Chapter 175
Five days later…
Angele sat beside a table inside his cabin, carefully engraving a white rune circle on the surface of the brown table with a silver knife. There were two triangles inside the circle and the crystal vial from Isabell was placed in the middle.
The edge of the circle was surrounded by strange runes; there were at least one hundred of them.
Angele kept carving the runes onto the table while blowing away bits of wood.
After about 20 minutes, he finished the last one and lowered the knife.
He felt relaxed, and the knife was quickly absorbed into his palm. He put his hands on both sides of the circle, the rhino blood right between his palms.
Suddenly, something started vibrating in the air.
Two rays of light came out of Angele’s palms: the one from the left was green and the one from the right was red.
The lights went across each other right above the crystal vial and turned into a translucent string. This string was parallel to the stopper of the vial.
It looked like the light rays released by Angele were being absorbed by the rhino blood.
The light brightened up the whole cabin, and it started flas.h.i.+ng after several seconds.
After about one hour.
Strings of white light suddenly rushed out of the circle, and the countless runes outside it slowly vanished into the air.
The light rays slowly disappeared, and Angele lowered his hands after everything was finished. The circle on the table was coated with a light white glow, the rhino blood still in the center.
Angele stood up, looking tired.
"Now all I have to do is wait."
He walked to the door and pushed it open.
A blonde man wearing red leather armor was standing outside the door; it seemed like he had waited here for a while.
"Master Green, this is the Black Rose oil, please accept it."
He put his right hand over the chest and spoke in a low voice.
Angele looked down at a small wooden case beside the man’s legs. Iron needles were hammered into the corners of the case, but its surface itself was smooth.
"How generous… So she was certain that I'll be able to fulfill her request?" Angele smiled. "Tell Isabell I appreciate her trust and I’ll take the reward."
"No problem."
The blonde man nodded politely, turned around, and left.
Angele watched the man leave, then sighed with emotion. He knew Isabell had some strong background, but he hadn't expected her to give away the rare ancient resource so easily. Also, she had told him that she'd visited all the potion masters in Nola. Wizards from average families would never be able to that.
He stepped forward, picked up the case, and opened it. A black ceramic pot was covered in bits of wood. The surface of the pot was rough, and it was sealed with a piece of white waterproof cloth.
Angele removed the cloth and the fragrance of rose permeated the air. The oil inside was dark and sticky; it looked like black honey.
He raised his right hand and several silver needles came out of the tips of his first finger. Angele dipped the needles into the oil.
The needles were coated with a thin layer of black oil after Angele brought them out of the pot.
*CHI*
Dark flame sparked on the needles as Angele lighted the oil with fire energy particles, and the fragrance of rose was replaced by some rotten stinky smell.
"It’s real… The Black Rose oil…"
Angele nodded, satisfied with the result. He carefully blew off the fire and the needles were slowly absorbed by his skin.
He sealed the pot and put it down on the table before leaving the room.
There were only two wizards on this s.h.i.+p, and Angele was not worried that someone would steal his items. He doubted that Isabell’s followers
He had picked the cabin on the deck from the many empty ones on the s.h.i.+p, so he could switch anytime he wanted.
On the right side of his cabin was the railing. White sea waves were hitting the body of the s.h.i.+p from time to time.
The seemingly endless blue sea was pure and vibrant.
The wind was chilling, and it took away the heat of the sunlight from Angele’s skin.
He turned left and walked to the front side of the deck.
Several soldiers were controlling the rudder and checking the sails. The words they were yelling were in a strange dialect that Angele was not familiar with.
Several white seagulls were lined up on the railings while organizing their feathers with their beaks.
Isabell stood beside the seagulls, playing with them.
It seemed like the seagulls enjoyed being touched by Isabell. They twittered happily.
Angele quickly walked to Isabell, and the seagulls flew away after noticing his presence, but they were still rotating above the s.h.i.+p.
Isabell turned around. She stopped smiling, and her expression turned serious in a second.
"How’s the progress? Done already?"
"Last step. Ask your people to guard my cabin, and it’ll be completed in three hours," Angele responded calmly.
"No problem."
Isabell looked at one of her followers. The Grand Knight had overheard their conversation already, so he nodded and walked to Angele’s cabin with his right hand on the handle of the sword.
"What else?"
Angele smiled.
"I just want to know if we’re getting closer to the destination."
"We need to go to a public island first and leave the soldiers there. Also, we need to switch to another s.h.i.+p later. I think it’ll take us about another seven or eight days on the sea," Isabell replied in a light tone. "We’re moving into the merfolk territory. You saw the seagulls here, right? It means we’re getting closer to the land or islands."
"I’m a wandering wizard so I’m not familiar with Nola. Can you explain the system here to me? Like what happens after you join an organization?"
Angele wanted to know the answer to the question since a long time ago, but he did not have the chance to ask when he was making potions in the cave.
"Sure." Isabell’s hair was flying in the wind. "I heard you were a dark wizard, so I a.s.sume your life has been different from ours. In Nola, most of the light wizards will meditate or do research in their own territories. Most of the races around are friendly to us, and we communicate with each other a lot.
"However, Nola still has its own enemies, such as natural disasters, the pollution caused by dark wizards’ experiments, the damage done by ancient races, and wizard invasions. We need to deal with those issues. The biggest trouble is Nola’s relations.h.i.+p with merfolk. There are five markets and 15 towns in Nola, and half of the organizations ruling the towns are related to merfolk. It basically means that we obtain most of our general resources from merfolk merchants. If the situation gets worse, the consequences will be ridiculous."
She stopped for a second, then continued, "If you’re considering joining any organization, my suggestion will be the Six Ring High Tower. They can provide you with the best resources. Also, Six Ring High Tower is the only major organization that is not controlled by a certain family. The Snake Bird Cliff and White Tooth Castle hate outsiders a lot."
Angele was surprised.
"If they hate the outsiders, how do they take in new blood then?"
"They intermarry and combine the bloodline. The Snake Bird Cliff is trying to protect their pure bloodline… and the White Tooth Castle just simply combines random bloodlines. Snake Bird Cliff is not funded by human beings, and they just mind their own businesses, but the White Tooth Castle is fighting Six Ring High Tower at the moment.
"People say that White Tooth Castle is weaker than Six Ring High Tower because Six Ring High Tower has a lot of money and resources, but White Tooth Castle has many wizards that know great damage spells."
Angele nodded.
"So, White Tooth Castle is actually stronger than Six Ring High Tower? But why doesn't the latter recruit more wizards if they have the money?"
"You need to find dark wizards to fight for you. It’s hard." Isabell stared at him. "Also, White Tooth Castle has aligned with Northland Alliance recently."
The two stopped talking.
Angele saw another s.h.i.+p sailing on their left.
It was Kuirman’s s.h.i.+p. He was walking to his cabin through the deck. Kuirman suddenly stopped and turned to Angele. It seemed like he had noticed him staring.
Kuirman shook his head and sneered at Angele before starting walk again.
Angele narrowed his eyes.
"What does that mean?"
"You really don’t know? He has killed dozens of dark wizards, and most of them were wandering wizards like you," Isabell explained. "Obviously, he’s not happy that you’re in the team. He hates dark wizards, and you’ll take a part of the reward."
"Whatever…"
Angele’s brow furrowed.
Isabell looked at him.
"Don’t provoke him. He won’t do anything to you when you’re on my s.h.i.+p, but I’m afraid he’ll try to stab you from the back if I’m not around."
Angele pursed his lips.
"How strong is he?"
Although he was not enraged by Kuirman’s taunt, he was still a bit anxious.
"Just don’t die. I need you to stabilize the rhino blood for me."
Isabell walked straight to the entrance of her cabin after her words.
Angele stood where he was, then shook his head. He felt speechless.