Rewards

"Hehehe, a fine battle."

"If Feilunna had not taken you as her disciple, I would certainly have taken you in."

After the Grade Assessment ended, Master Andis, who was responsible for distributing Academy Rewards, ignored the three winners and instead approached Lina with a soft laugh.

The most thrilling battle of this Grade Assessment had undoubtedly been the clash between Lina and Death Hand Mike.

The dazzling, glittering magical elements were only secondary. What truly made even a Formal Black Wizard like Andis take notice was the killing intent hidden within, as well as the pair's fearless, death-defying fighting styles.

That was more like it. Only a battle like this was the kind of battle Black Wizard Apprentices ought to have!

The scene from not long ago made Master Andis feel as though he had returned five hundred years, to when he had still been a tiny apprentice struggling within the Black Domain.

For Andis, memories of his weak days rarely contained many good things.

Yet it was precisely because of that that those memories remained fresh in his mind, spurring him onward as he constantly sought greater strength.

"This piece of Black Demon Copper is a personal reward from me. Work hard. I look forward to you bringing me even more surprises in the future." After tossing a palm-sized chunk of black metal to Lina, Andis flew away on his own.

From beginning to end, he did not spare the winning Advanced Apprentice among those three so much as a glance.

Because Lina and Mike had fought each other to mutual ruin, neither of them made it into the top three.

The final top three were Saine's Senior Sister Fei'er, the Advanced Apprentice Xila, and Lilianya.

Although Saine's Senior Sister Fei'er was fairly strong, she relied more on the numerous magical equipment pieces in her possession.

Lilianya had simply been lucky enough to pick up a ready-made prize.

Having watched Lina and Mike's battle from the corner of her eye, she deeply knew how troublesome those two were.

Especially the former. Though Lina had not been an Advanced Apprentice for long, she was so decisive and ruthless in battle. Even the advanced magic she had mastered flowed with remarkable ease. She was truly a genius.

Advanced Apprentice Xila was probably the only one who had rightfully obtained an academy reward through sheer strength.

Yet his overall personal strength was only on par with Death Hand Mike's.

With Lina having performed so brilliantly, it was no wonder Master Andis had not even looked at him properly.

A series of "Gugu gugu!" cries came from in front of Saine.

Standing before him was an owl half the height of a man.

Saine truly seemed to have some fate with this owl. This was already his third encounter with it.

When Lina and Mike had nearly fought to mutual destruction just now, it had also been this owl that acted first, sweeping out a wind barrier between its wings to briefly separate them.

Only then, with both sides wary of each other and Saine strongly urging Lina to stop, did the two retreat behind the Safety Line.

"This is a small token of my gratitude. Thank you for acting in time. That includes what happened in the dungeon as well..." Saine said respectfully to the owl. At the same time, he took ten Black Gold coins from his robe.

Facing the Black Gold Saine offered, the Owl Academy Supervisor merely blinked and remained motionless.

Saine suddenly recalled that when he had been researching materials in the Public Library, he had once read in a Magic Book about underground magical beasts that magical beasts generally enjoyed devouring Energy Crystals or living in places rich in elemental energy.

Seeing this, Saine promptly took out the only elemental crystal he had on him.

It was a Low-Level Earth Crystal with half its internal energy already depleted, which he had obtained from Old Ghost Yierke.

Sure enough, after Saine took out the Earth Crystal, the owl before him finally moved.

Its slightly long hooked beak became an afterimage. The crystal in Saine's hand vanished the next second, replaced by the sound of "Crunch! Crunch!" from in front of him.

These Owl Academy Supervisors were probably wind-element magical beasts. Whether it was the magic they had used several times before or the speed they possessed, both bore clear characteristics of wind-element magical beasts.

A mere low-level Energy Crystal containing only half its energy had done nothing more than fill the gaps between this Owl Academy Supervisor's teeth.

Still, this was not bad. After all, few apprentices knew to show filial respect to Academy Supervisors like them.

Furthermore, orders from the Vice Dean and even the Dean made it nearly impossible for these rather powerful Academy Supervisors to leave the City of Mozhsuobula. Naturally, they could not speak of going out on their own to hunt Magic Cores.

"Apprentice, I will remember you."

"My name is Qi. If you need anything in the future, you can come find me in the treetops on the eastern side of White Crow Forest. Gugu!" After saying this, the owl spread its wings and left the training ground.

White Crow Forest was not far from the Apprentice Dormitory. In Saine's memory, there were no buildings on its eastern side, only a towering wall and dense White Crow Trees.

After watching the owl leave, Saine finally turned and walked toward Lina.

Formal Black Wizard Master Andis had long since departed, as had Saine's Senior Sister Fei'er. The only ones before Saine now were Lina and Fatty Baus.

"Ah, was I too late?"

"Saine, you are badly hurt! I have potions!" As Saine arrived before Lina, a little green-haired girl suddenly sprang out from the side and ran over to him.

The green-haired little girl before him was naturally Meili, one of the only two Low-Level Apprentices at the Black Wizard Academy whom Saine could truly speak his heart to.

Saine had thought she would not be coming to participate in this Grade Assessment, but unexpectedly, she had only arrived belatedly after it had just ended.

Meili was two years younger than Saine. Perhaps because she developed slowly as well, she actually looked even a little younger than Lina.

Unlike the apprentice atmosphere of the Black Wizard Academy, where intrigue and scheming were everywhere, Meili seemed like a pure girl who did not belong in this land of darkness.

If she had not been fortunate enough to take a Formal Black Wizard as her mentor early on, Saine seriously doubted whether she could have survived.

The moment Meili appeared on the training ground, she noticed the wounds on Saine's arm, beneath his armpit, and on his thigh.

Saine had fought two fairly capable Low-Level Apprentices in succession. Although he had won both battles in the end, he had still inevitably suffered some minor injuries.

Compared with the Death Qi currently winding around Lina, these wounds were nothing at all.

They did not even require any potions. With one or two months of rest, they would naturally heal.

The one who truly needed potions and other recovery measures was Lina.

Death Hand Mike's Death Qi corrosion had left Lina looking terrible.

She needed to take antidotes and purification potions as soon as possible. Though such potions were expensive, Lina, as an Advanced Apprentice, should be able to afford them.

At worst, she could quickly return to her mentor. No matter how difficult Master Feilunna was to get along with, she probably would not stand by and do nothing.

Saine's polite refusal, along with the icy aura radiating from Lina beside him, startled Meili, who was not even one and a half meters tall, into jumping back.

Meili had always been somewhat afraid of Saine's live-in girlfriend.

Although Lina had never deliberately targeted Meili, in Saine's memory, she seemed never to have shown Meili a pleasant expression either.

In the past, Saine had thought this was simply a powerful apprentice's disdain and ordinary cold attitude toward a lower-level apprentice.

But now, he seemed to sense something else.

Though Meili had been frightened badly, her heart was still kind.

Her tiny trembling hand took a slender transparent test tube from the red cloth bundle in her arms.

This was a Low-Level Antidote Meili had made herself.

Although it could not remove all of Lina's corpse poison, it would at least make her feel a little better.

It was also this kind gesture from Meili that caused the coldness between Lina's brows to melt away by a fraction.