The Wizard's Journey

  Ankara teacher took a deep breath, his abdominal wound still bleeding profusely. He cast an ice spell to freeze the wound and stop the bleeding. After doing so, he continued: "After I die, the seal on the ring will naturally be lifted. The first time you use it, drop your own blood on it and open the ring with spiritual probing. From then on, this ring will belong to you. Inside are some things I've collected over the years that will be useful to you in the future. There's also a letter of recommendation I wrote for you, which will allow you to take the intermediate magician exam."

  "Ankara teacher looked at the magic wand that had fallen to the ground with difficulty and said: "This magic wand was left to me by my teacher, called the Wand of the Gods. It is said that the stronger the magician's ability, the greater the power of the magic wand. My teacher could not fully exert the power of this magic wand either. It is said to be a weapon of a powerful ancient wizard. I will also give it to you, work hard, you are much more talented than Tissen, but lack some decisiveness and experience. I hope this magic wand can accompany you to achieve greater success."

  "No, teacher, I don't want anything, just as long as you can live..."

  "Ah, foolish child," said Anka Lala with a pale smile. "Everyone will eventually die; who can resist it? Perhaps only by becoming one of the gods can one avoid death's outcome. Today, I finally killed Kaji, and my wish has been fulfilled. There is nothing left to hold onto, and it's time for me to go. After all these years, I have come to understand that everything - power, wealth, love, hatred - is but a fleeting dream. Death is the ultimate destination for everyone..."

  Ankara's eyes gradually became distant, his head leaned against my chest, gazing at the floating clouds on the horizon, murmuring: "Alick, Lays' tomb is just behind the magic tower, I secretly moved her over, no one knows, under that tree, there is a small unnamed gravestone, you will bury me and her together, she always complained that I didn't have more time to accompany her, now it's fine, I can finally accompany her every day!"

  I wept as I nodded, and Anka's teacher's voice grew fainter. I could only barely hear him calling out Lays' name until it was completely gone. Anka's teacher let out a long sigh, as if he had put down some heavy burden, his head tilted to one side, and he passed away quietly. He went to find Lays. I hope that in another world, they can live together in love and happiness. I prayed silently.

  The sunset gradually hid its last rays of light, and I still sat there stupidly hugging Ms. Ankara until the darkness swallowed us up...

  When the dawn broke, I finally buried teacher Ankala under the tree behind the magic tower. The high mound was reinforced with earth magic by me. I found a stone slab and set up a tombstone for teacher Ankala, which read: Great magician Ankala and his beloved Lays rest here forever.

  Ankara teacher finally got his wish, forever accompanying his wife Lays to eternal sleep. His lover should be the happiest one? Ankara teacher spent his whole life pursuing magic but neglected his own wife, now the only one who accompanied him was that person who once betrayed him and then redeemed himself by taking care of his wife. It's meaningless to say who was wrong or right, death is equal for everyone.

  I stood before the grave for a long time, then turned back to the magic tower. I cut open my finger and let a drop of fresh blood merge into the ring. In the darkness, I felt a connection with the ring. I used "Spiritual Probe" to delve deep into it, and easily saw what was inside the ring. I don't know how storage rings are made, but Teacher Anka once told me that even great mages find it hard to own such a ring. Spatial magic has long been lost on this continent, and storage rings were only available during the peak of spatial magic before the war of the ancient gods. Now, there won't be more than ten storage rings circulating in the Akin continent.

  The ring's space isn't very large, as if it were a fragment of some connected void space, roughly equivalent to the size of twenty ordinary adventurer's goods stores' large travel backpacks. The space inside the ring is very stable and taking things out is also very convenient, as if because it has established a connection with my spiritual power, relying on a bit of spiritual power can store and retrieve items.

  I put the teacher's magic wand into the ring, now holding this powerful magic wand to walk around everywhere is undoubtedly courting death. I also put a few of the teacher's magical notes from the hidden book room in there, which are the teacher's insights. After watching Ankala teacher's battle, I have a new understanding of magic. The teacher's experience needs to be carefully relearned again. It was my negligence before that a great magician's insight into magic is an accumulation of long-term experience, not something that can be obtained through intuition.

  The ring still had some rare materials left for making a magic wand, which I decided to give to Tissen who was searching for materials to make his own magic wand. Since I already have the magic wand given by my teacher, I decided to continue on his path with it. Leaving these materials to Tissen would be most suitable. I wrapped the ring with silk thread so that its true appearance couldn't be seen. People who can recognize a storage ring should all be powerful and terrifying individuals. If they were to find out that an elementary magician like me possessed such an item, my doomsday would arrive.

  The teacher left some gold coins, more than 30,000 pieces, and I put them all in the ring. I don't know how long I will be traveling, and it's not possible to go out without money. A few sets of spare clothes were packed into a travel bag, with some dry food on top, and carried on my back, making me look like an ordinary traveler. Travelers with empty hands are very unusual.

  Finally, everything was ready. I reluctantly took a last look at each room and picked up the sealed crystal to go down to the magic array on the bottom floor. The magic array consisted of many mysterious magical patterns, with a recess in the center that perfectly matched the shape of the crystal in my hand. I placed the sealed crystal on it, and white light spread out along those magical patterns, disappearing after a while. Countless energies swirled around the walls of the magic tower, and I took out the crystal and walked out of the magic tower, staring blankly upwards as the tower gradually faded from view until only a raised rock remained on the ground. Curious, I circled around the rock and found that its back also had a recess, perfectly matching the shape of the sealed crystal. When Brother Tyson comes back, he can use this crystal to open the magic tower here, right?

  What a wonderful spatial magic! A magical tower just disappeared in front of me out of thin air! Did Master Ankala grasp the lost spatial magic? Then why has he never taught me before? Now all this has become a mystery, maybe I can find the answer in Tissen.

  I slung over my shoulder the bow and arrow and single-handed sword that Uncle Locke had helped me make, turned around to take one last look at the place where the magic tower used to be, now empty and desolate. I took a step down the mountain slope, and I could feel that behind me, Teacher Anka's eyes were benevolently watching over me, his gaze would accompany me on my journey ahead.