Black Magician

"Heh heh heh, Saine, you did well. Mature Starlight Grass, no less—just what I need for one of my upcoming experiments..."

A hoarse voice came from the middle-aged Magician in black robes standing before him.

A wide hood concealed most of the Magician's features.

Only half of a shriveled face, like that of a thousand-year-old corpse, and one muddy yellow eyeball were exposed.

Saine had remained calm from beginning to end even when facing the Intermediate Magical Beast, the Saltwater Crocodile.

Yet before this Black Magician, Saine's body could not help trembling slightly.

Saine believed that if this Black Magician merely extended a finger, even the most ferocious magical crocodile would become as docile as a cat and crawl at his feet.

This was the power of magic. This was the majesty of a Black Magician! He was the very embodiment of terror and despair.

"Now then, Saine, we Magicians generally abide by the Principle of Equivalent Exchange. Tell me, what do you want?"

The Black Magician named Moxidu tapped his Magic Staff with a pale finger as he questioned the youth before him.

Saine took a deep breath. Perhaps the large movement and his agitation had tugged at his wounds, for a trace of blood seeped from the Black Wizard Apprentice's chest once more.

Yet the pull of his wounds did not make Saine pause in either movement or speech.

He bent forward in a ninety-degree bow and said in an exceptionally humble, respectful tone, "I wish to become your apprentice, Master Moxidu—to ease your burdens and troubles, and to seek the true essence of magic."

No answer came to his bowed back, and he remained at a ninety-degree angle.

Until the Black Magician Moxidu directly answered Saine's request to take him as an apprentice, he did not move a muscle.

"Tick-tock."

"Tick-tock."

The Magic Quartz Clock recorded the slow passage of time.

Saine could not see Black Magician Moxidu's expression. He could only see a lean, bone-like finger slowly tapping the head of his Magic Staff.

The feeling of having one's fate in another's hands was agonizing.

But Saine knew that if Moxidu was willing to take him as an apprentice, then at the very least, he would have a firmer grasp on his future than over seventy percent of the Magic Apprentices in the City of Mozhsuobula!

Rather than one day being tossed directly onto a laboratory table as a specimen by a Black Magician in a foul mood.

The wait was long. The wound split open across Saine's chest had even dripped a small pool of blood onto the floor.

Normally, defiling the laboratory of an esteemed Black Magician carried extremely severe consequences.

Yet strangely, Moxidu did not reproach Saine for this. Saine himself was also wholly focused on becoming Moxidu's apprentice and did not notice this small detail at all.

"Heh heh heh, I heard that the old woman Anjiniya and that old fellow Kelongsuo have both been full of praise for your performance in magic class."

"Why don't you take one of them as your master?" The stifling, silent atmosphere was finally broken as Moxidu asked in an apparently casual manner.

Saine naturally had his own reasons for choosing Moxidu as his master.

But he knew those reasons were difficult to state aloud. Could he openly say that he thought Moxidu was comparatively "normal" at the Black Wizard Academy?

Moxidu did not go mad from time to time like Anjiniya, nor did he always enjoy conducting magical amputation experiments on his own apprentices like Kelongsuo.

Master Moxidu's primary courses at the Black Wizard Academy were "Introduction to Alchemy" and "Basic Knowledge of Fire Element."

As it happened, Saine's constitution was relatively compatible with the Fire Element, and the limited magical knowledge he possessed was also mainly centered on fire magic.

Thus, only after much consideration did he choose to ask the always low-key Moxidu at the Black Wizard Academy to take him as an apprentice.

Even the three Starlight Grass plants he had obtained at the risk of his life were important Neutralizing Agents in the course of alchemy experiments.

For ordinary Black Magicians, Starlight Grass was not actually worth much.

But for Moxidu, it was indeed quite valuable, because the stuff was difficult to cultivate artificially and grew only in the wild.

After pondering for a moment, Saine said in a low voice, "Because I believe you have gone farther down the road of magic than Master Anjiniya and Master Kelongsuo."

"Only by following you can I grasp the true essence of magic."

Saine's answer swiftly drew a burst of hearty laughter from Moxidu.

However, Moxidu's voice had always been hoarse, making the secluded laboratory seem all the more eerie against the backdrop of his laughter.

Saine's flattery of him and disparagement of the other two Black Magicians put Moxidu in an excellent mood.

But what truly made Moxidu decide to take Saine as his disciple was the latter half of Saine's words.

"Grasp the true essence of magic? Rather than pursuing greater power?!"

"Hmph hmph hmph! Saine, if you truly understand that knowledge is the source of our Magicians' power, then you already surpass more than ninety percent of the apprentices at the Black Wizard Academy."

"Even many boring Formal Black Magicians are often blinded by power."

"Perhaps they have stayed underground for too long. These fellows have gradually forgotten the true essence of magic." Moxidu gave a cold, humming laugh.

A green beam of magical light, Flesh Regeneration, shot from the tip of Moxidu's Magic Staff.

This was advanced healing magic from a great Formal Magician. The moment he saw that green beam, Saine finally let go of the worry he had held for so long.

At the same time came exhaustion from the depths of his body, along with the numb itch of flesh buds growing across his chest.

"Go back and rest for a while first. I agree to take you as my fifth disciple."

"There is still a trace of paralytic toxin in your blood. Did you eat Blue Moss?" Moxidu asked.

"Yes, Mentor. On the way back to the City of Mozhsuobula, I used Blue Moss to treat my wound briefly," Saine replied respectfully, taking the opportunity to address him as "Mentor."

Blue Moss was a fairly common low-grade plant with little magical value, but it could numb the muscles to a certain extent.

However, the price of using it was that Blue Moss itself was poisonous, requiring a corresponding antidote afterward to neutralize the toxins.

Black Magician Moxidu gave off a cold and sinister impression, but it had to be said that Saine had made an absolutely correct decision this time.

Moxidu took a large bottle of Intermediate Antidote from within his black robes.

Along with it came a short wand and a medal.

A considerable magical fluctuation surfaced from both the short wand and the medal.

This was Saine's first time seeing genuine magical items.

The former was a Magic Staff, an apprenticeship gift Moxidu gave Saine.

Though it was merely a "little trinket" Moxidu had refined in his spare time, it was an unquestionable treasure to Saine.

It contained a Corrosive Acid capable of melting the scales of high-level magical beasts.

The latter medal was the key that would allow Saine to freely enter and leave Moxidu's laboratory in the future. It was likewise a mark of Saine's status as Moxidu's apprentice.

"Go back and rest for a while. Come to my laboratory in three days. I happen to have an experiment that needs your help to complete." After handing Saine the three apprenticeship gifts, Moxidu waved a hand.

Only then did Saine dare raise his head to look at Moxidu.

What appeared before him now was a middle-aged man beneath the black robes, with a somewhat sinister face and yellowed eyes.