Taking "Top-Tier Treasure"

An lv1 peak Undead was already equivalent to a peak First-Class Apprentice Wizard!

If a Wizard Apprentice's Wizardry was not powerful enough, or their casting was unskilled, they could easily be brutally killed by an Undead.

However, this black Skeleton Soldier was sealed, and its strength had been greatly weakened.

Lynn did not rush to buy it. He first used Analysis to try to break its seal.

If he could figure out how to activate it, the value of this black skeleton would increase dramatically.

The Analysis function did not disappoint him. It quickly provided the activation method for the Negative Energy Sequence.

He only needed to use negative energy to trace specific runes, then imprint them into the various nodes throughout the black skeleton's body in sequence.

Simple—and it would not cost him anything.

Lynn was overjoyed. It seemed he was about to pick up a huge bargain today!

Yet his face remained calm. He casually pointed at the black skeleton and asked the Second-Class Apprentice stall owner:

"How much for this?"

Seeing someone inquire about the black skeleton that had been gathering dust in his hands, the apprentice quickly replied:

"Classmate, I won't hide it from you. This... this skeleton is a little strange. It doesn't listen to commands very well, but its bones are quite hard. If you want it, ten Magic Stones or the equivalent in Contribution Points will do."

Ten Magic Stones was not a cheap price.

In the mundane world, that was equivalent to a hundred thousand gold coins!

The exchange rate for Contribution Points and Magic Stones was ten to one. One Magic Stone could be exchanged for ten Contribution Points.

Thus, Lynn's fixed monthly "salary" of one hundred Contribution Points was not low. Among apprentices, it could be called a "massive" fortune.

If an ordinary apprentice could buy an Undead servant, dealing with the Living Corpse Trial among the Three Trials of Life and Death should not be much of a problem.

Lynn frowned slightly at that.

"An Undead that does not obey commands is a serious problem. If it turns on its master during battle, the consequences could be disastrous. Ten Magic Stones is too much."

The apprentice stall owner scratched his head. Thinking about it, that was true.

No one wanted to pay a high price for an Undead servant that would not obey them!

Lynn did not give the apprentice much time to think before making his offer.

"How about this? Five Magic Stones, and I'll take it right away!"

Cutting the price in half at once put the apprentice stall owner in a difficult position.

This skeleton had not been easy to capture.

Even with his strength as a Second-Class Apprentice and his many methods for suppressing Undead, he had only barely managed to subdue it.

After going through so much trouble and taking such great risks to capture it in the Eternal Night Graveyard, was it really worth only five Magic Stones?

"Although this skeleton is difficult to control, these black bones are far from ordinary. Even if you use them as materials, five Magic Stones would not be enough."

"How about we both compromise? Eight Magic Stones?"

After thinking for a long time, the apprentice named a price he could accept.

Lynn haggled for several more rounds. After lowering the price by one more Magic Stone with great reluctance, the apprentice refused to budge any further.

In the end, the two completed the deal for seven Magic Stones.

Both sides were quite satisfied.

The apprentice had gotten rid of a Skeleton Soldier that was difficult to control, and the price was somewhat higher than simply dismantling it and selling the materials.

Lynn was naturally even more satisfied. Seven Magic Stones was not cheap for a seemingly useless skeleton, but compared with its hidden potential, it was practically a giveaway!

Once it grew stronger, let alone seven Magic Stones, even seventy thousand Magic Stones would not buy a single finger bone.

He folded up the sealed black skeleton and stuffed it into the Bone Ring.

This black skeleton was extremely complete. It stood only about 1.4 meters tall, yet it weighed far more than an ordinary skeleton. Its bone density was exceptionally high.

Its Shadow talent seemed highly suited to becoming an assassin, and Lynn planned to train it toward the Shadow Skeleton path.

Within this Wizard Academy, his opponents would basically all be Wizards. An assassin hidden in the shadows could be enormously intimidating.

For now, it was still empty-handed. Lynn planned to equip it with a weapon first, then slowly find suitable gear for it later.

Lynn moved through the noisy crowd of the market, his gaze sweeping across all kinds of stalls.

Since the vendors in this Apprentice Corner were all Wizard Apprentices, the goods they could offer were extremely limited. Most did not catch Lynn's eye.

When he reached the end, he spotted a familiar figure in a relatively tidy corner.

Thomas Iron Hammer, the son of Black Marsh City's blacksmithing tycoon, was watching over a stall.

It was covered with all manner of bone and metal items gleaming with cold light.

Reinforced bone blades, barbed iron hooks, replacement skeleton finger joints, and even several small round shields pieced together from unknown beast bones and thin ironhide.

"Lynn?"

Thomas had been maintaining a shortsword. When he happened to look up and spot Lynn, a trace of surprise appeared on his dark face.

He then wiped the grease from his hands with the coarse cloth hanging around his neck.

"What a rare sight, running into you here."

His palms were far rougher than those of his peers, and his knuckles were thick. He clearly handled tools regularly.

"Thomas." Lynn nodded, walked over to the stall, and picked up a finely crafted bone shortsword to inspect it.

"Looks like you've found your footing here."

"I'm nothing compared to you. I'm barely making a living."

Thomas patted the strange half-human-height object beside him, crudely assembled from rusted gears and several bones.

"I apprenticed under Mentor Harold of Gear and Bone. He specializes in construct puppets and golems. With my family trade, I can only do a little repairing and make some junk for apprentices."

He pointed at the goods on his stall.

Lynn nodded.

Thomas was quite practical. Relying on his own craft, he had barely managed to gain a foothold in this dark Academy.

Still, his earnings were too low. This scrap metal was barely enough to keep him alive, and obtaining enough resources to advance would be difficult.

Thomas lowered his voice, excitement in his tone. "But lately, I've been working on something new."

"Look, low-level Undead are stupid, stiff, fragile... Metal puppets have hard bodies, but they lack spirit..."

"I'm wondering whether I can use my family's Hundred-Forging Gold-Infusion Method to fuse the core of a low-level Undead with a metal skeleton!"

"It doesn't need to be too complicated. Even if it only gives a Skeleton Soldier an arm replaced with a rotating iron hook, or adds a layer of ironhide to a Zombie..."

As he spoke, light flashed in Thomas's eyes. "If I can make this work, who in the Apprentice Market will be able to compete with me?"

Lynn put down the shortsword. He was not drawn in by the grand vision Thomas had laid out, and his tone remained calm.

"Not a bad idea, but the compatibility between souls and metal, along with conflicts in the energy circuits, are both problems."

"Exactly." Thomas sighed and scratched his head.

"There are a mountain of problems, and Magic Stones and materials burn away fast. With my current capital, it'll be hard to accomplish. Forget it, let's not talk about that."

He changed the subject, and the relaxed expression on his face faded. "Do you know how the others from Black Marsh City are doing?"

"I ran into Carl and Lillian in the cafeteria before," Lynn said.

Thomas shook his head.

"That kid Carl started some New Student Mutual Aid Society, trying to bind the newcomers together, but he's been running into walls everywhere."

"A few days ago, several older students snatched away some materials he had just obtained. They beat him until his face was swollen and bruised, and his members were completely useless."

"Lillian... sigh. She's no longer that innocent, adorable little girl."

"I heard she's recently attached herself to a Third-Class Apprentice. Her life is a little easier now, but..."

Thomas did not continue, but his meaning was obvious.

Lynn had not expected Lillian to change so much after only half a month at the Academy.

But a Third-Class Apprentice... he truly could provide her with tremendous support. If she could rely on him, perhaps she might go very far.