Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

"El, you delivered the fatal blow to this Corrupted Treant. You deserve the most credit. You can handle this Corrupted Treant now, and you can choose the spoils first."

This is the unspoken rule when apprentice teams hunt together.

Upon hearing this, El stepped forward, picked up his tools, and began to dissect the corpse of the corrupted tree spirit.

As the scalpel sliced ​​open the corrupted tree spirit's trunk, a thick, dark green liquid gushed out like putrid mud, splashing onto El's leather gloves and making a faint sizzling sound—the traces of magical corruption.

The tree spirit's woody texture had long been corroded by the corrupting energy, resembling a honeycomb. The veins that should have been transporting nutrients were now filled with twisted black fibers, like countless tiny worms entangled together.

When the dissection reached the chest cavity, the tip of the scalpel touched a hard object. El carefully peeled away the surrounding rotten wood, revealing a crystal core the size of a pigeon egg—the crystal core of a corrupted tree spirit of formal wizard level, and the key to its assimilation of biological corpses.

……

Just as El was about to finish the dissection, his scalpel touched a hard object. He was a little surprised, as corrupted tree spirits usually did not have two crystal cores.

"Could the Corrupted Treant have two crystal cores?"

With a sense of doubt, El pulled out the hard object from the corpse of the corrupted tree spirit—a pure black seed.

El stared at the seed, which was as black as if it had been soaked in ink, its surface covered with spiderweb-like cracks, each crack flowing with a dark purple light.

"It's actually the seed of a corrupted tree spirit?!" the wizard beside him exclaimed in surprise upon seeing it.

El was startled upon hearing this. Corrupted Tree Spirits reproduce through seeds; after a male Corrupted Tree Spirit mates with a female, there is a chance that the female will lay a seed inside her.

The seeds were expelled by the female Corrupted Tree Spirits in their nests, and the seeds sprouted and grew into new Corrupted Tree Spirits under the nourishment of the corrupting energy.

Like most races' official wizards, corrupted tree spirits that have reached the level of official wizards do not easily give birth to offspring. However, if they do manage to give birth to offspring, the probability of that offspring becoming an official wizard is 100%.

El glanced at the seed in his hand, recalling Professor Nord's soul intervention.

El returned to the wizard's tower. He obtained the seed in exchange for not corrupting any of the materials on the tree spirit. Looking at the pitch-black seed, El had a crazy idea.

El had a child, which was no easy feat for a formal wizard like him to have offspring. He even named his son after a distinguished elder in his family—Wolse.

But fate seemed to be playing a cruel joke on him; his son showed no talent for wizardry! Their family instantly became the laughingstock of the other families, and they unanimously decided to expel him from the family.

But after all, they were blood relatives, and perhaps he hadn't completely let go of his feelings like the wizard. He sent Wols to be raised by the royal family of a small country within the territory of the Everfrost Spire.

Although Worth lacked the talent of a wizard, he seemed to have the potential to become the ruler of a country. He spent a hundred years transforming this tiny country into an empire.

He lacked the supernatural powers of a wizard, yet with the wisdom of an ordinary man, he wove a sophisticated network of laws, opened up trade routes between multiple countries, and relied on his keen insight to secure victory in several imperial wars.

However, time erases everything. He died on the first rainy day after the autumn hunt, with half a sheet of unfinished law lying on his bedside, the ink still wet and wrinkled slightly by the wind.

When the news spread, the Empire's clock towers stopped for three days, and the border guards spontaneously removed their armor to mourn their king. As for El—he had already immersed himself in the knowledge of bio-engineering.

El wants to create another Worth! He will use the wizarding talents of a corrupted dryad offspring of a formal wizard level to create a Worth of his imagination!

He wore gloves soaked in soul stabilizer, his fingertips hovering above the seed, his pupils reflecting countless shimmering runes. That was the life of Wols:

From the first tax policy discussion overheard by the second son of a small country outside the council chamber, to the crisp sound of his footsteps breaking the ice as he led his army across the frozen river; from promulgating his own laws to the old bronze plate bearing the national emblem that he touched before his death.

These mortal memories were broken down into countless tiny specks of light, which he pushed little by little closer to the core of the seed, like feeding fish.

"It's not about making you become him."

El's voice was hoarse, filled with obsessive fanaticism.

"It means you should carry his memories—no, his soul—to navigate another life."

The seed suddenly trembled violently, and the dark purple light surged violently, almost breaking through the magic array he had set up.

El groaned, blood seeping from his mouth—the soul of the tree spirit offspring was resisting the primal, wild nature that belonged to the corrupted tree spirit.

They instinctively reject these mortal memories filled with "order" and "responsibility," just as thorns abhor being trimmed into neat hedges.

But an immature soul is hardly the captain's hand of a formal wizard.

……

El looked at the seeds that had begun to sprout, his withered fingers gently stroking the gray sprouts.

"Wols—"

Whispering Forest

A seed was planted in the lair of the corrupting tree spirit, grew amidst decay, yet did not associate with it.

"Chas, could you bring me a copy of the 'Complete Encyclopedia of Esso' for the Kingdom of Los? We must pass through the Whispering Forest; that's the safest route."

"Yes, Lord El."

……

After reading the message from the head of the outpost, El fell into deep thought and then sighed.

"Wols, did you do this...?"

……

Dusk falls

A figure flew out from the top of the tower and headed towards the Whispering Forest...

El's figure pierced the twilight, his black robe rustling in the air. The distant Whispering Forest resembled a piece of black jade sunk to the ground, seemingly swallowing even the starlight.

The wind began to carry the scent of damp, decaying leaves. His descent slowed, and he came to rest directly above the Whispering Forest. From the depths of the forest came a few intermittent cries of crows. El's eyes sharpened, and he suddenly accelerated...

Inside the Corrupted Treant's lair, Worth was counting the remaining Corrupted Treants.

"Seventeen, eighteen..." Wols' hoarse voice came from his mouth. He did not expect these apprentices to be so powerful. Not only did they escape from his encirclement, but they also caused him to lose a large number of soldiers.

"Soldier!?" Worth wondered, what kind of word was that? Why did he blurt it out?

Just as Worth was puzzled, El emerged from the shadows. He stared intently at the "monster" before him. Although he was mentally prepared, he still couldn't believe that this was the son he had been longing for.