“Hehehe, how is it? Much better than that tree house of yours, right?” The Energy-Eating Insect flew up to nestle on his head, its six legs rummaging through his hair a few times. “Master's guest rooms are prepared for Official Wizards. For a kid like you, a Third-Tier Apprentice, to stay here is a massive privilege.”
Ethan walked to the French window and looked out at the emerald-green lake.
“Indeed.”
Thirteen days passed in the blink of an eye.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Along with the pounding on the door came the Energy-Eating Insect's voice: “Kid, the day has come. Let's go.”
This time, the tower door stood wide open.
The short, chubby robot at the entrance leaned against the doorframe, the pale gold runic patterns on its torso flickering as if it were dozing off.
The Energy-Eating Insect flew up from Ethan's head and tapped the robot's forehead with its six legs.
“Where is the old geezer?”
The robot raised a mechanical arm and pointed toward the depths of the corridor.
“Master said to go right in.”
The Energy-Eating Insect landed back on Ethan's head, the buzzing of its wings quickening.
“Let's go.”
Reaching the entrance of the hall, Ethan reached out and pushed the door open.
The Three-Headed Wizard sat behind a long stone table.
At the entrance of the hall at the end of the corridor, Ethan reached out and pushed the door open.
The Three-Headed Wizard sat behind the long stone table.
He looked as if he had been completely drained.
His deep teal robe hung loosely and wrinkled on his body, his collar thrown open and sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing three arms of completely different colors.
The dark gold scales on his dragon head had lost their luster, covered in a dull, dusty gray.
The whiskers of his flood dragon head drooped limply onto the table, and several fine cracks had appeared on its deep blue scales.
The snake head slumped to one side of his shoulder, its amber vertical pupil half-closed, and its forked tongue slipped from the corner of its mouth, resting limply on the edge of the table.
Deep dark circles hung beneath the six eyes of his three heads.
Yet, all three faces were smiling.
The dragon head's mouth was stretched from ear to ear, revealing two rows of dark gold fangs, and the two pale gold points of light deep within its pupils were dancing wildly.
The whiskers of the flood dragon head twitched unconsciously on the table, the curve of its mouth twisting into an almost monstrous grin.
The snake head's vertical pupil was wide and round, its tongue flickering wildly in the air, making soft, raspy hissing sounds.
The smiles of the three faces overlapping, paired with those six bloodshot eyes and three sets of dark circles, looked even more terrifying than the Undead creatures of the Blood Bone Tower.
Hovering in midair with its six legs crossed over its waist, the Energy-Eating Insect opened its mouthparts, “Three—”
Ethan suddenly grabbed it by its hind leg.
Jerked backward, the Energy-Eating Insect did a flip in midair, nearly crashing into Ethan's forehead.
It turned its head, its compound eyes wide, its six legs flailing in the air. “Kid, what are you doing!”
Ethan pulled it down to his shoulder and lowered his voice. “Sir, please don't speak.”
This wretched bug was always so outspoken. What if it got beaten up?
Of course, he was mostly afraid of being dragged into it.
“Why shouldn't I!” The Energy-Eating Insect's wings buzzed loudly. “Look at that old geezer, he looks completely sucked dry. I have to—”
“Your crafting fee is still on credit.”
The Energy-Eating Insect's wings stopped buzzing, and its six legs went limp at the same time.
It nestled back onto his head, its six legs rummaging through his hair twice. “Cough, old geezer, we're here to collect the goods.”
The Three-Headed Wizard said nothing, only pointing behind him.
Ethan followed his gaze.
At some point, a door had appeared on the wall behind the Three-Headed Wizard.
The door was deep teal, its surface devoid of runic patterns, with only a very fine slit extending from the top of the doorframe all the way to the baseboard.
The door slid open silently.
Behind the door was a small room.
Right in the center of the room stood a dark teal stone pillar, with a fist-sized emerald crystal embedded at the top, its radiant light dyeing the entire room in a brilliant shade of green.
The staff levitated above the crystal.
It hovered quietly in midair, rotating slowly.
There was no blinding radiance, no energy fluctuations; it simply spun quietly, looking like an ordinary wooden stick.
With a wave of the Three-Headed Wizard's hand, the staff vanished from above the crystal and appeared in his palm in the next instant.
Inside the dragon head's vertical pupils, the two pale gold points of light flared to life.
He held the staff horizontally in front of him.
Supporting the bottom of the staff with his left hand, his right hand slowly slid along the shaft, his fingertips gently caressing the wooden surface.
The entire staff was a vibrant emerald green, without any runic patterns or halos of energy.
Left by the roadside, it would look no different from a casually broken tree branch.
At most, it was a straight branch.
Yes, an exceptionally straight one.
Yet, he caressed it once.
Then he caressed it again.
The snake head extended from the left, its amber vertical pupil drawing close to the staff, its forked tongue flickering rapidly.
The flood dragon head lowered from the right, its whiskers brushing unconsciously against it, each brush causing the tips of the whiskers to curl slightly.
The Three-Headed Wizard suddenly brought the staff upright, tapping the base against the stone floor with a crisp clack.
Inside the shaft, the wood fibers that had been compressed to the absolute limit lit up at the exact same moment.
A deep teal glow welled up from the core of the staff, spreading outward along the grain of the fibers, outlining countless overlapping emerald-green light patterns on the surface of the shaft.
The light patterns nested within one another in dense, intricate layers, extending all the way from the base to the top of the staff.
With each pulse of the light patterns, the surrounding wood-element energy particles trembled gently.
The Energy-Eating Insect flew up from Ethan's head, its six wings buzzing at high speed as it hovered directly in front of the staff. Its compound eyes bulged, and the silver runes on its dark purple carapace all lit up.
“A Third-Tier Wizardry Tool!” Its voice was shrill and ear-piercing, its pitch soaring. “Old geezer! You've crafted a Third-Tier Wizardry Tool!”
The Three-Headed Wizard threw his heads back. “Hahaha!”
All three heads burst into laughter simultaneously.
The laughter boomed through the hall, shaking the points of light on the vaulted ceiling so hard they drifted down like snow.
The liquid inside the crystal vials on the bookshelves rippled finely from the sound, and several plant roots sealed in the bottles shrank back at the same time.
He laughed for quite a while before finally stopping.
The dragon head's vertical pupils focused back on the staff, the two pale gold points of light dancing wildly deep within.
“It's been one hundred and twenty-three years.” His voice suddenly dropped, carrying a husky, indescribable emotion. “I haven't produced a Third-Tier Wizardry Tool in one hundred and twenty-three years. The last time I made one was when I crafted that vine armor for Jade Shadow Star. That set of armor took seventeen days to make, and I was bedridden for two whole months after completing it.”
The snake head turned over, its vertical pupil sweeping across Ethan. “You've got great luck, kid.”
The flood dragon head followed, its voice deep. “The heartwood of the World Tree... its quality is simply too high. On the seventh day of crafting, I already sensed something was off. The affinity of the fiber structure inside the shaft for wood-element energy particles far exceeded my expectations. Based on my experience, this staff should have been a high-grade Second-Tier tool at best. But by the ninth day, the shaft began to spontaneously absorb the surrounding energy particles.”
Rate on N.U.
