Intermediate Apprentice

At the mention of antidotes, besides the Low-Level Antidote Meili had taken out, Saine immediately recalled that he still had half a bottle of the Intermediate Antidote bestowed by Master Moxidu.

However, Saine had left that antidote at the home he shared with Lina, and they needed to retrieve it for her to take as soon as possible.

"We'll head back first. See you all again in a while!" Supporting Lina by the arm, Saine spoke to Baus and Meili in front of him.

Saine had, at the very least, two close friends in Baus and Meili. He also knew several Low-Level Apprentices fairly well, though their relationships were only ordinary.

But Lina had always been a lone wolf. Aside from Saine, she seemed to have no one at Black Wizard Academy she could talk to.

"Mhm. If anything comes up, come find me in the East District. You know which shop I'm at," Fatty Baus answered first.

This fat man was also deeply wary of Lina, an Advanced Apprentice who had always been cold and aloof. Still, he handled himself far better than Meili did, without showing any obvious fear.

Meili, meanwhile, wore an unmistakably frightened expression.

She furtively glanced at Lina, then swiftly stuffed the three potions from her red cloth bundle into Saine's hand.

These three potions were also Low-Level Recovery Potions made by Meili herself.

Potions involving the recovery of Mental Strength and magic power were far too advanced; Meili was not yet capable of making them.

These three Low-Level Recovery Potions could only help heal minor external injuries and accelerate the recovery of bodily tissues.

But that was no easy feat either. After all, how old was Meili this year? And how long had she been studying potion-making under Master Deers?

In the City of Mozhsuobula, potions were scarcely less valuable than magic items.

Even the lowest-grade potions were not something ordinary Magic Apprentices could afford.

Otherwise, Saine would not have gone to pick a fight with a Saltwater Crocodile bare-chested back then.

Looking at the three potions in his hand, Saine gave Meili a grateful look.

But Lina's condition could not wait. Without the time for further conversation, Saine supported Lina and headed straight for the dormitory building.

Only after watching Saine and Lina leave the training grounds did Fatty Baus and Meili prepare to depart as well.

Before leaving, however, Fatty Baus rubbed his chubby hands together and said to Meili with a broad grin, "Little sister Meili, you're pretty impressive. You can actually make Low-Level Antidotes and Low-Level Recovery Potions now."

"How about you let me take care of your business? Once we make money, we split it seventy-thirty," Baus said to Meili.

Meili and Baus were not actually familiar with each other.

They had only come to know one another through Saine as an intermediary.

Baus had once thought that Saine was simply overflowing with sympathy by taking care of this little girl for no reason.

Now, however, it seemed Saine had long possessed the foresight, while Baus himself had been somewhat shortsighted.

Faced with Fatty Baus's ingratiating smile, little Meili merely rolled her eyes.

When she had first arrived in the Underdark, she had indeed been a pure and flawless little girl. But after studying and living at the Black Wizard Academy in the City of Mozhsuobula for so long, even the purest little white flower was bound to adapt to some of the atmosphere of the Underground World.

Meili was not immediately moved by Baus's ingratiating smile. Instead, she shook her head and said, "My success rate for making Low-Level Recovery Potions is only thirty percent, while my success rate for Low-Level Antidotes is only ten percent."

"If you can provide the necessary materials for making potions, I can consider working with you."

Meili's bargaining proved that she had gradually matured at the Black Wizard Academy as well.

Upon hearing Meili's proposed terms of cooperation, Fatty Baus's face first twisted bitterly.

But after learning from Meili what potion ingredients she roughly needed, the fat man's expression visibly eased again.

"The materials you mentioned are all very low-grade and won't cost much Black Gold, but I imagine you'll need them in large quantities."

"So we'll have to discuss the specific profit split from the potion sales again," Fatty Baus said.

This time, after pondering for a moment, Meili nodded in agreement.

Given the dangerous environment of the Underdark in the Underground World, there was never any shortage of fighting here, and there were also many kinds of poisonous substances.

Once Meili's antidotes and recovery potions were introduced, they would certainly find a market.

The only things Fatty Baus could not quite gauge were how long Meili took to make these two kinds of potions, and whether her true success rates were really as she claimed.

Leaving aside the subsequent cooperation between Meili and the fat man, Saine had already helped Lina back to their home.

To make Lina feel a little better, besides feeding her a Low-Level Antidote and a Recovery Potion, Saine also placed his Strong Acid Scepter in Lina's hands.

The gradual recovery of Mental Strength and magic power would likewise make Lina feel a little better.

"Don't worry about me. My injuries aren't actually as serious as you think."

"Once I go to my mentor tomorrow and ask for a Purification Potion, this Death Qi should be completely driven out," Lina reassured Saine.

Lina's mentor truly seemed to value her highly. Besides what Lina had mentioned, Saine also knew that the bracelet around her wrist had been gifted to her by her mentor, Feilunna.

Besides increasing the recovery of Dark Element magic power to some extent, that bracelet could also assist Lina in casting a spell—Shadow Assault.

This was the apprenticeship gift Feilunna had given Lina. It seemed these Formal Black Wizards were all quite wealthy.

"Mhm. Rest and meditate for a while first. I'll go make food," Saine said with a nod.

When Saine arrived at his mentor Master Moxidu's place again, Moxidu, who was in the middle of an experiment, still spared a moment from his busy schedule to see him and acknowledged his winning of the academy reward.

His mentor must have learned of it because Senior Sister Fei'er had told him in advance.

In the face of his mentor's praise, Saine maintained his usual humility and respect.

"It was your guidance and Magic Notebook, Mentor, that benefited this disciple immensely. Senior Sister Fei'er also taught me many techniques for using Fire Element Magic," Saine said.

Moxidu nodded and said, "Advance to Intermediate Apprentice as soon as possible. Once you reach the Intermediate Apprentice level, you can join your Senior Brother and Senior Sisters in assisting me with certain experiments."

"This will also help you integrate into our school of knowledge more quickly and explore the Truth Dao," Moxidu encouraged him.

After watching Master Moxidu return to his laboratory, Saine also returned to the side room that seemed to belong solely to him.

Saine held the Strong Acid Scepter in his left hand, while his right hand clutched a small crystal ball containing the Initial Meditation Method his mentor had bestowed upon him.

"Then, Intermediate Apprentice, here I come."

Taking a deep breath, Saine relied on the Strong Acid Scepter's slow magic recovery effect and the relatively dense elemental concentration throughout the room to meditate on his Mental Strength again and again, attempting to break through the shackles limiting the amount of magic power his body could contain.

After successive battles, and with Saine having long stood at the threshold of a breakthrough, advancing to Intermediate Apprentice was as natural as water flowing into a channel.

A sixteen-year-old Intermediate Apprentice should count as something of a young genius, shouldn't he?

In the City of Mozhsuobula, Low-Level Apprentices over the age of twenty-five were everywhere.

Yet Low-Level Apprentices over thirty were rare.

It was not that every magic apprentice was such a genius that they could advance to Intermediate Apprentice before turning thirty.

Rather, the Black Magicians of the academy deliberately purged those wastes who had failed to advance to Intermediate Apprentice even after passing thirty.

The academy did not keep wastes. With resources limited, those little fellows with limited aptitude and talent could only die.