Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 189 Dissol from Tug City

The man with the red nose sized Richard up and said, "I was right. A follower with the strength of a third-level wizard apprentice is likely a full-fledged wizard, even if he's a bit young."

"Young strongman, my name is Dissol Odinga, a wizard from the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood in Tug City. These two must be your followers. If it's convenient, let's sit down and have a chat."

Tug City? The Grey Dwarf Brotherhood?

These two words made Richard swallow back the words of refusal that were about to slip out.

Tug City, a key border city of the Grey Dwarves, and Gray Fern Town, which is also under the jurisdiction of Tug City, are naturally several levels more prosperous than Gray Fern Town.

As for the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood, Richard had never heard of it, but judging from the other party's tone, it was most likely a wizarding organization. Since he had this opportunity, he might as well listen to what the other party had to say. At the very least, he could learn about the situation of wizarding organizations in the surrounding area through the other party.

The thought was conceived almost instantly, so Richard nodded in agreement, returned, and sat down at the table with the red nose. The twin sisters thoughtfully left their seats empty, and the two of them squeezed to either side of the red nose.

He held two young girls in his arms, his red nose beaming with joy.

Stephania, however, was somewhat annoyed by the old man who kept stealing glances at her. She whispered in Richard's ear in the Heron Kingdom dialect, "Master, he's obviously a lecherous old man. Why don't you refuse his invitation?"

"Hehe, you've misjudged him. He's a genuine, officially recognized wizard, and his strength should be even greater than mine."

"What?" This really startled Stephania. She never expected that this unassuming, lecherous old man was actually a formal wizard.

"(Akkadian) Young strongman, are you and your beautiful follower talking about me?" the old man said with a smile. Although wizards are generally very knowledgeable, the other party, being a gray dwarf wizard, obviously could not understand the dialect of the Kingdom of Heron in the human kingdoms on the surface.

"(Akkadian) My followers praise your extraordinary demeanor. By the way, Lord Dessol, my name is Richard, Richard Knight," Richard said with a smile.

Seeing Richard blatantly lying and even dragging his family into it, Stephanie couldn't help but roll her eyes at her master.

Stephania's flirtatious wink excited the man with the red nose. He rubbed his hands together and stammered, "Um... your follower is a female night elf, right? Would it be convenient to transfer her to me?"

These words immediately startled Richard! At first, he was worried that Stephena's identity as a Dark Knight might be exposed in the Grey Dwarf-controlled area and cause serious consequences, but judging from her expression, it seemed that it shouldn't be a big deal.

Otherwise, the other party wouldn't have had that expression and look, and wouldn't have asked him if it was for sale.

The key point is that after all this time, it turns out that the other person was interested in Stephanie, not really wanting to befriend him, which left Richard feeling rather dumbfounded.

Stephania glared at the bulbous-nosed man with a rather unfriendly expression, inwardly cursing, "With a face like yours, even if you were a formal wizard..."

Richard's expression turned serious, and he said, "Lord Dissol, is this how you treat your guests—asking another wizard for his followers on our first meeting?"

"No, no, Sir Richard, it's not a demand, it's an exchange. I can offer a price that will absolutely satisfy you; I have it here."

Richard waved his hand and said, "No need to say anything, Stephanie is my closest friend."

Richard emphasized the word "friend," which instantly warmed Stephanie's heart, and her gaze towards Richard became even more tender.

"Okay then!"

After chatting for a while, Richard finally understood the reason. It turned out that although the Grey Dwarves and Night Elves were in a hostile relationship, the Night Elf women were highly sought-after in the Grey Dwarf region because of their beautiful appearance and tall stature.

Needless to say, even among ordinary grey dwarf nobles, grey dwarf wizards compete to have one or more beautiful night elf women.

Stephena, on the other hand, was a top-tier Dark Elf woman with exceptional figure, temperament, and other qualities that Rosacea had ever seen, so she coveted her and planned to trade for her to impress her friends.

However, since the transfer request was rejected, Dessol's enthusiasm for chatting was clearly not very high, and the two parted ways after a short while.

Although they didn't talk for long, Richard learned a few things: first, there wasn't a formal wizarding organization in Greyfern Town; to join a formal wizarding organization, one would have to go to Tug City.

Secondly, Stephania's identity as a female night elf is highly sought after in the grey dwarf region, so she needs to be careful, as there are likely many people coveting her.

Richard and his two servants arrived at the front desk. After a short while, Fingart said with a worried look, "Master, I'm so sorry, there are only two rooms left."

Stephania smiled gently and immediately said, "It's alright, I can share a room with my master, and you can have your own room."

Richard touched his nose and did not express any objection.

For him, meditation is rest.

Upon reaching the second floor, Richard spotted Lord Desor and the twin grey dwarf girls. The three of them then turned into a room at the end of the corridor.

Before long, Richard discovered that his room was only one room away from Lord Desor's, quite close by.

After Richard entered the room, he took off the cloak he was wearing, but still carefully set up a concealing magic array. At the same time, he set up an early warning array at the door of the room.

"Master, would you like me to help you wash up?" Stephania asked with a coquettish smile, revealing her alluring figure after removing her outer robe.

Stephania grew increasingly fond of her master, who was not only powerful and advanced at an extremely rapid pace, but also meticulous and often made perfect plans, and was very protective of her own people.

The image of Richard as a timid, unassuming country nobleman from a remote village had long since vanished from Stephena's mind.

Richard was overwhelmed by Stephena's eagerness to sleep with him.

It's not that Richard had no feelings for Stephanie, but rather that he felt the three of them had just escaped danger and it wasn't time to indulge in pleasure yet.

Secondly, Richard always had a strange feeling about Stephena, after all, her Spider Woman body from Shadra made Richard somewhat reluctant to get involved!

Chadra's style left a deep impression on Richard, and he found it somewhat difficult to accept.

If there's a chance in the future, we should give Stephanie a new body.

Thinking of this, Richard shook his head slightly and said, "Thank you, but no need, Stephania. I'll meditate for a while. You can sleep in the bed."

"Master." This disappointed Stephania, but soon she was drawn to the vision of Richard practicing meditation.

Richard then took a cushion and sat cross-legged in the center of the room to meditate.

Two days without rest was nothing to Richard, who had already been promoted to a formal wizard. Even if he continued for another three days and three nights without rest, Richard would not feel particularly tired.

The main reason is that he needs to set aside a fixed amount of time each day to practice meditation.

Although one or two times may not show obvious improvement, and even after reaching the formal wizard level, there may not be any obvious changes for ten days or half a month, it is a process of accumulation over time.

Richard was surrounded by dense, visible dark elemental particles. These particles first transformed into skeleton warriors, then into vengeful spirits, and finally into hatred.

Stephena, who was watching Richard practice meditation, looked at her master with shock. The mental pressure emanating from him was so real that it seemed tangible. At the same time, her changing mental power resonated with and mobilized the dark elements around her.

This was the first time Stephana had ever witnessed such a magical meditation practice.

For Richard, the current Rodrigo Mutation Meditation Method is sufficient for him to cultivate and improve his mental strength at the level of a first-level wizard.

However, Richard could already clearly feel the huge difference in the rate of improvement between the formal wizard level and the wizard apprenticeship.

Over the course of several days, although Richard had scheduled a fixed time each day to practice the Rodrigo Mutation Meditation Method, the progress bar for his mental energy atomization level remained unchanged at 13%.

If this were during a wizard's apprenticeship, after a few days of arduous training, they would improve by at least one or two percent.

No wonder those formal wizards improve their strength in decades. For example, Instructor Seras has been at the formal wizard level for at least several decades and is still quite far from becoming a second-level wizard.

Although he has an inspiration panel, and his mastery of the mutated meditation technique also reached its limit when he was promoted to a formal wizard, this starting point has already surpassed most newly promoted first-level wizards and reached the level of a veteran formal wizard.

However, Richard estimated that even if he practiced meditation every day, he would be lucky to improve by one percent in a month.

Based on this rough estimate, it would take at least 87 months, or more than eight years, for me to reach the peak of a first-level wizard.

However, there is a common-sense issue here: the efficiency of meditation in enhancing mental strength decreases as you progress.

Therefore, it is very likely that even after eight years of arduous training, without any external assistance, Richard estimates that his mental energy atomization level could only be increased to 80%, which would be quite good.

Since mental strength cannot be improved quickly, we need to think of other methods and approaches.

This is why Richard is quite interested in some new skills; there's a saying from his past life: if you don't have enough strength, make up for it with equipment.

If I can make a breakthrough in rune forging, my next step will be to improve and upgrade my sorcery items or even sorcery artifacts, thereby further enhancing my combat power.

Similarly, there are other aspects, such as various novel witchcraft, rare alchemical recipes, special potions, and witchcraft arrays with certain special effects, which you can learn with the help of the Inspiration panel.

Stones from other mountains can attack jade.

Perhaps he can find a way to quickly improve his mental strength in other areas, or at the very least, enhance his combat abilities.

After all, he would be at the level of a first-level wizard for quite some time.

The gap between a top-tier first-level wizard and a novice wizard who has forcibly advanced using a limit-breaking potion is even greater than the gap between a third-level wizard apprentice and a first-level wizard apprentice.

This demonstrates the vast difference in strength among first-level wizards.

Basically, novice wizards who forcibly advance using limit-breaking potions are at the very bottom of the first-level wizard class. Without even innate wizardry, they would have a hard time killing an apprentice at their limit.

Secondly, there are those who become official wizards by using limit-breaking potions and level-one wizardry models. Because they now possess at least one innate wizardry skill, their combat power is greatly enhanced.

Within this level, the first-level sorcery model can be further subdivided into several types according to different potentials. For example, those with defensive talent sorcery are generally one level higher than those with offensive talent sorcery. For instance, the patriarchs of medium-sized wizard families generally belong to this level.

Above that are the first-level wizards who naturally advance through advanced meditation techniques. These are the elite wizards of various academies, such as Richard's mentor Seras and Gildas from the North Ring, who belong to this level.

After finishing his meditation, Richard took out the Nightmare Mirror, the first time he had taken it out since Stephena triggered it last time.

After accidentally triggering it last time, Richard finally discovered some secrets about the mirror, and now, looking at it again, he has gained quite a bit.

The Nightmare Mirror actually has patterns on its surface, but these patterns are only triggered and revealed when held by someone with the Spider Woman bloodline.

Richard's plan was to destroy the bloodline detection array within it, so that he could naturally use the powerful Nightmare Mirror.

At that moment, he had Stephanie hold the mirror while he carefully studied the runes of the witch's array—

Two hours ago.

In a dense forest dozens of miles away from Gray Fern Town.

A group of spider knights were resting around a roaring campfire.

"Hey! The tracking compass is moving!" Grace exclaimed in surprise.

The strand of hair from the matriarch spun several times in the center of the compass before pointing firmly west, a direction that seemed to be towards Gray Fern Town.

"I found it too!" Fritty exclaimed excitedly as she used her magic nose again by the campfire.

"My bloodline tracking technique detected it too!" Irene's eyes lit up as she said.

The three exchanged a glance and all pointed to the distant town of Grey Fern.

"It seems our judgment was correct. Their initial goal was to reach the gray dwarf-controlled area, and that has never changed."

"This time, it's probably because they entered Grey Fern Town and thought we couldn't do anything to them. Now we've finally caught them!" Grace analyzed seriously.

Grace's clenched fists revealed her inner turmoil.

It's been almost three days!

I've been tricked and fooled many times!

We've finally found it!

It's not easy!

"Sister Grace, shall we charge over now?" Fritty had already begun wiping her long sword.

"Of course not. After all, this is the territory of the Grey Dwarves. Let's sneak into Grey Fern Town first and find out their exact location."

"If it's confirmed to be Shadra and his two companions, we'll take action immediately after nightfall." Grace thought for a moment and quickly devised an action plan.

"This time, I'll show them what happens when they anger me," Fritty said through gritted teeth.

Grace reached out and drew a strange symbol in the air. With a flash of white light, the symbol disappeared instantly.

"Sister Grace, was that a communication mark?" Fritty asked curiously.

Clearly, among the three Spider Women, Fritty is the youngest and also the weakest, roughly equivalent to a first-level wizard compared to human wizards on the surface, while Grace has reached the advanced level of a first-level wizard.

Therefore, Grace was aware of the Night Elves' hidden arrangements in the Grey Dwarf region, but Fritty had not yet come into contact with them.

"Yes, after all, it's the territory of the Grey Dwarves, so it's better if we do our preparations thoroughly," Grace explained.

A moment later, a figure dressed entirely in black robes appeared not far away, wearing a hood so that his face could not be seen.

"Halt! Who goes there!" Several Spider Knights immediately stood up alertly.

"Let him come here!" Grace's voice carried from afar.

As the man in the black robe slowly approached, he removed his hood, revealing the face of a middle-aged gray dwarf with a full beard.

"Grey Dwarf!!" Fritty exclaimed, and the Spider Knights immediately tensed up again.

But the next second, the face of the gray dwarf slowly began to change, ripples spreading across his face like water, and soon it transformed into the face of a handsome male night elf.

"Huh! It's shapeshifting? Are you a spy for the Hand of the Night?" Irene exclaimed in surprise.

"Your Highness, your wisdom is truly astonishing." The spy bowed slightly to Irene and praised her.

As long-time adversaries for thousands of years, the Night Elves have long been infiltrating the Grey Dwarves. The Shadow Hand is a secret agent organization focused on gathering information in Grey Dwarf territory and causing sabotage at specific times.

"Good evening, Your Highnesses." The spy bowed slightly to the three Spider Women, then immediately fixed his gaze on Grace, because among the three princes, Grace's aura was the strongest.

"It must be a communication mark cast by His Highness. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"We're going to launch an attack on a location in Greyfern Town in an hour. We need you to briefly distract the Grey Dwarf garrison," Grace said calmly. It seemed that this wasn't her first time dealing with the Night Hand.

"Your Highness, could you tell me approximately how long it will take?" After thinking for a moment, the spy did not immediately agree, but instead cautiously inquired about the specific time.

"Half an hour, no, if all goes well, it should be within ten minutes," Grace said confidently.

Shadra's strength was similar to Irene's, and with the addition of a merman prophet and a necromancer apprentice who were comparable in strength to the Spider Knight, their side had an almost overwhelming advantage.

Even if something unexpected happens, I still have a few backup plans that I can handle.

"No problem at all, Your Highness. It's settled then. I'll send people to create chaos in Grayfern Town in an hour."

"Your Highness Grace, is there anything else I can do for you?" the spy asked respectfully.

Grace thought for a moment and said, "No, that's all."

"Then I'll take my leave!" After bowing, the other person put his hood back on and slowly disappeared into the shadows.

"Sister Grace, are these the spies from the Hand of the Night? They don't seem very strong, not much different from the Spider Knights!" Fritty said.

Grace and her group of more than ten people were obviously not foolish enough to enter through the heavily guarded main gate of Grey Fern Town. Instead, they climbed over the wall, which was practically undefended to them, and entered the town.

"This way!" Fritty, having activated her Nose Magic, flapped her nostrils gently, quickly indicating the direction.

Inside the town, there was a lot of foot traffic, and the dozen or so people were all wearing black cloaks. As long as they didn't encounter a large group of guards, there wouldn't be any major problems.

"arrive!"

After the group of more than ten people had settled down, Grace looked at the inn with the "Delicious Spores" sign in front of her and said resentfully, "Now, I've finally found you."

"Should we double-check? After all," Irene said cautiously.

Irene didn't dare say the second half of her sentence, after all, the three of them had been almost played like boars this time, and if the attack failed again, they would face an encirclement and annihilation by the gray dwarves.

If it succeeds, then it doesn't matter; just grab your stuff and retreat immediately.

"Friday, you're good at investigations. Go and confirm it, and come back immediately once you've confirmed it," Grace instructed.

"Okay, wait a moment, I'll go investigate right away." As soon as Fritty finished speaking, she disappeared from the spot, leaving only a barely perceptible shadow on the ground, which quickly moved towards the inn.

This is the Night Elf's innate sorcery – Shadowmeld. It transforms the user into a shadow, but prevents surprise attacks. If an attack is launched, the shadow form will immediately dissipate. However, it is generally used to scout enemy positions, making it a very practical innate sorcery.

She slipped silently through the crack in the hotel door. Since the hotel only had two floors, after avoiding several hotel staff members, she stopped at the door of a room on the second floor, guided by her magic nose.

Through the crack, Fritty looked at the sleeping giant fish head, and a look of relief appeared on her face. "Finally caught you. This must be the fish-man prophet named Fingart."

You traitor, but it's not time to take your life yet.

The key is to find Shadra, the traitor who stole the Nightmare Mirror and the Black Dragon's Blood!

Ignoring Grace's advice, Flitty began searching for Shadra.

Obviously, since the fishman is in this room, Shadra is most likely in the room next door.

At this moment, Richard, who was carefully observing the Nightmare Mirror in the next room, keenly noticed that a dark elemental energy lingered at the door of Fingart's room for a while before entering directly.

This made Richard quickly give up fiddling with the mirror, look at the doorway, and show a thoughtful expression.

Ten seconds later, the dark elemental energy quickly emerged from Fingart's room again, this time stopping at the door of Richard's room, seemingly observing inside.

(End of this chapter)