Chapter 2496: Chapter 2497: Growing Pains

With Speedy’s assistance, the Gondola detoured through the Gumman Kingdom from the Principality of Aari, allowing Angel to make the journey in just one day.

After arriving at the border county of the Gumman Kingdom, Abulei said, "Sir, you can drop me off here. There is a White Thunder Market nearby, where a short teleportation array can take me directly to the Fas Gap, and from there it’s very close to the White Shell Sea Market."

Angel: "All Wizard Markets in the Gumman Kingdom are monitored by people from King Gumman. It’s the same at the White Thunder Market, so be careful when you go there."

In other countries, Wizard Markets have mature rules and rarely encounter issues. Only the Gumman Kingdom’s markets present a bigger risk due to King Gumman’s unpredictability. However, King Gumman also wants to gather intelligence on major organizations through the Wizard Markets, so unless absolutely necessary, he won’t destroy the markets. As long as Abulei waits patiently for the teleportation, there shouldn’t be any major issues.

Abulei bowed her head, cheeks slightly flushed: "Thank you for your concern, Sir. I’ll be very careful."

The Gondola landed in the wilderness and forest, and Abulei flipped over the boat’s edge to land. She was about to say goodbye and leave when Angel suddenly called out to her.

"Wait."

Abulei raised her head, looking at Angel with confusion. Angel pondered for a moment and slowly lifted his fingertip, where a slight light flickered.

Before Abulei could react, the flicker of light shot into her brow.

Abulei had heard that some Wizards are unpredictable, killing as casually as eating or drinking, completely without boundaries. Was Angel going to kill her? But hadn’t they been getting along well?

Abulei thought she was dead for sure, but she stood there dazed for a while and nothing happened.

She touched her brow, smooth and intact, without the imagined blood hole.

The inside of her body felt normal too.

What was that flicker that sank into her brow just now?

As Abulei was filled with confusion, Angel spoke softly: "You look quite exhausted spiritually."

Abulei reflexively replied, "Because I’ve been conflicted about whether to take over at the White Shell Sea Market, and I haven’t rested properly in over ten days."

Angel: "Then you should find some time to get a good rest. Perhaps you might have an interesting dream."

Abulei: "A dream? What dream?"

Angel smiled without answering, instead he swiftly controlled the Gondola to soar into the sky, vanishing from view.

Abulei stood there dumbfounded, without understanding. Eventually, she shook her head and turned to walk toward the White Thunder Market.

...

On the Gondola, Angel leaned against the boat’s edge, quietly contemplating.

Suddenly, a wave of spiritual power slowly circled around Angel.

This was Speedy’s spiritual power. Over time, Angel had roughly understood some of Speedy’s unique expressions.

Its current spiritual expression conveyed: it felt an uncomfortable aura from Abulei’s backpack.

Almost all Elemental Creatures are pure, and their pollution radar is stronger than that of Human Wizards.

At least, Angel hadn’t sensed much filth from the Puppet doll, though he did feel the human skin used and given to Abulei seemed unusual.

"Don’t mind it, the pollution is actually quite minor. In this world, there are things and places far more polluted and numerous."

Speedy fell silent, no longer projecting its spiritual power outward, and instead continued to guide the Gondola toward the target direction.

Angel gazed at the unchanging scenery around him, pondering what decision Abulei would make?

Surely, the flicker that entered Abulei’s brow wasn’t without purpose.

It contained a Nightmare Illusion; once Abulei falls asleep, this Nightmare Illusion will transform into a dream scene.

This Nightmare Illusion precisely replicated the scene when Angel encountered Gu Yina, Feng Man, and her two dead little companions Chaila and Yanica.

This scene entirely restored what these demon-hearted children did.

On the surface, people will interpret it differently; some may see them as unforgivable sinners, while others might consider it a war’s fault, and they were just trying to survive.

How others interpret it, Angel doesn’t concern himself with. He is more interested in knowing what decision Abulei will make when she sees the truth about Gu Yina.

Will she continue to trust Gu Yina, or will she suspect that Gu Yina befriended her with ulterior motives?

While Angel was pondering these possibilities, his bracelet suddenly emitted a slight warmth.

Halting his scattered thoughts, Angel focused on the contents within the bracelet.

Upon looking, he found Dangross had woken up at some unknown time, controlling flames to dance around randomly. Fortunately, Angel had set up a Mist Illusion around Dangross, or these flames would easily burn the bracelet’s contents.

To avoid any issues within the bracelet’s space, Angel quickly released Dangross.

As soon as Dangross entered the outside world, his eyes lit up, immediately wishing to leap onto Angel.

Angel quickly stopped him.

"Are you planning on making me run around naked?" Angel said irritably.

Dangross was stunned, looking back at himself, only then noticing several orange-red flames hovering near his severed hand, resembling a fire cloud, curling around the stump.

"What... what’s going on?" Dangross wondered aloud, "I didn’t set any fires. And why does my head feel heavy?"

"Your head isn’t heavier; your severed wrist grew by a segment." Angel examined it closely. "It seems to have lengthened by about five centimeters."

Dangross tried rolling his eyes upward to view his extended wrist, but his facial features located on his palm made seeing wrist changes quite difficult.

Seeing Dangross struggle so hard, Angel simply conjured a water mirror.

Dangross looked back and forth before the water mirror, sometimes drawing close, sometimes pulling away.

"...What are you doing?"

Dangross: "I feel like I look more handsome than before!"

Listening to that resonant tone, Angel was speechless. How could it be that just one day apart and Dangross has developed a narcissistic trait?

After indulging in enough self-admiration, Dangross finally remembered the initial question: "What’s happening to me? Why are my arms longer, and why is there more fire cloud around me?"

Angel lazily replied, "You’ve probably evolved."

Angel didn’t know exactly what was going on with Dangross, so he simply repeated what Lord Tree Spirit had told him.

After hearing Angel’s words, Dangross was filled with joy: "I’ve grown! Previously, Teacher Magu judged that I would need to experience the World’s Harmony at least five more times to continue growing. I didn’t expect to grow now; I’m really lucky!"

Angel replied with mock annoyance: "It’s not just luck; it’s because you’ve been with me and caught some good fortune."

Dangross glared angrily.

Angel: "Think about it—if you weren’t following me, would you have had the chance to go to Lord Tree Spirit’s Life Pool? Would you have the opportunity to absorb those life energies? So, you’ve been riding on my luck."

Dangross thought it over with its not-so-large mind, and it seemed to be the truth. Being with Angel, it didn’t expect to have such good fortune.

If it could continue following Angel, could it rapidly grow into a mighty elemental creature like Kalomchis?

Just thinking about it made Dangross feel wonderful.

While Dangross was caught up in various imaginations, Angel took out a piece of Mithril and Arcane Platinum, using the fire cloud released by Dangross to apply heat.

In less than five seconds, the Arcane Platinum showed signs of melting. After ten seconds, the Mithril also turned into a pool of shimmering silver liquid.

Angel raised an eyebrow in surprise: After Dangross evolved, the temperature of its flames had increased significantly. With this level of heat, even materials at the Official Wizard Level should be able to melt, with only the time factor being in question.

Angel: "Not bad, not bad. If you could control these flames at will, that would be even better. Dangross, your current task is to collect and control the fire clouds around you, managing their release and retrieval at will."

Seeing Angel’s behavior, Dangross, a bit displeased, said: "You just covet my fire."

Angel remained unfazed: "You just tagged along with me and gained great benefits, and you want to defy me already?"

Dangross huffed and turned its head in arrogance.

Angel: "Besides, if you can’t control the fire around you perfectly, do you think I’d let you ride on me? I don’t want my clothes to be burned into tatters."

Dangross thought about it and agreed. Angel was its "mount," and burning his clothes wouldn’t be very good.

With that in mind, Dangross began to actively control the fire clouds around it.

While controlling, Dangross didn’t forget to say: "I’m not doing this for you; I’m doing it for aesthetics."

Angel leaned lazily on the side of the boat and said nothing in response. He only thought to himself about how, after this evolution, Dangross’s flames had indeed become stronger, but how did it also gain narcissistic and arrogant traits?

Is this what they call the troubles of growth?

Maybe he should find a chance to write a book for Dangross called "The Troubles of Young Dangross"?

While Angel’s thoughts were wandering and Dangross was diligently practicing, the Gondola finally flew out of the borders of the Gumman Kingdom, entering the territory of the Laksum Principality.

After passing through a region with sparse resources, they arrived at the scorching desert area.

The Laksum Principality is a well-known inland desert country on the Flourish Continent, opposite in name to the prosperous country. However, the Laksum Principality is even more barren compared to the prosperous country. At least a quarter of the prosperous country is not desert, but the Laksum Principality is almost entirely desert.

Due to being a purely desert country, with a vast and unimpressive desert that neighboring countries are reluctant to compete for, the Laksum Principality’s land area is exceptionally large. Even if combined, the Gumman Kingdom, Aria Principality, and Eternal Night Country together are not as large as the Laksum Principality.

Angel took just one day to travel from the Pamiji Plateau to the Laksum Principality, but it might take another day, or even two, to get from the Laksum Principality to the Sandworm Market. Furthermore, the Sandworm Market is not even in the heart of the Laksum Principality, which shows just how vast this country is.

Nevertheless, no matter how large it is, with few resources and unbearably hot weather all year round, the country has the fewest inhabitants of almost any country.

However, for Transcendents, the Laksum Principality has quite a few usable resources. Extreme climatic conditions inevitably give rise to extreme phenomena. For instance, due to the geographical environment, fire and earth elemental creatures can emerge here; and there is an abundance of strange sandworms, which are exceptionally good extraordinary materials. Some top-tier sandworms can even serve as auxiliary agents for practicing earth-based tricks.

Various extraordinary resources make the wizard markets in the Laksum Principality quite prosperous, and there is even an extraordinary city located deep in the desert.

However, Angel doesn’t need to go to that extraordinary city this time. His target is merely the Sandworm Market, renowned for its sandworm trade.

...

The endless expanse of yellow sand, the occasional rising sandstorms, the skeletons buried in the desert, and the camel bell sounds carried by the wind all form the main theme of the scene before them.

"These bones are strange; why are there so many ribs? One, two, three... Oh, I can’t count them," Dangross’s voice came from Angel’s shoulder.

After a day and night of practice, Dangross had finally managed to control the flames outside its body, and so it had been allowed onto Angel’s shoulder. Since Toby was not around at the moment, the shoulder territory that Toby once occupied was now Dangross’s.

Angel also heard Dangross’s voice and looked down at the sun-dried skeleton partially exposed by the wind.

"This is the skeleton of a sandworm," Angel glanced once and confirmed the species.

"This is a sandworm? It’s even bigger than you, and it’s called a worm? The Illusionary Realm knowledge didn’t say anything about worms being this big!" Dangross exclaimed in surprise.

"The Illusionary Realm knowledge I showed you is about insects in the ordinary human world. Sandworms are extraordinary creatures, naturally not in the same category."

Just as Dangross was about to say more, Angel quickly interrupted: "Any questions, save them for later. The camel bell squad of the Sandworm Market is coming. If we miss this, we’ll have to wait another day."

Precisely locating a wizard market in the endless expanse of yellow sand is quite tricky. Therefore, all the major wizard markets in the Laksum Principality have camel bell squads guiding Transcendents into the market.

Angel was currently at one of the camel bell squad stations for the Sandworm Market.

The distant dust showed no signs of dispersing, but the clear sound of camel bells pierced through the sandstorm and reached Angel’s ears.

Closer and closer, closer and closer.

Finally, a camel bell squad, riding camels, wrapped in robes covering even their faces, leaving only eyes to see the way, emerged from the sandstorm, slowly heading toward where Angel stood.

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