Wizard's Journey

Chapter 176 "Gift" - A Dignified Death

Eight years later.

Clenching his teeth, Green struggled to make his way through the narrow paths of the Demon Hunter Castle beneath the Seven Rings Holy Tower's defensive shield.

Physical constitution differs from mental strength. One can gradually raise one's magical power to the same level as mental strength by simply persisting in meditation. The physical strength, power, and activity of the body's cells all need to be trained to reach the potential level of physical constitution and exert their due combat capabilities.

wheeeeeeeeeeeee...

It's hard to imagine that a physical wizard like Green, with such a high physique, would be so out of breath just from walking; it's really hard to believe.

But that's the truth.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that Green's body and limbs were covered with super-heavy alloys crafted using alchemical formulas. These alloys were originally intended as raw materials for spaceships, but Green had placed them on his own body.

If it were just these weights, although they would affect Green, they would be far from enough to make him so breathless. However, as Green moved, he constantly connected with the power of the earth's ley lines to exert a gravitational pull on himself. The powerful gravity combined with the excessive weight made Green struggle almost constantly.

In this way, Green's extreme fatigue is not hard to explain.

In the sky, two wizard companions flying together glanced at Grimm on the ground. Grimm ignored their gazes and kept his head down, striving towards his pre-set goal. His robes, already soaked with sweat, clung to Grimm's strong, wild body, rising and falling with his panting breaths.

Beside the white stone path is an artificial stream between the Demon Hunter Castles, where fish swim happily in the babbling water, reflecting Grimm's arduous steps.

"Hmm? Good morning, I see you again today."

The one who greeted Green was an old witch with a female face. At that moment, she was walking her beloved pet pigs on two ropes. The two pet pigs were only about 20 centimeters long, with long noses that snorted, short little hooves, white skin, and curled little tails. They were round and cute.

As the sun set, the shadow of the Tree of Life slowly receded from Green's body, leaving a hunched and slender shadow stretching out in the sunset.

"Um."

Nodding and giving a brief greeting to the sorcerer, Green walked past him with his head down, two large beads of sweat running down his forehead to his chin and onto the stone slab.

Hmph, hmph...

The two happy little pigs pulled the wizard away.

After a while.

"Hey, Green, I'm here to keep you company again today. How's it going? Aren't you happy?" Kreta said with a grin as she looked at Green.

A long red and green dress partially concealed Clétie's private parts, yet accentuated her alluring and graceful figure. A mysterious, shimmering gold necklace slipped from her snow-white chest, nestled between her two towering breasts, drawing the eye and sparking endless imagination. Her seductive, enchanting tone was tinged with an inviolable, holy purity.

What a fairy!

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...

The crisp sound of Chrétia's high heels clicking on the cobblestones echoed around Green, and her alluring, wonderful scent lingered in the air.

Green didn't speak, continuing to walk with his head down, his steps heavy and resolute, like a camel walking in the desert, unmoved by anything around him, greedily breathing in the fresh, vibrant air around him.

After one hourglass period.

Kredia stared at the empty stone slab before her and murmured, "This is definitely not the spatial distortion magic principle I learned during my apprenticeship as a wizard. It must be a new development of some kind of spatial ability. This guy seems to be planning to study spatial systems..."

Lost in thought, Kredia shook her head and flew towards her demon hunter castle.

Grimm's Demon Hunter Castle.

The scalding water soaked Green's body, but it did not cause any damage to Green's basic elemental resistance. His strong body stood quietly in the bathroom, surrounded by steam, and his body gradually began to relax and unwind.

Ok?

Suddenly, Green summoned the crystal ball with one hand. Looking at the series of information displayed on the crystal ball's screen, he murmured, "The Shadow Mystery World? It's been almost nine years since the last expedition to the space fortress. Is the demon-hunting team almost ready? This time, the Shadow Mystery World is a joint effort by three Saint Mark Wizards. Achieving victory in the demon-hunting shouldn't be too much of a problem."

drop by drop...

Millie's crystal ball sent a message, and Green did not hesitate. He channeled his magic to connect and quickly dressed.

"Grimm, how are your preparations going? The Shadow of Mystery world, judging from the name, should be quite different from the rules and systems of the Wizarding World. I just hope the environment inside isn't too harsh," Millie said with some concern.

Green frowned and said, "The contract has already been signed, so we don't have much of a choice. As is customary, the Demon Hunter Wizard should have half a month in the space fortress to learn about the rules of the world to conquer and to prepare by dissecting specimens of alien creatures. The Saint Mark Wizard will release the general information about the world to conquer and the specimens of the race experiments. Prepare as much as you can then."

"Um."

Millie nodded and then asked, "How are the soul slaves doing over there? I ran into some trouble; two soul slaves died and I haven't had time to replace them yet."

Snapped!

With a snap of his fingers, four humanoid creatures with black bone armor and skin, each only 1.5 meters tall, stepped out from behind Grimm. He said calmly, "These guys have been modified by me using bloodline witchcraft and my unique wizarding knowledge. Their combat power is enough to deal with a legendary knight who has just undergone low-level bloodline witchcraft modification. Their maximum attack power is about 150 degrees, and their vitality is quite outstanding. Hmm, I'll name them Devourers."

Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!

The four ghouls roared in unison, pairs of black bat wings unfurling from their backs, while a wisp of purple energy emanated from their mouths and dark green venom secreted from their fingernails.

"Huh? They look pretty good. How about you sell me both? You name the price, as long as it's not a witch spirit transaction," Millie said happily.

Green said, "Okay, I have three left over from my reserves. I'll send you two over in a bit. Alright, give me three hourglasses to seal up the lab, and then head to the Dark Wizard Headquarters."

"Okay." Millie closed the crystal ball connection.

The world of Shadow Mystery...

As he pondered, Green walked toward the laboratory, where he began to seal away some experimental equipment and place some experimental materials that might be useful during the demon-hunting campaign into dimensional gaps or world fragments.

"Gah gah, my esteemed young master Green, there's news about the demon-hunting mission. Are you planning to leave?" The myna bird asked Green from the overhead chandelier.

Green, without looking up, replied while tidying up the experimental specimens in his hands, "Yes, it's an otherworldly realm called the Shadow Mystery. You should go and prepare as well."

"Oh... what preparations could a lone myna bird like me possibly make? But if it's a hundred or two hundred years, I'd better say goodbye to my little Angile." The myna bird spread its wings and flew towards Angile Demon Hunter Castle.

Two full hourglasses later.

After tidying everything up, Green sat on the sofa in the living room, pondering if there was anything he might have overlooked.

Fifteen minutes later, after repeatedly confirming that he had not missed anything, Green was about to leave the castle when he caught a glimpse of a servant diligently cleaning the room.

At this moment, Lao Luo's body was almost hunched over on the ground. His thin body trembled as he held the broom. His breathing was heavy, and his wrinkled green skin was withered and lifeless.

Green was able to estimate that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this old bastard would only have two to three more years to live at most.

Seemingly sensing Green's gaze, the old man looked up at Green, his eyes somewhat cloudy, and gasped, "Master?"

Green was somewhat stunned; he had almost forgotten about him.

Green fell into thought. For wizards, soul slaves were indeed less important than some experimental equipment. Just now, he had almost wasted a precious soul seed flame because of this mistake.

Silently chanting a witchcraft incantation, with a wave of his hand, a green flame, invisible to ordinary people, flew out from Old Man Ken's body and merged into Green's body.

The old man, weak and exhausted, collapsed to the ground, and the broom fell to the ground with a "thud".

"Owner……"

Even though he had lost control of the soul seed, Old Man Ken had no will to resist anymore, and looked at Green with cloudy, moist eyes.

He intended to easily finish off the useless material with a fireball, but when Green saw those cloudy, moist eyes, it was as if something had touched his heart. He suddenly stopped his arm and began to recall the bits and pieces of life in the Demon Hunter Castle over the past two hundred years.

Because of absolute control, wizards have absolutely no feelings for their soul slaves, just as humans don't care about mechanical puppets.

However, a soul slave is not a mechanical puppet; it is an independent life form with its own emotional fluctuations and life journey, only its soul commands are controlled by the wizard.

It appears that the wizard has complete control over the body and soul of the soul slave, but the soul slave still has his own emotions. He is still alive, but can only silently watch everything outside his body.

Having abandoned the thought of casually killing this useless soul slave material, Green decided to "grant" this lackey slave, who had dedicated his life to him, a dignified and peaceful final moment before his death.

He casually pulled out a few mid-level magic stones and a bottle of recovery potion and tossed them over, saying indifferently, "After I'm gone, just treat this place as your home. I'll reserve a plot of land in the yard for you; you can bury yourself here someday."

After saying that, Green turned and left, and the castle's wooden door creaked shut.

(End of this chapter)