Chapter 31

There were only ten days left before the three-month deadline. James looked much older than before. He had turned from a young man to a gray-haired man. This was the result of overexerting his mental strength. Previously, James had relied on magic to maintain his youthful appearance. At this moment, he was no longer in the mood to do so.

He sat on the ground, paralyzed, waiting for Adam to complete the construction of the last untested meditation technique. His heart was filled with despair. So many years of research, so many years of hard work, were about to end. It was all over. He was just a person without talent. Relying on pure spiritual power to become a mage was just a wishful thinking. What was even more tragic was that his total spiritual power did not even increase by much.

"I'm going to die. I'm going to die silently like this." James thought in despair as he clutched the experiment report in his hand tightly. Then, the magic that was unintentionally dissipated and shattered into pieces.

Adam's spiritual power collapsed again, blowing away the fragments on the ground. He shook his head at James and said, "It still won't work. It can't be self-consistent. The mage armor constructed from this meditation technique cannot bear the weight of magic."

James looked at him with lifeless eyes and said, "Forget it. You don't have to come starting tomorrow. The experiment on the stability of the spiritual power solidification rune structure and the construction of a complete rune set has failed. The laboratory will be disbanded in ten days."

James' voice was softer with each word than the last. The decadence in his words made Adam frown. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, James said again, "After ten days, if you are willing, you can come to receive your salary for this month. If you are not willing, I will directly transfer it to your balance. Also, I'm probably going to leave. "

Adam temporarily put the words he wanted to say back in his heart and asked, "Leave? Where to? "

James smiled sadly. "Leave the Mage Continent, find an island, and leave my descendants there. Then … that's it. "James turned off all the optical projectors in the laboratory and destroyed all the experiment reports. In the darkness, he whispered," Adam, don't research meditation techniques anymore. You are different from me. There is no need to waste your talent here. I'm really jealous of you. How does it feel to be an official Mage? "

Adam opened his mouth again, but the darkness could not block the sight of the apprentices. James directly interrupted him, "There's no need to comfort me. At least compared to ordinary people, I've experienced the charm of magic, and that's enough. You go first, I want to be alone. "

Adam helplessly walked out of the laboratory. In fact, he wanted to tell James that after two months of countless experiments, he was confident that he could summarize a set of self-consistent meditation techniques. However, he still needed a few days to organize it. However, James did not give him a chance to speak. However, it was no big deal. Ten days was more than enough. He could just sort it out and lend it to James.

.....

About three months had passed, and the atmosphere among the new apprentices was different from the beginning. Wherever there were people, there would be fights. This was especially true among these self-proclaimed geniuses. In just three months, there were already many apprentices who had joined together and formed organizations based on all kinds of ideas.

Most of them had used up all their energy stones. Everyone turned their attention to the mission hall. Then, a problem arose. The missions that were suitable for rookies like them were very limited. Most of them were cleaning, recording, service, and the like. There were not many such missions, at least not enough to satisfy the needs of nearly a hundred people.

Up until now, everyone had mastered more than one type of magic. Under the tacit approval of the academy, conflicts were commonplace. The official mages even treated them like air. This tacit approval and indulgence made some of the more influential and more talented acolytes look down on them as if they were nothing.

The five people on the deserted island were still united. They had no choice but to be united because no other team was willing to accept them. Although their abilities were not bad — William had successfully mastered three types of fire magic, and Ophelia's development on the path of a Body Refining Mage was rather smooth. However, because there were too few of them, they were still the ones being bullied.

At this moment, a conflict broke out in the mission hall. The cause was a short-term job to sort out metals for a senior Alchemy apprentice. This job had a reward of two energy stones, which was already very generous. Randy wanted to take this job, but it was discovered by a native apprentice at the same time. What was even more unfortunate was that this person was the one who had initially expressed disdain for the deserted island apprentices. Later on, everyone knew his name. Shawn, the descendant of two Mage Apprentices.

"What? A country bumpkin also wants to earn energy stones? Haha, can you guys recognize metals? " Shawn took a step forward and blocked Randy's path. He said arrogantly, as if he found his words amusing. The companions behind Shawn burst into laughter.

"Get out of the way, Shawn. Do you want to suffer?" Randy's face darkened. He did not know why this Shawn kept biting him like a mad dog. He had been insulted many times.

Shawn turned around and shouted exaggeratedly, "Oh! Oh my god, listen to what he's saying. He wants to teach me a lesson. "He then turned around and said to Randy," You? A country bumpkin? Oh, right, right, right. I forgot that you're a genius with Soul Inclination. What is it? Curse Affinity? Hahaha! Want to try cursing me? I doubt you can hurt a single hair on Lord Shawn's head! "

Randy clenched his fists, his veins popping out. Three months was enough for the apprentices to gather information. All the apprentices who showed Soul Inclination during the aptitude test were remembered by everyone. Randy was the only exception, because his Curse Affinity was too unpopular and useless. This made him a laughing stock, and also a sore spot in his heart.

"Damn it, you bastard!" Randy lost his mind and rushed towards Shawn with red eyes. Quentin, who was almost inseparable from him, hurriedly pulled him back. They could not fight here, as the senior apprentices would not allow it.

Shawn stood where he was and looked at them mockingly. He pushed them aside with his companions behind him and accepted the mission.

The senior apprentices looked at this scene lazily. It was too normal, so normal that it did not arouse their interest at all. They had also come from this stage. After experiencing the cruelty for the first time, the rookies would know how childish and stupid the current conflict was.

Randy stood where he was like a beast, panting heavily. He said in a low voice that was close to a roar, "Bastard, do you dare to duel with me?"

The Mission Hall fell silent. Although conflicts had occurred from time to time, they had only been verbal. No one had actually engaged in a real duel. After witnessing the power of magic, they knew that a duel between apprentices could not be carried out by punching and kicking each other. The slightest accident would mean death.

Shawn, who had walked to the door, turned around and looked at Randy in disbelief. "What did you say?"

Randy broke free from Quentin and walked step by step to Shawn. He looked at him almost face to face. "I said, duel, bastard."

Shawn could not help but take a step back, panic surging in his heart. However, in the next second, he became angry because of his reaction just now. He said fiercely, "Fine, then let's duel, you piece of trash. Since you want to die, Master Shawn will fulfill your wish!"

.....

The first duel between the new apprentices became the most popular topic among the rookies. Adam knew nothing about it. He resumed his previous life of living in the dormitory and the library. This news was learned from chatting with Eliot. After seeing Adam again a few months later, he expressed regret for James' encounter and the time that Adam had wasted.

"Speaking of which, you're also from a deserted island, right?" Eliot asked casually.

"Yes." The book that Adam was reading was called "Rune Stability Discussion". The explanation of runes in the book was helpful for him to construct his meditation technique.

After getting Adam's acknowledgment, Eliot came over and said nosily, "I heard that today, the apprentice on the deserted island who has curse affinity is going to duel with someone. Don't you want to go and see?" Although curse affinity was useless, it was still a conspicuous label. Eliot had no impression of Shawn.

"Oh." Adam answered perfunctorily and continued to flip through the book.

Eliot pursed his lips and came closer. "Didn't he come from the same place as you? Don't you want to go and see? "

Adam turned the book to the last page and closed it. He put it back on the shelf and said, "No."

"Why? It's the first duel between the rookies. You haven't seen it either, right? Tsk tsk, thinking about it makes me nostalgic. Back then, we were like this too. "Eliot went off the rails and went into reminiscing mode.

"Boring. They've just come into contact with the most shallow power, and they're already focusing on fighting. Stupid. Besides, what's so interesting about their duel? Two people standing opposite each other desperately trying to construct runes? "Adam said as he turned and left.

"Uh …" Eliot imagined such a scene and suddenly felt that it was meaningless. However, he was really too bored. There were very few apprentices, and it was rare to find someone like Adam who was willing to chat with him. "Let's go and see. Aren't you going back to the dorm? It's on the way. It won't take up too much of your time. "

Adam was helplessly pulled back by Eliot. Fortunately, the rest of the threads continued to calculate day and night. The daily threads did not delay the progress of the mission, so there was no need to dampen Eliot's interest. So, the two walked out of the library and headed to the duel location.

Along the way, Eliot bragged about his achievements when he was a rookie and kept repeating his glorious history of using poison to defeat his opponents. Just like that, they walked to the duel location.

Along the way, people kept greeting Elliot and looking at Adam, who was beside him, in surprise. They didn't know how this' abandoned apprentice 'got together with the potion tutor.