The principal opened a drawer, pulled out a box of injections, and handed them to Allen.
"Take this injection and inject it. It will awaken the sorcerer apprentice's practice, called 'Atavistic Meditation.'"
"Practice on your own first. If you have any questions, come and ask me."
During meditation, a sorcerer forgets all worldly possessions and enters a mystical state of mind.
It's as if they've transformed into the ancestral creature corresponding to their bloodline, born and raised, struggling for survival, gradually growing stronger, acquiring various skills, and finally reaching the pinnacle of their lives.
Through meditation, they awaken the dormant ancestral memories within their bloodline.
This is known as "Atavistic Meditation."
Mainstream sorcerers all practice similarly, but the specific meditation methods they employ also vary in level.
The entry-level meditation method Ms. Sola taught Allen is only suitable for the apprentice stage.
In reality, she herself had only acquired the "First-Level Meditation Method." Due to her limited talent, she hadn't yet reached the Second-Level Warlock, thus missing out on higher-level cultivation techniques.
Alan accepted the injection and thanked the principal.
Then, changing the subject, she made an unexpected request.
"Ms. Sora, I'd like to grow some flowers and plants at home. Could you please teach me some flower-growing techniques?"
"Of course!"
The principal was delighted that the little boy had catered to her needs.
Alan observed her expression and slowly revealed his true purpose.
"Also, I really like those white hydrangea-like flowers you have in your garden. I'd like to transplant one and grow it at home."
"Huh?!"
The principal's smile immediately faded, her expression becoming exceedingly serious.
"That's the Concentration Flower, which can be used to make incense to enhance meditation. However, the leaves are deadly and poisonous, making it unsuitable for ordinary people to keep at home! It's too dangerous!"
Noticing the disappointment on Allen's face, the principal couldn't help but soften her heart.
After a moment's hesitation, her tone softened.
"If you're interested, you can come to my greenhouse to admire the Concentration Flower and learn about plant cultivation and potion-making."
"Ms. Sora, you're so kind!"
Alan thanked her gratefully, his smile innocent.
With the principal's permission, he would be able to enter the glass garden and collect toxic plants to improve his resistance.
...
After school, Allen saw his sister, Kairi, as he stepped out of the school gate.
"From now on, we'll walk together after school!" Kairi told her brother sternly.
Unable to refuse this personal "bodyguard," Allen shrugged helplessly. "I heard you killed two people?" Kelly asked, chasing after her brother.
"Two thugs who specialized in kidnapping children. I didn't intend to kill them," Allen said honestly. "At the time, I was so focused on escaping that I accidentally hit them too hard."
Thinking back on that morning's thrilling experience, he still felt a lingering fear.
"Don't go to the docks anymore; it's too chaotic," Kelly warned.
The siblings returned home.
Over lunch, Kelly and her mother discussed the hottest topic of the day: the circus child abduction case.
"The two missing boys, Marlo, is the son of a merchant, and Hugo, the mayor's nephew, are both influential figures in the school," Kelly told her mother and brother.
"Actually, there was another girl who also disappeared. She couldn't afford the tuition, so she never went to school. It's understandable that you didn't know."
The mother followed up on her daughter's words with a sympathetic sigh.
"Other children paid to go to the circus, but Sonia went to work to earn money, and ended up missing, too."
"Maybe she went with the circus on her own initiative; at least she could make a living," Kelly speculated.
The girl the mother and daughter were talking about, Sonia, was the same age as Alan.
Sonia's father, Mr. Marmeladov, was originally a minor civil servant in town.
Sonia's mother came from a poor family but was quite beautiful.
The daughter inherited her mother's excellent genes and was destined to be a beauty.
Unfortunately, she was born with a scarlet birthmark on her face, as if a piece of her skin had been peeled off, revealing bloody flesh.
Despite Sonia's unpleasant appearance, her parents loved her dearly and cherished her like a precious treasure.
Until Sonia was seven years old, the three of them lived a simple and happy life.
However, as fate would have it, one day five years ago, a sorcerer passed by Port Quint.
While waiting for a boat at the dock, he stumbled upon a young woman with her daughter buying fish.
Noticing her beauty and voluptuous figure, he immediately became possessed by lustful thoughts.
The sorcerer snapped his fingers, casting a spell on the woman.
Sonia's mother fell under the spell.
She left her daughter in a daze and followed the lustful sorcerer aboard the boat.
Sonia cried out on the dock, begging her mother to return.
However, her mother, beset by the spell, had lost her mind and was deaf to her daughter's cries.
Sonia tried to board the boat and pull her mother back.
The sorcerer frowned.
Without a word, a guard rushed over and slapped the little girl twice, drawing blood from the corner of her mouth.
Then, like trash, they threw poor little Sonia out.
Sonia regained consciousness, but the boat had already left the harbor.
No matter how much she cried, calling for her mother countless times, she couldn't avert the tragedy.
The dock was bustling with people.
So many people were watching.
Did the onlookers lack sympathy and a sense of justice? No one stepped forward to stop this broad-day violence?
What a joke!
That was the sorcerer, a master with extraordinary powers!
Who would dare to speak up for justice?
If you anger the sorcerer, he'll kill your entire family!
He won't even blink!
Sonia went home crying alone and told her father what had happened to her mother.
Mr. Marmeladov, unable to win his wife back, couldn't handle the blow and collapsed.
He quickly degenerated into a worthless man, relying solely on alcohol to numb himself, and lost his once respectable job.
A once happy small-town family was completely destroyed by the whim of a passing sorcerer.
From then on, Sonia lived in a kind of hell.
Her alcoholic father would beat her like crazy when he was drunk.
He called her an ugly "freak" and an unfilial daughter.
All because his young daughter refused to work as a street vendor to earn money to buy him alcohol.
Last winter, there was a heavy snowfall.
When the weather was at its coldest, Marmeladov dragged his daughter, dressed only in a ragged singlet, out of the house, threw her onto the snow, and beat and scolded her like crazy.
His eyes were red as a bull, and his breath reeked of alcohol.
But the old neighbors knew better; they knew this scoundrel wasn't completely drunk.
He abused his daughter in public on the street, beating poor Sonia black and blue, precisely to showcase his brutality and his daughter's misery.
This way, he aroused sympathy and drew others to intervene.
Then he had the opportunity to whine and whine about his poverty.
People, for Sonia's sake, would give him some money so he could get drunk in the tavern and avoid having the energy to abuse his poor daughter.