The Wizard: Starting with Infinite Part-Time Jobs

Mr. Ironbeard saw Aiden's name and the "sweet potion".

Mr. Ironbeard's brows furrowed more and more, and he began to mutter something under his breath.

"Aiden? The name and the recipe sound so familiar."

Mr. Ironbeard's face flushed red, and the veins on his neck bulged.

"Damn it!"

A few seconds later.

Mr. Ironbeard sprang up from the bed, the blanket being thrown to the floor with a thud.

He was completely distraught and rushed to his laboratory.

He kicked the laboratory door open, the door slamming against the wall with a loud bang, and dust fell in a flurry.

He opened the long-unused drawer protected by a magic circle, only to find it completely empty.

"Aaaaaaahh ...

Mr. Ironbeard opened his mouth wide, and the sound he made echoed throughout the empty laboratory.

He collapsed to the ground, clutching his head with both hands, his octopus tentacles twitching wildly like a living creature.

"How is this possible? My masterpiece has been stolen by that brat Aiden?" Mr. Ironbeard roared.

Mr. Ironbeard slammed his fist into the ground, cracking it open and sending shards of stone flying.

"I want to appeal! I want to file a complaint!" Mr. Ironbeard said, completely devastated. He had lost all hope of becoming a formal wizard.

His voice had become hoarse, and he was curled up on the ground, as if all his strength had been drained.

But he soon realized that he couldn't change the situation. After all, the Wizard's Daily was drafted by the Wizard's Council, and its publication meant it had already passed the review.

Mr. Ironbeard raised his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the ceiling.

He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling several times before he could calm himself down.

"No, I have to talk to my mentor about this. I'm not satisfied!" Mr. Ironbeard said.

Mr. Ironbeard leaned against the wall to stand up, his legs still trembling, but his eyes had become fierce.

He quickly pulled a cloth bag from the cupboard and dumped the magic stones onto the table—a frighteningly large quantity. He intended to force his way back to the wizarding world.

"Aiden, although I don't know how you stole my manuscript, I will definitely not let you get away with it!" Mr. Ironbeard said.

……

Time flies when you're cultivating; three months have passed.

During this time, Aiden devoted himself entirely to training and wand making.

The training ground is located in the easternmost corner of the Rune Courtyard, surrounded by a gray-black stone wall. The wall is covered with charred marks left by witchcraft over the years, and some places are even cracked.

"Falling Rocks Maze!" Aiden practiced his first zero-ring trick in the training ground as if it were free.

He planted his feet firmly on the ground, gripped his wand tightly in his right hand, and pointed it sharply forward. The tip of the wand instantly exploded into a blinding, earthy-yellow light.

A small section of the earth-based spellcasting medium in his hand quickly disappeared, transforming along Aiden's wand into a nearly five-meter-wide area resembling a small sandstorm.

Yellow sand, carrying pebbles of varying sizes, shot out in all directions, clattering against the stone walls and bouncing off, raising dust clouds that were more than half a person high, completely enveloping Aiden.

"Not bad! Your casting speed and syllable control have improved a lot now," Aiden said.

He put away his wand, raised his sleeve and vigorously wiped his face, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turning up, looking both tired and excited.

"This Falling Rock Maze is the most complex trick in the Falling Rock Meditation Technique. It has 200 syllables and requires nearly 20 magic stones of casting medium," Aiden said.

He looked down and shook the nearly empty bottle of coal in his hand, his expression a mixture of heartache and helplessness.

"Aside from oddballs like me, normal people practice the simpler rockfall binding and rockfall strike techniques, which are also cheaper," Aiden said.

After saying that, he casually threw the empty bottle on the ground, then bent down and took out a new bottle of coal ash from the cloth bag hanging at his waist, his movements very nimble.

"However, in order to improve my strength more quickly, I can only cultivate the most valuable witchcraft first. This rockfall maze is very important to me," Aiden muttered to himself.

Aiden quickly finished another round of mana recovery. He stretched his shoulders, took a deep breath, and continued practicing.

Several wizard apprentices happened to be passing by on the stone-paved path next to the training ground. Hearing the commotion coming from the training ground, they all stopped and looked over.

Some of them stood with their arms crossed against the wall, some craned their necks to look inside, and others whispered among themselves, their expressions varied.

"Junior Brother Aiden, you are truly diligent in your cultivation, and you also have plenty of money," a wizard apprentice said enviously.

"Yes, this rockfall maze is good, but it consumes too many resources. Since I mastered it, I've hardly used it, and its rating is very low. I'm too reluctant to use it for practice," a wizard apprentice nodded.

As he spoke, his hand unconsciously touched the bottle of coal hanging from his waist, and his expression clearly showed his distress.

"There's nothing we can do. Resources determine future development. The gap between us and Junior Brother Aiden is probably about to widen, even though he's just a newcomer," a wizard apprentice said helplessly.

His tone was full of resignation, and his eyes dimmed slightly.

"Stop gossiping here, it's not good to disturb Junior Brother Aiden's cultivation." Someone pulled the group away.

Thanks to the relaxed atmosphere of Rune Courtyard, everyone was envious but not jealous.

This kind of atmosphere is rare in the entire wizarding world. In most places, it's naked competition, and it's common for fellow disciples to trip each other up. It is precisely because of this that the people in Rune Courtyard are so united.

On the contrary, many people hope that Aiden will go further.

They themselves didn't have much room for advancement, so pinning their hopes on Aiden was a way for them to find something to hold onto.

After all, this is all the life they'll ever amount to. Becoming a high-ranking wizard apprentice is already quite an achievement. Reality has long since smoothed out all their rough edges and ambitions.

"If Junior Brother Aiden becomes a first-ring wizard, our Rune Courtyard will be no less powerful than the Silent Blade next door," someone said, looking at Aiden who was still cultivating, before leaving.

"The pressure is immense. Everyone has such high expectations of me," Aiden said helplessly.

His wand didn't stop, but his ears twitched slightly. With his mental energy projected outward, he could hear everything happening within dozens of meters around him.

During this period, his mental strength increased rapidly, and his perception range was much larger than before. He could now detect sounds that he couldn't hear before.

Aiden knew in his heart that what his senior brothers and sisters said was the truth, and that the burden on his shoulders was much heavier than he had imagined.

"Who isn't the hero in their own story?" Aiden sighed and continued his training.

But even heroes get tired and have moments when they can't hold on any longer; they just never show it to others.