The Price of Knowledge

Byron snatched up the draft Thor had just used for his explanation, stuffing it—along with the absorbent pen tucked inside—into his disguised, gaping mouth.

He nodded at Thor and let out a grunt of acknowledgment before leaving Thor's dormitory.

As for Keli, she had been standing perfectly still without saying a word ever since Thor began explaining his three-dimensional model parsing rune method.

She stared straight at the tabletop, not even snapping out of it when Byron took all the draft papers away.

As time dragged on, Thor grew a bit worried.

Could this be some sort of lingering side effect from that parasite in the Mutual Aid Society?

Although senior Byron said the parasite wasn't life-threatening, he never said it wouldn't damage the brain.

Looking at the state of those apprentices who had been parasitized, their brains were clearly suffering from some level of impairment.

Suddenly, Keli moved.

She pulled open Thor's door and dashed out like the wind, and before Thor could even process what happened, she rushed back in just as quickly, cradling a pile of items.

She kicked the door shut behind her.

"Clatter!"

A pouch landed on the table, emitting a crisp, pleasant clinking sound.

Then came a book and an object that looked like a grenade.

"These are all my Magic Crystals, and these two are the most valuable things I brought with me. They're all yours!"

Keli pressed her palms together and bowed.

"Please, you must explain it to me again! I didn't quite catch it just now!"

Thor didn't stand on ceremony; he opened Keli's money pouch and reached in with both hands, scooping out a large handful.

Quite a few Magic Crystals slipped through the gaps in his skeletal fingers.

It felt a bit wasteful, but Thor was too embarrassed to pick them up.

That would be a bit beneath his dignity.

"What is this?" Thor pointed to the thin little booklet on the table.

"This is a spellbook for the 0-circle Wizard spell Scorching Breath, which uses the fire element."

A spellbook, of all things?

Thor picked up the book immediately but resisted the urge to open it.

"I have a transcribed copy of this book; this is the original, and it even includes the previous owner's practice notes."

Seeing Thor's excitement, Keli felt a sense of pride, her tone returning to her usual haughty self.

"However, because it is quite powerful among 0-circle spells, you need to learn two composite runes of the fire element to construct the spell model."

"This spellbook alone is already worth more than the knowledge I taught you," Thor sighed.

As a level 1 apprentice, one could learn two Wizard spells from a mentor for free; anything beyond that required trading academic credits.

Furthermore, the more powerful the spell, the more credits it cost.

Thor truly hadn't expected Keli to have such treasures on hand; he felt he might have taken a bit too many Magic Crystals just now.

But Keli didn't feel that Thor had taken advantage of her at all; she even took the initiative to introduce the third item.

"This is called Iron and Fire, a Wizard tool. When using it, unscrew the cap at the back, pull out the cotton wick inside, and throw it within a count of five. It will explode upon violent impact or after the count of five, releasing sharp iron fragments that can penetrate tough hides."

Good grief, it really was a grenade!

Keli's identity in the outside world couldn't be simple; otherwise, she wouldn't be carrying so many Magic Crystals, let alone a spellbook and a Wizard tool.

"I only taught you one rune."

The other party's generosity left Thor feeling a tiny sliver of guilt.

"No, you taught me a method, a line of thinking," Keli said earnestly. "It's a pity I don't have equivalent knowledge to trade with you yet; I can only give you these worldly goods."

Thor shook his head vigorously.

It's fine, I like worldly goods.

When Keli returned, there was no one left wandering the hallways. Even when relaxing, everyone remembered to keep pushing themselves to continue their studies.

Thinking of the eerie laughter that had erupted from the mouths of the freshmen who joined the Mutual Aid Society, Thor secretly warned himself that in this Wizard World, danger was everywhere, and it wasn't just Sid who could threaten his life.

Therefore, no matter where he was, he had to remain vigilant and on guard.

Sometimes Thor missed his past life; although the pressure of being a corporate slave was high, at least it never reached the point of costing him his life.

But his time for sleep was already compressed, and the time he could use to reminisce about the past was limited to the few seconds of distraction he found during his studies.

Over the next few days, Thor completely mastered that dark-attribute composite rune and managed to request his first 0-circle spell from mentor Kazi.

Learning the first two 0-circle spells didn't require Magic Crystals or academic credits; it was essentially the mentor's duty of education.

But to get a mentor to fulfill that duty, one could only wait until the mentor was satisfied with you, or when they were in a good mood.

Otherwise, you might just get a cold dismissal.

"You haven't even mastered the basics, yet you want to touch sorcery?"

Thor surprised Kazi once again with his choice of his first spell; he chose Preserve Organs.

It was as if he had the firm resolve to work in the Corpse Room until he died.

Yet, it also left Mentor Kazi quite satisfied, as he had learned this spell without much persuasion.

Besides studying runes, Thor had also been training his mental power these past few days.

The tool he used for this training was the Puppet Doll he had borrowed.

Every time Thor trained his mental power, he could still hear the Puppet Doll's cries for help.

The faint, whispering, surrounding cries for help were dizzying, and whenever the vicious, frantic "kill me" emerged, Thor would immediately sever his connection with the puppet.

Now that he could initially control his mental power, the puppet's influence on Thor was limited.

"As expected, becoming stronger can break through the bizarre."

Thor let go of the Puppet Doll, placed her face down on the table, and then began to continue analyzing the rank 0 spell Preserve Organs.

"If we follow the perspective of my past life, corpse decay seems to be caused by the death of immune cells and the continued metabolism of microorganisms. So, what is the principle behind using sorcery to preserve organs?"

Thor took out a new blank notebook and began to specifically record his research process on the spell Preserve Organs.

As for some thoughts related to the knowledge from his past life, he would use the characters from his past life, intentionally writing some typos with similar sounds or shapes.

Although he might be overthinking it, Thor was still afraid of being deciphered.

The Wizard World was a place that would truly slice you up for research!

"Could Preserve Organs be a microscopic spell similar to dehydration and sterilization? Just like food—seal it and sterilize it, and it can be preserved for a long time."

Combining this with Mentor Kazi's description, Thor felt he already had an initial understanding of this spell.

Next, he put down all his notes, took three pieces of fresh organs he had cut from a guest just yesterday out of the cabinet, and placed them on the table.

Thor stared at the first piece, his mental power beginning to trace the constituent runes of the spell.

He raised his hands into the air and began to dance.

The gestures were the casting gestures taught by Mentor Kazi, which were mandatory for newcomers.

As a form of guidance, casting gestures could reduce the possibility of spell failure and lower the lethality of a backlash from failure.

Once one could cast spells proficiently, single-handed guidance or casting without gestures was also possible.

Before officially casting the spell, Thor had already practiced the gestures hundreds of times, making the movements an subconscious reaction of his body.

He also activated the corresponding basic runes within his mental space over and over again.

As for the composite runes, because they consumed too much mana (after many adjustments, a single composite rune would no longer drain all of Thor's mana), Thor only dared to draw them with a pen to increase his familiarity.

But even though he had prepared so much, Thor's first attempt at casting the spell still failed.

The mana within his body fluctuated, and Thor had to calm himself for a while before he could continue thinking.

"When constructing multiple runes together, it is easy to get distracted, leading to construction failure. My proficiency is still not enough."

He was not discouraged by the first failure; instead, he took out his crystal ball and immediately began meditating to restore his mana.

One point, Two points, Three points, When the candle on the candlestick above the transmission platform "hissed" and lit up, Thor finally succeeded!

Rank 0 spell, Preserve Organs, proficiency +1!