Chapter 30: Quality! (Please Follow)

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 come 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 time ticked by, the mere 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 somewhat 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 equipment.

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.

Something 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 mere 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 come to me to get it replaced?"

Anna, puzzled, looked at the suddenly angry Jolod; she had been busy with experiments recently, barely touching the ground with her feet. Chax shared the same sentiment; though he often drank on the fifty-fifth floor, he never neglected his experiments and meditation.

"Teacher, how come 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 mentor'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 confirmed neither was at fault, Anna spoke up.

"Teacher, I swear by the Sea of Souls that I have no involvement with this piece of magic equipment."

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 me, and you know my level, teacher. I can make a decent product, but a fine-grade piece of magic equipment - even if you kill me, 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 seemed he might have created something 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 become 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 advancement 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 Equipment was crafted entirely by him.

"I swear upon the Sea of Souls that I personally made this Magic Equipment 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, meaning 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 accustomed to geniuses like Anna, Chax, and the hundreds of other Apprentices with remarkable talent he had seen before. But their talents were mere dust compared to this mask.

"Richard, do you realize what you've accomplished?" Jolod praised, "The Pale Mask is meant to be a test for Intermediate 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 something I, even my mentor before me, could not achieve."

Chax handed the mask back to Jolod with a complex expression, and Anna beside him shared the sentiment.

Both endowed with exceptional talents, they could comprehend the difficulty of this mask.

Jolod inspected the mask again, this time discovering something new. The materials used to craft it were significantly inferior.

"Can you tell me 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 Mercury as a conductive route would certainly lead to mercury 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 presume it must have come from a juvenile Black Striped Water Python."

Richard nodded, "You are correct, it indeed came 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 commercial district," Anna interjected.

Richard looked at the Crystal Ball and then back at Jolod, saying:

"I didn't make any improvements. If I really had to name 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 immediately grasped the secret once Richard revealed the answer.

The Black Mercury, 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 Mercury 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 Mercury has no paths for branching.

The method 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 become my Disciple, the Apprentice of Jolod Oliva?"