Simon watched Duke's departing figure, feeling quite emotional inside.

He could sense that Duke's attitude towards him was still the same as before, but he could no longer treat Duke the same way.

There is an insurmountable chasm between Wizard Apprentice and Official Wizard, with a vast gap in identity and status.

As the gap between them grows larger, their contact will become less frequent until they drift apart.

This is also the norm for Wizards; their lifespan is too long, and there are few who can remain friends throughout.

Duke followed the Wizard named Jick onto the ship, leaving Academy Island to explore some islands.

The number of islands within Black Sail is numerous; Duke glanced at the map before and found there were at least a million islands, most of which are ownerless.

At the current rate of Black Sail's development, these islands won't be fully inhabited for many years to come.

Duke and Jick took a boat and arrived near a cluster of islands where the island count was high.

Duke first chose an island here, a sizable one with an area of thirty square kilometers.

He and Jick disembarked on this island and surveyed the specific conditions.

Duke observed and recorded the climate, and soil conditions, which are important for future endeavors like Magic Potion cultivation.

The overall condition of the island was quite good, with no major issues.

However, Duke ultimately did not choose this location because there were too many neighbors around.

This area is a group of islands, with a dozen or so islands distributed, and almost all were already inhabited by Wizards.

Duke does not like the feeling of too many people around; it would always lead to some concerns when doing things, and privacy might not be guaranteed.

Wizards have various methods of investigation, and he can't ensure he can block all probing techniques.

Duke has the Skill Tree; he doesn't want anyone to notice his anomalies.

Although the conditions here were good, there were too many people, so it was unsuitable.

Duke then continued sailing with Jick, visiting several islands before deciding on which one to choose.

He chose an island with an area of over fifty square kilometers, considered a large island.

However, the island was somewhat bare, and vegetation was not abundant; the soil conditions were not very good here.

Many Wizards abandoned the choice due to the soil conditions; generally, such large-sized islands are more favored.

Duke did not mind this; poor soil conditions could be gradually improved later.

He valued the quietness of this place; the nearest island was over three hundred kilometers away, and there was no sight of people around.

Duke liked quiet places like this, where he wouldn't be disturbed and could enjoy himself freely.

After choosing this location, under Jick's guidance, he completed the procedures and became the island's owner.

Duke named this place Deserted Island, as the name suggested, it was very desolate here.

He stood alone on this bare island, enjoying the sea breeze against his face.

This place would become his territory for a long time in the future, requiring self-transformation.

Duke spent 150 contribution points to bring a batch of slave creatures to the island to construct some basic facilities.

He built a small castle at the island's rear, which was his residence, a place to rest, with many guest rooms.

The area to the left of the castle was designated for Magic Potion and Alchemy experiments, built to laboratory standards.

The slave creature engineering team was quite familiar with this; they were a unique race with casting ability called Bright Yellow People.

The Bright Yellow People were entirely earth yellow, sustaining life by eating mud, and favored moist soil after rainy days.

They were skilled in architecture and could complete a batch of buildings in a very short time.

To the right of the castle was an open area; Duke constructed some warehouses here, arranging places for storing various types of items in the future.

The rest of the island remained untouched, still bare.

Duke planned some planting areas in the central part of the island, but that required soil condition improvement first.

He now had little to nothing, with only a few hundred magic stones and 102 contribution points, arguably the poorest Level 1 Mage in history.

Duke didn't have extra money to transform the island further, so he would have to address it later.

He first used the remaining 102 contribution points to exchange for two Level 1 Magic spells, leaving him with only a pitiful two points.

Normally, a complete set of a Level 1 Magic Model outside would cost at least two to three thousand magic stones.

For some of the better Level 1 Magic, prices could even reach tens of thousands of magic stones.

Duke being able to exchange two spells for one hundred points was already considered cheap.

Moreover, these two spells were not simple, generally not found outside.

Duke discovered that as his strength increased, higher-level resources became increasingly difficult to acquire externally.

For example, Level 1 Magic; those that are passed around externally are oftentimes common, and the truly essential spells remain within various forces and are not preserved outside.

Because at the Level 1 Mage level, it qualifies as a force to each side, therefore, control over these aspects becomes stricter.

These two Level 1 Magic spells Duke purchased from the Black Sail Treasure Vault couldn't be freely passed outside, or he'd face Black Sail's punishment.

He checked the regulations inside the Black Sail Badge, and this crime usually has a sentence of 120 years.

If one doesn't want to serve in prison, they can be sent to some particularly dangerous plane missions, which have extremely high mortality rates.

Besides Magic, many items inside the Black Sail Treasure Vault are not allowed to be resold, meant only for personal use.

This rule partly prevents Wizards from reselling the core resources outside, which would leak Black Sail's inner workings.

It also aims to make contribution points more valuable; if items exchanged from the Black Sail Treasure Vault could be freely traded, contribution points would lose their meaning.

If someone had enough magic stones, they could make all Black Sail Wizards use their contribution points to exchange items for them.

So Black Sail Wizards generally think carefully when exchanging items with contribution points, only exchanging from the Black Sail Treasure Vault when truly needed. Otherwise, it's wasteful to keep them when it only wastes resources and contribution points.

The two Level 1 Magic spells Duke purchased were Sea Kiss from the Water Element and Earth Spring from the Earth Element.

These two Level 1 Magic spells were very rare, often unseen outside, with strong functionality.

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