Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

Hughes thought it was an order from Thorne, but when he opened it, he found it was a love letter from Green to Lyra. Hughes picked it up strangely, read it for a while, and put it back after confirming that it wasn't anything secret.

Hughes didn't know which one was Green, since he didn't know the names of the other three male wizard apprentices besides Reber. As for Lyra, she should be the girl he had assassinated.

Hughes continued his investigation and finally found some letters in Reber's room, all from Thorne, along with Reber's diary, which recorded some of his enemies. Hughes also roughly understood what had happened:

Since the major powers of Maranthel have been purged of a large number of Black Ring Crown members, Thorne has found it difficult to hire Black Ring Crown members to do his bidding.

Sending his own apprentices to kidnap Hughes would inevitably arouse suspicion, so Thorne set his sights on the Reber Squad, which had no power and was also secretly involved in some shady businesses.

He secretly deployed the modified Azure Flame Man into one of Reber's missions. After the Azure Flame Man severely injured Reber with its specially made flames, he emerged from the shadows and threatened Reber with the antidote to work for him.

After learning what had happened, Hughes also noted down the wizard Thorne and kept the letters as evidence. At the same time, he also learned from Reber's diary that an apprentice named Bos at Outpost Five was one of their people.

After confirming that all areas had been searched, Hughes prepared to stay there for the night to await Bosch's arrival.

After hiding for a while, Hughes thought of something. He went to the public area and lit a candle. Looking out the window, he could see a faint light inside, as if someone was secretly discussing something.

After doing all this, Hughes found a place to hide and used the Dark Absorbing Robe to release a large amount of dark element to confuse his aura.

Late at night, a figure emerged from the snowstorm and arrived in front of Reber's house. It was Bosch, who was there to check on the situation. He went to the window and looked inside. He couldn't see inside from the outside, but Bosch still noticed the faint light.

"It seems Reber and the others have completed their mission. Now they should be discussing how to get past the search of the outpost," Bos thought to himself.

Then, he looked down at the snow on the ground around the house. Apart from his own footprints, there were no other footprints. However, with the heavy snow falling, their footprints should have been buried.

Without thinking twice, Boss arrived at the door.

"Knock knock... Reber...knock knock...it's me, Boss."

"How……"

"Bang—Ugh!"

The wooden door was suddenly slammed open from the inside by a tremendous force. Bos, who was standing in front of the door, was unable to dodge in time and was hit squarely. He staggered back a few steps before barely managing to regain his balance.

He was stunned by the force of the impact. He realized that something had happened to Reber and the others and was about to run away when a long, slender hand reached out from inside the house, grabbed his collar, and threw him inside.

"boom--"

The wooden door slammed shut, and Hughes sprinkled the prepared powder onto Bos's face. Before Bos could even see what it was, a strong drowsiness immediately washed over him...

Looking at the unconscious Bosch, Hughes sighed inwardly at the close call. If Reber and Bosch had agreed on some kind of code, then this plan would have been ruined.

……

As the effects of the drug gradually wore off, Boss's consciousness slowly returned. His heavy eyelids trembled, and he slowly opened his eyes. The scene before him was blurry, but it gradually became clear after a moment.

"No! I've fallen for their trap!"

Looking at the familiar scene before him, Bos suddenly realized.

Then, a gray-haired, red-eyed boy appeared before him; it was none other than their target, Hughes.

Hughes watched quietly as the apprentice struggled before him. He had already tied Bosch up, and the two were now in Reber's room.

"Stop struggling. I've injected some magic potion into your body. You can't use magic or mental power right now," Hughes said, shaking the empty potion bottle in his hand as he saw Bos was about to cast a spell.

"At the same time... I also injected you with poison. This is not a poison that can be cured by low-level antidotes. You can only get the antidote from me, just like Riber and Thorne, right?" Hughes said with a slight smile.

Bosch felt a chill run down his spine. He dared not disbelieve what Hughes said, especially since the other party was a genius potion apprentice. Potion masters usually had the ability to make their own poisons, and not just any poisons that could be cured by low-level antidotes.

Low-level antidotes are generally effective against natural poisons from monsters, plants, and other natural sources. Potions masters can completely ignore the effects of these poisons, since they are the ones who invented low-level antidotes.

"You...you're Hughes Craig! How...how did you deal with Boss Reber and the others?!"

Bos was horrified, unable to believe that Hughes, a second-class wizard apprentice, could survive an attack by four second-class apprentices and one third-class apprentice, and even turn the tables and kill them all.

Instead of answering directly, Hughes pulled Reber's body out of the storage bag and showed it to Bos for identification.

Although all that remained of his head was a pile of broken skull bones, Boss still recognized his boss.

"This...this is Boss Reber...you—uh!" Hughes punched him hard in the stomach before he could finish speaking, seemingly venting his dissatisfaction at being tricked.

"Ugh... ugh..."

The punch was so powerful that Bos vomited up his stomach contents mixed with blood.

Bos was about to beg for mercy, but Hughes had no intention of letting him go. After all, Hughes had been secretly investigating him for a long time, and he hadn't even noticed! Hughes continued to unleash the Shattering Realm Impact on Bos's body.

His understanding of this witchcraft is not yet sufficient; even with his full strength, it is not enough to kill him. Now is the perfect time to practice his witchcraft skills on Bos in front of him.

"I—ah!!, no…no—ah!!"

A stream of transparent energy kept hitting Bos's body, and his robes quickly became tattered and torn, with many dents appearing on his body. Blood gushed from the wounds, staining his black robes red.

Bos cried out in pain, but his cries could not be heard from inside the room, because Hughes had already drawn a soundproof magic circle around the room, which he had bought from Heleto.

The torture of Boss continued for quite some time, during which Hughes kept pouring blood-replenishing potions on his wounds until Hughes felt that Boss seemed to be on the verge of collapse, at which point he finally let Boss go.

"What do you want to know? I...I will not hide anything!" Boss said fearfully. The other party was simply a demon, but Boss knew that he was still useful and might still be able to live.

"Besides these people, who else is in your organization?" Hughes asked, one of the questions he was most concerned about.