Dago could only give up and wait until the next time he saw Mentor Rosalind to tell her about this technique.
Taking advantage of the early hour, Dago continued to wander around Aynak Wizarding Academy.
Besides the Aynak Castle, which the main road led to, there were two other paths he hadn't explored yet.
According to what he had learned in the past two days, one path led to the academy apprentices' living quarters;
the other was Academy Square, a place specifically for selling extraordinary wizarding items.
Following the road, Dago began to see wizard stalls set up directly on the ground.
Then, the number of stalls and apprentices grew steadily.
Eventually, his eyes were met with all sorts of stalls filling an entire Academy Square.
Some were wandering wizards who had obtained permission from the Academy to sell magic materials and wizard tools.
Others were rune tools or potions made by the Academy's mentors and apprentices themselves.
The square was bustling with people, the sounds of hawking and bargaining were incessant, and the apprentices coming and going, some dressed in bright clothes, others in tattered, even patched, robes.
"No wonder the apprentice at the main gate told me to guard my magic stone pouch earlier."
Dago muttered to himself as he looked at the lively square.
He touched the magic stone cloth pouch on his body, feeling a little more confident.
Although it was empty, with only one low-level magic stone inside, it should be enough for him to browse around.
Most of the items displayed on the stalls were unfamiliar to him, but this didn't prevent him from gradually blending in.
Dago had his own method when browsing.
Whenever he saw an apprentice haggling at a stall, he would quietly approach and stand by, eavesdropping...
Once he had a good understanding of what the item being discussed was and its corresponding value, he would quietly move on.
After this process, his knowledge had advanced several steps.
As he wandered, Dago suddenly stopped at a stall.
It was a small stall, displaying silver and brass crucibles, glass and crystal potion bottles, silver daggers, mortars and pestles, scales, and other complete sets of Potion Crafting tools.
The stall owner was a middle-aged man in his forties, sitting behind the stall with a dejected expression.
Dago's eyes flickered, and he asked the owner, "What are the prices for these?"
"Two low-level magic stones for the whole lot."
The stall owner glanced at Dago and unenthusiastically quoted a price.
"Are these all your personal tools?"
"Yes, they are all my personal tools. Unfortunately, I have no talent in potionology, so I can only sell them at a low price."
Dago now understood the reason for the stall owner's dejection.
He silently calculated the contents of his money pouch, thought for a moment, and said, "One low-level magic stone then. These are all ordinary tools, and I'll take them all."
The stall owner rolled his eyes directly, waved his hand, and said gruffly, "Cutting so deep? But seeing as you're an Academy apprentice, fine, take them all."
Upon hearing this, Dago nearly emptied his wallet, handing one low-level magic stone to the stall owner.
As he took Dago's magic stone, he spoke with a slightly playful expression: "Are you planning to teach yourself to be a Potion Master?"
Dago hummed in affirmation; it was quite obvious.
"I used to be as naive as you, until reality dealt me a harsh blow and I learned the cruelty of the world. I hope you can carry that innocence to the end. I wish you success."
The stall owner's expression was lost in memories as he spoke nostalgically.
Dago was stunned for a moment, then replied, "I will, thank you for your blessing."
He carefully placed the tools from the stall into a large cloth bag.
..........
At the Academy gate, Dago emerged carrying large and small bags; it was already two or three in the afternoon.
He grabbed a quick bite at a small restaurant in Town, paid his bill, and left.
Dago looked at his empty money pouch, which contained only two remaining magic stone fragments.
"If the plan goes smoothly, I'll have money from now on."
Dago sighed, securing his money pouch.
As the sun began to set in the west, Dago returned to his Shelter.
He checked it over and found no signs of theft...
Dago meticulously cleaned and stored the Potion Crafting tools, which were his capital for starting his venture.
There wasn't much, actually: a silver crucible, a stone mortar, a glass pestle, a brass scale, and several thumb-sized glass potion bottles.
He intended to pursue the profession of a Potion Master.
Although he currently lacked potion materials, according to Mentor Rosalind's description, the raw materials for Mental Potion could all be found in the Emerald Forest.
However, due to large-scale development by the Academy and Town, the magical plants and beasts in the nearby forest had been completely excavated and slaughtered.
He could only venture deeper into the forest, into untouched areas.
Of course, Dago wouldn't be foolish enough to directly rush into the deep forest for exploration and hunting.
He wouldn't gamble with his life; everything had to be based on absolute safety.
Firstly, the cultivation and progress of his wizardry could not be neglected, and secondly, he needed to find Old Marico, who knew many people in the nearby forest area.
Dago shook his head, casting aside distracting thoughts, and began to focus on the present, cultivating his wizardry to make progress.
Thus, outside the Shelter, the continuous rumble of explosions and the sound of falling trees resumed.
As dawn broke, a thin veil of mist enveloped the forest.
"Gurgle gurgle—"
The door of the Shelter was open, and Dago stood in the clearing, his breakfast cooking in a small iron pot over a campfire.
It was roughly shaved noodles made from dough, with a bit of seasoning thrown in for a one-pot stew.
After eating his fill, today's task was to first go to his usual hunting spot in the forest to hunt Chi Deer.
Until he found a new source of income, this daily task could not be abandoned.
Next, he would go to find Old Marico and ask him if he knew of any traces of moonlight flower in the vicinity of the forest.
Without delay, Dago returned to the Shelter, put on his hunting clothes, equipped himself, and set off for the hunt.
He skillfully moved through the forest, reaching a hunting spot slightly further than before.
There was no other way; the Chi Deer herd had moved away from their original watering hole to avoid his hunting.
However, with his keen perception, he still found traces of the deer herd's migration. He noticed that as his Meditation progressed, his environmental perception was also gradually improving.
Tracking them all the way, he found this herd of Chi Deer that loved to play hide-and-seek, and greeted them with an Air Bullet.
A slow-running young deer was sent flying by the Air Bullet, directly soaring ten meters away and lying motionless.
"These Chi Deer are just young; they fall asleep at the slightest provocation," Dago quipped.
He always stopped after hunting just one Chi Deer; he couldn't carry more if he killed them.
After quickly skinning and butchering the meat, Dago used Ice Crystal Technique to freeze the meat blocks.
However, he chose not to return to the Shelter. He planned to first deliver some venison to Old Marico's treehouse and also ask him where moonlight flower grew in the forest.
Soon, he arrived at Old Marico's treehouse, only to see him already gnawing on black bread and drinking morning wine in the clearing below.
After some pleasantries, Dago explained his intentions.
"You're a diligent young man, hunting and looking for moonlight flower. Youth is truly wonderful.
I heard a Second-Level Wizard Apprentice who lived in the forest once said, after drinking, that if you walk southwest into the forest for two hours, there's a lake where he saw large patches of glowing flowers."
Old Marico took a frozen deer leg and said.
"But Dago, I must warn you, he lost a hand there and was crippled because of it, which is why he moved to the forest to eke out a living. That place is the territory of Shadow Leopards, a group of ferocious and cunning magical beasts. Even I dare not venture there."
Old Marico gave Dago a kind warning.
Dago thanked Old Marico for the warning, pondered for a while, then left and returned to the Shelter.
Although he now knew the whereabouts of the moonlight flower, it was a place even Old Marico dared not go.
With his current strength, going there would be suicide. As for asking the Academy for assistance in development, given the Academy's vampiric style, he probably wouldn't even get a single hair's worth of benefit.
After some internal deliberation, he decided to first improve his own strength and then develop it himself.
However, the wizardry he currently commanded was still too little; he had to learn more wizardry.
He still had a black-covered grimoire he hadn't studied yet, which contained some specialized wizardry terms he didn't fully understand.
So, he planned to hunt in the mornings, sell his prey in Town, and then go to the Academy to learn specialized wizardry terms. In the afternoons and evenings, he would cultivate wizardry at home to improve his strength.
With this pleasant decision made, Dago changed into an apprentice robe and set off running towards the Academy.
He jogged all the way, the wind blowing into his wide robe, feeling very refreshing.
It was already ten o'clock when he arrived at the Academy. He first went to the research office to find Mentor Rosalind...
However, to his disappointment, her seat was empty, and he didn't know when her task would be completed.
He asked around until he found the Academy's library. The vast library was exceptionally quiet at that moment.
Only the sound of apprentices turning pages at the central seats could be heard...
He found the essential gatekeeper old man of the library, asked him where the wizardry dictionary was, and he pointed to a bookshelf in a corner of the library.
Dago walked over and searched for a while before finding the book he wanted; it clearly looked seldom read.
He picked it up, found an empty seat at the central seating area of the library, sat down, and took out the blank black-covered grimoire and the wizardry dictionary, placing them on the table together.
He opened the black-covered grimoire to read, and whenever he encountered an unfamiliar wizardry term, he used the wizardry dictionary to understand it.
Lost in the ocean of knowledge, it wasn't until four in the afternoon that Dago was startled by the passage of time.
The entire black-covered grimoire had been annotated by him, leaving only a few thin pages. He intended to read it all the way through in one go.
He even decided not to eat lunch, combining it with dinner.
The wall clock in the library ticked by for an hour, and only then did Dago slowly put away his books, return the wizardry dictionary, and leave the library.
Stepping out of the Academy, he had to rush back to the Shelter to cook dinner before sunset, as his current financial situation did not allow him to dine in Town.
Dragging his hungry body, he hurried back to the Shelter. Fortunately, it wasn't completely dark yet. He quickly made a pot of boiled noodle dough and devoured it.
