Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

The middle-aged wizard inadvertently met Dago's gaze, and it was as if a surging chill spread directly from their meeting eyes, bringing waves of coldness that almost froze their souls.

The middle-aged man, a second-circle wizard, felt a chill run down his spine. Waves of cold air rushed up his neck from his back, and even his forehead and temples began to bead with barely perceptible sweat.

He could barely make out what the owner of those eyes looked like—male or female, old or young, tall or short, fat or thin—and had no recollection of the style of the robes they wore.

My entire being was captivated by those icy blue eyes.

Only when the owner of the eyes, Dago, continued walking on the deck did the middle-aged man break free from the binding force of Dago's leaked mental energy field.

"What level of monstrous talent is this?"

The middle-aged wizard, his face slightly pale, muttered to himself in disbelief. Without asking the crew any further questions, he hurriedly left the deck and rushed back to his room, where he remained locked inside.

A ray of cool sunlight pierced through the thin clouds and gently fell on Dago's face, who had his eyes closed. He was experiencing the great sun of this world.

Perhaps there is still room for improvement in his Gray Sun Meditation Technique, even though the system no longer rewards him with improvement points.

three days later.

A knock sounded on the door of the first-class cabin of the airship. Dago opened his eyes, a dazzling light shooting out, but it quickly disappeared, returning to the infinitely tranquil blue of the lake.

He collected the magic array items from the floor, stood up, walked to the door, opened it, and a young crew member stood outside the room, still bowing, and said, "Respected sir, we have entered the icefield territory of Ice Castle."

"Yeah!"

Dago's eyes flickered, and he quickly walked to the window, looking out through the transparent glass.

Before my eyes lay a landscape of towering, snow-covered mountains, with a long, unfrozen river meandering through this white expanse.

The river seems to lead to a valley surrounded by many mountain peaks, and under the white background, traces of a large amount of alpine tundra vegetation can be seen.

"We'll be arriving at the Ice Castle soon."

Approximately how many people reside permanently in the Ice Castle?

Dago asked the young crew member in a low voice.

The latter thought for a moment and replied thoughtfully, "If we include the ordinary people living in the Ice Fortress, the number would probably be around sixty or seventy thousand."

Dago was silent for a moment, then nodded. After the young crew member left, he stood alone by the window, looking down.

A moment later, they left the window and began preparations to disembark. Half a day later, the Zhexing Whale Merchant Guild's airship slowly landed on a clearing in the snow in the Gaoling Basin.

Dago and the wizards on the ship began to disembark one after another.

The mountain valley where Ice Castle was located was much larger than he had expected. It was situated in the valley in the form of a circular town, with rivers surrounding the town and traces of outward carving in the surrounding valleys.

There were also some buildings nestled among the mountains and forests, and Dago could vaguely see traces of a castle on a towering snow-capped mountain directly opposite.

The entrance to Ice Castle town was bustling with people, including wizards and a large number of ordinary people, most of whom wore thick fur robes to keep warm.

The coexistence of apprentice wizards and ordinary people is generally only common in small wizarding communities.

Although there are third-ring wizards in Ice Castle, there are many wizard families within the castle. These families continue and grow by territories, which is why ordinary mortals are needed.

Having experience as a wanderer, Dago knew that finding a local guide would save a lot of trouble when arriving in a new place.

There are many such people at the town gate of Ice Castle. Many of them are ordinary people. Occasionally, you can see wizard apprentices standing in groups on the snow, like a group of penguins huddling together for warmth.

As soon as Dago expressed his desire to hire a guide, a large crowd immediately gathered around him.

His gaze swept across the crowd, finally settling on a middle-aged man in his forties with a simple and honest demeanor and a face full of thick hair.

After he selected the middle-aged man as his guide, the others immediately dispersed. The middle-aged man chosen by Dago seemed quite excited, and Dago noticed that he kept looking at one spot unconsciously.

Dago followed his gaze and saw, in a corner outside the crowd, a plump woman with three children, looking on with delighted eyes.

They look like the man's family members.

"Does your whole family rely on you as a tour guide to make a living?"

Dago asked casually.

"Yes, it's the right season now. The mountains are too dangerous. In two months, when the snow melts a little, we usually go into the mountains to hunt."

Dago nodded; he could see that the man had undergone some basic physical training.

How much do I usually need to pay a day for a job?

"Only two low-level magic stones are needed."

After answering, the man thought for a moment and couldn't help but add, "A low-level magic stone can buy us twenty days' worth of bread. I usually get a job every three to five days, but I have to hand over half of the payment to the Burke Wizarding Family after each job is completed."

The man's honesty was written all over his face; he would spill everything he knew to Dago like beans pouring from a bamboo tube.

Dago thought for a moment, then took out five low-grade magic stones from his storage ring and handed them to the man, saying, "Help me find a better place to stay as a wizard. I'll probably be staying here for half a year or even longer."

"Yes, sir."

The man instinctively took the magic stones from Dago's hand. Only after he took them and realized how many Dago had did he become excited.

He bowed deeply to Dagger and said in the most sincere tone, "Thank you so much for your generosity, sir. Our family's winter will be filled with warmth because of you!"

After saying that, he quickly got up and led Dago into the town without stopping, explaining the layout of the town and the distribution of the wizard families' territories.

It has a strong gangster vibe to it; on the surface, everything seems peaceful, but underneath, undercurrents are surging.

Dago also discovered something about this man: because of the existence of wizard families, ordinary people have more opportunities to come into contact with wizard communities.

However, the gap in status between top-level wizards and ordinary people at the bottom is too great. Ordinary people here show a much stronger respect and awe for wizards, and their lives seem much more impoverished.

There is more than one wizarding family in Ice Castle Town, and there must be a struggle for interests between them. This place is too far away and has completely escaped the control of the Thorn Ring.

Even though the battles between those high-ranking wizards didn't affect ordinary people, the conflict, passed down through the ranks, was enough to exploit those below them severely.

From this perspective, the town of Aynor back then seems relatively benevolent.

After all, the academy preys on apprentice wizards, but is more lenient towards ordinary people.

The middle-aged man led Dago to a place in the town center called "Ice Frog Tavern," which was a neutral zone between wizard families and therefore provided accommodation for visiting wizards.

In addition, the transmission of information about the Ice Castle was very efficient, which quite satisfied Dago's requirements.

Prices here have returned to normal levels for living expenses in the Magic Ring. The room rate is one mid-level magic stone per day, including three meals a day, and additional intermediary services are also provided.

Dargo quickly decided to stay there, prepaying three months' rent. He sat in the tavern for a while, listening to the wizards gathered there chat. During this time, the tavern waiter served him a local specialty of Iceburg.

It was basically just pickled puffin carcasses with a few pieces of coarse bread. After a few bites, he found the bird extremely salty and had a strong, rotten smell; it was an unbearable local specialty for someone with his heightened senses.

This caused Dago to lose his appetite. After discovering that the wizards in the tavern were mostly chatting in the local dialect of Ice Castle, he went straight back to his room, which had been set up with a simple magic circle.

He assigned all his objectives for this trip to the quest broker at the "Ice Frog Tavern," and now all he had to do was wait.

Although Undine gave Dargo two and a half months, he was not in a hurry. His soul and spiritual power were still growing and he had not yet reached a bottleneck.

Five days later, responses began to come to the several things that Dago had asked the wizard broker at the tavern to inquire about.

Inside the Ice Clam Tavern.

The cold, white sunlight pierced through the window, which was barely the size of two palms and covered by thick snow, and fell on the small, round, black wooden table, leaving inconspicuous spots of light.

With ice patterns covering his cheeks, sharp eyes, and a cold demeanor, Dago, dressed in a blue robe with silver patterns, sat at a small round table, listening to a respectful, low-voiced report from a burly, middle-aged wizard broker with brown hair beside him.

"The Huntington family no longer exists?"

Upon hearing what the wizard broker mentioned, Dago frowned and then gave him a cold glance.

"Don't try to fool me. As far as I know, the Huntington family has a third-circle wizard. How could they have disappeared in just a few decades?"

The middle-aged wizard turned pale under Dago's gaze and hurriedly explained, "How could I dare to deceive you, sir? It is true that the Huntington family has a third-circle wizard, but he has been missing for nearly a hundred years."

"Without a core wizard pillar to support them, and having made too many enemies, the wizard family left Ice Castle decades ago to avoid the destruction of the entire family."

"You can find out about this by asking any old person outside."

Dago's face darkened; he hadn't expected things to go so badly as soon as he arrived.