Pale Mask

The delicious red-eared mushroom soup went down, and Green only felt a wave of comfort wash through his mind, as if a pair of girls' hands were constantly tickling him.

He picked up the crystal ball and silently recited the incantation. A moment later, Green said in delight, "Mental power 23. It actually increased by 3 points!"

That was right. After putting on the Spring of Joy Necklace, Green's mental power had already reached 20 points, and after the precious red-eared mushroom he had gotten from the fatty went into his stomach, following a burst of mental power stimulation, Green's mental power had actually risen to 23 points.

"But..."

Green gave another bitter smile.

"Although my mental power has risen, my mana is only 144 to 148 points. There's no way I can bring out such powerful mental power at all. Looks like daily meditation is indispensable for this period of time."

After a silence, Green made up his mind.

Green avoided almost all contact. Whether it was gatherings from the Blood Sail Alliance or invitations from a few half-familiar friends, Green ignored them all. Every day, he only devoted himself wholeheartedly to meditation, increasing his mana.

Then came purifying the Gadfly Snails.

The remaining time, finally, was spent plunging headfirst into improving the elemental magic array deep within his soul.

As for the job of cleaning the library, Green quietly resigned from it. The days passed one by one, and two months later, all of Green's symbiotic insects had been completely cultivated.

Three months later, Green's elemental magic array modification was complete.

Four months later, on this day, Green finally raised his mana to 224 to 230 points, basically matching the corresponding level of his mental power.

After a full four months, Green completed the first metamorphosis of his life.

On this day, Green felt refreshed in mind. Thinking of how there had been some new progress regarding the Life Code Forbidden Zone a few days ago, he could not help feeling a little impatient, practically waiting at any moment for Varo's summons from the seventh floor of Black Isotta.

Moreover, it was almost time this month to collect magic stones from the fatty.

Speaking of which, the magic stones Green had gotten from the fatty were simply somewhat exaggerated—or rather, for a wizard apprentice, they were truly somewhat exaggerated.

In the first month, Green had received four hundred magic stones. At the time, Green had even teased the fatty in surprise.

But by the second month, when he received one thousand magic stones from the fatty, Green was simply shocked!

When, in the third month, Green received a full thirty intermediate magic stones from the fatty, Green could no longer close his mouth.

As for this month...

Green felt he was practically about to go numb, because he discovered he simply had no use for these magic stones.

Green felt that if this continued, then ten-odd years later, even some wizards might be unable to match his net worth.

The only thing that put Green relatively at ease was that almost the entire Black Isotta Wizard Academy knew that the fatty, that magic apprentice, carried a huge amount of assets, yet he was still perfectly fine even now. It seemed the fatty truly had quite a substantial background behind him.

Although he was thinking about the magic stones, Green did not immediately go to Black Isotta.

Before that, Green had another matter to handle: proving that he had officially stepped from a newcomer into the ranks of wizard apprentices and collecting his wizard apprentice certificate.

Half an hourglass later, Green walked to the front of this remote tower of the wizard academy.

A wizard was stationed in the tower all year round, specializing in testing whether newcomers had successfully studied more than three spells.

Although this tower was very famous, and almost everyone knew of it, nearly everyone rarely came here a second time in their lives, so this place did not count as a gathering place for wizard apprentices.

A moment later, as Green smelled the scent emanating from the wizard before him, he almost had the urge to laugh, because the fragrance permeating this wizard's body was actually Venus, Goddess of Love, which Green had concocted, and it was a perfume suited for women.

Thus, Green guessed that this wizard, wrapped up so tightly, was in fact a woman.

After obtaining the wizard apprentice certificate, Green came to the fatty's place on the first floor of Black Isotta.

"Yo, before, I was always the one delivering magic stones to your residence. Why did you come out yourself today? Did your spell research make some progress?"

The fatty joked with Green.

However, the fatty also understood. Black Isotta Wizard Academy's newcomer trial, known as the bloody millstone, was not so easy to get through. One careless slip meant a dead end, so those participating in the trial would never complain about having too much strength.

"What progress could there be? Even if there is a little progress, it can only ensure I have a slightly greater chance of surviving the trial."

Green shook his head.

"Forget it. Your business—presumably you have your own plans. After all, you're someone carrying a huge sum of money now, haha. Here, this is this month's share."

After saying that, the fatty directly handed Green a small pouch.

Green glanced at it. It was uniformly filled with intermediate magic stones, at least forty or fifty of them.

Green had already gone numb toward these stone-like things, and only wanted to convert these magic stones into combat power as soon as possible. After thinking for a bit, Green raised a request to the fatty, hoping he could use his connections to purchase a high-grade microscope from the Seven-Ring Holy Tower, the institution representing an even higher wizard authority.

"The Seven-Ring Holy Tower? That kind of place isn't somewhere just anyone can go whenever they want! Of course, if you're an official wizard, no one will stop you anywhere."

After glancing at Green, the fatty gritted his teeth and said, "Fine. I'll see whether any wizard in the family is going there. I'll ask when I have time, but don't hold too much hope in the near future. At the earliest, you'll only get news after your trial ends."

Green also knew the situation and did not make excessive demands. He nodded and agreed.

Afterward, Green came to the third floor of Black Isotta. Looking at the rooms hung with signs one after another, he thought for a moment, then directly entered a room hung with an alchemy sign.

The knowledge Green most urgently wanted to learn right now was alchemy spells and potion spells. Next, he also wanted to have a little contact with mysticism and mechanical spells.

As for bloodline spells, although Green wanted to understand them, he had absolutely no intention of researching them in depth.

Inside the room sat a short wizard with one leg crossed over the other. He looked slightly thin, yet very spirited. There was a tuft of white goatee on his chin, and he was humming a tune while reading the wizard book in his hands.

As Green entered the room, this old wizard raised his head and glanced at Green, then said indifferently, "Are you here to refine an enchanted magic artifact, or to study alchemy?"

After performing a wizard's salute, Green said steadily, "I would like to ask you to refine an enchanted magic artifact, and I would also like to study alchemy."

"Let's set the matter of refining magic-conducting arcane artifacts aside for now. Knowledge is priceless, but for the sake of cultivating apprentices, the academy has still set prices. Mm... if you want to ask a few questions about alchemy, it's ten magic stones per question. If you want me to personally teach you the basic procedures and foundations of alchemical knowledge, two hundred magic stones a day. In ten days, I guarantee you'll have learned all the theoretical foundations of alchemy."

The wizard chuckled. "Of course, as for understanding it and actually putting it into practice, that might take you decades, even a century of tempering before you can truly create a magic-conducting arcane artifact of your own. Which do you choose?"

Green did not hesitate. He said in a low voice, "I choose the second. Here are the magic stones."

The wizard took the pouch Green handed over. After glancing inside, he said in surprise, "Ordering the full course outright? Little fellow, you've got quite the fortune, haven't you? Haha, I like it! Good. The teaching course begins tomorrow. Come over on time then. Now you can tell me what grade and type of arcane artifact you want custom-made."

"Uh, I want to custom-order a top-grade magic-conducting arcane artifact for a wizard apprentice, mainly for defending against external magical attacks. A breastplate or heart-protecting mirror would be best. Also, I'd like a magic staff that can enhance magic amplification. I don't know if that's possible..."

"A magic staff that amplifies magic power? Generally speaking, that sort of thing is only worth using for wizards with powerful magic power. For a mere wizard apprentice like you, a magic staff sealed with wizardry is best. I suggest you wait until you advance to an official wizard before coming to custom-order one. As for an arcane artifact to defend against attacks, I do happen to have one here."

As he spoke, the old wizard stood up, rummaged around in the inner room for a while, then handed Green a mysterious arcane artifact.

"A mask?"

Green was somewhat surprised. It was a white mask covered in purple spiral patterns, with a single pointed horn at the top. Only two eyeholes and nostril holes were exposed, making it look somewhat mysterious.

"Hmph, I'm only willing to take this arcane artifact out for you to see because it looks like you have some magic stones. This mask arcane artifact is an imitation of a famous arcane artifact, and it was also my strongest arcane artifact back when I was a wizard apprentice. Fixed price. Minimum, two thousand magic stones."

The old wizard said it without even blinking.

"That expensive!"

Green was startled. One had to know that the Eternal Earring, which likewise belonged among top-grade wizard-apprentice arcane artifacts, cost only six hundred magic stones.

"Good goods are expensive, of course. Otherwise, why do you think I've been reluctant to sell it after all these years?"

The old wizard curled his lip.

"This mask has two functions. The first is to activate a magical defensive barrier. Attacks below twenty degrees basically count as immune. For attacks above twenty degrees, you only need one-tenth of the attacking magic power's intensity to easily defend against them. For attacks above sixty degrees, you'll need to expend roughly one-third of the opponent's magic power. As for attacks above one hundred degrees, the defensive barrier can still block them, but the magic power you and the other party consume will be one-to-one. As for attacks above one hundred and fifty degrees, don't count on this mask."

Green roughly converted it in his mind. With his maximum mental strength of 23, he could probably instantaneously stimulate between 5 and 6 points of mental strength at most. And 5 to 6 points of mental strength, after amplification by the improved Firebird Elemental Magic Array, could produce an attack of around 45 to 55 degrees. This could be considered his strongest attack.

Yet if his strongest attack were to face this mask-type defensive arcane artifact, it would actually only need one-tenth of the magic power to defend against it!

Green sucked in a breath of cold air. An arcane artifact this powerful?

Seeing Green's dumbstruck expression, the old wizard continued with a cold laugh, "That's only its first function. As for its second function, do you see the horn on its head?"

Pointing at the mask's horn, the old wizard said, "Fused inside this is a type of wizardry called ultrasonic positioning. Put it on and you'll know."

After Green put on the mask, he only felt as if he had gained an additional sense, similar to ears.

Beneath the mask, from the angle of sound, Green could "see" a world without color or scent, a world with only matter. It truly was a wondrous ability.

However, as far as Green was concerned, because he already had the similar-functioning Hunting Nose wizardry, this mask's second function was instead less important than the defensive barrier function.

Taking a deep breath, Green asked, "What is this mask called?"

"Pale Mask."

"Pale Mask!"

Green was startled. Almost instantly, he thought of the Faceless Mask wizard on the sea ship, the one who had summoned countless crows.

Could it be that this mask had some relationship with that great wizard?

Green thought for a moment and made up his mind. He had to obtain this mask arcane artifact.

Such an extremely powerful arcane artifact would still be able to play a very strong role even after he became a peak wizard apprentice with forty points of mental strength.

However, Green asked again, "What about the magic staff?"

After pondering for a moment, the old wizard said, "As for a magic staff, if it's one on the same level as the mask, I don't have any for the moment. Even if you wanted one refined, I can't be certain it could be refined in a short time. After all, the refining materials for these top-grade wizard-apprentice arcane artifacts are already extremely close to true arcane artifacts, but the price is much lower, so the issue of cost also has to be considered. However..."

Green had already grown used to the old wizard keeping him in suspense. Playing along, he said anxiously, "However what?"

"Hehe, take a look at this treasure from my collection. It's a very creative magic staff I acquired by chance more than ten years ago, called Blood Bat's Kiss."

As he spoke, the old wizard handed Green a pitch-black magic staff.

"Six hundred magic stones."

Green held the magic staff and sensed it slightly. As his magic power activated, a huge bat composed of pure wind elements immediately appeared in the room. After the bat spread its wings, it was roughly more than three meters wide. Its back looked just large enough to carry one person in flight.

"This..."

Whether or not it was a unique misconception in Green's way of thinking, when Green saw this bat formed entirely from wind elements, the first thing he thought of was not its function for flight, but further improvements to the elemental magic array.