In Witch Sophia's office.
Witch Sophia raised her eyebrows in surprise, "You're saying that Blood Curse Court wizard apprentices ambushed you on the necessary route back to the academy."
Locke nodded. "Yes, teacher."
Witch Sophia frowned. "Then the problem becomes very complex. For them to ambush you in advance, they must have known about the magical plant investigation task you took, which allowed them to calculate the time needed for your return."
"But this was a task directly assigned through me by Advisor Francis."
"No, that's not right. This task was assigned by Advisor Francis through his assistant, so there's still the possibility of information leakage."
Witch Sophia said, "Blood Curse Court should have a deeply hidden spy network within Lilith's Cottage. I will report this matter to the academy's upper levels."
"Locke, don't leave the academy headquarters during this time."
"I will apply to the academy's upper levels for special protection for you. During the special protection period, you won't need to fulfill academy duty work."
"You just became a first-class wizard apprentice and need to spend time enriching your spell level."
Witch Sophia threw a document to Locke. "During this time, you can spend your own magic stones to purchase private lessons and learn the remaining three spells in the Vine Surge spell series."
"As for spells, just learn whatever you want on your own."
"Since you have Corrupt Soil Taro and Gentleman Orchid, I recommend you spend magic stones to purchase private courses to learn a cantrip model called Mayfly Flower Cannon and a cantrip model called All Plants Are Soldiers."
"Next Wednesday, I will have enough time to tell you about the path after becoming a first-class wizard apprentice, how to walk the road toward becoming a formal wizard."
Witch Sophia said, "Spells are no longer your priority at your current stage."
"In a few days, the academy will sign a new contract with you."
She pointed to the document, saying, "Since you're a first-class wizard apprentice now, you can help me handle this batch of Shadow Leeches."
"You can try making a batch of Shadow Leech bloodline separation potions yourself, then use the Mana Centrifugal Extraction Technique to separate this insect's bloodline."
"Remember to come to me the day after tomorrow. Those new wizard prospects will come the day after tomorrow. One person, like you, comes from overseas, while the others are all of local civilian origin."
Locke had already received nearly two years of potion master assistant level instruction from Witch Sophia, so he could try this level of work.
However, Shadow Leeches themselves were very dangerous magical insects. If one was slightly careless, the offspring eggs hatched by these insects could easily parasitize within the body of the wizard apprentice handling them, and they were extremely difficult to treat.
The large quantities of magical creature materials that Witch Sophia currently used were all this dangerous.
Therefore, Witch Sophia had never before let Locke attempt to independently prepare specialized bloodline separation potions for magical creatures.
She only had Locke use the Mana Centrifugal Extraction Technique to create purified magical creature bloodline essence, which was relatively simple work.
But obviously, Witch Sophia's trust in Locke had now increased by several levels compared to before.
Locke took the document and glanced at it. This was also something a potion master assistant must know, so it was an opportunity for him to practice.
This batch of Shadow Leeches was worth several thousand magic stones. Orıginal content can be found at novel⚑fire.net
"Shadow Leeches are generally used for curse-breaking potions to treat shadow-related curses, and are one of the common materials in potion-level preparations." Locke recalled his knowledge, saying, "Alright, teacher, I will try to complete it within a week and deliver it to your laboratory."
After Locke left Witch Sophia's office, he crossed through the port city toward the public classroom.
He decided to follow Witch Sophia's advice and register for private lessons in those two spell models.
Witch Sophia's knowledge far exceeded his current level, so if she told him to learn something, it must be very beneficial for his current situation.
Locke entered dark elf Sasari's private office, gently knocked on the office door, and walked in after Sasari allowed him to enter.
Locke said to Sasari, "Senior Sasari, I want to register for these two courses: Mayfly Flower Cannon and All Plants Are Soldiers."
Dark elf Sasari frowned, because these two private courses weren't multi-person group classes. They basically belonged to courses that very few people could learn, and they were extremely complex and dangerous.
Each time they opened, there were generally only a few students, and often only one person.
Most importantly, both courses were first-class wizard apprentice level courses.
Dark elf Sasari only then noticed the magical pressure emanating from Locke.
Unlike Witch Sophia who was only briefly stunned, Sasari opened his mouth wide in great surprise. "This is magical pressure. Locke, you've become a first-class wizard apprentice!"
"No, how long has it been? You only became a second-class wizard apprentice last year, right?"
"Among your peer wizard prospects, those with Level 6 aptitude haven't even become first-class wizard apprentices yet. Only one Child of Elements with Level 7 aptitude became a first-class wizard apprentice half a month ago and received great attention from Lilith Academy's upper levels."
Sasari stood up from behind his office desk. After realizing Locke was a first-class wizard apprentice, he was both shocked and no longer dared to act superior, so he simply stood up.
Locke said to Sasari, "Senior, my teacher Witch Sophia says that wizard aptitude testing is not perfect, so the aptitude classification done at enrollment cannot determine everything."
"My talent should be exactly outside the mainstream detection methods."
Dark elf Sasari recovered from his shock, and a bitter smile appeared on his face. "What difference does that make? I only know that you possess talent equal to the Children of Elements."
"Fish that slip through the net like you are even rarer than the Children of Elements."
"It doesn't count for much."
Sasari spoke to Locke with more of a peer-to-peer tone. "Congratulations, Augustine."
"The academy will sign a contract with you in a few days, right? First-class wizard apprentices are the academy's backbone force and formal wizard reserves, so there will be new contracts, new benefits, and you may also undertake some teaching, research, and combat tasks."
"You can also register your level and receive rewards. The academy puts great effort into supporting prodigies like you."
Dark elf Sasari thought for a moment and said to Locke, "Mayfly Flower Cannon should only have you taking it in the next few months, so you can register directly. But for All Plants Are Soldiers, recently one of your peer classmates also wants to take it, but she won't have time until next week, so you'll need to wait a week."
"We'll teach both of you this course at the same time."
"These private courses are basically one-on-one, so the fees are quite expensive."
"Not counting material fees and other miscellaneous costs, the basic course fee is 550 magic stones per course. No problem, Locke?"
Locke nodded. "Of course, senior."
Sasari had already taken out two application forms and signed his name on them. "Besides being expensive, these two courses also have the level restriction that you must be a first-class wizard apprentice to register."
"After you learn them, maybe in the future you'll be the one teaching Mayfly Flower Cannon and All Plants Are Soldiers, these two advanced cantrip model courses, in the public classroom."