Wizard's Book 2

Anglie finally let out a sigh of relief, the lingering fright in his heart completely settling. From the tone of those words, it seemed this book had already passed its dangerous stage.

Zero Chip did not issue any danger warnings either.

He continued reading. Below were lines upon lines of detailed meditation instructions. The methods were much like the qi cultivation and inner alchemy practices on Earth. However, certain special substances and medicines were also needed as aids. Before becoming an official wizard, the process was generally divided into three stages.

The stages were simply designated by numbers: first class, second class, and third class. According to the records, wizards maintained an extremely precise attitude toward all ambiguous matters. Naturally, they had also established a highly precise ranking system for their own spiritual power to gauge what stage they had reached. All wizards were scholars, and most possessed an exceptionally rigorous approach to research. They habitually quantified everything with precise data in pursuit of absolute stability. This book was no exception.

Anglie even saw that the author had recorded every possible condition that might arise at each stage, possible directions for misinterpretation, and the reactions readers of different levels of spiritual strength might experience upon reading the book, among many other things. Everything was written down. It took Anglie a full half hour to store the entire dictionary-like book in the chip within his mind. Fortunately, he had the chip's photographic memory and storage capacity.

"Begin analyzing and simplifying the contents." At Anglie's command, Zero automatically began condensing the information.

"Removing 92.15% redundant information. Begin transmitting remaining contents?"

"Begin."

Anglie sat before his desk with his eyes slightly closed. The temples on either side of his head pulsed rhythmically, looking rather eerie. The writing in the book on the desk slowly began to fade by itself, as though ink had fallen into a basin of clear water. It quickly dissolved into the brownish-yellow pages, leaving no trace behind.

In little more than ten seconds, the open portion of the entire book had become completely blank. Then, lines of Angmar Script began appearing on their own. Their content was the personal biography of a scholar named Berkewilly.

After a long while, Anglie slowly opened his eyes. "So this is the so-called meditation method? Sense the special things that can be sensed in nature, then actively approach them. These things must be capable of giving people extraordinary sensations. Anyone who can sense them has the potential to become a wizard. If they can also guide them with their will, then they are unquestionably gifted. The speed at which they guide them and the number of special things they can sense are used to measure how outstanding their talent is. It really is..."

He shook his head slightly, unable to make an evaluation.

But since he had obtained the so-called meditation method, he could not let the chance slip by.

Anglie brought up the most basic method for beginning meditation. It mentioned that a medicinal herb was needed as an aid—Soul-Death Grass, a rare plant that grew in graveyards. It had roughly the same shape as an ordinary lucky four-leaf clover, except it was entirely black. One had to hold a leaf in one's mouth while meditating to meet the conditions for meditation. Otherwise, no one could sense the existence of the so-called special things. Even the most gifted person could not do so!

"Soul-Death Grass?" Anglie closed the book in his hands, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

He put away the book, which had now completely lost its effect. Without Soul-Death Grass, he had no way to meditate, so Anglie could only set the matter aside for the moment. Glancing at the time, he saw that it was already past three in the morning. More than half the night had passed without him noticing.

He picked up the black bundle on his bed. It had been sent from home, along with a letter.

He tore it open and read it. It mostly described the family's recent circumstances.

Over the past half year, through the connections of Aunt Maria's family, the Baron had acquired a small estate outside Maruya City. However, without income from a territory, and with the Rudin Kingdom in the midst of war, titles had become nearly useless. The Baron had taken his dozen or so subordinates and formed a mercenary group, sustaining themselves by accepting assignments from the port guild, mercenary guild, and governor's office. Over the past six months, they had done quite well. With the Baron's current mid-level knight strength, he had gained no small reputation among mercenary groups. After all, a knight-ranked individual was qualified to receive a knight's fief by pledging allegiance to any lord, let alone someone at the mid-level knight rank. A mid-level knight could plant life energy seeds in the outstanding children of a territory, greatly increasing the number of reserve knights and, in turn, greatly enhancing the territory's overall combat power. Every lord welcomed such a person.

Of course, planting seeds caused slight losses to the knight himself. Moreover, the higher the rank of the knight planting the seeds, the stronger the physical foundation those children would have when they eventually became knights. Some reserve knights could even nearly compare to official knights in certain physical attributes. Thus, lords naturally wanted as many knights as possible under their care, and the number and rank of knights maintained in a territory became an important standard for judging a lord's strength. But the Baron was naturally unwilling to serve beneath another, so he simply refused to pledge himself to anyone and formed his own mercenary group to accept war-related assignments. Their earnings were quite considerable. Though not as much as when they had held a territory, it was not far off. The letter described the estate's current situation, then mentioned that the Baron had recently accepted a new assignment. He was to make a trip to the Anse Grasslands to receive and escort an important person. More than ten mercenary groups had taken on the assignment. Aside from one that was weaker than the Baron's group, the rest were all medium-to-large mercenary groups far stronger than his. It was said that they might have to fight Saladin Empire cavalry during this mission, so the governor had offered a very high reward.

It also mentioned the two girls, Maggie and Ciller. Ciller had shown considerable talent in music, so the Baron had sent her to study under a music instructor. Having another skill was always beneficial. Maggie, on the other hand, had tried all sorts of work without displaying any particular talent. If not for her relationship with Anglie, the Baron would have long since treated her as an ordinary servant rather than continuing to provide her with good food and care.

The rest was Father conveying greetings on behalf of Aunt Maria and Uncle Powat. The final note read: To my dear son, Anglie. Time: 2:00 a.m., December 11, 1541. The letter had in fact been written only the night before. Anglie put the letter away, feeling somewhat dazed. Time had passed swiftly. More than a year, nearly two, had gone by since he had been reborn as Anglie.

He untied the bundle. Inside were some everyday necessities: a white towel, some parchment for writing, a new ink bottle and quill, as well as a brown leather dagger. A small diamond-shaped piece of black crystal was set into one side of the dagger's sheath, making it look exceptionally ornate.

Anglie had not spent much money at the academy. Of the two thousand gold coins he had brought with him, he still had over eight hundred left. Because many students had seen him interacting with Instructor Adolf, he had gained a little reputation. Quite a few students who could not afford lessons often came to ask him to teach for them. Anglie taught occasionally, easily earning dozens or even a hundred gold coins each time. That was enough to cover his own lessons, so he had not spent much over the past six months. Most of his money had gone elsewhere, such as purchasing strange and unusual items at the port. The transparent crystal clock on his desk was one such oddity. As a major port on the edge of the country, Maruya Port gathered merchant caravans and ships from every nation each year. These numerous merchants brought all kinds of goods. As long as one had money, one could buy almost anything, including slaves.

Anglie played with the crystal-sheathed dagger for a while. It was spoils of war the Baron had acquired during one of his missions, sent this time as Anglie's birthday gift. Anglie would sometimes take a carriage back to the estate to visit his father and the others, though he never stayed long. Most of the time, he was at the academy or at Adolf's home. He studied, practiced swordsmanship, trained in horsemanship and archery. Life was dull, but not boring.

Over the past six months, his physical attributes had not increased at all. He remained as before, at the mid-level knight rank. If not for his powerful foundation in swordsmanship, he would probably have been merely an ordinary mid-level knight rather than standing at the peak of the knight rank. His archery, however, had improved considerably. With the same level of accuracy, he could now fire two arrows from a single bow. At the academy, most students were not particularly interested in combat skills such as archery and horsemanship. Aside from showing off during lessons, the training grounds were usually empty. The students without much money would occasionally come to practice, but most of the time they worked odd jobs or did other work to earn money and cover their expenses. Only a small number of people like Anglie went to the training grounds every day to use the weapons there for free and train themselves. Over time, his archery had improved significantly, and his swordsmanship had become smoother as well.

After organizing his things, Anglie hurriedly washed up. He extinguished the oil lamp and lay down on the bed.

According to the book's records, Soul-Death Grass mostly appeared in graveyards where many people had been buried, though it was never plentiful. Maruya Port's graveyard was on Red Rock Mountain west of the city. It was a barren mountain where all the port's dead were buried. There should be plants like Soul-Death Grass there. He pondered his plans for the next day and gradually drifted into sleep.