Chapter 22 The Necessity of Having a Specialty
Saul managed to get the job of being in charge of the third process in the corpse room, at the cost of Miss Maid losing her throat.
Saul also gets a leather outer robe from Kaz.
It was stuffy to wear, but it was easy to clean up without having to watch out for splattered blood and flesh all the time.
Kaz let Saul come to work in the corpse room between three and seven every day. But nothing in here could be taken out, including the corpses.
Saul didn't have to go to the lab anymore, couldn't do or learn much there.
If he turns in more material, he gets an extra bonus – Kaz thinks Saul's abilities are beyond what he's being paid for in 3 credits, so he adds a cut to the fixed pay to encourage Saul to work well.
This was already a very high amount of pay for work among first level apprentices.
Normally, a new apprentice would only be considered an official first level apprentice after mastering all the basics.
Other than passing the monthly test where they could get a little bit of credits, the rest relied on the apprentice doing the work assigned by the mentor to earn more credits.
Although the Golza Wizard Tower was tall, there were still a limited number of jobs suitable for apprentices within it.
Safer jobs are usually anywhere from 1-3 credits per month, and dangerous ones can be 4-7 credits.
A 7 credit job in particular means that even a veteran 1st level apprentice could die.
No ordinary person would dare to take it without some means to save their life.
Saul's job wasn't without danger.
According to Mr. Katz, a corpse has already gone through two rounds of screening before it reaches Saul.
The one in charge of the most dangerous first round was a second level apprentice who would try his best to eliminate the dangers on the corpse.
The one in charge of the second round was a senior 1st level apprentice, who had already mastered the basics of wizardry and knew a few 0th level sorceries. He is able to defend himself and sift through most of the useful materials on the corpses.
And Saul, relying on his unexpected ability to pick up corpses, got lucky and got the third round of work.
Although the third round was less dangerous, it also earned less, but if each time was as efficient as today, it wasn't impossible to get 6 credits a month.
This was the importance of specialties.
Mentor Katz also didn't understand, obviously Saul's Dark Elemental Perception wasn't strong, not even passable, why was he so sensitive to the abnormalities on the dead?
He could only attribute it to the fact that Saul was naturally more sensitive to spirit bodies.
Dark element perception was low but sensitive to spirit bodies, in other words, it was easy to see ghosts.
Saul also didn't understand why he was able to see visions through meditation, but it didn't matter if he didn't understand, it didn't stop him from using it.
When he had time, he could communicate with Kerri, did different meditation charts bring different effects? Did the speed of meditation also make a difference?
As a newcomer, everything was still to be figured out, and the mentors and seniors leading the way ahead were clearly not willing to provide free knowledge.
The first day's work was guided by Mentor Kaz, and Saul completed it smoothly, familiarizing himself with the general layout of the third floor corpse room in the process.
Kaz, who had managed to find the third worker, was more than a little excited, and instructed Sol a bit.
He found that Saul's talent for spirituality was indeed excellent, showing quickness and accuracy in rune learning. He showed easy immersion in meditation.
Even Saul showed a good talent for language learning when learning Noah's language.
With this ability to do any ordinary profession can be outstanding.
It's just that as a sorcerer without magical talent, it's like a weapon that can't kill. Can only be reduced to a plaything, for people to drive, use.
Unless he can have any strange encounter or wait for the opportunity to carry out witch body transformation.
But even a second level apprentice has a high mortality rate for witch body transformation, a first level apprentice, what are the chances of success?
The hope was slim, almost as slim as none.
Kaz's excitement for teaching came and went quickly.
Soon he left Saul alone in the corpse room with the admonition that he had to be out of the second floor of the East Tower by 8:00 p.m., and that it would be best if he didn't even linger in the East Tower.
Saul respectfully bid his mentor farewell, closing the door behind him and turning back to the conveyor belt.
He did a bit of thinking for a while.
He was the only one here now, and it still took a lot of courage to pull down the wrench and greet the corpse.
Saul could have had his hand on the wrench for maybe a minute. Only to pull it off with a sudden jerk.
The conveyor belt rumbled, but after half a day of spinning no new bodies appeared.
Saul felt strange and pulled again.
Still nothing.
Just as Saul was feeling apprehensive and wanted to pull a third time. From the exit of that black tassel came a man's voice.
"Don't pull it, it's not there today."
"Got it."
"Watch the light on the window, if it turns white it means it's available."
"Uh, thanks senior."
There was indeed a small candle light on the black tasseled exit, no different in appearance from the rest around the wall.
But while all the candelabras were now emitting a bright white light, this one was dim and faint, almost about to go out.
This was something that Mentor Katz did not tell Saul, presumably because he was not in charge of the specifics of the place, so there was some oversight in the procedure.
There was no work, and Saul did not want to stay here much longer, and hurriedly left.
As he left, the big man at the end of the corridor was still sitting there, like a dead man.
But Saul noticed his nostrils twitch.
It was alive.
The second day of becoming an apprentice went by smoothly, and it was downright restful compared to the first.
The next day during class, Saul found Kori.
"Now I have ten magic crystals."
"Pay back."
Kori brought her left hand up.
"Do you want a credit or ten magic crystals?"
Korrie immediately looked over with wide eyes, "You got the job?"
Sol nodded.
"I also heard from my mentor yesterday that apprentices can hold positions in the Wizard's Tower in addition to getting credits for passing tests and getting credits for that as well." She rested her cheeks, "But my mentor won't let me get a job, he just lets me study. I still don't have a single credit in my hand."
The reason you are not allowed to work is because you don't need to work to pass the test successfully.
There was some bitterness in Saul's heart, but he quickly suppressed these slight discomforts.
"So do you want credits or magic crystals?"
"Credits of course." Kori hated to pounce, "Damn it, I haven't seen what credits look like."
Credits weren't coins held in the hand, so naturally they couldn't be traded in person in class.
They needed to go to the registration room next to the library on the ninth floor of the East Tower and transfer the credits to Kagome's name.
They quickly turned their attention back to their studies.
For the second meditation class, Instructor Monica didn't show up and was replaced by a female second level apprentice. She gave a little bit of new knowledge and then started meditating on her own at the podium.
All the apprentices with magic crystals who wanted to go up and ask questions were glared back by her with icy cold eyes.
And so the rest of the class turned into another study session.
Without anyone to teach, some apprentices began to hug and discuss with each other, and the classroom gradually became noisy.
Korrie remained seated next to Saul.
Saul looked at the diagram of the human monster walking in his book, and his mind wandered, remembering yesterday's question.
"Korrie, which diagram did you use to meditate?"
"The Secret Flower on the third page."
"Are you able to detach yourself from the crystal ball and meditate independently now?"
"Of course I can't, my mentor said that if you are able to meditate independently, your spiritual power will basically reach the level of a second level apprentice." Keri was a bit surprised, "You can already meditate independently?"
Saul shook his head, "Only able to enter a state of confusion similar to that between half asleep and half awake. There is no way to absorb elemental particles, but you can stabilize your mental state."
"Amazing." Keri gave an unstinting thumbs up, "If I meditate out of the crystal ball, I can only see a mess of lines."
She probed over, "Which meditation chart are you using? Would the meditation progress be related to the meditation chart?"
"The human-monster walking chart on page seventeen."
"..." Korrie looked over in confusion, turned back to her book, and then turned around again, "Are our books different? Why don't I have that page?"
(End of chapter)