Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

Just as Cyrus was talking about his encounter with Booth, Pikulin suddenly made a move.

He opened his mouth and two incredibly solid green light bullets shot out, heading straight for Booth's eyes.

Although the Cloud Giants' bodies are entirely composed of clouds, they also have a fatal weakness: their only body organ—their eyes.

But just as the light bullet was about to hit Booth's eyes, the clouds on his face churned, and his purple eyes shrank into his face.

"Pfft, pfft—"

The energy blast collided with Booth's face, and with a flash of white light, the energy blast that should have been raging over Booth's head suddenly dissipated.

"Crunch—crunch—"

"Well--!"

The next moment, Busner tightened his grip on Pikulin's massive hand, squeezing the man's body until it creaked. His face contorted in rage, and the witchcraft on his body shattered instantly under the force of his fingers.

"Whoosh—!!"

At the same moment, Booth slowly raised his other hand. Amidst the churning clouds, his five fingers disappeared, transforming into a massive, constantly rotating cloud pillar that crashed heavily towards Pikulin.

Sensing the shadow overhead, Pikulin looked up at the massive cloud pillar so close at hand. A flicker of despair crossed his狰狞 (zhengning - ferocious/hideous) face. Knowing he couldn't escape, he muttered to himself:

"It's over——"

"Thump—!!"

The cloud pillar crashed down with a deafening roar, carrying swirling clouds and mist. The moment it touched Pikulin's body, the swirling clouds inside tore his magical implements to shreds.

In the mist, Pikulin felt a sharp pain. His pupils contracted sharply, and a short howl escaped his throat before being drowned out by a whistling sound.

The next second, the mist washed over his body, but the expected "crack" sound of bones being crushed did not come.

The cloud pillar was like a meat grinder, tearing Pikulin's torso from the outside, shredding his flesh and tendons.

"Whoosh—"

The spinning cloud pillar created gusts of wind on its outside. Hughes squinted and looked inside, only to see that the inside of the cloud pillar was covered in blood and flesh, but a few seconds later it mysteriously disappeared into the clouds.

"It was feeding. By then, I had almost finished studying vampires. Perhaps it was the smell of blood on me that attracted him and made him think that we were the same kind of people."

Cyrus explained that his injuries had almost healed, although he was still very weak.

After a long while, Booth slowly loosened his grip on Pikulin's giant hand, and the spinning cloud pillar dissipated, transforming back into five fingers.

Where he stood, only a skeleton with a dark green sheen remained, its ribs still bearing the cracks left by the swirling clouds and mist, its eye sockets empty, devoid of its previous arrogance.

Pikulin, who was so arrogant just moments before, is now nothing but a clean skeleton. With a thud, he fell into the crater blasted out by the cloud pillar, just like the remains that Hughes had seen in the Misty Nightmare Valley.

After dealing with Pikulin, Booth did not revert to his original "Mist Demon" form. Instead, he stood steadily in the forest, overlooking the entire forest.

"Boos is one of the few 'shapeshifters' among the Cloud Giants, which is why he can be divided into countless small pieces."

Cyrus stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the dark green skeleton on the ground before finally settling on Pikulin's skull.

"Knowledge must be discovered through one's own exploration. Why have so many wizards forgotten such a simple truth?"

He sighed, then picked up the runic metal plaque from the ground, flew it to Boots' solid shoulder, and instructed him:

"Alright, Booth, immediately send Hughes to eastern Maransel, and make sure he gets to the Everfrost Spire safely, okay?"

Booth nodded upon hearing this, his purple eyes looking at Cyrus with a hint of reluctance in them.

"Alright, old friend, what's meant to happen will happen. Let's part ways here. Your drinks were delicious. I'll try making them myself when I get to the Blood Domain."

Cyrus whispered words of comfort to Booth, who was his partner with whom he had adventured for half his life, and he couldn't help but feel a little reluctant to part with him, but he still had his reasons for going.

After comforting Booth, Cyrus ascended into the air and said to Hughes:

"Ivory Harbor is just around the corner. I've already contacted the smuggling organization, and I'll be boarding the smuggling ship this afternoon. Farewell, and I wish you a speedy journey to becoming a full-fledged wizard..."

"Buzz—"

After saying that, Cyrus's eyes flashed with blue light, and the next moment, the metal plate burst out with a dazzling blue light again, and the large halo from before reappeared.

The difference this time is that Cyrus stepped onto the light ring and flew towards the distant port under its pull.

As he passed the ruins of the wooden house, he decisively threw a blazing fireball, which struck the center of the ruins and completely burned them.

"Whoosh—"

On the ground, Hughes and Booth looked up and watched Cyrus depart. The remains of the wooden house were reduced to ashes by the flames, signifying that the last trace of Cyrus in Maransel had been completely erased.

"Knowledge is discovered through one's own exploration..."

After a long while, Hughes murmured to himself, Cyrus's words echoing in his ears.

After three months of study, Hughes had already mastered the elven language in the notebook, and even the magical language within it.

Even so, Hughes could only barely condense a few wisps of energy; he could never achieve the kind of magic that Sotadia could create entirely from compressed elements.

Not to mention that he will also need to add knowledge of ice element shaping science later, and there is currently no starting point for that.

Hughes only fully realized what was happening when Cyrus's words echoed in his mind.

He thought he could rest easy once he got his hands on the notebook. Not only did he use a compression method that was completely from the notebook, but he also copied the notebook's owner's ideas on the principles.

After a brief moment of thought, a glint of light flashed in Hughes' eyes.

He understood the variability of knowledge and realized why even the methods of refining blood tonics and compressing elements could lead to several different approaches.

Those wizards wanted knowledge to completely suit their own needs, to construct a knowledge system entirely of their own!

Just as Hughes was pondering his next move, his vision suddenly went dark. He saw that Booth had stretched out a giant hand, gently picked him up with two fingers, and placed him steadily on his shoulder.

"roar--"

A steady, melodious roar echoed, the surrounding trees swayed again, and flocks of birds flew out of the woods. But this time it wasn't an attack; it was Booth signaling to Cyrus that he had already set off.

As soon as the roar subsided, the massive foot, as thick as an ancient tree, slowly rose and stepped into the distance.