Filling in the Gaps

"Washbasin, squat toilet, bathtub, stove... Tsk... and there's even a fireplace."

Ronan stood in the middle of the room and looked over every part of his new home. Seeing the fireplace covered in dust and cobwebs, he curiously stuck his head inside for a closer look.

"Winter will be here soon. It'll come in handy then."

Ronan sat down at the room's only table, casually picked up the old copper kettle on it and gave it a shake, then set it back down.

All in all, Ronan was fairly satisfied with his "new home."

The room was small, but far more spacious than the treehouse he had lived in before. The furniture was old, but at least everything that ought to be there was there.

Most importantly, it had a toilet. From now on, he would never have to empty a chamber pot himself again.

It was no easy task finding a house with reasonably decent living conditions on Water Drop Street, the town's so-called "slum."

This house was one of the best in the surrounding area. Naturally, its rent was nearly half again as much as that of an ordinary house.

The glass oil lamp cast a dim, yellowish glow. Ronan sat at the table with one hand propping up his chin while the fingers of the other tapped lightly against the tabletop without thought. He looked exactly like someone so bored that his mind had gone blank, with no idea what to do next.

Then the tapping suddenly stopped. Focus returned to Ronan's eyes, and he murmured softly, "Hoddam Wizard Academy..."

Whether it was because the original owner of this body had been unwilling to accept dropping out of Hoddam, or because Ronan himself had spent more than a decade as a student in his previous life, living by the rules...

He realized that, deep down, he had always harbored an inexplicable obsession with enrolling in school.

So much so that when he learned during the day that the academy had stopped accepting students, he had nearly suffered a mental breakdown.

But thinking back on it now, his greatest reason for wanting to enter the academy for further study was simply to obtain the crucial inheritance needed to become an official wizard.

Setting that aside, there was no urgent need for him to enter the academy right away.

"The main task during the apprentice stage is accumulating Spiritual Power. I'm still a long way from being qualified to challenge the realm of an official wizard.

"It doesn't really matter whether I can get in now or not. Instead of wasting time feeling resentful and frustrated..."

Ronan straightened up and stared at the glass oil lamp before him. He muttered to himself, "I should think more about how to survive this Black Wizard Invasion crisis. By the time I become an eighth- or Ninth-Level Wizard Apprentice, things might take another turn for the better."

With that thought, Ronan could not help reviewing his previous battles.

Those rescue missions and escape battles had seemed thrilling but ultimately safe, with everything going smoothly. In truth, however, they had exposed a major problem.

The most significant one was—his severe lack of control abilities!

Ronan could not help frowning.

He had almost no battlefield control skills. The few times he had killed Black Robe Wizards, he had relied entirely on the overwhelming destructive power of Energy Missile and the surprise of his timing.

Against opponents who simply stood still and attacked, Ronan's fighting style might still work.

However, against alert and agile enemies capable of moving flexibly, such as the Two-Headed Magic Lizard, his lack of effective control methods was immediately exposed—several consecutive Energy Missiles had missed, and in the end, he had even let the Two-Headed Magic Lizard escape.

"Control skills are an indispensable part of any complete combat system."

"Only by effectively restricting an opponent's movements can I maximize the hit rate of Energy Missile."

"As for spells with similar effects..."

Ronan thought about it. Perhaps only ice- and lightning-element spells were suitable for him.

The former usually came with effects such as freezing and slowing, while the latter naturally carried paralysis and stiffness effects.

These two types of spells were fairly common in Hoddam Wizard Land and relatively easy to acquire.

"I should visit the market sometime. While I'm there, I can see if I can buy another suitable defensive magical item."

His battle against the high-level apprentice Black Robe Wizard had made Ronan feel, for the first time, just how important defensive magical items were.

If he had not carried a magical ring with two Protection Runes and activated it at the critical moment, he would likely have fallen during the first round of attacks from the Black Robe Wizard's corpse explosion spell and the Sword and Shield Skeleton servants. How could there have been everything that followed—Energy Missile advancing to Master level and the opening of the Extraordinary Magic Domain?

"You can never have too many things that save your life. Especially under the current circumstances..."

Ronan rubbed his chin and even considered learning a defensive zero-order spell specifically for that purpose.

But after thinking it over, he decided against it. Very few people learned defensive spells during the apprentice stage. Zero-order defensive spells were generally fragile; they could not withstand more than a couple of attacks from spells of the same level before needing to be renewed. Rather than wasting his limited Spiritual Power on passively taking hits, it would be more straightforward to think of ways to kill his opponent faster and end the battle.

"Attack, control, defense... Next come recovery and enhancement."

In battles between wizards, in-combat recovery was quite important.

Especially during the Wizard Apprentice stage, when Spiritual Power was already in short supply.

"Spiritual recovery potions, healing potions, Antidote Potions, stamina potions..."

Ronan thought of a long list of potions that might come in useful, all of them conclusions he had drawn from his recent battles.

As for methods of gaining temporary boosts in battle, the only thing Ronan could think of at present was the body-tempering technique he practiced regularly.

Strong physical fitness still had its advantages. It could greatly increase one's margin for error in battle. At least during the apprentice stage, Ronan believed that was the case.

Many wizards looked down on body tempering and were unwilling to waste time on it. They felt that their time would be better spent meditating or conducting magical research.

Others thought body tempering did not suit the noble and exalted status of a wizard. It was something only mundane knights, fit to serve as wizard followers, would do.

Ronan had none of those reservations or concerns.

"Money, money!"

After summing everything up, Ronan realized that every part of his plan revolved around one crucial thing—magic stones! Taking potions required magic stones, buying spells required magic stones, acquiring magical items required magic stones. Even body tempering required magic stones to buy magical beast meat to aid cultivation! With magic stones, everything was easy to discuss. Without them, all his plans would be nothing but empty words on paper.

"Take it slow. I'll have what I need eventually."

Ronan comforted himself, reached out to turn up the lamp before him, then took out three Storage Waist Pouches.

If he wanted to become rich, the quickest way at the moment was to open these three "safes" in his hands.

Dawn broke, and he had spent the entire night without sleep.

Ronan yawned as he pushed open the door and stepped out of the house. He casually patted his wizard robe and activated the Cleaning Rune inscribed on it. The stale odor that had accumulated in the little house overnight instantly vanished without a trace, leaving his entire body fresh and clean again.

But after several battles, this originally brand-new wizard robe had become somewhat worn. Several places had been torn open, yet Ronan could not bear to replace it.

"Do wizards hate body tempering and close combat because they wear out wizard robes too quickly?"

Random thoughts ran through Ronan's mind as he recited an incantation and casually tossed an Ice Ball at the ground in front of him.