Once the paper was submitted, all that remained was to pray and wait.
Richard handed the mask over to Jolod and stood beside him, uneasy and anxious for Jolod's evaluation.
The mask had co together quite smoothly for him, but its very ease cast a shadow of doubt over his heart.
Would a wizard really assign such a simple task?
As ti ticked by, the re minute or two felt like several hours to Richard.
"Not bad," Jolod said, turning the mask over in his hands.
The white, bone mask was enveloped in a gentle luster, and against the light, faint gray lines spread through the material like branches.
Although the runes etched on the back of the mask were sowhat raw, they were arranged in a reasonable manner, unlikely to influence the casting of spells much.
Jolod nodded his head, for an apprentice of a low level, the craftsmanship of this mask was excellent. As long as the magic power circuit within the mask was connected, it would qualify as magic equipnt.
A stream of magic flowed from Jolod's fingertips, following the magic conduits within the mask and sequentially illuminating all its runes.
When all the runes had been charged with magic, a burst of invisible spiritual shock emanated from the mask instantly.
"Hmm?"
Chax and Anna, feeling the shockwave, uttered sounds of confusion.
Sothing was off with this mask.
Why would a Stealth Mask emit a spiritual shock?
But more puzzled than the two was Jolod himself, who was currently using the mask.
The effects of this mask didn't seem like those of a re defective piece.
"Anna, Chax, you two have been a little too idle lately," Jolod suddenly said with a stern expression, turning to look at the perplexed pair, "Knowing that I gave the wrong design, why didn't you co to to get it replaced?"
Anna, puzzled, looked at the suddenly angry Jolod; she had been busy with experints recently, barely touching the ground with her feet. Chax shared the sa sentint; though he often drank on the fifty-fifth floor, he never neglected his experints and ditation.
"Teacher, how co I don't understand what you are saying?"
"Don't understand?" Jolod snorted, "You must have put a lot of effort into this fine-grade Pale Mask, haven't you?"
Fine-grade? Pale Mask?
Anna and Chax looked at each other, baffled by their ntor's sudden outburst.
How could they have crafted a Pale Mask?
And shouldn't the test for the low-level apprentice be a Stealth Mask? How could Richard have produced a Pale Mask?
Could it be... the teacher had given the wrong task?
Neither of them was foolish, and in an instant, their minds raced. After a glance confird neither was at fault, Anna spoke up.
"Teacher, I swear by the Sea of Souls that I have no involvent with this piece of magic equipnt."
Swearing by the Sea of Souls was a wizard's most solemn oath, rarely invoked except on significant occasions.
Chax also quickly followed, "Teacher, I am just like senior sister Anna. This item has nothing to do with , and you know my level, teacher. I can make a decent product, but a fine-grade piece of magic equipnt - even if you kill , I couldn't make one."
Seeing his two disciples respond in such a way, Jolod's expression darkened even more.
"Boy, did you make this yourself?"
Swallowing nervously, Richard nodded his head.
Hearing the conversation, it seed he might have created sothing extraordinary.
"You must swear upon the Sea of Souls," Jolod said, staring at Richard, the multitude of eyes within his profound orbs converging as if to beco tangible.
"Before you take this oath, I must remind you. If you violate your vow after swearing upon the Sea of Souls, your soul will be stained. This stain can cause your spiritual power to regress and will affect your future advancent as a Wizard, even to becoming a Great Wizard. So think carefully before you swear."
Jolod's words were undoubtedly a reminder to Richard not to allow pride to jeopardize his future, but Richard had nothing to fear if he had done nothing wrong.
This piece of Magic Equipnt was crafted entirely by him.
"I swear upon the Sea of Souls that I personally made this Magic Equipnt without assistance from anyone else."
As the oath was uttered, Richard felt a faint, invisible fluctuation emanating from his soul, reaching out toward a place beyond his knowing.
After a while, there was no sign of Magic Fluctuation on Richard's body, aning that his spiritual power had not regressed.
"This... you truly made this?" Jolod's voice carried a hint of disbelief as he handed the mask to Anna, who, after inspecting it, passed it to Chax with a look of shock.
"How is this possible?"
"Pale Mask, a fine quality Pale Mask, how can the magic conductivity circuit of this mask be so fluid!"
Jolod exhaled deeply, having thought himself accustod to geniuses like Anna, Chax, and the hundreds of other Apprentices with remarkable talent he had seen before. But their talents were re dust compared to this mask.
"Richard, do you realize what you've accomplished?" Jolod praised, "The Pale Mask is ant to be a test for Interdiate Apprentices, yet you, barely promoted to a low-level Apprentice, have not only completed its crafting but also enhanced its quality to a fine standard."
"This is sothing I, even my ntor before , could not achieve."
Chax handed the mask back to Jolod with a complex expression, and Anna beside him shared the sentint.
Both endowed with exceptional talents, they could comprehend the difficulty of this mask.
Jolod inspected the mask again, this ti discovering sothing new. The materials used to craft it were significantly inferior.
"Can you tell how you accomplished this?" Jolod's face turned serious, his voice deepening, "The skeletal structure of a Black Striped Water Python is too porous; using Black rcury as a conductive route would certainly lead to rcury branching within the bone, thus affecting the efficiency of magic conduction. In the past, only the skulls of mutant Black Striped Water Pythons could be used to create fine-quality Pale Masks. But your mask is different; the materials you've used are very common, even substandard. I presu it must have co from a juvenile Black Striped Water Python."
Richard nodded, "You are correct, it indeed ca from a juvenile Black Striped Water Python."
"So how did you do it? I am not compelling you to reveal the secret, but by Wizard rules, I will exchange knowledge of equal value for your secret."
Saying this, Jolod took out a Crystal Ball from a drawer and handed it to Richard.
Equivalent exchange, a cast-iron law passed down from the Dark Age of the Wizard World, is also the cornerstone of Wizard Civilization.
"This is the formula for a Concentration Potion, designed to help Wizards physiologically calm down, preventing casting errors caused by severe pain and emotional agitation. This should be very popular among Apprentices; you might want to ask Anna and Chax."
"Indeed, the Concentration Potion is always a bestseller in the comrcial district," Anna interjected.
Richard looked at the Crystal Ball and then back at Jolod, saying:
"I didn't make any improvents. If I really had to na one, I thought the mask material was a bit brittle after I finished crafting it, so I used a Demonized Alchemy Array to demonize the mask."
"Demonization?" Jolod fell silent for two seconds before handing the Crystal Ball to Richard.
As a Wizard with extensive Alchemy experience, he imdiately grasped the secret once Richard revealed the answer.
The Black rcury, when charged with magic, contracts and doesn't form branches, and the Demonized Alchemy Array happens to constantly release magic to the mask. Though not enough to activate a Spell, this magic keeps the Black rcury contracted and causes an accumulation of magic around the magic conductivity circuit.
The accumulated magic demonizes and grows the bone near the conduit so that after the demonization is complete, the Black rcury has no paths for branching.
The thod was simple, equivalent to a layer of paper, yet for many years, Jolod had been unable to reach this insight.
"This formula is yours now. Additionally, Apprentice Richard, do you consent to beco my Disciple, the Apprentice of Jolod Oliva?"
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