Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 45 Glimmer Group Three
Under the enthusiastic guidance of Kato, Chen Mo quickly became familiar with the environment inside the mage tower.

Overall, the environment of this "Preparation Magic Tower" is extremely poor, appallingly so.

The walls of the canteen were badly corroded, with large patches of plaster peeling off to reveal darker adobe underneath. A few poorly repaired marks looked like scars left by a clumsy doctor who had haphazardly stitched them up.

The dormitory had a mud floor, the soil of which seemed to have never been properly matured. It was uneven to walk on and carried a raw, earthy smell. Scattered withered yellow weeds stubbornly sprouted from the cracks, only to be trampled and left to languish, barely alive.

As for the student dormitories, they are the most presentable buildings in the student area, serving as the face of the community.

But it was still old and dilapidated. The corridor under the eaves was narrow and long, and on the mottled walls on both sides, there were fist-sized pieces of fluorite that emitted a dim yellow light at intervals, barely dispelling the heavy shadows.

As you walk along, you occasionally step on a loose stone slab, making a sudden "click" sound.

When Chen Mo arrived, evening classes were in session. There was an instructor, ten students, and with Cato and Chen Mo, they formed the twelve disciples of the Glimmer Group Three.

"Instructor, Roy's back from leave!"

Swish!
A dozen pairs of eyes instantly focused on Chen Mo like searchlights.

Curiosity, speculation, disdain, contempt... these are the emotions Chen Mo can intuitively sense. If a micro-expression analyzer were used to analyze each one, Chen Mo would probably feel an overwhelming wave of strange emotions.

At this moment, Chen Mo realized something. Deputy Director Vincent's statement that the entire tower needed to be bribed might not have been entirely unfounded.

At least no one found it strange that Roy had suddenly grown up to look like this.

Although the environment was a bit too rudimentary, it didn't matter; Chen Mo wasn't here for a vacation. The upcoming new meditation method, the accompanying magical materials, the long-awaited Diversion skill... everything was progressing rapidly in a positive direction.

However, there was also bad news: the mentor of Group 3, Weiguang, was very unfriendly to Chen Mo.

On the way, Cato had already given Chen Mo a heads-up about this. This Morton instructor came from a poor background and was exceptionally talented, but due to a serious accidental injury, he was deemed to have lost the possibility of advancing in magic and was expelled from the original magic tower.

Later, the psychological trauma worsened, and without money for treatment, he could only wait to die in despair.

"Because he encountered our mentor, Grand Mage Changhal, who rescued him, his cultivation level has remained at the Moon Wheel level ever since, and he may never be able to advance further."

“So, he really dislikes children from wealthy families…” Cato winked at Chen Mo, clearly indicating that Chen Mo was among them.

The sudden appearance of a pain point is...

"But the instructor is a good person and teaches diligently. He's taken care of everything that needs to be taken care of at the institute. Just be careful and don't mess with him!"

Morton, the instructor, sat in front of the schoolhouse. He was about forty years old, of medium build, with a thin face and dark brown hair mixed with gray. He combed it back meticulously, revealing a broad but wrinkled forehead.

The mage's robe he was wearing was washed so white that its original color was almost unrecognizable. The hem of the robe was worn with a thick layer of frayed edges, and there were several patches of similar color but still conspicuous at the cuffs and collar—this was the first time Chen Mo had ever seen a mage's robe with patches.

This instructor, Morton, never forgot the life-saving grace of Archmage Hal and had been desperately saving money, dreaming of building a real magic tower for his mentor. Perhaps it was this obsession that made him suppress his disgust for "connections" and ultimately accept the conditions offered by Deputy Director Vincent.

However, from those frosty, grey-blue eyes, Chen Mo could clearly sense Morton's disgust for him.

Undisguised disgust!
Morton stared at Chen Mo for more than ten seconds, then slowly stood up. His overly solemn expression seemed to lower the temperature of the entire dormitory by several degrees.

"Everyone's here, so listen up!"

"Although I have said it countless times, I want to emphasize it again now."

"I am Morton, in charge of basic spell instruction for the Glimmer Group 3."

The middle-aged monk tucked his hands into the tattered sleeves of his robe, his body slightly hunched, his gaze sweeping over the corner where Chen Mo was.

"First, rules! In my group, you must abide by the rules. No bullying, no interfering with others, and don't bring any dirty habits into the dorm, understand?" The apprentices' eyes all turned to Chen Mo again, and many of them couldn't suppress their gloating expressions. Some even secretly nudged their companions with their elbows and winked.

"Secondly, fairness!" Morton's voice was completely flat. "Here, everyone gets the same time, the same materials, and the same potions. If you want different treatment, unless Master Hal arranges it for you personally, get out of here and go find your 'good relatives' who are willing to spend money on you!"

Everyone once again paid their respects to Chen Mo.

“Third, and most importantly,” Morton’s voice suddenly rose, “here, trash has no place! I don’t care what your past status was! In the Third Glimmer Group, before me, Morton—”

"We don't care about background, we only care about strength!"

"Alright, that's all for today's lesson. You can start practicing on your own now. Don't let me see you late tomorrow morning, or you'll know what the consequences will be!"

As Morton left, the dormitory seemed to come alive all at once. The students, who had been holding their breath just moments before, began chattering excitedly. Although they lowered their voices at times, Chen Mo could still clearly hear their barely concealed excitement.

"Is this the useless piece of trash who replaced Roy? I heard he can't do anything?"

"Who cares? Morton, that old fogey, is enough to give him a hard time. The old man hates these underhanded tricks the most..."

"I wish there were more of these, so I could exchange all of you annoying guys for the silver coins and materials in my pocket!"

"You think beautiful!"

"We'll definitely have to test him tomorrow, then we'll see what kind of person he is!"

"Let's watch the show. Do you think he'll cry tomorrow?"

"Hehe, I must say, he's quite handsome. Maybe it's that guy from Group Six..."

"Shh! Keep your voice down! Don't let him hear..." Several more explicit voices were hurriedly silenced by his companions.

Chen Mo seemed not to hear these malicious voices.

He has no time to waste.

Go to bed early and get up early. After a simple morning exercise around the dilapidated dormitory, Chen Mo was the first to enter the dormitory.

Morton was very dedicated as an instructor. Because this "newcomer" was not actually a newcomer, Morton had the only large magic testing device in the Howl Magic Tower brought in under the guise of a group test, and retested each student.

This finally made up for the awkward situation that Chen Mo had no panel and could not quantify his own abilities until now.

After a deep meditation and a burst of magical energy, Chen Mo's test results were unsurprisingly the worst in the entire group.

After all, he had only studied for a few months and had hardly received any resources. He couldn't compare to the students who had studied for at least half a year, and some had studied for two and a half years and received relatively formal education.

With a mental strength index of 4.2 and a magical power of 4.0, he stood out conspicuously among the apprentices whose dual-ability indexes were at least 15+.

"Oh, poor kid, he probably used his mental energy to make money..."

"He's not even as good as that sickly Roy! I really don't know what he's here for. How can he pass the test?"

As the key contact person, and actually an inside man at the appraisal institute, Cato was somewhat bewildered.

Did Director Vincent overestimate this guy's abilities, or was he deliberately letting him in to set him up?

(End of this chapter)