Chapter 31

Luo En responded with a polite formality; his enhanced keen perception allowed him to capture a slight sense of incongruity on Oliver's face.

Those were extremely fine suture marks, almost impossible to detect, but they were clearly visible under his spiritual perception, which had already crossed a major stage.

Associating this with Marcus's ugly and short face, and then looking at Oliver's near-perfect face

He quickly interrupted his own train of thought; it was best not to continue such dangerous associations.

"Then, I won't disturb you." Oliver bowed slightly, making an elegant gesture of farewell: "I hope we have a chance to meet again in the future."

Ma Kusi followed behind his brother, turning his head to look at Luo En as he left.

That look contained extremely complex emotions—it held both the pity one might show a dead person, deep schadenfreude, and was mixed with an indescribable sense of vengeful pleasure.

This look made Luo En's heart sink; his intuition told him that Oliver's "kind visit" was definitely not a good thing.

When the two figures disappeared at the end of the corridor, he finally let out a long breath and packed up his belongings.

Since he had already gained his freedom, there was no need to continue staying here.

Moreover, with his current spiritual perception ability, he could clearly capture a trace of strange energy remaining in the confinement room—that was some kind of magic trace left by Oliver.

Luo En couldn't help but shiver, deciding to leave this place as soon as possible.

No matter what kind of scheme Oliver was plotting, with his current strength, he was still far from being his match.

The moment he walked out of the confinement room, he took a deep breath.

Although the air in the Black Mist Forest was still filled with that unique fishy-sweet smell, for him, having just escaped confinement, this was already a kind of enjoyment.

"What exactly does that guy want to do..."

Luo En pondered as he walked, deciding to return to his room first and then find Andre to understand the situation in detail.

On the way, he could feel that he was a different person compared to two weeks ago.

The qualitative change in his internal spiritual power had greatly improved his perception ability, and even his walking posture had become more light and free.

Other candidate apprentices passing by in his perception were like glowing sparks, with each person's spiritual power strength and fluctuation frequency roughly visible.

This ability might be commonplace for other apprentices, but for Luo En, who had just broken through, it was still full of novelty.

Soon, he arrived in front of his room door.

The door lock was intact; it seemed no one had broken in during the past half-month.

But Luo En still cautiously checked the trap markers inside the room—these were tiny marks he had specially set up before leaving to judge whether anyone had invaded.

After confirming that everything was normal, Luo En truly relaxed.

"It seems I was overthinking."

He laughed at himself, then began to organize his belongings.

Although this simple apprentice dormitory could not be called comfortable, it was already much better than the environment of the confinement room.

Just as he was about to sit down and rest, Luo En heard a burst of urgent knocking on the door.

"Luo En, you're back?" Andre's voice came through the door panel.

He raised an eyebrow; this Thirteenth Prince was truly well-informed.

"Come in, the door isn't locked."

Andre pushed the door and entered, an expression of surprise on his face:

"I was just eating in the cafeteria and heard others say they saw you in the dormitory corridor, so I came over to take a look. Did you spend extra magic stone fragments? That's really extravagant..."

His words stopped suddenly, his pupils slightly contracting: "No, you have already..."

Luo En knew what he had noticed and smiled slightly: "That's right, I broke through."

"Primary apprentice!" Andre gasped: "In the confinement room? This is simply..."

His tone was full of disbelief, but he soon returned to calm: "However, given your progress speed during this period, it's not too surprising."

Luo En signaled him to sit down and briefly described the process of his breakthrough, naturally omitting the assistance brought by the profession panel.

"As expected of you." Andre praised sincerely: "An environment like the confinement room is a torment for most people, but it became an opportunity for you to gain focus and break through."

A look of complexity and unwillingness flashed in his eyes: "Luo En, do you know? Sometimes I'm really curious, how exactly did you make such great progress in such a short time..."

Luo En smiled and didn't pick up that thread, instead quickly changing the topic: "Do you know what kind of person Oliver is?"

Hearing this name, Andre's expression instantly became solemn: "He came to find you?"

Luo En nodded: "Just now, I was able to get out so quickly, all thanks to him spending magic stone fragments."

"This is not a good sign." Andre's voice lowered a few notches:

"Oliver's reputation in the school is not very good; this guy is a notoriously two-faced person, and his research direction is too..."

He seemed to be looking for suitable vocabulary: "Too twisted, to the point that even some high-level apprentices of the same grade keep their distance from him."

"More specific?" Luo En pressed.

Andre hesitated for a moment, seemingly weighing how much information to reveal: "His research direction is 'living body modification'..."

Speaking of this, his voice became even lower: "It is said that those 'materials' in his laboratory are mostly slaves collected by Ma Kusi."

Luo En remembered the Emily he had met before, and his heart sank.

"But what puzzles me most is, why did he specifically come to see you?"

Andre frowned: "Logically speaking, the little conflict between Ma Kusi and you should be insignificant to an apprentice of his level."

"I guess..." Luo En said softly: "It might be related to Dalunde's sonic spell."

Andre understood what he meant: "You mean, he is interested in this research?"

"Not just interested." Luo En recalled Oliver's words: "He said sonic waves and curses have some commonalities, both influencing the target continuously through special means."

"That does make some sense." Andre was thoughtful: "But even so, for a high-level apprentice to specifically come to contact you, someone who just broke through from the candidate level, is still somewhat strange..."

The two fell into a brief silence, each pondering the possibilities.

Finally, Andre broke the silence: "In any case, you must be extra careful now. Oliver is not a character to be trifled with; even our royal family's network of relationships in the school is..."

Luo En nodded, knowing the weight of this warning.

"By the way." Andre remembered something: "In the past half-month, the black market merchants in the market have become active again. Recently, several more candidate apprentices have had accidents..."

"Still that kind of contraband potion?" Luo En asked.

"Yes, but this time it's a bit different." Andre's expression became solemn: "Those potions seem to be related to curses, and the way they mutate after use is also more..."

He paused, seemingly looking for suitable vocabulary: "More controllable, as if it had been precisely designed."

Luo En thought of this, and his heart stirred: "You mean, these potions might be related to Oliver?"

"This is just my guess." Andre said cautiously: "But the timing is indeed very coincidental."

Luo En rolled his eyes and pretended to mention an unrelated topic casually:

"I was wondering, does the black market have any... special materials and formulas?"

(End of chapter)