Goals, Debate

"Sure enough, I could only see the surface for now. I couldn't even see elemental molecules."

Lohr smiled. "There's no rush. Once I gradually upgrade the microscope runes in the future, I'll be able to explore the microscopic elemental realm."

In just ten days, he had already been very satisfied with his current progress.

Besides the 500 contribution points he earned each month as a laboratory researcher, he could also absorb magic crystal energy without restraint and convert it into charge points.

With enough charge points, he could optimize several other spell models and fleece them for another haul.

"Unfortunately, mental power still has to improve gradually. It can't be rushed."

Lohr sighed. "I wonder when the Divine Kingdom Exploration Tournament will begin. Once it does, even if I become a First-Circle Wizard directly inside, no one would find it suspicious."

His mental power had now risen to 6.1. Once it reached 10 points, he would become a Second-Level Apprentice and gain two spell slots.

At his current rate of gaining 0.2 mental power every ten days, it would take more than half a year to become a Second-Level Apprentice.

At 30 points, he could advance to a Third-Level Apprentice and gain another two spell slots.

Becoming a Third-Level Apprentice would take more than three years.

And to reach the threshold for breaking through to wizard, he would have to raise his mental power to 100 points.

That was still a distant prospect.

As for using potions and the like to speed things up, they came with side effects. There was no need for that yet.

"Becoming a Third-Level Apprentice within four years is acceptable, but becoming an official wizard would be far too slow."

Lohr shook his head. "I hope the Divine Kingdom Exploration Tournament can be held at least once within eight years."

After developing the Microscope Spell, he now had three main goals. The first was to become an official wizard within eight years.

The second was to save enough contribution points during that time and find a Third-Circle Wizard to take him to another continent.

"I wonder whether I can use the laboratory to find a way to contact a Third-Circle Wizard, and how many contribution points it would cost to post a task." Lohr thought to himself.

Traveling to other continents, the greatest obstacle in this era was the strange beasts in the sea.

Among them were no shortage of terrifying existences.

Unlike the land, which had gone through round after round of purges until only a few minor creatures remained.

Only a Third-Circle Wizard could ensure safety.

Unfortunately, Third-Circle Wizards were not people one could contact just by wanting to. In the task hall on the seventh floor of the Wizard Tower, one could at most post tasks for Third-Level Apprentices.

Higher-level tasks were probably on the upper floors.

As a result, even now, Lohr had no idea how many contribution points it would take to hire a Third-Circle Wizard to bring him to another continent.

"If all else fails, I can ask my mentor to help post a task when the time comes. I'll just have to come up with a good reason."

On the twenty-seventh floor of the Wizard Tower, inside an estate.

Gulei and Agular sat facing each other. On the long table before them lay only a single sheet of parchment, making it look rather empty.

"Gulei, take a look at this spell."

Agular said in a deep voice, "Lohr developed this Microscope Spell in just ten days."

"Now I'm wondering whether having him follow our path and help optimize spells by providing inspiration would be too wasteful."

His original plan had been to let Lohr choose one of the paths opened by either himself or Gulei.

With Lohr's talent for optimizing spell runes, he would at least be able to provide them with some inspiration.

But after Lohr developed such a useful spell in such a short time, Agular's thoughts had gradually begun to shift.

If Lohr were given more freedom to choose, might he bring even greater surprises?

Doing so might benefit Agular less, but if Lohr reached the Third Circle or even higher, it would definitely significantly improve the position of the Earth-Fire School wizards on the Murphy Continent.

"I'll take a look first."

Gulei reached out, picked up the parchment on the table, and examined it carefully.

About ten minutes later, he set down the parchment, looked up at Agular, and said with a smile,

"Interesting. He probably only thought of creating this spell because he couldn't find it in the library, right?"

"Because he couldn't find it, he created it, and he did so in such a short time. Truly decisive and wise."

At that point, Gulei paused. His expression turned serious. "I don't deny that he's a genius, but does that mean the path a genius chooses must be the right one?"

"That isn't how it works, Agular."

"Think carefully. Among the geniuses from your generation, how many chose their own paths, recklessly fused spells, and ended up becoming useless?"

"During my apprenticeship, I personally saw at least five geniuses from other Elemental Schools become useless because of that. Even now, they're still First-Circle Wizards."

"Among them, at least two displayed talent no less remarkable than Lohr's."

"After becoming a wizard, I saw even more genius apprentices turn into failures this way."

"Agular, don't tell me you've never seen it."

There was no denying that his words contained some selfish motives.

But more than that, he was genuinely worried about Lohr's future.

"I've seen more than you have." Agular shook his head and said softly, "But in the Earth-Fire School, I've only seen one Lohr. He's a true genius of our school."

"You only spoke of those geniuses who failed to fuse spells, but what about those who succeeded?"

"Those Fourth-Circle Dual-Element Wizards, beings capable of rivaling Fifth-Circle Single-Element Wizards—more than half of them were born because of fused spells."

"If Lohr truly..."

"Have you lost your mind?"

Gulei slammed his fist against the table, interrupting Agular. Somewhat displeased, he said,

"Among how many geniuses on Lohr's level can one such great existence appear?"

"Saying fewer than three in a thousand would not be an exaggeration at all."

"In any case, I absolutely cannot watch Lohr become ruined. If you give up on making him choose your core spell system, I'll force him to construct mine."

"Then let's wait and see. For now, help him apply for a laboratory." Agular sighed.

After hearing Gulei's words, he also felt that he had indeed been indulging in fantasy.

The main reason was that it was his first time teaching such a genius, and Lohr's talent had affected him.

Without realizing it, he had become full of expectations for Lohr's future, disregarding the mere three-in-a-thousand chance of success.

"Fine. Handle the laboratory application yourself. I'm leaving first." Gulei nodded, then used the Earth-Vein Traversal Spell and vanished from the spot.

"A three-in-a-thousand chance..." Agular looked at the crack Gulei had punched into the long table, his thoughts in turmoil.

For Second-Circle Wizards like them, who had not dared fuse spells, the chance of reaching the Third Circle was only around five percent.

As for reaching the Fourth Circle, they would be fortunate to have even a one-in-ten-thousand chance, and they would at most be slightly stronger than ordinary Fourth-Circle single-element wizards.

In fact, there were Earth-Fire School wizards on other continents who had successfully optimized their advancement, and even advanced to the Third Circle by fusing spells.

Unfortunately, those people were rather stingy and simply refused to make their spells public in the Wizard Alliance Database.

As for the Fourth Circle, there truly were none.

Lohr already had a three-in-a-thousand chance of opening a road to the heavens. That was very high.

"If I insist, Gulei will be difficult to deal with. It's better to observe Lohr's future performance first. If he remains this astonishing..."