Chapter 313 - 37: The Academy’s Grand Reward

Chapter 313: Chapter 37: The Academy’s Grand Reward

Inside Residence No. 43.

Mo Ning was completely focused on deeply optimizing another form of Witchcraft—Acid Arrow.

This Level Zero Witchcraft was derived from a rather famous piece of Ancient Witchcraft—Acid Missile.

The missiles cast by Ancient Wizards didn’t have high accuracy.

When attacking distant targets, the missile mostly relied on damage from the acid’s splash, which was far from fatal.

Learning this Witchcraft required 5 points of Spiritual Strength. Its Magic Power consumption was also considerable, costing nearly 4 points of Magic Power per cast.

After generations of optimization and modification by Divination Wizards, Acid Arrow was born.

Its firing accuracy was far superior to the erratically-pathed missile, directly increasing its attack damage.

The potent acid forming the arrow’s body would explode into countless fine droplets upon impact, greatly increasing its area of coverage.

In contrast, when the missile exploded, it sent out globs of acid, and its corrosive properties were far inferior.

Acid Arrow only required 3.2 points of Spiritual Strength, and its Magic Power consumption was a mere 1.2 points, far lower than the missile.

This was another classic example of Secret Divination and Divination optimizing Ancient Witchcraft.

Yesterday, Mo Ning had spent only a short half-hour to completely analyze this model, which was even more complex than Air Shield Technique.

He set an optimization goal to reduce its Magic Power consumption to around 1 point and lower its load on his Spiritual Strength from the current 0.2 points to 0.15.

This sounded utterly incredible.

But Mo Ning was 100% confident he could do it.

The logic behind this was that many standard Witchcraft Models, in order to accommodate the Divination Ability of ordinary Apprentices, used Divination structures that were less difficult but also less efficient in their use of Magic Power.

His Divination Ability, however, was firmly at the level of an outstanding Third Level Apprentice, and his Divination deduction skills were on par with an Official Wizard.

Therefore, he could replace the inefficient and redundant Magic Circuits with more efficient and concise Divination structures, thereby reducing Magic Power consumption and the load on his Spiritual Strength.

For him, deeply optimizing a mere Level Zero Witchcraft was truly not that difficult.

On the other hand, the lower the Spiritual Strength load of a single Witchcraft, the more Witchcraft Models one’s limited Spiritual Strength could support.

Every powerful Wizard accumulated their strength bit by bit in this manner, eventually reaching a height that others could only look up to in awe.

「Soon.」

On the Divination Calculator projected by his Eye of Truth, a ceaseless torrent of Divination calculations completed the optimization of a crucial Magic Circuit structure.

A string of concise and elegant Divination symbols appeared in the center of the Light Curtain.

Mo Ning couldn’t help but smile. "By adopting a more efficient aerodynamic structure, Acid Arrow’s flight speed can be increased by ten percent, and the Magic Power consumption might even drop to 0.9 points."

A drop from 1.2 points to 0.9—a reduction of a full 25%. If word of this got out, it would be enough to make a great many Apprentices’ jaws drop.

Just then, his Apprentice’s Magic Ring suddenly stirred.

Streams of information flowed into his consciousness like water.

"[Notice: Effective immediately, all First Level Apprentices will have a mandatory Secret Technique evaluation added to their curriculum...]"

Mo Ning had only just finished reading the first sentence when the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but lift into a smile.

’It’s finally happening!’

His mentor, Yi Lin, had clearly stated in her evaluation of his thesis that it had been submitted to the Black Tower’s council. Depending on the results of their discussion, he would receive additional rewards.

The Wizards on the council had clearly realized the immense benefits of the Magic Breath Technique and decided to make it mandatory.

This was all within his expectations.

After the notice for the First Level Apprentices concluded, the Magic Ring once again emanated a faint warmth.

The curve of Mo Ning’s lips widened.

’The rewards are finally here!’

"[Reward Notification: Serial No. 7-118-256, Mo Ning.]"

"[The Birch Magic Breath Technique you created has immense practical value. It can significantly improve the strength of Low Level Apprentices and greatly reinforces the academy’s foundation. You have made an extraordinary contribution to the academy.]"

Mo Ning couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face.

The phrase "made an extraordinary contribution to the academy" was a level of praise far beyond what one would see for a research paper or journal article.

It had only one subtext: ’Young man, prepare to be pleasantly surprised.’

"[Given that the Birch Magic Breath Technique has been listed as a mandatory evaluation item, a sales commission system is no longer appropriate. The academy will buy out this Secret Technique with a one-time payment. You will receive the following rewards.]"

"[Reward 1: You have received 50,000 Black Tower Points. Current Magic Ring account balance: 71,625 Black Tower Points.]"

Mo Ning smacked his lips.

Even though he could already be considered "wealthy," he was still shaken by this enormous sum.

"[Reward 2: You have been granted shopping access to the Black Tower Secret Vault (First Level clearance). You may purchase items of the First Level Apprentice Equal Tier. You can enter the Mirror Black Tower Secret Vault through Dawa’s Grocery List.]"

"[The shopping currency for the Secret Vault is the ’Secret Tower Coin.’ The exchange rate between Secret Tower Coins and Black Tower Points is 1:1,000. You may exchange for 3 Secret Tower Coins per month. Making greater contributions to the academy will grant you a higher exchange limit.]"

Mo Ning’s heart leaped with joy as he read this.

’I’ve always had a suspicion: the academy most likely has another, more secretive shop.’

’All the good stuff that isn’t sold publicly, like high-Quality Magic Potions and high-Quality Witchcraft Items, can only be bought there.’

Now, his guess was confirmed.

Judging from the reward information, there was only one standard for gaining access to the Secret Vault: make a major contribution to the academy.

But an even bigger surprise was still to come.

"[Reward 3: You will receive the Space Magic item ’Buda Space Bracelet.’ This item possesses 20 cubic meters of portable storage space. Please note that other spatial items cannot be stored inside, or it will cause a spatial collapse.]"