Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

This week, Hughes has been refining the Blazing Ointment and practicing the Shattering Impact. Right now, his strongest techniques are the Shattering Impact and the highly poisonous dagger he obtained from Moken.

Unfortunately, the amount of venom was limited, but Hughes had bought quite a lot, which should be enough for this battle. Hughes even gave it a name – "Venom Fang".

College Black Market

Hughes was preparing to buy some witchcraft tools. His Light Barrier Light Armor had been destroyed by Moken's Poison Fang, and now he only had the Frostbreath Robe, a high-level witchcraft tool, but the Frostbreath Robe was too conspicuous.

Hughes browsed around and decided to book the witchcraft shop, Star Ash Witchcraft Workshop. The witchcraft items sold in this shop were of good quality and had a very understated appearance.

The Star Ember Witchcraft Workshop is hidden at the end of a narrow alley paved with cobblestones. A silver ring is inlaid on the wooden door, and the ring is engraved with a star map.

Hughes entered the store. The windows were covered by dark curtains, making the light very dim. A delicate crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, its faint purple flame illuminating the items on the shelves in a half-light, half-dark manner.

The counter was made from a single piece of dark-patterned peach wood, with faint gold stars hidden in its dark brown texture. A shadow servant stood in front of the counter, his entire body pitch black and constantly emitting dark particles.

Hughes remembered that this was one of the strongest spells among the level zero dark magic, capable of summoning a humanoid puppet composed of dark elements. It could understand and execute some simple commands and possessed the strength of a second-class wizard apprentice.

However, most of them were used as servants by third-class wizard apprentices, and this spell was originally a prerequisite spell for Shadow Clone, which could summon a clone with half the strength of the original body to fight.

All the witchcraft items here are priced, so it seems that bargaining is not allowed. Hughes carefully selected one item, a wizard's robe, which caught his eye.

This wizard's robe is predominantly black, with mysterious purple magic patterns etched on the cuffs and hem.

This wizard's robe is called the "Dark Absorbing Robe." It is a high-level wizarding tool of level zero. It has two functions: one is that it can form an elemental sphere composed of two dark elements, which can absorb a certain amount of magical attacks.

The other is the ability to create a phantom clone that looks exactly like oneself, which can effectively confuse enemies. However, the phantom clone can only move briefly and will dissipate upon contact.

Later, Hughes took a fancy to a simple black top called the "Windwalker's Robe," which was engraved with the wind element magic of lightness, allowing him to be surrounded by wind elements to increase his speed.

The Dark Absorbing Robe was worth 700 magic stones, while the Windwalker Robe was worth 265 magic stones. Hughes piled 965 magic stones on the counter, and the Shadow Servant simply absorbed all the magic stones into his stomach.

After leaving the alley, Hughes still had several hundred magic stones left. He decided to look for magic wands, but after looking around, he found that he either didn't have enough magic stones or the effects were unsatisfactory.

However, just to be on the safe side, he bought a staff to enhance the power of ice elemental magic. The staff was about 1 meter long and was made of two spiraling wooden strips, with only an ice-blue spherical gem inlaid at the very top.

Then, Hughes thought of something and went to the academy's market area, where he went to an alchemy shop called "Smoke and Fire".

Upon entering the shop, a variety of strange smells assaulted the senses, the strongest being the smell of sulfur and frost grass. This place specialized in selling disposable witchcraft tools such as alchemical bombs and slime bombs, which were also referred to by witches as alchemical implements.

This is the shop Nora recommended to Hughes. The goods here are of good quality. During the last expedition, she used an alchemical bomb to kill a wizard apprentice with a black ring crown.

The shop is simply decorated, with various alchemical tools neatly arranged on the shelves according to their type. The most numerous are small and exquisite alchemical bombs, whose outer shells shimmer with metallic luster and are covered with mysterious runes.

And there's a long, narrow ice tube, its body wrapped in a special leather that feels icy to the touch. When tapped lightly, you can hear a slight rattling sound from the filling inside. It's said to release a large amount of ice mist...

The shelves near the back were filled with glass bottles and ceramic jars of all sizes, containing powders and liquids of various colors—key materials for making alchemical explosives.

Hughes looked around and took some of the more practical alchemy tools. After handing over the magic stones at the counter, he had almost finished preparing everything.

He went back to his room, needing a good night's sleep before he could rest properly for his mission. Hughes spent most of his nights meditating.

Early in the morning, Hughes headed to his destination to meet up with his team. Actually, as a potion master, he didn't need to participate in the battle; he could just refine potions in the rear. However, he wasn't a low-level potion master yet, so he had to participate in the mission.

Like his senior sister Lily, who is already a low-level potion master, this time she is responsible for brewing potions for the front line and will be rewarded with battle merits based on the number of potions she brews.

There were few apprentices on the road, and most of them were fully armed and had more or less injuries, making this battle somewhat tricky.

The main issue is that several dragonborn dwarves have appeared on the Frostskin side, most of whom are at the level of third-class wizard apprentices, while a few are at the level of first-class wizards.

Apprentice squads that encounter dragonborn dwarves usually suffer heavy losses. If possible, Hughes would rather not encounter dragonborn dwarves, but he does want to study them.

Hughes's squad is a low-level squad, consisting of one third-class wizard apprentice and three to four second-class wizard apprentices.

The squads are randomly matched by the academy's mission hall, and the members hardly know each other. However, it is said that some third-class wizard apprentices can apply to form their own squads.

Hughes arrived at the meeting point relatively early. There was only one other person there, but the apprentice surprised Hughes slightly – it was Elena Morsold!

She sat quietly on a tree stump, her long, silvery-white hair cascading down like a waterfall, spreading smoothly across the stump behind her, with a few strands swaying gently in the breeze.

Her eyes were gently closed, her long eyelashes casting soft shadows beneath her eyelids, and her slender legs were slightly curled to one side, her posture languid and serene.

Her black robe was sharply tailored, covering her graceful curves, with only a pair of exquisite black leather boots peeking out from under the hem.

Noticing Hughes' arrival, she slightly opened her eyes, revealing pupils as red as his. She glanced at Hughes with her beautiful eyes and then softly said, "Elena Mosold."

The voice was ethereal, that was Hughes' first impression. Then, Hughes said the same thing: "Hughes Craig," and then sat down on a tree stump to wait for the other members to arrive.

The two then formally introduced themselves.