Wizard's Book 1

Taking the leather-bound volume Adolf had given him, Anglie left the villa directly and took a carriage back to the academy.

As he entered the dormitory building, the middle-aged guard who managed the dorms called out to him.

"Young Master Anglie, a letter came for you. And a servant delivered something just now. Come in and take them." The guard was a middle-aged man with messy hair and a bulbous red nose. He held a wineskin as he spoke, already drinking himself into a muddle, and his words were somewhat slurred.

"Thanks, Uncle House." Anglie smiled and nodded. He entered the guardroom, accepted a small black parcel and a letter, then quickly returned to his room.

After carefully shutting the door, Anglie set down the parcel and envelope in his hands. Carrying the book, he sat before his desk and laid it flat on the tabletop. He took a deep breath, trying hard to calm his anticipation and excitement, then began examining the book closely.

Its cover was brownish yellow. A black ear design sewn with silk thread covered nearly half the front cover. In the lower-right corner was a line of tiny words: Written by Berkewilly. The entire book was extremely thick, about the size of a large English-Chinese dictionary. It probably weighed four or five pounds. Only after his emotions had completely settled did Anglie straighten himself and gently turn open the first page.

"Zero, begin recording the data," he silently ordered at the same time.

"Recording initiated." Chip swiftly activated its recording function.

On the first page of the book, on the brownish-yellow parchment, there was only a single line in the middle:

I am listening...

The handwriting was somewhat messy and appeared to be some kind of symbol, but it was actually merely ordinary Angmar Script. Like a row of tiny black tadpoles, it sat in the very center of the page.

Anglie stared at the line, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. He frowned at it for a long while without turning the page.

By evening, it had grown increasingly dim outside. Moonlight spilled in through the window bit by bit, as though draping everything in the room in a layer of white mist. The yellow flame of the oil lamp on the desk shone over Anglie's face, casting dark shadows in his eye sockets and beneath his nose.

After quite some time, Anglie slowly turned to the second page, though his brows remained tightly furrowed.

The second page held a colored illustration. An aristocratic lady wearing a white lace dress and a small red round cap sat quietly before a mirror, facing the book with elegant poise. On her fair, beautiful, full-featured face, a pair of jet-black eyes seemed to be watching Anglie. The painting was exquisitely lifelike, as though the portrait were a living person. Anglie's expression changed slightly. He leaned closer and carefully examined the picture. Even the lady's tiny facial pores had been dotted in.

Whoosh...

A faint breeze blew in from outside the window.

Bang! The wind slammed the window hard against its frame. Anglie hurriedly got to his feet, shut the window, and sat back down. But when he looked at the page again, he was suddenly startled.

On the page, the aristocratic lady's portrait—whose small mouth had originally been tightly closed—now had her lips slightly parted. She looked at Anglie as if she wanted to say something.

"I am listening..." Anglie suddenly remembered the words he had seen earlier. His scalp tingled slightly.

The room was utterly silent. Even the usual noisy voices outside had vanished. The insects that normally chirped beyond the window had also fallen quiet. A heavy, oppressive feeling spread through the air.

A layer of goosebumps rose faintly over Anglie's body. His right hand gently pressed against the cross sword at the edge of the desk. An inexplicable sense of danger seemed to be closing in on him from some bizarre angle.

"Zero, analyze everything around me. Report immediately if you detect anything abnormal," Anglie silently issued the command.

"Task established. Beginning analysis..." Chip faithfully carried out the order. Yet for the moment, it gave no feedback at all. This made Anglie relax slightly. His gaze returned to the page—then terror abruptly surged up in his heart. The mouth of the aristocratic lady's portrait had opened even wider, and her expression had become one of unbearable agony. Her face was full of despair, her eyes rolled up white like those of a condemned prisoner being hanged. Anglie felt every hair on his body stand on end as waves of goosebumps kept rising across his skin.

Rustle! He hurriedly flipped past the page.

I am listening...

It was that same phrase again, a line of somewhat messy small writing arranged in the center of the brownish-yellow page.

"Beep!!! Abnormal force field detected! Abnormal force field detected! Please leave the force field source by more than fifty meters immediately! Please leave the force field source by more than fifty meters immediately!!" Chip's warning suddenly rang beside Anglie's ears.

"When someone with a Wizard's constitution turns the pages of this book, the world he sees will differ from that seen by ordinary people." An inexplicable message flowed from the page and was abruptly transmitted directly into Anglie's mind.

His scalp prickled, and sweat covered his face.

Caw!!!!

A black bird like a crow flew past the window, letting out a strange cry.

Anglie's entire body jolted, as though the cry had awakened him. He sprang to his feet and wiped both hands over his face, trying to wipe away the sweat.

Suddenly, he saw his own reflection in the glass window opposite him. His eyes had rolled up white, his mouth was wide open as if he were screaming something, and his face was full of despair and pain. It was exactly the same expression as the aristocratic lady in that portrait.

"Damn it!!" Anglie roared, violently shoving away his chair and turning to run outside.

Bang! He crashed through the door and raced down the corridor. He felt as though the entire hallway were twisting and undulating, making it almost impossible for him to stand steady. There was not a single person around. Those students were strangely nowhere to be found in the dormitory.

"Abnormal condition detected in main body. Blood flow speed increased by three hundred percent. Mild ruptures detected in blood vessels throughout the body." Chip's notification suddenly sounded in his mind.

Whoosh!!!!

Anglie drew in a savage breath, as though he wanted to inflate his entire chest cavity in one gulp. Chip's voice jolted him awake.

He opened his eyes and discovered that he had actually fallen asleep with his head resting on the book.

A refreshing breeze blew in through the open window, and Anglie felt a chill run through his entire body. Only then did he realize that he was drenched in cold sweat.

"When did I fall asleep?" Anglie lowered his head to look at the book beneath him. He found that it was open to the first page. That tadpole-like line of writing sat quietly in the center.

I am listening...

"Could everything just now have been an illusion?" Anglie called up Chip's record from earlier.

'Abnormal condition detected in main body. Blood flow speed increased by three hundred percent. Mild ruptures detected in blood vessels throughout the body.'

'Force field weakening. Main body beginning to regain consciousness.'

'Energy radiation vanished. Force field vanished.'

'Main body's abnormal state restored. Currently experiencing a sense of lost time.'

"So it wasn't a dream." Anglie's expression changed.

He glanced at the newly bought crystal clock. It showed that it was now nine at night.

Hiss...

The writing on the page suddenly vanished. A line of words appeared out of thin air, emerging from nothing and shifting from blurry to clear. 'Congratulations, dear friend. You have passed this book's assessment of mental will.'

A burst of silver halo suddenly radiated from the entire surface of the book, rippling with silvery-white specks like shimmering water.

The silver light came quickly and faded just as quickly, disappearing completely in less than five seconds.

Anglie's narrowed eyes opened wide again as he looked at the leather-bound book on the desk. The cover had now completely changed. Its color remained the same, but a neat row of strange symbols was arranged in the center. The original ear design had vanished entirely. Beneath the symbols was the image of a black door. More bizarrely, the door image seemed alive, swaying faintly and making tiny creaking sounds, like the three-dimensional animations Anglie had seen in his previous life.

The book still had its brownish-yellow cover, but its very nature had completely changed. Anglie's expression flickered between light and dark, hesitation appearing in his eyes. The experience that had seemed like an illusion moments ago had already told him that this book was quite dangerous. Yet after finally obtaining a clue about Wizards, he was unwilling to give up just like that.

The occasional conversations and sounds of doors opening and closing from the corridor gradually calmed Anglie down, giving him a growing sense of security.

"Zero, inspect the state of the book before me. Is it still dangerous?"

"Inspection initiated... Unknown object. Unable to fully analyze. Danger level unknown. Please approach with caution." Zero's feedback only made Anglie hesitate even more.

He stood in the room for a long time before a trace of determination finally appeared on his face. He slowly walked over, stretched out his hand, and opened the book to the second page.

Nothing happened. Anglie stared intently at the page. The second page was no longer the portrait of the aristocratic lady, but row upon row of densely packed text. The first title line clearly read: This Is Merely a Basic Meditation Manual.

Below it, the text continued: This book serves only as a foundation. If you wish to go further, perhaps you may visit Mao Li Luodan. I hear there is a trade fair there once every fifty years. After all, I would not dare casually write down higher-level matters. For the safety of your life and soul, I also advise you not to touch those advanced meditation manuals until your mental strength is sufficient.

The words were all written in Angmarian, clear and easy to understand.