Great Ups and Downs

Taen kept walking around the room, turning back at one end and then walking to the other.

He never imagined that such a thing could happen: the head of a School in the City of Apprentices had gone missing.

Since the establishment of the City of Apprentices, there have been very few events of this magnitude, and he has encountered such a low-probability event.

The key issue isn't the disappearance of the School's leader Belori, but rather that Belori herself promised to include him on the list of approved candidates for the Transmutation Surgery.

At that moment, after being overjoyed by this unexpected surprise, Taen quickly calmed himself down.

He knew he needed to keep a low profile from now on, otherwise those jealous apprentices might suddenly lose their minds and attack him with their lives.

So afterwards, he preferred to do nothing rather than make a mistake, living as if walking on thin ice.

They never went out unless absolutely necessary, staying solely in their dormitories and avoiding any social activities with the other apprentices.

However, while he was out buying food, he heard the devastating news: Belori had disappeared.

Although this was a task assigned by the School, the task clearly stated that finding that Notebook would give the apprentice the opportunity to receive surgical instruction.

He did so because he found Richter's body, Belori thought that since he had found the body, he had done a good job, so she decided to reward him.

These were all verbal promises from Belori, but now that Belori has disappeared, he doesn't know if there will be any follow-up.

He paced back and forth in the room twice more, and finally mustered up the courage to ask.

He remembered that his mentor Luosiqi, was also present at the time, and if he had asked him, Losch might have acknowledged his surgical teaching qualifications.

He stepped out the door, his heart pounding with trepidation, and set off on his way to where his mentor, Luosiqi, was.

"That's enough. Quickly arrange for someone to kill those merchants who transported the corpses to us and burn down their houses. We can't give the School any leverage against us."

However, the apprentice standing in front of him seemed to disagree, retorting:

"I can't make the arrangements directly, otherwise the Investigator will find out my identity, which will still cause trouble for the Transmutation School."

Luosiqi frowned. He knew that the other party wasn't unwilling to make a quick decision because of any trouble, but because they were afraid of being caught by the Investigator and going to jail.

"Alright, go ahead and make the arrangements. Just make sure those merchants don't say anything detrimental to our School."

Considering that the other party was an apprentice who had achieved a ranking in the assessment, he still gave the other party more leeway in handling the situation.

He had a lot of other things to do, and this kind of task could only be left to his apprentices, so he had no choice but to agree to follow the other party's plan.

Luosiqi's brow remained furrowed all day; he was irritated by a host of worries.

"What do you need, apprentice?"

Luosiqi looked at Taen as he entered and asked with a hint of anger.

Taen sensed something was wrong when he saw Luosiqi's expression.

He knew that it might be impossible for Luosiqi to acknowledge his qualifications to teach this surgery today.

Luosiqi was well-known among the apprentices, but mostly for his bad reputation; it was the first time the apprentices had ever seen a Formal Mage manage to do something like this.

Not only will he do things for you if you give him money, but he's also extremely stingy when you ask him for any benefits stipulated in the rules. He won't give you the benefits you're entitled to unless you offer him something.

He was one of the most hated people among the apprentices, yet he was also one of the School's managers. I heard that he had been a manager for a long time before becoming Formal Mage, and his reputation wasn't very good back then either.

"Mentor, I'd like to ask you, did you hear Mentor Belori say that she would include me in the training list for the Transmutation Surgery?"

Luosiqi's face broke into a rare smile, and he said without holding back:

"What nonsense! I think you're so desperate for this qualification that you don't even have a ranking in the assessment."

"But..."

"That's not true. Get out of here now!"

Taen felt like he had fallen to the bottom of an abyss, and he was completely disoriented. He stood there stunned for a moment before he remembered to move his feet.

But suddenly, a soft female voice reached my ears.

"What's going on? Why is it so noisy?"

He noticed the sound coming from behind him, but Luosiqi in front of him made an unexpected move that drew his attention.

Luosiqi stood up from his chair, his brow relaxing slightly, and said loudly:

"Your Excellency, we've been waiting for you! Now we need you to help the Transmutation School here overcome this crisis!"

Taen slowly turned around and saw a strangely dressed woman.

She was tall and slender, and instead of wearing the long robes typical of mages, she wore a form-fitting outfit in a beige color.

Her eyes were a beautiful purple, adding a touch of color to her already flawless face.

Whether it was Taen's imagination or not, he felt that the other person's face was so beautiful that it didn't seem like something a human should look like.

Lucy's gentle voice rang out again, this time reminding Taen of the songs of birds in the mountains and forests, which was very soothing.

"Apprentice, what can I do for you?"

In this situation, Taen blurted out everything without thinking, speaking with complete confidence.

Lucy chuckled softly, looked at Luosiqi, and asked:

"Luosiqi, is that true?"

Luosiqi unconsciously touched the table and replied:

"No... I think there was something like that, but I was busy with too many things just now and I forgot a bit."

Judging from the immense Magic Power emanating from the other person and the badge on his chest, he deduced that this was the main person in charge of the northern part of the Grey Soil Province, a mage whose rank was clearly higher than his own.

He could no longer fool Taen in front of someone of higher status; if Taen acted unreasonably, his standing in the other person's eyes would be diminished.

So it's better to generously let Taen get what he wants and let him leave quickly.

Taen was overjoyed and looked at Lucy with gratitude.

Lucy placed her hand on the door and said:

"That's settled then, apprentice. You can go now. We'll talk about your business later."

Taen knew he had to leave no matter what, so he thanked him and walked out the door.

"Thank you... mentor."

Lucy closed the door and looked at Luosiqi.

Luosiqi quickly said:

"Your Excellency, you've finally arrived. That bastard who left our School has become Investigator and is plotting against us. If you hadn't come, I can't even imagine what would have happened if our School had been expelled from the City of Apprentices School the Law School."

Lucy's voice, however, was no longer gentle; she said coldly:

"That's a minor matter. What really brought me here is Belori's disappearance. That's all you need to say."