The spacious, brightly lit room held a beautiful standing mirror.
The mirror was taller than a man, framed in precious black-leaf white birch wood and studded with multicolored gemstones, giving it a look of great luxury.
A young man in a black tailcoat stood before the mirror at this moment, with several maids behind him helping their master straighten his formal attire.
Once they were finished, the young man waved his hand and dismissed all the maids, leaving himself alone in the entire room.
The young man silently studied the figure in the mirror — a medium build, lean and tall, brown hair, rather pale complexion, features that could only be called handsome at best, but a pair of eyes that radiated an exceptionally bright luster, giving him a look of great vitality.
"Before I knew it, I'm already seventeen!!"
Leilin gazed at his reflection in the mirror, a touch of melancholy settling over him.
Time was the sharpest of weapons — it could turn infants into old men and oceans into deserts. Even a Wizard could only prolong life by a little; even living for thousands of years, one could never escape time's erosion in the end.
And since Leilin had returned from his last expedition, another year and more had passed.
"No! I must break the curse of time and pursue eternal immortality — only then will I be worthy of the fortune of transmigration!!!"
Leilin's dark eyes seemed to burn with raging flames.
"Master! The carriage from the City Lord's estate has arrived!" Outside the door, Anna's gentle voice sounded.
"Tell him to wait — I'll be right there!"
Leilin faced the mirror once more, tidied his appearance a bit further, picked up a short black staff in his hand, and walked out.
Clatter-clatter!!
The black carriage raced through the streets. The citizens of Polar Night City, upon seeing the City Lord's crest on the carriage, immediately cleared the road, watching with gazes of reverence and envy.
Inside the carriage, Leilin was alone. The young man lay against a goose-down cushion, flipped his palm, and a peculiar pendant appeared in his hand.
It resembled a silver cross, its surface adorned with several red and blue diamonds that flickered, emitting a faint glow.
Leilin stared at the pendant, a look of satisfaction surfacing in his eyes.
"With stellar alloy as the primary material, supplemented by various precious metals I've gradually collected, according to the Chip's calculations, the prototype of this Magical Item has been forged to perfection!"
This pendant-like object had been crafted by Leilin following the method for creating Magical Items recorded in the Luoyan Scripture.
Three years ago, Leilin had purchased the remaining pages of the Luoyan Scripture from a dying old man, and the Chip had deciphered their contents.
The early portions of the Luoyan Scripture were only suitable for apprentices, and even contained much in the way of travelogues and the like — otherwise, Leilin would never have been able to buy those fragment pages at such a low price.
Leilin's luck had been quite good; after the Chip's decryption, he had obtained a method for crafting low-level Magical Items.
The Falling Star Pendant — that was the name of the Magical Item. According to the Luoyan Scripture, although the Falling Star Pendant was only a low-grade Magical Item, it was a defensive one, which meant its value was considerably higher than that of an average offensive Magical Item. Even a full Wizard would be tempted by it.
Upon reading this portion, Leilin immediately decided to craft the Falling Star Pendant.
A Wizard Apprentice's offensive power might be formidable, but poor personal defense was always a problem.
Only by becoming a full Wizard, developing one's own defensive magical aptitude, and maintaining a constant protective Wizard Field could one truly be considered a mighty Wizard Lord.
As for apprentices, they could be ambushed and killed at any moment.
The apprentices who had entered the Withered Forest alongside Leilin were a perfect example.
Though they were able to cast spells, when the Manxter serpent attacked, their lack of defensive magic left them nearly all wiped out. Only Meierfeile survived — and only because Leilin had lent a hand.
With the Falling Star Pendant and a defensive potion, Leilin's defenses would at least rival those of a half-Wizard.
Furthermore, the Falling Star Pendant's defensive Field activated instantly. This meant that as long as the opponent's attack didn't exceed the pendant's defensive threshold, Leilin would be as protected as if he were hiding behind an incredibly sturdy turtle shell. Until the pendant's energy ran out, he would be perfectly safe — as long as the Falling Star Pendant itself wasn't destroyed.
"Lucky there's a Wizard market near Polar Night City — otherwise, I'd never have been able to find so many rare materials!"
Leilin felt a sudden surge of relief.
He poured most of his Magic Stones into the process, along with every material harvested from the Manxter serpent, fusing them all together to produce the half-finished pendant in his hand.
"My resources are basically all used up. According to the Luoyan Scripture, this is still only a half-finished product. The main body of the Falling Star Pendant has been crafted perfectly — all that remains is the final step…"