Potion Room.

  Expensive Magelamps refracted bright light, illuminating the spacious room as if it were day.

  Pierce stood before a long table filled with various test tubes, glass bottles, and beakers, concentrating on concocting a liquid.

  As the sound of boiling fluid gradually subsided, a faint fragrance began to permeate the air. Pierce reached out, picked up the piping hot beaker, and slowly poured the violet liquid into a potion bottle, finally stopping it with a cork.

  A bottle of Resonance Potion was complete.

  "Eye of Omniscience, detect potion purity."

  [Resonance Potion. Purity: 85.35%. Quality: Medium-Grade.]

  Pierce was slightly disappointed.

  After returning from the slave market yesterday, he had buried himself in refining Resonance Potions. Among all known Tier 2 Potions, the difficulty of refining Resonance Potions absolutely ranked in the top three. Many Tier 2 Potioneers had a success rate of less than 10% when attempting it. Even for a Tier 3 Potioneer, maintaining a success rate of around 30% was considered excellent.

  High refining difficulty, coupled with massive demand and low supply, kept the price of Resonance Potions exorbitantly high. The production cost of a single bottle ranged from about 40 to 120 Magic Stones, depending on the Potioneer's efficiency. But on the market, the price was as high as 300 Magic Stones per bottle.

  The profit margin could exceed 600%; "profiteering" wasn't a strong enough word to describe it. Even so, many Wizards still scrambled to obtain them, often finding them out of stock. That was why Pierce had conceived the idea of amassing wealth quickly through Resonance Potions.

  However, after actually starting, he found that even with the assistance of the Omniscient Eye, his success rate was less than 40%. Perhaps it could reach around 40% after he became more proficient, but compared to his previous success rates of over 60% with other formulas, this was undoubtedly much lower.

  "After all, it is a Tier 2 Potion ranked in the top three for difficulty."

  Pierce shook his head slightly and stored the Resonance Potion in his Bag of Holding. Not only was the success rate low, but the production rate of High-Grade Resonance Potions was also relatively poor.

  Over the entire day, he had refined a total of eight bottles. Among them, only one was a High-Grade potion with a purity exceeding 90%; the rest were Medium or Low-Grade. Of course, compared to other Potioneers, this rate of high-quality production was already quite impressive.

  "I wonder how effective the High-Grade Resonance Potion is?"

  Pierce was planning to go to the spell laboratory to test it when his expression suddenly changed, and he looked toward the entrance.

  "That was fast."

  Murmuring to himself, Pierce walked out of the room. Eve, who was resting nearby, immediately flew up, sat on Pierce's shoulder, and left with him.

  Arriving at the main gate, Pierce waved his hand, deactivating the array restrictions.

  Standing on the street outside was a group of elves and sprites—the slaves he had selected at the Myriad Realms Slave Market yesterday. A group of fully armed knights surrounded them to prevent any trouble. The leader was the manager he had met yesterday, Lawson.

  Seeing Pierce walk out, Lawson immediately greeted him with a face full of smiles.

  "My Lord, these are the slaves you purchased yesterday. Please verify them."

  Pierce glanced quickly over the group, confirming that the numbers and faces were correct, and nodded with satisfaction.

  "Correct."

  With the inventory complete, the next step was signing the contracts. These slaves originally held contracts with the slave market. Now that ownership had transferred to Pierce, they naturally had to sign new ones. For slaves like these, the contracts signed were usually the harshest "Soul-Binding" type. Once signed, their lives and deaths were entirely in Pierce's hands. With just a thought, Pierce could make them vanish into ash, their souls annihilated directly.

  The process was simple. Not long after, all the slaves had completed the 'transfer'. Lawson respectfully took his leave with his guards.

  After they walked away, Pierce glanced indifferently at the group of elves and sprites and turned back toward the mansion.

  "Follow me."

  The elves and sprites looked at each other and followed with some trepidation. Having stayed in the slave market for so long, they certainly knew what the white robe on Pierce signified.

  The young human male in front of them was a mysterious and powerful Wizard. Becoming the slave of such a strong person... they didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse. After all, rumors abounded that many Wizards bought slaves solely for inhumane experiments. Thinking of that possibility, they couldn't help but tremble.

  Eve, sitting on Pierce's shoulder, kept turning back, looking curiously at the group. She wasn't very interested in the Wood Elves and Water Sprites. Her attention was mainly focused on the ten Withered Leaf Sprites, who were similar in size to her and wore dresses made of dried leaves.

  Not knowing what idea had popped into her head, a look of excitement suddenly appeared on her small face.

  Arriving in the center of the courtyard, Pierce turned back to look at the group. They stopped one after another. Seeing Pierce's gaze, they shrank back subconsciously, showing nervous expressions.

  Pierce swept his gaze over them and looked at one of the Water Sprites who possessed the strongest spiritual aura. "What is your name?"

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  The Water Sprite stepped forward somewhat uneasily, looked at Pierce with awe, and replied respectfully, "My Lord, my name is Nympha."

  Pierce nodded slightly. "From today on, you are the Head Maid of the mansion. Your main duty is to lead your kin in cleaning the estate and welcoming guests. Do you understand?"

  Nympha and the other four Water Sprites were stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly with joy.

  "Yes, my Lord!"

  As long as they weren't used as experimental materials, anything was fine.

  Seeing this scene, the anxiety on the faces of the Wood Elves and Withered Leaf Sprites eased significantly. They looked at Pierce eagerly, hoping they would also be assigned normal work.

  Pierce's next words made them breathe a sigh of relief.

  "In a while, I will establish a magical garden in the mansion to cultivate rare plants. Your job is to take good care of them. Before that, assist with cleaning the mansion."

  Wood Elves and Withered Leaf Sprites were experts at dealing with flora. This kind of work was their daily routine, so they all accepted it happily.

  "I do not like to treat servants harshly, provided you work diligently and do not harbor any unnecessary thoughts."

  Pierce waved his hand.

  "Alright, go familiarize yourselves with the environment and start working as soon as possible."

  The elves and sprites hurriedly bowed to Pierce, then left the courtyard briskly. Although becoming a slave was a terrible fate, it was a fortune amidst misfortune that their master seemed to be a powerful yet reasonable person. Perhaps the days ahead wouldn't be too hard.

  Pierce had already integrated their auras into the core of the protective array, so there was no need to worry about them triggering the various lethal traps.

  Just as he turned to go back to meditate, Eve hugged his ear and squeaked excitedly.

  "...You want me to hand over the group of Withered Leaf Sprites to you?" Pierce raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

  "Ee-ee!"

  Pierce was speechless for a moment. The little guy actually wanted to play boss.

  "As you wish. As long as it does not delay their work, you can do whatever you want. But you are not allowed to bully them too much."

  "Ee-ee!" Eve patted her chest to guarantee it, then excitedly chased in the direction the Withered Leaf Sprites had left.

  In this mansion, both Pierce and Mist Raven were much stronger than her. She had always been the one with the lowest status in the 'family' hierarchy. But now, with the addition of new members, this situation was about to change.

  Forget the 'giant' Wood Elves and Water Sprites, but the Withered Leaf Sprites, who were similar in size to her, were the perfect subordinates! From today on, she was a sprite with minions!

  Watching Eve disappear around the corner of the courtyard, Pierce shook his head with a laugh.

  At this moment, a commotion came from outside again. Pierce separated a wisp of spirit to scan the area, and his eyes lit up instantly.

  The purchased Corvine Magical Creatures had arrived!

  Inside the brightly lit spell laboratory.

  Dense cages almost filled the entire room. The corvine magical creatures locked inside seemed to sense their impending doom, flapping their wings restlessly and emitting sharp, ear-piercing cries. From time to time, they attacked the bars with their beaks or claws, trying to break out.

  Unfortunately, they had all been fed special drugs to temporarily suppress their spell-like abilities. Relying solely on claws and beaks, they couldn't break these specially reinforced cages.

  Among the restless flock, only two Nether Ravens remained quiet, their cold eyes silently observing the surroundings. They seemed to have foreseen the arrival of death, yet accepted this fact with eerie calm.

  Pierce summoned Mist Raven and stroked the creature's shiny black feathers.

  "Go. If this succeeds, you will become the familiar with the greatest potential in this world."

  Mist Raven cawed softly, pecked Pierce's cheek affectionately, then transformed into a wisp of black mist. It shot out like a sharp arrow, passed through the bars of a cage, and suddenly struck a Red-eyed Raven.

  Before the Red-eyed Raven could react, its body was wrapped in layers of exploding black mist, instantly turning into a black cocoon. The surface of the black cocoon bulged a few times, then quickly calmed down.

  Pierce stared intently at the cocoon, waiting patiently.

  About four or five minutes later, the black cocoon suddenly collapsed into countless wisps of black mist, passed through the cage to the outside, and re-condensed into Mist Raven's form.

  Pierce's eyes narrowed slightly.

  Through his mental link with Mist Raven, he could feel that some change had occurred, but it was extremely weak—so much so that he suspected it might be an illusion.

  Pierce asked Mist Raven to separate a Fog Crow. Upon inspection, he found that apart from a negligible increase in combat power, there were no other changes. This result didn't satisfy Pierce. He immediately ordered Mist Raven to continue absorbing the Red-eyed Ravens.

  Mist Raven executed the order without hesitation. Its body instantly collapsed into dozens of wisps of black mist, flying out in all directions like splashing fireworks, submerging into the iron cages one by one.

  Instantly, the ear-piercing cawing in the room decreased by more than half. Hundreds of black cocoons suddenly appeared in the spell laboratory.

  This time, the absorption took a bit longer. After nearly ten minutes, all the black cocoons dissolved into mist, gathering together to re-condense into Mist Raven.

  And this time, Pierce clearly felt the change.

  "Strength and speed have been significantly enhanced!"

  "And this is... the Red-eyed Raven's ability to See Invisibility!"

  Pierce looked overjoyed. Mist Raven's change undoubtedly confirmed his hypothesis. The little guy could indeed transform Red-eyed Ravens, and could copy—no, Devour—their abilities!

  The reason he couldn't see the change earlier was that the quantity devoured was too small for the ability to manifest. Pierce took a deep breath, suppressing the ecstasy filling his chest so as not to shout out loud.

  What this ability meant for Mist Raven went without saying. As long as there were enough corvine magical creatures, he could cultivate Mist Raven into the strongest familiar in the Wizarding World!

  "Well done!"

  Pierce stroked Mist Raven's head, praised it, and asked it to separate a Fog Crow again. Unsurprisingly, the Fog Crow also inherited the Red-eyed Raven's ability to see through illusions. However, compared to the main body, the Fog Crow's ability was obviously weaker.

  But Pierce was already very satisfied. After all, Fog Crows always relied on numbers to crush enemies; it didn't matter if their individual combat power was lower.

  "Continue. Devour the remaining magical creatures too," Pierce said with a smile.

  Mist Raven cawed and began a new round of feeding. The Nether Ravens and Death Knell Ravens, having lost their spell-like abilities due to the drugs, were powerless to resist Mist Raven's erosion. Before long, they were devoured completely.

  The originally dense flock of over a hundred corvine magical creatures was wiped out in the blink of an eye, all becoming fuel for Mist Raven's growth.

  Restoring its original form, Mist Raven raised its head and cawed. In an instant, an extremely ear-piercing sonic wave swept through the entire spell laboratory. Centered on the raven, the air within a five-meter radius actually showed visible distortion.

  "Sonic Blast capability!"

  Pierce's eyes lit up, but then he shook his head. "The power is still a bit lacking. It should be because the number of Death Knell Ravens devoured is not enough."

  Even devouring more than fifty Death Knell Ravens wasn't enough to inherit the complete ability, let alone the mere two Nether Ravens. There was no sign of the Power of Death manifesting on Mist Raven at all.

  Pierce wasn't anxious. As long as he confirmed that abilities could be inherited through devouring, the rest was just logistics. The missing quantity could always be made up; it was just a matter of time.

  "The Power of Death is considered top-tier among spell-like abilities. If inherited, Mist Raven's combat power will definitely skyrocket."

  Pierce thought for a while and quickly made a decision. He hadn't applied for the trial reward from the Dawn Council yet. He might as well request to exchange the entire reward for Nether Ravens. Nether Ravens were expensive and rare. Relying on himself to find and collect them slowly would take ages. It was better to let the Dawn Council handle the logistics.

  As for other corvine magical creatures... Pierce quickly had an idea. He would entrust Tobin to help him collect them. Presumably, as long as the reward was sufficient, Tobin wouldn't refuse. This way, it wouldn't delay his own training.