Chapter 166: Deep Sea (1)
"Sorry to trouble you, Mentor Harlin," Lynn said respectfully.
A hint of a smile appeared on Harlin's icy face. "It's no trouble. You performed exceptionally well, and I received some rewards from the academy myself."
It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Harlin had brought Lynn into the academy, marking him with their faction's brand. When a faction produced outstanding talent, the recommender naturally received a reward.
Pausing for a moment, Harlin emphasized, "This is merely a transaction. The academy has already paid the price for you."
"Understood. It is a transaction," Lynn agreed, a smile on his face.
Harlin furrowed his brow slightly. He glanced at Lynn but said nothing. Like magic, a pouch suddenly appeared in his hand, and he casually tossed it over.
"Take this."
Lynn caught the pouch. It was slightly heavy. When he gave it a gentle shake, the sound of clinking crystals came from within.
He was about to open it when Harlin stopped him. "Look at it after you leave. I'm not the one giving this to you."
If Harlin hadn't given it to him, who had?
Lynn was somewhat confused, not understanding this move from Harlin.
"Someone has already paid the price," Harlin said.
Though inwardly puzzled, Lynn nodded and accepted the pouch.
"Did Lynn's speed in breaking through to official wizard shatter the academy's record for the youngest official wizard?" Selena suddenly asked from the side.
"No. The fastest breakthrough on record in the history of the Abyss Wizard Academy is eighteen," Harlin said. "Lynn is already an old kid in his forties."
"But Lynn wasn't young when he first came into contact with wizards. He hasn't spent much time truly studying magic," Selena pointed out.
"Speed is meaningless here," Harlin said, shaking his head.
"If you look at the entire wizard world, or trace things back to even older eras, there are quite a few official wizards younger than Lynn."
"But that's all in the past. The standards for breaking through to official wizard are stricter now, and the difficulty is much higher," Harlin said.
There were people who broke through to official wizard in a very short time, only to waste away the rest of their lives stuck at that tier. There were also wizards who spent years struggling, only breaking through when they were nearing the end of their lifespans, yet who then rode that momentum to break through several realms in a row.
Therefore, the speed of a breakthrough didn't mean much.
Harlin didn't value Lynn because of how fast he had broken through to official wizard, but because Lynn possessed excellent talent and had forged a new path.
Lynn looked down at the pouch in his hands. Opening it, he found it brimming with pink crystals.
They were the exact same type of crystals Toby had previously entrusted him to bring back from the Abyss. Lynn swept a glance over them, and a number immediately surfaced in his mind: twenty-six.
"Go about your business. Selena and I are going out for a stroll," Harlin told Lynn.
After Harlin left, Lynn made his way to the service hall.
Lynn handed the pouch over to Toby. Toby took it, his expression shifting slightly.
"To think you managed to collect this many."
Toby gave Lynn a deep look. "However, there probably isn't a chance anymore. Only seven years remain until her next cycle of reincarnation. Even with these crystals, it still isn't enough."
Toby shook his head. This was the most helpless aspect of the Redemption of the Abyss.
A minor cycle occurred every six years, and a major cycle every three thousand years.
To gather the crystals required to resurrect her, a total of five hundred were needed.
But finding exactly five hundred of these crystals across the vast expanse of the Abyss was far from easy.
"Uncle Toby, are there any missions to welcome new students?" Lynn asked.
"There are." Toby took out a mission register and flipped to the page dedicated to welcoming new students.
The mission issuer listed was the Wizard Council.
This was a joint mission directed at all wizard factions rather than one issued by a single group. The reward was 100 merit points—not a massive amount, but not a paltry sum, either.
"If you want to go, you can set out right now," Toby said.
"It will take the better part of a year just to reach the destination and rendezvous. Factoring in the outbound and return journeys, this mission will take at least four years. If you're going to go, now is just about the time to leave."
"Mhm." Lynn fell deep into thought. A round trip would take over four years.
By the time he returned to Bangor Port, it would likely be nearly thirty years since he had left.
Lynn felt slightly dazed. Thinking back to his age when he first departed Bangor Port and comparing it to the present, it seemed the passage of time had left no mark on him at all.
Lynn accepted the mission and collected his Identity Token from Toby.
Afterward, Lynn rented a floating airship from a shop within Demon City.
He took the airship toward the island. En route, aside from studying some one-ring and two-ring spells he had purchased in Demon City, Lynn spent the rest of his time conducting experiments.
Lynn stayed inside the airship's makeshift laboratory, with Liszt standing by his side, studying humbly.
The once-youthful Liszt now looked even older than Lynn.
While time had left no trace on Lynn's face, it had carved heavy, punishing marks into Liszt's.
"Therefore, this potion should ultimately be tested using this method," Lynn said.
Liszt's eyes went wide. He watched the process intently, his head bobbing slightly from side to side before he gave a firm, vigorous nod.
"I understand now! Thank you, Teacher!" Liszt said excitedly.
Under Lynn's guidance, his proficiency in potionology was advancing at an astonishing rate, far faster than when he had been trying to figure things out on his own.
"There's no need to call me Teacher," Lynn said, waving him off.
A hint of disappointment surfaced on Liszt's face, but he quickly pulled himself together. "Understood, Mr. Lynn!"
The airship spent several months cruising through the sky before finally nearing its destination.
Standing at the edge of the floating vessel, Lynn gazed down at the familiar island below. His mindset at this moment was completely different.
Back then, he had merely been a Junior Apprentice who had just entered the wizard world, full of curiosity and longing for everything.
Now, he was a mentor here to recruit apprentices. The shift in status brought about a surreal, almost disorienting feeling.
A few academies and wizard factions had already arrived ahead of them.
Numerous wizards were gathered below. Looking at the clusters of buildings that he had once thought of as mystical and profound, Lynn now saw them as nothing more than crude, simple huts.
Listening to the noise drifting up from below, Lynn's expression remained unchanged. He waved at the crew operating the airship. "Take us down."
The airship, emblazoned with the crest of the Abyss Wizard Academy, slowly descended from the sky.
"Those are wizards from the Abyss Wizard Academy. Watch your words and actions later, and do not speak out of turn," a wizard warned the apprentices behind him.
Hearing the warnings of their seniors and mentors, the wizard apprentices felt their heart rates spike, staring in tense awe toward the main doors of the airship.