One week later.

In Dwarf Street, located in the port city of Lilith's Cottage, Locke and Lorne rented two houses here.

The primary reason was that the owner of Dwarf Street, the Hearthstone Dwarf Blacksmith, provided many free rentals for wizard prospects from overseas and poorer local wizard apprentices.

At the entrance of Dwarf Street stood a massive statue of a three-legged black iron furnace, its interior filled with burning charcoal.

Living here was indeed much more convenient for Locke and Lorne. The street offered free services from the dwarves, including food, lodging, and daily necessities.

As wizard apprentices, Locke and Lorne were just insignificant junior members of Lilith's Cottage. But in the eyes of the ordinary people living in the city under the rule of this wizard organization, they were important figures.

Hosting these wizard apprentices held many hidden economic benefits for the dwarves, involving unspoken rules and behind-the-scenes deals. However, Locke, who was currently focused solely on his studies, couldn't be bothered to figure out these details.

Locke heard a knock at the door. He pushed open the wooden door of his house and saw a male dwarf standing outside, barely half his height.

The dwarf wore blue overalls and held a large bag of milk, some eggs, and two slices of Queen's White Bread with honey and milk.

The dwarf servant bowed respectfully and said, "Lord Augustine, this is the breakfast Master Hearthstone has prepared for you. If you need anything, please let us know. Dwarf Street welcomes you."

Locke accepted the breakfast expressionlessly. "That's all. In the afternoon, I’ll need someone to clean my residence. But remember, do not enter my study, there are dangerous things inside."

The dwarf servant quickly replied, "Understood, Lord Augustine..."

Locke closed the door. After finishing his breakfast, he sat on a fabric sofa in his study and looked at the pots of Mandrake Vines placed on the floor.

These Mandrake Vines had all been given to him by his mentor, Witch Sophia.

To synthesize one Level 4 Mandrake Vine, 27 ordinary Mandrake Vines were required. To synthesize one Level 5 Mandrake Vine, a total of 81 ordinary Mandrake Vines were needed.

To be honest, if not for his luck in meeting Mentor Sophia, it would have been impossible for him to acquire such a large quantity of Mandrake Vines in such a short time.

This proved that even with the Horadric Synthesis Cube, the path of magic still required enormous resources.

But the rewards were equally substantial.

Locke examined the Level 4 Mandrake Vine in front of him. It was larger than ordinary Mandrake Vines, its surface covered in deep purple scales.

According to the glossary, this variant was called the Super Mandrake Vine, with comprehensively enhanced functions.

After two days of testing during his free time, Locke found that the performance of this Super Mandrake Vine even surpassed the descriptions of Tiflo Root Vines in books.

But this wasn’t his greatest achievement of the week.

With a thought, the Invisible Mandrake Vine hidden on his right arm revealed itself.

The Level 5 Mandrake Vine, synthesized from 81 ordinary Mandrake Vines, had produced a special formula: the Invisible Mandrake Vine.

The Invisible Mandrake Vine retained all the traits and performance of the Super Mandrake Vine but also possessed an invisibility ability.

This meant his magical plant naturally carried a passive invisibility trick spell, giving him a significant combat advantage.

With the Invisible Mandrake Vine, the power of his Vine Hand spell would reach a level unattainable by ordinary third-class wizard apprentices.

Moreover, it would enhance all subsequent spells in the Vine Hand series.

Locke recorded the relevant data in his study. "Currently, Mandrake Vines aren’t worth much, but even one ordinary pot still costs about 1 magic stone."

"Mentor Sophia gave these to me because she considered them useless. If I hadn’t taken them, she would have thrown them away to save space."

"Otherwise, the total value of the Mandrake Vine pots she gave me would easily exceed a hundred magic stones."

Locke gazed at the Level 5 Mandrake Vine coiled around his right arm and sighed inwardly. Learning magic was far too expensive.

He pondered, "And it’s not just about money."

"Mandrake Vines have long been obsolete, so it’s hard to buy them in such large quantities."

"If not for Mentor Sophia’s experiment requiring so many Mandrake Vines, I would have had to cultivate them myself, which would have taken about a year."

"This time, I was lucky to obtain the Level 5 Mandrake Vine so quickly." Locke looked at the Invisible Mandrake Vine on his right arm. "Because my magical plant has leveled up, my mental strength has also improved slightly."

"This magical plant should sustain me until I become a second-class wizard apprentice. That way, I won’t need to replace my magical vines with Tiflo Root Vines."

"After attending the public class, I’ll go to Mentor Sophia’s office and use her Amethyst Matrix to test my mental strength."

Witch Sophia had allowed Locke to use some of the safer items in her office, including the Amethyst Matrix for mental strength testing.

From his conversations with Lorne over the past few days, Locke learned that not all wizard mentors were as generous as Witch Sophia.

Most wizard apprentices had to pay 5 magic stones just to use the Amethyst Matrix once, even though it didn’t consume any magical resources.

Locke glanced at the Super Mandrake Vine pot on the floor. "If I sold this Super Mandrake Vine, I could probably earn about fifty magic stones."

"And since its performance is slightly better than Tiflo Root Vines, it would definitely sell. But if I actually did that, I’d be inviting disaster."

Locke thought warily, "If I keep it for personal use, it’s fine. First, others won’t know the details. Second, they’ll assume it’s the work of my mentor, Witch Sophia, and won’t ask questions. Sophia won’t reveal my secrets either."

"But if a third-class wizard apprentice suddenly starts selling enhanced Mandrake Vines, countless wizards will start probing into my secrets."

Locke tapped the desk with his fingers. "Even if I want to sell them, I’ll need to raise my wizard rank first and complete the Magical Plant Breeding course to become a certified breeder."

"That way, when I sell them, others will simply assume I’m a talented breeder."

"Fortunately, my mentor, Witch Sophia, is also a First Circle breeder."

A breeder was a type of wizard who specialized in cultivating unique magical plants.

Plant magic required many special magical plants as spellcasting materials. Different magical plants could affect the power of the same plant spell.

Thus, breeders were a relatively common wizard profession.

The improvement of Tiflo Root Vines fifty years ago was the masterpiece of a First Circle breeder from Holly Tower.

Since then, Tiflo Root Vines had replaced Mandrake Vines as one of the favorite magical plants among novice wizards.

Locke set a goal for himself: to become a breeder.

"Once I’m a breeder, I can openly sell the synthesized super magical plants."

"Also, by continuing to work as Witch Sophia’s potion-making assistant, I can learn more skills."

"Of course, the most important thing is to advance to second-class wizard apprentice as soon as possible. Only then will I no longer face the risk of being expelled by the academy. And only as a second-class wizard apprentice will I truly be considered a wizard of Lilith’s Cottage."

Locke checked the exquisitely crafted mechanical clock, a housewarming gift from the Hearthstone Dwarf, in his room. "There’s still an hour until the Basic Rune Studies class."

"I should leave now."

"The quality of Lilith’s Cottage’s public classes is even higher than I expected."

"If I don’t go early, I might not get a seat near the front."

The public classrooms of Lilith’s Cottage were located in the center of the port city.

The classes were taught in rotation by formal wizards and first-class wizard apprentices.

Most of the time, first-class wizard apprentices served as substitutes, but occasionally, formal wizards would lecture.

Although their teaching was often lackluster, for many wizard apprentices, this was their only chance to see a formal wizard.

Unlike Witch Sophia, who had only one student, the other formal wizards in the academy had many students under them. Generally, third-class wizard apprentices never got to meet their formal wizard mentors.