Chapter 144: The Choice of Destiny

Anderson had been an official wizard for over three hundred years!

Due to his timid and cautious nature, he rarely participated in conflicts among wizards, which resulted in a slow progression of his strength. Over the past century, he had fallen into a terrifying state of complete stagnation.

The family's newest round of plane wars was about to begin. According to historical statistical data, the fatality rate of Tier 1 wizards participating in plane wars was basically above fifty percent. For wizards like him who lacked combat skills, the mortality rate would only be higher. Therefore, in order to achieve a breakthrough in his strength before the family's plane wars commenced, Anderson was forced to take a desperate gamble, setting his sights on several quasi-wizards under his command.

Originally, this magical array was prepared only for Entik and Mary. However, with the appearance of Greeley and Alice, Anderson felt that he should modify the array to include the latter two as well.

To consume three quasi-wizards nurtured by the family all at once would undoubtedly bring punishment from the Sarubo family upon him, even if his advancement succeeded. By that time, however, he would already be a Tier 2 wizard. As long as he was willing to surrender more control and authority, the family's punishment would surely be limited.

After all, anyone could weigh the value difference between one Tier 2 wizard and three quasi-wizards.

Currently, the Sarubo family possessed only one high-tier wizard at Tier 3 and another at Tier 2. If a Tier 2 wizard were to suddenly emerge, the family's strength would undoubtedly surge, and its status and benefits within the Dark Tower of Talin would rise accordingly.

In such circumstances, who would truly hold a grudge against a Tier 2 wizard for past mistakes?

After inspecting the magical chamber, Anderson meticulously checked on Entik, Mary, and Greeley without a trace of fatigue. He held the highest control permissions over the Swamp Tower, allowing him to observe any scene inside the tower and within a radius of three miles at any moment, all without being easily detected.

It was precisely through this method that Anderson grasped every minute detail of the recent conditions of the wizard apprentices.

However, that Greeley had entered his field of vision for far too short a time, making Anderson's understanding of him the least among the three tower quasi-wizards. Therefore, to play it safe, Anderson decided it would be best to devour only Entik and Mary.

As for Greeley, once his body was controlled, he would be forced into a breakthrough. If successful, he would serve as one of Anderson's ingredients. If he failed, he would be thrown to Mary for consumption, which would also increase Mary's chances of a successful breakthrough. With the assistance of Mary's large reserve of origin blood, Entik's probability of a successful advancement would certainly be high. Although Mary would suffer a severe loss of strength, nourished by the blood of Greeley and that Alice, the odds of her successful advancement would still exist.

If necessary, even those mid-to-high-level apprentices could be fed to Mary to give her a substantial boost!

Besides, what he needed was not their normal progression. By then, he only needed to use some taboo wizard potions to artificially spike their mental energy within a short period, raising the success rate of a forced breakthrough to over eighty percent. As long as he devoured their flesh and blood before they were killed by spell backlash, the path to becoming a Tier 2 wizard would still be bright!

Suppressing his restless excitement, Wizard Anderson considered every step and process of his advancement plan over and over again, deliberating on potential contingencies and striving to make the plan foolproof.

According to the information leaked by Lord Herbert, the Tier 2 wizard of the family, in one year's time, the ancestors would open the plane gates and send their family wizards onto the battlefield. Therefore, he had only a scant half-year left!

Wizard Anderson's gloomy gaze swept over the three tower quasi-wizards in the water mirror, who were in different locations with varied expressions and postures. His shriveled, withered lips muttered incessantly, "Grow well, my fruits! When the moment of maturity approaches, you will be worthy of merging with me... Hehe, hehe, hehe..."

...

On the second day after his wager with Alice, that venomous hag Endor appeared before Greeley once again.

Greeley was certain that if killing him could release Alice from the spell contract she bore, he would already be a dead man!

Endor inspected Alice's soul thoroughly and comprehensively, her gloomy expression so dark it seemed as if black water could be wrung from it. Bound by that damned, powerful spell contract, Alice had practically become Greeley's contracted servant, and the one on the constrained end at that.

More importantly, Alice was originally a descendant of the Northland Witches, flowing with the bloodline of the Fate Witches. Her regard for contracts far exceeded that of other witchcraft branches, which made the matter all the more thorny.

In the central region of the Wizard Continent, witches might simply refer to female wizards. But in the northern continent, the territory of the Northland Witches, witches specifically denoted those mysterious entities possessing ancient bloodline inheritances. Each of them possessed bloodline powers far exceeding ordinary people, and the source of their bloodline could be traced all the way back to Salem, the first 9th-tier witch who stood at the pinnacle of the wizarding world.

Regarding this sole 9th-tier female wizard in the wizarding world, people were more accustomed to calling her the Witch Queen. Ever since she left the wizarding world, she had left behind thirteen branches of witches, each mastering different schools. After tens of thousands of years of historical changes, a considerable number of witch branches had gradually withered away, leaving only seven branches genuinely passed down in the territory of the Northland Witches.

As for the six perished branches, under the influence of the great world will, they would not be completely cut off. Instead, at regular intervals, certain witch descendants would suddenly awaken some special powers, thereby reviving these nearly extinct witch branches.

The reason for this was said to be a compromise reached between the Witch Queen Salem and the world will of the wizarding world. Individuals like 9th-tier wizards possessed powers so formidable that they could cause massive interference in the operation of the plane world. Therefore, to squeeze these "burdens" out of the wizarding world, the world will had to make a compromise.

From then on, all wizards above Tier 5 would be "squeezed" out of the wizarding world. In return, the world will permitted these 9th-tier wizards to incorporate parts of their own rules into the operating system of the wizarding world.

Although the Witch Queen had departed, she left behind thirteen universal laws bearing her own imprint in the wizarding world. Thus, as the world system operated, her followers would never face the possibility of extinction! Even if other powerful wizards slaughtered all her descendants, as long as the universal laws remained, when encountering a suitable carrier with the passage of time, her law imprints would still light up.

Therefore, on the Wizard Continent, wizard families possessing ancient law inheritances were the truly unshakable monuments!

The Fate Witch faction to which Alice belonged had perished several thousand years ago due to certain special reasons. However, over the past few centuries, a large wave of witches who had awakened special talents had suddenly popped up across various parts of the Wizard Continent, prompting the leaders of the Northland Witches to dispatch a large number of subordinates to various places to guide them back to their holy land.

Regarding these newly awakened ones, some witches regarded them as new hope, while others viewed them as disruptors. The two sides were locked in an endless dispute, making the work of the guiding witches rather awkward.

The venomous hag Endor belonged to the Dark Witch branch, and her branch had historically been on good terms with the Fate Witch branch. Therefore, upon discovering the Fate Witch bloodline awakened in Alice, Endor had voluntarily undertaken her guiding return ceremony.

Unfortunately, before the ceremony could be prepared, Alice had inexplicably become someone else's contracted servant. If it were any other witch, she probably would have crushed Greeley to death without hesitation, even if Alice had to be buried along with him, refusing to allow the witch bloodline to be defiled by an outsider!

However, considering Alice's bloodline power as a Fate Witch, the venomous hag Endor felt that this might be a revelation of fate's power, so she abandoned the plan to kill Greeley and instead pulled him into a private chamber for a deep conversation.

Endor warned Greeley that the only way to keep Alice bound to his side was to let her bloodline power grow as quickly as possible, and then rush to the Northland Witch territory within ten years to complete the baptism of fate. In this large-scale awakening, individuals possessing the Fate Witch bloodline were not limited to Alice alone, yet only one could survive the baptism.

If Alice missed the ceremony and was baptized as a Fate Witch by another witch, her own power would become a sacrificial offering to someone else under the propulsion of world laws, and Alice's existence would be erased by the world will!

Regarding his inexplicable involvement in an unprovoked dispute, Greeley felt immense pressure. However, considering that his upcoming self-rescue operation still required Alice's strength, he could only sigh and accept this "hot potato."

Yet when he implicitly hinted to the venomous hag Endor whether she could use her power to help him solve a "small trouble," that venomous hag Endor simply brushed off her skirt and left!

Although the venomous hag Endor did not believe in fate, she still held awe for it.

Since Alice's smooth advancement to a quasi-wizard last time was also related to this Greeley, it meant that the power of fate had already tightly intertwined the two of them. Before she could figure out whether her help would be positive or negative for Alice, Endor would never intervene in the natural choices of a Fate Witch.

Regarding the explanation given by this "poisonous witch," Greeley raised both middle fingers in his heart to express his utmost contempt. If she didn't want to help, she should have just said so; even dodging responsibility could be done with such refreshing refinement, and Greeley had no choice but to deeply admire her!

Thus, under the guidance of the great power of fate, this future "Fate Witch" logically came to Greeley's side, becoming the fourth member to join Greeley's faction!