Chapter 1 The Wizard (1)

In a cramped room, illuminated by dim yellow light, a man dressed in a black robe and wearing a mask stood with his back to Lynn. “Take care of the magical herbs in the pharmacy later. And clean up the laboratory, dispose of any unnecessary waste,” he instructed.

Lynn, standing a short distance behind the man, calmly replied, “Yes, teacher.” He crossed his hands in front of him and waited quietly behind the man.

The laboratory, as the man referred to it, was a makeshift single room in the basement. It was sparsely decorated, with long tables strewn around the room, each neatly arranged with various glass bottles and jars containing different kinds of materials. The room was filled with a faint smell of blood and herbs.

At the center of the laboratory stood a large table, and in front of the man was a horizontal operating table that held an unconscious teenage boy. With a syringe in his hand, the man injected the boy’s vein.

The boy’s body began to convulse violently, his chest rising and falling rapidly, and white foam forming at the corners of his mouth. Then, his arm began to visibly distort at the injection site. His arm slowly swelled, and the surface of the skin began to reveal a large number of fine dark green scales.

Lynn had long become accustomed to witnessing such scenes. From the initial feelings of pity and fear, to now feeling numb and calm, he knew that in the presence of this extraordinary man with extraordinary strength, all he could do was try his best to survive.

The man, who called himself a wizard, was named Angley. In the past three months, Angley had captured and used over a hundred people as test subjects for his experiments. 

Lynn was among them, captured while fleeing with a group of refugees. However, after being tested and discovered to have the potential for wizardry, he was eventually taken in as Angley’s student.

In the man’s own words, Lynn, who had the potential for wizardry, possessed innate potential that surpassed that of ordinary people.

Lynn did not care whether he had potential or not, as long as he could survive.

Ten minutes passed, and the arm on the central table of the laboratory had swollen to its limit. The black and red veins inside it were clearly visible in the candlelight. 

Lynn closed his eyes skillfully and silently whispered to himself before a loud bang filled the room.

Boom!!!

The boy’s arm exploded on the operating table.

His flesh and internal organs near the right chest also burst into pieces.

The intense pain woke the boy from unconsciousness, and he let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Seeing the experiment fail, Angley cursed in his hometown dialect in a low voice, then turned and left the room.

Lynn approached and picked up a broom from the corner, sweeping the pieces of flesh off the floor.

“Devil, you’re a devil.” The boy, with only one breath left, turned his bloodshot eyes towards Lynn and stared at him.

Lynn stopped and took out a dagger from his pocket. He walked over and helped the boy take his last breath before lowering his head to continue cleaning up the mess on the ground.

With such a severe injury, there was no way the boy could survive. All Lynn could do was to release him from his suffering.

After cleaning up the mess on the ground, Lynn took out a black sack from the corner and put the boy’s body inside.

Then he turned and went to the next room to fetch a mop and a large black glass jar from the corner. He poured some black liquid onto the ground, and the blood on the ground quickly diluted when it touched the black liquid.

The blood on the ground was quickly cleaned up.

Afterward, Lynn simply put the bottles and jars on the table in order. These bottles and jars contained various items, such as half-tails soaked in liquid, walnut-sized eyeballs, dark green viscous liquid, and pure white liquid.

Lynn arranged the bottles and jars on the table neatly, according to the different properties, sizes, and shapes of the materials, as if he had obsessive-compulsive disorder, giving off an unusual sense of beauty.

This was why Angley entrusted Lynn with the task of organizing the laboratory.

This kid could organize the laboratory better than he could, and Lynn was particularly handy at handling the materials. It was as if he was a born wizard.

After finishing everything, a transparent screen appeared in the corner of Lynn’s vision, visible only to him.

A line of standard black small fonts appeared on it.

“Daily task completed: Laboratory Cleanup (1), Clean the laboratory thoroughly, maintaining its cleanliness.”
“Completion: Qualified”
“Reward: 5 general experience points.”

This was what suddenly appeared in Lynn’s mind after his first meditation session with the meditation technique bestowed upon him by Angley, a task panel that only he could see.

However, so far, all the tasks that have appeared on it are just daily tasks, such as cleaning the laboratory, cultivating magic plants, and collecting materials. 

And all the tasks were just labeled as (1), maybe it was one stage, or maybe the difficulty level of the task was one.

The degree of completion ranges from “Unqualified”, “Qualified”, to “Excellent”. 

There should be higher levels of evaluation above “Excellent”. But so far, Lin has not received any higher evaluation. 

The rewards for completing tasks seem to be only general experience points, which can be used to upgrade one’s level.

‘Lynn

Level: Level 2 (1/100)

Physical Fitness: 1.32
Mental Strength: 1.9

Mastery:
—Earth Ring Meditation (6%)

General Experience Points: 75’

The Earth Ring Meditation is the meditation technique taught by Angley. The core of the technique is to construct a hundred earth rings in one’s mind. 

These rings are interlocked like a tan-colored chain, and if one can completely construct 100 earth rings, it represents complete mastery of the meditation technique.

According to the grand promises made by Angley, mastering the Earth Ring Meditation would lead to the mastery of another one-ring derivative spell: Earth Ring Chain. 

Yes, this teacher named Angley possessed various magical spells and esoteric knowledge.

Each ring on the chain represents a complete earth ring, and constructing one earth ring would increase the mastery of Earth Ring Meditation by 1% and increase the limit of mental strength by 0.1. 

If one can completely master the Earth Ring Meditation and construct 100 earth rings in their mind, it would increase the upper limit of mental strength by 10 points.

Besides this meditation technique, Angley has not taught Lynn any other knowledge. In his own words, the knowledge of a wizard has its own value, and there is a rule among wizards: equivalent exchange.

“Meditation is the only free gift I give you as my student,” his teacher had said. “All other knowledge must be earned through hard work.”

After tidying up the laboratory, Lynn turned and left the room. Outside, a narrow hallway led to the adjacent room, where he washed the mop and hung it on the rough bathroom wall.

Deeper into the hallway, candle wall sconces were spaced every few meters, their dim light barely illuminating the surrounding environment. In the gloom, one could vaguely see the outlines of doors, behind which were the cells that housed the captured “materials.”

There were six rooms in total, with ten people and one monster.

Lynn was responsible for delivering food to these “materials” every day, a menial daily task that his wizard teacher, Angley, did not enjoy.

After three months of being Angley’s student, Lynn had come to know his teacher quite well. 

Angley spent more than half of each day hiding in his room, possibly in meditation.

The rest of the time was devoted to preparing magic potions, conducting experiments, and capturing “materials” outside.

Lynn carried a black sack down to the depths of the hallway, which was lined with barred doors that had been modified to prevent escape. 

He heard intermittent coughing from the nearby rooms.

As soon as his footsteps echoed in the hallway, there was movement from the rooms on either side.

“Please, let me go. My family is rich, I can get them to pay you a large sum of money.”

“You devils, my father is a knight. If you don’t release me, he will come and kill you all eventually!”

“You handsome young man, you can do whatever you want to me as long as you let me go.”

Behind the iron bars were crowded with people, including young and old men and women.

Lynn remained expressionless, tired of hearing their pleas. 

He knew he couldn’t save them. Even if he were to release them from their cells, Angley had set up magic traps on every door and window in the house.

Releasing them would mean death, and it would also put himself in danger.

Lynn knew that even now, Angley did not fully trust him.

He only told Lynn that he had set up magic traps outside all the exits of the room, but did not tell him how to avoid or disarm them.

As he walked to the deepest part of the hallway, closest to the room inside, it was particularly quiet compared to the other rooms.

Through the door, he could see nothing but darkness, but it gave him an uneasy feeling.

Lynn took a key from his keychain at his waist and unlocked the door.

Then, he forcefully threw a black sack inside and quickly locked the door.

Clang! Clang!

The sound of chains colliding and eerie screams could be heard from inside the room.

Soon, all that was left was the sound of mad biting and chewing.

A somewhat muscular man appeared from behind one of the prison cells nearby.

“Sir,” the man was coughing as he spoke, “Could you help me deliver a message?” 

Lynn remained silent. “I may not be able to deliver it.”

“That’s okay, it’s better than nothing, isn’t it?” The man covered his mouth and coughed softly.

“My wife’s name is Bowa. She’s skinny, has red hair, and is probably only up to your shoulder. She went with the refugee team to Bangor Port in the south. If you ever get to see her, could you tell her I love her? My name is Lauren, and tell her that I have always loved her. This is all the money I have on me. I hope you don’t mind.”

The man took out four silver coins with a somewhat dull appearance from his shoe, his eyes filled with pleading.

Lynn remained silent for a moment, then nodded and took the silver coins. He turned and left the hallway.

Watching Lynn’s back, the man clasped his hands together and prayed silently.

——
T/L Bonus: Unofficial illustration of Angley.

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