Three Low-Grade Magic Stones

In the secluded forest, bizarre trees grew wildly everywhere, and a thick layer of fallen leaves lay beneath his feet.

Dago drew the dagger from his waist and began cutting apart the Shadow Leopard's hide, flesh, and bones.

He had no choice. He was alone, with no helper. Though he lacked the knowledge and experience to process magical materials, he decided to give it a try.

"A magical beast is still a kind of animal, right?" Dago muttered.

He skillfully opened its belly and removed the organs, then cut off the hide... processing the prey like an old hunter.

He had to quickly divide up the Shadow Leopard's corpse, because the spreading scent of blood might attract other predators.

Before long, he had finished cutting it apart and used the Ice Crystal Technique to freeze the chunks of meat.

A whole sheet of dark fur lay on the ground, writhing like a true shadow.

He could not bear to use the fur to wrap the meat again. He rolled it up and stuffed it into his bag, then laboriously hoisted the meat onto his shoulder.

This load of meat was much heavier. The Shadow Leopard's size was no joke, and he was struggling to carry it.

It's all money. Even if I can't handle it, I have to.

Only the fresh air between the trees and the tranquil, beautiful surroundings soothed his exhausted heart.

He walked for a while, rested for a while, and finally returned to the shelter around noon.

He dropped the meat from his shoulder onto the table with a thud, then went to the water vat to wash his hands and face. He immediately felt much more refreshed.

He took out a small portion of Shadow Leopard meat. Today, he would eat like a nobleman too.

He placed the meat on the grill and roasted it over charcoal until it sizzled.

As it roasted, he sprinkled on the seasonings he had mooched from Mariko. Once it was about eighty percent done, he began tearing into it.

"It's so good, I wouldn't let go even if someone slapped me."

Dago chewed in huge mouthfuls, not forgetting to offer his review.

Not only was it delicious, but he also felt threads of warm energy flowing through his body, smoothing away his physical fatigue.

He had not expected magical beast meat to have such a nourishing effect. He could not sell all of it.

After all, he was only eighteen and his body could still grow. Especially after stepping into the supernatural, his need for food had become even greater.

He decided to keep half the magical beast meat and take the rest into town to sell for magic stones.

As for the Shadow Leopard's fur, he would store it himself for now. He mainly did not know its value and was afraid of being cheated.

After thinking it over, Dago realized he could not simply hide the fur in the shelter, even if he did not know how much it was worth.

Judging by its color, though, its collectible value alone would be worth quite a few gold coins among ordinary people.

"Why not sew it into the inner layer of my apprentice robe? No one will be able to see it anyway." An idea suddenly struck Dago.

With that, he rummaged through the boxes beneath the wooden bed, found some needle and thread, and began sewing.

He finished before long. The Shadow Leopard's fur covered fully two-thirds of the broad robe.

Dago looked at the gray robe and nodded in satisfaction. Low-key, luxurious, and tasteful.

After putting on the gray apprentice robe, it felt slightly heavy and uncomfortable, but otherwise there were no problems.

After making his preparations, he took the chilled Shadow Leopard meat and a waterskin, then set off for Aina Town.

He first went to the familiar butcher shop in town, but after the fat owner learned that it was magical beast meat, he waved his hand and said he had no channel to sell it.

The customers at his butcher shop were poor people from the town's residential district. No one could afford expensive magical beast meat.

Dago thought that made sense, so he headed toward the town's Wizard Hall.

The Wizard Hall was where the supernatural and mundane worlds met. There should be a way to sell magical beast meat there.

Just as Dago had expected, after he explained his purpose at the counter for Second-Level Wizard Apprentices—

A middle-aged apprentice wizard behind the counter helped contact a wealthy merchant in town who was interested in buying it.

"The Wizard Hall will take twenty percent of the final sale price as the service fee for this transaction."

The middle-aged apprentice wizard spoke blandly.

Dago's mouth twitched, but he still agreed.

In the end, after meeting the wealthy merchant in the Wizard Hall and haggling for a while, they settled on six Low-Grade Magic Stones.

After deducting the Wizard Hall's service fee, he received a total of five magic stones from the transaction.

He had originally planned to shop around, but near the end of his discussion with the merchant—

The middle-aged apprentice wizard overseeing the transaction directly released his spiritual force cultivation, faintly placing pressure on Dago.

On the other party's home ground, Dago could only grit his teeth and swallow the loss.

He walked out of the Wizard Hall with clenched teeth, striding down the street with an unhappy expression. He suspected that the middle-aged apprentice wizard had some sort of arrangement with the wealthy merchant.

Although this transaction had earned him the equivalent of half a year's tuition, he had traded his life for it.

Dago still vividly remembered how dangerous it had been to hunt the Shadow Leopard.

If he had not had the advantage of daylight and the element of surprise, he definitely would not have been the Shadow Leopard's match.

It was a nocturnal magical beast. At night, its fur could even blend into darkness, making it nearly invisible. That was how it had earned the name Shadow Leopard.

If he had encountered the Shadow Leopard at night, he would have died long ago.

Dago took out the five Low-Grade Magic Stones he had just received, each about the size of a pigeon egg.

Holding them in his hand, he could clearly sense the energy particles accumulated within them.

With these five Low-Grade Magic Stones, the days ahead would be much easier.

"I'll never come to the Wizard Hall for a transaction again. They're nothing but bloodsuckers," Dago said bitterly.

After putting the magic stones back into his money pouch, Dago took out his pocket watch and checked the time. It was a little past three in the afternoon.

It was still early, so he walked over to Academy Square to have a look around.

He still had an intact Shadow Leopard hide in his hands, and he did not want to entrust it to anyone from the Wizard Hall again.

He decided to first learn about the magical beast hide market at Academy Square.

Now that he had money in his pocket, his entire mindset had changed.

Once he reached Academy Square, Dago even dared to stop in front of some stalls and casually ask about prices.

"A low-grade rune item, and you dare ask for fifteen magic stones? You might as well rob people."

Dago walked away from a stall with a look of "disgust."

After walking a little farther, Dago's gaze stopped at a stall covered in books.

His expression shifted slightly as he slowly approached it.

The stall owner was an elderly apprentice wizard who looked fairly old. He wore a faded gray robe that had been washed nearly white, but he looked full of energy.

Seeing a customer approach, the old apprentice wizard's eyes lit up, and he greeted Dago enthusiastically.

"Take a look. These are all low-level spells I collected back when I was studying."

Dago sensed the faint spiritual force fluctuations from the old apprentice wizard, stronger than his own. He politely nodded, then began carefully leafing through the books.

He only lacked one more incantation spell to meet one of the requirements for becoming a Third-Level Wizard Apprentice.

Moreover, based on this magical beast hunt, he also needed a detection-type spell.

Otherwise, if he encountered an awake Shadow Leopard's attack next time, he did not want to die without even knowing why.

These books appeared to have been compiled and bound by the old apprentice himself. Their covers all looked similar, differing only in thickness.

Dago began searching through them. Many looked like notebooks, and many covers had yellowed with age.

He casually picked one up and flipped through it. It was mostly cultivation insights, not what he needed.

"Do you have any detection-type spells?" Dago asked.

"Yes, yes. That yellowed book at the side is one."

He pointed at a book beside a stack of booklets and told Dago.

Dago picked it up and quickly flipped through it. "How much for this one?"

"Three Low-Grade Magic Stones," the stall owner quoted.

"One Low-Grade Magic Stone. I'm a poor apprentice with no magic stones," Dago haggled, wearing an expression that screamed poverty.

"Two Low-Grade Magic Stones. If you can't pay that, leave. Don't hold up my business."

The old apprentice frowned, his attitude gradually turning cold.

Dago gritted his teeth and bought it anyway.

He counted out two Low-Grade Magic Stones from his money pouch and handed them to the old apprentice, then took the book, stood up, and left the stall without looking back.

He searched other stalls for Moonlight Flowers, the raw material for potions, but after making a round, he did not see a single stall selling them.

He casually asked at a stall selling potion ingredients and learned that many magical materials had been placed under academy control due to the approaching war.

Their circulation and sale had been prohibited.

Stalls selling magical beast hides were even rarer. There was basically nothing that could offer him any useful reference.

Dago could only leave Academy Square in disappointment. It seemed he would have to rely on the Moonlight Flowers in the forest to verify his method. As for the Shadow Leopard hide, he would keep it for now.

The sun slanted westward, and it was nearly six by the time Dago returned to the shelter, full of frustration.

Dinner was lavish. Deer meat soup paired with the remaining magical beast meat. Dago treated himself well, letting the delicious food wash away the exhaustion in both body and mind.

After dinner, beneath a bright moon and sparse stars, he lit a fire and sat on a wooden stump outside, using the firelight to read the detection spellbook he had bought earlier.

He read the entire book from beginning to end. Based on the old apprentice's annotations, he quickly understood it and began trying it himself.

This spell simply expanded the range of his spiritual vision.

It's like a powerful flashlight, changing from scattered light to a focused beam. So that means the energy particles detected by spiritual vision can be seen farther away?

His spiritual vision, activated through the Meditation Technique, currently extended about two meters around him. That was also the range in which he could condense an Air Bullet.

Once he activated the Detection Technique, the detection range of his spiritual vision would increase tenfold, allowing him to sense energy particle fluctuations within twenty meters.

This spell was extremely effective against concealment-type spells. It could basically eliminate the Shadow Leopard's sort of sneaky ambushes from the shadows.

Without a doubt, this would increase the pace of his exploration in the southwestern part of the forest and help him develop the Moonlight Flowers sooner.

Once the academy's people discovered them first, his Moonlight Flowers would basically be lost to him.

Like the Resonance Art, the entire spell had only a single incantation.

A sapphire-blue halo flowed through his eyes as scattered energy particles entered his spiritual vision. He softly recited the incantation for the Detection Technique.

His spiritual force slowly flowed forward, as if parting a gentle fog of lies before his eyes, allowing him to see more and more emerging energy particles.

With that, he had gathered three incantation spells. He only needed his spiritual force to reach the standard to become a Third-Level Wizard Apprentice.