Chapter 193 - 134: Castle of the Dead, Special Meditation Technique

Chapter 193: Chapter 134: Castle of the Dead, Special Meditation Technique

However, he didn’t expect that nearly half of these apprentices were students of the Imperial Guardian.

The Imperial Guardian accepted them as students not because their talents were all exceptional, but because the Imperial Guardian had an agreement with their clans.

After these apprentices traveled to the Wizarding World, they would all join the Imperial Guardian’s organization.

To put it simply, while fulfilling his duty of sending apprentices to the Wizarding World, the Imperial Guardian was also recruiting new blood for his own organization.

The vast majority of these apprentices would never have the chance to become Official Wizards.

But their membership would still strengthen the organization to a certain extent.

If they were lucky and one of these apprentices advanced to become an Official Wizard, it would be an even greater boon.

Although becoming a student of the Imperial Guardian meant losing the opportunity to join other organizations, these clans still agreed to the deal he proposed.

Forfeiting their freedom of choice in exchange for the Imperial Guardian’s guidance and protection was a worthwhile trade no matter how one looked at it.

This kind of arrangement wasn’t an invention of the current Imperial Guardian; his predecessors had often done the same.

Harvey had previously considered having Selena and Monica become students of the Imperial Guardian.

But after consulting with Selena and Monica, Harvey gave up on the idea.

The Sal Empire’s current Guardian was named David Hammel.

Before returning to the Knight Continent, he was an Official Wizard from the "Castle of the Dead."

The Castle of the Dead was a Level Two Wizard Organization located in the Southern Domain of the Wizarding World.

Speaking of which, this was a good time to explain the regional divisions of the Wizarding World and the ranking system for Wizard Organizations.

As a vast world that far surpassed the Knight Continent, the Wizarding World was divided into six different regions.

They were the Eastern, Southern, Western, Northern, Central, and Aerial Domains.

To use a city analogy:

The Aerial Domain was like a first-tier city, and the Central Domain was a second-tier city.

As for the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern Domains, they were like third-tier cities.

As for the ranking of Wizard Organizations, a very simple and crude standard was adopted.

An organization’s rank was determined by the level of its strongest Wizard.

The strongest wizard in the Castle of the Dead was a Level Two Wizard, so the Castle of the Dead was a Level Two Organization.

Selena and Monica didn’t want to become David Hammel’s students because they knew the Castle of the Dead was not a good fit for them.

They weren’t the first Wizard Apprentices to come from the Evil Spirit Cat Clan.

Before them, the Evil Spirit Cat Clan had already produced quite a few Wizard Apprentices.

Although to this day, the Evil Spirit Cat Clan had never produced an Official Wizard.

But those previous Wizard Apprentices, after realizing they had no hope of advancing to Official Wizard, had all chosen to return to the Knight Continent to live out their days.

Upon returning to live out their retirement, they also brought back a great deal of knowledge and information about the Wizarding World.

For example, they brought back details on what kind of Wizard Organization the Castle of the Dead was.

As the name suggested, the Castle of the Dead was a Wizard Organization that primarily focused on Necromancy Magic.

The Meditation Technique Selena and Monica studied, however, was called "Shadow Dance," which was an Elemental Meditation Method.

If they were to join the Castle of the Dead, they would have to abandon the Shadow Dance Meditation Method, which they had cultivated for several years, and switch to a Meditation Technique of the Necromancy System.

Only in this way could they avoid a situation where their mismatched Meditation Technique made them work twice as hard for half the results.

Seeing Roy frown, Selena asked slowly, "Are you considering whether to become a student of the Imperial Guardian?"

"No, I was just wondering if the Imperial Guardian and those clans have any other arrangements."

Roy replied.

That’s what he said, but it wasn’t what he was actually thinking about.

In the current Wizarding World, Meditation Techniques and Magic were divided into ten systems.

However, in the very beginning, there were only nine systems: Elemental, Necromancy, Prophecy, Summoning, Defense, Mind, Illusion Technique, Transformation, and Healing.

These systems for Meditation Techniques and Magic didn’t exist from the very beginning; they were established after the Wizard Civilization had developed to a certain point.

Before establishing these systems, the Wizards had done their best to account for every existing Meditation Technique and type of Magic.

Even so, some Meditation Techniques and Magic still couldn’t be accurately classified into any single system.

For instance, there were Meditation Techniques and Magic that simultaneously possessed characteristics of several different systems.

To solve this problem, the Wizards adopted a brutally simple method.

Since some Meditation Techniques and Magic were difficult to classify, they simply created a "Special" system dedicated to categorizing them.

And so, all the Meditation Techniques and Magic with bizarre effects or characteristics of multiple systems were unceremoniously lumped into the Special system.

From that point on, the nine great systems became ten.

This was also why a "Special Type" existed among the six major types of Breathing Techniques.

The Elemental Heart Meditation Method practiced by Thomas and the Shadow Dance Meditation Method practiced by Selena and Monica were typical Elemental Meditation Methods.

Roy’s Purgatory Dragon Meditation Method, on the other hand, belonged to the Special system.

On the surface, cultivating a Meditation Technique from the Special system didn’t seem to be a problem.

But that was not the case.

It was easy to find a matching Wizard Organization for Meditation Techniques from the other systems.

But as for Wizard Organizations that focused on Special-system Meditation Techniques and Magic, you might not find one in a hundred.

After a moment of rapid thought, Roy pushed the problem to the back of his mind.

’With the Skill Proficiency Panel and Chaos Square, cultivating multiple Meditation Techniques at the same time isn’t a problem for me.’

’Since Wizard Organizations for the Special system are hard to find, I’ll just switch to another system.’

’Like an Elemental System Wizard Organization, for example.’

’After I cultivate the Purgatory Dragon Meditation Method to Tier Ten, I’ll start practicing the Elemental Heart Meditation Method!’

Roy quickly made his decision.

Then, he said to Selena, "Let’s check out the shopping district first, and then we’ll go to the Snow Mammoth Clan."

"We’re going today?"

Selena looked at Roy with a surprised expression.

Although she had already arranged for guards to deliver the letters of challenge to the respective clans, she hadn’t expected Roy to start his challenges today.

In her mind, the earliest Roy would start challenging those clans was tomorrow.

"I have to go sooner or later. There’s no difference between going today or later."

Roy replied.

"Mm-hmm."

Selena nodded.

After traveling for fifteen or twenty minutes along the wide, flat street, Roy and his companions arrived at the shopping district nearest to the manor.

It was a typical pedestrian shopping street, with every kind of store imaginable.

Because it was located in the central district of Storm City and surrounded by the manors of major clans, its clientele consisted almost entirely of clan members.

As a result, the shops were all lavishly decorated, and the sales assistants and staff were exclusively handsome men and beautiful women.

After bringing Roy and the others to the entrance of the shopping district, the coachman drove the carriage to a nearby parking area to wait patiently.

Roy and his companions didn’t spend much time in the shopping district.

After a little over half an hour, they returned to the carriage and set off for the Snow Mammoth Clan’s manor.

In less than twenty minutes, the carriage arrived before the main gate of the Snow Mammoth Clan’s manor.

Just as Selena and Monica were about to open the carriage door and step out, Roy’s voice rang out.

"You two can just wait for me here."

Roy said slowly.

"Would it be a problem for us to go with you?"

Monica asked quickly.

Roy didn’t hesitate to explain.

"The fight will be over quickly. There won’t be much to see."

"Besides, your presence would only make it more humiliating for them."

After hearing his explanation, Monica and Selena quickly exchanged a glance.

"In that case, we’ll wait for you here."

Selena said slowly.

Roy nodded, opened the door, and left the carriage as Selena and Monica watched, walking up to the manor’s main gate.

Without any hesitation, he explained his purpose to the guards by the gate.

Upon hearing that he was there to challenge the Clan Leader, the guards’ expressions immediately turned hostile.

Challenging someone at their own gate was not a rare occurrence.

But "not rare" didn’t mean it was a good thing.

For the clan being challenged, a challenge at their gate was no different from being issued an invitation to a duel.

"What’s your name?"

the middle-aged Knight serving as squad leader asked Roy.

"Shanks!"

"You can also call me ’Red-haired’ Shanks!"

Roy said slowly, looking at the man with a calm expression.

The letter of challenge only said "Shanks," without the "Red-haired" moniker.

In order to make the name "Shanks" and the moniker "Red-haired" resound throughout Storm City, he decided to firmly link the two together from this moment on.

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