Chapter 3: [Interrogation]

Passing through the long, curved corridor, one could see a slightly larger brown-black door at the end of the corridor.

The "mature" apprentice leading the way stopped in front of the door and knocked on it three times cautiously.

The knocking sound seemed particularly abrupt in the silent environment. "Master Seda, Gao De is here."

As the voice fell, the closed door was opened just like that.

"He can just come in."

A low and unpleasant voice drifted out from the room.

The apprentice leading the way responded with full respect, "Yes," and then silently retreated.

Gao De cast his gaze into the room; the light inside was very dim, so he couldn't see the scene inside, but the oppressive atmosphere was real, as if a dangerous beast were hidden inside, ready to devour him at any moment.

After a moment of hesitation, Gao De still walked in with big strides.

The moment he stepped into the room, the door closed automatically and silently again.

His vision was first blurry, then covered in a dim yellow.

As far as his eyes could see, Gao De saw an extremely long raw wooden table, on which were scattered parchment paper and some simple small tools: a balance for weighing, a grinder for grinding medicinal powder, and a wooden shelf holding many slender glass bottles similar to test tubes... To the left of the long table was a huge bookshelf, on which books were neatly displayed.

Near the right side of the long table was a crucible, and under the crucible was a heating device with a complex structure.

Gao De's gaze swept across the room quickly and finally landed behind the long table.

There, a high-backed chair sat, with a person who was not very tall, with his back to him.

Gao De knew clearly that he was Master Seda.

"Master Seda." Gao De looked at Master Seda's back, tilted his upper body slightly by about fifteen degrees, bowed to Master Seda, and then returned to his original state.

He didn't know the etiquette of this world, so he could only use the most common Western bow to express his respect for Master Seda.

As Gao De spoke, Master Seda turned around.

Gao De, who was seeing Master Seda's true face for the first time, was slightly shocked in his heart.

From the back, Master Seda was not tall, but there was nothing unusual, but from the front, what came into view was a face with a gray and defeated complexion, without a hint of vitality, as if his time was up.

"Cough, cough..." Master Seda coughed twice and said weakly: "You're here, my good apprentice."

"I heard you've woken up," a strange expression appeared on his withered face, appearing somewhat excited: "Tell me quickly, how do you feel now."

Master Seda stared fixedly at Gao De, a flash of anxiety and expectation deep in his eyes.

Master Seda's question was within Gao De's expectations, and he had already prepared the answer on the way here.

"Compared to before taking the medicine, it seems there is no change," Gao De shook his head and said "hesitantly": "Except for being unconscious for a while..."

"No change?" Hearing this, Master Seda's expression suddenly darkened, and his tone became much stiffer.

"How can there be no change? Either die, or... it just shouldn't be no change!"

Seeing Master Seda's reaction, Gao De's heart skipped a beat, and a sense of unease welled up.

However, he wasn't afraid that Master Seda would see that this body had already changed owners.

Because these apprentices were just consumables to Master Seda; he wouldn't pay attention to their habits and personalities, so there was naturally no reason to discover his change.

"Come here!" Master Seda suddenly snorted coldly.

Gao De put on a terrified expression, hurried forward until his body was close to the long table, then stopped, bowed his head slightly, and didn't dare to look directly at Master Seda.

Master Seda stared fixedly at Gao De, expressionless, and didn't speak for a long time.

Gao De knew he was unhappy, and he wouldn't take the initiative to touch the other party's bad luck, so he sensibly stopped moving around and waited for the other party to speak first.

After a long time, Master Seda still didn't speak.

The atmosphere was strange, Gao De's heart was beating a little, and he looked up slightly.

"If you want to look, then look; are you feeling guilty like a thief?" Master Seda's gloomy voice rang out instantly.

Gao De's gaze paused, then he raised his head, looked at Master Seda's face, and immediately shrank back. Master Seda looked at the timid Gao De with a fake smile, his gaze sinking.

The next moment, Gao De felt a force pushing from behind, pushing his body forward.

He was already close to the long table, and being pushed like this, his whole upper body leaned forward.

Then, Master Seda stretched out his right hand as if he had expected it, and pinched Gao De's neck like a pair of pliers.

Master Seda's hand strength wasn't very great, but it brought Gao De indescribable and huge pain.

The pain was so deep that Gao De almost fainted and felt nauseous, wanting to vomit.

That feeling was as if Master Seda's palm was covered with sharp thorns, which then inserted into his neck, deep into his bones, and stirred his bone marrow.

Of course, it was impossible for thorns to grow out of Master Seda's hand.

Gao De understood that this was the effect of "magic."

"Master... I..." his voice "trembled" as he said.

"After taking the medicine, do you really feel that your body hasn't changed at all?" Master Seda asked the question he had asked before again.

"Yes." Enduring the severe pain, Gao De answered with difficulty.

Master Seda frowned tightly, "It is indeed the truth."

After a pause, his voice became calm again, and he let go of Gao De, "I assume you wouldn't dare to lie to me; go down."

"Yes..." Gao De, who had just been freed from the severe pain, was still trembling slightly, hurried to respond with a "trembling voice," and then stumbled out of the room.

In the large room, only Master Seda was left again.

His withered face was not clear in the shadows; no one knew what he was thinking.

"Hoo~"

After a long time, Master Seda let out a long sigh, venting the depression in his heart, and his self-talking voice rang out in the closed room.

"At least the apprentice testing the drug this time survived, which means my direction is correct. Adding sage can very well neutralize the conflict of medicinal properties between other medicinal materials..."

"But there is still a problem. Why is there no medicinal effect? Is it because the sage also neutralized the psychic medicinal property of the psychic bone powder?"

Master Seda really didn't suspect that Gao De was lying. High and mighty, he didn't think these "ants" he could pinch to death with one hand would dare to play any tricks on him—even if they dared, did they have the ability? In front of magic, all schemes and tricks were futile.

Just now, he cast the cantrip "Interrogation" on Gao De.

【Interrogation】 (Necromancy, 0-level):

Touch the target and question the target with the threat of strange pain caused by magic power.

The target can choose not to answer the question truthfully, but the threat of pain will let you discover that the target is lying.

The magic proved that Gao De was not lying.

"Replace the ten-year-old sage with five-year-old sage and try again!" Here, Master Seda gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.

The reason he had to grit his teeth was that the main medicinal material required for the potion he was brewing, "psychic bone powder," was extremely expensive even for him.

And psychic bone powder was not a conventional material; even if you had money, you might not be able to buy it, and you had to wait.

The psychic bone powder he purchased last time had been used up.

Only one medicinal shop in the city would regularly stock a small amount of psychic bone powder, and it had already been bought up by him.

This medicinal shop usually stocked goods once a month, and this was only the second day of the beginning of the month, which meant there was nearly a month left before the shop's next stocking.

"A month, I can only wait..."

"My time is running out..."

"Must hurry up and break through to become a 1st-circle mage!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 4 =====