The construction of the twelfth Will Rune caused Pei Ze's Spirit attribute to skyrocket to 35.93.
Once his Spirit attribute reached 50, he could advance to a Third-level Wizard Apprentice and begin forming a Spirit Crystal.
Of course, Pei Ze had no intention of doing so.
He wanted to lay the most solid foundation possible right from the start. That way, his potential for future growth would be much greater.
'The scions of great families who practice Advanced Meditation Techniques have at least 18 Will Runes, and the best have as many as 24. I must have at least 24!'
With the Eye of Omniscience, Pei Ze wouldn't allow himself to be inferior to anyone else.
'Otherwise, it would be a complete disgrace to my cheat ability!'
'Omniscience, improve the Universal Meditation Technique.'
[Task created. Beginning improvement of the Universal Meditation Technique. Estimated time required: 202 days, 12 hours, and 56 minutes.]
'Let's see the results of the improvement... 24 Will Runes, huh.'
Pei Ze paused to think. It wasn't that he was dissatisfied; 24 Will Runes was already on par with the very best Advanced Meditation Techniques.
He just had very high expectations for the Eye of Omniscience and had hoped it could produce an even more powerful Advanced Meditation Technique. So, seeing this result, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
'Omniscience, can you increase the number of Will Runes in the improved version?' Pei Ze asked mentally.
However, the feedback he received was deeply disappointing. Twenty-four Will Runes was the absolute limit of any improvement.
'The limit of *improvement*... Wait a second!'
Pei Ze suddenly realized something.
'Twenty-four Will Runes is just the limit for *improving* it. But what if it wasn't an improvement?'
'What if I used the Universal Meditation Technique as a base to *create* a whole new Advanced Meditation Technique?'
'Could that allow me to construct more than 24 Will Runes?'
'It's worth a shot!'
Pei Ze grew excited and immediately issued a new command in his mind:
'Omniscience, using the Universal Meditation Technique as a foundation, create a new Meditation Technique. The requirement is that it must be able to construct more than 24 Will Runes.'
[Please set a specific number of Will Runes.]
'Twenty-five,' Pei Ze tried, adding one to the count.
[Task created. Beginning creation of the Meditation Technique. Estimated time required: 286 days.]
'It works!'
Pei Ze's spirits lifted. 'What about 26?'
[Estimated time required: 304 days.]
'Twenty-seven!'
[Estimated time required: 338 days.]
Pei Ze continued testing, increasing the number one by one.
With each additional Will Rune, the required time increased substantially, and the jump in time was larger than the one before.
He kept going all the way up to 33 before the feedback finally changed.
[Exceeds the limits of the world's laws. Creation failed.]
Pei Ze was stunned.
'The limits of the world's laws?'
'In other words... the absolute maximum number of Will Runes a Wizard Apprentice can construct is 32!'
Pei Ze checked the previous logs. Creating an Advanced Meditation Technique with 32 Will Runes would take a whopping 704 days.
Even with his Spirit attribute now over thirty, it would still take him more than forty days to complete the task, even if he accelerated it with all his might.
However, compared to the benefits the new Meditation Technique would bring, that amount of time was nothing.
A thrill ran through Pei Ze, and without a second thought, he issued the command.
'Omniscience, begin the task.'
Thirty-two Will Runes! That was a full eight more than the best-known Advanced Meditation Technique in all of Chenxi City!
He could already imagine it. Once he successfully advanced to an Official Wizard using this new Meditation Technique, his power and potential for growth would far surpass those so-called prodigies!
The very thought made his heart pound with excitement.
'The new Meditation Technique will still take some time to complete.'
'For now, the top priority is to increase my Spirit attribute.'
The higher his Spirit attribute, the faster the new Meditation Technique would be completed.
Pei Ze had researched the topic. There were several items that could increase one's Spiritual Power during the Wizard Apprentice stage.
For instance, Spiritual Spring Potion, Divine Awakening Flower, Merak Water, and Ten Thousand Flowers Honey.
Pei Ze had already consumed three bottles of Spiritual Spring Potion. He had even bought and taken another one not long ago, but he had long since reached his tolerance limit. Drinking any more would have no effect.
But he had never tried the other three.
'The logistics department should have both Divine Awakening Flower and Merak Water, but it's probably better to buy them at the Black Market. I'll look for them tonight on my way to sell my potions.'
'The hardest to find will be the Ten Thousand Flowers Honey. That stuff is only produced by Ten Thousand Flowers Fairies.'
Ten Thousand Flowers Fairies were the nobility among the Flower Fairy race, and they were exceedingly rare.
They were masters of Illusion Technique, with playful and mischievous personalities. They loved to transform into various plants and animals to play tricks on people, and their illusions could sometimes fool even Official Wizards.
It was said that a small number of Ten Thousand Flowers Fairies lived in the Ring Forest Plane—one of the three major Colonization Planes controlled by Chenxi City—which was home to many races of elves and fairies.
Pei Ze had no idea if this was true, however, as he had never seen one himself.
'Oh well, finding the Divine Awakening Flower and Merak Water would be good enough.'
Shaking his head, Pei Ze stopped dwelling on it. He glanced out the window. Night had already fallen, so he changed his clothes and prepared to head out.
From the 100 sets of materials he had previously bought at the Black Market, he had ultimately crafted a total of 63 bottles of Ferocity Potion.
The batch consisted of 5 supreme-grade, 26 high-grade, 27 mid-grade, and 5 low-grade bottles.
As he crafted more potions, Pei Ze's technique grew more practiced, and the quality of his output steadily improved.
Although his success rate remained around 60%, the proportion of high-quality potions had increased significantly.
The overall quality was much better than last time.
'If I sell them all, I should get around 6,300 Gold Coins.'
With another large sum of income about to be pocketed, Pei Ze was in a very good mood.
...
Arriving at the Black Market once more, he found the place as bustling as ever.
Hundreds of black-robed figures moved back and forth between the stalls, their gazes sweeping over the various goods. Others stood before a particular stall, haggling in hushed tones with the owner.
It seemed chaotic, but there was an underlying order to it all.
He went to the same stall as last time. After paying the rent, Pei Ze arranged the Ferocity Potions on the counter and quietly waited for customers.
To his surprise, he had been seated for less than two minutes when a tall, black-robed figure appeared before his stall, almost as if they had been waiting for him.
The black-robed figure's gaze swept over the potions on the counter. Without even inspecting them, he gestured grandly.
"I'll take all the potions!"
The voice was familiar.
Pei Ze raised an eyebrow. He sized up the figure, sensing a familiar aura, and understanding dawned on him.
'It's the Grand Knight from last time! The one who bought three supreme-grade Ferocity Potions and asked when he'd have more in stock!'
'Buying so many potions at once... Could this person be a high-ranking member of a Mercenary Corps?'
It was no wonder Pei Ze thought so. After all, Ferocity Potions were only effective on beings whose constitution attribute did not exceed 30, and a Grand Knight's constitution was far beyond that limit.
The supreme-grade Ferocity Potions might still have some effect on a Grand Knight, but drinking any of the lesser grades would be no different from drinking water.
Doubts aside, business was business.
Given the black-robed man's large purchase, Pei Ze rounded down the price and only asked for 6,300 Gold Coins.
After paying, the black-robed man didn't ask any more questions this time and simply turned and walked away.
Looking at the dimensional bag full of Gold Coins, Pei Ze's lips curved into a slight smile as he strode quickly away.
A moment later, he arrived at the shop where he had bought Magic Items last time.
The moment he entered, Pei Ze walked straight to the bald man behind the counter and asked, "Proprietor, do you have any Divine Awakening Flower and Merak Water?"
The bald man nodded with a wide smile. "I do. How much do you need?"
"Three stalks of Divine Awakening Flower, 500 milliliters of Merak Water. Oh, and do you have any Ten Thousand Flowers Honey?"
"No Ten Thousand Flowers Honey. That stuff is far too rare."
Pei Ze was a bit disappointed. He waved his hand and said, "Alright then. In that case, also give me the formulas for an antidote potion and a stamina potion."
Potion crafting was intrinsically linked to Spiritual Power. Rank-one potions required at least a Third-level Wizard Apprentice to craft, so for now, Pei Ze was still focusing on crafting unranked potions.
Both stamina potions and antidote potions were big sellers.
More importantly, they would be useful in the upcoming trial.
Therefore, he planned to master them as soon as possible.