CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 44: FLASH

At the task window of the affairs hall, Andrew looked at Herag’s departing figure and muttered, "Are Sleeping Mushrooms really that easy to dig up lately? But other than him, there’s hardly anyone completing the Sleeping Mushroom task. It’s strange."

He pulled out a Talisman Stone and opened Macken’s chat window to ask, "Haven’t seen you submit Sleeping Mushrooms for several days. How are you doing recently?"

Macken was an old hand at picking Sleeping Mushrooms and often came to Andrew to submit them in exchange for Magic Stones, so the two were quite familiar with each other.

"Don’t get me started. These days I can’t find where those damn Sleeping Mushrooms have gone, and I still haven’t gathered ten." Macken complained with a frown.

"Can’t be true? Lately, someone has submitted a total of ninety Sleeping Mushrooms here. I thought they were easy to dig up lately; I was even tempted to try myself." Andrew exclaimed in surprise.

"Ninety? Impossible!" Macken’s first reaction was disbelief.

He had been digging Sleeping Mushrooms for a while and had never seen anyone dig that many.

Seeing his disbelief, Andrew continued to reply, "Really, it’s a new First-Class Wizard Apprentice who joined the forest not long ago. Submitted fifty Sleeping Mushrooms four days ago and another forty today. You often hang around Moonlight Forest; maybe you know him."

"What’s his name?" Macken asked.

"Herag, do you know him?" Andrew said casually.

Macken felt the name was both familiar and unfamiliar, then suddenly slapped his thigh, "Isn’t he that loner kid!"

"I was wondering why he didn’t socialize with us much. Looks like he has some special method to dig Sleeping Mushrooms. No wonder our harvest has been so little these days; it seems this kid’s dug them all up." Macken thought of his hard work in the past days without gains, feeling a bit frustrated.

...

"I have a total of eight Magic Stones now, enough to use for the time being; I need to convert these into instant combat power."

Herag opened the Talisman Stone to contact Larry, "Mr. Larry, how much for the Ice Shield and Mana Shield on your side?"

He planned to learn all three Shield Spells to create a turtle shell strategy.

"These two are a bit cheaper, both are two Magic Stones." Larry replied.

"I’m planning to buy them all. Mr. Larry, do you have any recommendations for attack-type spells?" asked Herag.

"Buy them all? Oh, right, the Dark Energy Shield is indeed a bit challenging for you, so switching to these two is not a bad idea." Larry assumed that Herag couldn’t master the Dark Energy Shield.

He continued, "I have many Level 0 Spells here. Some are attack-type and control support type spells; there are approximately these."

"Earth Spike Technique, Bone Spike Technique, Small Fireball Technique, Ice Arrow, Ice Cone Technique, Magical Perception, Flash, Fainted, Earth Binding Technique..."

Larry sent over a long list of Level 0 Spell names, making Herag’s eyes dizzy.

The first few were some common attack spells, while many at the back Herag had never heard of.

He asked, "Mr. Larry, what’s the effect of Magical Perception?"

"Magical Perception allows your magic to spread within a certain range around your body, forming a circle, and you can sense all movements within this range. The stronger your spiritual power, the bigger the circle. It’s quite practical and effective in actual combat, and I highly recommend you learn this." Larry explained.

"The effect is good, but I have a more powerful Shenlan, which makes this seem a bit redundant." Herag secretly compared, as Shenlan now has a range of two hundred fifty meters.

Magic is often subject to limitations in many situations, but Shenlan’s detection is hard to limit.

"What’s the effect of this Flash spell?" Herag continued to look at the spells at the back.

"This spell is also quite good; it’s one of the rare spatial-type spells among Level 0 Spells, allowing instant movement within a small range of space. However, it consumes a lot of mana, and you, as a First-Class Wizard Apprentice, may only be able to cast it once per battle." Larry introduced.

Herag’s eyes lit up, "This spell is great! Very useful at critical moments."

He then asked, "Mr. Larry, how much for Flash?"

"It’s a bit more expensive, three Magic Stones."

"Then I’ll take Flash along with Ice Shield and Mana Shield, a total of seven Magic Stones. I’ll take them all." Herag waved a big hand, leaving him with only one Magic Stone.

Larry teased, "You’ve got quite some money, kid."

He didn’t ask Herag where he got so many Magic Stones from either.

...

Building 5, Zone C, Herag held several thick books and a notebook.

The notebook was for the Flash spell; Larry didn’t have notes for the other two spells.

"These spells will keep you busy studying for a long time." Larry said while taking a sip of coffee.

Herag replied as he held the books, "Yes, I’ll study and research them diligently when I get back."

Larry suddenly remembered something, put down his coffee cup, and said, "By the way, I’m going to have a Magic Potion class later. You can sign up to listen. When you advance to Second-Class Apprentice, you’ll also need to refine Dawn Potions."

"Dawn Potions?" Herag had a simple understanding, knowing that promotion to Second-Class Apprentice requires potions after meeting the spiritual power standard, but hadn’t delved into it yet as he was still far from his upgrade.

"Dawn Potion can help you advance to Second-Class Apprentice more smoothly. With your aptitude, it should be easy to advance with Dawn Potion, but you’ll need to buy the raw materials for refining them yourself, or purchase the materials and commission someone else to refine them." Larry explained.

"How much are the materials?" Herag asked.

"About forty Magic Stones per portion. If you commission an Official Wizard like me to refine it, you need to prepare at least two portions of materials, with service fees starting at thirty Magic Stones. If successful on the first try, materials are not refunded, counted as commission payment. Even if both tries fail, you can’t reclaim the service fee; that’s the rule."

Larry continued, "But for a wizard, magic potion refining is a fundamental skill you’ll definitely need to master in the future. You can’t always commission others to refine potions for you, so you’d best sign up for the upcoming magic potion class."

Herag, unable to bow holding the books, stored them all in his Space Ring, then thanked, "Understood, thank you for the guidance, Mr. Larry."

"Your Space Ring’s quite nice. Didn’t expect a First-Class Wizard Apprentice like you to have something like this." Larry had noticed before but mentioned it casually now.

"This, a friend gave it to me, it’s Lillian from Augustus Academy." Herag said.

He learned after arriving at Moonlight Forest that such Space Rings are rare even here, quite valuable, and generally unaffordable for ordinary Wizard Apprentices.

"I owe a lot of favors." Herag thought, realizing he currently had nothing to give back to Lillian, but would consider it in the future.