Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

The warm winter sun hung high in the sky, its morning light filtering through the white mist that enveloped the town.

Those were the traces left by the house fire last night, as if wrapping the town in a white silk, devoid of any warmth.

Dago and Serena got up early, and Dago placed three homemade incense sticks on the mound of earth in the corner of the courtyard for old Marico.

Serena asked him, puzzled, what this meant. Dago said it was a custom from his hometown, so that the deceased would always remember that those above still cared about them.

She followed Dago's example and offered sacrifices before lighting three incense sticks.

The two walked together into the empty tea room, where a thin layer of dust had accumulated on the table.

Nowadays, almost everyone at the Wizard Inn has left, with only an old man remaining at the front desk.

Dago once asked him why he didn't leave town, and he said he had worked in the hotel his whole life and just wanted to die in this most familiar place.

This is also why there are so many elderly people left behind in towns and cities. Many of them are unwilling to leave the town, not wanting to burden their families or die far from home.

However, leaving the town at this stage is practically impossible.

The forest surrounding the town has been completely overrun, with patrols of black-robed wizards everywhere, and no town caravans can pass through it.

There is currently only one way to leave the town: by taking the academy's rune airship.

However, Dago was still unsure how to obtain the airship tickets, so he decided to go to the Wizard Hall to ask.

He told Serena his plans and asked her to stay at the hotel and wait for his message.

With the destruction of the northern defense line last night and the deaths of many hired wizards and civilians, people on the outskirts of the town are moving towards the town center.

As Dago walked down the town's main street, the smell of black smoke lingered, mixed with the pungent odor of blood and corrosive energy.

The streets still bore the marks of the spells cast by the black-robed wizard last night, and old people and some middle-aged people were cleaning up the remnants of the battle, such as the corpses left behind by the black-robed wizard when he fled.

The Darkblood Council typically has wizards who specialize in collecting battlefield corpses; in the wizarding world, corpses are also a kind of consumable.

Dago stood before the Wizard Hall, which remained as magnificent and beautiful as ever. Even if the town were to fall, this place might not be breached. It was a solid fortress protected by rune arrays.

Stepping into the wizard's hall, one sees many dried bloodstains on the marble floor.

A large number of hired wizards, mixed with a small number of academy wizards, lay on the marble floor, which appeared to be being used as a temporary sanctuary.

In the corner, a young hired wizard huddled in a faded wool blanket, his left trouser leg hanging loosely, the gauze wrapped around the cut end soaked with blood, leaving dark brown stains.

His left arm was twisted at an unnatural angle, and the exposed bone fragments could be vaguely seen under the bandage. Every weak breath pulled at the wound in his chest, causing his brows to furrow and his forehead to bead with cold sweat.

His eyes were half-open, and his cloudy pupils reflected no light, only a deathly gray, as if he were still trapped in the memory of being tortured and killed by the black-robed wizard.

Not far away, another wounded man was struggling to move his body, trying to pull up the wool blanket that had slipped down.

A chunk of flesh had been corroded away from his right leg, and the exposed muscle tissue shone with an abnormal dark green hue under the dim light. It seemed that some corrosive energy still remained inside. Every time he moved, he clenched his teeth in pain and let out a suppressed groan.

Unable to bear it any longer, Dago stepped forward and gently stroked the wound on Dago's right leg with his snow-white right hand, using ice energy to clear away the remaining corrosive energy.

He looked at Dago with vacant eyes, as if his soul had left his wounded body.

Finally, he managed to squeeze out a soft "Thank you, Wizard."

The only sounds in the wizard's hall were the suppressed breathing of the wounded, the low sobs, and the hurried footsteps of the wizards who possessed healing spells.

Dago got up and left the rescue area, a strange anger rising in his heart, but he gritted his teeth and suppressed it.

He went to the counter in the wizarding hall to inquire about airship tickets, and the receptionist pointed to another counter in the corner.

Dago quickly walked to the counter he pointed to and found that behind the counter was the curly-haired young man he had met once before.

"Hello, how do I purchase an airship ticket?"

Dago asked with goodwill.

After recognizing Dago, the curly-haired youth glanced behind him, not seeing the beautiful woman from last time. Disappointment flashed in his eyes, and he said impatiently, "Go away, what kind of ticket can you afford?"

After he said those words, Dago's eyes surged with spiritual power, pressing straight towards him.

Dago was already in a bad mood, and now this curly-haired youth dared to spout nonsense and provoke him.

The curly-haired youth's face instantly turned pale, and cold sweat poured down his forehead, as if he were a rabbit facing a top-notch hunter, dangerous and deadly.

"I was wrong, I'll talk, I'll talk," he said, his voice trembling and broken.

"If you don't learn manners next time, something very bad will happen. Please be aware of this."

Dago withdrew his mental pressure and spoke to him in an unfriendly tone.

The curly-haired youth wiped the large beads of sweat from his forehead and nodded frantically.

"To obtain an airship ticket from the academy, two conditions must be met: first, pay one hundred low-level magic stones; second, provide valid proof of killing a member of the Darkblood Council."

The curly-haired youth dared not look Dago in the eye, and spoke respectfully with his head bowed.

Dagomo rubbed his chin, pondering whether he met the two conditions for the airship ticket.

The underlying implication of these two conditions is that anyone who wants to leave the Academy town at this stage must not only be very wealthy, but also have made significant contributions to the Academy.

After a moment's thought, he placed the Darkblood Council badge he had kept in his storage ring in front of the curly-haired youth.

"Is this okay?"

The curly-haired youth was taken aback. He wasn't sure if it would be acceptable at first glance, because the Darkblood Council badges were usually not that big, while Dago's was as big as the palm of his hand.

He carefully picked up the badge and examined it repeatedly. Each Darkblood Council badge was specially made and contained a unique dark crystal aura.

After a moment, he concluded: it was definitely genuine.

Moreover, it was a Darkblood Council emblem that I had never seen before. With such a strong aura of dark crystal, it seemed that this master had killed a high-ranking member of the Darkblood Council.

He then looked at Dago with reverence and said, "No problem, it's valid proof of the recent killing of members of the Darkblood Council."

Dago nodded, and then, as if by magic, flipped his hand, and ten mid-level magic stones appeared in his palm.

The curly-haired youth naturally recognized the storage equipment. He looked at Dago's pile of magic stones with envy, reached out and took it, put it into the safe behind him, and took out a gold card with runes engraved on it.

He bent down and handed the gold card to Dago with both hands.

"When can we sit down?" Dago asked with a smile as he accepted the gold card.

"Don't be late for the airship at noon today. Once the airship leaves, the ticket will be invalid, and the ticket has an anti-counterfeiting mark. One ticket per person."

The curly-haired youth answered earnestly.

"OK."

Dago put the gold card into his storage ring and turned to leave the counter.

He strode out of the oppressive wizarding hall, and Dargo took a deep breath of the cold air to ease the burning sensation in his chest.

He decided to give the airship ticket to Serena, so that she could escape the vortex of war.

She is currently only a second-level apprentice wizard and has only mastered two spells. The upcoming town battlefields may feature battles at the wizard level.

To put it bluntly, the aftershocks of the battle alone could kill her.

He couldn't possibly disregard his own safety to unconditionally protect her. Staying in the town would not only give him greater strength, but also allow him to quickly accumulate the resources needed to advance to a formal wizard.

Chaos is the ladder of progress; this was one of his tenets.

After careful consideration, it's best to get Serena to a safe place first so that I can really get started.