Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 353 Needs and Demands

The snoring sound next to me suddenly rose a beat, then ended with a long, whistling exhale, the rise and fall of which showed the snorer's extremely relaxed sleeping state.

Ruger glanced at it briefly, then returned his gaze to the scroll in his hand.

The other end of the strange scroll had stopped turning, which clearly meant that everything he required and could see was already here.

He roughly estimated the time; since he received the unusually large scroll, he had been lost in thought at times, and before he knew it, more than a day had passed.

Ruger blinked.

I carefully reviewed the second half again; to say I reviewed it was actually to reflect on it.

The Bloodline Hourglass Ascension Ritual is an ascension ritual that focuses entirely on enhancing one's bloodline. Each subsequent advancement and transformation can involve reversing the hourglass, which perfectly suits his needs. The so-called period of weakness doesn't significantly affect him, and his preferred spells aren't based on dragon blood. Everything seems to be the best choice.

In fact, most ascension rituals are just an embellishment on the path of wizarding, and this becomes more prominent as the wizard's level increases.

The creation of the Ascension Ritual was initially and ultimately intended to make it easier for apprentices to advance to become full-fledged wizards.

There are generally three types of choices wizard apprentices make regarding their Ascension rituals. The first type is like the old drunkard in Star City, who, from the initial selection to the final simple pursuit of advancement, chooses the Ascension ritual that is most likely to help him advance. Ruger thought about it and believed that he belonged to the second type, which is to try to choose one that is useful to him while advancing to a formal wizard, and to be more confident in himself, without placing all his hopes on the Ascension ritual. The third type is those who have an extremely clear path ahead, who have already determined their path, and who have begun to lay the groundwork from the Ascension ritual, or even from the solidification of zero-ring spells.

Ruger believed that the guy who had bothered him in Blackhorn City, who had completed the assessment ahead of schedule and withdrawn from the subsequent trials, might be the third type of person—that seemingly stupid guy who appeared to know some inside information.

Luger smiled.

He felt that he might be worrying too much about the future.

dong dong!

He raised his arm and tapped the corner of the man's table lightly with his fingers.

The young man, who was fast asleep, slowly woke up.

There was no movement that seemed to startle them; they appeared completely at ease here and with the people here, showing no instinctive alertness whatsoever.

"Oh, have you finished making your selection?"

The man first glanced at his robe, stood up to straighten it, and then sat back down before looking at Ruger.

"Then you can start working towards your goal. If a major event occurs, five years might be enough. If things are more peaceful, or if you're just unlucky... it might take thirty years, but that's assuming you live to see that time. However, you'll have an easier time, as I said, you can be exempted from spending 10% of the required merit stones."

The man crossed his arms and rested them on the table as he spoke.

"I want this."

Ruger turned the scroll around, pointed at it, and pushed it in front of the man.

"Bloodline Hourglass Sublimation Ceremony".

As Ruger spoke, the man subconsciously lowered his head to look at the scroll in front of him.

"Twenty-six thousand merit stones..."

The man seemed to have finally thought of something and looked up at Ruger.

"You said you'd cut it by 10%."

Ruger blinked and said softly.

The man paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Twenty-three thousand four hundred merit stones." The man nodded and continued.

Ruger placed his Demon Hunter Badge on the table. "There are 24,200 Merit Stones inside."

He placed the badge on the table and then subconsciously rubbed his hands together.

The man blinked, picked up the badge, then took out a separate contract and placed the badge in a pre-drawn position on the contract.

"Sir, please leave your secret mark here. Would you like me to exchange the remaining merit stones for physical items? The new recruit will probably be going out soon, and exchanging them for physical merit stones would be more convenient sometimes," the man casually suggested.

Luger thought for a moment and nodded.

"Then trouble you."

He raised his hand as if to leave his secret mark on the contract, but then suddenly stopped.

He looked hesitantly at the young man in front of him.

"Will the materials for the ascension ceremony be the kind that are hard to obtain? Could you take a look at what's needed beforehand so I can go out and scout it out?"

Ruger stared at him without blinking.

“Of course not,” the man said irritably, then pointed to the scroll and said, “I should have said that if you need to use items that are very difficult to obtain or that have become extinct, there will be a small mark here, after the name of the ascension ritual.”

Ruger pursed his lips; the guy hadn't mentioned this at all before he fell asleep.

He stopped pressing the matter and raised his hand to leave his secret mark.

The contract mainly stipulates that the exchanged ascension ceremony must not be disclosed to outsiders, and includes some related precautions.

After a flurry of activity and inventory, Ruger found himself with a scroll of inheritance that could only be opened once, along with eight hundred stones that looked similar to the standard set of small magic stones.

And finally, I said goodbye to that little room.

He glanced at the map and walked towards his temporary room.

The time to leave was fast approaching, and he planned to get a good night's sleep.

He walked along, fiddling with a stone in his hand.

He had always been very curious about this so-called merit stone. It looked somewhat like a magic stone and had a strange power inside, but it was different from the power that the wizards he had seen or come into contact with had mobilized.

As the stone door opened, a spacious but very simple room appeared before Ruger.

As soon as he had a thought, the stone door that had just been marked with a secret technique closed automatically.

This feels good.

Once his identity is verified, the stone gate accepts his secret mark, and this becomes his private space. Wizards are extremely protective of their secrets, so the rule here is that, except for very high-level special cases, even a formal wizard cannot forcibly enter his room. Moreover, this entire strange building with countless floors is equipped with a comprehensive magic array that can prevent wizards from spying on it.

Ruger looked around, then jumped up and threw himself onto the bed.

It's called a bed, but it's actually just a stone structure integrated into the room. There are no everyday items here, but Ruger doesn't seem to care.

He lay there swinging his legs.

The scroll for the ascension ceremony had already been unfurled there.

He didn't recognize many of the items needed, and their value was naturally immeasurable. However, he had valuable items like merit stones. When the person reminded him that exchanging the remaining merit stones for physical items would be much more convenient, he understood the implications. After paying five merit stones and receiving some guidance, he had a better understanding of the process. Most of the items needed for the ascension ceremony could be obtained here by exchanging merit stones.

And it's not expensive.

(End of this chapter)