The Disseminator: Time Is Running Out

He peeked outside through the crack in the door and saw a familiar figure staggering past—it was Andy, another candidate apprentice who had arrived at the Black Mist Forest at the same time as him.

The boy came from a merchant family and usually wore a perpetually nervous expression.

At that moment, he was clutching a large pile of books and hurrying toward the library in a panic.

Another one trying to find a breakthrough at the last moment. Ron shook his head inwardly.

This sort of thing had been happening more and more often lately.

As the assessment deadline drew near, those candidate apprentices who had no confidence in passing either went astray like Locke and Emily or desperately buried themselves in study like Andy.

But no matter which path they chose, the results were usually less than satisfactory.

I still need to take things one step at a time.

Ron looked at the Refreshing Potion in his hand and secretly made up his mind.

Although his progress was not particularly fast compared with the geniuses with more stars, his growth path had only just begun.

On this path, he would take every step solidly. Every bit of progress would be visible and tangible, and he would move faster and faster until he ultimately left everyone else far behind.

With that thought, he sat back down on the bed and prepared to continue today's cultivation.

Time was precious. He could not waste the effects of this Refreshing Potion.

Ron had just finished his meditative cultivation and was still resting when he heard a burst of laughter and conversation coming from the corridor.

"That necklace is so beautiful. It must have been very expensive, right?" a woman's voice came through the door.

"Not really. They were all gifts from my master. Speaking of which, do you know what Lord Marcus has been researching lately?"

He pulled the door open a crack and silently peered outside. From a distance, he could see that the speakers were the servants of several apprentices. Judging by their voices, they seemed to be a different group from last time.

But from their carefully styled clothing and jewelry, it was clear that their status was far above that of ordinary servants.

Sigh, not everyone has that kind of luck.

One of the voices carried a hint of envy.

"I heard that new fellow—the one who 'broke through' last month—seems to have used a special channel too."

"Shh—keep your voice down. But seriously, I heard that as well. It really only took three days."

"Really? I remember he seemed to have come from the black market..."

"Don't go into too much detail about that. But I heard several new merchants have arrived recently, specifically to purchase some rare materials."

The speaker's tone was casual, as though she were merely making small talk, but every word hinted at something more.

Ron noticed that faint lamplight shone through several tightly closed doors.

The candidate apprentices still troubled by their lack of a breakthrough were clearly listening.

"Hey, what was the name of that person over there? Yes, the one who went looking for the black-market merchants a few days ago."

One of the servants suddenly lowered her voice. "I heard—"

"Stop, stop. We really shouldn't discuss this sort of thing too much."

Another quickly interrupted her. "But it's true that the things those merchants have are quite remarkable."

"Exactly, exactly. I heard the effects are especially fast. My master once said that as long as you get the dosage and timing right, especially when—"

Hearing the servants' conversation, Ron suddenly remembered encountering several brightly dressed female servants lingering at every street corner of the market after he had left the Herb Shop yesterday.

At the time, their gazes had carried a hint of scrutiny. Thinking back on it now, they had probably been searching for possible "targets."

Those servants had clearly received specialized training.

They always chose crowded places to loudly discuss those "special channels." They were all striking women, making them more likely to attract attention and making their conversations seem more natural.

Every detail had been carefully designed to make those candidate apprentices on the verge of despair believe that this was "reliable information."

"This method is really..." Ron let out a soft sigh.

Having grown up in Earl Ralph's Mansion, he was all too familiar with this kind of "information guidance."

Back then, his father's subordinates, hoping to curry favor with him, would often deliberately spread rumors that benefited themselves in certain settings.

But in the Black Mist Forest, the consequences of such methods were far more serious.

Here, one wrong decision did not merely mean a loss of status. It could directly threaten one's life.

The servants continued chatting sporadically as they gradually walked away.

But those seemingly casual pieces of "information" had already become sparks falling onto dry firewood, smoldering unseen throughout the dormitory area.

"How devious." Ron shook his head with a cold laugh.

The example of "breaking through in three days" they had mentioned was none other than the mutated Locke.

But in their account, they had deliberately omitted the miserable ending and emphasized only the potion's effects.

For candidate apprentices with nowhere left to turn, this was undoubtedly a fatal temptation.

"Three months is simply too short for some people."

He gazed at the gradually darkening sky outside the window and sighed inwardly.

As time passed, those who could not see any hope would inevitably grow more and more desperate.

And the spread of this "information" was undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire.

In just a few days, several candidate apprentices had already taken dangerous risks.

Locke and Emily were only the beginning. There would probably be many more people who followed this road of no return.

It was not difficult to guess who was behind the servants spreading the information or whom those black-market merchants were connected to.

In this world of survival of the fittest, the weak were always the hunted.

Whether they became experimental subjects or other people's servants, to certain individuals it was merely a game of harvesting rewards.

"I still need to grow stronger quickly. I don't want to be manipulated by others like this forever..." Ron drew a deep breath and steadied his mind once more.

He firmly shut the door and sat back down beside the bed.

Although the voices outside gradually faded into the distance, those deliberately spread pieces of "information" had already left ripples throughout the dormitory area.

He could hear footsteps pacing in Darund's room next door. Clearly, his neighbor, who was obsessed with researching noise spells, had also been affected by those discussions.

Darund was usually focused entirely on his own experiments and rarely paid attention to outside matters, but even he could no longer sit still now.

"Time really is running out." Ron also felt a sense of urgency rising in his heart.