Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 143 First Encounter with a Wizarding Artifact

This made Richard uneasy when he accepted Joachim's spoils.

I've been thinking about how to deal with the possible arrival of a formal wizard.

However, after careful consideration, Richard realized that at least he no longer had any tracking marks on him, so he should be safe for the time being.

However, he needs to hurry up and settle his family affairs before returning to the school to hide. If all else fails, he will have to sign an agreement with the school.

After all, once the agreement was signed, he would be considered a future wizarding seed of the Ignis School, and definitely one of their own. Even if he was merely acting in "self-defense," or even if he took the initiative, as long as he was in the right, the Ignis School would definitely protect him.

Why not seek refuge with Master Seras? Refuge may offer temporary protection, but it won't last. The primary goal of signing the agreement with the school is to obtain the third advanced meditation technique, thereby breaking through limitations. Once you become a formal wizard, you'll naturally no longer need to fear formal wizards.

Richard was deeply impressed by the spell Joachim cast during the recent battle, which produced several streams of blood-red water.

That spell instantly caused the Abomination to exhibit an effect similar to a barbarian's berserk state, greatly increasing its combat power.

Richard, too, saw the full picture of this sorcery in Joachim's memory: [Blood Amber Power], a level zero sorcery that uses the power of blood within blood amber to induce a bloodthirsty frenzy in the contracted creature for three minutes. Casting this spell requires one piece of blood amber; the higher the quality of the blood amber, the better the effect.

Richard knew about blood amber; it was described in Jenna's experimental manuscripts, and Richard also knew how to extract and make blood amber.

After memorizing the incantation and model of this new sorcery, Richard began collecting his spoils.

As Richard had predicted, Joachim possessed many valuable qualities.

In the fierce battle just now, Joachim's methods were quite extraordinary, and Richard felt that his strength was no less than that of Muken.

A seasoned level three wizard apprentice, none of them are simple!

Richard found a bloodstained amulet on Joachim's neck.

After wiping the blood-stained amulet, Richard examined it carefully in the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees.

On the amulet, which was neither gold nor wood, were carved four overlapping black-robed figures with hoods obscuring their faces. Furthermore, all four figures were identical in appearance, seemingly mirror images of the same person.

After carefully reading the instruction array hidden on the back of the amulet, Richard became quite fond of it.

The description in the magic circle states that this amulet is called the [Phantom Amulet], a top-tier witchcraft item. After use, it will conjure a shadowy figure in front of, behind, to the left and right of the user. The shadowy figures last for half a minute, and the user can control each shadowy figure individually with their consciousness.

It needs to be charged for 12 hours after use before it can be used again.

What Richard values ​​most is its second special effect: the ability to control each phantom individually with one's mind. If used well, this effect can help one avoid some fatal dangers in critical moments.

So it seems I was actually pretty lucky. Just as Joachim used the Phantom Amulet and before he could control the phantom to run away, the three bottles of Fire Dance Star above me blew the phantom apart.

Otherwise, he might have been deceived by the illusion and allowed Joachim to escape.

If he were to reunite with Abomination, they could launch a counterattack, making it truly difficult to predict the outcome.

In that case, it will probably be a tough battle before we can win!

It's a bit of a shame that the Phantom Amulet is currently out of energy, preventing Richard from actually testing it.

Richard put away the Phantom Amulet and continued searching for his loot.

Soon, he found a large bag of magic stones on Joachim's waist. When he opened it, he found a small number of intermediate magic stones and about three or four thousand ordinary magic stones.

If you do the math, the total value of the magic stones is probably no less than four thousand.

Wow! This money is coming in so fast! Richard's once empty wallet is now full again.

As Richard continued his search, he also found some other scattered potions, as well as some rare herbs from the Norman Secret Realm, and so on.

Richard sorted all of these items and packed them into a large package.

Finally, all that remained was the extremely strange-looking staff that Joachim held in his hand.

The staff was about 1.4 meters long, with a crooked shaft. Although it was called a staff, Richard thought it was just a rather thick vine.

The top end is thicker, resembling a tuberous root or a large potato, while the other end is relatively thinner, matching the length of the stick, only a bit thinner.

Richard picked up the strange vine staff and examined it closely. He felt a surge of powerful energy emanating from the staff, which startled him. This was something he had never encountered before in all the top-tier magical artifacts he had ever worked with.

"Hiss! This is actually a witch artifact! No wonder Joachim was able to summon abominations to help in the battle!" Richard's eyes widened after reading the description of the vine magic circle, and he couldn't help but swear!

The description in the magic circle states that this vine staff is called the "Mutant Summoning Staff," a low-level (damaged) magical artifact. If the wielder uses this staff to communicate with the Netherworld, the success rate of summoning will increase. At the same time, the summoned undead creatures will be forcibly transformed into an Abomination.

Looking at the description in the magic circle, Richard couldn't help but fall into thought.

The keywords are "all undead creatures" and "one".

Could it be that if I use this mutated summoning staff to cast the level 0 sorcery [Summon Skeleton], instead of summoning four skeletons, I will be forced to summon an abomination?

If that's really the case, that's amazing!

After all, Richard had just seen that even the "mini" abomination that Joachim summoned, which was only 2.5 meters tall, had already overwhelmed his four skeleton guardians in combat power.

However, this is just my guess, and I need to verify it. Also, how big will the abomination I summon be? Will it exceed two and a half meters?

Richard was quite curious about this, rubbed his hands together, and couldn't help but feel a little itchy, so he immediately wanted to try it out.

Richard immediately put down the Bone Summoning Staff, took the Mutant Summoning Staff, and began chanting the incantation to summon a skeleton.

As Richard cast the level-zero spell of Summon Skeleton, he immediately sensed a huge difference when communicating with the Netherworld.

At this moment, his more than one hundred spiritual tendrils were twisted into a thick spiritual tendril as he passed through the mutated summoning staff, directly probing into a deeper level of the Netherworld.

This distance and depth far exceed the scope of the Skeleton Warrior.

Moreover, it's a specified coordinate, just like Richard has already been given a coordinate location in the Land of the Dead.

Once his spiritual tendrils probed into the Netherworld, they skipped the initial area of ​​summoned skeletons and were directly transported here.

Here, everything is filled with spheres of malevolent spiritual energy.

In other words, Richard's summoning of bones was forcibly changed to a summoning of hatred.

This is probably why this staff is classified as a witchcraft artifact.

Although the sphere of abomination spiritual energy that Richard came into contact with was only the weakest of the three.

But in the end, it's hatred!

After several attempts, Richard barely managed to sign a summoning agreement with a slightly larger sphere of spiritual energy. Instantly, the inverted pentagram array glowed with green light, and Richard summoned an enormous abomination that was about 2.7 meters tall!

Richard was delighted. Two meters and seven inches tall! It seemed that the Abomination he had summoned was even stronger than Joachim's Abomination!

However, the next second, Richard's smile vanished, because he realized that he probably couldn't use these two top-tier witchcraft items.

If I stay now and a formal wizard from the Ring of North comes knocking on my door, I'm doomed.

Thinking of this, Richard lost interest, so he took Joachim's trotting zebra and quickly turned back to Ander Market.

Since you can't keep it for yourself, the best option is to sell it immediately, or like last time, exchange it for equipment that suits you.

-

Meanwhile, far away in the Ring of North, Gildarts, Joachim's mentor, suddenly had a thought and immediately frowned. He clearly sensed that the tracking mark of another of his disciples, Joachim, had been triggered.

This means the other party is dead!

In the past six months, two of his disciples have died.

He couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. After all, Joachim was a third-level wizard apprentice whom he had high hopes for. Moreover, with the low-level wizard artifact he had given him, he shouldn't even have trouble escaping.

Could it be that Joachim has encountered an enemy at the level of a formal wizard?

But then he shook his head, not believing that his disciple would offend a formal wizard for no reason.

Gildas sensed the location of the tracking mark, thought for a moment, and decided to go and see for himself what was going on.

-

Ander Market.

Inside Boris's room at Pete Auction House.

"Knock knock knock!" A series of urgent knocks came from the door.

"Please come in!"

"Manager Boris, is that VIP who just left back?" the girl said hurriedly as she ran into the room.

"Huh! They're back again? Could it be that they've changed their minds?" Boris's face immediately darkened. He knew that through his previous deal with Richard, he had received a substantial bonus and praise from a powerful elder in his family.

If the other party comes to back out, it not only means losing the bonus, but you will also be held accountable.

"No, no! Manager, you've misunderstood. Judging from the VIP's appearance, it seems like he wants to continue selling things, because the package he brought this time is quite large!" The girl hurriedly gestured with her two small hands and said.

Upon hearing this, Boris's expression instantly brightened.

The speed at which this expression changed made the girl next to her blink her big eyes twice, looking completely bewildered!

"Come on! Take me there quickly, which VIP room is it in?"

"Oh, still in VIP room number three."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Boris had already taken the lead and walked out of his room at lightning speed, with the girl following closely behind with quick, hurried steps!

As soon as he entered, Boris's face lit up with a broad smile. He bowed slightly to Richard, who was sitting upright in a chair, and said respectfully, "Welcome back to Pete's Auction House, esteemed guest."

Richard waved his hand, interrupting Boris's pleasantries, and got straight to the point: "Manager Boris, please have a seat. We're practically acquaintances now. I'm here today to sell you something else."

As Richard spoke, he took out the amulet engraved with overlapping human figures from his bulging bag and handed it to Boris, who was standing next to him.

It is indeed the [Phantom Amulet]!

Boris, who respectfully accepted the amulet with both hands, immediately began to examine it carefully.

However, although Richard had already wiped the blood off the amulet, Boris, with his keen sense of smell, could still detect the faint scent of blood on it.

Boris was immediately startled, but he remained calm and pretended to be nonchalant as he carefully examined the explanatory diagram.

After a long while, Boris was overwhelmed with turmoil.

Another top-tier witchcraft artifact, and it's even a "freshly made" one.

It's important to know that over 90% of those who can use top-tier magical artifacts are third-level wizard apprentices.

Clearly, the young man opposite, whose strength had just reached the third level of wizard apprenticeship, seemed to have killed another third level wizard apprentice in less than two hours, thus obtaining this top-level wizarding artifact.

Of course, it could also be something acquired before, but which wasn't put up for trade last time.

But in any case, it demonstrates the remarkable abilities of this young man.

Unexpectedly, this seemingly harmless young man turned out to be so ruthless.

Moreover, at such a young age, his strength is so great, he probably has a powerful background.

Thinking of this, Boris paused for a moment, then said, "Distinguished guest, besides the [Phantom Amulet] you wish to sell, is there anything else you'd like to purchase this time?"

Richard thought for a moment, then smiled and asked, "Do you have any other good stuff here? Like the [Mimetic Wristband]?"

This made Boris chuckle wryly, saying, "You flatter me, esteemed guest. An item of this caliber, the Mimicry Wristband, might not even be available once a month at an auction house. Originally, it was the highlight of our monthly auction at Pete Auction House, so how could we possibly find another one so easily?"

Although Richard had anticipated this outcome, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed upon hearing Boris's explicit statement.

The reason he didn't immediately take out that low-level magical artifact, the Mutant Summoning Staff, was precisely this.

He worried that Pete Auction House might not have anything he liked left, since the last time he came, they had already brought out the highlight of the auction.

Furthermore, as a third-level wizard apprentice, trading top-tier wizarding items is barely in line with his status and also somewhat justifiable.

However, selling a low-level magical artifact, even if it's a damaged one, might still attract some greedy eyes and beings that he can't resist for the time being.

Seeing Richard's expression darken, Boris, who seemed to have guessed something, immediately turned to the girl and whispered, "Go and get the auction list for three days from now, so the VIP can choose."

"This..." The girl seemed a little hesitant.

"It's okay, just say I want to see it," Boris emphasized.

The girl nodded, turned and left the room.

Boris then turned to Richard with a smile and explained, "According to the auction house's regulations, the list of items for the auction is confidential before the auction. You should understand, VIP, this is to avoid unnecessary trouble."

Upon hearing this, Richard immediately understood that this was not the kind of auction house he had lived in before, which was eager to announce its auction items in order to attract more wealthy customers.

In the auction house of another world, many items are of dubious origin. If you publicize it too much, it will only cause unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, to avoid any unforeseen complications and the event ultimately evolving into its current form, only the guests who attended the auction on the day of the event know what was being auctioned.

However, the fact that the other party is now giving me a confidential auction list to choose from in advance shows that they are deliberately trying to curry favor with me.

Richard raised an eyebrow, thinking that Boris was quite the businessman.

A moment later, the girl brought over a black tin box.

Boris uttered a short syllable and, with the help of a delicate little key, opened the black tin box, took out a beautifully crafted parchment scroll, and handed it to Richard.

Richard's face lit up with joy, and he took the document and examined it carefully.

However, after looking at it for a while, the joy on Richard's face gradually faded. Clearly, there was nothing left on the list that could catch his eye.

Although most of the items auctioned were of decent quality, they were mostly high-end witchcraft items, which, to be honest, Richard was starting to look down on.

The last two items, although they were also top-tier sorcery tools, were both staffs, and since he already had the Staff of Bone Summoning, he naturally didn't need them.

Richard frowned, pondering how to sell the low-level magical artifact, the [Mutant Summoning Staff]. Was he going to exchange a low-level magical artifact for these two top-level magical items?

It seems that in the Ander Market, only Pete Auction House has the ability to acquire this low-level magical artifact.

Boris glanced at Richard's expression and seemed to guess that Richard wasn't particularly interested in the items on the auction list.

Boris's expression turned serious, as if he had made a decision. He waved his hand, signaling the girl to leave the room first.

Boris said softly, "Distinguished guest, I may have something here that you might be interested in, but please keep it a secret!"

"No problem," Richard said, glancing curiously at Boris.

I just checked the auction list, and there weren't any good items left. How come there are more now?

Boris pulled a test tube containing a gray liquid from his pocket and handed it to Richard, saying, "This is the 'Cleansing Water.' It has only one function: to remove all traces of the original owner of an item and any marks attached to it, making it impossible for the original owner to track it down."

Richard was taken aback, then overjoyed, but immediately realized that the other party must have guessed that his things came from an unknown source.

However, after a moment's thought, Richard realized that it wasn't important.

The important thing is the [Cleansing Water] that the other party brought out. If it really works, it means that I can eliminate the aura of the [Mutant Summoning Staff] and other possible hidden marks, so that I can use the [Mutant Summoning Staff] directly.

I just tested the power of the low-level magical artifact myself. It's safe to say that with the abominations summoned by this staff, my strength can be increased by about 20% again.

With the addition of the new sorcery [Blood Amber Power], it could become a new trump card for you!

Besides, so what if the other party guesses that the origin of the item is unknown?

Since he hadn't revealed any low-level magical artifacts, only a top-level magical item called the "Phantom Amulet," the possibility of the other party turning against him and going to great lengths to deal with him was extremely low.

After calming his excitement slightly, Richard asked, "How much?"

"This is our auction house's 'Cleansing Water,' which we've improved over many years. It's a unique creation of our Pete Auction House, and its effects are superior to ordinary 'Cleansing Water.' I'd like to present this bottle of 'Cleansing Water' to our esteemed guest, hoping to earn your friendship."

Richard took the [Cleansing Water] and examined it carefully. At the same time, he realized that he had underestimated Boris in front of him.

Although the other party was of average strength and only a second-level wizard apprentice at this age, he was very good at business, and he couldn't refuse this gift.

Richard thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Thank you, Manager Boris. I have some potions and rare herbs from the Norman Secret Realm here. I'm sure your auction house will like them."

Richard's return gesture delighted Boris, who replied, "Of course."

As a well-informed auction house, Boris had obviously heard about the discovery of the underground secret realm by the three major necromancer academies. However, it's important to know that the items from the Norman Secret Realm are now rarely circulated outside the area, and are basically monopolized by the three major necromancer academies.

This immediately made him feel that the bottle of [Cleansing Water] he had just given away was well worth it.

However, Boris misunderstood this point. In fact, Richard would carefully choose to sell these items from Joachim, regardless of the circumstances; the only question was which company to sell them to.

After the transaction, Richard earned another five thousand magic stones, which, combined with the four thousand magic stones from Joachim in his purse, brought his total to nearly ten thousand magic stones.

However, after learning about the existence of the "Cleansing Water" potion, Richard's mind started working, and he asked, "Manager Boris, does your firm sell the formula for this Cleansing Water?"

Richard himself is a semi-master of potions. If he could obtain the recipe for [Cleansing Water], the benefits to him would be self-evident. He would no longer need to rush to sell his "spoils of war," and he could keep the things he could use.

Boris shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, the formula for this [Cleansing Water] is a family secret, and I don't have access to it."

Richard nodded in understanding, after all, if the formula for this medicine was so common, there was no reason why he wouldn't have heard of it.

"However, if our VIPs need more, I can try to get them a few more bottles," Boris added after a moment's thought.

(End of this chapter)