The Wizard World

Inside the underground tunnel, the torches hanging from the brown wall brightened up the hallway, and shadows filled up the gaps between the light.

Angele was walking down the hall. He had already put on his new black robe. He lowered his head. There were blue light dots flashing in his eyes. It seemed that he was doing some analysis.

After about ten minutes, he heard people talking ahead of him. They were walking toward him, and their voices became clearer as they got closer.

Two Wizard apprentices in gray robes appeared at the corner in the front, they were talking and laughing, but they suddenly stopped after seeing Angele’s black robe.

Angele took a glance at the two. It was a male Wizard apprentice and a female Wizard apprentice, who lowered their heads and stood on the side. They did not want to block a formal Wizard’s path.

"The Conjuror Department is up ahead, right?" he suddenly asked.

"Yes," the male Wizard apprentice responded immediately, "The lecture hall is right ahead. Are you here to talk to Master Angola?"

"Master Angola is teaching today?" Angele questioned.

"Yes, I think the class just started," the female Wizard apprentice answered.

"Thanks." Angele nodded. He turned around and started walking again.

The two Wizard apprentices felt relieved only after Angele’s shadow disappeared around the corner.

"It’s rare to see formal Wizards roaming outside during classes. I hope we didn’t offend him," the male Wizard apprentice exhaled once and said.

"I think we didn’t." The female apprentice hesitated for a second.

"Let’s head back to the dorm first. The school is empty. There are not that many people around. The dorm area makes me feel much better," the male apprentice suggested.

"Sure." The two picked up their pace and walked toward the opposite direction.

********************

The Conjuror Department’s lecture halls.

Angele entered a long hallway. There were about ten identical-looking classrooms on the left side and some of them were quite noisy.

In one of the classrooms, they had just finished the lessons. Several Wizard apprentices walked out of the noisy classroom while whispering something. Some of them walked toward the washroom, while the others were walking back to their dorm.

The Wizard apprentices lowered their voices upon seeing Angele walking by. After they saw his black robe, they promptly showed the courtesy of utmost respect toward him.

A male Wizard wearing a white robe walked out of the classroom. He hesitated for a second after seeing Angele’s face.

"You are?" he wondered.

"My name is Angele. I’m a disciple of Liliana from the Faculty of Necromancy," Angele nodded politely.

"I’m Angola, from the Conjuror Department. The pronunciation of our names is similar." The man laughed. His skin color was a bit dark, and he had an average-looking face, but he seemed like a nice person.

Angele stepped forward before he bowed slightly and spoke again, "Master Angola, I think you have the record of all the spells cast around the school, right? I’m wondering if I can have a look?"

"Well, if you need the record..." Angola’s eyebrows furrowed.

"I have the permit of Master Liliana," Angele interrupted him and smiled.

"Great. She did have the right to check the record," Angola smiled as well, "This way please."

"Thanks." Angele nodded.

Angola led the way at the front and Angele followed him from behind. They were walking toward the exit of the hallway. Angele could hear the Wizard apprentices’ conversations coming from behind.

One of the female Wizard apprentices with an attractive body walked out of the classroom. She became slightly surprised to see Angele talking with Angola.

‘It’s that guy! The rank 3 Wizard apprentice with a pair of sharp eyes we met at the garden!’ She recalled the scene she saw by the lake. She was with her friends at that time, and they saw a rank 3 Wizard apprentice with an extremely high Mentality on the other side of the lake.

‘He already broke the limit?! How is that even possible...’ The girl felt a bit speechless and had mixed feelings about this. She felt a bit jealous, but she admired Angele at the same time.

Angele followed Angola. They went across the service area and reached a dark tunnel. There was a thin layer of the red barrier by the end of it. The barrier was blocking the way to the area ahead of them.

Angola entered the barrier directly. A red light flashed upon his body, and he was not blocked. Angele followed suit after him. A black light flashed on his body, and he went past it as well.

The wall in the tunnel was still covered with brown bricks, but Angele knew he had already entered the core area of the school where only formal Wizards were allowed here.

There were strict rules limiting Wizard apprentices’ rights in the school. Angele had read the Wizard’s Handbook. He learned that there was a large underground tunnel system in the area only accessible by Wizards, and some of those tunnels led straight to the surface of the land. It was one of the reasons why Wizard apprentices hadn’t seen many Wizards around the public area. The Wizards tended to stay in their reserved area most of the time.

"I think you already know that we lost several Wizards in the recent war against Northland Alliance, so there are not many people inside the core area at the moment. The core area is about the size of an average city, but there are only about 40 Wizards living here. They spent most of their time doing researches anyways..." Angola shrugged.

"I know nothing about it actually. I just became a Wizard," Angele pursed his lips into a smile.

"For real?" Angola turned his head around and looked at Angele, "Incredible... Your Mentality has almost gasified. I thought you were an old guy who looked young... You’re not kidding, right? Your body is still weak at the moment then, that explains a lot."

"Gasified Mentality?" Angele looked confused, "Nothing about it was mentioned in the Wizard’s Handbook."

"Yea. It’s a common word we use. Mentality solidifies in order to create the spell model that will become your Talent Spell. However, that only happens the first time you break the limit. If you want to rank up as a Wizard, you must meditate and create another individual Mentality model. I think you already know that." Angola stopped for a second before he continued, "The second time you solidify the model, you start from scratch. It’s much harder than the first time considering how Wizards don’t have high Mentality at birth. After the second, you need the third, the fourth, and the fifth. You must start from scratch every time. Moreover, it takes a great deal of time in doing so."

"But you said my mentality is almost gasified?" Angele wondered.

"Yes. I thought you already knew this... A Gasified Mentality has special features." Angola looked at Angele, unwilling to believe that Angele had no prior knowledge on Gasified Mentality, "You have just broken the limit, yet you already gained even greater Mentality as an added benefit. I’m jealous. Gasification, Liquefaction, and Crystallization are three stages you will surely experience as a Wizard. There’s no shortcut to progress in these three stages, and low-rank potions won’t help you either, as it will only affect the purity negatively. You must slowly accumulate it by yourself. Also, never fight unnecessary battles nor waste any resources. Otherwise, your progression through these stages will be hindered. Most Wizards rely on their Talent Spells, while some hire people to fight for them or craft enchanted items to reduce the cost."

"I see," Angele nodded, "Master Liliana has never told me about this. I’ll ask her the next time I see her."

"Is that so? It’s not your master’s fault. It takes time explaining all of these to you. It’s complicated," Angola answered as he walked, "We determine Wizards’ ranks by checking their spell levels. Some people wanted to prepare a high-level spell before the test, but the amount of calculation needed was out of their league. They might experience mental retardation instead if they ever try to attempt something they are not capable of. Some of the spell models will kill them, and those are just common sense. You’ll know these sooner or later."

"Thanks for your explanation," Angele appreciated Angola’s kindness, "So based on what’s written in the handbook, there are several high-rank Wizards in our school, right?"

"What do you mean high-rank Wizards? For us, rank 3 Wizards are high-rank Wizards, and for rank 3 Wizards, rank 5 Wizards are high-rank Wizards. It’s just a concept." It seemed like Angola was enjoying the chat with Angele and was willing to share the information.

"The teachers in the school, including your master, Liliana, are all rank 1 Wizards, but their actual power varies. They have about 300 years as their average life expectancy."

"How hard is it to successfully solidify the second mentality model?" Angele was a bit surprised.

"Extremely hard. If you can rank up in 40 years, you’ll become a top-level Wizard in the school. Liliana and the mind reader are two of the strongest Wizards in the school. They know a substantial number of spells and have many hidden abilities. However, they are nowhere close to rank 2. I think only the president of the school can reach rank 2 in the future."

"What about the rank 7 Wizards I read about on the books..." Angola’s words caused Angele to become appalled.

"It’s different now. There are fewer resources than before. You can probably find rank 3 and rank 4 Wizards in some random cave, but level 7... Have you ever read any fantasy novels? They are like the legendary heroes in those books," Angola explained and smiled after.

"When I read the rank chart, I had thought rank 2 and rank 3 Wizards are very common..." Angele creased his eyebrows, "So Northland Alliance, Santiago, and the other Wizard organizations are just like us? They only have rank 1 Wizards?"

"There are rank 2 Wizards in the organizations for sure, all the Wizard organizations have their final weapons. The rank chart you read was created about one thousand years ago," Angele stopped by a wooden door and pushed it open.

"The rank chart was obtained in a random ruin. A Wizard put it in his book, and it was kept as general information in the library. Don’t trust it too much."

Angola and Angele walked inside the room. It was dark and the walls looked like mirrors. Their appearances were reflected on the walls.

"Date and time?" Angola asked.

"Umm... I need the records of three days before when I returned to the school, which was about 16 days ago." Angele responded immediately.