Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

Compared to the first floor, the second floor had a little more light, but because all the windows were forcibly sealed with parchment, only a few slivers of light leaked in through the window gaps.

The second floor was not partitioned into rooms. In the innermost part of the room, there was a furnace emitting blue flames. In the center of the floor was a huge forging table, and the metal shelves on the surrounding walls were filled with various metal ores.

Beside the forging table stood an old man dressed in a brown protective apron, holding a mithril engraving knife in his hand, meticulously carving a piece of metal with a pale blue luster in front of him.

Hearing Hughes' footsteps behind him, Modi did not turn around, but the carving knife in his hand suddenly stopped on the metal surface, and the wisp of blue light that the tip of the knife had just lifted slowly dissipated.

"Sent by Cyrus?"

His voice was somewhat hoarse, and his body was covered with various metal fragments.

"Who are you to him? Hmph... You certainly know how to pick your time, sending someone to disturb my peace and quiet."

With his large hand patting the protective skirt in front of him, Modi put down the carving knife in his hand and moved the metal to the corner of the forging table.

"He must be here too, right? Is it because of that mess with the Tunotian family? Ha, a bunch of blood witches, they'll be finished off by Jin sooner or later..."

Modi suddenly remembered something halfway through his sentence, and before he could say "Golden Crown," he immediately shut his mouth.

"Lord Mordi, my name is Hughes Craig. I am an apprentice at Everfrost Spire, and now... I would say I am half a student of Cyrus."

"He did come here today to handle some family matters, so he sent me to visit you on his behalf, and... to give this to you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hughes took out the bronze badge from his storage bag and handed it to Modi in front of him.

Modi seemed to sense something; his shoulders jerked violently, and he finally slowly turned around.

His face was covered with deep wrinkles, and there was a diagonal scar on his left eye. A brass-colored artificial eye was embedded in his eye socket, and tiny golden runes rotated in the pupil of the artificial eye.

When Modi saw the bronze badge in Hughes's hand, his eyes narrowed and his prosthetic eye's pupils dilated sharply. After a moment, his hands trembled as he carefully accepted the badge of extraordinary significance.

Modi temporarily ignored Hughes in front of him. He gently stroked the shooting star pattern on the front of the badge and carefully examined the manuscript pattern on the back.

After a long while, Modi raised his head, only to find that he had somehow acquired a bronze badge in his hand.

"Take this back with you, young apprentice. Tell your master that we respect his opinion."

Hughes accepted the badge from Modi. This time, the badge only had a design on the front, depicting a meteor falling to earth, which complemented their respective plaques.

Suddenly, Modi noticed something, and he reached out and pointed lightly at Hughes.

"Whoosh—"

The next second, a blue halo burst forth from his fingertips, enveloping the "Tidal Blessing" on Hughes's finger.

Before Hughes could react, the halo on his finger vanished, revealing the ring underneath.

"Your combat awareness is good, but if you continue like this and force yourself to absorb it a few more times, your ring will shatter along with that rune."

"I've repaired the damaged parts of this magical artifact and slightly modified the materials that make up this ring. Now you can use both charging and releasing functions simultaneously. Consider this your reward."

After saying that, Modi put away the badge Cyrus had given him, turned around without looking back, and continued to study the metal.

"Crunch—"

After Hughes left, Modi took out the badge again, took one last deep look at the design, and then resolutely threw it into the furnace in front of him.

"Whoosh—Zzzzz bang!"

Blue flames frantically licked at the bronze badge, and within seconds, the pattern on it melted at a speed visible to the naked eye. The bronze badge was also melted into liquid droplets, which were instantly swallowed by the flames and disappeared completely.

"Cyrus, you've finally decided to go back to that place...?"

Modi slowly raised his head, his gaze focusing on the blank ceiling above him. After a moment of silence, he gently closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

"The sense of belonging in your heart will not lie to you, especially for old folks like us who are nearing the end of our lives."

……

By this time, Cyrus had finished the negotiations and unknowingly walked to Oak Street. When he came to a corner, he looked intently at the "Starfall Forge" at No. 3 Oak Street across the street.

"Goodbye, my old comrades who came out of the Blood Domain with me. I'm going to betray you and return to that place once again."

Cyrus's eyes were filled with guilt. He slowly raised his hand, and there was a blood-red ring on his wrinkled palm.

"Dear Kamiya, are you alright?"

……

Walking through the bustling streets, Hughes left the city of Elda. As instructed by Cyrus, Hughes had to return to the place where he had landed before nightfall to reunite with him.

Hughes cast the Frostwind spell again and sped off toward the forest.

With the blessing of the Frost Wind spell, Hughes's figure became a blur, his speed far exceeding that of the skeletal horse that was exerting all its strength.

As he galloped, he secretly pondered whether he could improve the enveloping form of the Frost Wind spell so that the skeletal horse could also use the frost wind to accelerate.

Soon, the surrounding trees shook violently, and Hughes returned to his original landing point.

Cyrus had not yet arrived, and Hughes waited quietly in place. In his spare time, he raised his hand and took off the "Tidal Protection" from his finger, carefully examining the magical artifact.

After being enhanced by Modi, the originally silver-white ring now had some blue patterns, and the blue gem at the center still shone with a dazzling luster.

Hughes focused all his attention on the patterns, which were the modifications Modi had made to it. With these magical patterns, his "Tidal Protection" could continue to absorb magical energy while maintaining the water element.

This technology has existed for a long time, but wizards have not applied it to level zero magical artifacts.

After all, most wizards who use a lot of "magic runes" on their magical tools are already formal wizards, and most of their magic power cannot be sustained by level zero magical tools.

Modi must have modified the materials on the ring before adding the magic runes.

This reward put Hughes in a great mood, but he also secretly regretted not having equipped his Dark Absorbing Robe with absorption runes so that Modi would notice it as well.

However, the Dark Absorber Robe will continue to recharge after spitting out two black orbs, unlike Tidal Protection which requires maintaining the presence of water elements.

Soon after, Hughes vaguely sensed something. He looked up slightly and saw Cyrus flying towards him from a distance. He seemed to be in a very good mood, as if the negotiations were going very smoothly.