From Wizard Apprentice to Conqueror of Myriad Worlds

No matter how you looked at it, the logic just didn’t add up.

*****

Black Tower Academy.

Inside the Observation Room.

"...The fog is actually more of a problem for the monsters."

When Velen heard this sentence drift from the Light Curtain, he couldn’t help but snort softly.

The twitch of his lips finally made the Apprentice, with his bronze-colored skin, look more like a living person and less like a bronze statue placed on a chair.

Velen commented sharply, "What an arrogant brat!"

To support his argument, he offered what he considered a powerful piece of evidence: "The Mist Valley trial is held several times a year, and very few Apprentices dare to hunt monsters in the fog, let alone a mere newcomer."

At the Apprentice level, the academy regularly organized field trials. For many Apprentices who struggled with the academic path, these trials were an excellent opportunity to earn Black Tower Points.

Nasha glanced at her colleague and decisively countered:

"Bias has blinded your eyes, and arrogance has clouded your judgment. I suggest you hold off on passing judgment until you’ve seen the results."

From the Light Curtain.

Mo Ning’s voice drifted out again: "I have a certain degree of skill in blind-fighting. With that, plus the two items I received as a reward for opening the Sanctuary, I’m confident I can handle the monsters in the fog."

The mockery in Velen’s voice intensified. "Apprentices who know blind-fighting techniques are a dime a dozen. I’ve never heard a single one of them dare to say, ’I’m confident I can handle the monsters in the fog.’

"Even if the monsters a newcomer faces are much weaker, they have lived in Mist Valley for centuries. No one is better at using the fog than they are."

He turned to glance at Nasha, his tone laced with a hint of gloating anticipation:

"Miss Nasha, perhaps you should get your Magic Thorn Whip ready to descend into Mist Valley at a moment’s notice. You wouldn’t want that brat to get swallowed by a monster and turned into a pile of stinking dung."

His words were quite blunt.

The so-called "Magic Thorn Whip" was Nasha’s signature weapon, and the reason she was known as the "Sharp-Horned Whip Demon."

Nasha wasn’t the least bit angry. She simply said coolly, "Copper Head, you should know that some words, once spoken, can’t be taken back. You’ll only end up embarrassing yourself."

"Copper Head" was Velen’s nickname.

In that moment, the two Apprentices, representing opposing sides, engaged in a fierce war of words.

Velen shrugged again with an "I don’t care" attitude. "There’s no need to take back words meant for an overconfident fool."

Nasha didn’t respond further. A charming smile, one that seemed to say ’I’m just waiting for the show to start,’ spread across her pretty face.

She simply didn’t believe that someone whose second journal paper had made the cover of *Shine* could possibly be an overconfident fool.

Velen noticed his colleague’s smile. The meaning hidden in the curve of her lips left him feeling a little uncertain.

He quickly averted his gaze, looking back at the Light Curtain that monitored the edge of the forest.

Under the command of Sitt and Princess Phoebe, the newcomers had battled the mud and torrential rain for an hour, barely managing to finish building their shelter.

The shelter’s structure was extremely crude.

The outer ring was a fence made of damp logs, which were studded with sharpened wooden spikes like a beast’s fangs.

The inner ring consisted of a dozen or so cone-shaped safe houses built from wood and branches. Their surfaces were nailed with thick planks, which were also covered in sharp spikes.

Although it was crude enough to make one frown and offered no comfort to speak of, at least people standing inside wouldn’t get soaked by the rain.

The grass around the shelter had been cleared completely, exposing the wet, dark soil. The ground here was also studded with numerous spikes.

During this time, Sitt had remained at the forefront of the group, leading the newcomers in repelling several attacks from a troop of Tree Bark Monkeys.

His blue robes were caked with mud, and his face was spattered with dirt, but his eyes remained as sharp as an eagle’s.

Velen mentally gave Sitt and Princess Phoebe a "passing" grade.

To be able to establish a camp with a decent level of security in just one hour had indeed exceeded the Apprentice’s expectations.

「One minute later.」

The Light Curtain displaying the Sanctuary changed.

The brat named Mo Ning opened the Sanctuary from the inside, and its stone door instantly turned ethereal.

He stood at the entrance, his gaze piercing through the curtain of rain to scan the rolling, fog-covered waves.

Then, he cast the Trick [Feiyue] and leaped out of the cave, his body tracing a graceful arc through the downpour.

Velen snorted again, his voice filled with an "I knew it" smugness. "Fool!"

Relying on his vast experience, the Apprentice spotted an anomaly beneath the water at a single glance—under the surface of the churning current hid a rhythmic fluctuation that shouldn’t exist in a natural body of water.

He was one hundred percent certain that the brat was about to be put in a very sorry state.

The moment his voice fell, the unexpected happened.

A wave suddenly rose from the water’s surface like a giant hand of condensed water, smashing toward Mo Ning with immense force.

「At the same time.」

A white shadow burst through the current and tore through the thick fog, viciously lunging to bite Mo Ning from the other side just as he reached the midpoint of his leap.

It was an incredibly clever ambush.

Velen recognized the creature at a glance—a Giant Helmet Fish.

This fish’s head was enormous, making up half its body. It was covered by a thick, bony shell shaped like a helmet, hence the name.

The Giant Helmet Fish naturally possesses a certain amount of Spiritual Power, allowing it to control water. The sudden wave was their standard hunting tactic: first, daze the prey with a blast of water, then charge in and swallow it whole.