You Are What You Eat

"He's already twenty-nine." The woman curled her lip. "If he can't become a Level 3 Apprentice by the time he turns thirty, he'll have no chance. The Tower Master naturally won't keep useless people around. Apprentices who are over thirty must leave the Wizard Tower within a month."

"If you want to find him, you can go to Dormitory 1016." The woman finished speaking and started to close the door.

"Please wait." Thor hurriedly braced his hand against the door. "May I ask, Senior Sister, did you handle the corpse without any wounds today?"

The woman looked impatient. "Yes. What about it?"

"That corpse was strange."

She sneered coldly. "I've already dealt with the danger it posed. What's left is your job."

With that, she started closing the door, heedless of Thor's hand still on the doorframe.

At the last moment, Thor hurriedly pulled his hand back.

He stood outside the door, deep in thought.

"As expected, the first step in the Corpse Room is something like cleansing the corpse of evil. The second step and my third step are both about collecting materials. My job is really more about cleaning up afterward and checking for anything that might have been missed."

As for the Senior Sister's cold attitude, Thor didn't take it to heart.

Most people in the Wizard Tower were extremely indifferent.

Rather than hoping others would show him kindness, he was better off making himself stronger and becoming someone others feared.

Thor took two steps back, picked up the Bone Cleaver from the ground, and ambled back to his workplace.

"I learned something important today, too." He wiped the blood from his hands. "If you can't become a Level 3 Apprentice by the time you're thirty, you'll have no chance. I'm twelve, so I've got eighteen years."

"Ugh, that's so far away... I should figure out how to pass the test at the end of my third month first."

If he couldn't pass the test, if he couldn't deal with Sid, who was eyeing him like prey, then all his plans for the future would eventually come to nothing.

Time trickled by, and the blue hourglass ran down to seven in the evening.

Thor returned to the dormitory and waited for Kongsha.

He sat on his bed, elbows braced on his knees and hands clasped tightly together in front of him.

Pale skin and white bone crossed one another.

One hand felt cold to the touch, the other was numb.

Thor figured he'd finally find out today what Kongsha wanted him to do.

And what all her arrangements were for.

At one in the morning.

Thor thought he heard something outside the door.

He went over and opened it, and saw Kongsha standing there in a hood.

She wore a long, soft gown that resembled a dressing gown. She stood there in her usual sultry, alluring way, like a landlady who'd suddenly shown up to seduce you in the middle of the night.

Kongsha had been here before, so she walked straight over and sat beside Thor's desk. Thor shut the door, but stayed by it instead of approaching her.

"Why are you standing so far away? I'm not going to eat you." Kongsha chuckled.

The kind of eating she meant was definitely literal.

When Thor didn't move for a long while, Kongsha didn't press him.

She crossed one leg over the other and leaned back leisurely.

"How much Magic Power do you have now?"

"...Four joules." Thor lowered his head, looking too ashamed to speak.

"Heh." Kongsha wasn't surprised. In fact, she seemed quite pleased with his answer. "Are you still going to insist on not taking the potion I gave you? You've only got two months left. Do you think you can increase your Magic Power by six joules in two months?"

Thor gritted his teeth. Both hands trembled, and after a long moment, his voice finally slipped through his clenched teeth.

"Please save me, Senior Sister."

As soon as he said it, all the strength left his body, as if he'd given up hope.

The corner of Kongsha's mouth lifted as though she were about to mock him again. But then something seemed to occur to her, and her eyes shifted. Her expression softened somewhat.

"If you're willing to be obedient from now on, I naturally won't let you die in the test two months from now. And if you do the things I ask you to do well, I can give you other potions, too. I'll make sure you don't exhaust your potential too completely. You might even have a chance of reaching Level 3 Apprentice."

Thor suddenly raised his head, his eyes shining with hope again.

"Really, Senior Sister?"

Kongsha smiled again, her expression gentler still.

"What, you're not hoping to become an Official Wizard anymore?"

Thor lowered his head, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"I already know how difficult it is to become an Official Wizard... I just hope I can become a Level 3 Apprentice before I turn thirty, so I won't be kicked out of the Wizard Tower."

Kongsha's expression wavered when she heard that.

"Level 3 Apprentice... Of course you need to become a Level 3 Apprentice before you're thirty. I can't believe you've even heard about that."

Sensing that something was off with the Senior Sister across from him, Thor glanced up quickly from beneath his lowered head, then immediately looked away again and continued to act as though he'd accepted his fate.

Kongsha was currently a Level 2 Apprentice, and she didn't look like a girl in her teens.

Was she also desperate to become a Level 3 Apprentice?

When Kongsha came back to herself, she no longer felt like teasing Thor. She took out a small bottle and tossed it in front of him. Caught off guard, Thor fumbled to catch it, nearly dropping it on the floor.

"This is the first potion. Its effects only last for a month, so you have to drink all of it within that time. After you take it, your meditation speed will increase significantly. It should bring your Magic Power to around seven joules before the test. I'll come see you again the night before the test and give you the second potion."

"The second potion can temporarily increase your Magic Power by three joules. You'll have no trouble passing the next day's test."

"Remember, this is your last chance!"

Thor held the bottle. The liquid was transparent and clear as pure water. "Can I ask what this potion is called?"

Kongsha laughed. "Even if I told you every ingredient, you still wouldn't be able to make it."

What Kongsha didn't know was that although she hadn't told Thor, he'd still found out another way.

Shuoyue Calendar, Year 314, June 25, sunny

Today is a pretty good day. You got a bottle of "Ultimate Filth of the Elemental Fairy."

Ugh... Are you really going to take this stuff?

Well, as a Wizard, there's nothing you can't eat. Drink a drop, and your Magic Power recovers quickly; drink a whole bottle, and your Magic Power will soar.

Wait, a whole bottle?

Three years from now, you'll become excellent spellcasting material~

Thor looked at the last line in the Hardcover Book. His eyelid twitched. He deliberately put on an embarrassed expression, rubbed his nose, and asked again.

"What do I need to do for you to give me the second potion, Senior Sister?"

Kongsha sighed and pushed down on her knee as she stood.

She walked up to Thor and lightly ran a slender, pale hand across his cheek.

"I've always liked how sensible you are. Are you working in Mentor Kazi's Corpse Room now?"

Kongsha deliberately controlled her tone as she tried to distract Thor and disrupt his concentration by teasing him with her hand. But he still keenly noticed that Senior Sister Kongsha cared a lot about the fact that he worked in the Corpse Room.

"Was the Corpse Room her target from the start?"

That would explain why she'd deliberately changed his elemental affinity.

Thor had a high Mental Power talent but a poor Magic Power talent, which made him easy for Kongsha to manipulate and the perfect candidate to take over the Corpse Room job.

Then...

Thor timidly raised his head to look at Kongsha, seeming as though he wanted to avoid her touch but couldn't bring himself to. "Senior Sister, things from the Corpse Room can't be taken out. There's someone guarding the end of the corridor."

Kongsha withdrew her hand. "He's just a deaf and blind slave."

Thor quietly waited for Kongsha to continue. Anyone strong enough to guard the entrance to the second-floor Corpse Room couldn't be simple, even if he was deaf and blind.

"Keep this safe."

Kongsha took out a piece of soft leather.

The leather was pale yellow with black stripes. On the inner side, there were dazzling runes and Magic Arrays inscribed on it. Thor only glanced at them before quickly folding the leather back over.

"Use this leather to wrap the materials. When you do, put the Magic Array on the inside and the pattern on the outside. That way, the slave won't be able to smell the materials on you."

Thor had already begun using materials from the Corpse Room to prepare ingredients for his Wizard Body Modification. He didn't feel guilty about doing something like this.

If he didn't do it, he'd die.

He wasn't so naive as to think he was part of the Wizard Tower and ought to protect its interests.

"What kind of materials do you need, Senior Sister Kongsha?"

Kongsha bent forward, pressing both hands on Thor's shoulders.

The murky liquid inside the glass head tipped forward. Eyeballs emerged one by one and stuck to the inside of the glass, all staring intently at Thor.

"I need the brains of a Level 1 Apprentice. Preferably a Level 2 Apprentice."