I am a mage, with an infinite mana bar!

"To craft a staff? Sure, the basic crafting fee is 2 gold coins. Come back in three days to pick it up."

Less than a hundred meters away from the magic item shop, in a messy shop filled with magic materials and strange machines, a gray-haired dwarf with skin as white as stone spoke.

Lynn briefly explained his needs, but the dwarf craftsman remained expressionless, and it was unclear whether he had listened at all.

Eli added at the opportune moment, "Mr. Craftsman, we need your help to make a suitable staff shaft. As for payment, we'll use the scraps from processing gems as payment."

When crafting a staff from natural gemstones, a complex cutting process is required to carve it into a suitable shape so that it forms smooth magical patterns with the staff, achieving a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts.

This will inevitably result in some loss, but even small fragments of precious magic gems have many uses.

The stone-skinned dwarf nodded silently, agreeing to Eli's proposal.

"You can do that?" Lynn was pleasantly surprised; this saved him a lot of money.

"By the way, sir, I have a few monster materials here. How much do you think I can sell them for?"

As he spoke, he took out what he had obtained from Grayna yesterday: three pieces of crystalline armor and a magic-absorbing monster's mana tentacles.

The stone-skinned dwarf glanced over and said in a mechanical voice, "Crystal Armor 20 silver coins, Magic Tentacles 50 silver coins."

110 silver coins in total? This price was somewhat unexpected for Lynn, as it was higher than the market price.

"Okay, deal," he said, taking out another 90 silver coins. "That covers the processing fee."

The stone-skinned dwarf nodded, silently putting away the silver coins and monster materials, and repeated without changing his expression:

"Come back in three days to pick it up."

The two thanked him and left the shop.

"That craftsman seems to be a 'wind-up doll'," Eli whispered to Lynn.

"What is that?" It was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing.

Eli shook his head. "I don't really understand either. It seems to be the latest research result of the White Tower Society, and it's still in the experimental stage."

The two chatted casually until they arrived at the Magic Association.

At this moment, the Magic Association finally opened its doors. After explaining his purpose to the staff on the first floor, he pointed to the staircase in the middle.

"Mr. Barton did give instructions, but he's off today. You two can go to room 203 to find him yourselves."

The Magic Association has specially designated a section of the second floor as dormitories for its employees. Barton's room is quite large and simply decorated, but it is cozy and comfortable.

After knocking on the door, the well-to-do old man, still dressed in a simple white robe, greeted the two with a smile and welcomed them into his study.

Is this the study of a seasoned mage? Looking at the room full of magical books and parchment scrolls and magical diagrams piled up everywhere, Lynn felt as if he had accidentally wandered into a research institute.

Barton gestured to the seats and tea, indicating that the two should make themselves at home, and then carefully stepped over the pile of old papers on the floor and sat back down behind the desk.

He smiled and said to Lynn, "Looks like you didn't sleep well last night?"

Lynn rubbed his face. Thanks to the [Clarity Spell], his apparent fatigue had disappeared, but the old man could still see through his inner state.

He nodded in agreement with Barton's words, saying, "I'm a little concerned about Gray's situation. How is he doing?"

"Not good," Barton shook his head and sighed. "The effects of corruption are more serious than I thought. Although it won't harm his life, the damage to his mind is irreversible. I'm afraid we'll have to put in a lot more effort to extract any useful information from his brain."

Lynn wasn't surprised. Gray had only been caught last night, so it was hard to believe that he would get anything out of him now.

Barton then turned to Eli, stroking his short beard with his fingers, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes. "Eli, you look great today. Did you have a breakthrough?"

It was obvious to the naked eye that Eli's overall demeanor had improved significantly, and he seemed much more motivated.

She immediately replied, "Yes, teacher, it's all thanks to Lynn!"

Upon hearing this, Lynn was startled, almost thinking that she was about to blurt out the secret of the magic network.

This is a senior member of the Magic Association. If he finds out, I might be used as a guinea pig and studied.

Eli, however, abruptly lowered his green eyes, lowered his head, and even lowered his voice as he continued:

"Thanks to him as my role model and... companion, I'm starting to feel a little more motivated now..."

Hearing her say that, old man Barton gave Lynn a deep look and nodded with a relaxed expression.

"Very good. I can rest assured that you two can help each other. Lynn, Eli is a talented kid, but he's not good at fighting. Please keep an eye on him for me."

Lynn's heart skipped a beat. So Eli said that on purpose? She wanted to mention our cooperative relationship to Teacher Barton in order to improve his impression of me?

Thinking of this, he nodded seriously. "Mr. Barton, please rest assured, I will do my best to protect Eli."

These words immediately smoothed out the wrinkles on the old man's face, and he said "good" several times.

It seems he really values ​​Eli, after all, he's a promising student whom he personally mentored... Lynn thought.

"Child, if you encounter any difficulties in the future, feel free to come to the Magic Association to find me."

Hearing Barton say that, Lynn felt much more at ease.

After a moment's pause, he carefully said, "Mr. Barton, I do have something I'd like to ask for your help with."

As he spoke, he carefully took out the bottle of Destiny Potion from his waist pocket. It was a small bottle, no longer than a finger, yet it seemed to contain countless colors and myriad phenomena.

"This is a magic potion given to me by a friend. It is said to be very precious, but even he is not very clear about its specific effects."

Lynn carefully placed the potion on the desk. "Could you please help me identify it?"

As far as he knew, although the Appraisal skill was a first-level spell, it could only identify simple information about an item. For complex magical items like the Destiny Potion, it would probably require an upgraded Appraisal skill to analyze effective information.

Sure enough, after a thorough examination, old man Patton gave his conclusion.

"The process of making this potion is quite complicated, and it contains extremely hidden power. I'm afraid even I can't discern all of its information."

As he spoke, he opened the drawer, took out a single crystal lens, and placed it on his right eye socket.

"I'll try using the three-ring identification technique; that's the limit of what I can achieve."

According to Lynn's understanding, ascending to higher rings in magic requires a high level of understanding of the spell. In other words, Barton's current understanding of [Appraisal] is only at the third ring level.

"Thank you," Lynn replied immediately. He hadn't expected the other party to use their Trinity Detection skill to help him. "Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Keep quiet and don't let your spiritual energy emanate unnecessarily," the old man instructed, then focused his gaze on the potion bottle and said no more.

About five minutes later, he let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"It's amazing. To be honest, I'm very curious where you got this potion. The alchemist who made it is very, very special. I wouldn't say he's particularly skilled, but he's certainly innovative. I'd love to drag him straight into the White Tower to learn how to make it."

He pinched the medicine bottle between two fingers, shook it gently, and handed it to Lynn.

"The information we've identified is limited, but I'm certain it's absolutely beneficial and harmless to you right now."