Wizard: I can refine all things.

Chapter 19 Mentor's Mission

Wizarding academies do not have strict requirements for apprentices to choose mentors, or rather, many wizards simply do not want to take on apprentices.

For most wizards, apprentices only distract them.

Richard searched for a long time in the mentor list of the Central Black Tower, filtering out all the mentors known for their alchemy.

After eliminating wizards who had not taken on apprentices for many years and those with extremely strict requirements for taking on apprentices, a wizard named Jorod caught his attention.

"Jorod of the Alchemy School, a second-level wizard, whose main research area is alchemy, has taken in 1,300 apprentices in the last hundred years."

As Li checked Qiao Luo's information, he felt that he seemed to have heard the name somewhere before.

"Isn't this Anna's mentor and the wizard who made my wizard robes?"

Recalling Anna's imposing presence on the podium and the skills he had honed from his wizarding robes, Richard was certain that this wizard, Jorod, must be a master.

"Let me see what the requirements are for apprentices. They need to reach the level of a low-level apprentice and complete at least one task he assigns." Richard stroked his chin. "These requirements are indeed easy. No wonder he can take in more than a hundred apprentices every year."

But as easy as it may seem, Richard failed to meet either of these two conditions.

"It will probably take a year to become a junior apprentice. Let's go check out the tasks he posted first."

Arriving at the twenty-fifth floor of the central black tower, this is the academy's mission posting hall, where apprentices can freely accept missions issued by the academy.

Richard entered the hall, which was vast and divided into three sections. On the far left were the daily tasks issued by the academy, primarily involving maintaining academy facilities and patrolling corners of the academy and the cities and mountains within its sphere of influence. These were tasks with extremely low difficulty and minimal rewards.

On the far right of the hall are the trial missions, which mainly involve hunting magical beasts and investigating dangerous incidents within the academy's territory. These are extremely dangerous but also highly rewarding missions.

In the middle of these two areas, where there are the most apprentices, are the missions posted by wizards within the academy. These missions range from gathering herbs to brewing potions; they are of moderate difficulty, with some danger, but the rewards are equally considerable.

Richard arrived at the central area and suddenly discovered that his crystal ball had lit up on its own. Richard used his mental power to investigate and found that he could see all the tasks issued by the wizards in the crystal ball.

"That's impressive."

Richard sighed and began searching for the wizard Jord's quest in the mission.

After searching for a while, a task to refine fifty grams of mercury appeared before him.

"Red Mercury, an explosive liquid metal. Apprentices should carefully consider their own strength before accepting this task. If you successfully extract it, please submit it to the fifty-sixth floor of the Central Black Tower. Reward: one hundred magic stones."

As he read the task description, he mentally equated this thing with nitroglycerin.

"However, there's no time limit for this mission, so let's accept it first. Besides, the Miracle Forge can also refine materials, so this is a good opportunity to test its effectiveness."

Richard walked to the counter, where a snake-haired witch who resembled Medusa greeted him. Richard glanced at the silver pentagram on the snake-haired witch's robe.

At the Black Tower Wizarding Academy, the silver pentagram is the mark of an apprentice.

"Sister, I want to accept mission number 1205."

The witch glanced at him: "Little fellow, fresh start. Jord's missions aren't easy to take on."

"Hmm? What do you mean by that, sister? Master Jorod's missions are always very difficult?" Richard smiled, making the most of his good looks.

The Medusa glanced at Richard, a playful smile playing on her lips: "Stop trying to get on my good side."

But despite saying that, the Medusa still told Richard about Jorlord.

"Jorod's tasks are notoriously thankless. Although he recruits a hundred or so apprentices each year, very few of them are actually personally mentored by him."

"Is that so?" Richard exclaimed in surprise. "Then why did he hire so many apprentices?"

"What else can you do but work for him?" The Medusa fiddled with her fingers. "He has an alchemy workshop, and most of the apprentices he hires work there."

"I advise you, unless you have an exceptional talent for alchemy, don't go work for George R.R. "

After listening, Richard pondered for a moment. There were only a few wizards in the academy who majored in alchemy, and each of the other alchemists had extremely demanding requirements for their apprentices. If he gave up on Jorlord, he might never be able to embark on the path of alchemy.

Moreover, this task has no time limit and the rewards are quite generous. Even if you don't choose Jord as your mentor, simply earning some magic stones is still a good option.

"Thank you for your advice, sister, but I think I have some talent in alchemy. I'll take this task."

The Medusa was not at all surprised by Richard's reaction; she had seen far too many wizards like Richard over the years.

Everyone believed they were exceptionally gifted and thought they could win the wizard's favor. But in the end, only a very few actually succeeded.

"Another one who won't listen to advice, what a waste of a pretty face. Give me the crystal ball, I'll register your information."

……

After leaving the mission hall, Richard immediately headed towards the commercial district.

To refine mercury, a raw material called sunstone is needed. This material is so rare that Richard searched for a long time in the shops in the commercial district but couldn't find it.

Eventually, Richard learned that an alchemy shop called Anna's Cottage sold the material.

"Anna's Cottage, could it be run by that Anna?" Richard glanced at the shop's name, his eye twitching slightly.

The mentor's task required purchasing the raw materials from his apprentice's shop. This wizard, Jorod, was truly a business genius.

Anna's Cottage seemed to frequently receive apprentices who took on tasks from Jorrod. After Richard explained his purpose, the clerk immediately handed him a bag.

"Two kilograms of sunstone is enough to extract fifty grams of red mercury. Price: 500 academy coins."

Five magic stones—the price made Richard's heart skip a beat.

Compared to the reward, the price of the raw materials was far too cheap. Aside from fraud, the only other reason Richard could think of for this business was that mercury extraction was extremely prone to failure, requiring repeated purchases of sunstone.

"Okay, this is the magic stone."

Richard took the bag with a heavy heart.

With five magic stones deducted, he still has five magic stones left.

Back in his room, Richard reviewed the information about mercury extraction from the crystal ball again.

After confirming that refining mercury did not require the use of sunstone or anything else, Richard took a deep breath and took out a sunstone.

【Ingredients: Sunstone (1 kg)】

[Retrievable Substance: Mercury]

[Refining Cost: 100 Mana]

[Whether to extract]

(End of this chapter)