Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 132 News from the Family

One week later, in the Norman Secret Realm.

A sinister-looking man in a grey robe with three plague worms on his chest stood beside the corpse of a shadow elf archer, looking at a blood falcon that kept leaping in his hand.

The blood falcon is small, even smaller than an owl, and its striking red eyes are particularly eye-catching; upon closer inspection, one will notice that the redness is somewhat abnormal.

That's because the blood falcon in front of them has already transcended the realm of natural creatures. After undergoing a zombie transformation ritual, it retained some of its instincts from its previous life, such as flying, but it is now controlled by the caster.

This Blood Falcon is now a messenger corpse bird controlled by Joachim.

Currently, he is completely numb.

"He actually came back to life? Swept away by an underground river, ending up in a subterranean layer, enduring six months of trials and tribulations, and finally managing to return safely to the Ignis School... This is something you only hear about in a bard's autobiography!"

After reading the message on the corpse bird, Joachim's face turned ashen, and he felt like a million grass mud horses were galloping through his mind.

This person was none other than Joachim Frishhuth, a third-level wizard apprentice from the North Ring, and the senior of the red-haired girl Jenna.

When his mentor Gildas handed Richard's portrait to him, he was confident that he would be able to complete the task easily in no time. After all, he was a level three wizard apprentice, and no matter how outstanding the other party was, he was only a level one wizard apprentice.

But when he handed Richard's portrait to a third-level wizard apprentice of the Ignis School whom he knew, the apprentice told him that Richard had gone missing. It was said that the wizard apprentices of the three academies encountered dark fishmen while carrying out a clearing mission, and suffered heavy casualties, including Richard.

Upon hearing this news, Joachim, who had already made a careless mistake and been tricked by Richard whom he had never met before, lost face in front of his mentor.

So this time, Joachim was more cautious and went to the place where Richard disappeared, the site of the great battle between the wizard apprentices and the dark fishmen, to check. Apart from some apprentice corpses that were indeed unrecognizable, Joachim couldn't find Richard's body.

This made Joachim suspicious, thinking that Richard might not be dead, but he didn't see Richard appear even after the mission to wipe out the subterranean race's vassals was over.

This caused Joachim to begin doubting himself again.

More than a month later, Joachim inquired again with acquaintances in the Ignis School, but still heard no news of Richard's appearance.

Only then did he begin to believe it, and he went back to report to his mentor Gildas that Richard had most likely been killed.

Unexpectedly, six months later, things changed again, which meant that he was slapped in the face again because the information he reported to his supervisor was untrue.

Therefore, I'd better handle this matter perfectly right away.

What constitutes a perfect resolution? Obviously, it's killing someone who has been resurrected again.

However, considering that he couldn't leave the Norman Secret Realm for the time being, Joachim decided to spend some magic stones to have a few second-level wizard apprentices find a suitable opportunity to kill Richard.

The problem is that if he stays in the Ignis school and doesn't go out, it will cause trouble.

Joachim thought for a moment and left a message on the corpse bird, meaning that he would ask his junior, Lucius Redman, a second-level wizard apprentice of the North Ring, to kill Richard, and the specific reward was five hundred magic stones.

To avoid any accidents, he specifically added a note, instructing Lucius to call a few more second-level wizard apprentices to join the attack.

Because of the Norman Secret Realm, many second- and third-level wizard apprentices from the Ring of North and the Gluth Academy are now shuttling back and forth between the Norman Secret Realm and the Ignis School's headquarters.

-

The Ignis School Library.

At the administrator's counter.

Richard was chatting with the old, senior level three wizard apprentice. He could now roughly sense the depth of the other's strength.

Just as he had estimated when he first entered the school, the opponent's strength should be about the same as his current strength, with both of them approaching the limit of level three in terms of mental power.

However, the variety and quantity of witchcraft his opponent had learned far exceeded his own. But Richard was confident in one thing: his mastery of witchcraft was definitely superior.

Therefore, if a real battle were to break out, the outcome would be uncertain.

"Are you looking for a level 0 spell that increases movement speed?"

"Yes, senior, but I just searched the second floor and couldn't find any similar level zero witchcraft."

The old man shook his head and said:

"There are very few Shadow-type spells that increase movement speed, so it's normal that you can't find them. Generally speaking, there are many more Wind-type spells that increase movement speed, but unfortunately, Richard, you don't have any Wind element affinity."

Richard was aware of his problem: he was a Darkfire, Natural, and Three Elements user, and his affinity was declining steadily, with his affinity ratings being medium, low, and poor respectively.

This has left him in a dilemma, and for now, he can only stubbornly cling to shadow magic.

The old man thought for a moment and then added, "However, I know a third-level wizard apprentice named Worawi Piazza who has the rare witchcraft you need in his collection. It seems to be called Shadow Dance. But if you try to trade it with that miser, Richard, you'll probably lose a lot of magic stones."

Richard was overjoyed upon hearing this. To be honest, he could now barely say that problems that could be solved with magic stones were not big problems at all.

After confirming that the other party is in the trading area.

Richard quickly arrived at the trading area, at Woraway's general store.

Upon entering, Richard saw Volavi, who was dozing off. He was a chubby, stocky man with narrow, squinty eyes and a shrewd look on his face.

It's hard to associate him with a level three wizard apprentice, but Vorawley is a genuine level three wizard apprentice. Although judging from his aura, he probably hasn't reached the peak of a level three wizard apprentice yet, he's not far off.

"Senior Vorawie, I heard you have a sorcery book called Shadow Dance?"

Richard's display of the peak aura of a second-level wizard apprentice did not cause Volavi to underestimate him.

After looking Richard up and down, he said slowly, "Do you have Silver Dragon Grass? I'll only trade Silver Dragon Grass. If you have three Silver Dragon Grasses, it's yours."

As a near-master of elixirs, Richard immediately knew what the other party intended to do.

Although Silver Dragon Grass is very rare, its effects are relatively limited. Considering that the other party is a level three wizard apprentice and is in such a hurry, it is highly likely that they want to make a rare Silver Dragon potion to enhance their mental strength.

Richard's brow relaxed, and he said with a smile, "Senior Volavi, is Silver Dragon Grass absolutely necessary?"

"That's right, it has to be Silver Dragon Grass!" Volavi said firmly.

Vorawie was very clear about his situation, and he had basically tried every kind of mental strength enhancement drug available on the market.

Aside from the Crimson Shock Elixir, an ancient elixir that was so rare that only a few bottles were released as a reward by the school, he had no way of obtaining it.

He has already tried all the other available medicines, such as the Prophet's Potion.

Along with his rapid increase in strength, he has also encountered the current predicament. As he approaches the peak of the third-level wizard apprentice stage, he has developed resistance to almost all mental power enhancement potions.

Therefore, if he wants to take another step forward and become a formal wizard, he needs to take a new mental power enhancement potion. He has already contacted a master potion maker and collected other herbs, but he is missing Silver Dragon Grass.

"Senior Volavi, what do you think of this potion?" Richard confidently pulled a small box from his pocket and took out a golden horned frog egg from it.

"No need to look anymore. I've basically tried everything on the market, unless yours is Crimson." Before he could finish speaking, Vorawie stopped.

He was quite certain that he had never seen such a medicine before!

Therefore, the concept of drug resistance does not apply.

Vorawie stared wide-eyed at the golden soybeans in front of him, asking in confusion, "What is this...?"

"A special potion from the Underdark that can enhance mental strength. Senior Vorawey can try it out first; this one is free," Richard said with a smile.

Potions from the Underdark? Vorawey was starting to believe it. After all, his school had now ventured deep underground, and it was quite normal for some apprentices to seek out potions unique to the Underdark.

"Are you sure it's a drug to enhance mental strength and has no side effects? Have you taken it yourself?" Vorawie still hesitated.

"Of course, it works very well." Richard swallowed a pill in front of Volavi.

Seeing Richard's quick agreement, Volavi's small eyes lit up, and he swallowed the golden horned frog egg in one gulp.

Within seconds, Vorawie's small eyes lit up like fluorescent light bulbs, and he thought to himself, "It really works on me; there's no resistance whatsoever. This is good stuff!"

Immediately, Worawi's shrewd little eyes began to dart around.

"Um, Richard, how many of these do you want to trade for Shadow Dance Steps with me? Not enough won't do, at least 100 pills." Volavi said, making a big "1" gesture.

"100 pills? You really dare to take them?" Richard thought to himself, shook his head, and immediately turned and left.

"No, no, no, don't go! The price is negotiable. Junior, you name a price, we can discuss it." Worawi could no longer remain calm and hurriedly ran out from behind the counter.

After all, for him, as long as he could obtain the potion from Richard, he could raise his mental strength to the peak of a third-level wizard apprentice within a few months, and then he would have a chance to become a full-fledged wizard.

Therefore, he was even more anxious. After all, Silver Dragon Grass was hard to find, and it was uncertain when he would be able to get one. Moreover, there was a failure rate in its refining process, so it was not as reliable as this kind of ready-made potion.

"Ten pills." Richard thought for a moment and quoted a price.

Now it was Volavi's turn to turn pale. Was this how you bargained? He'd seen people cut prices in half before, but Richard's method of drastically reducing prices was something he'd never seen before.

After a long tug-of-war, it was only after Richard displayed his superb medicine-making skills that Volavi reluctantly agreed to exchange 30 Golden Horned Frog eggs for the rare sorcery Shadow Dance.

There was one additional condition: Volavi would give Richard one free opportunity to concoct a potion.

-

Richard was in high spirits after receiving "Shadow Dance Steps" and made his way to his mentor Seras's alchemy room.

But as soon as he entered, Serales told him some bad news.

"Richard, the second-level wizard apprentice who was stationed at your family's residence was injured. According to the news he sent back, there is a monster outbreak in Rossby County, and Silverpine Town is also a severely affected area. I think it would be better if you could know about this."

Upon hearing this, Richard's mood immediately sank.

"Mentor, is the situation serious?"

Seras nodded and said, "But don't worry too much, I'll issue another mission later and send a level three wizard apprentice there."

"Mentor, you don't need to issue any new tasks. I'll just go back myself."

"You? With your current strength, fighting monsters is still quite risky," Seras advised.

For Richard, who has a great chance of becoming a master potion maker, Serales still hopes that Richard will not go back on his own.

After all, in his eyes, with Richard's strength as a second-level wizard apprentice, he would still easily encounter danger in battles against monsters.

He didn't want the promising young talents he had his eye on to die prematurely.

"Mentor, believe in me."

Richard, who had spent half a year killing monsters in the Gray Fern Wilderness, was confident that he could protect Silverpine Town from monster attacks.

"Alright! Then be careful on your journey." Seeing that her chosen disciple had made up his mind, Seras stopped trying to persuade her.

After all, you can't raise an eagle in a cage.

After leaving the Celes alchemy chamber, Richard wanted to say goodbye to Melo before leaving.

But then she suddenly remembered that Meiluo had gone on an escort mission with several second-level wizard apprentices that morning and wouldn't be back until tomorrow.

So Richard asked Ram and Melo to tell them what was going on, and then he quickly packed his things and set off.

-

One of the new students, upon seeing Richard walk out of the gates of the Ignis School, immediately returned to the school and spoke to an older student. Then, like a chain reaction, the news spread from one student to another, and soon reached the hands of three second-level wizard apprentices of the North Ring.

One of the three was Lucius Redman, the guy who accepted Joachim's mission.

The two people beside him were his best friends and underlings. Lucius Redman, despite only being at the peak of the second-level wizard apprentice level, had a contracted creature that had reached the strength of a third-level wizard apprentice level. Therefore, he was very confident about the mission that his senior Joachim had offered as a bounty.

However, his contracted creature could only fight effectively in a swamp environment, so the trio planned to ambush it at the end of the path on the west side of the muddy swamp.

We can't go any further, because if we go any further, we'll leave the muddy swamp and enter the dark forest, where finding another swamp will become extremely difficult.

As Richard walked along the western path of the school through a dense forest of black leaves, he noticed something amiss on both sides of the path ahead and immediately stopped.

The water in the marshes on both sides of the path was murky, with tiny bubbles rising from it from time to time.

But Richard's eyes were fixed on the bushes around the corner in the distance, and he said in a deep voice, "Come out!"

(End of this chapter)