Microscope Spell Model Complete, Verification

"All right."

Tia shrugged, pulled the microscope in front of herself, examined it from top to bottom, then looked up in confusion. "How do you use this thing?"

"First, place something here, then..." Lohr patiently explained it to her.

"Huh?!"

Following his instructions, Tia placed a piece of parchment beneath the microscope. Fine structures and textures came into view.

"How amazing."

After exclaiming in admiration, she moved her finger beneath it, only to see a patch of darkness. She looked up at Lohr in confusion.

"Don't use your finger. You won't be able to see it," Lohr said, shaking his head as he explained.

"This microscope can only observe translucent objects. If you scraped off a bit of skin and put it under there, you'd be able to see it clearly."

"All right, I roughly understand what this item is for."

Tia did not actually scrape off a piece of skin. Instead, she looked at Lohr seriously.

"I have to admit, this is an excellent item, especially for Bloodline Wizards below the Second Ring."

"I'll submit this... Does it have a name?"

"I named it the microscope," Lohr replied.

"All right. I'll submit the microscope's information to the Council Magical Artifact Data Center for the reviewing wizards to evaluate."

Tia said, "Once the assessment is complete and the contribution points are issued, I'll notify you to come collect them."

"All right, thank you." Lohr nodded.

"You're welcome, great genius. You're welcome to come again next time," Tia said with a smile.

Unlike her earlier teasing, this time she genuinely acknowledged Lohr's title as a genius.

During the time she had spent handling it, she had already more or less grasped the principles behind the microscope.

The thing looked simple, and elemental power merely served as a source of illumination.

But anyone who had not thought of it would never think of it.

After bidding Tia farewell, Lohr returned to the dormitory with Kateya, only to find Wizard Fray standing outside the door.

"Mentor."

"Wizard Fray."

The two immediately bowed.

"Mm."

Fray nodded, took out a cyan card from his space ring, and walked over to Lohr.

"The duplicate-check results for yesterday's optimized Wall of Flame model are out. Your optimized model has a 65% overlap with the models in the Council Archive."

"The base reward for 35% apprentice-level optimization innovation is 350 contribution points. Support for multi-element school optimizations doubles that amount, making it 700 contribution points."

"Take out your contribution card. I'll transfer them to you."

"Yes, Wizard Fray." Suppressing his excitement, Lohr took out his contribution card and connected it to Fray's.

He had only spent 15 charge points optimizing the Wall of Flame model, yet he had now received 700 contribution points in return.

The exchange rate between contribution points and magic stones was one to one. That was equivalent to 7,000 charge points.

He could not spend them all even if he tried!

A return of nearly five hundred times. The first batch of internal testers for Radiance of Truth really had it good. No wonder those who didn't meet with accidents later all became at least Fourth-Ring Wizards, Lohr thought to himself.

After transferring the contribution points, Fray did not linger and directly vanished.

Lohr took Kateya into the study and began seriously constructing the microscope model in his sea of consciousness.

With Kateya helping him look up information and handle miscellaneous matters, Lohr's construction speed increased considerably.

The originally estimated month was shortened by at least a third.

If he encountered difficult problems, he could also ask Agular questions under the pretext of the microscope, shortening the time even further.

Ten days later.

Lohr added the final stroke to the parchment and let out a soft breath.

"Kateya, go find an apprentice to try constructing this model."

He sat behind the desk, his face full of fatigue, but unable to conceal the excitement in his eyes.

In ten days, he had personally created the first step toward becoming a Space Wizard: the microscope model.

The sense of accomplishment was truly beyond words.

"All right, I'll go right away." Kateya nodded, equally excited as she hurried out of Lohr's dormitory.

She had contributed a little to the creation of this spell model as well.

I hope everything goes smoothly.

Watching Kateya leave, Lohr silently thought to himself.

He then stood up, gathered all the discarded parchment scattered across the study, and carefully placed it in a small box in the bedroom.

Besides the discarded drafts, the small box also held 513 magic stones, which counted as nearly half of his savings.

During these ten days, the contribution points from the microscope had come through as well.

It was not much, only 500, but it was still an extra gain.

Once my laboratory application is approved, I can convert all these magic stones into charge points.

Lohr stroked the box and thought, Then I'll add some points to Fireball Spell and Rock Wall Spell and see how much of a return I can get.

In truth, he did not have high hopes for the returns from Fireball Spell and Rock Wall Spell.

After all, single-element wizards had long since developed their paths to the limit, and their spells had naturally been optimized to near perfection.

There was definitely not much room left for Lohr to optimize.

If he truly wanted to earn contribution points, he would have to rely on dual-element earth-and-fire spells.

Unfortunately, he could not delete his account now, and he only had so many spell slots.

Aside from learning the fundamental offensive, defensive, and escape spells, everything had to prepare him for becoming a Space Wizard. He could not squeeze out many contribution points that way.

Actually, there's no need to rush. Once I become a Space Wizard in the future, would I still lack charge points? Lohr closed the box and shook his head with a laugh.

Without thinking further, he sat cross-legged on the bed and began meditating, hoping to recover more energy before Kateya brought someone over.

Two hours later.

"Knock, knock, knock—"

A knock sounded outside the dormitory. Lohr woke from meditation, got up, and went to open the door.

Besides Kateya, there was also an immature-looking boy outside.

He looked twelve or thirteen, yet he was a head shorter than Lohr.

After all, Lohr had added 2 points to his physique, and his body had improved without him even realizing it.

"Lord Lohr, his name is Berk, and he's willing to sell a spell slot."

Kateya said somewhat helplessly, "His price is 300 contribution points. Among the apprentices willing to privately sell spell slots, that's already the lowest asking price."

Selling a spell slot to a laboratory earned 200 contribution points.

Naturally, the price would be higher in a private sale.

Seeing that the person buying his spell slot was only a First-Level Apprentice, while even a Third-Level Apprentice treated him with such respect, Berk could not help but feel shocked.

However, he said nothing. As long as he received enough contribution points, it did not matter who bought his spell slot.

"That works."

Lohr nodded, led the two into the study, and handed the boy a contract. "Sign this, and I'll give you 300 contribution points."

"All right."

Berk picked up the parchment and examined it. Finding no problems, he decisively signed the contract, then took out a white crystal card.

Lohr also took out his crystal card, tapped it three times, and connected it to the boy's crystal card. "It's been transferred."

Berk checked the balance on his crystal card. After confirming there was no problem, he immediately asked, "What spell do you want me to learn?"

"This spell." Lohr picked up another piece of parchment from the desk. It naturally contained the microscope spell model.

"All right. I need an hour."

Berk nodded and took the parchment. He glanced around, then finally walked to the other side of the desk and sat in the chair where Kateya usually rested, beginning to memorize the spell rune model on the parchment.

Lohr sat behind the desk with his eyes slightly closed, his fingers unconsciously tracing his chin.

Even with his composure, he could not help feeling nervous now.

This represented ten days of his hard work, along with the cost of 300 contribution points.

If it failed, even if not all his efforts were wasted, at least half of them would be.