The Wizard: Starting with Infinite Part-Time Jobs

Chapter 144 Mysterious Wooden Plaque

"Of course I used it, senior brother. You're really good at extracting bloodlines," a burly man said obsequiously.

"Of course, I'm a biological culture expert," the burly man nodded and said.

He had several faint, yellowish-brown lines on his arms, traces of the Mountain Bear bloodline, faintly visible beneath his skin.

"This time, we not only want to seize the Crystal Ganoderma in a spectacular fashion and complete the task assigned by the organization, but more importantly, we want to enhance our own strength," the burly man in the lead said earnestly.

His voice suddenly turned cold, completely different from before.

His name was Mog, and he was the most outstanding wizarding apprentice on the Mountain Path.

Moreover, he also has a second job as a biological culture expert, which gives him a significant advantage in bloodline extraction.

"The biggest enemies are still these guys," Aiden muttered to himself.

He squinted, his gaze sweeping over the flags of several wizarding organizations in the distance, his brows furrowing more and more, the muscles in his jaw taut.

"Especially the wizarding organization, Mountain Fury. The wizards look formidable; I wonder if my arrows can easily kill them," Aiden thought, resting his chin on his hand.

His mind raced over the signature spells of those wizarding organizations, and the more he thought about it, the more troublesome it seemed.

"I have a feeling the secret realm will open soon," Aiden muttered to himself.

Suddenly, a crack appeared on the island in front of them.

The entire island shook, and a dull tremor ran through the ground beneath our feet.

Rock fragments bounced off in all directions. Pieces continued to roll down from the edges of the cracks, and the cracks in the ground spread outwards like a spider web, making a cracking sound.

Even through the crack, one can sense the unstable space inside, and along the crack, one can vaguely perceive a new, lush, green space.

"So this secret realm leads to another dimension," Aiden muttered to himself.

Apart from Aiden, the nearby wizard apprentices all stared wide-eyed and held their breath.

Several people instinctively took a half step back.

Their hands unconsciously reached for the wands and backpacks at their waists.

Someone in the crowd swallowed, the sound particularly clear in the quiet setting.

Several apprentices exchanged glances, all seeing the same tension on each other's faces; some even had trembling lips.

For them, if they can find good items in this maze, they can exchange them for a lot of resources within the organization, which will greatly increase their chances of becoming official wizards in the future.

After all, not everyone has the ability to earn a lot of magic stones, or to publish papers in the Wizarding Daily and gain recognition from the Wizarding Council.

Not only were the wizard apprentices excited, but the formal wizards above them also stopped talking and turned their attention to the wizard apprentices of their own wizarding organizations.

Several formal wizards stood with their arms crossed over their chests, chins raised, their expressions indifferent as if they were looking at a group of ants.

Some simply closed their eyes and leaned back in their chairs, acting as if it had nothing to do with them.

One of the wizards, dressed in a dark gray robe, even yawned, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, and a few wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes.

"Remember, complete my task," a white-bearded wizard said sternly to his chief wizard apprentice.

His voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying an undeniable air of authority.

As he spoke, the white beard on his chin twitched, and his deep-set eyes revealed no emotion, but just standing there sent chills down your spine.

"No problem, sir," the team leader said, his scalp tingling.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and he forced a smile, but it was uglier than a grimace. His lips twitched a couple of times before he regained his composure.

A witch, who looked like an old hag and spoke in a voice like a toad, said to one of her female leaders, "Child, I will reward you handsomely after this is done."

Her withered lips opened and closed, and with each word she uttered, the temperature around her seemed to drop several degrees.

His face, covered in wrinkles, showed no expression except for a downward turn at the corner of his mouth.

"No problem, beautiful lady." The female tour leader nodded and said, trembling slightly.

Her shoulders involuntarily hunched, and she gripped her sleeves tightly with both hands.

"Aidan, I believe in you, relax."

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He heard Dean Mephisto's voice in his ear. Aiden looked up and saw the dean smiling at him.

On that wrinkled face, the corners of his mouth were turned up, and his eyes were narrowed into slits.

Compared to the stern-faced, formal wizards around him, he seemed much more easygoing.

Aiden whispered, "No problem, Dean."

At the same time, Aiden clenched his fist.

His facial expression remained steady, his mouth tightly closed, showing no sign of nervousness.

Only his clenched fist was trembling, a tremor only he could feel.

He took a deep breath and suppressed the tightness in his chest.

Half a day later, the spatial rift on the island in front of them was fully formed, and a hurricane that blotted out the sky appeared, seemingly about to suck everyone in.

The hurricane, carrying sand, gravel, and fallen leaves, howled sharply, sounding like countless knives slicing through the air.

However, upon contact with formal wizards, they were not absorbed but instead repelled.

The formal wizards were enveloped in faint protective shields of various colors, which kept the hurricane at a distance.

They stood firmly, their clothes barely swaying, a stark contrast to the apprentices who were being sucked into a staggering manner.

"This secret realm is truly magical." Aiden imitated the other wizard apprentices, opening his arms without resisting the attraction, because he knew that the attraction was not hostile to him.

The hundreds of wizard apprentices present were completely drawn in by this attraction.

Their bodies were gripped by an invisible hand, their feet lifted off the ground, and they rushed toward the crack.

Someone screamed, but the sound was torn to shreds by the wind.

Some people were clenching their teeth so tightly that their facial expressions were distorted and their features were squeezed together.

Some people frantically tried to grab something, but couldn't grasp anything and could only watch helplessly as they were dragged away.

Aiden felt a sense of relief, like when he first arrived in the wizarding world, as if he had been stretched into a noodle.

"Here we go again, ugh," Aiden muttered through gritted teeth.

He quickly became almost dizzy.

He pressed his tongue tightly against his teeth, desperately trying to keep himself from fainting.

But less than half a minute later, he could no longer resist, and his entire body was uncontrollably sucked in.

His limbs flailed wildly in mid-air, and his clothes billowed in the wind.

All that remained in my vision was a chaotic grayness, and all I could hear was the sound of the wind; I couldn't hear anything at all.

After the group of wizard apprentices were sucked in, the formal wizards on the periphery sat down.

They were all busy in their respective vehicles, after all, they were very busy.

Moreover, everyone present was a white wizard.

Most of them weren't very hostile. After all, they were all in the remote 147th district.

The scene fell silent instantly, with only the whistling of the wind remaining.

Dean Mephisto returned to his old carriage and muttered to himself, "Aiden, it's all up to you now. This Crystal Ganoderma is crucial to me. But this secret realm won't be easy. There will be different situations in each one, and the official wizards won't mention it. Everything depends on you."

After Dean Mephisto finished speaking, he opened another ancient book and continued reading.

His rough fingers turned the yellowed pages, and he muttered something under his breath, but his voice was too soft for anyone to hear.

After a long while, Aiden slowly woke up.

The hair on the back of my neck was sticky with sweat, and a damp, earthy smell lingered around my nose.

He felt something crawling on his face, thin tentacles rubbing against him, making his scalp tingle with an itch.

He suddenly jumped up, staggering forward half a step.

It was eventually discovered that it was his virtual butterfly, Little Butterfly, urging him to wake up.

"Dad, wake up! We've come to a strange place," Xiaodie said weakly, as always.

The butterfly's wings were translucent and pale, with fine silver streaks along the edges. It was fluttering and perched on his shoulder, its antennae gently touching his earlobe.

"Where am I?" Aiden suddenly opened his eyes.

He rubbed his eyes.

A constantly rotating sun appeared in the sky.

Moreover, he always felt like he was inside a ball.

The tree trunks all around were curved, as if they had been bent by some force, and even the soil underfoot seemed to be arching upwards.

The surroundings in the distance seemed to be constantly changing; he was currently in a forest.

The leaves are dark green and show no signs of insect damage.

When the wind blows, the entire forest undulates like waves, yet not a sound can be heard.

"Is this the secret realm? This is my first time going down into a secret realm," Aiden continued, trying to reassure himself.

He stood up, patted the dirt off his backside, looked around, and subconsciously activated his bio-radar.

Nothing has changed.

"Looks like everyone has been randomly teleported away."

"There were only trees all around, not even a single footprint, as if someone had erased all traces with an eraser."

Aiden put his ear to a tree trunk.

When you press your fingertips on the bark, you can feel that there is no vibration in the wood, not even the sound of sap flowing.

They discovered that apart from the vast forest, there were hardly any insects or small animals in the soil, as if it were a fake world.

He squatted down and poked the soil under his feet with his finger. It was hard and dry, like sun-dried clay, without any moisture or insect holes.

"As expected of the Illusionary Labyrinth, it's eerie in every way," Aiden said, breaking out in a cold sweat.

The back of my clothes was soaked with sweat, sticking to my skin and feeling sticky and uncomfortable.

"Little Butterfly, can you see anything?" Aiden asked in a low voice to Little Butterfly, the spatial butterfly fluttering in front of him.

During his time there, he knew that Xiaodie was his trump card.

He stared at Xiaodie's wings, watching the silver patterns on them expand and contract with each breath, and felt a little more at ease.

Because of Little Butterfly's racial attributes, it can see many things in space that wizards cannot.

At the very least, a powerful wizard might be able to see it, but Aiden cannot.

"Dad, let me find the pattern," Xiaodie said earnestly.

The butterfly's antennae stood up like two thin antennae, and its wings flapped faster than usual, its silver markings flashing for a moment.

"The space around here is very unstable; things inside can disappear and reappear inexplicably. However, I can vaguely sense anything I've marked, no matter where it goes," Xiaodie said weakly.

"So you need to spend time figuring out the spatial layout of this maze, am I right?" Aiden said with a smile.

For him, as long as Xiaodie could find some clues, that would be a good thing.

That's still better than him wandering around aimlessly, completely lost.

"The only clue I have now is that this crystal Ganoderma is crystal clear and about the size of a palm," Aiden muttered to himself.

His eyes were fixed on the depths of the forest, where the shadows of the trees were even denser.

"Then let's head deeper into the forest. Anyway, I have bio-radar and Little Butterfly's scanning. As long as we're careful, we won't encounter too much danger," Aiden muttered to himself.

He lifted his foot and walked forward.

As Aiden continued deeper into the forest, he suddenly saw a wooden sign.

He paused, narrowed his eyes, and stared at a spot three meters ahead.

There was a wooden stake with a wooden sign stuck in it. The wood was dark brown and had many cracks on the surface.

This wooden sign is very strange.

If Xiaodie hadn't reminded him that there were faint spatial fluctuations here, Aiden wouldn't have noticed them at all.

"This wooden sign says—'What you fear most in an illusion will come to pass; the calmer you are, the less likely you are to be harmed. On the contrary—'" Aiden muttered to himself.

"The words were carved with a knife, and the strokes are very deep. It's like someone deliberately filled them in," Aiden said, looking completely bewildered as he read.

His brows furrowed.

"So, does that mean I have to stay calm all the time?" Aiden continued.

He straightened up and took a deep breath.

"What I fear most right now is not being able to find this crystal Ganoderma lucidum, and I'm also afraid of encountering a large group of people from other wizarding organizations."

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Aiden thought to himself.

"So I can't be afraid."

66

Just after he made this vow, the space in front of him suddenly changed.

The surrounding woods looked as if they had been crumpled by an invisible hand, with the tree trunks twisted into strange shapes.

The leaves fell, but stopped in mid-air, and then scattered like fragments.

The ground began to shake, and a crack appeared in the soil beneath our feet.

hum!

A crystal-clear Ganoderma lucidum appeared before his eyes.

The stem is transparent, like it's made of glass, and the umbrella-shaped cap has fine lines, like snake scales.

The edges glowed with a pale yellow light, illuminating the surrounding soil.

Aiden was completely dumbfounded.

His mouth was wide open, big enough to fit an egg, and his eyes were wide open, not even blinking.

Aiden nearly fell and quickly grabbed onto a nearby tree trunk.

"Crystal Ganoderma?"

"Holy crap, what's going on?"

"I found it right away?"