Chapter 0058: Mission Reward

The distribution of task rewards was directly tied to the difficulty of the assignments each individual undertook. The mission that Mary and Grim completed together was the least dangerous, so their rewards were noticeably less than those of the others. However, they had managed to capture an enemy from the opposing faction, earning them a special reward that left the pair grinning in delight.

No sooner had they returned to their respective quarters than Grim, intent on resting, was called back by Mary. She tossed something to him—a crystal core, earth-attuned, about the size of an egg. Its yellow-brown crystalline surface glimmered with a soft, earthen aura; tiny flecks of light flickered briefly from within, making it look as radiant as a star in his palm.

Grim held his breath, awestruck. Through the undulating elemental resonance, he could discern clearly that this was an earth element crystal core of apprentice sorcerer level.

"This is your due. I drained the enemy's vital blood, so let this be your reward for your efforts," Mary said with her usual nonchalance, turning away to enter her own quarters.

Grim hesitated, his face torn between delight and uncertainty, but at last he carefully stowed away the gift and entered his room.

Once he was sure of his solitude, Grim began to inspect himself, silently communicating with his chip.

"Chip, can you digitize Mary's physical data?"

"Beep. Data collection complete... Detailed data as follows..."

Mary, Ancient Variant Vampire, Senior Wizard Apprentice. Strength 9, Agility 17, Constitution 13, Spirit 18. Innate Abilities: Blood Regeneration, Bat Demon Transformation, Natural Charm (in development).

So, as expected, she belonged to a powerful race that evolved solely through the act of blood-drinking. Grim could only imagine what sort of sorcerous experiments the adult Anderson, cloistered in his swamp tower, had performed to create such a terrifying magical puppet.

If Grim guessed correctly, Anderson must have left some form of control mechanism within Mary, likely anchored to her vampire lineage. Though Anderson now seemed indulgent, allowing her free rein without interference, it was only a matter of time before he would intervene to harvest his creation once she had reached his desired level of growth.

How far could Mary grow? Apprentice wizard or fully-fledged sorcerer? Did Anderson intend to use this method to harvest a sorcerer-level magical puppet for himself?

It was worth noting that, upon advancing to apprentice wizard, Mary would gain the ability to create blood thralls. If Anderson wished, Mary alone could raise a loyal army of blood slaves for him—a formidable asset for a first-rank sorcerer.

Mary herself was likely well aware of her predicament. Her every action carried a note of indulgence; she followed her desires, refused to restrain her nature. Perhaps even she could not distinguish which impulses were her own and which had been planted in her soul by Anderson’s sorcery. Thus, despite Grim and Mary’s recent harmonious camaraderie, Grim remained inwardly guarded, for he could not know when the hidden fuse within Mary might be ignited.

But these were "small problems" that could be resolved in time. Once Grim succeeded in advancing to a full-fledged sorcerer, Anderson would no longer be an unattainable figure. Perhaps then, through negotiation or other means, Mary’s issue could be settled.

Seated at the wooden table in his temporary residence, Grim sorted through all the spoils from his subterranean expedition.

The thorn armor bracelet and storage belt taken from Anna would naturally be kept for his own use. The earrings, which absorbed plant essence to self-heal, could be sold for more suitable magical equipment. The spell notebook, having already been scanned, had lost its value and could be offered for sale to anyone interested.

The emerald wood rod and magical mithril appeared to be materials Anna had prepared for crafting her future wand. Unfortunately, the materials weren’t yet complete, so she had to carry them secretly, only for Grim to benefit in the end.

The emerald rod, as identified by Sorcerer Angus, was a branch from a wizard-level tree spirit, providing significant amplification for plant-based sorcery. The magical mithril was a genuine product of the underground world, rare in the outside world. Grim’s fingertip-sized piece alone could fetch a thousand magic crystals with ease. Selling it was simple; acquiring more at the same price would be difficult.

Magical mithril was a high-end consumable. Those who obtained it would quickly use it up, creating a perpetual shortage on the market.

Thus, if Grim wished to forge his first wand, magical mithril was already at hand, but the material for the staff itself would need to be replaced—his elemental affinity was with fire, not plants.

The last item, a wooden figurine, was identified by Sorcerer Angus as a spiritual beacon for communicating with otherworldly beings. According to Angus, the fallen female apprentice they had killed was able to use a summoning ritual to establish a strong bond with a powerful entity from another realm, exchanging goods as needed.

Angus expressed strong disdain for this. The wizard world was itself a major plane, commanding thousands of lesser realms and able to source nearly any resource through internal trade. There was no need for such primitive summoning methods. The differing laws of each plane, combined with the tidal interference of astral energies, meant that remote material exchanges consumed three to five times—or more—the resources of a normal transaction.

Unless the resource was exceptionally rare, no orthodox sorcerer would use such archaic exchange methods. The female apprentice likely kept the beacon only for knowledge exchange with the otherworld.

This was strictly forbidden by the sorcerer system.

More seriously, any native sorcerer who betrayed the will of the sorcerer world would find their feedback from the world’s will diminished or weakened, and advancing would become far more arduous.

Thus, such fruitless actions were rarely undertaken by orthodox sorcerers. Only the outcast fallen sorcerers, excluded from the system, would resort to such desperate measures.

As a junior apprentice, Grim had never directly encountered the so-called will of the world, and Angus’s reverence for it piqued his curiosity. Though he had no concrete sorcerous experiment plans yet, he chose to keep the wooden figurine. Perhaps, when his abilities grew, he could exchange some intriguing things with these powerful otherworldly beings.

The earth element crystal core, a surprise acquisition, was not something Grim dared to handle rashly. Instead, he ordered his chip to scan it thoroughly and devised a tailored magical puppet modification plan.

After completing all this, Grim took out a spell book and began his daily studies, accompanying the chip with certain mental simulation experiments. When his spiritual power was nearly exhausted, he lay quietly on his bed and commenced his indispensable daily deep meditation.

With the chip’s assistance, Grim could enter deep meditation every time, gaining about 0.08 points of spiritual enhancement and 4 points of professional experience per session. This was the most important method for a sorcerer to raise their spiritual power limit. Though many sorcerers chose to use magical potions or rare items to boost their spirit, the resulting expense was far beyond the means of ordinary apprentices without family backing.

Take, for instance, the most effective potion for raising spiritual power below the senior apprentice level: the Focus Elixir, sold in the wizard tower’s potion hall for 5 contribution points plus 5 magic crystals per bottle. A single bottle could provide a spiritual boost of 0.5 to 0.7 for mid- to low-level apprentices. Though this number seemed modest, to ordinary wizard apprentices it was a prized treasure.

Before gaining chip assistance, Grim could only enter deep meditation once in ten attempts, and shallow meditation gave him merely 0.01 to 0.02 points of spiritual boost—worlds apart from deep meditation.

In practical terms, one bottle of Focus Elixir could save an apprentice at least two months of arduous meditation. Compared side by side, even at a high price, the Focus Elixir was eagerly sought after by countless apprentices.

Here, purchasing most magical resources required contribution points, which were entirely different from the knowledge points Grim had earned at the swamp tower. Knowledge points were exclusive to Anderson’s authority, valid only within the swamp tower and useless elsewhere. Contribution points, on the other hand, were the currency promoted by the scattered towers’ wizard association, usable across all their bases.

The three other major wizard organizations each maintained their own independent value systems, separated by deep divides and incompatible.

For completing the subterranean patrol task, Grim had received not only resource rewards but also five contribution points—just enough to buy one bottle of Focus Elixir.

By the time his daily meditation ended, it was already midnight in the wizard tower. After reviewing the results of his meditation, exhausted, Grim finally let go of everything and sank into the deepest sleep.