Chapter 335: Rank Up (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
Angele carefully retrieved the small, white jade box. This was the Abyssal Box he found in the Spiral Garden.
He reached for a small cylinder from the bookshelf inside the room. The cylinder was made out of yellow bamboo.
*PA*
Angele removed the seal and saw several colorful magical cubes inside. The cubes had gathered together and formed a figure of a child’s head trying to peek outside.
"Queen Christina’s Cubes and the Abyssal Box. I can now build the energy conversion magic circle…" Complicated formulas were displayed in front of Angele’s eyes. Concurrently, Zero was still simulating the most optimal method of building the magic circle.
Henn had already transmitted all the necessary information regarding the magic circle to him. There was no longer any point for him to continue training in the Mask of the Black Wing technique, ergo Henn decided to help him out in training in the Molten Core River technique.
The figure of a child formed by the cubes’ fusion slowly crawled out of the bamboo cylinder and climbed up Angele’s hand.
After thinking for a moment, Angele carefully placed the child in his right palm then covered it with a thin layer of silver.
He collected all the required materials and started to prepare the building of the magic circle. He had made a resolve to advance first to the next rank before doing anything else.
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It had taken Angele approximately half a year to finish all his preparations, including the concoction of several potions.
Meanwhile, the Dark Wizard Tower’s Shadow Mercenary had already been sent to him and arrived several months ago. It was an unusual entity covered in black mist and looked like a terrifying shadow that had a pair of glowing red eyes.
This Shadow Mercenary technically had no soul. Nevertheless, Angele made sure it had not been sent to him as a spy of the organization. He could command the Shadow Mercenary using the ring used to store his mission points. Angele tried to damage the creature using every means he had yet nothing worked. The creature seemed to be at a much higher level than him.
Most importantly of all, the Shadow Mercenary would only reveal itself to Angele while others, including Lyn, could not even see it at all.
His days living in the mansion were eventful but peaceful. He had asked Lyn to purchase the strongest magic matrices she could from in the public market since he needed these to fight against the black beetles inhabiting in the Nightmare Realm.
He opted to advance to the next rank once he was in the Nightmare Realm in order to keep his methods a secret. Angele similarly wanted to experiment if it was possible that the ancient bloodline he possessed would mutate if he were to successfully advance to rank 2 in the Nightmare Realm.
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It was currently night time. The floor’s surface was reflecting the pale white moonlight.
Angele was seated at the table without a noise, delicately inspecting three unknown items using a magnifying glass.
Three items were laid out on the table. There was a striped wristband, a wooden plank covered with tiny green roots, and a black plate covered in tiny white dots arranged from left to right, respectively.
"These are the best offensive and defensive magic matrices I could buy in the nearby cities. I could design matrices myself, but I do not have sufficient professional knowledge." Angele put down the magnifying glass and sighed.
The wristband was the Rippling Matrix, the wooden plank was the Twisting Matrix, and the plate was the Light Voice Matrix.
The Rippling Matrix and Twisting Matrix were mainly used to damage targets, while the Light Voice Matrix was used for general area defense and scanning.
The three magic matrices had been improved by countless wizards to the point that their energy lines and runic structures were nearly perfect.
Angele could find magic matrices far more powerful than what he had right now if he contacted Dark Wizard Tower or Vivian. Yet, that would be overkill for the black beetles in the realm. Besides, he wished to see if he could create low-level magic matrices himself.
Angele did not rely too much on Vivian. After all, he was not her real son and was unsure of what would happen if Vivian ever found out about the truth one day. He wanted to learn as much as possible so that he could modify and improve the magic matrices to the way most suitable for his use.
Angele soon finished inspecting the materials and the magic matrices.
He then took out a small, white jade box from his pouch and tightly held it in his hand.
"Everything has been prepared. Time to start the final step."
Angele enveloped all the items with a silver fluid.
He lightly tapped the middle of his chest with his hand.
*CHI*
A ray of red light was unleashed from the signet, and his body disappeared from the room.
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The Nightmare Realm.
There was dark red mist drifting around in the air.
Right beside a black table in the study, Angele’s initially distorted physical body slowly stabilized.
He opened his eyes and looked around. The mansion was deafeningly silent. He did not hear any noise of the beetles roaming outside. Angele picked up all the items he needed before opening the door.
He once again saw the familiar hallway and was the only human being in the building.
The white floor of the hallway was covered in black dust, seemingly as if no one had ever stepped foot on it.
Angele soon walked to the end of the hallway and went downstairs. The red carpet in the living room was rotting in decay.
The main door was open, incessantly shaking in the midst of the cold gusts.
Most of the glowing crystals in the room were broken.
Angele used his stealth technique and walked to the center of the room, and then he slowly took out the three magic matrices.
He held the black plate in his hand and pressed it against the red carpet.
The Light Voice Matrix was surrounded by a white glow but did not produce any noise. The white glow started expanding after several seconds and manifested a large circle on the floor.
Something was beginning to slam upward coming from the center of the circle.
Approximately one minute later, a black pillar about one meter tall stood in front of Angele. There was a small map on top. The internal structure of the building was clearly drawn on the map and the area outside the fence was also within the range.
There was nothing around the main building, but there were countless red dots moving outside the fences. On the top-right corner of the map, there was a signature of someone named Angie, who was likely the wizard who created this magic matrix.
Angele looked at the dark forest outside before ramming a piece of high-quality magic stone into the stone pillar.
*PA*
It sounded like an egg being cracked.
A translucent energy barrier appeared around the mansion.
The energy barrier surrounded the whole mansion, including the fences.
Suddenly, he heard approaching noises produced by the beetles that were swiftly moving towards the mansion from all angles.
Angele’s expression became alarmed and he quickly set the two other matrices.
*KA*
The offensive matrices generated a lot of noise. Two more stone pillars began rising from beneath the floor.
*PA*
A black beetle had forcefully smashed against the energy barrier form by the Light Voice Matrix.
*PA PAPAPA *
More and more beetles started smashing onto the energy barrier.
However, it seemed as if the magic matrix was strong enough to hold against the damage done by the beetles.
Angele checked the map on the first stone pillar once more. It would still take some time for the other two matrixes to be activated. There was a small bar on top of the map.
The length of the white bar was slowly decreasing and it indicated the amount of energy left in the high-quality magic stone.
The magic stone’s energy would be consumed completely once the bar disappeared.
"Approximately ten minutes. One magic stone can support the matrix for ten minutes." Angele did a quick calculation using the biochip.
*KA KA*
The control panels of the Twisting Circle and Rippling Circle were fully activated.
Angele took out two more magic stones and inserted them into the control panels.
He quickly finished setting up the effective area and strength of the two offensive magic matrices.
*Woo*
Under the night sky of the Nightmare World Realm, distorted energy waves were released from the main building of the mansion.
The energy waves were slowly expanding like water ripples.
All the beetles that touched the distorted waves were slowed down and their bodies started glowing.
Countless green vines had also begun growing around the mansion. Materializing out of the mud, these climbed onto the black beetles’ bodies.
Some of the vines had been torn by their sharp teeth. The vines still successfully killed many beetles nonetheless.
The advance of a large number of black beetles was hindered by the energy waves and green vines. The corpses soon turned into acid pools with some of it splashing onto the energy barrier.
Angele was standing in front of the three stone pillars constantly checking the information displayed on the control panels.
The Light Voice Circle’s bar almost stopped decreasing but the other two circles’ bars still continued to decrease at a fast rate.
However, the energy consumption of the three magic circles slowed down after about ten minutes. It seemed like the first wave of the beetles were either cleared or trapped.
Angele maintained his composure as he stepped out of the door and walked to the fences. He surveyed the situation outside the barrier.
Countless black beetles were either slowed down or trapped by the green vines. Although more beetles were moving out of the darkness, the two offensive matrices were holding up well.
The ice waves from the Rippling Magic Circle were ceaselessly injuring the beetles trapped by the green vines. More beetles were being killed than beetles moving out of the darkness from the other side.
An unusual harmony was produced on the battlefield.
"Great. I should be fine for at least three days if everything goes as planned." Angele was satisfied with the result.
Then with a flick of his fingers, red flames were thrown outside the barrier and fell on the acid pools.
*BAM*
The acid pools ignited in flames even though the beetles remained unaffected by such scene. They continued moving across the flames without taking any damage.
Angele took out the Abyssal Box and Queen Christina’s Cubes and began drawing runes on an area within the confines of the energy barrier.
Once the energy conversion magic circle was completed, the flames from the acid pools would directly be converted into his own mentality. This was the most powerful function of the secret magic circle that had been designed by Henn. His progress rate with the Molten Core River technique would substantially accelerate.
Minutes later, a glowing red energy barrier appeared inside the defensive energy barrier. The red light shone on Angele’s face.