Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

Looking at Barik, whose body was completely burned, Hughes sighed:

"This is the true strength of a third-class wizard apprentice."

His and Heleto's original plan was to lure the dragonborn dwarf to the furnace, then detonate it to kill him.

Unexpectedly, Harrogan and Rock's all-out attack had already left the dragonborn dwarf in such a sorry state, so they simply finished him off.

"I can go now," Heleto muttered to himself, looking around at the mess.

At this moment, apart from him and Hughes, there was no one else in the stronghold. Afterwards, Hughes would place Bos's disfigured body here, and he could be legitimately recognized by the stronghold as having faked his death here, thus making his way far away and completely escaping Thorne's clutches.

"Good luck," Hughes said.

Heleto had saved his life. Otherwise, he would probably have fallen into Thorne's hands when Reber and his men launched their planned attack.

……

Heleto has already left; he must hurry on his journey, to quickly leave the Everfrost Spire's sphere of influence, and perhaps even leave the Elokhan region altogether...

Watching Heleto's departing figure, Hughes sighed softly. The power of a formal wizard was ultimately too immense; if Thorne were determined to find him, Heleto would likely not escape his fate.

He was a man of his word and would do his best to forge Heleto's death certificate—besides, they had a contract between them.

……

Hughes meticulously arranged the scene. To make the illusion of Heleto's "burning to death" more believable, he deliberately charred several of the corpses as well. Only after doing this did he begin to tally his spoils.

Before leaving, Heleto and Hughes collected all the apprentices' storage bags and divided their spoils in advance.

Heleto urgently needed magic stones and supplies on his journey, so most of the magical tools went to Hughes. As for the magical knowledge, the two of them recorded it all using a recording crystal.

Harrogan and Rock lived up to their reputation as third-class wizard apprentices; their storage bags contained the most and richest contents.

It contains not only their accumulated insights and knowledge records, but also several self-modified witchcraft runes.

What surprised Hughes most was that Harogen was also a master of ice magic. It was probably the frost-skinned dwarves' unique frost resistance that made him rarely use ice magic this time.

Hughes obtained several improved ice elemental sorcery runes and his insights into the ice and wind elements from his storage bag, which was one of the most valuable things he had gained this time.

Of course, the most precious item was the corpse of that dragonborn frostskin dwarf. The remaining dragon blood and scales on his body, his somewhat charred horns, and even his transformed flesh were all excellent materials.

Hughes first extracted all the remaining blood from his body, but unfortunately, the blood that flowed out was already contaminated and had little practical value.

Two bottles were drawn in total, one for each of them. As for the rest of the corpse, most of it was charred, so Heleto used his war merits to exchange for the dragonborn dwarf's body from Hughes.

During their missions, both of them accumulated some merit points. Hughes had planned to exchange them for resources to advance to the rank of third-class wizard apprentice.

As for the remnants on the dragonborn dwarf's corpse, he had no use for them at the moment, so he simply agreed to the deal.

……

After collecting the spoils, it was completely dark. The buildings in the stronghold had all been destroyed by the aftershocks of the battle. Hughes looked around and decided to crawl into the mine to spend the night.

The mine tunnel was very narrow. Although there were a few small lamps hanging from the ceiling, the light was so weak that it could only barely illuminate a small area. The frost-skinned dwarves were already used to the darkness in the fortress, and their vision was clear even in the dim environment.

Hughes pulled a vial of Night Owl's Eye from his storage bag. This potion grants the user night vision for a period of time. The habit of carrying this potion was something he developed during his experience in the Icefield Crackclaw Beast Cave.

After drinking the tasteless potion, Hughes's vision immediately cleared, and the entire scene in the mine came into view.

The mine tunnel was very spacious, with some tools and mine carts scattered in the corners. The rock walls on both sides were rough and uneven, and the exposed ore gleamed dimly in the dim light.

Beneath Hughes' feet lay frozen ground covered with rubble that the Frosty Dwarfs had carved out of the rock face over the years.

Walking through the mine tunnel, cool water droplets seeped down from the rock strata overhead from time to time. Occasionally, his toes would kick sharp slag, and the sound of the collision mixed with the "drip-drip" of the water droplets was particularly clear in the silent tunnel.

Before the night vision wore off, Hughes planned to thoroughly explore the entire mine shaft, just in case any more Frostskin Dwarves were hiding in the shadows.

Hughes lacked Missy's keen perception, making it difficult for him to thoroughly explore the intricate mine tunnels using his mental power.

Therefore, every few steps he would stop and listen carefully. Apart from the crisp sound of slag colliding and the rhythm of water droplets falling, any sound could be a sign of danger.

As he rounded a bend, Hughes spotted a discarded half-eaten iron basket. He could faintly hear rustling sounds coming from inside the basket, and he immediately used his mental energy to move the basket that was not far away.

The iron basket was overturned by mental energy, and a gray rat suddenly darted out and disappeared into the depths of the mine tunnel. It seems that the Frostskin Dwarf is not without other creatures to accompany him in the oppressive mine tunnel.

The mine tunnel wasn't long, but as Hughes went deeper, it gradually narrowed, the gravel on the ground turned into mud mixed with ice shards, and the ore embedded in the surrounding rock walls became denser.

Suddenly, Hughes sensed a strong icy element. He followed the aura to its source, and gradually a bloody smell filled the air, exuding an indescribable eeriness.

Soon, Hughes reached the end of a mine tunnel, where an unfinished rock wall lay ahead. A broken box leaned against the corner of the wall, next to a canister of bright red blood.

Whether it was Hughes's imagination or not, the jar seemed to be emitting a strong chill, and even the walls of the jar, made of special glass, were covered with a fine layer of white frost.

At this moment, Hughes already had some guesses in his mind. When he got closer to the jar of blood, he took out the bottle of dragon blood from his storage bag. After comparing the two, the answer became clear instantly - this was most likely diluted frost dragon blood.

The overwhelming joy instantly dispelled Hughes' fatigue. After carefully checking, he immediately put the vial of blood into his storage bag.

Looking at the shattered glass shards beside him, Hughes deduced that there should be at least one more canister of blood here, which must have been used by the frost-skinned dwarf earlier, which was why a dragonborn frost-skinned dwarf suddenly appeared here.

……

After the exploration was over, Hughes set up a camp nearby and spent the night there.