Chapter 116: Chapter 113: This Potion Packs a Punch
"DSeek, pull up the financial statents and training progress for the past six months."
Back in his dorm, Allen let out a sigh of relief.
The Black Tower New Star Cup was finally over, and he had the Spiritual Enhancent Potion in hand. It was ti to take stock of his gains and losses over the past six months.
[Financial Data: Past Six Months]
[Average Monthly Inco: 2420]
[Average Monthly Expenditure: 2160]
[Current Account Balance: 3211 Low-Level Magic Stones]
His inco was mainly from the Apprentice Mutual Aid Group. His previous two trips to the First Ring Belt weren’t primarily for making money, so they didn’t bring in much profit.
As for his original plan to offer a "Personalized Academic Path Customization" service, it had been shelved for nearly six months due to his studies and competition preparations.
The expenditure column, however, wasn’t so pretty.
To prepare for the Black Tower New Star Cup, Allen had built three prototypes, spending over three thousand Low-Level Magic Stones in total. The competition version of the Spider Slayer was assembled by dismantling those prototypes and piecing them together.
Taking the Spider Slayer’s construction cost alone, even after using what Barton called an accounting thod "more insidious than a spider" to push the on-paper cost below one thousand Magic Stones, the actual cost was still over thirteen hundred Low-Level Magic Stones.
Beyond that, the biggest expenses were training supplies and library book rentals, which ca to over 1,000 Magic Stones per month.
Allen rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"DSeek, using the Spider Slayer’s frawork, recalculate the minimum construction cost for a Level 2 Golem with the destructive power of a senior Advanced Apprentice."
[Running model simulations and cost analysis...]
[...Analysis complete.]
[Based on current technology, the minimum estimated construction cost is 5,000 Low-Level Magic Stones. This figure does not include material losses during the R&D phase. It is recomnded to activate the fifty-thousand Low-Level Magic Stone interest-free credit line provided by the Plane Exploration and Developnt Association.]
’Five thousand...’
Allen’s eyelid twitched. ’As expected, if you want to increase its power, you have to pay up.’
’The one for the competition was just a "demo version." For actual combat, every single component has to be the best.’
’Renting the academy’s advanced workshop is a fixed annual expense of two thousand Magic Stones, and then there’s the cost of R&D trial and error... That fifty-thousand credit line seems like a lot, but once I start burning through it, it probably won’t last long.’
’Looks like it’s ti to put that shelved "Personalized Academic Path Customization" service back on the agenda. I have to open up a new cash flow as soon as possible.’
His gaze shifted from the financial statents to his training progress.
Although he had spent most of the past six months focused on construct studies, his own training hadn’t fallen behind.
[Progress: Ten Thousand Machines Resonance ditation thod]
[Core Matrix (First Stage): 17/36]
[Mind Split Rune Array (Second Thread): 4/15]
Supported by a massive amount of High-Level ntal Recovery Potions, he still maintained a speed of inscribing an average of three Will Runes per month, completing nearly half of the work on the first Core Matrix.
The Core Matrix of the Ten Thousand Machines Resonance ditation thod is the only way for a Wizard to increase their total Magic Power.
One Core Matrix contains thirty-six Will Runes, and advancing to beco an Official Wizard requires constructing two. This ant he had already completed one-quarter of the Advanced Apprentice’s journey.
At this rate, in a little over six more months, he would be able to complete the construction of the first Core Matrix. At that ti, his Spiritual Power and total Magic Power would surge, and he could be considered a senior Advanced Apprentice.
As for the mind splitting, when he built the first array, he had thrown himself into it completely, toiling for three days and three nights to finish it.
The first thread he split off had now beco DSeek’s perfect partner, responsible for processing massive amounts of information and assisting his studies, allowing Allen’s main consciousness to focus on higher-level thought and training.
But the difficulty of splitting off a second one had increased dramatically.
The Sea of Spirit’s rejection of similar structures, combined with the increasingly complex resonance between the Runes, made every step a struggle.
For the Mind Split Rune Array, a new thread could only be split off after every 15 runes were inscribed.
In the past six months, he had only managed to tackle four Runes in the spare monts between working on the Core Matrix.
Even so, such a speed was enough to make any other Black Tower Apprentice despair.
After all, the average ti for an Advanced Apprentice to be promoted was ten years.
But Allen, by relying on his main consciousness and the first thread—his two "brains"—to learn simultaneously, along with DSeek assisting with trial and error to boost efficiency, had forcefully compressed this ti down to three years.
Now, with these three potions that could directly act on the source of his soul and permanently increase his Spiritual Power limit, this tiline could perhaps be shortened even further.
Pulling his thoughts back, Allen opened his eyes, his gaze falling on the tal box.
The Spiritual Enhancent Potion.
A reward only for the top three finishers in the competition. A precious Magic Potion that could directly affect the source of the Sea of Consciousness and permanently raise one’s Spiritual Power limit.
’I’ve been looking forward to this for a long ti. I wonder how effective it is. I’ll start with one.’
He picked one up. The instructions read: "Recomnded interval between doses is 30 days. Taking doses consecutively in a short period will cause a significant decrease in efficacy and may lead to instability in the Sea of Consciousness."
Without further hesitation, he tilted his head back and downed the deep blue liquid.
The next mont, a majestic yet gentle torrent of energy slowly rged into his Sea of Consciousness.
[Detecting beneficial mutation in the Sea of Consciousness.]
[Comparing...]
[Total Spiritual Power increased by 15%. Natural recovery rate increased by 7.8%.]
’Holy cow!’
Allen could clearly feel his Spiritual Power rapidly strengthening. The difficulty of inscribing the next Will Rune had significantly decreased after this "massage" to his Sea of Spirit.
A long while later, when the tide of energy had slowly subsided and completely rged into his Sea of Spirit, Allen finally let out a slow breath.
Entering ditation again, his sense of effortless control over his Spiritual Power was on a whole other level compared to before.
HISS...
Even Allen couldn’t help but break into a grin at that mont.
’This effect is just insane.’
’And that was just one bottle.’
He looked at the remaining two potions in the box, his gaze turning fervent.
He was now incredibly glad that he had placed in the competition.
If he had just trained arduously and conventionally, achieving a permanent increase in Spiritual Power of over 10% would have been unthinkable in under half a year.
The joy of "paying to win," or rather, using pay-to-win items, was just that simple, unadorned, and tedious.
Allen sat up straight again, suppressing the excitent in his heart.
"DSeek, factor the enhancent from the Spiritual Enhancent Potion into your calculations and estimate my training progress."
[In three months, the first Core Matrix is projected to be at: 31/36.]
’Excellent! That’s more like it!’
Just as Allen was feeling satisfied with his skyrocketing progress, he suddenly rembered the ssage his master, rcer, had sent him as he was leaving.
The smile on Allen’s lips slowly faded.
’Knowing Master rcer’s style, he would never summon
specifically just because I won an apprentice competition.’
’Then, it must be about sothing more important.’
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