Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

—Boom boom boom

Soon after, a series of booming sounds came from afar.

Hughes looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the horizon in the distance was already shrouded in a silvery glow, and that was the location where they had been teleported to the Kudo Snow Mountain.

"They're here..."

Hughes muttered, his pupils reflecting the silver light spreading across the sky.

These silver lights were clearly the sound of a teleportation array appearing, but given the scale, it was estimated that more than one level-two wizard had been teleported in.

However, they did not know the location of the cave entrance, so they came looking for him first. He had already given them his coordinates, so he only needed to wait in place for a moment.

"Whoosh...whoosh—"

A moment later, a series of whistling sounds came from there, and then several streaks of light appeared from the clouds and flew towards their location.

Hughes glanced at the documents and saw that the academy seemed to be taking this incident very seriously, as they had sent two second-level wizards and several formal wizards dressed in standard robes.

The second-level wizard was obviously the fastest, and in no time, the two of them flew above him.

Hughes vaguely remembered one of them; he was the forest elf Kelintel, one of the wizards leading the Chilka family.

However, the other party's expression was extremely ugly at this moment. His originally handsome face was covered with a thick layer of gloom, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

Fortunately, the murderous aura wasn't directed at him; otherwise, he probably wouldn't be able to stand safely on the snow.

"You're Hughes Craig? That lucky kid?"

Just then, another level-two wizard descended from the sky.

As for Kelintel, he was still hovering in the air, looking visibly anxious.

"Yes, sir."

Hughes said respectfully, and deliberately adjusted his somewhat dull silver robe.

He knew what he was about to face; after all, he had escaped on his own, and the necessary interrogation was inevitable.

"clatter--"

A moment later, the wizard landed quickly.

"You can call me Vinuniki."

The other person was tall and looked very energetic, with the appearance of a middle-aged man.

However, his entire left arm was particularly strange, with a row of fleshy protrusions like chimneys on it, emitting wisps of heat.

"Yes, Lord Vinunegi."

To Hughes's surprise, the other party merely glanced at the faint magical runes on his robes, then patted him on the shoulder and said:

"I've already learned about your situation from the information hall. Please take us to the cave entrance quickly."

"..."

None of them spoke the rest of the way.

Vinunegi did not inquire about the details of the accident from Hughes, an unusual attitude that puzzled Hughes.

Before long, he led everyone to the top of the huge cave entrance.

But when he looked down, his face was instantly filled with astonishment.

"This is--!"

The crystals, which had been completely shattered, had somehow reconnected and reassembled, sealing the opening once again.

As for the two wizards guarding outside? They've vanished without a trace. Perhaps they're dead, or perhaps they've been manipulated by the crystal and entered the underground lair...

Vinunegi, who was standing nearby, noticed that Hughes's expression was off, so he asked:

"What happened?"

Upon hearing this, Hughes recounted the entire incident to Vinunegi, from their search for the entrance to the discovery of the strange crystal…

"..."

Vinuneki was silent for a moment, then nodded and said:

"Okay, I understand. You can go back now."

When he said "go back," he naturally meant go back to the academy. As he spoke, he took out a small single-person teleportation device from his storage bag.

"You'll find out the details when you return to your spire."

After saying that, Vinunieki activated the device and then bent down to rush towards the crystal layer below.

"Buzz—buzz..."

A few seconds later, the device in Hughes's hand was activated, and a large amount of silver light poured out from it, enveloping his body.

Before teleporting, Hughes recalled Vinuneki's words in his mind, then looked down.

The opponent had already pointed his left arm downwards, and in an instant, like a volcanic eruption, a massive amount of lava gushed out from those protrusions.

— Buzzing

At the same time, Hughes heard a buzzing sound in his ears and could no longer hear the sounds below.

But just before the teleportation, he still saw part of the scene. He saw that the blue crystals had no chance to escape and were melted by the high temperature released by the magma.

Upon seeing this, Hughes finally remembered the wizard's identity.

Vinunegi Heruno – a ruthless man who, according to legend, “sealed” a demonized volcano inside his body.

"Buzz—!"

The next second, a silver light suddenly shone, gradually covering Hughes' entire field of vision.

When the silver light faded, he opened his eyes and was shocked to find himself back inside the Myriad Peaks.

Strangely, he was not teleported back to the Koya Spire, but to a special area within the academy reserved for space wizards to return to their homes.

Then, recalling what Vinunieki had said to him before he left, a thought suddenly popped into his mind.

—Something happened at the Koya Spire!

Thinking of this, Hughes immediately rushed out of the area and then used his levitation technique to speed towards the Koya Spire.

"Whoosh—whoosh!!"

Soon, as they got closer to the area where the Koya Spire was located, Hughes sensed that something was wrong.

As he drew closer, a number of wizards gradually appeared in the sky above the area, coming and going, all wearing standard short robes.

Hughes recognized this style of wizard's robe; it was the exclusive attire of the wizards of the Academy [Tower of Order], who were specifically responsible for handling all kinds of affairs, big and small, inside and outside the academy.

For example, patrol teams.

For example, the official wizards who came to provide support just now were also wizards of the Tower of Order.

It's not hard to guess that the appearance of the Order Tower wizards in this area is most likely due to what happened at the Koya Spire.

With that in mind, Hughes increased his speed by another ten percent, determined to get to the spire as soon as possible and find out the truth of the matter.

"call out--!!"

A few minutes later, Hughes finally arrived above the Koya Spire.

But the scene there made his heart sink suddenly.

At this moment, the surroundings were already shrouded in a thin layer of magical barrier.

The Koya Spire itself is now unrecognizable.

The entire top of the spire is missing, and it is easy to see from the collapsed ruins that it was blown up.

It's no wonder he was teleported back to another area; the top platform where the teleportation array was originally set up must have been affected by the explosion.