Chapter 39

When he came to his mentor Mosido's laboratory again, Mosido, with his light yellow eyes, scrutinized Cien several times with great interest.

"Hehehe, you little rascal, you sure know how to stir up trouble."

"For a mere compulsory mission at the academy, you actually come back with a whole body full of injuries." Mentor Mosido clicked his tongue in amazement.

Faced with his mentor's ridicule, Cien lowered his head awkwardly.

Before coming to his mentor, he had already been scolded by Lina.

Fortunately, this time it was a close call, and after a thorough examination, there were no lingering aftereffects.

It was just that his superficial injuries needed some time to heal.

The scratch on his neck, though frightening to look at, was not a serious injury except for the paralyzing toxin from the blue moss, which was a bit troublesome.

Faced with Cien's silence, Mosido did not say anything more.

Just before entering the laboratory, he added, "Hmph, I won't use the muscle regeneration magic on you this time. Feel the pain of these injuries and see if you will be so reckless in the future."

Mentor Mosido entered the laboratory without paying any more attention to Cien, but Cien's two senior disciples, Fei and Zorro, came forward to inquire about his condition.

Cien took the opportunity to express to Senior Sister Fei his desire to learn her method of making nutritional potions.

He also asked Senior Brother Zorro if he could spare some time to guide him in alchemy.

Seeking help from his senior disciples, Cien naturally had to pay a certain price.

Mages always adhere to the principle of equivalent exchange. As long as Boss Bo could successfully sell that batch of goods, Cien would have the financial means to pay the two senior disciples.

At the very least, Cien actually had some good things in his possession.

Whether it was the magic core of the saltwater crocodile or the low-level core of the Green Jaw Feather King, he could offer them as a reward to the two senior disciples.

Cien had long understood one thing: wealth is ultimately external, but real strength belongs to oneself.

For mages, knowledge is power.

Senior Sister Fei readily agreed to Cien's request.

The process of making nutritional potions was not complicated. Instead, Cien's desire to learn how to make nutritional potions gave Fei, who was not good at cooking, a special sense of excitement and satisfaction.

Senior Brother Zorro, on the other hand, was not as straightforward in his response.

After a moment of contemplation, he replied, "I am currently assisting the mentor with a certain alchemy experiment, so I won't have much time during the day. I can only teach you at night."

In the underground world, there is no concept of day and night, but the basic time system is still based on the surface.

The Black Magic Academy has corresponding bell signals for each time period, and the rest and class times of the magic apprentices also follow this time principle.

Both senior disciples agreed to Cien's request and did not mention any specific rewards, which touched Cien.

In fact, Mentor Mosido had already instructed them to give Cien more guidance.

In the absence of the mentor, these two disciples who had entered the door earlier had to help share the burden.

With a rather excited mood, the still-injured Cien returned to his private room.

Today, his main focus at the mentor's place was to meditate and cultivate his mental power. Before he was fully recovered, he wouldn't be able to assist the mentor in any experiments or research.

Senior Sister Fei soon left, and only Senior Brother Zorro, after seeing Cien enter his private room, pondered for a moment before leaving.

"Indeed, as I thought, the reason the mentor took in Cien is because he saw a bit of the second disciple in him?"

"Besides that head of golden hair, the more similar aspects are his temperament and style of action..."

Thinking of the second disciple who had unfortunately fallen thirty years ago, Zorro sighed softly.

Among the few disciples under Mentor Mosido, the one with the most potential should have been the second disciple.

Like Zorro, the second disciple had followed Mosido all the way from the Western Isles to the Dark Region.

As for the third disciple Fei, the fourth disciple, and the fifth disciple Cien, they were all new disciples taken in after coming to the Dark Region.

In terms of the amount of effort and affection invested, the fallen second disciple was truly the mentor's designated successor.

With a sigh, Zorro turned and entered the laboratory.

Recently, he and the mentor had a heavy alchemy task, as the two vice-deans from Shadow Valley had already started to urge them.

...

In front of a smaller workbench, Cien's eyes were fixed on a section of the Green Jaw Feather King's claw that had been securely fastened.

Holding a triangular magic needle, a gift from Senior Brother Zorro a few days ago.

As Cien carefully drew intricate and complex patterns on the surface of the Green Jaw Feather King's claw, the patterns began to multiply.

When these fine patterns had gradually covered two-thirds of the Green Jaw Feather King's claw, with Cien's slight relaxation of focus, the elemental chaos immediately appeared.

The originally unremarkable Green Jaw Feather King's claw suddenly emitted a high temperature, not only melting part of the steel frame on the workbench, but also completely destroying the patterns that Cien had painstakingly carved over several hours.

Feeling the weak elemental power within the Green Jaw Feather King's claw being completely consumed, Cien, somewhat dejected, slapped the bird claw on the workbench and said rather gloomily, "Failed again!"

This was the third Green Jaw Feather King's claw that Cien had scrapped. Considering the quality of a single Green Jaw Feather King's claw, it was enough for him to attempt the carving of magic patterns three to four times.

In other words, Cien had already failed more than ten times before this!

Indeed, there are no natural geniuses in this world.

Even though his mentor and Senior Brother Zorro praised him for having a certain talent in alchemy, he still couldn't immediately create any magic items, even a simple sharpness spell on the Green Jaw Feather King's claw.

This was partly because the Green Jaw Feather King's claw, as a magical beast material, already had a certain elemental nature.

If it were other magical steel or ordinary metals, without the inherent abundant elemental power, alchemists would have to personally infuse them with elemental power.

This would come with higher risks and energy instability, and a higher failure rate.

It's no wonder that the free-spirited Senior Sister Fei was not interested in alchemy.

Continuous setbacks can indeed make one lose confidence.

The dejection in his heart did not last long. Shaking off the negative emotions, Cien reflected on his previous operations, identifying any mistakes and areas for improvement.

Not only his own issues, but also the workbench in front of him and the two Green Jaw Feather King's claws that had already failed, were all within Cien's consideration.

After a long time, Cien picked up another Green Jaw Feather King's claw and, without immediately starting, said to Lina, who was quietly reading a magic book beside him, "This workbench is indeed a bit small. We should reconsider moving."