The Cornflower Witch

Book 3: Chapter 83: Clockwork Gem Bearings

To craft the astronomical clock needed for the core secret art, she required several rare materials. Sylutia flipped through the material list provided by the academy and cross-referenced it.

'Mithril,' 1,850 gold coins per 10 grams, or 1,000 credits.

'Glittergold,' 170 gold coins per 10 grams, or 100 credits.

'Mithril,' 34 gold coins per 10 grams, or 15 credits.

'Mithril,' 21 gold coins per 10 grams, or 10 credits.

'Purple Copper,' 18 gold coins per 10 grams, or 10 credits.

.....

'Sapphire (First Tier · Standard),' 50 silver coins each.

'Sapphire (First Tier · Excellent),' 100 silver coins each.

.....'Garnet (Second Tier · Standard),' 6 gold coins each.

'Garnet (Second Tier · Excellent),' 11 gold coins each.

.....

'Ruby (Third Tier · Standard),' 68 gold coins each.

'Ruby (Third Tier · Excellent),' 145 gold coins each.

'Sapphire (Third Tier · Excellent),' 127 gold coins each.

'Diamond (Third Tier · Excellent),' 114 gold coins each.

For gemstones of quality above Excellent, on-site price confirmation was required at the academy's Gem Pavilion. If exchanging with credits, they were offset at a 1:2 value compared to gold coins.

Mithril was a Fourth Tier material. Even a small piece would be extremely expensive. According to the requirements of her advanced secret art, she needed to prepare at least 12 grams of Mithril as the core material for the 'Astronomical Clock.' This would also need to be supplemented with varying amounts of 'Glittergold,' 'Mithril,' and some gemstones to serve as components like bearings and pallet forks.

This portion of materials could be adjusted based on individual circumstances. If she wanted to save money, she could opt for cheaper metal materials and use only 17 gemstones. If she was feeling more extravagant, she could use superior metals and up to 25 gemstones as components.

After calculating the required material costs, Sylutia couldn't help but stick out her tongue. Just the Mithril alone would probably cost over 2,000 gold coins. Adding in the other metals and gemstones, the baseline was well over 3,000 gold coins. If she used the best materials for everything, the total cost could easily soar past 10,000 gold coins.

At this moment, she started to recall the requirements for advancing other core secret arts. None of them seemed this expensive. Some simpler advancement methods probably cost less than 100 gold coins to gather all the necessary materials.

It wasn't that she didn't have 10,000 gold coins, but doing so under the identity of 'Hedra' was extremely difficult. Previously, all the treasures combined from 'Fire Pig's' secret vault only amounted to 8,000 gold coins. Then, to improve the living conditions of the laborers, provide relief, and offer basic medical care, most of that money had already been spent. At the time, she hadn't even considered touching that fund.

If she relied on herself, accumulating 3,000 gold coins in a short period was no simple task.

Oh, right! Sylutia remembered something. She returned to her bedroom, pulled out her small private stash from under the bed, opened that long-sealed box, and began rummaging through it.

Soon, she retrieved two copper square boxes, a black wooden box, and a red wooden box from the box.

The two copper square boxes had been mailed by Quebec City Lord Brennan, one every six months. They contained neatly stacked piles of 30 gold coins each, serving as her living expenses within the Mage Alliance. For a First or Second Tier apprentice, this amount was more than enough.

The black wooden box was a gift from Instructor Nox. It contained exactly 200 gold coins, no more, no less. Considering the box was this size, fitting 200 coins was already its limit.

The red wooden box was a gift from her current nominal uncle, Alanfude Griffin. It contained 120 gold coins.

All together, that made 380 gold coins. Sylutia took out her own money pouch again and poured the gold coins onto the bed to count. There were 46 gold coins in total. This was her usual pocket money, partly from selling potions she had brewed in the past and a small portion from the scholarship the school had given her.

After thinking for a moment, Sylutia brought out another jewelry box. Inside was a pentagonal red gemstone.

[Fulante Rose] (Second Tier · Superior): A true red rose gemstone, refined and condensed from a rose of the same tier using a secret method. Can be used to craft valuable accessories, or consumed in rituals and the creation of items.

This was a gift from Virelna during her time in Quebec. If she took it out to sell, she could probably exchange it for about 20 gold coins.

After counting all these items, Sylutia retrieved a voucher from her diary. This was a gift from Miss Hu Tao of the Fox Family. It was said to be a dividend from the invention of the ice cream cone. She could use this to withdraw money from the Mage Alliance's bank. She just didn't know how much it would be.

400 gold coins was already a huge sum for a Second Tier apprentice. It could buy several high-quality Third Tier gemstones for advancement. For living expenses, it might last over ten years. However, for the advancement route Sylutia had chosen, this money was far from enough.

How could she legally obtain a large amount of funds? Sylutia sat cross-legged on the bed and began to think.

She currently had about 300 credits. Even if she exchanged all of them for resources, it still wouldn't be enough. She would have to check the academy's task board.

Every academy had an internal task board, encompassing a wide variety of things. There were tasks and requests issued by the academy, as well as information from students selling or exchanging resources.

Compared to the market price outside, the internal academy prices were often more affordable and had a higher reputation. There was no risk of being cheated or having someone run off with the money.

After tidying up the items in her hands, Sylutia sat up, grabbed the bank voucher and her student badge, and walked out of the house.

She first left the academy and went to a nearby bank to check how many gold coins were on the voucher.

"Please wait a moment, Miss Hedra. We need to verify your identity first," the staff member said after taking the card, inspecting it before replying.

After that came a rather tedious verification process. They used a special method to confirm that this young girl was who she claimed to be, then began to query the bank's accounts before informing her of the situation.

"According to the agreement with the Fox Family, you are entitled to a 10% profit dividend from this product for ten years. Currently, there are 478 gold coins deposited."

"I understand. Please withdraw all of it." This way, she would have about 900 gold coins.

Hu Tao was really generous, huh. Looking at this data, they seemed to have sold the new-style ice cream very well. Just this single product had generated nearly 5,000 gold coins in profit.

After receiving the gold coins, Sylutia returned to the academy and went to the Task Hall. There were quite a few items stored here by students for exchange. Each item was marked with a price and required resources. If someone found a suitable item, they could contact the staff to make the exchange.

Sylutia looked around the hall. Most of the items were finished products for sale or exchange. There were relatively few items offering raw materials for exchange.

'Glittergold 8g': Leftover from crafting an item. Price: 140 gold coins.

'Barrier-Breaking Dagger (Third Tier)': Can be used to break through barrier protection spells. Good quality. Price: 180 gold coins.

'Blue Salt Potion (Third Tier)': Can be used to enhance spells, doubling their power. Price: 70 gold coins.

'Launch Ring (Second Tier)': Attached with 'Launch Technique.' Allows you to instantly jump away to dodge danger. Price: 28 gold coins.

'Mountain Red Neutralizer (Third Tier)': Alchemy material, used to harmonize the 'Scorching Sun' and 'Bloodline' Aspects. Price: 98 gold coins.

....

Besides these items awaiting exchange and sale, Sylutia also saw quite a few tasks.

[Task: Craft High-Precision Gem Bearings]: Recruit members skilled in fine operations to assist in crafting 37 Third Tier Superior quality clockwork bearings.

Requirements: Master the 'Quicksilver,' 'Sturdy,' 'Wear-Resistant,' and 'Fine Grain' Runes, and have their inscription effects reach 'Superior' or above.

Reward: 10 gold coins per bearing. If defective pieces are fewer than two, an additional 'Third Tier · Excellent' Ruby will be awarded.

[Task: Craft Identification Lens]: Recruit members skilled in glass inscription techniques and spell analysis to craft 150 identification lenses.

Requirements: Knowledge of metal materials, ability to accurately analyze material quality, and capability to inscribe analysis enchantments into the lenses.

Reward: 5 gold coins per lens. If the yield rate is above 90%, an additional 100 gold coins will be awarded.

[Task: Spinel Cave Expedition]: Recruit Third Tier members to explore the 'Spinel Cave' secret realm in the Shadow World.

Requirements: Master Third Tier +3 or higher strength protection measures. Possess a weapon enchanted with 'Crystal Cutting.'

Reward: 20% of the treasures and resources obtained from the expedition. One 'Third Tier · Excellent' quality crystal.

The task requirements were all quite high. Basically, only Third Tier mages were qualified to even consider them. No wonder few freshmen paid attention to this. Sylutia scanned through the tasks, barely managing to find a few that had low rank requirements but only demanded exquisite skill.

Speaking of which, she was very eager to try that task for crafting gem bearings. First, it offered a good reward. Second, it would let her practice in advance, making her more proficient when she later crafted the astronomical clock, reducing material waste and improving the quality of her creation.

However, she had only learned the 'Quicksilver' and 'Sturdy' runes. The other two, 'Wear-Resistant' and 'Fine Grain,' she hadn't studied yet. She would need extra lessons to learn them.

After noting down the requirements for this task, Sylutia turned and left, heading to the academy's library. She began searching for information on these two runes, obtained the original templates, and started copying and learning them.

After spending some time memorizing and copying, Sylutia returned to her residence. It was already night, but she didn't rush to sleep. Instead, in the lab on the first floor of the house, she took out some scrap First Tier gemstones and began experimenting with the newly learned rune inscriptions.

Time slipped by unnoticed. By late night, Sylutia was sitting at her desk, stretching her back, gently shaking the ends of her hair behind her head. Then she folded her hands and rested her head on them, looking at the three small, delicate parts under the lamp light.

[Ruby Bearing] (First Tier · Rare): A clockwork bearing crafted from a First Tier Ruby, inscribed with four runes. (Quicksilver · Sturdy · Wear-Resistant · Fine Grain)

She hoped this task would still be available a day later. This was already the result of her learning at the fastest speed possible.

And so, Sylutia fell asleep leaning against the desk. About twenty minutes later, she woke up again, having regained some energy.

Now, she turned off the gemstone lamp in the room, went to the bathroom to wash up, changed into her pajamas, returned to the bedroom, and collapsed into bed to sleep.