Emerald Heart Bar.
"That's how it went."
Celine finished a glass of fruit wine before she spoke.
"So he refused?"
"Definitely. He said it was because there was absolutely no low-level content left to learn, so why would he accept our proposal?"
Celine tipped the fruit wine bottle and poured another glass, then continued:
"Then you'll just have to wait until some genius actually compiles low-level content for him..."
"I know that. Honestly, I feel like we're just being snubbed..."
Elan spoke with a hint of resentment. He had mentally prepared himself, but being rejected left him feeling a bit let down.
Celine knew Elan was dissatisfied, so she didn't interrupt and let him continue.
"If that Harbos strings us along for another two years until that damn genius creates low-level Spells, we'll practically be led around like dogs on a leash..."
"Isn't that normal? Improving existing Spells takes a lot of time as it is, and he has almost no reference material for this..."
Hearing Celine's words, Elan felt a surge of contrarianism and said:
"What if that genius can create it in just two or three months?"
Celine smiled and didn't respond, and Elan didn't press further.
They both knew it was unlikely Harbos would be able to trade with them anytime soon. Improving Spells was exceptionally difficult, and so-called geniuses were not that easy to find.
After a moment of silence, Celine spoke first:
"Think back to that 'genius' Harbos mentioned. Didn't she understand everything he was saying?"
Elan pondered for a moment.
He didn't know how large a range Harbos meant by 'nearby,' and thinking back now, he couldn't pinpoint a final candidate.
First, the people in front of him could basically be ruled out; he could clearly sense that those apprentices were just as dull as any others, with no distinction at all.
Then there was Furan, who sat directly next to her. She was even more impossible; she had been picking at her nails the whole time, though she did become much more serious when it came to the Spell teaching.
But looking at Furan, she didn't seem like someone who could understand that content. Who could space out for the first half of a lecture and still understand it?
His most suspicious target was Lai Yi, who had come with Furan, though he hadn't confirmed more details because Furan was blocking his view.
However, he clearly remembered that the person was very nervous at first but relaxed after a while, even finding time to chat with Furan.
Thinking about it now, it was hard not to suspect that the person had suddenly grasped the key points and thus relaxed... Of course, these were all his guesses. Lai Yi's behavior also had aspects that didn't fit his theory, so he couldn't be entirely sure.
What if the concept of 'nearby' spanned a truly large area? It was also possible Harbos was just teasing him.
Besides, just understanding the content was useless; creating Spells required inspiration. Knowledge was merely the foundation.
Elan's mood improved a bit at this point, and he made a joke:
"I think the person he was talking about was me. I am a First-Order Mage, after all; maybe he's counting on me."
Celine was unimpressed and rolled her eyes.
---
Tarn, carrying a task from the Modification School, walked onto a patch of wasteland. He looked at the dozens of red dots drawn on the map in his hand and gave a bitter smile.
"Start digging, brother."
He directed his friend from the Construction School, Xiu Lin, to start working.
Xiu Lin looked at the vast empty space and couldn't help but complain:
"Your money is really hard to earn. With so many spots, just drilling holes to probe for something will take half a day."
"It can't be helped. It's the work our mentor gave us. If I find it, I won't have to miserably prepare for the assessment."
Xiu Lin marked a spot on the ground with special paint, then took out a long rod. After securing it, he activated the rod.
The rod began to rotate, slowly making contact with the ground.
"Well, your mentor is actually quite nice to give you guys this kind of reward."
Tarn rolled his eyes and said irritably:
"Nice? The Academy investigated this for a long time with no results. The mentor only assigned it to us to try our luck, and that's exactly why we're here."
He only thought of doing this task to try his luck because he had nothing else to do. After all, the reward was extremely generous—what if he actually found it!
Originally, he had planned to kill a few High-level Apprentices of similar strength to reduce his own pressure during the assessment; the corpses of those High-level Apprentices would also be a pile of good materials.
But so far, he had only found Furan, and he had abandoned that idea after his last attempted attack.
The opponent was too strong. Not only did she have great physical fitness and powerful defensive skills—even blocking his Corrosive Solution—but she also had formidable swordsmanship and her Spells were incredibly potent.
He couldn't beat her. He was afraid that if he continued the attack, she might kill him in one strike. She was definitely not a good target.
And his bringing Xiu Lin here to dig wasn't a sudden whim based on thinking the killer buried the body in the ground.
Rather, to ensure School members didn't repeat the same searches, another mentor had assigned a specific search range to each of them.
One person would check if anyone was commissioning body disposal on the market, another would examine the unclaimed, faceless corpses outside the Academy... and Tarn, having no connections, was assigned the massive project of searching the land around Cuilan Academy.
Fortunately, completing the assigned task also yielded some rewards, or he would have quit long ago. Searching randomly in the surrounding land was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Leaving aside whether the killer chose burial, even if they did, they might have chosen a much further place to bury it. Why would it be so close... Xiu Lin watched as the rod was about to spark from friction, yet it had only drilled down a short distance. He was very annoyed.
"Brother, you really picked a great spot. It looks like the ground here was compacted by people from our Construction School. This place is really hard; don't expect to finish this for several days."
Tarn also frowned upon hearing this bad news.
After a while, Xiu Lin detected that the rod had descended about a meter. He pulled the rod up and began to test it.
This was a very simple and effective detection method using a specialized device. Its principle was to detect whether there was human flesh or blood around the rod. It was an excellent device for checking if there were corpses below and was very popular with the Necromancy School.
After all, since corpses were so scarce, no one could avoid going to some remote wilderness to find materials.
"Huh?"
Xiu Lin watched as the device immediately flashed red. He said helplessly:
"Brother, looks like we'll have to dig this ground up first. There really is a corpse here... (Expletive), this soil is so compacted, the body is probably crushed to pieces."
Seeing some progress, Tarn couldn't help but feel some anticipation. He leafed through the documents in his hand.
"Just dig some up. We have a way to detect if it's the target... Let me see who placed the work order for this plot of land. The Apothecary Association?! Hasn't it already gone bankrupt?"
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