Harrington stepped out from the dark secret passage with unhurried steps.
He was clad in a black robe, holding a black staff with dark gold patterns, and his complexion was pale, resembling that of an ordinary middle-aged man.
He was about to speak, but his expression suddenly turned rigid.
In front of him, a dark mouse had unexpectedly appeared in the hand of the Lap Wizard.
This was a Hidden Mouse.
The Hidden Mouse looked no different from a common grey mouse,
but upon closer inspection, one could see that its body, in the dark area, melded perfectly with the shadows, making it extremely difficult for the naked eye to spot.
Squeak!
The next second,
a burst of flames suddenly enveloped the Hidden Mouse, burning it to cinders.
Harrington's expression remained unchanged.
He naturally recognized the Hidden Mouse, which originally belonged to him.
At the same time, he also realized why Lap was not surprised by his sudden attack and had even been prepared.
Glancing slightly, his gaze rested on the body of an ordinary female apprentice nearby.
That was Mia, his plant in the Lap School.
He didn't expect her to be exposed.
Before he could think further,
Whoosh!
A blast of scorching flame swiftly shot towards him!
Harrington's gaze hardened as he waved his dark gold staff.
A black stone wall rose from the ground!
Boom!
The flame collided with the stone wall and exploded, the immense force shattering the wall into fragments, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Lap looked somewhat surprised, scrutinizing Harrington carefully before his gaze finally settled on the staff with the dark gold patterns.
"An exotic artifact of the Blackstone Family?" he asked in a confirming tone, "Is this what you're relying on?"
Harrington remained cold and silent, swinging his staff and attacking Lap again.
He had been observing from the shadows for a long time, and Lap in front of him was already at the end of his tether!
Words were useless!
The blood feud of the Blackstone Family from sixty years ago must be settled today!
While Harrington and Lap Wizard were fiercely battling,
Suddenly,
"Ha—hahaha—hahahaha—!"
A crazed, joyful laughter erupted, reverberating through the pale-grey hall.
In the midst of dark red pools of blood and twisted corpses, Nidham, having lost his usual elegant demeanor, was turning his head, looking at his raised palm and laughing wildly without any restraint!
"Is this the power of an Official Wizard?"
After consuming the last specially prepared magic potion—the Golden Four-leaf Clover.
It was as though the last piece finally completed a broken circle, with the various magic potions in his body merging under the ritual, concocting an unimaginable power!
On the other side,
Not far away, Harrington and Lap Wizard, because of this sudden change, momentarily stopped fighting and kept their distance from each other.
"I never imagined McIntosh's experiment could actually succeed," Harrington muttered, caressing his staff, greed flickering in his eyes.
He looked towards the central part of the black iron pillar, memories flooding his mind.
Their Blackstone Family were native islanders, originally just a family of Wizard Apprentices.
But about two hundred years ago,
one of his ancestors stumbled upon a relic left by a Second Rank Wizard named McIntosh on the island.
The relic was in the Dark Forest, McIntosh's Wizard Tower, and also his laboratory.
Thereafter,
with the resources and knowledge left behind by McIntosh, the Blackstone ancestor successfully advanced to an Official Wizard.
This also marked the beginning of the Blackstone Family's rule over the island!
Until… sixty years ago, his ancestor was ambushed and killed by Lap in front of him.
On that moonless deep dark night, a young Harrington fled from Blackstone Castle in panic, led by a loyal servant.
Initially,
he thought Lap had left with the spoils of war,
considering this was just a barren island.
Moreover, Lap had never appeared on the island,
and the island's residents knew nothing, suddenly noticing only that the ruling Blackstone Family had inexplicably vanished.
But after some time, when the island's residents were suffering without the protection of an Official Wizard,
the very culprit responsible for all this—the Lap Wizard!
no longer concealed himself, descending like a savior to rebuild the order on Blackstone Island.
At the same time, he replaced the Blackstone Family, becoming the new ruler of the island…
At that time, young as he was, he did not know why the Lap Wizard had remained on that barren island—
until driven by vengeance, he had exhaustively read through the backup repository of books and documents stored by his family,
from which he quietly realized the secrets hidden in the Dark Forest and the insane experiments of McIntosh...
"Nidham, come and help me now."
At that moment, the Lap Wizard's thoughts stirred slightly as he suddenly turned, instructing Nidham in a deep voice.
Beside the black iron pillar, Nidham's eyes flickered, assessing the situation before him with some hesitation.
"...What are you waiting for, do you really think you have become an Official Wizard already?"
The Lap Wizard scoffed, urging him again.
Hearing this, Nidham's expression changed, as he carefully felt within himself.
He did not doubt the words of the Lap Wizard,
and he knew nothing of McIntosh's experiments.
In his understanding, there was no doubt that the ritual here was designed by the Lap Wizard.
And now, it seemed that the effect of the ritual was indeed as the Lap Wizard had said, aiding them in becoming Official Wizards.
Although the process was somewhat cruel, as the ultimate victor,
he held no resentment towards the Lap Wizard, and was even somewhat grateful.
Those cruel processes were just minor thorns on his path to success.
He no longer cared.
Soon,
Nidham gradually sank deeper.
Just as the Lap Wizard had said, his current condition, though much stronger than before,
but upon closer inspection, also felt slightly discordant.
It seemed his soul was still slightly weaker than his flesh, not yet achieving the level of an Official Wizard...
Despite the many thoughts in his heart, in reality, it all happened in an instant.
Nidham turned his head respectfully toward the Lap Wizard:
"Alright, teacher, I'm coming now!"
As he walked towards Harrington, speaking, his voice gradually grew hoarse.
With each step he took—
Crack!!
The sound of popping joints continuously emanated from his body,
Transforming from a refined and lean Wizard to a massive monster draped in black armor!
This was his signature witchcraft, Blood and Flesh Armor!
Under the surging power within, his might far exceeded his previous state and now reached the level of an Official Wizard!
At this sight, Harrington's expression changed.
Yet, his focus remained on the Black Pillar at a distance.
At that moment,
"Ah!"
Nidham, now a colossal armored monster, suddenly let out a bone-chilling howl!
His horn-like carapace sections, hard as steel, began melting like wax, transforming into a flowing black and red liquid that cascaded down his body!
"No!"
The Lap Wizard uttered a low cry, hastily turning his head.
But his gaze was not on the melting Nidham.
It was instead fixed on the center of the Black Pillar at a distance.
Harrington was similarly focused intently on the center of the Black Pillar.
There, unexpectedly, had appeared a distinct gray-white stone pillar with vine-like patterns, unlike the other Black Pillars.
At the top of this gray-white stone pillar,
after Nidham awoke, a golden light point gradually appeared, expanding continually.
That light had now grown to the size of a human head.
Yet now, due to Nidham's abnormal condition, its expansion had abruptly slowed, nearly coming to a halt, and even flickered dimly.
Swoosh!
A beam of healing light suddenly bathed Nidham.
The Lap Wizard coughed, suppressing the sensation of weakness within him, and waved his hand again.
Swoosh!
The same healing light once again fell upon the partially melted body of Nidham.
'McIntosh's true Magic Potion has not yet fully appeared, Nidham cannot die yet!'
The Lap Wizard's eyes blazed as he silently roared in his mind.
If the information about McIntosh's experiments kept and curated by the Blackstone Family was accurate,
If that manuscript of McIntosh's had not been exaggerated,
That same manuscript he had sought for sixty years, even going so far as to establish the Lap School, which was intended to advance to a Second Rank Wizard,
would be "McIntosh Magic Potion."
Now, it was his only hope for survival!!