Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 137 An Unexpected Gain

After finishing the roasted rabbit leg, the old man rubbed the grease off his tattered black robe and said in a deep voice, "Young man, your gift to a stranger is a testament to your noble character. Here is a small pet I just caught, which I give you as a token of my gratitude."

After saying that, the old man slowly took something out of his pocket.

However, the way the other person reached into his pocket immediately alerted Richard.

But upon closer inspection, Richard was greatly surprised.

The old man pulled out a transparent crystal ball from his pocket. Inside the crystal ball, a tiny fairy, no bigger than a palm, was dancing gracefully, extremely alluring.

The little fairy is less than ten centimeters tall, but her body structure is no different from that of a human female. She has curves in the right places and is as round as a clam. She wears only a thin gauze coat and her body is as soft as if it were boneless. The only difference between her and a human female is that she has a pair of transparent, thin wings on her back.

Richard instantly recalled some records about goblins. Goblins are extremely rare magical creatures with all sorts of talents and abilities, but most goblins have talents such as charm or elemental enhancement.

Stronger little fairies may even possess two or three innate abilities.

If a wizard or wizard apprentice is lucky enough to sign a soul contract with a fairy whose elemental affinity matches their own, they will receive the fairy's blessing, an extremely rare and permanent buff.

Its effect is to greatly increase the elemental damage of a wizard or wizard apprentice in a certain school of magic.

But this time, the other party clearly wanted to confuse Richard with tropes like "good deeds bring good rewards" and "forest adventures." Once Richard took the crystal ball containing the little fairy and carefully observed it for a second or two, he would be completely bewitched by the little fairy.

In this way, they will honestly confess all their secrets!

It turns out that this was the idea behind the third-level wizard apprentice from Gurus Academy.

No wonder the other party didn't immediately attack me, a "second-level wizard apprentice," even after catching up. Instead, they went around in circles, trying to extract secrets and maximize their gains.

Richard thought to himself, "This is a smart third-level wizard apprentice; he's not just someone who knows how to fight and kill!"

The old man, disguised as Muken, still had a kind and benevolent look on his face. While handing over the crystal ball, he carefully observed Richard's expression, thinking to himself, "Hehe, take it quickly. If you stare at it for just two more seconds, I don't believe you won't be bewitched by Julia. Then I'll know where all those magic stones came from."

But the next second, instead of seeing the bewitched Richard, Muken felt a sharp pain in his head!

Instantly, a blue shield flashed from the necklace around Muken's neck.

This was Richard's secret secondary mental boost, but it was somewhat unexpected for him. The opponent actually had a rare automatic protective magic item, which prevented his secondary mental boost from being fully effective, but at least it caught the opponent off guard.

Now that Richard knew the other party's intentions, he naturally wouldn't waste any more time playing along and chose to start a fight directly!

But at this moment, Muken realized that Richard had seen through his scheme and had attacked him first.

This infuriated Muken, a third-level wizard apprentice. It was a bit like the embarrassment of being exposed when he was playing the Big Bad Wolf in front of Little Red Riding Hood, even though he had no idea where he had gone wrong and Richard had seen through his act.

However, at this point, Muken clearly put away his originally kind and friendly smile, and his face instantly turned sinister!

"Kid, you're dead!"

A black membrane flashed around Richard's body, and at the same time, he gently waved the Bone Summoning Staff in his hand, and a huge pale green inverted pentagram array appeared on the ground.

In less than a second, a combination of a skeleton guardian, a skeleton berserker, and two skeleton archers crawled out!

"Four of them!!!" Muken exclaimed in disbelief.

Muken exclaimed inwardly, "How is this possible? How could he summon four skeleton summons?" Of course he knew what kind of witchcraft Richard was using, but it was precisely because he knew that he was surprised.

However, the next second, Muken's face immediately became extremely happy. He obviously thought that the other party must have some kind of treasure, otherwise it would be impossible for a mere second-level wizard apprentice to have such strength!

He retreated rapidly, quickly pulling the little fairy in his hand back into his arms. The next second, a reverse pentagram appeared under his feet, and a semi-transparent humanoid shadow suddenly appeared.

A pair of scarlet eyes stared directly at Richard, sending chills down one's spine!

"A vengeful spirit!" Richard was also a little surprised. This was the first time he had encountered such a spirit monster, and this vengeful spirit was even being summoned by the other party.

Although this was Richard's first time fighting a non-physical monster like a vengeful spirit, as a member of the undead category himself, he was quite familiar with them, such as how physical attacks were ineffective against them, how they could inflict curse attacks, and how it was best to avoid being attacked by them.

At this moment, the four skeleton summoned by Richard had already launched an attack on Muken.

Muken waved his short staff and pointed it at Richard, and the vengeful spirit rushed towards Richard.

So both sides started fighting each other's summoned creatures.

Since it was his first time facing a vengeful spirit, Richard dared not underestimate it. He immediately added skeletal armor to himself and began chanting incantations.

Since vengeful spirits have no physical form, they float in mid-air, allowing them to move at extremely high speeds.

Just as he managed to grab Richard, a large hand made of dark elements appeared out of thin air behind him and seized him.

When dealing with spirit-like monsters, Richard grasped one key point: use the invisible to counter the invisible.

Richard immediately manipulated the dark elemental hand that had grabbed the ghost, slamming it hard into the ground.

"Boom!" With the explosion of the dark elemental hand, a large crater immediately appeared in the ground.

The ghost was also stunned by the blast, seeing stars and frozen in place. Moreover, its aura was noticeably weakened.

However, that wasn't the end of it. Richard immediately took out two tubes of Fire Dance Star and Silver Moon Dust from his pocket and threw them directly into the pit of ghosts.

"Boom!" Two consecutive explosions worsened the already injured ghost, and its body has now become almost transparent.

With its power greatly diminished, this vengeful spirit no longer posed any threat to Richard.

When Richard turned around to look at the disguised Level 3 wizard apprentice from Gurus Academy, he was taken aback.

The skeleton berserker he had summoned had been reduced to a pile of bones, clearly struck by some powerful witchcraft.

The skeleton guardians are moving slowly, clearly affected by a slowing spell. Currently, only the two skeleton archers they summoned are barely holding on.

But the next second, a skeleton archer was also killed by a Lesser Shadow Bolt from the enemy!

Richard encountered a wizard apprentice for the first time who could kill three of his summoned skeletons.

The other party really gave me a pleasant surprise.

Muken was even more surprised than Richard. The vengeful spirit that had always been invincible was almost killed by Richard so quickly!

This has never happened before.

Moreover, the opponent is merely a "wandering apprentice" with the strength of a second-level wizard apprentice; how could he possibly possess such strength?

This gave Muken the feeling of hunting in the jungle, aiming at a rabbit, only to have the rabbit suddenly transform into a tiger.

Richard immediately began casting spells in quick succession. In less than half a second, he cast Slow, Weakness, and Piercing Shadow Curse on Muken. Richard had reached the limit of his control over the first two spells, each taking only 0.2 seconds to cast. The last spell was a level zero spell solidified by the Bone Summoning Staff, which was instantaneous.

Muken thought that Richard should have used all his tricks by now, and that as long as he killed the remaining two skeletons, he could take the initiative on the field.

But all he saw was Richard performing one spell after another with fluid and swift movements, which was quite different from what he had expected. He never imagined that the other party would have such strength.

The next second, he suddenly felt weak and powerless all over, along with a chilling sensation.

He instantly realized that he had been hit by a slowing spell, a weakening spell, and another unknown form of witchcraft.

Muken felt like he was going crazy. It was extremely rare for a mere second-level wizard apprentice to have mastered the zero-level sorcery of summoning skeletons to the level of a master.

But what the heck were those three consecutive spells I just fell for?

The combat advantage they had painstakingly built up vanished in an instant, and now they were in a situation of extreme disadvantage.

For the first time, Muken felt that the entire battle was somewhat out of his control.

Immediately, Muken's expression hardened, and he took out a scroll from his pocket, tore it open with force, and a flash of white light appeared. The slowing and weakening effects on his body were removed at the same time, and after his movement speed was restored, he immediately broke away from the entanglement of the skeleton archers.

However, at this moment, Richard's dark elemental hand was also ready, suddenly appearing from the shadows beside Muken and slamming down hard.

"Snap!" The cyan shield on Muken's body shattered instantly.

Muken was terrified. He pulled out a bottle of unknown potion and gulped it down. Instantly, a black light flashed on his body again, indicating that this was his trump card for defense.

Possess a skeleton!

Suddenly, the previously slow-moving skeleton guardians became incredibly fast, like an eighty-year-old woman transforming into Usain Bolt.

High-frequency oscillation!

"Pop!" The black membrane on Muken's body was immediately shattered by the skeleton guardian's iron sword.

Now, Muken knew perfectly well that he had run into a brick wall, encountering someone who was pretending to be weak while actually being strong.

Immediately, Muken turned and fled back the way he came without looking back.

Upon seeing this, Richard immediately planned to use Shadow Grip to deliver a fatal blow to Muken.

Suddenly, Muken, who was fleeing for his life, was tackled and pinned down by a huge white figure.

It turned out to be its own mutated winter wolf.

Richard was immediately delighted and canceled the casting of Shadow Grip, continuing to cast Possess Skeleton.

The skeleton guardians immediately rushed forward with a series of sharp, cracking sounds.

While struggling against the powerful mutated winter wolf, Muken noticed the unfathomably powerful sword-and-shield skeleton charging towards him and cried out, "I am Gurus!"

But before he could finish speaking, the skeleton guardian controlled by Richard, without the slightest hesitation or even a question, suddenly stabbed him in the chest, piercing his heart.

"you"

With Muken's unseeing eyes, his head lay limp to the side, blood gushing from his chest staining the ground red.

The next second, a black demon flower suddenly appeared from the dead Muken. Instantly, the demon flower spread out into many petals and rushed straight towards Richard and his summoned creature.

"Oh no! The traces of the Guru school!"

In an instant, Richard dodged behind the skeleton archer.

But the next second, the demon flower petals instantly bypassed him and landed on him.

Richard's face immediately darkened. This mark from the Gurus Academy was much more troublesome than the one on Jenna before, as it could mark all living beings around the scene of the incident on its own!

In addition, Richard was also greatly troubled by the fact that his three summoned skeletons, including the mutated winter wolf, had also been marked.

With Muken's death, his appearance began to change drastically. He went from being a bearded, red-nosed old man to a young man, just like the one Richard saw when he met Muken at the Black Forest Market mount shop.

At this moment, the Soul-Devouring Spider, realizing it was time for its feast, hissed and eagerly crawled out of Richard's arms, beginning to devour Muken's soul.

As a stream of unowned spiritual energy, about the size of a thumb, flowed from the Soul-Devouring Spider into Richard's mental sea, a sensation akin to the tantalizing taste of betel nut and cigarette instantly made Richard feel as if he were floating on clouds, experiencing a blissful, ethereal feeling!

This was the most intoxicating moment for Richard since he acquired the Soul-Devouring Spider.

After the Soul-Eating Spider finished devouring the soul, it crawled into Muken's body through his mouth. Soon after, it began reading Muken's memories, transmitting them to Richard's mind like slideshows.

A moment later, Richard couldn't help but show an expression of ecstatic joy.

Richard felt at that moment as if he had found something he had been searching for everywhere without any effort.

It turns out that Muken, as a promising student among the third-level wizard apprentices of the Gurus Academy, had already signed a training agreement with the Gurus Academy last year and exchanged for the first level of the advanced meditation method "Spirit Meditation Method", which is the apprenticeship content.

The second option I've been seeking is to find three advanced meditation techniques in the necromancy field, thereby forcibly breaking through the limits of the Rodrigo Meditation Technique.

The unexpected gain has given Richard a breakthrough in his second plan, which is currently one-third complete.

In addition, Muken also had the recipe for the disguise potion he had just used in his mind. This was an extremely rare potion recipe with special effects, which Richard valued highly.

However, one of the main ingredients, the transformation herb, is quite rare, and the finished product of the transformation potion has a particularly foul odor and an extremely bitter taste.

However, in Richard's view, these are all insignificant compared to its enormous role.

(End of this chapter)