Chapter Sixty: Secrets

As his mental power continued to grow, Hughes watched the ever-increasing numbers on the display. The value had already surpassed the threshold of 10 and was still climbing.

“Hiss! Damn, why does my head hurt so much!” The sudden surge of mental power proved too much even for Hughes’s robust constitution. He felt a hot sensation in his nose, and upon touching it, found two streams of blood trickling down.

“To think that even I can’t withstand the speed at which my mental power is increasing.” Hughes shook his head with a wry smile. His constitution was already verging on the unnatural, yet still, he could not bear it.

“Chip! Display my data,” Hughes commanded.

“Beep! Hughes Bruch: Strength: 6.8, Agility: 8.54, Constitution: 10.11 (increasing), Mental Power: 10.22, Mana: 10.22 (Mana synchronized with mental power), Status: Healthy.”

The chip projected the latest statistics for Hughes to review.

Hughes gazed silently at his attributes, calculating inwardly.

“My mental power has increased by 0.28, while strength and constitution remain unchanged. Ever since my physical stats saw such a leap last time, meditation no longer seems to affect my strength or constitution. My mental power now exceeds the limit for a third-level apprentice—10 points—but I have no idea how to proceed from here.” Hughes wore a troubled expression.

The academy had no records on advancing from a third-level apprentice to a full-fledged wizard. Lindsay seemed bound by some rule and could not divulge the information. Who else could he turn to?

Troubled as he was, Hughes also tried to sense the changes that came with reaching the third apprentice level.

He could feel his mental power brimming with new vitality, his sensitivity to the energy particles in the air much sharper, and casting zero-level spell templates now came far more easily.

“Indeed, each level of apprenticeship feels fundamentally different. A third-level apprentice truly surpasses a second-level one by a great margin,” Hughes sighed with admiration.

Though pleased to have advanced, Hughes was equally vexed by his inability to obtain information on becoming a full-fledged wizard.

After some thought, Hughes decided that if all else failed, he would try to seek information from some of the higher-ups within the Ring of Shadows, or wait for his mentor’s return.

“Ah, that’s right!” With that thought, Hughes suddenly remembered the box Wizard Matt had given him, something he had nearly forgotten after all this time. Thinking of his mentor brought it back to mind.

He retrieved the box and set it on the table.

Staring at it, though he had no idea what was inside, the instruction that only a third-level apprentice could open it suggested it might be related to advancing beyond this stage.

Hughes, both nervous and expectant, speculated about its contents.

He placed his hand on the box and began to channel his mental power into it. Almost immediately, the box felt as cold as ice, the chill intensifying.

Just as Hughes was about to pull his hand away, he felt a surge of energy traveling from his palm up his arm.

This frigid energy swept quickly to his chest and then split into countless fine threads, darting through his body in all directions.

Hughes endured the sensation of this energy rampaging inside him, unable to suppress a shiver.

After a while, the energy gradually faded, and the cold dissipated. Hughes felt as if he had just stood naked in the snow.

“That must have been a test, to see if I had reached the level of a third-level apprentice,” he thought. The energy was clearly a safeguard left by Wizard Matt to prevent him from opening the box prematurely.

When Hughes looked at the box again, it was just as he had expected: it opened easily with a gentle pull.

A stack of letters appeared before Hughes’s eyes.

He took them out and began reading, one by one.

“Hughes, if you are reading these letters, it means you have advanced to third-level apprentice. Congratulations on taking another step on the path to truth.”

Hughes read patiently, knowing that Matt would not have left these letters without good reason.

“But you must be curious: what comes after the third-level apprentice?”

“Here comes the important part,” Hughes thought, his heart beating a little faster. His teacher had indeed considered everything.

“Beyond the third-level apprentice lies the rank of full-fledged wizard. A full wizard has shed the limitations of mortality, gained a long lifespan, and can effortlessly manipulate the energies of nature. Only by advancing to full wizard do you truly enter the ranks of the extraordinary and are qualified to pursue the path to ultimate truth.”

“So, becoming a full wizard is only the beginning?” Hughes murmured as he read.

“In ancient times, our world collided with other planes, and nearly all extraordinary beings from both sides joined in that war. We emerged victorious, but the death and destruction were immense, and the glory of the ancient wizards has gradually faded away.”

“It is for this reason that wizards have withdrawn from the world of ordinary people, and since that war, the means to advance from third-level apprentice to full wizard has become especially precious.”

“Eighteen hundred years ago, our Northern Dominion—including the Emerald Tower and the Black Swamp Forest on the Northern Plains—formed the Northern Coast. The four leading academies reached a consensus to restrict all information regarding full wizards, and all wizard organizations collectively signed a pact.”

The first half of the letter contained things Hughes already knew—these were well documented in the history of the wizarding world. But the latter half was clearly beyond his previous reach.

He set aside the letters he’d read, weighing them down with something heavy, and continued to read.

“It was from that pact onward that all third-level apprentices, before advancing to full wizard, must sign a contract with the organization or individual who has taught them. This contract forbids ever passing on the specific knowledge of how to advance to full wizard. Any violation will be met with strict judgment—your soul will be burned away to nothing.”

“I, too, signed such a pact with the Ring of Shadows in order to gain reliable knowledge and resources to become a full wizard. Because of the restrictions of the pact, I cannot impart this knowledge to you, not even for a great sum of magic stones, not even as your teacher. However, I can share some general knowledge.”

Hughes’s disappointment at the contents of the letter was replaced by hope when he read these last lines.

“To become a full wizard, you must first ensure your mental power reaches the required standard. Using the final mental rune in your sea of consciousness as the core, you must assimilate the preceding seventeen runes, strengthening your mind. Only then will your mental power meet the standard, and your consciousness will touch upon the soul. If the runes aren’t assimilated, do not attempt to advance—this is not difficult for most apprentices, especially you, Hughes, whose talent far exceeds the norm.”

“The real key, however, is this: you must have a first-level spell template. This template will become your innate wizardry. Most importantly, this first-level spell must be a defensive spell. If you choose anything else, you will be the weakest among full wizards.”

“In addition, you will need a standard vitality potion to aid your advancement. What choices you make are up to you—Matt Joy.”

“Mental power at standard, a first-level defensive spell template, and a vitality potion—are these the three things needed to become a full wizard?” Hughes summed up the letter’s contents. With these three, advancement should be possible.

But to his astonishment, Hughes realized he possessed none of them. According to Matt’s words, the gray space he’d once entered was his sea of consciousness, and the purple mental rune had already begun assimilating the translucent runes he’d previously outlined, but only halfway.

As for a first-level spell template, Hughes had more than one, but neither Explosive Thunderball nor Flame Rain was a defensive spell—they were both offensive. He didn’t know why a defensive spell was required, but since Matt hadn’t said, it was likely a restriction imposed by the pact.

And as for a vitality potion, Hughes had never even seen one.

“The road ahead is long and arduous,” Hughes sighed, realizing that he had yet to fulfill any of the three conditions needed to become a full wizard.