This wizard only wishes to be a teacher

"Newcomer?" The skeleton-like "player" had two soul fires flickering in his eye sockets and showed a certain interest in Lucien. He slowly opened his mouth, with the bones of his lower jaw shifting slightly downward, as if he were smiling. "Shall we step aside for a detailed chat? After all, I need to inspect your goods first."

After a pause, he added, "You don’t need to worry about me pulling any tricks. Every trade here is witnessed by ’Judge’ his Excellency."

"’Witness’?" Lucien silently mulled over the word, feeling that it might be related to the cultivation system of that "Judge" or their promotion requirements.

However, he didn’t say much. After a two-second pause, he looked at the skeleton in front of him. "You may call me ’Shadow’. And, I prefer dealing with those who have names or code names."

"You... you can call me ’Raven’," replied the skeleton player, as the soul fires in his eyes danced. He stood up, some of the smaller bones inside his body colliding and producing a snapping sound.

Lucien nodded lightly, then also stood up and followed "Raven" to a corner, temporarily leaving the heart of the gathering to "examine the goods."

With a wave of his hand, Lucien immediately extracted a small pile of bones from the storage ring.

"Umm... These are the spinal bones of a Hawa Beast, aren’t they? A pity the spinal fluid has already been extracted..." The frequency of the pale soul fires in Raven’s eye sockets seemed to rise slightly. He looked at the pile of bones with an intense gaze, his "well-defined" hands examining them as tenderly as if he were enchanting his lover.

However, Raven soon looked up at Lucien, grinning broadly to reveal his somewhat hollow gums. "There must be more to your spoils, right? Since the items of ’Giant Axe’ ended up in your hands, they’re of no use to you; you might as well sell them all to me."

"The premise is that you can afford the price," Lucien stated matter-of-factly, unaffected by the skeletal appearance of his counterpart, nor tensed by the implication that his items were ill-gotten. "Do you have enough ink? Or perhaps other items that might interest me?"

Raven stopped his somewhat fierce smile, the soul fires in his eye sockets flickering slightly, seemingly contemplating and assessing.

"Let’s see the merchandise first; at least I need to verify that they contain what I want," Raven rasped.

Lucien shrugged and directly waved his hand to reveal a beast hide pouch, then unfolded it to expose the large quantity of bones stored inside.

"Ha ha ha... That fool really did die at your hands! Ha ha ha, he actually had his day!"

Watching Lucien produce the beast hide bag, Raven paused for a good ten seconds before splitting his mouth into a rather morbid "smile" that seemed to oscillate between mockery and relief. He reached up as if to wipe away the non-existent tears from his face, then turned his now apparently friendlier demeanor towards Lucien.

"You, my friend, what do you wish in exchange for these materials?"

"Ink, and some unique items from your world. For the latter, I need to choose for myself, since I am not fully aware of which particular items from your world I might require. Additionally, do you have any Awakening Stones from this world? If so, I would need one."

"Not an excessive request," nodded Raven slightly. He pointed towards the beast bones Lucien had laid out on the hide pouch.

"In the currency of my world, the value of these bones is estimated between 2500-3000 Mongka units. However, here in the Dream World, I don’t have that many Mongka Stones, and I suspect you wouldn’t want them anyway..."

"Let’s do it this way," proposed Raven, "after deducting one ’Awakening Stone,’ I value the bones at 2 drops of ink plus 200 Mongka units. You may take items worth up to 200 Mongka units from my collection and also gain some information about the Dream World. If you’re willing to trade that battleaxe with me, I could add another drop of ink along with 300 Mongka units. Of course, I would be happy to trade using ink if that’s your preference."

With a wave of his hand, Raven instantly passed Lucien a crystal-clear bone, within which faint points of light floated, each encapsulating special items, and alongside those items, simplified descriptions and prices were marked.

"It seems this ’Raven’ is not a novice trader, having such a specialized trading storage tool at his disposal," Lucien thought, silently upgrading Raven’s danger level, and then quickly scanning the various items.

"I’ll take this Glacier Scepter, adding the Mongka units along with a drop of ink."

"Good, then our deal is struck."

Raven accepted the storage tool that Lucien tossed back to him and, with a raise of his hand, stored the terrifying battle axe along with many other items into his own storage tool. Then, with another wave of his hand, two drops of golden ink, a scepter exuding piercing cold, and a gray, dusty stone were tossed towards Lucien.

Lucien caught these items, a smile involuntarily spreading across his face.

A pile of bone fragments, which for him were merely suitable for a collection or as an energy core, had not only been exchanged for two drops of ink and the Awakening Stone he wanted, but he had also gained an additional powerful Ice and Snow type magical item comparable to a second-tier Witch Tool.

"Could you describe this scepter in detail?" after the trade was completed, Lucien asked while holding the scepter, which was carved from some unknown type of ice. He could feel a bone-chilling sensation from it, which made him shiver and even accelerated the circulation of his spiritual power slightly.

"This is one of my spoils of war," Raven said, the soul fire flickering in his eye sockets. He was in a very good mood at the moment, so he elaborated a bit more in response to Lucien’s question.

"Its original owner was a priestess of the Ice and Snow World, who once created a ’Glacier Terrain’ with a radius of about one hundred meters using this scepter. Additionally, it can easily conjure blizzards cold enough to freeze a person into an ice sculpture."

"By the way, I’ve heard from the judge that it comes with a negative effect: every time you use it, it consumes a portion of your ’emotions.’ If used frequently, it might cause you to lose your feelings, becoming a puppet of that ’goddess.’"

"Thank you," Lucien nodded slightly and then followed Raven back to the core circle of the gathering, quietly listening to the trades between the other players as well as silently picking up on some information inadvertently revealed by these players.

"I need..." A gnome, resembling a human in facial features but standing less than half a meter tall, began stating his needs.

Suddenly, however, a black-robed player’s face showed a look of shock and anger. Black flames ignited on the surface of his body, and his aura burst forth, reaching the threshold of a second-level Wizard.

"No... No!" the black-robed player roared in his native language, his face twisted and ferocious. But in the next moment, the rules of the Dream World descended and effortlessly erased his existence.

An invisible wave swept over Lucien and the other players, allowing Lucien to absorb faint traces of a special essence that slightly increased his spiritual power. However, the fallen items of the black-robed player mysteriously disappeared.

"I need a stalk of Mola Grass," the gnome continued his trading after a brief pause, while the other players quickly moved on from the incident of the black-robed player, with only a few who might have had some relation to the fallen player whispering to each other and shaking their heads, as if they felt the black-robed player’s end was a pity.

"It seems this is what death looks like when someone ’kills’ your identity," Lucien quickly understood what had happened as he silently watched the empty space left by the fallen black-robed player, feeling an inevitable sense of sorrow.

"Alright, this gathering is now over," the judge, who had been silent up until that point, suddenly spoke up, prompting the two players who were haggling to speed up their negotiation. Shortly after, including the two second-level Wizards, everyone got up, bowed to the judge, and quickly dispersed.

"The meetings are scheduled every two weeks unless the judge has additional instructions; it will be the same time and place," Wizard Thunder seemed to understand what Lucien wanted to inquire and made contact with him through spiritual power.

"Thank you for this time as well," Lucien responded in kind to Thunder.

"Hehe, we’re all part of the Wizard World out there. I don’t know if your organization regularly arranges wizard expeditions, but no matter what, when we become one of the ’Councillors’ of the Star Council, we’ll be comrades and colleagues," Thunder’s voice carried a hint of cheer.

"If we can all make it back this time, you should come to visit our Academy when you have the chance. Hey, I don’t mind telling you, Miss Rachel, the head of our Academy, is my aunt."

Lucien’s mouth twitched slightly.

Although he himself was head of Greybone Academy, he understood all too well that his position could not compare to that of Thunder’s Academy head.

After all, that so-called Academy even recruited Formal Wizards as students, so its head must be at least a peak third-level Wizard, perhaps even on par with Mr. "Judge" they had just met?

"I’ll be sure to visit if I have the chance," Lucien paused for a moment before accepting Thunder’s friendliness.

"Haha, see you then!" Thunder laughed brightly, and his figure transformed into a bolt of lightning, quickly vanishing from Lucien’s sight.