Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

The three apprentices in the private room were, of course, Heleto and Hughes, whom they hadn't seen in a long time, as well as a tall apprentice shrouded in a black robe.

"Long time no see! No wonder that figure looked so familiar. It turns out it's our Potions Master!" Heleto joked.

"You're not bad either, you've become a low-level rune master too."

Hughes glanced at the badge that Heleto wore on his chest; it was a certificate issued to runemasters by the Runemasters Guild.

After the Potion Masters Guild introduced these policies, the Rune Masters Guild followed suit, also establishing job ranks and lowering the requirements to become a low-level rune master, while supporting rune master apprentices.

"So... you're here to work for the Runemasters' Guild?" Hughes guessed.

Aside from those stationed at the guild, generally no one would wear their identification badge on their person all the time.

"Yes, I passed the test and stayed on," Heleto said with a smile, picking up a plate of pastries and eating them with relish.

"By the way... who is this—?"

Hughes glanced at his companion beside Heleto. This apprentice hadn't said a word the whole way, and Heleto hadn't said anything either, just letting him follow behind him.

He put down the plate, and without making a sound, Heleto glanced around. After confirming that the surroundings were normal, a mysterious smile appeared on his lips. He reached out and lifted the corner of the hood of the person next to him.

"This is--!"

Hughes' pupils dilated suddenly. He was all too familiar with the face in front of him. That hideous face covered in scales was none other than the dragon-born dwarf from before!

The other party's eyes were lifeless, but each of his pupils had a rune engraved by Heleto, and he exuded a powerful aura comparable to that of a third-class apprentice.

"This is... the one you took before?"

Although the dragonborn dwarf's face was covered in scars, making it impossible to discern his features, Heleto estimated that it was just the corpse they took when dividing the spoils.

"That's right, I've learned some necromancy, so I can barely control him."

As he spoke, Heleto patted the other man's muscular arm, his eyes darkening, and he said self-deprecatingly:

"It's strange that his aura is so strong, isn't it? It's all thanks to that madman Thorne's research that I was able to steal some techniques and carve the dragon language runes onto this corpse."

The dragon runes that Reber's team used to turn Heleto against them were copied by both Hughes and Heleto.

However, since Hughes had focused on potion-making in the early stages and only had a superficial understanding of runic literature, his research on this dragon rune was temporarily put on hold.

Since Heleto had already studied the dragon rune, Hughes took the initiative to propose a deal with Heleto, exchanging his research results on the dragon rune for it.

Just as Heleto accepted the item handed to him by Hughes, his eyes suddenly darkened, and he leaned closer and whispered:

"So what are you doing here? It's a whole continent away from Everfrost Spire. When I met you at the Flamehammer Workshop, I thought you—you weren't that madman getting revenge on you, were you?"

A flicker of anxiety crossed Heleto's eyes, and his voice trembled slightly as he uttered the last few words, clearly indicating that the shadow cast by Thorne had not yet dissipated.

"No, I was just carrying out a guild mission and stopped by to rest for a bit," Hughes said casually.

After Ryan's team disappeared and Heleto faked his death, Hughes' life was not affected much, and he continued to do missions with Elena and the others.

After the war ended, Hughes stayed indoors for a long time because he was in seclusion to advance to the third-class apprentice level.

When he had almost finished preparing for his promotion and occasionally came out for some fresh air, Hughes did indeed feel some prying eyes on him for the first few days.

But after he told Serafina about it, the feeling of being spied on suddenly disappeared, perhaps because Thorne had been warned by Serafina.

Then he was promoted to a third-class apprentice and became a low-level potion master. Although this was because the Potion Master Guild lowered the standards to support apprentices, Thorne would have to think twice before trying to take advantage of him again.

Finally, because the Everfrost Spire began a new round of admissions, including new apprentices with fourth-tier spatial talent, this person was unfortunately taken in as an apprentice by Thorne...

This was all the information Hughes had gathered.

Hughes told Heleto everything he knew, but Heleto did not show any relief after listening; instead, he fell into deep thought.

"Hughes..."

After a long while, once Hughes had drunk the entire cup of Nature's Kiss, Heleto broke the silence with his voice.

He raised his hand and waved, and several talismans appeared out of thin air, floating to the ground around the three of them. A soundproof barrier instantly rose from this spot, enveloping them.

"When are you leaving?"

"What about tomorrow?"

Hughes asked in bewilderment, finding Heleto's sudden deployment of a soundproof array quite perplexing.

Heleto hesitated, but finally relaxed and said in a deep voice:

"That's good... It's good to leave quickly. You don't know yet, do you? An assassin organization has its eyes on this family."

But I had prior knowledge of the situation—the Golden Ring family, whose members were assassinated, had received permission from the city lord to conduct a thorough search of Kodia.

"I've heard about it, that rising Black Pact Nest," Hughes replied.

"Yes... everyone in that Golden Ring family was terrified; they all thought they were the target."

Heleto nodded, reached for the dwarf's pastry beside him, bit into the crispy crust, and mumbled:

"That protective rune array gave our entire guild a headache for a long time. Each of us was responsible for a small section, and we barely managed to add the function of detecting the Black Pact."

With that, Heleto deactivated the soundproofing array, and Hughes simply took it as advice to leave Cordia as soon as possible.

"..."

The two talked for a long time, each telling their own experiences over the past few years. After faking his death and escaping, Heleto changed his name to Coed, a false identity he had prepared long ago.

Over the years, he traveled to various places with this false identity, eventually arriving in western Maranthal and settling in the Runemaster Guild of Cordia.

"Then I'll be going now... I need to go back to the Flame Hammer Workshop to get my witchcraft tools from Delipe."

Hughes clapped his hands, brushing off the crumbs from the pastry, then slowly got up and walked towards the door.

"Haha, that red dwarf may have a strange temper, but his skill in forging witchcraft tools is truly unparalleled."

Heleto smiled and rose to see them off, walking out of Lady Nona's thorn garden with Hughes. The two parted ways, not knowing when they would meet again.

In the distance, Heleto stared at Hughes' departing figure, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes, until the communication crystal in his pocket vibrated, before he silently turned and left.