Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

"What? You want me to use this dagger to cut myself?"

Inside the dimly lit witchcraft shop, Hughes frowned as he stared at the strangely shaped dagger on the table.

Its entire body was pitch black, and its eerie curves and cold-gleaming serrations made him very uneasy.

"Knock knock—"

Hughes tapped his fingertips lightly on the table, his tone full of confusion:

"So, this is the price for custom-made witchcraft tools?"

"That's right, just lightly run your fingertip along with it."

The person opposite Hughes responded after hearing this.

The man was hunched over, his withered fingers gently rubbing the serrated edge of the dagger, with blood-red crystal fragments embedded in his fingernails.

His voice was extremely low, hoarse as if it had been sanded with sandpaper:

"However... this will indeed take something from you, such as... a tiny bit of your life."

"Never mind then..."

Upon hearing this, Hughes immediately refused and then turned and left with his several boxes of magic stones.

No wonder most apprentices were scared away by this "price," after all, it was a matter of risking their lives, who wouldn't be afraid?

"Hey! Young apprentice, don't go yet!"

Seeing Hughes turn to leave, the mold maker panicked. His emaciated body immediately lunged forward, staggering to Hughes's side, and he spread his arms to block Hughes's path.

"Hehe, don't worry, it will only drain your life force for one day."

—Just think, you can get a custom-made witchcraft tool in just one day.

For some reason, the old man's voice suddenly appeared in Hughes' mind. His words had a seductive power that made his tense heart relax a little, and the idea of ​​making a deal with the other party quietly sprouted in his mind.

"Okay, I agree..."

For some inexplicable reason, Hughes agreed to the old man's terms.

"Haha, okay! Okay, okay... Let's get started!"

Seeing that Hughes agreed, the old man raised the corner of his mouth, revealing his broken and uneven teeth.

"Right here?" Hughes asked.

"Yes, once the markings are done, I can immediately customize a staff for you, exactly according to your requirements."

The old man answered hastily, as if afraid that Hughes would run away.

"All right……"

As soon as he finished speaking, Hughes's gaze lingered on the serrated edge of the dagger, and then his Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

He took a deep breath, then suddenly reached out and gripped the hilt of the dagger. The touch was icy cold, like being covered in a thin layer of frost, and it even made his fingertips slightly numb.

The next second, he quickly flipped his wrist, and the serrated edge of the dagger feinted towards the pad of his index finger.

"laugh--"

With a soft "sizzle," like the sound of flesh being cut, the next moment, blood oozed from Hughes's fingertip, completing the transaction.

He deliberately brought his fingertip close to the old man's eyes, where it was covered in glaring blood, with a tiny scratch faintly visible in the bloodstains.

The old man's gaze was fixed on his fingertips, and his withered fingers twitched, as if he wanted to lean closer for a closer look.

The next second, Hughes immediately pretended to be in pain and quickly pulled his hand back to his side.

"Is this okay?"

Hughes stared intently at the old man, his third-class spiritual power clearly visible.

Perhaps out of consideration for the other party's status as a third-class apprentice, and because he saw the dagger already stained with the other party's blood.

The old man stopped investigating and carefully took the dagger. He repeatedly rubbed the serrated edge with his fingertips, and the crystal fragments embedded in his fingernails shone faintly.

"Of course, of course you can."

His voice trembled slightly with excitement. After placing the dagger into his storage bag, he spoke to Hughes:

"Here, give me the requirements you wrote down, and I guarantee it will be forged before the trial."

……

After Hughes left, the old man's gemstone-made left eye lit up, reflecting an eerie light in the dim room.

His thin lips parted, and his hoarse voice rang out again:

"The last spot is here. Looks like I'm in luck; I've run into a third-class apprentice who's not very determined!"

"Sigh... yet another... fool eager to get stronger... hehehehe..."

Suddenly, the old man's laughter stopped abruptly. As if he had thought of something, he turned and walked towards the room deep inside, his hunched figure gradually being covered by the dark shadows.

"Hehe... I'll have to make this masked apprentice's staff carefully, after all—this year's trial is my last chance."

……

Upon returning, Hughes raised his hand and removed the mask from his face. Looking at the bright red bloodstains on his fingertips, he sneered:

"Ha, they can only fool some naive second-class apprentices."

With a gentle rinse of water, the bloodstains on Hughes' fingertips instantly disappeared, revealing his smooth, white fingertips without a single scratch.

He certainly noticed the dagger's extraordinary nature and knew that its function was far more than just absorbing life force.

That was just a feint, plus a little trick he used.

As for that bright red bloodstain? Without a doubt, it couldn't be his.

Because he was considering whether or not to perform bloodline fusion, Hughes first "borrowed" some blood from Mor to study the bloodline of the elves.

The blood from earlier was naturally brought over temporarily by Hughes using a secondary teleportation spell.

Since Mor is going to participate in the Five Crown Trials anyway, Hughes plans to place a coordinate point on him so he can see what tricks the blacksmith will pull.

……

A few days later, Hughes sent his "Grimm's Grief" sapling to the botanical garden in Serafina.

Because the storage bag cannot store living beings, he was unable to bring them along to cultivate during the Five Crown Trials.

So he discussed with Serafina and temporarily planted the Grim Reaper in her botanical garden.

Serafina will then cut a branch from the tree after the trial ends, as a reward for nurturing the Grim Reaper over the past few days.

Back in his dormitory, Hughes began counting the leaves that had grown on the Green's Grief sapling over the past few days. Before moving, Hughes had naturally picked off all the leaves that had grown on it, just in case.

"Hmm... there are twenty-five pieces in total, which can withstand up to twenty-five attacks."

"Buzz—"

Suddenly, the communication crystal beside him vibrated.

"Could it be Bohr?!"

Hughes muttered to himself.

When he went to see the blacksmith a few days ago, he also took a look at Bohr's potion shop and found that someone else had taken over the guarding duties.

If it weren't for Bohr's communication runes still being there, Hughes would have even suspected that he was dead.

However, it now seems clear that Bohr is not prepared to participate in this year's five-time champions challenge.

He did ask the new middleman, but he didn't expect that even though they were from the same family, the other party didn't know what Bohr had done.