The Wizard's Pursuit of Truth

Under the light of the cultivation room, the viscous blue liquid inside the cultivation chamber seemed to be plastered to the inner walls. No matter how it was shaken, it showed none of the physical properties of a liquid.

This brought a slight smile to Wang Ya’s lips. The cultivation was going exceptionally well; he would likely be able to produce a dose of Blue Poison Liquid by tomorrow.

Likewise, the Red Scale Poison liquid had been successfully cultivated three days prior.

’What kind of variables would the fusion of these two Extraordinary Poisons produce? Would it be a positive development, or would it completely destroy the Extraordinary Properties of both?’

Of course, it wasn’t just a simple fusion of two Extraordinary Poisons. Based on the Extraordinary Knowledge he currently possessed and his own judgment, Wang Ya had added many other neutralizing substances. The process would also require the involvement of a Wizard’s Extraordinary Spiritual Power and Particle Energy to control the timing and degree of the fusion.

In Wang Ya’s design, the fused Extraordinary Poison would simultaneously possess two traits: neurological paralysis of the body’s reflexes, and the coagulation and stiffening of blood and flesh.

Fifteen days had passed since the dissection of the Blue Poison Monkey.

During this time, Wang Ya had become a recluse. Aside from his daily routine of replenishing his body’s energy, he devoted all his time to studying Extraordinary Knowledge and testing his own Extraordinary Foundation.

To his delight, he had made significant progress with the first Particle Energy Witchcraft he’d mastered.

[Subject: Fear-Burning Fire]

[Degree: 13]

[Duration: 4 seconds]

[Casting Time: 5 seconds]

Continuously strengthening his Extraordinary Foundation had allowed Wang Ya to grasp the true essence of the Fear-Burning Fire Witchcraft, giving him a much deeper understanding of how to cast it.

This also applied to his other two Witchcrafts; he no longer needed that special little trick of ”sensing” to cast them, which greatly reduced his casting times.

The progress with Fear-Burning Fire was the most significant. Its five-second casting time had been cut in half, and the duration he could maintain the flame in his hand had doubled.

This proved Wang Ya’s understanding of this Witchcraft had reached a proficient level. However, the Particle Energy within him and his control over his own body were still too weak.

However, this Witchcraft was considered a Low-tier Witchcraft, within the scope of a First-tier Wizard Apprentice.

After advancing to First-tier Witchcraft Apprentice, his Extraordinary Spiritual Power would undergo further Sublimation. He would be able to observe his own internal body and would gain greatly enhanced control over his bodily functions, like accelerating healing and actively releasing hormones. His Particle Energy Units would also exceed a value of 5.

At that point, casting Fear-Burning Fire would become much more effortless. With practice, the casting time could even be reduced to one second, or perhaps even half a second.

On his desk were the Extraordinary Witch Books he had organized. Wang Ya had gotten through about two-fifths of them. He estimated he could absorb all of this Extraordinary Knowledge within two months.

[Subject: Vast Sea Meditation Method - Fifth Wizard Rune]

[State: Parsing]

[Estimated Time: Two days]

Before he knew it, nearly twenty days had passed since he arrived at Ancient Forest Mountain. Wang Ya stroked the fine fuzz on his chin. ’In another year or two, this will probably be a long, dark beard.’

「In the automated cafeteria.」

The interior was laid out just like the one on the Wizard Ship. ’The Wizards from the Dark Land responsible for construction must just have this particular aesthetic,’ Wang Ya mused.

As usual, Wang Ya took a seat at a corner table and ate in silence. Though he didn’t appear to be eating fast, the food before him vanished at a visible rate.

The cafeteria was not crowded; in fact, it was strangely empty. The few scattered figures were all at the food dispenser, taking at least a week’s, if not half a month’s, supply of food.

He had done the same thing back on the Wizard Ship, but that was because danger had been all around. A subtle expression crossed Wang Ya’s face. ’With the protection of the rules, danger shouldn’t be an issue here in Ancient Forest Mountain...’

”Wang Ya, my best friend! I finally found you! I knew you’d be in this exact corner. I have to check it every time I come to the cafeteria.” A familiar, booming voice rang out as Gray plopped down in front of Wang Ya, tray in hand. He had a lot of food—at least enough for two Wizard Freshmen.

Compared to his rather disheveled state on the Wizard Ship, Gray looked much better now. At the very least, his messy, greasy hair had been taken care of, revealing its natural curls. His stained, yellow teeth were the same as ever, though, flashing in a broad smile.

Perhaps out of excitement at seeing his old friend, Gray added with a hint of complaint, ”Hey, hey, hey! I gotta say, you’re not much of a friend, are you? You’ve been at Ancient Forest Mountain all this time and haven’t said a word about meeting up or catching up.”

Before Wang Ya could even speak, Gray launched into a nonstop torrent of words, as if he had an infinite supply. He focused on retelling his recent experiences at Ancient Forest Mountain and described a major event that had just happened.

This event had thrown all the Wizard Freshmen at Ancient Forest Mountain into a state of panic.

Wang Ya, who had been holed up studying in his residence, was completely out of the loop. ’What on earth happened at Ancient Forest Mountain? In just twenty days, it seems like everything has been turned upside down. And will this affect my plans?’ That was Wang Ya’s primary concern.

”A lot of the freshmen have gone missing,” Gray said, his voice a little lower now. ”The worst part is, no one knows how they disappeared, and there’s no news at all.” He glanced around the sparsely populated cafeteria, confirming that no one was paying attention to them.

”It’s so bizarre. At first, when the Wizard Freshmen started disappearing, it didn’t cause much of a stir. But then more and more people went missing, leading to the current situation.”

”Now everyone is on edge, and panic is spreading. I’m not too worried, though. The ones who disappeared all had pretty good Wizard Qualifications, anyway,” Gray said with a carefree grin. ”My Wizard Qualification is nothing special, so no matter how weird or dangerous things get, it’s not going to affect me.”

’Could my guess have actually been right?’ Wang Ya thought. ’The freshmen from the Wizard Clans announced that welcome party *after* Wizard Yi Si had declared the rules.’

Wang Ya grew pensive.

But Gray’s next words surprised him.

”At first, I thought it was the Wizard Clan freshmen causing trouble. I mean, any smart person could tell something was off about that ’welcome party’,” Gray groused. ”We’re all total strangers, and they’re going on about ’getting to know each other,’ ’meeting new people,’ and ’becoming friends.’ You’d almost think we weren’t competing for a spot anymore and that everyone was getting into the academy.”

”But a lot of the Wizard Freshmen who’ve disappeared never even went to that party. Of course, plenty who *did* go have vanished too. Even some of the Wizard Clan freshmen themselves have mysteriously disappeared.”