Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Around ten days had passed. Abel had again returned his crazy four months working schedule: studying in the magic tower in the day, returning to his mansion to enter the Rogue encampment at night to do his training–especially the electric spell ‘charging bolt.’ As a rank 0 spell, his ‘charging bolt’ could only unleash two electric arcs. However, every time it increases a rank, he could gain an extra electric arc, and the spell would get more powerful. As more preparation may quicken the speed of work, he was ready to increase his ‘charging bolt’ spell to rank five until he was hunting in Blood Moor again.

In the laboratory located on the 9th floor of Morton Magic tower, Abel placed the short magic cane, which was able to unleash ‘fire bolt,’ and the short magic cane without any magic ability, on the lab bench. He wanted to know what was the secret to unleashing the magic in these magic canes. However, he was not willing to use that magic cane with the ‘spirit transfer’ ability as a testing subject.

He dragged along a huge microscope made by the crystal and placed the short magic cane without any mana under it. Abel began to slowly examine every single detail of the magic cane from the handle upward. Every time he discovered a mark, he would make a note on a lambskin parchment.

After the short magic cane without mana was examined in great detail thoroughly. The sketched out short cane on the lambskin parchment was filled with arrows, documenting every mark on the short cane.

Abel was a little bit mad; the owner of this magic cane doesn’t seem to care about this magic cane at all. There were all kinds of scars on top of it, which made him wonder. Maybe the magic cane was so badly damaged by its owner’s lack of care. It had lost its magic ability.

At that moment, a ‘frozen armor’ flashed out on his body. However, it did not affect his work at all. He had gotten used to it these past ten days, and he had fully mastered the ability to multitask. Although the job of the weak little souls was very simple, it was still multitasking nevertheless.

Afterward, he placed the second short magic cane under the microscope and ran through the same process. He documented every mark on a lambskin parchment and began to compare the differences between the two magic canes.

Actually, Abel didn’t really need to compare them. He was already certain that there were no runes or patterns on these magic canes. All of those marks were made by a lack of maintenance and care. The result had also confirmed this after his comparison, so what was the thing that actually makes a magic cane a magic cane?

Abel did not give up. He scanned the two magic canes with his power of the will. Through his power of the will, the magic cane with the ‘fireball’ spell gave him a familiar feeling. Could this magic cane have a soul?

Abel was a little uncertain as he scanned a few more times. He did not felt anything when he scanned the magic cane without magic ability. However, the magic cane with the ‘fireball’ spell certainly possessed soul waves. Other wizards might have a hard time detecting these tiny soul waves, but Abel had drunk the ‘soul potion’ made out of souls in the past, and he also has some weak little souls within him that he could take a look at once in a while. Therefore, he was very familiar with soul waves.

It was impossible for a human to see their own soul since it was in one with their mind. The soul could only leave the physical body once the person had died. But still, it could not be seen with a naked eye, and it often fades away very quickly. Therefore, normal wizards would rarely do research in regards to the mysteries of souls.

Was a soul bound to the magic cane? What kind of soul could give a magic cane it’s mana? Countless questions rose from his heart. He had never seen a magic cane in real life before, so there was no comparison he could draw from. Abel had hit a wall in his research up to this point, but there was one thing he could be certain. Magic canes were definitely made out of some very special material because that mana-less magic cane without any soul waves still had the ability to increase damage to immortal beings by 50%.

Abel searched on Morton’s observation records, but he could not find anything in regard to the material of magic canes. Wizard Morton was only expertise in making rune signs and did not do too much research into magic canes.

It seemed like the only way to keep progressing with his research on these two magic canes, was to wait for the dwarf’s invitation. Only the dwarfs could tell him more information related to this.

However, Abel was sure of one thing, and that was even the magic cane without mana could be considered as a treasure in the Holy Continent. Maybe he had only interacted with a small part of the wizarding world, or maybe his skills in wizardry were still too low. However, he couldn’t help but feel like the Dark World was generally much more advanced than the Holy Continent. Even a short magic cane used by some of the lowest ranking creatures in the Dark World was considered as a very decent treasure here. At least these short magic cane could allow a wizard to unleash a quickened spell, let alone spells such as ‘spirit transfer.’

Up to this point, a sense of fulfillment began to emerge from Abel’s mind, and suddenly, joy struck his heart. Two days ago, he had already fulfilled the rank two novice wizard pattern, but he did not feet like he was about to increase his rank. He only understood why after he asked Carlos. Even if the pattern was fulfilled, it still needed a certain period of time to adjust through meditation. However, this period of time was not certain. It could be a day, or it could be a year.

Looking back, he seemed to be quite lucky. In he took his time in the Rogue encampment into consideration, he had been stuck at this fulfilled rank two novice wizard state for around 20 days. The worst scenario was if it did not happen.

Abel pushed all his stuff into his portal bag and returned to his room. His room was where most of the mana was concentrated on the 9th floor. It should be the safest place for him to increase his rank.

He sat in the middle of his room and stopped the automatic quicken ‘frozen armor’ spell from the weak little souls. He then calmed down his spirit and injected his power of the will into his mind. The rank 1 and rank 2 novice wizard pattern was intertwined in his mind, shining in a white glow. Below these two patterns, was the ‘warmth’ spell pattern shining in the brightest red glow. This special spell continuously drew energy from the surrounding atmosphere and turn it into mana to replenish the Wizard patterns.

He recalled the rank 3 novice wizard pattern. He had already mastered this wizard pattern the first time he used the ‘soul potion’. Now he just needed to copy it from his memory to become a rank 3 novice wizard.

Some time had passed. Finkle called Abel through the identity card multiple times, but there was still no reply. Normally, Abel would appear in the guest lounge on the first floor, right on time for lunch during lunchtime. However, not even his shadow could be seen today.

“Mr. Carlos, Mr. Abel had locked himself in his room. He did not reply no matter how many times I call him. Could something have happened?” Finkle asked Carlos, who was just having lunch on the first floor.

“Finkle, don’t worry. It seems like Abel is just taking care of something, and he needs to concentrate. Just wait patiently for a bit.” Carlos tried to comfort Finkle with a smile.

Camille put down the juice that she was nibbling on and said with a smile, “You really care about Abel. Unlike my Joey, she probably wouldn’t even care if I locked myself up for a day.”

“Ms., how can you say that about me.” Said Camille’s Wizard follower Joey in a somewhat squeamish tone.

“If you are still worried, I can call the teacher to check on him,” said Camille without a choice, seeing the worries on Finkle’s face.

“Ms. Camille, can you really do that?” Finkle fat face suddenly filled with surprise.

“Ok, ok, I’ll call the teacher now.”

As Camille was just about to contact Wizard Morton through her identity card, a strange energy wave suddenly came from above.

“Someone had ranked up!” Camille and Carlos exclaimed at the same time.

The 2 exchanged a curious gaze, and Camille said, “Weird, the energy wave is not that strong. It doesn’t seem like someone had become an official wizard. Could it be ether brother Warren or sister Eury who had ranked up?”

“Other than them, who else would rank up around here?” Said Carlos shaking his head.

Suddenly, both of them thought of the same person. Camille then said to Finkle with a weird facial expression, “We don’t need to contact teacher now!”

“Ms. Camille, why?” Finkle asked in confusion.

“Abel deserves to die. Did he think he has the skills to take my place as the 5th disciple?” Before Camille could even speak, Carlos had jumped up, losing his temper.

“Who can you blame for not putting in the hard work. It seems like you will be the 6th disciple in a few months, with Abel’s speed of progress.” Said Camille with a smile, mocking Carlos’s misfortune.

“Mr. Abel had ranked up?” Finkle could still remember the look on Abel’s face when he first entered Yveline’s magic tower. Back then, he was still not a wizard, and only in the last few months, he had grown from a rank 1 to a rank 3 novice wizard. This speed of progress made Finkle question if he was really as stupid as a pig.