76: Chapter 76 The Black Wizard

Deep within the underground facility, in a softly lit, luxuriously decorated conference room, five wizards with distinct appearances were watching the scene in the cave through a crystal screen.

Upon seeing the group of black-robed figures place the wooden crates in the cave and leave, an old man with a gloomy expression suddenly spoke.

"The equipment is all here, right?"

If Byron were here, he would undoubtedly recognize this gloomy-faced old man as Lucius, the first Official Wizard he and his group met when they arrived at the Wizard Continent.

As Lucius broke the silence in the room, a bald wizard nodded slightly.

"The equipment has all been delivered. Once it is installed, we just need to wait patiently."

After saying this, the bald wizard hesitated slightly before speaking again.

"Are we really going to do this? If…"

"What 'if'? We have already come this far; do you still want to back out?!"

Without waiting for the bald wizard to finish, Lucius interrupted him with a vicious expression.

"Besides, is this a step we wanted to take? Wasn't it the Academy that forced us?! If you want to back out, turn around and leave now; I certainly won't stop you!"

"But you had better think carefully: is it better to resist now and seek a glimmer of survival, or to fade away little by little under the oppression of the Academy like those spineless Families?!"

Lucius had long disliked this guy; he acted wretchedly and lacked the sense of responsibility of a noble.

Most importantly, this guy had a close relationship with the Academy, unlike Lucius, who was not trusted by the Academy. The apprentices assigned to his Family were not only few but also had poor Aptitude.

You have to know that every time they transported apprentices, they used his Family's wizard artifact, yet they didn't know how to cherish it.

Other Families had them too, but they only focused on using his, and the compensation given was meager!

Because of this, Lucius not only hated the Academy but also hated those who were close to it.

The bald wizard's expression turned unpleasant upon hearing this, but knowing he was in the wrong, he didn't say anything more.

Just then, a Round-faced Old Man sitting to the side, who looked very kind, spoke with a smile.

"Oh, Harvey, don't blame Lucius for speaking so harshly; what he said makes some sense."

"Is it that we don't want to continue as we did before? But have those guys at the Academy ever given us a chance?!"

"They treat the descendants we send to the Academy as hostages with complete indifference, and their treatment is not even as good as the newly recruited students."

"That would be fine; we could endure it. But now they want every one of our Families to send an Official Wizard to participate in the Great Expedition!"

"Don't they know the situation of our Families? Only a few have two wizards; most only have one."

"If one is taken away, and if there is any accident, the Family we worked so hard to climb up with will fall back into that quagmire again. Harvey, are you willing to let your Family end up like that?!"

It seemed that this Round-faced Old Man had a high status among these people. As soon as he spoke, not only Harvey, but even Lucius closed his mouth and listened to him.

After being lectured by the Round-faced Old Man, the bald Harvey's face flushed red, and he retorted in a low voice.

"I said that for the sake of the Family, didn't I? If others find out we are colluding with Dark Wizards, our entire Family will…"

"Harvey, shut up! As long as we don't say anything, who could possibly know we are colluding with Dark Wizards?!"

The Round-faced Old Man's eyes widened, and he shouted angrily at Harvey.

Dark Wizards looked very similar to the Dark Wizards that appeared due to the Great Expedition, but the two were completely different.

The former were beings not tolerated by the entire Wizard Continent, while the latter were a part of the Academy wizards.

The origins of Dark Wizards were very complex.

Before becoming a Dark Wizard, they might have been Academy wizards trained by a wizard academy, or Family wizards trained by a wizard Family...

But as long as one pursued power and turned away from the Wizard World, they were collectively called Dark Wizards.

Regarding Dark Wizards, the Wizard Council's approach had always been strict. Let alone becoming a Dark Wizard, even colluding with one would result in being eradicated root and branch.

The other wizards in the room also began to look at Harvey with strange expressions.

Harvey realized his mistake at this moment and quickly shut his mouth, saying no more.

Seeing that Harvey knew he was wrong, the Round-faced Old Man resumed his kind appearance and looked around the circle.

"Everyone, remember, as long as we do our jobs well next, then after this matter is concluded, I believe the share our Family descendants occupy in the Academy will definitely increase."

"Even that guy who deceived the Dark Erosion Stigmata will definitely not dare to play tricks on us again, and we will be safe."

"After those descendants become Official Wizards, by that time, the Families of everyone here will definitely be more prosperous than they are now!"

"At that time, we will be supremely glorious!"

Once these words were spoken, the eyes of the other wizards in the room lit up, and their breathing became a bit heavier.

Seeing this, the Round-faced Old Man nodded with satisfaction: "Alright, go do your work. There isn't much time left for us."

Everyone nodded, stood up, and walked out.

The meeting room fell into dead silence once again.

...

In the Nether Bone Crystal Nest small plane, next to Byron's residence.

At this time, Dylan and the other two, who had been guarding Byron for over ten days, no longer looked as relaxed and easy as before; some anxiety and worry had appeared in them to varying degrees.

Looking at the door that remained tightly shut, unchanged from before, Loris's tone became somewhat heavy.

"It's been so many days, and there hasn't been any movement. I think we must prepare for the worst and call Byron out."

Although Dylan was also a bit anxious, he was more composed than Loris.

Hearing this from Loris, he shook his head slowly: "Loris, I don't agree with your opinion. Things haven't reached that point yet."

"Give Byron a little more confidence; wasn't that what you said?"

"Besides, if he is in the middle of Potion Making when we call him, a portion of Materials will be wasted."

Loris: "I want to have more confidence in Byron, but time waits for no one; a portion of Materials is just a waste if it's wasted."

"Haven't you thought about it? As time passes, those organizations conquering the brood nests will return sooner or later, and the situation will become increasingly severe."

"When those organizations really return, the situation will be truly dire!"

Ivan nodded: "How could I not have thought about it? But that is only a high probability, not one hundred percent."

Dylan shook his head: "I have also thought about this problem. There are many wolves and little meat; adding the three brood nests together, they can at most produce nine origin crystal essences."

"Among them, there are wizards who couldn't find a way to perform Potion Making and could only swallow them whole."

"In that case, there will be even fewer origin crystal essences to distribute, and some Limit Wizard Apprentices will definitely not get any."

Hearing Dylan's words, Loris's tone became somewhat urgent.

"If that's the case, if those Limit Wizard Apprentices are instigated by someone with ulterior motives and truly act like cornered dogs, it will be disastrous if they come to rob us."

"In that case, even if I have great confidence in Byron, it will be useless. In such an environment, even if his mentor came, he couldn't guarantee the success rate!"

"So, whether for safety or to ensure the success rate, it's better to waste a portion of Materials."

"I'm still going to call Byron, let him change the location for Potion Making, it's best…"

But before Loris could finish her sentence, her eyes suddenly widened, as if she had seen something incredible, and the words in her mouth stopped.