After seeing clearly, he greeted:
"Holt, captain."
With his green hair and a demeanor as harmless as a plant, Holt smiled and said,
"I never thought our next meeting would be under these circumstances... I'm afraid it's going to be the last one."
Although his tone was as gentle as ever, for some reason, it carried a heavy implication.
Colin pursed his lips and said,
"Captain Holt, you didn't manage to get the Magic Potion either..."
"Yes," Holt nodded with a gentle expression.
It was because he had not managed to get the Magic Potion, nor had he wanted to act as Nidham did.
And just as he saw Colin, he walked over, wanting to have a chat with someone who also hadn't got the Magic Potion.
He stood beside Colin, looking at Nidham, bent over in the distance, frowning and saying, "That's truly disgusting..."
"Yes," Colin nodded in agreement.
But his heart was a mix of emotions.
He had deliberately not fought over the Magic Potion.
Otherwise, with his speed and strength, he would certainly have been able to get a dose.
Even if he had continued, he might have been able to defeat everyone, becoming the ultimate survivor.
But this meant nothing to him.
At this point in the ritual, it was clear there was something fishy.
No one knew whether survival to the end meant facing death in despair or, as Wizard Lap had said, successfully advancing to an Official Wizard with his assistance.
If he were to continue following the established procedure of the ritual, he didn't believe he, an Advanced Wizard Apprentice, had any ability to escape the trap set by an Official Wizard who had lived nearly three hundred years.
"You must hold onto your humanity."
Out of nowhere, Holt suddenly said to him.
... Or perhaps he was speaking to himself.
At this moment, the Apprentices in the hall had clearly divided into two areas.
Those by the Black Pillar who had managed to get the Magic Potion and those scattered around, who had not.
There were altogether twelve figures by the pillar, all Advanced Wizard Apprentices.
Now they all were.
Just moments before, there had been a few lucky Intermediate Wizard Apprentices.
Now, like the one killed by Nidham's underling, they had become dismembered corpses.
Without a doubt.
Following Nidham's example.
A few Advanced Wizard Apprentices couldn't withstand the craving for life, the fear of death, and did the same as he did.
Colin watched them quietly, and suddenly, his expression subtly shifted.
"You must hold onto your humanity." He paused, then sighed, repeating Holt's words from just before.
Within his Supersensitive Vision.
The auras of humanity and enlightenment that covered those Advanced Wizard Apprentices who had done the same as Nidham had suddenly thinned.
For one, it even shattered completely.
Those filthy black spots, as if the dirtiest things in the world had taken form, surged toward the Advanced Apprentice whose aura of humanity and enlightenment had broken.
Mutation began in an instant.
"No!" The Advanced Wizard Apprentice cried out in disbelief, tears streaming down his face.
Boom!
The next second, numerous attacks simultaneously hit him, submerging him.
The Apprentice, not yet fully mutated, turned to ash in an instant.
Colin withdrew his hand, having just cast the Fireball Technique.
This was the tradition of this world.
A Wizard fallen into mutation was a common enemy of all Wizards.
They had either forsaken the humanity they had always upheld or abandoned knowledge, bowing their heads to the Divine.
In any case,
They were to be universally condemned.
The Wizards who had not mutated looked on with uncertain expressions.
And the surrounding Wizards quietly distanced themselves from them.
No one cares if they are good themselves, but everyone wants their friends to be good.
Or at least, they do not wish to be friends with those who have no bottom line.
Whether one will mutate, whether one will betray their held humanity, there is no set standard, all is up to one's judgment.
Everyone's bottom line is different.
For example, Nidham, before and after he killed that Intermediate Wizard Apprentice, his aura of humanity and enlightenment showed no change.
However, it's worth noting that even without change, his light was thinner than that of other Advanced Wizard Apprentices.
"Alas..." Holt shook his head suddenly, sighing,
"What on earth does Master Lap intend to do?"
Colin remained silent.
"It's a shame, Colin, you've just descended from the Wizard Territory and haven't had the chance to experience the wonders of the world."
Holt suddenly turned his head again, speaking wistfully, patting his shoulder.
"I'm nearly seventy years old this year; living to this age is already considered a long life for ordinary mortals..."
Colin nodded silently, listening attentively.
He knew Holt was trying to console him.
Death is not scary.
What's scary is knowing that death is imminent and being powerless to stop it.
Holt kept rambling, talking about a lot of different things, as if he was just speaking whatever came to mind.
"Captain Holt," Colin suddenly spoke up.
"What's the matter?" Holt paused, puzzled.
"..."
"Nothing..."
Holt didn't care and continued to ramble on,
"There's a type of plant called the bellflower which has a peculiar umbrella shape. When the spring breeze arrives, they will fall off on their own, transforming into humanoid elves with umbrella-shaped flowers above their heads, drifting far away with the air currents. They find suitable soil, dig a small hole, and bury themselves.
Some especially naughty ones will miss the opportunity and, as a result, never take root.
But for the rest of the year, they are free to frolic in the world... until the next year when the spring breeze blows, their companions will grow into new bellflowers, and they will wither away in the gentle spring wind..."
At that moment,
"Interesting."
A calm voice suddenly interjected.
Colin turned his head slightly.
A handsome man, whose age was indiscernible, approached.
"Luke." Colin's lips moved as he greeted him.
He paused, then asked, "You didn't manage to grab a Magic Potion either?"
Luke nodded slightly, then shook his head, his faint smile conveying,
"Getting a Magic Potion doesn't necessarily mean surviving, does it?"
Holt, standing next to him, was taken aback for a moment and looked at Luke, shaking his head with a light chuckle,
"That's true."
The atmosphere turned suddenly silent.
Colin looked up slightly, over the black iron pillar in the center.
The Intermediate Apprentice who was previously constantly searching for an exit was still going around the hall's stone walls, persistently looking.
Several other Apprentices, just like him, had joined the search for an exit.
Holt and Luke's expressions were calm.
If this indeed was a trap set by Wizard Lap, how could there be such a loophole?
Facing an Official Wizard who had lived nearly three hundred years, they stood no chance at all.
Just as Wizard Lap had said at the beginning that this was a ceremony to help an Advanced Official Wizard, they could only choose to believe...
They had no choice in the matter.
Anyway.
Perhaps, this really was a ceremony to assist one to become an Official Wizard...
But they could no longer see that moment.
At that time, on the nearby stone wall to the right,
"How can there be no exit!"
An Intermediate Apprentice searching for an exit gritted his teeth and howled, Magic Power brewing in his hands.
Whoosh!
A Fireball streaked towards the gray-white stone wall.
Bang.
But it was futile.
As the flames dissipated, the stone wall remained the same gray-white color, unchanged.
He slumped down, covering his face, his angry roar turning into powerless tears.
Holt averted his gaze, sighing softly,
"It seems... that our journey of life is coming to an end today."
Although not much time had passed,
Judging by the intervals before, the next blue-green orb of light was about to appear.
In the brief moment, they didn't even have enough time to lament, let alone search for a lifeline.
Luke, at his side, moved his lips slightly, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end, he remained silent.
He just glanced at the figure of Carrie who had died not far away and sighed.
In the distance, some Apprentices were still stubbornly seeking a glimmer of hope, and others were silently weeping in despair.
Colin watched them, his expression growing increasingly solemn.
Their fear was no different from his.
Although it seemed he was the one who slipped through the ceremony's net, if this truly was a trap set by Wizard Lap.
Then in the end, Wizard Lap would surely appear.
And he, for unknown reasons spared by the ceremony,
Even though he was planning to wait for the next punishment to arrive, pretend to be a corpse, and deceive the remaining Wizard Apprentices.
Yet he couldn't fool Wizard Lap, who was certain to come in the end.
As Colin was lost in a myriad of thoughts.
Whoosh!
The blue-green orb of light appeared once again at the top of the Black Pillar.
"Goodbye."
Holt turned to him and said, his face showing a complex mix of emotions – fear, calm, and longing.
Luke, on the other hand, just smiled at him.
Pfft!
In the next instant, an invisible force swept through.
Blood mist sprayed forth from both Holt and Luke, forming a dense mist,
Their eyes instantly dimmed, and they collapsed heavily to the ground.
Colin lowered his eyes, said nothing, and just forced himself to bleed out, controlling his body to produce a blood mist.
Then,
Bang.
Just like Holt and Luke, he fell heavily into the scarlet mist.
Silent.