Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 80 Advanced Meditation Methods

Locke placed his standard first-class wizard apprentice set next to Sophia's cabin, along with his plantation.

This will be much safer.

After being attacked by a group of wizard apprentices from the Blood Curse Court, Locke felt that Upside Down Alley was no longer safe, as it was crowded with people and wizard apprentices.

It would be better to live with the witch Sophia.

Although there are few people here, only the two of them, living near a formal wizard would actually make them safer.

Inside the small laboratory, which is part of the standard three-piece set, there is a workbench with distillation equipment, dissection and extraction equipment, as well as a complete set of basic tools for brewing potions and extracting magical plant seeds, presumably with his identity in mind.

Perhaps this is standard equipment for first-class wizard apprentices at Lilith's Hut.

There are still many blank areas in the laboratory, with only simple decorations, indicating that you will have to add and purchase the equipment you need yourself.

Locke carefully placed a bunch of shadow leeches into a glass tube, and then used a dropper to drip in an extract of the anesthetic plant, *Ligustrum lucidum*.

The leeches that were still struggling and trying to crawl out of the glass tube began to twitch, their bodies became uncontrollable, and they stopped wriggling.

Shadow leeches are extremely dangerous magical worms.

Locke recalled the precautions: the eggs of this insect could enter his body through skin contact, reproduce inside him, and after reaching adulthood, they would crawl out of the skin and enter the host's shadow, parasitizing within the host's shadow range to carry out their activities.

Therefore, the blood essence of this worm is often used to resolve the curse on the shadow.

After the leeches in the glass tubes stopped moving, Locke pierced their bodies with a steel needle, and then used capillaries to insert one by one into their wounds, drawing their blood into a glass bottle.

This is extracting blood from a leech.

Next, Locke injected the bloodline separation agent he had designed beforehand, and used the magic centrifugal extraction method to begin separating the specific bloodline essence.

Ten minutes later, Locke looked at the pure bloodline essence of the Shadow Leech in the glass bottle and let out a soft breath. "Success."

"I have successfully designed the bloodline separation potion, achieving my intended goal. The creation and design of the bloodline separation potion is a major component of the Potions Master Assistant Certificate exam. My ability to complete it demonstrates that my skill level is very close to that of a Potions Master Assistant."

After a night, Locke separated ten bottles of Shadow Leech Blood Essence and went to Sophia's office next door.

Shadow leeches are already considered relatively high-grade magical materials. Being able to process them yourself means that your skill level has reached a new level.

Unlike the cheap and simple potion ingredients he used to handle, these Shadowleech Blood Essences were valuable enough to be sold as potions for first-class wizard apprentices.

After all, it is one of the main ingredients that can be used to make potions.

In Sophia's office, the witch Sophia took the Shadow Leech Bloodline Essence handed to her by Locke, examined it briefly, and nodded affirmatively, "The bloodline separation potion you made was very successful, with very few impurities, which should also be due to the relatively small fluctuation of your magical power."

"That's great, you can help me save a lot of work in the future."

Being able to handle medium-to-high difficulty potion ingredients like Shadow Leech means that Locke can handle the vast majority of potion ingredients independently.

Sophia the Witch looked up at Locke and said, "You have already mastered the magic flame technique and the bloodline separation potion design technique. As long as you can refine one more standard potion at the assistant level, you can take the potion master assistant certificate exam."

"I recommend you learn about Concentration Ointment."

The witch Sophia said frankly, "You can buy the recipe for Concentration Ointment from me for a thousand magic stones, and then go back and learn how to make it yourself."

The witch Sophia said, "At your current level, as long as you know the recipe, you can learn it on your own by spending the time."

“Otherwise, according to the rules, I will have to charge you for both the formula and the instruction fee. I think instruction… is somewhat useless; a potion master’s assistant should at least have sufficient self-learning ability.”

Locke bowed to the witch Sophia and said, "Yes, teacher."

Over the past two years, the witch Sophia has carefully taught her the basics of potion-making.

This foundation comes from the teachings of a first-ring potion master, and is therefore incredibly solid.

Sophia the Witch smiled slightly, crossed her arms, leaned back in her chair, and looked at Locke. "Locke, you should understand these past few days just how difficult it is to advance beyond the first-class wizard apprentice level."

Locke nodded. "Yes, teacher, both the potions and the meditation techniques are becoming less effective." "However, the academy will start distributing Star Tear Potions and Blood-Weeping Dragon Sunflower Potions to me next month. Perhaps they will have a different effect."

The witch Sophia shook her head and said, "Those are like drinking poison to quench your thirst; they will only make you spend more magic stones."

"The path to seeking truth comes at a price, and magic stones are just the most common price."

"The Blood-Weeping Dragon Sunflower Potion can purify bloodlines and slightly improve the physical talents of wizard apprentices. Those below level 4 can be raised by one level, and those above level 4 can be raised by half a level. However, this improvement requires lifelong medication, otherwise the improved talents will gradually revert to their original state."

"And you have to take ten bottles every month," the witch Sophia said with a smirk. "While the academy only gives you one bottle of Blood-Soaked Dragon Sunflower every month."

"The Blood-Weeping Dragon Sunflower can enhance the talents of wizard apprentices, making them addicted, and every wizard apprentice who has experienced it is reluctant to give it up, which is extremely painful. That is why it is called the Blood-Weeping Dragon Sunflower."

“The Blood-Soaked Dragon Sunflower itself is very expensive, costing at least one hundred magic stones per bottle,” Sophia the witch said, shaking her head. “And to make the Blood-Soaked Dragon Sunflower work its full potential, it requires spending 900 magic stones every month to buy it from the academy’s higher-ups.”

"The Star Tear Potion is mainly used to enhance meditation efficiency. When used in conjunction with meditation, it can indeed slightly increase the speed at which your mental strength improves," the witch Sophia said with a slight smirk. "But that's about it."

"The Star Tear Potion only works when used in conjunction with meditation. The key is the level of your meditation."

"Moreover, two bottles a month is clearly not enough. This potion can be used up to twelve bottles a month, and an average of eight bottles a month would be just right to achieve a balance between the potion and its toxicity. However, the academy only distributes two bottles of Star Tear potion to first-class wizard apprentices each month. And each bottle of Star Tear potion is worth about one hundred and fifty magic stones."

"Based on this calculation, you'll need to spend 2100 magic stones per month!"

Sophia the Witch said, "Therefore, for those wandering wizards and wild wizards outside the school, becoming a first-class wizard apprentice is almost the limit."

"Their chances of becoming official wizards are almost zero."

Sophia the Witch said coldly, "The standard for a formal wizard's mental strength is 1000."

Locke's brow twitched.

There is a difference of 800 points of mental energy between a first-class wizard apprentice and a full-fledged wizard, and the value of each point of mental energy is far greater than that of all apprentice-level mental energy.

With his current snail-paced improvement, even if he meditates for two hundred years, he will never become a formal wizard!

In the future, he will need to purchase potions such as Bloodstained Dragon Sunflower and Starry Sky, which will cost more than two thousand magic stones every month. Obviously, this is not an expense that all first-class wizard apprentices can afford, especially since this is likely only a small part of the total expenditure.

While first-class wizard apprentices enjoy a high status, their path is also much more difficult.

Locke asked in confusion, "Then, teacher, how do wizards in the southeastern corner of the region become formal wizards?"

The witch Sophia smiled. "You've hit the nail on the head."

"Some people haven't found the right approach, so they can only use a huge amount of magical resources to forcibly raise their mental power to 1000. But that would require an unknown amount of magical resources for a wizard."

"It's just too difficult, too difficult."

Sophia the Witch said, "Therefore, we need to use special advanced potions and advanced meditation techniques here."

"Let's leave aside the special advanced potions for now. When you reach the point where you should know about them, someone from the academy will naturally tell you. I signed a confidentiality agreement, so I can't tell you now."

"The Advanced Meditation Technique is the foundation of a school of thought in the Southeast Corner Region, and it is absolutely impossible for it to be passed on to outsiders. You are a student of Lilith's Hut, therefore you have the right to spend 50,000 magic stones to purchase the right to learn the Advanced Meditation Technique."

Locke's brow twitched.

He had finally become wealthy during his second-class wizard apprenticeship, but now that he had entered the first-class wizard apprenticeship, he was clearly destitute.

Sophia the Witch said, "Of course, if you don't have 50,000 magic stones right now, you can sign a meditation method loan contract first."

Sophia the Witch sighed helplessly. "Locke."

“I would also like to teach you directly, but I am also restricted by the Southeast Corner Region Advanced Meditation Method non-dissemination protocol of the White Wizarding Society.”

“If I teach you at a low price without your consent, I will be subject to a strict investigation by the association’s ethics review mechanism.”

(End of this chapter)