"It seems to be the Nightmare Stone?"

Richard shook his head, not quite sure. Immediately, Richard turned around, opened the drawer, and took out the Nightmare Stone, only to see that the Nightmare Stone was still dull and lifeless.

“It seems to be about the same as before!”

After thinking about it, Richard decided to follow his original plan and teleport back to the surface today.

Because most of the first- and second-level witchcraft models of the Undead Wizard were rare even in the collection of the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood, Richard had to return to the school.

However, before leaving, Richard exchanged the extremely rare first-level undead witchcraft model "Death Surround" from Alehan.

Half a day later, Richard and Stephanie appeared in the secret cave on the surface.

Most of the cave remained unchanged, but on the soft sand near the water, Richard and Stephanie found a nest of white eggs of an unknown creature.

He looked at the teleportation array which was only seven or eight meters away.

Richard thought for a moment, and then set up another concealing magic array outside the teleportation array.

"Master, if we return to the academy, do we need to conceal our strength?" Stephanie asked.

"Stephanie, you don't have to return to the academy yet. Go directly to the imperial capital, go home, and help me investigate something." Richard knew that Stephanie wanted to return to the Knight family since she was promoted to the official wizard level.

In comparison, Stephanie's urgency to go to the academy was far less than his own.

"Master, then you..." Stephanna said reluctantly.

"Don't worry, contact me once you've investigated thoroughly. The sooner the better."

Half an hour later, Richard, who had returned from underground, arrived at the gate of the Ignis School.

Looking at the black and gray buildings in front of him, Richard couldn't help but recall the time when he came to the school to study.

Although his stay in the school was always short, it is undeniable that it was mentor Ceres and the school that opened his path to becoming a wizard.

Moreover, as his strength increased, Richard was no longer afraid of the completely invincible gargoyle, a witchcraft creation that used to guard the door and that he had to look up to, and he was even able to defeat it.

Now, Richard can already judge that the opponent's strength is only at the high level of level one.

After a little thought, Richard did not go in directly, but cast a simple communication spell to contact mentor Ceres.

After a while, a familiar black-robed figure appeared at the entrance of the school. It was Richard's mentor, Ceres.

Celes soon found Richard standing alone in a remote place. The first time she saw Richard, Celes noticed the changes in Richard.

After being stunned for a few seconds, he came to his senses and blurted out: "Richard, you have been promoted to a formal wizard? This is really unbelievable!"

Celes, still wearing a black robe, was obviously very excited when he saw Richard. He walked forward and hugged Richard tightly.

"Yes, mentor, I was promoted by chance."

Looking at the familiar face, Richard could clearly feel that Instructor Ceres's strength should also be at the high level of level one, similar to his own unconcealed strength.

In order to avoid being too shocking, Richard had previously drunk a bottle of fluctuation suppression potion, a non-combat potion purely used to conceal his own mental fluctuations, which had the effect of drastically reducing mental fluctuations.

After Richard drank it, the fluctuation of his mental power changed from the high level of level one to the low level of level one. As long as he did not cast any witchcraft higher than the low level of level one, his true strength would not be exposed. The potion would also last for a long time. A bottle of potion could last for nearly a month.

"Richard, you are through..." Celes thought for a moment and asked hesitantly, but immediately waved his hand and said, "Let's go back to the school first."

Richard immediately understood that Teacher Celes wanted to ask him how he got promoted, but was afraid of discouraging him, so he didn't ask again.

"Teacher, I use the third method, meditation." Richard said with a smile.

Richard did not want to hide this fact. After all, wandering wizards would often accidentally discover advanced meditation methods in some ancient ruins. It was not surprising that he obtained an "incomplete" wizard-level advanced meditation method.

"What?" Celes turned around in surprise and grabbed Richard's arm tightly and asked, "Really? You didn't use the Water of Breaking Limits?"

This was really beyond Celes's expectations.

He had always thought that his gifted student had reached the formal wizard level through the second method, relying on the Water of Breaking Limits and a first-level witchcraft model. He never expected that Richard had actually achieved a breakthrough through the third method, using advanced meditation.

This means that Richard still has broad prospects for improvement.

"Really, Master Ceres, unfortunately, the advanced wizard-level meditation method I obtained is also incomplete. It can only allow me to cultivate to the level of a top-level wizard. If I want to go higher, I'm afraid it will be impossible," Richard explained with a smile.

Celes smiled and waved his hand, "It doesn't matter. You are just a beginner wizard now. I don't know how long it will take for you to reach the level of a top wizard. Fifty years, or a hundred years. So, Richard, you don't need to worry about this now."

"For example, I am only at the high level of level one now. Who knows, when you reach the middle level of level one, you may have new opportunities."

The two entered the academy while chatting.

Looking at the wizard apprentices coming and going, they all made way when they saw two black-robed wizards coming over, bowed slightly and greeted them. The look they gave Richard in particular was full of curiosity and surprise.

It seemed as if he was surprised that Richard looked so young and yet had already reached the formal wizard level.

This was Richard's first time to visit mentor Celes' residence, an independent two-story villa located behind the college dormitory area.

The decoration in the hall is simple, which is completely different from the decoration style of Fana's villa, symbolizing the different personalities and pursuits of the villa owners.

"Richard, what are you planning to do this time?" Motioning Richard to sit anywhere, Celes thought for a moment and took the initiative to ask.

"Teacher, after I am promoted to an official wizard this time, I want to join the Ignis School, but I don't want to sign a contract to serve the school for a hundred years. I wonder if the school has a more relaxed contract." Richard paused and continued.

"My idea is to complete tasks for the school and gain the right to exchange for some basic witchcraft models. Regarding this, I wonder if the instructor can give me some advice."

After listening to Richard's story, Celes remained silent.

After a long while, Celes said, "Richard, the school has a contract similar to what you said, similar to the guest teacher contract. By completing tasks at the formal wizard level, you can get the opportunity to exchange for some witchcraft models. But..."

"Most of these witchcraft models are basic models, not improved ones. Secondly, some core potion formulas and materials cannot be exchanged. Have you considered this?"

This made Richard stunned. They were all basic witchcraft models, which was not a big problem, but some core materials could not be exchanged, which was quite troublesome.

"Teacher, what's your suggestion?" Richard thought for a moment and asked.

With Celes' explanation, Richard quickly understood that with a contract like his, even if he failed to complete the teaching tasks and field assignments on time, the punishment would only be that he would not get the due quota.

The clauses with stringent constraints mainly include, for example, not damaging the fundamental interests of the school, and Richard would have no objection to this.

After the two chatted for a while, Celes decided to take Richard to handle the formalities immediately.

Celes brought Richard to a room in the teaching area.

"Lilith, this is my student Richard. He has been promoted to a formal wizard and plans to join the school. Please help him with the relevant procedures."

Lilith looked at Ceres with a puzzled look on her face and said, "Hey! Ceres, I don't remember any of your third-level wizard apprentices being named Richard, right? And didn't you sign a training agreement before for those who could be promoted to official wizards?"

Celes also smiled bitterly: "Lilith, to be honest, this student has only been in the school for less than two years. I didn't expect that after this trip, he would be promoted by chance. Before, he was only registered as a second-level wizard apprentice!"

"What!" Lilith's beautiful eyes widened. She looked at Ceres' expression and saw that he didn't seem to be joking. She also knew that Ceres rarely joked about important things.

Only then did Lilith look at Richard carefully.

Really so young! "Li Richard, right?"

"Please fill out this form." Lilith took out a form from the drawer and handed it to Richard.

Richard took a quick glance and found information about his background, major, etc. There was also a column for guarantor. If there was a guarantor, it would save a lot of unnecessary trouble.

The purpose of the major is to arrange courses reasonably. Secondly, it is also convenient for new apprentices to choose mentors based on the expertise of different mentors.

Richard quickly filled out the form and handed it to Lilith.

"Are you good at puppetry? This is quite rare. There are very few wizards in our school who are proficient in puppetry."

"By the way, if a new wizard wants to join the school, he needs the approval of a Level 2 Great Wizard. Ceres, since he is your student, you will be responsible for taking Richard there. Great Wizard Graf is in the school today."

Lilith smiled.

"Okay, thank you, Lilith, we'll go over first." - "Knock knock knock!" Celes took Richard to the tallest building in the teaching area, stopped in the second to last room, and knocked on the door quite formally.

"Come in!" a deep voice sounded.

"Richard, don't be nervous." Celeste whispered a reminder to Richard, as if she was worried that her favorite student would be nervous.

Richard smiled slightly and nodded.

He once again felt the care of his mentor. Although, for Richard, this was not the first time he had seen a second-level great wizard. Even Hawkins, the vice president of the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood and the second-level great wizard, had a close relationship with him.

After the two of them entered, Richard discovered that the room of the great wizard Graf was quite large.

Moreover, it has a unique style.

There were a dozen skeletons of different creatures placed around and on the walls as decorations, which made Richard stunned.

At this time, an old man with a dignified appearance and gray beard was standing behind a mahogany desk, looking at Ceres and Richard with a smile on his face.

"Great Wizard Graf, this is my student Richard, who has just been promoted to an official wizard." Celes bowed slightly and patted Richard beside him.

"Ceres, you gave me a big surprise. I didn't expect you to train a formal wizard so quickly."

Richard felt relieved when he heard the kind tone of Great Wizard Graf.

Apparently, after taking the fluctuation suppression potion, even the great wizard Graf could not see his true strength.

"Young man, welcome to the Ignis School!"

"Hello, Great Wizard Graf!" Richard said a little stiffly.

"Relax, young man. Your mentor and I are old friends. Moreover, you will soon become a formal member of the Ignis School. We will work towards the same goal."

"It is my honor to join the Ignis School. I am deeply grateful to Teacher Ceres and the school for training me." Richard bowed again.

"So, young man, how about we sign the contract now?"

"sure."

Graf nodded, took out a parchment scroll with a gold border, and handed it to Richard.

"Respected Great Wizard Graf, can I take a look at the details of the contract first?"

"Haha, cautious young man, of course you can."

Opening the scroll, Richard began to read quickly.

Sure enough, as Master Ceres said, he chose to join the Ignis School after becoming a formal wizard, and the school has very few mandatory clauses.

The most important thing is not to do anything that harms the interests of the Ignis School. As for the annual mandatory teaching tasks and field missions, even if they are violated, the punishment is only the cancellation of the annual material quota.

Richard was naturally very satisfied with this.

"No problem, respected Great Wizard Graf, I am very satisfied with the contract."

"Very good, how about we officially start signing the contract now?"

"certainly."

Following a short spell from the great wizard Graf, the parchment scroll with gold edges suddenly emitted a dazzling light, and a virtual scale appeared in front of Richard.

"Is this the scale of justice?" Richard pondered.

"Before the great scales of justice," Master Graf called out in the Hutt tongue.

"I, Richard Clavier, am willing to join the Ignis School."

(End of this chapter)