So this Meditation Diagram was called the Erosion Diagram.
But Thor still thought the name he had come up with was more vivid and apt.
"Mentor, I asked the others. None of their meditation books have this diagram. Only mine does... Someone tampered with my book. Someone wants to kill me!"
Thor's expression shifted repeatedly between anger and fear.
"And?" Kazi was calm, even somewhat indifferent.
"Please save me, Mentor."
Kazi's thick white eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at Thor.
"Kid, the Wizard world isn't all goodness and kindness. To grow stronger and explore deeper mysteries, people will stop at nothing. You need to adapt to this world, not just keep looking for protection."
"Mentor Kazi, I understand survival of the fittest, but I've only been an Apprentice for two days, and someone's already gotten a maid—and even other Apprentices—to target me. Could there be something else going on? Right now..." Thor hunched his shoulders and clutched his stomach, speaking pitifully. "I don't even dare eat the food the maids bring me."
"Survival of the fittest?" Kazi paused. "You haven't learned much, kid, but you sure have a lot of fancy words."
He thought it over, then finally relented. "Whoever's trying to hurt you, having the Wizard Tower's servants and Apprentices do it is going too far. I know about this now. No one will dare tamper with the Apprentices' supplies again."
He placed a hand on Thor's head. "You managed to avoid the Erosion Diagram's trap through your own ability. That's what matters most. Go back, eat properly, and study hard. Get stronger, and you'll find that the dangers on the path to becoming a Wizard are far more terrifying than someone plotting against you."
Thor's plea for help had eaten into his time for questions. After speaking, Kazi clasped his hands behind his back and left the Corpse Room.
Thor felt a little relieved, but also somewhat disappointed.
Although Kazi had said he needn't worry about anyone tampering with his daily necessities again, he hadn't said he would help Thor find the one behind it.
In other words, Thor still had to worry about Sid causing him trouble elsewhere, or even... killing him personally.
Fortunately, the Wizard Tower seemed to have some restrictions on Level 2 Apprentices. Otherwise, Sid wouldn't have gone to such lengths to use underhanded tricks against him.
A Level 2 Apprentice could kill a new Apprentice with the flick of a finger.
He still had to find a way to grow stronger as quickly as possible.
At the same time, he had to figure out how to keep dodging Sid's repeated attempts to sabotage him until he could fight back.
Thor began copying books again.
His face expressionless, he wrote at a furious pace. Even when copying the complex Noah Language in the book, he barely slowed down.
At seven, he left the Corpse Room.
Just as he was heading out, the crimson door next door suddenly opened too, and a man in his early twenties stepped out. The badge on his clothes showed that he was also a Level 1 Apprentice.
His age made it clear that he was a very senior Level 1 Apprentice.
When the man saw Thor, his gaze passed over him as though he were looking at empty air.
Thor silently stepped aside and let him go up the Ramp first.
There was no work today, so everyone could leave on time.
Thor stood close to the doorway for a while, wanting to see if the red wooden door at the very end would open.
That should have been the room where the first stage of corpse processing took place.
But Thor waited for about ten minutes, and the door didn't budge.
Knowing he couldn't linger much longer, Thor hurried away with his books.
Kazi was in a bad mood today.
None of the new Apprentices he'd acquired satisfied him.
Duke had a strong sensitivity to Dark Element and a decent Magic Power Talent, but he was inflexible and lacked inspiration.
If he was struggling so much with a few little Runes, how would he ever learn Witchcraft?
Angela's talent was decent too, and she was a little smarter than Duke, but she was far too restless.
Her big eyes were cute, but they were always darting around.
Even learning the fundamentals, something that only required effort, became an opportunity for her to show off.
And she thought she was doing a good job of acting innocent.
Kazi wasn't a schemer himself, so he didn't like Apprentices like her.
In his view, Apprentices who schemed their way to a high rank would all fail on the path to becoming Official Wizards.
Angela also reminded Kazi of another girl.
That girl was probably tasting the bitter consequences of the seeds she'd sown.
As for Thor...
At first, Kazi hadn't given him a second thought.
In his view, someone without Magic Power Talent was wasting the Wizard Tower's resources by becoming an Apprentice.
Thor must have used some sort of trick to become an Apprentice.
Kazi had planned to get rid of him during the first test, while he was at it, but then he'd unexpectedly discovered Thor's talent in the soul.
No, it wasn't quite right to call it an unexpected discovery.
Someone had told him to look.
Kazi walked slowly along the Ramp between the East Tower's sixteenth and seventeenth floors.
The sixteenth and seventeenth floors of the East Tower were where the Mentors lived.
Suddenly, the shadows around him began to move.
The candlelight remained perfectly steady, but the shadows beneath his feet seemed to be fleeing. They broke into countless tiny black specks, bumping and leaping over one another as they scrambled to squeeze into the cracks between the stones.
Kazi stopped. His face twitched, and his breathing slowed.
Who said Official Wizards couldn't feel fear?
He looked up and saw someone descending the Ramp above.
The person's arms hung straight at his sides without swinging. As he walked, his heels lifted high, leaving only the tips of his toes touching the ground.
It was as if the ground were filthy and he was trying to avoid touching it.
Most importantly, his entire body was wrapped in Pink Bandage, leaving only a pair of silver eyes exposed.
Kazi bowed deeply.
"Tower Master."
"Mm."
With that brief reply, the man in Pink Bandage passed Kazi.
Kazi let out half a breath of relief.
But before he could release the other half, the Tower Master took two steps and stopped.
Kazi quickly turned around, not daring to show his back to the Tower Master.
"That little fellow—is he well suited to processing corpses?"
The Tower Master's voice was gentle, even though Kazi, an Official Wizard, was afraid of him.
"Yes. His Soul Talent is indeed quite good. The first time he processed a corpse, he found one more material than I did."
"Heh. That must mean you weren't paying attention."
Kazi shuddered.
"Give him this to look at. It'll help him master it sooner."
A deep slit opened in the bandages over the Tower Master's abdomen. He slipped his long, slender fingers inside and pulled out a thin book made of silk.
"Of course." Kazi accepted it with both hands.
"By the way, Tower Master," Kazi suddenly remembered that the boy had come to him for help today. "Someone tampered with that boy's meditation book and replaced one of its pages with an Erosion Diagram."
The Tower Master turned around, seeming quite interested.
"He meditated with the Erosion Diagram?"
"Uh, probably not. How could a new Apprentice withstand the Erosion Diagram? He must have been lucky enough to notice something was wrong, and only told me today."
A cold wind howled through the passage.
The Tower Master, balanced on his toes, swayed like a reed.
"That won't do. The Wizard Apprentices are mine, the meditation books are mine, and the maids are mine." The Tower Master's eyes curved as though he were smiling. "Oh, and the Laboratory is mine too."
The Laboratory?
Kazi felt cold sweat break out among his hair, but he was too frightened to let it run down his cheeks.
"Find the troublemaker and make him pay."
With that, the Tower Master turned and continued downstairs.
After his figure disappeared around the bend, countless tiny black shadows bounced out from between the stones, gleefully reassembling themselves.
Kazi looked down at the book in his hands, puzzled.
Tower Master, why do you care so much about that Thor?
Before you continue