Wizard: I can refine all things.

Chapter 31 Formal Apprenticeship (Please continue reading)

"Of course I agree."

Richard accepted the crystal ball and bowed slightly to George R.R. Respectfully.

"In that case, let's draw up a contract."

Jorrod took a piece of parchment covered in wizarding script from the drawer.

"This is a soul contract. Once you sign it, you will become my formal apprentice. I will impart my knowledge to you, and you will inherit this knowledge and pass it on."

The transmission of knowledge is the foundation of the wizard apprenticeship system. In the distant, primitive times, wizards began to take on apprentices and pass on the knowledge they had explored throughout their lives.

This relationship is even more important to wizards than blood ties.

Richard took the parchment, which contained many writings, but the vast majority of them forbade wizarding apprentices from selling their inherited knowledge to outsiders without permission.

Knowledge was too precious, and apprentices were too poor.

Without restrictions, even the slightest temptation could lead an apprentice to sell their knowledge.

As soon as the contract was signed, a flame instantly erupted from Richard's signature, burning the entire contract to ashes.

"According to ancient tradition, apprentice Richard, I will begin your education."

Jorrod placed a hand on Richard's forehead and then recited an ancient wizard's incantation.

Richard couldn't understand these eulogies, but vaguely, he sensed his spiritual power was slowly increasing.

After the eulogy, Richard felt that his mental strength had increased by about 0.1 during that time.

This is much more efficient than meditation.

"Alright, enlightenment complete." Jord clapped his hands and chuckled as he used magic to summon several thick tomes from the bookshelf.

"These books are your introductory course. Go back, memorize them, thoroughly understand them, and then come back to me to buy the next part."

"purchase?"

Richard was taken aback. Hadn't he already become a full-fledged apprentice? Why was he still reading like he was in a library?

"Yes, buy it." Chax walked to Richard's side and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't be so surprised. Anna and I are the same. We all have to spend magic stones to buy knowledge from our teacher."

"Why...is this?" Richard asked, puzzled.

"It's very simple. Knowledge is precious and should not be passed on lightly. Knowledge that is too easily obtained will be looked down upon." Jorod stroked his beard, looking inscrutable. "Moreover, alchemy is a skill that requires practice; knowledge from books alone is far from sufficient."

"If you are skilled enough, you can definitely earn enough magic stones in the commercial district to exchange for knowledge by using magic equipment and magic potions."

Anna, who was standing nearby, chimed in:

"The teacher's knowledge isn't expensive. As long as you're skilled, earning enough magic stones in the commercial district isn't difficult. With your current skills, Richard, you'll probably be able to acquire new knowledge in less than two years."

Since that was the rule, Richard didn't say anything more.

After taking the books from George R.R., Richard, Anna, and Chuck left the laboratory.

"Impressive, junior brother. You've been keeping a low profile."

As soon as they stepped outside, Chuck and Richard put their arms around each other's shoulders, looking like good older brothers.

"Your move really surprised both me and my senior sister."

Anna, standing to the side, had mixed feelings. Before Richard, she was the most talented apprentice in a thousand years, according to Jorod.

But now it's clear that this title is about to change hands.

However, Anna wasn't a petty person, and after being upset for a while, she put the matter aside.

"Alright, Chuck, let Richard go. As his senior, aren't you going to give him a little something in return?"

As she spoke, Anna took a medal from the pocket at her waist and handed it to Richard.

"This is an inscription of a deflecting force field, which can deflect ranged physical spells such as Ice Spike."

"Thank you, senior sister!"

Seeing Anna like this, Chuck couldn't help but frown.

He didn't have any magical equipment for Richard.

"Junior brother, it's not that I don't want to give it to you, it's just that my focus isn't on magical equipment. How about you wait a couple of days, and I'll get you a little chimera?" Chuck said to Richard with a bitter face.

"Chimera? Senior, you research chimeras?"

Richard suddenly remembered the chimera core he had obtained during the entrance exam. He had tossed it aside in a corner and forgotten to extract its information.

"Yes, like my mentor, I also study chimeras," Chuck nodded.

"So, the monster for the entrance exam is you, senior brother..."

Chuck scratched his head, smiled, and said:

"That thing was originally my mentor's job, but he dumped it on me. How is it? Not bad, right?"

It's really good.

Richard recalled the situation at the time, and realized that if the monster hadn't been seriously injured and if he hadn't had magical equipment, he might not have survived the exam.

"That's really impressive. But I got something that looks like a heart from a magical beast. I wonder if you have any use for it, Senior Brother."

Chuck was taken aback, then seemed to understand something.

"Heart? You must mean core. If you have a core, I'll just commission a chimera for you as a gift." Chuck patted his chest. "I may not be good at much else, but I'm quite skilled when it comes to chimeras."

The most tedious part of creating a chimera is nurturing the core. If he had the core, Chuck was confident he could assemble a low-level chimera using the materials at hand within three days.

"Then thank you very much, Senior Brother."

After leaving the Black Tower, Richard went straight to his dorm room and found the chimera core from back then.

Even after months without external energy, this core was still pulsating slightly, its vitality was simply exaggerated.

Having obtained the core, Richard spent fifteen points of mental energy to extract the information from it.

Although he could get this information from Jorod, he would save it if he could.

After the extraction was complete, Richard felt as if his head had been hit by a heavy hammer, and he was completely dizzy. Fortunately, Richard's mental strength had reached twenty points due to the feedback effect, so after extracting the information, he still had the mental strength to hand over the core to Chuck.

"Junior brother, what kind of chimera do you want?" Chuck checked the core's life force, and after confirming that it could still be recovered, he waved his hand and gave Richard a long list. The list was densely filled with hundreds of low-level chimeras with different abilities.

Richard glanced through the list, which included powerful magical beasts like the Seven-Headed Demon Goat, but after some consideration, he ultimately chose a low-level synthetic beast called the Death Raven.

This chimera doesn't possess strong combat abilities, but it does have darkvision and the ability to see through illusions. Like ordinary magical creatures, chimeras can form sensory connections by planting a soul seed. If Richard and Death Raven form a sensory connection, then Richard essentially possesses Death Raven's abilities.

Seeing that Richard had chosen to sue the dead raven, Chuck waved his hand grandly.

"The 'Death Crow' thing is easy; come back to your senior brother in three days to pick it up."

After everything was done, Richard returned to his room and collapsed onto the bed, not wanting to move at all.

The mental energy he had refined had left him extremely tired. Normally, he would be meditating to recover by now, but today, Richard felt an unusual urge to take a nap.

Having become a formal apprentice of Jorrod, he had established himself firmly in the academy and was one step closer to becoming a wizard.

Richard closed his eyes, and the magnificent scenery he had seen when he first connected with the Sea of ​​Souls appeared before him, and a longing smile unconsciously appeared on his lips.

"The Astral Plane... I really want to go see it."

(End of this chapter)