Late at night.
Wade lay on his bed in the dormitory, quietly staring at the dark green canopy above him.
His thoughts, however, kept turning over in his mind.
The construction of Hydra was essentially complete.
From here on, everything only needed to proceed according to plan.
Even if he were temporarily absent, the others could continue following the framework he had laid out.
As for the other matter, there was still the question of rescuing the Senior.
He could not completely trust her.
So no matter what, he needed to put some precautions in place.
But preparing safeguards against the Senior was the most troublesome part.
To release her, he had to go to the place where her physical body was hidden.
Unlike anywhere else, that area was where the Senior's nightmare magic was at its strongest.
Forget making preparations there. If so much as an extra fly entered the place, she would notice.
So the only preparations Wade could think of had to be set up at a distance, and even then, there was no guarantee she would not discover them.
Her nightmare magic was simply too powerful.
Forget it.
He would stop making preparations and simply take the gamble as he had originally planned.
The Senior might not turn against him.
And even if she did, it was not certain he would lose.
Besides... what benefit would she even gain from betraying him?
Wade gave up struggling with the issue, rolled over in bed, and tucked the blanket more tightly around himself.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. Dark Lord progress increased by 0.1%."
"Huh?"
Wade's closed eyes opened again.
He brought up the system interface and immediately saw that the progress, which had previously been 0.1%, had now reached 0.2%.
Thinking about everything he had been doing lately, some increase in the progress bar was only natural.
But after making so many preparations, it had only increased by 0.1%?
At this rate, how long would it take to reach 100%?
Wade closed the system panel, sighed, and prepared to go back to sleep.
Several minutes later, his eyes suddenly opened again.
"Wait... something in the shop looked unusual just now!"
Wade reopened the system interface.
[Item 1: Mithril, 10 kg (Unlocked) 500 Merit Points]
[Item 2: Whomping Willow Seed ×1 (Unlocked) 200 Merit Points]
[Item 3: Probability Glasses ×1 (Unlocked) 5,000 Merit Points]
[Item 4: Fiendfyre Enchantment Rune ×1 (Unlocked) 7,000 Merit Points]
[Refresh Countdown: 23 hours, 32 minutes, 50 seconds]
[Merit Points: 1,652,738 (+1 +1 +1...)]
[Dark Lord Achievement: 0.2%]
Wade ignored the mithril and the Whomping Willow seed, focusing directly on the final two items.
[Probability Glasses:Specialised alchemical equipment. Tactical support glasses. When worn in combat, the glasses analyse the enemy's spellcasting trajectory and calculate in real time the probability of each offensive spell and its likely direction. At the same time, they calculate the success rate of each of your own possible attack routes, along with the most suitable spell for responding to the current situation. Zero delay throughout, with real-time updates...]
Wade's eyes lit up.
"Now that's useful!"
Although the glasses would not help Wade all that much, they would be excellent combat equipment for other people.
More importantly, since they were an alchemical creation, that meant once he understood how they worked, they could be replicated and mass-produced.
Excellent.
That was one less piece of equipment he needed to develop himself.
Without hesitation, Wade purchased the Probability Glasses.
His palm grew warm, and a pair of glasses appeared in his hand.
He put them on experimentally.
The previously dark room immediately brightened, and many things he had been unable to see clearly before became perfectly visible.
As expected of tactical glasses. They were even suited for all kinds of harsh combat environments.
A small line of text also appeared at the edge of his vision.
[No combat detected... Probability Glasses remain on alert.]
Wade turned his head toward Tom's bed, but eventually looked away.
Dragging Tom out of bed at this hour just to beat him up for testing purposes would be a little unreasonable.
Forget it.
He could test them tomorrow.
Wade took off the glasses and put them away.
"Next... it's time to look at the fourth item."
[Magical Flame Enlightenment Rune:Can grant intelligence to any magical flame and bind it to the caster through a contract. Note: once the magical flame develops intelligence, it must remain burning at all times. If it is extinguished, the magical flame will die. Usage is simple. Simply allow the corresponding magical flame to burn the rune.]
"Sss... what kind of thing is this?" Wade rubbed his chin and looked at the system description in confusion.
Granting intelligence to magical fire?
It sounded extremely impressive at first, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed somewhat impractical.
Magical flames such as Fiendfyre or Gubraithian Fire could be created at any time by a wizard like Wade and controlled freely.
But once those flames gained intelligence, controlling them might no longer be as smooth as before.
So what was the point of giving magical fire intelligence?
"Wait..."
Wade suddenly sat upright.
He had just thought of the moving castle he was preparing to build.
It had already been decided that Gubraithian Fire would serve as the moving castle's core energy source.
But what if the mass of Gubraithian Fire serving as the energy core possessed intelligence of its own?
Then the moving castle would have its own soul!
And since the magical flame would be bound to Wade by contract, it would become extremely difficult for anyone else to seize control of the castle.
At certain times, it could even control the castle in Wade's place.
As long as the runic arrangements were properly configured, it would be equivalent to Wade possessing a living moving castle!
"Purchase!"
Wade immediately bought the Enlightenment Rune.
Even if his idea failed, it did not matter. His Merit Points accumulated on their own now anyway, so he did not feel any particular reluctance to spend them.
At worst, he would simply end up with a magical flame as a pet.
With that thought, Wade could no longer remain in bed. He immediately climbed out, hurriedly threw on some clothes, and rushed out of the dormitory.
Tom opened his eyes drowsily and vaguely saw Wade's retreating figure hurrying out the door.
...
Excited, Wade travelled through the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement to the goblin workshop, then quickly made his way into his laboratory there.
This was the research facility the Senior had provided him with when he was studying the blood curse. It was extremely well equipped.
Wade hurried to the empty laboratory table and casually picked up an unused petri dish.
Normally, he did not need a wand to conjure Gubraithian Fire.
This time, however, he solemnly drew the Elder Wand.
Not only did he use the Elder Wand, he even carefully spoke the obscure incantation for Gubraithian Fire aloud.
Whoosh!
A ball of orange-yellow flame appeared inside the dish, radiating scorching heat.
There was no doubt that the magical power emanating from this Gubraithian Fire was far stronger than the kind Wade normally conjured casually.
In other words, this flame possessed greater vitality.
Wade took a rectangular piece of parchment from his pocket.
A strange and extremely complicated rune had been drawn across its surface.
He did not use it immediately.
Instead, Wade carefully memorised every detail of the rune.
What if this thing could be mass-produced too?
Only after committing it firmly to memory did Wade move the parchment toward the Gubraithian Fire.
Whoosh!
Wade released it, and the Gubraithian Fire surged forward, instantly consuming the rune completely.
The moment the rune finished burning, Wade suddenly felt as though something had struck his soul.
Then he sensed that his perception had somehow gained something new.
It was an indescribably strange sensation.
By the time Wade recovered, the Gubraithian Fire inside the dish had undergone a dramatic change.
Wade discovered that...
The orange-yellow flame had actually begun growing facial features.
He silently took several steps back, lightly gripping the Elder Wand as he watched the Gubraithian Fire warily.
As its facial features gradually became clearer, the flame suddenly opened its eyes.
There were no pupils, only whites the same orange-yellow colour as the Gubraithian Fire itself.
Whoosh!
The Gubraithian Fire opened its mouth and spat out a burst of flame.
Fortunately, Wade had been prepared and easily blocked it with the Elder Wand.
"Ah... much better..." The Gubraithian Fire seemed to let out a sigh of relief, then looked at Wade. "So, you're my master?"
Wade frowned at the flame, whose tone carried a natural hint of roguishness.
It was strange enough that a magical flame could speak.
Why was it speaking in the same language used by the Dragons?
"Hm? You don't understand? Then I'll switch languages..."
"No need. I understand you," Wade said. Fortunately, Wade was now able to fully understand the language due to his pet dragon.
"Aha! Excellent! Nice to meet you! Since you're my master, I still don't know your name!"
"Wade Reynolds..."
"Oh... Lovely name, Wade Reynolds! Then, following this world's custom, I'll just call you Wade!" the magical flame said with complete familiarity.
Wade found this extremely strange.
No matter how he looked at it, a newly awakened lifeform should not behave like this.
As a brand-new life, it showed no confusion or uncertainty whatsoever. The moment it woke up, it acted like an old ghost that had lived for centuries.
Was that really normal?
Wade suddenly remembered the strange sensation he had felt in his soul earlier. That was probably the feeling of forming a contract with this thing.
Could it be that during the contract, it had learned enough from him to skip the confusion of its newborn stage?
"All right... Since I'm your master, shouldn't I give you a name?"
"A name? No need. I already have one. My name is Lucifer... Lucifer Morningstar!"
"Who? What did you say your name was?" Wade asked in shock.
"Oh... I didn't expect my new master's hearing to be so poor. Ahem!"
Lucifer cleared his throat, then shouted even louder.
"My name is Lucifer Morningstar!"
Shatter! Clatter!
His voice was so loud that several glass test tubes in the laboratory shattered.
But Wade no longer had the attention to spare for anything else.
"Lucifer? You said your name is Lucifer? Are you some demon from Hell?" Wade asked in disbelief.
"A demon? No idea. This name was already deeply engraved in my memories the moment I woke up. As for why I'm called that... I don't know. Don't ask me. Maybe you should ask yourself, since you're the one who woke me up!"
The booming voice echoed through the laboratory, making Wade's ears ring.
"My hearing is perfectly fine, so you can actually speak a little more quietly..." Wade said numbly, rubbing his ears.
"Oh.."
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[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69