Eating, sleeping, reading, studying...
Over the next few days, Raymond stayed in his room at the Happy Time Inn, living a life where he never stepped outside.
Other than taking the time on the second day to bring Harlett to meet his trusted subordinates and discuss the ransom face-to-face, he never left his room again.
After all, Raymond had always been something of a homebody and was quite capable of enduring solitude.
Even back in the Floating City Tower, he could go an entire month or two without speaking or communicating with anyone other than the Necromancer Archmage, Astar.
Compared with all that unbearably dull socializing and the scheming between apprentices, he preferred to devote his precious time and energy to studying profound magical knowledge.
After all, constantly acquiring knowledge that could be converted into wealth and power at any time gave him an indescribable sense of addiction and satisfaction.
In particular, the unique Arcane Magic casting system and Weave of Faerun that he had recently been studying could almost perfectly make up for his current flaws and shortcomings.
Moreover, the vast variety of spells within the Arcane Magic casting system was far more interesting than the Creator class, which had only allowed him to study magical rituals and craft magical items, Oddities, and potions.
He could also compare and reference it against the vast amount of knowledge collected within the Floating City Tower.
As he continued studying in depth, Raymond discovered that the differences between the magical systems of the two worlds were far smaller than he had imagined.
Although the spell structures of many spells with identical or similar names differed slightly due to their casting environments, their principles and essence were more or less the same.
He could completely build upon the Wizard class, combine it with the research achievements of another magical civilization, revise the known advanced classes, and create an entirely new Arcane Magic casting class better suited to himself.
Just like Arcane Magic advanced classes such as Red Wizards, Metamagic Specialists, Arcane Devotees, Archmages, and so on.
"Hmm... maybe I should use Mimicry to make myself a Level 5 Wizard first. Otherwise, I'll spend all day studying theory without gaining even a bit of practical experience." Raymond muttered softly, stroking his chin.
With the Mind Library's photographic memory, he had long since memorized every spellbook he had bought.
If he simulated it now, the Wizard class's upper limit should reach Level 10 or Level 11, which would be enough for quite some time to come.
But the problem was that Mimicry meant adding another huge consumer of mana.
He had originally planned to raise his Planeswalker class to Level 4 first, then find an opportunity to complete the task of making his first Creature Card.
"Ugh, what a headache. There's never enough mana. I really want to refine all those magical items, scrolls, wands, and potions in my satchel that I don't need for now."
Raymond once again felt the urge to squander his resources.
After all, he only had so many stable sources of mana. Giving more to one class meant the others could only receive less.
Other than extracting energy from various magical items, the only way left to acquire more at once was by killing Monsters and bandits.
Just as he stared at the value of his mana pool in indecision, a rapid knock at the door suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Lord Soros, are you in your room? I'm Pike, an attendant from the first-floor hall. There's a lady downstairs claiming to be your friend. She wishes to meet with you."
A rather familiar voice came through the crack in the door.
Raymond froze for a moment, then quickly recalled the female Sorcerer with suspected Fire Genie blood who had bought the crystalline Energy Storage Device from him a few days ago. He immediately put away the Legacy and gestured for the soldier guarding the door to open it.
The latter understood at once, rose from his chair, unlatched the bolt, and pushed open the heavy wooden door.
In an instant!
Two figures appeared at the doorway.
One was naturally the male attendant who had just knocked, while the other was the veiled female innkeeper with black cross-shaped pupils.
However, unlike the pride and arrogance she had displayed during their last meeting, she now appeared exceedingly agitated. She had clearly not slept properly for some time.
The instant she saw Raymond, the woman tossed a gold coin to the attendant, then strode into the room without ceremony. Ignoring Pike, who kept bowing and thanking her, she slammed the door shut with a bang.
She even ignored the soldier nearby, raised the Energy Storage Device in her hand, and asked through gritted teeth, "How did you do it?"
"How did I do what?"
Raymond blinked, baffled by the inexplicable question.
"How did you make its performance so stable!
Do you know?
Over the past few days, I've failed more than sixty times in a row. Not once did I succeed.
At least two-thirds of the materials you used in this were things I'd never even seen before.
But that didn't stop me!
Because I quickly found substitutes with similar effects.
Yet stability alone!
It is the crucial point I cannot break through, no matter what I do!"
As she spoke, the woman had none of her former poise. She was practically a crazed madwoman on the verge of losing her mind.
Especially when she grew emotional, she directly tore off her veil, revealing an exquisite face that looked strikingly exotic even in Calimport.
Just as Raymond had guessed, this female Sorcerer was likely the descendant of a human and a Fire Genie.
However, considering that nearly one in twenty humans throughout Calimshan might carry a thin trace of Fire Genie blood in their veins...
It was hardly impossible for some Sorcerers whose bloodline powers had Awakened to display ancestral features.
What was more, the people here generally had a high degree of acceptance toward nonhuman races.
One only needed to look at how popular the trained Orc, Half-Orc, Kobold, goblin, Gnoll, Troll, and Troll slaves were in the slave markets to understand that.
"So... you admit that you failed to crack it, right?" Raymond asked bluntly.
In an instant!
The woman closed her mouth and fell silent.
Yes, she had failed.
She had paid a painfully heavy price for her arrogance.
In order to create an equally stable Energy Storage Device, she had successively poured more than one hundred thousand gold coins' worth of materials and gemstones into the attempt, all of which had gone down the drain.
The closest she had come to success so far had only barely maintained stability for less than ten seconds.
Then it had exploded with a boom, releasing all the Lightning Bolt energy stored inside and wreaking havoc on everything around it without restraint.
If she had not prepared Protection from Energy magic beforehand, she might have been seriously injured or even killed.
After a long silence, the woman finally took a deep breath and said, "Name your price! I need the complete technique for making this Energy Storage Device!"
But Raymond merely smiled and shook his head. "No, madam, I think you've misunderstood something.
The truth is, no one but me can possibly make this Energy Storage Device.
Take the stability you just mentioned, for example. Do you think the entire cylindrical crystal was made using some Transmutation School spell?
It was made with an ability unique to me, like this..."
As he spoke, Raymond casually picked up two empty potion bottles sitting on the table and activated his Shaping ability.
The two originally separate potion bottles seemed to melt under the influence of some mysterious force, slowly merging together before being reshaped into a statue of an adventurer holding a shield and sword.
No incantation!
No gestures!
And no spellcasting materials whatsoever!
The woman was utterly stunned by this ability to alter the form of matter. She accepted the glass statue and inspected it repeatedly.
Several full minutes passed before she discovered that the entire statue was seamless. There was not even the faintest trace of joining or fusion.
It was as though the glass statue had been fired in that shape from the very beginning.
Even the bubbles contained within the two potion bottles had disappeared...
Before you continue