Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

On the deck, the scene has been completely transformed, making it impossible to tell that a major battle had recently taken place.

At night, Hughes went up to the deck and boarded the plane, enjoying the distant scenery to ease the shock of the morning's harrowing crisis.

There weren't many apprentices on the platform. Most of them were probably still haunted by the morning's events and hiding in their rooms, too afraid to go out. This was also the first time Hughes had taken a life, but fortunately, he seemed to adapt quite quickly.

"Hmph, another round of screening. Being a wizard is really tough."

A thin figure slowly walked up to Hughes and said with a cold laugh.

Hughes glanced at him indifferently. The man's clothes were clearly out of place with his surroundings. He had thick black curly hair and pale purple eyes that revealed his fatigue.

Unlike his surroundings, he was wearing a tattered leather armor, with dried blood stains making it look very unclean.

The leather armor had some obvious scratches and weapon marks, and some larger holes were haphazardly patched up with black thread that had been torn off somewhere.

Seeing his attire, Hughes thought of the Abandoned Land, where traces of magic were extremely rare. The Great Knights were the end of their mortal system, and the boy's next words confirmed his guess.

"I saw what happened in the hall this morning. Please forgive me for not being able to help you. After all, as a lowly commoner, all I have left is a broken crossbow and a crossbow that cannot pierce the harpy."

As he spoke, he brandished the broken sword in his hand. It was an ornately decorated longsword, but unfortunately, only half of the blade remained.

The remaining blade bore numerous scratches and dried bloodstains, indicating that its owner had been through many battles. Based on Hughes's observation, the boy was likely a formal knight.

"You must be from Maransel. Your skills are truly impressive. Is that witchcraft? It's an intoxicating power. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't intend to investigate further. I was just afraid you would hold my inaction against me."

When witchcraft was mentioned, the boy's eyes lit up with fascination, but then immediately turned to fear. Hughes ignored his performance and said calmly, "To put it bluntly, what do you want from me?"

As soon as he came out of the room, he noticed a gaze that had been watching him, which frankly made him very unhappy.

"plz follow me."

The boy's expression returned to calm, and he performed a noble salute before walking into the door on his own.

Hughes hesitated briefly before following, after all, the boy had no motive to harm him. Was he just after his ring? He should make his move before the headcount was taken. The two walked down the corridor toward the dormitory.

"My name is Holt, Holt Deirdre."

"...Hughes."

They arrived at a room. The apprentices' dormitory occupied two floors, and this room was on the floor below Hughes's. It was obviously Holt's room. After swiping his card to enter, Holt turned around and brought a chair for Hughes to sit on.

"You know that Mo Wen, right? The wizard apprentice who got drilled to death by that giant made of wind this morning. I was standing next to him this morning."

As he spoke, Holt poured himself a glass of water and took a sip.

"His... what do you call that thing again? A storage bag? It got slashed open, and a bunch of things flew out of it."

"I was closest, but I didn't dare take too much. I only took a scroll. It was so chaotic at the time that probably no one noticed. Do you know what it was? A marked map! I..."

"How do you know that mark hasn't been explored by him? And are you just telling me that?" Hughes raised his hand to stop him.

The boy paused for a moment, his expression darkening as he said:

"The location marked on that map is in my country, and Mo Wen was an apprentice recruited from my country."

"As for how I know he didn't succeed? Hmph! My father hosted him. In order to find that place, he slaughtered an entire village. But when he came back, his face was as sour as could be. What's even more hateful is..."

The boy's expression was no longer one of feigned calmness, but instead one of twisted anger.

"...He played his disgusting game on the way to Maranthelle."

"He made us choose one apprentice of third-class or lower aptitude for him every day...to assist him in his experiments...No one could leave the captain's cabin...Every night I could hear screams coming from there!"

"Until that day... Waaah!... My younger brother was chosen too, I couldn't... I should protect him... Waaah... I stayed on the deck all night... but I never went over... Waaah..."

"Hall was brave...he didn't scream...until...that bastard's servant threw something into the sea...I went to see...boohoo!..."

"His entire body was covered in different monster gels... Hall's head... his skin was gone... his eyes were gone too... the eye sockets were empty... This morning I found a lot of human organs in that pile of things, including a pair of... purple eyeballs! Waaah! I'm so sorry Hall, I'm so sorry!"

Holt then buried his face in his hands and wept. Hughes waited quietly for a while, a common occurrence in the wizarding world.

The oppressive atmosphere over the years, coupled with the increasingly difficult path of the wizarding world as one ascends, has led many to develop numerous quirks.

After calming down, Holt continued, "I've been to that town, and that marker should be correct because I found this nearby."

He took a stone out of his pocket. The stone was only the size of a thumb, but it was polished very smoothly and was translucent white all over.

"It can emit different colors of light to predict the level of danger of my decisions, which is why I trust you. I've already tested it, and yesterday I asked about the danger level of going to the marked point, and the color indicated the highest level of danger! As for the cost..."

He lifted his thick curly hair, revealing strands of pale hair beneath the black. Hughes had sensed something was wrong with Holt before, and now he realized that his life force was too low.

"It's about lifespan, I can feel it. My time is running out, but there must be a solution to this problem there. Finding the marker will definitely require it. I only need this; everything else is yours."

"However, that place is very dangerous. I heard from my elders that there is a piece of land in our area where people often die mysteriously after going there."

"I guess they also found stones like these, but they exhausted their vitality due to overuse."

"Even I only noticed something was wrong because my Knight Breathing Technique focuses more on sensing life force."

"But it's too late; noticeable changes in the body mean time is running out."

"Unless... we go back and find a solution... or become a full-fledged wizard."

Hughes didn't speak, just stared at him quietly. The next second, he spoke:

"Let's test whether you're safe now that you've let your guard down."

"..."

Hughes left the room. The prophecy stone was real, and he agreed to Holt's request, since things related to prophecy magic were very rare.