Saul didn’t even know how he made it back to his dorm.
He slammed the door shut, tossed all his books and the crystal ball onto the bed, and slowly slid down to sit on the floor, leaning against the bedframe.
“Why can’t I sense much dark element? Is the elemental distribution in the classroom uneven?”
With that thought, Saul immediately opened his book, picked up the crystal ball, and began meditating on the floor.
This time, he did sense some dark element particles, but they were still pathetically few, even fewer than the white ones.
“The white ones are light elements. That’s impossible. During the test, my sensitivity to dark element was clearly the highest.”
“Could Sid have tampered with the test? No, unlikely. If he wanted to fail me, messing with the elemental perception wouldn’t make sense.”
Though he didn’t want to, Saul ended up thinking of Kongsha.
The image that surfaced in his mind was her handing him that vial of healing potion.
“If the element I’m most attuned to isn’t actually dark… then that potion most likely altered my mental strength temporarily.”From the beginning, Saul had known that Kongsha had an ulterior motive in helping him become an apprentice. Now, he was just more certain of it.
He let out a long sigh, dropped the crystal ball, and looked up as afternoon class was about to start.
There was no point questioning Kongsha now, so he could only take things one step at a time.
When he left again, he didn’t see Keli.
His plan to ask her about her meditation results fell through. With no better option, Saul headed alone to the 15th floor of the East Tower.
Mentor Kaz had a private lab there.
Ordinary apprentices who wanted guidance had to visit the lab—when Kaz was working, he might answer a few questions.
But most apprentices preferred not to visit a mentor until they hit a real bottleneck.
They were more likely to get answers like: “You can’t even do that?”, “Didn’t I already explain this?”, or “No need to wait for the next test. You’re already out.”
Only the fresh-faced newcomers who hadn’t yet seen a mentor’s wrath would feel excited about seeing one up close.
Saul, with everything weighing on his mind, felt no excitement at all as he climbed to the 15th floor.
He pushed open the door to Kaz’s lab—and met a pair of eyes staring straight at him.
Duke’s expression ran the full spectrum: shock, anger, fear, forced calm.
Saul looked at him and scratched his chin with a white-bone knuckle.
Duke quickly averted his gaze.
After all, the purplish imprint of five fingers was still faintly visible on his face.
Nope. Not messing with that guy...
Kaz didn’t have many apprentices; out of twenty newcomers, only three had chosen him.
Saul, Duke, and a girl named Angela, who was quite pretty.
She seemed unaware of the tension between Saul and Duke. Her large eyes blinked innocently, a serene smile on her lips.
There was also a young man in the lab wearing a Second-Rank apprentice badge, tidying things up.
When he saw the three of them quietly standing in the lab, he stepped forward and said, “Mentor Kaz usually doesn’t come this early in the afternoon. You can show up around 3 PM.”
Then he chuckled meaningfully.
“Of course, not coming at all is also an option.”
After a brief exchange, the lab fell silent again.
The Second-Rank apprentice went back to his tasks, not interested in chatting.
Seeing no sign of Kaz arriving early, Saul simply pulled out a book and found a clutter-free desk to sit down and study.
The other two followed suit, each picking a separate spot. The divide between them was clear.
But Saul’s mind was too burdened to focus. Every so often, he would glance up at the clock.
Finally, at 3:30 PM, the lab door opened again.
Everyone put down what they were doing and stood up.
“Mentor!” The Second-Rank apprentice greeted him with a smile.
Following his gaze, Saul saw a withered, white-haired old man enter.
His skin was lined with deep wrinkles, and his clouded eyes made him look well over ninety.
But his steps were steady as he walked in.
Kaz didn’t acknowledge the apprentice’s greeting. His eyes swept across the lab.
Saul noticed the Second-Rank apprentice seemed very tense.
“My expectations are simple,” Kaz said coldly to him. “Put everything you use back where it belongs. If you can’t even do that, don’t bother coming back.”
The young man’s smile faltered. “Yes, Mentor. I’ll tidy up today.”
“When’s your next test?”
“In a month.”
“Good. Then we’ll test whether you can keep the lab clean.”
“Yes.”
Oddly enough, Saul noticed the apprentice looked relieved at the “test.”
Kaz then turned to the three newcomers. “Come here. You want me, an old man, to walk over to you?”
They quickly lined up before him.
Kaz’s gray eyes swept across them, then narrowed at Saul.
“Why do you have so little magic?”
Duke’s eyes lit up. He looked like he was about to help "explain" Saul’s situation.
But just as he opened his mouth, pain from his cheek made him choke on his words.
Saul knew there was no hiding his condition from a formal wizard, so he said honestly, “Mentor, I have poor magic aptitude, but decent mental aptitude.”
Kaz wasn’t impressed. “Plenty of scholars have strong minds but no magic. That’s not a wizard. Reading books isn’t enough.”
He muttered under his breath, “Is there no one decent out there anymore?”
Saul had been mentally prepared and wasn’t discouraged. But if even his mentor didn’t think much of him, how was he supposed to continue learning?
“Mentor, I will work hard to raise my magic. Please give me a chance.”
Kaz rolled his eyes. “Work hard, how? Wizard Body Modifications? Fine. If you reach 10 Joules of Magic in three months, you pass your first test. If not… my lab can always use more materials.”
Joules was the unit used to measure Magic.
During apprentice testing, that black crystal measured how much innate magic one had.
Generally, one had to reach 10 Joules by age fifteen to be considered talented.
Saul’s talent clearly didn’t hit that mark, probably not even 5 Joules otherwise, Kaz wouldn’t be this dismissive.
Three months to achieve what normally took three years. That was a tall order.
Saul stepped forward, wanting to ask for more time.
But Kaz raised a hand, stopping him.
Then he said to the other two, “You two, come with me.”
“You,” he glanced at Saul, “stay with Mark.”
Mark was the Second-Rank apprentice in the lab.
Kaz said no more and left with the other two, destination unknown.
Mark didn’t seem surprised and escorted them to the door.
After they left, he closed the door and went back to sorting things, completely ignoring Saul.
But Saul wasn’t discouraged; he still had Kongsha behind him.
He’d achieved her goal by becoming Kaz’s apprentice.
She would likely contact him soon with her next instruction.
But Kongsha was using him more than helping him.
Forcing him to alter his elemental affinity, likely just to steer him toward Kaz, showed how little she cared for his circumstances.
If Saul wanted to ride her coattails to power, he couldn’t let himself be treated like a disposable pawn.
He would have to tread carefully—balancing between rejecting her dangerous orders and gaining her protection.
First of all, he had to keep learning wizardly.
“Senior,” Saul approached Mark. “Can I help you clean up?”
Mark looked back, unsurprised by Saul’s offer as if he’d been expecting it.
“Sigh. You newcomers have no magic crystals or credit points. All you can do is grunt work. You’ll be cleaning the lab for the next month. I’ll teach you one hour a day.”
Saul looked around. The lab wasn’t huge, but it was packed with stuff. He hesitated. “Clean the entire lab? Senior, I’m afraid my current skills might slow you down.”
“Of course I won’t dump everything on you. I’ll explain the key points. You just need to do the final cleaning.”
Mark suddenly raised his hand. His palm split open into a mouth, and a bright red tongue shot out, almost licking Saul’s face.
“If you slack off and screw something up, I’ll rip your skin off!”
(End of Chapter)