With two translucent green crystals in his hands, Locke sat cross-legged in his room and cultivated Falconim.
Streaks of green light visible to the naked eye flowed out of the energy crystals in his hands and flowed into his body through his arms. Locke's breathing became longer and longer.
After an unknown amount of time, the faint sound of crystals shattering came from the room, interrupting Locke's state of cultivation.
He slowly opened his eyes, a glint flashing through them. Compared to when he'd just advanced to a high-rank Knecht, Locke's strength had increased by a notch.
The two mid-rank wind-type energy crystals in his hands had completed their function and turned into countless transparent fragments.
Clapping his hands, Locke tossed the fragments into the junk pile.
This was the third time this week that he'd used energy crystals to cultivate. The feeling of flying through the air left Locke intoxicated.
He'd heard that some casters wouldn't marry or have children in their lifetime. They'd only meditate for companionship. Most of them focused on the pleasure of improving their strength and neglected love.
"It's a pity I don't have many energy crystals left." Locke sighed. He mainly used mid-rank energy crystals now. He had four or five high-rank ones, but he couldn't bear to use them.
He planned to wait until the mid-rank energy crystals didn't work or their effects were minimal before using higher-rank ones.
When Locke said he didn't have many energy crystals, he didn't mean the total amount.
As he, Jasmine, and the others spent more and more money in the transport zone, they'd already made a name for themselves among the low-rank Lehrlings in the academy. There were no magic materials they couldn't get their hands on.
Their excessive profiteering would've definitely led to sanctions from the Sanctum, but as the interplanar war approached, the higher-rank casters no longer cared about the life and death of the cannon fodder slaves in the transport zone.
As long as Locke and Jasmine controlled the situation well and didn't go against the Sanctum's inspectors, they'd definitely be safe.
Most of their targets were mid-rank Lehrlings. Casters at this level all knew that the interplanar war wasn't far away and it was time for them to improve their strength as much as possible. Why would they break their own arms and do something as strenuous and unrewarding as reporting Locke and the others?
Currently, Locke earned about five mid-rank energy crystals a week. As for why he was still short of energy crystals, it was because he needed wind energy crystals that were useful for his cultivation.
Locke planned to ask Ashar next time to see if he could trade energy crystals of other elements for wind energy crystals.
He knew that Mage Ashar was a wealthy woman.
After tidying up a little, he left the room assigned to him by the Sanctum.
Locke was already familiar with the work in the transport area. His main task now was to help Jasmine seal the souls of the slaves, and sometimes, he and Harris would be in charge of transporting the slaves in and out of the warehouse.
Locke was heading to an alchemy shop that Jasmine had introduced him to. It was located within the Sanctum Academy and was said to have been around for almost seven hundred years.
"Hello, how can I help you?" Sitting in front of Locke was a middle-aged man with a yellowish complexion. He was the shop's salesman and an alchemist himself.
Unlike the fancy shops outside the Sanctum, which were staffed by beautiful female apprentices, everything here was simple and unadorned.
Locke knew that the caster sitting in front of him was probably the master who had given him the task to complete.
"I want to use this to make some potions that are useful to me." Locke pushed out a dark green reagent bottle with both hands.
The reagent bottle was sealed with the most advanced materials and packaging methods. Advanced meant expensive, so the caster was very curious about what was inside.
The caster sitting in front of Locke was well-trained in alchemy. He didn't rashly open the reagent bottle. Instead, he took out a long silver needle, inserted the tip of the needle into the reagent bottle, dipped it into the sample, and pulled it out.
The moment the silver needle came out, the reagent bottle automatically closed up. This reagent bottle was also an alchemy product, a gadget made by Angelina.
The caster chanted a spell at the silver needle, then took out a bunch of testing equipment from his spatial ring and started examining it on the spot.
Locke wasn't in a hurry. He sat on the sofa and sipped his tea while waiting for the results.
"It's actually Hildian blood!" The caster suddenly exclaimed. Fortunately, they were in a private room, so it didn't attract any attention.
"How is it? Can you make it?" Locke asked as he crossed his legs. He'd secretly collected some of this level-one creature's blood when he was helping Ashar clean up the lab.
The flesh and blood of ordinary major monsters could be useful to humans, so Locke didn't believe that the blood of a level-one creature wouldn't have any effect on him.
Locke could tell from the green creature's aura when it broke free from the test bench that it majored in physical strength. This kind of creature would be a great tonic for knights like them.
"Yes, I can." The caster still had the qualities of a professional and didn't keep Locke waiting for long. After some thought, he replied, "You can use this bottle of blood as the main ingredient for the Iron Body potion and Swift Dragon potion."
"How much do I need to pay?" Locke asked. He'd never heard of these two potions before, but since they were made with the blood of a level-one creature, they shouldn't be too bad.
"This bottle of blood can only be used to make three potions. We'll make one Iron Body potion and one Swift Dragon potion for you. You can keep the rest of the materials. What do you think?" The caster suggested.
Locke lowered his head and thought for a while before saying, "Alright."
If he could hide some level-one creature's blood in Ashar's lab, there was no guarantee that the alchemy shop would do the same. So, he simply agreed to it.
This seven-hundred-year-old alchemy shop was, of course, guarded by a strong Magister or above. The fact that the middle-aged Magister valued Locke's materials so much meant that the bottle of blood was indeed valuable.
The Hildian plane was very close to the Sorcerer World, and its strength was in the upper middle of the small planes. The higher-ups of the Sanctum and the Hall of Knights didn't choose to invade this plane due to various concerns, but casters and knights often went there to hunt.
The Hildians were full of treasures. It was said that the heart of the Hildian high priest could prolong the lives of level-one creatures and above, so it attracted many old monsters who were close to the end of their lives to hunt for it.
Apart from this, I would also like to ask you to forge a weapon for me. Locke took out his longsword and a pitch-black broken sword from his spatial ring.
He'd obtained the broken sword at an auction in Princeton. It was a broken sword that a level-one knight had discarded.
"Hmm... There's some inky cloud iron in it. It's not that rare, so it should be easy for me to fuse it into your weapon, "said the Magister after observing the broken sword for a while. The caster said after observing the broken sword for a while. As for Locke's sword, he didn't even look at it. It was only suitable for a mid-rank Knecht, so he wasn't interested in it.
"Just treat it as a bonus. You won't have to pay for the smelting of this sword," said the Magister.
"Happy working with you!" Locke extended his hand.
"Happy working with you!" The Magister smiled.
After leaving the alchemy shop, Locke went to Sancta Ashar's place.
As time passed, the surprise and shock that this level-1 dark elementalist gave Locke became greater and greater.
Unlike knights who still focused on impetus and physical strength after advancing to level-one, casters could choose many paths after advancing to level-one.
There were mysterious wizards who were good at curses and occult studies, elementalists who were good at elemental magic, summoners who were good at interplanar transactions and summoning, and bloodline warlocks who could fuse powerful creatures' bloodlines into their bodies.
It was precisely because of the huge and complicated cultivation system that the level-one mages had left the knights who only knew how to train their bodies far behind.
It was said that some talented casters were already researching the path of knights' cultivation. Physique Enhancement Casters were considered a branch of bloodline warlocks and had already taken root in some parts of the Wizarding World.
Locke admired Ashar because she was a powerful dark elementalist. Not only did she minor in witchcraft, she was also a part-time alchemist.
The main reason why Locke's previous Lehrlings couldn't stand Ashar was because she was temperamental and often tested her new knowledge of occult studies on the people around her.
No one wanted to wake up to find that they had turned into a toad or had a few extra arms.
Occult studies and magic were two completely different systems. Some spells could also turn people into frogs, but there was a time limit. The duration of the frogs' transformation depended on the amount of mana applied.
Occult studies, on the other hand, fundamentally changed the overall structure of a creature. If a Lehrling was turned into a toad, he would really become a toad.
This involved the indescribable taboo knowledge of the astral plane and the universe. Casters classified this incomprehensible or inexplicable knowledge as occult studies.
Locke knocked on the door of Ashar's room. Although he had the key, he rarely barged in. It was impolite.
"Come in." The Magician's lazy voice called out to them.
Locke opened the door and entered. He sat on the sofa obediently and waited for Ashar to come out.
Based on his understanding of her over the past few months, Locke concluded that Ashar had definitely just woken up.
The dark elemental caster hated the day and loved the night.
She almost always worked backwards. Last night, she probably did experiments until early in the morning before going to bed.
Due to Ashar's work and rest schedule, even Locke was quite tired from worrying about it.
Locke secretly speculated that the reason why the caster's skin was so fair was probably because she didn't bask in the sun often. She rarely paid attention to what she was wearing after getting out of bed. She always showed off her skin, which caught him off guard.
"Help me refine a new type of alchemy material today." Ashar walked out of the bedroom wrapped in a black bedsheet.
The surface area of the bedsheet was very small. It only covered the important parts. The rest of her body was exposed, which was very attractive.
"Alright." Locke nodded. He looked down, not daring to look anywhere else.
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