The Wizard: Starting as a Corpse Collector Apprentice and Paying for a Monthly Subscription

The air in the basement seemed to freeze for a moment.

The scrutiny and suspicion that had been burning in Macley's raven-like eyes were rapidly fading, replaced by an undisguised surprise and relief.

"Simply by memorizing the textbook and doing basic exercises, one can grasp the basics of rune literature on their own..."

"Magnus, it seems I... underestimated your logical thinking ability before."

In this wizarding tower filled with theories of bloodline and resources, apprentices who break through barriers purely through "comprehension" are even rarer than white dragons.

At that moment, MacLeod understood immediately.

This guy's previous dullness, slowness, and inflexibility weren't because he was stupid at all!

It's because they "became stupid from memorizing so much!"

As a seasoned sorcerer of the spiritual school, Macley had seen far too many examples like this.

Scholars who are truly engrossed in the pursuit of truth become extremely insensitive to the outside world when they enter a state of deep thinking.

Only when they come to their senses from that world full of logic and runes will they regain their normal communication abilities.

Such people are often referred to as "academic fanatics".

In the wizarding world, however, it's a compliment.

At this moment, when Markley looked at the boy in front of him, dressed in coarse linen clothes and reeking of corpses, it was like finding an uncarved gem in a stinking garbage can.

"Since you have this talent, don't waste it."

Macley didn't leave immediately. The raven hopped twice on the table, its sharp eyes sweeping over Tyron.

"Since you say you've memorized 'Introduction to Runes,' let me test you."

Tyron immediately straightened his back and said respectfully, "Please give me the question, tutor."

"First question," Markley's voice turned serious.

"When constructing the basic defensive rune 'Shield,' why add three counter-clockwise 'blocking corridors' to the mana circuit of the core node?"

Without a second thought, Tyron's mental database instantly retrieved the relevant page and, combining it with his knowledge of physics from his previous life, provided the answer:

"Replying to the mentor, the function of the 'blocking corridor' is similar to that of a pressure reducing valve in a water pipe system."

"When magic bursts forth, it exerts extremely high pressure. If it is not buffered and diverted through a counter-clockwise loop, the overloaded magic will directly collapse the rune frame, causing the rune to explode before the defense is activated."

"The three corridors form a triangular steady state, which can balance the internal pressure to the greatest extent."

The flame in Macley's eyes flickered.

"Excellent, you understand it very well. It's not just rote memorization, but understanding the principles."

"Second question: When drawing the 'Flame Attachment' rune, why is it necessary to mix salamander blood with mercury? Can't just use blood alone?"

"No," Tyron replied decisively.

"Although the blood of the fire lizard contains fire element, its magical activity is extremely unstable and easily evaporates."

"Mercury has excellent magical conductivity and physical weight, and it acts as a fixative and conductor."

"It's like... putting reins on a raging wild horse, so that the fire element can adhere stably to the surface of the carrier instead of burning up instantly."

"Very good." Markley's tone held a hint of appreciation.

"Last question. If the frequencies of the energy gathering nodes and the release nodes in a complex rune array conflict, causing magical oscillations, how can this be resolved by disassembling the structure?"

This is an advanced question; the book only provides a vague concept, not a standard answer.

Tyronn pondered for a moment, the principle of wave interference coming to mind.

"Frequency conflict is essentially a misalignment of peaks and troughs."

"There are two solutions: First, add a resonant bridge between the two nodes to forcibly unify the frequency."

"Secondly, and more optimally, we can reverse the phase of the rune structure of the release node and use the principle of phase cancellation to eliminate the aftershocks of the oscillation. Although this will reduce the output power by 5%, it can ensure the absolute stability of the structure."

The crow stared at Tyron for a full three seconds.

"Phase reversal... resonant bridge..."

Markley muttered to himself that although the two words were novel, upon closer examination, they accurately summarized the extremely complex magical tuning process in rune literature.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Markley said "good" three times, his admiration no longer concealed.

"It seems you truly understand. This solid theoretical foundation is something even core apprentices may not possess."

He flapped his wings, his tone becoming exceptionally gentle.

"Come to my private classroom on the seventeenth floor at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. I'm going to give a practical rune lesson to those good-for-nothings. Bring your textbooks and come sit in."

Listen in!

Tyron was overjoyed; this was a treatment reserved for core disciples!

But his face remained impassive with respect, and he bowed deeply, saying, "Thank you for your kindness, mentor!"

"Also," Markley glanced at the morgue next to him.

"Tomorrow in class, we need to demonstrate how to stitch up flesh using runes. Prepare two relatively strong corpses with missing limbs and bring them up tomorrow morning."

"Yes, mentor."

"Um."

Markley nodded in satisfaction, gave the student who had surprised him one last deep look, flapped his wings, and disappeared.

……

After seeing his mentor off, Tyron did not immediately begin celebrating.

He checked the time; it was 7:30 PM.

hungry.

He went to the communal canteen in the servants' quarters and ordered a poor-quality stewed bean dish and two pieces of dark bread.

Sitting in the corner, his gaze unconsciously swept over the window seat in the cafeteria.

At this time of day, old Jack would always sit there, carefully picking out the bits of meat from the broth, wrapping them in oil paper—that was for his crazy wife.

But today, that spot is empty.

Tyron silently chewed on his hard, dark bread without saying a word.

He knew that old Jack would never come back.

The old man chose to stay with his wife.

For old Jack, this might be the best relief.

"May you rest in peace."

Tyron muttered something to himself, then stuffed the rest of the food into his mouth.

The dead are gone, but the living must continue to climb up in this cannibalistic world.

……

Go back to the basement and lock the door.

Tyronn immediately got into the zone.

He first neatly packed the hundred drawn rune papers into a waterproof oil paper package, which was to be given to the wine gang tomorrow as a pledge of allegiance in exchange for deeper cooperation.

Then, he looked at his attribute panel.

Mental power: 3.3.

"Meditation has fully restored my mental energy."

Tyronn's gaze sharpened.

Since the "Magic Assassination Technique" can enhance weapons, can it also enhance the human body?

If this layer of high-frequency oscillating magical blade could be attached to the fingers, elbows, or even knees, the entire body would become a deadly weapon.

"Give it a try."

Tyron extended his left index finger and activated his magic.

"Demonic Needle Technique"

hum!

A touch of magic flowed along the meridians to the fingertips.

However, the human body is far more complex than steel.

Skin, muscles, blood vessels, nerves... each type of tissue has a different density and magic conductivity.

"hiss!"

Tyron frowned sharply, a sharp, needle-like pain shooting through his fingertips.

The magic became disordered at the fingerprint, and the high-frequency oscillation turned into chaotic tearing.

The skin on my fingertips cracked instantly, and blood seeped out.

"It failed."

Tyron looked at the wound calmly, without any discouragement.

"The reason is that the frequency is incorrect."

"Bones need high frequency, muscles need mid frequency, and skin needs low frequency for flexible adhesion."

"To unleash the magic spikes on the human body, a triple composite model needs to be constructed."

Although it failed, the direction was found.

He quickly bandaged the wound and continued trying.

The second attempt failed.

The third attempt failed.

However, with the 30x efficiency boost from the [Slacking Off Body], every failure means a wealth of experience to be gained.

He vaguely felt that he had touched the threshold of that "complex frequency".

"My mental energy is exhausted."

Seeing his mental strength drop to 0.5, he felt a wave of dizziness.

Tyron immediately stopped his self-harming experiments.

"meditation."

He sat cross-legged on the bed and drank five bottles of meditation essential oil.

A faint fragrance filled the air, and with the experience bonus from the monthly card, his mental energy began to recover at an astonishing speed.

Two hours later.

Tyron opened his eyes, looking radiant.

Not only was his mental strength fully restored, but due to the high intensity of consumption and replenishment, his upper limit was raised to 3.4.

"Next, the main event."

He looked at the 3000 general experience points stored in the attribute panel.

"Full commitment—technical deduction!"

boom!

It felt like a storm was brewing in my mind.

The originally obscure and difficult-to-understand model of "Summoning and Dominating the Spirits" began to operate wildly, disassemble, and reassemble under the infusion of massive amounts of experience.

Countless sparks of inspiration are exploding.

Tyrone seemed to see countless versions of himself practicing magic control day and night, searching for the best magic circuit through repeated failures.

An hour later, Tyronn let out a long sigh and looked at the brand new panel:

[Name: Tyron Arthas Magnus]

[Rank: Level 0 Apprentice]

[Physical Fitness: 1]

[Spirit: 3.2 → 3.4]

[Magic Control: 1.456 → 4.558]

[Spell: Summoning and Domination Technique (1456 → 4558/10)]

[Skill: Magic Thorn Technique Lv1 (42/100)]

[Knowledge: Rune Literature Level 0.1]

"Magic control... 4.5!"

Tyron clenched his fist, feeling the magical power flowing through his body as if it were his own arm.

If his magic was a wild horse before, now it's a well-trained hunting dog.

A control score of 4.5 is far above the passing grade (3.0) for the six-month assessment, and even close to the excellent grade!

"Is this the power of spending money?"

Tyron's lips curled up in a smile.

As long as he can further enhance his mental strength, that so-called killing threshold will no longer be a threat to him.

……

A 20-minute nap was equivalent to 10 hours of rest for an average person.

Tyron got up full of energy and began to deal with the corpses he would use for class the next day.

The bodies of two mercenaries, both with their legs and arms cut off.

Tyron skillfully cleaned away the filth and blood, removing the rotten flesh.

"The instructor said he'd demonstrate rune stitching..."

Tyron looked at the bare, severed limb and a thought struck him.

"If all I do is wash the body and send it up, that's considered completing the mission."

"But if I want to become my mentor's confidant, I have to be ahead of him."

He picked up the rune pen and mixed the ink, which had an antiseptic effect.

Instead of stitching the severed limbs of the two corpses directly, he precisely drew a rune framework of "Ian Runes" along the muscle texture and bone edges.

This is the foundation of suturing, and it usually requires the instructor to draw it on-site in class.

But now, Tyronn has prepared in advance.

Finally, he carefully applied a layer of scented essential oil around the wound to mask the stench of the corpse.

"That's what you call professionalism."

By the time I finished all this, it was already 10 p.m.

Instead of taking a break, Tyron took out the most troublesome book, "Fundamentals of Alchemy: Material Handling and Solvent Proportioning".

This 600-page behemoth, with over 50 words, is simply the pinnacle of inhumanity.

"Mercury is 3% more reactive on a full moon than on a new moon..."

"The roots of the mandrake must be severed within three seconds of the screaming ceasing..."

Various metaphysical theories, complex chemical formulas, and inexplicable ritual requirements are mixed together.

Even Tyronn's brows furrowed and his temples throbbed as he read.

This is like asking him to learn quantum mechanics and divination at the same time, and then combining the two to calculate chemical reaction formulas.

The effect is comparable to the elegant logic of having to mix No. 42 concrete to eat spaghetti.

He spent the whole night studying, and even with 30 times the efficiency, he could only barely memorize 200 pages, and his understanding was far inferior to that of Fu Wenxue.

"Alchemy... it really is a huge pitfall."

Tyron closed the book and rubbed his throbbing temples.

But this only strengthened his resolve to pass the course.

The more difficult it is to learn, the fewer people will master it, and the higher its value.

……

At dawn, the first rays of sunlight pierced through the thin mist.

After washing up, Tyron changed into a neatly ironed apprentice robe.

He put the two prepared corpses into a sealed box and loaded it onto the magic tricycle.

It was only 7:30 when we arrived at the seventeenth floor of the Wizard Tower.

The pampered aristocratic apprentices hadn't arrived yet, and the classroom was empty.

Tyron struggled to drag the two heavy boxes into the classroom, placed them on either side of the podium, then opened the lids and stood respectfully to the side to wait.

Ten minutes later, Mackley walked in.

He glanced at Tyron, who was waiting early, and then at the corpse in the box.

When he saw the perfectly crafted Ian rune frame on the severed limb and smelled the faint aroma of essential oils in the air, a gentle smile finally appeared on Markley's tense face.

"Great job, Magnus."

These four words, spoken by a formal wizard, carry immense weight.

This means that Tyron is no longer a transparent consumable, but a useful person.

Just then.

An elegant sound of high heels came from the corridor.

The classroom door was pushed open, accompanied by the scent of expensive violet perfume.

"Mentor, I'm back."

A clear yet slightly languid voice rang out.

Tyron subconsciously looked up.

A tall, slender girl walked in.

She wore an exquisite purple pointed hat and a modified, form-fitting purple silk wizard's robe, resembling an evening gown, which perfectly accentuated her stunning figure.

Her skin was so white it was almost translucent, she had a pair of long, pointed elf ears, and her pale purple eyes seemed to contain some kind of magic.

The girl didn't look at Macley, but walked straight up to Tyron.

Her beautiful eyes scanned Tyron up and down, as if he were some strange creature.

Then, her gaze fell on the runes on the severed limbs of the corpse, and a playful smile appeared on her lips.

"I didn't expect it to be true."

She turned to look at Macley, her tone tinged with surprise and curiosity:

"Master, your apprentice who collects corpses... is really as considerate as the rumors say!"