"Of course, I accept."
Edwyn took the crystal ball and gave a respectful bow to Joron.
"In that case, let us form the pact."
Joron pulled a sheet of parchment filled with arcane runes from a drawer.
"This is a soul contract. Once signed, you will officially become my apprentice. I will pass on my knowledge to you, and you shall carry it forward."
The transmission of knowledge is the foundation of the Mage-Apprentice system. Since the ancient Age of Ignorance, Mages have taken on apprentices to pass down the knowledge they spent a lifetime acquiring.
This bond often runs deeper than blood.
Edwyn accepted the parchment. Most of the contract's contents forbade apprentices from selling or leaking inherited knowledge without permission.
Knowledge was priceless, and apprentices were often poor.
Without restrictions, even a little temptation could cause them to sell secrets.
After signing the contract, a flame instantly ignited at Edwyn's signature and reduced the document to ashes.
"By ancient tradition, Apprentice Edwyn, I shall now perform your initiation."
Joron placed a hand on Edwyn's forehead and began reciting the chants of ancient Mages.
Edwyn couldn't understand the words, but he felt a faint surge in his Spiritforce.
By the time the chant ended, Edwyn estimated his Spiritforce had increased by about 0.1.
Far more efficient than meditation.
"That's it, the initiation is complete," Joron said, clapping his hands and summoning several thick tomes from the shelves with a spell.
"These are your introductory texts. Go home, study them thoroughly, and once you've mastered them, come back to purchase the next set."
"Purchase?"
Edwyn blinked in surprise. Wasn't he now an official apprentice? Why did getting new books feel like borrowing from a library?
"Yes, purchase," Chayle said, stepping up and patting Edwyn's shoulder. "Don't look so shocked. Agnes and I are the same, we all have to spend Mana Stones to buy knowledge from the teacher."
"But… why?"
"It's simple. Knowledge is precious and shouldn't be handed out freely. Things that come too easily are easily taken for granted," Joron said, stroking his beard with a mysterious air. "Besides, Alchemy is a practical art. Book knowledge alone won't get you far."
"If you're skilled enough, you can earn plenty of Mana Stones through selling artifacts or potions in the commercial zone to trade for knowledge."
Agnes added, "The teacher's prices aren't high. With your skill level, Edwyn, you could probably earn enough for the next tier in less than two years."
Since that was the rule, Edwyn didn't argue.
He accepted the books from Joron and left the lab with Agnes and Chayle.
"Damn, little bro, you were hiding your power level well."
As soon as they stepped outside, Chayle threw his arm around Edwyn's shoulders like a big brother.
"You really blew both me and Agnes away with that move."
Agnes's feelings were a little more complex. Until Edwyn showed up, she had been Joron's most gifted apprentice in the past thousand years.
But now, that title clearly belonged to someone else.
Still, Agnes wasn't petty. After a moment of sulking, she let it go.
"Alright, Chayle, let go of him. As his senior, aren't you going to give him a gift?" she said, pulling a badge from her pocket and handing it to Edwyn.
"This badge is inscribed with a Deflection Field. It can deflect ranged physical spells like Icicle Spear."
"Thank you, Senior Sister!"
Chayle looked glum.
He didn't have any Arcane Artifact to give.
"Little bro, it's not that I don't want to give you something, it's just that my specialty isn't in gear. How about this, give me a couple days, and I'll make you a small chimera as a welcome gift?" Chayle offered with a forced smile.
"A chimera? Chayle, you study chimeras?"
That reminded Edwyn of the chimera core he had obtained during the entrance exam. He'd tossed it aside and forgotten to extract its data.
"Yep, just like the teacher. I specialize in chimera studies," Chayle said, nodding.
"So the beast in the entrance exam… that was you?"
Chayle scratched his head and chuckled.
"That job was supposed to be the teacher's, but he dumped it on me. Not bad, right? My chimera's pretty solid."
It was solid alright.
Edwyn thought back. If the creature hadn't been badly injured, and if he hadn't had Arcane Artifact on him, he might not have survived.
"Very impressive. Actually, I pulled something like a heart out of that creature. Would that be useful to you?"
Chayle froze, then seemed to realize something.
"A heart? You probably mean the core. If you've got one, I'll custom-make a chimera for you as your welcome gift." He thumped his chest. "I might not know much else, but I know my chimeras."
The most complicated part of making a chimera is cultivating the core. If a ready-made core is available, Chayle was confident he could throw together a low-grade chimera in three days using materials he had on hand.
"Thanks, Chayle."
Edwyn rushed back to his dorm and dug out the core.
Despite going months without any external energy, the core was still faintly pulsing, its vitality was borderline absurd.
Edwyn held it in his hand and spent 15 points of Spiritforce to extract its information.
He could've traded for this knowledge from Joron, but saving is saving.
The extraction hit him like a hammer to the head, leaving him dizzy. But thanks to the spiritual feedback loop, his total Spiritforce had reached 20 points. Even after the drain, he had enough left to hand the core over to Chayle.
"What kind of chimera do you want?" Chayle asked after assessing the core's viability. Then he whipped out a long list filled with more than a hundred types of low-grade chimeras, each with unique abilities.
Edwyn looked it over. There were some powerful beasts like the Seven-Headed Demon Goat, but after some thought, he picked a creature called the Death Raven.
This chimera wasn't powerful in combat, but it had night vision and the ability to see through illusions. Like normal magical pets, chimeras could be linked through a soul seed, allowing the master to share its senses.
With the Death Raven, Edwyn could effectively gain those abilities for himself.
Seeing his choice, Chayle waved it off with a flourish.
"The Death Raven? Easy. Come find me in three days, it'll be ready."
With that done, Edwyn returned to his room and collapsed into bed, completely drained.
The spiritual cost of extracting data had left him utterly exhausted. Normally, he would meditate to recover, but today, all he wanted was a long, deep sleep.
Now that he was Joron's official apprentice, he'd firmly planted his roots in the academy, and taken one step closer to becoming a Mage.
As he closed his eyes, the breathtaking vision he saw when first connecting with the soul sea resurfaced in his mind.
A soft smile appeared on his lips.
"The Celestial Realm... I really want to see it someday."