Wizard: My career panel has no upper limit

Chapter 40: Obligations and Rights of the "Opening Door" Ceremony

Ron put the booklet down, feeling his heart racing with excitement.

To advance from a beginner to an intermediate apprentice in three years? This might be a considerable challenge for ordinary people, but for him, with his professional profile and multiple professional bonuses, reaching this threshold seemed easy.

He continued reading, wanting to learn more details about the promotion mechanism.

".The formal wizard promotion ceremony is called 'Opening the Door'. Each candidate must complete the trial and complete the highly dangerous brain opening ceremony under the guidance of a mentor."

"This ritual requires a specially made 'key' potion as a medium, and the formula of this potion is strictly kept secret and only known by a few professors within the school."

"So that's it." He murmured to himself.

This explains why there is fierce competition among advanced apprentices - every qualified candidate for promotion has to compete for extremely limited resources and opportunities.

The subtle rivalry between Holt and Oliver now seemed clearer: both were close to being promoted to senior apprentices, and both were eager to get that scarce promotion spot.

The booklet also detailed the differences in authority and benefits for apprentices at each level, which dazzled Ron:

Elementary apprentices can only use public laboratories, and their monthly usage time is strictly limited;

Intermediate apprentices can apply for dedicated research space, and advanced apprentices can even obtain the use of an independent experimental tower.

In terms of resource allocation, the gap is even more astonishing. The basic magic stone income that a senior apprentice can obtain each month is more than ten times that of a primary apprentice, and after entering the candidate wizard sequence, this number will increase exponentially.

"So class stratification exists everywhere..." Ron laughed self-deprecatingly. "But at least there's now a clear path to upward mobility."

When he turned to the next chapter, "Apprentice's Obligations and Rights," his expression became more focused.

According to regulations, as a junior apprentice, he needs to complete a fixed alchemy task every month and submit it to the school.

The specific number and type will be adjusted according to individual skills and specialties.

In addition, he also needs to regularly participate in the maintenance of public areas or undertake some outdoor duty tasks.

In exchange, the school will provide basic living and learning resources, such as housing, food, access to public facilities, and a small monthly quota of magic stone fragments.

The booklet also specifically mentioned that apprentices can complete additional tasks or provide rare materials in exchange for magic stone fragments and credits, which can be used to purchase paid courses within the school.

"Paid courses?" Ron raised his eyebrows slightly.

He quickly flipped to the relevant page and found that the school offered a wide variety of paid courses, ranging from the basic "mental power control skills" to the advanced "energy conversion principles", covering almost every aspect of wizard practice.

These courses are divided into different levels according to difficulty, and the prices range from a few magic stone fragments to several complete magic stones.

But what really interested Ron was the section at the end of the booklet about mentoring:

"Within the school system, apprentices with mentors will receive numerous benefits and privileges. In addition to monthly one-on-one instruction, they will also have priority access to their mentor's research results and may even participate in experiments to improve spells."

"However, formal wizards are extremely cautious in selecting students, usually requiring apprentices to demonstrate extraordinary talent or provide rare research materials. Apprentices who are interested in obtaining a mentor should strive to improve their own value in order to attract the attention of potential mentors."

Ron closed the book and took a deep breath.

"Promote to intermediate apprentice within three years and enter the wizard candidate sequence" he repeated this goal softly.

With the multiple professional bonuses brought by my own golden finger, this goal should be easily achieved.

But the real challenge lies in the competition that follows. How can he stand out among so many geniuses and get the precious opportunity to become an official wizard?

Ron walked to the window and looked out at the dark foggy jungle.

It was late at night, but the strange halos hovering above the jungle were still clearly visible, like countless pairs of prying eyes.

………………In a tall tower deep in the Black Fog Jungle, Oliver stood in front of the window, holding a piece of information that had just been delivered in his hand.

"Ron Ralph has successfully passed the initial apprenticeship qualification..."

He kept calculating, his pale, slender fingers tapping lightly on the window frame. "It's several months earlier than I expected."

The rooms in the tower are luxuriously decorated, yet exude an extremely eerie feeling.

Various well-preserved human skins of various kinds are hung on the walls. Each one has been carefully processed, retaining the last expression of its owner before death. Some are terrified, some are in pain, but more of them are an incomprehensible emptiness and confusion.

On the platform in the middle of the room, a body that had been stitched together to pieces lay flat on its back, with complex tubes and rune needles inserted into its body.

The body was human in appearance, but a closer look revealed that some parts of it were clearly from a different individual - the left arm was longer than the right, the head was disproportionate to the torso, and the rough sutures on the neck were clearly visible.

Next to this corpse, there was a new experimental subject that had been sent in recently. It was the completely deformed Darend.

The huge exposed brain tissue has been carefully removed and preserved in a special solution.

Oliver placed the information on the table beside him, walked to Darren's body, gently stroked the huge brain tissue, his eyes flashing with unconcealable regret and anger.

"Look at this, Amanda." He whispered to another corpse next to him, "It should have been a perfect mutant brain tissue, but that Ron destroyed it prematurely."

Of course, there was no way the corpse named Amanda could respond, but Oliver didn't seem to care.

"Everything is going according to plan," he said to himself.
"The dosage of the psychocatalyst is precise, and I've made sure Darend finds the correct formula to try. It stands to reason that he should be able to maintain his sanity for a longer period of time while remaining conscious."

Oliver knocked on the table in annoyance. "If that damn Ron hadn't intervened in advance, Darend would have completely transformed into a complete aberration far beyond his current form after his brief period of sanity ended. He would have become a terrifying existence that could rival even a high-level apprentice."

He walked to the window, a cold calculation flashed in his eyes:

"What a perfect plan! Those foolish apprentice candidates will surely be overcome by fear and tremble in their rooms. When Holt comes rushing over following the noise, even he will be caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a complete aberration."

Oliver's fingers gently stroked the window frame. "If Holt had been severely injured by Darend, or contaminated by the sonic attack, he would have fallen behind me in the competition for the wizard candidate sequence. And now..."

As he spoke, he picked up a syringe filled with dark red liquid and carefully pushed the liquid into the vein of Amanda's body.

"Fortunately, even though the plan was interrupted, it wasn't completely fruitless." Oliver consoled himself, "At least Darend's brain tissue is in my hands now."

The corpse suddenly convulsed violently, its eyes fluttering open and its mouth wide open, but no sound emanated. Those eyes were filled with inhuman fear and pain, as if it were experiencing some unspeakable torture.

"Be patient, Amanda." The gray-robed youth's voice was still gentle:

"Fusion takes time. You are now accepting part of Darend's mind-building abilities. If successful, you will become my thirteenth masterpiece."

He walked back to the window and picked up the information again, his eyes gleaming with greed:
"Ron Ralph, from a sixth-class loser to a qualified and even stable junior apprentice..."

Oliver reached out and gently stroked his cheek, where there was an almost imperceptible stitch mark.

He walked to the other side of the room and opened an exquisite cabinet.

There were several glass jars neatly arranged inside, each containing a complete brain, with strange runes covering the surface.

"That guy must be something special. He was able to kill a mutant that was beginning to mutate with just a wooden sword."

Oliver's eyes flashed with enthusiasm. "If he truly has awakened some special talent, then... this will be the last piece of the puzzle for me to become a formal wizard."

A creepy smile appeared on his face:

"Patience, I need patience. Prey is always easiest to catch when it is most relaxed."

(End of this chapter)