Commercial Street in Dongcheng District.
When Sain returned to the shop where Fatty Bosch was located, he had already sold all the goods that Sain had given him earlier.
It had been almost a month since Sain completed his task.
Fatty Bosch could have sold all the goods long ago, but in order to earn more Black Gold, he actually managed to sneak three Azure Beak Feather eggs into a small auction held recently in Mosobla City.
It had to be said that Fatty had a very strong business acumen.
In the end, the Black Gold that Fatty handed over to Sain amounted to 577, which was already deducted from Fatty's commission.
This was the largest amount of Black Gold that Sain had ever seen in his life.
And this amount of Black Gold would also help Sain move faster in the field of Alchemy in the future.
Big Senior Brother Zoro was right, Alchemy in the initial stage was just a money-burning job with no immediate return.
Just having Azure Beak Feather claws and beaks was not enough for Sain to practice.
He needed to purchase more experimental materials and some specialized Alchemy equipment.
He couldn't just ask Big Senior Brother for a loan every time he wanted to conduct an Alchemy experiment, could he?
In fact, Mosido's laboratory had all kinds of Alchemy equipment, not only in sufficient numbers but also extremely high-end.
But unfortunately, they were too advanced, and Sain was afraid of breaking them.
Take what you can handle.
Sain didn't have to aim too high, he just needed to accumulate from the basics.
After all, he was still young.
More than 500 Black Gold pieces filled a medium-sized cloth bag, and next to him, Bosch was still talking endlessly about how rich those Subhuman tribes were.
Since participating in a small auction in Mosobla City, Bosch's vision and horizons had gradually improved.
He didn't have much talent in cultivation, but he was indeed good at doing business.
Bosch had his own connections, with Merry and Sain backing him up.
As long as the two could reliably provide him with magic potions and alchemical supplies in the future, he was confident that the three of them would strike it rich.
Sain found Bosch's ambitions and promises somewhat amusing.
Just as Sain was about to say something, a deep honking sound echoed throughout Mosobla City.
Almost simultaneously, Sain and Bosch rushed out of the shop.
They weren't the only ones who had the same idea in Mosobla City.
As soon as the residents heard the unique sound, they all looked up at the black silhouette reflected in the glow of the fluorescent stone.
It was a massive airship that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
The ship was so large that it measured two hundred meters in length and fifty meters in height.
Aside from a few official Dark Magicians, everyone else immediately flew to the sky when the massive airship appeared.
More than a dozen Overseers from the Cathead Academy also flew up to the sky and scattered across the corners of the massive floating airship.
Beside Sain, the chubby Bosch couldn't help but exclaim, "Here comes another batch of newbies. I wonder how many of them are there this time, and how many will meet the minimum Mental Power requirement for the Academy."
Bosch seemed to be reminded of his own time when he first arrived in Shadowy Territory, and thus appeared to be somewhat emotional.
Sain, on the other hand, didn't think too much about it.
When he saw the massive floating airship above Mosobla City, the first thing that came to his mind was, "Another year has passed, and I'm already seventeen."
...
Half a month later, almost all of the apprentices at the Dark Magic Academy knew that the official Dark Magicians had kidnapped nearly a thousand children on the Surface this year.
However, only 272 of them met the Mental Power requirement, which was less than a third of the total number.
The minimum requirement to become a Dark Magic Apprentice was to have an initial Mental Power of at least seven points.
Sain's initial Mental Power was eleven points, which may have been one of the reasons why he had been successful in practicing magic for so many years.
The level of Mental Power at the beginning definitely determines to a great extent the speed at which magic apprentices progress in the early stages of learning.
At sixteen years old, Sain was promoted to an Intermediate apprentice and could be called a prodigy.
Meanwhile, there were those in their twenties, even thirties, who were still struggling at the Low level.
Apart from their limited intelligence and understanding of magic, their low initial Mental Power was likely a major hindrance.
It's unclear whether the initial Mental Power value is linked to IQ.
The arrival of over two hundred new apprentices injected new vitality into the once-oppressive Dark Magic Academy.
Watching these timid, fearful, and slightly curious youngsters, more than one Dark Magic Apprentice recalled their own experiences.
"Enjoy the coldness and despair of Dark Magic Academy!" more than a few Dark Magic Apprentices sneered in their hearts.
According to tradition, by the second year, the number of these two hundred-plus newcomers would decrease by more than half.
Most of them would be "eliminated" for various reasons, unable to adapt to the academy environment.
Even among the remaining small group of apprentices, very few would ultimately grow into Low-level apprentices.
Statistically speaking, fifteen would be considered quite good.
Over the years, as each new wave of apprentices arrived, the number of accumulated Advanced apprentices remained unchanged, indicating a lot.
Sain didn't bother to "inspect" the new apprentices' dorms like some bored apprentices did.
After only a brief understanding of the situation of these new apprentices, Sain continued to focus on his own studies.
In Mosido's laboratory, Sain arrived as usual.
However, instead of conducting alchemical experiments in his laboratory, Mosido was sitting in the living room on the first floor, chatting with the formal Dark Magician Dirth who came to visit.
After greeting Mosido and Dirth respectfully, Sain finally walked towards the laboratory.
On the way, Sain overheard Mosido and Dirth discussing the new group of apprentices who had just entered the school.
"This time, only about two hundred apprentices have passed the Mental Power test," Mosido said.
"I wonder if the number of qualified apprentices in the academy can meet the dean's requirements ten years from now," Dirth commented.
Due to frequent visits to Mosido's lab in recent times and their shared background from the Western Islands, this formal Dark Magician had secretly formed an alliance with Mosido.
A month ago, Dirth had obtained secret information from Mosido about the Dark Magicians of Mosobla City, which was not even known by the ordinary Dark Magicians.
This information alone was enough to rank Dirth among the top ten formal Dark Magicians in Mosobla City.
It was unclear what information she had obtained that made her unprecedentedly concerned about the number of qualified apprentices in the academy in the future.