Organizing

Outside Nightfall Town.

The once dark and tranquil forest was now abuzz with voices. Various spells cast their glow, turning the scene as bright as day.

The leaders of more than a dozen wizard organizations, including the Golden House, White Bear Order, and Glimmer Witchcraft Faction, gathered beside a patch of shattered ice.

"Brandon, does your White Bear Order have any experts in ice-element witchcraft?"

"Caleb, I suspect someone from your Golden House secretly snatched the Tranquil Flower."

"Enough, everyone. What is the point of this meaningless arguing? We need to find out who got it in the end."

"Your Glimmer faction has the most mixed practitioners. Maybe it was one of your people."

"A bunch of idiots. What is the point of bickering here? You might as well go back and rest for a few days..."

The scene resembled a bustling marketplace, with everyone suppressing a ball of anger in their hearts.

In truth, everyone knew that the battle for the Tranquil Flower had already come to an end.

The duck they had chased for so long had truly flown away!

They had inspected the other battlefield. Nolan had escaped at the time, only to be blocked here by someone else and die a miserable death.

The crowd gathered around the unmelted iceberg, silently reconstructing the scene from back then.

Judging from the site, the spells did not seem particularly powerful, only at the level of an ordinary Advanced Apprentice.

But why had they formed dozens, perhaps hundreds, of extraordinarily hard layers of ice?

They remembered quite a few spells capable of creating icebergs, but none of the details quite matched.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd seemed to receive a message. The surroundings first fell silent, then the clamor rapidly swelled.

"What? Wizard Alivia and Nolan's mentor have already completed a transaction, and Nolan's death has been settled?"

Everyone was left seeing stars after hearing the news!

What the hell? You were a dignified Formal Wizard—why had you personally stepped in? Did you have no shame?

"Don't talk nonsense. It wasn't Wizard Alivia. The one who acted was her student, the Elf Race genius Aislin!"

"That can't be right, can it? Wasn't she cultivating in the High Tower, preparing to break through? Besides, she's a nature-element wizard. These were clearly ice-element spells!"

"Shady dealings! There are definitely shady dealings!!!"

"Hehe! Go argue with them about it, then. Go on!"

Brandon and Caleb exchanged glances, their eyes full of bitterness.

"Let's go. It's all over!"

Brandon fell silent for a while. "After resting for a few days, I'll continue exploring the ruins. Within half a year, I will definitely break through to become a Formal Wizard!"

With that, he walked into the forest without looking back, and darkness gradually swallowed his figure.

As everyone gradually departed, the forest returned to tranquility.

After bathing, Ian lay on his bed and began replaying his battle with Nolan in his mind.

After reviewing it for a while, he discovered several of his weaknesses: his attacks were not strong enough, his speed was not fast enough, and his shields were not sturdy enough.

"Now that the crisis has been temporarily resolved, I'll use this time to make up for those weaknesses as much as possible."

He took out the reward Harvey had given him. It was a ray-type spell highly suited to him: Scorching Ray.

This spell was somewhat compatible with his Light Attribute Affinity talent.

Ian could already imagine that once this spell achieved Limit Break, its power would surely far surpass Lesser Frost Ray!

[Scorching Ray: Not Initiated (0/100)]

He had a solution for his attack power, but as for speed, he could only head to the High Tower and look for a suitable spell.

"I'm not short on magic stones now. So what if it's expensive?"

Surely the High Tower's massive list of spells could meet his needs.

Finally, there was the matter of shields. During his previous battle, he had activated his enchanted equipment shield once, but Nolan's spells had shattered it in just a few hits.

Even Wizard Alivia's ring shield had been unable to block Nolan's "Death Knell."

As for his own half-baked crystal shield, he had not even considered casting it during the latter half of the battle. It was far too fragile!

It seemed he still had to seek out a light-element shield at the High Tower, though spells of that kind were regrettably rare.

Even if one existed, he might not necessarily be qualified to learn it at his current level.

"I'll just make do for now and see how Crystal Energy Barrier performs after Limit Break."

What had surprised him most in this battle was his formidable physique.

In his transformed release state, even Nolan's Life Drain had failed to siphon anything from him. Of course, Nolan had been close to death by then.

If Nolan had been at his peak, it would have been nearly impossible for Ian to defeat him. Ian had enough self-awareness to know that.

The freezing ice layers created by his ray would have been instantly shattered by Nolan. There was quite a gap in the power of their spells.

If he encountered an enemy of that level in the future, he could only rely on Lesser Frost Ray's freezing and slowing effect to give himself a chance to escape.

"Then again, I'm actually pretty strong!"

He was still only an Intermediate Apprentice, yet he could already contend with an Advanced Apprentice for a while.

Ian felt somewhat comforted. After lying low for so long, he had finally regained a bit of confidence.

It was just that once he learned more skills, they would require even more time. He simply could not train them all!

There were many skills he had long wanted to grind up, but he simply could not squeeze out the time.

"As my level rises, this situation will become increasingly obvious. Looks like I need to plan things properly."

He needed to see which skills could be streamlined to take up as little time as possible.

After weighing it for a moment, a different idea suddenly occurred to him.

Since he could not outrun others, then he simply would not run. He could just become a powerful turret wizard.

That would make his spell combinations much simpler as well.

With a thought, he brought up the panel before his eyes.

[Realm: Intermediate Wizard Apprentice (14%)]

[Talent: Medium Light Attribute Affinity]

[Skills: Star-Moon Lower Meditation Method: Proficient (281/400)

Wizard's Hand: Mastery (297/400)

Frost Ray: Limit Break 1 time (41/800) (Limit Break Effect: 1. Twin)

Eye of Vigilance: Proficient (263/400)

Bloodline Purification Art: Initiated (63/200)

Crystal Energy Barrier: Proficient (0/400)

Scorching Ray: Not Initiated (0/100)

Awakening Potion: Mastery (395/400)

Rock Bear Potion: Initiated (8/400)

Basic Potion Identification: Mastery (144/400)]

Awakening Potion was only a few proficiency points away from Limit Break, so it would not take much time. He could make it the top priority.

It was a life-saving skill that had helped him through difficult times after his transmigration. He was somewhat attached to it.

It was already beginning to fall behind his cultivation progress, so he would first see what its Limit Break effect was like!

First, Ian placed the meditation method at the top. It was a skill that needed to occupy his time long-term, and its position was unshakable.

Meditation was the foundation of everything. Not only could it accelerate the condensation of mental power, it could also increase his total amount of mental power.

After thinking for a while, Ian decided to temporarily assign Crystal Energy Barrier and Eye of Vigilance to the next two slots.

Though the shield's performance had been terrible, it was currently Ian's only shield spell and had no replacement for the time being.

Eye of Vigilance could effectively observe enemy movements and prevent him from being ambushed.

As for his other spells, he felt that Lesser Frost Ray and Scorching Ray could be placed on equal footing. He could grind them whenever he had time.

Scorching Ray had a higher priority, and its proficiency rose quickly in the early stages.

His strongest attack spell, Lesser Frost Ray, was still far from its second Limit Break, and its proficiency was difficult to grind. He could only practice it when he had spare time.

The various potions, especially Bloodline Potion, still needed to be improved as a priority. This was also a crucial part of his defenses.

Looking at it this way, his defense, offense, and warning system had basically taken shape as one.