"So, it is him... Such a persistent ghost..."
"Even with the seal of the Azure Sky Spirit, he still managed to find me..."
Lynn gazed at the floating golden balance fragments before him, his expression dark.
It wasn't hard to guess the otherworldly entity had successfully tracked him down using the connection between these golden balance fragments.
His mind worked rapidly, piecing together the chain of events based on the information he had.
Lynn speculated that the otherworldly entity had first located him through some sort of link between the golden balance fragments.
Meanwhile, the people from Furnace of the Stone had been tracking this "big fish," and by following its trail, they eventually arrived in the Mechanical City.
As a result, both the large and small "fish" that had escaped from the Landscape had now been detected by Furnace of the Stone.
Lynn wasn't sure if the Furnace of the Stone had already captured the otherworldly entity.
But one thing was certain he had unwittingly fallen under their surveillance.
That otherworldly entity had dragged him into trouble!
The only silver lining was that Lynn had received a verbal guarantee of safety from Chris, the first disciple of the Warhammer Master, at least for now.
However, Lynn wasn't one to rely on others after all, mountains crumble, and people abandon you when you need them the most.
In the end, he and Chris weren't particularly close. Chris' junior brother was Darwin, not him.
Her words were credible, but not entirely trustworthy...
Thus, Lynn began making contingency plans, preparing for the worst while searching for a way to break free from this predicament.
"The reason that otherworldly entity came after me is still because of the balance fragments I have..."
Lynn waved his hand, and the Azure Sky Spirit emitted a hazy green glow, enveloping the golden fragments as if trapping them in an invisible cage.
The balance fragments trembled slightly in the glow but showed no resistance.
Back when Lynn escaped from the Landscape, he had worried that the otherworldly entity, after restoring the balance to its complete form, might go back on its word and wipe everyone out.
So he had only handed over part of the fragments, keeping some as leverage.
Later, during his time in the Mechanical City, he accidentally discovered hidden information within his Citizen's Token.
Only then did he realize that the golden balance was a top-tier treasure, and he had also begun entertaining a certain greedy thought he wanted to restore the balance himself.
But Lynn knew that to even attempt this, he would need to at least step onto the Morning Star Wizard path.
And forgot reaching the stars he had only just begun his journey as a First-Level Wizard.
For the past half a year in the Mechanical City, he had grown used to his peaceful life.
Yet now, the crises involving the otherworldly entity and Furnace of the Stone were closing in.
These two forces were far more dangerous than Marco had ever been, and his status as a mere Citizen wouldn't be enough to protect him this time.
At this moment, in his state of absolute calm, Lynn came to a difficult conclusion he might have to abandon these balance fragments.
The golden balance was valuable, but his current level was simply too low to make use of it.
Instead, he might be better off using it as a bargaining chip
Either handing it over to Furnace of the Stone to end their pursuit of him,
Or returning it to the otherworldly entity to reclaim his peaceful life.
But no matter which side he chose, he would remain under threat from the other.
"Strength is the only true guarantee... If I were a Morning Star Wizard... No, even if I were just a Third-Level Grand Wizard, I wouldn't have to live in constant fear like this..."
Lynn shook his head, a wry smile appearing on his lips.
He put away the Azure Sky Spirit and took out his Citizen's Token.
As a faint light flickered, the laboratory around him vanished, and a virtual space gradually emerged before his eyes.
Lynn focused his gaze on his personal information panel.
"Mental Power: 113; Constitution: 10."
He silently read the numbers, making some calculations in his mind.
It had been over five months since he had become a full-fledged Wizard.
In that time, his Mental Power had increased by 13 points a result that would be almost unimaginable for most Wizards.
After all, while apprentice-level potions were affordable and could steadily raise Mental Power to around 110 points,
Buying them was one thing successfully refining and absorbing them was another.
Most people didn't have Lynn's peculiar talent, where the more potions he consumed, the faster he absorbed them.
Every time he took a potion, his refining speed would accelerate, allowing him to consume them in increasing quantities.
In a way, reckless potion consumption was a form of "hard work" in itself!
However, after reaching the limits of his own body's potion tolerance, Lynn began feeding the potions to Yfgríd instead.
This led to a new problem.
Originally, his growth rate had been around 3 points of Mental Power per month.
But over the past three months, after his Mental Power reached 109 points, his growth had visibly slowed.
In the last two and a half months, his Mental Power had only increased by 4 points.
The time required to refine potions had lengthened, and the number of potions he needed had increased, but the rate of improvement had declined.
Lynn suspected that apprentice-level potions were simply no longer potent enough for him.
Initially, he had expected that by combining potion consumption for both himself and Yfgríd, he could push his Mental Power to 120 points.
Now, he was revising that expectation downward to 118 points, or perhaps even lower...
Shifting his gaze away from his stats, Lynn turned to a shopping cart floating in the virtual space.
The Mechanical City had developed a fully immersive virtual world naturally, online shopping was a given.
Lynn was short on Magic Stones.
Even though he now had a stable income as a researcher,
Over the past few months, he had poured almost every Magic Stone he earned into buying potion materials, refining potions, and consuming them.
His funds were barely enough to sustain him, constantly balancing on the edge.
For this reason, even though he had already broken through to become a full-fledged Wizard,
He had yet to fully reach the true standard of one.
His spells and meditation techniques were fine he had inherited vast amounts of knowledge from Maple Tree's memories.
Even though some of that knowledge was sealed due to contractual restrictions,
Lynn had still acquired an immense library of First-Level Wizard techniques and had been steadily improving his abilities.
Lynn had almost no proper wizard-grade equipment, except for the spatial ring on his hand, which he had obtained from the Lord of Nightshadow Castle.
The reason was simple he was broke and couldn't afford it.
But fortunately, this time, his thesis had earned him a reward of a full hundred thousand magic stones.
That was enough for him to go on a shopping spree and fill the gaps in his equipment.
Especially now, with powerful enemies lurking all around otherworldly beings and the Furnace Stone eyeing him like prey he needed the right gear to enhance his combat strength.
With a wave of his hand, a virtual light screen unfolded before him, displaying a dazzling array of items.
Every item was neatly categorized, allowing him to filter through the options with ease.
"What I need most… is external gear," Lynn thought as he opened the related category.
A wizard's combat ability could be broadly divided into two main factors: internal and external.
Internal factors were those directly related to the wizard, including mental power, physique, and spells.
As a natural wizard, Lynn's extraordinary plant, Yfgríd, also fell into this category.
External factors, on the other hand, referred to magical artifacts, puppet constructs, mechanical armor, and similar items.
Lynn's spatial ring was also considered an external factor.
A high-quality external item could significantly boost a wizard's combat capabilities.
For instance, back in his apprentice days, Lynn had relied heavily on the Heart of Floral Language, a gift from his mentor Rosalind, to greatly enhance his battle prowess.
Without its powerful defensive capabilities, he might not have survived to this day.
"Level 3 Black Gold Mechanical Armor priced at 150,000 magic stones. Made of Deep Abyss Black Gold, its defense is outstanding. Tests have shown that even after being struck by five consecutive Second-Level offensive spells, the dummy inside remained completely unscathed. Recommended for: Third-Level Apprentices to Second-Level Wizards."
"Bloodblade Battle Axe priced at 120,000 magic stones. Razor-sharp, capable of easily cutting through gray-gold-grade metal materials. Comes with two First-Level offensive spells and boasts elemental boosts: +350% fire element, and +220% earth element. Recommended for: First-Level and Second-Level Wizards."
Lynn filtered the equipment list based on relevance to First-Level Wizards.
Then, sorting the prices from high to low, he was immediately met with an overwhelming selection of gear.
"I only have about 100,000 magic stones… I need to look for items that are slightly more affordable."
With that thought, Lynn adjusted the filters accordingly.
He also made some trade-offs, prioritizing the coverage of his weaknesses.
At present, he wasn't lacking in defense his Void Tranquility First-Level defensive spell and Yfgríd's Echo of Vitality First-Level defensive spell ensured that ordinary First-Level offensive spells would struggle to break through both layers of defense.
"Strengthening my defenses any further is pointless. No matter how tough a turtle shell I have, the enemies I face are too strong. They'll still find a way to break through…"
Lynn pondered for a moment, then decided against boosting his defenses or offensive capabilities. Instead, he prioritized enhancing his ability to escape.
After all, if he couldn't win and couldn't defend himself, his best bet was to flee.
Lynn scrolled through the list, searching for escape-related gear that suited his needs.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he spotted a pair of shoes shimmering with starlight, accompanied by a steep price tag.
"Starfall Shoe Price: 75,000 magic stones. Comes with three charges. When activated, speed increases to meteoric levels, faster than lightning… Can recharge by absorbing starlight. Recommended for: First-Level and Second-Level Wizards."
But what truly caught Lynn's attention was the final line:
"Crafted by the Grandmaster of Warhammers Quality Guaranteed."
He had browsed through numerous escape-related items, all of which were more or less similar, but these shoes were linked to the Grandmaster of Warhammer.
"Then I'll take them!"
Lynn still remembered the high-quality craftsmanship of the Grandmaster of Warhammers. Darwin had relied on a battered set of armor forged by him to journey from a mortal kingdom all the way to the Mechanical City an impressive feat in itself.
Spending money like running water, 75,000 magic stones disappeared in the blink of an eye. Even Lynn felt a slight sting at the loss.
With only a little over 20,000 magic stones remaining, he had to be frugal, carefully distributing them among offensive tools, wearable gear, and other necessities.
By the time he had spent all 100,000 magic stones, Lynn needed to ensure that his equipment was fully upgraded to match a First-Level Wizard's standard, without any shortcomings.
Thanks to a summons from Grand Wizard Chris, Lynn was filled with a sense of urgency and danger.
As a result, the moment he returned home, he immediately began selecting and purchasing various tools and items.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, someone who was more concerned about Lynn than anyone else or rather, some existence had already arrived at the Mechanical City.
The Seventh Level of the Mechanical City is the residential area of the city's upper echelon.
Inside a grand hall, the atmosphere was solemn.
The hall was magnificently decorated, with intricate relief carvings on its golden walls.
Brilliant energy lights flickered, illuminating the space as brightly as daytime.
At the center of the hall stood two figures, radiating an overwhelming presence.
Each of them was surrounded by multiple layers of protective light, akin to unbreakable shields.
A closer look revealed that each of them possessed four distinct protective barriers.
These two were Morning Star Wizards with four layers of magical protection!
Their gazes were sharp and piercing as they studied a collection of unusual artifacts displayed within the hall.
These items were neither mechanical constructs nor traditional wizard tools, as they lacked any traces of mechanical engineering.
Nor did they contain any magical energy fluctuations typical of wizardry.
Instead, they exuded a solemn, tranquil power an aura seemingly from another world, imbued with an air of divinity.
A massive fresco hung on one wall, depicting an ancient deity with a dignified, sacred expression, surrounded by radiant souls.
The mural's inscriptions, written in an ancient script, narrated the story of the deity enlightening mankind and imparting wisdom.
Beside the fresco stood a finely crafted scepter, its tip embedded with a dazzling gemstone, encircled by divine inscriptions.
If translated into the wizard's language, the inscription would read:
"God loves all."
At the center of the grand hall stood a broken divine statue.
The statue depicted a deity with arms outstretched as if embracing the entire world.
Though shattered beyond recognition, its presence still commanded awe.
"These are some of the divine artifacts we've brought back…"
One of the Morning Star Wizards spoke indifferently, glancing at his companion.
The other Morning Star Wizard narrowed his eyes, carefully examining the divine artifacts one by one.
If Lynn had been present, he would have been shocked beyond belief at the sight of this particular wizard.
Clad in a black robe, the wizard possessed peculiar eyes with only whites, no pupils, and an icy, ruthless expression.
Lynn knew this man well he had once been a mere apprentice under his command.
This person was none other than the Lord of the Furnace, the Spirit-Eyed Wizard!
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