Cornflower Witch

Chapter 437 Jewel Bearings for Clocks
To create the astronomical clock used in the core secret technique, several rare materials are required. Hiltiya looked through the list of materials provided by the academy and compared them.

Mithril costs 1850 gold coins or 1000 credits per 10 grams.

'Shikin' costs 170 gold coins or 100 credits per 10 grams.

'Radiant Gold' costs 34 gold coins or 15 credits per 10 grams.

'Chromium Silver' costs 21 gold coins or 10 credits per 10 grams.

'Copper' costs 18 gold coins or 10 credits per 10 grams.

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'Sapphire (Tier 1, Standard)', 50 silver coins each.

'Sapphire (Tier 1, Excellent)', 100 silver coins each.

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'Garnet (Second Tier, Standard)', 6 gold coins each.

Garnet (Tier 2, Excellent) - 11 gold coins each.

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'Ruby (Tier 3, Standard)', 68 gold coins each.

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'Ruby (Tier 3, Excellent)', 145 gold coins each.

'Sapphire (Tier 3, Excellent)', 127 gold coins each.

'Diamond (Tier 3, Excellent)', 114 gold coins each.

Gems of excellent quality or higher need to have their price confirmed at the Academy's Gem Pavilion. If they are exchanged using academic credits, the price will be offset at a 1:2 ratio with the gold coin value.

Mithril is a fourth-tier material, and even a small piece is very expensive. Based on the requirements of advanced secret arts, she needs to prepare at least 12 grams of mithril as the core material of the 'astronomical clock'. She also needs to use varying amounts of 'hikin' and 'chrome silver' as well as some gemstones for bearings, forks, and other parts.

The materials used in this part can be adjusted according to individual circumstances. If you want to save money, you can choose cheaper metal materials and use only 17 gems. If you want to be more luxurious, you can use the best metal materials and use up to 25 gems as parts.

After calculating the cost of the materials needed, Hiltiya couldn't help but stick out her tongue. The mithril alone would probably cost more than 2000 gold coins. Adding other metals and gems, the minimum cost would be over 3000 gold coins. If the best materials were used, the total cost could easily exceed 10,000 gold coins.

At this moment, she began to recall the requirements for advancing other core secret techniques. None of them seemed to be this expensive. Some simple advancement methods could probably gather the required materials for less than 100 gold coins.

She wasn't short of 10,000 gold coins, but with her identity as Hedra, it was difficult. The treasure trove of the 'Fire Pig' had only contained 8000 gold coins in total, and most of that money had already been spent on improving the living conditions of the laborers, providing relief, and offering basic medical care. She hadn't even considered taking the money at the time.

Accumulating 3000 gold coins in a short period of time on your own is no easy task.

Oh right, Hiltiya remembered something, went back to her bedroom, pulled out her little treasure trove from under the bed, opened the long-sealed box, and rummaged through it.

Soon, she found two copper square boxes, a black wooden box, and a mahogany box in the trunk.

The two bronze boxes were mailed by Lord Brennan of Quebec City every six months. Each box contained 30 neatly arranged gold coins as her living expenses in the Mage Alliance. This amount of money was more than enough for a first or second-tier apprentice.

The black wooden box was given to me by Teacher Knox. It contained exactly 200 gold coins, no more, no less. Considering the size of the box, 200 coins was the limit.

The mahogany box was a gift from her current nominal uncle, Alanford Griffin, and it contained 120 gold coins.

These added up to 380 gold coins. Hilti took out her money bag again and poured the gold coins inside onto the bed to count them. There were a total of 46 gold coins. This was her usual pocket money, part of which came from the sale of potions she made in the past, and a small part from the scholarships given by the school.

After thinking for a moment, Hilti took out another jewelry box, inside which was a regular pentagonal red gemstone.

【Frand Rose】(Tier 2, Excellent); A true red rose gem, refined and condensed from roses of the same tier using a secret method. It can be used to make precious ornaments, as well as for ritual consumption and crafting items.

This was a gift from Verlena when they were in Quebec. If she were to sell it, she could probably get 20 gold coins.

After taking stock of these items, Hiltiya found a voucher in her diary. It was a gift from Miss Walnut of the Fox family. It was said to be a share of the profits from inventing the cone ice cream, and she could use it to withdraw money from the Mage Alliance bank. She just didn't know how much it would be.

400 gold coins is a huge sum for a second-tier apprentice. It can buy several high-quality third-tier gems for advancement and may last for more than ten years to cover living expenses. However, for the advancement path chosen by Siltia, this amount of money is not enough.

How can one legally acquire a large amount of money? Hilti sat on the bed with her legs apart and began to think.

She currently has about 300 credits, which is not enough even if she uses them all to exchange for resources. She needs to check the college's task board.

Each college has an internal task board containing a wide range of information, including tasks and requirements issued by the college, as well as information on students selling and exchanging resources. Compared to market prices outside, prices within the college are often more affordable and have a higher level of credibility, reducing the risk of being scammed or disappearing.

After tidying up her things, Hilti sat up, took the bank receipt and her student badge, and walked out of the house.

She first left the college and went to a nearby bank to check how many gold coins were in the receipt.

"Please wait a moment, Miss Hedra. We need to verify your identity first," the staff member replied after checking the card.

What followed was a rather cumbersome verification process. After confirming the girl's identity using special methods, they began checking her bank accounts and then informed her of the situation.

"According to the agreement with Fox, you will be entitled to 10% of the product's profits over ten years, and there are currently 478 gold coins stored inside."

"I understand. Take all the money out of there." That way, she would have about 900 gold coins.

Walnut is really generous! Judging from this data, they seem to be selling their new ice cream very well, with a single item generating nearly 5000 gold coins in profit.

After receiving the gold coins, Hilti returned to the academy and went to the mission hall, where many students had stored items for exchange, each marked with its price and the resources required. If someone found something suitable, they could contact the staff to exchange it.

Hiltiya looked around and found that most of the items were creations for sale or exchange, with relatively few raw materials being offered for trade.

'8g of Shikin', the leftover part after crafting the item, sells for 140 gold coins.

'Barrier-Breaking Dagger (Tier 3)' can be used to break through barrier protection spells. It is of excellent quality and costs 180 gold coins.

'Blue Salt Potion (Tier 3)' can be used to enhance spells, doubling their power. It costs 70 gold coins.

'Ejection Ring (Tier 2)', with the added 'Ejection Technique', allows you to jump instantly and dodge danger, priced at 28 gold coins.

'Mountain Red Neutralizer (Tier 3)', an alchemical ingredient used to harmonize the properties of 'Blazing Sun' and 'Blood Law', priced at 98 gold coins.

……

Besides the items waiting to be exchanged and sold, Hilti also saw quite a few quests.

[Task: Crafting High-Precision Jewel Bearings]: Find members skilled in precision operations to assist in crafting 37 Tier 3 Excellent quality watch bearings.

Requirements: Master the runes 'Mercury', 'Sturdy', 'Abrasion-resistant', and 'Fine-textured' and make their engraving effect 'Excellent' or better.

Reward: 10 gold coins per bearing. If there are fewer than two defective bearings, an additional 'Tier 3 Excellent' ruby ​​will be awarded.
[Task: Crafting Detection Lenses]: Recruit members skilled in glass engraving and analytical magic to craft 150 detection lenses.

Requirements: Knowledge of metallic materials, ability to accurately analyze material quality, and the ability to inscribe analytical enchantments into the lens.

Reward: 5 gold coins per lens. If the yield rate is above 90%, an additional 100 gold coins will be awarded.

[Mission: Spinel Cave Exploration]: Recruit Tier 3 members to explore the hidden realm of 'Spinel Cave' in the Shadow World.

Requirements: Possess a level 3+3 or higher level of defensive capabilities and a weapon enchanted with 'Cut Crystal'.

Reward: 20% of the treasures and resources obtained from the expedition, and one 'Tier 3 Excellent' quality spinel.

……

The requirements for these tasks are quite high; basically, only third-tier mages are qualified to even consider taking them on. No wonder few freshmen pay attention to them. Sylvia's gaze swept across the list, and she managed to find a few tasks that didn't have high requirements for rank, but only required excellent skills.

To be honest, she really wanted to try the task of making the jewel bearing. Firstly, she could learn a lot, and secondly, she could practice in advance to become more skilled when making the 'astronomical clock' later, reduce material consumption, and improve the quality of her creations.

However, of the required runes, she had only learned 'Mercury' and 'Sturdiness'. She hadn't yet learned 'Abrasion Resistance' and 'Fine Texture' and needed to catch up on those.

After noting down the requirements of the task, Hilti turned and left for the academy's library, where she began searching for information on the two runes and obtained the original templates, starting to copy and learn from them.

After memorizing and copying the runes for the time being, Hilti returned to her residence at night. However, she did not rush to sleep. Instead, she took out some fragments of Tier 1 gems in the laboratory on the first floor of the house and began to experiment with the newly learned rune inscription.

Time passed by unnoticed, and as night fell, Hilti sat at the table, stretched, shook the ends of her hair, then clasped her hands together, rested her head on them, and looked at the three small and exquisite parts under the light.

[Ruby Bearing] (Tier 1, Rare); A watch bearing made from Tier 1 rubies, engraved with four types of runes. (Mercury, Sturdy, Wear-resistant, Fine-grained)

Hopefully, the task will still be available a day later; this is already the result of her learning at the fastest speed.

And so, Hiltiya leaned against the table and fell asleep. About twenty minutes later, she woke up again, feeling somewhat refreshed.

She then turned off the jewel lamp in the room, went to the bathroom to take a shower, changed into her pajamas, and went back to the bedroom to fall asleep.

(End of this chapter)