Egg

Adam casually handed several items to Elliot. The astonishment in Elliot's heart rose wave after wave. Though he had long expected the rewards to be substantial, he had never imagined there would be so many.

The contract aside, that was what Adam had truly earned; the Tower could not possibly shortchange him in that regard. The significance of the other items was different. The materialized rune came from the Second Element Holy Tower. A rune capable of granting an apprentice a Personal Space at the Current Stage was immensely valuable; among Mordo Academy's apprentices, Adam was the only one to possess it. The library pass, meanwhile, represented the Tower's confidence in Adam's future—a subtle gesture of recruitment.

Most unbelievable of all was that egg. Elliot held it up and said to Adam, "I can't believe the Tower would reward you with something of this level. It looks like it came from the Abyss, my friend. You must be careful. Abyssal Creatures are all chaotic and evil. If your strength cannot overpower it, it will eat you."

Adam stored the warning away, but he was not worried. Surpassed by his own pet? Impossible.

Adam said evenly, "This is a reward from Victor Mage. He said I helped him solve a major problem." Then he asked curiously, "Also, do you know what the trial nine months from now is about?"

Reluctantly, Elliot returned the four items to Adam, muttering, "If you were willing to sell these, you'd become rich in an instant. This is so enviable!" Then Elliot said to Adam with malicious delight, "You still don't know about the trial? Ha, I forgot—you've been cooped up in the laboratory lately."

Elliot then told Adam why the trial was being held. Adam frowned. Whether the apprentices hated him meant nothing to him; he only cared about the trial itself. With his strength, if the trial were held only among this batch of apprentices, Adam could easily Annihilate them all. But from the information Victor Mage had revealed, the trial was clearly not going to be that simple.

Adam asked Elliot, "Do you know how the trial will be conducted?"

Elliot shook his head. "It's different every time. Sometimes they throw all the apprentices into a secret realm and have them slaughter one another; those who survive qualify. Sometimes they throw them into a Magic Beast habitat, and those who survive qualify. It depends on the academy's arrangements."

Adam got no useful information from Elliot, but there was no need to worry too much. Since it was a trial, battle was unavoidable. He only needed to prepare for battle. With nine months left, Adam could use the convenience of free reading to learn as much magic as possible.

"And this egg." Adam weighed it in his hand. If he could hatch it within nine months, it should be useful... probably? Adam did not know the growth cycle of this kind of Other Plane Creature. What use an "infant" could possibly have remained questionable.

Adam thought about his own affairs as he traveled. He did not choose to fly back to the laboratory, allowing the apprentices to see him once again with strange, hateful eyes.

"Can geniuses do whatever they want?"

"Can geniuses disregard whether others live or die?"

"Why do we have to be in the same batch as someone like this? That damned, selfish..."

These people's thoughts were strange. They would not look for the cause in themselves, nor would they actively fight for the right to choose. Instead, they drifted helplessly with the current while complaining that the Water Flow did not run according to their wishes.

They only dared speak to themselves in their hearts, or complain in low voices. They did not even dare let Adam hear them. Adam's actions not long ago had been highly effective; at least no fools jumped out to disturb him. They knew Adam would truly kill.

William stood in the distance, watching Adam, his heart torn by struggle.

Only four apprentices from Barren Island had survived. After Ophelia joined the laboratory, she vanished without a trace. Krystal had been accepted as a disciple by a Formal Mage. Adam radiated an inextinguishable brilliance. Only William had completely faded into the crowd, and more tragically, he could not find a way out.

His soul Fire Element affinity had once filled him with pride, but only after arriving at the academy did he discover that it was not worth much at all. It could not make anyone think more highly of him. It would have been fine if the academy could remain as it was, but he could have guessed with his knees that after the trial, the academy's situation would undergo Earth-shattering changes. If he did not seek change now, he would sink completely.

But he had neither resources nor connections. Duke Alfred's support had amounted to those magic items, all of which he had sold for Energy Stones. Yet even after exhausting every last Energy Stone, he had failed to learn more than a few spells.

So he thought of Adam, this "companion" who had already established his own laboratory. Through his own channels, he had learned of the power of telekinesis and realized that this was an opportunity to change his Current Stage.

As William watched Adam's figure about to enter the building, he finally let out a long breath of stale air and gave a bitter smile. Losing to someone like this was not something shameful, was it?

After convincing himself, William hurried after Adam and called out, "Adam, please wait."

Adam had been thinking about how to hatch the egg. Victor Dean had not told him, but Adam had formed some guesses from the feeling he got when he touched the eggshell. He needed to confirm them at the library. Just then, he heard a voice behind him. "William."

William said directly, "Adam, I apply to join your laboratory, as... as a Test Subject participating in your research."

Adam had not expected to hear such words. He looked at William and asked, "What is your initial Mental Power in units?"

William had not expected Adam to ask that either. Given their previous conflict, William had prepared himself to be rejected outright, even humiliated. Yet Adam's attitude toward him was no different from his attitude toward a stranger.

As expected, Adam had never even considered me worth noticing.

William drew that conclusion dejectedly, forced himself to rally, and answered, "3.75."

James was a low-aptitude sample, and Frank was a special sample. William could serve as an ordinary sample. Obtaining data from multiple samples would help improve the Meditation Method—this was Adam's thought after seeing the profit-sharing contract. Every research project required vast resources, and his greatest Current Stage source of resources was telekinesis. Since that was the case, he might as well shift the research somewhat toward universal applicability.

Of course, the purpose of a Test Subject was to save him time. When the time came, he would only need to deal with the problems that had been summarized.

Having thought this through, Adam said to William, "Fine. Report to my laboratory tomorrow morning. I'll prepare the contract in advance."

Adam turned and left after speaking. This was only a small matter. Once telekinesis truly spread, many more people would apply to join. Whether William was among them made no difference to Adam.

It had been a long time since he had come to the library. The First Floor was much livelier than before, and Adam noticed a strange phenomenon: some apprentices gathered in groups to read a single book.

"Adam." "Adam."

Several Senior Apprentices lingering on the First Floor greeted Adam, drawing the Newbies' attention. The way they looked at Adam was no different from those people before. Ridiculously, when Adam passed by, they also stepped aside with a measure of awe and fear.

After returning each greeting, Adam walked to the Other Plane records shelf and began looking through materials on the Abyss Plane.

Adam had not paid attention to these books before, because he knew he was still far from being able to participate in a Plane War. There was no need to waste Energy Stones here.

Through the books, Adam learned that the Abyss Plane was a collective term for a type of chaotic, disorderly, twisted planes. These planes had no civilization. From the moment every creature was born, it had to fight and kill without end to seize resources for survival. They followed instinct, were naturally gifted, and could continuously devour to increase their destructive power.

Adam returned the book to the shelf. This kind of general introduction was of no help to him. For the first time, he headed toward the library's Second Floor.

Like most buildings, the library was tower-shaped. The higher the level, the more profound the knowledge and the fewer the books. Adam was highly purposeful. Though he was curious about magical knowledge, he did not linger and went straight to the Other Plane records shelf. Sure enough, he found what he needed there—Hatching and Cultivation of Abyssal Creatures.

"Abyssal life is a peculiar form of life. Its evolution is chaotic and cruel; the stronger it becomes, the more disorderly it is. Its diet encompasses all things: aether, energy, flesh and blood—there is nothing it cannot devour. Moreover, this devouring is one-sided: things only go in, with no return."

Adam fell into thought as he read the opening sentence. By Earth's understanding, life was the only entropy-decreasing phenomenon within the universe, a closed system of increasing entropy. Yet in this high-magic world, Entropy Increase Life actually existed. In other words, once Abyssal Creatures grew powerful enough, they would destroy the plane they inhabited, then turn to invade other planes.

Adam felt that this was not much different from mages. The only difference was that mages used invasions of other planes to Backfeed Mage World.

The forms of Abyssal Creatures were not fixed. Their appearances often exceeded the bounds of description. Their hatching method, however, was nothing special. These things were easy to raise; enough energy and enough flesh and blood would suffice. But the key was to continuously inscribe a Master-Servant Contract with one's own blood and Mental Power from the very beginning of hatching. Only then could it be controlled by a mage.

The Rune Array of the Master-Servant Contract was not complicated. Adam memorized it in less than an hour. But signing a Master-Servant Contract did not mean one could rest easy. If the Master's strength could not keep pace with the servant's growth, the servant would inevitably Backfeed.

The final warning in the book caught Adam's attention: Abyssal Creatures that reached Level One were forbidden from appearing in the Mage Plane. Otherwise, they would be destroyed by the World Guardian.