"Little Garrett? Gone?"
The Lord of Thunder paused at his fingertips. In front of him, in the porcelain cup, a strand of pure white foamy milk rose from the side and skillfully poured into the coffee cup. Interrupted like this, the perfect swan spreading its wings pattern in the cup skewed, and immediately, an extra tail appeared at the outer edge of the swanâs wing.
To the left of the legendary mage, a silver-white feather pen was busy writing on its own. As the pattern failed, the feather pen also stopped moving, with a snap, lying on the paper like a normal pen.
"Tell me the details of the matter." The legendary mage took a sip of coffee and slowly spoke. Carlisle the Archmage dared not delay and immediately reported to his teacher. The Lord of Thunder listened quietly, then chuckled:
"Useless."
"Tea... teacher?"
"He wants to enter the Black Crow Swamp, he entered it long ago. If he still hesitates after a year, it means the School of Necromancy isnât interesting enough to attract him. As for occasionally playing with corpses, itâs not a strange hobby for healers to play with corpses, so donât bother him."
Carlisle the Archmage nodded obediently. The Lord of Thunder ignored him, pouring the failed latte art into the sink. With a wave of his fingertips, everything on the table began to move by itself, coffee beans started grinding themselves, milk started frothing and pouring into the foam cup, and then started to be whipped...
In the coffee cup, the pure white swan finally spread its wings. The Lord of Thunder showed a satisfied expression, took a small sip, and nodded:
"Well, but we canât completely ignore it, making it seem like we donât care at all. So, I think the little guy is really going down the path of a healer. Both times he advanced, there was a breakthrough in healing magicâ"
"When heâs had enough fun, urge him to quickly finish the mithril task and then find another healing-related task to keep him busy. This way, we can distract his attention and see if thereâs anything else he lacks, just put it in the rewards for the mithril task."
So, when Garrett came to his senses from the joy of dissecting corpses and was about to return to his normal routine, he received an urgent message:
"Has the mithril refining project been completed?"
"Ah... isnât it too early?"
Garrett glanced at the leaden clouds outside.
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In winter, Nevis City was shrouded in winter rain. Eight out of ten days it rained, and on the rare days when it didnât rain, it was still gloomy. It was a face that seemed to say, "Iâll rain as soon as you step out."
But for Garrett, who was a bit of a homebody, bad weather meant he didnât want to go out.
"Itâs not early!"
Aurora Worton, tasked with delivering the message, looked frustrated.
Her boss was really generous when he wanted to be, but also really lazy. Clearly, the results were already there, but he insisted on delaying the submission for a month. What was he thinking?
Submitting the results meant getting rewarded!
"Boss, my senior brother has already written the part about electric current refining; Iâve also written the part about refining with the fire element. A few days ago, I even went to the mine. The current monthly output is ten times higher than before you took over the project..."
The boss just started it and then left it, leaving poor Aurora, a kinetic mage, to squat in the mine for half a month, collecting materials, making records, and being plied with alcohol by dwarves. Wasnât it hard enough for her!
With such resentment, Aurora brought a thick stack of papers and slammed them in front of Garrett:
"Boss, take a look. If thereâs nothing to change, can we submit it for completion?"
Garrett skimmed through the paperâtable of contents, abstract, conclusion. Then, he casually closed the paper:
"Weâre still missing the final part."
"Still missing?!"
"Of course, weâre still missing!âWell then, tomorrow, accompany me to the forge district. I want to see if the dwarves have come to their senses."
The dwarves had indeed come to their senses. Garrett, wearing a full set of magical defensesânot because he was afraid of danger, but mainly to keep dryâarrived at the entrance of the forge district, and as soon as he asked, he saw Master Talbertâs eyes light up.
Next to him, the bearded dwarf guarding the entrance to the mithril area seemed eager to rush forward and hug Garrettâs legs:
"Yeah! The production volume canât go up anymore! Weâre in desperate need of ore, and even the idle hands have gone to mine, but itâs still not enough!"
So, we lack ore?
The mining efficiency isnât high enough, is it?
Garrett smiled confidently.
Returning to Nevis City, Garrett immediately gathered a bunch of things and headed to the peak. What he was about to do next was quite dangerous, mainly because it was prone to explosions. He was a bit reluctant to blow up his own laboratory, so naturally, he went to mooch off others.
Anyway, there were so many laboratories in the Tower of Elemental Mages, he could use them anytime. It was said that renting a laboratory also cost money, but Aurora had taken care of it for him, and Garrett had not earned any contribution points himself...
He cheerfully occupied a laboratory, hung a sign saying "occupied," and locked the door. The news quickly spread to the Tower of Heaven, and Master Decar shrugged at his disciple:
"You see, here he comes."
Garrett, who had thrown himself into the net, was unaware that people in the Tower of Heaven were discussing him. Equipped with full magical defenses, he filled a large basin with half water, called for Aurora:
"Aurora, Frost Beam!"
Aurora Worton: "So, am I just a tool for making ice?"
Complaints aside, he still had to listen to the boss. With a grimace, Aurora threw Frost Beams into the basin until it was filled with tiny ice cubes. Then, she watched as Garrett inserted a test tube into the basin, dropped sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and glycerin into the test tube...
And nothing happened.
"Oh, maybe the sulfuric acid and nitric acid arenât concentrated enough? Letâs purify them and try again..."
"Try again..."
"Try again..."
BOOM!
"Uh, the reaction was too fast, letâs slow down this time..."
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Aurora Worton went from nervous to relaxed, then from relaxed to numb. Eventually, apart from periodically reinforcing defensive spells for Garrett, he was just mechanically recording the experimental process:
"One milliliter of concentrated sulfuric acid, one milliliter of concentrated nitric acid, mix thoroughly, cool in the ice-water mixture to 0 degrees... slowly add dehydrated glycerin... exploded... hmm, this time it didnât explode?"
Aurora curiously stretched her neck, looking at the clear yellow liquid in the test tube, showing a cautious expression:
"Again?"
Aurora curiously stretched her neck, looking at the clear yellow liquid in the test tube, showing a cautious expression:
"Again?"
"Yep! Someoneâs already made it?"
"Yeah! This thingâs totally useless! Itâs not easy to ignite, and if you leave it alone, it might explode again at any time! The Alchemy Guild made a bunch of them, but no one wants themâ"
"But since itâs been made, if you want it, you can order it!"
Garrett: "..."
Embarrassing.
He needed to go through all these alchemical products when he had the time. Who knew what chaotic names theyâd come up with after making things?
But still, he felt more at ease making this stuff himself, especially since it could be taken orally as medicine. If the purchased items had too many impurities and accidentally contained sulfuric acid or nitric acid...
Just thinking about the consequences was chilling.
With a cheerful heart, Garrett prepared a small test tube and began washing cotton, boiling cotton, and soaking cotton in nitric acid. After a series of BOOMs, he looked at the small box of results in front of him, squinting with satisfaction:
"Aurora?"
"Ah, Boss!"
"Is there a place here to test spells? Um, preferably, free..."
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Aurora jumped up, freezing halfway through her jump: "For free? Boss, the free places donât have any protection. Weâre not exactly broke right now, so why scrimp on these few points?"
Are you kidding! With the power of the Dragonâs Breath he displayed, he could produce a fourth-level effect with a first-level spell. If he tried out a new idea this time and accidentally created a high-level spell, and it exploded...
His teacher would skin him alive!
Despite Auroraâs persuasion and coercion, Garrett finally dragged his boss to the fifth floor of the Energy Shaping Tower. This floor was specially reinforced with spells and was dedicated to mid-level magesâthose between level 5 and 9. It was divided into ten different-sized rooms and a hall, with different prices and facilities to accommodate the needs of different mages.
The hall was divided into ten shooting lanes. After raising defense barriers, they could be used without interference. The price wasnât high, only 10 contribution points per lane per hour. The downside was that whatever you did might be seen by others...
Because Garrett wanted to save money and didnât care much about confidentiality, Aurora took him to the hall. By this time, nine lanes were already occupied. Aurora dragged Garrett over, just brushing the last lane.
"Boss, boss, over here! Hurry!"
"Uh, wait a minute!" frŃewebnoŃ”el.Æoàč
Someone behind them urgently shouted. Aurora had already pressed the badge, confirming their right to use the lane. The man hurried over, but still missed a step, stomping his feet in frustration:
"Why are you so quick to snatchâreally now!"
He turned around, squeezing in before the barrier closed. Perhaps he was in too much of a hurry, his forehead was already covered in sweat, shining brightly on his bald head. He didnât bother to wipe it, sighing to Aurora:
"I thought you were using it, but since youâre not, youâre letting him use it? What a waste! A second-level mage like him... would you mind switching with me? The teacherâs exam is tomorrow, and I havenât mastered my new magic yet! How about this, Iâll give you 20 contribution points, and you take him to the lower-level area?"
Garrett: "..." Iâm just too busy lately to refresh my badge, okay? Iâm already a third-level mage! Third level!
He ignored the guy, pulling Aurora and walking to the end of the lane. There were stones of various hardness piled up on the lane, serving as targets for the mages. Garrett picked a medium-sized one, let Aurora drill a hole with magic, stuffed in the cotton soaked in nitric acid, and then inserted a long rope. Then, they exited the lane and threw a Spark over...
BOOM!
A muffled sound. The stone split into pieces.
Very good!
Successful trial!
Garrett happily waved his fist. Beside him, the bald mage continued to stomp his feet:
"Come on, buddy! Thatâs such a small amount of power, much weaker than the Flame Sphere, and youâre still worth coming to the mid-level area... Hey, please let me have it! Really, Iâll give you 40 contribution points! 40! Thatâs four times as much!"
This guy was so annoying... Garrett and Aurora glanced at each other. Aurora signaled:
Should we give it to him? Are you okay with that?
No way! Iâm going to take up the whole hour! Well, should we make a bigger fuss?
Garrett pondered for a moment. A spark of inspiration arose, and he carefully put on crocodile skin gloves, grasping the black cotton through the gloves. Concentrating, he manipulated the spell model, using the cotton soaked in nitric acid as the casting material, releasing the magicâ
Flame Sphere!
Second-level Energy Shaping magic! Just learned after leveling up to a third-level mage!
A rolling fireball the size of a head shot out quickly. Garrett was about to command it to rise and continue forwardâ
BOOM!
The fireball shrank, expanded, and exploded. A fierce shockwave swept in all directions!
Garrett instinctively threw himself down! Aurora looked terrified, unable to block the shockwave even with two consecutive barriers. The bald mage also threw up a force field wall in a panic, barely stopping the shockwave from spraying hot gas onto his face. In the midst of the chaos, the shiny sweat beads on his forehead were flung away:
"For Mysteriesâ sake! What kind of magic is thisâItâs not even as strong as a third-level Fireball!!!"