Inside the Magic Tower on Pyrewood Village's Back Mountain.
In the first-floor meeting hall, Arugal sat at the head of the room, listening to the mages below report.
He was a middle-aged man in his forties, but through his training over the past few years, he had reached the level of a Magus.
Below him were two High Magic Users and five Intermediate Mages, all capable subordinates of his.
"The first round of tests is going fairly well so far," a High Magic User in black robes stepped forward to report. "Although many people die after drinking the new version of the potion, some can already assume a preliminary Worgen form during the day, and their strength has indeed increased considerably."
The other High Magic User, dressed in gray robes, chimed in, "We have Lord Arugal's wisdom to thank for that. By deliberately spreading word that anyone could come learn magic, he secured all these test subjects for us."
"Exactly." Arugal laughed as well. "I believe our Worgen Project can succeed at this stage."
"But Lord Arugal, there's still something I don't understand," an Intermediate Mage in brown robes said to him.
"What?" Arugal regarded his subordinate through half-lidded eyes.
The brown-robed mage bowed. "Since our previous potion could already turn all the villagers of Pyrewood Village into Worgen who obeyed us, why are we developing a new, unstable version?"
At that question, the black-robed and gray-robed mages merely smiled without speaking.
Arugal shook his head. "Does something so simple really need explaining? Because we want to create stronger, more useful Worgen!"
"Stronger? More useful?" The brown-robed mage raised his head.
The other Intermediate Mages also pricked up their ears.
As lower-ranking mages, they did not understand the reasoning behind some of Arugal's plans. They simply did as they were