The metal gate opened with a screeching noise, and soon a black-haired man in his late forties appeared in front of Charles's eyes. He had monolid blue eyes, a round face, and looked around 180 cm tall, and wore a white-lined red robe.
"Greeting, Professor Warren," Charles said with a smile.
"You are?" The black-haired man raised his eyebrows in curiosity.
"I'm Oswald, the newly appointed Summoning Ritual Teacher," Charles responded.
Upon hearing his words, a look of understanding appeared on Warren's face as he took a step back and invited him in.
Then, he turned around, walked into the storage hall, and asked.
"What are the materials you needed for the summoning ritual, Professor Oswald?"
In the meantime, Charles followed his footsteps and started to speak.
"I'm planning on summoning a fire-elemental creature from a Fire-Elemental Plane. I have coordinates of a Fire Elemental plane, but I don't have sufficient ritual materials and sacrificial material to summon the plane's will." He paused for a moment and soon added.
"I need twelve Fire Stones, twelve Red Fruits, and twelve types of Fire-Elemental herbs."
"You don't need the blood of a Fire-Elemental Creature?" Warren asked in a surprised tone.
A hesitant look appeared on Charles's face as he pondered for a moment and soon spoke after heaving a long sigh.
"Three weeks ago, I used my own materials and did a sample summoning in my home's underground basement. Unfortunately, an accident occurred during the ritual ceremony and the fire elemental creature died before the ritual could end. But luckily, the corpse didn't get destroyed. So, I extracted a few bottles of blood from it."
A look of helplessness appeared on Charles's face as he said those words.
In the meantime, Warren suddenly halted his footsteps and soon turned around in surprise and shock.
"You have the elemental creature's body, Professor Oswald?"
Although Warren knew that Charles was a summoning ritual expert, he didn't put him in high regard. Moreover, he always thought that this old man was simply bluffing.
In the past two hundred years, no summoning ritual expert appeared in the Tower of Elements.
So, when Warren heard that Charles almost succeeded in summoning a fire-elemental creature, he got shocked and suspicious.
Soon, he thought that this old man might be a real expert and became serious.
Unlike other materials, elemental creatures' corpses were valuable in any Magic Tower. Although the Tower of Elements owns a separate pocket dimension, it originally belongs to an earth mage.
The resources hidden in the pocket dimension were also limited, and most of them were related to earth magic. So, when he heard Charles's words, he instantly thought of buying the elemental creature's corpse.
Without any delay, he took a step forward and asked in excitement.
"Can you sell that corpse to the Tower, Mr. Oswald?"
'He took the bait.'
A cold light flashed in Charles's eyes as he turned his face into a solemn one and spoke with a nod.
"If the price is good, I'm willing to sell it."
Then, he touched the space ring and took out the fire-elemental creature's corpse with his thought.
A moment later, the five-meter-tall Drake's corpse fell on the concrete floor with a loud thud.
But unlike before, the whole corpse was sealed in an ice cube and appeared fresh as new.
It was due to a Rank-3 spell from the Starfall Codex Magic book!
Although Charles killed more than five fire-elemental creatures, he didn't take the other corpses at all. He knew his own limit. If he got greedier and tried to sell other materials on the black market or to the Magic Tower, everyone would get suspicious of him.
Summoning one Fire-Elemental creature from a fire-elemental plane would be a rare thing. So, what would happen if Charles sold five corpses? Everyone, including Tower Masters, would feel suspicious and might try to search him forcefully. That would be the worst outcome for him!
Meanwhile, Warren widened his eyes in shock and soon started to inspect the corpse using different artifacts. Once he was done inspecting, Warren placed his hands on his hip and spoke.
"Although it is a Rank-3 Drake, you completely ruined its head, Mr. Oswald. Moreover, you also placed this corpse in the ice cube for more than three weeks, so its true worth had already diminished by 20 percent. If you didn't sell it in a few days, the corpse might get polluted due to ice elemental energy."
Upon hearing those words, Charles coldly snorted and spoke.
"It's not a normal ice spell, Professor Warren. I used [Zero Seal] spell."
This time, a look of astonishment appeared on Warren's face.
"Sorry for not noticing that." He rubbed his chin to hide his embarrassment. Without waiting for Charles to ask anything further, Warren spoke in a hurry.
"Then, along with the ritual materials, I will give you 5,000 Moon Gold coins, Mr. Oswald,"
Hearing his words, Charles became stupefied.
'He is buying the corpse for five thousand gold coins?' In truth, he expected that the corpse would sell for around 1,000 to 2,000 gold coins.
'What do you know? That's a Rank-3 creature, lad. Even its blood can be useful for refining artifacts, and potions. Not only that, the fire creature has a Rank-3 fire-elemental crystal hidden in its heart. That single crystal is more than enough for you to get 1000 Moon Gold coins.' The Holem's Crown responded in a cold tone.
'Why haven't you told me about this before?' A trace of annoyance could be seen in Charles's face.
'You never asked me, lad.' Meanwhile, the Holem's Crown evaded his question and went silent.
Shaking his head, Charles took a deep breath and spoke to Warren.
"I want to exchange this corpse for a Fire Fiend's heart."
"Impossible." Upon hearing his request, Warren instantly shook his head and spoke in a firm tone.
"Fire Fiend is a pure-blooded chaos elemental creature and its heart's value is more than 10,000 gold coins, Mr. Oswald. Moreover, we are forbidden to sell the Fire Fiends' hearts to roaming mages like you."
'As I expected, these guys are indeed troublesome to deal with.' Charles shook his head in disappointment and spoke in a solemn tone.
"Then, along with 5,000 Moon Gold coins, I want two badges of ritual materials."
On the other hand, Warren pondered for a moment and finally nodded his head.
"Deal."
Hiding his excitement, Charles breathed out a sigh of relief and spoke.
"I will get the ritual materials now. As for the gold coins, I will send my disciple to get it from you."
Nodding his head, Warren waved his hand and brought him deep into the hall.
Meanwhile, Charles looked around in curious and soon saw different types of unique elemental creatures' corpses, organs, various types of blood, unique elemental crystals, and even herbs appeared in crystal boxes.
He also saw the Fire Fiends' hearts stored in crystalline glasses and sighed in helplessness.
'The churches and royalties are really restricting mages in many other ways.' He soon shifted his attention to Warren and followed after him silently.
A few minutes later, Charles got the materials and walked out of the storage hall with a pleasant smile on his face.
He then started walking on the empty corridor and soon halted his footsteps as he felt a sudden heartache!
At that moment, he also felt a strange eerie feeling from his right side.
'What is it?' Charles turned his head to the right side with an alarmed face and soon squinted his eyes as he saw another metal gate. But what shocked him was not the tall double gate but the symbol engraved on the large gate.
One door had a symbol of Eye engraved in it, while the other door had a portrait of a lean woman with a crown on her head and a black snake around her neck.
'Goddess of Wealth, Zephine. Amber Church's room? ' A cold glint appeared in his eyes as he stared at the gate for two seconds, then turned his head and resumed his walk.
Charles then silently left the Tower of Elements and returned to 11C Orchard Street around 3 P.M.
Then, he went to the second floor and stayed in his bedroom for the next few hours.
The evening sun descended to the west around 6.30 P.M, followed by dim darkness. Within 30 minutes, the whole city turned darker.
"It's time," Charles spoke in a rough voice as he sat up from the bed and touched his face.
Simultaneously, he pictured a person's face in his mind.
The next instant, his wrinkled skin started to diminish and formed into a slightly wrinkled one.
Then, his skin tone also turned into a pale one, and his face also turned a rough-looking one. Not only that, but a thin mustache also appeared on his face.
'Next is my hair color and eye color.' Charles thought inwardly and soon changed his face using the [Face-Change] skill.
The next instant, his white hair turned into a deep-blue one, and then his amber eyes also changed into a blue one.
In a few seconds, his face changed into a completely different person!
Moreover, his current appearance was none other than the Ritual Chamber department head, Professor Robert's appearance!