Chapter 15

After returning to the dormitory, Luo En did not rest immediately but immediately began his daily meditation practice.

Ever since he changed his profession to [Magic Potion Apprentice], he found that his perception of mental power had become much sharper.

And the insight into "rhythm" during body-tempering today seemed to provide a brand-new line of thought.

"If the 'Corona Breathing Method' is imitating the laws of the sun..."

Luo En opened the tattered "Basic Meditation Method": "...then could mental power also have its own specific operating laws?"

He carefully studied the basic rune in the book composed of three arcs.

Previously, he had only been mechanically copying it, but now he suddenly realized—the arrangement of these three arcs seemed to imply a certain rhythm as well.

Holding this thought, he began to try outlining the rune with different rhythms.

【Basic Meditation started】

When the first arc took shape in his consciousness, he no longer rushed to complete it as he had in the past, but carefully felt the flow of mental power.

Strangely, whenever a part of the rune resonated with the fluctuations of his mental power, that arc would become exceptionally stable.

"So that's it..." Luo En finally understood something.

This rune was not just a tool to guide mental power; its shape itself was imitating the most natural flow of mental power.

【Triggered special effect: Mental Rhythm—this meditation effect is slightly increased】

【Basic Meditation experience +1】

【Basic Meditation experience +1】

【Basic Meditation experience +1】

【Today's practice time has reached the limit, rest is recommended】

The growth in experience points was much higher than usual, which confirmed that his idea was correct.

Just as Luo En was about to continue meditating, a commotion suddenly erupted outside the door.

"Has someone been promoted again?" He got up and opened the door, just in time to see a familiar figure running past in a hurry.

That was Locke, who had come to the Black Fog Forest at the same time as him, and was now running toward the testing hall with an excited face.

"It seems a candidate apprentice has broken through."

Andre lived not far from him and clearly heard the commotion, so he also walked out of his room:

"This situation has been happening more and more lately. The closer it gets to the assessment deadline, the easier it is for everyone to go all-in."

Luo En understood what he meant. As time passed, those who saw no hope often chose to take desperate measures—

—either taking risks to try dangerous forbidden spells or buying some "special potions" of unknown origin.

"Let's go, let's go take a look together. Anyone's success experience is worth learning from."

Andre waited for Luo En to lock his room door: "Maybe we can see some tricks."

The testing hall was located in the center of the dormitory area, where there was a specially made crystal ball that could measure the strength of mental power.

When the two arrived, quite a few people had already gathered in the hall.

Locke was standing in front of the crystal ball, his face pale but his eyes excited.

"It's starting." Someone whispered.

Locke placed his hand on the crystal ball, and dark red mist immediately surged inside the sphere.

A moment later, a fairly bright symbol condensed in the mist, but it looked extremely unstable, flickering like a broken light bulb.

"He really met the standard!" Exclamations erupted all around.

This was indeed surprising, as Locke had originally been, like Luo En, a marginal figure who barely reached the sixth-rank star standard.

And now, he had reached the mental power standard for a primary apprentice required by the assessment nearly three months early.

"What method did he use?" Discussions rose and fell all around.

But Luo En noticed that Andre's expression had become grave: "Something's not right."

"What do you mean?" Luo En asked in a low voice.

"Look at his pupils." Andre's expression was stern; he half-extended his arm to block his friend beside him and slowly retreated:

"They are too dilated, and also..."

He pointed to Locke's hands touching the crystal ball, which were trembling uncontrollably: "This could be a precursor to mental power loss of control."

Sure enough, amidst the exclamations of the crowd, Locke suddenly clutched his head and let out a painful groan.

His eyes, which had been relatively clear, became chaotic, and the corners of his mouth began to twitch uncontrollably.

"Oh no!" Andre pulled Luo En and retreated rapidly: "Quick, get further away..."

Before he could finish speaking, Locke suddenly let out a scream.

His eyes were bloodshot, and the fluctuations of his mental power became violent.

The surrounding air seemed to solidify, and everyone felt a sense of suffocation.

"Judging by the symptoms, it should be the aftereffects of forbidden drugs." Andre whispered through gritted teeth: "This guy actually dared to try that kind of thing to enhance his mental power."

Luo En noticed that the dark red mist in the crystal ball suddenly became thick, and the symbols inside began to twist and deform. This was clearly not a good sign.

Just as the crowd, seeing that things were going poorly, retreated one after another, a white figure flashed into the center of the hall.

The surrounding candidate apprentices immediately retreated like a tide, their eyes revealing undisguised fear and awe.

This instinctive fear was not without reason.

As the top of the food chain in the Black Fog Forest, official wizards possessed absolute power that was almost unrestrained.

But compared to the power itself, what was even more terrifying was the invisible pressure emanating from the official wizard.

Luo En had heard from Andre that when mental power breaks through a certain critical point and reaches the standard of an official wizard, the magic power in the body undergoes a strange activation transformation, forming a special energy field known as a "Domain."

This "Domain" continuously emits highly penetrating energy radiation, which even the wizard themselves finds difficult to completely contain.

Although most wizards use special means to control this radiation within the smallest possible range,

even so, being within two meters of an official wizard would still cause various uncomfortable symptoms in people with average constitutions—dizziness, nausea, body heat, and even signs of internal organ failure if exposed for a long time.

It is said that people with particularly weak constitutions might die within minutes due to exposure to excessive radiation.

This is also why wizards always like to live alone and set up heavy restrictions on their residences, not only to protect their privacy and research results but also to prevent unnecessary "accidental casualties."

Luo En could feel that as the white-robed figure approached, the air seemed to become viscous, and breathing became increasingly difficult.

His skin began to feel a strange tingling sensation, as if countless needle tips were gently pricking him.

This feeling was so obvious even from a distance of more than ten meters, let alone for those apprentices who were forced to stay closer.

Several candidate apprentices closer to the white-robed wizard had already turned pale, and one even began to have traces of blood seeping from their nostrils.

But no one dared to complain, and no one dared to leave without permission—in the eyes of a wizard, these could all be seen as signs of disrespect, and the consequences were often unimaginable.

This was the deterrent power brought by the absolute gap in strength.

The apprentices felt awe for wizards from the bottom of their hearts, not only because they feared their power but also because everyone had a longing to become such a strong person.

"Alright, if you can't stand it, all of you get further away."

As the cold voice of the white-robed wizard rang out, he waved his staff, and a silver halo of light expanded outward.

Everyone was forced back to the corners of the hall, leaving only the out-of-control Locke twitching in the center.

"Interesting..." The wizard speculated: "It seems he took a 'mental catalyst,' and the dosage far exceeded his limit."

As he spoke, he took a crystal bottle from his robe, which contained a strange black liquid:

"Just in time to take this opportunity to test this new formula."

Luo En noticed that Andre's face had become extremely ugly; as someone well-informed, he had clearly seen similar scenes before.

"Don't look, it will..." Andre whispered, but Luo En knew that such scenes had to be remembered.

This was the world of wizards—the strong treated the weak as experimental materials, and life and death were decided in a single thought.

A shrill scream interrupted Luo En's thoughts. The bottle of black liquid had already been forcibly poured into Locke's mouth by an invisible hand. His body began to twitch violently, and it seemed as if something was wriggling under his skin.

The white-robed wizard raised his hand and clenched his fist, and the silver halo of light firmly bound the out-of-control Locke.

At this moment, Locke had completely lost his sanity, his eyeballs were constantly trembling, and some constantly changing geometric patterns were reflected in his pupils.

"Ah... the classic 'nystagmus'." The white-robed wizard's voice remained calm: "When a mortal glimpses the truth they shouldn't see, this is the most common reaction."

He paced slowly beside Locke, like a researcher repeatedly observing a white mouse in a cage:

"In that case, the 'mental catalyst' taken should be made from the eyeballs of aberrant creatures."

Just then, a strange sense of distortion suddenly surged under Locke's skin, as if something was wriggling in his flesh and blood.

His right arm began to swell, and the skin split open, revealing wriggling flesh.

"Flesh hyperplasia." The white-robed wizard chuckled: "This is somewhat rare; he actually contracted two types of aberrant pollution at once."

Luo En endured the discomfort and continued to observe. He noticed that the white-robed wizard's eyes were also trembling slightly; that was the mark left by long-term exposure to occult knowledge.

Locke's screams gradually took on a non-human tone. His flesh and blood were constantly reorganizing, forming strange aberrant limbs or organs, and then immediately disintegrating.

"Don't look, let's go back!" Andre pulled Luo En and turned to leave, but those images were already deeply imprinted in his mind.

On the way back to the dormitory, Luo En remained silent.

Those strange scenes kept flashing in his mind—the strange patterns in Locke's eyes, the wriggling flesh, the distortion in the air...

What was going on? Why would taking a potion to enhance mental power lead to such terrifying consequences?

"Andre..." Luo En finally couldn't help but speak: "That... nystagmus and flesh hyperplasia, have you seen those symptoms before?"

The blond youth's face instantly became extremely ugly: "Luo En, this is not something you should be concerned about right now!"

(End of this chapter)