A Year and a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice

A year later.

Inside the house Locke rented with Lorne on Dwarf Street, Locke put on a pair of rubber gloves in his room.

He then grabbed a poison dart frog from a glass vessel and used tools to thoroughly mash it into pulp.

Next, he added a blue-ringed octopus, crushed it as well, and mixed it with the fragments of the poison dart frog.

He then added castor beans, crushed them, and poured the mixture into a glass jar engraved with twenty-one Ogham Tree Runes.

Sitting on the floor, Locke began chanting over the vessel. "Nivris... Nivris..."

As the chant continued, the twenty-one Ogham Tree Runes lit up one after another, extracting special substances from the mixture while evaporating its impurities.

This was the most crucial step of Poison Berry Shot, a cantrip from the Plant Magic branch of the Life School.

Locke was extremely careful. According to Sophia's warning, even the slightest mistake at this stage could cause the toxins to leak, inflicting enormous harm on nearby living creatures.

Spell poison was a type of toxin that was difficult to naturally dissipate in the environment.

Moreover, using rituals and magic to combine toxins from plants and animals found in nature into supernatural spell poison was itself exceedingly dangerous.

If even one step went wrong, it could result in magical backlash.

Failure was merely the safest possible outcome.

Sophia had once told him that there was a Wizard Apprentice at Lilith's Cottage, one from the same generation as her and with third-grade aptitude, who had disfigured himself while learning this spell because he had written one Ogham Tree Rune at the wrong angle, causing the mixed poison to explode.

That semi-finished spell poison had permanently remained in his skin through the explosion.

Among all Cantrip Models, Poison Berry Shot was considered relatively dangerous, but it was also fairly powerful.

Therefore, it required prolonged study and repeated simulations. One could not attempt it rashly.

Locke looked at the ten rings on his hands. Five brand-new Deep Blue Jades were stabilizing his Mana, while five Dark Cyan Jades were supplying him with Mana, compensating for his own Mana being insufficient to fully operate Poison Berry Shot.

Only with the aid of these jades did he dare attempt this 0.4-ring cantrip after studying for merely a year.

As time passed, the mixed liquid in Locke's glass vessel completely evaporated, leaving behind only a single crystal-clear drop of pale purple liquid.

Locke glanced at the mechanical clock in his room. An hour had already passed.

By then, his Mana had been completely depleted.

An ordinary Wizard Apprentice would have had no choice but to interrupt the spell at this point. Without Mana, continuing would only lead to losing control of the spell and suffering magical backlash.

However, Locke activated the five Dark Cyan Jades on his right hand, and the fifty points of Mana stored within them gradually flowed back into his body.

After replenishing his Mana, Locke opened the glass vessel and made the Mandrake Vine on his right hand visible. Then, with utmost care, he dripped the crystal-clear pale purple liquid onto the leaves of the Invisible Mandrake Vine.

Instantly, the Invisible Mandrake Vine reacted. It seemed to be in great pain, all its branches and leaves trembling as twenty-one Ogham Runes appeared on its surface.

About ten minutes later, the Invisible Mandrake Vine's reaction subsided, and the Ogham Runes on its surface gradually faded away.

Pale purple, raspberry-like fruits appeared among the branches and leaves of the Invisible Mandrake Vine.

At the same time, a new Spell Model appeared in Locke's Sea of Consciousness. It consisted of twenty-one Ogham Tree Runes.

Its spell intensity was 0.4 rings.

It even surpassed the intensity of the Stone Crab Bloodline modification Professor Alder had performed on him back on the Corfu Continent. That bloodline modification had only been 0.3 rings.

Locke let out a breath and looked at his hands. The five Deep Blue Jades were now covered in cracks and had completely lost their effect. Countless cracks had also appeared inside the five Dark Cyan Jades, and they looked unusable as well.

But despite the great expenditure, the reward was worth it.

He had completed [Poison Berry Shot].

At the same time, because he had completed [Poison Berry Shot], Locke felt that his Mental Power had also improved tremendously.

With a thought, Locke chanted an incantation and activated his remaining Mana. The Invisible Mandrake Vine on his hand immediately responded, launching roughly five pale purple raspberries at a calf locked inside a cage in his room.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The five pale purple raspberries struck the calf and shattered instantly. Liquid and poisonous gas burst forth, and the calf collapsed to the ground before it could even last a second.

This calf was roughly the size of an adult human.

Taking out his dissection tools, Locke immediately opened the iron cage and began dissecting the calf, assessing the speed of his Poison Berry Shot and the actual damage it inflicted.

"Mm, purple web-like patterns appeared on the skin, with bruising beneath it. There is black mucus in the nasal and oral cavities. This was caused by damage to the creature's internal nerves and blood vessels."

"The heart, liver, and kidneys have all suffered necrosis, turning into something like bean curd dregs."

"This is even more powerful than the poison described for Poison Berry Shot in the books. Ordinary Poison Berry Shot only severely damages the nerves, but the poison from my spell causes comprehensive organ failure inside the target's body."

Locke began to think. The spell poison created by my Poison Berry Shot destroyed this calf's nerves and blood vessels in an instant, while also causing irreversible damage to its internal organs.

"This should be because I synthesized the blue-ringed octopus corpse, castor beans, and poison dart frog corpse. The castor beans, poison dart frog corpse, and blue-ringed octopus corpse were all Level 5."

Although no special synthesis recipe had appeared and they were merely ordinary Level 5 synthesized items, repeatedly synthesizing them had undoubtedly strengthened their base toxicity.

And the base poison of Poison Berry Shot was determined by the raw materials used in these spell rituals.

This had caused the poison Locke applied to the Invisible Mandrake Vine for Poison Berry Shot to surpass the spell's originally expected effect.

Locke believed that the power of his spell had likely exceeded the original 0.4-ring standard and reached the level of 0.5 rings.

After all, the materials used in every step of this spell had been synthesized to Level 5 with the Horadric Cube, strengthening them out of thin air.

There was no reason its intensity would be the same as one created with ordinary materials.

Locke finally understood. No wonder he had felt a leap in his Mental Power after completing this spell. So that was the reason.

The stronger the spell he completed, the greater the improvement to his Mental Power would naturally be.

Locke sat down and took out a Rose-Red Gem, beginning to absorb the red mist inside it.

Based on his experience over the past year, this special red mist-like substance currently had the greatest effect when he absorbed it.

An hour later, the color of the Rose-Red Gem had faded, turning it into an ordinary white gemstone, while Locke's Mental Power had reached its current limit.

Locke opened his eyes, and a flash of blue light passed through them. "Including Green Purifying Grasp, I've completed three Spell Models."

"Poison Berry Shot in particular exceeded my original expectations. It may very well double the rate at which my Mental Power improves."

"I originally planned to become a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice within two years, but now I don't know..."

"I don't know whether my Mental Power has reached 50. I'll know once I borrow Sophia's Amethyst Matrix and test it."

"Over the past year, I've also finished the three major foundational public courses and received countless private lessons from Sophia."

It could be said that he had improved enormously over the past year.

If the Locke from a year ago fought the current him, he would probably die in less than a single exchange.

With a thought, Locke chanted the incantation for Green Purifying Grasp. The Invisible Mandrake Vine on his right hand immediately began moving rapidly, but instead of its vine branches lashing out, its branches and leaves underwent Rapid Growth, winding forward and forming a shield.

Green Purifying Grasp was a supplementary spell to Vine Hand. It was not very difficult, so Locke had completed it more than half a year ago.

This spell could restrain enemies, but it could also form vine shields and vine walls, providing a certain degree of defense. It was considered an auxiliary spell.

Now that Locke possessed four spells, the diversity of his spell pool had increased greatly, which was immensely useful in battle.