[You’ve completed Act 2 of "An Arcanist’s Humble Beginnings".]
[You’ve earned 10 Chaos Points!]
[You may claim the additional reward: [Novice Arcanist’s Tome of Knowledge], at the quest screen at any time].
Hal inevitably smiled at the consecutive notifications.
The past month was quite rough on his brain, but it was also surprisingly enjoyable, as he found Artifact Crafting very interesting.
He didn’t just attend all twenty-five beginner lessons; he listened attentively and studied well.
Although he devoted most of his time to Artifact Crafting, he didn’t neglect his other priorities.
For one, he remained consistent with training his physique, even renewing his membership for ten silver coins.
Hal also took the opportunity to increase his workout frequency from four times a week to five during this period.
In addition to physical training, he made sure to go out from time to time to hunt for Loki’s food, as it was far cheaper than buying it from the academy canteen.
Hal managed to stretch his finances, thanks to this approach, and Loki ended up rather plump and muscular, clearly growing well.
The cub now stood as tall as his knees.
But perhaps the most important of all the things he focused on was the Joker System’s recently unlocked [Chaos Converter] feature.
As it turned out, this function provided him with a reliable way to earn Chaos Points through various types of loot.
The best source for him by far was arcane cores.
Depending on how many cores he converted and their quality, he would receive an appropriate number of Chaos Points.
One F-ranked arcane core was equivalent to 1 Chaos Point, while an E-ranked one was worth ten.
Hal hadn’t tested any higher-ranked cores yet.
However, he suspected that they might correspond to the cost of higher-rarity draws.
Done with his final Basic Arcanist Knowledge Class, Hal excitedly returned to his room.
He saw Little Loki sitting atop the small desk beside his bed.
Smiling as he found the cross-eyed cub’s gaze adorable, Hal approached the pup and gave him a good rub before sitting on his bed, snapping his fingers soon after to open the system.
He then navigated to the [Quest] screen.
Quest Title: An Arcanist’s Humble Beginnings
Act 1: Novice Gatherer - [Completed]
Act 2 - Avoiding Suspicion - [Completed]
[Claim] - Novice Arcanist’s Tome of Knowledge
Hal didn’t immediately claim the rewards, deciding to read the details of the next act’s quest first.
Act 3 - First Artifact
Description: With the knowledge you obtained from the Basic Arcanist Knowledge Classes and Act 2’s rewards, craft:
Prime Gar Feather Trinket - 0/1
Rewards: Chaos’ Arcane Links (First Set)
’Haha, so I’ll finally craft my first artifact, huh?’
In fact, he could even finish this today if he wanted to.
[Claim Reward - Novice Arcanist’s Tome of Knowledge? Yes/No]
The moment he pressed [Yes], a small silvery-vermilion magic circle appeared a few inches above his head, shooting a warm ray of energy straight into his brain.
A massive dump of information suddenly bombarded his mind the next second.
Yet, strangely, it felt comfortable rather than overwhelming.
It was as though he learned of them the natural way.
"D-Damn... that tome saved me quite a lot of time, didn’t it?" Hal muttered afterward, excited by his newfound arcanist knowledge.
He could now clearly see a path to becoming an arcanist while also growing into a strong combat wizard.
If the system kept giving him quests related to the profession, then he would undoubtedly become one—so long as he didn’t die, of course.
Maybe, given time, he could even become a prominent one.
"Heh, how handsome and charismatic would I be then?" Hal chuckled, rising to his feet. "Oh well... that’s for the future. For now, I shall complete this quest."
But he realized it was already lunchtime, so he went to prepare food for Loki first, retrieving half a kilogram of Blue-hide Boar meat from the large cooler he had purchased the day he started hunting for the cross-eyed cub’s meals.
The pup preferred raw rather than cooked, so Hal only washed the meat and placed it into Loki’s food container.
He then gave the little one a head rub before exiting his room and mana-locking it.
’Hmm... should I head to the academy’s Crafting Hall and rent a room there?’ he pondered.
But doing so would once again attract attention.
While Hal needed eyes on him, he couldn’t show too much talent to the point it became unexplainable.
If he became an E-ranked wizard, obtained a Dharmwolf cub, and crafted a common-tier artifact just three months into his admission as a freshman at the Grand Magic Academy, Hal feared that selfish and envious individuals would make their move.
He was strong, but he would not survive an attack from high-ranked wizards.
He had to show just enough talent to be recognized, without threatening the aristocrats and other forces that could easily dispose of him in his current state.
Fortunately, he was quite a bright young man.
Hal decided to start by researching at the Aeloria Public Library.
He arrived a few dozen minutes later and made his way to the most secluded Manatech Computer, tucked away in a quiet corner on the library’s second floor.
As a frequent visitor, the staff already knew him, though he only offered a brief greeting this time.
Hal didn’t need any help, since he was now decently savvy at using Manatech devices.
His decision to study before attempting to craft an artifact as "Hal Fennec" proved to be a wise one.
Apparently, Arcanist Masks and Aliases were a common practice.
Many who wanted to build up hype for a dramatic reveal of their identity, along with talented individuals who lacked influential backgrounds and feared being slaughtered in the shadows by the families of wealthy rivals, would choose to register a mask and alias with the Imperial Arcanist Guild.
While their true identities were linked to the registered mask and name, this information was kept hidden from the public and protected from prying eyes.
The emperor had made the importance of this secrecy clear, and not even aristocrats with connections inside the guild would dare leak such information, for fear of being beheaded along with their families.
This secretive option was created to ensure that aristocrats couldn’t use their wealth and influence to snuff out the chances of talented individuals from poor backgrounds to make names for themselves.
It helped maintain a fair, empire-wide talent pool in the Arcanum Imperium, rather than allowing the aristocracy to restrict it to a privileged few within their circle and those who swore allegiance to them.
Hal smiled at the information.
He knew exactly which mask to buy and what alias to use.