Wizard: My career panel has no upper limit

Chapter 31: Black Market Channels for Living Transformation
Ron responded politely, his heightened perception allowing him to detect a slight incongruity on Oliver's face.

Those were extremely subtle stitching marks, almost imperceptible, but they were clearly visible under his spiritual perception, which had already leaped across a large stage.

Considering Marcus's ugly and short face, and then looking at Oliver's almost perfect face...
He quickly interrupted his thoughts, it would be better not to continue this dangerous association.

"Then I won't bother you any more." Oliver bowed slightly, making an elegant farewell gesture. "I hope to see you again in the future."

Marcus followed his brother and glanced back at Ron as he left.

That look contained extremely complex emotions—pity as if looking at a dead person, deep gloating, and an indescribable sense of revenge.

This look made Ron's heart sink. His intuition told him that Oliver's "goodwill visit" was definitely not a good thing.

When the two figures disappeared at the end of the corridor, he breathed a sigh of relief and packed up his belongings.

Now that I'm free, there's no need to stay here any longer.

Moreover, with his current spiritual perception ability, he could clearly capture a trace of strange energy remaining in the confinement room - that was some kind of magical trace left by Oliver.

Ron couldn't help but shudder and decided to leave this place as soon as possible.

No matter what Oliver's plan was, with his current strength, he was far from being his opponent.

The moment he walked out of the confinement room, he took a deep breath.

Although the air in the black fog jungle was still filled with that unique fishy and sweet mixed smell, it was already a pleasure for him who had just been released from confinement.

"What on earth does that guy want to do?"

Ron thought as he walked, and decided to go back to his room first, and then find Andre to find out the details of the situation.

On the way, he could feel that he was a completely different person from two weeks ago.

The qualitative change of his mental power greatly enhanced his perception ability, and even his walking posture became lighter and more relaxed.

In his perception, the other candidate apprentices passing by were like glowing flames, and the strength and frequency of each person's mental power were roughly visible.

This ability might be commonplace for other apprentices, but for Ron, who had just achieved a breakthrough, it was still full of novelty.

Soon, he arrived at the door of his room.

The door lock was intact, and it seemed that no one had broken in without permission in the past half month.

But Ron still carefully checked the trap marks in the room - these were tiny marks he had placed before leaving to determine whether there was an intruder.

Only after confirming that everything was normal did Ron truly relax.

"Looks like I'm overthinking it."

He chuckled to himself and began to sort his belongings.

Although this simple apprentice dormitory is not comfortable, it is much better than the environment in the confinement room.

Just as Ron was about to sit down and rest, he heard a hurried knock on the door.

"Ron, are you back?" Andre's voice came through the door.

He raised his eyebrows. The Thirteenth Prince was really well-informed.

"Come in, the door is unlocked."

Andre pushed the door open and walked in with a surprised expression on his face:
"I was just eating in the cafeteria when I heard someone saw you in the dormitory corridor, so I came over to check it out. Did you spend extra magic stone fragments? That's quite extravagant..."

He suddenly stopped talking, his pupils shrinking slightly: "No, you have already..."

Ron knew he had noticed something and smiled slightly: "Yes, I have made a breakthrough."

"Junior apprentice!" Andre gasped. "In the confinement room? That's simply..." His tone was filled with disbelief, but he quickly regained his composure. "But considering your rate of progress recently, it's not too surprising."

Ron motioned him to sit down and briefly described his breakthrough, of course omitting the help provided by his professional panel.

"You're truly worthy of me," Andre praised sincerely. "The solitary confinement room is an environment that would be torture for most people, but it became an opportunity for you to gain focus and achieve a breakthrough."

A complex and unwilling look flashed in his eyes. "Ron, you know what? Sometimes I'm really curious about how you've made such great progress in such a short time."

Ron smiled and didn't continue the conversation. Instead, he quickly changed the subject: "Do you know what kind of person Oliver is?"

Hearing this name, Andre's expression instantly became serious: "He came to see you?"

Ron nodded. "Just now, I was able to get out so quickly thanks to him spending the magic stone fragments."

"This is not a good sign." Andre lowered his voice a bit:

"Oliver's reputation in the school is not very good. He is a notorious smiling tiger, and his research direction is too..."

He seemed to be searching for the right words: "Too twisted, even some senior apprentices of the same level keep their distance from him."

"Be more specific?" Ron asked.

Andre hesitated, as if trying to decide how much information to reveal. "His research direction is 'living transformation'..."

At this point, his voice lowered. "It is said that most of the 'materials' in his laboratory are slaves collected by Marcus."

Ron thought of Emily he had met before, and his heart sank.

"But what puzzles me most is why he came to see you specifically?"

Andre frowned. “Logically speaking, the little conflict between Marcus and you should be insignificant to an apprentice of his level.”

"I guess," Ron said softly, "it might be related to Darend's sonic magic."

Andre understood what he meant: "You mean, he is interested in this research?"

"More than just interested." Ron recalled Oliver's words: "He said that sonic waves and curses have something in common. Both use special means to continuously affect the target."

"That does make some sense," Andre mused. "But even so, it's a little strange for a high-level apprentice to specifically approach you, someone who just broke through from the candidate level."

The two fell into a brief silence, each pondering the possibilities.

Finally, Andre broke the silence: "In any case, you must be extra careful now. Oliver is not someone to be trifled with. Even our royal family's network of connections in the school is..."

Ron nodded, fully aware of the weight of this warning.

"Oh, right." Andrei remembered something. "In the past two weeks, the black market traders in the market have become active again. Recently, several candidate apprentices have been in trouble."

"Is it that banned potion?" Ron asked.

"Yes, but this time it's a little different." Andre's expression became serious: "Those potions seem to be related to the curse, and the mutations after use are more...

He paused, as if searching for the right words: "More controllable, as if precisely designed."

Ron thought about this and thought, "You mean, these potions might be related to Oliver?"

"That's just my guess," Andre said cautiously, "but the timing is indeed a coincidence."

Ron rolled his eyes and casually mentioned an unrelated topic:

"I wonder if there are some...special materials and formulas on the black market?"

(End of this chapter)