76: Chapter 76 The Price

The next day, in the afternoon.

At the entrance of the City Lord's Mansion.

Nie Ning had now reached a bottleneck. Whether it was for the elemental erosion or his own breakthrough, he had no choice but to seek help from the only wizard he knew.

After stating his purpose to the guards, Nie Ning successfully entered the mansion.

"So it is Mr. Bronk, please follow me."

The City Lord's steward, Helun, saw Nie Ning and immediately stepped forward to greet him with a respectful look.

After all, Nie Ning was here to see Ms. Aotili, a person even the City Lord had to treat with caution; there could be no mistakes.

Following Helun across the castle, the two arrived in front of a tower about thirty meters high.

"Ms. Aotili is inside. I won't go in, please go ahead."

"Thank you."

Nie Ning thanked him and then walked in through the main gate.

The hall was nothing special, containing only some tables, chairs, bookshelves, and the like, with some flowers and plants growing in the corner.

"Basement."

Just as Nie Ning was looking around, Audrey's voice sounded in his ear.

'Void transmission?'

Nie Ning blinked.

After walking around the hall, Nie Ning found the entrance to the basement and walked straight down.

The basement was large and contained many rooms, but most of the doors were tightly closed.

Nie Ning walked down the long corridor and soon saw Audrey in person.

Entering the room, it was piled with a large number of bottles and jars, as well as various equipment; it was clearly a laboratory.

At this moment, Audrey seemed to be concocting something, her expression focused, completely different from the lazy image he had seen before.

After waiting for a moment, Audrey produced a bottle of purple potion.

Judging by Audrey's expression, she seemed very satisfied.

"The problem of elemental erosion will still need to wait two days. The missing herbs are quite rare, so I have to go to other wizards to purchase them."

Audrey set down the potion in her hand and said nonchalantly.

"Actually, I have something else to ask of you."

Nie Ning hesitated for a moment before stating the purpose of his visit.

He lacked relevant information on advancing as a wizard, and if any mistakes were made, it would likely cause serious problems.

He didn't want to ruin his wizard career because of this.

"You have been cultivating quite quickly."

Audrey couldn't help but take a few extra looks at Nie Ning.

"I do have the magic potions and related items for advancement, but as I have told you before, wizards believe in equivalent exchange. What are you prepared to trade for these things?"

Wizard items were all very precious. Nie Ning was so poor he was almost ready to sell himself; what could he possibly have to give Audrey?

Even if he did have something, whether she would like it was another question.

"I don't know what kind of price I need to pay?"

Nie Ning asked helplessly.

"Heh, what price could you possibly afford?"

Audrey asked back, finding it somewhat amusing.

Advancement potions were incredibly precious; most Witch Apprentices could spend their whole lives striving for them and might not even obtain one.

Even for those wizard factions, those with poorer aptitude simply didn't have the qualifications to use them, nor did they have enough resources to let all Witch Apprentices advance.

Seeing Nie Ning not speaking, Audrey's eyes rolled slightly, as if she had thought of a good idea.

"I do have a deal here, I just don't know if you are willing to accept it."

Nie Ning perked up upon hearing this: "Please speak, my lady."

"Treating the elemental erosion requires paying a great price, and advancing as a wizard also consumes quite a lot of resources."

"If the treatment is successful, and you are able to advance to a First-Ring Wizard, I need you to help me guard this place. This might take a long time, I don't know if you are willing?"

Audrey sat on the table and said with a light laugh.

Since Nie Ning could cultivate so quickly himself, his aptitude for wizardry was clearly good.

If she could have Nie Ning guard this place, perhaps she could use this opportunity to leave this damned place.

"Guard?"

Nie Ning was a bit puzzled.

This wasn't a border city adjacent to another country; was there anything that needed guarding?

"Didn't you see those ghostly things last time?"

Audrey blinked and said matter-of-factly.

"You mean..."

Nie Ning thought of the Little Boy he had encountered last time.

Originally, he had held the 'to hell with it' mindset, thinking that as long as he could swindle advancement resources from Audrey, anything would do.

But if it really was those ghostly things, then he would indeed have to consider it.

After all, the danger level of those ghostly things was unimaginable.

The Little Boy was already considered simple; it was just that his strength was a bit high, and with diligent cultivation, it wasn't impossible to solve.

But if he encountered an old man like the one with the coffin nail, he would really have no words to express his misery.

Seeing Nie Ning hesitate, Audrey was not in a hurry, but instead took out two books and threw them to Nie Ning.

"Take these two books back and read them. Come find me when you've thought it over."

Nie Ning took the books and looked at them.

One was titled "Precautions for Wizard Advancement," and the other was "Modern Chronicle of Wizards."

Seeing this, Nie Ning was quite speechless.

He could understand the first one, but the second one...

Did one need to take history classes to become a wizard?

Just as Nie Ning was about to ask, Audrey impatiently waved her hand: "I still have things to do, you should go back first."

Hearing this, Nie Ning understood Audrey's intent to dismiss him, and could only leave the basement full of doubts.

As Nie Ning left, a small snake with colorful spots crawled out from the corner.

"Well, did you see anything?"

Audrey picked up the small snake and asked.

"It's strange. I smelled other exotic beasts on him, and he seems to have been corrupted, but it also seems like there is no problem."

The small snake spoke in human language, emitting a crisp female voice, and said very puzzledly.

Audrey frowned slightly upon hearing this.

"It seems that the soul of corruption is really in his hands."

"But how could there be no changes after such a long time? Is it that he has a treasure on him that resists corruption, or does he possess the Psionicist talent to control the soul of corruption? Or is it a soul-control wizardry?"

Audrey couldn't quite figure it out; at least she had never seen anyone who could completely resist corruption.

Because once corrupted, one's entire consciousness would enter a state of decay, and one's own rationality would slowly disappear, becoming an unconscious, monstrous individual.

But Nie Ning didn't seem to be affected, so it seemed that soul-control wizardry could be ruled out.

"And soul-control type Psionicists are similar to soul-control wizardry, but Psionicists themselves are people born under the influence of corruption, so it is indeed possible for them to control the soul of corruption."

"As for treasures..."

"It is hard for such high-level treasures to appear in this kind of countryside."

"Although Nie Ning obtained the inheritance of some wizard, Audrey did not believe that there would be such treasures inside."

"Moreover, treasures can also be corrupted. This is an irreversible process; the longer the time, the more severe the degree of corruption."