Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 53: Loot and Reflections (Please continue reading)

Richard recalled a paid course he had taken a few days ago, in which the instructor mentioned that there was usually an explanatory magic circle on the surface of a typical witchcraft prop.

Sure enough, after searching carefully, Richard found a magic circle resembling a "★" that was faintly visible at the thinner end of the short staff, which should be the explanatory magic circle.

After Richard probed the magic array with his spiritual power, he learned the name and purpose of the short staff.

It turns out that this short staff is called the Scorched Wood Short Staff: an intermediate-level sorcery item. If the holder uses the Burning Hand, the power of the sorcery will be increased by 15%. At the same time, the item solidifies the level zero sorcery of the Burning Hand, which requires 24 hours to recharge before it can be used again.

Richard was overjoyed. Although this was not the first time he had seen a witchcraft item, it was the first time he had owned one. He examined it over and over again, and he was quite fond of it!

Unfortunately, the charred wood staff didn't enhance the power of a particular dark magic spell, but rather the fire magic spell Burning Hand, which slightly dampened Richard's excitement!

Since Richard's fire elemental affinity is only low, it would be completely counterproductive for him to relearn the level 0 fire magic Burning Hand because of this short staff.

The charred wood staff was covered with various symbols, which together formed a mysterious pattern. It was likely a magic array engraved by inscription magic!

This piqued Richard's interest, but there was no time for him to study it now; he needed to quickly clean up the battlefield and destroy the evidence!

Richard quickly searched Seymour's body and actually pulled out an old parchment scroll from Seymour's pocket!

"Hey, this guy wasn't lying to me after all!"

There were also two bottles of potions, a small bag of magic stones, and some other miscellaneous spellcasting materials.

Seeing this, Richard was overjoyed. This harvest was not only enough to make up for all the losses of the alchemical bombs and potions, but there would also be a surplus.

Indeed, no one gets rich without unexpected wealth!

Although this fierce battle was thrilling, it not only honed Richard's combat experience but also brought him many gains!

"If the charred wood staff can be sold, it will probably be worth a lot of money. I wonder how many magic stones it can fetch. If it works out, I won't have to wait until the semi-annual assessment. Instead, I can directly buy the Prophet's Potion from Instructor Seras to quickly increase my total mental power."

"By then, my mental strength will be able to increase by two to three standard units again, and the entire battle rhythm will be completely different!"

Ouch! A sharp pain shot through Richard's mind, interrupting his thoughts!

This stinging pain is probably a side effect of taking the basic mental energy recovery potion.

When buying the potion, the brown-haired girl warned that after taking it, there would be a headache period of about half a day, during which mental strength could not be restored by taking the mental strength recovery potion again.

However, having experienced the side effects of the Swiftness Potion, Richard compared the two and found that the side effects of the Mental Energy Restoration Potion were actually nothing.

Suppressing his headache, Richard began cleaning up the battlefield.

Looking at Seymour, who was covered in blood and died a gruesome death, Richard sighed and threw three tubes of Fire Dance Star directly at his corpse. Under the scorching heat, the fire emitted a strange smell and quickly turned into charcoal!

Richard thought for a moment, then shoveled up the coke and threw it into the swamp. In less than an hour, the savage fish and shrimp in the swamp would eat it all up, thus destroying the evidence!

After everything was settled, Richard immediately abandoned his task of cleaning up the sharp-toothed crocodile and quickly returned to the School's headquarters.

After returning to his dormitory in one breath, Richard finally breathed a sigh of relief and had the mind to carefully examine his spoils.

After a long while, Richard stood up, crossed his arms, and paced around the room. "If I sell this charred wood staff directly in the school's trading area, will it arouse suspicion from some people with ulterior motives?"

If I don't sell it, is there a possibility that someone else might track down this intermediate-level sorcery item?

With these two questions in mind, Richard pondered for a long time and finally decided to ask Senior Sister Meiluo first, and if that didn't work, he would go directly to Instructor Seras.

Then, Richard picked up the old parchment scroll, gently opened it, and found that he couldn't understand a single word!

It seems to be some kind of ancient language, which is Richard's weakness!

To date, Richard has not had a chance to systematically learn any of the ancient wizarding languages, such as Hutt, Hebrew, and Akkadian!

It seems I should either consult my mentor, Seras, about this parchment scroll, or take it slowly and wait until I've learned the corresponding ancient language before trying again.

There are also these two bottles of potion. One is green, with what appears to be some kind of flower suspended in the liquid. The other is orange, with a clear and bright liquid that looks very appealing.

Richard could vaguely make out the green bottle; it seemed to be a sleeping potion, a potion that could quickly restore 80% of one's mental energy while asleep. It was expensive, costing about twenty magic stones per bottle.

However, its drawbacks are also quite obvious. After drinking it, the drinker will fall into a deep sleep and will not wake up naturally for about half an hour!

Therefore, sleeping potions should not be taken during combat.

He didn't know what kind of potion the other bottle contained; it seemed he would have to go to the trading area and ask the twin sisters for information.

Richard then reviewed his shortcomings throughout the battle, mainly two issues: first, a lack of combat experience, resulting in many mistakes; and second, insufficient mental energy.

After thinking it over, Richard immediately decided to use inspiration to quickly elevate the Rodrigo meditation method to the mastery level.

After more than a month of meditation practice, the rapid increase in mental strength brought about by the advanced level of meditation gradually subsided.

[Host detected practicing Rodriguez meditation. Should energy be consumed to gain inspiration for practicing Rodriguez meditation?]

The prompt text appeared before my eyes.

Richard thought about it carefully. Considering that Rodrigo's meditation technique had already reached 76% proficiency, while he only intended to advance it to the mastery level, he chose to drag the slider to 1341 and selected "Yes!"

In an instant, Richard's soul wandered into a dream. This time, the dream took place in the center of a spacious hall, where Richard possessed the body of a bald man sitting cross-legged and began to meditate.

Fueled by a surge of inspiration, Richard repeatedly tried to increase the proportion of his mental energy participating in all seven rune cycles!

After thousands of attempts, Richard finally increased his mental energy participating in the Great Cycle from 23% to 24%, then 25%, and gradually to around 31% before stopping. As a result, the pure mental energy in the center became more refined and solidified.

After a dizzying spin, Richard returned to his original form!

Looking at the panel, it's not bad. [Witchcraft]: Rodrigo Meditation (Mastery 11%, Special Effect: Basic Energy-Saving Casting, Arcane: Lesser Mental Shock)

Huh! There are a few more words here!

Richard rubbed his eyes and looked closely. Sure enough, there was indeed an extra description of a special effect.

(End of this chapter)