Hal left the Deputy Headmaster’s Office with a lot more things on his mind.
Money, Aethersight, the fell race, Loki’s growth, artifact crafting, and the labyrinth...
’Aihh, I need to sort them by priority...’ he thought, shaking his head with a sigh.
The pupper glanced at his master with a slightly worried expression. Loki hoped he could help.
Money would come naturally as long as he kept getting stronger and better at crafting artifacts, so he shouldn’t think about how to earn more so much.
As for the Fellkin, they would attack when they would, and the empire surviving for centuries against such horrifying enemies couldn’t be a fluke.
They would probably hold out for quite some time. Perhaps he would be strong enough in the next battle...
Loki’s growth was probably the only thing that would go against him earning more money, at least in the short term, as he would have to divide the high-ranked cores between feeding the huge pup and crafting arcane artifacts.
Lastly, the labyrinth...
Hal wasn’t willing to test his luck and skills without at least having basic Aethersight.
And so emerged the most important matter he had to worry about: Aethersight.
’Tch, but how can I obtain an artifact that would give me at least the basic version?’ he pondered.
The Adept Arcanist Tome of Knowledge 2 more or less gave him an idea, but he would have to complete that idea himself using a trial-and-error approach.
And tons of research...
Unfortunately, he had already promised another batch to Manager Maximus, and Hal had no plans of ruining his business relationship with a famous arcane shop.
’Let’s craft artifacts first, then...’ he took a deep breath.
The sooner he could deliver the batch, the sooner he could begin making an effort to craft an arcane artifact that would grant him basic Aethersight.
Hal headed towards his union chamber to grab a bunch of crafting materials, not expecting to meet someone he hadn’t met in quite a while.
"Hal!" a voice called from behind with a delightful undertone as he approached the storage room.
He naturally recognized the voice, prompting him to turn a bit more enthusiastically than he usually does.
"Oh? Liora! Long time no see, even though we’re quite literally neighbors, hahaha. How’ve you been?"
"Yeah, I’ve been looking for you, but I only recently learned that you’ve been sent to a battlefield...must be hard being a Magna Prospect, huh?"
"Well, being in a battlefield is hard, that’s for sure..."
Liora’s expression then turned a bit tense as she suddenly said: "A-Are you free now? Can we go on a mission together? I’m now a C-ranked wizard, you see."
"Aihh, and here I am, still D..." Hal shook his head.
He didn’t have time to increase his wizard rank, though he somehow felt that ranks were now irrelevant for a Magna Prospect like him.
"Well, I’d love to, but I can’t. Maybe next time."
Liora visibly grew downcast, and Hal couldn’t help but feel bad.
Unfortunately, he truly had a lot of things to do...
"I might head out later this week, but not for a mission. Do you want to come? Loki and I would mostly be hunting for crafting materials, though. The empire’s request."
Liora brightened up as quickly as her earlier dejection.
"I-I will! I miss going on an adventure with Little Loki, you see. Oh, but he’s probably not so little now..."
"Hahahaha, he’s bigger than me now, he’s just outside, do you want to greet him?"
After the casual chat and a promise with his first-ever comrade in the academy, Hal left the union chamber with a huge number of crafting materials, and he put out a request for more, this time for ones a bit more difficult to obtain.
He then looked for a secluded area and activated the Void Key, entering his workshop.
Hal focused on making arcane artifacts for four whole days, managing to complete the entire promised batch, along with the rare-tier artifact he had been targeting to craft.
He failed the first time, producing only a standard-grade artifact.
But second time’s the charm:
[You’ve completed Act 3 of "Rise of Chaos’ Novice".]
[You’ve acquired [Demondorf’s Honey]!]
[You may claim the additional reward: Chaos’ Arcane Links (Second Set) at the quest screen at any time].
As the wave of information about the new arcane links formed and swirled in his mind like they had been there from the start, Hal got a lot of new ideas on how to build arcane artifacts more efficiently.
He even reflected on things he could’ve done better.
At the very least, crafting rare-tier artifacts wouldn’t be as difficult now.
Hal had already sorted his priorities, though, and being an arcanist is only secondary.
Aethersight comes first.
He quickly went to deliver this batch to Manager Maximus, earning himself yet another 110 gold coins, before heading over to visit his platoon members at the training hall assigned to them.
"B-Boss!" Rocky exclaimed, immediately sprinting over after noticing Hal standing at the side and watching.
His loud voice naturally captured the attention of the other platoon members.
Even the usually grumpy Hao failed to suppress a momentary smile before reverting to his usual indifference.
"Seems like you guys are doing well." Hal greeted.
"You’re so cold, boss! How could you suddenly leave us like that and never visit once in almost a month?!" Rocky sulked loudly.
"Well, I’m a busy man, you see. Also, I can’t really summon you guys for any other matter than a mission assigned by the empire, can I?"
"Then at least visit more often!"
"Fine, fine, I will."
Hal had to admit that he had multiple chances to drop by but didn’t. Now that he had sorted his priorities, he had a clear path, and his mind wasn’t too preoccupied.
He could spare a few dozen minutes to visit his subordinates every few days.
For around forty-five minutes, Hal chatted with them, asking them how they’ve been and how their wizardry progress was.
He also asked if there was news regarding Stiff Face.
To his delight and relief, there was.
It seemed that Zephyron, although battered and on the brink of death, managed to escape and return to the empire.
It somehow made sense.
He might be the weakest like he declared, but he wasn’t the slowest, was he?
Stiff Face might even be one of the hardest Magnas to kill.
The empire’s losses didn’t turn out to be so heavy, losing only one Magna as opposed to two.
As much as Hal wanted to stay more, time was still ticking. He had to quickly begin his research.
Perhaps after everything is over, he and his subordinates could even drop the rankings and go full ham as friends.