Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

Hughes picked up the communication crystal and looked at it, only to realize that it was a message from Holt.

In the message, Holt told Hughes that everything was ready and he could come to make the prophecy soon.

A month earlier, Holt had already been promoted to a third-class wizard apprentice. After he had adapted for a few days, Hughes asked him to perform a prophecy.

Holt readily agreed, after all, this was the reward they had agreed upon when Hughes helped him obtain the Dewdrop Flower last time.

However, having just been promoted to third-class apprentice, he still needs to learn new divination techniques, become familiar with various rituals, and prepare materials.

Therefore, he was finally able to begin his work on the prophecy concerning Hughes only on the eve of the trial.

……

"Whoosh—!!"

In the cold wind, Hughes nimbly traversed the steep ice cliffs, his body moving like an arrow through the ice ridge mountains, the icy wind swirling around him, leaving a pale blue trail behind him.

Holt and his agreed-upon prophecy location was in the Ice Ridge Mountains.

According to the other party, since the object of the prophecy is oneself, the thread of fate must be wrapped in ice so that it will not break so easily.

Soon, Hughes climbed to a flat area with a thinner layer of snow and saw a small wooden house in the distance.

It stood alone in the boundless snow curtain, completely out of place with the surrounding snowy landscape.

Reaching the front of the cabin, Hughes knocked on the door.

"Knock knock—"

A moment later, Holt's voice came from inside the cabin:

"Enter……"

"Crunch—"

Hughes pushed open the creaking wooden door and stepped into the cabin.

The fireplace by the wall was burning brightly, warming the room and instantly dispelling the chill from his body.

The firelight flickered, illuminating Holt's figure deep within.

Holt sat upright in the oak chair and looked up when he heard Hughes push open the door.

"Long time no see, Hughes."

As he spoke, he slowly stood up, his body no longer hunched over.

Hughes then realized that the aura around the other person was completely different. The sense of vicissitude had completely disappeared, replaced by a strong and surging life force.

What caught his attention even more was Holt's face.

The loose wrinkles on his face had completely faded, his originally gray curly hair had returned to black, and even his cloudy eyes had become clear.

At first glance, he looked exactly like the somewhat disheveled Holt from our first meeting, with no trace of aging to be found.

"It feels so good to be young, doesn't it?"

Noticing Hughes's gaze, Holt shrugged and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

His tone was lively and powerful, the previous hoarseness long gone, and every sentence was firm and resounding.

Hughes nodded noncommittally:

"Indeed, you look even more energetic now than when we first met."

His gaze swept across the room and was quickly drawn to the central arrangement.

On the smooth wooden floor, there were crushed ice crystals scattered everywhere, emitting wisps of cold air. Several golden runes floated above, intertwined, outlining intricate and orderly patterns.

"This is... the new prophecy ritual you've learned?"

Hughes walked to the side of the ceremony, leaned forward slightly, and peered curiously at the patterns on it.

"Well, but I advise you not to look at it too closely yet."

Holt walked over and stepped on the ice crystal fragments, but there was no "crunching" sound of the fragments squeezing against each other.

"These arrangements are maintained entirely by my prophetic power. The ritual hasn't started yet, and if you stay too close, you'll easily disrupt the balance within the formation."

As he spoke, Holt embedded four gleaming ice stones into the nodes of the pattern.

The moment they made contact, the golden runes suddenly lost their levitation force and, as if drawn by an invisible force, surged toward the Ice Soul Stone, firmly attaching themselves to its angular surface.

Immediately afterwards, Holt flipped his wrist, and the small stone called "Whisper of the Soul" appeared out of thin air in his palm.

"I'm completely bound to it now, and besides predicting the level of danger, it can also make other predictions."

Holt smiled slightly and placed the "Whisper of the Soul" in his palm on the Ice Soul Stone at its very center.

His movements were unhurried, but in stark contrast, his expression suddenly became somewhat stiff, and fine beads of cold sweat seeped from his forehead, slowly sliding down his hair.

Hughes didn't notice that Holt had referred to "it" as "he," and simply nodded, following Holt's advice to distance himself from the ceremony that had not yet begun.

Looking at the "Whisper of the Soul" in the distance, which was not much different from before, Hughes couldn't help but marvel at Holt's good fortune.

Apprentices of the prophetic school naturally have magical implements of the linguistic school, but due to the scarcity of prophetic wizards, such magical implements are not numerous.

Because of the power of prophecy involved, the fate of the forger who creates such magical tools may be affected, for better or for worse.

Fortunately, it seems that the "Whispers of the Soul" in Holt's possession is not only an unknown treasure, but also a prophetic artifact.

After being promoted to the third rank of apprentice, the apprentices of the prophetic school begin to see the lines of fate and have the ability to fine-tune their own lines of fate.

Therefore, if an apprentice possesses prophetic tools, he can fine-tune his own thread of destiny, binding the two together.

The advantage of this is that, firstly, as the host's realm improves and the thread of destiny strengthens, the magical artifacts will also be upgraded.

Secondly, due to the binding relationship, the witchcraft can also provide real-time feedback on significant developments related to the host's fate without incurring any cost, but it will damage the witchcraft itself.

Clearly, Holt chose this unknown stone as his prophetic tool.

After a long while, as Holt strangely raised his hand and waved it in the air several times, the prophecy ritual could finally begin.

Holt looked up, his eyes already filled with a dense white light.

"Please stand at the edge of the ceremony, Hughes."

Holt spoke up.

"This way, I can see the line of your destiny more clearly."

Without hesitation, Hughes walked to the side of the ceremony. The moment his boots touched the surface of the ice crystals, an invisible chill instantly rushed into Hughes's body.

In Hughes's perception, this chill seemed to have formed a strange connection with him.

The moment Hughes stood still, Holt initiated the prophecy ritual.

His tone suddenly changed; the lively and powerful youthful voice he had spoken before vanished, replaced by a cold and low timbre.

The sound seemed to echo from beneath ancient ice layers, carrying the weight of time:

"With the winds of the Ice Ridge Mountains as my guide, and the century-old ice crystals as my witness, I, Holt Deirdre, a third-class apprentice of prophecy, have now, by sheer luck, unraveled the threads of fate and initiated this prophetic ritual!"

—Buzz!

Hughes felt a tremor in his heart, perhaps because the tightly bound threads of his fate had loosened slightly at this moment.