Gravity Mage with Level-Up System

From the MC's Perspective:

The guards were petrified. They realized they had encountered someone more dangerous than the previous culprit.

Their lives were hanging by a thread, while the locals went about their business, seemingly unaware of the tension in the air.

It was as if an invisible spell had benumbed them, preventing them from looking in the guards' direction.

An old man ignored the guards, walked past them, and entered the stall. He swept his gaze across the shelves, recalling that he had given two silver boxes to Sam for safekeeping.

One of those boxes contained a precious sample he urgently needed for his experiment. He had a method for protecting his important samples; he usually entrusted them to people he could rely on.

Even if his lab were to be discovered, he could restart his experiment using those samples. This risk was why he had come here.

The True Elements Society, a powerful wizard organization, was similar to the Transmutation Society. He didn't want to linger in this place any longer, but the samples were his priority.

He quickly began his search, catching the scent of foreign organs in the air. If they were in the stall, he would find them immediately.

Meanwhile, the guards were still rooted in place, their fear paralyzing them.

Minutes passed.

"Damn it, where is it?"

"My samples are gone. Don't tell me someone seized them," the old man grumbled in an inhuman tone. If anyone had heard him, they would have suspected he was either a wizard or some kind of howling beast.

Inside Gregor Mansion, I stood on my feet, watching the entire scene unfold through the control mirror. I had never imagined that a suspected Transmutation Wizard would come to retrieve his belongings. I could hear all the old man's complaints.

Elder Paul Lin was right; those samples were indeed crucial for his experiments.

But why had he given them to the stall owner? It seemed that the deceased stall owner and this Transmutation Wizard shared a connection; otherwise, he wouldn't have left his important items with someone else.

Outside, the old man lost his temper and extended his arm towards the frozen guards. In the next second, both guards were lifted a few inches off the ground, their bodies moving involuntarily toward the stall.

Their expressions were filled with horror. As they approached the old man, he removed his scarf and revealed eyes that were not human but reptilian.

The situation became increasingly dire. Before they could process what was happening, the old man sprang into action.

Something shot from both of his palms and entered the mana cores of the two wizards, like a fleshy organ emerging from his hands and chewing away at their mana.

The guards were terrified; they witnessed the elongated body of this creature emerging from the wide-open mouths in the old man's palms, intuitively feeling the threat to their very essence.

Initially, the old man had no desire to conflict with the True Elements Society, but he was now furious that two of his important samples had been stolen.

Not long after he left Sam's Stall, Sam was announced dead. The old man had sensed something was amiss, but he had never expected the two samples to go missing.

"Argh!" The guards were wracked with heart-wrenching pain, but not a sound escaped their lips; it was as if a strange spell had silenced them.

"If you want this pain to end, nod your heads," the old man commanded.

Both guards nodded vigorously in response, and in the next instant, the pain vanished.

However, fear had completely overtaken them, leaving them too paralyzed to defend themselves; their mental resolve crumbled.

"Tell me what happened to Sam. How did he die?" the old man demanded.

Hearing this, the guards' hearts raced with terror; they realized the true threat was standing right in front of them, yet they were clueless about who had come before them.

"Are you going to tell me or not?"

"My two friends are eager for your level-6 mana cores," the old man stated with a wide grin.

The guards' last defense shattered, and they began to spill everything they knew.

A few minutes later, the old man pressed, "So one of my sample boxes was retrieved by the City Authorities?"

"And what about the other one?"

"The second box was far more important to me. The first box contained failed experiments; I need the second box for my new work," the old man thought.

"We only saw one box. We don't know about the second one," the guard replied, his face pale with fear.

"Did anyone come before me?" the old man asked.

"Yes, a masked man came before you. He deceived us before entering the stall, and when we returned, he was already gone," the guard admitted.

The old man squinted, his intrigue piqued. "Tell me everything from the beginning."

The guard began recounting the details of the event.

A few minutes later, the old man mused, "So the masked man wasn't an official. Could he have been a friend of Sam's?" He noted that he had gained the location of the second item, and now he needed to find that masked man.

His gaze shifted back to the guards. He commanded his...

Crunch!

A sickening crunch echoed as the creatures in their bodies began devouring the mana cores of the guards. They experienced excruciating pain, and in the blink of an eye, as their mana cores were consumed, they lost all vitality and collapsed, lifeless.

Thud!

The old man dropped the body to the ground. Now, he understood everything. He could piece together the truth after hearing all that he had. His deceased friend had betrayed him.

The friend must have opened the first sample box, which was then discovered by the dog authorities. They seized the box, and Sam died during the interrogation. However, they were unaware of the existence of the second box, which was good news for him.

He mentally noted every detail about the masked man. He had no intention of engaging with the City Authorities; he had his ways of tracking down the masked man. Once he located him, he intended to make him regret taking his sample. After taking a final look around, he left the stall.