Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

"Previously, I accidentally obtained a basic meditation method and then tried practicing it; later, I found that my progress seemed quite good, so I continued to practice it until now," Lord Reine said with a smile, not denying it.

"My goodness, Lord Reine, your talent... I don't even know what to say."

"Do you know how hard I work every day to get to where I am now, and you just easily became a third-level Wizard Apprentice!"

"Goddess above, this is too unfair..." Vinica muttered, quite frustrated.

At this moment, Mary finally understood.

It seemed that when Reine achieved such a great feat during the knighting assessment process, it might not have been solely due to the Knight's methods.

However, the key issue was that a person with an extremely strong Knight talent also possessed a Wizard aptitude comparable to Vinica's, which...

Mary didn't know what to say all of a sudden.

One could only say that the goddess was really too biased toward Reine...

After a while, Vinica calmed down and seriously answered Reine's earlier question:

"Lord Reine, this... I'm very sorry, but my mentor has already handed over the 'Aeneas' bird transformation technique' to the imperial navy, and it has been included in the special item exchange listing."

"So, due to the imperial secrecy regulations, I cannot directly teach this witchcraft to you," Vinica said, slightly apologetic.

This made Reine slightly disappointed.

However...

Special item exchange listing?

Is it something like an exchange list?

"Even though I am a Baron, can I not exchange items through this... special item exchange listing?"

"I'm very sorry, Baron Reine, that's the case. Only by joining the imperial navy can one have the opportunity to exchange items from it."

"Then the witchcraft in this special item exchange listing is probably very diverse?" Reine asked thoughtfully.

He had just thought of a question.

It seemed that what Naya from the Usman family said before must be true.

The metal-based witchcraft, which was extremely difficult to find in the outside world, could very likely be available in this special item exchange listing of the imperial navy.

"Yes, this is an internal exchange list of the imperial navy, from which you can exchange some items that are almost impossible to acquire from outside, such as some witchcraft, secret techniques, and special medicines, among other things, covering a wide range," Vinica explained.

Hearing Vinica's affirmative response, Reine couldn't help but become more interested.

"Then for the exchange, is it also done using Merit Points?" Reine continued to inquire.

"Yes and no," Vinica shook her head, but she didn't keep him in suspense and quickly continued to explain.

"To exchange items from the special item exchange listing, you need task evaluation medals along with Merit Points for the exchange."

Reine knew about Merit Points.

But what are these task evaluation medals? Reine was hearing about something he had never heard of before.

Seeing Reine still looking puzzled, Vinica immediately thought of something and took the initiative to say:

"Task evaluation medals are only awarded after completing special combat missions for the imperial navy."

"Lord Reine, you can understand that ordinary tasks do not have this evaluation medal. Only those that are relatively difficult or of special significance to the empire are awarded evaluation medals, classified as bronze, silver, gold, and diamond medals based on the level of evaluation."

"For example, 'Aeneas' bird transformation technique' requires three bronze medals and two thousand Merit Points for exchange."

"I see," Reine nodded, quickly understanding the purpose of such an exchange.

The items in the special item exchange listing were obviously rarer than those available at the general military supply office, being provided for the empire's special combat talents.

The aim, most likely, was to prevent ordinary combat personnel from accumulating small amounts of Merit Points over time and exchanging them for high-value items, hence the setting of this evaluation medal as a limitation.

Merit Points were essentially money.

And the bronze medal was like a one-time trading qualification voucher.

If the qualifications were insufficient, having money was useless.

Moreover, these qualification vouchers were one-time use only; once used up, one could only choose to continue completing special tasks for the empire to earn evaluation medals.

Reine basically understood.
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This was almost like buying grain in the planned economy of his previous life, where you needed both money and grain coupons.

For Reine, he did not dislike the empire's method.

When one's own strength was not enough, only by completing tasks for the empire could one obtain resources; he did not dislike this.

Furthermore, after Vinica's explanation, Reine realized that some resources related to Wizards seemed to be quite scarce across the entire empire, thus setting a higher threshold to prevent ordinary combat personnel from participating in the exchange.

Thinking back.

Why hadn't the empire gathered those wandering Wizard Apprentices with mediocre qualifications? It was very likely because of this consideration.

Resources were limited, so they were definitely used to look after those who were willing to serve the empire and had training value.

"Lord Reine, it seems you are quite interested in training animals," Vinica said, her big eyes curiously staring at Reine, asking.

"Yes, I am indeed quite interested in that," Reine nodded.

"However, I think it should not be a big problem for you, I heard Colonel Mary say that you have already received an invitation letter from the imperial Sword Bearers' organization."