"I haven't been going out for Academy missions lately. My mentor helped me take a four-month break, so I don't have any Warcraft Crystal Cores or flesh to give you at the moment."
"However, in the experiment I just completed today, there was a depleted blank Crystal Stone left behind. Are you interested?"
Sain took out a transparent and clear energy Crystal Stone from his pocket.
The surging and abundant elemental power originally contained in this energy Crystal Stone has been completely exhausted.
Only faint yellow elemental fine lines, barely visible to the naked eye, crisscrossed inside the Crystal Stone, indicating that there is still some leftover energy in this Crystal Stone.
Seventh, the owl, wasn't picky, or maybe it just didn't have a choice.
The brown beak lifted slightly, and the blank Crystal Stone in Sain's hand flew into the other party's mouth.
The hard energy Crystal Stone was chewed into pieces in Seventh's beak.
Sain was surprised by the other party's good dental health and strong bite force more than once.
"Hoot hoot hoot, it's still promising to be an official Dark Magician disciple, especially with your mentor being Master Mosido."
"I'm sure, besides Master Mosido, there are no other Dark Magicians at the Dark Magic Academy who have so many hidden Crystal Stones." Seventh hooted.
The blank Crystal Stone that Sain handed over to Seventh was originally an Advanced earth-element energy Crystal Stone.
In Mosido's laboratory, this level of energy Crystal Stone could be considered as Advanced goods.
Sain has only seen a few stones that are more advanced than it, known as Level 1 Energy Essences.
Seventh's eating speed was fast.
With a throaty gulp, the blank Crystal Stone in Sain's hand, which was about the size of a fist, was completely swallowed by this bird.
After chatting with Seventh for a while, Sain sat down on a nearby tree stump that had obvious cut marks.
With his eyes slightly narrowed, Sain began his routine Mental Power Meditation practice.
Since three years ago, Sain discovered that the elemental concentration in the White Raven Forest was not low.
Moreover, the atmosphere here was particularly quiet and comfortable, making it the most suitable place for him, a magic apprentice, to meditate.
In terms of Meditation efficiency, it was even better than the small room with a concentrated Magic circle that Mosido had in his place.
As Sain entered a state of meditation, the owl named Seventh stopped bothering him.
Not even the sound of flapping wings could be heard, and it was unclear when the bird had silently departed.
The only sounds in the entire White Raven Forest were the faint chirping of insects and the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze.
In this atmosphere, Sain found that he could meditate much more efficiently.
When he emerged from his meditation, he looked up and saw that it was already evening according to the academy's clock.
The overseer owl named Seventh was nowhere to be seen, probably busy dealing with unexpected accidents or incidents that arose from time to time.
Sain shook off the dampness from the forest dew on his robes and slowly made his way out of the White Raven Forest.
Unlike when he had arrived in the morning, there were now small white lights scattered throughout the forest.
These lights were actually the origin of the forest's name.
Sain had discovered that the cause of these white lights was a small white bug about the size of a thumb.
These bugs naturally emitted the white light from their tails after they had sucked up the sap from the trees at a specific time.
As Sain's black figure gradually disappeared under the radiant and beautiful flickering white lights, he felt less excited and curious than when he had first seen them.
Instead, they reminded him of the deep and boundless stars in the night sky of the Surface that he held in his memories.
...
When Sain returned to his dormitory, his girlfriend Lena returned almost at the same time.
She had assisted her mentor Ferena in completing a certain dark magic experiment today, so her face was a bit tired.
However, upon seeing Sain busy in the kitchen, Lena rallied her spirits and went over to help him prepare dinner.
Over the past few years, Lena's cooking skills had improved somewhat.
At least she no longer made a mess when cooking, and sometimes she could even make relatively simple dishes on her own.
Seeing Lena by his side helping him, Sain felt a faint warmth in his heart.
Spending time with Lena every day made him temporarily forget about the dangers of the underground world and the heavy workload of studying magic.
He believed that Lena felt the same way, as he increasingly felt that they were growing more in sync with each other as time passed.
Today, the only thing that made Sain feel uneasy and heavy was the request Senior Sister Faye had made to him during the day.
Sain wasn't sure if this was considered a betrayal, and he didn't know if he should mention it to Lena.
Knowing Lena's temperament, Sain feared that if he told her now, Lena, who was quick to anger, might go straight to Senior Sister Faye for a confrontation.
Both women were close to Sain and had helped him a lot, and he didn't want to see any bad scenes happen.
Sain's emotions and state of mind were different, and Lena, who had lived with him for more than a decade, naturally noticed.
But since Sain didn't say anything, Lena didn't ask rashly.
Almost everyone thought Lena was a "crazy woman," especially her way of doing things, which made many apprentices of the same level or even stronger than her feel apprehensive.
But only Sain knew that Lena was actually a relatively calm person.
Including every impulsive act she did, Lena had already considered in her mind the consequences of everything and whether she could bear them.
Perhaps that's why, despite her reputation as a "crazy woman," Lena had survived to this day, even thriving.
If she were a real lunatic or fool, she wouldn't be able to reach the level of an Advanced apprentice, let alone become a formal Dark Magician disciple.
If it were a few years ago, or even earlier, when faced with Sain's behavior, Lena would have asked him directly if something had happened.
But now, Lena didn't ask rashly.
Because she knew that if Sain wanted to tell her, he would naturally speak up.
If Sain didn't want to say, she didn't want to force him either.
At some point, Lena had also become very concerned about Sain's feelings.
A dinner that was already too rich for other junior apprentices was completed with the joint effort of Sain and Lena.
At the dinner table, Sain still didn't say much, just casually picked up a magic book and read it while eating.
This magic book, "Encore Annotations," had already been read by Sain about twenty times, but somehow it became more flavorful with every read.
Every time he read some of the detailed notes, Sain gained a new insight.
Sain guessed that the author of the magic book, Master Encore, was likely not an ordinary formal Magician but someone stronger than his mentor Mosido, maybe even at the level of the dean.
Sain was reading an annotation that said, "Wizard is the source of all professions in the Wizarding World. "
"Wizards don't divide their knowledge too rigidly. They will learn anything that is useful to them."
Sain agreed with this statement.
Although he was currently a fire magic apprentice and alchemy apprentice, he also had some knowledge of Dark Magic and potion-making.
He wasn't being greedy, he was genuinely interested in these fields and believed that even a rough understanding of them would be helpful to him.
Who said that just because Sain had a higher affinity for fire, light, and dark elements, he could only learn those three types of magic?
If he was interested in plant, earth, water, wind, or even rare fields like thunder, poison, mystery, and summoning magic, he would try to learn about them.
After all, acquiring knowledge and exploring the mysteries of magic elements were the driving forces behind Magicians' continuous growth.
Carefully using a magic quill, Sain left a note in the corner of a page in "Encore Annotations" and closed the book.
Looking at Lena, who had already finished eating at the table, Sain said, "Let's not clean up today. We should rest early."