The failure to create a magic prop for the first time did not dampen Basari's enthusiasm, as he had never imagined that he could succeed in one go.
If gemstone carving techniques were so easy to master, the profession of jewelry craftsman would not have become one of the three most important professions for wizards.
No jeweler, even the most talented jeweler, can succeed in carving gemstones for the first time.
Most jewelers have a certain talent and then spend countless time and materials slowly practicing their carving skills, ultimately becoming jewelers.
So among the wandering wizards who did not join the academy and did not come from a certain wizard family, there are very few wizards who are proficient in the three major skills, because they simply cannot afford the money and time required to learn these three skills. Even rune, a discipline born out of mathematics and witchcraft, requires rune masters to purchase complex computing instruments and year-round contemplation, which is also an intangible cost.
Even for wizarding families like the Abbas family, which have a first level wizard, it is difficult to cultivate a true junior jeweler. It is necessary to select talented people and spend a huge investment.
Before Basari, there were also many people in the Abbas family who learned to carve jewelry, but only his uncle Ryan barely promoted to a junior jeweler. This was still under the guidance of an intermediate jeweler named Alec, who also spent valuable materials and five years cultivating them.
However, the limit of a wizard apprentice is a junior jeweler. To become an intermediate jeweler, one must first become a first level wizard.
So Alec said he hopes that Basari can inherit his carving skills, and the real meaning is to hope that he can successfully hold a ceremony and be promoted to a first level wizard.
As long as he can become a first level wizard and with his talent in light elements, Alec is willing to help him become an intermediate jeweler at any cost.
Of course, Basari was not aware of these things. He just felt that gemstones were expensive and wasteful, so he didn't rush to try again immediately after the failure. Instead, he tidied up the waste on the workbench and carefully summarized the lessons learned.
Wait until he feels certain before starting a new attempt.
Failure, summary, failure again, summary again.
After experiencing seventeen failures, Basari finally succeeded in refining one of the simplest magical jewels, the reflective bead, and officially became an apprentice jeweler.
With the first breakthrough, the success rate of Basari's subsequent carving of jewelry began to gradually increase, and eventually stabilized at one successful carving every ten times.
When he had sculpted over a hundred times and believed that he had fully mastered the various techniques involved in the carving process of the reflective bead, he stopped carving the reflective bead and instead practiced carving another type of magic jewelry, the Explosive Garnet.
The zero level magic prop Explosive garnet, the main material of which is naturally garnet, and the finished product is the size of a pigeon egg. When used, you only need to inject magic to launch it to explode and kill enemies.
However, unlike the reflective bead, the processing process of Explosive Garnet will truly involve the core craftsmanship of jewelers, namely cutting and carving.
During the processing of Explosive Garnet, the jeweler needs to cut seven planes with strict requirements for size and shape on the surface of the garnet, and carve seven runes on these seven faces at once. This way, when the user injects magic, the magic will flow correctly between the seven runes and perform its intended function.
Because garnet does not have a fixed shape, how to arrange the positions of these seven faces to ensure the normal flow of magic requires the jeweler to rely on calculation and experience to process it correctly.
Despite Basari's successful experience in carving reflective bead, his first carving of Explosive Garnet failed.
However, he summarized his experience of failure and was lucky enough to succeed on the fourth attempt. After dozens of practice sessions, Basari felt that he had already mastered the relevant skills and knowledge.
There were still a lot of practice materials left for Alex to give him, but he did not continue practicing. Instead, he handed over the finished jewelry he had carved, as well as the experiences and insights he had gained while carving, as well as the letters he had written to his parents, to the family messenger who came to collect the output of the Flame Sea Gem. He asked him to bring these things back to the family and hand them over to Alex and his distant parents.
The family messenger, named Heidelin, is a wizard apprentice of the Abbas family and also a cousin of Basari. However, he is already 32 years old this year, and his qualifications as a wizard apprentice are not outstanding. He is impossible to be promoted to a first level wizard in any case. Therefore, the family has arranged such a difficult but not dangerous job for him.
After hearing about Basari becoming an apprentice jeweler, he was naturally surprised for a moment. Then, with a joyful expression on his face, he took the item and nodded vigorously, saying, "Don't worry, cousin. I will definitely bring the jewelry and letters to Grandpa Alex and my uncle and aunt."
After saying that, he paused and said earnestly: "But you should also improve your magic and spiritual power as soon as possible. Although jewelry carving is one of the three skills of wizards, you are the hope of the entire Abbas family. The elders of the family and our brothers and sisters all expect you to become a wizard and lead the Abbas family to continue!"
"What you said is that I will work hard and never let my elders down! "Basari nodded and responded with a serious face.
"Just have it in your mind, then I'll go first."
Watching Heidelin's cousin leave, Basari manipulated the array to return to its original state and closed the door to read the long letter his parents entrusted his cousin to him.
When Basari's father Moric was young, he focused on his career as a wizard until he realized in his fifties that he could no longer become a wizard, and then followed the advice of his elders to marry and have children.
At that time, his mother Marilyn was chased by her enemies and fled to the vicinity of the Abbas Oasis, where she was saved by Morich. As a result, the two became married and gave birth to Basari within a few years.
Because both of them were apprentices to wizards, the first child, also known as Basari, was fortunate enough to demonstrate his talent as a wizard. From then on, Basari became the treasure of the parents and received their meticulous care.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before Alec noticed Basari and personally instructed Moric multiple times to educate and cultivate Basari according to his requirements, ultimately avoiding his fate of being spoiled and becoming a truly independent wizard apprentice.
In order to give their son a better chance of becoming a wizard, the couple of Moritz and Marina did not have any other children and devoted all their energy to taking care of Basari.
A few years later, Basari showed exceptional maturity and was able to take care of himself. The couple also handed him over to the elders of the family to take care of him under the order of Alec, and then they were arranged to go to the family's alchemy workshop in a neutral city-state to make contributions to the family with their own Alchemy.
Of course, as the supervisors of an extremely prosperous alchemy workshop, the benefits they gained from it even exceeded those of Basari, who was in charge of the Flame Sea. After all, the production of Flame Sea is only some raw materials, and the caravans that come and go are mostly mortals, so the income naturally cannot compare to the neutral city states with many wizards.
Basari understands his parents' thoughts very well. What Morich and Marilyn are doing now is also for him to become a wizard in the future and lead the family to continue the glory of the next century.
So he never harbored resentment because he couldn't see his parents for years. Instead, he would write multiple trust letters from family elders to give to his parents every year, telling them about his daily life experiences. He knew that these seemingly ordinary and boring things were what his parents most wanted to see.
"Dear, Flame Sea is a place where four families meet, with a large population and complex relationships. When doing things, you must think twice but take action once, and everything is primarily about protecting oneself..."
Basari looked at the letter his parents wrote him word for word, with a sincere smile on his face. A simple letter from his parents was far more effective in motivating him than others.
When he finished reading the whole letter, he carefully put away the letter paper and whispered to himself:
"There are still two years left, when I finish the remaining two years of the stationing mission, the accumulation of light elements inside my body will also reach a certain limit, and when I return to my family to balance the excess fire elements in my body with the water element environment of the Moonlight Lake, I will be able to go further and condense the elemental seeds, then I will talk to Grandpa Alec and apply to run a gemstone workshop in the neutral city state and reunite with my parents!"
On the other hand, when Hedlin returned to the family with the magic gems and gem carving insights carved by Basari and handed them over to Alec, it immediately aroused Alec's high attention.
He personally inspected the jewelry carved by Basari one by one, pointed out the shortcomings and gave suggestions for improvement. He also answered the questions recorded by Basari in the jewelry carving process, and then had a family elder personally visit to deliver some more precious jewelry raw materials and carving process knowledge to Basari.
"You're doing well. I've lived to be a hundred years old, and it's the first time I've seen Uncle Alex so happy. Even those mortals are talking about your deeds now."
The Abbas family elder responsible for delivering goods to Basari is named Favrean, who is 112 years old and has exceeded the limit of human life. He is able to survive mainly by relying on several alchemy potions that provide wizard apprentices with extended lifespan. But even potions have limits, and Favrean can live for up to five more years. If it weren't for Basari's personal praise from Alec this time, Favrean wouldn't have left the family to serve as a messenger.
"Grandpa Favrean, I am truly moved beyond words."
Basari looked at Grandpa Favrean, whose wrinkles had shrunk when he laughed, and his heart was moved, but he also secretly sighed.
He knew that if it weren't for the wizards and apprentices in the family each having their own tasks, Alec would never have allowed Favrean to come and make this trip. This is not only because Favrean is nearing the end of his life and deserves care, but also because every apprentice has traces of family secrets such as potions, rituals, witchcraft, etc., so all his remains and corpses will be collected, preserved, or destroyed as much as possible.
The arrival of Favrean not only demonstrates the importance that Alec and the family place on him, but also exposes the family's shortcomings in terms of available manpower.
"My brothers have almost all died of old age. I can now hear them calling me to accompany them to the underworld while lying in bed. Corruption has spread from the depths of my soul, and now I even feel older than my uncle Alec. Therefore, I don't care about my life, just hope to see the family's hope with my own eyes before I die."
Favrean reached out and lightly patted Basari's shoulder as a gesture of closeness, he had already ignored life and death.
However, he said so. After the next second, he couldn't help but sigh with regret and say, "Unfortunately, I can't wait until the day you become a wizard. Otherwise, when I die and go to the underworld, I can also boast to my brothers."
Basari remained silent, and his mood also became heavy.
For a whole century, no one in the Abbas family has been able to become a wizard for four generations, so that elder like Favrean have a obsession in their hearts, hoping to see another wizard emerge from the Abbas family in their lifetime to take over the protection of the Alec.
His father Moritz actually had this obsession too, otherwise he wouldn't have stayed at the alchemy workshop for a full ten years to prepare the necessary materials for his promotion ceremony in the future.
And just as Basari was thinking about how to break this heavy atmosphere, suddenly a flickering light appeared in the row of reflective bead that provided lighting in the room. The image of an anxious and panicked middle-aged man was projected from above, and the voice of one of his managers came out: "My Lord, help! There is a monster attacking us!"