Chapter 21: Low Level

Between Apprentice and Wizard, they needed to meditate on the basic will runes in their spiritual sea.

There were a total of 13 basic will runes, and the Apprentice period was divided according to the number of runes meditated. It was roughly divided into five stages: Elementary (0-3), Low (4-6), Intermediate (7-9), Advanced (10-12), and Peak (13).

When an Apprentice meditated and produced a rune, they could start learning spells. Elementary Apprentices could learn three spells, and the total number of spells they could master during the Apprentice period was no more than 20.

Three months later, in the Shadow Tower, in the swamp.

Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal interweaving echoed.

In the forest, a man and a beast were fighting fiercely.

It was a black-haired youth, and his opponent was a Fire-Kissed Forest Python that was as thick as a man’s thigh.

The cross-shaped sword slashed through the scarlet scales, leaving many wounds. The Fire-Kissed Forest Python that was in pain twisted its huge snake tail and lashed at Heath while opening its huge mouth and spitting out lines of fire at him.

After the two sides fought for nearly ten minutes, Heath finally seized the opportunity and jumped to the top of the Fire-Kissed Forest Python’s head. Black Dragon pierced the top of its head through its jaw and nailed it to the ground.

The Fire-Kissed Forest Python’s huge body struggled crazily for a while before it stopped breathing.

“Phew!” After wiping the blood off his face, Heath started to pant.

“As expected of a Level 0 intermediate demonized beast. It really has some skills!”

After coming to the Shadow Tower, Heath had a more detailed understanding of the grades of demonized beasts.

According to the grades, they were divided into 0-9 grades. Each grade was roughly divided into five stages. Elementary, low, intermediate, advanced, and peak, just like the Apprentice period.

The comparison of strength was also similar to that of an Apprentice. A Level 0 intermediate was equivalent to an intermediate Apprentice, which was much stronger than the advanced demonized beast in the Aike Continent.

After a short rest, Heath walked up and placed one hand on the cold corpse of the Fire-Kissed Forest Python.

“Extract.”

[Beep, extraction successful. Spirit +0.02]

[Attributes: Strength 13.2, Agility 13.6, Vitality 12.8, Spirit 2.9]

Heath’s gaze swept across the attributes list, his gaze finally stopping at Spirit 2.9.

This was the result of his three months of hard work. He had also meditated three will runes in his spiritual sea, reaching the peak of the elementary level. He was just a step away from becoming a low-level Apprentice.

‘Another two or three demonized beasts should be able to advance to a low-level Apprentice.’

Heath was silently looking forward to it.

Then, he took out a dagger and dug out the two fangs and the heart of the Fire-Kissed Forest Python. This was the most valuable part of the Fire-Kissed Forest Python’s body, which could be sold for five or six Magic Stones.

As for the rest of its huge body, it was worthless. Heath threw it in the swamp and gave it to the other demonized beasts in the swamp as food.

Then, he got up and continued to search for other targets, ready to break through the shackles of a low-level Apprentice in one go.

After exploring for a few minutes, Heath found the secretion of a Gray Lizard on the ground. This demonized beast was on the same level as the Fire-Kissed Forest Python, and it was also a spirit-type, so it was very easy to extract spiritual power.

Heath was about to track it down, but at this moment, he heard footsteps not far away, and he could vaguely hear voices.

‘Someone’s here?’

Heath immediately jumped onto a thick tree nearby and used the dense branches to hide himself.

There was no detection spells set up by Wizards in the swamp, so it was a place that Wizards could not monitor. In addition, it intersected with other Wizard organizations, so it was not safe to mix with people. There were always Apprentices who mysteriously disappeared here.

Not long after, two men carrying a young girl came over.

The two men were in their twenties. They were both wearing the Shadow Tower’s Apprentice cloaks. The young girl they were carrying looked to be 15 or 16 years old. She was naked, and her eyes were wide open as she died.

Seeing the two male students, Heath could not help but frown.

He knew these two people. They were the Grimm brothers. They were very disgusting brothers.

The two walked to the edge of the swamp and threw the girl’s body into a swamp. They started to laugh without restraint.

“Haha, this silly girl really thought that we would let her go.”

“Isn’t that right? The moment when she was strangled to death was really awesome.”

“Ah? Is that so? Let’s try to find another female Apprentice another day.”

The two of them laughed and left.

After the two of them were far away, Heath came down from the tree trunk. He glanced at the girl who was slowly sinking in the swamp and couldn’t help but curse in a low voice, “Scum.”

The Grimm brothers were absolutely notorious among the Apprentices. The two of them joined the tower a few years earlier than Heath and the others. Because an official Apprentice was of the same race as them, the two of them relied on this relationship to climb up to this thigh.

After that, the two of them began to behave atrociously in the tower, extorting, blackmailing, and forcing female Apprentices to have sex. They did whatever they wanted.

There was a huge difference between an official Apprentice and an unofficial Apprentice here.

The unofficial Apprentices, the tower basically didn’t care about them, and behind the official Apprentice stood the Wizard himself. From this, one could see their power.

Looking at the girl’s wide-opened eyes, there was still fear and disbelief. She probably did not think that the two brothers would really kill her. To be honest, Heath was also slightly surprised.

The tower strictly forbade Apprentices to kill each other. He thought that no matter how crazy the two were, they would not cross the bottom line. However, he did not expect them to still do it, and… Judging from this familiar situation, it was obviously not the first or second time…

‘It seems that I have to be more cautious in the future…’

Heath silently reminded himself.

Then, he walked up and placed his palm on the girl’s cold corpse. At the same time, he silently chanted in his heart, ‘Extract.’

[Beep, extraction successful. Spirit +0.03]

At the same time, the 2.9 that had been paused for a long time on the data list changed again. It was replaced by the number 3.

At the same time, a pure energy surged into his spiritual sea. Under the sweeping of this energy, a shimmering mysterious rune slowly appeared in his spiritual sea.

The shackles of a beginner Apprentice were broken at this moment. He had officially entered the low-level stage.

“I thought I would need at least two or three demonized beasts to break through. I didn’t expect it to be so early!” Heath was overjoyed.

The extraction continued.

After the notification sound of his spiritual power increasing, a notification sound followed.

[Beep, extraction successful. Wizard Talent +1. Current Wizard Talent: 2. Rating: Low.]

His talent had also increased!

“This is really double happiness!”

Then, he raised his hand to caress the girl’s face and closed her eyes. At the same time, he comforted her, “Go in peace. If there is a chance in the future, I will help you take revenge.”

The girl’s body quickly sank into the swamp.

Heath immediately left the swamp and returned to the tower.

After returning to the Shadow Tower, Heath walked straight to the trading area, ready to buy his first spell model.

An Apprentice could learn spells after meditating a rune. But because he did not want to be too ostentatious, Heath had been suppressing the impulse to taste the fun of spells and did not go to learn spells for a long time.

However, Heath felt that it was time. Three of the Apprentices in the same period had already meditated on the first rune and learned spells. He would not attract too much attention if he bought a model to learn spells now.

He came all the way to the spell sales area. Heath was ready to go in and choose a spell that suited him, but at this moment, a shout rang in his ear.

“Heath!”

Heath turned his head and saw a tanned, average-looking male apprentice walking towards him. This was Wesley, one of his fellow apprentices.

There were two beautiful female Apprentices beside Wesley, both of whom entered during the same period as him. One of them was called Jenny, and the other was called Molly.

The three of them walked over and bowed to each other. Wesley said, “You came here to buy a magic model as well? So, you’ve also meditated on runes?”

Heath nodded. “Not long ago.”

He could clearly feel Jenny and Molly’s eyes burning with passion as they looked at Heath.

Wesley said, “Congratulations, I’ve also just meditated on runes. Now, five of us have meditated on runes at the same time.”

After a pause, he laughed and said, “Haha, we were just guessing who the next person to meditate on runes would be. Jenny and Molly guessed that it would be Duncan, but I thought it would be you. After all, you’ve worked so hard. There’s no reason not for you.”

Heath said, “Is that so? Thank you.”

Jenny explained in a whimsical manner, “I also guessed that it would be Heath’s, alright? I only guessed Duncan because I was bewitched by Molly.”

Molly rolled her eyes. “Stop it. You were the one who suggested to guess Duncan first.”

The two of them started arguing for no reason.

Wesley said, “Jenny and Molly came with me to buy a spell model. We agreed to take a day off. Everyone will have something to eat in the house and play cards. Do you want to come?”

After a pause, he asked the two girls, “Is there any objection to inviting Heath to join us?”

Jenny blushed and said, “What objection can there be to playing cards?”

Molly did not speak, but her expression was tacitly in agreement.

Wesley could not help but laugh. He winked at Heath and said, “I promise you won’t be disappointed. How about it?”