Wizard: I can refine all things.

Chapter 29 Making Magic Costumes (please read more)

Alchemy is a complex art. Whether it's magical armor, potions, synthetic beasts, or magic circles, these things require a combination of skills to achieve the best results.

This requires not only sufficient patience and meticulousness from the wizard, but also the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and even have a flash of inspiration during the creation process.

After purchasing the tools, Richard hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door.

The production process of "Pale Mask" was not complicated in his opinion, but he still treated it with 200% seriousness.

Since the skull wasn't purchased directly, Richard first had to process the black-striped anaconda's head.

The skull of a black-striped anaconda is soaked in a specially made alchemical solution for twelve hours. After removing it, most of the flesh and blood attached to the skull can be cleaned off. Then, the same alchemical solution is used to soak the skull again, and the same steps are repeated until no flesh and blood are visible on the skull.

Richard wasted no time while soaking the skull.

Grind the inferior windstone needed to make the Pale Mask into powder, then mix it with carbon powder made from ten-year-old enchanted wood in a certain proportion, add 500 grams of water, let it stand for three hours, and extract the clear liquid.

This is cartilage softening solution used to soften the skull.

Next, the sticky mushrooms are mashed into a paste and mixed with poisonous bauhinia ink to obtain ink for drawing alchemical runes.

This step is extremely dangerous.

The Bauhinia purpurea ink is highly volatile and extremely toxic. When the sticky mushroom and the Bauhinia purpurea ink are mixed, even a slight error in the ratio will generate a huge amount of heat.

For his own safety and that of his neighbors, Richard had to rent space in the experimental area to mix the materials.

This is yet another additional expense.

After the preparations were complete, Richard soaked the black-striped python's skull in cartilage water for an hour to soften it.

The skull is the main material for the mask, and it is easy to shape after being softened.

The softened black-striped python skull had a texture somewhat like clay, and Richard easily shaped it into a pale mask.

Then came the most crucial step.

In most magical armor sets, inscribing spells is the most crucial step, but the Pale Mask is an exception. Its most difficult part is drawing the magical energy conduction circuits. Richard needs to use magical threads to draw the magical energy conduction circuits inside the skull with black mercury. If he goes astray or the magical energy fluctuates, the mask becomes useless.

However, Richard had refined Jord's techniques and was highly skilled in controlling magic, completing this step in just ten minutes.

"Phew, all that's left is to inscribe the runes."

Richard carefully opened the ink he had prepared earlier and began to inscribe runes on the back of the mask with a quill pen.

Within the quill, magic reacts with alchemical ink, causing the quill to deform. Therefore, Richard needs to replace it with a new quill after each rune is inscribed.

The magic inscribed on this mask is the first-circle spell Intimidate, which intimidates enemies and is a form of mental attack.

If a junior apprentice is suddenly attacked by intimidation techniques, he will be momentarily stunned. If he is more timid, he may even defecate and urinate or faint on the spot.

After engraving the spell, Richard wiped the sweat from his brow.

He has now spent four days making this mask. The whole process went very smoothly, and while the quality may not be exquisite, it is at least acceptable.

This result should be sufficient to pass the exam.

"But why is this thing so brittle?" Richard touched the mask. It seemed that because the skull it was made belonged to was not an adult, the mask did not have the hardness described in the design drawings. Instead, it felt like it would break with a single bend.

"Let's strengthen the entire demonic array to improve its texture, otherwise the mask will break if it's bumped or knocked around."

……

"You did that pretty fast." Chuck looked at Richard with some surprise, holding the flask. "It took me two weeks to make this back in the day, and I even failed once."

"Well... maybe I was just lucky. I succeeded on my first try." Richard scratched his head and smiled shyly.

He didn't cheat this time; he did all the steps himself.

"Incredible, incredible. Senior Sister is right, you really are a genius in alchemy." Chax praised, "From today onwards, we are considered fellow disciples. If you have any small questions in the future, you can come to your senior brother for advice. Although what your senior brother studies is unorthodox, he still has a solid foundation."

Richard nodded; he was well aware of the drawbacks of working in isolation.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, a series of footsteps approached Richard's ears.

boom.

Anna pushed open the door and entered. Today, Anna was dressed differently than before. She had changed her wizard robes into a black outfit that resembled a tight-fitting bodysuit, revealing her hot figure.

"Are you done?" Anna stared intently at Richard with her phoenix eyes.

"I'm done. This is the finished product."

Richard waved the bag containing the masks at Anna.

Sensing the faint magical fluctuations within the bag, Anna's expression remained unchanged, but she breathed a sigh of relief.

She was right; Richard was indeed a genius.

"Come on, come with me to see our mentor. Chuck, you come along too."

Upon arriving at the ninety-ninth floor of the central black tower, George Rod was once again sitting in front of the bookshelf, looking at his notes with a worried expression.

"Failed again. What's wrong? Is it the lab's location that's affecting my luck?"

"Mentor, Richard's work is finished."

"Hmm?" Jorod turned to look at his eldest disciple, a hint of doubt in his eyes.

"What Richard?"

Anna's face stiffened upon hearing this. She pulled Richard in front of her and said with a hint of helplessness:

"It's Richard, the teacher you met before."

"Oh, yes, yes, you did bring an apprentice here before." Jorod slapped his forehead, suddenly remembering that Anna had brought an apprentice before.

He seems to have some talent.

Jorod tapped his temples repeatedly with his index finger, searching through his vast and complex memories for information about that day.

He had too much to remember, and Richard, such a minor figure, was hardly worth remembering.

After searching for several minutes, Jorod finally remembered the scene from that day.

Anna introduced an apprentice who she also thought might have talent, so she gave him a test.

But that day I seemed to be in a bad mood because of the failed experiment, and it seems... I gave the wrong thing.

He should have provided the design blueprints for the Concealment Mask, not the Pale Mask.

Jorod was somewhat embarrassed. How could a low-level apprentice like him have made the Pale Mask?

The Pale Mask's magic transmission circuit requires magic to guide and complete in one go, which demands extremely high control over magic. If one's control over magic is insufficient, then quantity is needed to compensate. Generally speaking, only an average advanced apprentice with ordinary talent, after studying magic manipulation, can complete the creation of the Pale Mask.

His two disciples, despite their exceptional talent, only completed the production during their intermediate apprenticeship.

But the apprentice in front of me seems to have made it.

"It's probably a flawed product that barely manages to guide magic."

Jord looked at the bag containing Richard's mask and thought to himself...

The quality of magical equipment is divided into four levels: the highest is perfect, the second is fine, the third is finished, and the last is flawed.

While flawed magical equipment can still cast spells, it suffers from significant disadvantages in terms of mana consumption and spell effectiveness. Compared to fully-fledged magical equipment, flawed equipment consumes more mana while having much weaker spell effects.

Even so, the fact that he could make a flawed magical garment was enough to prove the talent of this apprentice.

Joe Rodgers walked over to Richard, trying to put on a gentle expression, since giving the wrong exam paper was quite embarrassing.

"Don't be nervous, give me the mask."

(End of this chapter)