The Witcher

The materials displayed at the stalls of the wizard market far exceeded the boundaries of Lizer's knowledge, each exuding a spine-chilling eeriness.

Inside a glass jar, dark green moss squirmed slightly to an inaudible rhythm, with faint blue phosphorescent flames floating on its surface, as if whispering the secrets of the abyssal rifts.

A stone covered in dark red veins was chained to a wooden rack; viscous sap oozed from the veins, hissing corrosively as it dripped onto the ground.

There were also powders wrapped in animal skins. Peeling back just a corner sent silver specks of light scattering into the air, bringing a biting chill upon touching the skin.

Most of these materials were nameless, with the stall owners marking their origins using obscure symbols:

Bone powder ground on the night of a lunar eclipse, Weeping flower of the forgotten swamp, Ink sac crystal of a demonized octopus.

The air was thick with the mixed scent of sulfur and rotting leaves, imbuing every breath with a mysterious, oppressive weight.

Lizer was drawn to a jar filled with translucent gel, in which tiny black tentacle-like objects were suspended, occasionally twitching and writhing.

He approached enthusiastically. The stall owner lifted his face from beneath a hood, revealing a pair of pupil-less eyes, and said hoarsely:

This is the larval gel of a void worm. Potions mixed with it can allow witchcraft to pierce through magical barriers.

When Lizer pressed for its origin, the stall owner merely pointed at the twisted clouds in the sky:

Last night, they fell along with the stardust.

Next, he saw a bone carved with ancient runes.

The owner introduced it as the finger bone of an ancient wizard. The carved runes could amplify the power of fire magic, but the user would hear the wails of the undead when casting.

This knowledge, which had never appeared in any textbook, wrapped around his curiosity like vines.

It made him realize that behind these bizarre materials lay the most hidden laws of power in the wizarding world.

There were also some wizards who scowled coldly at Lizer's inquiries, shutting him out entirely.

The origins of these materials were quite complex, with the primary sources being wilderness exploration and the hunting of demonized monsters.

Most rogue wizards would join the Crimson Soul Adventurers Association.

He had managed to gather most of the twelve ingredients for the Swift Spirit potion here, leaving only the main ingredient, the Silver-ringed Trout, and a few auxiliary materials.

The auxiliary materials were manageable enough; Lizer knew of a few places in the Monte Province where they could be obtained.

Even if he couldn't get them at this market, he could still acquire them within Monte Province during this trip.

However, according to the recipe for the Swift Spirit, the Silver-ringed Trout primarily appeared along the shores of the Eastern Sea.

That was a place incredibly far from Monte Province. To get his hands on one here would rely entirely on luck.

Whether Lizer's luck was good or bad was up for debate, but as it happened, there actually was a Silver-ringed Trout for sale at this market.

In a specially made glass tank swam a few bizarre, palm-sized fishes. Their bodies were banded with alternating black and white rings, resembling silver hoops, and their mouths were flat and elongated like a duck's bill.

It was said that in the ancient eras of the wizarding world, alchemy and potion-making were far less advanced than they were today.

Wizard apprentices of that time would consume these strange fish raw to slightly boost their agility attributes. Nowadays, however, potionology could maximize the effects of such treasures, boosting attributes significantly more when brewed into a potion.

Unfortunately, although this wizard apprentice was easy to talk to and casually chatted with Lizer, he flatly refused to sell the Silver-ringed Trout for gold coins.

Instead, he required a barter exchange for knowledge or potions, with a strong preference for traditional alchemy knowledge.

The seller was willing to make up any price difference with gold coins if the offered knowledge was worth more. Evidently, while the Silver-ringed Trout was rare, its value still fell slightly short compared to knowledge.

Lizer actually had two items on him that could be traded:

One was the blueprint for the Wind's Kiss.

The other was the analyzed recipe for the Swift Spirit potion.

Unfortunately, the former was his closely guarded secret, and the latter was far too precious; it was absolutely impossible to offer either for trade.

Both of these pieces of knowledge were deduced by Lizer himself and were free from any messy contract restrictions.

Thinking of this, he remembered that the Pay-to-Win ability could optimize witchcraft skills. In a sense, an optimized skill counted as a newly invented piece of knowledge and could be freely sold.

However, up until now, he didn't have a single skill that could be optimized.

After pondering for a moment, he suddenly realized the reason: his skill levels were simply too low.

According to the obscure guidance of the Pay-to-Win ability from before, skill optimization likely required a skill to reach the Master level before it could be innovated upon!

Lizer instantly felt a pang of regret. He had relied too heavily on the Pay-to-Win feature in the past.

Aside from his frequently used skills, zero-circle witchcraft like Fire Arrow and Ice Arrow hadn't even reached the Proficient level yet. Looking back, that was truly a mistake.

These two skills, along with those few basic rune combinations, could be practiced repeatedly and frequently, making them the easiest to push to the Master level.

If he had that optimized knowledge now, he wouldn't be worrying so much!

It really was true that there was no such thing as useless witchcraft...

Furthermore, his meditation technique demonstrated its advantage here once again.

Even without the Pay-to-Win ability, his meditation technique allowed him to consume less spiritual energy during practice.

This indirectly allowed him to practice various witchcraft or skills much faster.

From this perspective, Stinginess could also accelerate the speed of all kinds of research...

It really was just as Verst had said:

Because one is stingy, one becomes powerful!

Lizer made an agreement with this middle-aged wizard named Will:

If, after some time, Lizer acquired any knowledge or items that Will could use, they might still have a chance to trade.

The wizarding world really wasn't as easy to navigate as he had imagined.

These wizard apprentices were all shrewd and cunning, refusing gold coins in favor of things that were more beneficial to themselves.

However, Will and Liszt got along quite well. Seeing that he was indeed in urgent need of the Silver-ringed Trout, Will thought for a moment and finally shared a piece of information with him:

Another friend who adventured with him had also obtained this material.

His friend's name was Fili, and he operated year-round in Vokin City.

Moreover, Will had heard that Fili was recently drowning in gambling debts and desperately needed gold coins to pay them off. Lizer could go and try his luck there.

Lizer still had a basic impression of the city distribution in Monte Province. Gele City and Vokin City were separated by Manpa City, with a distance of about five hundred kilometers between them.

However, there was a witchcraft train running between the two places. With speeds reaching six to eight hundred kilometers per hour, it would take less than an hour to arrive.

Right now, the Silver-ringed Trout was quite important to Lizer, forming the starting point of a very crucial chain:

If he could obtain the Silver-ringed Trout as quickly as possible, with a bit of luck, he could even rush back in time to trade with the wizard apprentice selling the Sturdy alchemy rune combination.

By this time, there was nothing left at the market to attract the two of them.

Just as Lizer was preparing to leave, he was stopped by a wizard apprentice in a white coat:

Hello, are you Mr. Lizer?

Wizard Vesserin invites you!

Lizer and Felina looked at each other in dismay. The two of them were mere wizard apprentices, living in a completely different world from a big shot like an official wizard.

Why had they suddenly been targeted by Vesserin?

But at this very moment, the two of them had no choice but to follow behind the wizard apprentice to meet this official wizard.

In the villa at the very center of the market, the two met this legendary wizard.

Looking just like a noble aristocratic lady, ordinary people couldn't see anything unusual about her.

As it turned out, Wizard Vesserin had read the Gele City Commercial Daily and learned about the sorcery motorcycle.

She was quite fond of this novel and thrilling mode of transportation.

However, after the Little Wizard Donkey went on the market, she bought one and realized it was vastly different from the sorcery photograph in the newspaper, which sparked an idea in her mind.

Coincidentally, having discovered the inventor of the Little Wizard Donkey, Lizer, today, she wanted to ask him about the sorcery motorcycle.

Facing an official wizard, Lizer did not dare to act out of line and truthfully informed her that the Little Wizard Donkey was merely a low-end version.

He also gave a live demonstration of the performance of the sorcery motorcycle, Blue Star.

This immediately caught Vesserin's interest, and she wanted Lizer to provide her with one as well.

Originally, Lizer had hoped to trade the sorcery motorcycle for some of Vesserin's unique potion formulas or knowledge.

But Vesserin stated clearly that it was impossible; although the sorcery motorcycle was a novelty, its value was not high, and both parties had to abide by the principle of equivalent exchange.

Circumstances were stronger than men!

Facing the domineering Wizard Vesserin, Lizer had no choice but to concede.

However, through detailed inquiries in the market, he already knew that Vesserin's signature potion was the secret medicine Brain in a Vat, which could permanently increase spiritual power by 0.5 points.

After much negotiation, he finally reached an agreement with Wizard Vesserin:

He was allowed to exchange two Spirits of Swiftness for one Brain in a Vat.

To wizards, the value of a Brain in a Vat was far greater than that of a Spirit of Swiftness.

Selina's Brain in a Vat was already a rare item in short supply in the Monte Province, and it was exceptionally important to wizard apprentices.