Assistant

First-year courses did not require apprentices to attend every session; there was no roll call at all. As long as you had no problems and were confident of passing the year-end elimination assessment, it did not matter if you never showed up.

That was exactly what Adam did. Aside from the first round of classes, he never attended again.

Potion knowledge taught apprentices to understand the properties of various plants and concoct lethally poisonous potions—yes, poisons. Potion knowledge did not teach healing; it only taught killing. Still, it had an interesting side: by understanding plants, one could blend all kinds of seasonings, which were quite useful for magic cuisine.

At the Current Stage, alchemy knowledge was close to materials science and metallurgy. Clearly, its core content was not being taught. No matter how sturdy one refined a metal, without knowing how to inscribe runes within it, it was nothing more than an ordinary object.

Body refining knowledge taught apprentices with the aptitude to become Body Refining Mages how to temper magic power into their bodies. It was an elective and was not included in the final assessment. However, the body refining instructor was a Formal Mage, and his appearance... was quite bizarre. He did not look human at all. Adam guessed that more advanced material probably involved research into bloodlines and DNA.

After learning the assessment criteria, Adam never appeared in a classroom again. Apart from his unwavering daily breakfast, he spent all his time in the library.

Books were expensive. Knowledge was expensive. That was Adam's most immediate impression. Reading every book required a varying number of Energy Stones, and there were time limits on reading. Reading the same book again required paying again. Fortunately, Adam possessed computer-level memory. Remembering everything at a glance was child's play to him; he could even recite passages while skipping words without making a single mistake.

The library was divided by rank. New Apprentices could only read the contents of the First Floor; higher-level material could not be accessed even with money.

Yet even the books on the First Floor were too numerous to count. One day, after Adam had immersed himself in reading without regard for the cost, he suddenly realized that his balance was insufficient.

There were quite a few old bookworms in the library. These Senior Apprentices were not as shallow as those who had arrived alongside Adam. After their initial surprise at Adam's reading speed, they discovered that he possessed terrifying memory and comprehension, along with the most basic aptitude for Mental Power. With talent like that, while they could not be certain whether Adam could become a mage, becoming a Senior Apprentice like them was certainly no problem. Thus, they acknowledged that Adam was qualified to speak with them as an equal.

Moreover, such talent could easily win the favor of Formal Mages and earn him a position as their experimental assistant. At the lower levels, that already counted as a Boundless Future.

"Adam, do you remember where Elementary Enchanted Plants and Their Properties is?" Elliot Pierce was one of those old bookworms, as well as the apprentices' potion instructor. He specialized in crafting potent poisons. According to him, during the last Tower War, he had used poisons he made himself to Annihilate six high-level apprentices.

"Botany shelves, third level, sixth row." Adam casually gave the location, still expressionlessly staring at the book in his hands that he could not afford to read, <The Most Elementary Alterations to the Fireball Rune Array>.

"Oh, thank you." After thanking him, Elliot was about to leave. They had grown accustomed to asking Adam whenever they could not find a book, and Adam had never disappointed them. But in the past, Adam had always read without even lifting his head. This time, Elliot realized that Adam was spacing out?

"What's this? Out of Energy Stones?" Elliot leaned close to Adam and asked teasingly.

Adam returned the book to the shelf and coldly pulled away from Elliot before saying, "Yes. Please stay farther away from me, Mr. Elliot."

Clearly, poisonous creatures were not welcome among ordinary creatures. Though no one rejected him, neither did they wish to get too close. Adam still remembered the harmful hormones that had flooded his body the first time he encountered Elliot.

Elliot curled his lip and stopped as requested, grumbling, "I've told you, I have antidotes for all my poisons. They won't hurt you."

Adam remained unmoved. "But it is not a pleasant experience."

"Fine, fine. You shallow people simply have no way to appreciate the beauty of changes in material properties." After muttering that, Elliot said, "Adam, I have a way for you to earn Energy Stones. Want to hear it?"

"Of course."

Elliot said in a coaxing tone, "My laboratory lacks an assistant to record experimental data for me. I fired the previous idiot. With your memory, Adam, you can definitely handle the job. So? Want to come help me?"

Adam suddenly remembered James's earlier invitation. Since it had not seemed very important, he had not added it to his memo. The next rune knowledge class was coming up soon...

"Don't worry, I absolutely will not use you as a Test Subject. The academy does not permit that. You would only be recording data for me. And I can let you pass the potion knowledge assessment directly." Seeing that Adam did not speak, Elliot tempted him again.

Working as an assistant in a laboratory did sound good, but a poison laboratory was clearly not a very good choice. Thinking this, Adam asked Elliot, "Mr. Elliot, do you know Mr. James?"

"Just call me Elliot. James? Of course I know him. He should be the meditation instructor for your batch, right?"

"Yes. He invited me to work as an assistant in his laboratory on the first day."

Elliot understood. "I see. He still hasn't given up?"

Adam asked in confusion, "Are experimental assistants difficult to find?"

"That depends. Formal Mages' laboratories never lack assistants, while apprentices' laboratories have it a little harder. But James's meditation laboratory is an exception."

"Why is he an exception?"

Elliot said, "You've probably heard his understanding of Mage's Armor, right? You thought it made a lot of sense, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"But Mage's Armor is not actually that important. Hmm, that's not quite right. It would be more accurate to say that it is not the most crucial thing during the apprentice stage. Mage's Armor can be adjusted, and those adjustments can be made at any level. The reason James is so obsessed with researching Meditation Methods during the apprentice stage is simply because his aptitude is insufficient. Back then, he only barely reached one unit of Mental Power, had no soul affinity whatsoever, and his Elemental Affinity was also very low. So he wanted to advance to Formal Mage through pure Mental Power."

Elliot continued, "Before the Tower War, there were several people in circumstances similar to his who experimented alongside him. But unfortunately, they all died. The surviving apprentices do not really agree with his ideas. So what if a Meditation Method is exquisitely refined? No matter what, during the apprentice stage, our Lifespans are limited."

Adam had learned about Lifespan through his conversations with Senior Apprentices. Because the Energy Level of aether and magic power was too high, a Flesh Body and a fragile soul had to pay a heavy price to contain and use them. Though Mental Power could neutralize them, it also greatly reduced an apprentice's Lifespan. Generally speaking, without special life-extending medicines, apprentices did not live past a hundred.

Elliot concluded, "So we all think he is wasting his time. The academy's Formal Mages do not support him much either. It is only because his research can slightly improve meditation efficiency that they have not cut his project."

"I see." Adam was thoughtful. What Elliot said made sense, but Adam did not think James's research was wrong either. At the very least, he strongly agreed with the idea that it could make it easier to get through the weak stage.

Seeing Adam remain silent, Elliot advised, "Adam, with your aptitude, there is no need for you to study how to improve the efficiency of Meditation Methods. You need to understand that, during the apprentice stage, our first priority is ensuring that we advance within our limited lives. If you are interested in that sort of research, you will have plenty of time to do it after becoming a Formal Mage."

Other than wanting to hire Adam, Elliot's advice was probably sincere. After thanking him earnestly, Adam said, "I am interested in his research direction. I need to learn more about it. Thank you for telling me this, Elliot."

Elliot sighed helplessly and waved his hand. "Fine, do as you like. My laboratory will always welcome you." He had reason to be helpless. If James's laboratory was so bleak because it had no prospects for development, then Elliot's experiments could not recruit anyone because they were unpopular. Being around those terrifying poisonous plants and venomous creatures every day was certainly not a pleasant experience.

Adam ran into Krystal on his way out of the library.

Krystal was troubled. She had a pure air—wind—Elemental Affinity. Of the three magic Rune Arrays Black Mage had left behind, apart from Wind Blade, she struggled to master all of them. Furthermore, no matter how great the academy's pressure was, it could not compare to the life-or-death struggle aboard the ship. The wisdom she displayed in Desperate Situations had nowhere to be used. She could only look at the pitiful balance on her identity token and hope to find two air-element spells to study in the library.

It was also the first time she had seen Adam in several days. Because of what had happened before, she did not quite know how to speak to him.

"Adam, y-you... hello," Krystal stammered.

Adam stood calmly by the roadside and replied, "Hello."

Krystal gathered her courage and said, "A-Adam, why haven't you been attending class lately? Have you really given up on yourself?"

Because you were isolated? She did not say those words aloud.

Adam looked at her strangely, not knowing why she had suddenly said that. Given the relationship between them, they did not seem close enough for this, did they? Human logic truly was a strange thing.

Though he thought that, Adam still answered, "No. It was too easy." Then he ignored her and headed straight toward James's laboratory.

Krystal was left alone, utterly disheveled in the wind. "Too easy? That reason... it's simply..."

Only after a long while did she collect herself and head toward the library. At that moment, she found those companions who gossiped behind Adam's back utterly laughable. It turned out that, in Adam's eyes, he and they were not even the same kind of people.