Feng Chou discovered in the Arcane Market that, with the help of Qiankun Pagoda, the profits from making magical items were ridiculously high.
Most mages, when making magical items, had a success rate of around sixty to seventy percent. Some mages, due to stagnation in their abilities, had to make a few types of magical items over the years in order to increase their success rate to more than eighty percent. The process of making magical items was very complicated, and it was purely handmade. The slightest mistake would cause all the previous efforts to go to waste. It was a great test of the maker's determination and perseverance. Therefore, not all mages could become alchemists. Only about ten percent of mages could withstand such a test and become alchemists. A mage with an active mind was not a profession with outstanding determination.
Therefore, many mages, even outstanding mages, could only make potions or even sell their daily spell slots to make money.
For mages who could make magical items, even if the success rate was only sixty percent, they could still make a profit of more than one hundred and fifty percent.
Feng Chou, who could make magical items with a success rate of one hundred percent, could even make a profit of three hundred percent!
Not only did the upgrade of Qiankun Pagoda require a large amount of soul energy, the need for funds also made Feng Chou feel even more pressured.
Selling Drow's weapons and equipment at a discount would attract too much attention, so it could only be a one-time deal. Therefore, he decided to do some serious business.
For a mage, serious business generally referred to three aspects: enchantment, potions, and scrolls.
For a mage, as long as they mastered one of these three skills, it was equivalent to planting a money tree.
Enchantment was the solidification of a mage's spell into an item, so that people who did not know the spell could rely on the enchanted item to cast the spell.
Therefore, enchantment involved three aspects. First, the engraving of the basic magic circuit. Second, the source of the magic.
Third, how to let non-spellcasters control the spell.
An item that was successfully enchanted was a magical item.
When a mage cast a spell, they used their mental strength to construct the magic circuit in their sea of consciousness. The source of the spell was the mage's mental strength, and the control of the spell was also carried out by the mage's mental strength.
The magic circuit of a magic scroll was drawn with a special ink made by a pharmacist. Then, the half-formed spell would be injected into the circuit of the scroll. The energy source of the spell would be the half-formed spell energy injected into the magic circuit by the mage.
In terms of spell control, basic scrolls and general scrolls were different. Basic scrolls required the caster to use their own mental strength to control the spell. General scrolls, on the other hand, had a special control circuit that allowed ordinary people to control the spell.
The magic circuit of a magic item required an alchemist to carve a circuit channel in the base of the magic item, and then fill the channel with magic conductors to form a circuit that could be used repeatedly. Because it had to be used repeatedly, the energy source of the magic item became a big problem.
The energy sources of magic items were generally divided into two types. One was to use magic gems as the energy source, and the other was to use a level-6 spell called "Magic Permanence" to provide a stable and long-term energy source.
Magic Permanence was a high-level spell, and naturally, it was not something that Feng Chou could use. In fact, whether or not the book of magic permanence was a sign of a high-level magic item.
Using magic gems as the energy source was not a simple matter. There were many types of magic gems, and the type of magic that they contained was also different. Different spells required different types of magic. When a mage cast a spell, they could use their mental strength to condense different types of magic in nature to form a spell. However, magic items could not do that. It required an alchemist to match various magic gems and functional circuits according to different spells.
This required an alchemist to know the spells that were to be processed like the back of his hand.
Since magic gems were called gems, their prices were naturally not cheap. More than half of the high cost of magic items came from magic gems.
The way to control the spell of a magic item was similar to that of a universal scroll, but for repeated use, the circuit was more complicated.
At present, Feng Chou was only proficient in the school of Illusion. From the low-level Illusion spells, he selected "Magic Disguise", "Haze", "Invisibility", and "Mirror Image", which were relatively popular in the market, to learn how to make magic items.
In fact, in Antalya's Secret Market, magic items were always in short supply, because there were only four alchemists in Antalya. One of them was a middle-level alchemist, and the other three were beginner alchemists.
Most of the magic items in Antalya's Secret Market were bought by merchants from outside, and the prices were very high.
Not only were alchemists scarce, but even pharmacists and scroll makers were also very scarce. Among the beginner mages in Antalya Magic School, more than half of them could only inject their daily spells into basic potions and earn money by buying spell slots.
During the time of the Arcane Empire, "Pharmacology" and "Medicine Essence Technique" had a great development, which lowered the threshold for becoming a pharmacist. However, because the Medicine Essence and Catalysis all required the use of spells, this profession still required a mage to take part in it.
This was because when mixing drugs, one had to accurately grasp the reaction between the drugs so that the right time could be added, or the right catalysis spell could be used. Therefore, to become a pharmacist, there was a higher requirement for a mage's Perception. This also prevented most mages from becoming a pharmacist.
As for copying scrolls, although it was much easier than making magic items, it was still an extremely complicated job. It required a lot of perseverance and patience, and many mages could not stand it.
Because of these reasons, in Antalya's Secret Market, whether it was magic items, potions, or scrolls, they were all in short supply. Merchants had to sell them from outside.
With Feng Chou's high Perception and the help of Qiankun Pagoda, it was very difficult to make basic potions. However, making basic potions was far less profitable than making magic items.
As for copying scrolls, which had lower profits, Feng Chou would of course not consider it.
The alchemy plans for low-level spells such as "Magical Disguise", "Haze", "Invisibility", and "Mirror Image" were ready-made and mature plans in the alchemy materials. What Feng Chou had to do was to follow the ready-made plans step by step.
The first alchemy item that Feng Chou chose to learn how to make was a magic mask enchanted with the "Magical Disguise" spell.
In the laboratory, Feng Chou mixed a few basic alchemy materials according to the requirements in the materials. During the mixing process, seven to eight alchemy reactions were involved, and several catalysis spells were used. In the end, he mixed a sticky colloid.
Next, Feng Chou used a mold to press the colloid into the shape of a human face. Finally, he cast a spell to solidify it, forming a soft colloid mask.