My health recovery is incredibly fast.

Please have the tutor submit the student's learning records to the head of the college.

[Please have the head of the academy submit the students' learning records to the Dharma Master's Temple.]

"Professor, what will the inspection team be looking for?"

Kulov held up three fingers:

"General education knowledge test, success rate of making poison, and a random test, which may be to make an unfamiliar poison or to identify an unknown compound toxin."

These are all things that Xia Zuo excels at, but this assessment comes from the Temple of Mages, so the difficulty must be extremely high, and the assessment process must be extremely rigorous.

Xia Zuo emphasized, "I will do my best to prepare."

Kulov was most pleased with the other party's genuinely serious attitude, and encouraged him with a look of affirmation in his eyes:

"Your personality and temperament are very good. I've said this many times, but I still can't help but repeat it."

"The only challenge you face now is to conceive of the elemental properties. Put in the effort to overcome it, and I expect you to be able to comprehend the 16 elemental properties on your own."

Xia Zuo nodded repeatedly with a dutiful expression amidst his mentor's praise.

Kulov stroked his beard, pondered for a few seconds, and said:

"If you pass the inspection team's test, I would like to take the initiative to choose a Master-level Elemental Bottle as your reward."

The element bottle is an alchemical product of the science of elemental representation.

Members of this discipline, after taming unruly elements into obedient ones, can encapsulate them in a special container resembling a spiritual ocean.

Containers containing cute elements are called element bottles.

Xia Zuo recalled the contents of the book "The Principle of Elemental Representation" in his mind and blinked at his tutor in confusion.

"It is possible to fail when practicing meditation for the first time."

Kulov looked at the astonished student, pointed to himself and the other person, and said:

"If we fail, our spiritual ocean will be severely damaged, and it will take several years to recover. We, who are natural at being affable, have a very high probability of failure."

"Us?" Xia Zuo was even more surprised.

"Yes, I am also an Acquired Affinity Person. This secret is known only to you, me, and the teachers who taught me. Please do not reveal it to anyone."

Xia Zuo nodded emphatically, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else. But Professor, I don't understand, what's the difference between those with innate affinity and us?"

Kulov pointed to his head:

"Within the spiritual ocean of those with innate affinity lies a docile element. It is because of the existence of this docile element that their success rate in their first meditation practice is very high. The role of a master-level elemental bottle in the first meditation practice is similar to that of the docile element that lies dormant."

In that case, choosing a Master-level Elemental Bottle as the reward was indeed the best decision.

"Thank you, Professor. If I pass the test, I will do as you say."

The wall clock points to 6 p.m.

Yolanda entered the basic alchemy room on time, a faint smile on her face. "Good evening, Professor. Good evening, Senior."

Xia Zuo picked up the notebook from the desk and led her to the basic alchemy table:

"Tonight, we'll review the process of making Black Eye Poison first, and then I'll teach you how to make another kind of poison."

"Okay, senior."

Chapter 40 Talent Spells

In the blink of an eye, four or five months have passed, and the final exams for this year's freshmen are getting closer and closer.

Yolanda asked her tutor to reduce some of the courses on making poisons, wanting to spend more time consolidating the knowledge points from the general education courses.

Kulov agreed, allowing her to attend only one hour a day of lessons on drug preparation to prevent her from becoming rusty in the process.

But Kulov did not have her do the test paper set in advance.

Xia Zuo then gave up the idea of ​​sharing the exam materials with Yulanda.

Yolanda's alchemy skills were slightly inferior to Anjou's, but still sufficient for her to concoct poisons on her own. She made poisons in her spare time each day, no longer relying on the teaching assistant's guidance.

Without his junior sister as a burden, Xia Zuo was able to devote himself entirely to self-studying introductory-level poison alchemy, immersing himself in advanced alchemy on the alchemy table every day.

After frantically refining poisons for more than ten days, he decided to take a good rest.

Sunday morning.

Xia Zuo did not go to the poison alchemy area.

He sat alone in the restaurant, leisurely enjoying the lake view, with a book introducing the customs and culture of the Eastern Continent spread out in front of him.

I have been in the university for a year and a half.

Most of the books in the library have been entered into the [Knowledge Reserve].

Among them are many geography books about the Eastern Continent, and quite a few books introduce the Starry Night Kingdom.

However, there is no book specifically about the continent where the Starry Night Kingdom is located.

What's even stranger is that the ecological environment of the Eastern Continent seems to be much harsher than that of the Starry Night Kingdom.

Xia Zuo withdrew his gaze from the lake and looked down at the illustrations on the book pages:

A monster with long, slender limbs and a hideous head lay sprawled on the corpse. Several militiamen wielding pitchforks charged toward the monster. Behind the corpse, another similar monster crawled on all fours, fleeing toward the river, away from the militiamen.

This monster, which devours corpses and hides at the bottom of rivers, is a common amphibious monster in the Eastern Continent, but there has never been any rumor of it in the Starry Night Kingdom.

Footsteps came from behind.

Xia Zuo could tell that the person was walking towards him, but it wasn't Anru'er's light and cheerful gait.

who can that be?

He turned his head and saw a dazzling pale golden light.

"Senior Mars! Haha. You've finally shown up." Xia Zuo stood up, extended his right hand, and performed a shoulder-touching greeting, a custom prevalent in the kingdom.

This greeting is reserved for two men who have a close relationship. They will hold each other's right hands and lightly touch each other's right shoulders. In extremely close relationships, they might do what they did: extend their left hands and gently pat each other's backs.

"Let's sit down and talk," Xia Zuo invited the other person to sit opposite him.

He first scanned his surroundings to see if anyone else was there, then whispered:

"Thank you so much, senior Mars. Your advance notice of the final exam passing score helped me a lot."

"Don't say that." Mars grinned and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "I heard from my tutor that your memory is exceptional, and you should have been able to pass the exam."

“Anru’er also passed the exam. I still have to thank you, otherwise I wouldn’t have had time to tutor her.”

Mars gave a teasing look. "So you two are officially dating? I'm so envious. Just like my parents, they met and fell in love at university."

Xia Zuo changed the subject to the other person, "So much time has passed, you must have successfully mastered the meditation technique, right?"

Mars picked up the pen used for ordering food from the table and waved it in front of him:

"I succeeded three months ago. I learned some magic tricks from my mentor before I came out. If it weren't for the fact that magic apprentices are not allowed to use magic in the restaurant, I would definitely show you how to order food remotely."

"Hmm? Wait a minute?" Mars leaned forward and asked in a low voice:

"You know that you might fail on your first attempt at meditation? Who told you that? Your teacher? Then you must know what's special about those with innate affinity."

“Yes, Professor Kulov told me everything,” Shazo said in a similarly low voice.

"Hmm. Poison alchemy values ​​alchemical potential the most, and it seems your evaluation results are very good."

Mars's gaze fell on a purple pattern on the other person's sleeve. "What level is your alchemical potential?"

"I am a top-tier second-class student."

Mars was taken aback. "What?"

“Top-tier, second-class.” Xia Zuo said in an even softer voice, “In a few months, the inspection team from the Mage Temple will arrive.”

"Hiss!" Upon hearing the name of the Mage Temple Inspection Team, Mars immediately realized that the other party was not joking.

He stood there stunned for a few seconds before snapping out of it, muttering incredulously:

"Top-tier, second-class, do you know what that means...? If you were born in the Silvermoon Federation, you'd be a chosen apprentice of the Mage Temple right now, without having to worry about your first meditation practice. It's a pity this is the remote Starry Night Kingdom..."

"No, no, no...you still have a chance." Mars seemed to have thought of something, shaking his head repeatedly, his light golden hair swaying back and forth:

"Listen, you must pass the test of the Mage Temple. Only then will there be no difference between you and those with innate affinity."

"Is it because of the Master-level Elemental Bottle?" Xia Zuo asked curiously.

"Professor Kulov even told you this? Oh, right. The Temple's expedition team has arrived. Professor Kulov will explain it to you in detail."

Mars suddenly felt his lips go dry. He looked at the large round table in the center of the restaurant. "Wait a moment, I'll go get you some drinks."

Xia Zuo stood up. "I'll go too."

The two each picked out a drink and sat down again.

Mars took a sip of the infused water and let out a satisfied hum.

He glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping before saying:

"Professor Kurov certainly didn't tell you that the benefits of the dormant, obedient element go beyond this. Let me think of how to tell you..."

He stroked his hair, pondered for a moment, and finally found the right words:

"That's right. Spells vary in difficulty, and a mage apprentice can only learn spells at the current stage."

"But there is one exception."

"If the obedient element sleeping in the ocean of consciousness happens to possess a certain spell, then regardless of the spell's level, the mage apprentice can use the spell smoothly, although the power may vary."

"In the world of mages, this kind of spell is called a talent spell."

Xia Zuo nodded in sudden realization.

Simply put, those with innate affinity have a chance to acquire a talent spell once they become a mage apprentice.

The key is that this talent spell is not limited to any level; it may be just a small trick, or it may be a spell that only high-level mages can master.

This is a bit interesting.

No wonder the academy doesn't give up on any person with innate affinity. These people are born to be mages.