Professor He

"Huo Ling, get yourself ready. I'm taking you to meet your master."

After class that day, Teacher Xia Yang called Huo Ling and informed him of the news.

It was finally here.

Huo Ling had been waiting for this day for quite a while. A Gold-rank mage—truly something to look forward to.

After returning, Huo Ling packed up simply and followed Teacher Xia deeper into the school.

The places where they usually attended classes all belonged to the outer campus. Generally, one could only enter the inner campus after passing the postgraduate entrance exam.

Walking through the inner campus, Huo Ling could clearly feel that the concentration of spiritual energy here was at least double that of the outer campus.

The spiritual energy concentration in the outer campus was already considerably higher than outside the school.

Of course, it still could not compare to the Spirit Realm.

With so many students in the school, if they wanted to cultivate, they either had to use a beacon to travel to the Spirit Realm.

Or they could only rent one of the school's cultivation rooms, where the spiritual energy concentration was even higher than in the Spirit Realm.

Naturally, the price was not cheap either. The spiritual energy in the cultivation rooms was all released from energy crystals. In any case, Huo Ling did not have the money to enjoy such a luxury.

As he walked through the inner campus, Huo Ling also saw several mage towers.

These towering mage towers were what spellcasters dreamed of. When a mage was inside his own mage tower, he was the absolute king.

The mana stored within a mage tower could supply a mage with an uninterrupted stream for casting spells.

Naturally, constructing a mage tower was also extremely expensive and consumed vast amounts of magical materials. An ordinary mage simply could not afford one—it was just too costly.

Xia Yang brought Huo Ling to a laboratory, where Huo Ling saw the person he would soon be taking as his master.

Professor He Wenhan.

At that moment, the Gold-rank spellcaster stood before an experimental table. Bound to the table was a creature from the Spirit Realm.

A silver-backed gnoll!

Gnolls were also an intelligent species of the Spirit Realm. They were powerfully built and savage by nature.

Gnolls lived in groups, generally banding together in the form of tribes.

Their appearance was somewhat ugly, resembling hyenas. They stood between 1.8 and 2.4 meters tall, with ordinary gnolls generally reaching around two meters.

Such towering frames also gave gnolls exceptional physical prowess. Once they reached adulthood, an individual's strength generally stood at the peak of the apprentice rank.

If they also took on the profession of a warrior or spellcaster, they could easily break through to higher ranks.

Gnolls had their own god, but the Gnoll God resided in the Abyss and could not provide much support to the gnolls in the Spirit Realm.

Still, some gnolls were fortunate enough to become gnoll priests, able to use divine power to cast divine spells.

Of course, priests made up only a tiny fraction of the entire gnoll population. Most gnolls were warriors.

Among spellcasters, the overwhelming majority were bloodline sorcerers or shamanic priests.

Gnolls practiced dual worship. Some among them worshipped the Gnoll God residing in the Abyss.

Other gnolls worshipped ancestral spirits. This group consisted of shamans, who could borrow the power of ancestral spirits to cast all manner of witchcraft.

Hearing someone arrive, Professor He Wenhan merely looked up once before continuing to immerse himself in the experiment.

The silver-backed gnoll before him was excellent experimental material.

From where he stood, Huo Ling could see that the gnoll had already been subjected to spells such as Sleep and Anesthesia.

Holding a scalpel, He Wenhan had already cut open the gnoll's chest. In his hand, he held the gnoll's still-beating heart.

He carefully worked back and forth within the gnoll's chest cavity. Under his manipulation, the gnoll's originally cramped chest cavity somehow yielded a sizable empty space.

Then, with a spell, he retrieved another heart from a magic-sealing chest.

After connecting the blood vessels in the gnoll's chest cavity to that heart, He Wenhan looked with satisfaction at the two hearts beating within the gnoll's chest.

He then closed the gnoll's chest cavity and cast a spell to heal the wound across its chest.

"Tap, tap."

An undead mage emerged from the darkness and dragged away the gnoll that had undergone the experiment.

Then He Wenhan wiped the blood from his hands and looked at Xia Yang and Huo Ling, who had waited beside him for more than half an hour.

"Xia, you're here."

"This must be the student Huo you mentioned, right?"

"Yes, Professor."

Xia Yang nodded and answered respectfully.

He Wenhan led the two out of the laboratory and into a reception room.

He Wenhan chatted with Xia Yang for a while, and Teacher Xia then raised some questions he had encountered during cultivation.

Although Teacher Xia's chosen specialization was the Evocation school, while Professor He specialized in Necromancy, as a Gold-rank archmage, it was still easy for him to resolve the questions Xia Yang raised.

Huo Ling sat obediently to the side as well, not daring to show the slightest impatience. Instead, he listened attentively. Though much of it was not useful to him yet, there was no harm in remembering it.

After chatting for over an hour, Xia Yang finally finished asking about the issues he had encountered in cultivation, still wanting more.

"Alright, Xia, you should head back first." Professor He waved his hand and sent Xia Yang away.

Then Professor He began to examine Huo Ling closely.

After waiting for so long, Huo Ling had not shown the slightest complaint. He was quite a good kid.

"I heard from Xia that you also intend to specialize in Necromancy. You're a promising prospect, and he recommended that I take you as my disciple."

Professor He took a sip of tea and continued, "I've been quite busy these past two years, rushing the progress of several projects. I originally had no plans to take on any more disciples, but Xia kept praising your talent, so I'm willing to give you a test. If you pass it, I'll accept you as my disciple."

"Please tell me the details of the test, Professor. I'll do my best to complete it!" Hearing this, Huo Ling nodded firmly.

Teacher Xia really was a good person, unlike a certain Teacher Li.

Far away in the Spirit Realm, Professor Li suddenly sneezed several times and nearly alerted a Spirit Realm creature.

"I've looked over your records. Second-class aptitude, an inherited Spirit Realm's Blessing, advanced to Black Iron a little over a month ago—you're very talented!"

"Since I specialize in Necromancy, my lineage is also one that values real combat. Anyone who wants to study under me cannot be a bookworm who only knows how to bury his head in books."

"Considering that you have only just advanced, I'll make your test a little easier."

"Within two months, I want you to independently create a Skeleton Warrior with Black Iron strength. If you succeed within those two months, I'll accept you as my disciple."

"If you fail to complete this test after two months, don't be discouraged. It will not mean you aren't outstanding enough. It's simply that I'm too busy lately. When the time comes, I'll introduce you to another professor. With your aptitude, he'll be very willing to take you as his disciple."

After considering it for a moment, Professor He Wenhan set a test that was somewhat difficult.

Under normal circumstances, a spellcaster needed around half a month to master a first-tier spell. Of course, geniuses required less time.