Chapter 138: Chapter 98: I Can’t Give You Any Suitable Advice

While waiting, Pei Ze checked the map in his mind.

The vast map still showed only three golden dots of light.

The two golden dots representing him and Xiao Xi were close together, motionless.

The other dot, however, was constantly moving, never staying in one place for long.

Time slowly ticked by.

When only the last minute of the trial remained, Pei Ze slowly stood up.

A moment later, his vision blurred. When he came to, he found he had left the maze and was now in a brightly lit room.

With him were Xiao Xi and a slender, tall young man with a somewhat delicate disposition.

Pei Ze sized him up and recognized the young man. It was Su Shouhai from the Silver Light Legion, whose fame was on par with Meng Wei and Sang Fan.

Su Shouhai froze for a moment when he saw Pei Ze and Xiao Xi, a look of astonishment flashing in his eyes.

He had expected Meng Wei and Sang Fan to be the ones who had claimed the other two Rainbow Gemstones.

But now, it seemed the outcome was completely different from what he had guessed.

It appeared Meng Wei and Sang Fan had both failed.

What surprised him even more was that the two people before him were both wearing Wizard Academy emblems—one from High Tower Academy and the other from Violet Academy.

’What on earth happened?’

’Why did Meng Wei and Sang Fan both fail, allowing two academy students to get the competition slots instead?’

Su Shouhai was thoroughly perplexed.

Just then, ripple-like waves suddenly appeared in the empty space nearby. A tall figure wearing a half-mask stepped through them.

It was none other than the masked Wizard who had eliminated hundreds of participants with a spell like a banshee’s wail before the start of the trial.

His deep gaze swept over Xiao Xi and then Pei Ze, lingering on the latter for a moment as the corners of his lips curved up slightly.

"Interesting. This result is quite unexpected."

The masked Wizard retracted his gaze and said coolly,

"The trial is over. After deliberation by the Dawn Council, the three of you will represent Chenxi City in the Wizard Apprentice competition against Red Lotus City. Any objections?"

The three of them shook their heads.

They had entered the trial for the express purpose of securing a spot in the competition. Now that they had finally succeeded, they certainly weren’t going to raise any objections.

The masked Wizard clearly knew what the answer would be. After the perfunctory question, he continued,

"Before the competition, we can offer you some assistance. Of course, due to our agreement with Red Lotus City, this help is limited. You will each be allotted a budget of five thousand Merit Points. As long as you don’t exceed this limit, feel free to make any requests, and we will do our best to fulfill them."

At these words, the faces of Pei Ze and the other two lit up with joy.

Pei Ze in particular, having participated in an extermination mission before, understood just how precious Merit Points were.

A full five thousand Merit Points was more than enough to exchange for two entry qualifications to the Realm of Truth.

With the remainder, he could even get a Tier One Witchcraft Artifact.

"Now, state your requests," the masked Wizard said coolly.

Xiao Xi’s eyes darted around. "Sir, do you have any good suggestions for us?"

Su Shouhai, startled for a second, quickly caught on and also looked at the masked Wizard with anticipation.

Based on what they’d seen, the masked Wizard was at least a Level 3 Wizard.

Getting pointers from a Wizard of his caliber was an absolutely golden opportunity for them.

The masked Wizard shot Xiao Xi a faint, unreadable smile. He didn’t refuse. "For Wizard Apprentices like you," he said leisurely, "improving your strength always comes down to three things: Spiritual Power, Magic, and Magic Items."

"There are twenty days until the competition begins. It’s certainly too late to learn new Magic, so you can only focus on Spiritual Power and Magic Items."

At this, the masked Wizard turned to Xiao Xi. A blue light seemed to flash in his eyes before he spoke again after a few seconds.

"Your Will Rune has reached its cap, but your Spiritual Power is still lacking. You should consider exchanging for some Phantasm Potions to bring your Spiritual Power to its limit as quickly as possible. After that, exchange for a suitable Tier One Witchcraft Artifact."

"Furthermore, you can strengthen and modify your physical body. Your teacher is more of an expert in that area than I am, so you should ask her for the specifics."

Xiao Xi nodded repeatedly, her face beaming. "Thank you, Sir!"

"As for you." The masked Wizard turned his head to Su Shouhai. "You cultivate the Universal Meditation Technique, correct?"

When Su Shouhai nodded, he continued, "Although your Will Rune and Spiritual Power have both reached their current cap, that cap is too low. I suggest you exchange for an Advanced Meditation Technique. Combined with Transcendent Potions and Phantasm Potions, twenty days should be enough to increase your Spiritual Power by another thirty to forty percent."

"Additionally, you should also exchange for a Tier One Witchcraft Artifact."

"Yes, Sir!" Su Shouhai’s face was alight with uncontrollable joy.

With an Advanced Meditation Technique, his strength could continue to grow even if he never managed to advance to the rank of Wizard.

After giving his advice to Xiao Xi and Su Shouhai, the masked Wizard turned his gaze to Pei Ze. He froze for a moment, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.

Seeing the masked Wizard fall into a strange silence, Xiao Xi and Su Shouhai grew puzzled and cast uncertain glances at Pei Ze.

After a long moment, the masked Wizard finally shook his head. "I cannot give you any suitable advice."

Xiao Xi and Su Shouhai were stunned.

’What does he mean by that?’

Pei Ze, however, remained perfectly calm, not surprised in the least.

He already possessed Silver Star, a Tier One Witchcraft Artifact, so he naturally had no need for another.

As for his Will Rune and Spiritual Power, he had also reached his cap and could not improve them further.

In contrast, when it came to Magic, twenty days was more than enough time for him to master several powerful new spells, but the masked Wizard was unaware of this.

Thus, for Pei Ze, none of the three paths to improvement were viable, so it was only natural that the masked Wizard couldn’t offer any suitable advice.

But Pei Ze already had a plan. "Sir," he said at once, "can I use my Merit Points to exchange for a Substitute Spirit and Li Xin Water?"

The masked Wizard raised an eyebrow. "The Dawn Council places no restrictions on how Merit Points are used," he said coolly, "but are you sure this is what you want to do?"

Xiao Xi and Su Shouhai also looked at Pei Ze, their expressions full of confusion.

The Dawn Council was providing these resources to improve their current strength so they could defeat Red Lotus City in the upcoming competition.

From a long-term perspective, as long as they won, the future benefits would surely far exceed five thousand Merit Points.

No matter how one looked at it, these limited resources should be spent on things that would provide an immediate boost in strength, not on auxiliary materials for advancing to the rank of Wizard.

The latter would be of no help in their current situation.

Pei Ze, however, stuck to his decision. Hearing the question, he nodded without hesitation. "I am."

The masked Wizard glanced at him but didn’t say more, just gave a slight nod. "Very well. But five thousand Merit Points aren’t enough for a Substitute Spirit. You can only exchange for Li Xin Water. How much do you want?"

Pei Ze frowned, but his expression quickly smoothed over. He thought for a moment before saying, "I want to exchange for four standard units of Li Xin Water."

His words immediately drew another round of astonished looks from Xiao Xi and Su Shouhai.

An ordinary Wizard Apprentice would use two standard units of Li Xin Water at the very most for their breakthrough. Who would ever need four?

But then they had a second thought: the extra two units were probably Pei Ze’s backup plan in case his first breakthrough attempt failed. With that, their confusion subsided.

The masked Wizard said coolly, "Each standard unit of Li Xin Water costs 700 Merit Points."

The corner of Pei Ze’s mouth twitched.

’So damn expensive!’

’No wonder so many Wizard Apprentices get stuck at the resource-gathering stage of their advancement.’

In that case, four standard units of Li Xin Water would cost a total of 2,800 Merit Points, leaving him with 2,200.

Pei Ze hesitated, then asked, "Sir, I’d like to go back and think carefully before deciding what else to exchange for."

The masked Wizard nodded slightly. With a wave of his hand, three thumb-sized purple Crystal Stones shot toward each of them.

"These are Communication Crystals. Once you have decided what to exchange for, just use them to send us a list."

"Are there any other questions?"

The three looked at each other and shook their heads in unison.

The next second, their vision blurred.

When their sight cleared, they found themselves back on the mountaintop.