Inspiration (Please Keep Reading)

"That's some terrifying strength. Is this what the Academy's top apprentices are like?"

Richard watched Eric in the center of the hall and sighed. As a Wizard Apprentice engaged in Bloodline Alchemy, he had gained a clearer understanding of the wand-wielding apprentice during that brief clash.

If the force behind that strike had landed on him, even a graze would have wounded him, and a direct hit would have killed him.

Yet Eric had caught such a blow with effortless ease.

"My mentor said that Senior Eric is Vice Dean Alex's prized disciple," Ellie said casually. "I heard he's so strong that even the Vice Dean wanted him to withdraw from the Wizard Exam, go straight home, accept his family's resources, and become a wizard."

"A family?" Richard was startled. "Senior Eric came from a Wizard Family?"

As one of the symbols of the Wizard World's Enlightenment Period, Wizard Families still existed today. Yet compared to their former glory, they had become far more secretive. Some powerful Wizard Families used Academies as their public face, while weaker ones chose to join an Academy and become retainers of great wizards, hoping to get a slice of the pie in this age of expansion.

But whether strong or weak, Wizard Families cultivated their descendants far better than ordinary wizard descendants.

"Yes, but I only heard it from my teacher too."

As the Exchange Meeting continued, the atmosphere in the hall gradually grew livelier. To music from who knew where, apprentices who knew one another began dancing in the center of the hall.

"Richard, want to dance for a while?" Ellie asked, somewhat bored.

This scene was very familiar to her. As the daughter of a wealthy merchant, she had attended no shortage of balls hosted by nobles.

"I'll pass on the dancing." Richard brushed off several apprentices who had come over to strike up a conversation. Though he usually kept to himself, some well-informed apprentices still knew what he looked like.

"I'm not good at it."

He was beginning to regret coming to this Exchange Meeting. At this hour under normal circumstances, he should have been reading in his dormitory or brewing Magic Potions.

Not wasting time here making awkward conversation with a group of apprentices each harboring their own schemes.

"Then let's go back. This Exchange Meeting feels no different from those nobles' parties."

At the other end of the hall, Joseph was holding forth grandly among a group of apprentices. Compared to Richard's lack of renown, Joseph, as Master Ulrich's formal apprentice and a wizard descendant, might not have been a name that thundered in everyone's ears, but his reputation was certainly widespread among the apprentices.

"Brother Joseph, I heard you can now skillfully brew Focus Potions?" an apprentice fawned.

Joseph drained the wine in his cup in one gulp and said proudly, "You heard right. My teacher has already given me the Focus Potion formula. From now on, Ulrich's Alchemy Shop will put at least fifty bottles of Focus Potion on sale every month!"

The moment he said this, the surrounding apprentices were instantly shocked.

Ulrich's Alchemy Shop did sell Focus Potions, but its output had always been unstable. Some months, it put thirty or fifty bottles on sale; other months, there were only a few bottles. Thus, although Focus Potions were priced at five Magic Stones per bottle at Ulrich's shop, in transactions between apprentices, they often sold for a third more. If several months in a row had low output, the price might even double or rise higher still.

Hoarding Focus Potions had practically become a business.

Joseph watched the surrounding apprentices' reactions with satisfaction. His success rate in brewing Magic Potions was approaching one half. Even his teacher had praised such talent, which was why Ulrich had passed the Focus Potion formula on to him.

Just as he was feeling pleased with himself, he suddenly spotted two apprentices walking out through the doors of the hall.

One of them looked especially familiar.

"Ellie?"

Joseph's alcohol-addled mind was a little sluggish, but before he could make sure, the two apprentices vanished beyond the doors.

"Forget it. So what if it was her?" Joseph shook his head.

He was not lacking women around him now. She was merely a pretty woman with some talent—let her go play around with that wild apprentice.

A short-sighted woman who would never amount to anything. One day, she would have plenty to regret.

With that thought, Joseph continued drinking and talking with the crowd, savoring the feeling of being surrounded by stars.

The Exchange Meeting did not change Richard's life. Dull, tedious, boring—this was the main theme of a Wizard Apprentice's life, and even a wizard's life.

Over the next three months, Richard spent most of his time brewing Magic Potions. Throughout the process, he had been doing one thing—recording data. As bottle after bottle of Magic Potion was successfully brewed, his data gradually grew more abundant.

"Hmm... still no significant pattern."

After researching all night, Richard looked at the thick notebook of notes before him. It contained data on every potion he had made these past days. He had thought he could find some pattern in this data, thereby increasing the success rate of Magic Potion brewing and perhaps even achieving mass production.

But for now, his idea had failed.

"Can brewing Magic Potions really only rely on experience and feeling?" Richard stared at the data in discouragement.

Wizards valued seeking truth from facts. Numbers did not lie. No significant pattern meant no significant pattern.

Richard tossed the notebook aside and began wondering whether he had missed something. Otherwise, he should not have conducted hundreds of experiments without finding even the slightest pattern.

Just then, someone knocked on his door.

Ellie stood outside with dark circles beneath her eyes. Yawning, she handed Richard a stack of manuscript paper.

"Richard, I separated out what you wanted. This Ice Cone Spell is really amazing. After breaking down its Rune structure, I found that most of its Runes are used to generate power, while only a tiny portion is used to condense the ice cone.

"That basically never appears in other Elemental Magic."

Richard flipped through the manuscript paper. It recorded Ellie's process of dismantling the spell. On the final page, Richard saw a spell model containing only a single ring of Runes.

"This is the Ice Cone Spell's source of power. I hope this is what you wanted." Ellie yawned again. She had barely slept these past few days, spending every waking hour breaking down spells for Richard.

"Good. You've worked hard. This is very helpful to me." Richard rubbed Ellie's head. "Go back and rest. You've had a hard time these past few days."

"Hehe, then I'm going back."

Carrying the manuscript paper back to his desk, Richard decided to clear his head and stop thinking about Magic Potions for now.

"Ice Cone Spell... let me see what you can do."

Richard read through Ellie's manuscript paper. It thoughtfully recorded the efficiency with which this ring of Runes converted magical power.

"Sixty percent? The conversion rate is this high?" Richard looked at the record on the paper in surprise. A sixty percent conversion rate meant that if he put in one unit of magical power, 0.6 units would be converted into the Ice Cone's kinetic energy.

If that conversion efficiency were applied to the internal combustion engines of his previous life, the Nobel Prize would have to be renamed after him.

But he soon discovered that this value was theoretical. It changed with the Rune's medium—the higher the medium's magical conductivity, the closer its efficiency came to fifty percent.

"Converting magical power... magical power..."

Suddenly, Richard froze.

He suddenly realized what he had overlooked.

He had recorded the materials' physical changes, chemical changes, and all sorts of scattered data, but he alone had failed to record the changes in the potion's magical power during brewing.

The experience of his previous life had blinded him. In a world with magical power, magical power should have been the most important part of a Magic Potion!

With understanding suddenly pouring into him like light through a crack, Richard dashed out of his room—then ran right back in.

Going downstairs was too slow!

He leaped out through the balcony window, then sprinted toward the Commercial District.

Right now, he needed a little help.