Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

Logs glanced around and, after confirming there were no other enemies, got up and flew toward Outpost Seven.

The losses at Outpost Seven this time were far more severe than the last, mainly because most of the apprentice squads were out on missions, and the wizard Thorne, who was supposed to be stationed there, had also mysteriously disappeared, resulting in a loss of combat power for the entire outpost.

Meanwhile, the apprentices at Outpost Seven were busy repairing the outpost. The main structure of the building was largely undamaged, but it had been scorched with numerous holes by the ghostly blue flames.

Suddenly—a powerful pressure unique to formal wizards descended, and everyone looked up to see a middle-aged man with white hair flying in from a distance.

"It's Lord Logs!" an apprentice recognized him and exclaimed in a low voice.

The person in charge of Outpost Seven, Nokley, immediately came out to greet him.

"Lord Logs, thank you for your help," Nokle said respectfully, bowing to Logs with a wizard's salute.

Even the leader of the stronghold was only a third-class wizard apprentice, because the formal wizard-level combat forces of both sides were fighting in several main battlefields.

That place is a true meat grinder, where many apprentices and wizards perish every day, inevitably causing Everfrost Spire to lose a great many powerful apprentices.

The establishment of various strongholds was mainly for defending the territory within the area of ​​influence and preventing enemy attacks.

The fighting force stationed there is mostly composed of apprentices, as are the raiding dwarven armies. Therefore, a level one wizard can usually handle most of the problems.

"Where's Thorne?" Logis asked.

"Lord Thorne... he must have gone out on business."

Nokley said cautiously, not wanting to offend either of them, since both were legitimate wizards.

Logs glanced at Nokle, who felt as if his consciousness had been struck a heavy blow. He immediately knelt down, panting heavily—this was merely the pressure exerted by a formal wizard using only his mental power.

"Tell me the truth," Logis said calmly.

"Lord Logs, Lord Thorne has been frequently away these days, and... he hasn't been maintaining the magic array regularly..." Nokle said, his voice trembling, his expression filled with barely concealed fear.

"That madman..." Logs let Nokle go and turned to walk toward Thorne's residence.

……

Thorne was riding a demonized giant eagle toward Outpost Seven. He was in a terrible mood. A whole month had passed since he sent Reber's team to Outpost Five, but there was still no news of Reber.

According to his calculations, the antidote given to them should have been used up long ago, unless—Reber and his team failed their mission!

"No!...Impossible! Serafina has gone to the main battle zone, who will protect her now!" Thorne said angrily.

"Damn it, it's almost done... If only I could have a body with a fourth-level spatial affinity." Thorne said through gritted teeth.

The demonized giant eagle was very fast and soon flew to the stronghold. Thorne found Nokle first. Nokle was dealing with some business at the time. When he saw Thorne return, he was so frightened that he immediately knelt down.

"Lord Thorne... Lord Thorne," Nokle said in terror.

"How's the base? Why is the rune array damaged again?" Thorne asked, frowning.

"It's...it's the Frostskin Dwarves and the Azureflame! They attacked our stronghold again! And then...Lord Logs arrived." Nokle collapsed to the ground in terror as he uttered the last word.

"Logis—did you send him?!" Thorne glared at Nokle.

"The energy shield was about to shatter, and there were few people at the outpost. I...I was scared..."

Nokle's tone softened. In fact, at that time, only the Limit Apprentice and a few Third-Rank Wizard Apprentices remained, but the breaking of the energy shield threw him into a panic, so he had no choice but to ask Logs to come over.

"Hmph, you absolutely mustn't tell anyone about Reber," Thorne threatened.

After saying that, he headed towards his residence. If this Nokle hadn't been a member of the Golden Ring family, he would have already used him for experiments.

……

Thorne returned to his residence, where Logis had been waiting for him for a long time. The moment Thorne's eyes met Logis's, his heart sank, and he thought to himself, "This is bad."

"Thorn Callent, do you think the Academy doesn't know what you've been doing?" Logis said coldly.

"Yes, I have always..." Thorne's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice a little dry. There are also distinctions in strength among wizards of the same level, and the one in front of him was top-tier among first-level wizards.

If Logus hadn't fought so hard on the battlefield earlier, killing two frost-skinned dwarves who possessed the strength of first-level wizards, he would probably still be fighting on the main battlefield right now.

"I never intended to break the academy's rules, it's just that there are some things..."

"Something's up?" Logis raised an eyebrow, and the pressure around him suddenly intensified, as if invisible ice crystals were condensing in the air.

"You think spending so many apprentices' lives on your shady experiments counts as 'something'?" Logis stood up, confronting Thorne.

"What's more, because of your petty troubles, you almost got the entire stronghold taken over by a bunch of barbarians." Logus slowly walked out the door.

"Don't think that just because you specifically target third-tier aptitude apprentices, the academy doesn't mind. Third-tier aptitude apprentices are also the backbone of the academy." After saying that, Logus flew away from Outpost Seven.

"Clang—"

Thorne angrily unleashed his mental power, forcibly shattering the glass bottle on the table.

……

After a month of dedicated study, Hughes finally succeeded in refining a low-level mana potion, officially becoming a low-level potion master. However, he still needs to be certified by the Potions Association.

"Phew, the sixteenth rune."

Looking at the sixteen mental energy runes in his consciousness space, Hughes exclaimed in delight.

Perhaps because his mental energy had been completely depleted in the previous battle, he found that his speed in drawing mental energy runes had also increased slightly.

For the past month, Outpost Five has continued to operate as usual, without being disturbed by the sudden disappearance of the six wizard apprentices.

Meanwhile, exciting news came from one of the main battlefields ahead—Finn Caleb, the vice-dean of Everfrost Spire, had single-handedly killed the Frostbone Beast leader, who was a level two wizard.

Previously, the war between the two sides was merely a war of attrition between first-level formal wizards and wizard apprentices, and Hughes' side was more like a small skirmish between students and apprentices.

Now that both sides have deployed level two wizards, it means the war is finally nearing its end.

The next step is expected to be the final battle, where the Everfrost Spire will advance all the way to the Frostskin Dwarves' headquarters—the Frostheart Fortress—and completely annihilate the Frostskin Dwarves' leader, Durink.

Hughes and his companions finally received a high-level mission—to cooperate with several apprentice squads to capture a small Frostskin Dwarf stronghold.