After squeezing the info he needed out of his pursuer, he slipped back into stealth mode and bolted out of the place. Before long, a middle-aged dude in a flashy lightning tower magic robe strolled by.

"Huh... strange. I sensed a level 1 wizard around here," the guy muttered, giving the area a once-over before taking off.

At the Nephilm Treasure shop, he noticed that the boss was nowhere to be found. So, he sweet-talked the receptionist into dishing out the boss's whereabouts, spinning some yarn about wanting to chat up more beast deals. The receptionist spilled the beans - the boss was over at the auction building.

There was a monthly auction happening, and word was the boss was planning to hawk off the fresh level 1 beast's corpse. Sure enough, when he rocked up at the auction building, he could feel the boss's magic vibes. He even pinpointed the lone level 1 wizard chilling in one of the VIP rooms.

With his sneaky skills kicked into gear - you know, his [Stealth] and [Camouflage] - he waltzed in unnoticed. Planting himself outside the VIP room where the boss was posted up, he played the waiting game. Before long, a waiter swung by with some grub and drinks, so he piggybacked his way inside.

Once the waiter bounced, he plopped down next to the boss on the sofa and flicked off his [Camouflage]. "Heyo," he greeted with a smirk.

As expected, the boss went pale as a sheet. Before the boss could let out a scream, he silenced him with a flick of magic. "Chill, I come in peace," he reassured.

The manager's trembles went into overdrive. Can't blame him, though. I mean, who sneaks around wearing a devil mask for a friendly chat? By the way, his new mask was freakin' awesome - he could tweak not only the color but also the shape on the fly. This time, he switched it up to a badass blue hannya/oni look.

Since he could zip around the battlefield like a ghost, might as well rock an oni mask, right? MUAHAHAHA! Sorry, got a bit carried away there. Anyway, he kept on with his questioning, "So, why'd you send your little spy after me?" Then, he cranked up the pressure, hitting the manager with 1000 mp.

The manager's face went from pale to ghostly, sweat dripping down like Niagara Falls. "S-sorry, sir. P-please forgive me," the manager babbled, practically begging for mercy. He knew he'd crossed paths with a top-tier level 1 wizard. He didn't dare spill his reasons, fearing the wizard might just zap him out of sheer rage.

Meanwhile, Zack just chilled, watching the manager squirm. He noticed the only other level 1 wizard in the joint shooting their room a curious look. "Eh, no biggie. Just hand over all your goodies," Zack casually demanded. He wasn't planning on offing the manager, just scoring some loot - which, to be fair, was quite a haul.

But hey, Zack wasn't messing around. He made the manager strip down to his undies, just to make sure he wasn't stashing any hidden treasure. Once he'd cleaned the guy out, Zack masked his mana again, whipped his [Camouflage], and headed over to the level 1 wizard's VIP room. Smooth moves, right?

While strolling to the wizard's room using [Invisible], he noticed a nice little boost to his progress bar - scared the pants off two dudes. Hmm, so if he adds fear to the mix, the bar fills up even faster? Sweet deal. Maybe he'd scare some random folks on the street later to max out that bar. And yeah, he came up with the name [Invisible] to save himself from saying [Stealth] + [Camouflage] a bazillion times.

But for now, he had his sights set on the wizard. Once again, he camped outside the VIP room and sneaked in when a waiter swung by to refill drinks. When the coast was clear, he made his move toward the wizard. But as soon as he got within two meters, the wizard snapped to attention, scanning the area like a hawk. Yup, high-level folks had some sharp instincts.

The wizard locked onto his position like a heat-seeking missile. Ugh, his [Camouflage] still had some kinks to work out. It was good enough to slip past folks who weren't paying attention, but once someone got suspicious, it was game over.

He needed to find a level 1 spell that could really nail down that perfect invisibility. If he could pull that off, even nosy wizards wouldn't have a clue he was there, even if they knew something was up.

With a flick of his fingers, he dropped the [Camouflage] and greeted the wizard with a casual "Heyo, brother." The wizard jumped a bit, trying to play it cool, but those jittery eyes gave him away.

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Zack kept it chill as he kept talking. "Hey, no harm intended. Just wanted to drop by and say hi since you already clocked me earlier."

"You're the one from the alley today, right?" the wizard asked, pretty sure of himself.

"Yeah," Zack admitted. No point denying it - this wizard probably recognized his mana signature from the alley, comparing it to the mana wave he was putting out in the VIP room.

So, Zack cranked up his mana to 1000 mp level. By the way, when he talks about showing his mana, it's just him tweaking his [Hidden Strength] to flaunt his overt mana level at will. Oh, and in case you're wondering, 1000-1200 mp is the peak stage for a level 1 wizard.

Then, he aimed his mana at the wizard in front of him, just for kicks. Why? 'Cause it sounded like fun! The wizard fired back with his own mana, but Zack wasn't sweating it - he could tell this dude was peak level too.

Their mana clash turned the room into a damn tornado of energy and sparks. Crack! The ground and ceiling above them started to splinter under the pressure.

YOOO, THIS IS INSANE! Zack was keeping it cool on the outside, but inside, he was freaking out with excitement. He wanted to experience what it was like to duke it out like this. And to top it off, he was rocking that slick blue oni mask, amping up the cool factor big time.

As Zack cranked up the pressure, his silver locks danced wildly in the air. The cracks in the room grew wider and wider, sending the auction guests outside into a panicked frenzy as they scrambled to escape. Just when it seemed like they were about to throw down, Zack pulled a disappearing act.

He kicked it into high gear, activating [Double Enhancement II] for maximum output and slipping into [Invisible] mode. Once he vanished from sight, even the wizard couldn't track him thanks to his Stealth skills.

The wizard threw up a barrier and prepped his spells for a showdown, but as he waited, he realized Zack had pulled a fast one. "You bastard!" he cursed, realizing Zack had slipped away.

…

Meanwhile, Zack strolled leisurely down the street, swapping his mask back to Obito's model. Score! Checking his HB progress bar, it had shot up to 80%. He decided to hit up another black market to test his earlier theory, but he couldn't pull it off there since he'd need to let out his mana to intimidate some random guy, risking the wizard catching wind of him again.

Turns out, scaring random folks didn't boost his progress bar like he'd hoped. His guess? Either the person he scared had to be as strong as the wizard or the manager, or there was some other factor at play that he hadn't figured out yet.

Curious about the tense vibe in the black market, Zack struck up a convo with one of the apprentices working the stalls.

So, it turns out there's a new level 3 powerhouse in the Holy Empire. And that's not good news, considering the beef between them and the Fulminar Empire, especially with the Lightning Magic Tower in the mix. See, wizards are all about truth and not so much about religion, which doesn't sit well with the Holy Empire, who see them as heretics.

The Holy Empire has been trying to invade the Fulminar Empire under the guise of religious crusades, sparking a full-blown war. The wizards, particularly from the Lightning Magic Tower, took it as a major insult and fought back hard, using the Fulminar Empire as their muscle.

The Lightning Magic Tower is the big dog among the six magic towers, and they've been hitting back the hardest, considering the Fulminar Empire is basically under their thumb. Last time this whole holy crusade went down was a century ago, and it was a bloodbath, with millions getting caught in the crossfire.

During that war, the head of the Lightning Magic Tower managed to take out one level 3 powerhouse and seriously wound another from the Holy Empire. The Holy Empire was left with only two level 3 powerhouses instead of their original three. The head honcho at the Lightning Magic Tower got banged up too, but he survived.

With the Holy Empire also having to deal with threats from the Southern Kingdom Alliance, they finally called it quits on the crusade.

Now, a century later, the Holy Empire's back up to three level 3 powerhouses. Rumor has it, though, that the head of the Lightning Magic Tower still hasn't fully recovered from his injuries all those years ago. And there's been no word from any of the towers about any new level 3 wizards popping up.

Seems like word's spreading across the continent that another holy crusade might be brewing. Could start with some probing from the Holy Empire, but knowing them, it'll snowball into a full-blown war.

Hmm... fingers crossed it doesn't mess with his peace. Zack shoved the news to the back of his mind. He needed to head back to the tower, but first, he had to scare off the guardian of this black market to boost his progress bar.

Well, turns out scaring the guy only bumped up his progress bar by 10%. What gives? He got 20% from the last guardian! Feeling down, he moved on to another black market, but even after a tussle with the last wizard, he only got a measly 5%.

Finally, after catching the manager of another Nephilm Treasure off-guard by putting out a leopard's corpse, he maxed out his progress bar at 100%. He figured the trick to maxing out the bar was repeating the same action, though the percentage would drop with each repetition - eventually bottoming out at 5%.

He also had a hunch that he couldn't keep repeating the same move forever, it would eventually doesn’t boost his progress bar at all.

Anyway, progress bar filled, mission accomplished. Time to head back to the tower.

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Name: Zack

Age: 10/100 (300)

Occupation: Apprentice wizard

Mana: 60/60 (3556/3556)

Overt Talent: [Low Mana Manipulation Correction], [Low Mana Sensory Correction]

Hidden Talent: [Limitless Mana Well], [Advanced Mana Manipulation Correction], [Advanced Mana Sensory Correction], [Advanced Intelligence Correction]

Hidden Boss Abilities: [Hidden Strength]

HBP: 1

HB Progress Bar: 0/100%

Expand Hidden Boss abilities Store? yes/no

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