Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

Dago used his mental power to sense the dim runes inside, attempting to activate them.

But he failed. He figured he was out of energy, so he put it in his pocket.

After stripping the ring off, Dago continued to loot the corpse. His psychological barriers had lessened considerably, mainly because the joy of making a fortune outweighed his fear.

Later, an exquisite pendant was found around his neck, a badge engraved with a red and black castle.

It looks like the emblem of an organization or force.

Dago was startled; this was a gang. He decided to go back and question old Marico first.

Since the black-robed wizard has accomplices, if he hasn't returned for a long time, his accomplices will definitely come looking for him later.

He couldn't help but shiver and immediately dared not linger in that place any longer.

Dargo tore off the badge pendant, put it away, and quickly cleaned up the scene, indiscriminately causing environmental damage with air bombs.

This would mean that very little trace of him could be found at the scene.

Dago ran swiftly through the jungle, fearing that some black-robed wizard might be chasing him.

He wandered aimlessly, concealing his true destination, and dared not use witchcraft for fear of being tracked by the enemy using detection-type witchcraft.

To cover up his body odor, Dago even went to the small lake where he had previously practiced to do a thorough cleansing.

"Splash!" A naked figure burst out of the calm lake.

He was a tall, slender young man with fair skin, blue eyes, and wet black hair draped over his shoulders—elegant and handsome.

Dago shook the water droplets from his hair and then walked step by step onto the grassy area by the lake.

His clothes, still wet from hunting, hung on the branches of the big tree.

"They shouldn't be able to track me down now," Dago muttered as he put on his wet hunting clothes.

Picking up the cloth bag and machete from the ground, Dago set off for old Marico’s treehouse.

When Dago arrived, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon.

Old Marico was sitting on the platform of the wooden house, meditating with his eyes closed.

"The Wizard of Marico," Dargo called out to him.

"Apprentice Dago, why have you been gone for so long? I was about to go to my old friend's cave to look for you."

Old Marico opened his eyes, slid down from the platform of the treehouse, and asked Dago with concern.

"The situation is very bad. Your old friend may have been killed by a black-robed wizard, and I also fought with him."

As he spoke, Dago pulled the black-robed wizard's badge from his bag and handed it to old Marico.

"The Darkblood Council." Old Marico took the badge, examined it for a while, then returned it to Dago. His pupils suddenly contracted, and he murmured.

The organization's name was like a poisoned icicle; even uttering it carried a bloody stench.

"What kind of organization is this?" Dago asked, becoming nervous upon seeing old Marico's expression.

Dago killed one of their members, so this feud is now firmly established.

"They are a notorious black-robed terrorist organization from the Dark Crystal Plateau, composed of a group of deranged lunatics whose favorite thing to do is to mix Dark Crystal powder with human blood and drink it."

Old Marico's face turned ashen, and he spoke as if facing a formidable enemy.

"Then what should we do?" Dago asked after a long silence.

"Dago, take the badge to the academy tomorrow to deliver intelligence: members of the Darkblood Council have been active in the forest on the outskirts of the town."

Old Maric calmly analyzed the situation.

"Okay, I'll set off from the academy tomorrow morning to deliver this information," Dago said, accepting the task.

"As for me, I'll spread this information throughout the entire forest first. The people living in the forest are all unfortunate, and there's no need for them to die here in vain."

"It would be very dangerous to be active in the forest at this critical juncture."

"Dag, no buts, just wish me luck. I've survived several wizard wars."

Seeing that old Marico had made up his mind, Dago didn't try to persuade him any further, and simply told him to be careful.

The two then discussed and analyzed the course of the war before returning to rest, each lost in their own thoughts.

The first thing Dago did upon returning to the shelter was to change out of his wet hunting clothes and light a campfire in the open space outside the shelter to dry his clothes and body.

He sat by the fire, staring blankly at the skewered crocodile monster meat dripping with oil as it roasted.

A lot happened today, especially since he killed someone for the first time. This will be a turning point in his life, one he will remember for the rest of his life.

Secondly, there's the Darkblood Council; he must always be prepared to face their retaliation.

Although he had covered up the murder, in this extraordinary world, no amount of caution was too much.

The third point is something that he and Maric both tacitly agreed to but did not mention.

Old Marico miscalculated; the enemy arrived too quickly, giving them no time to react.

This is to be expected, as the enemy this time is the Darkblood Council, a terrorist organization in the wizarding world.

There is something even more terrifying: these apprentice wizards living in the forest may very well have become expendable pawns.

One by one, they consumed the pieces of the Darkblood Council.

Today, it was old Marico's friend who was attacked by the Darkblood Council; tomorrow, it could be any one of them.

However, the academy had never informed them that the attack would be by the Darkblood Council.

Those who live in the forest are just scraps in the wizarding world; who cares whether they'll see the sunrise tomorrow?

"We'll bring this up in public and talk to the people at the academy about it tomorrow," Dago said fiercely.

"But as the saying goes, we welcome friends with good wine, but we meet enemies with guns and cannons."

With his mind preoccupied, Dago still didn't give up on improving his skills. After eating the monster meat, he started training.

......

The following morning, Dago emerged from the shelter yawning, wearing a brand-new Level 3 Apprentice Wizard Robe.

His chaotic thoughts and the noise around the sanctuary at night kept him awake all night, giving him his first sleepless night in the wizarding world.

Yesterday he had already sewn the shadow leopard skin into the lining of his third-level apprentice wizard robe, which provided him with warmth on the cold autumn morning.

Now, with the advancement of resonance magic, he can cover an increasingly larger area of ​​his body with ice elements.

At this moment, his entire arm had been completely stained white by the dormant ice element trapped by the resonance spell, making him look just like the White Hand character from the game "Dungeon Fighter Online" in his previous life.

He discovered a wonderful use for the Resonance spell: by activating the ice element covering his arm with his mental power, he could form an ice armor on his arm in a short time without harming himself.

As for the protective effect of the Ice Armor, Dago is not quite sure yet; he needs to verify it in actual combat.

The Resonance Technique not only assists in the release of his Ice Crystal Cannon, but also serves to protect his body.

"It seems I underestimated the forbidden technique of [Emerald Life]. I haven't properly developed and improved upon it, so I must practice more diligently," Dago thought to himself.

He also figured out the function of the rune ring he got yesterday: an energy particle shield, the same shield that blocked Dago's air blast yesterday.

This is an essential skill for every wizard in the wizarding world, and it has even formed a major category called "Protection".

A wizard who can't cast a shield is not a qualified wizard.

Dago only needs to use his mental power to activate the runes in the ring to form a transparent light shield around him within two meters.

The strength of the transparent shield depends on the tier of the runes in the equipment, but unfortunately, Dago's protective ring is only a low-tier rune.

Dago tried it with Ice Crystals; the protective ring can provide energy to block low-level spells three times a day.

So that means if you have money and are covered in rings, you're basically invincible during your apprenticeship.

However, this requires sufficient mental energy to activate and use the runes.

Moreover, one must be extremely wealthy. Dago had seen at the rune equipment stalls in the academy square that a low-level rune equipment item cost around several dozen low-level magic stones.

After slipping the protective ring onto the index finger of his left hand, Dago looked at it with satisfaction. This significantly improved his defensive capabilities, which were previously a weakness.

Currently, his combat ability is considered quite formidable among third-level apprentice wizards; most third-level apprentice wizards are no match for him.

As for the level of a formal wizard, only the headmaster of the Enark Wizarding Academy is a formal wizard...

People of that level are usually former mayors or leaders of organizations that dominated a certain area.

Most of the instructors at the Aynak Wizarding Academy are half-step formal wizards, and Rosalind is also at this stage.

This wizard's small step in the extraordinary is a giant leap in life.

Little did they know that this small step would take almost a lifetime for old Maric; it was too difficult, too difficult.

Even the hard-working Marico had shattered his illusions and accepted reality.

These things were too far removed from his life. Dago shouldered his bag and headed toward the Aynor Wizarding Academy.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Dago first went to the newly opened bakery in town and bought two loaves of bread for breakfast.

The bakery owner is very fat, weighing around 230 to 240 pounds, and has a very skilled bread-making technique.

The residents of the surrounding towns are his loyal customers, and the main product here is whole wheat bread.

Recently, many villagers from the surrounding towns have come here to buy bread, mainly because it's cheap.

Amidst the throng of people, Dagger finally got his bread; a loaf of bread cost only a penny.

This kind of transaction doesn't require his low-level magic stones; a magic stone fragment is worth about ten pence.

So the bag of flour I bought with that magic stone was swindled by that fat woman.

Penny was used to buy everyday necessities such as bread, vegetables, and firewood, and was the most commonly used currency among the lower classes.

Dago left the fat boss's bakery, took a bite of bread, and found it dry and hard.

There was a lot of bran in the bread.

No wonder it was popular with poor people in towns, because it helped them fill their stomachs better and made them less likely to go hungry.

The poor people in the town don't care what they put in their stomachs; they only care about how much they can endure hunger.

This is war in the wizarding world—a war between a small group of people that drags a large number of others down with it.

Dago shook his head and finished the whole bread.