"The so-called First-rank Apprentices are actually novices whose Spiritual Power is stronger than an ordinary person's. At the same time, they induce energy particles from the outside world, storing them in their bodies to form the concept of mana. Only Second-rank Apprentices begin to come into contact with Spell Models, allowing them to cast a complete spell."
"But as long as mana forms within the body, it can constantly radiate outward to strengthen one's physique, resisting external radiation contamination!"
Lei Lin judged the ranks among apprentices based on the information from the Meditation Method.
"Chip! Bring up the data I collected today and begin analysis!"
This was something Lei Lin was constantly doing: gathering as much information as possible without alerting the other party, to form a complete database.
Establishing a database on Spiritual Power, digitizing it, was a project Lei Lin had set the day before. There was far too much data to collect for this; the process would likely take years.
"Ding! Analysis complete! Conclusion: The entire Black Bone Forest Academy environment emits trace amounts of radiation contamination. Wizards and certain experimental apparatus and materials are the primary sources of contamination. Recommend the subject to immediately evacuate the area, or to enhance their own resistance!"
"As expected! No wonder I haven't seen a single ordinary person in the academy. It turns out both wizards and apprentices affect their surrounding environment, and this kind of effect can only be resisted by wizards. An ordinary person probably wouldn't survive more than a few years in this kind of environment!"
Lei Lin's expression grew solemn. He pulled up several human body images, including Biji's and Guofate's.
"Based on the radiation they leak during detection, a full-fledged wizard is essentially a mobile nuclear radiation contamination source. A single person is almost equivalent to a miniature nuclear reactor. Or... are they using radiation to evolve??"
Lei Lin's brow furrowed.
"Regardless, I must become a First-rank Apprentice as quickly as possible. The longer I delay, the greater the harm to my body!"
Lei Lin made his decision.
Over the next half-month or so, Lei Lin reported to Mentor Guofate every day, assisting in cleaning the laboratory, handling unimportant experimental materials, and other tasks.
During this period, he also met Guofate's genius disciple,
He spent the rest of his time attending the free public courses.
Black Bone Forest Academy offered few free courses, only a handful like "Origins of Wizards," "Basics of Ancient Byronian," "Principles of Sorcery," "Fundamentals of Potionology," "Anatomy," and "Basic Principles of Spell Models."
The wizards who taught the public courses always wore cold expressions. They would hurriedly finish the lecture and leave immediately, refusing to answer the apprentices' questions, as if everyone owed them Magic Stones.
"It's a free course after all. Having something to listen to is good enough!" Lei Lin consoled himself. He had the Chip, which could record the entire lecture for later review when he forgot. The other apprentices were worse off; if they didn't know, they didn't know. Asking teachers or other apprentices required payment. Lei Lin was even planning to sell the knowledge from the public courses to earn Magic Stones.
"Today's class was really tough! That desert lizard anatomy image was only on screen for a few seconds before it moved on — I couldn't even get a good look at the overall structure!" Bill complained.
"There's nothing you can do! Anatomy has always been massive in terms of knowledge, and with all those images, the professor has to go fast just to finish!" Lei Lin said from the side. Since he and Bill were neighbors and both new apprentices, they often attended classes together, and their relationship was pretty good.
As for
"Malin's anatomy class is a prerequisite for many advanced subjects — you can't skip it!" Bill said with some frustration.
"Lei Lin, did you manage to memorize everything just now?"
"Completely memorizing it would be impossible, but I've marked down the general diagrams and the positions of several key organs!" Lei Lin kept a bit to himself.
"That's amazing! Could you tutor me after class? I'll pay one Magic Stone!" Bill made up his mind.
"I want to specialize in Mutationology later — I absolutely need to master anatomy!"
"No problem!" Lei Lin nodded with a smile.
Some of the Academy's paid knowledge was not allowed to be traded privately between apprentices, but public courses didn't have as many restrictions.
Lei Lin had specifically made inquiries. The senior apprentices wouldn't bother with such piddling earnings, and most of the lower-ranked apprentices hadn't mastered the material well enough to meet teaching requirements — it was perfect for him.
"But you know, I need to do my meditation in the evenings. It's set for one hour after dinner, lasting a week — how does that sound?"
Lei Lin asked.
"No problem!" Bill agreed. The time commitment was about the same as a paid public course, but this was one-on-one tutoring — the price was very fair.
After dinner, Lei Lin went to Bill's room and gave him a tutoring session on anatomy. An hour later, he finally returned to his own dormitory.
He tossed the Magic Stone in his hand up and caught it, nodding. "Bill's pretty good at handling things — he even paid upfront!"
He placed the black crystal on the desk, then pulled out a black leather pouch from his waist, opened the mouth of the bag, and tipped it upside down over the desk.
Four gleaming black Magic Stones tumbled onto the desk, bouncing slightly.
"I'm a new apprentice too — I've only been studying for about half a month. Aside from Bill and a few others, nobody believes in my abilities yet. I've only earned two Magic Stones so far!"
"Sigh! This kind of tutoring is really just grueling work for little pay, and it eats up so much time. Senior Merlin can whip up a single potion and sell it for ten times what I make!"
Apothecaries are rare even among Wizards. Becoming an Apothecary requires a huge investment, but once you start producing results, the money rolls in at a terrifying pace.
"Soon! I have a feeling I can become a First-rank Apprentice tonight! Once I'm a First-rank Apprentice and can draw in the energy particles from the air, I'll not only be able to effectively resist the contamination of the academy castle, but I can also try to brew basic potions!"
A gleam of excitement flashed in Raleen's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it. He tucked away the Magic Stones neatly, sat cross-legged on the floor, and entered today's Meditation Method.
The room fell silent, with only Raleen's soft breathing still audible.
Raleen's chest rose and fell gently, his expression calm, though his eyelids continued to flutter beneath their surface.
After about an hour, several tiny black points of light suddenly appeared on Raleen's forehead, glowing faintly like fireflies.
The specks of light circled around Raleen for a moment before slipping into his body through his seven orifices, looking rather eerie.
"Phew..."
Once the black points of light entered his body, Raleen's entire frame shuddered. The muscles on his face twitched, and large beads of sweat dripped down before everything quickly subsided.
After a long while, Raleen opened his eyes.
"Finally promoted to First-rank Apprentice! It took me over half a month — that's a bit slower than an ordinary Fourth-rank aptitude."
"In truth, I could have promoted five days ago, but I chose to pause and stabilize my Spiritual Power. The difficulty of this promotion was minimal, partly because of that!"
There were two reasons he had delayed his promotion. Stabilizing Spiritual Power was one of them; the other was keeping a low profile.
An ordinary Third-rank aptitude would take about a month after obtaining a Meditation Method to reach First-rank Apprentice.
Half a month, on the other hand, was what a Fourth-rank aptitude would produce. Raleen didn't want to draw suspicion over his aptitude rating and get dragged through a battery of tests — if the Chip were discovered in the end, the losses would far outweigh the gains. There could even be a real danger of death.
After all, the Chip, having been altered through the shift in space-time, was now fused with his soul and utterly inseparable.
"First-rank Apprentice. According to the Chip's estimates, my Spiritual Power is roughly twice that of a normal adult. Moreover, this Spiritual Power is active — it has a strong attraction toward energy particles in the air!"
Raleen raised a hand. A layer of black luminescence enveloped it, soft like a layer of cotton, with a faintly cool sensation.
"My dark affinity is the highest, so I chose dark particles as my primary cultivation element — that was decided long ago. As for fire-type and the other elemental particles, I'll keep just a little as catalysts for future spellcasting!"
"Snap!!"
Raleen snapped his fingers again, and a faint blue luminescence suddenly flared across his body.
A layer of water vapor followed, dampening his clothes.
"That's basically like taking a shower!" Raleen chuckled, and then a fiery red glow lit up across his body.
Enveloped in the crimson light, wisps of white steam rose from Raleen's skin as the moisture was quickly evaporated clean. The entire room grew a little misty.
"Once you become a
Raleen sighed in admiration, then asked, "Chip! Did you record the whole process just now?"
"Ding! Recorded. Please provide a name!"
"Basic Applications of Water-type and Fire-type Energy Particles!"
"Ding! Renaming complete. Data being stored!"
With the Chip's assistance, Raleen's current utilization of energy particles was absolutely among the most outstanding of any First-rank Apprentice.
Raleen smiled and was about to stand up when a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him.
"I overused my Spiritual Power just now — a bit of overdraft!" Raleen realized the cause and let out a wry laugh. "A First-rank Apprentice's Spiritual Power is still too weak. To apply energy particles freely to daily life, you'd need at least a Third-rank Apprentice before you could afford to spend it so lavishly!"
Raleen pressed his fingers against his temples. "I already meditated earlier, so now the only way to replenish my Spiritual Power is through sleep!"
He tidied up the room in a hurry, then sank into a deep slumber.
The next morning, Raleen woke up feeling refreshed and full of energy, and made his way to Mentor Guofate's laboratory.
"Hm? That fluctuation?"
White-haired Guofate's eyes widened, and then he looked at Raleen as the young man walked in. "Raleen, you've broken through!"
"That's right!" Raleen lowered his head slightly.
"It's only been a little over twenty days since you started meditating. It seems your aptitude is top-tier among Third-rank students — just a little more and you'd qualify as Fourth-rank!"
Guofate broke into a pleased smile.