Purchasing Witchcraft, Cleanup Mission

The academy had a dedicated trading district. Around its outskirts were stalls run by senior apprentices, selling things they had collected during missions outside. Fragments of witchcraft, knowledge of ancient texts, rare medicinal herbs—everything could be found here.

Although the academy's own trading district sold legitimate goods, its prices were steep, so it was usually rather quiet.

Green arrived at the counter in the academy trading district. A gray-robed apprentice sat behind it, his expression stiff and utterly lacking in enthusiasm. He was nothing like the apprentice from the witchcraft testing area.

Green could understand it as well. Prices for goods in the academy trading district were fixed and transparent. Apprentices working at the counter received no commission, only a basic wage. Such an attitude was perfectly normal.

"What would you like to buy?" Seeing Green approach, the gray-robed apprentice asked coldly.

"I need some basic spell templates," Green replied evenly.

The gray-robed apprentice gave Green a brief look, pulled a crystal ball from beneath the counter, and tossed it to him. "All the academy's basic spell templates are in there. Pick for yourself, then tell me when you're done!"

Green did not care about the apprentice's attitude and directly extended his spiritual force into the crystal ball.

Like an electronic screen, the contents of the crystal ball appeared before him, and Green began browsing through them. Before long, he spotted a familiar witchcraft spell.

[Treefolk Summoning: Summon a Treant for combat, generally used to stall the enemy. Knowledge required to construct the model: Fundamentals of Life Studies, Fundamentals of Plant Structure, Witchcraft Model Construction, and Life Energy Application.]

[Lesser Energy Fireball: Summon a fireball to attack enemies, used for frontal breakthroughs. Knowledge required to construct the model: Fire Element Energy Control, Fire Element Fundamentals, and Witchcraft Model Construction.]

[Cloud Mist Spell: Create a large area of dense fog to obscure the enemy's vision, generally used for stalling or ambushes. Knowledge required to construct the model: Water Element Energy Control, Advanced Water Element Fundamentals, Water Element Property Transformation, and Eu Bundle Model Construction.]

There were over ten thousand basic witchcraft templates stored in the crystal ball. Since the academy had taken into account the apprentices' lack of knowledge, the crystal ball had a search function.

"Help me find life-type witchcraft." Green sent his request through a vibration of spiritual force.

The witchcraft entries on the display rapidly dwindled, leaving fewer than a hundred options.

This was the predicament of life wizards. There were many wizards with conventional Elemental Affinity, but rare affinities such as life force were exceedingly uncommon, resulting in a limited selection of basic life-type witchcraft.

With the Chip, no matter how many witchcraft spells there are, it makes no difference to me. I can learn them all quickly. The Chip can store witchcraft structures, making it practically no different from permanently solidified witchcraft—aside from taking slightly longer to activate. There's no need for me to choose carefully. I'll just buy as many as I can.

Having made up his mind, Green selected every life-type witchcraft template, then opened the support witchcraft templates and selected all of those as well.

"I'll take all of these! How much?" Green handed over the crystal ball.

The gray-robed apprentice took Green's crystal ball and extended his spiritual force into it. A ghostly expression immediately appeared on his face.

"Th-These... you want all of these?" The gray-robed apprentice even began to stammer when he saw how many witchcraft spells Green had selected.

"Why, is there a problem?" Green asked curiously.

"O-Of course not. It's just that the price will be very high."

"I remember that the academy prices spell templates at one Magic Stone each. I selected around 279 templates, so the cost isn't a problem for me."

As he spoke, Green handed over his Magic Stone card.

Upon seeing the Magic Stone card in Green's hand, the gray-robed apprentice's shock vanished instead. A Magic Stone card required at least 100 Magic Stones to obtain. Any apprentice who could produce one was either wealthy or influential, a rising star of the academy.

"I'll process it for you immediately!"

The gray-robed apprentice took the card Green handed over, swiped it, and promptly returned it to him. Then he took another crystal ball from beneath the counter and placed it atop the first one.

The gray-robed apprentice took a deep breath and shouted in a low voice.

"Ekamanda—Uthera!"

After the gray-robed apprentice recited the incantation, the crystal ball below suddenly began to glow. A stream of blue light extended from within it, connecting to the crystal ball that had just been taken out. All manner of words flickered within the blue stream. The light soon vanished, but the gray-robed apprentice's face was already covered in sweat.

"These are the Witchcraft Models you purchased!" The gray-robed apprentice weakly handed the crystal ball to Green.

"Green! Long time no see!" Green took the crystal ball and was about to turn away when he heard a voice behind him.

Green turned around, and an unfamiliar face entered his sight.

The man calling Green's name had blond hair, fair skin, leather armor, and a longsword hanging from his waist.

"You are?" Green was confused. He clearly did not know this person, and no matter how he searched his memories, he found no impression of him.

"Haha, you really can't recognize me! I'm Bru!" the blond man said with a laugh.

"Ah!" Green simply could not connect the person before him with the previously decrepit Bru.

"Didn't I tell you? My aging was caused by an experiment. After drinking a youth potion, I naturally returned to my original appearance. How about it? Handsome, right?" Bru said smugly.

"You really are handsome." Green gave him a careful once-over. Bru looked like an aristocratic Knight, and with his handsome face and sunny disposition, he was indeed very attractive.

Bru glanced at Green's crystal ball. "You're here to buy spell models too? How about it? Do you need my financial support?"

"No need for that, Senior. What are you here for?" Green asked.

"The academy is about to hold its triennial Pale Forest Monster Cleanup. I'm planning to buy one or two defensive spells to prepare for the competition then," Bru explained.

"Pale Forest Monster Cleanup? What is that?" Green had been immersed in studying and knew nothing about such matters.

"Oh, I forgot you're a new student. Let me explain..."

"So that's how it is?" After listening to Bru's explanation, Green suddenly understood.

According to Bru, whether Wizard Apprentices or Formal Wizards, they constantly emitted a certain kind of radiation. Once large groups of wizards gathered in one place for a long time, it would trigger mutations in the surrounding creatures, transforming beasts into monsters.

The White Wizard Organization was somewhat better. Most cultivated positive energy, so even mutated monsters were not excessively vicious. The Black Wizard Organization was different. In order to accumulate more energy, some necromancy academies were even built directly atop graveyards, with evil spirits and all kinds of terrifying monsters wandering around their grounds every day.

This situation could not be ignored. As time passed, the monsters would grow increasingly powerful and had to be cleared out periodically. The Pale Forest lay outside the academy, and the academy arranged a large-scale cleanup every three years, while also using it to train Wizard Apprentices.

This was where the difference between white wizards and black wizards became apparent. White wizards rarely made students undertake life-threatening missions during their apprenticeship. Cleanup missions like this were generally carried out on a large scale to reduce apprentice casualties. Black wizards were far more simple and brutal. They directly divided the surrounding regions into ranks, then issued patrol and cleanup missions to apprentices within the academy. Prices among black wizards were generally high, so apprentices had no choice but to take missions under pressure. Yet apprentices had limited abilities, and thus the apprentice mortality rate among black wizards remained high year after year.

"Green, you don't need to worry. You're a new student, so during this cleanup mission, you'll most likely follow senior students and observe how witchcraft is used and how battles are fought. There won't be much danger. New students generally don't know any witchcraft, but you're already a Second-Class Apprentice. You can be helpful to the team, so you'll be very welcome. Are you interested in coming with me? I can definitely guarantee your safety!" Bru said to Green with a confident expression.

"Then thank you, Senior. How do we form a team?" Green asked.

"Your agreement is enough. I'll submit your name when the time comes. Just come to the academy gates when it starts," Bru told him.

Only after continuing to discuss the details with Bru did Green part ways with him.

Green had given some thought to doing the mission with Bru. Rather than teaming up with strangers, it was better to go with Bru. At least they understood each other to some extent and could get along.