First Collaboration

Thor stopped in his tracks, right in front of Mark.

He didn't want Mark to know he knew Byron.

"Senior, I wanted to ask if there are any other ways to earn credits."

"Are you short on credits?" Mark found it strange. What could a new apprentice possibly need so many credits for?

But he soon remembered that Thor planned to research Wizard Body Modification on his own. That kind of research was a bottomless pit for resources.

"Come in and talk."

Mark stepped aside from the doorway.

Senior Mark's dormitory had the same layout as Kongsha's, but it was a mess, with all sorts of unidentifiable things scattered across the floor.

There was only one clear space, by the long table, and even there, there was just one chair.

Mark plopped down in it, nudged a box over with his foot, and gestured for Thor to sit on it.

"With the work you do now, it's actually easy to earn more credits."

Thor looked up at Mark obediently.

"Have you heard of the Mutual Aid Society?"

Thor was startled, but pretended to think back. "I heard some of the people who started with me mention it, but I was busy back then and never went."

Then he asked cautiously, "Senior... are you a member of the Mutual Aid Society too?"

Mark waved a hand. "I'm not. The Mutual Aid Society is really just a little group started by a Level 3 Apprentice and a few Level 2 Apprentices. But it's usually the Level 2 Apprentices who manage things."

That familiar mocking smile returned to Mark's lips. "They call it mutual aid, but the newcomers who join just get exploited."

"Still, the Mutual Aid Society has some interesting things, like the Exchange Meeting. The goods there are cheaper than the ones listed at the Academy's Registration Office. You could sell things there and make some money, if you have anything to offer."

"Anything to offer?" Thor asked tentatively. "Do you mean I could sell things from the Corpse Room? But isn't that against the Mentor's rules?"

"You're new, so naturally you don't have many options. But you can list a price and let anyone interested figure out how to take the goods away themselves."

Thor was hesitant about the suggestion.

He did want to check out the Exchange Meeting if he got the chance, but the Parasite Keli had encountered last time was a serious problem.

Seniors like Mark and Byron might be safe at the Exchange Meeting. But those people might target him because he was new.

It would be great if the Exchange Meeting allowed people to attend anonymously.

But then again, there were only so many apprentices in the Wizard Tower. Even if everyone wore masks, it would be easy to guess where he had come from.

What if someone reported him to Mentor Kazi...? Well, some things were fine to do in secret, but not so good out in the open.

"Thank you, Senior. I'll think it over."

Mark noticed Thor's concern and reassured him. "You don't need to worry about it. The person who had your job before you was always selling things at the Exchange Meeting. And the people who bought from him were careful to keep his secret so they could keep doing business with him."

Thor asked hopefully, "Senior, is there anything you need?"

Mark rolled his eyes.

"Do you think you'd have anything I need?"

Thor thought he might actually have something Mark needed, but there was no reason to reveal that in a hurry.

After leaving Mark's dormitory, Thor went straight back to the second floor of the East Tower.

He would put off visiting Senior Byron for now.

Thor planned to wait until no one was around, then slip a note to Byron asking to meet on the second floor of the East Tower.

He hoped Senior Byron would be interested in the models he had built using his other Composite Runes.

Compared with the dangerous Exchange Meeting, Senior Byron seemed much more reliable.

Two days passed, and Thor still hadn't heard from Senior Byron, even though he had slipped a note under Byron's door.

"Could he have already left?"

Thor had completely run out of materials for his experiments. He had a few pieces of Plastic Bone now, but his research into Wizard Body Modification still hadn't made any real progress.

In his spare time, he had successfully cast the Tier 0 Wizardry, "Strike Undead."

If Senior Byron had already left the Wizard Tower, Thor would rather sneak materials out of the Corpse Room than trade his findings to some stranger.

Just then, someone suddenly knocked on the Corpse Room's door.

Thor was a little surprised. Mentor Kazi had only come by yesterday, and normally, it would be another four or five days before he returned.

Who could be looking for him now?

Thor opened the door. It was the cold Senior Sister who had taken over Byron's job.

She was still looking down her nose at him.

"Come with me. I need your help."

With that, she turned and walked away, as if certain Thor would follow.

Thor hesitated for half a second, then shut the door and followed her.

It was his first time entering the first Corpse Room.

The moment he stepped inside, the scene before him stunned him.

This place was completely different from his Corpse Room—or, rather, it wasn't really a Corpse Room at all.

It looked more like the scene of some kind of ritual.

Black patterns covered the ceiling and walls, with Runes of all shapes and sizes scattered between them.

Candles of different heights covered the floor. Some were lit, others extinguished. Between them were Magic Arrays whose purpose he couldn't make out.

Three Stone Coffins stood in the middle of the room, each wide open, with a corpse upright inside.

Seeing corpses in a Corpse Room was perfectly normal.

But these three gave Thor a deeply uneasy feeling.

They stood there without anything holding them up. If Thor hadn't been able to see the obvious fatal wounds on their bodies, he could easily have mistaken them for three living people standing with their eyes closed.

"These three were brought in today." The Senior Sister stood by the entrance with her hands behind her back. "But there's a problem with them. The Level 2 Apprentice in the middle..."

She raised a hand and pointed to the corpse in the center, whose shoulder and chest had been cleaved open by a sharp weapon.

"He brought an Evil Spirit in with him. If we don't get rid of it, we can't use any of the materials from this corpse."

"But the Evil Spirit is very cunning. Whenever I'm about to kill it, it immediately moves to one of the other two corpses. And whenever I switch the target of my Wizardry, I have to start all over again."

Fight an Evil Spirit?

Thor thought, I wonder if the Strike Undead I just learned will work.

But aloud, he said, "Senior Sister, I don't have any way to deal with Evil Spirits yet..."

"I know that, of course." The Senior Sister gave a cold laugh. "I just need you to pinpoint the Evil Spirit's location and tell me right before I finish casting, so it can't escape again. This is such a hassle."

As she spoke, the Senior Sister tossed something to Thor.

Thor caught it and looked down. It was a limp piece of leather.

He couldn't tell what it was made of. It was pale and smooth, warm to the touch, and smelled faintly of flowers and grass.

Two small holes had been punched through the middle of the leather, about half a palm's width apart.

There were no Magic Arrays or Runes drawn on it.

"Put this mask on and sit inside the Magic Array in the corner. Then you'll be able to see where the Evil Spirit is. Hurry up and don't waste time." The cold Senior Sister urged him impatiently.

"Senior Sister, I..."

She cut him off again. "Got it. You want compensation, right? Once we deal with the Evil Spirit, you can choose either of the other two Level 1 Apprentice corpses and take it with you. I'll write in the task Registration Book that I only took in one Level 1 Apprentice corpse and one Level 2 Apprentice corpse today."

He could just take a whole corpse?

Thor had always thought that occasionally taking some materials for himself was already going too far.

He hadn't expected this Level 2 Apprentice Senior Sister to offer him an entire corpse without batting an eye.

The corpses brought to the Corpse Room always had something wrong with them, which meant they couldn't be buried right away. But once properly processed, the affected parts became the best materials for the Dark Attribute.

They were worth a great deal.

All Thor had to do was help the Senior Sister locate the Evil Spirit, and he would get that much in return?

Could the task itself be dangerous? For example, could the Evil Spirit attack Thor too?

"Senior Sister, can I ask why you came to me instead of Senior Hayden?"

I was sick for the past two days, and I'm running out of chapters in reserve.

It's Tuesday, so please give the novel a follow, everyone!!! Please turn to the last page!!!