Chapter 47

"I haven't been going out on academy missions much lately. My mentor has given me a four-month leave, so I don't have any monster cores or flesh to give you right now."

"But in the experiment I just completed today, there's a drained energy crystal left. I wonder if you're interested?" Sain took out a transparent and clear energy crystal from his pocket.

The once abundant elemental power within the energy crystal had been completely depleted.

Only a few faint yellow elemental threads, barely visible to the naked eye, intertwined within the crystal, marking that there was still a bit of residual energy left.

Owl Seven was not picky, or rather, it had no choice.

With a slight lift of its brown beak, the blank crystal in Sain's hand flew into its mouth.

The hard energy crystal was crushed into pieces by Seven's beak.

The strength of its bite and the sharpness of its teeth never failed to surprise Sain.

"Co-co-co, it's still promising to be a formal black mage's disciple, especially when your mentor is Master Mosido."

"Throughout the entire Black Magic Academy, I doubt any other black mage would have as many energy crystals in storage as Master Mosido." Owl Seven cooed.

In Master Mosido's laboratory, this level of energy crystal was considered high-grade.

Higher-grade energy crystals, which were called first-grade energy essences, were rare treasures that Sain had only seen a few times in recent years.

Owl Seven ate very quickly.

With a gulp, the blank crystal, which was the size of a fist in Sain's hand, was completely swallowed by it.

After chatting a bit more with Owl Seven, Sain walked over to a tree stump with obvious cutting marks and sat down.

His eyes slightly narrowed, Sain began his routine mental power meditation.

Three years ago, Sain discovered that the elemental concentration in the depths of White Crow Forest was not low.

The atmosphere here was particularly quiet and comfortable, making it the perfect place for a magic apprentice like him to meditate.

In terms of meditation efficiency, it was even better than the small side room in Master Mosido's place, which was engraved with a gathering magic array.

When Sain entered the meditative state, Owl Seven no longer disturbed him.

Not even the sound of its wings flapping was heard, and it quietly left at some point.

The only sounds in the White Crow Forest were the faint chirping of insects and the gentle rustling of leaves in the wind.

In this atmosphere, Sain's meditation efficiency was much higher.

When Sain came out of his meditative state, he looked up and saw that it was already evening at the academy.

Owl Seven had flown off somewhere, and as a college inspector, it was often busy, possibly dealing with some unexpected incidents.

Shaking off the forest dew that had dampened his magic robe, Sain slowly walked out of the White Crow Forest.

Unlike when he came in the morning, the White Crow Forest was now dotted with white lights.

These white lights were the reason for the forest's name.

According to Sain's research, these white lights were caused by thumb-sized white insects that absorbed tree sap at specific times and naturally emitted white light from their tails.

Under the brilliant and beautiful white lights, Sain's black silhouette gradually disappeared.

He had been coming to the White Crow Forest for meditation every few days, and he was no longer as excited and curious as he was when he first saw these lights.

These white lights scattered throughout the forest reminded Sain of the vast and brilliant stars in the night sky on the surface.

...

When Sain returned to the dormitory, his girlfriend Lina also returned at almost the same time.

Because she had assisted her mentor Felina in a dark magic experiment today, Lina looked a bit tired.

However, when she saw Sain busy in the kitchen, Lina perked up and went over to help him prepare dinner.

Over the years, Lina's cooking skills had improved.

At least she didn't make a mess when cooking, and sometimes she could even independently prepare some simpler dishes.

Seeing Lina helping him, Sain felt a warm feeling in his heart.

Spending time with Lina every day allowed Sain to temporarily forget the dangers of the underground world and the heavy burden of his magic studies.

Sain believed that Lina felt the same way, as he increasingly felt a deep connection with her.

However, the only thing that made Sain feel a bit uncomfortable and heavy today was the request that his senior, Faye, had mentioned to him earlier.

Sain was unsure if it counted as betrayal, and he didn't know if he should mention it to Lina.

Given Lina's impulsive nature, if he told her, she might go straight to confront Faye.

Both women were close to Sain and had helped him a lot, and Sain didn't want to see any unpleasant scenes.

Sain's mood and state were different, and Lina, who had lived with him for over a decade, quickly noticed.

However, since Sain didn't say anything, Lina didn't ask rashly.

Most people thought Lina was a "crazy woman," especially because of her bold actions, which made many apprentices, even those stronger than her, wary.

But only Sain knew that Lina was actually a calm person at heart.

Every time she did something impulsive, she had already considered the consequences and whether she could bear them.

Perhaps because of this, despite her reputation as a "crazy woman," she was still alive and thriving.

A true lunatic or fool would not have reached the level of a senior apprentice, let alone become a formal black mage's disciple.

If it were a few years ago or earlier, Lina would have directly asked Sain if something was wrong.

But now, she didn't ask rashly.

She knew that if Sain wanted to tell her, he would speak up.

If Sain didn't want to say, she didn't want to force him.

Somewhere along the way, Lina had also become extremely concerned about Sain's feelings.

A dinner that was already too lavish for other junior apprentices was completed with the help of both Sain and Lina.

At the dining table, Sain still didn't say anything, just reading a magic book while eating.

He had read this magic book about twenty times, and for some reason, the more he read, the more he found it interesting.

Some of the detailed notes in the book gave him new insights every time he read them.

This magic book was "Ankoda's Annotations," and Sain suspected that the author, Master Ankoda, was not just an ordinary formal mage.

He might be even stronger than his mentor Mosido, possibly at the level of the deans.

For example, the sentence Sain was reading at the moment: "Wizards are the source of all spellcasting professions in the wizarding world. Wizards do not rigidly divide the knowledge systems and content they explore. As long as it is useful to wizards, they will learn and master it."

Sain deeply agreed with this annotation.

Just like how he was currently a fire magic apprentice and an alchemy apprentice, but he also had some knowledge of dark magic and potion-making.

It wasn't that Sain was greedy, but he was genuinely interested in these fields.

And he believed that even a cursory study would greatly benefit him.

Furthermore, who said that because Sain had a higher affinity for fire, light, and dark elements, he could only learn these three types of magic?

Plant, earth, water, wind... and even rarer elements like lightning, poison, mystic, and summoning magic, if Sain was interested, he would try to explore them.

After all, the acquisition of knowledge and the exploration of the mysteries of magical elements were the inexhaustible driving forces for mages to continuously grow stronger.

Carefully using a magic quill, Sain left a note in the corner of the page of "Ankoda's Annotations" and closed the book steadily.

Looking at Lina, who had also finished eating, Sain said, "Let's not clean up tonight. Let's get some rest early."