Public Classroom

After helping Saine carry the specimens back to his dormitory, little Tian Di left slowly, looking back every few steps.

She seemed to want to remind Saine that he had forgotten something.

But faced with Saine's indifferent expression and emotionless tone as he sent her away, Tian Di ultimately did not dare stay any longer.

After Tian Di left, Saine shook his head.

The apprentice specimen on the laboratory table would be enough to keep from rotting for two months.

Having spent the entire morning studying anatomy, Saine then walked to his bed and opened one of the five Magic Books Mentor Moxidu had given him.

"An Overview of Basic Knowledge of the Wizard World's Continents" was the thickest and largest book Saine had encountered so far.

Besides introducing some commonly used magical knowledge, many paragraphs had Mentor Moxidu's handwritten notes in their margins.

That valuable and practical magical knowledge was naturally one of the things Saine cared about most.

Yet what also greatly interested Saine were the customs and local color of the Wizard World and Wizard Continent described between the lines of this Magic Book.

Is the world we live in called the Wizard World?

And where is the Underdark in the Wizard World?

Where is my home in the Wizard World? Saine thought as he read the book before him.

Unfortunately, this was a Magic Book mainly introducing basic knowledge. Even by the end, Saine had not found the answers he wanted.

Even the notes describing the customs of different regions of the Wizard World were written obscurely, as though the writer did not wish to reveal too much about the Surface World and other regions of the Wizard World.

Saine could only vaguely tell that the world he lived in was far larger than he had imagined.

For in the notes Mentor Moxidu had left behind, Saine could also sense a trace of the smallness his mentor felt as a Formal Magician when facing the vast Wizard World as a whole.

Come to think of it, Saine had already been in the Underdark for ten years. Yet he had never seen an apprentice leave the City of Mozhsuobula and return to the Surface World.

The sunlight of day and the star-filled sky at night seemed to have become images buried deepest in Saine's memories.

Here in the Underdark, whenever Saine looked up, he could see only the faint glow of fluorescent stones embedded high in the underground ceiling.

The Black Magicians of the academy had sealed off the means of returning to the Surface World. Over the past ten years, Saine had explored many places around the City of Mozhsuobula, but he had never discovered any path that might lead to

the Surface World.

Even whenever the Black Magicians abducted fresh blood from the Surface World, all Saine saw was a colossal ship flying through midair.

Where did that giant ship come from, and what did it rely on to fly?

Saine did not know.

He only knew that every time, large numbers of children of suitable age were transported to the City of Mozhsuobula aboard that giant ship.

After all the children had been cast into the City of Mozhsuobula, the giant ship would vanish the next day, as though it had never appeared at all.

Under the dim yellow light cast by the Magic Crystal Lamp, the young figure reading a Magic Book stretched longer and longer.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, the sound of the door opening rang out.

A girl whose presence felt familiar and reassuring to Saine came to his side.

After accompanying Saine through another five pages, Lina said, "Get some rest early. Don't you still have other magic classes tomorrow?"

Nodding, Saine closed the enormous book in his hands and pushed it beneath the bed. Then he and Lina lay down together, embracing.

At some point, the Magic Crystal Lamp went out.

In the darkness, amid the muffled sounds of panting, Saine quietly said to the person before him, "Magician Ke Suo Long gave me a specimen today. The preservative fluid used on it is unusual. I don't know exactly how it was prepared."

"Mmm... I'll help you identify it tomorrow." After a soft moan, Lina replied gently.

In terms of anatomical skill and knowledge of darkness and death, Lina, an Advanced Apprentice, surpassed Saine by more than ten streets.

Even Saine's remarkably steady dissection technique had been learned from Lina through countless sessions of practice.

As an Advanced Apprentice specializing in fire and dark elemental magic, Lina was likewise interested in those related fields.

If they could truly unravel Magician Ke Suo Long's secret preservative fluid—or even uncover only a small portion of its mysteries—it would be enough to benefit Lina and Saine without end.

Discussing such matters while making love was not because Lina and Saine were particularly perverse. It was simply the norm in the underground world.

Saine and Lina had grown accustomed to casually speaking of death and specimens.

It marked that they had truly adapted to the identities of Black Magicians and to the atmosphere of the Black Wizard Academy.

It also marked that in every respect, they stood at the very top among the vast majority of apprentices.

Whether in strength, adaptability, or mentality.

Aside from Master Ke Suo Long's anatomy class, as the academy's Public Classrooms fully opened, Saine chose to audit any classes that interested him or could benefit him—such as Introduction to Potions, Magical Beast Identification, Initial Magic Model Construction, and more.

From names such as "Introduction" and "Initial," it was clear that the knowledge taught in these Public Classrooms was merely the most superficial portion of their respective fields of magic.

There was no helping it. Knowledge was priceless.

Unless one could become the disciple of a Formal Black Magician and thereby enter the inner hall, gaining the chance to truly study and research the profound knowledge of a field mastered by that magician,

wanting to achieve anything significant with only the crude introductory knowledge taught in Public Classrooms was no different from a fool dreaming in broad daylight.

In truth, Public Classrooms were intended more for Entry-Level Apprentices and Low-Level Apprentices within the academy.

Intermediate Apprentices like Saine had basically attended these classes before.

Even the Formal Black Magicians giving the lectures rarely presented anything new in Public Classrooms.

Moreover, Black Magicians were generally cold-tempered and arrogant. If one carelessly made them dislike the sight of you, even an apprentice above the intermediate level risked being beaten to death.

It was only that Intermediate Apprentices were far less likely to suffer such misfortune than Low-Level Apprentices and Entry-Level Apprentices.

After all, the academy had spent more than a decade training them. Having finally grown into Intermediate Apprentices or above, they were not simply left for Formal Black Magicians to kill at will.

While Saine audited those public courses, one particularly interesting thing was that the ones teaching Basic Knowledge of Fire Element and Introduction to Alchemy happened to be his own mentor, Moxidu.

Perhaps because Saine was present, Mentor Moxidu would bring out some relatively deeper new knowledge every time he lectured.

As a result, every one of Mentor Moxidu's classes drew enough apprentices to fill the entire classroom.

Even Saine, his direct disciple, served each time as Mentor Moxidu's assistant or class representative, standing at the lectern or before the laboratory table, learning at close range and experiencing the mysteries of magic and Truth.

During that time, Saine saw Tian Di, the Entry-Level Apprentice with whom he had crossed paths once, on several occasions.

After class, she would take the initiative to speak with Saine. This led many apprentices who did not know the truth to regard her as Saine's forbidden possession, so none dared set their sights on the tiny Entry-Level Apprentice.