Warlock Apprentice

“Every problem has an answer,” Prome said. “People have always been tackling this problem with primal mana in magic crystals. There are many solutions today. Considering your current condition, the only one suitable for you is to buy an Energy Stabilizer.”

“Energy Stabilizer? I think I saw it somewhere before.”

“From one of the books in Cloud Library, I assume?” Prome chuckled. “If my memory serves me right, the alchemy draft about Energy Stabilizer has a rental fee of 1.1 million merit points.”

Million! Dave was agape upon hearing this. That meant 11 thousand magic crystals. It would probably take his entire life to make so much money.

Angor remained calm. He did see the book Prome mentioned, but he was also sure that his Encyclopaedia: Basic Alchemy contained something like this as well.

However, Angor never read the book for real. He only saw the name of Energy Stabilizer when arranging his pictures, so he had no idea what this thing did.

“As we commonly believed, primal mana is untamed energy which is almost impossible to control. In order to store it into mana pool and use it, wizards construct spirit models to filter the energy into pure energy,” Prome explained. “As for Energy Stabilizer… it is a tool that divides energy. If you put unstable energy into the device, it condenses the unstable part to a lower level while leaving pure energy on top, just like what happens if you put oil and water into a glass.

“Primal mana is also considered unstable energy, while an Energy Stabilizer can be used to extract pure energy out of it for you to use.”

When hearing this, instead of considering how to use the item to draw magic arrays, Angor’s first thought was whether he could gain more pure energy in this way to strengthen his own mana pool. If he could, he would be able to develop his power a lot faster simply by consuming magic crystals.

And this was exactly what most people who learned about Energy Stabilizers thought about.

Dave helped him by asking the question out loud.

“Master Prome, can we enlarge our mana pool by using this stabilizer? My mana flow is pretty slow, so if I can gain pure energy in this way-”

Prome interrupted him. “Only in your beautiful dream, my boy.”

Dave scratched his nose and let out a silly chuckle.

Prome continued, “A spirit model is the foundation of a wizard, and the mana pool is his core. The energy in your core depends on yourself to convert primal mana, even slowly. Foreign energy cannot enter your mana pool, no matter how pure it is. However, you CAN inject foreign energy directly into your spirit tunnels. But such energy still needs to go through the conversion process which won’t help you gain mana in your mana pool faster.

“Also, an Energy Stabilizer does not ‘convert’ energy. It condenses violent energy to a lower level. Primal mana contains both violent and pure energy, while an Energy Stabilizer extracts the purer part of the energy, leaving the violent one out. This is unlike your spirit model which converts all primal mana into pure mana. And here’s a problem.

“As I said, this approach means ‘spending money’. A magic crystal contains a good amount of primal mana, but an Energy Stabilizer can only filter out a small part of it. No matter how much pure energy you gain in the end, the magic crystal used in the process will shatter and go to waste. A single magic crystal cannot provide enough pure energy for even a level-0 cantrip.”

Angor frowned. “How many magic crystals do we need to cast a level-0 cantrip, if we only use an Energy Stabilizer?”

Prome considered. “I’ve never tried something so wasteful, but I can give you a vague answer.”

Prome took out several magic crystals and sensed them using his spirit feeler.

“They all have similar primal mana, but with different purity. I’d assume that a level-0 cantrip must use at least two or three crystals. More, if the cantrip is a continuous one.”

Angor went over his own calculation. If one level-0 cantrip consumed three magic crystals, he would need somewhere like 510 of them to apply Prelude to Elimination to an item during an entire alchemy process. Considering he also needed to use Thaw and Hand of Spell… it would take 600 crystals or so.

Six hundred magic crystals just to craft an alchemy item enchanted with Prelude to Elimination.

And this was based on the condition that his attempt was successful. Should anything go wrong, everything would go to waste.

Angor hesitated. He wanted to give up. However, when he recalled how Prome did save his life back there, he decided to give it a shot anyway.

He did not reveal his plan since he still had many problems to solve, such as where to find the magic crystals and materials. Besides, if Prome could actually find a usable weapon from the Wizard Fair, he could avoid “wasting money”.

Dave asked a question in the meantime, “Master, from what I heard till now, an Energy Stabilizer doesn’t seem so useful. Why is the draft so expensive to rent? And how much does it cost when a full-functional stabilizer is sold?”

Prome sneered, “I didn’t say anything about the true potential of a stabilizer. It isn’t used for extracting pure energy only. Any experiment that involves energy application could use such a tool, and any wizard who strives to achieve something good should get one. It has a high demand on the market, thus it’s an expensive blueprint.

“You should already know that anything related to alchemy knowledge costs a fortune. As for a full-functional stabilizer… it actually is affordable. I think Floating Mech City provides them at less than 200 crystals. We don’t have many alchemists here though, so you may find them in Brute Cavern at a higher price.”

“Can you make one, Master?” Dave asked.

Prome cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t be running a shop in this place if I can. If I go to Wizard Fair and sell stabilizers there, even if only one each day, I’d become richer than most people!”

Prome noticed Angor’s expression and thought the kid was still thinking about Energy Stabilizers.

“No need to worry. I was planning for the worst already. I’ve found enough magic crystals so I can go check the grand auction held in Twilight Well next week.”

Twilight Well, the name of the Wizard Fair in Darkivil Empire.

Apparently, auctions in Twilight Well were managed by their local wizard families. But in truth, they were sponsored mainly by Brute Cavern. Aside from routine auctions every month, they also held two grand auctions each year. One during the middle of a year, and one at the end.

“I’ll go as well, maybe I can learn something. I really need some new alchemy materials too.”

Angor already mentioned this last time. He was glad he was just in time for the mid-year grand auction.

“Of course. You come with us too, Dave. Go find a space capsule so we can stock up for the shop.”

Since it was decided, Angor needed to prepare something for his own. The foremost task was to earn some money. If Prome failed to find anything useful from the auction, he would need to “spend money” and make one, and he currently did not have enough money for that.

Besides, he also needed some other materials for his space storage, which would probably cost him more crystals.

The mid-year grand auction would start in the middle of Month of Soothing Wind, which meant it was only ten days away.

“Master Prome, do we use a steam train or airship?” Angor spoke.

“I planned to take an airship. But a ticket costs two crystals, which is… a little more expensive than a train ticket. There will be a lot of people going for the grand auction, so we better go pre-order the tickets now.”

Angor offered to take this job, but Dave asked to go instead since he earned 50 magic crystals today.

Ramanbell bought all of Angor’s weapons. As promised, Angor shared 10% of the income with Dave, and it was about 50 crystals. When Dave asked whether he should give a share to Prome, his master declined.

Dave earned money equal to his salary for two months in a single day.

With Dave away to buy tickets happily, Angor and Prome exchanged all kinds of tips about alchemy. “Exchange” might not be the right word for it, since Prome was the one talking most of the time. Angor was also interested in synthesis, so he gladly listened to Prome’s lecture as a “student” and asked several really childish questions of his own, while Prome did not mind enlightening him.