’An Advanced Wizard Apprentice...’

Wei’en took out his Intelligence Officer tools and thought, ’This is pretty good progress.’

More than three months had passed since he arrived in the Caster City State.

Considering the pace of the Ghost Meditation Technique, shouldn’t those prodigies who entered the school directly have also been promoted to Advanced Apprentice after a hundred-odd days?

That’s what he thought, but Wei’en had no idea that his promotion speed not only far surpassed his peers but had even triggered the school’s death knell to sound as an unusual alarm.

However, even if he had known, he wouldn’t have chosen to suppress his advancement speed. The danger in the Caster City State had long surpassed his initial estimates. If his power had grown any slower, he wouldn’t have to wait for some future doom—he would have been finished today at Ceres Manor.

BUZZ BUZZ—

’Something’s here?’

Wei’en had just finished laying out his various work tools on the desk when the blue and white box began to vibrate.

’Don’t tell me they found out the intel I sent last time was fake?’

’But it’s only been two days.’

He opened the box and glanced inside—there was a letter, three parchment scrolls, and a black bag.

’A letter, parchment scrolls...’

Wei’en breathed a small sigh of relief; it was clear these items weren’t from his Liaison Officer.

With that, he picked up the letter and began to read.

Unlike before, the envelope not only bore the seal of the Ghost Soul School, but it also named the sender: Kedir Khan Harrison.

’If I recall correctly, isn’t he the administrator from the Apprentice Management Office who warned me not to delve into the study of Magic Potions blindly?’

"To be opened by Wei’en Loft."

"First, congratulations on your promotion to Advanced Wizard Apprentice. As per the school’s regulations for apprentices, every Advanced Wizard Apprentice is to receive a reward from the school."

"Based on the knowledge you have recently redeemed, we have enclosed three scrolls of magical knowledge related to the Undead Magic system, as well as a tool kit."

"Be advised, this tool kit is specifically designed for undead modification. Please store it properly."

"Furthermore, the redemption list is now available up to the Advanced Wizard Apprentice level. You may choose and redeem knowledge suitable for you."

"Finally, on the path of pursuing knowledge, death is not the end. — Kedir Khan Harrison, Ghost Soul School Apprentice Management Office."

’I can’t believe it. I just got promoted, and the school has already sent a reward. They even thoughtfully chose things that are perfect for me...’

’Not bad at all.’

Wei’en picked up the parchment scrolls and unrolled them one by one.

One scroll, written in the common tongue, detailed the insights of an Advanced Wizard Apprentice on advancing to an Official Mage. However, its contents weren’t particularly useful to him.

Only the section on the requirements for becoming an Official Mage was of any use.

The rest of the content was about accumulating and improving one’s Magic, how to accelerate the effects of Meditation,

The other two scrolls recorded two zero-level spells: Corpse Explosion Skill and Undead Frenzy.

The Corpse Explosion Skill uses the corpse of any creature, including aberrations, to create powerful area-of-effect damage with a contaminating property.

To put it simply, if a creature tainted by the Corpse Explosion Skill dies, its corpse will also explode.

Furthermore, the effects of the Corpse Explosion Skill vary depending on the corpse used.

To put it more vividly, an ordinary person’s corpse has the explosive power of a hand grenade at most. But if it’s the corpse of an Extraordinary or an aberration, the power is comparable to a rocket.

Of course, this was only in the hands of an apprentice-level Wizard.

As the spell’s level increases and the Wizard advances, the power of the Corpse Explosion Skill grows exponentially.

The only caveat was that the Corpse Explosion Skill was strictly forbidden from being used within the city-state or on ordinary people. Otherwise, if it were to start a chain reaction...

Well, would you like to see countless fireworks blooming into showers of blood and gore all at once?

The other spell, Undead Frenzy, was a bit more benign. It was a spell that could only be used on Undead Summoned Creatures. Its effect was singular: to forcibly send an Undead Creature into a Bloodthirsty Frenzy.

’Not bad. They’re both pretty practical spells.’

Especially the Corpse Explosion Skill. ’If I had known this spell today at Ceres Manor, combined with the Mechanical Box’s death-dealing properties, those people wouldn’t have lasted a minute.’

As for the last item, the tool kit, Wei’en opened it for a look. Just as the letter had said, it was filled with tools for undead modification, such as knives, needles, and thread.

Wei’en set these items aside after looking them over. He had a lot to upgrade today, so he decided it was best to get everything ready first.

In terms of Runology, he needed five more runes to advance from the entry level to proficient. Even with the Corpse Explosion Skill and the Undead Frenzy Skill, he was still short three Magic Runes.

For his potion-making skills, he was short seven Magic Potion recipes...

And on top of that, he needed tools for making Magic Potions and machinery... 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

With that, Wei’en began to rummage through the redemption list for the items he needed.

’One complete Isolation Array, seven Magic Potion recipes, three spells, and the tools for making a Mechanical Puppet...’

All told, these items cost him 103 gold pounds, most of which was spent on materials for making Magic Potions.

Wei’en looked at his now considerably lighter coin purse and couldn’t help but sigh. ’No matter how many gold pounds I have, it’s never enough.’

’And that was after I picked and chose carefully.’

’If I had really splurged, I could have chosen that Plague Poison Skill worth 60 gold pounds, or that piece of adamantite-reinforced armor...’

Before long, Wei’en had moved everything to his workshop. Some of the materials for the Mechanical Puppet couldn’t fit into his Space Ring, so he even had Miss Zombie help out.

’I’ll start with the runes.’

Wei’en took out the five parchments that recorded the spells and began to trace the Magic Runes.