Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

"Moonlight Moss..."

In the alley, the vendor was still selling moonlight moss, but the location was so remote that the alley was deserted and no one came to buy it.

"Doron—"

Suddenly, the stone wall behind them moved, revealing a dark opening.

"Da da... da da..."

The sound of footsteps, one light and one heavy, broke the silence of the alley. Then, two figures, one tall and one short, walked out of the cave entrance side by side.

The newcomers were Heleto, who had just bid farewell to Hughes, and the dwarf corpses he had created.

"Finished catching up with your friend, Coed?"

The vendor stopped hawking his wares, put down the moss he was holding, and turned to move the wooden platform into the cave.

After they came out, the stone wall automatically returned to its original position, and the apprentice wrapped himself in a black robe to cover himself.

"Yes, he's an old friend. I'll just ask him about something."

"Have you finished that barrier?" the merchant asked.

"Well, the small section of the barrier I was in charge of has been temporarily disabled. Here's the address; you'll escape from here."

As soon as he finished speaking, Heleto reached out and handed a piece of parchment to the other person, his sleeve involuntarily rising slightly to reveal the arm engraved with a black rune.

The vendor took the parchment, looked at it, and frowned, saying:

"Why is it so far? This won't be easy to escape from."

"There's no way around it, the guild assigns positions randomly. If I switch with another member, I'll be exposed."

Heleto shrugged and said helplessly.

"Buzz—"

The merchant put the parchment into his storage bag and, before parting, gave Heleto some instructions:

"Alright, I've taken care of the servants of the Carrent family. We'll make our move tomorrow night—remember to come."

After saying that, he covered his face and blended into the crowd.

……

In the dark alley, Heleto's body trembled violently, and his face, hidden beneath his hood, was contorted with rage.

The fists hanging by his sides were clenched so tightly that the knuckles turned white, making a crisp "crunching" sound as the bones rubbed together.

"Thorn Carrent!..."

Heleto's teeth chattered incessantly. With each word he uttered, his white teeth clenched so tightly they made a "crunching" sound, his jaw turned white, and a few drops of blood oozed from them.

"Let's start with your family, hehe—uh!!"

Without warning, Heleto's body turned bright red instantly, his muscles sizzled, and scalding heat almost burst through his skin; hot white steam even began to emerge intermittently from his back.

"Sizzle—"

The white vapor sprayed onto the stone wall next to it, and even the hard stone immediately showed some scorch marks.

Hot white steam rose onto Heleto's face. His face was no longer contorted with rage, but contorted with intense pain. With a whimper, Heleto collapsed heavily to his knees.

"Old man... I didn't expect you to have a backup plan... I really underestimated the abilities of a formal wizard... Uh... Don't worry, I'll be back sooner or later!"

A fiery red rune began to spread across Heleto's body, quickly reaching his neck. He hurriedly took out an ice-blue crystal from his pocket and swallowed it.

"Hiss—"

The two elemental energies clashed continuously within Heleto's body. Soon, his tense muscles relaxed, and the fiery red runes receded like a tide.

"This time... it's even spread to the neck... time is running out."

Supported by the dwarf corpses behind him, Heleto slowly rose and turned to walk towards the stone wall behind him.

"Doron—"

The wall opened automatically, and the figures of Heleto and the dwarf corpse gradually disappeared into the shadows.

"Should we bring Hughes on board too?"

……

It must be said that Delipe's skill in forging witchcraft tools was indeed well-deserved.

On the ornately carved and gilded shelves, in the glass display cases inlaid with crystal lampshades, there were pieces of gleaming breastplates, arm armor engraved with magic patterns, and boots with runes adorning their edges...

The magical implements were displayed in a staggered manner, with various magical halos overflowing from them, a dazzling array that left Hughes overwhelmed.

"Hey Hughes, stop staring at those fancy sorcerer gadgets on the wall! Look at this 'Firestone Scale Armor.' Every single scale has been soaked in the fiery lava of an active volcano. I reckon it can withstand the breath of a fire dragon!"

"Bang—!"

Delip emerged from a room and slammed the heavy magic iron armor in his hand onto the forging table with a clang. Sparks from the magical artifact splashed onto his bulging muscles, but not a single scorch mark was left.

"Bang—Bang—!"

As his rough fingers gripped the nail bed and yanked hard, a screeching sound of nail plates rubbing together rang out, but the layers of nail plates remained completely still.

"I forged this myself inside the village's volcano after I returned to my hometown last month."

"There was a firewalker who tried to dismantle my portable furnace, so I smashed it into his head three times with this thing."

"In the end, lava flowed out of its head, but guess what happened to my heavy armor? There wasn't even a black mark on the surface!"

"Wearing this, even if you fall into lava, you can swim in it like us volcano dwarves! Hahaha...!"

Delipe seemed to have learned some forging knowledge from Hughes's Dark Robe, and his attitude towards Hughes immediately changed when Hughes returned from outside.

Hughes raised an eyebrow, reached out and touched the plates on the 'Firestone Scales', then frowned and asked Delipe:

"Drip, you didn't forge this 'Flintscale Armor' using dwarven techniques, did you?"

Delipe's eyes lit up at this, and he excitedly slammed his large hand on the table, shouting:

"You have good taste! This scale armor artifact isn't just dwarven craftsmanship, it's a unique craft of us volcanic dwarves! Here's the deal! I'll give you a discount, 700 magic stones!"

Delipe made the decision.

"Uh... I'll look at something else." Hughes declined Delipe's offer.

It wasn't because he couldn't afford it, but because he was a wizard apprentice specializing in ice elemental magic.

This magical item grants near-immunity to ordinary fire, which is extremely helpful for Hughes, who is not adept at controlling fire elements.

The problem is that it is a dwarven craft, or a volcanic dwarven craft. Crafts are originally used by their respective races, so their forging ideas do not take into account the characteristics of users of other races.

This "Firestone Scale Armor," unique to the Volcano Dwarfs, constantly emits rich fire elemental particles.

This is why it has such high resistance to ordinary fire, just like the volcano dwarf.

However, these fire element particles also suppressed Hughes's ice element. Whenever Hughes mobilized his magic and cast ice element spells, he would inevitably be affected by these fire element particles, and the effect would be greatly reduced!