Chapter 2: Yilan

Magic was certainly miraculous, making one infinitely yearn and imagine, but Gao De didn't have much time to be moved or shocked.

The environment here was extremely poor, dark, decaying, and poorly ventilated, and it was as silent as a grave; he felt gloomy just staying there for a while.

This place was clearly not a place to stay for long.

More importantly, he had tested drugs for Master Seda and died only to be resurrected; could this matter just end like this?

Without a doubt, the top priority was to escape this herb garden.

How to escape? Just as Amy said, they, these apprentices, had been branded with a tracking mark on the very first day Master Seda brought them back.

Without removing the tracking mark, they could never escape Master Seda's clutches.

Gao De propped himself up and sat up slowly, but he didn't get off the bed; instead, he leaned against the wall and seriously considered ways to escape Master Seda's control.

With his current knowledge, he could only think of two methods.

First, since there was a magic like the tracking mark, there must be a magic that could remove it.

Second, if you can't solve the problem, solve the person who created the problem—Master Seda.

It sounded simple, but doing it was harder than ascending to heaven.

At least for him right now, it was like that.

Magic was miraculous, so it was also incomparably precious.

He was a mage apprentice with no background, treated as a "little gray mouse," and so far he had only mastered two cantrips, both from Master Seda. Where could he go to learn magic that could remove the tracking mark?

Moreover, learning magic was incomparably difficult; even if he truly obtained the corresponding magic, he would definitely not be able to master it in a short time.

As for dealing with Master Seda, that was basically impossible.

Master Seda was a veteran mage; who knew how many powerful spells he had mastered.

And he was just a person who had mastered two cantrips, both of which had no lethality at all.

Gao De thought about it over and over again, but couldn't think of a way to solve his current predicament.

He pondered for a while and was just about to open his mouth to ask Amy, who had been quiet for a while, something... when there was movement outside.

The sound of hurried footsteps came, and an apprentice who clearly looked much more mature knocked on the door and entered.

He walked in a hurry, looked around the cramped room, and quickly fixed his gaze on Gao De, who was half-lying on the bed.

"Gao De, Master Seda heard you've woken up and wants to see you now!"

Gao De's gaze narrowed upon hearing this, his thoughts turning rapidly, but clearly, he didn't have the ability to resist Master Seda's order right now, so he just nodded and said, "Okay."

Gao De didn't drag his feet; he got up immediately and followed the apprentice who had come to notify him out of the room.

Watching Gao De leave, Amy suddenly realized something... it seemed that Gao De was a bit different after waking up than before.

But he couldn't say exactly where he was different.

Coming out of the room was a long, narrow corridor.

The corridor was curved, like a crescent moon, and there was a door every certain distance on the left and right sides.

There was a candle lamp on both sides of each door, using their faint light and heat to dispel the gloom and cold in the corridor.

Although the predecessor had lived here for nearly two years, this memory had not been left to Gao De, so he was very unfamiliar with the environment here and was observing his surroundings calmly.

The apprentice who came to deliver the message clearly didn't notice Gao De's small movements.

In fact, in such a high-risk and oppressive environment, how could these apprentices have the heart to pay attention to others?

So at least Gao De didn't have to worry about being exposed or being seen as different from before.

Having just arrived in this world, without even catching his breath, he had to face the mysterious Master Seda; it was impossible for Gao De not to feel pressure.

While following the messenger apprentice, he was guessing in his mind what the scene would be like when he met Master Seda later. Just then.

A door on the left suddenly opened, and a youth with a gloomy expression walked out.

Gao De didn't know him.

But he seemed to know Gao De, standing coldly in Gao De's path, and before Gao De could speak, he looked at him with a fake smile.

"Gao De, it seems you have a big life; even drug testing couldn't kill you."

Gao De frowned and glanced at him, said nothing, and turned to walk away.

It wasn't that he was afraid of him; it was mainly because he didn't know this person, and if he really answered, it would be easy to be exposed.

Besides, this person looked like he was looking for trouble; why bother with him? But just as Gao De was about to pass by him, his shoulder bumped into him with malicious intent, the force was very great, making Gao De feel like he had bumped into a wall, causing him to stumble back a few steps before stabilizing himself.

"Why, Gao De, have you become so arrogant now that you don't even bother to talk to me?" the gloomy youth laughed sarcastically: "You don't really think that just because you have some talent and can brew a primary spider venom potion, you can make the Master look at you with admiration, do you?"

"If the Master truly valued you, he wouldn't have let you test the drugs," he looked at Gao De coldly, full of pressure, and with a hint of condescension, "Haven't you recognized reality yet?"

"The Master summoned me, and I am on my way to see him. Is your business more important than the Master's?" Gao De asked with a calm expression: "If not, please step aside."

The youth's expression suddenly became ugly.

But he quickly returned to calm, then tilted his body slightly, gave up his position, and laughed: "Why didn't you say earlier that the Master was looking for you? Fine, fine, fine, go, go, don't delay the Master's business."

Gao De glanced at the youth, said nothing, and walked past him with a cold face.

"Do you think that just because this drug test didn't kill you, I can't do anything to you?"

As he passed by the youth, Gao De heard the youth's low threat in his ear.

Creak~

After dropping this sentence, the youth walked back into the room he had just come out of and closed the door.

"Let's hurry, don't let the Master wait too long." Facing the youth's harsh words, Gao De didn't change his expression and said to the mature apprentice who was leading the way.

The mature apprentice nodded and continued to walk forward. After walking a little further, he couldn't help but say: "Sigh, Gao De, this time you tested the drugs for the Master but didn't die, which means your life is not meant to end, but you won't have such good luck every time. Why did you provoke Yilan? Who doesn't know he holds the biggest grudge?"

Gao De's gaze flickered; so that was the youth's name.

"Yilan?" he asked tentatively.

"Yilan is Master Seda's first apprentice, and Master Seda still treats him somewhat differently."

"He is the only one among us who can freely enter and exit the herb garden. Although it is to deliver goods for the Master, it is enough to show that he is different from us."

And not to mention anything else, just the fact that the apprentices in the herb garden have been replaced by I don't know how many batches over the years, and he is still safe and sound, this alone can explain a lot of things."

"We can't afford to provoke him."

"Why, can he kill me?" Gao De asked back.

"Although he wouldn't dare to kill you directly, it's easy for him to make things difficult for you."

"Look, if it weren't for your good luck this time, wouldn't you have been killed by him?" the mature apprentice said.

Gao De was stunned for a moment, and then reacted to where Yilan's confidence lay, "I was chosen by Master Seda to test the drugs this time, was it caused by him?"

"Otherwise, why would he choose you? You are the only one among us who can independently brew primary spider venom potion..."

So that was it.

Gao De looked back at Yilan's closed door, his gaze flickering.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3 =====