Ambush Outside, Knight Promotion

In the blink of an eye.

Four days passed.

Perhaps aided by the notes, or perhaps because of the condensation of the Mental Power Rune, Ian successfully raised one cantrip after another to Master Level.

His talent reached 104 points.

An increase of 6 points from before.

The progress of his Knight Method had also reached over seventy, bringing him ever closer to becoming an official knight.

Something else happened over the past few days.

It concerned Logan.

His habit of keeping a foot in both the Mutual Aid Society and the trio had still displeased Rune and the others.

It had been one thing before Ian advanced, but with Ian's advancement...

The situation had changed.

Either join the Mutual Aid Society or join the three-man group—this was the choice Rune gave Logan.

Ian had originally thought he would leave.

To everyone's astonishment, he chose to remain in the Mutual Aid Society.

Someone asked him why.

"The first page of the Meditation Method has a line like this: a wizard's true strength comes from wisdom. That is why I chose to stay in the Mutual Aid Society."

That was Logan's answer.

Compared to Rune and the others' talent, he seemed to value Ian's wisdom more.

Rune and the others were both annoyed and helpless over this.

In the blink of an eye.

Another three days passed.

Rowan advanced to wizard apprentice.

Logan also successfully condensed the fourth section of the rune, catching up to Harvey.

As for the members of the Mutual Aid Society—

Emily, Shirley, William, and Coro had all condensed the third section, while most of the others were still lingering around the second section.

Halman was still at the third section and did not seem to have improved much. What surprised Ian, however, was that he had joined Rune's little three-man group.

After class, Rune and the others gathered together.

Ian faintly caught words like going down the mountain.

Before long, Ian learned what had happened.

Rune and the others were planning to head to the market at the foot of the mountain.

The School's market and the Academy grounds were separate. The market was located in a city at the foot of the mountain.

There were quite a few things there that apprentices and even apprentice candidates could use.

That night, during the exchange meeting, Rune came knocking and walked in.

"Is something the matter?"

Ian looked at Rune.

The two of them did not have some deep-seated grudge against each other.

"It's like this. I plan to visit the market at the foot of the mountain in three days. I figured that the more people there are, the safer it should be, so I wanted to invite you to come with us," Rune said.

"I'm not going."

Ian shook his head in refusal.

How nice it was to stay safely at the Academy—why would he have to go outside?

He had not forgotten Victor's warning.

Even within the relatively safe bounds of the Academy, one absolutely could not let down one's guard.

Naturally, Rune did not press him. He simply turned and left.

Some members of the Mutual Aid Society wanted to go, though, and Ian naturally would not stop them. These were all personal choices.

On the third day.

At the Academy square, Logan stood beside Ian.

Not far away, Rune, Merlin, Harvey, and Rowan stood with more than a dozen people beside them.

"With this many people, there shouldn't be any problem with safety at least, right?"

Logan looked at the dozen or so people milling about and only felt that it was quite safe.

Ian thought so too.

It seemed that the more people there were, the safer it felt.

But no matter how safe it was, he was not going. He only had one Magic Stone on hand, and going would not be of much use.

So he turned and went home, continuing his research into cantrips.

In the blink of an eye, afternoon arrived.

Suddenly, bursts of commotion sounded from outside the door.

Puzzled, Ian pushed open the door and saw a squad of wizards in dark-red Witch Robes hurrying out of the academy.

"Patrol team?"

Ian raised his brows. Had something happened?

"Ian, something big happened."

At that moment, Logan came running over from afar, shouting as he ran.

"What is it?"

A bad premonition rose in Ian's heart.

Logan panted heavily and quickly said, "They're all dead. Aside from Rune and a few apprentices, everyone else is dead."

"What?"

"What exactly happened?"

Ian was deeply shocked.

"Rune and the others were heading down the mountain. When they were nearly at the market, they were attacked. They scattered and fled, and in the end only Rune and a few others escaped. The guards have gone to investigate already." Logan's eyes were full of lingering fear.

If he had not withdrawn from Rune's little group a few days ago, he definitely would have gone.

Fortunately, fortunately.

"How dangerous."

Ian pursed his lips as well.

This was still within the territory of White Wizard Academy, yet people had died so inexplicably. How cruel.

"Without the ability to protect yourself, it's best not to go out."

Ian sighed.

So what if one had advanced to a First-class Wizard Apprentice? Before learning Wizardry, one was still weak.

Just like Rune's group of more than a dozen people.

Perhaps, in that wandering wizard's eyes, they had been nothing more than a dozen chicks without the ability to resist.

"I'll break through to Knight tonight."

Taking a deep breath, Ian saw that his Knight Attendant level had already reached 95.

He had originally planned to break through tomorrow.

But today's events had shaken him greatly. It was better to gain some ability to protect himself sooner.

Night fell.

As blood energy like rising steam slowly wafted from Ian's body, Ian gradually opened his eyes.

"I've broken through."

Ian looked at the panel.

[Strength: First-class Wizard Apprentice (1/100), Knight (1/100)]

Knight Attendant had become Knight.

"My strength has increased by at least one and a half times."

Ian clenched his fist. Compared with when he had first arrived at the academy, he was clearly much stronger.

His strength had perhaps already surpassed that of an ordinary adult, and it would continue to increase as he grew older.

"But it's still not enough. I'll have to wait for the advanced studies later."

Ian shook his head.

Once the three months were over, they would begin the second phase of study: advanced studies.

At that stage, they would have the chance to learn all kinds of true Wizardry for free.

Of course, they could buy the books and study on their own now, but if they could get them for free, they might as well.

It was only two or three weeks, anyway.

He would be staying at the Academy. It was not as if he would run into any danger.

Meanwhile.

Inside a house, dim candlelight illuminated two people.

One wore a black Witch Robe, with only his eyes faintly visible in the darkness. The other seemed somewhat fat.

"Halman, well done. This is your reward. After taking this potion, you should be able to condense a Mental Power Rune smoothly."

The black-robed wizard smiled and tossed a bottle of potion to Halman.

Looking at the potion in his hand, Halman let out a long breath, though he was still somewhat worried.

"Brother, more than ten people died all at once. Won't they trace it back to us?"

"Little brother, you're worrying too much. If not for running into the patrol, those remaining few would have died too. My preparations were thorough—they won't trace it back to us."

Ross shook his head.

"Understood, Brother."

Halman nodded.

The man before him was his older brother. He had joined the School several years ago and had suddenly contacted Halman a few days earlier.

He had set his sights on those apprentices.

So Halman had secretly dusted Rune and the others with specially made medicinal powder, leading to their ambush.

It was just a pity they had not all died. That annoying Ian had not gotten involved either.

"For this period, focus on meditating and don't waste time on trivial matters.

You can also start reading the alchemy books I gave you. That will give you an advantage once you enter the advanced learning stage. The most profitable things in our School are all related to alchemy," Ross instructed.

"Understood, Brother."

Halman nodded.

He also understood what trivial matters Ross meant—nothing more than matters related to Ian.

Originally, he had been somewhat jealous of Ian, but after learning more about the School, he realized those things were not important at all.

With Ross's help, once they entered the advanced learning stage, they would immediately have resources and an enormous advantage in information.

As for Ian.

He would soon be left far behind.