79: Chapter 79 Departure

However, all of this was merely a fantasy of his.

Until the very last day of the mission, he still failed to see what he had hoped to see.

Listening to the bell tolling throughout the entire Wizard Settlement, Locke's numb face began to twitch uncontrollably.

Through the window, he watched one Wizard Apprentice after another emerge from their dwellings, walking in the same direction with various expressions.

Seeing this scene, Locke could no longer hold it in. His expression suddenly turned ferocious, and he began tearing things apart in the room, venting the rage in his heart.

"Damn it, is he really a turtle? How can he stay inside for so long? How can he stand it!"

Looking through the window toward Byron's dwelling, Locke growled through gritted teeth.

"Don't ever fall into my hands in the future, or I will definitely extract your Soul, refine it day and night, and turn your corpse into a corpse puppet...!!!"

After venting, the pent-up frustration in Locke's heart dissipated quite a bit, leaving only bitterness. He tidied himself up and walked outside.

As soon as he stepped out the door, he stood frozen at the entrance, staring blankly ahead.

At this moment, the Magic Array outside Byron's dwelling had vanished, and the door had been opened at some unknown time.

As for the Byron he had been obsessing over, he was standing at the entrance, looking up at the sky, lost in thought.

Byron stood at the entrance, looking at the blinding sunlight outside, raising his hand slightly to shield his eyes, his expression becoming somewhat dazed.

This was probably the longest time he had spent in seclusion; he hadn't stepped out for a full month.

However, in return, his gains this month were not insignificant. He had finally designed the 'Flame Condensation Blast Wizard' template and inscribed it into his Mental Sea.

This meant he had one more Wizardry Tricks he could use, and his strength had increased.

However, after becoming a Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice, the speed at which the Eye of Omniscience analyzed Meditation Rune suddenly slowed down.

This resulted in him only adding three more Meditation Rune to the eighteen he had condensed when he became a Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice, despite three months of continuous effort.

At a pace of almost one Meditation Rune per month, there was still a long way to go to meet the requirement of condensing thirty-six Meditation Rune to become a Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

No wonder the number of Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice in the academy was so much smaller than that of Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice; Senior Colin had spent years becoming a Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

If becoming a Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice was this difficult, then how hard must it be for a Limit Wizard Apprentice, who had kept Senior Sister stuck at the Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice level for so long?

Thinking of this, even Byron couldn't help but click his tongue.

"Hmm—"

Just as Byron was lamenting, he suddenly felt a strange sensation, as if someone were watching him.

This was one of the benefits of increased Mental Energy; his senses had become sharp, allowing him to easily detect abnormalities in his surroundings.

Byron looked in the direction of that strange sensation.

A man with messy, dirty hair, bloodshot eyes, and a haggard, withered face was standing at the entrance of the dwelling opposite him, staring fixedly at him with those bloodshot eyes.

Seeing this, Byron was slightly stunned. After reacting, he frowned slightly, not understanding why that person was looking at him like that.

Did he know him?

Thinking of this, Byron began searching his memory, attempting to find the person corresponding to him.

It didn't take long for Byron to finally recognize who that person was; it was the pretty boy he had seen on the first day he entered the academy, the one who made Colin grit his teeth.

Thinking of this, and looking at the man's current appearance while recalling his handsome face from his memory, Byron felt a sense of lament in his heart.

This Wizard World was indeed dangerous and messed up, actually turning such a person into this state.

Although Byron didn't know what had happened to the other party, he could feel the aura of decadence on him.

He must have encountered something heart-wrenching to have become like this.

However, this matter only caused a slight sigh in Byron's heart.

After lamenting, he pushed it to the back of his mind and didn't take it to heart. He closed the door, turned, and left, heading toward the plaza in the center of the settlement where they were to assemble for teleportation.

After all, he wasn't familiar with him, and he didn't want to waste time on someone he didn't know.

Watching Byron's departing back, Locke finally regained his senses. His throat moved up and down, and he let out a shrill, miserable laugh.

Hearing the ghostly noise Locke made, Byron not only didn't turn back but instead quickened his pace, rapidly moving away from Locke as if afraid of getting some dirty thing on himself.

Not long after, Byron arrived at the plaza in front of the tallest building, the tower, located in the center of the Wizard Settlement.

At this moment, the plaza was already packed with people, looking extremely crowded.

And the expressions on these people's faces were all different; some were smug, some worried, some happy, some afraid...

The reason for this situation was very likely due to the mission points.

However, Byron also noticed that the number of people on the plaza now was at least one-seventh less than those previously on the academy plaza, amounting to one or two thousand fewer people.

It was possible that some people were still scattered throughout the settlement and hadn't arrived yet, but those were, after all, only a few scattered individuals.

As for the majority of those missing, one didn't need to think much to know they must have been buried on this plane.

Thinking of the corpses he had seen lying on the ground while on his way to the Wizard Settlement, Byron's mood also became somewhat heavy.

And Byron understood in his heart that this was exactly one of the cruelties of the Wizard World.

He didn't know if he would have such a day, lying in the mud, slowly rotting, or being gnawed clean.

Thinking of this, Byron's gaze became firm.

He knew very well that if he wanted to avoid such a situation happening to himself, then he had to be careful, even more careful, and more importantly, improve his strength!

"Hey, Byron, over here!"

Just then, a happy voice attracted Byron's attention.

Senior Colin was standing in the crowd, waving his arms at him happily, and standing beside him was Elena.

At this moment, Elena was hugging her arms and looking at him with a smile.

Seeing this, Byron didn't hesitate and walked over to them with a smile.

"Byron, Elena and I were just talking about you. I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence that you'd appear here."

Elena also said with a smile: "Finally willing to come out of your dilapidated house?"

Hearing Elena's teasing, Byron shook his head with a bitter smile: "Look at what you're saying, if I didn't come out, I'd be staying here forever."

At this moment, Byron looked at Colin and Elena and asked with a smile: "How have you two been during this time?"

Hearing Byron ask about this, Colin wanted to tell Byron about what had happened during this time with an excited face, to properly vent his desire to talk.

But unfortunately, this was destined to be a pipe dream.