Chapter 136: Chapter 134: Participate in the School Array Construction? Me?

The day after the exam ended, just happened to be the weekend.

Completely relaxed, Hilia tossed all her textbooks aside and took out some unused blank scrolls.

"The day after tomorrow, I’m heading off to the ancient relics, I need to craft some scrolls for self-defense!"

She found a box containing the Heart of Gold, extracted about 50 grams from it, placed it in the ink mixing tray, added other auxiliary materials, ignited a flame below the tray and mixed everything until it melted, ending up with around 500 grams of scroll ink.

Hilia poured it into a specially designed bottle and gently shook it.

"This bottle of ink is worth 15 gold coins and could be used to craft several hundred first and second-tier scrolls, which would at least net me more than fifty gold coins. I wonder how many usable scrolls I can actually make..."

Since she was crafting for herself, Hilia naturally aimed to craft the more challenging tier-three scrolls.

When faced with tier-three scrolls, Hilia wasn’t confident in her success rate.

She set a goal for herself—

"10% success rate!"

"This bottle of ink can craft about a thousand scrolls. If just one in ten of those turns out right, that means... a hundred scrolls! At a minimum price of 5 gold coins per scroll, that would be... 500 gold coins!"

Hilia got excited but quickly deflated.

"But tier-three scrolls are so expensive. Buying two hundred sheets from the Mage Guild cost me 20 gold coins."

Buying auxiliary materials and blank scrolls cost Hilia about 30 gold coins.

She spent almost a third of her gold coins all at once; the young girl felt the pinch.

Rose laughed, "If you succeed with 20 out of those 200 sheets and sell them at the minimum price, you’d make 100 gold coins. With a cost of 35 gold coins, you’d still earn 65 gold coins. Isn’t that great?"

"Provided that I can maintain a success rate of at least one in every ten... Plus, crafting 200 tier-three scrolls takes more time than a thousand tier-one scrolls..."

No matter how Hilia thought about it, the first and second-tier scrolls seemed more profitable; their individual value might be low, but the success rate can be ensured, and in large quantities, they earn more than tier-three or four.

"Tier-three scrolls have such an awkward position unless for personal use. They’re not as stable as the first and second-tier ones, so there’s not much demand. Go higher, and tier-four ones have no market price; they start at 20 gold coins, but as soon as one appears, it goes up to 100 gold coins. Many mercenary corps would sell everything to buy one for safety. And yet, tier-three..."

If Mr. Dylan had successfully used his tier-four scroll back then, things would have turned around.

Though her words showed disdain for tier-three scrolls, Hilia still honestly began crafting.

After all, they’re more powerful than tier-two, aren’t they?

For Hilia now, tier-two’s effects are barely noticeable; mages must use scrolls one tier higher than themselves to achieve unexpected results.

After consulting with Rose, Hilia began crafting the tier-three scrolls she might need.

According to her plan, these two days would be entirely dedicated to crafting, which could yield about a hundred scrolls, with a 10% success rate resulting in ten completed ones.

But plans can’t keep up with changes.

The next day, while she was crafting scrolls, an unexpected visitor came by.

"Mr. Blake?" Seeing the person appearing on the magic circle, Hilia was shocked.

The principal contacted me voluntarily?

Blake’s hologram didn’t seem to be in great condition.

He looked at Hilia and said, "Hilia, I need your help now. You might be doing something important, but I implore you to put it down and come out for a while."

"Alright, I’ll be right there."

Hilia quickly agreed.

After disconnecting the call, she wondered, "What matter could it be that the principal would contact me personally?"

"Maybe it’s about the school’s magic array," Rose chuckled.

"Array? Why would they come to me for the array, unless..."

The girl’s heart started racing.

"They might suspect you, but they’ll have no evidence," Rose said calmly. "Because I personally modified the cracking method. It would take an array master of saint level to possibly notice it."

"Then they’ll directly pin it on me..."

"Tough luck for you."

"..."

Though a bit worried, Hilia quickly set down her scrolls and went downstairs.

Looking around, she didn’t see any sign of Blake.

As she was wondering, Blake’s message appeared on the magic circle—

Turn left, reach the end, then turn right, and you’ll see me.

"So mysterious?"

Hilia grumbled, but followed the guidance and soon reached the place Blake mentioned.

Blake was sitting on a bench by the road, looking worried.

Hilia walked up, "Mr. Blake, why did you want to see me?"

Blake looked up, smiling, "You’re here. There’s nothing much, you know the school’s magic array was destroyed, right? We’re preparing for its reconstruction."

He paused there.

Hilia showed no reaction.

She wondered inside: What does the array reconstruction have to do with me?

Blake continued, "You have exceptional talent in arrays, you said it was a gift from the God. Please, pray to the God again, and ask for help designing an array for Divine Magic Academy that doesn’t require dismantling the seven towers, yet perfectly integrates into the entire school."

"Huh?" Hilia was stunned.

She immediately asked Rose, "Lord Rose, has Mr. Blake discovered your existence?"

Rose shook his head, "No, don’t overthink it. I don’t want to be discovered, and besides the Twelve Main Gods, no one can. Perhaps he has sensed something but is unsure."

"Then he has discovered something..."

Rose smiled slightly, "The last time I controlled your body to resolve the self-destruct rune, my actions were very different from yours. Perhaps he noticed something then but just pretended otherwise."

"What should I do then?"

"Don’t worry, at most he thinks you’re favored by the God, he wouldn’t think it’s the Evil God favoring you."

"That’s good."

Hilia breathed a little easier and said to Blake, albeit reluctantly, "Mr. Blake, although I know a bit about arrays, the school’s array is too difficult for me, I really can’t construct it."

"I know, but how will you know if you don’t try?"

Blake earnestly said, "Show the wisdom you used to dismantle the self-destruct rune, Hilia, and help the school. These seven towers have stood in the Divine Magic Academy for over a hundred years, becoming a part of the school. I can’t let Alvis tear them all down."

"But..."

"Agree to it."

Before Hilia could refuse again, Rose interjected.

"What?" Hilia looked at Rose.

"Agree to help him design the school’s array."

Hilia was again stunned.

Lord Rose... is serious?

Why does he suddenly want to design the school’s array?

Could it be to prepare for future invasion... or something?