Chapter 44 Three Years
As Sain was talking with Merry, Bosch, a chubby apprentice who belonged to the "slackers" in magic, finally finished dealing with a dark creature that came to shop and walked up to Sain and Merry.
Bosch's shop had fewer and fewer Dark Magic Apprentices coming to shop, but instead, it gradually catered to the dark creatures and Subterranean Humanoids in Mosobla City.
For example, the dark creature that had just left was a spider the size of a grinding wheel with eight pairs of feet.
This spider was not a Warcraft creature and did not have magic crystals in its body.
Although its primary vocalization was an incomprehensible "hissing," it could barely squeeze out one or two sentences in human language.
Bosch had dealt with this creature before, so basic trade and communication were still possible.
Sain did not know where these spiders came from.
He only knew that there were many dark creatures like spiders in Mosobla City.
Like the Minotaur tribe, these dark creatures were completely subservient to the rule and authority of the official Dark Magicians.
However, compared to the Minotaur who guarded the city gate all year round, these dark creatures, including spiders, were much more low-key and mysterious.
After tossing the Black Gold he had just earned onto the counter, Bosch walked over and patted Sain's shoulder, asking, "What mission are you planning to carry out this time?"
"Don't choose a dangerous mission, otherwise the potion Merry made won't be enough for just you," Bosch said carelessly.
"This mission is not dangerous, just patrolling a few areas outside the city," Sain answered simply.
His alchemy experiments and magic learning tasks were also quite tight recently, so he didn't have much extra time to waste.
Compared to the Azure Beak Feather extermination mission Sain had executed last time, a general patrol mission was much simpler and safer.
After all, the former had a clear goal of killing at least twenty Azure Beak Feathers.
The latter was likely just for Sain to go out and wander around for a few days and make the corresponding marks to complete the mission.
And when Sain patrols the surrounding areas, he can completely hide his figure and act carefully.
The situation where he was ambushed and attacked by someone in advance, like last time, was almost impossible to happen.
Sain's answer made Bosch nod.
Afterwards, he mentioned the thing Sain gave him today, "Those three Azure Beak Feathers should sell well. Even the Dark Spider that just left was interested in them and bought one directly."
"These things aren't used much by Dark Magic Apprentices, but they're the favorite of those Subterranean Humanoids and Dark Creatures. I never expected you to really make alchemy tools," Fat Bosch exclaimed.
"It's not even considered an alchemy tool, just a small trinket enchanted successfully. It's one of the most basic things," he replied.
"It's just a shame that I've run out of Azure Beak Feathers. While I still have a few beaks, they probably won't last long," Sain shook his head.
"I have some low-level magic materials here, but I don't know how high your equipment-making success rate is."
"If it's too low, will I lose money and go bankrupt?" Fat Bosch laughed.
Sain was warmed by Fat Bosch's words.
He then hammered Bosch's shoulder hard and said, "Don't worry, I will pay you for it!"
...
Sain's mandatory academy mission this time didn't have too many ups and downs.
He quickly completed the patrol and marked the academy's emblem within three days before quickly returning to Mosobla City.
For a considerable amount of time afterwards, Sain maintained a busy and fulfilling routine of studying magic, completing academy missions, assisting his mentor in experiments, meditating to accumulate mental power, and collecting magic springs.
In the pitch-black underground world, time passed quickly and few creatures noticed it.
Sain had already adapted to the environment and life here.
His longing for the surface, the sun, and the starry sky gradually became a fading memory in the depths of his heart.
As time passed, even the image of his own mother became increasingly blurry.
Later, he mentioned the items that Sain had given him today, "Those three Azure Beak Feathers should sell well. The Dark Spider that just left was also interested in them and bought one directly."
This situation made Sain hesitate.
To deal with it, or rather to diminish this hesitation, Sain could only put more of his heart and soul into his daily practice and study.
...
Three years later.
Sain, who was now 20 years old, had become even more slender and handsome than four years ago, with a colder and more stern look on his face.
Standing at 1.8 meters tall, Sain was among the tallest of the apprentices, surpassing not only Senior Sister Faye, but also the big Senior Brother Zoro and their mentor Mosido.
Tall Dark Magic Apprentices were rare.
In addition, the underground world lacked sunlight and certain trace elements, so it was evident that Sain's genes played a major role in his height.
On this day, after finishing the creation of the Element Transmuter in mentor Mosido's laboratory, the mentor and big Senior Brother left, leaving only Sain and Senior Sister Faye to tidy up the scattered objects on the experimental table in front of them.
Over the past three years, Sain had not only undergone changes in his height and facial features, but also made great strides in the field of magic and his mastery of Alchemy.
Mentor Mosido had not been wrong - Sain did indeed possess impressive talent in Alchemy.
At this point, Sain had already surpassed his Senior Sister in the field of Alchemy, and had received praises from both mentor and ZoroSenior Brother more than once.
Gone were the days when he engraved "Sharpery" on the low-level Azure Beak Feathers three years ago - Sain now had no interest in such trivialities.
Last month, he obtained a low-level magic equipment ring from the plump Bosch, which solidified a magical technique called Radiance and could be used once every two hours.
It was a decent piece of equipment, fetching a high price of 300 Black Gold coins.
Sain spent less than fifty pieces of Black Gold to create the magic ring, which shows the huge profits in the field of Alchemy.
Moreover, it was the fourth low-level magic prop that Sain successfully made in three years.
Initially, luck played a bigger role than skill in Sain's first two successful attempts at making magic props.
But after countless failures and lessons learned, Sain developed his own set of methods.
It wouldn't be long before Sain could create some fixed attack magic equipment.
Even the simplest Minor Fireball Spell or Arrow of Wind, once successfully made, would definitely be a small masterpiece among low-level magic equipment, far more valuable than bright rings and so on.
In addition to his growth in Alchemy, Sain also didn't neglect his personal cultivation during these three years.
In addition to Intermediate magic, he also mastered Manipulation Magic and Blade of Flame Chains.
Sain didn't greedily try to learn more magic, as his mentor Mosido warned him that exploring too many types of magic at a lower level was meaningless.
His Mental Power and Magic Spring were not enough to support him in releasing all the magic he mastered in battle, and it was better to focus on Meditation and Mental Power rather than spend more time on novel magic.
The wisdom from a formal Dark Magician made Sain not dare to have any objections or doubts.
After three years, Sain's Mental Power had slowly climbed to 38 points, which was still a certain distance from the threshold of 50 points for advanced apprentices.
However, this rate of cultivation was definitely not slow at the Dark Magic Academy.
Although he didn't explore too many Intermediate magics, Sain had learned a lot of low-level magic and some magic tricks over the years.
Radiance was just one of them.
Among those low-level magics, the most representative one was Summoning of Skeletons, a dark and death magic that Sain learned from his girlfriend Lena.