"So-called first-rank apprentices are really just novices whose spiritual power is stronger than that of ordinary people, and who have also triggered the absorption of external energy particles, storing them within their bodies to form the concept of magical power. Only second-rank apprentices begin to come into contact with spell models, able to cast a spell in its entirety."
"But once magical power has formed within the body, one can continuously radiate it to strengthen one's constitution and resist external radiation contamination!"
Leilin Farell used the information from the Meditation Method to make his assessment of the ranking system among apprentices.
"Chip! Pull up the data I collected today and begin analysis!"
This was something Leilin had been doing all along — gathering as much information as possible about the people around him without raising their suspicion, building up a complete database.
Constructing a database on spiritual power and digitizing it was a project Leilin had set for himself the day before. The amount of data to be collected was enormous, and the process would likely take years to complete.
"Ding! Analysis complete. Conclusion: The entire Black Bone Forest Academy is emitting trace amounts of radiation contamination. Wizards and certain experimental devices and materials are the greatest sources of contamination. It is recommended that the subject move away immediately, or strengthen their own resistance!"
"As expected! I was wondering why there wasn't a single ordinary person in the academy. It turns out that both wizards and apprentices affect the surrounding environment, and only wizards can resist this kind of impact. Ordinary people probably couldn't survive more than a few years in this kind of environment!"
Leilin's expression grew somber. He pulled up several human body projections, including ones of Biji and Guofate.
"Based on the radiation they emit, a full-fledged wizard is essentially a mobile nuclear contamination source. A single person is practically equivalent to a miniature nuclear reactor. Or... are they using radiation to evolve?"
Leilin furrowed his brow.
"In any case, I need to become a first-rank apprentice as soon as possible. The longer I delay, the more damage my body will sustain!"
Leilin made up his mind.
Over the next half month or so, Leilin reported to his mentor Guofate every day, helping clean the laboratory, processing unimportant experimental materials, and so on.
During this period, he also met Guofate's genius disciple Merlin — his senior apprentice. Merlin was quite tall, very reserved in personality, and always buried himself in experiments. Aside from Guofate, he had very little interaction with Biji or Leilin, which might have been the reason for his remarkable success in Potionology.
The rest of his time, Leilin spent on the free public courses.
Black Bone Forest Academy's free courses were few: Wizard Origins, Ancient Byron Language Fundamentals, Principles of Witchcraft, Potionology Basics, Anatomy, and Basic Principles of Spell Models, among a handful of others.
The wizards who taught the public courses always wore cold expressions, rushing through the material before walking right out, refusing to answer any of the apprentices' questions, as if everyone owed them magic stones.
"Well, they're free courses after all — having something to listen to is good enough!" Leilin consoled himself. He had the Chip, which could record everything the instructors said in full. Whenever he forgot something, he could just pull it up for review. The other apprentices weren't so lucky — not knowing meant not knowing, and asking the teachers or other apprentices always came at a price. Leilin had even been considering selling his knowledge from the public courses to earn magic stones.
"Today's lecture was brutal! That dissection image of the desert lizard was only on screen for a few seconds before moving on, and I hadn't even gotten a good look at the overall structure!" Bill complained.
"There's nothing you can do! Anatomy has always been a massive field with tons of images — there's no way to get through it without moving fast," Leilin replied from the side. Since he and Bill were neighbors and both new apprentices, they often attended classes together and had a decent relationship.
As for Kreweir and the others, since they had been assigned to different mentors and lived far away, they mainly just kept in occasional contact.
"Malin's mentor's anatomy course is a prerequisite for many advanced subjects — you can't skip it!" Bill said, looking vexed. "Leilin, did you manage to remember everything from just now?"
"It's impossible to remember it all perfectly, but I've marked the general shapes and the positions of several key organs!" Leilin kept a little to himself.
"That's amazing! Could you tutor me after class? I'll pay one magic stone!" Bill steeled his resolve. "I'm going to specialize in Mutationology, so I absolutely have to master anatomy!"
"No problem!" Leilin smiled and nodded.
Some of the academy's paid knowledge was strictly forbidden from being traded between apprentices privately, but the public courses didn't carry nearly as many restrictions.
Leilin had done his research. The senior apprentices wouldn't bother with such paltry earnings, and most of the lower-ranked apprentices hadn't yet mastered the material well enough to teach — so it was the perfect opportunity for him.
"But you know, I need to do my meditation at night. Let's set it for one hour after dinner, for one week straight. How does that sound?" Leilin asked.
"Deal!" Bill agreed readily. The time commitment was roughly the same as a paid public course, but it was one-on-one tutoring — a very fair price.
After dinner, Leilin went to Bill's room and gave him a tutoring session on anatomy. An hour later, he returned to his own dormitory.
He tossed a magic stone up and caught it. "Bill's pretty good at doing business — paid the tuition right up front, too!"
He set the black crystal on his bed, then pulled out the black leather pouch from his waist, opened the mouth, and upended it over the bed.
Four gleaming black magic stones tumbled out, bouncing slightly.
"I'm a new apprentice too — only been studying for half a month. Aside from Bill and a few others, nobody believes in my ability yet. I've only earned two magic stones so far!"
"Sigh! This kind of tutoring is just hard labor, and it eats up time like crazy. Senior Merlin mixes up a potion and sells it for ten times what I make!"
Apothecaries were rare even among wizards. Becoming one required a massive investment, but once you had results to show, the money came in at a terrifying rate.