Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"Waaah—"

The magical airship emitted a tremendous, air-shaking hum, like a magnificent and mysterious silver whale breaking through layers of clouds, seemingly slow but actually fast, as it glided through the vast expanse of clouds.

Wearing a robe covered in intricate gold patterns, Undine stood quietly on the top floor of the airship. Her long, waterfall-like hair cascaded down to her ankles, her skin was as bright and white as moonlight, her features were exquisite, and her blue-violet eyes were captivating. She was like a dignified, elegant, noble, and beautiful goddess, radiating an irresistible charm.

At least half of the young wizards on the airship deck below were secretly watching Undine, including two of the same female wizards.

A figure dressed in an elegant robe slowly walked up from behind Undine and gently called her name.

Undine turned around and saw a middle-aged man with unusual features.

The man's hair was mostly chestnut brown, with many silver-gray metallic strands mixed in.

He was very handsome, but there was a patch of what looked like damage and corrosion on his right cheek and eye. Instead of an eyeball, there was a gold pocket watch embedded in his eye socket, with tiny transparent runes jumping on the dial from time to time, making him look deep and mysterious.

"Undine".

A middle-aged man with a gold pocket watch-like eye walked up to Undine and stood beside her at the bow of the boat, asking her in a gentle tone.

"Where are the people from your Silver Tower this time? I heard that you recently discovered a talented young man who possesses the bloodline of an ancient overlord, and Violet, who is also fully qualified to explore the front lines of the core secret realm."

"He's still very weak, having only just advanced to the second ring. His combat strength is entirely supported by the power of his ancient bloodline. The front line of the core secret realm is not suitable for him. As for Violet..."

Undine hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Carlos specially transferred him to the second line, and gave him a piece of Earth Core Crystal as compensation."

"Did Carlos deliberately move Violet to the second tier?"

The middle-aged man in the luxurious robe frowned slightly, the golden runes in his eye sockets flashing rapidly.

"Yes, he was in charge of leading the exploration of the second core area. Perhaps he has some other plans and needs to use Violet."

Undine answered.

The middle-aged man nodded and didn't continue the topic. He put his hands behind his back and looked down at the group of magic circle geniuses on the deck below with Undine.

Their gazes were mostly focused on a young man with short, blond hair and a dazzling appearance.

The middle-aged man's eyes occasionally revealed emotions such as appreciation, satisfaction, and admiration, while Undine's eyes, as she looked at the young man's back, were filled with more of a sense of reminiscence.

"Barker is growing so fast. It feels like just yesterday that he first asked me for alchemy advice and he had just advanced to the second ring. Now he's almost at the same level as us."

The middle-aged man sighed, "The bloodline talent of the West family is perfectly embodied in him. Although he is not yet fifty years old, his foundation is as solid and stable as that of old wizards who have studied for three or four hundred years."

"During this exploration of the Mirror Forest, I have high hopes that he can rival the twin stars of the Thunder Tower and the Dark Crystal Cult."

Undine listened silently to the middle-aged man's words, but her mind seemed to be completely elsewhere than on the topic of "Barker." Instead, just as he finished his remarks, she blurted out a sentence that seemed to have nothing to do with the topic.

"One hundred and ten years have passed since the Mirror Forest was discovered."

The middle-aged man paused, turned to look at her, and seemed to realize something. He said in a low voice, "You're thinking about your brother Jonas again?"

"Every night when the Moon of Origin appears and disappears, I think of him. If the Mirror Forest had been discovered a few years earlier, would he have listened to Avery's arrangement, left the Thorn Ring, and gone to find the so-called path to a higher place?"

"No, you're wrong, Undine."

The middle-aged man shook his head. "Jonas's personality dictates that he will never stay in one place for too long. Nothing in this world can bind him, not even your grandfather Avery. He is a free bird, destined to fly far away. All you can do is wait for his return."

Undine was silent for a moment, then finally spoke in a low voice: "But I can't wait any longer. The lamp of his soul that he left me when he left is almost extinguished. In ten years at the latest, I will have to leave the Thorn Ring to follow in his footsteps until I find him."

The middle-aged man fell silent, the gold pocket watch in his eye socket making a soft "click-click-click" sound. After a long while, he slowly let out a long sigh.

.....................

.......

"Dago, it's time for us to board."

Violet reminded Dago to fly ahead towards the second giant magical airship that had begun to glow.

At the same time, Dago also received a notification from the Ring of Law that he was indeed included in the list of explorers on the second line of the Secret Realm. The number of wizards going to the Mirror Secret Realm in the second batch was much larger than that in the first batch, but it was still a small number in the overall population.

He calculated that, including himself, only thirty-six people from the Thorn Ring were qualified to board the second spellship, averaging just nine people per tower.

It is conceivable that the exploration operation launched this time in the Mirror Realm is of a high standard. The stricter the division, the better the protection for the wizards under the various forces.

Those ordinary members of the first and second rings will likely miss the first opportunity to enter, and will have to wait until the second or even third batch to have a real chance to explore the core area of ​​the Mirror Forest.

As usual, Dago received a lot of extra "attention" when he boarded the ship with Violet. His apparent strength was always a "fatal flaw", which always made him feel like a "husky" mixed in with a pack of wolves.

Only wizards from the Silver Tower knew his background, and even then, it was limited to Claytam City. Very few people outside of Claytam City had heard of him.

The second giant magical airship was also led by a tower master-level figure. He was enveloped by a powerful spiritual field, and Dago could not see his specific appearance. He could only sense that he was male and had an unusually robust physique.

The second magical airship quickly started up as well, its hull emitting a blinding light. It suddenly blurred and distorted for a moment before breaking through the sky and flying rapidly in one direction.

Dagger was slightly surprised that the direction Buckel and the others had gone was completely opposite. Violet then explained, "There are three entrances to the core area of ​​the Mirror Forest. We are going to one of them now, and its location is quite far from the other two."

Dago understood.

This is routine for Mirror Forest, which specializes in spatial magic. For spatial magic, there is no such thing as a real distance or difference in location.

Two doors, seemingly from opposite ends of the country, lead to the same place – this is perfectly normal.

This is absolutely the fastest magical airship Dago has ever ridden in; it is a super airship belonging to one of the foundations of the Wizarding Merchant Guild, Star-Covering Whale.

After flying for less than two hours, the airship slowed down and finally came to a stop over a super huge lake.

If it weren't for Dago's exceptional eyesight, which allowed him to vaguely see the edge of the lake, he would have almost mistaken it for the sea.

The entire lake, as vast as the sea, was completely still, without a ripple or a wave. The surface of the lake was an eerie pale silver color. There were living beings, but they all lived below the surface and could not emerge, as if looking at the world inside through a mirror.

After the airship stopped, no one told them to disembark. Dago and Violet stood on the edge of the boat, looking in another direction. There were three other airships on the lake, each from a different wizarding faction.

"Black Swamp, Water Palace, Lava Brotherhood."

Violet pointed out the three distinct wizarding factions to Dagger with her hand. He frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "For some reason, I didn't see the Dark Crystal Cult or the Thunder Tower's airships."

Dago's gaze moved across the airships of the three major wizarding factions. Among them, the Black Swamp airship had a very obvious dark wizarding style. The whole thing looked like countless bones of different sizes pieced together. The bow was a giant skull of some unknown creature, and the whole thing was emitting billowing black smoke. Even the light from the rune array was dark green.

The other two are airships with a style that appeals to normal people.