Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

He was covered in rotting bark and withered branches. The bark was twisted into a hideous fold on his face, and the roots were twisted and coiled around his eye sockets, like two eyes without pupils, staring straight at him.

"What am I doing, creating such a monster?"

Looking at that distorted face, El realized what a crazy thing he had done. He hadn’t seen Worth since he planted the seed. In fact, he didn’t want to see his son turn into a twisted monster.

"Father..." Worth said in a hoarse voice.

Hearing this cry, El's heart skipped a beat. He had sent Worth to that small country before Worth could even remember, and he had never heard Worth call him father before…

Seeing that the human in front of him paused briefly after he uttered the words that had flashed through his mind, Wols quickly summoned the corrupted tree spirits around him, who swarmed towards the human.

But Wols clearly underestimated the true power of a formal wizard. El came to his senses and casually pointed a finger, and a blazing ring of fire rose around him.

Flaming tongues spewed out waves of scorching heat, forcing the onrushing corrupted tree demons to retreat repeatedly, their bark instantly scorched black.

El pushed his hands outwards with a sudden force, and the ring of fire that had been surrounding him broke free and spread outwards with crackling sounds.

As the flames passed, even the air itself was distorted by the heat, engulfing the surrounding tree spirits and the distant Wols in flames.

The Corrupted Tree Demon's lair was instantly engulfed by raging flames. Twisted branches crackled in the flames, rotten bark curled and charred, and thick black smoke carrying the stench of burning rose up, dragging the entire lair into the sea of ​​fire.

The corrupted tree spirit emitted a teeth-grinding hiss as it was licked by the flames, and soon disintegrated into charred fragments in the high temperature, leaving only a pile of red-hot ashes that scorched in the firelight.

"The soul intervention experiment was a success..." El said expressionlessly.

As the flames subsided, only scorched earth remained of the former decaying lair. Broken trees stood silently in the wind, their charred branches pointing towards the gray sky. The air was still filled with the acrid smell of smoke and the bitter taste of burnt vegetation.

The wind swept across the open space, stirring up fine charcoal dust.

"This is just an experiment."

……

The tavern at Outpost Five always had a lingering smell—a mixture of sulfur and the sour aroma of ale, with a faint hint of blood.

The black iron sign creaked in the draft, with a broken wine glass drawn on it in charcoal, and the edges of the sign were blackened by smoke.

Several simple rectangular wooden tables were casually placed in the room, their surfaces stained black with wine, and the old wooden floor bore many wand marks.

The apprentices' cloaks were still dripping with mud, some had rolled-up sleeves revealing unhealed wounds on their arms, and some reeked of a lingering stench of decay.

The atmosphere in the tavern was somewhat subdued, with the apprentices silently drinking to relieve the fatigue and tension of the battle.

By the window, Hughes, Heleto, and Jovin were drinking together. The morning's battle had made them somewhat familiar with each other, so Heleto suggested that everyone have some drinks and chat.

However, Elena was injured and needed to rest, and Vilia was even less likely to drink alcohol, especially since some of the magic wine was fermented by her own people.

The group hadn't known each other for more than a few days, and they all silently drank the not-too-strong magic wine in their hands.

"Hughes".

Heleto broke the silence first, downing his drink in one gulp, which flushed his pale cheeks slightly.

"Hughes, is your teacher Seraphina?"

Heleto asked.

"Yes"

"That's good. Lady Serafina is a highly skilled potion master and a good teacher. However, we thought you were planning to become a rune master. My teacher was quite disappointed when he learned that you had chosen to become a potion master," Heleto said.

Hughes sensed a lingering implication in Heleto's words, but instead of immediately pointing it out, he gently followed up:

"When mixing potions, watching those materials of different shapes slowly blend together in the vessel and eventually condense into a liquid with miraculous effects—this feeling of personally creating miracles is something I have never experienced anywhere else."

"Haha, then I wish you become the youngest Potions Master."

"Thank you, the youngest rune master."

Jovin's mouth was stuffed full of fragrant frost wolf meat, and greasy sauce dripped down his chin. He mumbled an indistinct "mmm," with half a piece of sinewy meat still stuck in his silver fork, but his eyes were wide open, staring straight at Hughes.

"You...you even understand runes?"

He swallowed the meat in his mouth with difficulty, his Adam's apple bobbing twice, and then quickly forked up another piece and stuffed it into his mouth.

"All I know is that you're good at concocting medicines. Our boss, Rice, has mentioned you in front of everyone and has even sent people to buy potions from you."

Hughes frowned almost imperceptibly, glanced at Heleto, then turned to Jovin and said in a flat tone:

"Don't listen to his nonsense." He tapped his fingertips lightly on the edge of the table, avoiding Jovin's probing gaze.

"I only attended one or two introductory rune classes and happened to answer a few questions from Instructor Herreto in class, which made him take a second look."

He ran his fingertips along the cool rim of the glass, adding casually:

"Thinking about it later, the proportions and timing of potions were already enough to take a lot of effort. If I were to spend even more time figuring out the inscription of runes and the flow of magic, I simply couldn't handle it. So I stopped the rune class and focused all my energy on learning how to make potions from Lady Serafina."

Jovin hadn't finished chewing the frost wolf meat in his mouth when he heard this and gave a vague "oh," but he clearly didn't believe it completely and focused on dealing with the roasted meat on his plate.

Watching Jovin eat the roasted meat so rudely, Hughes secretly shook his head. This guy really didn't have a trace of the elegance that elves should have.

Then, Hughes turned to look at Heleto, his eyes filled with a knowing inquiry, and tapped the table lightly with his fingertips.

The vague doubts from before suddenly became clear—it wasn't some casual get-together at the tavern; Heleto was clearly looking for a reason to invite him out to say these things.

Heleto noticed Hughes's gaze, raised his hand to his chest, and secretly drew a few Esso characters. Hughes, who was familiar with Esso, immediately understood what he meant—"private talk" and "8 o'clock".

……

夜晚

Hughes arrived at Heleto's door, which was ajar and unlocked. He touched it lightly with his fingertips, and the door slid open silently.

The rich scent of ink wafted through the air as Heleto sat at a wooden table, studying something, his quill pen moving rapidly across sheets of parchment.