Chapter 541 Barbecue <TOC> Chapter 543 Sanders' Experiment
Translator: SumTLMan
Eudes’ meat was very tender. Even after being grilled over ordinary fire and seasoned with common spices, its original flavor remained undiminished.
Moreover, this was the meat of a wizard-level magical beast, containing abundant energy, making it an excellent ingredient for gourmet food. Just ordinary cooking significantly increased everyone’s magical power.
While feasting, they each mobilized their guiding spells within their bodies, channeling the pure energy into their mental spaces.
After a while, Nausica sighed: “I just advanced a few days ago, and my magic source had already been set. I didn’t expect that just eating a bit of meat would cause my magic source to expand even more.”
Angel also felt that his magic source had expanded a bit, but the extent was not significant, perhaps equivalent to half a month of meditation. This was still quite good, as this was just ordinary cooking. If a gourmet wizard were to prepare it, the effects could be five or even ten times greater.
Toby, on Angel’s shoulder, also imitated them and chirped a few times, revealing an expression of enjoyment.
Coral was about to express her feelings when a strange energy fluctuation suddenly emanated from Hilary.
The fluctuation came and went quickly, but the energy level it burst out was so high that they couldn’t help but look over.
Hilary opened her eyes and saw everyone staring at her.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Hilary said: “I just felt a barrier, and I wanted to break through it in one go… But as you can see, I failed.”
“Advancing from a second-level apprentice to a third-level apprentice is a significant threshold. The first two levels can be passed with time accumulation, but this barrier has troubled many people. So you don’t need to worry. Think about the apprentices in our Savage Grottoes. Almost 99% of them are stuck at this barrier, and very few can overcome it…” Coral comforted Hilary.
Coral’s words were also true; over 90% of the apprentices in the world of wizards were stuck at this barrier for their entire lives. However… Hilary looked up at Angel, who was sitting across the campfire, and her eyes seemed a little disappointed.
Coral noticed Hilary’s gaze and said: “You can’t compare yourself to Angel; he’s a monster… a little monster that appears once in a thousand years.”
Angel, on the side, didn’t know what to say and could only focus on eating in silence.
This was just a small interlude, and it soon passed. Hilary didn’t feel too sad about it, as this was a common occurrence among apprentices. It was Angel, who had no bottlenecks and advanced in his sleep, that was truly abnormal.
Eudes’ meat had such an abundance of energy that eating too much would be counterproductive. Thus, everyone stopped when they reached their limits. Although Angel hadn’t reached his limit, he also stopped eating. This gave Toby the chance to enjoy the remaining roast meat all by himself, with no limits, savoring every oily bite.
Toby loved seafood, and since this “seafood” could enhance his inner energy, it was simply delightful.
As they watched Toby devour his meal, Coral, who hadn’t eaten enough, became hungry again. She called the bartender over and ordered a few roasted lamb legs and a large barrel of champagne.
This time, their feasting and drinking were not as quiet as before. Amidst the eating and drinking, they talked about the interesting things that happened after the Purification Garden and the current status of core apprentices in major wizard organizations.
Angel didn’t like gossiping about others, but he enjoyed listening while under the influence of alcohol. Moreover, he heard about some familiar people and events during the gossip.
For example, Coral told a story about a motivational character in a legendary tale: a second-level apprentice from Breeze Valley who managed to survive even after losing all his limbs in the Purification Garden.
According to the story, this apprentice named Viking was betrayed by his companions in the Flying Fish World, lost all his limbs, and was abandoned in the wilderness. He used his bloodline ability to control a sea creature that carried him to the Purifying Sea.
In the Purifying Sea, he fought against sea monsters and narrowly won. Despite the enormous risk of organ rejection, he transplanted a pair of monster hands onto himself and miraculously succeeded. After numerous adventures, he eventually reached the Altar of Demise…
In Coral’s words, this was merely a small story.
But Angel knew very well that this Viking should be the same man that Daniel had abandoned in the wilderness. Angel was there at the time and had stopped the man’s bleeding out of compassion. He had thought that the limbless man would still die in the wilderness, but he surprisingly survived and successfully made it out of the Purification Garden.
This could be considered a miracle.
However, Angel was very aware that the miracle was not simply bestowed upon him by the heavens. If Viking hadn’t had his foundation, strong will to live, a bit of luck, and the calm wisdom, the miracle wouldn’t have happened.
If Angel had been in Viking’s shoes, he might not have been able to achieve the same feat.
Aside from Viking, Coral also mentioned Jiebo.
“Jiebo advanced to a third-level apprentice in the Purification Garden, but he left Mechanical City hurriedly the next day,” Coral said with a smile to Angel. “People outside say it’s because he offended you, and he left in a hurry out of fear of retaliation.”
“But only we know that he was afraid of running into Hilary,” Coral patted Hilary on the shoulder. “It’s a case of one thing suppressing another.”
Nausica chimed in: “Jiebo probably heard these rumors too, but he didn’t explain them to the public and just let them spread. He probably thought that having you as his opponent would save him more face than Hilary.”
Coral covered her mouth and laughed: “That’s what I think too. Angel, you should feel honored. Your reputation is really good!”
Angel frowned: “…” This is probably like when people say: “a pot falls from the sky?”
At this time, Hilary, who was the center of the topic, said: “The version I heard is a bit different from yours.”
“I went to find my mentor the day before yesterday, and he told me about a rumor. It is said that this time in the Purification Garden, a disciple of Bliss Pavilion comprehended the Purification Line.” Hilary paused: “It’s that woman called Mein, who has a feud with Jiebo. Jiebo seemed to have left Mechanical City voluntarily because of her.”
“I also heard about this. I always thought Mein’s comprehension of the Purification Line was just a rumor. I didn’t expect it might be true? However, even if she comprehended the Purification Line, it would be impossible for her to turn it into her own combat power in a short time. Jiebo’s abilities wouldn’t be scared off. I think it might still be because of you.” Coral said to Hilary.
Hilary didn’t know, after all, her memory would be a blank whenever she met Jiebo.
They talked about gossip of other people, like Saladin was still alive; “Divine Dress Maiden” and “Cuisine of Spirits” rose rapidly, becoming the benchmark of the new generation of disciples; “Greenfield Wanderer” Kaiso was surrounded in a deep alley and managed to escape with the help of his magic eye, but he was beaten to a pulp, even his parents wouldn’t recognize him; “Philosophical Scholar” Suyatutai betrayed the Uto Academy and joined the Song of the Deep Sea; Hermes chased love into the Butterfly Bar…
Gossip like this, it’s not clear if it’s true or false, but Coral seemed to know it all.
She said that all these were her exclusive news, which she summarized and analyzed herself by integrating various gossip magazines and focusing on details.
In the end, Coral turned her attention back to Angel:
“Actually, the gossip about you is the most abundant. However, because you’re low-key and always stay at home, they can’t dig up anything. So, their attention is basically focused on your strength, your magical pets, your alchemy spells, and your background.”
“Other than that, there are no dark spots. Regarding your alchemy, public opinion is one-sided…”
Coral talked about the news she had received about Angel in the past few days and finally concluded: “Anyway, your current reputation is probably the best among the disciples of the Savage Grottoes. You don’t need to worry about the dark materials. The truth will always defeat rumors.”
Coral was very serious, and Angel listened indifferently.
Like Coral, those who enjoy gossip magazines among wizard disciples are ultimately a minority. After all, many gossip magazines are actually run by ordinary people. They speculate on the psychology of extraordinary people with the mindset of ordinary people, which is inherently unbalanced. Using sensational language and gimmicks to attract attention will eventually backfire.
Just compare it to periodicals truly run by wizards, such as —Rune—, —True Knowledge Collection—, and —Plane Adventure Records—, and you can see the difference between the perspectives of wizards and ordinary people.
Trivial matters are nothing more than a joke at the moment.
Moreover, people who can set foot on the extraordinary path are not foolish and can distinguish facts.
So, Angel genuinely doesn’t care.
Just like when Angel encountered Randis at the “Fingernail Alchemy House”, who might have believed in the profound lord, the other party was also an apprentice but could see the truth. Not to mention the unfathomable formal wizard like “Fingernail Granny”.
Nausica’s gathering ended with the rich aroma of wine.
Angel learned that Nausica and her two companions would soon return to the Savage Grottoes, and the wizard who protected their passage through the teleportation circle was the mentor of Hilary.
Nausica also asked when Angel would leave, but he was unsure. The situation with Sanders was too strange, so he could only wait and see.
Before leaving, Angel asked Nausica to keep track of some issues with the “mechanical arm” and if she had any good ideas, she could also record them. After he returned to the Savage Grottoes, he would try to optimize and improve it.
When he left the Woodrow Bar, the night had already fallen.
Mechanical City full of “steampunk” elements did not dim due to the night, it was still bright and dazzling, and the city was even more prosperous at night than during the day.
However, Angel had no interest in wandering around and strode towards the depths of the night.
Angel did not return to the Blooming Manor but went to the other side of Mechanical City. He planned to go to the Magic Potion Hut, firstly to thank Midora for his treatment when he was unconscious, and secondly, to learn more alchemy knowledge from him.
Angel spent the entire night at the Magic Potion Hut.
Although the Purification Garden event had passed, Midora still allowed Angel access to his collection of books. Among these books, Angel saw a scroll titled —Alchemy Tricks Experience Notes—.
This notebook was obviously left here deliberately by Midora. Although there was no signature, the handwriting on it should have been written by Midora. The notebook did not record any alchemy tricks, but it did share the experiences of most alchemy tricks that an apprentice could learn.
Angel did not lack tricks but needed these details and experiences. So he happily spent the entire night memorizing this notebook thoroughly.
Many viewpoints in the book inspired Angel. He had just learned the advanced alchemy tricks of the “Melting Spell” and “Freezing Spell” of “Thermal Fusion and Cold Condensation” not long ago, and they had not yet shown their full potential. Surprisingly, with the help of this notebook, he spent just one night and almost understood the further advanced tricks: Fire Melting Spell and Solidification Spell.
Once Angel learned the Fire Melting Spell, he could process intermediate materials smoothly, which was much more efficient than using the Thermal Fusion Spell before.
In addition, Angel also had a general understanding of the “Eye of Nalda” and should be able to learn it quickly if there were no accidents.
Just as Angel was immersed in the ocean of learning, the long-unused communicator suddenly received a message.