Chapter Twenty-Six: The Start of a "New" Life

  On the witch's magical notebook, more than a dozen magical potions were recorded, each with a wonderful effect, such as the "Brown Owl" that restores spiritual power. The three most precious ones are the "Magic Gate" potion that can help magic apprentices who have difficulty understanding the structure of spells to forcibly upgrade, the "Silver Moon" potion that accompanies the normal promotion of magic apprentices to magicians, and the "Crying Soul" potion that can directly stimulate the blood power of a physically normal adult.

  The thing that currently moves Lucien's heart the most is the "Crying Soul" magic potion.

  "The Gate of Magic" and "Silver Moon" not only require precious materials that are difficult to find in a short period, but also have the premise that spiritual power and soul are close to formal magic, only "Crying Soul" potion, normal adults can use it after certain exercises.

  It was a product studied by ancient magicians to quickly cultivate low-level servants in certain specific situations, at the cost of overdrawn physical potential to stimulate blood power, so the negative effect is very strong. Once "Crying Soul" is used to promote knights, it will no longer be possible to enhance blood power through training, and the actual strength will be slightly weaker than that of normal knights.

  But for Lucien, who had little hope of becoming a knight and chose the path of magic, it was not a big problem, but a way to quickly increase his strength in a short period of time.

  The problem is that the materials needed for this magical potion are either very expensive or very bizarre, and it's difficult for Lucien, a novice magic apprentice, to gather them. Moreover, if one's physical body doesn't meet the standard of a normal adult, drinking the potion will not only have a high failure rate but also pose a risk to life. For adults with a normal physique, there is still a certain probability of failure, and the better the physique, the easier it is to succeed.

  "Lacrimosa's Soul" potion is an outstanding achievement in necromancy, with a simplified magical formula being:

  Black Fungus + Water Ghost Brain Tissue + Vengeful Spirit Powder + Moonlight Rose Petals == "Crying Soul"

  In this place, the black corpse mushroom is a strange fungus that grows on rotting corpses. Before it matures, it is milky white in color, but after maturation, it turns completely black within a day and can remain fresh for a month. The smell is mildly hallucinogenic, and direct consumption will result in poisoning from corpse toxins. The darker the black corpse mushroom, the better the effect of the final product "Crying Soul".

  The brain tissue of the undead creature, Water Ghost, is its cerebral organization. The stronger the Water Ghost, the better the effect of the final refined "Crying Soul". The same applies to Vengeful Spirit Powder.

  And Moonlight Rose, as recorded by witches, is a rare plant that emits silver, moon-like colors at night. It has an auxiliary effect when high-ranking knights' attendants stimulate their blood power, making it extremely expensive, more expensive than many formal magic materials. One gram costs one gold Taller, which is one hundred silver Nars. Moreover, when used, under the premise of a successful operation, at least ten grams of magical potion are needed to refine, while the entire process of high-ranking knights' attendants stimulating their blood power, according to their abilities, ranges from burning five grams to fifty grams.

  The witch had once thought of brewing the "Crying Soul" potion to quickly boost her strength, making it easier for herself to find the "Ice Petal Golden Flower" later. After all, a first-class knight's strength was considered top-notch in the entire Kingdom of Valorete, and they were truly nobles. From what Lucien had seen in these days, he knew that there were only over 400 knights in total who had been conferred by the kingdom, of course, in Altor, there were also many powerful figures whose strength exceeded that of ordinary knights.

  Unfortunately, the witch can't afford moonlight rose for the time being. As for the other three materials, she found out that there will be a water ghost disturbance in the Beren River at night recently, and also learned that the vengeful spirit powder can be completed through the apprentice-level magic "Summoning Low-Level Undead Creatures" combined with "Evil Creature's Blood", so she had to put it on hold for the time being.

  Lucien could only continue his magical studies for the time being, focusing on meditation and hammering, spell training and magical experiments, while secretly searching for news about these materials.

  …………

  Near the "Blazing Fire Month" (July), the sky brightens up very early, with clouds of a lovely orange-gemstone hue changing slowly.

  Lucien got up even earlier and had already experimented with using spiritual force vibration frequency instead of incantations to cast spells.

  The magical experiment was a success, and it was indeed possible to replace the incantation for triggering the "Ring of Uncontrol" with a pre-vibration of spiritual power by controlling one's mind. However, the result was not good, as Lucien discovered that this method required very high control, resulting in a great consumption of his own spiritual power.

  "If you use incantations in conjunction with spellcasting, it takes three 'Loss of Control' to exhaust your spiritual energy. You can use spiritual energy to preemptively shock and cast a spell, but one 'Loss of Control' would leave me spiritually drained. Unless under special circumstances, it's not very useful." Lucien commented with some disappointment.

  After a period of meditation and self-cultivation, Lucien's spirit recovered. He tidied up the small cottage that had been disordered due to his loss of control when casting the "Ring of Uncontrol" spell, and then headed out to visit Aunt Elisa.

  "Good morning, Lucien. Shall we have breakfast together?" Evan opened the wooden door for Lucien, who had been helping out at Altor's textile mill with Aunt Elisa lately and looked much more stable.

  Lucien smiled: "Of course, I chose a good time to come over, how could I miss breakfast."

  "Haha, Little Evans, you're getting more and more humorous. It seems that this week's study has boosted your confidence quite a bit. Want to do the Sunday service together tomorrow morning?" Joel said with satisfaction as he sipped his wild vegetable soup with soft black bread, looking at Lucien's visible maturity and confidence.

  Every Sunday morning, the followers of the True God Church would gather at the church for worship. Almost all of them who had the time and conditions would go, except for Lucien, who since crossing over, was worried about being discovered and always made excuses.

  Aunt Eliza ladled out a bowl of the wild greens soup for Lucien: "Little Evans, sit down and eat slowly, talk while you eat."

  Lucien spent a lot of physical strength meditating and casting spells from last night to today, without hesitation, he drank a mouthful of soup contentedly and chewed on the black bread.

  Alicia's aunt's black bread, although also very coarse and difficult to eat, with bran and other impurities, is much better than Lucien's inferior black bread with a woody flavor, making Lucien secretly curse the unscrupulous merchant.

  "Uncle Joel, I'm busy tomorrow and probably won't be able to attend the worship with you guys." How could Lucien go to worship? Without mentioning danger, just that time is enough for him to learn a lot of things.

  "Aunt Eliza looked up in surprise: 'Little Evans, what's the matter with you tomorrow? Have you found a job that doesn't require going to the market district?'"

  Seeing Joel and Evan looking over in confusion, Lucien took out the very old and simple wallet and handed it to Joel, smiling with a good mood: "Uncle Joel, I'm now Mr. Victor's formal student, and Mr. Victor is a kind person, he specially exempted my tuition, so here are eight silver Nars for you."

  "Cough, cough, you've become Mr. Viktor's official student?!?" Joel was almost choked by the black bread, coughing non-stop, his face flushed bright red, staring at Lucien with a look of shock, how did this happen in just a few days?!

  Aunt Elisa was amazed at another point: "Free tuition?! Can learn without paying silver nails?!"

  Evan still didn't understand the meaning of Lucien's words, and secretly took a peek at his pouch: "Wow, it really is silver Nars, lovely silver Nars that shine with beautiful light! Brother Lucien, how did you do it?"

  Lucien recounted the events of that day, without hiding anything, and concluded: "Well, that's it. Mr. Victor asked me to follow him to learn letters and music, and waived my tuition fees. Tomorrow morning, I plan to go to Mr. Victor's place to borrow some simple books in common language and introductory music books."

  Actually, this afternoon, Lucien was supposed to go to Victor's house to make up for the last hour of study that wasn't completed yesterday, but in reality, he couldn't find an excuse to get out of doing chores. Moreover, Lucien really did plan on going to Victor's house tomorrow morning. Since he chose to disguise his identity as a magician with that of a musician or music teacher, he had to quickly supplement his basic knowledge of music, including sheet music and other introductory materials in the library, so that he could appear like a poor child from Alto who grew up surrounded by music, rather than an interdimensional traveler.

  In the line of "swindler", Lucien is still very professional.

  "Mr. Victor is indeed a kind-hearted good man." Elisa loudly praised Mr. Victor, "Little Evans, you should thank God that after going through so much hardship, you can finally start a brand new and beautiful life."

  Joel gazed at Lucien with a complex look for a while, and finally said with satisfaction and emotion: "I didn't expect that little Evans would really embark on the path of music. Your intelligence, cleverness, and hard work have exceeded my imagination, and with the blessing of God, you met Mr. Victor, such a kind-hearted musician. I hope you seize this opportunity and continue to be diligent and hardworking in your future music studies. If, if you have a concert at the Sacred Hall one day, please invite Uncle Joel to listen once, then my life will have no regrets about music."

  Ivan nodded: "If I could introduce my Lucien brother to my companions, he is a famous musician who can hold concerts in the Hall of Hymns. It's as cool as becoming a knight!"

  "Uncle Joel, I'll try my best." Lucien nodded solemnly with a serious expression, but in his heart, he sighed: "Sorry, Uncle Joel, I'm afraid my dedication to music will be limited because after last night's study, that vast and magical world of magic has deeply attracted me. Music is just a cover for my identity and a way to earn money for learning magic, I won't be able to be as devoted and passionate about music like you."

  As an ordinary person who doesn't know much about music, Lucien only knew that the church didn't suppress Altor's music in the past three hundred years when relying on divine magic. Most of the songs that can be heard in the city are not old-fashioned, and many are excellent and pleasant to listen to, no less than some famous classical music he had listened to on Earth, and they feel very similar, with a matching style.

  Joel put away the pouch of money: "Little Evans, when you've decided which instrument you want to learn, just come borrow some money, hehe, no need to be shy."

  "Alright, Uncle Joel, Aunt Elisa, I'm going to look for a job that has nothing to do with the market district. Yeah, with Mr. Viktor's student identity, it should be much easier." Lucien finished his breakfast and stood up to bid farewell.

  After finishing Magical Record, Lucien finally understood that magic is very expensive!