Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 33 Investigation Mission (Please continue reading)

Out of gratitude for the old man's concern, Richard immediately stopped hiding his true intentions: "Sir, I have already learned Shadow Grip and I probably won't be considering other sorcery for the time being. Right now, I plan to focus on improving my basic knowledge so that it will be easier for me to complete missions in the wild later."

The old man nodded subconsciously, then suddenly, realizing what he'd said, he was astonished and asked, "What did you say? You learned Shadow Grip in just half a month? How is that possible?!"

Seeing the old man's astonished expression, Richard thought to himself, "Luckily, I held back. If I had said that I had reached a level of proficiency, I don't know what the old man would have thought."

The old man looked quite disappointed and waved his hand, seemingly not wanting to continue the conversation with Richard.

Richard, seeing this, was also bewildered and didn't know what was going on, but still politely bowed and left the library.

The old man behind him sighed heavily. For him, who had been stuck at the third-level wizard apprentice stage for nearly twenty years, what kind of genius hadn't he seen? Learning Shadow Grip in half a month was something that even the top newcomer would never be able to do!

I remember the top student in the last batch was a black-haired girl who learned Shadow Grip in just over a month. That was already incredibly talented!

Richard, who had just returned to his dormitory, planned to read the "Common Monsters in the Mud Swamp Encyclopedia" for a while before heading to the quest area to see if there were any quests suitable for solo play. He wasn't particularly interested in killing monsters alone, but rather wanted to get some practical experience and complete some gathering quests to earn some points and magic stones.

An hour later, Richard arrived at the mission hall and carefully examined the missions displayed on the stone wall in the center of the hall, searching for a suitable one.

Before long, Richard had his eye on two tasks.

The first is the gathering quest [Gathering Shadow Grass]. A level 3 wizard apprentice from a certain school needs three fresh Shadow Grasses to conduct a potion experiment. The reward is six points and five magic stones, but the quest has a time limit and must be completed within two days.

Shadowgrass is a relatively common herb in muddy swamps, found everywhere and not difficult to locate.

The second mission is the patrol mission "Clear Swamp Lone Spiders". The number of various spiders near the school's base has recently started to increase again, and they attack people coming and going from time to time. Please kill twenty Swamp Lone Spiders within a week. The mission reward is ten points and eight magic stones.

Swamp Lone Spider is considered the lowest-level spider monster. It prefers to live alone and its combat strength is even lower than that of the Crystal Web Spider, making it the best training ground for Richard.

Although the notes for both tasks recommended that several first-level wizard apprentices work together, Richard was confident that he could complete them independently with his current abilities.

However, some preparations need to be made before accepting the mission. Based on his experience from the last mission, Li realized that no matter how confident he was, life-saving potions and alchemical bombs to deal with emergencies were still essential!

After all, the weather is unpredictable, and fortune can change in an instant!

Richard had just returned to his dormitory and was about to go to the trading area to buy some potions and alchemical products with his magic stone when he heard a knock on the door.

Richard opened the door and saw Stephanie, dressed in a gray robe, standing gracefully in the doorway.

"Richard, won't you invite me in for a while?" Stephanie said with a smile.

"Just say what you want to say!" Richard blocked the doorway, still quite troubled by this Stephanie.

He wanted to keep his distance, but the other party kept coming to his door!

Stephania brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, pouted her red lips, and said, "Richard, do you have some misunderstanding about me? But all that is in the past, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I have some news that you'll definitely be interested in."

Richard thought for a moment, still wanting to see what the other party was up to, so he stepped aside to make room and said, "Come in."

Stephanie glanced smugly at Richard, then gracefully walked into Richard's dormitory.

Richard poured Stephanie a glass of water, then sat down and said, "Now you can tell me."

"I've heard that recently there have been reports of monsters appearing in many parts of the Kingdom of Heron. Although most of them are low-level monsters, it's still very dangerous for ordinary families." Stephania paused here, her beautiful eyes fixed on Richard.

Richard's pupils contracted as he thought of the tree demon that his family had killed together. Indeed, even low-level demons were not easy for ordinary families to kill; they usually had to pay a bloody price!

"However, I can help you ensure that your family's territory remains largely unaffected," Stephania said with a smile, lightly flicking her nails.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. Richard remained calm and asked in a deep voice, "Tell me, what are your conditions? But first, you need to prove you can help me!"

"Don't worry about that. As long as you agree, I will contact my uncle, the Earl of Harris in Rossby County, through special channels tonight and have him ensure the safety of your family. In Rossby County, I think you should have heard of the Harris family!"

Richard nodded. He knew that Stephanie was telling the truth. A hereditary earl was a formidable figure in mortal society, and usually had special channels to recruit professionals to kill monsters.

Last time, Earl Harris sent Stefano, a second-level wizard apprentice, to investigate the monster incident involving the Richard family.

"Oh, continue!" Richard said calmly.

Richard's calm demeanor deepened the admiration in Stephanie's eyes.

"My condition is simple: I want you to join my team and help me complete a mission. As you know, the school's semi-annual assessment requires each of us to obtain more than 30 points, and I want to complete it as soon as possible."

"Is this all the terms?"

"That's the deal! If you agree, I'll take care of your family's safety!" Stephania said confidently.

Richard looked at her suspiciously and asked, "What kind of mission is it?"

He felt that things weren't as simple as they seemed.

"The School has released a new investigation mission. The mission is to investigate the Spider Trail in the southwest of the Mud Swamp and find out why the number of spiders there has increased abnormally. The reward is 50 points and 25 magic stones. All the points are mine, and you can have half of the magic stones. The other half will be split equally among the remaining three members of the team."

"You know that Spider Trail in the southwest, right? It's the place your beautiful senior invited you to do the Crystal Web Spider quest together last time."

Richard looked at Stephanie as if she were an idiot: "Do you know how dangerous it is there? Do you really think a team full of rookies can successfully complete this mission?"

"Richard, I've accepted the mission, and I have to leave tomorrow."

However, you can rest assured that all team members have been carefully selected by me; they are not mediocre. I can also provide alchemical products and potions. But whether the mission can be completed ultimately depends on your strong support.

Richard remained silent. If that's the case, then this task isn't impossible.

Although there are certain risks, my strength is now vastly different from before, and I can take this opportunity to earn some energy points!

"Alright, go and prepare the alchemical artifacts: five bottles of Frostbite, ten bottles of Fire Dance Star, and twenty packets of Silver Moon Dust. As for potions..."

"Stop!!!" Stephania's eyebrows shot up, and she snapped, "Richard! Do you even know how many magic stones that you just mentioned would require?"

Richard spread his hands and said jokingly, "You said it yourself, that you could provide alchemical products and potions. I'm just worried about your safety, so of course the more the better."

"Five bottles of Fire Dance Star at most, ten packs of Silver Moon Dust, that's all. If you want anything else, go buy it yourself! Meet at the mission area first thing tomorrow morning!" With that, Stephania stormed off in a huff.

Richard was secretly delighted. After all, he was still just a child; he couldn't hold back his temper so quickly!

However, there was one question Richard had just wanted to ask, but after thinking about it again, he didn't ask it.

If Stephena only wanted to earn points, she could have quickly accumulated 30 points by completing a few simple and safe tasks. However, Stephena insisted on completing this task, so there must be some unknown reason behind it.

Seedling~ Please read, bookmark, and invest, thank you!

(End of this chapter)