A full month had passed since enrollment.
For an entire month, the new apprentices had not seen the sunlight of the outside world. Even Duke, the darkest-skinned among them, was beginning to turn pale.
Not to mention Saul.
Spending his days buried in study and working with corpses, his face had grown deathly pale, resembling that of a cadaver. Dark circles hung under his eyes.
He could easily play a ghost at night without makeup.
He had skipped public lessons for three consecutive days.
If the morgue allowed overnight stays, he would have holed up inside without ever coming out.
But today, his research had hit a dead end, so he emerged to seek new ideas.
Grimm’s Understanding of Sorcerous Body Modification recorded four or five modification concepts, but it did not detail the exact materials or procedures involved.
That was to be expected. Such knowledge wouldn’t be freely available.It was either a trump card for certain individuals or an inheritance of some faction.
The book also mentioned that even well-developed body modification techniques carry a high risk of death.
Attempting to create a completely new modification method would require the sacrifice of hundreds, if not thousands, of lives before yielding results.
Among the Second Rank apprentices Saul knew, the one he had the "best" relationship with was Senior Mark.
When Saul arrived at the laboratory, he found only Mark and Angela inside. Duke was nowhere to be seen.
Angela gave Saul an awkward smile.
Saul nodded in return, only for Angela to flinch, nearly dropping the book in her hands.
The two barely knew each other beyond a passing nod. Ignoring her reaction, Saul walked to the back of the lab where Mark was.
Mark appeared to be conducting an experiment—or perhaps just cooking—idly tossing ingredients into a cauldron and stirring them with a wooden spatula.
From three meters away, Saul observed for a moment and could only marvel at how fitting it was for someone specializing in dark elemental magic. The materials going into the cauldron looked downright ghastly.
After adding what seemed to be either a clump of hair or seaweed, Mark covered the cauldron with a transparent glass lid and lowered the flame beneath it.
Turning his head, he greeted Saul with a smile. "Haven’t seen you in days. Looks like you’ve made quite a bit of progress."
"Senior Mark," Saul acknowledged before getting straight to the point. "I have some questions I’d like to ask."
"Oh?" Mark casually removed his gloves and tossed them into the trash at his feet. "Do you have magic credits?"
"Yes."
"Which topic?"
"Wizard Body..." Saul barely said two words before stopping.
Mark’s movements paused. Then, turning to Angela, he said, "Angela, you can head back for today."
Angela said nothing. She grabbed her book and ran out, shutting the lab door tightly behind her.
"Are you really planning to undergo body modification? That’s usually something for Second Rank apprentices."
"I took a test. My current magic power is only 4. If I don’t undergo body modification, I won’t pass the assessment in three months, and Kaz won’t let me continue under him."
After a month of meditation, Saul’s magic power had only increased by 1 joule. At this rate, reaching 10 joules would take another six months.
But he only had two months left.
"Hmm..." Mark stroked his chin. "Since the instructor assigned you to the morgue, he probably won’t be as strict."
"But he never said he would change the assessment criteria," Saul countered. He wasn’t willing to gamble on it.
The hardcover book only gave death warnings when a life-threatening situation was imminent.
If he found himself in a true dead-end scenario, no choice would save him, and the book’s warnings would be meaningless.
Like the night he nearly died in the lab.
If not for Big Pink passing by, Saul wouldn’t have survived.
The whole ordeal had been harrowing, but it had also taught him a valuable lesson:
Even in desperate situations, a slim chance of survival could exist, and his own efforts mattered.
If he hadn’t persisted in trying to save himself, he might not have lasted until Big Pink appeared.
"There are ways to increase magic power to 10 joules."
"But, Senior," Saul spread his hands. "I don’t have that much money, nor enough credits. More importantly, I don’t have time."
Mark scratched his chin. "So you’ve made up your mind... In that case—"
He extended a hand toward Saul. "Two credits. No magic crystals accepted."
Three credits—just earned from twenty days of hard work—were about to be cut down by two.
Saul exhaled. "Deal. Do we need to go to the registry first?"
Mark withdrew his hand. "For anyone else, yes. But since it’s you, I’ll give you a half-hour credit advance."
Half an hour?
That meant twenty days of work for just thirty minutes of knowledge.
Mark sat down. "Since you transcribed a book on body modification, you should already have some understanding. Do you have any ideas for modifying your own body?"
"The cheapest and most accessible materials I have are corpses. So my modification plan is to extract components from these materials that can enhance elemental perception and magic power."
Mark chuckled. "No wonder you’re starting to look more and more like a corpse."
He then straightened up and spoke in a more serious tone. "You were chosen to work in the morgue, which means you have a higher sensitivity to ghosts. If you modify yourself using corpse materials, do you know what will happen?"
Saul’s eyes widened.
"You’ll be more likely to encounter supernatural entities. And those ghosts will actively seek you out."
So... he’d be more prone to seeing ghosts?
"Are there many ghosts in the wizard tower?"
"Getting scared? Hah..." Mark laughed at Saul’s hesitation and answered, "Not many. Most are bound by various restrictions because they were created by wizards or high-level apprentices using certain spells. But even so, you could still end up entangled in all sorts of troubles. Most ghosts are lonely; they desperately seek out people who can see and hear them but who aren’t a threat."
"I understand. As long as I grow stronger, I can fight back against ghosts." Saul raised his fist, his skeletal hand standing out conspicuously.
Mark didn’t seem comforted by Saul’s small show of courage. Instead, he offered a final warning.
"Always maintain a sense of awe, Saul. Fear comes from the unknown. Horror is born from the unknown. And only the unknown is infinite."
With that warning given, he didn’t try to dissuade Saul further. Instead, he began explaining which corpse materials were suitable for body modification.
Since he couldn’t outright provide Saul with a body modification formula—Mark wasn’t sure about the others, but Saul definitely couldn’t afford it—he focused on precautions: which materials should never be combined, what reactions indicated potential danger, and other critical warnings.
Finally, Mark recommended two primary materials: skin and bone.
These had large surface areas, making it easier to engrave runes, thus aiding Saul in controlling the modification and ensuring better safety.
Organs like the brain and eyes, however, were strictly off-limits. Without the strength of a Third Rank apprentice, they would be nearly impossible to adapt to.
"As for me..." Mark raised his right hand, and a slit opened in his palm. A long, crimson tongue stretched out over a meter, swaying before Saul as if it wanted to lick him.
"I spent a fortune to exchange for a high-success-rate body modification formula from the tower, then combined it with my unique physique. And back then, I was already a Second Rank apprentice."
(End of Chapter)