Lives as Cheap as Grass

Mage Seda's face turned livid. Whether it was because of Ilan's death, Gao De's calmness after killing someone, or both, was unclear.

"How dare you kill him? All of you are my apprentices, my private property. Only I have the right to decide whether you live or die."

"I know." Gao De nodded, helplessness showing on his pale face as he explained, "But he wanted me dead, so I had no choice but to let him die first."

"After all, I don't want to die yet." As he spoke, he raised his head and met Mage Seda's gaze directly, looking utterly sincere.

"You killed my apprentice without my permission. That is an infringement upon my property, so you must pay with your life as well." Mage Seda looked coldly at Gao De, unmoved.

"Dying at your hands is better than dying at that petty man's hands." Gao De glanced at the stiffening corpse on the bed. "Besides, he was the one who truly wanted to encroach upon your property."

"Ilan personally told me yesterday that he wanted me dead. My life is cheap and not worth grieving over, but if it delayed your potion research, that would be a grave matter." Gao De's words carried a deeper implication.

This was where he found the confidence to dare assassinate Ilan at night.

Gao De was certain that no matter what Mage Seda thought of him killing Ilan, or how he intended to react, he would never truly make Gao De pay with his life right now.

Because at this moment, he held irreplaceable value to Mage Seda—he was the only apprentice to have "survived" after testing a potion so far.

If Mage Seda wanted to successfully brew the potion as soon as possible, he would definitely need Gao De for the next trial.

Therefore, before the next potion trial, Mage Seda absolutely would not let him die.

The next trial was both the Sword of Damocles hanging over Gao De's head and his talisman against death.

And that was indeed the case.

For Mage Seda, who possessed absolute power and authority, the fact that he had not immediately erased Gao De after discovering that Ilan had died by his hand, but had instead kept "talking nonsense" with him, meant that Gao De had value. He was someone Mage Seda could not directly erase for now.

But Gao De's aim went beyond that.

He caught his breath and spoke to Mage Seda again.

"Mage Lord, Ilan defied your authority first, and I resisted in self-defense afterward. Besides, I can do everything Ilan did, and it will not affect my original work at all. With one less person, you will not suffer any actual loss. You will even save food."

"Self-defense? Heh, you call that self-defense..."

"A crude tactic for fighting over power!" After hearing Gao De's words, Mage Seda swept his gaze across the "messy" room. He seemed to have already "understood" everything and said coldly, "Even if Ilan deserved death, how to punish him was my business, not yours to decide. Your nighttime assassination crossed the line.

"You test potions for me. If I successfully brew my potion, you would have received considerable benefits, and I would have truly accepted you as an apprentice then."

"But your cleverness has cost you that treatment forever."

"You will regret what you did today." Without waiting for Gao De to respond, Mage Seda snorted and turned to leave. "From now on, you will do his work, but all you will receive is his work."

Clearly, Mage Seda understood Gao De's reliance and what he "wanted" perfectly well.

Watching Mage Seda leave, Gao De did not feel the slightest stir from his "threat."

As for Mage Seda's claim that he would receive considerable benefits once the potion was successfully brewed, Gao De did not believe that old fox would be so kind in the first place. Besides, he knew the chances of successfully brewing that potion were simply too low.

In Mage Seda's eyes, Gao De surviving after the potion trial meant that he was already infinitely close to success.

But Gao De knew the truth better than anyone: Mage Seda was still far from success!

As for supposedly regretting what he had done today, that was even less worth mentioning.

If he had not resisted, the next potion trial would have been the day of his death. Why would he care about what came afterward?

His nighttime assassination of Ilan might have seemed reckless, but it had actually been carefully considered.

There were basically no consequences—his situation could not get any worse anyway.

Yet the gains were substantial. While resolving a major problem, he had also prepared himself mentally for killing, allowing himself to adapt in advance to this man-eating environment.

Most importantly, he had gained the right that originally belonged to Ilan: the freedom to enter and leave the herb garden. Only by getting out could he have more opportunities to escape his current predicament.

As for the Crescent Gem that had activated for no apparent reason, that was an even more unexpected delight.

Splash!

A basin of clean water washed away the last trace of blood in the room.

Gao De raised a hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Although the matter with Ilan had been temporarily settled, the scene still had to be cleaned up. Leaving it blood-soaked would be unsettling, and the corpse would rot and stink after a while.

Mage Seda had not assigned anyone to handle it, so Gao De, as the "murderer," conscientiously took care of the aftermath.

The room had already been cleaned.

"Let's bury his body in the back hills," Emil, who had voluntarily stayed to help, said. "The apprentices who tested potions before were buried there too."

Gao De nodded without objection.

One held Ilan's legs, the other his shoulders, and together they lifted his corpse.

Looking at the roommate across from him, someone he had lived with day and night and should have known intimately, yet now found strangely unfamiliar, Emil hesitated for a long time before softly saying to Gao De, "I really never thought you would do something like this."

He seemed somewhat timid. After seeing Ilan's condition in death, he had instinctively developed a measure of fear toward Gao De.

Most people were afraid of murderers.

"What would you do if someone wanted to kill you?" Gao De asked.

Emil froze, unable to think of an answer for a moment.

He understood what Gao De meant, but he also knew that if he encountered such a situation, he would only panic and be at a loss. He definitely could not be as decisive as Gao De.

"Let's go. You lead the way." Seeing Emil's fear of him, Gao De stopped being as careful as before.

After burying Ilan's body, Gao De and Emil returned to the herb garden.

It was also just time for the apprentices to have breakfast.

The two had been busy for a long time. Gao De especially had killed someone and buried a body, expending enormous physical energy. Both were already starving, so they immediately headed to the dining hall.

When the apprentices in the dining hall saw Gao De enter, the previously noisy room immediately fell silent, leaving only the sound of chewing.

Seeing Ilan's gruesome death firsthand had had a powerful impact on these apprentices, who were still children in the strictest sense.

At that moment, all the apprentices regarded him as a ferocious tiger.

Gao De acted as if he had not noticed. He served himself breakfast and sat down at an empty seat.

He took a large bite of Rye Bread soaked in pea soup.

The taste was still as indescribable as ever, yet it no longer felt as difficult to swallow as before.

He did not know whether it was because he was hungry or for some other reason.

While swallowing his breakfast, Gao De reviewed his schedule for the day.

Although he had killed someone in the middle of the night, today's work still had to continue.

In the morning, he was responsible for tending some of the herbs in the garden and feeding the Gray Rats. In the afternoon, he would prepare Novice Spider Venom, and in the evening, he would train.

It was the same fixed, dull routine day after day.

After drinking the last mouthful of hot pea soup, Gao De stood up. After saying goodbye to Emil, he headed toward the back courtyard.

That was the herb-growing area of the garden.

Over the course of yesterday, through his roommate Emil, Gao De had gained a general understanding of the herb garden's layout and regional divisions. He could basically make his way independently to each area.