Chapter 209: The Crystal Leaf (2)

Angele was busy in his endeavor of advancing to the next stage. He had no time in developing a relationship with Nancy. She had taken care of Angele's daily needs in the recent years, and Angele would give her suggestions on breaking the limit from time to time. Besides paying her salary, Angele also shared some knowledge of spell models to Nancy for free.

Basic spell models were nothing to Angele already, as he could easily explain the tricks on how to master level 0 spells to Nancy.

Angele had already learned of Nancy attempting to break the limit twice. At the first attempt, she nearly succeeded but mishap occurred at the last step, while the second attempt was a mess.

Nancy had never been fully prepared for the challenge. Angele was different, as he knew his own success rate meanwhile Nancy had to test her own luck. Water of Asu was important for the process, but wizard apprentices would develop resistance to its effects after several usages and their success rate would greatly plunge. Moreover, drinking two servings of Water of Asu was an extremely risky action. Angele had the help of a Nightmare Potion and the energy stored in the chip. Otherwise, it was highly likely that he would fail in breaking the limit.

Angele was uncertain if a Nightmare Potion would still be effective for Nancy's limit breaking considering how she had already failed in doing so twice. If anything went wrong during the process, she would lose her life. Nancy did not have a chip like Angele to store excess energy.

Even at present, wizards still continued to debate on the issue of the best method for wizard apprentices to break the limit. The main effect of Water of Asu was to help the wizard apprentice burn their potential and reach their limit within a short period of time. If the wizard apprentice failed to break the limit during that time, their body would be permanently damaged.

Angele doubted if there was still any potential left for Nancy to burn.

Nancy returned to the living room after Wisp left.

Angele was still seated on the sofa thinking about the offer Wisp mentioned. He saw Nancy walking up to him and pointed at the chair on the opposite side.

"Take a seat. I need to talk to you," he ordered.

"Sure." Nancy knew she had made the right choice after seeing the number of rare materials Angele was purchasing. She once witnessed Angele handing a two-meter-tall Piranha Flower and knew Angele's potion concocting skills were on a different level.

Piranha Flowers were hard to collect and could easily be sold for more than 10,000 regular magic stones in the market. The taller the Piranha Flower was, the higher its value would be. Most wizards would use it to make some mid to high-level potions and would not sell it just for magic stones. Many rare materials like the Piranha Flower were constantly being delivered to Angele.

Nancy decided to stay with Angele as long as she could.

She walked to the chair and sat down quietly.

"What's your future plan?" Angele questioned calmly, "Are you still trying to break the limit? You already failed twice."

"Yeah...I reached rank 3 and my life expectancy is longer than mortals'. I still have a lot of time left." Clearly, Nancy still wanted to become a formal wizard.

"Let me explain something to you." Angele was trying to explain the situation to her. "Your potential is burning off. The more potential you burn during the last step, the higher your chance of succeeding will be. Your potential is determined by your talent level. Although your talent level is high, you should still consider giving up, you don't have much potential left. Even if you succeed on the third try, it'll take a long time for your body to recover from the damage."

Angele was trying to help Nancy.

Nancy turned pale as soon as Angele finished his words. "You mean...it's impossible for me to become a formal wizard?"

"That's the reality. You're a rank 3 wizard apprentice and you can live longer than a mortal for sure, that's why you still look young. Then again, you don't have much potential left if you decide to try to break the limit again. The only thing to serve as the fuel will be your life energy. You'll die if there's not enough life energy to be burnt." The reality was cruel, but Angele had to tell Nancy the truth.

Nancy lowered her head and bit her lips forcefully, no longer talking.

Angele could understand that the truth might be too hard for her to handle.

"What's my chance? Can you just tell me...?"

Angele, with knitted eyebrows, shook his head. "I'm sorry, Nancy. It's low...very low. To be honest, I have never heard of a wizard apprentice who succeeded on the third attempt after failing twice. It would be a miracle if you succeed."

Angele decided to give Nancy the advice because he had spent some time collecting information on her situation.

Her family was not completely destroyed. It was just losing its power in the city. However, they were left there to lure Nancy back. On the other side of the Gem Sea, wizards were unknown to the general public, and people had no idea what exactly she was to Nancy's family. Personages of royal blood knew how strong a wizard was. It was nearly impossible for them to hurt a wizard with physical skills. If Nancy somehow became a wizard and tried to avenge her family, her enemy would have to beg a wizard for protection.

If Nancy failed to break the limit and lose her life, the rest of her family would be killed right away and by that time, her family would longer exist.

She needed to stay alive and find someone strong to have a child with.

Nancy remained silent for a while before speaking again.

"I beg you..."

"Sorry, it's impossible. I'll stay here for a long period. I may return to the other side of the sea 10 or 20 years later, but it's not now." Angele shook his head. "I don't really care about those assassins from the Labyrinth College. They're my enemy too. I gave you this advice because we were once on the same ship."

Nancy opened her mouth and spoke with a shaky voice.

"What do you want from me...? My body? Sure, that's the only thing I have. Please, help me."

"No, you seem to be misunderstanding me. You were once on the same ship as I had been, so I'm trying to give you my sincere advice. Yes, your body is indeed enticing but that is not the main reason. You need to think twice before making your decision. If you stay alive, the rest of your family will be fine. Your enemy already knows you're my servant."

"I apologize...I need to rethink my choices..." Nancy lowered her head.

"It's fine. Go have some rest." Angele nodded.

Nancy stood up shaking her head and left the living room.

Angele saw the tears in her eyes. She was crestfallen after he had refused to assist her.

Angele sipped from the teacup again, which was already cold.

Angele had mixed feelings about Nancy. She was indeed an enchanting girl and he liked her, but Angele wondered if his feelings stemmed out of sympathy.

There were many wizard apprentices who had failed to break the limit at the West Coast and some of them tried to sign slave contracts with strong wizards, but most of them would return to their hometown and try to find something else to do. The failed wizard apprentices who chose to stay in Nola were hoping for miracles.

Nancy was strong and stubborn. There were only two choices left for her. The first one was to try to break the limit again. If she failed, her whole family would be destroyed.

The second one was to sign the slave contract with Angele and become his property. In exchange, she would ask Angele to avenge her family. However, strong wizards had a much longer life expectancy than a rank 3 wizard apprentice. Nancy did not have that much time to wait for Angele to complete his task.

Unless Angele could reach the next stage much faster than she expected.

Angele stood up after Nancy left. He carefully picked up the box from the table.

Inside the glass box was a piece of a translucent crystal leaf. Angele took it out slowly.

The leaf lay atop Angele's palm. It felt soft and warm and its twisted veins were barely visible. It almost felt like the leaf could break at any moment.

The white glow illuminated on Angele's face. A minty fragrance rushed into his nose that was quite refreshing.

'Zero, scan the leaf. Tell me if it will increase my success rate of advancing to the next stage,' he ordered.

'Task created...Scanning...'

Ten minutes later, Zero reported back.

'With five pieces of crystal leaves, the success rate can be increased to 84.75%.'

Angele smiled. A success rate higher than 80% was incredible. He was certain that those leaves would help him reach the next level, and the effect of the leaves would exceed his expectations.

Sadly, Angele's method would only work for himself. He was the son of a tree elf, and the ancient blood from the great harpy was still affecting his body. He doubted if the other wizards could survive the strong side effects of all the Demos' Water he used. When knowledge recorded on books was not helpful enough, wizards must find their own paths to their future.