Chapter 45: Lucien's Magic Laboratory

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  Once Lucien had obtained all the magical materials and items he needed, he stopped instructing the apprentices, including Xian, Smayle, White Honey, and Quicksilver. Lowering his voice, he smiled gloomily: "Hey, that's it for this time. I'll explain more to you next time I attend a gathering."

  Lucien, who has already realized that knowledge is equivalent to money and lacks and yearns for it, will not casually exchange his own knowledge for some useless things. Moreover, his foundation is not solid enough, and before going back to consolidate, review and learn, talking too much would only reveal his weaknesses. It's best to maintain a bit of mystery.

  To have received guidance from a senior, erudite formal magician on so many magical conundrums was already deeply satisfying to the sages, who felt that what they had paid out was far outweighed by their gains. They all stood up, right hands on their foreheads, and bowed deeply in the ancient ritual of magicians paying respects to their mentors, expressing their gratitude.

  "Professor, next, we will begin the exchange of goods, 'knowledge' between us, as well as a discussion on magic. You are welcome to listen in." The sage said with joy to Lucien.

  The so-called magic discussion is different from "guidance", but rather everyone freely discusses some magical issues, and it's completely open. If you're not willing to express your own views on even one question, then after exchanging items, you can leave. The wise man representing all the magic apprentices invites Lucien to listen in, which means he can only listen without speaking.

  Of course, in the eyes of Xianzhe, Bai Mitsuba, Shuǐyín and other magic apprentices, such a Mr. with extensive knowledge and great strength will not care about the rough and apprentice-level magic problems discussed by his own people. If he can be invited to listen, then on some issues, he may suddenly become interested and speak one or two sentences, which will be the harvest that his own people have been looking forward to.

  Lucien still has a part of apprentice-level magic, due to the interference from his own knowledge that he hasn't fully grasped yet, making it difficult for him to analyze. His magic casting, combination and techniques are currently limited to what he learned from the witch's notes and his own exploration. When he heard the sage's invitation, he was overwhelmed with a large sum of money, suppressing his joy, and calmly replied: "Then I'll listen."

  "Thank you, Professor." Bai Mitsuki was the first to express her gratitude in a husky voice with a hint of sensuality.

  After ten young magic apprentices finished exchanging goods and knowledge, their discussion officially began.

  As most of the magical problems that needed guidance were solved by Lucien today, and many more were solved in the knowledge and item exchange just now, after discussing a few more problems, they began to analyze certain magic, release specific magic, and combine them as expected by Lucien.

  Although each magical apprentice certainly retains their own unique skills and knowledge, just a general discussion of magic applications has allowed Lucien to gain a lot, greatly making up for his shortcomings in applying magic at the apprentice level. The gap between magical knowledge and application has been filled somewhat, so he listened with rapt attention.

  However, under the cover of his hood, Professor, who seemed powerful and mysterious in the eyes of white honey sugar, oak tree, wise man and other magic apprentices, completely looked down on their shallow discussion, quietly thinking about profound problems on one side, which made them all inevitably produce a little disappointment.

  It was after twenty past midnight when the discussion among the magical apprentices came to a halt. After exchanging some information about the Melzer Hess forest and several well-known ruins nearby, this secret gathering officially came to an end.

  When seeing Professor off in the basement, Xian Zhe sincerely said: "Respected Professor, if there's any news about the vengeful spirit powder, I'll inform you directly when we meet again. Of course, if you don't want to delay your time, you can give me a way to contact you."

  Lucien shook his head: "If there's any news, tell the owl, he knows how to contact me." Although Smeyer may not be reliable, with a layer in between, there would be much more room for himself to buffer, and he knew Smeyer's true identity, secretly observing him was definitely not going to be less.

  Mercury let out a faint sigh, looking slightly disappointed: "Professor, will you be attending the gathering two weeks from now?"

  The eyes of other magical apprentices around, all seemed to be concentrated on Lucien under the hood.

  "Depending on the situation, I might go deep into the Melzerhessen Forest or it could be a crucial time for magical experiments. Two weeks from now is anyone's guess." Lucien was preparing to make his participation in the secret meeting an unpredictable act, making it impossible for others to speculate.

  "At least he didn't directly refuse!" The mercury-like magic apprentice slightly comforted himself, previously they were worried that without the temptation of the "Arcane" journal, this mysterious "Professor" wouldn't come again.

  Lucien's gains this time, apart from the application of magic, were also substantial in terms of real materials, especially that set of magical experimental equipment was particularly heavy. Fortunately, Lucien had been persisting in his training over this period, and his strength had increased significantly compared to before, so he didn't appear disheveled when climbing up the ladder leaving the underground chamber, losing his composure and forgetting his vigilance.

  After leaving the basement, Smael communicated with his magical pet owl Dororo at close range and saw that it was shaking its head to indicate that there was nothing unusual, before indicating to Lucien and the magic apprentices who followed him out that they could leave.

  The night was deep and dark, like a piece of black cloth. Lucien chose a direction that was completely different from others, walking quickly but not hastily, turning east and west in the familiar slums.

  They arrived at a relatively spacious place, and Lucien suddenly stopped and said coldly: "Sir, come out, don't follow me anymore."

  Quiet, still the inky black quiet.

  "I've already found you, don't hide anymore. Whatever it is, there's no need to sneak around behind me, just come and ask directly." Lucien's body emitted a terrifying icy aura, as if a powerful magic was about to be unleashed.

  Lucien actually didn't discover anything, but was just being cautious and using the deceitful tactics of evil magicians to deceive people, so as not to be followed by others. After all, there were formal magicians behind people like Watersilver and Whitehoney.

  In the midst of a silent darkness, just as Lucien was about to make another detour and head back home, a raven on top of a tree in front of him suddenly took flight, flying away in a different direction, seemingly startled by Lucien's voice.

  It was unclear whether he had actually been followed by someone's magical pet or summoned creature, or if he had simply startled the crow. In any case, Lucien was quite pleased with the effect and nodded his head in a pretentious manner: "Indeed..."

  The breath of "Ice Snow Avenger" was collected, Lucien quickly turned into a street full of alleys in the slum area, if someone who is not familiar with this place would definitely get lost.

  While extending his spiritual power, he continuously turned corners in the forked road. Until finally leaving from a certain exit, Lucien saw that there was still no discovery and returned to his own home.

  At this point, it was already Lucien's limit.

  Back in the hut, nothing happened and Lucien finally put down his worries.

  …………

  A week later, in the dead of night, a large black hole appeared in the small kitchen-like area with a fireplace and earthen jars in Lucien's hut.

  This is a three-meter-long, two-and-a-half-meter-wide, and one-person-high underground room that Lucien built using the "Micro-Efficiency Fossilization" magic array every night for seven days. The walls of the underground room are made of hard stone, with small magic arrays set up above to eliminate echoes, so as not to be discovered by someone entering his own house and accidentally walking to this place, judging from the sound of footsteps that it is empty below.

  In the basement, Lucien stepped on a stool, holding a silver dagger with magical runes, and with concentrated spiritual power, he engraved straight lines on the upper wall.

  This is Lucien's "Pure Silver Dagger" obtained from the secret gathering, which is part of the composition of magical experimental equipment.

  The lines grew more and more numerous, and the outline of the magic circle gradually took shape. It was a complex, small-scale magic circle that could conceal magical fluctuations.

  "Eliminate Fluctuation" was originally a third-circle magic, but due to its widespread application, a simplified version with lower requirements had already been developed in ancient magic that even apprentices could use. This small, weakened magic circle is one of the four magic circles that Lucien can currently use, along with "Micro-Efficiency Petrification", "Eliminate Echoes", and "Manufacture Mechanism". The others are apprentice-level things called magical traps.

  After completing the magic circle, Lucien took out a bag of black odorless powder and used a pure silver dagger to carefully apply it to the lines within the magic circle.

  This powder is very strange, no matter what it encounters, it can stick quickly, it is made from a magical plant "Black Tendrils Vine".

  After applying the magic array, Lucien took out mercury and carefully poured it onto the magic array. The silver-gray droplets were absorbed by the "Black Vine Powder" like water droplets, firmly sticking to the lines. Suddenly, the entire magic array was filled with silver-gray lines, shimmering with an eerie glow.

  After placing some other materials in their correct positions using various methods, Lucien pressed the core of the magic array with his hand and extended his spiritual power to activate the magic array.

  The silver-gray lines lit up bit by bit, and the entire magic array shone thoroughly, then merged into the stone wall, and no lines or light could be seen anymore.

  Lucien got down from the stool with some exhaustion, drawing a magic array was extremely mentally taxing, equivalent to casting four or five informal spells. Until ten days later, when the power of the materials that made up the magic array was exhausted, they would need to be replaced again.

  To last longer, either use your own spiritual power to sustain it, or replace it with a complex formal magic array that can slowly and automatically recover its strength, such as the one in "Ice Snow Avenger", or find objects that contain more magical power, such as the core of magical creatures, which may be fur, horns, eyes, blood, etc.

  "Finally finished setting up the magic laboratory."

  Lucien sat on the bench, recovering, as this was the "Eliminate Fluctuation" magic formation that needed to be set up last, while the other magic formations and traps were completed last night and the previous midnight.

  After a short rest, Lucien placed his magical experimental equipment one by one on the long stone table made of "Micro-Efficient Petrification" reverse application, completing the final step of setting up the magic laboratory.

  Looking at the crystal glass products, exquisite small stoves and so on, Lucien nodded in satisfaction, walked back to his own hut from the stone staircase, cast "Switching Technique" and activated the "Manufacturing Mechanism" magic array, sealing the entrance.

  From the outside, there is nothing unusual here.

  "Later on, we can do some less intense magic experiments and spell practices."

  Lucien returned to bed and grabbed some sleep while he still could, as dawn was approaching.

  …………

  "Lucien, take care of yourself." Pierrot looked at Lucien's slightly worse complexion due to staying up all night and said again with a deep and powerful tone, filled with sympathetic concern.

  Lucien smiled and shook his head: "Just insomnia."

  "By the way, I haven't asked you yet, what instrument are you studying with Mr. Viktor?" Pierrot asked thoughtfully.