Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 73 Procurement and Inlay (Please continue reading)

Richard, back in his dorm room, felt uneasy.

The sudden surge of enormous energy, the southwest direction, and the first appearance of a great wizard he had never seen before all gave him a sense of impending crisis.

This made Richard start to ponder. To the southwest, that seemed to be the Spider Path. Could it be the drow elves' doing?

That's not necessarily true, because I heard my mentor Seras mention last time that the place has been sealed off by the school.

Moreover, regarding this issue involving schools of thought and drow elves, I am merely an insignificant nobody. All I can do right now is to improve my combat power as much as possible to cope with the uncertain future.

It seems I need to hurry and make a trip to the trading area.

First, for the level 0 sorcery of Summoning Skeletons, it's best to buy a crystal ball with the summoning circle already imprinted on it. Although you no longer have to hand-draw the circle with your own blood and ethereal ink, which will increase the mental energy consumption during the summoning, this mental energy consumption is insignificant compared to the speed of casting.

It's impractical for Richard to draw the summoning circle in advance every time, and to immediately summon the enemy when they arrive.

The best way is to imprint the summoning circle onto the crystal ball, and then have an inlay artist inlay the crystal ball onto your banshee finger.

In the middle of the succubus's finger, there is a hollow that can be easily clenched with five fingers, more than enough to hold a crystal ball!

In this way, one's level zero sorcery spell to summon skeletons can be completed in two or three seconds, greatly improving its practicality in combat.

This is also the most common method used by second- or third-level wizard apprentices who prefer summoning magic.

Secondly, regarding the raw materials for alchemy bombs, such as the Flame Flower, Stardust Wood, and Sulfur Brick for Fire Dance Star Bomb; and the Silver Flakes, Moonstone, and Charcoal Powder for Silver Moon Dust, etc., we need to purchase a portion of them.

Thinking of this, Richard quickly counted the magic stones he had on hand, including the small bag of magic stones he had obtained from Seymour last time, for a total of 248 magic stones.

There were also two other bottles of potions. One was a sleeping potion, and he easily recognized the other as the vitality potion that the winner of the competition could receive.

Among the scattered spellcasting materials, he also saw bone powder, which is an essential spellcasting medium for casting the level zero spell Bone Armor.

Having made up his mind, Richard immediately stopped hesitating, took the magic stone, and headed to the School of Arts trading area.

But just as he took a step, Richard changed his mind and returned to his desk. He opened the drawer, then lifted the inner compartment, and saw a drawer full of Fire Dance Stars, neatly arranged, numbering more than forty bottles. These Fire Dance Stars were what he had accumulated over this period of time.

Take out a container, similar to a test tube storage box, and carefully place ten Fire Dance Star vials into it, then close the lid.

Then he opened a hidden drawer in the nearby cupboard, took out ten packets of Silvermoon Dust, and put them into another box.

With the two boxes in hand, Richard strode out of the dormitory and headed towards the trading area.

As Richard watched the apprentices hurrying along, he had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the trading area, Richard discovered that he was not alone in having such thoughts.

Looking at the bustling trading area, Richard immediately gave a wry smile, shook his head, and squeezed into the crowd, heading towards Sanders' cabin.

Inside the hut, at least seven or eight wizarding apprentices of various levels were selecting potions or seeking advice. The brown-haired girl was so busy that she could only nod when she saw Richard enter, which was considered a greeting, before she had to attend to the customers in front of her.

Richard looked around and exclaimed, "Good heavens, the price has gone up by nearly 30%!"

For example, the stinky potion that used to cost only ten magic stones now costs thirteen magic stones.

The price of the blinding potion has increased from twelve magic stones to sixteen magic stones.

The Vitality Potion, which is more commonly used among second and third-level wizard apprentices, has also seen its price skyrocket from eight magic stones to fifteen magic stones, almost doubling in price!

Seeing that the second-level wizard apprentice in front of him was buying five bottles at a time, Richard knew that this price was definitely not the upper limit.

I reckon if I come to buy it tomorrow, the price will be much higher than it is now, not to mention whether there will be any potions available!

After painfully spending a large sum of magic stones to purchase some essential potions, Richard rushed to the Dilis Alchemy Shop, the shop where the brown-haired twin sister worked.

Upon closer inspection, wow! Compared to the people at Sanders' Cottage Pharmacy, this place was just as crowded.

While waiting in line, Richard learned about the price increase from the apprentice in front of him.

As he expected, the price of alchemical bombs also rose across the board, although the increase was not as dramatic as that of potions.

The price of Fire Dance Star has increased from 15 magic stones to 18 magic stones, an increase of about 20%, but the price of the raw material, Flame Flower, has remained basically unchanged.

It seems there are advantages to arriving early.

Seeing this, Richard's expression remained unchanged, but he was overjoyed inside.

He had just acquired ten bottles of Fire Dance Star and ten packs of Silver Moon Dust, which he originally intended to use to buy crystal balls and for inlaying after selling them.

He had been worried about whether he would have enough magic stones, but it seems that he should have a little left over.

A finished crystal ball with the [Summon Skeleton] inverted pentagram magic circle already imprinted costs approximately two hundred magic stones; if inlaid, it costs between twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty magic stones, with the price determined by the inlayer's skill.

"Hello, one crystal ball, and ten flame flowers, two pieces of starwood, and one sulfur brick."

"Hey! Richard, what brings you here!" The brown-haired girl's face lit up with joy.

The brown-haired girl also went to watch the freshmen ranking competition and was truly surprised to learn that the handsome junior in front of her had actually won the top spot among the freshmen.

"Um, do you have a familiar inlay craftsman in your shop? I'd like to have this crystal ball inlaid on my cane." Richard raised the Banshee's Finger in his hand.

"Of course there is. The second shop on the right is the inlay shop. Richard, just say you were referred by Delis, and they will give you the best discount."

"Okay, thank you, senior!"

An hour later, Richard returned to his dormitory and was overjoyed to see the new banshee's finger, which had cost fifty magic stones and was inlaid by the best third-level wizard apprentice in the inlay shop.

Inside the crystal ball was a miniature inverted pentagram magic circle, somewhat like a miniature sculpture. Moreover, its position was perfectly embedded in the center of the white bone palm of the Banshee's Finger. Not only did it not affect the original rune magic circle in the slightest, but it was also very beautiful and elegant.

Richard, holding the new Banshee's Finger, began to cast the level-zero sorcery of summoning skeletons.

With the injection of a trace of spiritual energy, the crystal ball instantly projected an inverted pentagram array with a diameter of about three meters four or five meters in front of Richard.

This projection eliminates the need for the original hand-drawing process that the caster had to perform, greatly improving the practicality of this spell.

Just as Richard was thinking about further improving his summoned skeletons, there was a knock on the door.

"Knock knock knock!"

Richard was quite annoyed, but he could only pause the summoning. When he opened the door, he found it was his senior, Meiluo.

"Richard, Instructor Serales wants you to come over right away!" Senior Sister Meiluo said hurriedly.

Thanks to reader 20200927115224840 and for the abnormal monthly pass!

(End of this chapter)