Two Years Passed

Time flew; two years passed.

Two years, more than seven hundred natural days on the Wizard Continent, was enough for many things to happen to the newcomers of Black Isotta Wizard Academy.

Green silently held a broom, carefully sweeping every corner of the library. This was a part-time academy job Green had found through the Blood Sail Alliance's influence, paying two magic stones each month.

Do not look down on this part-time job. Back then, who knew how many people had fought until their scalps split trying to get it, but in the end, Lafi had helped Green seize it through the Blood Sail Alliance.

With his subsidy added in, he had four magic stones each month. Logically speaking, during the newcomers' three-year protection period at the academy, that should have been enough for someone like Green, whose aptitude and intelligence were both not bad, to grow into a wizard apprentice. But...

"Could I have been wrong?"

Green furrowed his brow, in a very bad mood.

Over the past two years, Green had learned only one spell, and that was the preliminary Nose-Hunting Modification.

Originally, Green had completed this spell half a year after entering the academy. According to the normal path for newcomers, while constantly meditating, they should seize every moment to obtain magic stones and learn new spells. With Green's income of four magic stones every month, he should originally have been able to easily pull ahead of most newcomers.

But!

Back then, Green had not wanted to simply complete the spell according to the steps in the magic book and be done with it. Instead, he had thought about researching the profound principles within it and penetrating its true essence, thereby wasting precious time.

For example, now, through two years of research into Nose-Hunting, Green had obtained an ambiguous piece of knowledge: why did Nose-Hunting Modification not belong to bloodline sorcery?

However, what use was that?

Could this so-called knowledge make Green strong enough to pass the trial a year from now?

Give me endless knowledge, and I will use myself as the fulcrum to move the endless worlds.

Was knowledge truly so important?

"Was I really wrong?"

It was no wonder Green was growing more and more lost. Everything was because the three-year newcomer protection period was about to end. When the time came, the academy's terrifying trial exam would begin, followed by compulsory missions once every two years.

Through the previous class of wizard apprentices, Green knew that the so-called trial exam was actually a life-and-death tempering through which the academy selected qualified newcomers.

During the trial, newcomers who had not mastered three spells and become wizard apprentices had a death rate of over ninety percent. Even wizard apprentices had a death rate of around forty percent.

So cruel was it that the trial exam was also called the Bloody Millstone by the older generation of wizard apprentices.

Once, Nose-Hunting Modification and Scent Atlas had been Green's entire hope for the wizard world, the advantage that made him different from ordinary wizard apprentices. But now...

"No! Ah..."

Suddenly, a shrill scream rang out in the library. Green was startled and hurried toward where the scream had come from.

At this moment, four or five people had already gathered there, but they only stood there woodenly, paying no attention to the person desperately rolling on the ground.

Green stepped forward, his pupils shrinking. "Lin Zi!"

The female wizard apprentice desperately rolling on the ground was named Lin Zi. She was among the first batch of this year's newcomers to become wizard apprentices and was very famous.

Moreover, because she was beautiful, there were quite a few male wizard apprentices who secretly admired her.

However, this Lin Zi had one flaw, and that was her refusal to cultivate companion insects.

This was very easy to understand. After all, from an ordinary person's mindset, letting one's body—even the inside of one's body—crawl full of all sorts of messy insects was absolutely terrifying. Even Green had once been quite resistant to this matter.

The so-called companion insects were a wizard's preliminary use of soul power: assigning one's own power to certain insects with unusual functions, thereby obtaining some corresponding abilities.

Although companion insects also had considerable functions for resisting enemies, their fundamental role was to increase a wizard's resistance to curse sorcery and illusions.

Green looked at Lin Zi, who was howling in pain, and sighed. Another wizard apprentice was about to die here in agony.

Over the past two years, Green had seen far too many people die under curses like this. This was also one of the methods of murder in the academy that was hardest for the law-enforcement team to trace.

Green even maliciously imagined how Lin Zi would die: would countless flesh-eating insects crawl out from inside her body and gnaw her into a skeleton, or would her blood congeal into a solid mass, suffocating her to death?

Or would she simply, like that fellow last time, have all her physiological functions instantly exhausted and become a dried corpse?

The shrill screams grew more and more miserable. Green keenly smelled a scorched odor.

The dark-red-skinned Lin Zi finally collapsed powerlessly. At the same time, her body shriveled at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if the bones that formed her body had completely melted away, leaving her without any point of support.

A moment later, from the inside out, Lin Zi gradually turned into ash, but the clothes she wore lay perfectly spread out on the ground. It looked as though Lin Zi's body had been taken away by some inexplicable force. The scene was extremely eerie.

"A bodily self-immolation curse. A fairly high-level curse..."

A wizard apprentice in front of Green murmured to himself, then left as if nothing had happened. Over these years, he had seen far too many newcomers cursed and brutally killed; he had long since grown accustomed to it.

Generally speaking, from the newcomers' first three years until the trial exam, the academy had the most "accidental" deaths. Green's back felt somewhat cold. Even though he had already seen scenes of people dying under curses many times, it was because Green did not know when he would end up like the other party.

Of course, being cursed definitely had one condition: this wizard's bodily information had been stolen by someone else.

The so-called bodily information was very likely a drop of blood, a fingernail, or even a strand of hair.

Legend said that the highest-level curse masters could even indirectly obtain certain weak bodily information from objects someone else had touched, and then cast a curse.

At night, the Blood Sail Alliance held a gathering.

The former ruling structure of the five great spellcasters was long gone. Now, the Blood Sail Alliance was governed by twelve alliance elders.

Of the former five great spellcasters, aside from the fireball spellcaster and the puppet spellcaster, who had died in accidents and had not become alliance elders, the other three spellcasters had all become alliance elders. The other nine were existences who had later caught up, with aptitude and intelligence a cut above others.

Lafi, Yorkris, Yorklianna, Binhanson, and Green still sat together.

Only, although the five of them were still friends, Green felt an inexplicable sadness.

Yorkris said in a low voice, "Green, last week Lafi took us into the Thorned Bramble Forest and we gained a little something. It was dangerous, but each of us earned about seven magic stones. What do you think? Want to come this time?"

Green pretended not to care and said quietly, "Forget it. You know, I'm completely useless right now. Forget helping you—I'd only drag you down, maybe even..."

Green glanced at Yorklianna. "Maybe even now, your little sister is much stronger than me."

Green knew Yorklianna had already learned three spells and become a wizard apprentice. Moreover, all three of those spells were support spells, giving Yorkris excellent assistance.

When the two teamed up, they could even overpower some elder-level wizard apprentices in the alliance!

"Green, stop forcing yourself! If this goes on, you'll fall into a vicious cycle. Do you really want to be mediocre for the rest of your life?"

Lafi finally could not hold back. She looked into Green's eyes and spoke urgently, her voice anxious, her concern obvious without needing words.

Because everyone knew that in one year, the cruel examination trial would arrive. Almost no one in the Blood Sail Alliance held any hopes of luck; they were all seizing every moment to improve their strength.

"I..."

Green was hesitating when a voice interrupted him.

It was a male wizard apprentice with a full beard, named Amiida. He was one of the twelve elders of the Blood Sail Alliance at this time, and also Lafi's loyal pursuer, possessing extremely high talent in magic.

Amiida said, "Stop talking. When you think you're helping a friend, have you never considered his pride? What looks like generosity from you is no different from charity."

After saying this, Amiida turned around and, with a sincere smile, said to Green, "It's all right. You're Lafi's friend, so you're also my, Amiida's, friend. No matter how weak you are, neither I nor the alliance will abandon you."

"That's right, that's right, Brother Green. As long as you're in trouble, you can call me anytime. I... I'll definitely do everything I can to help you too."

Yorklianna said timidly.

Green looked at everyone's sincerity, trying hard to keep a "grateful" smile on his face, as if only this could show his happiness and gratitude for everything they had done for him.

But in Green's heart, he felt waves of stabbing pain, as if someone were driving a knife again and again into the softest place at the bottom of his heart.

Yes, his former friends all stood from the angle of the successful, looking down at him, and were willing to help him.

Even Amiida, someone who once had been in some unknown corner of the Blood Sail Alliance looking up at Green, now carried the generosity and broad-mindedness of the successful as he forgave Green's mood, understood Green's pain, and considered Green's feelings.

All of it, every bit of it, deeply stabbed Green's heart.

On the high platform, one of the twelve elders loudly announced internal alliance information from the gathering platform.

"Currently, our Blood Sail Alliance ranks fifth in overall ability among all apprentice organizations in Black Isotta Wizard Academy, while the top four are all organizations passed down from the older generation of wizard apprentices. Therefore, I congratulate the alliance for achieving such proud results."

"Currently, our Blood Sail Alliance has two hundred and seventeen official members. Among them, two hundred and five have officially become wizard apprentices, and seventeen wizard apprentices have received the recognition of great wizards and become personal disciples. We congratulate these wizard apprentices who have received the recognition of great wizards, and we also encourage the newcomers who are still initiates. I hope everyone will encourage one another and carry the organization forward to greater glory!"

Amiida smiled and kept waving to the people around him congratulating him. He was precisely one of the seventeen wizard apprentices in the alliance who had been acknowledged by a wizard.

Green, however, lowered his head and quietly watched everything around him.

Occasionally, someone he knew encouraged Green, saying things like they believed Green would definitely become a wizard apprentice. Every time, Green's heart twisted like a knife, yet he still had to keep smiling as he faced them.

Again and again in his heart, Green kept asking himself, Was I really wrong?

After the gathering ended, on the road where only Binhanson and Green walked, Binhanson was actually silent for a very long time.

"Bah! What the hell does that Amiida think he is? He says because Lafi is your friend, he's your friend too, like we ought to go currying favor with him. And he even said he won't give up on you, and the alliance won't give up either. Does he think he represents the alliance?"

Binhanson roared angrily.

"When the five spellcasters first founded the Blood Sail Alliance, you were there. You're one of the alliance's original members. At most, he counts as a second-generation member, and now he actually talks to you like some old veteran of the alliance. Bah..."

Finally, Binhanson, who had been silent all along, suddenly erupted.

"Does that bastard think Lafi and you are just ordinary friends? He has no idea how you saved Lafi back when the sea monster attacked. He doesn't know about the feelings between you and Lafi either. The one Lafi likes deep down is you. It's not something his few months of fawning over her can compare to..."

Green raised his head and stared blankly at this friend, the friend he had once disliked countless times for being too long-winded.

But now, Green's eyes were wet. "Thank you, Binhanson. I want to be alone for a while."

Green turned around, hiding his fragility.

Binhanson did not say anything more. He patted Green on the shoulder and left.

Green walked alone in silence, recalling everything from these two years.

From when he had first arrived at Black Isotta Wizard Academy, to when he thought he had discovered some great secret and devoted himself wholeheartedly to researching so-called "knowledge," to now, when he had actually fallen into such a wretched state.

Before he knew it, Green arrived at the tunnel entrance of the Black Isotta Mountains. In that quiet, deserted, remote corner, a weathered and dilapidated stone tablet stood there silently, letting time scour it and flow past it without the slightest wavering, not caring whether anyone discovered it or not. It simply stood there in silence.

Green raised his head and looked at the huge stone that had once changed his attitude toward his own fate. He could not tell what he felt as he silently read it again.

"Give me endless knowledge, and I shall use myself as the fulcrum to pry the endless worlds."

He smiled in self-abandonment.

At this moment, Green suddenly felt his own childishness and ignorance. A line of heroic ambition from an ancient wizard—he had already stood at such a peak, those words were an exhortation from one who had succeeded, yet Green had actually become possessed, worshiping it, venerating it, throwing everything aside, even making this foolish gamble with his life.

If he had been like those wizard apprentices and desperately learned one spell after another, ignoring whatever damned knowledge and root principles lay within, by now he probably would already have become a wizard apprentice, perhaps even an elder of the alliance, wouldn't he?

The ancient wizard who had spoken those heroic words was presumably already a powerful existence standing at the pinnacle of the world. But what did Green amount to?

To think he had ignorantly wanted to imitate the ancient sages and become another great wizard?

As if in self-abandonment, Green wanted to leave silently. But when, as if guided by ghosts and gods, he took one last look at the huge stone, in that instant it was as though he sensed something, and his body suddenly shook.

"Give me endless knowledge, and I shall use myself as the fulcrum to pry the endless worlds... pry the endless worlds, but who will give me endless knowledge as the lever? Knowledge is hard to seek..."

In this instant, Green felt that these words, which he had once taken as heroic ambition, were actually filled with deep helplessness, as if that ancient wizard were secretly hating his own inability to obtain more knowledge. On the road to obtaining knowledge, there were always countless thorns, frustrations, and difficulties, even making a person feel despairing, powerless, and wanting to give up.

A wave of sorrow began to spread through Green's will, as if he were sensing that great sorcerer's pain.

He stood there quietly, motionless.

No one knew how long had passed before Green suddenly raised his head and strode toward his small hut.

At that moment, Green seemed to be reborn. An unwavering conviction was born within him: the path and truth he had chosen, he had to persevere in them to the very end. Otherwise, how would he be any different from ordinary people drifting with the current?

This was a path of pursuing knowledge and truth, never giving up.

Even if this path was filled with despair and death, piled with loneliness and endless hardships and dangers, Green was absolutely unwilling to forever advance by stepping in others' footprints.