Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 70 The Chief's Reward (Bonus Chapter 3)

Upon seeing William disappear again, Richard instinctively swung his sword backward with all his might, creating a high-frequency vibration.

"Clang!" A burst of sparks rang out, accompanied by a piercing metallic clang!

Richard, who was clearly at a physical disadvantage, was knocked away again, and his knight's longsword broke in two, with his elbow joint showing an unnatural bend.

William was also not in good shape; affected by the recoil from the attack, he was suddenly stopped in his tracks.

But this pause caused a disaster!

While in mid-air, Richard used mental guidance to control the giant dark element hand, which instantly changed direction, grabbed William, and slammed him hard onto the ground outside the arena!

The surrounding freshmen were so frightened that they fled in panic!

"boom!"

William was slammed heavily onto the hard ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. It looked painful to those around him!

After the dust settled, William, disheveled and covered in dirt, struggled to his feet, muttering to himself. His leather armor was tattered and torn. He swayed a few times before collapsing heavily to the ground again!

"Damn it, I should have cast a shield on myself first. I underestimated my opponent!"

Even a high-ranking knight would be severely affected by a direct hit from Shadow Grip; this is the terrifying aspect of witchcraft.

"Richard Clavel wins!" The third-level wizard apprentice on the stage loudly announced the result of the third match of the semifinals.

Immediately, the entire audience erupted in enthusiastic applause that lasted for a long time.

As the applause subsided, the third-level wizard apprentice continued, "In one hour, the fourth match of the semi-finals will take place: Ophelia Acorn versus Andrea Johnson!"

At this moment, although there were still some matches that had not been completed, everyone present already knew who the top student among the freshmen was!

Without a doubt, it's Richard Clavel!

The son of a minor nobleman from the Kingdom of Herun defeats a host of formidable opponents to win the championship.

As the top student of this cohort, his name will quickly spread throughout the entire Ignis School. From now on, he will no longer be just an ordinary person in the eyes of others, but a rising star.

For the players participating in the semi-finals, each school arranged for a witch doctor to conduct physical examinations and treatments. William was quickly carried off the stage, while Richard, apart from a dislocated arm, was in relatively good condition and began to rest after receiving some treatment.

On the platform, the witch Maya smiled slightly at Seras and said, "Seras, congratulations on taking on such a fine disciple."

"Yes, Seres, you and Maya, one of you has this year's chief disciple, and the other has the previous chief disciple as your disciple. Only me, sigh!" Evan shook his head and sighed.

"Evan, why don't you consider taking in this heir of the Bannings family?"

"Forget about him. I'm not very familiar with the Bannings family, and they've probably already made arrangements for him. They should have contacted his mentor and such by now. It seems I'll have to ask the fourth-place finisher later."

Maya smiled and said, "Evan, if it doesn't work out, why don't you host another freshman ranking competition? It's not always the freshman champion who gets picked first."

It turns out that the Ignis School has an unspoken rule: when a formal wizard wants to take on disciples, he can take the initiative to preside over the new student ranking competition, thereby gaining priority in selecting the top batch of new students.

But it's clear that Evan's hosting duties were in vain this time. From first to third place, all the spots were already reserved, leaving only fourth place, which left Evan feeling quite helpless.

Finally, the top four in the freshman ranking competition were announced as follows, from first to fourth: Richard, William, Ophelia, and Andrea.

After all the matches were over, the black-robed wizard Evan presented Richard with his reward: a mid-level sorcery item—the Banshee's Finger.

William received the Shadow Power Potion as a reward, which slightly increases his body's affinity for the dark element. However, for a genius like William, whose affinity for the dark element was already rated as top-notch, the Shadow Power Potion was merely icing on the cake.

Ophelia received the reward of the Wisdom Potion, which can slightly increase the concentration of mental energy after consumption. Although both are potions that enhance mental energy, the Prophet Potion and the Wisdom Potion have different focuses in terms of their effects. The Prophet Potion focuses on increasing the total amount of mental energy.

Andrea, who came in fourth, only received a reward of fifty magic stones, essentially making up for it.

Only after Richard obtained the Banshee's Finger did he have the opportunity to examine this intermediate-level sorcery artifact closely.

This is a long hand bone that was severed at the wrist. The hand has all five fingers, which are long and slender, but except for the index finger, the other four fingers are slightly bent.

Having previously studied the charred wooden staff, Richard easily found the "★"-shaped, flickering magic circle at the end of his hand bone after a brief examination—that was the explanatory magic circle.

After Richard probed the magic array with his spiritual power, he learned how to use and what the Banshee's Finger had.

Banshee's Finger: Intermediate-level sorcery item. If the holder casts shadow-based sorcery, the power of the spell will be increased by 11%. At the same time, it will solidify the level 0 spell Fear. It requires 24 hours to recharge before it can be used again.

Generally speaking, a witchcraft item with two attributes is a mid-level witchcraft item, and one with three attributes is a high-level witchcraft item. High-level witchcraft items are extremely rare.

Of course, there are things even more precious than advanced witchcraft items, namely top-tier witchcraft items.

Top-tier magical artifacts are extremely rare and not much more common than low-level magical artifacts. They are mostly held by formal wizards or a few top-tier third-level wizard apprentices.

However, top-tier witchcraft items don't necessarily have four attributes; they may only have two or three, but the enhancement effect is extremely significant.

If a second-level wizard apprentice has a handy low-level wizarding tool, they are considered to be doing quite well. If they have a mid-level wizarding tool, they are considered to be doing quite well among second-level wizard apprentices.

Therefore, once Richard obtains the Banshee's Finger, he will immediately become one of the top-tier equipment holders among second-level wizard apprentices as soon as he advances in rank.

Unlike the charred wood staff from Seymour that he had obtained before, the Banshee's Finger that he was awarded this time was a shadow-type exclusive sorcery item. It also consumed one standard unit of mental energy and could mobilize more dark elemental energy, which Richard cherished.

After the match, Richard did not return to his dormitory, but instead followed Serales to his laboratory.

"Richard, you really exceeded my expectations. I thought you were only barely good enough to make it to the top four, but I never expected you to bring me first place!" Celes looked at Richard with admiration in his eyes.

Seras found himself growing increasingly fond of this disciple, and immediately took out a bottle of prophet potion from a nearby cabinet.

"This is the second bottle of Prophet's Potion that I promised you. After taking it, it will have about half the effect of the first bottle. But after that, it will have almost no effect."

Richard respectfully accepted the prophet's potion and said, "Thank you, mentor. I will certainly continue to work hard!"

"By the way, Richard, I think your total mental strength should be up to par, right? When are you planning to take the assessment to advance to the second level of wizard apprentice?" Seras asked.

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(End of this chapter)