Advancing to second-class was indeed a major event.
If nothing else, the resources sent again by the Silver Moon Lake Family were enough to make Ian very happy.
At the same time, there were many other matters to deal with.
For example, expanding the laboratory and improving the benefits for Wizards.
Ian directly handed the former over to Vivian, with Farn and Jesse helping her take charge. As for the latter—
The increase was not particularly great.
In terms of Magic Stones, it had only gone up by ten. The main improvement lay in his permissions, but the Cultivation Sequence's permissions utterly crushed everything else.
But that no longer mattered, because after advancing, Ian finally had a reason to purchase the knowledge of a Second-class Wizard.
"With the Cultivation Sequence's permissions, there are no restrictions on ordinary Zero-ring Middle Grade Wizardry. Each year, I can purchase three excellent-grade spells and one outstanding-grade spell."
Ian recalled the details from back then.
There were also Zero-ring Lower Grade spells, but Ian simply could not muster any interest in them.
Perhaps he would learn them someday, once he found something satisfactory.
Unable to wait any longer,
Ian arrived at the Academy library.
Second-class, underground level.
"I'll look at the outstanding ones first."
Ian headed straight for the outstanding-grade Wizardry section.
There were not many spells here, only around a dozen. Ian's goal was equally clear: choose a defensive spell.
There were even fewer of those—only three.
One was called Stone Skin Spell. It modified the flesh into something akin to stone skin, providing formidable defense but reducing speed.
The second was Flesh Parasite. It implanted beneath the skin the seed of a magical plant called Iron-thread Vine, which could swiftly grow into a layer of vine armor in a critical moment.
The third