On a common noon in the True Knowledge Society's laboratory.
Colin took a sip of Renee's mixed fish soup, then suddenly looked up at Shelley in front of him and said,
"Speaking of which, New Year's is almost upon us."
In this world, there was also the concept of New Year.
Legend had it that Yifu engraved the earliest script on this day, from which civilization began to be passed down.
There wasn't anything particularly special about the wizards' world's New Year customs; people would celebrate on that day, eat a sumptuous dinner, and those who were a bit more particular might draw a calendar for the coming year on paper, symbolizing a new beginning and a better tomorrow.
It seems that for festivals like the New Year, which bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, people's wishes in every world are quite similar.
This might be because to some extent, as long as there is a tomorrow, there is hope and a new beginning...
"Hmm," Shelley, with both hands cradling a small white bowl filled with milky white fish soup, also gently sipped.
Although Shelley seldom ate, she occasionally took an interest in soups like fish soup, and Colin naturally wasn't stingy in sharing.
In fact, Colin would almost always ask Shelley if she wanted something to eat before each meal.
Though he was already accustomed to eating while conversing with Shelley, he never skipped this step.
Putting down the white bowl, Shelley did not continue the topic of the New Year, but instead followed up with,
"As we mentioned before, although elemental creatures are different from one another, they also share many commonalities..."
Colin listened intently to Shelley's words, nodding from time to time.
Usually, his conversations with her were mostly about knowledge.
An occasional casual comment would quickly be steered back to the main subject by Shelley, and it was always done quite abruptly...
But he was already used to such abrupt transitions.
Sometimes, Colin even wondered if Shelley was really human, how she could be so diligent, almost without any unnecessary rest or entertainment.
The afternoon time quickly passed, and after a good chat with Shelley, Colin's heart was full of gains.
Now, a week had gone by since he took on that commission for custom witchcraft, and the progress of the research was even smoother than he had imagined!
In at most another ten days, he feared he would be able to complete the initial model design and start actual testing.
However, before the 250,000 Magic Stones were deposited, there was something else worth celebrating.
In a way, this even made him happier than completing the custom witchcraft commission!
Waving his hand to cast a Cleaning Technique, he tidied up the spotless cutlery and Colin slowly summoned Golden Paper.
Pale golden particles converged, and an ancient piece of Golden Paper gradually appeared before him.
On it, there were four rows of characters, each flashing an alluring ↑ symbol behind them!
The first was a Limit Broken secondary Acid Liquid splash, now a Zeroth Rank Middle witchcraft. Breaking the limit one or two more times would elevate it to Zeroth Rank Upper witchcraft.
As for the remaining three witchcrafts, two of them needed no further mention; they were First Rank Upper Disguise Magic—Spirit Fog and Hayden's Pseudo Ability.
This was the real reason Colin was more pleased than earning Magic Stones.
Because the Limit Breaking of these two witchcraft undoubtedly meant he had taken a huge step closer to the day he would be promoted to a Second Rank Wizard!
As for the remaining witchcraft that had reached its limit, it was the First Rank Lower witchcraft, Silent.
This witchcraft had reached more than 80 percent progress quite some time ago.
It was only because Colin had been spending most of his time practicing the Meditation Method and on more important witchcraft like Hayden's Pseudo Ability lately.
The rest of the witchcrafts he practiced at most once or twice a day, so Silent finally reached its limit just now.
The process of Limit Breaking wasn't anything special; Colin had long since become adept at it.
He first Limit Broke the secondary Acid Liquid splash, spending 60 Magic Stones.
Then came the two Disguise witchcrafts.
Limit Breaking Spirit Fog cost 25,000 Magic Stones, while Limit Breaking Hayden's Pseudo Ability cost 20,000 Magic Stones.
A total expenditure of 45,000, which instantly emptied the savings he had accumulated over the past few days, leaving him with just over a thousand Magic Stones.
Colin couldn't help but give a wry smile; he hadn't expected the Magic Stones he had saved for so long to be spent in an instant.
Actually, he still had 20,000 Magic Stones as a deposit at Darren's Commission, but he couldn't take those out.
However, he had taken a glance when converting the Limit Breaking Points just now—
When the value of the Limit Breaking Points reached five thousand, the ↑ symbol behind Silent lit up.
This signified that the amount of Magic Stones needed to Limit Break this First Rank Lower witchcraft, Silent, was five thousand.
Without delay, Colin slowly got up, prepared to sell the newly Limit Broken secondary Acid Liquid splash right now.
Actually, his plan was to sell it today as well.
A Zeroth Rank Upper Attack Witchcraft, according to Colin's current arrangement, could be produced in as fast as five days or at most ten days.
So after some thought, he decided that each time he reached Zeroth Rank Upper after Limit Breaking, he would go sell it at Copper Rose Street, timing his sales at irregular intervals to reduce the possibility of arousing suspicion.
Walking along, Colin suddenly paused, a thought struck him, and he cast the freshly Limit Broken Spirit Fog on himself.
This First Rank Upper witchcraft had, after Limit Breaking, become Second Rank Lower; whether in power or otherwise, it had greatly improved.
Since it was witchcraft that he had Limit Broken himself, Colin knew it like the back of his hand, and at this moment, with a thought, he smoothly cast it.
That was something one could not achieve by simply purchasing a Second Rank witchcraft.