Proxy Commission

"Senior Student Sophia, is this the new body you prepared for yourself?"

Roy asked curiously, unable to hide his amazement.

Sophia turned around. "That's right. I created an Artificial Life form with an elemental bloodline. It should have good growth potential."

After chatting briefly, Roy learned that making it look like a little girl was also meant to save materials.

Although its size had been reduced, its quality had not diminished in the slightest.

Sophia had used quite a few Wizard Rank treasures to create this body. Once the transplantation succeeded, she would immediately become a Formal Wizard.

"So this is the path she's chosen."

Roy thought this to himself while comparing it with his own situation and considering his future.

He definitely had to develop his Alchemy Talent properly. It was the fundamental support for becoming a Witch Realm Alchemist.

His two existing talents, Skilled Worker and Alchemy Machine, were both Black Iron Rank Talents. They could provide a solid foundation during the early stages, but they still weren't enough to let him soar to the heavens.

As for a new talent, there was still no sign of one. The guesses he had once made—whether he could speed up the process of obtaining one, or whether higher-ranked talents existed—remained unverified.

But now that he had finally advanced to the Advanced Apprentice rank, he should finally have enough capital to investigate this matter.

Then there was the Wizard inheritance he had chosen: "Animation."

This could branch into all sorts of things related to Genesis, Creationology, and Potionology.

Whether he became a Multiclass Puppet Master, a Mechanical Wizard, or a Bloodline Wizard, all of them offered excellent prospects for development and could take him very, very far.

But the prerequisite was still a massive amount of resources.

He needed to make good use of alchemy and provide it with abundant resources.

As he pondered, Sophia said, "I asked you to come here this time because you've just advanced and need some resources to improve your strength, as well as to carry out exploration and research."

Roy came back to himself. "That's true. How can I help, Senior Student?"

Sophia said, "There is one Mandatory Task assigned to me by the tower. I'd like to commission you to handle it for me.

"You can keep all the rewards from the task itself. Depending on the circumstances, I'll also give you an additional reward. What do you think?"

Roy thought for a moment before saying, "Could you lend Sailen to me for a while? She could help out.

"Her Mirage Orb played an important role last time, and I was counting on her."

Sophia said, "That's fine, but you'll be responsible for protecting her."

"Sure!" Roy agreed readily.

As he was preparing to leave, he suddenly remembered something. "Senior Student, do you know anything about the Witch Tower assigning mentors?

"I'm a newly advanced Advanced Apprentice, but I still don't have a mentor."

Sophia said, "I'm not sure either. But in the worst-case scenario, you may have to keep waiting."

"Huh? How long would that take?"

"If one or two years don't work, then three to five years. If three to five years don't work, then more than ten years. Just wait slowly. There's no fixed schedule."

"Wouldn't that delay the entire current generation of apprentices?" Roy asked in shock.

"Apprentices are born endlessly. The tower doesn't care." Sophia's tone was indifferent.

Roy was speechless for a moment. After leaving the laboratory, he couldn't help feeling secretly fortunate that he had chosen to teach himself as soon as possible.

If he had foolishly waited around and wasted his time there, when would he ever have gotten anywhere?

But Sophia seemed to have been affected as well?

Roy had vaguely heard that she originally had a mentor, but that the mentor had later died in the same Forbidden Experiment.

"Forget it. I'd better go take a look at the commissioned task."

Suppressing his thoughts, Roy followed Sophia's instructions to the Quest Center to confirm the situation.

"Sure enough, it's another mission to exterminate a Merman Tribe that has come ashore!

"And the mission location happens to be on the edge of the Great Wind Land Hills..."

Roy flipped through the information and understood the situation.

Two days later, southern Great Wind Land Hills.

Roy and the others followed the beach northward, searching for a monster tribe with a Merman Shaman.

Yet beneath the blue sky and white clouds, the weather was clear and the entire area was deserted.

"The coast here doesn't look like a place with abundant food. I think we should continue north and look for aquatic vegetation and fish."

Roy thought for a moment before making the suggestion.

"No matter how restless the monsters are, they still need to eat, drink, defecate, and urinate. There's a high chance they came ashore while pursuing a place with food."

The others considered it and felt that it made sense, so they continued north.

Suddenly, Sailen warned them, "There are three people ahead!"

Everyone looked forward and indeed spotted another mission team that seemed to consist of apprentices. However, there were only three of them.

The two sides warily observed each other from a distance for a while. Then, through their telescopes, they discovered that the other group consisted of familiar faces. They were Chad and the others, whom they had occasionally encountered during classes over the past year or so, though they had never known all their names.

"They look injured. Come on, let's go take a look."

Roy lowered his telescope and spoke to the others.

Their approach once again aroused the other party's vigilance.

However, they seemed to need help. They didn't flee, instead taking the risk of staying where they were.

Before long, Roy and the others finally understood the situation.

In just these two days, the coastline had undergone a major change.

Several Merman Tribes had somehow joined forces, and a powerful monster had emerged among them.

These people had accidentally run into the other party and had been forced to flee in panic.

"If the Merman Tribes are joining forces, then we'd better act together as well."

After roughly confirming that there was nothing wrong with them, Roy made the suggestion with a solemn expression.

Several hours later.

The group carefully approached the battlefield and found the companion Chad and the others had mentioned.

However, the man had already been eaten by the monster until only his head remained, lying alone on the beach.

Chad and the other two were grief-stricken. They collapsed onto the sand. "Damn it! Damn it all!"

Before they could even mourn the dead, everyone suddenly noticed two more people in the distance being pursued by more than ten Merman Warriors. One of them was injured and in extreme danger.

"It's Aimo and Tigro!"

Renion recognized them.

They were also apprentices from the same period at the tower, and happened to be acquaintances.

"How dare these mere monsters bully humans!"

"Take down those mermen!"

Everyone charged forward. Before long, they smoothly dealt with the ordinary monsters and successfully rescued Aimo and Tigro.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

The two panted heavily, their faces filled with excitement.

Roy asked, "What happened to you?"

"A Merman Shaman that can release lightning! It's far more terrifying than the other Merman Shamans!"

The injured Aimo was so agitated that he could barely speak coherently.

"It killed our companion the moment we met it! We had no choice but to run. After finally shaking it off, we got entangled by these ordinary mermen!"

It seemed that they had encountered the same monster.

A truly dangerous and powerful leader had appeared among the mermen!