that doesn't require an ascension ritual, which is quite a good find.

As he continued flipping through the pages, he believed he would gain even more; it seemed to be a rather ancient book, even for an old woman.

The Ascension Ritual has evolved over the years and must be quite different from what it was back then. Even the old woman who had reservations about the third-generation meditation method never made any derogatory remarks about the Ascension Ritual. In the early days, wizards were cautious about it, otherwise this book would not have been born.

(End of this chapter)