Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

"What is this?"

Hughes frowned, and his hand suddenly stopped moving.

For some reason, he felt that the blood-red thing looked somewhat familiar.

"This seems to be...blood energy?"

He couldn't help but walk to the other side of the experimental table, his gaze falling on the wizard's neck.

Suddenly, a small patch of skin on the other person's neck glowed red, and crimson particles began to emanate from it.

— Buzzing

But this is not simply the dissipation of blood energy; rather, the blood energy is slowly pulsating according to some kind of law, like... a constant spell.

Seeing this, Hughes immediately channeled a wisp of his spiritual energy and carefully probed it into the crimson hue.

——！

A moment later, Hughes' eyes suddenly narrowed, and he had already discovered the structure of the scarlet color.

"This witchcraft structure looks so familiar..."

He thought for a moment, then suddenly gasped.

"That berserk energy!"

Instantly, Hughes recalled the moment he lost control in the bathroom. (276 mentions)

The scarlet mark before him was strikingly similar to the energy that had driven him into a frenzy, only its structure was more complete, forming a form of witchcraft.

Thinking of this, Hughes's gaze towards the wizard suddenly changed.

Suddenly, he pulled out a communication crystal and activated the newly added communication mark belonging to "Black Bear".

"Eh? Lord Bird-Beak Wizard, is there anything I can help you with?"

Soon, "Black Bear's" voice came through the communication crystal, sounding somewhat flustered.

Hughes changed his voice and then spoke:

"I'm asking you, how is that vampire doing now? Can I see him?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a sigh came from the communication crystal from "Black Bear".

"Hey...you mean that bloodworm? It suddenly emitted black mist from its mouth and then died instantly. Just now, I'm dealing with that right now."

At that moment, a slightly panicked voice suddenly came from the communication crystal:

"Boss Black Bear, where is his...where is his soul?"

"What did you say?! Huh? Bird-beaked wizard, you suddenly called me, did something happen on your end?"

"..."

"Feed?!"

"..."

On the other side, Hughes turned off the communication crystal and fell silent.

Originally, he had hoped to learn something about the mark from the vampire.

Unexpectedly, it seems that he accidentally triggered the mark on the wizard's body, causing the wizard to realize something was wrong and choose to destroy his own soul.

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but think of the vampire's method of suicide earlier:

It spews black mist and destroys its own soul.

If he remembered correctly, after the expedition to the Everfrost Spire, he seemed to have learned from Nora that this was the method of suicide used by the Black Ring Crown members.

This vampire must also be a member of the Black Ring Crown.

"The mark... what is their plan now?"

Thinking back to the harpies that attacked the airships before, whose madness also stemmed from these same things, Hughes couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled.

"..."

After much deliberation, Hughes temporarily put away his tools and turned to look at the wizard on the stage.

……

"Soul-searching technique? Let's give it a try."

"..."

"Um?"

In the basement, the sleeping wizard suddenly woke up.

"Where...where is this? The Blood Domain?"

He looked around and realized that he seemed to be in a dark basement.

The runic ropes that wrapped around his body not only bound his body but also sealed off his magic pool, preventing him from drawing out any magic power.

"clatter--"

Suddenly, a figure walked up from the side.

As the figure drew closer, he discovered it was a wizard wearing a bird-beak mask.

The other person was walking slowly towards them, while constantly shaking a tube of silver potion in their hand.

Fortunately, the other party was not a vampire.

"Ha, wizard, thank you for saving me."

Seeing that the visitor was hostile and had trapped him in this basement, the wizard had no choice but to feign friendliness and say:

"Um...I am..."

Unexpectedly, just as he was about to reveal his identity as a member of the Three Rings family in order to negotiate with the other party, the bird-beaked wizard suddenly moved closer.

"Ugh—!"

The next moment, the silver potion was forcefully poured into the wizard's mouth, and his world of consciousness instantly became chaotic, unable to mobilize even a trace of mental energy.

"Gulp, gulp..."

On the other side, after pouring all the potion in his hand into the other person's mouth, Hughes put down the potion bottle in his hand.

Immediately, he reached out his free hands and cupped the other person's constantly shaking and struggling face.

"Buzz—"

The next second, green fluorescence slowly began to glow in Hughes' eyes and mouth.

The fluorescent light pierced through the mask, followed his hands, and entered the wizard's ear canal, directly invading the depths of his consciousness.

"Buzz—"

In an instant, the wizard's face froze, and he stopped struggling.

The next moment, his blank eyes and slightly open mouth also lit up with a glow, the light instantly enveloping his entire face.

Soon, under the influence of the soul-searching technique, his soul was forcibly probed, and those deeply hidden memories were exposed one after another to Hughes's probing.

"#**##**#**……"

swoosh...

"Oh? A wizard on the run."

swoosh...

"Perfect timing! The adults told us we shouldn't waste this opportunity and should try to tie ourselves to someone..."

swoosh...

"Then I'll print it for you..."

swoosh...

"The mark of Bevic."

"call out--!"

In just a few seconds, Hughes’s consciousness was pulled out of the soul-searching spell.

At this moment, countless fragmented images were flooding into his mind.

He pressed his head, which was throbbing with pain, and his eyes instantly became bloodshot.

The scene of the wizard being branded by the vampire kept replaying in his mind.

The other person's terrified face and the vampire's terrifying crimson pupils kept flashing through his mind.

"Be...Bevic's mark?"

For some reason, the moment he heard that word, he felt a strange chill run down his spine.

Fortunately, he was still able to extract a lot of useful information from the wizard's memories.

"It seems that the so-called berserk energy originates from this sorcery called 'Bevic's Mark.'"

Hughes muttered to himself, a strange glint in his eyes.

"However, it seems to have more than just berserk effects... According to that vampire, this sorcery seems to have other effects as well, or rather... the so-called berserk effect is actually some manifestation of this effect?"

Here, Hughes couldn't help but feel lingering fear about his previous outburst.

Fortunately, his meditation technique worked, preventing him from being branded and completely clearing away the remaining blood energy.

"But now it seems most likely that it was the resurrected 'Sotadia' who did it to me."

Hughes murmured.