Equipment Upgrade

Upgrading equipment was no easy matter. Most of Richard's Magic Armor was substandard, with no room for further improvement.

Creating new Magic Armor required Magic Armor blueprints.

Gerald had quite a few Magic Armor blueprints, but obtaining them from him would cost no small number of Magic Stones.

Richard had just gone on a massive shopping spree, and the Magic Stones on him were nearly depleted. Completing upgrades for all his equipment in a short time was impossible.

Fortunately, he was in no hurry now.

Time howled past, and in the blink of an eye, Richard had reached his tenth year at the Academy.

Two years ago, with the help of the Intermediate Meditation Method, Richard's mental power had successfully broken through the threshold of thirty, making him an intermediate Wizard Apprentice. Now, his mental power had reached thirty-two, while his physique had risen to thirty due to the feedback effect.

This rate was not particularly fast among official apprentices, but for most ordinary apprentices, it was already a dimensionality-reducing blow.

After all, not just anyone could afford an Intermediate Meditation Method worth two thousand Magic Stones.

And during this time, Richard had not neglected upgrading his own equipment.

Central Black Tower 56th Floor.

As the final Rune was inscribed, Richard leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.

On the table before him, a black Greatsword covered in densely packed Runes continuously gave off waves of magical power.

"Finally done." Richard stretched lazily.

Crafting this Greatsword had taken him a full half year. To obtain its blueprint, he had handed over every Magic Stone he had saved over the past two years to Gerald.

But it had all been worth it.

The blueprint for this Greatsword was called Magic Eater, and its construction was exceedingly complex. As a Wizard Apprentice, Richard had spent half a year merely completing its first stage.

Yet even in its first stage, its effects were astonishing.

The core spell of the first stage of the Magic Eater Greatsword was called Greedy Demon Flame. Beyond its terrifying heat, it also possessed the effect of burning magical power. Once spells such as a magical barrier came into contact with Greedy Demon Flame, their magical power consumption would instantly increase severalfold.

For most impoverished apprentices, that was a fatal blow.

Magical power meant Magic Stones. The Magic Stone reserves of the overwhelming majority of Wizard Apprentices were not enough to support reckless spellcasting. Once they were tainted by Greedy Demon Flame, dispelling their spells was inevitable.

Of course, using Greedy Demon Flame also cost Richard a considerable amount of magical power.

But Richard's Magic Stone reserves were simply too abundant.

An income of four hundred Magic Stones a month was among the highest in the entire Academy.

Aside from the Magic Eater Greatsword, Richard had also crafted several pieces of Magic Armor during this period.

The Cloak of Concealment could reduce its wearer's sense of presence and conceal an apprentice's magical power fluctuations. When used together with Aura Concealment and the Silence Spell, it could even evade a Wizard's hasty search.

The Guardian Pendant automatically activated a magical shield lasting thirty seconds when struck by a spell attack. The shield could withstand spells of up to fifty Energy Level, and each activation consumed one-third of a Magic Stone.

In addition, Richard had the Vine Ring, which could summon a Twisted Vine to restrain enemies; a telescope bearing the Eagle Eye Technique; a Magic Drive Gun equipped with Magic-Breaking Bullets; a Magic Pocket with two cubic meters of storage space; Boots of Speed; a Mind Guard Ring; and all manner of miscellaneous small alchemical tools.

Preparing all these items had cost Richard seven or eight thousand Magic Stones.

But the results were undoubtedly worth it.

Richard now not only possessed defenses against all kinds of attacks, but also crowd control, acceleration, and a certain degree of long-range offense.

He could practically be called a mobile fortress.

After putting away the Greatsword, Richard habitually headed to Gerald's laboratory on the ninety-ninth floor of the Black Tower to pick up some freebies.

Gerald's laboratory was full of treasures. Materials he casually tossed aside could be priceless treasures to Wizard Apprentices, while discarded draft papers might solve problems that apprentices had pondered for years.

But to Richard, those things were secondary.

What he valued more were the items Gerald frequently used, such as the scalpel in his hand.

[Material: Enchanted Scalpel]

[Extractable technique: Gerald's Biological Dissection Technique]

[Extraction cost: 40 mental power]

[Extract?]

Looking at the information from the Miracle Furnace, Richard silently swallowed and put the scalpel back where it belonged.

He could not extract forty points of mental power yet.

Just as Richard was scavenging through the laboratory, the door suddenly opened, and Gerald and Anna walked in one after the other.

"Oh, Richard, you haven't come to the laboratory in half a year. Have you finished your Magic Eater Greatsword?" Gerald looked at Richard with a cheerful smile, but when his gaze caught the scalpel behind Richard, his expression abruptly changed. A thread of magical power flew from his hand and instantly pulled the scalpel into his grasp.

"You can't have this one." Gerald said warily.

Watching Gerald guard against him like a thief, Richard felt a wave of embarrassment cross his face.

As mentioned before, Richard often came to the laboratory to pick up freebies. Thus, whenever Richard visited, Gerald's laboratory would lose small items such as quills and draft paper.

Although Gerald found Richard's habit troublesome, he generally did not say anything.

Wizards all had their own peculiar quirks.

Seeing this, Anna could not help but laugh.

"Ahem, Teacher, Sister Anna, long time no see." Richard greeted them as though nothing had happened.

"Yes, it has been a long time." Anna smiled, then suddenly walked over to Richard and compared their heights.

"Time really flies. You were only this tall when you first came to the Academy."

Anna gestured to a height at her chest, while Richard was now taller than her.

Richard caught the implication in Anna's words.

"Sister Anna, are you going to take the Wizard Exam?"

Anna nodded. "Yes. In a few days, I'll go to the Dean's Secret Realm World to take the Wizard Exam."

The Wizard Exam—the final hurdle for Wizard Apprentices.

By passing the Wizard Exam, Wizard Apprentices gained the opportunity to advance to Wizardhood and become true members of the Wizard World.

"Sister Anna, you'll definitely pass. You're the most outstanding disciple Alchemy Master Gerald of the Black Tower Wizard Academy has produced in a thousand years," Richard encouraged her.

Anna smiled sweetly at his words, while Gerald beside her proudly stroked his beard.

"Richard is right. Anna, you've simply fought too little and lack understanding of other apprentices. You don't know what crooked melons and cracked dates they all are. As my prized disciple, you'll definitely pass the Wizard Exam."

Anna said nothing. In truth, she had never worried about whether she could pass the Wizard Exam. What she had always worried about was whether she could successfully advance.

There was nearly a thirty percent chance of failure when advancing to Wizardhood. Once the advancement failed, a Wizard Apprentice would be forever barred from becoming a Wizard.

For a Wizard Apprentice, nothing was more terrifying than a failed advancement.

After chatting a little longer, Richard saw that Anna had something to discuss with Gerald, so he consciously left the laboratory and returned to his room on the Fifty-Sixth Floor.

"The Wizard Exam... Mine is coming soon too." Richard looked at the calendar on the table. Only one month remained until the Academy's Bloody Exam. One month later, over four thousand apprentices of the Academy would begin a brutal slaughter. Those who succeeded would continue down the path of Wizards, while those who failed would become nourishment for others.

According to the rumors he had heard, every Bloody Exam eliminated at least half of the apprentices. When competition was especially fierce, there could even be the horrifying outcome of one survivor out of three, or one out of four.

Whenever he thought of this, Richard felt an indescribable emotion in his heart.

He felt that the Wizard Academy's system had some kind of problem, yet he could not say exactly where.

But he quickly cast those feelings aside.

Natural selection; survival of the fittest.

He could not change the rules now. He could only adapt to them.