Chapter 267: Result and Barbeque (2)

Stigma pursed his lips into a smile. "Hurry up. We need your spices. And thanks for saving me today."

"We're in the same boat. I can't survive the trip just by myself." Angele chuckled. "You don't need to thank me."

"I don't care about your intention. You still saved me." Stigma showed Angele the plate. "Come join us. You're our leader now. We should have some rest."

"Sure." Angele stopped for a second and realized that it was the barbeque party they talked about earlier.

"Reyline is preparing the wine. We can start the party right away with your spices." Stigma looked at him.

Angele was a bit depressed, but he was being cheered up at the thought of the party.

Although Angele was alone most of the time, he still wanted to engage in some social activities from time to time.

He turned around and grabbed the spices and he also released the night sparrow from the cage. There was no problem as it could find food by itself.

The party was held on the deck.

The five wizards built a small campfire around on the floor and sat around it.

The dark deck was brightened up by the flame and the clear moonlight. The flames in the campfire were crackling and the chilling wind was blowing over their faces.

Over the fire, there was a black metal rack with about ten meat skewers lined up on it. The meat was cut into even sizes. Its smell was making people drool.

Reyline had a brown bamboo basket in hand. There were five long translucent bottles with clean green liquid inside.

"It's an aged sparkling wine that tastes somewhat like beer." He gave the bottles to the wizards.

The meat started sizzling as Angele sprinkled the seasoning over it. A rich pepper fragrance permeated the air.

Angele grabbed the wine bottle and put it down on the side.

Hikari found some wooden planks and built a small shelter to block the wind. It was cold during the night.

"Half a month till we reach the next hurdle. We have plenty of time to prepare. My method should be perfect this time. Just wait a bit longer before you leave the cabin." Stigma bit on a meat skewer and drank some wine from the bottle. "That's some tasty meat."

"Horito Beer, huh? Love the green color." Hikari removed the cork and took a sip. "Great, how long was it aged?"

"42 years." Reyline drank directly from the bottle as well.

"I'm about to advance to the next stage soon, I think."

"Next stage?" Hikari put down the bottle, looking surprised.

Stigma stopped chewing the meat and looked at Reyline.

Morrisa lowered her head upon listening. It seemed like she was just jealous of Reyline's achievement.

"Yeah, the Crystal stage," Reyline added. "I'm preparing the magic circle for the ritual. The materials I need are already on the boat. I can start the process five days later if everything goes as planned. It would great if I can succeed but if I fail I don't mind being killed by the monsters we'll encounter."

"The intense battles have increased my mentality. I'm feeling more confident now." Hikari nodded. "Light wizards like us are used to the peaceful environment. Like Green said, the battles will strengthen our mind."

"Well, nothing has happened to me." Stigma shook his head. "I agree that the battles are intense, but my mentality barely increased."

Angele sat beside the campfire, staring at the burning flames and started thinking.

His mentality did not increase after the fight against the Cloud Bees and the Snake Lizards. He already gotten used to intense battles a long time ago.

Although Angele's mentality was not increased, the buff from the cursed scimitar could still increase his attributes. With the life energy extraction, his mentality would increase at a much faster rate than the others.

He already knew how to stabilize his mentality. If he could find the advanced mentality technique, the only thing he needed to do was to hunt magical creatures using the cursed scimitar. Reaching the mentality required for the Crystal stage would, by then, become easy.

The others were still chatting about their progression, but Angele did not say a thing.

He took a bite of the roasted meat and ate some salad. The caramelized fat of the meat was rich and satisfying. The salad was well-seasoned, and the crispy green vegetables helped reduce the greasiness of the meat.

"Like I said, if we can survive the trip and reach Omandis, we'll be treated well by the organization." Hikari nodded slightly. "I reached the Liquid stage about 30 years ago. Now that my mentality level is finally increasing again, I'm certain that I can advance to the Crystal stage in several years."

"The ritual won't be a big problem to you if you have enough resources. Wizards of west coast rely too much on resources as that's the only way to increase our mentality. Potions, special magic circles, and materials. They're very expensive," Reyline added.

"That's right. The situation for wizards in Omandis is different," Stigma interrupted. "The mentality level is not a big problem but they all have a bottleneck to deal with. I left the family a long time ago, but I still have some intel on that. Advanced meditation techniques can help wizards increase their mentality level, but those techniques are separated into several levels. Your mentality will increase each time you finish a level. Some wizards' mentality might even be bound to a certain element."

"Bound to an element?" Angele heard this, and he turned to Stigma. "What's that?"

"Green, do you know master Ivana or master Flan Jones?" Reyline questioned.

"I've met master Flan several times." Angele nodded. "Wait...Is that the reason why I can't even look at her mentality wave?"

"You're correct. It's Ice mentality. The property of master Flan's mentality changed when she was still a rank 1 wizard. The advanced meditation technique is probably related to the Ice energy particles." Stigma nodded.

"Why didn't she teach the technique to her inheritors then?" Morrisa suddenly asked.

"The Oath. The best way to make a wizard to keep his promise. It's a mysterious power that can be planted into a wizard's mentality. If a wizard violated the Oath, their own soul will be devoured. It's a painful way to die," Stigma explained. "Master Flan and master Ivana are probably affected by the Oath, they can't just teach others their advanced meditation techniques."

"Tell us more about Omandis, Stigma," Angele said in a light tone.

"Omandis...?" Stigma had a bitter smile on his face. "My family is at the border of the area. I'm not even an important member. I barely know anything about Omandis."

"Well, you definitely know more information about the place than us. What should we do after reaching Omandis?" Angele kept asking.

Stigma remained silent for several minutes. He was trying to organize his thoughts.

The others waited around the campfire patiently.

"There's no country in Omandis. Wizard organizations and families all possess their own territories. I once found a map in my father's study and there were more than one hundred wizard organizations marked on it. There were also many wars going on before I left." Stigma finally opened his mouth.

"Wars? Why would they waste resources on something like that?" Hikari was confused.

"The population in Omandis is much larger than you thought. There can be more than one million people living in a city. Wizards and mortals share the same living space together. Mortals know that they're ruled by the wizards. It's like peasants and nobles. Ah, and there are many talented wizards in Omandis," Stigma explained. "Some strong wizard apprentices broke the limit when they were under 20 years old. Can you imagine seeing a ten-year-old wizard?"

"

I became a formal wizard at 47, by the way." He shook his head slightly.

"I became a formal wizard at 23," Reyline said. "And that's about 40 years ago..."

"50," Hikari said in a light tone.

"41 for me." Morrisa joined the conversation as well.

Angele nodded slightly. "I became a wizard at about 20 years old, too."

He was one of the most talented wizard apprentices in history yet there was someone better in Omandis.

"Many wizard apprentices will stop at rank 3 for a long time. That's normal. They need to be prepared before trying to break the limit." Stigma pursed his lips.

"You can choose to become a solo adventurer after arriving at Omandis. Go to the wizard towers and accept missions. You can also join my family and apply for advanced meditation techniques in the future," he continued.

"I thought you said it was hard to get those applications approved." Angele wondered.

"Well, I'm not sure about other wizard organizations, but my family separated the techniques into several parts. It's much more complicated than basic meditation techniques that you will encounter many problems during the process. The better the technique is, the faster your mentality will increase. Some of the advanced meditation techniques may even grant you special abilities. The wizards in Omandis are at a totally different level. I never told anyone about it in Nola. Besides the Talent Spells, we also have the special ability of the meditation technique and the help from the enchanted items or magic devices." He stopped for a second and looked at Angele. "The ring you have is considered as a decent magic device even in Omandis but you can find people willing you trade you their magic devices for rare resources. It's a different world."

"Interesting." Angele narrowed his eyes. It seemed that Omandis was the sanctuary for wizards. A better place than Nola most likely.

"The wizards of Omandis also fight in a completely different style. They use many instant-cast spells. The power of their Talent Spells and the special abilities of their advanced meditation techniques will decide the outcome of a battle most of the time. Wizards of west coast rely too much on high-level enchanted items and magic devices. That's how they cast their spells instantly."

Stigma stopped for a second, then he continued, "Never mess with a wizard for no reason. Simple ambushes won't be effective when the wizard has strong Talent Spell or magic devices that provide multiple energy barriers. The higher a wizard's mentality is, the more high-level enchanted items he'll be able to activate at the same time. A wizard from my family is famous for his defensive abilities. The old man can put up four energy barriers at the same time. It's almost impossible to stab him from the back."

The wizards listening to Stigma's explanations all looked surprised.