Chapter 7

In the midst of his busy work, Lu Yuan silently reconnected with everyone he had come into contact with on the day of the incident.

Sure enough, the target was quickly identified as a Level 2 Mage. It was simple; no one here cared about the life or death of a magic apprentice. Most mages and apprentices ignored Lu Yuan, who was walking around with a wound, and paid no attention at all. Only one person had looked at him three times!

After paying attention to Lu Yuan a few times, François completely ignored him. Even if he couldn't confirm what he had done, what would it matter if he did? He was afraid of the Level 7 Mage William Gast, but he wasn't afraid of a mere apprentice like Lu Yuan. With his background, William wouldn't dare do anything to him. He had only looked at Lu Yuan a few more times to verify the explosive power of his potion.

François completely dismissed Lu Yuan from his mind and began focusing on his own tasks.

Lu Yuan picked out all the materials François had requested, along with the ones he had just noted in the laboratory. Lu Yuan smiled slightly. François was making a "Flame Jet Ring." This ring could cast the "Burning Hand" spell three times a day, each time spraying flames in a conical area in front of the wearer. The area was small, and the damage was minimal, making it suitable for dealing with creatures like goblins. However, the recent trend among the nobles of Baldur's Gate to play the role of fire dragons had greatly increased the demand for these rings. During storytelling sessions in the salon, placing the ring in front of one's mouth and casting the conical flame as a fire dragon would elicit delicate screams from the noble ladies, creating a very moving scene.

Thus, these rings were now in high demand, selling for over a thousand gold coins, more expensive than a "Flame Protection Ring."

François was making such a ring, setting a forged ring with a ruby, applying the crushed cow hair mixed with slime, and casting "Burning Hand" three times to enchant the ring. As a Level 2 Mage, he had three first-level spell slots per day, just enough to make one such ring. Lu Yuan continued to sift through the documents and finally found the material requirements for a certain apprentice to make the cow hair slime. Lu Yuan lightly clapped his hands; it seemed revenge wouldn't take long.

Lu Yuan passed the slime and cow hair to the mage apprentice, who gave him a resentful look at the precise amount. The apprentice, unable to cut any corners, could only curse Lu Yuan while finely chopping the cow hair and mixing it evenly with the slime. Then, he hurriedly carried the finished product to François's laboratory. Observing the creation of a magical item was a significant experience.

Unfortunately, the mage's mood was clearly bad today. He took the mixture without waiting for the apprentice to make any requests and firmly closed the laboratory door! This gave the apprentice another person to curse.

François securely clamped the ring on the lab table, soaked the ruby in the mixture, and perfectly set it in the ring's setting. François, the son of a noble's jewelry maintenance servant, had deep expertise in gem cutting, making his gemstone rings more in line with noble tastes and increasing their price by a third, with most of the profit going to him.

The exquisite ring, with the perfectly cut ruby, made the cow hair bits look particularly disgusting. François decided to cast the spell early to burn off these dirty things and make the magic ring emit a brilliant red light. He calmed his breath, extended his hands at an obtuse angle, and chanted the incantation. A red conical flame erupted from his fingers, burning the ruby ring. The burning slime emitted a burnt smell.

François turned the ring 120 degrees with a wrench and cast "Burning Hand" again. The ring glowed red, a sign of being heated to the limit. Satisfied, François turned the ring to its final side. Unnoticed by him, the ruby was surrounded by a strange red light.

Smiling, he cast the third perfect "Burning Hand" on the final side of the ring.

With a loud explosion, François's laboratory door was blown off, hitting the apprentice who was still cursing in the corridor, causing him to bleed from his head! He clutched his head, staring in shock at the devastated laboratory, too frightened to speak. Although he had caused explosions before, they were nothing compared to those caused by a formal mage!

Less than a minute later, the Great Mage Habassar Dren stormed in, his face full of anger.

"What happened?!" he roared at the apprentice who was still crouching on the ground, holding his head.

"I didn't curse him!" the apprentice screamed and cried, fearing that Habassar Dren would crush him to death.

"Get out!" The Great Mage's voice made the entire second floor shake. Habassar Dren ignored the terrified apprentice and walked straight into the laboratory, now filled with debris and strange smoke. "Stupid curses, I get cursed by a hundred apprentices every day," he muttered, looking around. He picked up the container that had held the cow hair mixture, sniffed it, and cursed loudly, though it wasn't clear who he was cursing.

The task orders in the room had been burned, and from the remains, it was clear that Mage François had been attempting something beyond his capabilities and had failed, as expected. Habassar Dren looked around the nearly destroyed laboratory, cursed again, and left. He didn't even glance at the trembling apprentice.

So, he didn't know that the apprentice had only delivered the cow hair mixture, the standard material for making a Flame Jet Ring, not the evening primrose solution he had smelled.

In the creation of magic rings, a small mistake could lead to a significant failure. The Flame Jet Ring, Flame Pearl Ring, and Fireball Ring differed by only one or two materials. Lu Yuan had added a tiny amount of evening primrose powder to the slime, just a fingernail's worth, which changed the formula to that of a Fireball Ring. When the amount of evening primrose was insufficient and the spell cast was "Burning Hand" instead of "Fireball," the consequences were unpredictable.

Of course, the most common consequence was an explosion, especially involving fire elements and a ruby, leading to a violent explosion.

That was it. If Habassar Dren hadn't come personally, no one else would have noticed the smell of evening primrose.

In any case, the matter was over.

[Life Threat: Your life is in danger. What are you waiting for? Find the source and eliminate it!

Mission completed, +300 experience]

******

Lu Yuan stood with two other apprentices, Alice and Lestrade, holding their breath.

In front of them stood a middle-aged mage in a splendid robe and a crown, his expressionless face staring at them. All three apprentices, including Lu Yuan, were sweating, and Alice's legs were visibly trembling.

This was the owner of the Witchcraft Emporium, the nominal mentor and fate controller of these magic apprentices, the Level 15 Great Mage Habassar Dren!

The Witchcraft Emporium was one of the top magic item stores in Baldur's Gate and the entire Sword Coast. It looked like a large Mongolian yurt with a glass dome, covering thousands of square meters. Inside, it was expanded tenfold by a spatial folding spell, divided into four floors and over a hundred rooms.

The top floor was Habassar Dren's residence and laboratory, and the first floor was mostly for business. Formal mages like William, even part-time, had rooms on the first or second floor. The hundreds of apprentices worked in the reinforced basement, doing various repetitive or dangerous tasks. They called it the "hive" because it was divided into dozens of identical rooms, each with only the necessary items to minimize losses.

And the owner and protector of all this stood before them.

At noon, Lu Yuan, summoned by Habassar Dren, rushed to the alchemy factory of the Witchcraft Emporium and was led to a previously unvisited area, where he stood before the Great Mage Habassar Dren.

"I know," the Great Mage's deep voice said. Lu Yuan saw the other two relax slightly, and he felt the same, though for different reasons. They were relieved by the Great Mage's imposing presence, while Lu Yuan was worried about François's incident being exposed.

"I know you think I hate you, that I torture you for fun," the Great Mage slowly paced.

"No, I don't hate you. In fact, I don't even know any of you."

Isn't that even more hateful? Lu Yuan thought in surprise.

"Many of you are injured, some have died, and all of you live in the shadow of death every day. You hate me." He suddenly stopped and laughed. "It's normal, because I was the same. I lived on the edge of life and death every day until I became a formal mage. Those who survive get the sweet fruit. Those who fail pay the price."

"In the past, today, and in the future when you take on apprentices, it will always be like this. Hate me as much as you want until you understand; it will be the best ladder to your success."

"You three are here not because you are excellent. It's just that you have decent backgrounds, which makes me hesitate for a second or two before sending you to your deaths. Recently, someone suggested I add an alchemy assistant, so your backgrounds brought you here early."

"Number 2," he looked at Alice, who immediately cowered, her eyes welling with tears, "Are you still holding the spell gesture? Let it go. It was a fake message! Learning magic is your own responsibility; I need your alchemy skills! I only test alchemy."

Alice quickly released her hands and put them behind her back, though she couldn't stop the tears from wetting her chest.

"Number 3," his gaze turned to Lestrade, "Your hands are burned, and you practiced making Blazing Glue many times? Unfortunately, that was also a fake message. I hope you didn't lose too much money. At least, practicing potion-making is useful."

Lestrade's mouth twitched, wanting to laugh or say something, but he just twisted his face and said nothing.

"Number 1," he looked at Lu Yuan, "I thought you were either dead or had fled, so I didn't send you a fake message."

Well, could you be any more hated?!

"Now, enough talk! Go into the room behind you; there are questions inside. These are things I've done, maybe once, maybe twice. Who cares? A good apprentice learns by stealing! Right? You have two hours. Fail, and you'll be sent to the basement! I guarantee that the failures won't have a chance to come before me again before the others die!"

Lu Yuan turned and saw a door marked "1."

The questions were a table with materials like moonlight grass, flame grass, marigold, fluorite, crushed coal, and more. What potion to make? You guess. No instructions, no hints, not even a piece of paper. Lu Yuan quickly arranged the materials in his mind.

The Invincibility Potion! A potion that instantly boosts a warrior's defense and magic resistance. Though it only lasts 30 seconds, in those 30 seconds, you can charge like a dragon.

If the original Lu Yuan had made this potion, the success rate wouldn't have been more than 20%. The materials were given in three quantities, but time allowed for only one failure. However, with his "Alchemy" skill at level 11, surpassing most formal mages below level 5, he had a 70% chance!

First, he sat for five minutes, entering a shallow meditative state to clear his mind. Then he stood up and began extracting substances one by one. He guessed the Invincibility Potion was the hardest, as the fake messages suggested, because he had the shallowest background.

Background is also a part of strength, and Lu Yuan, with his social experience, understood this, so he had no complaints.

He had to complete the task as quickly and perfectly as possible to ensure he wouldn't be replaced as an assistant. Of course, he wouldn't use any advanced extraction or chemical synthesis techniques from his world. He was only vying for an assistant position, not risking his life.

His powerful mental strength allowed him to easily control the arcane power, completing each step. An hour later, a bottle of slime-like liquid was placed in a container. This potion, looking like slime, was usually sold in opaque ceramic bottles for 1500 gold coins each!

Of course, it tasted like slime! Unfortunately, you couldn't return it after drinking it, right?

Perhaps the anger from drinking the potion was part of its effect, like how eating a spider allows you to cast Spider Climb, or how a piece of glowing moss can cast Light. The mystery and complexity of magic, who knows?

After meditating to recover his spirit, he pushed the door open and walked out.

Sure enough, Alice was already there, holding a transparent bottle with blue liquid, an Absorption Potion, which absorbs shock and lightning, with a difficulty level only half that of the Invincibility Potion!

The Great Mage Habassar Dren, sitting behind the desk, waved his hand, and Lu Yuan felt the ceramic bottle rise. He let go, and the bottle landed on the Great Mage's desk. He opened it, observed it, and tasted a drop.

"You can leave. Come to the third floor tomorrow."

Habassar Dren said, sealed the potion, and went back to his work.

Lu Yuan bowed and backed out, hearing Alice's sobs as he left. It's not my problem, he thought, walking out without looking back.

Tomorrow would be a new beginning.