There were many people already lingering around the energy pools.
Some of them were uttering strange incantations and the rest were waiting for something while seated cross-legged. There were people making calculations with formulae and runes on something, too.
That being so, the arrival of Juventus and Angele did not draw any attention.
The entire room was lit by the green glow of the energy pools and so the faces of those wizards who were there were also dyed green. The place looked terrifying overall.
"Pick one. All the pools here should have enough energy to sustain the magic circle," Juventus explained, standing by the entrance.
Angele nodded a little and looked at the energy pools. The sizes of those pools varied.
Nonetheless, the size mattered not. He only needed to find the one that perfectly fitted the Legacy Magic Circle he obtained.
Too strong an energy pool whereas the magic power required not much, then the Legacy Magic Circle would be greatly affected, and the runes be weakened.
Besides, if the energy pool had insufficient output, it would not be able to transfer enough energy to the magic circle.
Angele had to check the magic circle's power level and search for the energy pool perfect for it.
He explored the energy pools in the hall and selected a rectangular one located on the right side.
"I'll take that one." He walked to the energy pool and took out the seed from his pouch. "How do I set this up? Are there any restrictions here?" He looked at Juventus.
"No. The only thing you must do is to place your mentality mark on the seed and throw it into the pool," Juventus said, crossing his arms, "And if you plant the seed in the energy pool you chose, the magic circle will completely be protected by the defensive power of the pools. It's nigh impossible for even a powerful wizard to mess with your magic circle without your permission, so don't worry—it will be fine even if others were to know the location of your magic circle."
"Is that so?" Angele somewhat nodded.
He held the seed and concentrated his gaze on its surface.
A crimson mark, which looked like a needle, took shape on where he was staring at with focus.
"All right." Angele crouched, sighing, and carefully dropped the seed into the energy pool.
It started germinating and developing rapidly as soon as it sank into the glowing green water.
Roots emerged from the seed's surface, twisting and expanding apace in the energy pool.
Seconds later, the energy pool was occupied entirely by the roots that soon formed a natural magic circle.
The magic circle formed from the roots slowly floated on the surface of the water. Green leaves and vibrant flower buds appeared in the circle immediately.
A human face took shape on the magic circle. It looked like as if it was trying to smile and its left eye was open and the right eye closed.
"That's…" Juventus had his breath taken away, "the Totem of the Metal Giant… I didn't expect your reward to be so good. The director must really have high expectations for you."
"Huh?" This was the first time Angele heard of the Totem of the Metal Giant. "What do you mean? Is this a rare Legacy Magic Circle?"
"Rare? No, no. It's extremely rare," Juventus looked at Angele. "This Legacy Magic Circle is not part of the rewards that had been decided upon, which means, the directors have prepared it especially just for you. It may not be the strongest Legacy Magic Circle of all time, but it should be the most suitable for you."
"What enhancements do this Legacy Magic Circle come with?" Angele raised his eyebrow questioningly and asked softly.
"It will aid you in manipulating metal forcefields, according to its distance, strength, and accuracy. And the Metal Skin spell, a derivative of the Stone Skin spell, will become your pa.s.sive spell. Any damage you receive will be greatly reduced. For the other basic features, you will have to find those out yourself," Juventus explained.
Angele slightly nodded. Information regarding the Legacy Magic Circle was being transmitted to his brain as the circle continued to grow. His biochip verified the safety of the information and stored it in the database.
All of the information pertained to the Legacy Magic Circle set.
A permanent pa.s.sive spell called Metal Skin and an area spell called Metal shock that could be cast twice per day. The power of the Legacy Magic Circle was further enhancing his body withal.
Angele discovered that if the power of the circle was to be applied to an average wizard's body, it could double the wizard's life expectancy. However, with Angele having merged ancient bloodlines, he could already live much longer than an average wizard. Angele could easily live for more than a millennium.
Common sense dictated a wizard would reach a different level altogether with the a.s.sistance of a Legacy Magic Circle.
On top of that, Angele had yet to fully activate the Legacy Magic Circle set.
He did not know how strong or powerful the circle would be until it was fully activated.
"All right, let's leave since the magic circle is done. Our body will get damaged if we stay here for too long. The wizards who stay here all day are those who are nearly on their deathbed and already lost hope. They are making an attempt to develop a spell that can extend their life expectancy," Juventus whispered.
"Sure," Angele agreed.
The two of them promptly departed from the hall of energy pools.
"Since I placed the circle here, can I still activate it when I'm out in the Wizard World?" Angele asked as he walked with him.
"You can. The energy pools here are connected to many different areas. But since the coordinates of your magic circle is here, if you move too far away from this location, the power that will be transferred to you is going to be weaker than it should be. Keep that in mind.
"And should you opt to stay in Dark Wizard Tower, you will be able to request for extra resources. It's a benefit that's not counted as your future reward. Besides that, you can go to the department of change and request for some bodyguards, excluding the shadow you already have."
"Department of change?"
"Yeah, one of the six departments and responsible for soul modification experiments on living beings. The department of change has five major armies and four of them consists of modified mutants. The core army is the last one and it creates so many mutants every day that they often send some of those mutants to the members of the organization to become their bodyguards/ Well, that is what I heard at least. I can't access the special rewards yet, so I don't know a lot of details about it.
"Did you not place your magic circle in one of the energy pools?" Angele wondered.
"Yeah, I did, in an energy pool of my family's secret chamber." Juventus shrugged. "Do you want to go to the department of change now? Their director likes you, so she may give you something good," he advised.
"Sure, it'd be better if I can get everything done now." Angele nodded.
They left the energy pool hall and went down the wooden spiral staircase outside the tree. Several minutes later, they stopped at a black stone door.
Two doorkeepers wearing black, full-body armor were standing outside the arched stone door. Black energy particles were leaking out of the gaps between the pieces of armor. The doorkeepers were grasping heavy metal spears.
"Welcome, Master Green," the guard on the right spoke deeply and nodded at Angele. He immediately smacked the surface of the door with his left hand.
Chi!
The stone door was slowly opened.
Behind the door, there was a cozy room painted in bright yellow.
The orange flames were dancing in the fireplace. The floor was covered with red carpet.
Angele saw someone familiar sitting in a chair by the fireplace.
It was a woman in a fit, white leather armor. She had a body that was balanced and looked strong, a pair of blue eyes that were crystal clear, and her hair was tied in a ponytail. The woman was gentle and beautiful.
When she heard the noise produced by the door, she turned her head to see and saw Angele and Juventus standing by the door.
"It's you!" the woman hurriedly stood up and glared at Angele with such resentment in her eyes.
Angele was a bit startled. It was, after all, the woman who had been torn apart by him in the compet.i.tion.
The woman was breathing heavily, panting in rage.
"This must be destiny," Angele smiled, "Destiny has brought us together. What happened in the compet.i.tion was just an… accident."
"Why are you still smiling?" the woman's tone was sharp, and it sounded like she was trying to remain composed when she spoke.
"Well, it was a compet.i.tion. I did what I have to do." Angele spread out his arms, shrugging.
The woman no longer talked, but she was still somewhat scowling at Angele.
"Anyway, I'm here to pick up my reward. I have already placed my magic circle in the energy pool," Angele went straight to the point.
A middle-aged man slowly stepped out of a room, "Yes, we've already received the message. Master Green, please follow me." The man was wearing a long black robe.
He then sent his words to the woman in white using energy particles. Angele was not sure what they were saying.
The woman's expression changed several times and finally nodded her head. She glared at Angele before she turned around and walked down the stairs.
Angele could still hear the loud noise made by the woman's feet. She seemed to be doing that intentionally.
"Please follow me." the man turned around and entered a hallway.
Angele and Juventus quickly followed after him.
The three continued to walk. Angele saw maids and servants running around with random things in their heads. They all bowed to the wizards, but they did not say anything.
The man smiled, explaining, "This is the department of change's territory and the person in charge is Commander Ulanos. He prefers a quiet environment, which is why the servants and maids here don't have tongues. I'm sure they'll greet you if they can."
"Is that so?" Angele was a bit surprised. He looked at Juventus, but the latter seemed to already be used to a situation like this.