Werewolf wizard

Chapter 151: Entering the Witch Gathering!

Deep within a long-deserted forest, Su Nan, accompanied by Vasilian, Wolf One, and Wolf Two, located the pit the merchant had mentioned, the one he'd fallen into.

Beside the pit grew wild grasses and flowers.

Su Nan discerned from the scents emanating from these plants that they possessed medicinal properties for humans. He also noticed several child-sized stone statues scattered throughout the woods.

These statues resembled roly-polies, their surfaces bearing few traces of artificial carving. Time had weathered them, leaving them pitted and uneven, like natural stones.

However, these very statues formed a magical ritual.

Its specific purpose remained unknown.

Nevertheless, Su Nan sensed that the ritual at least included a basic function: preventing anyone with a mental strength below 20 from finding it.

In other words, this gathering likely served to weed out witches below the rank of First-Class Apprentice.

The entry requirement for the Petrifying Witch's gathering was at least First-Class Apprentice level.

Perhaps some Second-Class Apprentices were brought in by First-Class Apprentices.

Considering this, the merchant's experience—being allowed to enter and overhear the witches' conversation in the pit—was likely intentional on the witches' part.

Su Nan looked up at the sky, hearing a rumble of thunder, followed by a downpour.

Countless raindrops pelted the earth.

The once-bright sky instantly darkened, transforming a sunny midday into a scene of heavy, overcast skies.

Simultaneously, Su Nan and Vasilian sensed a multitude of figures around them. The previously deserted area now teemed with several people.

Su Nan promptly donned the wooden mask he had prepared beforehand.

The witch gathering had begun.

'Brain, begin recording the current environmental changes and analyze the situation,' Su Nan thought.

[Affirmative. The weather conditions in your previous environment have not changed. According to scans, the forest remains under a clear midday sky. Instead, you have been pulled into a special sub-dimension.]

[Hypothesis: This witch gathering is being held within a special realm. The pit in the forest of Samori Territory may simply be one of the entrances to this gathering. In other words, the witches and wizards you see before you are not truly present in front of you.]

In the stormy, gloomy weather, all the rain automatically diverted away from Su Nan and his companions.

A tall witch with a golden High Priestess mask, a First-Class Apprentice, said, "Oh my, it seems we have two new faces at this gathering. How rare; it's been a long time since we had new members."

"Chariot, Justice, Petrifying Witch, World, we meet again. I hope you've brought new treasures this time."

The First-Class Apprentice witch wearing the 'World' Tarot mask seemed indifferent to the newcomers, urging, "Let's begin the trade quickly; everyone's time is precious. I've recently concocted a new batch of 【Glimmer Herbs】 that can aid in increasing your mental strength growth rate."

"I want you to pay me with universal magic stones."

"If you have other magical resources that interest me, that will also work."

"Don't try to bargain with me."

"After all, I am the only witch in this gathering who can reliably provide potions that enhance mental strength."

Su Nan looked at her in surprise.

So that's it. This must be the herbalist First-Class Apprentice witch the merchant mentioned.

He was indeed interested in her 【Glimmer Herbs】, perhaps he could gain some inspiration from them to create a third type of magic potion to increase the speed of mental strength improvement.

The witch wearing the 'High Priestess' Tarot mask retorted, "There's no need to rush. The gathering is divided into three phases."

"The introduction of strange tales and experiences, the information exchange phase, and the direct trade of magical resources."

"Besides, you're not the only one here who can provide unique magical resources. 【Chariot】 clearly comes from a wizarding family and can provide reliable magical item identification services. 【Justice】 always brings rare magical resources; I even suspect they might be one of the Forgotten."

The 'World' witch coldly snorted.

Meanwhile, 'Chariot' hastily explained, "You misunderstand. I'm just an old apprentice who received some inheritance; I'm not particularly useful, and I certainly don't come from a wizarding family. I'm content to exchange my magical item identification skills for some of your magical resources."

"I'm just a useless old First-Class Apprentice, living a peaceful life in some country."

"Please don't speculate about my identity."

'Justice', who also seemed to be a witch, coldly stated, "I'm not one of the Forgotten; I just dare to take risks and fight for some rare magical resources."

"So, the 'World' witch is not wrong. She can reliably create special potions, making her a relatively important figure among the regulars of this market. Many of the witches and wizards who occasionally come to the market do so specifically for her."

"However, those occasional wizards are just so-so; they rarely bring anything good."

From their conversation, Su Nan understood the identities and relationships of these individuals.

It seemed that these four people were regulars at the market, and the Petrifying Witch was the host of this market.

He was a newcomer who had suddenly entered this market.

However, because Vasilian's mental strength was super high, they seemed to regard Vasilian as a first-class wizard apprentice.

The Petrifying Witch directly used her true appearance. She was an old witch with silver-white hair, with wrinkles already appearing on her face, always maintaining a smiling expression, looking just like an ordinary old lady next door.

But her eyes were piercing.

Su Nan speculated that she should be a curse school wizard who was good at curse magic, and of course, she might also be good at some transformation school spells.

The Petrifying Witch swept over Vasilian and Su Nan, then her eyes lit up, and she said with a smile: "You are really amazing."

"In the early stage of the magic tide, when the magic power is still so thin, you can actually use magic power to create such a powerful life."

"Your Excellency is truly a powerful spiritism school wizard."

"If I hadn't felt that something was wrong and carefully identified the aura of death on the death knight beside you, and the potential mental connection between him and you, I'm afraid I would have been misled."

Su Nan glanced at the Petrifying Witch in surprise.

She was obviously a more powerful wizard than Gu Ke, with a deeper foundation.

This guy saw through the true relationship between himself and Vasilian at a glance.

Moreover, her mental strength… the scanning data was actually 100!

And his own mental strength was only 62.02.

In other words, in terms of mental strength, the Petrifying Witch in front of him had already met the standard for becoming a first-ring wizard, but he just didn't know whether she was stuck on first-ring magic or the wizard tower.

Of course, it may also be because of the magic tide. Now the magic tide has just been summoned back.

Currently, it is not easy to say whether this land can support a first-ring wizard.

As soon as the Petrifying Witch said this, ‘The World’, ‘The Chariot’, ‘Justice’ and ‘The High Priestess’ all looked at Su Nan.

They didn't expect that Vasilian's existence was actually a death knight created by Su Nan.

Su Nan also secretly checked the mental strength and mana levels of these four.

Although only looking at the panel data of mental strength and mana cannot objectively evaluate a wizard's magic ability, it can also explain some problems.

‘The World’ as a first-class wizard apprentice in herbalism, her mental strength is 70.

The mental strength of 'The High Priestess' is only 50, the mental strength of 'The Chariot' is 60, but the mental strength of 'Justice' is at least above 80.

It seems that the regulars of the Petrifying Witch's gathering all have at least the level of a first-class wizard apprentice.

And those wizards who don't come often, according to the meaning of the 'Justice' witch, should all be ordinary first-class wizard apprentices, so they can't come up with anything good.

Because of the lack of trading ability, they will not come every time. They probably can only save up a period of magical resources, and then come to this market to exchange for some magical resources that they can use.

The Petrifying Witch smiled at Su Nan: "Most wizards don't want to reveal their position and identity in reality, because once people know it, it is likely to become intelligence for others to trade magical resources."

"Therefore, we people will choose a code name from the tarot cards and wear the corresponding mask. When trading, we will call each other by the code name."

"When you choose a code name, you can choose a code name that is close to the direction of magic you are studying. This way, others can easily remember the type of magic resources you want to trade, or the type of magic resources you need."

"The transactions in our gathering are also divided into three stages. The first stage is to let everyone who meets once a month introduce the strange things they have encountered."

"People who take the initiative to introduce strange anecdotes can exchange a magic stone from me."

Su Nan immediately understood what the Petrifying Witch was doing.

This was a way for her to collect information, although some strange anecdotes were useless.

But the Petrifying Witch probably used this method to judge whether there were any magical resources in those strange anecdotes that would help her become a formal wizard.

It's just, what is a magic stone?

Su Nan did not hesitate and directly asked the Petrifying Witch: "What is a magic stone?"

The herbalism witch 'The World' also said that her [Glimmer Potion] must be exchanged for magic stones.

The Petrifying Witch was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "It surprises me that a powerful wizard like you doesn't know what a magic stone is."

"Magic stone is a natural mineral vein, a crystalline object with residual magic that remains in some earth veins when the magic tide recedes."

"Later, it was discovered by people like me, the scraps of the orthodox wizard society who were forced to stay in this land. Crushing the magic stone can absorb the magic energy in it to replenish their magic power loss, or maintain their magic through the magic stone in the years before the magic tide arrives."

The Petrifying Witch explained: "Even now, magic stones are very useful. Absorbing the magic energy in the magic stone can accelerate the efficiency of learning meditation."

"Therefore, it has become a common currency among wizards."