Chapter 255: The More You Learn, the Greater the Blow

The black market was an indispensable part of Little Weil’s income, and he would visit it every half a month or a month, earning at least several thousand gold coins each time, while the amount of gold coins he carried with him never exceeded two hundred.

This blatant act of robbery was unknown to outsiders, save for the members of the All-Trades Guild. Others who tried to imitate it ended up losing everything and even had to ask Scholar Boss to help them regain their losses, albeit secretly.

Besides Little Weil and the Black Merchant, two other people in the All-Trades Guild also only made profits and never losses: Leiya and Yami.

Leiya only focused on things that interested her, which were plant-related items. In this area, even Little Weil, without the help of his Eye of Appraisal, was far inferior to her. This little girl was a hoarder; after buying what she wanted, she would never sell it.

The little girl Yami, on the other hand, inherited the habits of dragons, possessing an unusually keen intuition for extraordinary items that normal people couldn’t comprehend. She didn’t understand antique appraisal, but whether an item possessed extraordinary power, and the strength of that power, couldn’t be hidden from her. Furthermore, her money was limited and she was extremely stingy, usually only buying things with silver and copper coins, using all her gold coins to line her bed.

This allowed her to find some excellent value-for-money items in the black market and exchange them for a good amount of gold coins from the Black Merchant. However, such opportunities were rare; this little girl would only find something once every ten days or half a month, and this was the result of her going every day.

This little girl’s greedy nature was quickly understood by all her companions in the All-Trades Guild. Even Karis, who had only been there for twenty-odd days, was no exception. Asking her for help was actually very easy, as long as enough gold coins were offered.

For gold coins and other shiny good things, this girl was a hoarder. Her room in the All-Trades Guild was lavishly decorated, using gold ornaments whenever possible, never silver.

“The Scholar Boss’s lecture today was too disjointed; I couldn’t fully remember it.” My Copying Spell was still too weak, but the improved version of the Copying Spell could only be learned after I had corrected and perfected the basic runes I had already inscribed. Moreover, I had to research it myself first, and after gaining some insights and experiences, then learn from their manuscripts to find the correct advanced Copying Spell model.

This model, however, was called “Speed Writing” by the Scholar Boss, a way to quickly record everything seen and heard, with excellent results. At least, Zhuo Lant had never missed anything due to the disjointed discussions of the four prodigies. Even if he didn’t understand it, he would record it first and then study it slowly.

“Basic runes, zero-level cantrips, alchemy, and other foundational, theoretical things, Scholar Boss and Miss Lilith are masters. For botany, Miss Doctor is the authority. For zoology, or rather, which parts of animals are most delicious and what threats they pose, Miss Little Deer is the expert.” Zhuo Lant closed his notebook with a ‘snap’.

These were all very formal research materials, filled with the sparks of wisdom from the four prodigies. Looking at them every day always gave him inspiration. Zhuo Lant had already completed the intermediate education assessment, and his scholarly aura was growing stronger, even setting up a bookshelf in his room specifically for his notes.

You ask why he doesn’t put them in his storage bag? Hehe, his storage bag is not as safe as the All-Trades Guild, and when he records, he uses ancient characters he learned from the Scholar Boss. Most people, even most wizard apprentices, don’t have much research in this area.

“Hmph,” Karis sneered, looking at Zhuo Lant with gritted teeth. This scoundrel’s notes could indeed be borrowed, but this scoundrel, for the sake of so-called secrecy, actually used ancient characters to take notes. How ridiculous!

Do you think you’re an old relic who traveled from ancient times to the present? A few months ago, you were illiterate, and now you’re pretending to be civilized everywhere. To show off your superiority, you’ve even started using ancient characters to highlight your uniqueness.

“To curry favor with Miss Doctor, I stole many magic plant seeds from my grandaunt’s collection and gave them to her. She did help me a lot with knowledge of magic potions. Miss Little Deer only recognizes gold coins; all my pocket money has already fallen into her pocket. When I have money, she will answer my questions with a smile, but if I don’t, hehe.” Karis hadn’t expected such an oddball, and although her asking price wasn’t high, she charged for every single question.

“As for Scholar Boss and Miss Lilith, they just keep telling me to solidify my foundation and not to aim too high.” Karis recalled the gathering a few days ago, where she merely presented the conclusions of one of Scholar Boss and Miss Lilith’s discussions, a result that accounted for less than one-tenth of their achievements, yet it shocked that group of wizard apprentices speechless.

The questions asked were as idiotic as they come. Karis saw Zhuo Lant’s calm and composed expression, knowing that this scoundrel was already secretly overjoyed. This feeling of watching a group of fools acting stupid made Karis feel that she must have been severely looked down upon like them before, but now she was in his camp, belonging to the ranks of those who could secretly look down on others.

“Miss Karis, do you really think you can keep up with their pace? These things are indeed very helpful to us, but can we really accept them? With our current foundation?”

Zhuo Lant said solemnly, “Actually, when I first started, I was even worse than you, even far worse. Scholar Boss cultivated me little by little from elementary education, just like teaching a child who knows nothing. In wizard cultivation, it also started with basic runes. My situation was even more serious than yours; not only were there many deviations and flaws in my basic runes, but even my meditation method was incomplete.”

At this point, Zhuo Lant was slightly agitated: “It was Scholar Boss who brought out a copy of ‘Three-Fold Meditation Method’ and explained it to me word by word, helping me perfect and improve it bit by bit, which is why I have made such progress today.”

“I can now say without hesitation that in terms of foundation, I am no worse than any of you, but Scholar Boss still refuses to teach me too many cantrips, because he always believes that my foundation is still too weak. Before all thirty-six basic runes are visualized and inscribed, high-difficulty cantrips are just a burden.”

“Although my teacher is Scholar Boss, my goal from the beginning was not him, or even Miss Lilith, but a wizard apprentice like Miss Doctor or Miss Little Deer, who specializes in one field and broadly dabbles in others. I never considered myself a genius!” Zhuo Lant’s words made Karis fall into deep thought.

Was she a genius? Before, she had always thought of herself as a genius, a rare super genius, one in ten thousand, or even one in a hundred thousand. But during her time in the All-Trades Guild, she had been thoroughly discouraged.

She couldn’t defeat a third-level wizard apprentice (Yami), and she was completely inferior to first-level wizard apprentices (Little Weil, Lilith). Any one of them could crush her in theoretical aspects. Seeing them discuss zero-level cantrips, Karis felt as if she wasn’t learning the same thing as them.

Suddenly, a conversation nearby caught their attention. They saw Ice Cube placing a stack of papers in front of Scholar Boss: “I’ve finished learning. Is there anything else I need to do?”

“What?! You’ve successfully visualized and inscribed all thirty-six basic runes?!” Senior Knight Jasmine’s voice was a little loud, and she stood up, slamming the table: “How is this possible? It’s been less than two months, and you’ve actually inscribed all of them successfully?!”

Zhuo Lant and Karis were stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized. Two months? All thirty-six basic runes successfully inscribed? Could it be that this cold beauty was able to successfully inscribe all the basic runes in less than two months? This was too disheartening!

“One month. Scholar said to observe first, then inscribe.” Ice Cube was sparing with her words, yet she completely shattered Senior Knight Jasmine’s confidence. On the other side, Zhuo Lant and Karis also felt their faces flush. Another prodigy!

“Hehe,” Little Weil smiled without a word. Should I tell you that Ice Cube is a first-level bloodline warlock, equivalent in strength to a first-level wizard, but before, she only had her own inheritance and no other more systematic means to assist her cultivation? Visualizing and inscribing basic runes was already enough for her. As for meditation methods, besides divine-level meditation methods, other ordinary meditation methods had little effect on her.

“Visualize basic runes every day to see if you can purify your bloodline and unlock more inheritances. You are a bloodline awakener; your bloodline is your advantage. There’s no need to take the path of a wizard. Even if you do, try to choose the path of ice and snow. I can’t give you too much advice in that area.” Little Weil shrugged. If it were elven or dark night/ocean-related bloodlines, he would have some stock on hand, but ice and snow, forget about it.

“Mm.” Ice Cube nodded and turned to leave, leaving behind the shocked Zhuo Lant and Karis, as well as Jasmine, who had just mustered a bit of ambition, preparing to show her niece, who looked down on her, her talent on the path of a wizard, only to be utterly crushed by Ice Cube.

Little Weil and Lilith exchanged a smile. It seemed there was no need for any other tricks. Even someone with Ice Cube’s talent didn’t choose the path of a wizard, let alone Jasmine, who was only a half-baked one.