Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

early morning.

At the center of the Everfrost Spire stands an old clock tower.

The ancient bell hanging at its top has been silent for many years and has not rung again.

But at that moment, flowing ice-blue runes slowly appeared on the smooth clock face, like awakened ice sprites dancing on the clock surface.

next moment.

"clang--!!"

A tremendous bell tolled, shaking heaven and earth, bursting forth from within the bell itself. Its sound waves carried waves of icy blue energy that spread throughout the entire academy.

--clang!!

The sound of the bells echoed throughout the academy, reaching the ears of every student, awakening them and stirring up the latent desire for war within them.

That bell tolls only once every five years; its ringing signifies the official start of the Five Crown Trials!

At the same moment, the other three branches of the Vientiane Pagoda also rang out their own unique bells.

Meanwhile, inside a private dormitory.

As the bells rang, Hughes slowly opened his crimson eyes. He slowly rose, a warlike desire awakening like a sleeping beast, surging and churning within him, impossible to suppress.

"The Mind-Inducing School of witchcraft... actually used the sound of bells as a medium to unleash its power on a large scale?"

Hughes muttered to himself as he got up and went into the bathroom.

The magic of the Mind School generally targets the wizard's mind and emotions, or, at a more advanced level, their consciousness and soul. Naturally, the fewer targets there are when casting the spell, the better the effect.

This mental magic spell, which covered all the apprentices, actually produced such a significant effect on each of them; it truly lived up to its reputation as the Five-Crown Trial.

In the bathroom, Hughes had prepared a bathtub full of medicinal baths especially for himself.

Through the fusion stimulation of these demonic plants, his body can maintain its peak condition for a long time, and even if he doesn't rest for several days, he still won't feel tired.

……

After taking a medicinal bath, Hughes clenched his fist. He felt a sense of relaxation and boundless energy.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Hughes went to the armor rack by the wall. The living silver armor turned into liquid and enveloped his entire body. The moment the armor fit together, the light of the magic gathering array flickered faintly.

Then, he put on his "simple" dark robe, pulled the hood down to cover most of his face, and also concealed his aura.

After doing all this, he stepped out of the dormitory.

The corridors are now empty, with only a few scattered figures moving about in the stairwells. All the apprentices who lived here were third-class apprentices, and they had long since left for the academy square.

Even the Cordolei Bone-Eating Vines on the rooftop have all disappeared, following their owners to the trial grounds.

Stepping out of Froststone Castle, the cold wind whipped up snowflakes that stung Hughes' face, but they weren't cold. He looked up slightly and saw that the large hole in the barrier above had already been repaired.

Pulling down his hat brim, Hughes strode towards the academy's plaza—the very place he first set foot in as a freshman.

Along the way, he could see many other apprentices traveling like him, all of whom had taken out their best witchcraft tools and equipped themselves with them to show off their advantages.

Even those who didn't know the details of the trial had already formed small groups.

They walked in twos and threes, talking to each other in hushed tones, their voices a mixture of nervousness about the trial and barely concealed excitement.

"..."

As Hughes approached the square, the conversations he heard grew increasingly noisy.

When Hughes reached the edge of the square, he found it was already packed with people, all wearing their best witchcraft gear, but with the academy's third-class badge affixed to their chests.

The apprentices made no attempt to conceal their aura; the magical halos emanating from them surged like a tide.

Among this group of third-class apprentices whose auras surged freely, there were also quite a few obviously weaker figures mixed in.

They were second-class apprentices who dared to challenge the Five Crown Trials, either for the academy's precious battle merits or to prepare for the next trial.

Of course, there was one exception...

Moor was huddled trembling in the crowd, his magnificent elven robes covering him completely, as if he wanted to hide himself inside the fabric.

He was naturally forced to come by Hughes, and his purpose was to guard against the conspiracy hidden by the mold maker.

Of course, Mor himself was unaware of this. He endured the contemptuous looks from those around him, his eyes searching for Hughes's figure with a sinister glint in them.

With the support of the Chess family, even someone with only third-class aptitude could potentially become a third-class apprentice.

However, Hughes would occasionally come knocking on his door, cutting back on the resources his family sent him, thus keeping his meditation progress stuck and unable to advance an inch.

As for his target—Hughes—he stood silently at the edge of the crowd, discreetly huddled in a corner, searching for familiar faces among them.

He naturally noticed Mor, but didn't pay much attention to him, since he had already marked the teleportation point on Mor.

When the time is right, he will go and find out for himself, and disrupt the mold maker's conspiracy.

Scanning his surroundings, he didn't seem to find any trace of the Limitless Apprentices in the crowd, but he did notice a few familiar figures among the dense crowd.

Elena was undoubtedly the most eye-catching; her cool and alluring face, as well as her amazing talent, attracted the attention of everyone present.

She was also dressed in a black robe, with a few beautiful strands of silver hair falling from the edge of the hood.

Upon seeing her, Hughes couldn't help but recall that night, the vampire lady who bore a striking resemblance to her.

However, Hughes didn't pay much attention and simply turned to continue observing the crowd around him.

What he didn't notice was that, in the instant he turned his head, the other person's eyes under the hood flickered slightly, as if glancing at him unintentionally.

Hughes glanced around briefly. Nora and several third-class apprentices he had met in the dormitory were standing in different places. As for his classmates, he did see one or two unfamiliar fourth-class talent apprentices.

Of the apprentices who were in the same cohort as Hughes, only a handful have now been promoted to third-class apprentices.

After all, although this is a prestigious high-level wizarding academy, it is ultimately just a branch on a certain plane or continent.

The academy's minimum requirement is a third-class qualification, and with only five or six years of experience, it is naturally difficult for an ordinary person to advance to a third-class apprentice.

Of course, there were also people like Hughes who, despite having only a third-class initial aptitude, still managed to advance to the third-class apprentice level.

Rice was among them, though his species had probably long since transcended the realm of humans.

Even when the crowd was so dense that there was no space between them, the people around him kept a distance from him.

He still wrapped himself up tightly in that black robe, but unlike before, thick black smoke was slowly drifting out of his hood.