The Necessity of Having a Specialty

Thor successfully secured the job responsible for the third stage of processing in the Corpse Room, the price for which was the maid losing her throat.

Thor also received a leather robe from Kazi.

It was a bit stuffy to wear, but he no longer had to worry about splashing flesh and blood, and it was very easy to clean.

Kazi told Thor to come to the Corpse Room to work every day between three and seven o'clock. However, nothing here could be taken out, including the corpses.

Thor no longer needed to go to the laboratory; he couldn't do much or learn anything there.

If he handed in a large amount of materials, he could receive extra rewards—Kazi believed Thor's ability already exceeded the value of 3 credits, so he added a bonus on top of the fixed pay to encourage Thor to work hard.

For a level-one apprentice, this was already a very high wage.

Normally, a new apprentice is only considered a formal level-one apprentice after mastering all basic knowledge.

Aside from earning a few credits by passing the monthly tests, they had to rely on work assigned by mentors to earn more.

Although the Gorsa Wizard Tower was tall, the work available inside for apprentices was limited.

Safer jobs generally paid 1-3 credits per month, while dangerous ones could pay 4-7.

In particular, a 7-credit job meant that even a veteran level-one apprentice could die.

Without some means of self-preservation, ordinary people wouldn't dare take them.

Thor's job was not entirely without danger either.

According to mentor Kazi, by the time a corpse reached Thor, it had already gone through two rounds of screening.

The person responsible for the most dangerous first round was a level-two apprentice, who would do his best to eliminate the dangers on the corpse.

The person responsible for the second round was a veteran level-one apprentice who had mastered basic wizard knowledge and knew a few rank-0 spells. He could protect himself and filter out most of the useful materials from the corpses.

Thor, relying on his accidental ability to scavenge corpses, was lucky enough to get the third-round job.

Although the third round was less dangerous and paid less, if he maintained today's efficiency, earning 6 credits a month was not impossible.

This was the importance of having a specialty.

Mentor Kazi also didn't understand why Thor, whose dark element perception was not strong—not even considered passing—was so sensitive to the anomalies on dead bodies.

He could only attribute it to Thor being naturally sensitive to spirits.

Low dark element perception but high sensitivity to spirits was just another way of saying he was prone to seeing ghosts.

Thor didn't understand why he could see various visions through meditation either, but not understanding didn't matter; it didn't stop him from using it.

When he had time, he could communicate with Keli; did different meditation diagrams bring different effects? Was there a difference in meditation speed?

As a newcomer, everything had to be explored on his own, and the mentors and seniors leading the way were clearly unwilling to provide free knowledge.

With mentor Kazi's guidance, Thor completed his first day of work smoothly and took the opportunity to familiarize himself with the general layout of the third-floor Corpse Room.

Having successfully found a third worker, Kazi was in high spirits and even gave Thor some pointers.

He discovered that Thor's mental talent was indeed excellent, showing speed and accuracy in rune learning. He also found it easy to immerse himself in meditation.

Thor even displayed a good talent for language learning while studying Noah Language.

With these abilities, he could get ahead in any ordinary profession.

It was just that as a wizard, having no magic talent was like being a weapon that couldn't kill. He could only be reduced to a plaything, driven and used by others.

Unless he could have some fortuitous encounter or wait for an opportunity to undergo Wizard Body Modification.

But with the high mortality rate of Wizard Body Modification even for level-two apprentices, how much of a chance did a level-one apprentice have of succeeding?

The hope was slim, practically non-existent.

Kazi's enthusiasm for teaching came and went quickly.

Before long, he left Thor alone in the Corpse Room, warning him that he must leave the second floor of the East Tower before eight o'clock, and that it was best not to linger in the East Tower at all.

Thor respectfully saw his mentor off, closed the door, and turned back to the conveyor belt.

He struggled with his thoughts for a while.

Now that he was the only one here, pulling the lever to welcome a corpse still required a lot of courage.

Thor's hand rested on the lever for about a minute before he suddenly pulled it down.

The conveyor belt rumbled to life, but after running for a long time, no new corpse appeared.

Thor felt strange and pulled it again.

Still nothing.

Just as Thor was feeling anxious and wanted to pull it a third time, a man's voice came from the exit with the black tassels.

"Stop pulling, there are no more for today."

"Understood."

"Pay attention to the light on the window; if it turns white, it means there is cargo."

"Uh, thank you, senior."

There was indeed a small candle lamp above the black tassel exit, appearing no different from the others on the surrounding walls.

But while all the other candle holders were currently emitting a bright white light, this one was dim and yellowish, flickering as if it were about to go out.

Mentor Kazi had not mentioned this to Thor, likely because he was not responsible for the specific operations here, leading to some procedural oversight.

With no work to do, Thor did not want to linger, so he left in a hurry.

As he departed, the burly man at the end of the corridor remained seated there, looking just like a corpse.

But Thor noticed his nostrils twitch.

He was alive.

The second day of being an apprentice passed smoothly, feeling incredibly comfortable compared to the first.

When classes started on the second day, Thor found Keli.

"I have ten Magic Crystals now."

"Pay me back."

Keli reached out her left hand.

"Do you want one credit or ten Magic Crystals?"

Keli's eyes widened immediately, "You got a job?"

Thor nodded.

"I heard the mentor say yesterday that besides passing tests for credits, apprentices can also take on positions within the Wizard Tower to earn them." She rested her chin on her hand, "But my mentor won't let me look for work; he only wants me to study. I don't have a single credit to my name yet."

He doesn't let you work because you don't need to work to pass the tests easily.

Thor felt a hint of bitterness, but he quickly suppressed the slight discomfort.

"So, do you want the credit or the Magic Crystals?"

"The credit, obviously." Keli looked like she wanted to pounce on him, "Damn it, I haven't even seen what a credit looks like yet."

Credits were not physical coins held in the hand, so they naturally could not be traded face-to-face in the classroom.

They would need to go to the registration office next to the library on the ninth floor of the East Tower to transfer the credit to Keli's account.

They soon turned their attention back to their studies.

For the second meditation class, Mentor Monica did not appear, replaced instead by a female second-rank apprentice. She taught a little bit of new material before sitting on the podium and beginning to meditate on her own.

Any apprentice who tried to approach with Magic Crystals to ask a question was glared back by her icy gaze.

Thus, the remainder of the class turned into a self-study session once again.

With no one to instruct them, some apprentices began to group together for support, discussing among themselves, and the classroom gradually grew noisy.

Keli remained seated beside Thor.

Thor looked at the Human-Monster Walking Diagram in his book, and a thought stirred in his mind, reminding him of yesterday's question.

"Keli, which diagram do you use for meditation?"

"The Secret Realm Flower on the third page."

"Are you able to meditate independently, without the crystal ball?"

"Of course not. The mentor said that if one can meditate independently, their mental power has basically reached the level of a second-rank apprentice." Keli looked surprised, "Can you already meditate independently?"

Thor shook his head, "I can only enter a hazy state, like being half-asleep. I can't absorb elemental particles, but I can stabilize my mental state."

"That's amazing." Keli gave him a thumbs-up without hesitation, "If I try to meditate without the crystal ball, I only see a mess of chaotic lines."

She leaned over, "Which meditation diagram are you using? Does the progress of meditation have anything to do with the diagram?"

"The Human-Monster Walking Diagram on the seventeenth page."

"..." Keli looked at him in confusion, flipped through her own book, and turned back, "Are our books different? Why don't I have this page?"