Chapter 19 Mentor Tasks

Wizard Academy had no strict requirements for apprentices in choosing mentors, 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 time in the mentor section of the Central Black Tower, filtering out all the mentors renowned for their alchemy.

After eliminating the wizards who hadn't taken apprentices for many years and those with extremely demanding conditions, a wizard named 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 name seemed familiar.

"Isn't this Anna's mentor 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 me 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 met 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 equipment and patrolling corners of the Academy and cities and mountains within the Academy's sphere of influence. These were tasks with extremely 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 extremely 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, some 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 exclaimed softly, starting to look for a task posted by Wizard Jolod.

After searching for a while, a task for refining fifty grams of Red Mercury appeared in front of him.

"Red Mercury, a volatile liquid metal, 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 time limit. I'll take it first and see. Besides, the Miracle Furnace can also refine materials; this time is a good opportunity to test its efficacy."

Richard walked up to the counter, and a Medusa-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 newcomer, aren't you? Jolod's tasks aren't so easily taken."

"Hmm? Miss, what do you mean by that? Are Master Jolod's tasks always very difficult?" Richard smiled, trying to leverage his looks to his advantage.

The Medusa-like witch gave Richard a cursory glance, the corners of her mouth hinting at an amused smile, "Don't try to butter me up."

But even though she said so, the Medusa-like witch still told Richard about Jolod.

"Jolod's tasks are notoriously thankless and strenuous. Don't be fooled by his recruitment 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 Medusa-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 moment, Richard thought about how few wizards specialized in alchemy at the Academy and how every other Alchemy Wizard had extremely 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 time limit and offered a rich reward, even if he didn't choose Jolod as his mentor, just earning some 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 Medusa-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 handsome face. Give me your Crystal Ball, I'll register your information."

...

After leaving the task hall, Richard immediately headed towards the commercial district.

To refine Red Mercury, a material known as Sunstone was required. This material was quite rare, so much so that Richard had a hard time finding it in the shops of the commercial district.

Eventually, Richard learned about aAlchemy shop named 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 name.

A mentor's task, and the materials had to be bought from his apprentice's store. This Wizard Jolod truly was a shrewd businessman.

It seemed that Anna's Hut often dealt with apprentices taking on Jolod's tasks. When Richard explained his purpose, the shopkeeper immediately handed him a bag.

"Two kilograms of Sunstone, sufficient to extract fifty grams of Red Mercury. 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 Mercury was very likely to fail, necessitating repeated purchases of Sunstone.

"Alright, here are the Magic Stones."

Richard took the bag, feeling somewhat 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 Mercury.

After confirming that refining Red Mercury 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 Mercury]"

"[Refining cost: 100 Magic Power]"

"[Proceed with refining?]"