Chapter 102: The Mage Xia Duo

For him, this mission was a profound experience.

Killing Orcs and seeing blood, commanding battles, surviving in the wild, and creating spells—whether it was physical fitness, mentality, or knowledge, he had received no small amount of tempering.

Of course, besides these, there were also some visible and tangible gains, such as the Magic Scrolls that were issued before the battle, remained unused, and were not collected back, the extra money he made from Lao Nier, the Orcs' spoils of war, and so on.

While taking inventory, Xia Duo placed these items one by one on the desk; when he took the Wolf Tooth Necklace and the Forest Wolf Statue from his bosom, he seemed to understand something.

Just now at the banquet, he had carried these two items with him; an ordinary person might not have noticed, but in the eyes of an Official Mage, they were simply as obvious as a torch in the dark night.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo immediately broke out in a cold sweat; among these two Magic Items, the Magic Aura of the Wolf Tooth Necklace was the strongest, and Xia Duo guessed it even connected to at least two layers of the Magic Net.

The Forest Wolf Statue was much worse; its Magic Aura was similar to the state of a 1st Circle Magic Scroll when unfurled—not very bright, but more stable.

He had snatched them up quickly at the time, but now they had become a hot potato.

Among all the Apprentices Xia Duo had seen, he had never seen one who possessed similar Magic Items; only a very small number of people had faint Magic Auras on them.

Although this did not mean that an Apprentice absolutely could not possess Magic Items, it did make Xia Duo stand out, which was not the result he wanted.

Xia Duo's consistent philosophy was to make a fortune in silence, but in the current situation, he could no longer afford to keep a low profile.

After thinking for a while, he made a decision.

……

Early the next morning, Xia Duo jumped off the bed with a look of joy; yesterday he had entered that magical dream again, but this time he did not transform into various images.

Instead, he transformed into a long river for the entire time, flowing down from between snow-capped mountains, gathering many Water Sources, and finally forming a magnificent, vast great river.

Passing through mountains and ridges, nourishing civilization, and finally merging into the sea—the dream ended abruptly right there.

Xia Duo squeezed the muscles on his arm, waved his hand, and then picked up the chair beside the desk; sure enough, his strength had increased again. Holding this chair, which weighed more than ten pounds, with one hand, he could barely feel much weight.

"Huh—"

Just as Xia Duo was preparing to move the desk to experiment, a chill came from behind him. He reached out to touch it and it was actually a bit damp; looking at the blanket on the bed, there was indeed a faint water stain.

Xia Duo did not believe he would sweat so much in the constant-temperature Mage Tower, let alone wet the bed. Associating it with last night's dream, Xia Duo only felt this was a side effect of his Golden Finger upgrading.

And when he came to the Wei Sheng Jian to wash up at the whirlpool basin, the moment his fingers touched the water surface, it triggered a very faint water vortex, as if an invisible object had pressed into the water surface before his fingers.

At first, Xia Duo had not noticed, but when he submerged both hands into the water, he suddenly had a thought—he could Control this water!

The time it took for the thought to be transmitted was almost negligible; just as he thought of it, the water in the basin responded, and a water column the size of a finger rose from the surface.

It stood there so blatantly, as if saying to Xia Duo, "Look, you really can Control this water!"

But at this moment, Xia Duo did not have time to feel happy about the Water Control Ability that the magical dream had bestowed upon him; the hollow and mechanical voice of the Tower Spirit suddenly appeared, instantly knocking this small water column back to its original form—

"Apprentice Xia Duo, you have violated the Tower of Time Apprentice prohibition by performing Spellcasting in a non-permitted area. You are limited to three days to go to the Public Level Material Requisition Office to pay a fine: 5 Gold Coins."

"……"

That counted as Spellcasting?

Xia Duo could hardly believe it. Fortunately, it was only 5 Gold Coins. He prepared to try one more time; this time he entered the Spellcasting Focus state. Inside the Wei Sheng Jian, the Magic Net Flow was relatively gentle.

Only the vortex at the bottom of the basin in front of him emitted a bright glow. Xia Duo submerged both hands into the basin, recalling the previous state—it seemed he just had to think about it?

Following his "thinking," the Magic Net responded instantly, but at this moment Xia Duo was no longer a Mage; he did not need to weave a Spell structure, he just thought about letting the water in the basin rise above the surface.

The previous scene appeared once again—a water column the size of a finger rose from the surface.

But what followed was another warning from the Tower Spirit, "Apprentice Xia Duo, you have violated the Tower of Time Apprentice prohibition by performing Spellcasting in a non-permitted area. You are limited to three days to go to the Public Level Material Requisition Office to pay a fine: 10 Gold Coins."

Was this 10 Gold Coins for both times? Or did this one time alone cost a 10 Gold Coin fine?

Although he confirmed that he really possessed the Spellcasting ability to Control water, the issue of the fine followed. Xia Duo directly called the Tower Spirit to ask, but the answer was that the total fine for both times was 15 Gold Coins.

With these 15 Gold Coins, it would be enough to use the Spell Laboratory for three hours!

Fortunately, Xia Duo, who had just obtained the Water Control Ability, was in a good mood, and in the blink of an eye, he threw this depressing matter to the back of his mind. He quickly finished washing up, returned to the bedroom, and saw the various items neatly arranged on the desk.

Among them, a necklace and a small Statue were particularly glaring; only then did he remember that there was still such a troublesome matter that far exceeded the fine!

"Sigh—why is it so hard for me!"

Mage Xiaolei had not yet brought up the matter of the Magic Items, but what else could make an Official Mage take an interest in an Apprentice!

This thing had to be dealt with as soon as possible; trading with a Mage was obviously not a good choice. The first candidate for a trade that Xia Duo thought of was actually Aideliqi, who ran a shop in the Library's Transcription Room.

His connections were good, and he could actually open a shop inside the Library, but his reputation was also well-known. Compared to trading with an Official Mage, Xia Duo was more inclined to find Aideliqi.

Changing into clean clothes, packing his personal belongings, and putting the Wolf Tooth Necklace and Forest Wolf Statue into his bosom, Xia Duo immediately locked the door and left.

……

After getting food from the first-floor restaurant of the Mage Tower and taking the Elevator to the Arcane Garden again, counting it up, this was his primary job in the Mage Tower.

Learning Magic was merely a benefit the Mage Tower gave to Apprentices.

From the dormitory to the restaurant, and then from the restaurant to the Arcane Garden, along the way, Xia Duo felt like everyone was watching him; carrying two Magic Items on his person really did put him under some pressure.

But he was not at ease leaving them in the dormitory; that lock, which could be opened even with a blade of grass, could not provide much sense of security.

After arriving at the Arcane Garden, Xia Duo first found the duty Mage to report in—after all, he hadn't been there for a while—and then walked around the various areas of the Arcane Garden.

There were still 30-something Ordinary Apprentices; he didn't know if they hadn't been conscripted before, or if they had been conscripted and returned alive. Looking at the numbers, it seemed there was no change.

Sami and Dewan hadn't arrived yet, but Xia Duo didn't care about them; he still went to that familiar apple tree and took out his notebook to start studying.

However, starting today, he no longer needed to use an ordinary quill, but the Mithril Pen that was gifted when he purchased the Magic Scrolls.