As soon as the others discovered Adam's true motive in helping them their silent praises disappeared. They knew Adam had great talent in magic, so they flocked towards him to ask him questions, but they were all forced back by Adam's indifferent gaze.
Adam was only interested in research. He had no interest in answering others' questions.
He discovered that the food on board may be simple, but it contains a lot of energy. The food fuelled Adam, and he was as strong as a Great Knight, but unbeknownst to him, his reputation worsened day by day.
The voyage passed smoothly for two months. The once beautiful sea looked dull, and the mages were nowhere to be seen, holed up in their own private cabins. The nobles took it upon themselves to start a new life on board -- endless parties and banquets.
At first, this was proposed by a noble in the east, but he was worried that the sailors would not agree. However, he discovered that as long as money was provided, the sailors would meet all their needs, and in a single night, the entire apprentice circle was corrupted. Adam didn't participate in those parties-- and it's not like he was invited either. However, he noticed that the gazes of the sailors were incredibly strange.
In the past two months, Adam has been maintaining a multi-threaded computing system within him to fully optimize the rune's structure. Using his incredible computing power, he has made significant progress. He has developed a 3D structure that can support his mental output, but he stumbled upon another problem. He couldn't inject his mental power into the rune.
What should the hollow interior carry?
Adam had a vague guess -- Special Energy No. 2. However, when he tried injecting the energy into the rune, he was left in severe pain.
He lacked a greater sample size, so he couldn't draw any conclusions yet, but he wasn't in a hurry. He would definitely get his answers at the Mage Academy.
One morning, the Mages appeared after not showing their faces for more than two months, and summoned everyone to the deck with shocking news.
"We are sailing to the inner sea of the Mage Continent. Be warned, we will be entering a high magic environment, so you will be exposed to high levels of Ether."
"Ether comes from every corner of time and space. It cannot be seen or touched, but mental power can perceive and react to it. If knowledge is the origin of mages, then ether is the key to transforming that knowledge to power and magic."
"Simply put, we refer to ether as Magic Power. This is how we cast spells."
The Black Mage announced, and everyone was fascinated.
"Some of you might have already discovered this ether by playing around with the rune I have shown before, and yes, the purpose of that rune is to store magic power," Adam's eyes lit up. His work might not be in vain.
"But don't get too excited. Your fragile souls cannot carry the high energy of magic," the Black Mage warned.
"It'll be enough... If you're smart enough, you can survive in this world."
Everyone was stunned. Nobody expected him to bring up life and death.
The Black Mage swiped his hand in the air and conjured three runes in front of him, "Now, the defensive circle on the outer layer of this ship will be removed. There are countless monsters in this sea. If you reach the coast alive, you'll have qualified to become true apprentices."
The mages left, and the apprentices were overwhelmed by the news. Mage Erin stayed behind and gestured to them, "Remember this set of runes to cast a fireball. Neither us nor the sailors will help you. Want to survive? Fight for it."
They soon left the apprentices alone, and immediately someone spoke up, "How can this be possible?! We will die if we try to fight the beasts... no one will survive!"
The sound of despair triggered a chain reaction and many apprentices rushed towards the ship leading to their rooms. However, the ship's doors were magically barred shut.
Ignorance truly is bliss. Crystal naively asked Ophelia, "What is the beast that the Black Mage mentioned?"
Ophelia had never encountered a monster before, but she knew the precious ointment she used to strengthen herself was derived from a monster.
"We're in big trouble," Ophelia murmured to Crystal.
Only two people weren't panicked -- Adam had already expected this: no fees, luxurious lodging provided, food and water provided... to believe this is free would be naïve. Adam treated this upcoming encounter as their first lesson.
The other person who didn't panic was William Alfred. His father was previously an apprentice, so he already knew that this was going to happen and was well prepared. This was an opportunity for him to take up a leadership position.
He clapped his hands together and announced, "Everybody! Calm down! Being panicked will not solve any problems -- we must fight to survive or die at sea! No turning back!"
In desperate situations, humans instinctively latch on to a backbone.
William smiled. His plan of gathering people together worked.
"We need to unite! The beasts may be powerful, but they aren't invincible. There is no way the mages would put us in a situation too dangerous! The mages simply want to weed out the weaker among us!" he continued.
Weed out the weak... these four words rang in some people's ears. Some couldn't even conjure the rune anymore.
"As long as we stick together, nobody will die," William said.
Tom interjected, "Mr. William, what are we going to do?"
William smiled, "Many might not know what a beast is so I will explain -- this beast isn't like your ordinary beast, this beast can cast magic like a mage!"
Some apprentices already knew this beast, but others, like Crystal didn't, and their faces turned pale.
William continued, "We need to stick together and unify everyone's strengths! Randy, Quentin, Ophelia, and Adam, what do you think?" Randy was the apprentice who had inherent talent in curse magic, while William included Adam because of his father's advice.
William knew they couldn't refuse his plan.
Ophelia spoke, "I agree. We need to find a way to guard ourselves."
Randy and Quentin nodded.
William smiled. As long as he showed enough leadership, he could get the support from these apprentices and climb up the ranks in Moldo Academy.
Only Adam remained silent. He was busy studying the fireball rune floating in the sky.
William was a little uneasy, "Adam, what do you think of the plan?"
It's not like Adam didn't hear him, since his ear can receive external information, but it filters out useless information. Adam thought William was spam.
"Adam?" Ophelia patted his arm. Adam turned his head and looked at Ophelia blankly. There was no soul in his eyes, since all he was focused on was the fireball rune.
Ophelia felt fearful. Her father's words rang in her ear, "He is not like us, he has no feelings."
Ophelia suppressed these thoughts, and repeated William's words to Adam. All they needed was Adam's consent, but some people wanted to take it up with Adam.
"Just as we thought, he is a mere commoner. Even if he has some inherent talent, why should our alliance need his opinion?"
Adam had just finished recording the rune successfully, and he memorized the pattern for the fireball spell.
Adam turned his gaze to the apprentice, his face expressionless, and the apprentice took a step back, bravely saying, "What... Did I say something wrong?"