Dago barely heard the Black Robe Wizard's murmur.
The air shrieked as the Flame Core moved at high speed, and the temperature of the mental energy shell had exceeded a thousand degrees, on the verge of rupturing.
Dago ran with all his might towards Serena, scooped her up, and fled in the opposite direction of the Flame Core; he roughly knew how powerful this spell was.
"Boom—!"
There was no buffer, no warning. The moment the Flame Core struck the Black Robe Wizard.
First, a blinding white light exploded, releasing a visible shockwave that instantly tore the Black Robe Wizard into countless fragments.
Then, the shockwave spread in a ring, moving extremely fast. The three people dozens of meters away felt as if they had been violently shoved from behind and were thrown to the ground.
Immediately after, the ten-meter radius where the Black Robe Wizard stood violently collapsed, releasing devastating high temperatures and energy.
Everything within the range was instantly melted or burned, the land turned to scorched earth, and biomass was completely reduced to ashes.
Finally, the resulting high-temperature air current spread outwards, causing burns to objects in a wider area.
All of this happened within a mere second.
When Dago felt the heatwave gradually recede, he forced himself to stand up, swaying unsteadily.
The spot where the Black Robe Wizard had stood was now a charred crater over ten meters in diameter, with black smoke still rising from its edges.
The Black Robe Wizard was dead, not even a speck remaining.
The evening breeze swept across the bottom of the crater, stirring a wisp of black smoke. That Flame Core had fulfilled its mission...
By its own annihilation, it had carved an indelible mark upon the earth.
When Dago saw that everything was over, he collapsed to the ground again, as if utterly drained...
His whole body was drenched in sweat, and beside him lay Serena, her mind blank.
A mist rose from Dago's body, carrying away dirt and grass clippings; it was the 'Cleanse' rune on his Apprentice Robe taking effect.
Not far away, Old Marico hurried over. Seeing that the two were unharmed, he let out a sigh of relief.
It was unclear how much time passed before the three recovered and returned to the dilapidated Treehouse Stronghold.
All of this had happened too suddenly; one moment they were enjoying a meal at the Treehouse Stronghold.
The next, the Black Robe Wizard had taken everything.
"Thank you for choosing to stay."
Dago sincerely thanked the two; as for the Academy Wizard, he had long since vanished.
The Vine Technique Serena cast at the critical moment truly saved his life.
"However, we need to pack our valuables and leave the Treehouse Stronghold for the Town as soon as possible. The commotion from the battle was too great and will quickly attract other Black Robe Wizards in the forest."
Dago added immediately, not waiting for them to reply.
With that said, the three immediately went back to their temporary lodgings, selecting valuable and lightweight items.
Dago still had a Storage Pouch on him, but he hadn't figured out how to use it yet. It seemed he would only understand it after arriving at the Academy.
At 7:40 PM, Dago spent less than ten minutes packing his clothes and Potion Crafting tools before heading down to meet the other two.
In fact, none of the three had much stuff, as this was their second move, and this relocation to the Town would be their third.
The three walked out of the collapsed wooden gate of the Treehouse Stronghold. Dago looked back at it...
He had left a lot of his feelings there, but unfortunately, this farewell was a permanent one.
Burying his thoughts, he wondered how long he would be able to stay in Aynak Town this time.
At this moment, the combat power of the three was very low, perhaps not even five...
If another Black Robe from the Dark Blood Council came, they would basically have no chance of escape.
The three set off towards the Town, their figures gradually merging into the night.
The closer they got to the Town, the more militiamen they saw patrolling with torches. These were guards recently organized by the Town Guard Office, made up of mortals from the Town.
They were usually divided into groups patrolling designated areas, with two people per group, so that if they encountered a Black Robe Wizard, one person could run to report it.
Dago seemed to have heard Raymond from the Academy mention this a long time ago, but it had only just been implemented now.
This showed the execution capability of the noble lords in the Town.
Along the way, relying on their Academy Robes and Wizard Alliance badges, no militiaman would stop the three. Ultimately, it was due to the asymmetric individual strength of Wizards compared to commoners.
If Dago wanted to, killing an ordinary person would not be much different from killing a Chi Deer.
On the way, the three also noticed many Wizards coming from the direction of the forest, looking disheveled, their robes tattered and dirty, and more or less stained with blood, as if they had gone through a life-and-death battle.
Dago estimated that Aynak Town must be filled with a depressing atmosphere at this time.
He rubbed his forehead with his hand, his face showing unconcealed fatigue.
He just wanted a soft, comfortable bed to lie down on and get a good night's sleep.
........
In a small room in a certain inn in the Noble District of the Town, at 8:50 PM.
Dago finished his bath and walked to a silver half-length mirror in the corner of the room, his hair still damp.
The young man in the mirror was tall and slender, masculine and handsome, with an indescribable noble elegance.
He checked his injuries, which were mostly minor scrapes, nothing serious.
He walked to the walnut table in the middle of the room and sat down, reviewing the thrilling day.
The high-level Apprentice Wizard he encountered in the evening had powerful mental energy, fluid spellcasting, and rich combat experience. Even within the same rank, he was undoubtedly a true powerhouse.
His survival from him indeed involved an element of gambling.
Especially the Flame Core he released at the end, which had evolved from the Air Bullet, the spell that had accompanied him the longest.
Killing a high-level Apprentice Wizard could even be described as using a sledgehammer to crack a nut; its power was simply too exaggerated.
Dago brought up the system panel.
【"Wizard Universal Meditation Method" (Evolution 1311/10000); "Ice Crystal Cannon" (Evolution 1435/10000); "Resonance Art" (Evolution 83/10000); "Detection Art" (Evolution 54/10000); "Potion Crafting" (Beginner 18/1000)】
He consciously clicked on "Ice Crystal Cannon," and the system panel instantly expanded.
"Flame Core Air Bullet" (The Pinnacle of Art) + "Ice Crystal Technique" (Evolution 8743/10000)
He saw that after the progress reached ten thousand, not only did the spell's form and intensity undergo earth-shattering evolutions, but the original skill names also changed.
Dago recalled the scene when he cast "Flame Core Air Bullet"; this single spell drained all of his mental energy, compressing a vast amount of free energy particles and air to form the Flame Core, which, upon impact, was like a high-explosive bomb.
Its power already surpassed the entire Apprentice Wizard stage.
However, this skill's suffix was marked with 'The Pinnacle of Art' and showed no progress value.
Had it reached the limit of this skill?
Dago couldn't help but recall the words the Black Robe Wizard muttered before his death.
"The Pinnacle of Art."
He couldn't believe until his dying moment that an Apprentice Wizard had released such a spell.
"Is this a specific description in the Wizarding World for a spell after its evolution?"
Dago couldn't help but speculate, but unfortunately, there was no way to confirm it.
After all, he had only audited a few classes at Aynak Wizarding Academy and then stopped going. Even with Rosalind, the Wizard who was very kind to him, Dago had only attended two classes.
His knowledge of various things in the Wizarding World was too scarce; many things he didn't know, didn't understand, or had never even heard of.
This was the advantage of Academy Wizards with systematic education, and it was also the fundamental difference from wandering Wizards.
Most Academy Wizards would have a natural sense of superiority when facing wandering Wizards...
This was a disdain based on their understanding of the Wizarding World, little did they know that Viser had once looked down on the Wizards of their Forest Patrol with his nostrils.
And he couldn't be considered a true Academy Wizard; after all, he had only hastily joined the Academy and hadn't learned much about the Wizarding World.
This time he returned to Aynak Town because he wanted to go back to the Academy and make up for his lack of knowledge in this area.
Furthermore, he now had magic stones, plus his Potion Crafting skill, so he should be able to do very well.
During his time in the Forest Patrol, he had killed as many as three Black Robe Wizards...
And all of them were Intermediate or higher-level Apprentice Wizards, including one high-level Apprentice.
Unfortunately, he either didn't have time to loot the later Black Robe Wizards, or there was nothing left of them.
Thinking of this, Dago sighed regretfully. He couldn't help but take out the Storage Pouch and examine it carefully in his hand.
This was the best loot he had acquired, and he guessed the last Black Robe Wizard also had one, but it had unfortunately turned to ash.
Whenever he had free time, Dago would often take it out to study it.
However, he had never been able to open the storage space, and there were almost no Wizards around him who possessed storage-type equipment.
Inside the pouch was a spatial rune, and Dago had continuously tried to probe it with his mental energy.
Unfortunately, this rune seemed to have an owner, constantly repelling his mental energy...
It was like a mismatch between a username and password in his previous life, preventing him from logging in.
However, Dago discovered that the mental energy imprint left by the original owner could be slowly erased by brute force, though this process was quite slow.
"It seems that for now, the most clumsy method is to spend time slowly erasing it bit by bit with my own mental energy..."
Dago suddenly sighed and said, shaking his head as he reluctantly accepted the fact.