Thoughts

"Don't agree so quickly. Think it through—this will take a lot of time."

Fray said seriously, "If you really plan to help him handle miscellaneous matters, then you won't have time for the registration and reporting job. I'll send someone else instead."

Representing the Fire-Earth School at the Wizard Tower entrance to handle registration and reports was actually a cushy job. It was safe, leisurely, and paid twenty Contribution Points every month.

Fray had only assigned it to Kateya because she had a decent image and was his student.

But if she went to help Lohr handle miscellaneous affairs, she would no longer be able to stay at the Wizard Tower entrance all the time, so someone else naturally had to take over.

Kateya hesitated for only a moment. When she thought of the several Second-Circle Wizards discussing Lohr's affairs, she gritted her teeth and said firmly,

"Mentor, I'm sure I want to become his experimental assistant."

She felt that with her aptitude, becoming an Official Wizard would be difficult if she merely guarded the entrance for twenty Contribution Points a month. But following Lohr might be different.

"Fine. I'll go find someone to replace you first. Keep accompanying him around the Grand Library." Fray nodded, lightly stamped his foot, and vanished from where he stood.

"Earthvein Traversal Spell is so convenient." Kateya looked enviously at the spot where Fray had disappeared.

"Unfortunately, you need to be at least a First-Circle Wizard to construct its model."

Click—

At that moment, Lohr pulled open the door. Seeing Kateya still waiting there, he smiled. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go take a look at the Grand Library."

"I didn't wait that long."

Kateya began leading the way again. As they walked, she said in a deliberately casual tone,

"Lohr, I thought about the question you raised earlier. You seem very confident that you can improve spells. You didn't even ask me what other ways there were to earn Contribution Points."

"Mm. Back on the airship, I improved Wall of Flame based on instinct." Lohr nodded. "It should have become a little stronger, though I'm not sure. We can test it later."

After learning about the current era of the Wizard Tower, he no longer had any intention of hiding his progress.

Earning Contribution Points faster and in greater amounts was now his only goal.

As long as he had enough Contribution Points, he could hire a Third-Circle Archwizard to take him away from this damned place called Murphy Continent.

"I think you lack an experimental assistant, and I can become a qualified one." Kateya did not take Lohr's bold claims seriously, but she still seized the opportunity.

"An experimental assistant?" Lohr raised a brow. "You trust that I can secure a laboratory?"

"You might not be able to now, but you definitely will in the future."

Kateya said earnestly, "I believe in your experiences and in Wizard Mara's judgment."

"And before you officially have a laboratory, I can help you handle various matters, such as bringing meals and buying materials, saving you time."

"Then happy cooperation." Lohr smiled and nodded, agreeing to Kateya's request.

He did indeed need someone to handle miscellaneous tasks for him. Kateya was willing, and she was also a Third-Level Apprentice with some ability to resolve problems.

There was no reason to refuse something that benefited them both.

"Happy cooperation, Lord Lohr." Having achieved her goal, Kateya beamed.

Outside the central Grand Library on the seventh floor of the Wizard Tower.

Lohr looked the place over and discovered that the Grand Library had no roof. Instead, it connected directly to the dome of the seventh floor of the Wizard Tower.

It was a circular building roughly two miles in diameter. There were countless apprentices at the entrance and exit, no fewer than at the Wizard Tower's own entrances.

The only difference from the Wizard Tower entrances was that every one of them wore two-colored wizard robes.

"This is the Dual-Element Apprentice Library on the seventh floor."

Kateya pointed at the library ahead and introduced it. "There are three floors inside. The apprentice-level spell models for earth-water, earth-wood, and earth-fire dual elements each occupy one floor."

"Our earth-fire apprentice-level spell models are on the third floor, and that floor also has the fewest spell models."

"Then where are the earth-element apprentice spell models?" Lohr asked.

"On the sixth floor. The first through third levels of the sixth floor are all earth-element apprentice spell models," Kateya replied.

Lohr nodded. "All right. Take me to see the earth-element apprentice spell models first."

What concerned him most right now was whether this era had a Microscope Spell Model. That thing was extremely important to him.

Everything else could wait.

"Okay." Kateya answered and led Lohr into the library with the crowd, walking along the edges of rows of bookshelves toward the stairs leading down.

After descending the stairs, Kateya stopped and pointed at the rows of bookshelves inside the library.

"Lord Lohr, these are all earth-element apprentice spell models. The next two floors are as well. If there's a model you're looking for, you can tell me. I might know something about it."

"Is there a micro... uh, a spell model that can help a wizard see extremely tiny objects in their Sea of Consciousness?"

Lohr was unsure whether Microscope Spell existed in this era, or whether it was even called that now, so his description was vague.

"See more clearly..." Kateya frowned and sank into thought.

Seeing that Kateya could not come up with anything after a long while, Lohr's heart sank.

Microscope Spell might have had a different name now, but such a useful spell was surely not something a Third-Level Wizard Apprentice would fail to have even heard of, right?

Creating a spell from scratch really was troublesome.

For something like optimizing a spell model, he only needed to add some Charge Points.

In the future, for Fusion Spells, he would know the formula and only need to use Charge Points to adjust it. It would not be too difficult.

But when creating a spell from scratch, Charge Points could not help before a rudimentary rune model had truly been created.

Yet once a rudimentary rune spell had been made, it would be fixed in form. Whether it succeeded or failed, it could no longer be changed.

Lohr obviously would not use himself as an experiment, so he could only have first- and second-level wizard apprentices whose prospects were already ruined and who merely wanted to live out their remaining years help him.

The price...

Of course, there was a solution. Like the laboratories Kateya had introduced before, they received a certain quota of wizard apprentices for experiments every year.

Kateya thought for several minutes but still could not think of a spell that fit the requirements. She said helplessly,

"I really haven't heard of an earth-element apprentice-level spell like that. There are long-range detection spells like Eagle Eye Spell, and there are some above the First Circle too, such as Earthvein Detection Spell and Dynamic Analysis Spell."

"Let's look around first." Lohr clung to a sliver of hope. "If we can't find it in an hour, forget it."

Spells like Eagle Eye Spell were detection spells, completely different from the Microscope Spell he wanted.

"Okay." Kateya nodded and headed east to search, while Lohr went west.

Inside a core laboratory on the twenty-seventh floor of the Wizard Tower.

Mara, along with a middle-aged and an elderly wizard wearing red-and-yellow wizard robes with two rings on their collars, sat around a magic array and examined the light screen above it.

Displayed on the light screen was Lohr's figure.

Behind them stood more than ten First-Circle Wizards in red-and-yellow wizard robes, watching the show. Kateya's mentor, Fray, was among them.

"A spell that helps wizards see extremely tiny objects in their Sea of Consciousness..."

Mara's eyes lit up. "That's a good line of thought. The question is where to begin."

"I'm regretting more and more that I didn't pull him into the Fire Element School back then."