Darkgold Wood

As he left the meditation room, Luo Lin ran into another assistant from Wizard Eric's laboratory.

A taciturn Third-Rank Apprentice named Buck.

Buck rarely spoke to others, but today, he unusually gave Luo Lin a glance and said in a low voice, "Kyle Silverglow is a member of the Elemental Ring. His background is anything but simple, so be careful."

"The Elemental Ring?" This was Luo Lin's first time hearing of it.

"A small group made up of apprentices who specialize in the elemental school and have influential backgrounds. They hold considerable power within the academy."

After that brief explanation, Buck said no more and hurried away.

Luo Lin remembered the name. It seemed the academy's internal factions were more complicated than he had imagined.

He became even more determined to keep a low profile and strengthen himself.

A few days later, Lina found Luo Lin as promised and took him to Gray Marsh.

The trading fair was held in an abandoned warehouse. The lighting was dim, figures moved through the shadows, and everyone kept their voices low.

The stalls displayed all kinds of things:

Unappraised minerals, crudely processed magical plants, damaged enchanted items, unknown beast bones, and even some scrolls and notes of dubious origin.

Luo Lin activated Weak Force-Field Armor, stayed alert, and used Literacy to quickly scan the items bearing writing.

Most of the goods were ordinary, or cheap substitutes passed off as better items.

Lina was more interested in small objects that might be useful for stealth or reconnaissance.

At a stall in one corner, Luo Lin's attention was drawn to an inconspicuous blackened chunk of wood that looked as though it had been burned.

The stall owner claimed he had picked it up near the outskirts of an ancient ruin and had been unable to identify it.

Everyone else scoffed at the "charred wood," but Luo Lin drew on the energy spectrum knowledge he had recently been studying and faintly sensed a calm, restrained energy within it—one inclined toward life and nature.

That energy was completely at odds with its charred appearance.

Without revealing anything, Luo Lin stepped forward and traded several effective Stamina Recovery Potions he had brewed himself for it.

He easily obtained the "charred wood" from the stall owner, who clearly did not recognize its value.

Lina watched from the side. Though puzzled, she did not ask any questions.

After wandering around a few more times and finding nothing else of value, the two left Gray Marsh separately.

Back in his stone house, Luo Lin carefully examined the charred wood.

He gently scraped away a little of the blackened surface with a small knife, revealing dark-golden wood beneath.

He tried injecting a thread of mana into it, but the charred wood did not react at all.

Yet when he used his mental power to sense it closely, the restrained and tranquil energy became clearer.

"Interesting."

Luo Lin carefully put it away.

For now, he could not tell what it was useful for, but his intuition told him the trip to the trading fair had not been in vain.

In the days that followed, Luo Lin continued his research.

He sliced the charred wood into pieces and placed them in flowerpots growing several ordinary herbs.

A few days later, he was surprised to find that those herbs were growing noticeably better than the ones beside them. Their leaves were greener, and their stems thicker and sturdier.

"It really does contain life energy... Perhaps I can use it to cultivate magical plants with demanding growth requirements?"

A new direction for research emerged in Luo Lin's mind.

It had nothing to do with gaining power. It was more like an extension of his exploration into the essence of life, and the enjoyment it brought him absorbed him completely.

He still tried to break through to the perfect level of the meditation method every day, and he still failed.

But he was no longer impatient. Instead, he put more energy into cross-studying and verifying energy particle structures, array principles, and magical potion energy spectra.

Luo Lin could feel his system of knowledge gradually taking shape.

It was slow, but exceptionally solid.

Though his total mana grew slowly, as his mental power became more condensed and his understanding of energy particles deepened, he felt that the quality and malleability of each unit were improving.

Casting spells seemed to become smoother, while consumption also appeared to be gradually decreasing.

Life at the academy continued in this calm rhythm, occasionally brightened by small moments of interest.

Time moved steadily onward, and Luo Lin's life at the Shadow Crow Holy Tower Arcane Academy gradually settled into a routine.

The commotion caused by the assessment had long since died down, and everyone had accepted his status as a newly advanced Third-Rank Apprentice.

Though he occasionally still drew attention because of his astonishing advancement speed and his connection to Wizard Eric, most of the time he was immersed in his own research and studies.

The charred wood he had traded for at the Gray Marsh fair became an interesting research subject for Luo Lin.

He named it Darkgold Wood.

After repeatedly slicing and testing it with great care, he confirmed that the wood truly contained a gentle and enduring life energy.

He buried thin wood chips in the soil of several small flowerpots and planted common Calm Mind Flowers, Blue Tear Grass used to make Lesser Mana Recovery Potions, and a magical plant called Moonlight Orchid that had somewhat stricter growth requirements.

The results were significant.

The plants growing in pots containing Darkgold Wood fragments were visibly healthier than the control group.

The Calm Mind Flowers had fuller blossoms, and their fragrance seemed slightly stronger as well.

The Blue Tear Grass had become a deeper shade of blue.

As for the Moonlight Orchid, which had been somewhat wilted and yellow when first planted, it had unexpectedly come back to life. Its leaves unfurled, and there were even faint signs that it might produce buds ahead of schedule.

This discovery delighted Luo Lin.

He began consulting relevant books to learn how to make better use of this life energy.

At the same time, he tried adding Darkgold Wood powder to his improved Stamina Recovery Potion, only to find that the results were poor. It even occasionally caused conflicts in the potion's properties.

It seemed that this energy was better suited for long-term nourishment and guidance rather than rapid replenishment.

Luo Lin was not discouraged. Instead, he began studying how to use Darkgold Wood to improve the cultivation environment for magical plants.

He designed a small Minor Nourishing Array based on basic array principles, using Darkgold Wood fragments as the array core in an attempt to guide that life energy into the soil more gently and continuously.

His first attempt at drawing the array took more than half a day. He failed several times before successfully activating it.

When the array operated, Luo Lin could clearly sense a faint, comforting life energy slowly circulating through the field.

He moved a Moonlight Orchid that had been growing poorly into this simple nourishing array.

Over the following days, he closely observed the Moonlight Orchid's changes.

Though the effect was not as immediate as directly burying wood chips in the soil, the Moonlight Orchid's condition did steadily improve.

Its leaves became more lustrous, and its roots seemed to have grown more developed as well.

"Looks like the direction is correct."

"The array can use this energy more steadily and durably. Only the efficiency and method still need to be optimized."

Luo Lin recorded the observational data and considered his next improvements.

This kind of practice, combining potion-making, materials science, and array studies, gave him a deeper understanding of how to apply knowledge comprehensively.

Meanwhile, his work at the Insect School Laboratory also entered a steady rhythm.

The tasks Wizard Eric gave him gradually became more complex. At first, he had only processed fixed materials, but later he needed to handle samples with varying activity levels according to the progress of experiments, and occasionally assist in recording experimental data.

Luo Lin always completed these tasks with meticulous care. His precise material-handling skills and rigorous attitude earned him even more trust from Wizard Eric.

On one occasion, while Wizard Eric was handling the venom gland of an extremely violent Molten Fire Beetle, the gland suddenly began pulsing violently out of control.

It was about to rupture, and Buck, the assistant beside him, was momentarily at a loss.

Luo Lin, however, reacted with astonishing speed. Almost instinctively, he cast Mage Hand, but instead of grabbing it, he used an extremely gentle vibrating force to instantly numb the nerve nodes around the venom gland.

This temporarily stabilized it and bought Wizard Eric valuable time to handle it.

Afterward, Wizard Eric glanced at Luo Lin and simply said, "Good reaction. Your control over power is also very precise."

Though there was no further praise, Luo Lin could feel that his importance in the other man's eyes had increased again.

Beyond that, Luo Lin also learned more about the realm of Official Wizards through the laboratory.

He heard that the gap in strength between Official Wizards was enormous. The standards dividing them were not merely mental power and mana, but more importantly their understanding and application of rules.

They began constructing spells of their own. These were no longer fixed spell models, but more personalized systems of power derived from their own understanding of energy particles and the world.