Chapter 78: Chapter 78

Locke chose to place his standard first-class wizard apprentice three-piece set next to Sophia's wooden hut, together with his plantation.

This would be much safer.

After being attacked by a group of wizard apprentices from the Blood Curse Court last time, Locke felt that Diagon Alley wasn't so safe anymore. There were too many people and eyes there, with numerous wizard apprentices.

It was better to live together with Witch Sophia.

Although there were fewer people here, just the two of them, living around a formal wizard would actually be safer.

In the small laboratory within the standard three-piece set, this room had a workbench with some distillation equipment, dissection and extraction equipment, and a complete set of the most basic tools for brewing potions and extracting magical plant seeds, probably considering his identity.

Or perhaps this was the standard configuration for first-class wizard apprentices at Lilith's Cottage.

The laboratory also had large blank areas with only simple decorations, presumably for him to add and purchase the equipment he needed.

Locke carefully placed a bunch of Shadow Leeches into a glass tube, then used a dropper to add an extract of wood hellebore plant with anesthetic properties.

Shadow Leeches were very dangerous magical worms.

Locke recalled the precautions in his mind. These worms' eggs would enter one's body through skin contact and reproduce inside. After maturing, they would drill out of the skin and enter the host's shadow, parasitizing within the host's shadow range to carry out activities.

Therefore, the bloodline essence of these worms was often used to resolve curses on shadows.

After all the Shadow Leeches in the glass tube stopped moving, Locke pierced their bodies with steel needles, then used capillary tubes one by one, inserting them into their wounds and drawing their blood into a glass bottle.

This was extracting the Shadow Leeches' blood.

Next, Locke injected a pre-designed bloodline separation potion and used the Mana Centrifugal Extraction Technique to begin separating the specific bloodline essence.

Ten minutes later, Locke looked at the pure Shadow Leech bloodline essence in the glass bottle and let out a gentle breath. "Success."

"My designed bloodline separation potion achieved my intended goal. The creation and design of bloodline separation potions is a major project in the Potion Master Assistant certificate examination. Being able to complete this means I'm already very close to the level of a Potion Master Assistant."

After a night passed, Locke had separated ten bottles of Shadow Leech bloodline essence and went to Sophia's office next door.

Shadow Leeches were already considered relatively high-grade magical materials. Being able to handle them meant his level had taken another big step up.

Unlike the cheap and simple potion materials he had handled before, these Shadow Leech bloodline essences already had sufficient value and could be sold as first-class wizard apprentice level potions.

After all, this was one of the main materials that could be used to make potions.

In Sophia's office, Witch Sophia took the Shadow Leech bloodline essence that Locke handed over, briefly examined it, and nodded approvingly, "Your bloodline separation potion was very successful, with very few impurities. This should also be because your mana fluctuations are relatively small."

"This is very good. In the future, you can help me save a lot of work."

Being able to handle Shadow Leeches, a medium-to-high difficulty potion material, meant that Locke could now independently handle the vast majority of potion materials.

Witch Sophia looked up at Locke, "You've already mastered magical flame techniques and bloodline separation potion design techniques. As long as you can brew one more assistant-level standard potion, you can take the Potion Master Assistant certificate examination."

"I recommend you learn Focus Ointment."

Witch Sophia said frankly, "You can purchase the Focus Ointment formula from me for one thousand magic stones, then go back and learn how to brew it yourself."

Witch Sophia said, "With your current level, as long as you know the formula, you'll be able to learn it yourself given enough time."

"Otherwise, according to regulations, I would have to charge you both formula fees and instruction fees. I think instruction would be somewhat useless. A Potion Master Assistant should at least have sufficient self-learning ability."

Locke bowed to Witch Sophia, "Yes, teacher."

Over these two years, Witch Sophia had carefully taught him the fundamentals of potion science.

This was instruction from a First Circle potion master, therefore extremely solid.

Witch Sophia's lips curved slightly. She crossed her hands and leaned back in her chair, looking at Locke. "Locke, these past few days you should understand how difficult it is to advance beyond first-class wizard apprentice, right?"

Locke nodded. "Yes, teacher. Whether it's potions or meditation techniques, their effects are already quite limited."

"However, the academy will begin distributing Stardust Tears potion and Weeping Blood Nightshade potion to me next month. Perhaps they'll have different effects."

Witch Sophia shook her head, "Those are like drinking poison to quench thirst, only making you spend more magic stones."

"The path of exploring truth requires paying a price. Magic stones are just the most common price."

"Weeping Blood Nightshade potion can purify bloodlines and slightly improve wizard apprentices' physical talents. It can raise those below Level 4 by one grade, and those Level 4 and above by half a grade. But this improvement requires lifelong medication, otherwise the enhanced talent will gradually return to its original state."

"And you need to take ten bottles per month." Witch Sophia curled her lips, "But the academy only gives you one bottle of Weeping Blood Nightshade per month."

"Weeping Blood Nightshade can both improve wizard apprentices' talents, making people addicted to it, and make every wizard apprentice who has experienced it reluctant to give up, causing great pain. That's why it's called Weeping Blood Nightshade."

"Weeping Blood Nightshade itself is very expensive, selling for at least one hundred magic stones per bottle." Witch Sophia shook her head, "And to make Weeping Blood Nightshade fully effective, you need to spend 900 magic stones per month purchasing it from the academy's upper levels."

"Stardust Tears potion is mainly used to improve meditation efficiency. When used together with meditation techniques, Stardust Tears potion can indeed slightly increase your mental strength improvement speed." Witch Sophia pursed her lips, "But that's about it."

"Stardust Tears potion only works when used in conjunction with meditation techniques. The key lies in the level of your meditation technique."

"Moreover, two bottles per month is obviously not enough. This potion can be used up to twelve bottles per month, with an average of eight bottles per month being just right to achieve a balance between medicine and toxicity. But the academy only distributes two bottles of Stardust Tears potion to first-class wizard apprentices per month. And each bottle of Stardust Tears potion is worth about one hundred fifty magic stones."

"Calculating this way, you would need to spend 2,100 magic stones per month!"

Witch Sophia said, "Therefore, for those wandering wizards and wild wizards outside the school, becoming a first-class wizard apprentice is almost the limit."

"Their chances of becoming formal wizards are almost zero."

Witch Sophia said coldly with an indifferent expression, "The mental strength standard for formal wizards is 1000."

Locke's eyebrows jumped.

From first-class wizard apprentice to formal wizard, there was actually a full 800-point mental strength difference, and each point of mental strength was worth far more than all the mental strength in the apprentice stages.

With his current turtle-pace improvement, even if he meditated for two hundred years, he couldn't possibly become a formal wizard!

And in the future, he would need to purchase Weeping Blood Nightshade and Stardust Tears potions, spending over two thousand magic stones per month. Obviously, this wasn't an expense that all first-class wizard apprentices could support, especially since this was likely only a small portion of the total expenses.

Although first-class wizard apprentices had high status, they also faced greater difficulties.

Locke asked puzzledly, "Then teacher, how do wizards in the southeastern quadrant become formal wizards?"

Witch Sophia smiled, "You've asked the right question."

"Some people haven't found the right path, so they can only use massive magical resources to forcibly raise their mental strength to 1000. But that way, a wizard would consume an unknown amount of magical resources."

"It's really too difficult, too difficult."

Witch Sophia said, "So, this is where special advanced potions and advanced meditation techniques are needed."

"I won't mention special advanced potions for now. When you reach the stage where you should know, the academy will naturally have someone tell you. I've signed a confidentiality contract and can't tell you now."

"Advanced meditation techniques in the southeastern quadrant are the foundation of a school and absolutely cannot be passed on to outsiders. Since you're a student of Lilith's Cottage, you have the right to purchase the learning rights to advanced meditation techniques for fifty thousand magic stones."

Locke's eyebrows jumped.

He had finally become wealthy during the second-class wizard apprentice stage, but now looking at it, after entering the first-class wizard apprentice level, he was clearly in abject poverty.

Witch Sophia said, "Of course, if you temporarily don't have fifty thousand magic stones, you can first sign a meditation technique loan contract."

Witch Sophia sighed helplessly, "Locke."

"I also want to teach you directly, but I'm also bound by the White Wizard Association's southeastern quadrant advanced meditation technique non-proliferation agreement."

"If I privately teach you at a low price, I will face strict investigation by the association's ethical review mechanism." Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on NovelHub(.)net