Chapter 31

After helping Sain carry the specimen back to the dormitory, Tianti slowly left, looking back every few steps.

It seemed she wanted to remind Sain if he had forgotten something.

However, facing Sain's indifferent expression and emotionless farewell, Tianti ultimately didn't dare to stay any longer.

After Tianti left, Sain shook his head.

The apprentice specimen on the lab bench was enough to remain uncorrupted for two months.

After a morning of anatomy lessons, Sain walked to the bed and began to read one of the five magic books given to him by his mentor, Mosido.

"An Overview of the Basic Knowledge of the Pan-Continental Wizard World" was the thickest and largest book Sain had ever encountered.

Besides introducing some commonly used magic knowledge, many paragraphs had personal annotations left by his mentor, Mosido.

Those valuable and commonly used magic knowledge were naturally one of the contents Sain was most concerned about.

In addition, what also greatly interested Sain were the descriptions of the customs and traditions of the wizard world and the wizard continent scattered throughout the book.

"Is the world we live in called the Wizard World?"

"Where is the Dark Region in the Wizard World?"

"Where is my home in the Wizard World?" Sain thought to himself as he flipped through the book.

Unfortunately, this was a magic book mainly introducing basic knowledge, and Sain never found the answers he was looking for.

The annotations describing the customs and traditions of the Wizard World were also very vague, as if the author did not want to reveal too much about the surface and other regions of the Wizard World.

Sain could only roughly understand that the world he lived in was much larger than he had imagined.

From the notes left by his mentor, Mosido, Sain also sensed a hint of the mentor's sense of smallness when facing the vast Wizard World, despite being a formal magician.

Speaking of which, it had been ten years since he came to the Dark Region. Sain had never seen any apprentice leave Mithral City and return to the surface.

The sunlight of the day and the starry sky of the night seemed to have become the deepest memories in Sain's mind.

In the Dark Region, when Sain looked up, he could only see the faint light of the embedded glowstones in the underground sky.

The black magicians of the academy had sealed the methods of returning to the surface. Over the past ten years, Sain had explored many places around Mithral City, but he had never discovered any path that might lead to the surface.

Even when new blood was captured from the surface by the black magicians, Sain only saw a huge ship flying in the air.

Where did this giant ship come from, and what did it rely on to fly?

Sain did not know.

Sain only knew that a large number of children of the right age were always transported to Mithral City by this giant ship.

After all the children were dropped off in Mithral City, the giant ship would disappear the next day, as if it had never appeared.

Under the dim light of the magic crystal lamp, the young figure reading the magic book grew longer and longer.

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of the door opening was heard.

A girl whose presence Sain found familiar and comforting walked to his side.

After accompanying Sain in reading another five pages of the book, Lina said, "Get some rest early. Don't you have other magic classes tomorrow?"

Nodding, Sain closed the large book and pushed it under the bed. He and Lina then lay down on the bed, embracing each other.

The magic crystal lamp had gone out at some point.

In the darkness, besides the suppressed breathing, Sain whispered to the person in front of him, "Today, Master Kosolon gave me a specimen. The preservative used for the specimen is very special, and I don't know how it was prepared."

"Mm... I'll help you identify it tomorrow," Lina replied softly after a low moan.

In terms of skills in anatomy and knowledge of darkness and death, Lina, as a senior apprentice, was far superior to Sain.

Even Sain's steady dissection techniques were learned from Lina through countless practices.

As a senior apprentice specializing in fire and dark magic elements, Lina was also very interested in related fields.

If they could truly unravel the secret of Master Kosolon's preservative, or even just a small part of its knowledge, it would be immensely beneficial for both Lina and Sain.

Discussing such content during intimate moments was not because Lina and Sain were particularly perverse, but rather a common practice in the underground world.

Sain and Lina had become accustomed to casually mentioning death or specimens.

This marked their true adaptation to the identity of black magicians and the atmosphere of the Black Magic Academy.

It also marked their standing at the top of the majority of apprentices in terms of strength, adaptability, and mindset.

...

In addition to Master Kosolon's anatomy class, with the full opening of the academy's public classes, Sain chose to audit courses that interested him or were useful to him, such as introductory alchemy, monster identification, and initial magic model construction.

From the names of these courses, such as "introductory" or "initial," it was clear that the knowledge taught in these public classes was only the most basic part of the respective magic fields.

This was inevitable, as knowledge was priceless.

Unless one could become a disciple of a formal black magician, there was no chance to truly delve into and study the deeper knowledge of a specific field.

To expect to achieve any significant level based solely on the basic knowledge taught in public classes was like a dreamer's fantasy.

In fact, the opening of public classes was more aimed at entry-level and low-level apprentices.

For intermediate apprentices like Sain, they had mostly heard these courses before.

Even the formal black magicians who taught these classes rarely brought anything new to the public classes.

Moreover, black magicians were generally cold and arrogant. A slight misstep could result in even intermediate apprentices being killed.

However, the probability of intermediate apprentices suffering misfortune was much lower than that of low-level and entry-level apprentices.

After all, the academy had spent over a decade cultivating them, and it was not easy for them to grow to the intermediate apprentice level, so they were not to be killed at the whim of formal black magicians.

While Sain audited these public courses, one interesting thing was that his mentor, Mosido, happened to teach the basics of fire elements and introductory alchemy.

Perhaps because Sain was present, Mentor Mosido always brought out some deeper new knowledge during his lectures.

This not only made the classrooms always full of apprentices during Mosido's lectures but also allowed Sain, as his personal disciple, to act as Mosido's assistant or class representative, standing on the podium or in front of the lab bench, learning and experiencing the mysteries of magic and truth up close.

During this time, Sain also saw Tianti, the entry-level apprentice he had interacted with once.

Her proactive approach to Sain after class made many apprentices who were unaware of the situation view her as Sain's exclusive, and thus they did not dare to have any ideas about this small entry-level apprentice.