Before setting off, Carter Bill headed to the Magic Item Hut.
It was a magic shop run by the Tower exclusively for its apprentices, where one could purchase scrolls, potions, warlock implements, and other enchanted gear.
Over the past three months, Carter had earned roughly fifty Mana Stones. He planned to splurge on supplies, determined to stack the odds in his favor for the upcoming assessment.
Even when hunting a hare, a lion uses all its strength. Now that he'd decided to take the assessment, Carter was resolved to give it his all, win or lose.
Fifty Mana Stones wasn't a fortune in the magic shop, but it was enough to buy a selection of low-tier enchanted items.
After careful selection, Carter picked up a pouch of high-tier magical beast dung, a sturdy tent, and some phosphorus powder that could ignite into flames with a simple incantation—all essentials for camping in the wilderness.
Besides these, he bought three Magic Scrolls: one offensive Fireball Scroll, one defensive Stone Shield Scroll, and one restraining Bramble Bind Scroll.
Magic Scrolls were outrageously expensive, that was for sure. The camping gear barely made a dent in his budget, yet the three scrolls ate up nearly forty of his Mana Stones—every bit of his hard-earned savings from three months of toil.
"What a lucrative business," he muttered. "Once I master higher-level spellcraft, I should try making and selling scrolls myself..."
But that was a thought for later. After all, mastery in any school of magic would bring in Mana Stones eventually. For now, the top priority was passing the assessment.
If he could pass and gain entry into the Inner Circle, this small investment would be trivial in the grand scheme of things.
Carter clenched his fists, silently steeling his resolve.
He stuffed his packed supplies into his Spatial Pouch, filling the two-cubic-meter storage space to the brim.
After a good night's sleep to refresh himself, Carter set off, embarking on his first journey in this warlock's world.
...
The azure sky stretched endlessly, like an boundless ocean merging with the horizon.
A flock of white birds glided overhead, swooping down toward the land below.
Beneath them lay an equally vast expanse of dark green forest—ancient gnarled trees with tangled roots, vibrant exotic flowers and grasses, and the occasional flash of bizarre creatures, all shrouded in an air of mystique.
"Tap! Tap! Tap!" Footsteps echoed through the woods.
Beneath the thick canopy, a lone figure trudged steadily forward, step by step.
It was a young man cloaked in a black robe, gripping a staff as tall as himself. He panted heavily, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Huff... Huff..."
Reaching a large boulder, Carter wiped the sweat from his face, leaned on his staff, and collapsed onto the stone.
A sharp pain shot up from his feet. He kicked off his boots and gasped—his soles were covered in a dense cluster of blisters.
"Damn it!" Carter cursed under his breath.
The life of a wandering warlock was far from the glamorous tale he'd imagined. Barely three days into his journey, he'd already hit his first snag: the grueling trek.
The distance from the Land of Shadows to the Blighted Woods spanned over fifty miles, and the entire route cut through untamed wilderness with no proper paths. Every step required hacking through underbrush and scaling rocky terrain.
After just three days on the road, his legs felt like they were about to fall off—and now this, the agonizing blisters.
"My physical constitution is far too weak. I really need to find a way to improve it," he thought.
There was no shortage of methods to enhance one's physique in the warlock's world—from bodily modifications like replacing limbs and organs with more robust alternatives, to bloodline infusion like what Carl had done, which could yield dramatic boosts in strength.
But he'd been so caught up in studying magic that he'd put it off. Besides, the idea of experimenting on his own body or merging with some strange bloodline made him uneasy.
"I'll have to look for a way to boost my strength without drastically altering my body..."
While body modification and bloodline infusion offered instant results, they also carried severe risks. Many warlocks ended up disfigured, transformed into grotesque monsters barely recognizable as human.
After resting for a short while, Carter pulled out a peculiar vial from his pouch, filled with colorful beans etched with faint runes.
He selected a pale green bean marked with a strange symbol, tossed it onto the grass at his feet, and tapped it lightly with his staff.
A faint blue glow flickered to life. The bean sank into the soil, and a moment later, a peculiar plant sprouted and grew rapidly, blooming into a white rose with soft, layered petals that exuded a delicate fragrance.
Carter then retrieved a glass vial full of blood from his Spatial Pouch, uncorked it, and poured the entire contents over the rose's stamen.
Then came the uncanny part.
The rose seemed to stir to life, its petals contracting inward like a mouth, greedily sucking up the blood. In the blink of an eye, it had drained the vial dry.
The once-white rose blushed a vivid crimson. Then, glistening droplets began to seep from its stamen, rolling down the petals like tears.
Carter, who'd been waiting for this, held out an empty vial and caught every single drop without waste.
This was Rose's Tear—a rare magical plant that, when infused with elemental energy, produced tear-like droplets with remarkable healing properties, capable of mending minor wounds.
Normally, the process of converting energy into these droplets was painfully slow. So Carter had spliced its genes with those of the Bloodthirsty Vine, a plant that thrived on blood, creating a perfect symbiosis.
He applied the collected Rose's Tear to his blistered soles. The painful swellings visibly shrank, vanishing completely within seconds, and the sharp agony faded away.
"Good thing I came prepared..." he sighed in relief.
Carter tapped the rim of the vial holding the colorful beans.
"Hum..."
A clear resonant hum echoed, and a strange rune etched on the vial glowed with a pure white light.
Beneath the radiance, the rose before him seemed to reverse time, wilting rapidly and shrinking back into the soil—returning to its bean form in moments.
This was no ordinary vial; it was a magical artifact called the Pod of Containment.
It possessed a unique enchantment that allowed magical plants to be stored in a compact, seed-like state, enabling warlocks to carry their cultivated flora wherever they went.
Carter picked up the bean and slipped it back into the vial.
He'd spared no effort in preparing for this assessment. Any modified magical plant or creature he'd bred that might prove useful had found its way into his supplies.
With his feet healed, Carter set off once more.
"Rustle..."
Before he'd gone far, the sound of flowing water reached his ears.
He quickened his pace toward the noise. Dusk was approaching—it was time to set up camp, and his water skin was running low.
"Rustle... Rustle..."
But just a few steps ahead, the sound of shifting undergrowth reached his ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bushes nearby stir slightly.
Carter tensed, freezing mid-step as he tensed up, his hand tightening around his staff.