Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"Let's go find Nicole and the others."

After a brief discussion, the blond youth Valentine made a decision and calmly led everyone in one direction.

Dago followed behind the group. The beautiful witch Ginya was the only woman in the group of wizards. Judging from her attire, she seemed to come from an extraordinary background. She had an air of naivety, but also a sense of being very innocent and protected.

Perhaps for this reason, she invited Dago to join her twice, and her attitude towards him was quite friendly. She would even turn around from time to time and whisper to Dago about places in the vicinity where he might fall into a trap, out of concern that he might fall behind.

As the group moved forward, Dago noticed the stench of decay growing stronger in the air, and the number of animal carcasses scattered in the decaying woods beneath them gradually increased. Some of them appeared to have died recently, lying on the ground with intact bodies except for their heads.

"Buzz~~"

At some point, Dago suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet tremble slightly, and a violent fluctuation of energy particles came from ahead. All the wizards traveling with him stopped, and he heard Ginya whisper a reminder: "We've arrived at our destination."

"Slap! Slap! Slap!!"

Dago looked up and saw the outline of a huge runic magic circle reflected in his eyes.

Inside the thick, solid light barrier of the magic array, countless deep purple vines were frantically lashing at the inner wall of the array. They tore through the air with sharp, piercing sounds, leaving only a blurry afterimage as they swung through the air. Immediately afterward, large ripples appeared on the light barrier of the runic magic array.

These vines are covered with tiny, flexible, and swift tendrils.

At the heart of countless vines lies the remarkably "petite" main body—resembling a sunflower overall, with silver stems and leaves, but a deep purple, round flower head. The central stamen resembles a human brain, and it is surrounded by several long, narrow, needle-like sucking mouthparts.

"It is indeed the Flower of Solomon."

Dago compared the characteristics of the Flower of Solomon that Bernal had described to him, confirmed it was correct, and took a soft breath.

Although the Flower of Solomon is a rare potion ingredient, it also falls under the category of magical beasts.

Moreover, it is one of the more powerful magical beasts in the first ring, otherwise it would not feed on the brains of other magical beasts.

This Flower of Solomon has reached maturity, and the brain-like fruit at its center constantly emits an extremely alluring scent, while its attack methods are extremely fierce.

However, under the suppression of a group of elite wizards, it could only rage in vain.

Beside the rune array, roughly two groups of magic circle wizards were gathered.

These wizards paid little attention to the maddened Flower of Solomon in the center; most of their attention was focused on the people.

The arrival of Dago and his group immediately attracted the attention of two groups of magic ring wizards.

After Valentine, who was leading the group, entered, he walked towards the two groups of wizards. Two leaders also stepped out from each of the two groups of wizards.

The three huddled together and casually set up a soundproofing array, as if they were secretly discussing something.

"If I act now, what are my chances of success?"

Dago stood in the crowd, his eyes fixed on the Flower of Solomon in the center of the magic circle, his gaze shifting as he silently calculated the success rate of his operation.

To obtain the Flower of Solomon, the first step is to break the rune array. He observed that the rune array remained unmoved under the frenzied attacks of the Flower of Solomon in the late stage of the first ring, estimating its defensive power to be close to or even reach the range of the second ring.

The second step is to harvest the fruit of the Flower of Solomon, during which you will most likely be attacked by the Flower of Solomon.

The third step is to leave quickly after obtaining the flower. The first two steps are not difficult for Dago. The difficulty lies in how to escape unscathed from the combined attack of a group of elite wizards of the magic ring after obtaining the flower of Solomon.

Dago roughly counted, and there were about twenty wizards on the field whose strength had reached the late stage of the first ring, combined from the three forces present.

Even if he moves at top speed, the first two steps would still take at least ten seconds, which is enough time for a late-stage first-ring wizard to cast a high-level spell.

In other words, if he decides to take action now, he must be prepared to "take a bath" in more than twenty high-level spells.

"Let's wait and see how we handle these guys."

Dago exhaled, suppressing his restless heart for the time being.

After waiting a while longer, the soundproofing array in the middle of the crowd was removed, and Valentine, who had gone up to participate in the negotiations earlier, walked back expressionlessly.

The wizards on the Silver Thorn side immediately surrounded him. Dago wanted to join them, but sensing a strong sense of rejection, he wisely stood still and waited.

"How is Valentine's attitude? What's their stance?"

As soon as Valentine stood still, one of the wizards who was with him asked a question.

He replied calmly, "They intend to decide the ownership of the Flower of Solomon through a duel. Each of the three sides will send eight people to duel in pairs, and the side with the most wins will take the Flower of Solomon."

"Eight people!"

The wizards instinctively began to count the number of people on their side.

"Including the pretty boy that Gonia brought back, there are exactly eight of us here."

"Yes."

Valentine nodded and said calmly, "It's precisely because of our needs that the number of participants in the duel has been set at eight."

"What kind of preferential treatment is this!"

Some of the wizards' expressions turned grim, their gazes falling on a certain boy in the distance whom they had excluded from the group. "This kid's strength is only at the mid-stage of the first ring. With him around, aren't we guaranteed to lose?"

Some wizards frowned and complained, "We should have kept him out; that way, we would have had a better chance of winning."

Among the crowd, Ginia sensed a hint of blame in the voices, and couldn't help but stand up to defend herself, "No one knew beforehand that the Flower of Solomon would be decided in this way!"

"That's enough!"

Valentine gave a low shout, silencing the crowd's "condemnation" of Ginya.

He gave Ginya a reassuring look and said, "Ginya's original intention was also for everyone's good."

He paused, glanced at the boy in the distance, and slowly said, "I'll see if I can arrange for this kid to go against Nicole or the leader of the Blackroot Thorns team, and try to find the strongest wizard in the other teams."

"They will definitely use the same methods against you."

"Do you have any better ideas?"

Those who had objected fell silent, and everyone else also fell silent.

Valentine swept his gaze across the crowd and solemnly announced, "Alright, everyone get ready. Every battle from now on is crucial for us."

The wizards nodded silently.

"So, have you decided how to proceed?"

Seeing the wizards of the Silverthorns returning one after another, Dago casually asked about Ginya, with whom he had a fairly good relationship.

She forced a smile at Dago. "They plan to decide who gets the Flower of Solomon through a duel. You'll be representing our team, and if we win, you'll definitely get a share."

A duel? Dago was slightly taken aback, somewhat surprised.

But upon closer reflection, it seems that maintaining competition without damaging harmony among fellow members of the Thorn Ring is indeed the most acceptable approach.

Seeing his expression, Ginya assumed he was worried about the upcoming match and whispered to comfort him, "It's okay. When it's your turn and you feel you can't win, just admit defeat. There's no shame in it."

Dago nodded without speaking, afraid that he might accidentally kill the wizard opposite him.