Chapter 87: Chapter 76: Gu Lin’s Bet (Part 2)

With those words, the young woman turned and left, her steps light and quick.

Watching her retreating figure, a smile touched Pei Ze’s lips.

Of course, he could tell that Gu Lin had a trump card up her sleeve. But then again, so did he.

Lowering his gaze to the Demon’s Finger in his palm, Pei Ze thought,

’Omniscience, analyze the spell attached to this.’

[Task created. Analyzing attached spell. Estimated time: 5 days, 12 hours.]

Pei Ze didn’t hesitate to expend Spirit to accelerate the process, completing the analysis in an instant.

A deluge of information flooded his mind. Within moments, Pei Ze understood the spell’s principles and effects.

Simply put, it was a detection-type spell similar to Detect Undead.

However, its detection range was far smaller; it could only detect heretics tainted with the aura of Ah Beipu.

Furthermore, the spell required a body part from a Demon Cultivator to act as a medium.

This made the spell’s application extremely limited.

Clearly, this was a spell some Wizard had temporarily created specifically for the situation at hand.

It would probably only be useful for this one mission.

Once the mission was over, the spell would become useless.

Other than a few Wizard Apprentices focused on spell research, no one else would likely give it a second glance.

But for that very reason, the spell’s underlying structure wasn’t complex. It was nowhere near the level of a One-Ring Spell, only slightly more complicated than Zero-Circle Magic.

If he could get his hands on the complete spell model, the Eye of Omniscience could probably analyze it in a single day.

It only took five days because it was being analyzed from scratch.

Pei Ze issued another command. ’Omniscience, improve the attached spell and enhance its detection capabilities without damaging the item.’

[Task created. Enhancing Magic Item’s effect. Estimated time: 12 days.]

Without a second thought, Pei Ze once again expended Spirit to accelerate the process.

Instantly, a wealth of information surged into the depths of his mind: the enhancement plan for the Demon’s Finger.

Pei Ze reviewed it carefully and nodded to himself in approval.

According to the plan, the modified Demon’s Finger would have its detection range increased to a one-thousand-meter radius. It would also gain the ability to detect the strength of the demonic aura.

This would allow him to roughly estimate a target’s power level based on the strength of their demonic aura.

The effectiveness had been boosted by more than just a little.

’Unfortunately, I don’t know the first thing about enchanting. To modify the Demon’s Finger, I’ll have to find a professional Enchanter.’

That wasn’t a major problem.

Most shops in Chenxi City that sold Magic Items also offered custom enchanting services.

Modifying the Demon’s Finger wasn’t a major undertaking. It was less difficult than crafting an alchemy-grade item, so any random shop could handle it.

However, after a moment of thought, Pei Ze decided to go to the Black Market instead.

After all, the Demon’s Finger was a sensitive item. If the wrong person discovered he had figured out an enhancement for it in less than a day, it could lead to unnecessary trouble.

To be on the safe side, it was better to hide his identity and visit the Black Market.

As it happened, the Black Market was open tonight.

’I wonder how Gu Lin’s trump card compares to my enhanced Demon’s Finger,’ Pei Ze mused.

Twenty Magic Stone Coins wasn’t a large sum for him anymore; he could easily earn it back by selling a batch of potions.

Knowledge of enchanting, on the other hand, was much harder to come by.

When it came to potion-making, the logistics department at least sold various formulas for unranked potions.

But when it came to enchanting, aside from basic theoretical knowledge, the only things for sale were crafting methods for items that couldn’t even be considered alchemy-grade Magic Items—for example, how to permanently affix a Cleaning Technique to an Apprentice Robe.

To learn true enchanting, one had to become an apprentice to an Enchanter.

However, Pei Ze had already taken Mo Weng as his teacher. That path was closed to him, so he had to find another way.

In fact, even before today, he had toyed with the idea of getting his hands on enchanting knowledge through Gu Lin.

Gu Lin taking the initiative to propose this bet had actually given him an opportunity.

’I have to win this bet, no matter what!’

Pei Ze steeled his resolve.

Mastering a new way to make money was secondary. More importantly, enchanting played a huge role in increasing one’s combat effectiveness.

As far as he knew, magical tattoos and Elemental Runes—branches of enchanting—could provide an immediate boost to a Wizard’s combat power.

If nothing else, he had to master those two fields of knowledge!

...

Night fell.

A profound darkness enveloped the entire base.

With the raid on the stronghold concluded, the restrictions on the base were relaxed, and the Wizard Apprentices could now come and go freely.

In the early hours of the morning, Pei Ze slipped out of the base and headed for a bar on the edge of the North District.

He had been worried that the Black Market might be closed due to the recent operations, but when he arrived, he realized he had worried for nothing.

The underground Black Market was as bustling as ever, with people coming and going and no sign of a slowdown.

’Looks like the backer behind the Black Market has a lot of pull.’

Pei Ze tugged on the brim of his hood and quickened his pace toward the shop.

As the largest shop selling Magic Items in the Black Market, it naturally offered enchanting services.

With Gold Coins to smooth the way, the bald shopkeeper readily agreed to Pei Ze’s enchanting request. He didn’t ask a single question about the Demon’s Finger’s origins, simply telling Pei Ze to wait a moment before taking the item and the spell model Pei Ze had prepared into a back room.

Pei Ze found a chair, sat down, and waited patiently.

About half an hour later, the bald shopkeeper emerged from the back room and handed the Demon’s Finger back to him.