sighed, and Su Nan shook his head, not dwelling on it.
No matter what, with his two cheat codes—the Synthetic Cube and the Player Panel—he would never end up like Anger McKellen.
Putting down the diary, Su Nan picked up another.
To his surprise, this diary contained Anger McKellen's Black Rock Leopard experiment record.
It detailed the Black Rock Leopard's crafting process.
"With this experimental record, as long as I use these books on the bookshelf to unlock the Puppet Crafting skill, I can try crafting Black Rock Leopards!"
Su Nan's face lit up with a joyful smile.
Black Rock Leopards were knight-level puppets, loyal, reliable, and fearless—truly excellent combat power.
Having a batch of Black Rock Leopards would greatly enhance his safety when searching for materials.
Putting away the two diaries, Su Nan picked up the ring.
The dusty ring looked like a cheap trinket sold by a roadside vendor, completely unremarkable.
In Su Nan's perception, the ring was like a miniature black hole, constantly devouring the free energy particles in the surrounding air.
"A magical item!"
Su Nan's eyes lit up.
He hadn't expected Ang McKellen to have left behind a magical item.
Su Nan glanced back, seeing everyone else outside, and discreetly opened the Rubik's Cube, placing the ring inside.
A line of text quickly appeared before him:
Bloodvine Ring (Alchemy/Sub-Magical Item), when activated, summons bloodvines to bind a designated target and continuously absorb their energy in a small amount. 3/3 of its uses remain. Uses can be restored by injecting mental energy or automatically absorbing free energy particles.
"Not bad, a very practical effect."
Su Nan nodded secretly.
Magical items are divided into ranks.
The lowest rank is alchemy-grade, also called sub-magical items.
These magical items often possess only a single enchanted characteristic.
Examples include dimensional bags and spatial rings.
Or various enchanted weapons with properties such as sharpness, bleeding, and black steel.
Don't underestimate these lowest-ranking magical items; their power is considerable.
Taking the Bloodvine Ring as an example, Su Nan estimated that even a peak-level knight would likely be unable to break free once bound by the Bloodvine.
For a wizard apprentice like him, a minor magical item was undoubtedly incredibly precious.
Of course, to use the Bloodvine Ring, he would have to advance to the second level of wizard apprentice.
Only by initially possessing the ability to manipulate energy particles could one activate magical items.
Above the alchemy level were luminous magical items, also known as low-magic items.
These items typically possessed multiple magical properties, making them far more valuable than alchemy-level items.
Even a third-level wizard apprentice would be overjoyed to acquire one.
Above luminous was the magic level.
This level consisted of true magical items, also known as wizard artifacts.
Wizard artifacts typically possessed at least one activatable magical power, with astonishing might.
Generally, only formal wizards were qualified to possess wizard artifacts.
As for magical items of even higher levels, Su Nan guessed that there probably wasn't a single one in the Starry Continent at present.
In fact, in the game of his previous life, it wasn't until version 2.0, "The Wizard Returns," that magical artifacts of magic grade or higher appeared.
"I remember there seemed to be quite a few low-level and medium-level magical items left behind on the Star Continent in version 1.0. I should ask my older brother to keep an eye out for them,"
Su Nan thought to himself.
However, to ordinary people, unactivated magical items look just like normal items and are difficult to distinguish.
Even if he asked Ke Yi to help keep an eye out, it probably wouldn't be of much use.
Better than nothing, I suppose.
Su Nan put away the Bloodvine Ring and looked at the last two wooden boxes.
Opening the larger wooden box, he found three finger-length leaves inside.
They looked somewhat like four-leaf clovers but were entirely bluish-purple, their translucent, warm surfaces resembling leaf-shaped gems.
"This is... Spirit-Nourishing Grass!"
Su Nan immediately recognized the leaves, his eyes widening in surprise.
He quickly placed the leaves into the Rubik's Cube.
[Spirit-Nourishing Grass, purity 29.28%. Ingesting it slightly increases mental power. The specific effect depends on the user's mental power; the higher the mental power, the weaker the effect. It is ineffective for those with a mental power of 12 or higher.]
"It's actually Spirit-Nourishing Grass that increases mental power!"
"Ang McKellen is really generous..."
Halfway through his sentence, Su Nan suddenly realized that Ang McKellen, as a level three wizard apprentice, definitely had a mental power exceeding 12 points. The Spirit-Nourishing Grass was useless to him, so it was normal that it wasn't valued.
"Well, now it's a bargain for me."
Su Nan happily closed the wooden box and opened another one.
Inside were more than thirty glittering gems.
"Sapphires, rubies, fire opals, chalcedony, moonstone,"
Su Nan exclaimed in amazement.
These gems combined were worth well over a thousand gold coins.
"Good stuff,"
Su Nan thought for a moment, deciding to keep them for himself.
With the Blackstone iron in the warehouse and the soon-to-be-reopened Blackstone mine, Blackrock City shouldn't be short of money for a long time; there was no need to sell these gems for gold coins.
More importantly, for wizards, gems were also precious materials.
Valuable gems weren't just for decoration.
In the hands of wizards, gems could have many uses.
For example, they could be used as casting mediums to cast special spells.
Su Nan remembered a school of magic called 'Gem Magic,' whose casting mediums were various gems.
This school of magic was notorious for its exorbitant costs.
Each spell required a gem, costing anywhere from a dozen to a hundred gold coins.
Only wealthy wizards could afford it.
However, in return, the power of this school's spells was astonishing.
A first-ring Burning Hand spell, using a ruby as a casting medium, can be amplified to the level of a second-ring spell approaching a third-ring spell!
Therefore, the inheritors of this school of magic are renowned for their immense wealth and ability to challenge opponents of higher ranks.
Besides casting mediums, gems are also frequently used materials in crafting magical items.
The most common example is the staff.
Inlaying different types of gems into a staff can add specific magical power.
Furthermore, gems are often used as energy cores for golem creations.
Many wizarding apprentices who cannot afford soul crystals will choose gems as a second-best option for their energy cores.
In short, gems have many uses, and unless absolutely necessary, Su Nan wouldn't sell them.
After checking the drawers, Su Nan carefully searched the rest of the room, but unfortunately, he couldn't find anything else of value.
"Oh well, I've already gotten quite a few good things this time. I can't be too greedy."
Su Nan let out a long sigh, packed up his belongings, and left the room.
While he was in the study, Kee had already sent men to notify the soldiers outside to bring in carts to move the black iron ingots. The hall was now bustling with activity.
Seeing Su Nan come out, Kee didn't ask what he had found inside but instead pointed to the laboratory and asked, "Do you want what's inside? If so, I'll have someone carry it to your yard."
"No need," Su Nan shook his head.
Decades had passed; even the magical traps were no longer effective, and the puppet-making equipment inside was long gone, beyond repair.
Anyway, Angle McKlain's experimental records contained the relevant equipment blueprints; if needed later, he could just have the blacksmith in the territory forge a set.