The Spoils

Fran returned to her dorm in high spirits. Looking at the room, nearly buried under piles of scrap metal and several haphazardly stacked boxes, she realized for the first time that she needed to find a new place.

She had wanted to move every time she came back from practicing her skills, but she always managed to suppress the thought, telling herself she could put up with it a little longer.

But now, staring at a room where there was barely space to stand, Fran decided she couldn't put up with it anymore.

The room held not only the weapons she had ruined while practicing Runology, but also boxes of materials for brewing Energy Potions, along with plenty of rubbish that she really should have thrown away.

Now that she had killed Richter and gained a set of skills that weren't bad even for an Advanced Apprentice, it was time to improve her living conditions.

That could wait until tomorrow morning, though. If you took out the trash in the middle of the night, people would think you were crazy, so she'd better deal with this stuff tomorrow.

She walked over to the table and sat down, taking out tonight's spoils: a Notebook with an extraordinary-looking cover, a box, and several pieces of magical equipment.

In fact, her Panel had given her a notification. After killing Richter, a message had popped into her mind.

[You have fulfilled the future you foresaw. Star Gazing Art proficiency +200]

[Star Gazing Art proficiency is full. Level increased.]

First of all, the phrase "fulfilled the future you foresaw" was rather intriguing. Did that mean she could have failed to fulfill it?

Regardless, being able to glimpse what her future might hold had helped her tremendously. But even though her Star Gazing Art proficiency had increased, no knowledge had flowed into her mind.

Now, she had a vague feeling that if she looked at the stars, she would probably be able to see scenes from the future.

And earlier, when she killed Richter, she had acted according to the images she saw for some reason, and unleashed power that clearly exceeded her capabilities.

She couldn't help wondering: would following the future she saw somehow give her a boost?

As she examined the magical equipment, it seemed to confirm her suspicion.

The pieces were all in good condition, with only slight wear around the edges.

They all had the effect mages loved most: automatically producing a shield when attacked.

Although the equipment was a little worn and could theoretically malfunction, wasn't it strange for all three pieces to fail at once?

She tried them now and found that they still worked.

Another thought occurred to Fran: what if the scene she saw showed none of the magical equipment activating, and when that moment came, they really wouldn't activate?

There were plenty of other possibilities to consider, but Fran's intuition told her that was exactly what had happened.

She put the thought aside and looked at the magical equipment. What should she do with it?

Wearing it herself was out of the question. Not only had the equipment "failed" before, but it didn't fit her, either.

Take this ring, for example. Richter had worn it on his index finger, but Fran's little hands couldn't even get it over her thumb.

Could she sell it, then? Who knew if someone might recognize it as one of Richter's belongings and investigate after learning he had gone missing?

Besides, she had already made a fortune selling Energy Potions. She wasn't particularly interested in this kind of magical equipment anymore. She'd be better off practicing her skills and making a few pieces herself. Maybe they'd be several leagues better than these.

"I'll put them aside for now and decide later."

Then she looked at the beautifully bound Notebook and flipped through it.

[Star Era, July 23, 3768. Observing my mentor's Transmutation techniques

Content: Today, my mentor is going to demonstrate a Transmutation for us newcomers who have just joined the school. I'm excited to have this opportunity.

The creature our mentor chose was a huge bird. From what the apprentices around me said, it must be a Sounding Bird.

It's a magical creature that attacks with sound. There usually aren't any magical creatures around the City of Apprentices, but this bird's habitat was destroyed, so it migrated from place to place and ended up near the city.

There used to be magical creatures around the City of Apprentices, but as the city expanded and more apprentices arrived, the mercenaries who flocked here at the first sign of opportunity killed off most of the creatures in the surrounding area.

This is an extremely rare magical creature in the City of Apprentices.

As my mentor said at the beginning, there are far too few magical creatures here, which makes it difficult to study Transmutation. If we get the chance, we should definitely find somewhere else to learn it.

I heard that the Transmutation School's most famous technique is to remove a magical creature's organs and implant them into a human body, allowing the recipient to use spell-like abilities without having to learn spells.

But the City of Apprentices is so far from any magical creature habitats that in the three years since I joined the Transmutation School, I've only seen one operation to remove a magical creature's organs.

But what can you do? The substances that keep a magical creature's corpse alive are precious, and certainly can't be wasted on transporting ordinary magical creature corpses.

Besides, life-preserving fluid can only slow the loss of vitality in a corpse. It can't keep the corpse at its initial level of vitality.

But back to the point. My mentor placed the Sounding Bird's corpse in a basin filled with colorless liquid. After he lowered it into the basin, I saw its throat begin to glow.

"This is the creature's primary magical organ. Most magical creatures derive their value from it."

That's what my mentor said. Next, he demonstrated exactly how to remove the organ and what to use to preserve it afterward. As for how to implant it into a human body, this was what my mentor said:

"That's new knowledge. You'll have to pay for it."

(Images) (Images) (Images) (Images) (Images)]

The following pages showed the steps Richter had drawn for removing a magical creature's organs. He had carefully observed his mentor's technique and recorded it in detail.

There were also plenty of small annotations and explanations.

Fran read with great interest. There were also notes on creating modified humans, along with the steps for a procedure to enhance mental power. But after several failed experiments, Richter had given up on the procedure to enhance mental power.

After finishing, Fran could only close the Notebook. She saw that a new skill, [Transmutation Studies], had appeared on her Panel.

This wasn't something she could practice like making potions or runes. This was sensitive knowledge belonging to the Transmutation School. If she so much as bought a few corpses on the market, people would start paying attention to her. She couldn't use this knowledge without making sure it would stay secret.

Then Fran turned to the last item, which she thought was the most valuable of all.

There was a line written on the front of the box.

[Reward for Apprentice Examination Ranking]

Fran was filled with anticipation about what might be inside. She slowly opened the box.

Inside was a sheet of paper and a blue-glowing stone that looked beautiful in the night.

Fran looked at the paper. It only identified what the stone was.

[Guide of the Spirit Realm].