Wizard Academy had no strict requirents for apprentices in choosing ntors, or rather, many wizards simply didn't want to take on apprentices.
For the majority of wizards, an apprentice would only distract them.
Richard had spent a long ti in the ntor section of the Central Black Tower, filtering out all the ntors renowned for their alchemy.
After eliminating the wizards who hadn't taken apprentices for many years and those with extrely demanding conditions, a wizard nad Jolod caught his attention.
"Alchemy School Jolod, Second Level Wizard, main research focus on alchemy, has taken in thirteen hundred apprentices over the past hundred years."
Richard looked at Jolod's information and felt the na seed familiar.
"Isn't this Anna's ntor and the wizard who made my Wizard Robe?"
Recalling Anna's commanding presence on the podium and the techniques he had extracted from his Wizard Robe, Richard was certain that this Wizard Jolod must be a Master.
"Let see what the conditions for apprentices are, strength to be at the lower apprentice level, and at least complete one task he has posted." Richard stroked his chin, "These conditions do seem easy, no wonder he manages to take on over a hundred apprentices each session."
But as easy as they were, Richard hadn't t either condition.
"Becoming a lower-level apprentice would probably take a year. Let's first see the tasks he has posted."
Arriving on the twenty-fifth floor of the Central Black Tower, this was the Academy task hall where apprentices could freely take on tasks posted by the Academy.
Richard walked into the hall. The vast hall was divided into three parts. On the far left were the Academy's daily tasks, which mainly involved maintaining Academy equipnt and patrolling corners of the Academy and cities and mountains within the Academy's sphere of influence. These were tasks with extrely low difficulty and likewise low benefits.
On the far right side of the hall, the posted tasks were trial tasks, primarily involving hunting Magic Beasts and investigating dangerous incidents within the Academy's sphere of influence. These tasks were extrely dangerous but also offered great benefits.
In between these two, which was the area most populated by apprentices, were tasks posted by the Academy's wizards. These tasks ranged from collecting herbs to concocting Magic Potions and could be described as having moderate difficulty, so inherent risk, but equally substantial rewards.
Richard approached the middle area and suddenly noticed that his Crystal Ball lit up by itself; using his spiritual power to probe, he found that he could see all the tasks posted by wizards on his Crystal Ball.
"Impressive."
Richard exclaid softly, starting to look for a task posted by Wizard Jolod.
After searching for a while, a task for refining fifty grams of Red rcury appeared in front of him.
"Red rcury, a volatile liquid tal, apprentices are advised to carefully consider their own strength before taking on this task. If extraction is completed, please submit it to the fiftieth floor of the Central Black Tower. Reward: one hundred Magic Stones."
Richard looked at the task description, equating this item with nitroglycerin in his mind.
"But this task has no ti limit. I'll take it first and see. Besides, the Miracle Furnace can also refine materials; this ti is a good opportunity to test its efficacy."
Richard walked up to the counter, and a dusa-like witch with serpentine hair greeted him. Richard glanced at the silver pentagram symbol on the witch's Wizard Robe.
At Black Tower Wizard Academy, the silver pentagram was the mark of an apprentice.
"Miss, I would like to take on task 1205."
The witch glanced at him, "Young man, a newcor, aren't you? Jolod's tasks aren't so easily taken."
"Hmm? Miss, what do you an by that? Are Master Jolod's tasks always very difficult?" Richard smiled, trying to leverage his looks to his advantage.
The dusa-like witch gave Richard a cursory glance, the corners of her mouth hinting at an amused smile, "Don't try to butter up."
But even though she said so, the dusa-like witch still told Richard about Jolod.
"Jolod's tasks are notoriously thankless and strenuous. Don't be fooled by his recruitnt of over a hundred apprentices each session; very few actually receive his personal guidance."
"This I didn't expect," Richard was taken aback, "Then why does he recruit so many apprentices?"
"What else, to work for him," the dusa-like witch twiddled her fingers, "He owns an Alchemy Workshop, and most of the apprentices he recruits end up working there.
I advise you, unless you have considerable talent in alchemy, to avoid working under Jolod."
After considering for a mont, Richard thought about how few wizards specialized in alchemy at the Academy and how every other Alchemy Wizard had extrely stringent conditions for their apprentices. If he gave up on Jolod, he might never be able to pursue the path of an Alchemy Wizard.
Moreover, since the task had no ti limit and offered a rich reward, even if he didn't choose Jolod as his ntor, just earning so Magic Stones would be worthwhile.
"Thank you for the advice, miss, but I think I have a bit of talent in alchemy. I'll take this task."
The dusa-like witch was not at all surprised by Richard's response; over the years, she had seen too many wizards like Richard.
Every one of them believed they were extraordinarily talented and thought they could win the favor of a wizard. But in the end, only a handful truly succeeded.
"Another who won't take advice, such a waste of a handso face. Give your Crystal Ball, I'll register your information."
...
After leaving the task hall, Richard imdiately headed towards the comrcial district.
To refine Red rcury, a material known as Sunstone was required. This material was quite rare, so much so that Richard had a hard ti finding it in the shops of the comrcial district.
Eventually, Richard learned about aAlchemy shop nad Anna's Hut that sold this material.
"Anna's Hut, it can't be that Anna owns it, can it?" Richard smirked twitchingly as he looked at the shop na.
A ntor's task, and the materials had to be bought from his apprentice's store. This Wizard Jolod truly was a shrewd businessman.
It seed that Anna's Hut often dealt with apprentices taking on Jolod's tasks. When Richard explained his purpose, the shopkeeper imdiately handed him a bag.
"Two kilograms of Sunstone, sufficient to extract fifty grams of Red rcury. The price is five hundred Academy Coins."
The price startled Richard—it was too cheap compared to the reward. This kind of business, aside from being a scam, made Richard think that the extraction of Red rcury was very likely to fail, necessitating repeated purchases of Sunstone.
"Alright, here are the Magic Stones."
Richard took the bag, feeling sowhat heavy-hearted.
Magic Stones minus five, he had five left.
Back in his room, Richard reviewed the information in the Crystal Ball about the extraction of Red rcury.
After confirming that refining Red rcury did not require Sunstone to be mixed with other materials, Richard took a deep breath and took out a piece of Sunstone.
"[Material: Sunstone (one kilogram)]"
"[Refinable substance: Red rcury]"
"[Refining cost: 100 Magic Power]"
"[Proceed with refining?]"
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