《Grand Magus》


 Chapter 1 Transmigration

    What happened? ____ couldn¡¯t believe what happened. Is this some form of joke? ____ was just trying to start one novel and now ____ got somehow in one wooden box? ____ looked around, there was nobody around ____. Only the sound of gnashing could be heard as the wooden box moved in an unknown direction.


    Suddenly some memorys started to appear in ____ head. There was one conversation of a medieval father talking to one of his sons. Appearently he, along with his big brother got the necessary talent to be become a Magus.


    A fearsome existence in the world. Worshipped and feared by even the biggest Empires. Emperors would even choose to kneel in front of one without hesitation.


    Now what is the reason ____ is in a wooden box? Well, ____ doesn¡¯t know the reason as well. The truth is ____ only started a webnovel which he wanted to read and then somehow ____ woke up in this wooden box. Or how the nobles son memory would describe a lower quality carriage.


    ____ looked through the memorys of the nobles son. His name is Fraser Rosethorn, son of a duke in an Empire. Normally Nobles had connections to a few Magus Organizations. Yet somehow Fraser had been chosen to go to a different Organization.


    ¡®So from this day on I will be called Fraser Rosethorn?¡¯ thought ____.


    ____ naturally had longing to his previous life, but now he could have the adventure of his life. There was only one problem: ____ was afraid of this world.


    As this time there would be no safety measures, nobody protecting him. Even his so called family casually chose another organization for him instead of the organization his big brother joined.


    How ____ can make such a statement? It¡¯s obvious, as the memorys of Fraser depicted his big brother as somebody who achieved the state of grand knight. Thus he was favored as the successor until the testing resulting in him being talented as a magus.


    Naturally that meant that Frasers big brother got recruited by one of the Magus organizations.


    So while the brother of Fraser got tested the entire generation of test naturally also got tested. And surprisingly Fraser also got the necessary talent.


    Now without any explanation the father put Fraser in one carriage and said: ¡°Fraser you will go to a school. Study hard and then we will take you back as soon as you finish the school.¡±


    That was the fishy part ____ thought of. I mean Fraser wasn¡¯t that smart with an age of 12, but he was taught a few lessons of reading, writing and fighting. But as there were little to no result in fighting the family kinda gave him up.


    ¡°Fraser, are you awake? New people are joining us soon.¡±


    One boy the age of Fraser opened the wooden carriage door and looked at Fraser.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Fraser stepped outside of his carriage and realized that his carriage in fact was no simple carriage. It was part of a long wooden train where each wagon would be one carriage.


    ¡°How do you dare to command me to share my carriage with these filthy peasants?¡±


    Fraser looked towards the source of the voice only to find one blond haired boy shouting at what seemed to be other boys.


    ¡°Georg, you father is only a lowly knight, so you have to share you carriage with the newcomers.¡± Replied one of the boys cooly while looking at Georg with disdain.


    Fraser frowned, if this goes on then people will be angry at the people who hog entire carriages for themselves. Yet if he gives his carriage away then it will be seen as an act of weakness and then he will get bullied or worse: stepped upon.


    That¡¯s what normally would happen in one of those Magus Novels.


    Yet where is my power up ¡­ ?


    [AI Chip activated. Congratulations, your transfer has taken a little bit of essence of your previous world with you. My Abilitys is Store and Analyze]


    ¡®Then scan the surrounding people and give me their Status Numbers.¡¯ commanded Fraser happily.


    [AI has hereby taken your previous world into account, from your memorys it has been chosen that 1 point in strength equals to 500kg in weight power. 1 point in speed represents 100 meters within 10 seconds.]


    [Fraser Rosethorns]


    [Strength: 0.2 Speed: 0.3]


    A Model of himself appeared in the brain of Fraser as he frowned. How come there was no Models of other people?


    [AI is not able to analyze people who are not the host]


    ¡®AI change my current Numbers into 1 and then search Frasers memory for methods on how to make me stronger. Priority number one is that I am able to do that right now and second it has to be efficient in time.¡¯


    ¡®Now there certainly has to be many methods in Frasers memory, after all his father is a duke from an Empire.¡¯ thought Fraser as he stepped back into his carriage.


    Fraser wanted to step out and look at the surrounding since the train of wooden carriages stopped for the newcomers. But the new discovered AI Chip changed it.


    [AI Chip has discovered two ways in Frasers memory on how to get stronger]


    ¡®Only two Methods? List them up.¡¯


    Fraser frowned, only two methods? Isn¡¯t that a little bit underwhelming?


    [First Method: Slowly train up your body to get muscles or train in a weapon of your Choice]


    ¡®Is that a joke? AI give me the second method.¡¯


    [Second Method is the Basic Knight Breathing Technique of the Rosethorn Family, it is one of high quality with little to no side effects]


    ¡®A knight is a warrior with enhanced Body if I can remember the novels, but just to be sure: AI, reawaken the memory of Fraser in which Knights are explained¡¯


    ____ watched every single memory of Fraser, however it appeared like a movie in which the speed varied. Some parts were so fast that they were gone in the blink of an eye, some parts felt so slow like they would never stop at all and others felt normal.


    Fraser appeared in his younger body as he watched one of his uncle looking at him and the other children in his family.


    ¡°The Knights are the most important asset of a noble. They are the pride as well as the foundation for every empire as well noble. For example our Rosethorn family easily has more than 10 thousand Knight apprentices, yet only a few thousands become knights. Of course only a few dozens of those knights become grand knights so it is no wonder that knights are the bread and butter of every single army. Whether it is the private army of the nobles or the official imperial army it is the same¡­.¡± the uncle continued to explain how important the knights are for a noble and how many of those knights serve the Rosethorn family.


    As ____ finished the memory ____ almost felt like crying. Fraser fell asleep! How could ____ get the necessary information when there was no memory of it?


    ¡®AI is the basic Knight Breathing Knight technique complete?¡¯


    [Affirmative, does Host wish to view the memory?]


    ¡®Yes¡¯


    Fraser disappeared into his memorys yet again.


    ¡°Breath in this rhythm while you hold this position. Never show it to anyone else. You will feel a burning and want to get more air, but continue this for as long as you can. However never do more than a few repetition everyday as doing more repetition will only damage your body. So try to hold on as long as you can.¡± another uncle explained how to do the positions as well explained the breathing rhythm to another young Fraser with his siblings and cousins.


    Funny thing was the fact that Fraser didn¡¯t even tried to do the technique correctly, instead he only did the positions in order to please the uncle.


    As ____ woke up from the memorys there were no sunrays shining through the wooden carriage gaps anymore. Darkness surrounded ____ as ____ decided to sleep while listening to the sound of wooden wheels grinding against the ground.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [____ elimininated]


    [Fraser elimininated]


    [Fusion of both Entitiy]


    [Temporary Access deleted]


    [Full Access granted]

 Chapter 2 Wildlands

    Tiredly Fraser opened his eyes as a voice shouted: ¡°One meal per day, if it¡¯s not enough for you then feed yourself.¡±


    *Dong* *Dong* *Dong*  the sound of a bell rang through the carriages as the children slowly opened their wooden doors to eat breakfast.


    ¡°One piece of bread and a bowl of stew. Next one.¡± shouted the caretaker as he gave Fraser one small piece of bread and a bowl of stew.


    ¡°Fraser, I can¡¯t believe they even serve this peasant food to the nobles.¡± a young boy walked over to Fraser while whispering to him.


    ¡°Why do you whisper.¡± asked Fraser a he looked at the boy.


    ¡°Did you forgot how they beat the crap out of Williams? Better not to anger the Caretakers. Besides even though we are not knights like they are, why don¡¯t they treat us better? I mean we have the talent to use magic. And I heard that even the lowest Magus is able to kill multiple knights.¡± blabbered the boy named Williams.


    Fraser thought for a while, he seemed to be different from yesterday, yet he wasn¡¯t able to discern what was wrong with him.


    ¡®AI use the memory which I watched yesterday to configurate the optimate Basic Knight Breathing Technique. And simulate what would happen if I use the Basic Knight Breathing Technique.¡¯


    [Do you wish to see the Basic Knight Breathing Technique? Simulation failed as there is not enough data]


    Taking a bite from the stew and the piece of Bread, Fraser turned towards William and replied: ¡°Do you know where our destination lies? Since your Fathers Dukedom is located nearer than mine is.¡±


    ¡°Hm¡­ , we will probably have to cross the Wildlands where Knight level Creatures are common and even stronger beings are not rare.¡± Said William with a visible pale face.


    ¡®If the knights do not respect us then we are probably dead meat. I mean how much ¡°apprentices¡± are in this train? Each Carriage has place for more than 20 children, Considering the fact that some high nobles like me and William reserve one carriage each then we are probably almost reaching our desired number.¡¯


    Fraser calculated the amount of children in this wooden carriage train and it reached an astonishing number of about 1500 to 2000 children.


    Fraser asked William a few more questions while eating his only meal. He forgot a few details since yesterday, yet a few more details appeared in his memory. Like how his family abandoned him for his big brother who got everything shoved into his as*.


    Appearently the wooden carriage train is lead by a group of knights and two mysterious beings who are probably Magus.


    Or at least beings who are able to use magic.


    In the entire journey the nobles along the way tried to flatter the two mysterious beings in every way possible, thus they didn¡¯t needed to pay for food and the selection of potential magic users were fluently and without any problems. The nobles even pushed their children in hope of one having the potential.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Fraser continued to talk with William to remember the small details. Yet there was one information which made Fraser uneasy.


    The fact that the group will soon near the border to the Wildlands, a plain filled with creatures of the knight level and stronger.


    Ditching William with a little bit of noble talking, like how the peasant food appeared too greasy for his stomach and now he needs rest, Fraser stepped into his wooden carriage.


    ¡®If this goes on then the ¡°peasants¡± with magic potential will kick me out of my solo carriage. We will soon go into Wildland border city, the last big city before we enter the Wildlands. I need to arm myself before I enter the Wildlands, or else I will not be able to protect myself.¡¯


    Fraser closed the wooden carriage door and sat down on the only bench available.


    ¡®AI, show me the Basic Knight Breathing Technique and their positions.¡¯


    A tiny Hologram Fraser appeared in Frasers mind with it doing a position.


    [Follow the Breathing Rhythm which I will show you right now and change your Position into the next one]


    A rhythm appeared under the hologram while the hologram Fraser changed into a different position.


    Since the Train stopped for Breakfast Fraser had no problem doing the Basic Knight Technique Position without losing balance.


    [Change in the Body detected, Store the Data?]


    ¡®Yes, create a file named Basic Knight Breathing Technique and save my body data with the number 1.00 in every single category and show me my body data after one training session.¡¯


    Somehow Fraser felt dumb doing the Basic Knight Breathing Technique, as it somehow felt surreal to him doing positions and breathing could improve his body. Even if he saw people improving in his family, it still was something that stuck in the corner of his brain.


    Fraser breathed in and out, each gap between breathing in and out varied in the rhythm, sometimes he needed to hold his breath for 1 minute or even longer and sometimes he needed to breath within half a second.


    While doing that he changed his positions according to the mini Fraser hologram in his mind.


    Sweat poured out of his body as a thin greasy layer of black ooze appeared on Frasers skin.


    [One session of Basic Knight Breathing Technique completed, Former Body numbers of 1.00 strength, 1.00 agility and 1.00 vitality improved to 1.09 strength, 1.13 agility and 1.17 vitality. Detected a minor injury in the muscle tissue, bone marrow and every organ. A rest time of 32 hours is needed for complete recovery. To speed up this process use medicine or tonic for the body. If not heeding this warning long term injuries may appear.]


    Panting Fraser glanced at his Body stats, he was astonished. An almost 17% improvement of vitality, 9% in strength and 17% in agility? That is ridiculous.


    Fraser knew that for a 12 year old little boy he could be considered the epitome of weak and annoying. No muscles, a small built and a highly annoying kids voice.


    ¡®AI is it possible to reduce the minor injuries in order to do more Basic Knight Breathing Techniques session within 32 hours?¡¯


    [Not enough Data, if we have more Data I may be able to analyze the issue and correct it]


    ¡®Set a timer for 32 Hours and signal me when I can train the Basic Breathing Knight Technique without any long lasting bad repercussion.¡¯


    [31:59:59]


    Using the Water barrel in the carriage and a rag Fraser removed the greasy layer of dirt on his skin.


    Since Fraser is one of the few ¡°high-noble¡± descendants, the peasants or lower ranked noble sons/daughters left him a solo carriage. Also the nobles on the way gave him a lot of small presents like food or money. So it was no wonder that the carriage of Fraser hat a lot of stuff in it. Though nobody gifted him furniture and thus he only had the single bench which was included in every single carriage.


    A little bit of money, a box full of fruits, dried meat and clothes. The highlight would be considered a small hunting knife.


    Fraser put the hunting knife on his waist and started to devour the food. One session of the Basic Knight Breathing Technique could be considered intense training. His entire body grew stronger and thus the methabolism increased as well.


    ¡°Breakfast is over, we will move again. We will reach the Border City of the Wildlands in a few days. Then we will cross the Wildlands and reach our destination.¡± shouted one of the Caretakers or one of knights and continued to hit the bell to gather the chatting and playing children.


    *Dong* Dong* *Dong*


    Lying on the bench Fraser closed his eyes, the wooden carriage train started to move again and questions appeared on Frasers mind.


    ¡®Why am I doing this? My family gave me the duty to make connections in another Magus organization. Yet my brother joined of the Magus organizations where one of my ancestors live in. As I can remember of the testing I wasn¡¯t as talented as my big brother. Probably only second rated. Also there is no prince of any kingdom or empire in my wooden carriage train. Even William, the second highest noble descendant is only a duke in a kingdom. Not only that, Williams family is declining. So I can assume that my family wants to take a risky investment while having a save investment. In other words I am the risky investment as if I die then there is still my big brother, the save investment. Yet if I live and join another Magus organization then my family is profiting twice as much.¡¯


    Anger appeared in Frasers mind.


    ¡®The only price for a failed risky investment on my family side is my life, and that is considered to be ¡°losing worthy¡± if I fail.¡¯

 Chapter 3 Wildland Border City

    Fraser clenched his fists in anger.


    ¡®Does my family give a sh*t about my life? There are about 1500-2000 children in this wooden carriage train. There is no way that all of them would achieve the state of Magus, or else every single noble would be one.¡¯


    Eating a piece of a dried meat Fraser sighed inwardly.


    ¡®It doesn¡¯t matter anymore, I already travelled more than 6 months in this wooden carriage, even if I wanted to go back it would only be a waste of time. Besides it doesn¡¯t matter if it is a Magus organization related to my family or not. The only thing mattering in this world is power, my father has more than 5 wives and countless mistresses. The only reason why he has that many is because he is a Master Knight.¡¯


    Closing his eyes Fraser played with the small hunting knife in order to get a feeling of handling a knife.


    The following days Fraser avoided social interaction entirely. He even avoided William by staying in his wooden carriage all day while eating his daily bow of stew and piece of bread in the carriage.


    Naturally Fraser also continued the Basic Knight Breathing Technique and achieved a huge increase in power since the small memory loss appeared.


    ¡®AI show me my Body stats.¡¯


    [1.26 strength, 1.51 agility, 1.57 vitality]


    ¡®My stats are improving so much as the number 1.00 in a single stat is a weak and frail 12 year old like the me from a few days becore.¡¯


    Since the mind of Fraser became clearer and clearer he somehow was able to think outside the box, as if he suddenly read a lot of books or got taught a few lessons.


    ¡®Yet an improvement of 51% in agility and 26% in strength is remarkable. Though I don¡¯t know what vitality influences in general, it won¡¯t hurt that my body has more vitality than the one from a few days ago.¡¯


    The wooden carriage train neared the Wildland Border city and were only half a day travel distance from it. So the information according to the knight caretakers.


    ¡®AI, is there enough data to analyze the Basic Knight Breathing Technique to decrease the mild injuries? I already did the Basic Knight Breathing Technique 3 times, the data definitely should have increased. Is it enough?¡¯


    [There is a possible correction in the first few breathing rhythm and the ending position, yet it is not advised to follow the correction as there is still not enough data. As the changing of the Breathing Knight Technique could lead to major injuries for the body. In the most severe case of correction the body will receive an irreparable damage]Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡®Is there enough data to know why the Basic Knight Breathing Technique allows my body to get stronger and stronger while at the same time increases my vitality?¡¯


    [The Basic Knight Breathing Technique stimulates the metabolism of the body in order to increase the building of muscles and body tissues. It also increases the hardness of the bones. More information is needed in order to know how the technique stimulates the body]


    Fraser continued to ask the AI if the data of three training sessions with the Basic Knight Breathing Technique could lead to a grand conclusion.


    Yet in most cases there was not enough data for the AI to analyze.


    As the wooden carriage train arrived at the Wildland Border City it was welcomed by the highest authorities of the city. The two mysterious beings who probably were able to use magic or were of the Rank Magus got flattered by the authorities beyond the horizon.


    ¡°Ah sir magus must be exhausted from the traveling. How about you visit one of my few baths in order to relax a bit? My son is¡­..¡±


    Instead of listening how the authorities flattered the mysterious two Magus, Fraser turned towards the small market which opened next to the wooden carriage train as soon as it arrived in the Wildland Border City.


    One of the caretakers shouted: ¡°We will stay in this City for one week, if you want to spend your leftover money then do it now. We will then cross the Wildland.¡±


    This shocked many normal people at the market place.


    ¡°Are they mad? It is not possible to cross the Wildlands, it has no end!¡±


    ¡°Shhh, they are Magus. I heard that they are able to torture you even after you die, you don¡¯t want even want to mingle with them, least taunt them.¡±


    The many children, especially the children with little to no background grinned like they were insane.


    ¡®I bet they are arrogantly thinking that they are now one step above the rest. As even the nobles licked the boots of the two mysterious beings.¡¯


    Strolling around the market place Fraser soon found what he was searching for. He exchanged his money for a leather armor with growth straps in order to have an armor that would last even if he grew, a short sword which in his 12 year old hand appeared to be like a real sword and his best equipment so far: a crossbow with 15 Bolts of high quality including  a bag to hold them all.


    Fraser was happy as the blacksmith even gave him a cloak after he haggled for a while.


    But the prices would be understandable as the Wildland Border City economy lived of their adventures who would bravely adventure into the Wildlands to hunt monsters or harvest ores or herbs.


    Thus there were a lot of practical artisans like weaponsmith, armorsmith or general blacksmith and the ¡°beauty¡± artisans like barber, sculptor or even pet barber disappeared completely.


    A few days passed as the wooden carriage train stayed at the Wildland Border City, the meal for the children appeared splendid. A stew with meat in it and a piece of bread which was two times bigger than the usual bread.


    As there were thousands of kids Fraser easily took a second serving or even a third serving of the stew and bread.


    Fraser even saw William devouring the so called ¡°peasant¡± food with meat pieces in it.


    ¡®I guess traveling for so long makes anyone less picky.¡¯


    The real surprise appeared three days after the wooden carriage train took a break in the Wildland Border City. A wooden carriage train arrived at the Wildland Border City, though it was not only one train. Instead three trains appeared.


    Fraser calculated the amount of children with a simple calculations and frowned. Every single new train had more children than his own train.


    To put it simply there were no place for a ¡°solo¡± carriage like him, instead every carriage held a group of 20-30 children and some even looked like they were nobles.


    Fraser could hear a short conversation between the mysterious and masked figures of each train.


    ¡°So the last acolyte is late, we will start the formation as soon as the week is over.¡±


    The week soon neared it¡¯s end and the last wooden carriage train appeared. Soon the real journey through the Wildland will begin.


    Though Fraser feared the dangers in the Wildland there was progression in his Basic Knight Breathing Technique. He already did 7 session of the Basic Knight Breathing Technique and a message of the AI appeared.


    ¡®Finally.¡¯


    [Enough Data to correct the disadvantage of the Basic Knight Breathing technique, it will remove the mild injuries and allow for more practice session without any serious repercussions]

 Chapter 4 Crossing the Wildlands

    Fraser bought a considerable amount of rations and stored them inside his wooden carriage. As the 5 wooden carriage trains departed, Fraser looked at the so called ¡°formation¡± with a frown.


    ¡®They only put the 5 wooden carriage trains together, so now it¡¯s not a train, it¡¯s a moving block of carriages.¡®


    Frasers carriage wasn¡¯t protected by other carriages, his carriage was placed at the outermost layer.


    The good thing was that the position was right next to a pair of caretakers sat ontop an unknown species of horses.


    The horses were bony and had little to no muscles. The eyes were kinda creepy as there was no real pupil, everything was white.


    As soon as the 5 carriages entered the Wildlands, the caretakers surrounded the moving block of carriages with pairs.


    Sadly Fraser wasn¡¯t really able to use the improved Basic Knight Breathing Technique as much as he wanted.


    Why? Because the Basic Knight Breathing Techniques enhanced the metabolism in order to improve the general body numbers of a person.


    So he would have needed much more food than one stew and one piece of bread every single day.


    Not only that, the portions given out by the caretakers shriveled from day one.


    Thus Fraser was only able to use the enhanced Basic Knight Breathing Technique once everyday, parallel to the speed in which the caretakers would give out free food.


    Naturally one portions given out by the caretakers wasn¡¯t enough, so Fraser would always ate one of his private rations which he bought from the Wildland Border City.


    ¡®AI, show me my Body numbers.¡¯


    [1.67 strength, 2.02 agility, 2.24 vitality]


    ¡®These numbers sounds impressive, yet my overall body numbers are only compareable to a healthy young teenager who will almost be a young man.¡¯


    Fraser continued to daze off as he tried to conserve his energy as much as possible.


    ¡°We will have a five hour break at this place, if you want to walk around then you will be allowed to. Don¡¯t stray too far off or if you are eaten by monster then we won¡¯t care.¡± shouted a caretaker while hitting his bell.


    *Dong* *Dong* *Dong*If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Fraser armored himself with his leather armor, crossbow, short sword and small hunting knife and prepared to search for something to eat.


    ¡®It doesn¡¯t have to be much, a small rodent, snake or even eggs would suffice to train one more session of the Basic Knight Breathing Technique.¡¯


    Looking for the caretakers or the mysterious beings Fraser realized that the caretakers would occasionally look at the children before doing their own stuff like playing cards, gambling or training with their swords.


    However the mysterious beings who could use magic stayed inside their carriage at the front.


    With coincidence Fraser walked past a group of nobles who formed a group.


    One of them actually recognized Fraser.


    ¡°Hey Fraser, want to join our noble group?¡±


    It was William who mingled with the other nobles from the other trains.


    Soon William introduced Fraser to two boys with Viscount background, one boy who like him had a Dukes background and four girls with seemingly developing breasts with smaller noble background.


    ¡°We are the so called Eagle Brigade, we are all from noble birth so we should work together.¡± said William with excitement.


    At this moment another group joined the conversation, naturally each of them were from noble birth as well or else William would have left immediately.


    The guy who joined the conversation remained in Frasers mind, else he only registered 2 others boys and 5 girls joining the eagle brigade.


    In other words the entire ¡°Eagle Brigade¡± now held 8 boys including Fraser and 9 girls.


    Fraser pushed every single ¡°old¡± member of the Eagle Brigade into the weakling category as they had little to now weapons and only wore ¡°noble¡± clothing.


    The ¡°old¡± boys of the Eagle Brigade even belittled him a little bit with small smirks, as he was the only one from the boys wearing armor and having weapons.


    This soon changed as the joining three boys also wore armor and weapons, however they naturally received the respect as they had fancy weapons like rapier or a decorated dagger with gems on the handle.


    Fraser could literally see the frown on the guy who joined the conversation as he realized that only Fraser had real weapon.


    His Name was Richard and his father is the King of a small kingdom.


    While the Eagle Brigade mingled and the boys tried to impress the new girls Fraser only listened to the conversations. Apparently the two boys following Richard are twins.


    ¡°You wanted to go hunting?¡± asked Richard as he pointed at Frasers crossbow.


    ¡°Yes, but we have 5 hours of resting time so I will probably gather something small to eat like eggs, a snake or rodents.¡± replied Fraser.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so cold hearted, how about my group goes hunting with you? Since your group is full or flower boys they probably won¡¯t survive that long, but I have to say the girls would probably be really tight.¡± said Richard while whispering the last sentence to Fraser.


    Fraser stared at Richard before smiling and replying: ¡°Yeah I would like to, are you a knight?¡±


    Fraser smile wasn¡¯t really genuine, yet it was good enough for a smart 12 year old horny children who probably only had two goals right now: survive and reproducing.


    Richard also offered the Eagle Brigade to share one carriage as one had enough space for 30 children, even if it would feel stuffed.


    Naturally William and the rest agreed to it as Richards group leaked a little bit of their information that children will actually die, even with the protection of the caretakers and the mysterious beings who probably were Magus.


    Fraser excused himself for a short moment in order to sneak back into his carriage and ate the rest of the rations he bought at the Wildland Border City. With a fast metabolism and a stomach that screamed food it was easily absorbed into Frasers body.


    As Richard wanted to take the group to their carriage, Fraser offered his carriage as two caretakers would be riding beside him when the block of wooden carriage moves.


    Richard agreed to the moving and introduced more members of his group who waited at their carriage. Naturally everyone was somebody with noble background. However a few were only the son/daughters of ¡°knights¡±. The Flowerboys like William complained a little bit but Richard soon silenced them with the fact that they had weapons.


    In the end the amount of Eagle Brigade members increased to 12 boys including Fraser and 15 girls.


    Richard easily took the leader position and the first order he gave was that they would take all three water barrels from every carriage and deposit them in Frasers carriage.


    Thus they would have a lot of water compared to other carriages and the girls should be able to wash themselves with a rag.


    Naturally Richard gave the task to the girls and ordered the twins and the Flowerboys to protect the girls. They should also fill the three barrels to the brim with water. #


    Richard tasked his little sister to coordinate his order.


    The other 7 boys would try to get some food in the Wildlands.


    Richard gave each boy a leather bag and then armored himself with a chain mail, a sword and a thick wooden shield.


    With a short speech Richard started the hunt: ¡°Brothers, our goal is it to acquire food for our young and beautiful maidens, our main goals will be rodents, eggs, fruits, mushrooms or even snakes if we are able to kill them. But remember the most important thing is it to survive.¡±

 Chapter 5 Data

    Quickly the group of seven boys stepped outside the Caretakers circle which should be around one hundred meters.


    The Caretakers only glanced at them for a while before continue to do their own stuff which had a chance of including a bet whether the group of seven boys would survive as one caretakers pointed at us before throwing a small bag on the ground, which the other caretakers responded by throwing a small bag onto the small bag.


    The Wildlands didn''t had that much trees in it, it was more a plain with tall grass. Though the grass sometimes reached a height of 2 meters so there were small islands of grass in the ocean of greenness. Though sometimes a small group of trees could be seen, they formed an islands as well.


    "We will try to avoid these islands, after all dangerous beasts could hide inside them and sometimes the animals aren''t the most dangerous species inside such an islands. We will mostly search for smaller animals or fruits in the normal grass." spoke Richard quietly as the group formed a line with Richard being the leader and Fraser being the last one tightly clenching his grip on his loaded crossbow.


    ''This isn''t normal grass, it''s almost 60 centimeter or two foot long. I am only 1.5 meter or 5 foot big. Wait, what are these measures?''


    "We found a small patch of potatoes. Tom are they safe to eat?" asked Richard as he turned towards one of the boys.


    "Yes, they are safe to eat but we need to cook them properly or else there will be too much poison in it. But the flowers on top of it can be eaten without cooking and should be really nourishing for the body, at least that is what I heard." explained Tom as he ripped the flowers from the potatoes.


    Tom offered every boy a flower but most declined except Richard and Fraser.


    As Fraser stuffed the flower into his mouth like Richard, Fraser could see a small glint of approval in Richards eyes.


    [New Plant confirmed, very nutritious, at your amount right now it will allow for half a training session with the Basic Knight Breathing Technique]


    ''What? You can analyze the composition of my food? Can you scan anything?''


    [No, I am only able to analyze the Date you see, feel, taste or absorb]


    ''Then what is the result of my rations or the stew and piece of bread I ate?''


    [Nutrient low compared to the Flower you are eating now. One stalk of the Flower can be compared to one of your stew and piece of bread meal]


    As soon as Fraser heard that the Flower could allow him to do more training sessions, in other words increase his strength he immediately asked Tom for the Flowers.


    Since Tom didn''t knew that the flower could nourish his body he said nothing. Even Richard just shrugged his shoulders and the group of seven boys continued the hunting session.


    While they harvested the potatoes Fraser chewed one stalk of the flowers carefully until they all disappeared into his stomach.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The hunting group consisting of seven boy continued and soon encountered a few basket full of eggs which they looted without alarming the parent.


    However unfortunately they tried to plunder an egg basked in which the parents protected the eggs and it was not an easy animals.


    "Tom, draw your shield and assist me with keeping the two long snakes from our group. The rest try to hurt or best case kill the two snakes." shouted Richard as he guarded himself with his shield and sword.


    Fraser slowly walked into the safest place of the formation which would be between the two tanks.


    In the end the seven boys split into three parties. Three boys each engaged one snake each while Fraser aimed his crossbow.


    [Aiming support activated, control of arms and upper arms regulated. Ready to fire at your control]


    The AI automatically went into supportive mode which allowed Fraser to trace his crossbow aiming at the snakes with precision. There was a hologram of a line which simulated the flying curve of the crossbow bolt.


    Fraser waited for a while in order to play the act of "steady and slow" aiming before firing a precise shoot into the eye of one of the long snakes killing it immediately.


    Blood sprayed out of the Snakes head as it felled onto the ground with a *thump*.


    To ensure the death of the snakes Richard impaled the head of the snake with his sword completely, skewing the head of the snake.


    After the small fight the group of Richard helped Toms group and with six young boys hacking and slashing the long snake it quickly died as well.


    As they skinned the two snakes and harvested the important parts like the meat Fraser bagged all of the organs as the group wanted to throw them away.


    With bulging bags full of eggs, potatoes and mostly snake meat the hunting group moved back towards the wooden carriage train block.


    Fraser lingered at the back of the returning group. Naturally it was dangerous which would make no sense, however as he would soon have to live with a group of people it wouldn''t be that easy to keep secrets.


    So he put one of the organs of the snake into his mouth and got shocked by the information.


    [Very nourishing body tonic found, devour it fresh in order gain the maximum benefit without any added substances]


    Naturally not every organ was that nourishing as Fraser even had to spit out most of it and clean his mouth with the water from his water bag.


    However three organs were pretty good body tonic for him which he ate. First the intact brain of the second snake, two red orbs which Fraser would describe as the heart as well as the one who looked like a poison orb as the orb of meat was black.


    As soon as he ate them Fraser felt stuffed, like really stuffed.


    After testing and eating the organs Fraser quickly moved back into the middle of the hunting line as he let Richard take the lead back to the wooden carriage block train.


    On the way back nothing special happened but as they arrived back at home Fraser saw most Caretakers sighing and only a few collecting the bags in the middle.


    There were was little over hour left as Richard ordered the people in the group, mostly the girls to cook. Naturally the boys who stayed behind needed to gather firewood and more water.


    The hunting group had free time and Fraser naturally sneaked into a desolate part of the wooden carriage train which was the place Fraser least expected.


    It was in the middle of the wooden carriage train block as every child walked or played around the wooden carriage block in order to let off steam or just to use the muscle in the leg.


    Fraser used the enhanced Basic Knight Breathing Technique and did one session after another.


    First session, second session, third session, fourth session, fifth session, sixth session, seventh session, eighth session and finally at the ninth session Fraser wiped his sweat away and searched for a wet rag in order to clean himself of the clearly visible grimy layer of dirt on his skin.


    Fraser didn''t used the entire body reserve he had, instead he probably used about 90% and stored the rest in order to not decline the strength he had. So he could survive with only a little bit of rations and not decline in strength.


    ''AI, show me my body numbers.''


    [2.83 strength, 3.02 agility, 2.98 vitality]


    ''It seems like the number three is a bottleneck for the Basic Breathing Knight Technique.''


    Fraser did knew that he assigned the number 1.00 for his previous body, a fairly weak built 12 year old. Naturally only in comparison to a noble. He would even be considered a fairly well eaten peasant child.

 Chapter 6 Magic

    The wooden carriage block train resumed its journey as Fraser slept in a random corner in the carriage.


    Fraser only stopped sleeping when the caretakers would give out rations which amount shrank from day to day.


    Even if the amount of food shrank every day, the members of the Eagle Brigade didn''t lose any of their fat reserve as Richard always made sure that the food the hunting party hunted would get preserved and then stored in the carriage.


    Though it wasn''t enough for Fraser to continue his knight training it was enough to keep the Eagle Brigade from starving.


    It reached a moment where the caretakers just put grass from the wildlands into a pot and cooked it with a few berries and mushrooms they found.


    Naturally it wasn''t enough for the children in the carriage. So their only option was it to search for food. A group of children almost got beaten to death the caretakers as the children wanted to take away the rations of the caretakers. Which still consisted of a nourishing meat stew and an entire loaf of bread for every caretaker.


    Somehow most of the children were able to survive as the caretakers increased the amount of grass in the daily ration. Naturally it didn''t made the children fat or chubby but it allowed them to survive.


    An entire month passed as the group moved in a steady pace, only stopping for the daily meal and once a week for a longer time period.


    As the block of wooden carriages delved deeper into the wildlands wolf could be heard howling, weird and creepy sounds echoed in the small green islands either filled with trees or grass the size of two humans.


    Even if the wooden carriage block train never moved into one of those islands and skillfully avoided them most of the children still cried and tried to seek comfort in their own arms or hands.


    After the journey into the wildlands reached a month and a few days the first beast stampede attacked the wooden carriage block train.


    "Fraser, wake up! Wolfs are attacking and they are the size of bulls! Grab you weapons and then we will try to move into the safety ring!" shouted Richard as he woke Fraser in a not so nice way.


    Fraser glanced at Richard before looking around him. He usually slept in order to decrease his daily energy consumption except when they would go hunting or the caretakers would give out free meals.


    Everybody from the Eagle Brigade wasn''t in the carriage so Fraser assumed that everyone already moved or fled from the dangerous Wolfs.


    With a quick motion Fraser grabbed all of his weapons and loaded the crossbow with one bolt while following Richard out of the carriage.


    He could see how children stepped outside the carriage only to hide in the center of the makeshift formation created by the wooden carriages.


    Between the gap of the carriages Fraser could see the caretakers armored with shields and swords repelling wolfs the size of a bull.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    With a quick glance Fraser realized that the children in the formation were safe as long as no wolf would get through however as soon as one wolf breaches the first defense line then it would literally be a bloody massacre with the wolf being the powerful reaper and the children being the small and weakly sacrifice.


    There were probably around 200 knight-caretakers holding the first defense line.


    However it wasn''t safe yet as the amount of wolves clearly surpassed the 200 mark. Especially eye catching was one wolf which was bigger than any other wolf. His size could be compared to a wooden carriage and could easily eat one standing children with one bite.


    The Wolfs attacked mostly in small fights which the knight-caretakers easily repelled. Until the big wolf howled the full attack the entire stampeded crashed into the defense line.


    And the defense line fell really quickly, Fraser could see three wolves jumping through the carriage gap onto the first few children and started to rip them apart.


    Blood and body limps scattered through the formation center only causing tears, piss and howls of fear in the group of kids.


    Luckily Fraser didn''t stood with a group as the wolves pounced on the groups with more people and immediately started to ravish their bloody meal.


    Though a few members of the Eagle Brigade weren''t that lucky, the twins neck got shredded into a bloody mess before the wolf ripped their entire body into meat pulp.


    It appeared that the wolves started to kill just to let their anger out and only then started to lick and bite the bloody meat of children on the ground.


    With madness the wolves pounced on the children, ignoring Fraser on the sidelines who aimed at the wolves who licked the blood on the ground.


    This time Fraser didn''t waited or hesitated, he aimed, fired and one bolt hit the arrow, penetrating the brain of the wolf and thus killing it immediately.


    After killing the nearest wolves and missing a few shot at wolves further away Fraser glanced at the corps of the former Eagle Brigade twin. He saw a bloodied black leather bag and picked it up.


    Without glancing at this loot Fraser slowly searched for the second Twins corpse which shouldn''t be that much further away.


    Looking around for a while Fraser could see the second corpse with the same black leather bag and stuffed it into his own bag.


    Immediately Fraser leaned against a carriage in order to load his crossbow before he was drawn to the mysterious concealed being on top of their carriage muttering some unknown words.


    One moment later Ice spears rained and most wolves got penetrated with one shot. Fraser could even see a second mysterious being standing up for a short moment before disappearing into the carriage with the first one again.


    After that demonstration of might the wolves quickly fled and most of the wolves who were able to eat and devour children got slayed by the knight-caretakers.


    The Afermath wasn''t that beautiful as almost all children who witnessed this even crawled as soon as possible into the innermost carriages of the wooden block train.


    This resulted that the innermost wooden carriages were overcrowded and the outermost carriages being totally empty.


    Fraser didn''t crawled back into the carriage, instead he tried to pick out his crossbow bolts from the battlefield.


    As Fraser stepped near a caretaker-knight in order to get his last bolt the caretaker pulled the bolt out of the ground before stepping towards Fraser with a grin.


    ''What does he want from me? I will try to hide in one of those carriages if he wants to hit me. If he wants the crossbow I will gift it to him, but for now just stay cool.''


    "Good shooting skills kid, probably saved a few lives with your kills. Want to help us carry the wolf meat? We need a few hands as a few died." grinned the caretaker before handing over the bolt to Fraser.


    Accepting the offer with a small bow Fraser helped the caretakers carry the wolf corpses into a big carriage which probably was the ration carriage.


    While Fraser helped the caretaker knights he could see the devastating results of the battlefield, more than two dozens caretakers died and probably a couple hundred children got shredded into meat paste.


    Since Fraser was one of the helping hands and the only child who helped he could see the mysterious concealed beings walking around the battlefield for a short moment before one of the caretakers dismissed him.


    Dismissed Fraser walked back into the wooden carriage of the Eagle Brigade which was located at the outermost layer of the wooden carriage block train.

 Chapter 7 Border City

    The rest of the journey continued in a peaceful manner as every attack got fended off by a magic spell which one of the mysterious and concealed beings would cast.


    Fraser already saw the hail of ice spears, a fire inferno which raged upon the grass of the wildlands and a seemingly alive fire snake which literally devoured the enemies and only left ash behind.


    Since Fraser build a good relationship with the knight caretakers they would always give him a large portion of stew and an entire loaf of bread.


    Naturally the children who saw the treatment of Fraser would be jealous of the food he received and thus shunned him.


    However Fraser somehow was okay with being left alone. As somehow he remembered his childhood where most adults would care about the children with fighting talent or the talent to become knights. As Fraser had neither he got ignored by most adults.


    Even his mother would rather care about his older brother who achieved the rank of grand knight with only a couple of year differences between Fraser and him.


    The cruel thing was that the older brother wasn''t even the son of his mother, instead Fraser could only call him half-brother as the older brother was from a different mother.


    But since his mother had no talented sons, in order to survive in the dukedom she either needed the favor of the duke or join one of the mothers with a talented son. Thus she completely ignored Fraser in order to favor the talented son of the other mother.


    ''I remember caring about that a lot. Why do I feel that my struggles for attention were useless attempts in order to receive love? It doesn''t matter anymore, AI show me my body numbers.''


    As Fraser receive more food he was able to do a few session of the Basic Breathing Knight Technique. It hit a bottleneck at the number of 3 however it quickly dissolved with enough food. However the training speed halved and the increase in stats was slow.


    [3.47 strength, 3.73 agility, 3.51 vitality]


    Fraser was able to swing his short sword with ease, it felt like there was little to now weight in his hands. Though Fraser realized that even though he is freaky strong for normal 12 year olds, an adult who trained his entire life might have more strength.


    Though the adult had to be a heavy lifter as Fraser after the Basic Knight Breathing Technique easily was able to lift dozens of kilograms, the number probably even reached hundred.


    How did Fraser test his strength? He lifted the water barrel which was filled with water.


    He also made a list of every material he could find, which included the organs from the snake, grass from the wildlands and even random stones, berries, mushrooms and weird objects he found.


    The AI wasn''t able to scan them so Fraser had to put every material into his mouth. It wasn''t even a detailed material information but as Fraser had little to nothing to do he tried to do whatever could benefit him.


    There was a mysterious reaction with the black stone as the AI warned from toxic danger. The stones were located in the leather bags of the twins which Fraser had looted.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    However it somehow seemed important as the twins kept the leather bags hidden and in each bag were the same number of stones: 10.


    So Fraser had a total number of 20 black stones which somehow contained a toxic substance according to the AI.


    Fraser also distanced himself from the Eagle Brigade as there was no benefit in working with them any longer. He already received a huge portion of food as he helped the caretaker knights and Fraser realized that only Richard had a little bit of knight training but still was weaker than Fraser who only trained for half a dozen weeks or a little bit more.


    ''We will soon arrive at the Border City which will lead us to the main destinations: the magus organizations. I heard from a few caretakers that there are different branches of organizations and each had a different teaching technique as well as a different focus on magic. Though I won''t decide my magus organization based on rumors as it is better to choose one based on my talent as well as my body preference of the elements.''


    After a couple of days the wooden carriage block dissolved and all children arrived in front of an encampment with a wooden fence and a huge wooden gate.


    People walked by and didn''t even looked at the newcomers as most were children themselves. Though most of them had an emblem on their robes and either walked in groups, pairs or solo.


    Quickly the new children got sent into a tent where an old impatient women pushed the children to touch a crystal before commanding the children to touch another crystal.


    That is what Fraser saw as he stepped into the tent as the next test person.


    "Hurry up and touch the two crystals." said the old woman before scribbling something down while saying to the former children: "Grade 1 talents and elements is mainly water with a little bit of light."


    Fraser quickly touched the first crystal only to feel something drain his mind, in trance Fraser touched the second crystal only to see blackness surrounding him completely.


    He only woke up after the old woman handed him a piece of paper and said: "Grade 3 talent, main element is darkness."


    Grabbing the piece of paper the old women gave him Fraser walked towards the exit which lead to the tents of the magus organizations. Row after row the tents stood proudly while the flags waved in the wind.


    ''AI, what was that? I fell into trance and then somehow I only saw black.''


    [Thesis is that the host got hit by deep hypnosis which allowed the normally hidden part of the mind to surface, not enough data]


    Sighing inwardly Fraser moved past the first few tents before trying to ask people what there were for magus organizations.


    Most people, or children just walked by ignoring Fraser completely. However there were a few who exchanged a few sentence with him. Apparently the swamp burrow mostly focused on water and earth magic, the volcano academy on earth and fire magic and the ender tower on general magic without any attribute or element.


    Fraser realized from the small bits of information that each flag represented the magic and probably their name as the swamp burrow had a brown-blue flag with a swamp depicted on it. The volcano academy had a symbol of a red volcano on a brown background.


    As Fraser walked along the tents he only looked at the flags in order to categorize the element and probably the names.


    He searched for a flag with black things in it. Walking towards a corner he could see a flag completely black with only a white line in the middle.


    Stepping into the tent he could see a man sitting on his chair while looking at his nails.


    "So you want to join the Howling Abyss Academy, is that right? We specialize in darkness or any negative magic. We also have a few famous alchemists." said the man without even glancing at Fraser.


    With a quick nod Fraser said: "Yes I want to join the Howling Abyss Academy."


    The paper in Frasers hand floated towards the man. It resulted in a glance before the man said: "Grade 3 talent, 5 magic stones for being a true student, else 3 years as a worker for the Howling Abyss Academy."


    Gulping Fraser quickly put three of the black stones on top of the table and hoped that the black stones would actually be the so called "magic stone".


    Nodding the man collected the black stones before blowing dark mist towards Fraser causing an emblem of darkness and one white line in the middle to appear on Frasers leather armor.


    "Welcome to the Howling Abyss Academy, student."

 Chapter 8 Departing to the Howling Abyss

    Handing a paper to Fraser the man suggested with a hand gesture that Fraser should leave the tent.


    Obediently Fraser stepped out of the train only to look upon a paper in which the number of his waiting house was written. It was number 459.


    After a quick walk around the waiting house section Fraser could see a normal sized house with the number 459.


    As soon as Fraser stepped into the house he could see groups of people looking at him. Most were in groups of four or five, however there were also a few solo persons sizing him up. Though the latter was rarer as the people who sat alone mostly ignored him.


    Something to mention was that most people in the house were children at the age of 12-15. At least that¡¯s the age Fraser would guessed them.


    Compared to the train size in which Fraser arrived in he could only see a small group of people in the house, probably around thirty children.


    ¡®Why are there so little students in this waiting house? Is it because the Howling Abyss Academy is a small magus organization? Then did I choose to early and should have walked around for other magus organization with a black flag or symbol?¡¯


    ¡°What Talent Grade are you?¡±


    An older teen, probably 15 or older stepped forwards. He wore noble clothes with a rapier hanging from his waist.


    Processing the question for few moments Fraser saw the reaction from the others in the room. Especially as he could see that most people faintly looked at him, even the people who at first ignored him.


    ¡°I am a grade 3 talent.¡± replied Fraser in a steady tone.


    This resulted in different reactions, the older boy who had a rapier hanging from his waist smiled.


    ¡°I am a grade 3 talent as well, do you want me to show you around in this camp? Food and the bed are free but it isn¡¯t the best treatment you could get. My name is Mark.¡±


    ¡°My name is Fraser, and yes I would like you to show me around the camp.¡±


    Fraser registered the reactions from the other children in the room. The group with the most people in it sighed visible and then continued to talk in hushed voices.


    The lonely persons without a group glanced at Fraser with disdain for a short moment before doing what they did when he stepped in.


    ¡®So the talent grade is important.¡¯


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    The group of Mark quickly surrounded him which consisted of two boys and one girl.


    While the group of four people stepped out of the house in order to show Fraser the camp, Fraser began asking a few questions. Nothing too personal but questions which should be necessary for him.


    ¡°What is the talent grade?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know the talent grades? They are really important for being able to use magic. If you only have talent grade 1 then you probably need a few years to even do the simplest spell. We as talent grade 3 are better, we will probably be able to use magic in a few months. However we are nothing compared to the talent grade 5 who can use magic after a few days already.¡± replied one of the boys with a smile.


    ¡°How was your journey towards the Border city? It was pretty comfortable wasn¡¯t it?¡± asked Mark as he somehow wanted to change the topic.


    ¡°No it wasn¡¯t really comfortable, we have to cross the wildlands in order to arrive at this encampment.¡± replied Fraser.


    ¡°Oh, so you are from the kingdom outside of the usual recruiting range. We had a few female knights protecting us and you know their tightness and their skins weren¡¯t that rough as you may think they were.¡± giggled the other boy.


    The only girl in the group rolled her eyes and moved back to the house. As if it¡¯s normal neither of the three boys said anything.


    Thus Fraser didn¡¯t mentioned the girl leaving, instead he excused himself after Mark and his group showed him the canteen, a few shops and a training field which got used by the children in order to increase their body strength.


    Though he couldn¡¯t see a single person training in a Knight Technique.


    Now alone, Fraser immediately sat down at the canteen and started to eat the free food. The free canteen meal consisted of a potato stew and a piece of bread. Naturally it didn¡¯t mattered how much you took.


    So Fraser devoured one portion after another and didn¡¯t limited his metabolism with his AI.


    In order not to draw attention Fraser would always search a quiet corner and then eat his portion.


    Naturally Fraser devoured the stew and the bread and savored each and every bite after all he needed to save energy in the wildlands and the amount of food available to him in the wildlands wasn¡¯t enough.


    After his eating spree Fraser moved back to the waiting house to find that most children were hiding in their rooms. So he choose a small room with a single bed and closed the door.


    Thus started Frasers training routing as he completely ignored most children in the house, only occasionally greeting Mark.


    Else the time was spend eating and training in the Basic Knight Breathing Technique in one of the many rooms of the waiting house.


    As the man which received Fraser in the tent appeared at the house there was a strong improvement in Frasers body stats.


    ¡°We will depart with the other magus organization in an airship, you will all have to share a room with other people until we will arrive at the howling abyss.¡± explained the man for a short moment before walking away.


    ¡®AI show me my body stats.¡¯


    [4.34 strength, 4.77 agility, 4.28 vitality]


    Fraser somehow received an odd feeling whenever he looked at the numbers increasing. It somehow let him feel proud or even satisfied.


    It was odd feeling, however as there were no harm done Fraser quickly ignored it.


    The morning of the following day soon arrived. Fraser equipped his meagre possession which mostly included his weapons and walked outside.


    After the entire Howling Abyss Academy group gathered the man guided the group towards the back of the encampment where other magus organization groups already waited. There were a few with more than triple the amount of numbers of the Howling Abyss academy, however most groups had almost the same number.


    But there was one question which let Fraser think for a while.


    ¡®Why are there only so few students, shouldn¡¯t there be more? In my wooden carriage block train there were at least 8 thousand children if not more. Where are they?¡¯


    Thinking for a while the only explanation was that the normal peasants had no ¡°magic stone¡± and thus they needed to work for the organization before they were able to learn magic.


    A few huge Airships descended from the sky as they broke through the clouds and steered towards the encampment.


    Ohs and Ahs appeared from the childrens.


    As soon as the Airships landed the man quickly drove the Howling Abyss Academy group towards one of the ships.


    Stepping onto the Airship the man quickly lead the group towards a section with the emblem of the Howling Abyss Academy.


    Apparently Frasers group wasn¡¯t the sole group as there were five more. The children quickly mingled and socialized as the groups met.


    Fraser didn¡¯t socialized, instead he went towards the bed after acquiring the information where the canteen on the airship was located. He listened to a short conversation in which the man which recruited him reported to his superior.


    Laying in bed Fraser ignored the other three children who tried to contain their excitement but failed miserably.


    Instead he smiled inwardly and closed his eyes. As he was a silent weirdo, at least in the eyes of the other three members they quickly ignored Fraser and even game him nicknames like silent weirdo, mute rat or ugly fellow.


    ¡®The cruelty of little children. It doesn¡¯t matter, I could beat the crap out of every children in the room but it won¡¯t give me any advantage.¡¯

 Chapter 9 Arriving at the Howling Abyss Academy

    The Journey was as peaceful as it could be. At least for Fraser.


    There were a few things worth mentioning like the small dispute between the grade 3 talents and the grade 4 talents. However the fight quickly turned from grade 3 talent fighting against the arrogance of the grade 4 talent to uniting against the real enemy: Grade 5 talents.


    Apparently grade 5 talents were pretty rare as even the superior of the man who sat in the tent appeared in front of the grade 5 talent and asked him something privately. Fraser didn''t knew what they discussed but the grade 5 talent which name is Christoph spent more and more time near the superior.


    Fraser didn''t cared how much the other children envied and glared at Christoph for being a grade 5 talent.


    Instead he used his time productively: he trained the Basic Knight Breathing Technique.


    While the other children would socialize and talk about stuff Fraser would either stuff his belly with food or train in the Basic Knight Breathing Technique.


    Naturally Fraser knew that he missed out a lot of information, but he could only focus on one thing.


    ''If somebody who is not even a general student is able to acquire this information then it doesn''t matter if I miss it. And if it''s relevant information then the chance of new student knowing them is close to zero.''


    With this mindset Fraser continued to train in the Basic Knight Breathing Technique.


    When his three roommates for the Airship slept or were in the room Fraser didn''t trained. Instead he either pretended to sleep or slept in general.


    "Did you see how Christoph used magic? It was awesome, I heard that even the student from another academy who is a grand knight couldn''t do anything against it."


    At the word "magic" Fraser quickly changed his position in bed in order to hear better.


    "Yeah, a fireball almost roasted the one who tried to fight against Christoph. I thought that as a grand knight there could be a chance but Christoph almost killed the grand knight instantly."


    "There was a ring wasn''t it? I bet it''s some kind of magic equipment, I heard from my Father that there are ancient Magus Families who have these sorts of equipment. Do you Guys thing that Christoph is part of an ancient Magus Family?"


    "No way, it is probably his master who gave him the ring. I heard that Christoph became a student under the one man which duty is it to fetch the new students."


    Fraser continued to listen though he quickly stopped listening wholeheartedly as the boys resumed to talk about the girl with the best curves or the people which you shouldn''t provoke in this group of the Howling Abyss Academy.


    Christoph was at number one, what surprised Fraser though was the fact that the three boys also mentioned Mark, the one who showed Fraser around the Encampment.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    The days passed as Fraser continued to train and awaited for the Airship to arrive at the Howling Abyss Academy. And the day arrived.


    The man who sat in the tent opened the door before quickly saying: "We are at the Howling Abyss, move out."


    As if the work was beneath him the man quickly disappeared and moved to the next room.


    A group which was a little bit short of the number 100 gathered under the superior, including the tent man which talked with four other older people.


    The superior turned towards the Airship captain and nodded before they landed. With quick steps the group moved out of the Airship only to step on a wasteland.


    There was nothing except fog and a few trees.


    The superior turned towards the new students before saying:


    "We will soon arrive at the Howling Abyss Academy where each and everyone of the you will learn under a master and thus become his disciple. You can also visit the general lessons and thus improve your knowledge. Else normal food is free and the rest has to be bought with magic stones. Even information costs magic stones. You can earn magic stones by completing quests posted by the other students or fulfill assignments for the Academy."


    With this short speech he quickly walked away and disappeared.


    The five older people quickly lead the group of new students towards a simple stone gate without any ornaments.


    With a short bow they walked into a hall where an old lady with a crystal ball sat. A toad the size of a small basket sat on top of the old ladys shoulder.


    "Ah, new students. Welcome to the Howling Abyss Academy. Everyone will receive their private chambers as well as one set of free robe. If the robe gets destroyed then you will have to buy a new one with magic stones." giggled the old lady before putting a hourglass on the counter.


    "I will allow everyone for a small price of one magic stone to look for a master in this book. One magic crystal, one turn. Christoph, your master already gave me the information. Here is your Chamber number." said the old woman with a smile before reading out a name.


    One by one the children had to step forward and either they were able to pay one magic stone in order to choose their Master or they received a random Master.


    Fraser naturally paid one magic crystal and quickly stored the information of the book in the AI. However the book was so thick Fraser needed six magic crystals before being able to look through every Master in the Howling Abyss Academy.


    ''AI, filter out any dangerous Master which will see me as a lab rat.''


    [98 results, attention. Most of these results will not even teach you anything and just need you to clean their stuff]


    ''AI, filter everything of these 98 results where I will just be used as a free worker, I need to learn something of my Master.''


    [3 results, Magus Sept an Alchemist which requires you to help at cleaning and organizing the lab. One free lesson with three choices and no requirements at experiment participation. Magus Lopol which requires you to hunt and skin, process the beasts he hunts, one free lessons between five choices and no requirements at experiment participation. Magus Kak specialized in Transplantation, one free body part of 4 choices and requires you to participate in experiments which may include you trading one or two body parts]


    [Note: All Magus listed do not want a strict Master disciple relationship, thus they want to be called Mentor]


    "And? Which Magus do you want as Master?" asked the old lady.


    "I choose Magus Sept as my Master." replied Fraser with a bow.


    "Good, now you can go here is your chamber number and the robes are already in the chamber." said the old lady before handing Fraser a paper with a number on top of it.


    Chamber Number 13876.


    Without any guidance Fraser quickly walked past the corridors and realized that the only light source was a few imbedded crystals on the ceiling.


    Fraser walked quite a while before arriving at Chamber Number 13876. With magic the paper decayed into dust and the door opened.


    What awaited him was a sleeping room, a bathroom and a completely empty room which will probably be the future lab of the student. There was a black robe with the Howling Abyss Academy Emblem on it.


    On top of the bed a small flask appeared with a single paper besides it.


    "DRINK THIS IN ORDER TO LEARN THE FIRST THREE STAGES OF THE BASIC MEDITATION TECHNIQUE"

 Chapter 10 Basic Meditation Technique

    The small flask with an unknown substance in it appeared to be dangerous yet Fraser didn''t had any choice.


    There was a choice, not to drink it. However it also meant giving up this entire choice of going to learn magic in the first place.


    Holding the small flask into the light in order to see the substance Fraser could only sigh in disappointment. It only looked black. No reflected light, no heat, nothing special.


    Only the darkness of the substance made Fraser wary. How could this substance be so dark?


    Closing his eyes Fraser for short moment he thought about his life till now.


    ''Without risks, there won''t be any "special" in my life and everything will only be boring and mediocre.''


    He opened the small flask and began to swallow the black substance.


    A sudden pain pierced into his head as he could see weird letters floating around his head, the letters or runes shined as they enlighten the darkness surrounding them.


    [AI protect protocol activated, sorting and analyzing the memory]


    As sudden as the pain appeared in his head it disappeared.


    ''This could be an effect of the AI. It should be something along the lines of a memory transfer substance, but is such a miraculous substance even possible or even creatable in this world?''


    [Sorting and analyzing of memorys has been completed]


    ''Then sum up the entire memory which somehow invaded my mind. Is there any indication how the black substance is able to transfer memorys?''


    [No indication possible, the black substance didn''t entered the stomach and it wasn''t possible to scan the body when the pain hit you]


    [The memory of the black substance consisted of a Meditation Technique called the Basic Mediation Technique, the three ranks of 1-3 are accessible in the memory storage bank. Each Rank is called Apprentice with the level. Else the substance isn''t generally isn''t harmful as it only stuffed information in your brain, thus causing it to overload for a short moment]


    With tons of questions Fraser sat down on his bed. He wanted to ask people why does the substance contain these memorys, does every student of the Howling Abyss Academy receive these Basic Meditation Technique or is it a gift from his future Mentor/Master Sept?


    Thinking for a while Fraser in the end just decided to do it. He heard of treacherous schools and organizations which were all evil and even read about them. But where did he read all those books about all of these different things?


    Fraser tried to remember it but it didn''t appeared.


    ''I will remember it sooner or later, the most important thing is the gathering of Data for the AI.''


    Fraser actually quickly realized that with his brain and his talent he wouldn''t be so strong right now if the AI didn''t helped him. It did almost all of the brainwork, like analyzing, sorting memorys and even storing information.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    However it did have no mind on its own, thus Fraser just commanded it to record every data which he or his body received in order not to miss anything that might be important.


    ''Okay so just sit down and then relax, breath in and out in a certain rhythm. It feels like another version of the Basic Knight Breathing Technique, only in the Basic Meditation Technique I need to sit calm and focus on the particles in the air while in the Basic Knight Breathing Technique I need to do different body positions.''


    As soon as Fraser started to train in the Basic Meditation Technique he tried to sense the so called particles however he felt nothing. He adjusted his breathing to the technique and continued to sense the particles with no success.


    However he knew that it was almost futile as apparently the sensing of the particles in the surrounding had a lot to do with the talent grades.


    It took a few hours for a grade 5 talent, a few days for a grade 4 talent, a few weeks for a grade 3 talent, a few months for a grade 2 talent and a few years for a grade 1 talent.


    Though there was a mysterious factor in the particle sensing. Meditation somehow knew if you didn''t practiced and if you missed the practice then you needed to meditate as much time as you missed in order to sense magic.


    That means that hard work might beat one talent grade if the one who had the higher talent grade didn''t practiced as much as he should.


    This information was also stored in the substance, probably in order to motivate the students to practice as much as they can.


    As Fraser practiced his first session with the Basic Meditation Technique he couldn''t felt anything. However he didn''t cared, the AI should detect if there were any changes.


    One practice session took Fraser around 10 to fifteen minutes which is way faster than the Basic Knight Breathing Technique. The only difference was that Fraser actually could see an improvement in the Basic Knight Breathing Technique, in the Basic Meditation Technique he could feel nothing.


    However Fraser continued. One session, two, three, four, five, six¡­.


    As Fraser neared the seventh session he couldn''t help but close his eyes, it felt like he strained his brain for hours without any break in between.


    Closing his eyes Fraser immediately fell asleep with his new magic robes on his chamber bed.


    As he woke up Fraser didn''t knew what time it was, he only looked at the indicator in his chamber which showed a dark circle meaning that outside it was night.


    ''AI is there a detectable change in my body? I felt like I strained my brain so it should be obvious that the Basic Meditation is training something. Does it train my spirit or my brain? Is there even soul?''


    [Detected a variation in an unknown region in the body, the unknown thing increased in the Basic Meditation sessions]


    ''So there was a change, mhm ¡­ what could it ¡­''


    *Beep*


    The AI let out a sound as the voice in Frasers Head somehow sounded stronger.


    [The unknown energy increased the processing speed of the AI, thus improving analyze]


    With a dazed look Fraser lay on top of his bed.


    ''The processing speed increased? Does it mean that if I ascend higher in the Apprentice level then my AI will get better and analyze things even faster? Maybe there will be new benefits like scanning outside my body. After all tasting the material will only give a tiny amount of information compared to a scan. Wait where do I get all these thoughts from?''


    The Question seemed to appear in Frasers mind with a random thought. A message from the AI interrupted him.


    [Please name the unknown energy in your body]


    ''Lets name it Spirit and put the changes in perspective from when I started. The starting point is 1.00. Show me my body stats AI.''


    [4.54 strength, 4.92 agility, 4.39 vitality, 1.87 spirit]


    ''An increase of 87%? That''s ridiculous! Doesn''t that mean I need like 30x the starting me in order to sense the particles? And this is only the starting line in order to become a level one Apprentice.''


    ''Well I should rest for today and continue tomorrow. Probably try to search for my Mentor/Master in order to choose one of his three free lessons.''


    Quickly Fraser fell asleep.


    [Protocol ___ activated, remaining from ____ discovered and eliminated]


    [Fusing the eliminated particles "spirit" with the Full Access Host]


    [Increase in "spirit" detected]

 Chapter 11 Mentor Sept

    As soon as Fraser woke up he felt better, as if recovering from a serious illness or injury.


    A small black ball floated in front of Frasers Chamber and spoke as Fraser opened the Door.


    "Are you Fraser Rosethorn? I am the Magus Sept, your mentor. I don''t want my studentys to call me Master so I want you to call me mentor sept. Follow this small spirit in order to reach my rooms."


    Slowly but sure the black ball floated along the floors, Fraser trailing behind.


    He arrived at a grand hall with rows upon rows of flasks, cauldron and jars with strange things in them.


    Fraser could see a middle aged man with a beard sitting in front of a group of children. Most of them the age of Fraser.


    The black ball floated towards the middle aged man before hiding in his hand.


    "Ah, so you must be Fraser. I am your mentor Sept. Since you are all new students at the Howling Abyss Academy you probably already ingested the small flask with the black substance in order to learn the Basic Meditation Technique." spoke Mentor Sept as he stroked his beard while glancing towards the group of children.


    Without any surprise many children had reactions as soon as Mentor Sept mentioned the small flask.


    However Mentor Sept ignored their reaction and instead continued with his instructions.


    "Since the Howling Abyss Academy has a lot of students I don''t really need the helping hand of so many apprentices and thus only the new batch of students which arrive every three months has to clean and organize my stuff. Additionally I don''t have that much new work as watering and feeding the plants and animals is done with ease. Only cleaning will take a while but as you are a big group it won''t take that long."


    As Mentor Sept explained the work of the new apprentices which only included watering the plants, feeding the animals and cleaning the lab he turned towards a drawer and put three objects onto his table.


    A flask, a small worm and a plant.


    "These three things symbolizes my three lessons. As I said I will allow each of you a lesson in my subjects which are Alchemy which will allow you to create different kinds of potions, Animals or Beast taming which will allow you to command them or to harvest their produced items without any risks and Botany which will allow you to harvest poison, fruits and leafs from plants and if you are talented you might even control plants or trees to fight for you." explained Mentor Sept as he slowly looked at every student suddenly turned from being excited to thinking about the choices.


    Even Fraser was in deep thought. Without even considering the three options he knew that Mentor Sept had Alchemy and wanted to learn it. As he knew that Alchemy would in most cases produce valuable potions which would allow Fraser to make huge profit.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    But since Fraser now knew that Mentor Sept had a lot of students then didn''t that mean that there were a lot of Alchemists in the Howling Abyss Academy? That would lower Frasers value if there were a lot of older Alchemists running around providing services and potions to the mass.


    "If you wonder why there are three choices even though I am called Alchemist Sept in my description page then I have to explain that Alchemy is a subject which is really dependent on talent or money. There is also a factor if there are better Alchemists in your surrounding and how much you are compared to them."


    At the last sentence Mentor Sept smiled and looked into space as if remembering a distant memory.


    "Two years ago I took my most talented apprentice, Nicholas. He was able to brew a potion within the first day. Though it wasn''t the first try, it was close to the first try. And now my students, make your choice."


    The last part seemed as if Mentor Sept tried to dissuade the group of children to take Alchemy.


    Naturally almost all of the new students followed the persuasion and either chose Animal/Beast taming or Botany. Most chose Animal/Beast taming.


    The last one to choose was Fraser.


    ''Animal/Beast taming sounds really strong and Botany might make really strong, but I don''t have any earth/water/plant compatibility. My element is Darkness. So the only choice would be Animal/Beast taming. However it''s not that safe, I would need to get out and capture a beast myself. Even a normal wolf in the Wildlands almost killed me.''


    Gritting his teeth Fraser chose the small flask and thus received a small flask with black substance in it from Mentor Sept.


    Smiling Mentor Sept said to Fraser: "If you have brewed your first potion then come to me, I will help you."


    Not knowing whether he had make a right choice in choosing Alchemy Fraser bowed and stepped back just like the other children.


    In the end Master Sept called for an older apprentice in order to show the new group of students the Academy.


    There was the canteen and the library where you actually needed to pay in order to read books. There was a level system, the higher you went, the more you needed to pay.


    An open training field for apprentices who wanted to train outside, an indoor training hall also for apprentices who wanted to train, a really huge garden with benches, green lawn which allowed one to sit comfortable and even small ponds connected with rivers.


    All in all it looked beautiful.


    The older apprentice even showed the mission hall and explained the few rules of the Academy which were pretty simple like not hurting your fellow students, striving for more strength and paying your yearly tuition fee which was around 10 magic stones.


    There also were interesting things like the free lesson hall, a relaxing section and many activities which were purely for fun.


    The activities interested Fraser little and he was more interested in the market space which was opened for every student.


    It didn''t allowed for much suspicion but the senior apprentice skipped over the market place and walked away in a quick manner.


    Excited the children soon started to chatter and talk about their bright future.


    "We are going to be important Magicians so naturally they have to treat us right. Did you look at the free activities? There are so many and the environment is so beautiful."


    "Hey did you see what I saw? There is a free enjoyment house in the activity section, do you want to go there?"


    The children or young teens continued to talk and quickly moved towards the activity section.


    Fraser glanced at them before quickly disappearing.


    First and foremost he walked back to his chamber which took quite a while.


    Glancing at the small flask which should contain the information of Alchemy Fraser immediately opened the flask and drank the black substance.


    Fraser tried to counter the pain by initiating the Basic Meditation Technique and it worked.


    The sharp pain from the headache turned into a tired feeling which let Fraser drift into the Dreamworld.


    "

 Chapter 12 Alchemy Set

    As Fraser opened his eyes he immediately noticed that the headache vanished.


    ''AI, what information does the black substance contain?''


    [Sorted the information into one separate folder, named Alchemy. It contains the information on how to let basic materials react with each other, extract basic materials and let prepared or raw materials fuse in to a potion]


    ''So what do I need to buy in order to produce a potion? Is there anything special I need to procure?''


    [In order to create potions normal flask and materials are needed, it is recommended to go to the market section in order to search for a steady supply of resources. It will also enable the host to gather data in order to maximize the income percentage]


    Thinking for a while Fraser moved out in order to look at the market section. It felt a little bit suspicious but the older apprentice didn''t showed the new students the market.


    While walking towards the market Fraser also looked into the schedule of the free lessons and their content. As Fraser had the AI he didn''t care what lesson was free as the AI would get more Data in order to analyze things better.


    Surprisingly there was a free lesson every day. From basic botany to controlling particles everything was there.


    Sadly Fraser already missed the free lesson for today and thus continued to the market section.


    As soon as he stepped into the section gate he felt as if entering another world. Teenager, young adults, adults and old people hurried around doing their stuff.


    Some people even opened their shop simply by sitting in front of a carpet with things on top.


    Naturally there were also normal shops with attendants sitting or standing in the shop. Though the prices were probably higher than the one selling with a carpet.


    Not only that, Fraser saw people haggling with each other or shouting their respected goods. The question was if they would really sell real products.


    Fraser even heard one shouting out that there was a brilliant sword which could cut through anything being sold on his carpet.


    Shaking his head inwardly Fraser walked into a real shop with a flask sign on top of it.


    A lazily looking fat teenager sat on top of a chair, clearing looking at every female butt that passed the window.


    "I would like a Basic Alchemy set, how much does it cost?" asked Fraser immediately as he entered the shop.


    Without even looking at Fraser the Fatty replied:


    "Another fool trying to learn Alchemy, a new set cost 10 magi stones, the second hand sets range from 1 to 5 magic stones. A basic potion recipe costs 5 magic stones."


    Ignoring the way the fatty treated him Fraser continued to ask questions: "What are there for recipes that can be bought? And can I buy the materials in this shop?"You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "One magic stone for materials enough for 10 potions. We have the recipe for basic strengthening potion, basic wound mending potion, basic explosion potion and a lot more, though if you want to sell your potions then try to use these three. They are always in demand and if you manage to somehow create a miracle and create one of these potions you can sell them to our shop." replied the fatty immediately as if he had repeated this information countless times.


    "How much do these three potions sell for?" asked Fraser, not knowing which one would be the most profitable.


    With an annoying voice the fatty replied while at the same time turning towards Fraser.


    "It''s really hard to make a potion, you know that if you fail then we won''t return the magic crystal for the materials you used. Also we won''t buy failed products as they are mostly poisonous."


    As soon as the fatty glanced at Fraser he looked shocked.


    "Do you even have enough magic crystals to buy anything?"


    ''Something is suspicious, why does the fatty think I don''t have enough magic crystals? I do think that not many children would have a lot of magic crystals but the twins each possessed ten of these magic crystals and the tuition only cost me three of these magic crystals.


    After a short moment of silence Fraser spoke: "Is there a reason why I shouldn''t have magic crystals?"


    The fatty stared at Fraser after the question, still with shock.


    At the same time Fraser also asked the AI to look for a reason.


    ''AI, is there any reason why the fatty thinks I have to possess zero magic crystals? Or is something wrong with me that the fatty looks so shocked.''


    [Searching the recent memories. There could be the reason because of the yearly tuition fee which consists of 10 magic crystals. They probably have not been paid yet and still have to be paid]


    Quickly the fatty calmed down before asking: "Do you even have a chance of making a potion?"


    "My mentor is Magus Sept and I chose the topic of Alchemy." replied Fraser in a steady tone.


    As soon as the fatty heard the word "Magus Sept" his eyes shone and quickly coughed in order to hide his reaction from earlier.


    "How about you allow me as a senior student of the Howling Abyss Academy to gift you a second handed Alchemy Set? Containing the basic set necessary in order to create a potion. Also the first ten dozen flasks are free. If you are able to create one potion with these ten dozen flasks then you can apply for another ten dozen flasks."


    Fraser accepted the proposal with a poker face and even chose the second handed Alchemy set which in his opinion as well as the opinion of the AI looked the best and probably performed the best.


    Naturally Fraser needed one recipe and thus after considering the selling prices of each potion chose the basic explosion potion which could be sold for five magic crystals instead of the other two potions which would have sold for four magic crystals.


    Thus Fraser ended up spending six magic crystals, for the recipe and the ten materials which were black stones.


    After visiting the shop Fraser immediately moved back to his chamber, not seeing anybody on his way.


    Arriving at his Chamber he immediately put the Alchemy set on his wooden table which he acquired for free.


    Acquiring free furniture wasn''t a right that belonged to Fraser alone, instead every student of the howling abyss academy had the right to acquire free furniture. As Fraser had the necessary strength he even carried every furniture alone and thus didn''t used the free workers.


    Who the "free workers" were? A bunch of children that probably couldn''t pay the fee in order to register as a student.


    Fraser had to thank the twins for dying as he would have become a "free worker" if he wasn''t able to procure the three magic crystals for the registration.


    Glancing at the recipe Fraser saw his future money source. Future as Fraser still wasn''t able to create a potion as he wasn''t Apprentice level 1.


    So instead of drooling over the flasks, the free Alchemy set and the ten black stones Fraser meditated in order to increase his spirit and feed his AI with more Data.


    As he hoped that the AI would eventually be able to create a Meditation Technique better than the Basic Meditation Technique. Or at least increase the Basic Meditation Technique.


    Closing his Eyes Fraser started his meditation.

 Chapter 13 Basic Explosion Potion (1)

    Three weeks passed in a blink as Fraser trained every day. As soon as he woke up he would start increasing his spirit with the Basic Meditation Technique. Sometimes he would add a few training sessions of the Basic Knight Breathing Technique in the mix.


    ''AI, show me my body stats.''


    [5.34 strength, 5.67 agility, 5.38 vitality, 9.08 spirit]


    The change in his spirit wasn''t that noticeable for Fraser as the only thing changed was that his mental processing ability increased. Even training in the Basic Knight Breathing Technique felt easier as the positions turned into instinct.


    Even if Fraser couldn''t feel any direct benefit in the increase of his spirit he sometime fell into a mysterious state in which he felt connected to the world.


    He wasn''t able to describe the feeling since it felt so weird. It felt like watching, hearing and touching the surrounding at the same time while knowing that there is an energy in the surrounding that could be used.


    As his spirit passed the number 9.00 the sometimes increased to a few times per day. Fraser felt like if his spirit reached the threshold of 10.00 then he would be able to achieve the mysterious state in every meditation and thus be able to use magic.


    ''If my spirit reaches the number 10.00 then I should be an Apprentice Level 1. The real starting line at becoming a Magus. Since Magus Sept and the other professors seemed to be a stage higher than Apprentice Level.''


    In these weeks Fraser did not only meditated. He also visited every free lesson there was. Though most Magus hurried out of the big hall as if the students owed them magic crystals they would always mix a little bit of their understanding in the lessons.


    "How to control negative particles", "Spell Models", "Basic Botany", "Basic Taming", "Basic Transplantation", "Basic Anatomy" were only a few examples of the free lessons.


    Fraser had to admit that the free lessons made him admire magic more and more. It felt like there was an infinity amount of things that magic could do.


    Suspiciously he was one of the youngest students sitting in the free lessons halls which were humongous.


    But Fraser didn''t care about the other students so he didn''t cared about anyone missing or not attending the free lessons.


    As long as he learned something interesting it didn''t mattered what the others would do.


    ''Today is the day where I will reach Apprentice Level 1 and where I will be able to sense the particles. It will also be the same moment where I will start being a Magus and begin my Journey.''


    Sitting on his Bed Fraser started to meditate. Since he was less than one spirit point away from ten spirit points Fraser decided to meditate until he reached the ten spirit points.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    As Fraser meditated he could feel himself falling into the same state he fell into before. The state where it felt like he could see, hear and touch the surrounding at the same time.


    But this time he could feel that the particles seemed to be more detailed.


    Fraser immersed himself into the state as he continued to meditate.


    [Beep, Spirit reached 9.87. Concluded that the Host reached Apprentice Level 1]


    Opening his eyes Fraser smiled. He didn''t needed 10 Spirit points, he needed less than 10.


    ''AI change the 9.87 spirit into 1 again then make a folder with the data of the spirit before I reached Apprentice Level 1.''


    Since 9.87 felt a little bit odd and unpleasant to the eye Fraser decided to revert his spirit back to 1.00. At least numerically in order to see how much spirit he needed in order to reach Apprentice Level 2 or even 3.


    Reaching Apprentice Level 1 caused Fraser to be happy, yet at the same time he felt tired. He meditated for a longer period than usual and thus closed his eyes and slept, after a short period of celebrating his success in his mind.


    When Fraser woke up the first thing he noticed was that he missed the daily free lesson which caused him to frown. Every free lesson expanded his knowledge as well as the Database of the AI to an almost huge degree.


    But since he couldn''t revert time Fraser didn''t bothered with the missed lesson and moved towards his new experiment: Alchemy.


    As he reached Apprentice Level 1 Fraser could see into his mind where he would be able to draw white things in the dark room. Every stroke or line consumed a little bit of his mental power and left him tired or even exhausted.


    Fraser knew that he would have to build a spell model in his mind if he wanted to use magic and thus played a little bit by drawing lines with his mind power.


    But back to Alchemy. In theory Fraser only needed to fuel the Alchemy set with his spirit in order to use the various set items to extract or refine the material.


    Yet it wasn''t that easy as Fraser thought. As he tried to extract one of the black stones for the explosive essence he pulled a little bit too heavily with the set item causing too much essence to be pulled out. This resulted in a small explosion, shattering the prepared flask and small burns on Frasers hand which he raised in order to protect his head.


    ''AI, record every progress and put it into the folder Alchemy, Basic Explosion Potion. Also give me a hologram on how much spirt I have to put into the Alchemy Equipment in order to extract or refine the black stone.''


    The AI recorded every failure of Fraser and corrected it on the next try. Thus allowing Fraser to almost complete one Basic Explosion Potion. The last Basic Explosion Potion failed because Fraser didn''t mixed everything quick enough and thus spoiling the short lived black powder of the stone.


    With success one step away Fraser hurried back to the market section and bought materials with his last five magic stones.


    Excited Fraser stepped back into his Chamber with fifty of the black stones needed for a Basic Explosion Potion.


    Without any surprise the first Basic Explosion Potion was quickly finished and Fraser held a small flask with a lid sealing the highly explosive liquid in it.


    The liquid appeared to be as white as a bone. From the Knowledge Fraser had the Basic Explosion Potion was better the colorless it was. Meaning the best Basic Explosion Potion had to have the same color as water.


    White Color was normal and white-gray was useable. Every other color meant that one of the materials of the black stones got spoiled or extracted badly, another reason could be that the fusion didn''t worked.


    After creating three more Basic Explosion Potion Fraser stopped. Each Potion appeared to be worse than the first with the last one being almost grey.


    ''I clearly felt that my spirit feels drained whenevery I extract or fuse anything with the Alchemy Equipment. AI, is there a way to let me see the exact amount of spirit I use for extraction or how much spirit I use in general?''


    [Analyzing the Data of Spirit Usage]

 Chapter 14 Basic Explosion Potion (2)

    [Result of the Data points to a certain possibility, yet there is not enough Data of Spirit Usage so only a prototype can be build]


    ''Then build it and use every further Data to improve the prototype.''


    [Initiating Prototype, Spirit Amount 0.12/1.00]


    Since Fraser "numerically" returned his spirit back to 1.00 the Amount of Spirit showed the maximum of 1.00.


    After Fraser stored his four successfully created Basic Explosion Potion in a shelf he immediately rested his eyes and fell asleep.


    The next day Fraser visited the daily free lesson which topic of today was the usage of magic Equipment or weapon.


    A magic weapon or Equipment enhanced the usage of spirit and thus enables an apprentice to become even stronger. Frasers Alchemy set also had magic equipments yet they were specialized in reducing and controlling the spirit into extracting and refining the potion material.


    Yet true magic weapons and equipments mostly focused on battle power as they either had protective measures or attacking spells.


    The magi weapon the Magus showed was a ring which turned into a long vine thus attacking the enemy. Almost acting like a living whip or living chain depending on what the Magus wanted.


    The magus of the lessons also explained that a magic equipment or weapon were essential in order to be a strong Magus as they would enhance the battle power by multiple amounts.


    Naturally there were many grades of magic equipment or weapons but the Magus didn''t explained the grades, only mentioning that they existed.


    Fraser continued his current lifestyle which consisted of meditating the entire day, eating in the canteen and doing a few training sessions of the Basic Knight Breathing Technique.


    The attribute increase of the Basic Knight Breathing Technique decreased but they were free body stats so Fraser still continued to train it.


    As Fraser didn''t had any spell models yet the only thing spirit allowed him to do was creating potions with the Alchemy set or activating magic weapons or equipment in general.


    However Fraser didn''t possessed an offensive magic weapon or equipment and thus his only defending or attacking option was using pure physical strength.


    The few basic explosion potion had potential yet Fraser didn''t knew the explosion power as he hadn''t tested one yet.


    Weeks passed by as Fraser meditated daily and soon Fraser was a student of the Howling Abyss Academy for 2 months.


    In these two months Fraser reached Apprentice Level 1 and brewed more than 30 explosion potions with the materials he had. Most of them were white and only a few of them were grey-white.


    The rest of his former 50 black stones resulted in failures as the AI tried to tweak the recipe a little bit. Though with little success.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    There was little to no social interaction with any of his peers. But somehow Fraser didn''t felt lonely, instead his steady increase of his body stats motivated him day after day.


    Like addicted Fraser smiled inwardly each time his body stats increased.


    ''AI, show me my body stats.''


    [6.23 strength, 6.48 agility, 6.38 vitality, 2.06/2.06 spirit]


    Feeling his body stats increasing felt good, yet there was one thing which concerned Fraser. Whether he should take a potion to Master Sept in order to learn more or maybe even receive benefits for learning Alchemy.


    After all Magus Sept seemed to be nice, but there were memories in his mind of Magus being egoistic, selfish and ruthless. Even to his own students or disciples.


    Thinking for a while Fraser decided to show one of his potion to Magus Sept.


    ''I am not the most talented, I think there was one student being even more talented. Being able to create a potion one day or a few days after starting with Alchemy. Though I don''t remember his name it doesn''t matter as I will try to avoid every conflict as most conflicts are meaningless. Even if Magus Sept is ruthless and egoistic he will go after the talented student first, so I am safe. At least for now.''


    Since Fraser had started with Alchemy about 5 weeks ago he deemed it as normal. After all the most talented student only needed a little bit more than one day.


    Carrying his worst basic explosion potion which had the color of almost grey Fraser walked towards Magus Sept Laboratorium.


    Normally Fraser should have visited the Laboratorium every day in order to clean it, water the plant and feeding the animals. Yet the older apprentice who also guided the new students around told them in the end that he personally would do that and that the new students should just enjoy their free time.


    Instead of feeling happy like the other children Fraser felt suspicious, but the older apprentice seemed to have a good reason as he told us that his guide also told him that when he arrived.


    Naturally the suspicion quickly disappeared into the back of his mind, after all Fraser already had the techniques in order to get strong. The only thing he needed was free time, so he accepted the free time with a smile, just like the other children.


    Walking into the Lab Fraser could see older students running around, cleaning, watering the plants and feeding the animals.


    As he neared the experiment chambers of Magus Sept he could see the chair and the desk where Magus Sept greeted the new students. Yet there was no Magus Sept.


    One of the older students walked towards Fraser before saying: "Mentor Sept is doing some of his own experiments, if he isn''t on that chair then we shouldn''t search for him or try to annoy him. But if he is on that chair, then we as students can tell him our problems."


    So Fraser waited, and waited, and waited.


    There was even a line forming behind him, causing him to be slightly happy as he numbered one in the line.


    After half a day Magus Sept immerged from his experiment chambers and sat down on is chair. A hot cup of tea steaming on his desk.


    Smiling Magus Sept said: "As usual, one student at a time. Also, everyone wait outside the room."


    Quickly everyone in the line stepped back and disappeared from the room which door closed.


    Still with a smile Magus Sept grabbed his tea cup and sipped.


    "Mentor Sept, I am Fraser, one of the new students you took." said Fraser in order to not feel nervous.


    "Ah, the one who learned Alchemy. Why are you here?" replied Magus Sept, still immersing himself into his tea world.


    "I created a potion and wanted you to evaluate it." said Fraser while handing his white-grey basic explosion potion over to Magus Sept.


    Magus Sept took the small flask, still with a smile.


    Shaking the small flask a little bit caused the white-grey liquid in it to whip from one side to the other.


    "What talent grade are you, Fraser?" asked Magus Sept with his smiling face.


    "I am a grade 3 talent, mentor Sept." said Fraser with a small bow.


    As Fraser said the word 3 he could swear that the corner of Magus Sept raised more, causing the smile on Magus Sept face to get even wider.


    ''Damnit, does Magus Sept want to use me for some kind of experiment? Maybe he especially needs grade 3 talents in order to continue his experiment.''

 Chapter 15 Senior Apprentices

    Magus Sept smiled for a while before looking at the white-grey basic explosion potion and saying: ¡°This basic explosion potion is not bad, though it has fatal flaws as the color is almost grey.¡±


    Sweat trickled along Frasers forehead as Magus Sept said: ¡°Unfortunately there is Nicholas who is way more talented than you.¡±


    ¡®Does he expect me to kill Nicholas in order to kill the competition?¡¯


    ¡°And no I do not expect you to kill Nicholas. As I forbid every Alchemy student of mine to even endanger Alchemy Seedling.¡± smiled Magus Sept as if reading Frasers mind.


    ¡®How does he do that?¡¯


    ¡°Even though you almost took one month to brew a single basic explosion potion, it¡¯s still a major achievement. You can be considered one of the most talented students which I have ever taught in Alchemy. So I will reward you. How about dismissing your yearly tuition fee of ten magic crystals.¡± continued Magus Sept as he still had his calm smile on his lips.


    Fraser could only agree with the last part as it doesn¡¯t seemed like a question.


    ¡°Ah, before your go here is a magic key for the inner chambers of my Laboratory. It¡¯s located in another section and only a few selected students are there. Go respect your seniors and ask them any questions you have. I want that my students will help each other.¡± said Magus before summoning one of those black balls or spirits and throwing Fraser a small stone with a rune carved in it.


    The black spirit ball floated along the floor as Fraser quickly stepped out of the room leaving the other senior students behind.


    Fraser followed the black spirit ball only to arrive at a closed door which opened as soon as Fraser held the magic key near it.


    What awaited him was a huge hall. Decorated lavishly with crystals, glass and cushy looking furniture the huge hall looked like a high class lounge.


    One group consisting of three people already sat on the different couches and talked.


    As the door opened the three faces turned towards the entrance only to smile as they saw Fraser.


    ¡°A newcomer? Welcome to the inner chambers of Magus Sept. We always welcome another talented student in our group.¡± said a charming looking young man while holding his arms as if ready to embrace someone.


    ¡°Don¡¯t scare him, most newcomers are mostly antisocial golems who only experience the debt and are not able to trust anyone.¡± said a young woman while hitting the young man.


    One person from the group walked towards Fraser and whispered: ¡°Ignore them, they are all nice people. I am Nicholas, nice to meet you. Mentor Sept should have given you enough magic crystals to pay off your debt. So naturally you are cautious.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡®Wasn¡¯t Nicholas that Alchemy Genius?¡¯


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you Nicholas the one who brewed a potion within the first days of his Alchemy career?¡± asked Fraser.


    ¡°Oh, someone is famous.¡± teased the young woman who also walked over to Fraser.


    Rubbing his nose Nicholas with a red face while smiling and said: ¡°I bet Mentor Sept again bragged about me.¡±


    ¡°Well I am Adrian and this young woman is Elise. You already know Nicholas our Genius so there is nothing much to say about him.¡± said the young man, introducing their group.


    ¡°What is your name?¡±


    ¡°My name is Fraser, nice to meet you.¡± replied Fraser.


    After Fraser introduced himself he sat together with them and they began to talk. Apparently there are about 30 members of Magus Sept inner circle, but most of them are either outside on missions or experimenting.


    ¡°Young¡± students like these three are rare as mostly Magus Sept would take in one or two students every couple of years thus in most cases there would be an age gap between members of the inner circle.


    This resulted in the question how old Magus Sept already was and according to rumors, at least from what the three students heard he was already more than 200 years old. What amazed Fraser was the fact that the three students also heard that Magus Sept was still in his prime.


    So the four continued to exchange information. Why an exchange of information?


    Because Elise simple threw out one of the biggest information.


    There were two levels after Apprentice Level 3! Which were Apprentice Level 4 and 5. To receive the meditation Technique from them one had to ask Mentor Sept for another small flask with black substance.


    Naturally Elise asked a question after simply throwing out such important information.


    ¡°So why did Mentor Sept let you joint the inner chambers?¡±


    The two male members of the group didn¡¯t exchanged information that much. Especially Nicholas who only talked about general stuff which wasn¡¯t important and were mostly love dramas of friends or gossip about love.


    ¡®The behavior of Nicholas can be explained, he is mostly young and is more interested in love. But why does Adrian who probably is the same age as Elise doesn¡¯t exchange information? Is he jealous? I saw him throwing glances when Elise initiated body contact.¡¯


    Frasers theory soon got verified as he got to know that Elise entered the Howling Abyss Academy the same time with Adrian.


    In order to appease the curiosity of Elise Fraser showed his white-grey basic explosion potion to the three people and explained with a fake voice which seemed to be embarrassed: ¡°It¡¯s not as good as it should be but I was able to create this.¡±


    This quickly allowed Elise, Adrian and Nicholas to acknowledge him. There was a short moment when Fraser saw a mix of relief and pride on Nicholas face before it disappeared.


    ¡®How the hell am I able to see what a mix between relief and pride is. I didn¡¯t saw that many faces in my life.¡¯


    Fraser ignored the short face of Nicholas and the four continued to talk. Mainly Fraser and Elise talked and Nicholas and Adrian just added a few things.


    After showing Elise why he got chosen by Magus Sept it appeared that Elise lost interest in Fraser thus asking less questions and answering more.


    Fraser asked many questions, from spell models to the normal information of the Howling Abyss Academy.


    Fraser didn¡¯t dared to ask for free spell models as Elise told him that every spell model of the Howling Abyss Academy has to be bought with magic crystals. Most Spell models had a price of ten magic crystals which in the eye of Fraser seemed ridiculous expensive.


    After all he had no magic crystal.


    Though there was an interesting information about choosing spell models. Since there seemed to be not only offensive spell models but also defensive and supportive spell models which were either permanent like a certain earth element spell model which made your body as hard as stone or used just like offensive spells which meant using it and then awaiting the result.


    With more information Fraser excused himself and walked away. Adrian, Nicholas and Elise suggested him doing tasks in the task hall of the Academy. Yet Fraser didn¡¯t followed their advice.


    It seemed to be dumb, yet Fraser knew that the suggestion of the three seniors were not done with heart. Instead it was the common answer for every Howling Abyss student.


    After all neither of the three really had to do tasks in order to earn a lot of magic crystals. Except Adrian, but it was a completely different league compared to Fraser. As Adrian chose the path of Physical Magus, meaning strengthening his body to the peak.


    Naturally this increased Adrian chance to survive a task of the Academy by a huge percentage.


    Nicholas had his potions as he just had to create a couple in order to receive some magic crystals.


    Elise had the easiest way to earn magic crystals as she was from a Magus Family who had three people being of the rank Magus in the family.


    Being the daughter of a Magus shocked Fraser as he heard it but he calmed down pretty quickly.

 Chapter 16 Selling a Potion (1)

    Even if doing tasks for magic crystals doesn¡¯t seemed to give much magic crystals Fraser still walked into the task hall in order to look at the available tasks.


    Who knows, maybe there would some kind of tasks allowing Fraser to earn a couple of magic crystals every month with little to no work.


    It was unrealistic as Fraser was only an Apprentice Level 1 with no spell model, meaning that his only use was his physical body and his ability to create potions.


    Though the potions Fraser was able to create were limited to the basic explosion potion. Which according to the fatty in the market section sold pretty well.


    The only problem was that Fraser still didn¡¯t knew how much one basic explosion potion sold for. As the fatty somehow turned from arrogance into submission despite only hearing that Fraser is a student of Magus Sept.


    ¡®I should visit the fatty after I looked at possible tasks.¡¯


    Fraser stepped into the task hall where the task board was located. What awaited Fraser was multiple boards standing in the hall with small notes on top of it. The fascinating thing was that no paper got removed by hand, instead students would look at the description before waving their hands and then continue to look at other notices or walk away.


    As Fraser achieved the rank of Apprentice Level 1, in other words the starting line of magic, he felt that the students used their spirit to do something. He even felt a small change in the particles.


    Interested Fraser looked at the different boards only to notice that most tasks had the purpose of acquiring something in order to receive magic crystals.


    Weird things like black mushroom who needed to be the size of an arm or snot of a mountain bat were common things which needed to be harvested.


    The problem was that rewards were almost nonexistent. While the people who ¡°registered¡± themselves for the task seemed to be everywhere.


    As long as the task had no mentioning of danger or possibility of injury then there would always be a couple of dozen people registering for the task. Most of the people registered for simple tasks like harvesting plants or feeding beasts.


    Naturally they were also the most popular.


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    Searching for a while Fraser had to say that most tasks didn¡¯t allowed for quick magic crystals and often didn¡¯t payed much magic crystals even if the work seemed hard.


    Quickly Fraser realized that not only tasks seemed to be in the task hall as there were two receptions.


    Each for one side of the hall.


    One side administrated the tasks given out to people and managed the items or verification of their labor, while the other side allowed students or Magus to post their offered service.


    Naturally most students searched for work and most commonly wrote: ¡°Willing to work, I am an Apprentice of the Level, most were level 1 or 2, strong body and diligent. Leave Spirit Mark to contact me.¡±


    Though often times there would be no Spirit Mark under these notes. What had a lot of Spirit Marks were the lessons of the Magus which mostly had an Advanced in front of their subjects, like advanced botany, advanced spell models, advanced language of Runterra and many more.


    Since Fraser couldn¡¯t use the task hall with full potential yet he just looked around in order to broaden his vision, in other words the Data of his AI.


    After that Fraser quickly moved towards the market section in order to know how much he would be able to sell his basic explosion potion for.


    Naturally as his potion only had the color of white-grey he had to sell it for a lower amount.


    But it couldn¡¯t hurt knowing the amount of magic crystals one had to pay in order for a white basic explosion potion.


    Obviously because Fraser had 29 more basic explosion potion which all had the white color and were located in his chamber.


    ¡®It¡¯s a pity that I am not able to sell everything in a bulk, I have to fake my mastery in order to let other people know that I am slowly increasing my success percentage.¡¯


    While walking towards the shop with the fatty Fraser looked through the display windows of the shops in order to get a crude estimate price for most things.


    It was also helpful that every product showed in the display windows had a sign with their name on it allowing Fraser to store more Information with his AI.


    Quickly Fraser arrived at the shop where the fatty gifted him a second handed Alchemy Set.


    Without surprise the fatty still sat there looking into air.


    Only this time the fatty actually looked at Fraser before hesitating what to say.


    After all he did not know whether Fraser came back for more ingredients or gave up, since the last time Fraser appeared was over a month ago.


    ¡°I came here to sell my potion which I created, how many magic crystals is this potion worth.¡± said Fraser while giving out his white-grey basic explosion potion.


    With an astonished face the fatty looked at Fraser before coughing: ¡°It appears you are really talented, how about I buy the basic explosion potion at the marked price so I don¡¯t earn any magic crystals and you can invest your magic crystals into more materials? I will give you 4 magic crystals for the white-grey potion, after all it¡¯s not white. If it would be white then I would have given you 5 magic crystals at market price.¡±


    ¡®There is something fishy, you don¡¯t buy the potion without having suspicion. After all I could just put something greyish into the small flask and then sell it to him.¡¯


    ¡°Okay, to whom are you selling this basic explosion potion?¡± asked Fraser as he handed the small flask with the potion over to fatty.


    ¡°To my usual customer, can I do anything else for you?¡± replied fatty with a grin.


    ¡°Ah yeah, I would like to buy 4 batches of materials with the 4 magic crystals I earned from the one potion.¡± said Fraser while thinking inwardly how this fatty can be so easy to deceive.


    Receiving his 40 black stones which after a short talk with the fatty seemed to be named black fire eggs as they looking like small eggs but would explode if the black shell cracked.


    Sweat poured out of Frasers body as vowed to himself to be more careful around materials.


    With 40 black fire eggs in a small bag Fraser left the shop. After walking dozens of step Fraser turned around and slowly sneaked towards the window of the shop.


    Of course Fraser checked the surrounding for other students or human and would abort his curiosity as soon as another student or human would be in sight.


    What he saw confirmed the fishy smell, the fatty waited for a while before stepping out of his shop in order to look out for people. As he only looked for short moments Fraser went unnoticed.


    Then the fatty quickly ran back into the shop and walked through the door which led further into the shop causing Fraser to lose sight of him.

 Chapter 17 Selling a Potion (2)

    Fraser naturally didn¡¯t followed the fatty into the shop. After all it didn¡¯t seemed safe for Fraser to walk further into the shop.


    Instead he waited in front of the window for a while before shaking his head inwardly.


    ¡®There is no way for me to look into what fatty is doing. Maybe he is giving my basic explosion potion to someone in order to study it. The highest possibility is that fatty is using my basic explosion potion in order to prove if my potion is useable.¡¯


    With that thought Fraser walked back towards his Chamber and continued his hermit lifestyle of meditating, training in the Basic Knight Breathing Technique and creating basic explosion potions.


    Often times Fraser would sell a purposely created white-grey basic explosion potion to the fatty. Only a few times would he sell a white colored one.


    In order to be average Fraser even asked Nicholas what the average success percentage of creating basic potion was. Of course Fraser didn¡¯t asked directly and asked when there would be no suspicion, in other words when it wouldn¡¯t garner that much attention.


    The success rate astonished Fraser as most Alchemist would have a successfully created basic potion of 50%. Though that was really low if the Alchemist was familiar with the recipe and most had a success rate of 80-90%.


    This allowed Fraser to sell most of his successfully created potions to the fatty which gave him 4 magic crystals for a white colored basic explosion potion or 3 magic crystals for a white-grey colored one.


    Naturally fatty didn¡¯t gave him the market price, instead he gave him one magic crystals less compared to the selling price. Since the shop had to earn magic crystals as well.


    Fraser didn¡¯t care about that one magic crystal he would lose per sold potion as he had the highest profit percentage and didn¡¯t wanted to bother with selling.


    Instead he continued to buy black fire eggs and created more basic explosion potions in order to earn more magic crystals.


    With the blink of an eye three months passed since Fraser entered the Howling Abyss Academy. He could hear from the few discussion he had with Adrian, Nicholas and Elise that another batch of new students would enter the academy.


    But that didn¡¯t mattered for Fraser, he sold the average amount of basic explosion potions an Alchemist on his Level could create (An overzealous Alchemist who only brewed Potions) and earned 300 magic crystals.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Naturally Fraser still had a couple of dozens basic explosions in his own pocket. He also found time to test his basic explosion in a private testing room for spells. Though the room had costed him 1 magic crystals every hour it was worth.


    The basic explosion potion had a solid explosion range and power. It¡¯s a decent trump card for many lower leveled Apprentices, including Fraser who still had no spell model formed.


    The explosion could probably hurt everyone in a decent sized room.


    Also, the basic explosion potion is rather easy to use. Just throw it and as soon as the small flask breaks the explosion will appear.


    That wasn¡¯t the only method to use the potion. Talking with Nicholas opened many doors for Fraser, including to activate his potions with his will.


    It needed the same principle as marking the notes on the task boards: Marking something with your spirit. Then with your will you can activate the explosion from the potion.


    ¡°Hey Fraser, why are you hiding in your Chamber all day long. Enjoy life a little bit. I got invited to a party, want to come with me?¡± asked Adrian as the four students of Magus Sept met in the inner Chambers of Magus Sept.


    ¡°Yeah, you should enjoy life a little bit more. I know that as Alchemist we have to strive to create better potions but since you are already able to create one potion you can earn magic crystals with ease.¡± said Nicholas, agreeing with Adrian.


    It happened almost in every discussion after Adrian, Nicholas and Elise got to know Fraser. One of the boys would invite him to a party or a social gathering and then Fraser would decline it.


    ¡°No, I am rather busy lately. Besides I heard that the next batch of students arrived. I don¡¯t want that they will surpass me.¡± declined Fraser once again, this time with the excuse of not wanting that his juniors surpass him.


    ¡°It will be a miracle if Fraser ever decides to go to a social gathering. Just look how antisocial he is. I don¡¯t care how much you hate social gathering but in one month I will celebrate my birthday. I hope that you three can attend my birthday party. Including you Fraser.¡± said Elise with an annoyed tone, the last part with a threatening voice.


    Adrian and Nicholas agreed with a smile before looking at Fraser who had to agree in order to not threaten the relationship between him and the three senior students.


    Sitting in his Chamber on his bed Fraser thought about his next moves.


    ¡®I have 300 magic crystals which I earned from selling my basic explosion potions. My trump card in case I need to defend myself are three dozen of basic explosion potion. I will probably have to start buying spell models in order to learn one spell. The advice from Adrian, Nicholas and Elise was that one should only learn one spell model at Apprentice Level 2 and learn three at Apprentice Level 3. Thus the first spell models is rather important. Tomorrow I have to buy a few spell models from the Academy. I hope that they are not too expensive. I heard the cheapest spell models costs ten magic crystals.¡¯


    After eating his dinner which consisted of a huge pot of stew and an entire loaf of bread Fraser started to meditate.


    ¡®Before I meditate, AI is there an answer on how the meditation works? How does it increase my spirit and is there enough data to know why I am able to feel these particles in the air?¡¯


    [Data resulted in a possible of Spirit ¡°training¡±, the same training as physical muscles with weights. There is a possibility that the spirit weight doesn¡¯t increase with the spirit as there is a small loss in increase in spirit with every meditation]


    ¡®So it¡¯s something that is like the Basic Knight Breathing Technique. The Knight Technique still increases my attributes yet it¡¯s rather slow and I need to put more effort in it in order to achieve the same results when I started in it. AI show me my Body stats.¡¯


    [6.54 strength, 6.72 agility, 6.51 vitality, 2.79/2.79 spirit]


    ¡®It seems that the number 7 is the bottleneck which I am moving towards. Sadly I don¡¯t have the next part of the Basic Knight Breathing technique which should allow me to have inhuman strength. However my strength right now can easily be compared to a full grown man who trains daily with rather heavy weights.¡¯


    Closing his eyes and relaxing himself Fraser stopped thinking about his knight bottleneck and concentrated on the meditation. However there was a lingering feeling of excitement as tomorrow he would go and buy his first spell model.

 Chapter 18 Spell Model (1)

    As soon as Fraser opened his eyes he walked towards the Academy market. This was the only place in the Academy where he could buy Spell Models.


    Though there also was the possibility of buying Spell Models from Masters or Mentors in the case of Fraser, they were rare as the Spell Models from rank Magus would be way better than the basic one as most Spells were modified.


    ¡®I need to consider my first spell model as I will soon reach Apprentice Level 2. As Elise used one of her families artifacts to gauge our Apprentice Level. Surprisingly they are all still at Apprentice Level 3. I thought they were at Level 4 or even 5.¡¯


    The artifact worked like a measure stick, the more spirit you had, the higher the light would go and show your Apprentice Level.


    Hiding his leather bag which contained his entire fortune, 300 magic crystals, under his robe Fraser arrived at the Academy market.


    It wasn¡¯t really a market, a huge hall with many counters yet only one receptionist was sitting in a counter, an old woman who probably did a small nap.


    There were a couple of students in the hall but most just flicked through a thick book which was on every small desk.


    As Fraser arrived nobody looked at him, instead they continued to read the book.


    The flipping of paper could be heard as Fraser moved towards one of the small desk and chose to flip through it as well.


    Each book page contained a detailed description of the product, book or service the Academy provided and listed their magic crystal cost.


    Fraser flipped through the book and even saw the available basic potion recipes and their prices. However Fraser shoved that information back into his mind before looking through the spell models.


    Each spell model had an entire book page dedicated for the description, the power, the drawbacks, the weaknesses, a little bit of history and the magic crystal price at the bottom.


    As each spell model corresponded to an element Fraser searched for a suited Darkness spell model.


    The Element which got tested at the Encampment where Fraser joined the Howling Abyss Academy seemed a little bit irritating, yet Fraser learned from a free lesson that the Element you got to know on that day would be the element your body would be most suited for.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Most people would only have one element, but there were a couple who had more than one, two or maybe even three, four or even more. Yet more didn¡¯t always meant stronger, only more versatile. Also it allowed People to combine elements like water and earth into wood or plant.


    However as versatile mostly allowed you to be ready for more battlefields, people with more elements were deemed stronger than the others.


    As Fraser looked through the spell models he frowned.


    ¡®What do I want? This Darkness spear is excellent for offensive yet I don¡¯t know how that should help me increase my defensive abilities. Besides Dark Shield isn¡¯t much of a help either, pure defensive.¡¯


    Looking through the spell models there were a few common spell Models like the spear, shield or bomb. The different elements just added the element in front of those spells like ice spear, fire spear, stone spear, darkness spear etc., naturally some varied with names but meant the same like stone wall, stone shatter, water arrow etc.


    The description were solid and really basic yet Fraser knew that these spell models were really the basic of the basic. They gave the solution for one answer and that¡¯s it. A pure offensive spell, a pure defensive spell and an AOE offensive spell.


    Simple and practical.


    Yet Fraser didn¡¯t wanted such a spell model for his first spell model, ideally he wanted to have something that could evolve in various ways. After all the stronger version of Darkness Spear is only a huge Darkness Spear.


    Maybe even something that could help him in the future where he will get stronger.


    The ideal spell would be something that is average but can be used in many different ways.


    Though most spell models only varied in the names like Dark Scythe or Dark Net. There was one that caught his eyes which probably could be really variable. It was the Dark Rope.


    To be honest it sounded dumb, but a controllable Rope enabled a lot of options. Strangling enemies, binding foes, whipping prisoners were only a few possibilities.


    Reading the entire page for the spell model ¡°Dark Rope¡± caused Fraser to think about this particular spell model.


    The description on the page described ¡°Dark Rope¡± as a flexible and variable Spell Model which can be used to control a rope formed with darkness particles. It also needed less runes to form the spell model than the other spell models so it could be easily used even by an Apprentice Level 1. It also costed way less than most other Darkness Spells, it belonged to the cheapest spell models in the element of darkness.


    Which were priced around 10 magic crystals. Fraser heard that spell models would cost 10 magic crystals yet only the cheapest spell models had a price of 10 magic crystals.


    Better ones like the ¡°Dark Spear¡± cost around 20 to 30 magic crystals.


    Even with all these benefits of ¡°Dark Rope¡± Fraser still hesitated.


    After all there were obvious reasons it why it wasn¡¯t a popular spell model. It had the option of being used for different situations yet it exceeded in almost nothing. It didn¡¯t had the penetrating power of the ¡°Dark Spear¡± it also had little to none strong offensive power except binding and maybe strangling the target.


    The Defensive power was almost zero and so the ¡°Dark Rope¡± pushed you into support class which controlled the enemies and is really useless without the offensive power of a team.


    Even the lesser amount of runes couldn¡¯t help it. You probably could create two spell models of ¡°Dark Rope¡± at Apprentice Level 2, yet the spell ¡°Dark Spear¡± could do way more damage.


    After all if one spell model is able to do a better job, then why even bother with the inferior spell model.


    There wasn¡¯t even the reason of being too poor. Fraser still hadn¡¯t visited any advanced lessons which costed magic crystals. He even stopped his experiment towards the basic explosion potion even if the AI could probably analyze the different fusion times and extracting times in order to create a colorless basic explosion potion which had more than triple the explosion power and range than that of the white one.


    Now Fraser could be considered to be wealthy, though the wealth will quickly melt away when Fraser actually starts investing into knowledge and date.


    ¡®I could just go and buy the spell model for ¡°Dark Spear¡±, yet it seems so common for Apprentices to choose the most expensive spell model. After all it was proven countless times that the spell ¡°Dark Spear¡± is really effective. Or else it wouldn¡¯t be so expensive compared to the ¡°Dark Rope¡±.¡¯


    Fraser didn¡¯t wanted to be common, a voice deep inside him wanted him to be special. Even if that meant to choose a cheap spell model.

 Chapter 19 Spell Model (2)

    ¡®I can make the ¡°Dark Rope¡° work. It is a variable and flexible spell which should synergize well with other tools. It may be a weak spell model standing alone, but it will give me the flexibility I need.¡¯


    Still on the book page of ¡°Dark Rope¡± Fraser continued to ponder. Choose ¡°Dark Rope¡± as his first spell model or not?


    ¡®I should continue to look for other spell models of the element darkness, maybe I will find another spell model which sounds interesting.¡¯


    Fraser continued to look for his first spell model and got surprised by the variety of the element ¡°Darkness¡±. Apparently each element had different sub-categories which even though synergized with the element had different attributes.


    For example there was the spell model ¡°Poison Fog¡±, even though Fraser saw it in the plant element section as well, in the darkness section of the book there was a spell model with the same name. But the poisons were different. As the ¡°Poison Fog¡± of the darkness attribute described a corroding poison, almost an acid like substance, the plant ¡°Poison Fog¡± on the other hand described a green fog which had poisonous results like paralyzes or illnesses.


    To say that these sub-categories spell models were a little bit more powerful were an underestimation. Even the academy book filled with the information said that these sub-categories spell models were more powerful than the more common ones like the ¡°Dark Spear¡±, ¡°Dark Net¡± or just ¡°Dark¡± in front of them.


    Yet the reason why Fraser saw the fellow students who protected him on the way casting mostly those ¡°common¡± spells was the sheer amount of knowledge needed in order to control them properly.


    The academy book even put on warn signs on all those element sub-categories, warning all fellow students that the students who tried to use those spell models without the proper know-how got killed by their own spell. As it backfired and killed them.


    ¡®To be really special I should need to learn one of those spell models. Yet it is better to choose a common spell and then improve on it. I heard from Elise that the really powerful spell models are those that are modified.¡¯


    Fraser evaluated the options before deciding on buying a common spell model with the ¡°Dark¡±.


    As sub-categories tended to be dangerous without the necessary knowledge Fraser decided to learn a normal dark element spell before acquiring the necessary information. After all Fraser had no information how many magic crystals he needed to spend for the lessons.


    Besides even the amount of knowledge variated. There was a dark element sub-category spell model which only required advanced knowledge in anatomy.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Here is the problem: Advanced knowledge in anatomy was extremely hard to get. One of the daily free lessons which Fraser attended had the title of anatomy of a normal fish. Even that turned out to be an endless flow of information during the time of the lesson.


    Fraser had an AI in his mind so saving the information was easily done, yet Fraser couldn¡¯t imagine a normal student memorizing the amount of information.


    Though it was hard to have the qualification for a sub-category spell model Fraser still wanted to learn one in the future.


    As almost each sub-category spell had a wide use, multiple fields of usability and were weird and bizarre.


    Fraser only looked into the darkness element sub-categories spell model yet each fascinated him. A banshee summoning spell model, a spell model which turned your shadow into the most loyal and really helpful companion, a spell model which invoked a curse and weakened the receiver allowing an easy upfront confrontation, were only a few examples of the dark element sub-categories spell models.


    Making his decision Fraser walked towards the receptionist who had taken a small nap but quickly opened her eyes as soon as Fraser stepped in front of her counter.


    ¡°What do you want.¡± said the receptionist with a monotone voice.


    ¡°I would like the spell model for ¡°Dark Rope¡±.¡± replied Fraser while putting ten magic crystals on top of the counter.


    The old women counted the magic crystals one by one before taking a thick book out and placing it on the counter.


    On the book cover it read: ¡°Spell model of Dark Rope¡±.


    Taking the thick book Fraser quickly walked out of the Academy market and stowed the spell model of dark rope in his chamber.


    However Fraser didn¡¯t immediately opened the spell model of dark rope. Instead he grabbed a parchment and a feather and hurried back to the Academy market.


    Back at the Academy market Fraser opened the book again and searched for sub-category spell models which he may want to learn in the future and copied down their knowledge requirement.


    The sub-category spell model which interested him the most was the spell model which summoned a banshee. After all the banshee sounded really powerful and would allow Fraser to control the battle.


    He still didn¡¯t knew whether he needed to battle other Apprentices, but he remembered one of his instructors saying that competition between fellow members of the same organization may lead to death. He even told a few real life experiences where he mentioned that he was from a Knight Academy of a bigger empire and got injured by a fellow student.


    As he got injured and couldn¡¯t show the potential he once had, he got kicked out from the Knight Academy. Thus he, the instructor, said that he is pretty happy that the Duke of Rosethorn hired him as an Instructor.


    The essence which Fraser took from the story was that in order to stay at the same position, one needed to have somebody soak up the major damage. After all the Instructor wasn¡¯t the one who caused a fight or provoked anyone, instead he got hired to fight for another fellow student who had a lot of money.


    This resulted in him getting beaten and injured.


    After copying down the requirement for the sub-category spell model ¡°Banshee Summoning¡± Fraser quickly walked back to his chamber. After all the spell model dark rope waited in his chamber and Fraser really wanted to learn a spell in order to become a real Magus.


    Well not a real Magus like Magus Sept, as Fraser also realized that someone like Magus Sept was way higher on the power scale than Apprentices, but someone who could use magic or a cast a spell.


    As soon as Fraser opened the thick book which contained the Spell model for dark rope, he could see pages full of runes.


    There was only one book page which didn¡¯t contained a single rune, the first page which had a short description on what Fraser had to do.


    ¡®So I need to create the runes one by one and then link them with the other runes in order to create a 3d spell model which will allow me to cast the spell dark rope? It sounds rather easy but creating these runes in my mind will take a long time.¡¯


    When Fraser advanced to Apprentice Level one he could access a mind room which allowed him to create things out of his spirit. He played a little bit with the room but never explored it completely. Now he knew what the mind room was for, for the 3d spell models in his mind.

 Chapter 20 Spell Model (3)

    Creating the first rune with the ¡±mind power¡± as Fraser called it was easy. Though it took quite a while as Fraser needed to draw the entire rune with his mind.


    Thus Fraser continued withdrawing every single rune which was on the thick spell model book for dark rope. The AI was an immense help as Fraser looked at the page before letting the AI project the page onto the spirit room allowing Fraser to draw runes from an entire page before needing to look at the spell model book again.


    This was so practical that Fraser just stored the entire spell model book in the AI before continuing to draw the runes.


    Days passed as Fraser continued his hermit lifestyle but this time instead of meditating to increase his spirit or training in the Basic Knight Breathing Technique he tried to create the spell model of dark rope.


    In the beginning Fraser took a while to draw a single rune and thus frowned inwardly:


    ¡®How am I able to finish the spell model, on each book page there are at least a dozen runes if not even more. The dark rope spell model book has more than five hundred pages, if this goes on it will take a couple of years.¡¯


    However as Fraser continued his rune drawing in his spirit room he became faster.


    The more runes he created in his mind room, the more he realized. His spirit decreased with each rune he formed and thus the best moment to create any runes in his mind room was when he had enough spirit.


    The decrease in spirit isn¡¯t anything permanent, instead it felt like the exhaustion when he used the Alchemy Set to create potions.


    So Frasers schedule consisted of eating, resting, meditating in order to increase his spirit and creating runes in his mind room in order to create the spell model.


    Two days passed since Fraser bought the spell model book for dark rope and he already created more than thousand runes in his mind room.


    In the beginning one thousand runes seemed to be a lot, yet with each rune created it felt easier for Fraser to create runes and the numerical data didn¡¯t lied.


    Somehow he needed less spirit in order to form a rune.


    ¡®There is high chance the spirit is something that can be trained, not only in size but also in control. Maybe the way on how I controlled the spirit was too crude and so I wasted a lot of spirit. I need to test this. Does it only work with runes or does it work with spirit in general. AI, show me my spirit consumption with the Alchemy Set from one week ago and show me the spirit consumption when I create one potion.¡¯Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Fraser stopped his routine of meditating and creating runes and pulled out a black fire egg and the Alchemy set and started to brew the potion.


    As there was no experiment or anything unusual involved, a white colored basic explosion potion appeared in a small flask in Frasers right hand.


    ¡®AI, show me the spirit consumption, did it decrease?¡¯


    [0.58 spirit consumption for a basic explosion potion one week ago, the spirit consumption of the basic explosion potion is 0.49. A decrease in 0.09 spirit points detected. Decrease relative to the whole spirit amounts to 3,3%]


    ¡®So the spirit consumption does increase, the rune creation even affects my spirit control in the Alchemy Set. Creating a spell model seems to be a good exercise for spirit control.¡¯


    With Frasers fast rune creation being explained, Fraser continued to create runes. This time not only for the sake of the spell model, but for the feeling of spirit control.


    The idea of feeling the spirit control had no success, but Fraser recorded everything with the AI so the lost time of trying to feel the spirit control still had its use.


    Another two days passed and it was four days since Fraser had bought the spell model for dark rope. He already lost track of how many runes he created, though the AI did count for him.


    4476 runes floated in his mind room. Though Fraser renamed his mind room the spirit room as it obviously had something to do with his spirit.


    Besides his spirit control increased the more runes he created in the room, thus the name spirit room.


    Fraser spent the fifth day continuing his rune creation, only a few dozen book pages filled with runes were left.


    Before Fraser went to sleep, he finished creating the runes for the spell model dark rope and 5400 runes floated in his spirt room.


    In order to be at the best state possible when linking all the runes Fraser didn¡¯t linked his runes at the fifth day, instead he waited till the sixth day and then sat on his bed and prepared to link all 5400 runes.


    It seemed to be easy to link all 5400 runes as Fraser created them one by one. However it was a problem of linking them all at once as one needed to have precise control of the spirit room in order to link them.


    ¡®AI, is it possible to link every single rune at once? Also record the linking scene and save it under the file of ¡°Spell Model Linking¡±.¡¯


    [Yes it is possible to link every single rune at once, do you want to initiate the spell model linking?]


    Fraser said ¡®Yes¡¯ in his mind before awaiting the result of the spell model linking.


    With gentle force his spirit controlled his first created rune before linking it with the second rune and the second rune linked with the third rune and the third rune linked with the fourth rune and so on.


    This all happened in the blink of an eye and a weirdly shaped model appeared in Frasers spirit room. It almost looked like an egg formed with weirdly shaped runes.


    ¡®This is a spell model? It looks like an egg. Let me see what will happen when I push my spirit inside.¡¯


    As soon as Fraser pushed a little bit of his spirit inside the runic egg a vortex appeared inside the egg causing Frasers spirit getting sucked into the egg.


    Slowly the runic egg shriveled into a tiny ball with its surface covered in tightly packed runes.


    While the runic egg shrank to the size of a tiny ball Fraser could feel that his spirit room volume somehow got reduced.


    Though the spirit inside the room didn¡¯t disappeared, instead Fraser could see or feel that the reduced volume of the spirit room appeared in the tiny densely covered runic ball.


    Because of the reaction from the spell model Fraser didn¡¯t continued to push his spirit inside, instead he pulled back his spirit immediately and watched the shriveling process.


    ¡®Is the tiny ball the true form of the spell model and the egg the spell model which never got used? Similar to a balloon but instead of getting bigger and bigger it gets smaller and smaller? Well let me test it.¡¯


    Fraser again pushed his spirit into the tiny runic ball and this time he didn¡¯t pulled back his spirit.


    He could feel how the tiny runic spell model ball drained his spirit and something gathered in front of him. As Fraser opened his eyes a big grin formed on his face.

 Chapter 21 Simulation

    In front of him floated a black rope. Though it couldn''t be described as a rope as the thickness of the rope could be compared to a small trees log.


    As Fraser still meditated the black rope just floated in front of him.


    With a hand gesture Fraser moved the black rope and thus a strange scene can be seen in Frasers chamber. Fraser wide a wide grin moving his hand and a black rope following the hand.


    As Fraser stopped playing around with the black rope he analyzed it. The length was around 5 meters. Also, he tried to let the dark rope do circling motions with no success. Instead, all he got was a floating dark rope which more looked like a floating dark log.


    Since Fraser didn''t want to destroy anything from his chamber, he couldn''t test the destructibility from the dark rope which looked like a dark log.


    So Fraser deactivated his spirit input towards the spell mode of the dark rope. Immediately the dark log vanished into nothing.


    ''What does the dark rope consist off? Spirit? Some weird energy? Ether? Mana or those element particles? AI, show me my attributes and also highlight the amount of spirit I used to cast the dark rope.''


    [6.58 strength, 6.74 agility, 6.55 vitality, 0.67/2.91 spirit, the amount of spirit used to initiate the spell model dark rope was 0.5. The spirit needed to maintain the spell model dark rope is only a single percentage of the initiation cost. The percentage will be drained within each second]


    ''Since I only focused on building the spell model I neglected my Knight Training. Besides, how does the spell model even work. It is fascinating that I only need to use a little bit of my spirit to create solid dark matter which I can control. Well, I will be able to control it as the dark rope is just a dark log at the moment.''


    Fraser sat on his bed for awhile, thinking about how the runes resulted in the spell model.


    ''I just created the runes and put them together, are they something like a processing machine for spirit? Maybe the runes are parts for something and spirit is the energy. Then that means I could actually build my own spell models if I know every rune out there. The only problem is there are probably more than 5400 runes out there. After all, each rune was unique. At least from the dark rope spell model.''


    Just as Fraser stopped his thoughts and wanted to continue with meditation a crazy idea appeared in his mind.


    ''What about a simulation? There was an AI which after millions or billions of simulations was able to create a perfect model which fulfilled his task almost perfectly. AI, simulate the spell model dark rope with a different linking order or a different linking pattern.''


    [Simulation created, one, two, three, four, ¡­. ten, twenty,¡­]


    Fraser watched as the AI tried to use different linking patterns with the runes.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ''I can''t create a spell model out of nothing, besides I only know the runes of dark rope so the best thing I can do is to try whether there is a spell model with the same runes but a different linking pattern. I may even discover a dark rope with better attributes.''


    Just as Fraser celebrated his genius idea inwardly he felt dizzy.


    ''AI, why am I so dizzy?''


    [Spirit exhaustion, 0.03/2.91 spirit]


    ''Do the simulations consume spirit as well? AI, continue to the simulation but stop as soon as my spirit falls under 0.1 spirit.''


    With this last command Fraser closed his eyes and within a few moments, he fell asleep.


    As Fraser woke up he opened his eyes wearily.


    ''How come I feel so tired? AI, what are the results?''


    [Simulated more than 15 thousand different linking patterns, no results found]


    ''How come there are so many simulations? Did the spirit usage decrease? Or is there another reason why the simulations don''t take that much spirit?''


    [Affirmative, spirit usage to simulate the behavior of two runes from now decreased by 78% compared to the first simulation. Another reason is the fact that each simulation ends quickly as linking two runes may result in the destruction of both]


    ''Continue the simulation, but increase the threshold from 0.1 spirit to 0.5 spirit.''


    After Fraser raised the threshold from 0.1 to 0.5 he felt a lot better, especially the tiredness he had fell away.


    After discovering the simulation Fraser stopped his hermit lifestyle and instead decided to exchange his wealth to knowledge.


    As if trying to turn the desert into an ocean with a single drop of water the wealth Fraser acquired from his basic explosion potions evaporated.


    He spent all of his rest magi crystals on lessons. Naturally no ordinary lesson, lessons held by a Magus.


    Of course, it was really expensive as each participant had to pay a considerable amount of fee which consisted of 10 magic crystals per lesson. However, the amount of knowledge acquired was equal if not more worth than the fee.


    As Fraser had a lot of questions regarding the spirit as well as the spell models he primarily visited the advanced lessons for those topics. Thus solving a lot of unanswered questions he had.


    But he didn''t only visited topic which interested him, he even went to a couple of Alchemy Lessons which his mentor Magus Sept held. As Magus Sept was his mentor, he even received an advantage. He only needed to pay 5 magic crystals instead of the usual 10.


    Most of these Alchemy lessons were about extracting, fusion and handling of the materials.


    It was just learning a solid foundation for Alchemy.


    Though the questions answered from the spell model lessons and the spirit lesson were way more interesting.


    Apparently, each spell model had a certain amount of runes where you could change the shape, linking pattern and rune size in order to alter the basic spell. The surprising thing was that even if you changed everything if you used the same runes you would always end up casting the spell.


    Though the shape, linking pattern and rune size had to be stable in order to determine it as a modified spell model.


    However not every modification was an increase in power. Some actually decreased the power for the speed, others decreased the spirit cost but also the power, others increased the spirit cost as well as the size, power, and speed.


    The Magus demonstrated one of his modified spells, a fireball and it was huge. The power was overwhelming, the heat was high and the explosion power was awesome.


    These modified spells which had an overall upgrade in power, speed and cost were trued modified spells as they could be infused with many things.


    There were still a lot of unanswered questions in the spirit side as the Magus just demonstrated on how to control a spirit properly and even showed on how to extract the soul of a living being. The Magus used an animal as the test object.


    As Fraser attended his expensive lessons and mediated every day something happened to his spirit as well as his AI. A change occurred.

 Chapter 22 New Function

    The change was difficult to describe. It felt like something significant changed but Fraser just couldn¡¯t detect what changed.


    The change occurred while Fraser meditated on his bed. He commanded his AI to sort his paid lessons into different folders in order to have a structure when he needed to search for a piece of specific information. So, for example, he had an ¡°animal¡± and ¡°plant¡± folder. Naturally, there was a lot of weird stuff out there and even something like elementals who only consisted of their respective element.


    ¡®AI, what happened? Did something happen to my body? It doesn¡¯t affect me right now but there could be long term problems. Give every change that just occurred.¡¯


    [No major anomaly in the body detected. The change that occurred is the spirit increase]


    ¡®Show me my body attributes and continue with the simulation of the spell model dark rope.¡¯


    Since Fraser visited lessons with the topic of spell models he invested more of his time and spirit to try and decipher one of those modified spell models. After all a major increase in every attribute whether it¡¯s the power, speed or cost efficiency greatly tempted him.


    Besides Fraser didn¡¯t even need to sacrifice any of his max spirit if the attempted spell models don¡¯t work. As he learned that if the runes do not link properly or the shape isn¡¯t right then a small spirit part will disappear. The spirit that disappears with one wrong linking of two runes is nothing significant, it can be neglected with ease.


    But small things accumulate and since there are thousands of runes which need to be linked with an almost infinite amount of shapes, linking patterns and rune sizes the number of spell models successfully modified is rare.


    Though it surprised Fraser that even though the spirit decreased seemed to be dangerous the Magus holding the lesson had way more than a single modified spell model.


    Also, the students attending the spell model lessons reached numbers of a few hundred.


    Fraser quickly found the motive for many students. Each successfully modified spell model, whether it had an increase in attributes or not would be useful.


    As a successfully modified spell model can be traded for many things. Especially since the trading partner was a Magus.


    There was a rumor that a student luckily found the linking pattern for a modified spell model. Though the overall spell performance decreased, he still was able to exchange it with a Magus and attained the rank of Magus himself.


    So many of the students hoped to be as lucky as the one student and tried to discover a modified spell model even if it took a part of their spirit.


    However Fraser didn¡¯t needed to pay with his maximum spirit amount, instead, he just used up his spirit in general which can easily be recovered.


    Thus he inwardly thought of trading one modified spell model if he had something he really wanted.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡®I haven¡¯t even discovered a modified spell model yet. I will just wait and see how it goes.¡¯


    That is what Fraser thought after hearing the trading information from one of the students.


    [6.58 strength, 6.74 agility, 6.55 vitality, 1.34/3.00 spirit, continuing with the simulation of the spell model dark rope]


    ¡®So my spirit reached 3 points in spirit. Did that changed me somehow?¡¯


    Fraser continued to sit on top of his bed while he thought about the change he somehow felt.


    Just as Fraser finished his examination of his body whether everything was the same as always (His body was the same as a moment ago), something happened to him.


    Fraser experienced a whole new world as if he suddenly walked outside for the first time. He somehow could feel and see the outside of his body. It didn¡¯t felt normal as he felt like he entered a state where he was able to watch himself from a different perspective.


    The feeling was similar to his rare meditation Enlightenments as he would call it. Where he would also enter a state where he could experience the feeling of watching himself from another perspective and feeling small particles in the surrounding.


    Yet this feeling was permanent, not like the short moment of his meditation state.


    Fraser body began to sweat and he himself had problems of keeping his mind.


    The sudden change in his perception caused his brain to experience a severe headache and his body felt like it just got thrown into water, the temperature alternating between hot and cold.


    Frasers last thought before his mind and body collapsed was:


    ¡®What is this sensation? What is happening to me?¡¯


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    As Fraser opened his eyes his first impression was of the slightly wet surrounding.


    A dry throat asked for water as Fraser slowly stood up.


    ¡®Did something changed? Did I get poisoned? I need to drink something.¡¯


    After drinking tons of water Fraser looked at his bed. The bedsheets were completely soaked in his sweat and it began to smell.


    Adding to the fact that Frasers skin looked like a dried up mummy skin, he could guess how sickly he looked.


    However Fraser didn¡¯t feel as if he was ill, instead, he felt good. To be honest, he felt great.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know what the result of me losing all of my sweat is, but the sensation I had before I passed out felt like something got added which resulted in my reaction.¡¯


    While Fraser examined his shriveled skin, he suddenly felt another sensation. He could see how his shriveled skin looked like, but the fascinating thing was not only with his eyes but also with something different.


    A short glance into his spirit room revealed everything. The tiny and runic ball which was the spell model for dark rope still floated around the room, but the former walls which seemed to limit the room disappeared.


    Which meant that his spirit could go outside of his former boundary. Naturally, this also meant that as soon as the spirit went outside of the former boundary it got filled with all sorts of information.


    Fraser looked closer towards the former limit of the room and realized that the boundary or limit didn¡¯t disappeared. Instead, it changed into something of an invisible jelly wall which after passing through it, allowed one to sense the world.


    ¡®So the result of my spirit leaving my body caused me to receive too much information and thus caused my body to overreact.¡¯


    Fraser continued to look at his spirit room, not sure whether to call it room anymore as the walls disappeared.


    After a while, Fraser could see that some of his spirit lingered on the jelly wall meaning that his spirit formed a small layer of spirit on the walls causing him to have a detailed stream of information coming to his brain.


    ¡®Since I now have something in which I can sense the world with. AI scan the object in front of me.¡¯


    As soon as Fraser commanded it, he could feel how his spirit passed through the jelly walls before forming a sphere around the object which he wanted to be scanned.


    Quickly the AI gave an answer.


    [Basic Explosion Potion detected, from the database it is confirmed to be common, meaning a white color]


    This caused Fraser to think of more uses for the AI.

 Chapter 23 Overall Improvement

    This caused Fraser to think of more uses for the AI.


    In the beginning when Fraser received the AI he began to speculate on how powerful he would get, but reality limited the usability of the AI and thus only the showing of body attributes which allowed Fraser to look at his improvement and the data sorting which allowed him to have something along the lines of a photographic memory allowed the AI to be somewhat useful.


    However, now the AI could simulate the linking of differently sized runes, rune patterns and spell shapes without consuming a small part of the max amount of spirit. This turned the AI into one of the most useful perks to Fraser.


    Also since Fraser now somehow was able to push his spirit outside of his body, Fraser related the spirit room to his body, the AI could scan and analyze things from distance.


    It naturally needed more practice as Fraser wasn''t sure if his spirit is invisible to other people, especially to the other Apprentices or rank Magus. Also, Fraser felt a rather big chunk of his spirit vanishing after the spirit returned from analyzing the basic explosion potion.


    However, Fraser attributed that to lacking spirit control as he wasn''t used to controlling such a huge part of his spirit adding to the fact that he controlled his spirit outside of his body for the first time.


    ''Did I reach Apprentice Level 2 or is this new sensation something exclusive for me? It would be good if I reached Apprentice Level 2, but if this is exclusive to me then why did it happen to me?''


    Fraser knew that being special not always resulted in the best possible treatment from others. After all, just look at his experience for having under average talent in the Rosethorn family.


    He got shunned by his half-siblings who barely achieved any knight training and got ridiculed for his weak body.


    Why under average talent equals to being special? Because the one being special wasn''t him, instead it was his mother who treated a really talented boy better than her own son.


    Naturally, he wasn''t the only one having under average talent and his mother wasn''t the only one sucking up to the talented boy and his mother.


    But the special of his mother was that she devoted almost her entire time to the talented boy and only put up a good face with Fraser if she was in front of the duke.


    With the duke being busy and having a lot of wives and concubines, it was no wonder that Fraser got neglected and had the weakest boy of all the children. After all, there was nobody to push him and as the Dukes'' son he could fool around however he liked it as long as nothing serious happened in the dukedom.


    Only when Fraser had the talent of becoming a Magus, Fraser realized that it only meant talent for being an Apprentice, did his mother give him a short period span of attention.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    While Fraser decided to ask Elise, Adrian or Nicholas about his special state.


    Obviously not directly in order to not give his potential secret away. Instead with a question thrown at the right moment without giving them any suspicion if it was a special state or something.


    Thus after a short session of meditation Fraser walked towards the inner chamber of Magus Sept.


    His shriveled skin was still shriveled, though Fraser could see with a small spirit check that it was dead skin and new, rosy skin was already under it.


    As soon as Fraser arrived he could see Nicholas, Elise, and Adrian talking.


    Though there was something different than usual. As the three didn''t talk to each other, instead they talked to a blond girl who had dark blue eyes and looked immature.


    When Fraser arrived at the inner chamber the blond girl turned her head towards Fraser before asking: "Who is that?"


    "Oh, that is Fraser, also one of Mentor Sept inner students. He arrived at the Howling Abyss Academy one term earlier than you, meaning three months." answered Elise.


    "Oh, and why does his skin looks so shriveled? Is he perhaps an old herbalist which Mentor Sept recruited in order for his Alchemy experiments?" continued to ask the blond girl while noticing Frasers shriveled skin.


    "He probably reached Apprentice Level 2 which allowed his spirit to reach out of his body and this is the reaction from his body. After all Mentor Sept recruited him for his talent in Alchemy and not in his talent grade." replied Adrian smoothly as soon as the blond girl asked the question.


    This reply from Adrian quickly answered the question from Fraser whether the spirit outside of his body was a special thing. Instead, it just signaled that one was at Apprentice Level 2.


    Though the reaction of his body still wondered Fraser, did everyone had a similar reaction?


    "Then who is more talented in Alchemy, that Fraser or you Nicholas? Besides he has to be really low in his talent grade if he only reaches Apprentice Level 2 after three months. Besides does that reaction happen to everyone? How come I didn''t experienced it?" said the blond girl before smirking at Fraser.


    As soon as the question fell every eye in the inner chamber was on Nicholas.


    Even Fraser looked at Nicholas, awaiting his predicted answer. He already knew what happened as Elise, Adrian and Nicholas stood around the blond girl the same way his half-siblings would surround the talented family members.


    "Naturally I am more talented in Alchemy, I only needed a single day in order to brew a potion, Fraser took way longer. More than a month." said Nicholas with a smile towards the blond girl.


    "The reaction from reaching Apprentice Level 2 only affects grade 3 talents or lower. Grade 4 talents or higher won''t have that reaction." said Elise towards the blond girl.


    As if trying to support Elise Adrian quickly threw a comparison to Fraser:


    "Yeah, I am a grade 4 talent so naturally, I had no reaction when I reached Apprentice Level 2."


    "Of course I am also a grade 4 talent. What would happen if I were a grade 3 talent or lower, this reaction would make me so embarrassed. Hahaha." laughed Nicholas.


    The blond girl roared with a burst of loud laughter while Adrian and Nicholas quickly joined the laugh.


    Fraser just stood there with his shriveled face and his shriveled skin under his robe. His eyes looked at the situation with no emotions. As if he already got used to such a theatrical play.


    He could see how Elise just laughed a little bit in order to join the group while sneak peeking at his reaction. On the other hand, you had Adrian, Nicholas and the blond girl who laughed as if they had made an extremely funny joke.


    As if the feeling of being in a group gave Adrian the guts of talking Fraser down, when the three stopped laughing Adrian said loudly to Fraser:


    "It is just a matter of fact, you are a lousy grade 3 talent while we are superior grade 4 talents. Elizabeth is even a grade 5 talent."


    At that moment another person walked in, somebody completely covered in his robes. Even his face was covered with a white mask.

 Chapter 24 Masked Figure

    Naturally, as soon as the covered man or woman walked into the inner chambers of Magus Sept he saw the confrontation between Fraser and the group consisting of Elise, Adrian, Nicholas and the blond girl named Elizabeth.


    However, the covered person ignored the confrontation and simply walked towards a corner and sat down on the nearest couch.


    As if finding something more interesting Elizabeth, the blond girl turned towards the covered figure and began to mock the figure:


    ¡°Oh, another one who just reached Apprentice Level 2? What are you hiding under your mask, your shriveled skin? I didn¡¯t think Magus Sept would surround himself with grade 3 talents or under.¡±


    However, the white masked figure didn¡¯t react. Instead, it simply turned his head towards Elizabeth and waited.


    There were no eyes or any sort of human feature that could be seen on the white mask. To describe the mask: It is a white mask without any features. It almost could be a white shield covering his face.


    But on the first glance, the mask seemed to be melting into the body, as if the mask seemed to be part of the body.


    While Elizabeth and the rest turned their attention towards the masked figure, Fraser began to move to the other corner and chose a couch for himself.


    Just as Fraser sat down he could hear a pitched shriek. Looking up he could see how Elizabeth and the others slowly backing away from the white mask figure.


    The four of them had a pale face and on Nicholas face a small trickle of sweat formed.


    Frightened or threatened by something unknown the white masked figure unleashed the group stepped back and chose a couch for their group.


    After choosing their couch the group whispered among themselves and clearly, the conversation topic was the figure with the white mask as they sneakily glanced towards the masked figures a few times.


    ¡®So the first people I met at the Howling Abyss Academy are not fated to become friends with me. I should go and continue to meditate. Also, I need to plan my schedule for the paid lessons and create a few more basic explosion potions. My amount of magic crystals is easily spent as my best option to acquire knowledge is by attending those lessons which need a learning fee. After all, the AI can save the entire lesson and use it for the Database.¡¯


    As Nicholas, Adrian, and Elise clearly chose the side of Elizabeth and ridiculed him, Fraser no longer saw them as potential allies or friends. After all, he already received a lot of information from them and acquired enough information in order for him to stand alone in the Howling Abyss Academy.


    Standing up Fraser walked towards the exit of the inner Chamber as his reason for coming to the chamber already got fulfilled. His reaction was normal for grade 3 talents or under and pushing the spirit outside of the body resulted in the reaction as well as the breakthrough to Apprentice Level 2.


    Just as he reached the door a deep voice stopped him:


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.¡°If I were you then I wouldn¡¯t walk back towards your chamber. Let us talk.¡±


    Fraser turned his head towards the masked figure and instead of trusting common sense which meant avoiding the masked figure he walked towards the figure and sat down on the same couch as the masked figure.


    ¡®I believe the inner chamber act as a meeting place for his closest or most talented students. After all I don¡¯t see a single child younger than me which if I am right meant that me creating a basic explosion potion within a month impressed Magus Sept. So I don¡¯t think that the masked figure will kill and instead is one of the senior disciples of Magus Sept, even more, senior than Elise and Adrian which entered the Howling Abyss Academy in the same year.¡¯


    ¡°You achieved Apprentice Level 2? Congratulation.¡± said the masked figure with his deep voice.


    As this time the masked figure didn¡¯t speak loud Fraser could see the group consisting of Adrian, Elise, Nicholas, and Elizabeth trying to hear the conversation.


    However, as they chose the couch in the other corner they probably couldn¡¯t hear it. So they tried to pretend as if they didn¡¯t try to focus on listening.


    With a simple ¡°Thank you.¡± Fraser answered the masked figure before waiting.


    ¡°I am Emium, an older disciple of Mentor Sept. What is your name?¡± said the masked figure, still with a deep tone.


    ¡°I am Fraser, a disciple of Mentor Sept who joined the Howling Abyss Academy one term ago.¡± replied Fraser.


    ¡°Who are these guys over there?¡± asked the masked man without even glancing at the group.


    ¡°Why should I not go back to my chambers?¡± Fraser replied with a counter question.


    The masked figure named Emium remained silent for a while before saying: ¡°Mentor Sept has guarding duty. We as his students has to go with him. Thus it wouldn¡¯t make sense to leave the inner chamber where the close students of Mentor Sept are gathering.¡±


    Fraser copied Emium and remained silent for a while as well as if lingering the information for a while before digesting it.


    ¡°They are Elise, Adrian, Nicholas, and Elizabeth. Elise and Adrian are senior disciples of Mentor Sept and Elizabeth joined this term.¡±


    Without even glancing at the group Emium remained silent and then turned his head towards another direction, effectively ignoring Fraser.


    As the group realized that the conversation was pretty short they continued to whisper, but this time also peeking at Fraser while they whispered.


    Time passed and soon the door opened once again.


    Of course, Fraser and the group looked at the newcomers and remembered their forms. However, Emium simply continued to stare into space.


    The newcomers were two women, one had blond hair and resembled one of those fantasy wood elves which were from tales. However, in Frasers memory, the woman looked like the typical wood elf. Blond hair, leather armor from beast skins, white and smooth skin, a bow strapped over her back and most importantly: a beauty.


    The other woman looked like one of those bodybuilders, large muscles, large legs, tall, fearsome face expression and revealing clothes which showed her bulging muscles. Strapped on her back was a large two-headed ax.


    While the two walked into the chamber they talked about something but stopped as soon as they saw the gazes directed at them. Silently the two chose a couch and sat down. The wood elf woman started to polish her wooden bow with an unknown tincture while the muscular woman started to sharpen her two-headed ax causing tiny sparks to fly from the whetstone.


    However the two women didn¡¯t neglect their surroundings, they would also glance at Fraser and Emium as well as Nicholas, Adrian, Elise and Elizabeth.


    Apparently they found Fraser to be more interesting and thus stared at him way more often than they would stare at the other students in the room.


    Quickly more and more weird looking figures started entering the chamber and taking couches.


    Most of them were concealed like Emium and only a few revealed themselves, including the wood elf women, muscular woman, a muscular man who after greeting the muscular woman with ¡°big sister¡± obviously was related to the muscular woman and a few other students yet Fraser only saved their Appearance with the AI and didn¡¯t look at them now as Magus Sept arrived and walked into the middle of the room.

 Chapter 25 Duty of Magus Sept

    ¡°My dear students, once again the time to leave the Howling Abyss Academy has arrived. This time there are five students who will experience their first outpost session and I hope that you, as their seniors will help these five students who have shown potential to grow. Also, I do not hope to see another one of you dying.¡± said Magus Sept while clearly gesturing towards Fraser, Elise, Adrian, Nicholas, and Elizabeth.


    Thus every senior glanced towards the five students, causing every single of the five to feel pressured.


    ¡°Since there are five newcomers, I will shortly explain what this outpost session is about. I as a Magus of the Howling Abyss Academy have the duty to guard an outpost in the Howling Abyss for three years in the time span of 12 years. Naturally, the Magus rotate every three years thus forming the circle of 9 years staying in the Academy or staying elsewhere and 3 years at an outpost in the Howling Abyss to protect it from creatures.¡± explained Magus Sept before allowing Fraser and the other newcomers to digest the information.


    ¡°Since a Magus oftentimes has disciples they are also taken along in order to support the Magus in the smaller tasks as well as the disposition of weaker creatures in order to lessen the burden on their Mentor. So prepare to live in an outpost for a longer period of time, pack your necessary gear and get ready to move out in a week.¡± said Magus Sept before nodding at every disciple in the chamber and proceeding to slowly walk out and thus leaving the inner chambers.


    However, before stepping out he turned his head one last time and said:


    ¡°Congratulation on reaching Apprentice Level 2 Fraser. Also, Elizabeth since you already reached Apprentice Level 3 then I will give you the meditation techniques for Apprentice Level 4 and 5. Just talk to me when we reach the outpost. Also, Fraser if you reach Apprentice Level 3 then come and visit me.¡±


    As soon as Magus Sept stepped outside of the inner chambers his disciple began to chatter.


    The loudest was the group of newcomers, Fraser not included. Their voice echoed through the chamber.


    ¡°Argh! I was supposed to celebrate my birthday in a few weeks, I already invited a lot of Apprentices. Declining the party sounds the best but it will leave a bad image for me.¡± wailed Elise.


    The rest of the senior apprentices just whispered and thus Fraser couldn¡¯t hear anything specific.


    Just as Fraser deemed the time to be a waste of time someone stood up causing every gaze to be directed at the source. It was the muscular woman who stood up and began to speak in a deep tone: ¡°We will meet in a week at the chambers before following Mentor Sept towards the outpost. Normal students of Mentor Sept will be directed towards their assignments. Else everything will happen just like last time.¡±


    Without any sort of agreement, the muscular woman continued: ¡°Also the newcomers will have no assignment than staying alive. Just as Mentor Sept ordered.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Moving her head towards the newcomers the muscular woman continued: ¡°Just a piece of advice, the outpost is rather dangerous and there is little to no entertainment other than a small library which is free to access for members of the inner chamber so take some toys with you.¡±


    Finished talking the muscular woman walked out of the inner chamber, on her side the wooden elf.


    One by one the senior disciples of Mentor Sept left the inner chamber.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to take something interesting to kill time with you. Else you will be bored out of your mind. Remember, it is three years.¡± whispered Emium to Fraser while he stood up and walked out of the inner chamber.


    As if following the example of the senior students Fraser stood up silently and walked towards the exit.


    Because Fraser actually feared the senior students a little bit as they obviously could suppress an Apprentice Level 3, Emium scared the other four newcomers without even doing anything, he only stood up when all of the seniors already left.


    Just as he arrived in front of the exit a female voice tried to stop him:


    ¡°Fraser, how about talking with us four about the preparation? The outpost sounds dangerous and even though I am from a family with three rank Magus in it, I have never heard of the 12 year cycle. Apparently, there are even students dying, so how about we sit down and discuss on a plan in order that every one of us gets out alive?¡±


    It was Elise who tried to stop Fraser.


    ¡®Either she is lying to me or she is not someone important in her family. I guess that the last part has a higher probability, after all a Magus at the age of 200 years is considered to be in his prime, then how old can a Magus live? Probably around 400 or 500 years. Maybe even longer. If we can assume that a Magus only has two children and each generation also only has two offspring and takes a duration of 20 years, then after five generation there are already 62 relatives for the Magus. Not even considering the few perverted people who would have more wives. Just look at my father, Duke Rosethorn. Even he has more than two wives and adding the more than half dozen of mistresses, even he doesn¡¯t care about the less talented of his children. So my choice is obvious.¡±


    ¡°Sorry Elise, I have to start preparing my materials for the three year time period in the outpost.¡± declined Fraser before continuing to walk out.


    Because Fraser now knew that Elise, Adrian, and Nicholas were considered to be new students of Magus Sept as well and not any more powerful senior disciples, he didn¡¯t have the usual hidden respectful voice. Instead, he replied in a cool manner as if declining a friend because one was in hurry.


    This, in turn, made Adrian upset and thus came his mocking as he shouted behind Frasers back: ¡°We don¡¯t need a grade 3 talent, as you will amount to nothing.¡±


    The last voice Fraser could hear before the door closed was the voice from Elise trying to reason with Adrian, however, it somehow made Adrian even more upset bordering to angry and Fraser could even hear how he gnashed his teeth together.


    ¡®This Adrian is way too spoiled, probably not as experienced as I thought. Or he is smitten by Elise so much that he wants to eliminate every single threat he has in order to acquire her love. It doesn¡¯t matter what he wants, he is now an enemy as he has shown clear hostile behavior towards me. I remember there was a proverb: Friends come and go, but enemies stay forever.¡¯


    With this thought, Fraser walked along the halls of the Howling Abyss Academy and planned the next steps he would take in order to be prepared for the outpost where he would stay for three years.


    As Fraser couldn¡¯t utilize the facilities of the Howling Abyss Academy he needed to take a lot of stuff with him. And in order to acquire the stuff he needed to make a lot of magic crystals, in other words, he decided to create basic explosion potions for the entire next week in order to acquire the necessary materials for the three year-long stay at the outpost.

 Chapter 26 Preparation

    The preparation time which Magus Sept gave his students passed in the blink of an eye.


    Fraser couldn''t produce an endless amount of basic explosion potion and instead could only create close to a dozen basic explosion potions every day, even if his spirit control increased, his spirit still quickly got used up.


    Fraser even halted the simulation for the spell model dark rope in the AI in order to have the maximum amount of spirit to create basic explosion potion.


    He also increased his spirit regeneration by meditating in order to be able to create the most amount of basic explosion he could possibly create.


    Thus on the last day of the one week preparing period, he sold almost all of his basic explosion potions in order to buy the stuff he needed for the outpost.


    The number of magic crystals he acquired was 300. He also left four dozen basic explosion potions in his stock in order to have them as his weapons if he will ever get in a dangerous situation.


    Which will be rather unlikely as Fraser didn''t have to do any assignments and already decided to spend the entire three years living like a hermit in order to increase his spirit and his goal was to reach Apprentice Level 3.


    In the end, Fraser bought the two other potion recipes which were really popular, the basic strength potion and the basic wound mending potion. He also bought 80 times 10 materials for each of these potions and another 100 times 10 black fire eggs for his basic explosion potion.


    The fatty which Fraser usually dealt business with gifted him a separate crate for each material and also didn''t said anything when Fraser needed another five to six crates full of small glass flask.


    On the last day, Fraser even visited the Howling Abyss Academy market and bought the Basic Knight Apprentice Breathing Technique which apparently was the attributeless Knight Technique after the Basic Knight Breathing Technique. The difference was that the more advanced Knight technique allowed Fraser to continue his Knight training.


    Apparently Fraser couldn''t even be considered to be a Knight, instead, he only reached the lower bottom of a Knight Apprentice.


    The rank after Knight Apprentice was Knight and then came Grand Knight.


    This showed how talented the half-brother of Fraser was, even though he was four years older than Fraser.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Though there was something needed other than the technique to reach the Knight level and every rank after that. Fraser didn''t care about the restrictions at all as he could lay a solid foundation following the Knight path since he would own a strong body in order to be able to defend himself even if he was low on spirit.


    The Basic Knight Apprentice Technique cost him 10 magic crystals.


    Thus leaving Fraser with 20 magic crystals. Which he didn''t spend on materials. Instead, Fraser bought 4 spirit techniques.


    Spirit techniques were almost like spell models which meant that they also enabled one to cast spells. Yet one didn''t needed to construct a spell model in order to cast the spell, instead one only needed to have sufficient spirit in order to be able to cast them.


    Also, there is a serious downside of spirit techniques, they mostly had spell model counterparts which were way stronger.


    Yet the number of spell models one could construct and use effectively was limited by the Apprentice Level.


    Since he heard that one could only have one spell model at Apprentice Level 2 and another two at Apprentice Level 3. This was the information he acquired when he discussed Elise, Adrian, and Nicholas.


    The information could be false, however, Fraser was able to deduce that the spell model dark rope only took half of a normal spell model as it took a major part of his spirit room when he was Apprentice Level 1 but now the spirit room somehow felt like it could share the place with another spell model.


    This also allowed Fraser to think about creating a second dark rope while he was still Apprentice Level 2, thus allowing him to have 2 spell models at Apprentice Level 2.


    Yet the spirit techniques also had an advantage compared to the spell models and were even powerful combined with spell models, as the spirit techniques mostly focused on practical spells like mind controlling a beast, supporting the gathering of the particles needed for a spell model, or generally just using your spirit to do something useful without needing a spell model like lifting physical objects.


    The spirit marking that Fraser saw at the task hall which marked the notes hanging at the boards also belonged to the spirit techniques, a simple spirit technique, yet a rather practical one.


    The four spirit technique books Fraser bought from the Howling Abyss Academy market section was the basic beast spirit technique, the basic telekinesis spirit technique, the basic common use of spirit technique and the increase particles spirit technique.


    After securing his prepared materials in a lot of crates Fraser now had one dozen of crates containing his preparation materials. Ranging from his four dozen of basic explosion potions to the materials for the basic wound mending potion and the basic strengthening potion.


    As dozens of crates were pretty heavy Fraser could only transport his crates with a small cart.


    As he arrived in front of the chambers he could see that he wasn''t the only one having so many crates.


    A few of the true senior apprentices also had as many crates as Fraser, some even had more.


    He could even see Emium with his signature white mask standing next to a couple of crates which were bigger than Frasers average crate size.


    Though there were also a few people who had nothing at all except a small bag. To that category belonged the wood elf, the muscular woman and a few other concealed disciples.


    The last people to arrive where the other four newcomers of Magus sept who never went to an outpost: Adrian, Nicholas, Elise, and Elizabeth.


    None of them had more than one crate of stuff, instead, all they took was a huge trunk filled to the brim with stuff for each of them.


    Every single one of them clearly seemed to be excited yet the only one to visible pale was Elise as she looked towards Fraser who stood next to his cart filled with dozen of crates and the other senior disciples of Magus Sept.


    "Everyone is here, move out. We need to take our stuff to the airship which will go along each outpost. Everyone will have their own room, though ordinary students of Magus Sept need to share one with a couple of other students. So we are the first one to walk onto the airship." declared the muscular woman before leading the train of concealed disciples and their luggage towards a direction.


    It was the airship where the group split into their own room. This time Fraser actually had his own room instead of sharing with four other people.


    Though the model of the airship seemed to be the same as the one which took him to the Howling Abyss Academy.

 Chapter 27 Arriving at the Outpost

    Nothing special happened while Magus Sept and his students traveled towards the outpost with the airship.


    To put it simply Fraser didn¡¯t even step out of his cabin except for eating in the canteen. Instead, he just holed himself up in his room and meditated.


    He didn¡¯t create any new basic explosion potion or tried to use the other potion recipes which he bought in the Howling Abyss Academy.


    Fraser also didn¡¯t train in the Basic Knight Apprentice Breathing Technique which would allow his body stats to get past his bottleneck from the Basic Knight Breathing Technique.


    The whole time on the journey was spent on meditating and using the spirit to calculate possible spell models for the spell model dark rope.


    Fraser thought about creating a second dark rope spell model in his spirit room, as he already reached Apprentice Level 2 and could create another dark rope spell model as the spell model of dark rope only took around half of the runes of a normal basic spell model.


    However Fraser decided to not create a spell model of dark rope at this moment, instead, he wanted to wait till he had a modified spell model.


    ¡®Since I will give the necessary spirit to the AI to simulate a modified spell model for dark rope every single day at the outpost there should be results after the three years. After all the AI doesn¡¯t take a tiny amount of my max amount of spirits if the simulation fails like as if a normal Apprentice tries to modify a spell model. Also, the AI works faster and faster, I guess it is simulating the modified spell models way faster than a couple of Apprentices combined.¡¯


    Quickly the journey towards the outpost ended and the airship stopped at the airship station of the outpost allowing it to transport raw materials from the outpost into the airship and allowing it to transport finished products from the airship into the outpost.


    It was at that logistic time span of the airship transporting raw materials and finished products from the outpost to the airships storage and vice versa that Magus Sept and his students walked out of the airship into the outpost.


    As Fraser stepped out of the airship with the other senior disciples he could gaze upon a colossal abyss. To put it into perspective Fraser couldn¡¯t even see the other side of the abyss and it could be described as the end of the world as the land seemed to end here, a cliff reaching down towards nothing.


    ¡°It could be¡± as Magus Sept turned towards his students with a smile before telling them something about the seemingly endless abyss before the students could even react to the fascinating scenery in front of them.


    ¡°This is the Howling Abyss, my students, even though our Academy is named the Howling Abyss Academy it doesn¡¯t mean we control the entire Abyss. Instead, we only control a tiny region of it. The other regions are controlled by fearsome and intelligent creatures. However, we are still called the Howling Abyss Academy as we are the only Magus organization occupying the Howling Abyss.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Turning towards the Howling Abyss Magus Sept pointed with his right index finger at a small hill which seemed insignificant before the endless nothing showed by the Abyss.


    ¡°This is the outpost of the Howling Abyss Academy, the other Magus and their students will arrive soon and we will have to take their duty for three years. You will be allowed to do whatever you want after finishing your duties.¡±


    With this short speech, Magus Sept walked towards the small hill which had a stone gate on closer look.


    As Fraser pulled his cart with his dozen of crates with him he quickly realized that somehow the small group of inner chamber students turned from around thirty students to almost two hundred students.


    Fraser was interested in the other students as he couldn¡¯t identify who they were however he quickly realized that he saw a few of them cleaning the laboratory, feeding the animals and tending the plants.


    Another interesting thing was that somehow they formed a group with four familiar faces in the center: Adrian, Nicholas, Elise, and Elizabeth.


    The four of them laughed and joked with the people surrounding him. The Lackeys on the other hand which surrounded the four joked and laughed with them.


    ¡®Looking closer there is nobody from the older generation in the group, after all, there are also a few concealed figures who aren¡¯t at the top of the group.¡¯


    As Magus Sept walked towards the hill with the stone gate a natural formation formed, showing the hierarchy of his disciples. Closest to Magus Sept walked the students who were in the inner chamber, meaning those senior students Fraser saw at the meeting, behind them were the group of young students forming a huge circle around the four stars of the inner circle of Magus Sept, Elise, Nicholas, Adrian, and Elizabeth.


    However, there wasn¡¯t only this group, surrounding the huge circle of the young student''s small scattered groups walked. A few groups were concealed and walked along in a silent manner, others chattered and even laughed, some even walked completely alone, but the one thing they had in common was the fact that they all had an aura surrounding them signaling experience, strength, danger, charisma or other attributes which Fraser couldn¡¯t find in the small timeframe.


    Some had a smaller aura or had an aura completely devoted to one of the attributes, yet the aura was there.


    It was hard to describe how it felt, but a similar experience could be the first meeting Fraser had with his father, duke rosethorn. He was probably around six and only received a cold glare as the duke assessed the progression of their knight training.


    Naturally before and after that, every member of his family would talk about on how to impress father or the duke.


    ¡®What is this aura? Or what are they signaling? Is this the danger they experienced at the outpost formed into a solid state which is able to influence other people? Or is this something they acquired without even knowing what it was. Besides as these disciples of Magus Sept are not in the inner chamber then that means that every senior disciple of the inner chamber also has this aura and should be able to control it or hide it.¡¯


    Fraser glanced towards each of the members of the inner chamber, not feeling any aura or anything signaling they were even there.


    He could feel the aura of the senior disciples who walked along the huge circle of newbies but the Fraser couldn¡¯t feel anything from the inner chamber, senior disciples.


    While Fraser thought about the feeling of the unknown auras or as he called it, he could feel another batch of auras, but this time coming from the front.


    ¡°Ah, so you are the one replacing me, Sept!¡± sounded a female voice.


    As Fraser looked up he could see a woman with curly brown hair wearing a tight robe to highlight her curves.


    ¡°Ah, nice to see you Veronica.¡± greeted Magus Sept with a smile.

 Chapter 28 Uneasy Feeling

    ¡°Let us do something together when you are back from your outpost duty Sept.¡° said the female named Veronica and probably also was a Magus.


    Behind her, a group of people followed her, just like a group of people followed Magus Sept.


    ¡®Probably these people are students of the Howling Abyss Academy as well as disciples of Magus Veronica.¡¯


    While the Veronica and her disciples walked by Fraser analyzed the disciples of another Magus one by one.


    Naturally, he wasn¡¯t the only one sizing up the other students from Magus Sept disciples.


    The huge circle of young students especially got interested as they had seen interesting things one after another.


    First, the huge abyss which seemed to be the end of the world and a small hill on the borderline with a stone gate which closes also was decorated with inscriptions and stone sculptures of unknown creatures.


    Now they even saw another batch of students and even another Magus and professor of the Howling Abyss Academy.


    Some of the young students even tried to begin a conversation.


    ¡°Hey how was the three year at the outpost?¡± was the most common asked questions.


    Some of the bold young students even leered at the swinging hips of Veronica as she passed by.


    However, none of Magus Veronica''s disciple answered and instead quickly walked behind Veronica.


    While Veronica''s group passed by Fraser also intensely stared at something, yet the thing he stared at wasn¡¯t something simple like the people.


    Instead, Fraser glared beyond the group of disciples, deep into thought.


    ¡®There is something familiar with the students of Magus Veronica, I just don¡¯t know what the familiar thing is. Yet it feels so familiar as if I just knew the answer.¡¯


    As soon as they arrived at the stone gate Fraser could see that the stone gate had a size of half a dozen of Frasers stacked on top of another.


    A stone sculpture with bat wings stepped in front of the stone gate and spoke in a deep voice.


    ¡°Ah, Sept you took your outpost duty in the last year. Rather risky isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t do anything about it, Veronica didn¡¯t want to be the last one.¡± answered Magus Sept while clearly shrugging with his shoulders.


    ¡°Ahahahaha, yeah you can do nothing against Veronica.¡± laughed the winged stone sculpture while his deep laugh caused the air to vibrate in his laughter.


    Apparently, the joke the winged stone sculpture made caused itself to laugh so hard that it crashed against of his non-living siblings causing it to burst into stone fragments.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The moment when the stone fragments crashed upon the ground caused many of the young disciples of Magus Sept to feel uneasy, even Fraser felt uneasy at the fact that the winged stone creatures casually smashed a giant stone sculpture.


    However, as soon as the stone fragments fell onto the ground shriek yells could be heard from the group of young disciples.


    As soon as Fraser turned his head he could see a few disciples covered in blood from head to toe. Even their robe was drenched in blood and you could see how the blood-drenched the robe was, as blood gathered on certain places like the sleeve and dripped down.


    However, Magus Sept and the winged stone creature completely ignored the blood-drenched students. Even the senior apprentices ignored the obviously injured students.


    Instead, Magus Sept only turned around and then explained the following steps with a short speech:


    ¡°We are now at the outpost, the five new inner circle students will have their own private chamber and the rest of the students will be guided by the members of the inner circle. You are all dismissed, if there are any major problems then talk with the inner circle or come to my chamber if it is something unsolvable.¡±


    After that short speech, Magus Sept stepped into the stone gate which the winged stone creature opened and disappeared.


    With a quick motion, the muscular woman shouted: ¡°Every student follow the rest of the inner circle, Elise, Fraser, Adrian, Nicholas, and Elizabeth come with me I will assign you to your private chambers and show you the way to the library and the common facilities.¡±


    Without waiting for a reaction the muscular woman stepped into the stone gate, followed be Fraser who without hesitation dragged his cart filled with dozen of crates with him.


    As the six people walked along the corridors which were embedded with light crystals in order to provide light, Fraser quickly became the last member of the six people chain.


    However, Fraser was able to keep up easily as the muscular woman didn¡¯t walk fast.


    While the four new inner circle member had horrible face expression, Fraser had a neutral facial expression.


    Without even seeing what happened Fraser could imagine what happened that could cause these four to look like they just lost something really precious.


    ¡®They should have become the leaders of the huge circle of young students, yet now they are shown a private chamber and are betraying the so-called society they created.¡¯


    After all, if there is something that people love it is a leader that promises them good things. And as long a few promises are kept and the people feel that they acquired something good then they will continue to follow.


    However, as soon as the leader gets something that the leader doesn¡¯t deserve in the eyes of the follower then he will be unhappy. Especially if a newly established leader receives something good while not caring about their members who are hurt.


    In general it is not that important to care about your followers, instead, the important thing is the image and since the four wannabe leader just left their injured members behind it destroyed their whole image.


    ¡®After all, it doesn¡¯t matter if you are a kind leader to the innermost core, instead, it is about the reputation and image you have which will make you a kind leader in the eyes of your followers. Even I know how to depict a person with the kindest intention as a cruel and bad person.¡¯


    While the four walked along the corridors the muscular woman suddenly stopped in front of a door and began to speak:


    ¡°This is the library, next to it is the task hall and the general information headquarters of the outpost as well as the duty hall which depicts all duties for disciples. For your private chambers, they are in the inner circle corridor which I will show you right now. Also, the canteen is a behind that curve.¡±


    After showing the inner circle corridor and every single new inner circle member registered their spirit print for the door lock the muscular woman left.


    Naturally, Fraser didn¡¯t socialize with the other four and stepped into his private chamber which almost looked like his chamber from the Howling Abyss Academy, only a little bit bigger and with a few more rooms which were empty besides a desk in the middle and a few empty shelves surrounding the table.


    Sitting down on top of his bed Fraser thought for a while before coming to a realization:


    ¡®There was a familiar feeling I felt at Veronica''s disciple, they all had an aura. Though it wasn¡¯t nearly as strong as the senior disciples.¡¯

 Chapter 29 Modified Spell Model

    As time passed Fraser didn¡¯t care about the aura anymore. Instead, he spent his days focusing on his improvement.


    A sleep time of only a couple of hours allowed Fraser to maximize his time. The increase in his spirit allowed him to sleep less while recovering more as the spirit increased the processing speed of the brain and his increased vitality allowed his body to recover completely of the fatigue caused by the mental work.


    Fraser only once left his private chambers for a longer time period than ten minutes. It was when Fraser stored every single book of the outpost library in the AI database.


    After storing the entire library in the AI database Fraser quickly deduced that the library mostly was there in order to inform the students about the various dangerous animals one could encounter at the Howling Abyss. Also, there was a lot of book simply for materials, how to extract them, how to store them in order to not lose the vital parts, how to hunt animals for their materials, how to harvest plants while not hurting yourself and how to survive while getting hunted by the material you wanted to harvest.


    Yes, the Howling Abyss seemed like a place where everything was dangerous and wants to kill you.


    But there was nothing dangerous for Fraser, he simply stayed in his private chamber and researched his materials which he had brought from the Academy.


    ¡®I need to start learning on how to create the basic wound mending potion and the basic strengthening potion, also it would be better if I learn the four spirit technique before walking out of this private chamber in order to explore the howling abyss. The Knight technique also needs to be trained until satisfactory in order to increase my strength.¡¯


    Just as Fraser took out the recipe for the basic wound mending potion a notice of the AI sounded through his head.


    [Modified spell model of dark rope successfully created, the linking pattern combusted into nothing and the runes didn¡¯t collapse]


    As soon as the notice of the AI disrupted Fraser from his studying of the basic wound mending potion he frowned.


    However, hearing the success of a modified spell model Fraser delightfully commanded the AI to show the modified spell mode.


    ¡®AI, simulate the modified spell model of dark rope. What attribute changed? Is it an overall increase or is it an overall decrease?¡¯


    [Not enough data to be able to simulate the modified spell mode of dark rope, more date needed to calculate a possibility]


    ¡®Then why are you able to simulate the modified linking patterns and different rune sizes for a spell model? Shouldn¡¯t you have enough data? AI explain how the simulating process for modifying the spell model work.¡¯


    [The AI creates a simulation of a spirit room and this simulated spirit room allows the modifications of the spell model in random patterns. It creates runes of random size and then links them with other runes of random size. Then every rune combination that collapsed as well as every rune combination that didn¡¯t collapse will be saved in the database. After that, each successfully linked runes pair will be linked with another random rune and it continues until every rune of the spell model is used up and the simulation either collapses or is successful]If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡®So what is the true reason why the AI is not able to simulate the modified spell mode? AI if I have enough spirit in order to simulate the world, would I be able to simulate the modified spell model?¡¯


    [Negative, there is not enough data for the AI to simulate the world. More data is needed to calculate the result of the modified spell model]


    ¡®So right now I have a modified spell model, yet I am not able to use it as I don¡¯t even know the result of the AI simulation. Besides I don¡¯t even know if the dark rope spell model of the AI works as the modified spell model is only a simulation made by the AI. Great, I wasted so much spirit in order to power the simulation and right now I am back to zero.¡¯


    With clearly visible disappointment on his face, Fraser grabbed the recipe of the basic wound mending potion and researched the necessary steps in order to create a basic wound mending potion.


    Fraser had a choice between learning the basic wound mending potion or the basic strengthening potion. Naturally, it wouldn¡¯t have mattered to Fraser if he still was in the Howling Abyss Academy where he had sold every potion for magic crystals in order to buy the stuff he wanted.


    But now the location is the outpost at the howling abyss. Fraser could have infinite magic crystals yet there was nothing he could have exchanged the magic crystal with.


    ¡®As the magic crystal is rather useless or I don¡¯t know the usefulness of the magic crystal I will have to trade my potions for stuff I want. I don¡¯t know how the market at the outpost works but I believe that a healing potion sounds more appealing to somebody who is risking their lives than a potion which will strengthen them for a period of time.¡¯


    Fraser pondered for a while but in the end, decided to focus on the basic wound mending potion even if the strengthening potion also sounded reasonable.


    After all, as the basic explosion potion could be used as the trump card, that was the information from the fatty, then a basic strengthening potion could also be a trump card, a trump card with a longer lasting effect.


    However, Fraser guessed that every single student of Magus Sept chose one of the three lessons he provided, animal taming, botany and alchemy.


    As Magus Sept probably warned every batch of student that Alchemy was a hard subject to learn, most probably either had botany and animal taming.


    As the description of the basic wound mending potion on its recipe said: ¡°a potion that gives the wound or the living creature an external source of vitality, allowing it to close wounds without any loss of vitality or enhances the vitality of the creature¡­.¡±


    Thus Fraser chose the basic wound mending potion as probably every student would need it for their animals, plants or even their own body. For example, the muscular woman or her equally muscular little brother could drink one in order to fix their wounds as they obviously seem to be melee fighters.


    Thus Fraser started to study the potion recipe of the basic wound mending potion which seemed similar to the basic explosion potion recipe.


    Each step described the extraction of the essence of the materials, fusing it once in a weird ration or twice or thrice and then fusing everything into the potion.


    Naturally, the time and the number of essences, as well as the components itself varied but the rest seemed to be identical.


    ¡®So alchemy is only extracting stuff and then fusing it in a weird manner? That is rather easy once you know how to do it.¡¯


    After reading the recipe of the basic wound mending potion Fraser started to follow the instructions.

 Chapter 30 Frasers Alchemy Theory

    Before even starting to read about the steps he needed to do Fraser obviously took out the material needed for the basic wound mending potion.


    The material he got was a small red stone, similar to the size of the black fire egg needed for the basic explosion potion.


    Glancing towards the crate which was filled with the materials for the basic strengthening potion Fraser could see small stones with the color of orange.


    Fraser noted the similarity between each material as each had similar sizes and felt similar to stone except the color was different.


    ¡®AI, what are these materials?¡¯


    [From the database the red stone which is similar to the size of the black fire eggs are bloodstones, a mineral found underground. The orange stones, also similar to the size of the black fire eggs and the bloodstones are called enor stones, also a mineral found underground]


    ¡®Ai can these minerals be found at the howling abyss outpost? It seems that the outpost produces something which Magus Sept has to protect. Also, the disciples are probably searching for various test subjects as well as minerals and plants to experiment upon as most senior apprentices have that aura which should have been caused by the experiences they gather at the outpost.¡¯


    [There is a high chance that the outpost has both minerals]


    ¡®Good, then I will probably have an unlimited supply for the potions.¡¯


    Finishing his thought about the similar materials of the three potions, Fraser moved back to the recipe of the basic wound mending potion and started to extract the essence of the bloodstone with his Alchemy set.


    The extraction of the essence was easy as Fraser already was familiar with the process of extracting.


    As Fraser continued to follow the recipe step by step a mistake happened, two essences reacted too fast and Fraser didn¡¯t fuse these two with the third essence he got.


    So Fraser started the entire process again. This time quickly finishing the extracting process and working on the fusion part where he fused everything.


    Quickly a finished basic wound mending potion appeared in a small flask.


    Shaking the small flask caused the blue liquid in it to swap from one side to the other.


    ¡®Blue liquid is a successfully crafted potion with standard quality, a light blue potion is a lower quality product.¡¯


    Satisfied with his successfully created basic wound mending potion Fraser glanced at his Alchemy set. The magic item looked mysterious and felt like the only thing in his room that indicated his identity as an Apprentice and somebody who could use magic.


    The sphere in which he usually extracted the essence was rather strange as there was no essence left behind.


    ¡®How come the sphere cleans itself from the two different essences I extracted? Does it has some kind of cleaning enhancement?¡¯Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Fraser touched the sphere with his fingers and started to look for anything that could indicate the former existence of the essences.


    ¡®What are these essences anyway? Does it mean I am extracting the concentrated thing from the materials? Or does everything have essence and the sphere is only there to collect it?¡¯


    At first Fraser believed that he merely extracted the concentrated liquid from the material, however, the fusion part made it somehow seem unbelievable.


    Thus Fraser started making his own theories about Alchemy.


    Yet as he was in the outpost right now he couldn¡¯t experiment with the Alchemy Set.


    ¡®A pity, I only have this second handed Alchemy set and didn¡¯t buy another one. That means I can¡¯t experiment on this Alchemy set and have to wait till the three years are over. Yet that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t make theories about Alchemy or the process of creating a potion. After all there will be many potions which I will create in these three years.¡¯


    Finishing his thoughts Fraser moved towards the next bloodstone and continued to create basic wound mending potions with success.


    As Fraser continued to craft new basic wound mending potions his success rate almost hit 100%. Not counting his first attempt which resulted in failure because of unfamiliarity and one attempt where he hadn¡¯t that much spirit left, left him with around eight basic wound mending potions which all shined in the color blue.


    Finishing his goal of crafting potions Fraser started to mediate in order to increase his spirit, sometimes he would add a session of the Basic Knight Apprentice Breathing Technique which allowed his former bottlenecked body stats to climb one again.


    As the bottleneck was around the number seven, maybe a little bit less than seven Fraser also recalculated his body stats to 1.00 in order to calculate quicker on how much power he had when he reached the peak of the Knight Apprentice rank compared to his previous stats. Also, it seemed to be easier to sort these specific stages into separate folders in order to access the information.


    ¡®AI, show me my body stats.¡¯


    [1.03 strength, 1.04 agility, 1.02 vitality, 1.09/3.23 spirit]


    Nodding inwardly Fraser started to meditate again while putting a few session of the Knight breathing technique in between the breaks in order to reach the rank of knight apprentice.


    Days passed as Fraser continued to craft his potion materials into actual potions. In the end, Fraser was able to create around seventy-five wound mending potions from the eighty bloodstones he bought in the howling abyss academy.


    Naturally, Fraser moved towards crafting the strengthening potion afterward in order to increase his potions crafting skills.


    The strengthening potion wasn¡¯t that much different compared the basic explosion potion and the basic wound mending potion so I was no wonder that he created seventy-nine basic strengthening potions out of eighty materials.


    One month at the outpost flew by in the blink of an eye as Fraser used up his entire stock of materials and created the three potions.


    As Fraser did not make any mistake while creating the basic explosion potion he had one hundred additionally basic explosion potions awaiting him in his chambers.


    Now that Fraser solidified his Alchemy skills in crafting potions he moved towards another project which needed to be worked upon.


    It was the spell model dark rope.


    Fraser already formed his spell model dark rope for quite a while, yet he didn¡¯t use it much except for forming that log of the color black which couldn¡¯t even be controlled.


    So Fraser moved towards an empty room and prepared himself. He stretched his hand palm in front of him, closed his eyes and accessed his spirit room.


    He could see the outside vaguely as the jelly walls of his spirit room didn¡¯t restrict his spirit from seeing into the outside world.


    A small runic ball floated in the spirit room and Fraser accessed the small runic ball causing the runes on the spell model ball to lighten up and Fraser could feel something gathering.


    ¡®AI, record this feeling of gathering as the spell model activation and continue to create a folder will all spell model activation of spell models. Also, create a sub-folder within the spell model folder and name it dark rope.¡¯


    [Folders created]


    As Fraser spirit increased he could see the particles that gathered in order to form a spell in a clearer way.

 Chapter 31 Experimenting with dark rope

    Black dots formed in front of Fraser''s palm as the runic spell model ball dark rope absorbed spirit in order to form something along the lines of a magnetic attraction.


    Quickly a black wooden log formed in front of Fraser''s palm and it was about 6 meters long or about twenty feet.


    ¡®Does controlling the dark rope cause my spirit to vanish? Maybe I don¡¯t even need to focus the dark rope on my hand palms. Maybe I can even create a dark rope simply by forming it near my body. Maybe there is some kind of practice that needs to be done in order to control the spirit from the whole body.¡¯


    Moving the black wooden log which followed his palms, Fraser would always glance towards his body stats in order to calculate whether controlling the dark rope would need spirit.


    Without any surprise moving the dark rope with his hands didn¡¯t need any additional spirit.


    Instead, Fraser felt like he controlled a weightless staff which he didn¡¯t need to grasp and would always follow his hands.


    Focusing back to his spirit room Fraser could see a weird thing happening. The spell model of dark rope would stick towards the jelly wall of the spirit room.


    Fraser could see how the runic ball shape opened in two directions. The first direction on which the spell model opened was towards the spirit room, probably absorbing spirit.


    The second opening was towards the jelly wall of the spirit room.


    ¡®Does the spell model act like a converter of spirit power? Maybe it can be compared to something like electricity and machines, the spirit is electricity and the spell model are machines, so each spell model is a machine, designed to do something with the electricity and the machine can always be re-designed in order to increase its functions. Something similar to the modified spell models.¡¯


    Fraser pondered about it while looking at the runic spell model ball which now looked like a runic tunnel.


    ¡®If I shift the position, does that mean¡­.?¡¯


    The black wooden log wandered from his palms towards his arm, only to end up on his belly.


    Now it looked like a black wooden log floated above Fraser''s belly.


    Glancing at the spirit gauge Fraser could see that the spirit increased faster than usual.


    ¡®So moving the spell model around the spirit room also means moving the spell model around my body. Does that mean that the spirit room is an abstraction to my body? Maybe it is a symbol of my soul. I need to gather more knowledge about the spirit room. There is a high chance it is the key to being a Magus. Also what would happen when I squeeze the runic tunnel?¡¯


    With a quick thought, Fraser squeezed the runic tunnel into something smaller: a runic staff, though only the staff surface was covered with runes, the inside was hollow.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Looking back into his private Chambers Fraser could see that the black wooden log turned into a pitch black rope.


    Though it didn¡¯t look like a rope, instead it looked like a staff in the color of pitch black.


    ¡®As I am able to change the shape of the dark rope by squeezing the spell mode, then¡­¡¯


    The dark rope projected out of Fraser''s belly started to shake like a real rope. To be honest, Fraser thought the spell looked like a pitch black whip rather than a dark rope.


    ¡®So influencing the spell model in the spirit room will also influence the spell in the reality.¡¯


    Fraser continued to make the dark rope wiggle while also testing whether the dark rope would be able to grab things.


    In order to test that Fraser used empty glass flasks and slowly wrapped the dark rope around it in order to lift it.


    It failed.


    Miserably.


    As soon as Fraser tried to lift the glass flask it got crushed under the force of the spell model.


    The glass flask splintered into countless fragments.


    Without any delay Fraser continued to test his spell model dark rope, however this time he used more objects, an empty wooden crate which once stored the bloodstones for the basic wound mending potion, an old wooden table which he found in one of the rooms, a stool which looked like a bigger stone and a few old craps left behind by the former inhabitants of the chamber.


    The result surprised Fraser, the wooden crate got crushed without any real resistance, the wooden table wasn¡¯t even able to take one slap of the dark rope before splitting into two pieces and the stone which probably got used as a stool got crushed into stone fragments and chippings as Fraser tried to lift it.


    ¡®So the dark rope isn¡¯t used as a second arm, instead, it is used as a whip in order to slap things away. I can¡¯t even lift things as most would get crushed under the force caused by the dark rope.¡¯


    This caused Fraser to frown. His plan was something along the lines of using the dark rope as a slingshot in order to throw his basic explosion potions or normal stones in order to have a ranged attack. Also, Fraser imagined the dark rope as a controlling skill which would allow him to bind his enemies.


    The rather huge might of the dark rope wasn¡¯t something that Fraser deemed as bad, instead, it was the fact that Fraser couldn¡¯t even control how much force the rope used.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know how I should control the power of the rope. I tried to feed the spell model less spirit yet the only thing that happened was that the dark rope vanished.¡¯


    Fraser pondered for a while before trying to split the runic staff into two halves.


    ¡®As the dark rope, in reality, would follow the changes of the spell model in the spirit room, it is worth a try.¡¯


    Concentrating, Fraser used his spirit in order to slowly separate the runic staff in his spirit room into two halves.


    Looking back into reality Fraser could see that the pitch black rope also split into two.


    Just as Fraser wanted to experiment with the result a severed pain shot through his head.


    The dark rope in front of his which split into two halves vanished within the blink of an eye, the spell model also turned back into a runic ball floating in his spirit room.


    Sweat poured out of Fraser''s body as he immediately asked:


    ¡®AI, scan the state of my body. Search for the cause of the headache and immediately report the cause.¡¯


    [Spirit reached a critically low of 0.01]


    ¡®Urgh, AI safe the data in the specific folder of dark rope.¡¯


    With that last command, Fraser wobbled through his chamber, ignoring the chaos he caused.


    Splinters and fragments of wood and stone were scattered around in the test room.


    Passing through a few rooms Fraser reached his bed and fell on top of it.


    Closing his eyes Fraser embraced the sweet allure of sleep and thus allowing his spirit to recover.


    Fraser''s last thoughts before sleeping were: ¡®Probably the splitting of the spell model caused my spirit consumption to spike.¡¯

 Chapter 32 Second Spell Model

    As Fraser awakened he immediately thought of his body stats.


    ¡®AI show me the body stats and show me the reason why I had that severe headache. Was it because the spirit consumption spiked when I tried to split the spell model of dark rope in order to create two dark ropes in reality?¡¯


    [Affirmative, the data from yesterday shows a spike in the spirit consumption which points to a possibility of splitting the spell model dark rope into two when your spirit levels increase]


    [1.38 strength, 1.42 agility, 1.49 vitality, 3.54/3.54 spirit]


    ¡®So there is a possibility that I can control two dark ropes with a single spell model, yet the problem is that it costs too much spirit.¡¯


    Pondering for a while Fraser decided to build the second spell model of dark rope into his spirit room.


    As a single spell model of dark rope would only need half of the space of a usual spell model took, there was still space in Fraser''s spirit room.


    Days passed as Fraser quickly formed the second spell mode of dark rope in his spirit room. He formed the basic one as he didn¡¯t want to risk a spell model collapse which would cause all of the spell model runes to collapse and thus take away a large portion of his spirit capacity.


    Besides as his modified spell model of dark rope had little to unknown effects Fraser didn¡¯t want to risk his effort of spirit cultivation just because his AI calculated one simulation of a modified spell model.


    Thus it was no wonder that Fraser completely shut down the simulation and didn¡¯t waste anymore spirit for the simulation.


    Just information on the sidelines, the Basic Knight Apprentice Technique, the following technique of the Basic Knight Breathing Technique still had the flaws of the of the basic knight technique.


    However as the advanced technique only increased the intensity of the workout session, the AI quickly calculated the better version with little to no lasting injuries and almost could be repeated without a limit and is only needing enough food to strengthen the body.


    As Fraser built the spell model with ease, as he already got familiar with the rune creating as well as the linking, he glanced towards his potion stock.


    ¡®After a finishing the second spell model I should walk around the outpost and search for an opportunity to trade the potions for potion materials or other interesting stuff.¡¯This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Finishing the second spell model of dark rope Fraser could see a second runic ball floating in his spirit room.


    Though there was a huge change. The spirit room seemed to be smaller.


    ¡®Either the room shrank while I created the second spell model or the spell models increased in size.¡¯


    Glancing into his spirit room Fraser could see two balls covered in runic scriptures floating around the room.


    Yet the available space seemed to be almost nonexistent.


    In order to test out his second spell model Fraser immediately poured spirit into both of his spell models, thus causing two black logs to appear in front of him, each with the length of 6 meters or 20 feet.


    Already knowing the process on how to control the dark rope Fraser skillfully manipulated one black log into a pitch black whip which seemed to be rather fearsome.


    However the other black log remained a black lock and Fraser could feel that although he could control the second spell model the other would always slip through his control.


    Multitasking was almost impossible to normal humans after all the best choice would be to focus on one thing and follow it until it achieves success.


    Thus it was almost like trying to do two completely different things at the same time. Even though the two spell models were the same, each one had different handling and needed full attention.


    ¡®This is a problem. I am able to focus on one spell mode, yet the second spell model is not able to be used in a proper way. So the second spell model is a useless waste of time? Is this the reason why people would not choose dark rope even though one spell model of dark rope needs half the spirit of other spell models?¡¯


    Fraser frowned. This definitely was something that he didn¡¯t expect.


    ¡®No wonder it was one of the cheapest spells, it has such a drawback. Besides controlling the spell model seems to be using up spirit constantly. It isn¡¯t that practical like the other spell models where you only have to power it once with the spirit in order to have an effect.¡¯


    Now with two spell model in his spirit room, Fraser seemed to be only able to use one spell model.


    ¡®My initial idea was to use the dark rope as a second hand which would be way stronger than my body. It would also allow me to bind or throw things heavier than me. But the power within the dark rope is too strong, it mostly smashes everything and the control of the spell model is really hard.¡¯


    Sitting on his bed Fraser pondered a while in order to find a solution that was considerable.


    However there was none, the dark rope was just too inflexible. Besides being cheap and having a great power if whipped there were little to no positive points for the spell model.


    ¡®Within a moment I choose to do something irrational and how I don¡¯t have the resources to continue with the research.¡¯


    Fraser regrets choosing the dark rope over something established like the dark spear or anything of the common dark spell collection.


    After all, Fraser had nothing special except the AI, which couldn¡¯t be trusted as it was only a simulation of the real world. The simulation of the modified spell model could be missing an important factor. Thus this could kill Fraser if he decided to use the successfully modified spell model of dark rope as there are dangerous results in people who use dead linking patterns.


    Dead linking patterns are modified spell models which are stable until the entire spell model is constructed, then it will cause the entire spell model to collapse and bring a considerable amount of spirit with it into death.


    As Fraser didn¡¯t have that much spirit a dead linking pattern would probably cause him to be a braindead dumb idiot.


    However with danger comes the temptation, dead linking patterns had a certain chance of succeeding. Which would result in a powerful spell mode, always guaranteed to surpass the basic spell model in every way?


    Also, a special attribute would get added in. For example the ability to infuse the spell with the surrounding elements, or infuse spells with external objects like poisons and explosion or maybe even add layers of the same spell into one spell in order to increase its power.


    Yet the chance was rare and thus Fraser didn¡¯t hope to survive a dead linking pattern.


    Instead, Fraser asked his AI for advice:


    ¡®AI, give me all suggestions on how I can use the two spell models of dark rope and list them. Is there any way to fuse the strength of boy spell models or do you have enough data to analyze a method on how to control both spell models at the same time?¡¯

 Chapter 33 Method of Control

    [Analyzing possible data in order to use two spell models of dark effectively]


    Fraser waited for a while before the AI replied.


    [Possibility control of two dark ropes at the same time confirmed. Available methods discovered in the database: 129, methods to control the dark rope now with zero risks: 2]


    ¡®Ai, explain me the two methods with zero risk, continue to analyze methods from the database and notify me immediately when there is a third, fourth or even fifth method for controlling the two spell models of dark ropes.¡¯


    [The first method is to control the dark rope with your physical traits, in other words use a shape you formed with the dark ropes and then use them as physical weapons which seems to be weightless for you. The second method is to train using the two dark rope as artificially arms which will allow you to control both of them like arms, however, this method needs a lot of time in order to get a grasp of the artificially arms]


    ¡®So the first method is to use the dark rope like a weightless weapon which is an advantage, yet it doesn¡¯t compare to the might to the spell model of the dark spear. The best way to use anything is probably to train in both methods. After all both methods have little to no risks which are really important to me.¡¯


    Thus Fraser tried to shape the two dark ropes into different forms, however, the easiest and most practical form was without any change in shape at all. So, in the end, Fraser could use two weightless staffs as his weapon.


    The second method was way harder to train, Fraser could see that two dark ropes protruded out of his body however it felt almost impossible to move them.


    In order to get a familiar feeling of the artificial arms, the AI placed the two protruding places below his physical arms.


    [Able to make the artificially arms thinner in order to get a better grasp on the two artificial arms, do you want to initiate it]


    ¡®Yes, initiate the thinning of the two dark ropes and continue to use every data from the database and suggest possible corrections or improvements.¡¯


    Fraser commanded the AI to record the entire process as well as notify him of every new solution the Ai database could think of.


    Now that the AI somehow thinned down the two dark ropes protruding from below his arms, Fraser could see that two pitch black tentacles created a second pair of arms for him.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The feeling was not describable. It felt like something new got added but it couldn¡¯t be controlled. Like a third leg which affected your other two legs and thus didn¡¯t allowed you to walk at all as trying to control the third leg automatically affected your control over your already existing two legs. The same effect also existed when only trying to control the old legs.


    With an uncomfortable feeling, Fraser tried to control his arms. But it failed miserably, when he tried to lift one specific arm he somehow lifted all of them and even controlling his physical arms felt almost impossible.


    Yet Fraser continued his training and used his artificially arms the whole day.


    It was rather annoying as using two dark ropes almost destroyed everything in his room, whether it was furniture or the stone walls.


    So Fraser meditated in an empty room in order to no cause that much damage to his belonging and limit the destruction to the walls.


    A day passed as Fraser meditated the entire day only to feel weird when he retracted his two artificially arms.


    ¡®Even though I am not able to control the arms projected by the dark ropes as well as my real arms, the progression is visible. If this goes on I will probably be able to control the arms fluently in about one month.¡¯


    Even though Fraser didn¡¯t step out of his private chambers that much he didn¡¯t regret his choices. He advanced in a steady matter and he would have trained the same way even if he was in the Academy and not at the outpost.


    Besides Fraser still heed the warning of his seniors as well as the concealed warning from Magus Sept. After all the outpost seemed to be rather dangerous and as Fraser still didn¡¯t have that many defensive options (At least in his eyes), he didn¡¯t want to put himself into danger when it isn¡¯t even necessary.


    ¡®However I need to prepare more learning materials soon, or else I won¡¯t be as effective as the next materials may only be retrieved in a few weeks or a couple of days. So it would be better if I trade my potions for a few things I find interesting and the three materials for the potions I know how to brew. Bloodstones, black fire eggs and what was the third material AI?¡¯


    [Enor Stones]


    With a quick glance, Fraser looked at his stock of potions which would trade for interesting stuff. After all the chance that his fellow apprentices acquired interesting stuff would be pretty high as Magus Sept already stayed in the outpost for three months.


    Taking a dozen random potions Fraser gave his next project a short glance: the four spirit techniques, before walking outside of his private chamber towards the biggest space he knew: the common meeting hall or also known as the task hall.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know if there is a market, but there is a chance that I am able to give out requests and add a potion as the reward. As the spirit mark is a binding contact I only have to stash the potion and don¡¯t have to fear getting robbed by any stronger apprentice who might get the wrong idea.¡¯


    As Fraser stepped into the task hall he could see many faces turning around in order to look at him.


    It was without surprise that many faces turned around as somehow there was a meeting going on and Fraser could see the muscular woman in the middle, surrounded by a few other senior apprentices of Magus Sept inner circle.


    As many apprentices looked at him a familiar face stepped out of the mass and mocked Fraser: ¡°Oh, look who we have here. A guy who hides in his private chamber for three months without even daring to walk into the task hall and do anything for Mentor Sept.¡±


    Fraser could see many faces trying to suppress laughter but most of them just grinned.


    ¡°So you are Fraser? What do you want? Do a task or a request something? Right now we are meeting in order to discuss a problem which happened a few days ago, you can participate or not.¡± said the muscular woman while looking towards Fraser.


    ¡°I am here in order to trade for bloodstones, black fire eggs or enor stones. I have a few potions I would like to trade. The trade can also be completed by interesting things.¡± answered Fraser while ignoring Elizabeth who mocked him.


    As soon as Fraser finished the sentence he could see how almost every face turned to that of greed. However, most of them quickly returned to their neutral face.


    Most inner circle members didn¡¯t show greed, instead, they spoke as if Fraser was on the same level as them.

 Chapter 34 Trading Potions

    ¡°I would offer enough materials for thirty tries for one potion. It doesn¡¯t matter if it is the basic explosion potion, the basic wound mending potion or the basic strengthening potion.¡±


    ¡°Thirty? I am willing to offer fifty materials tries for one potion.¡±


    ¡°I only need the basic wound mending potion and the explosion potion, I would trade a couple of potions with a couple of Stone hounds which I have caught in the last couple of days.¡±


    A sentence from the muscular woman stopped the haggling: ¡°I don¡¯t think we have the time to bid for any potions right now.¡± a short paused enhanced her sentence before she continued: ¡°However I would also love to trade with you Fraser, how about I show you the inner circle room at the outpost? We can trade in a couple of hours.¡±


    Without even waiting for his response the muscular woman waved her hand and a similar dark ball which Magus Sept used in order to guide Fraser appeared.


    Fraser nodded before following the dark ball which floated out of the room.


    The floating dark ball leads Fraser to a room which was similar to the inner circle room at the Academy as it was filled with couches.


    Thus Fraser sat down and started to wait.


    Naturally in order to not waste his time Fraser commanded the AI:


    ¡®AI, notify me when the senior apprentices are coming into the room.¡¯


    After setting the AI to notify him when the senior apprentices would finish the meeting and come into the room Fraser started to meditate.


    Fraser didn¡¯t need to wait that long, within one hour the first senior apprentice arrived. To Fraser''s surprise, it was the white masked senior member who exchanged a few sentences with Fraser.


    ¡°So what for basic Potions do you have? Also while you are at it give me a price.¡± asked the white masked senior apprentice.


    Instead of answering Emiums questions Fraser started to attempt doing small talk: ¡°Emium, it¡¯s been a long time. Have you fared well?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    An awkward silence filled the room as Emium didn¡¯t reply to Fraser''s question.


    The only thing stopping the silence is the sound of a door opening.


    A couple of concealed senior apprentices walked into the room while asking the same questions as Emium, just with a different tone.


    ¡°Give me a price for the basic potions you are able to create.¡±


    ¡°State a price for the basic potions.¡±


    ¡°I hope you have a few basic potions which are useful.¡±


    Surprised that every figure walking into the room would ask an individually question Fraser thought: ¡®Every single one of the senior apprentices is asking me for a price individually. Does that mean they are all going solo?¡¯Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    As Fraser waited for a while the inner circle room got filled with more and more senior apprentices.


    The last person to step into the inner circle room was the muscular woman who indirectly forced Fraser to introduce his basic potions.


    ¡°All interested are gathered, start with the trading. We will offer a price and you can either agree with it or not.¡± talked the muscular woman before crossing her arms.


    Every single eye looked towards Fraser who now stood in the center. It almost seemed like a group surrounded Fraser.


    So Fraser started to talk:


    ¡°I have the basic explosion potion, the basic wound mending potions, and the basic strengthening potion. I don¡¯t have anything specific I am searching for, anything I deem interesting sounds fine.¡±


    With this short introduction of the potions, Fraser awaited the answers from the senior apprentices.


    The reply came within a moment.


    ¡°I want the basic wound mending potion and the strengthening potion. I will give you fifty materials for each of them. In the Academy you would only get three magic crystals so I am adding two magic crystals in terms of material cost.¡± said the muscular woman.


    ¡°How many potions do you want?¡± asked Fraser, realizing that the woman was extremely direct and probably could be considered as the leader of the senior apprentices.


    ¡°I will take thirty portions of each kind. I will send you the materials after you have given me the potion.¡±


    As Fraser successfully traded thirty basic wound mending and strengthening potions for the price of fifty materials each he continued to look at the group of senior apprentices.


    ¡°As I am now satisfied with materials I hope that you have anything interesting for me. Except you want the basic explosion potion, then you can trade for materials.¡± stated Fraser as he continued to look into the crowd.


    The first one to come out was Emium and he directly walked towards Fraser.


    With a low voice Emium whispered into Fraser''s ear:


    ¡°I have the notes of an Apprentice, he primarily took notes of Alchemy. I will trade it for fifteen basic wound mending potions and five basic explosion potions.¡±


    Fraser immediately agreed to the trade without haggling.


    After Emium started to trade the rest of the senior apprentices quickly walked in front of Fraser and stated their desired amount of potions as well as their price.


    Fraser agreed to every single trade, even if it seemed to be a little dumb to trade a dozen of potions for an unknown old potion recipe.


    To be honest, Fraser didn¡¯t agree to every trade because he was not smart in business. Instead, he knew that as a junior apprentice he had little to no power in the hierarchy and so he wanted to see who was generous in the list of the senior apprentices and who was not.


    After all, Fraser assumed that every senior apprentice knew that he was new and didn¡¯t have a lot of knowledge.


    So those seniors who would give him the correct price or above would have a positive image in Frasers eyes.


    Fraser didn¡¯t have to be afraid to forget who traded what as the AI saved every information for him and it could be sorted with ease.


    As soon as Fraser finished business he would walk back to his chambers and trade the number of potions for the agreed price.


    With the basic strengthening and basic wound mending potion being the most popular Fraser only had a few left. The basic explosion potion didn¡¯t seem to be that popular and there was only one mad senior apprentice who bought sixty basic explosion potions with one thousand five hundred black fire eggs and a couple of interesting things like books and even corpses of animals unknown to Fraser.


    The trading took almost the entire day and Fraser''s private chamber got filled with the entire stuff the traded for. Most of the space got taken by the 1500 materials for each of his three basic potions.


    The materials would be stored in a crate while the other stuff would just lay next to the crates.


    As Fraser finished sorting the stuff he traded for he immediately went towards the outpost canteen and started to eat.


    As Fraser wanted to reach the peak of Knight Apprentice after the time at the outpost he needed to devour more nutritious meals in order to use the Basic Knight Apprentice Breathing Technique a lot more.

 Chapter 35 Baby Bat

    As Fraser sat there and ate his meal a couple of Apprentices glanced toward him.


    Most of the eyes were filled with jealousy and envy, especially those Apprentices who were at the outpost for the first time.


    However, no one dared to approach Fraser as he was in the inner circle of Magus Sept. That meant that he was considered to be more talented and thus valued highly.


    At least in the apprentice group of Magus Sept that allowed one to be of importance.


    Fraser ignored most glares as he didn¡¯t even recognize most apprentices. There were a couple of people he recognizes as he saw them when he first arrived at the Academy, but the rest were some unknown people.


    One of the older apprentices who apparently already experienced one outpost session walked towards Fraser with a covered cage.


    Why did Fraser think he already experienced one outpost session? Simply because the apprentice had similar attributes to the senior apprentices of the inner circle.


    Completely concealed with no possibility of looking at the true body and a hoarse and neutral voice.


    ¡°I wish to trade for basic explosion potions with this baby bat. It is a common animal surrounding the outpost and it will be easily controlled with the spirit techniques which allow you to control animals.¡± whispered the apprentice towards Fraser.


    Fraser didn¡¯t expect that after being called out by the muscular woman other Apprentices would dare to trade with him.


    However, Fraser quickly regained his calm manner.


    ¡®So the muscular woman didn¡¯t indirectly threaten the other Apprentices, instead, she just spoke what she wanted to do.¡¯


    Fraser expected that the social behavior of the Apprentices would be similar to the social behavior of nobles. However, after a quick thought, Fraser threw his experience from being a noble away.


    ¡®Magus are way stronger than the common nobles. Though there are a few parts that are similar, most behavior and social structure are different. As I was able to lock myself up for three months without anyone expecting anything from me.¡¯


    The concealed figure awaited Fraser who answered in a calm manner: ¡°Let me see the baby Bat.¡±


    Fraser lowered his head in order to push the curtains of the cage aside for a little bit, allowing light to fall into the dark cage.


    However, Fraser also blocked the views of the seemingly interested apprentices in order to not reveal the trade.


    In the middle of the cage, a small and furry dark creature seemed to hug itself.


    Curious Fraser poked the dark furry ball with his finger and it resulted in the opening of the dark furry ball revealing a pair of leathery wings and a cute snout.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    This creature seemed to be able to melt every heart as it was chubby, round and furry. It behaved adorably and it the sensation when Fraser poked it felt like soft heaven.


    However, Fraser ignored the traits of the baby bat and turned towards the potential trading partner.


    ¡°What is the bat able to do and how much explosion positions do you want in order to trade for the newborn bat?¡± asked Fraser while closing the curtains of the cage.


    ¡°A common bat in the surrounding area is able to be used a scout and has good hiding skills. It will grow up in a couple of years and it is extremely loyal if you spend time with it in the early days of its life. I haven¡¯t spend any time with it yet so it should be a bonus to the number of potions. How about 5 explosive potions?¡± suggested the apprentice.


    Fraser wasn¡¯t sure of the real price of the baby bat as it doesn¡¯t seem to be that useful. Only a scout with little to no battle power. Besides there is a high chance it is only common in the surroundings of the Howling Abyss and it easily spotted outside of it.


    Since Fraser didn¡¯t actually need to build up a good relationship with the apprentices outside of the inner circle Fraser hesitated.


    ¡®I don¡¯t even know if the older apprentices have a chance of joining the inner circle if they are powerful enough. Since this apprentice seems to be almost on the same concealing percentage as some senior apprentice of the inner circle I will try to invest in this unknown trade. After all, there is little to lose.¡¯


    With a quick nod, Fraser agreed to the trade before quickly devouring his meal and leading the apprentice towards his private chamber.


    In front of the door, they made the transaction, five explosion potions for the baby bat.


    As soon as Fraser stepped into his room he immediately took out the baby bat in order to analyze it.


    The dark furry ball squeaked and wiggled in Fraser''s hand, however, Fraser didn¡¯t seem to care about the small protests of the bat and continued to touch the body of the baby bat.


    After a short while, the baby bat relaxed and seemingly enjoyed the warmth of Fraser''s palm.


    ¡®There is nothing special, only the furry body, the leathery wings, and the snout. I shouldn¡¯t have expected much from the animals in the Howling Abyss. Magical attributes are still rare, even in such a magical surrounding.¡¯


    Just as Fraser finished his thought a sharp pain spread throughout his palm.


    The pain only lasted for a tiny period of time, however, Fraser could see how the baby bat bit him and a small drop of blood appeared on his palm which the baby bat quickly licked.


    Still, in a calm manner, Fraser pinched the head of the baby bat before lifting it up.


    The baby bat completely stopped resisting, instead, it just waited. It even glanced into Frasers eye with its round and dark eyes.


    ¡®AI, did anything happen to me while the baby bat bit me? Is there any change in my attributes or perception?¡¯


    [No change detected]


    ¡®Then what did the baby bat do?¡¯


    Pondering for a while Fraser put the now silence baby bat back into the cage and turned towards the traded things from the senior apprentices.


    Just as he moved a couple of steps the baby bat started to scream.


    *QUUUIIIIIIII* *QUIIIIIIIII* *QUUUUUUUUUUIIII*


    Fraser ignored the screams of the baby bat for a while but it quickly turned out to be unbearable.


    As a short time passed the baby bat even started to bang against the metallic cage causing the sound of a body smashing against a hard thing to echo through the chamber.


    In order to stop the annoying sound, Fraser opened the cage and a dark furry cannonball shot out of it towards Fraser.


    It was the baby bat to desperately clinging onto Fraser robe.


    ¡®It is time to learn the four spirit technique I bought anyway, let''s start with the animal controlling one. I remember it has the effect of understanding the animal''s emotion as well as thoughts a little bit. It is inferior to a life bond, but it will allow the Apprentice to have the master-servant relationship and the Apprentice won¡¯t die if the bonded animal dies so it is way safer. Naturally only weaker creatures can be controlled into submission.¡¯

 Chapter 36 Spirit Technique

    The four spirit techniques Fraser bought were the basic beast spirit technique, the basic telekinesis spirit technique, the basic common use of spirit technique and the increase particles spirit technique


    As Fraser traded for a baby bat, he naturally started with the basic beast spirit technique which would allow him to tame and control an animal.


    Though there were a few conditions in order to be able to use it on animals. First and foremost the targeted animal should have a way less intelligence and spirit than the caster, or else the spirit technique would backlash and thus injure or even kill the caster.


    Secondly, the physical attributes shouldn¡¯t differ that much as apparently the physical strength of the animal would also defend the invading spirit of the caster.


    These two conditions were the only conditions for the spirit technique which made its uses limited but also broad.


    As the essence of the basic beast spirit technique consisted of forming your own spirit mark into the spirit of the animal and thus controlling its life.


    You didn¡¯t need to separate your spirit as the spirit mark would leech of the spirit of the targeted beasts, thus sustaining the connection and allowing transfer of emotions and a few impressions of the animal senses towards the caster.


    With ease, Fraser formed a spirit mark accordingly to the spirit technique and slowly guided the finished spirit mark into the baby bat who only adorably squicked.


    The spirit mark didn¡¯t look complicated, instead, it was only a small spirit blob which Fraser formed.


    To be honest the basic beast spirit technique didn¡¯t have anything complicated in it. The only thing it explained was the theory on how to allow your spirit blob leech of the spirit of the animals to sustain itself as well as on how to control and use the animal implanted by the spirit technique.


    There was nothing fancy with the technique, it seemed too easy. Just form a blob of spirit and allow it to leech of the spirit of the animal to sustain itself.


    Fraser could even see how the spirit blob entered the baby bat and easily secured a good spot directly next to the baby bats spirit blob.


    ¡®With all these techniques and my knowledge, spirit more and more resembles the soul. At least that is my theory about the so-called spirit.¡¯


    For a quick moment, Fraser regained his thoughts before continuing to watch on how his spirit blob reacted with the spirit blob of the baby bat.


    ¡®I never ever watched another spirit blob. It seems almost unreal. I can even feel how the basic beast spirit technique drains the spirit out of the animal in order to sustain itself.¡¯


    Fraser continued to watch how the mark drained the spirit of the baby bat in a slow manner.


    ¡®If there exists a quick way of draining I could easily use my dark ropes as draining medium. However, there exists a lot of possibilities and I don¡¯t have to hurry up. My progression is steady and it shouldn¡¯t be rushed.¡¯This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    After Fraser learned the basic beast spirit technique within moments he didn¡¯t even deem the other spirit techniques as something special anymore.


    And indeed. The other spirit techniques weren¡¯t that special. The basic telekinesis spirit technique which sounded like a powerful and mighty spirit technique only explained how to move physical objects with only using spirit.


    It was interesting to see how Fraser was able to manipulate spirit outside of the spirit room and how it affected reality.


    But for Fraser''s taste it took too much spirit and it didn¡¯t have an efficient spirit-power correlation.


    Even if Fraser didn¡¯t saw the basic telekinesis spirit technique as something useful, Fraser still learned it in order to have more cards in his sleeve.


    Since who knows? Maybe this basic telekinesis spirit technique will be useful in some kind of way.


    The basic common use of spirit technique was something that interested Fraser for quite a while.


    The spirit technique had no active part of it, instead, everything was theory and how the spirit could be manipulated and shaped.


    It even had basic stuff like how to use your spirit with more efficient and on how to read and react according to spirit marks or spirit related objects.


    Though most contents talked about theory and how to spirits who met each other would react.


    With surprise two spirits couldn¡¯t really fight each other without any techniques, neither could they defend naturally if the other spirit had an offensive technique or attack.


    The spirit technique book, which Fraser now doubted as theory book of spirit techniques, described the meetings of two spirits as if two people could see each other but couldn¡¯t attack each other.


    They were able to communicate and see how strong the spirit was, but the stronger spirit couldn¡¯t attack the weaker spirit without a technique.


    The book again showed an image of two people standing a certain distance away. Both were able to talk and shout while seeing on how strong the other person was, but as they couldn¡¯t move or run attack of defense was not possible.


    Though there were exceptions which the spirit book described the spirit as having a bow and arrow for an attack or a shield in order to defend itself.


    Naturally, the basic common spirit technique suggested that a defensive spirit technique should be prioritized or else the spirit would get damaged, regardless whether the spirit attack was weak or not.


    Deciding to buy a defensive spirit technique as soon as possible Fraser grabbed the last spirit technique, the increase particles spirit technique.


    And again Fraser was pleasingly surprised. The spirit technique would allow his spell model dark rope to gather almost immediately. It would also allow him to gather the particles in the air in a quick manner as the spirit technique described a certain pattern in which the spirit should move in order to attract more particles.


    It seemed a little bit silly to Fraser to move the spirit in order to gather more particles as the spirit only needed to shake in a certain rhythm. However, it worked and Fraser was able to form two dark ropes in an instant.


    As Fraser finished learning his four spirit techniques he was a little bit disappointed. Most of them were easy and quick to learn.


    He should have bought more spirit techniques as they seemed to have a lot to do with the basic controlling of the spirit.


    Shaking his head Fraser thought.


    ¡®I will return to the Howling Abyss Academy within two and a half years. I should use the time in order to gather rare materials from the howling abyss. I could even trade most of the potions for materials as I would receive more materials if I trade and buy with magic crystals. Besides, there are many interesting things at the howling abyss which I can obviously research.¡¯


    At the last part of his thoughts, Fraser turned towards the pile of animal corpses and interesting things the traded with the senior apprentices of the inner circle.


    ¡®It is time to experiment.¡¯ thought Fraser while rubbing his hands together.


    He didn¡¯t know why he did that, but it felt appropriate for the situation.

 Chapter 37 Experimentation

    Weeks passed as Fraser experimented on his trading spoils.


    Even though the potion trading was easily done in one day, the sorting and documentation of the spoils took way longer.


    For example, the baby bat which Fraser acquired from one of the older students who wasn''t in the inner circle still was a baby.


    It did grow a little bit, however, the fact that the baby bat is a chubby cute round ball of fur didn''t change.


    Instead, it grew even more dependent towards Fraser.


    Whenever Fraser was a couple of meters away, the baby would start to quick in an annoying matter.


    Thus leaving no choice to Fraser who now carried the baby bat in a pocket on his robe.


    ''Even if the baby bat is annoying as hell, if I send it out with a command it will try to please me. I actually was able to perceive the impressions of the baby bat when I send it out to scout another room. There was the wooden table which seemed a lot bigger and the rest of the applications.''


    However Fraser didn''t only experiment with the baby bat, he also cut open the corpses of many different creatures. All of these corpses were traded with the seniors of the inner circle.


    After all, Fraser accepted all offers of the senior apprentices of the inner circle in order to leave a good impression as well as to perceive whether they would take advantage of him, give him the market value or give him a little bit more in order to build up a good relationship.


    Fraser stored all organic parts of the corpses in different glass jars and even sorted the glass jars in order to remember which organic part was from which creature.


    To be honest he had no idea for what the creatures organic parts could be used for as most books in the outpost library only mentioned the danger and the living habit of the creatures.


    But there were a few parts which were self-explanatory.


    For example, all poisons, whether it came from a snake, bat, insect, weird ball-shaped spike, bear, wolf, worm or even rocks could be smeared on a weapon and used against the enemies.


    However, most creature corpses were only useful to be stored in the Database of the AI.


    Sometimes there were interesting bodies which seemed almost other-worldly. Weird shaped heart, no heart at all, no blood in a corpse of the same creature and many more.


    The most fascinating thing Fraser saw was a parasitic insect inside one of the corpses.


    As Fraser looked inside the body of the corpse, it was a colossal cave bear, he could see a weird shaped yellow insect inside the brain of the colossal cave bear.


    It seemed to be eating the brain of the colossal cave bear while still maintaining control.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Sadly, or fortunately, the parasitic insect was already dead and the only remaining thing was the insect entangled with the brain of the colossal cave bear.


    As Fraser continued to examine the corpse of the colossal cave bear he could see that a couple of yellowish small dots were implanted in his body.


    With suspicion, Fraser glanced at the yellowish small dots. After all, they were scattered through the entire body of the colossal cave bear without any sort of structure or reason.


    As Fraser continued to cut the corpse of the colossal cave bear he could see an almost transparent yellow orb in the backbone of the colossal cave bear.


    As if petrified Fraser glanced at the yellow orb.


    The same parasitic insect, only a little bit smaller could be seen sucking on the bone marrow of the already deceased colossal cave bear.


    In order to not disturb the eating process of the unknown parasitic insect Fraser cut out a huge part of the flesh and out the entire thing in a thick glass jar.


    Where the glass jar came from? Naturally, it came from the howling abyss academy. Apparently, all outpost had a "few" servants, which in truth translated to about a ratio of one apprentice per five servants.


    These servants would cook, clean, produce normal things like iron swords, glassware or wooden crafts and also serve the outpost in general.


    Fraser didn''t saw these servants at first when he arrived at the outpost as he lived like a hermit, however, Fraser quickly abused the servants in a smart manner.


    He wouldn''t even go out anymore and instead order a servant to bring him food and order something he needed. For example glass jars, glass flasks, wooden tables, any wooden crafts or mortal weapons like iron sword, iron shield and many more.


    As male servants would only serve male apprentices and the female servants would only serve female apprentices, there was no case of prostitution or sexual abuse.


    However, most females and males would gladly try and appease the apprentices in order to receive benefits.


    At least that is what Fraser had heard in the canteen before he started ordering food towards his private chambers.


    Strangely Fraser didn''t felt anything exciting when he realized he could actually just spend the night with a girl who would be willing. Instead, he suddenly felt a strange feeling welling up in his body. Which he naturally tried to ignore as quickly as possible.


    Fraser already knew the birds and the bees and every other aspect of sexual intimacy. However, he never experienced it.


    After all, he wasn''t a popular member of his family, neither somebody with a good future. Instead, he always tried to survive or be able to live.


    He didn''t even try to sexually harass somebody from the dukedom of his father.


    After all, he had a couple of siblings who would actively try to play the white knight. The result would always be the same, the woman or man would end up getting dumped for the next damsel/gentleman in distress.


    Although Fraser knew some of the stories of his siblings, after all, he needed to know who was the top boss in the group in order to avoid him and be as less visible as possible, he didn''t really care about the names.


    This strategy of ignoring the world and focusing on his own life spared Fraser from almost all of the bigger dramas in his family and would probably save him from a lot of dramas in the Magus world as well.


    Naturally he couldn''t avoid every drama in existence as some dramas tend to involve every member of a certain family or organization. However most people would give him little to no attention and thus he was mostly good to go.


    After all Fraser didn''t really had any supporter or was treated better than any other sibling.


    At least that was the case of Fraser until he joined the inner circle of Magus Sept.


    Now he was finally in the group with benefits. However most apprentices of the inner circle didn''t care about any social connections, at least that is what Fraser saw.


    So he naturally followed the examples and thus holed himself up in his private chamber and continued to experiment.


    Finished straying off from his thoughts Fraser glanced at the yellowish transparent orb which for obvious reasons was the egg of the parasitic insect.


    After storing it in the glass jar Fraser only checked on any movements of the egg, only to see it still sucking nutrients from the dead corpse.


    Now, the yellow transparent egg had a small crack which Fraser observed through the glass.

 Chapter 38 Parasitic Insect

    As Fraser glanced at the yellowish orb which now had a crack he felt uncomfortable.


    He tried to search for a similar insect in the records of the outpost, yet the AI wasn¡¯t able to find a parasitic insect with the descriptions of the insect in front of him.


    There were a few parasitic organisms which would control the behavior of the host while eating the brain, yet none of them had the color yellow and were insects.


    Instead, most parasites would be in the shape of a plant or a mushroom, forming roots inside the body of the host while spreading via spores or direct seed implantation.


    Fraser continued to look at the yellowish orb which now had a crack in it.


    He could see how the insect slowly devoured the meat of the colossal cave bear as the yellow orb was transparent.


    ¡®I didn¡¯t found this parasitic insect in the flora or fauna records of the outpost. Either this is a new species, a very rare species, an almost endangered species because of its particular attributes or a species which normal habitat is not the howling abyss.¡¯


    Holding the glass jar in his hands Fraser continued to think.


    ¡®It doesn¡¯t matter what this parasitic insect is. I have to brand it with my spirit mark in order to tame it. After all, I have no idea if this unknown insect is dangerous.¡¯


    As soon as Fraser finished thinking about the spider he immediately sat down on his bed and held the glass jar with the insect egg in it.


    The yellow orbs, which were scattered through the body of the colossal cave bear, were eggs as well. The only difference was that all of them were not as developed and weren¡¯t able to feed on the dead flesh of the colossal cave bear and thus died.


    As Fraser touched the yellowish orb with his spirit something strange happened.


    With a shocked feeling, Fraser continued to control his spirit in order to look at the yellowish insect egg.


    ¡®How did my spirit disappear? It literally vanished. I can even feel that the maximal amount of spirit I have seems to be reduced.¡¯


    Once again Fraser tried to send his spirit into the yellowish insect egg in order to brand the insect with his spirit brand thus making the insect his slave.


    However it didn¡¯t matter how often Fraser tried to send his spirit into the yellowish insect egg, everything vanished.


    Sweat dripped down Fraser''s head and a frustrated thought popped out in Fraser''s head.


    ¡®If this goes on then my spirit that I painstakingly accumulated will disappear because of this parasitic insect egg. This can¡¯t go on!¡¯


    Fraser used his entire spirit and pressed it towards the yellowish insect egg in order to get to know what happened with the previous two spirit strands he used in order to brand the insect.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    As soon as his spirit glanced into the transparent yellowish insect egg a severe pain shot through his entire spirit.


    Fraser''s body started to spasm, sweat poured out of his body, blood flowed out of his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes and his pants started to become wetter.


    But Fraser didn¡¯t experienced any of the things mentioned above.


    Instead his entire concentration focused on the insect egg.


    As Fraser used his entire spirit in order to look at the insect egg he now was able to look why the previous two attempts to brand the insect egg with his spirit seemed to fail.


    The spirit of the yellowish insect seemed to be able to devour the spirit of Fraser.


    Also the spirit of the yellowish insect seemed to be way stronger than Fraser deemed.


    It almost had the size of Frasers spirit and it easily pinned Frasers spirit down while slowly devouring Frasers spirit bite by bite.


    Why did Fraser think the spirit of the insect devoured his spirit bite by bite? Because as Fraser used his entire spirit in order to activate the spirit beast technique in order to imprint the yellowish insect egg his entire spirit was outside.


    Thus allowing the insect''s spirit to pin down his spirit and ripping his spirit into pieces while devouring the smaller ones.


    Agony filled Fraser''s mind as he could only witness his spirit getting devoured piece by piece by the spirit of the yellowish insect which he wanted to brand with his spirit mark just a few moments before.


    At this moment he desired to rip the yellow insect into pieces while cursing the entire world.


    However, he wasn¡¯t even able to control his body anymore which continued to lose the basic functions of a healthy body.


    Pain filled Fraser''s body while the insect continued to devour Fraser''s spirit piece by piece and didn¡¯t seem to be bothered.


    Everything happened in the spirit plane and if an average human would look at it from the outside he would only be able to see how Fraser held the glass jar with a yellowish orb in it and start to spasm while the body loses the control of itself.


    Desperation filled Fraser''s spirit as he could only see how his spirit vanished into the yellowish spirit of the insect.


    Two rune balls, which were two dark rope spell model, floated in his spirit and Fraser grabbed these spell model with desperation.


    Immediately these two spell models started to operate in the physical world and two dark whips appeared in the physical world.


    Fraser immediately controlled these two dark ropes in the way to wreak as much havoc as possible.


    But as if sensing the impending danger the yellow insect pinned down Fraser in such a way that the most possible agony swept through his spirit.


    The yellow insect even hastens the way on how it devoured Fraser''s spirit.


    However, Fraser was able to shatter the glass jar with the egg of the yellowish insect inside it.


    Sadly one of the dark ropes missed the insect by the width of a thumbnail.


    As the two dark ropes disappeared the yellow insect hatched from its transparent egg and crawled on Fraser''s body towards his brain.


    Fraser spirit could only see how the yellow insect slowly crawled on his body towards his head.


    ¡®Is this the end? Will I die because of my first experiment session where I cut up corpses of organisms?¡¯


    To be honest, Fraser wasn¡¯t able to think clearly anymore. The pain of getting cut open alive while being burned and getting eaten alive mixed into the pain that Fraser experienced right now.


    As he could only watch how the insect crawled towards his brain while eating his spirit Fraser felt like everything he did up until now only benefited others.


    He traded his potions for who knows what? Goodwill from some useless seniors that gave him this evil yellow insect.


    He didn¡¯t even know if the potions he had were something precious in the outpost, after all, he holed himself up in his private chamber while ignoring the outpost.


    Fraser started to laugh inwardly.


    ¡®ahahahaHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA¡¯


    As if madness felt every vein of Fraser''s existence he started to laugh.


    The yellow insect burrowed into his mouth and reached his brain.


    Fraser could feel how the insect started to devour his brain as well as his spirit.


    With one last glance, Fraser stared towards his two spell models and changed one rune.


    Like explosion potions they exploded, causing his entire spirit to crumble.


    The rest¡­. only darkness.

 Chapter 39 A New Beginning

    Time passed.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡®Am I dead?¡¯


    As Fraser finally had one thought he asked himself the question whether he was still alive.


    ¡®I can only remember getting eaten by the insect which I wanted to mark with my spirit brand.¡¯


    Touching his head Fraser tried to open his eyes which he surprisingly was able to do.


    Glancing around Fraser could see that his former room was a mess.


    Everything was destroyed, even the bed on which he lied.


    Glass fragments and chipping were scattered next to his bed.


    A foul smell entered Fraser''s nose and he quickly found the source of the smell.


    A single piece of meat was located next to his bed.


    Wondering what happened Fraser tried to remember what happened.


    However, he still felt a little bit tired and using his brain felt like moving an entire mountain.


    Without a clear vision of the thing that happened Fraser asked the only thing that might have seen the entire procedure of him trying to brand the yellow insect.


    ¡®AI, what happened?¡¯


    [UNKNOWN¡­.  RE-CALCULATING]


    With a shocked expression, Fraser sighed inwardly.


    ¡®Does that mean the AI is gone? At least I am still alive. I didn¡¯t know what happened. I can only remember the agony and darkness.¡¯


    Slowly Fraser stood up while examine his entire body.


    Nothing changed, it was the body he remembered.


    As if dragging a mountain Fraser walked towards a mirror step by step.


    ¡®It feels like that my body doesn¡¯t belong to me anymore.¡¯Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Glancing into the mirror Fraser saw his usual self.


    A young man at the age of 13 belonging to the nobles.


    The feature of belonging to a noble was the following: a little bit chubby, a slightly arrogant look when inspected upon closer look and the straight posture which followed after endless lessons of noble etiquette.


    Everything seemed fine at first glance, however, Fraser noticed one change.


    ¡®Why are my eyes yellow?¡¯


    To be honest, the eye still was the eye of a human. However, the Iris of the eye had the color yellow.


    The same yellow of the insect which tried to devour Fraser.


    Apparently, the realization which dawned upon Fraser weakened him.


    Like a human seeking for water, Fraser stumbled back to his broken bed which now only consisted of a mattress and a wooden structure which seemed to crumble at any moment.


    Letting himself fall upon the bed Fraser tried to think about the things that happened.


    ¡®I only tried to mark the yellow insect with my spirit brand. Didn¡¯t expect that this action would endanger me in such a way.¡¯


    As soon as Fraser felt the softness of his bed he immediately fell into the soft embrace of sleep.


    Though he didn¡¯t expect to fall into sleep.


    After Fraser woke up he immediately felt refreshed. Like he had taken a good and long rest.


    ¡®AI, what happened when I tried to spirit brand the yellow insect? I can only remember that somehow the insect was able to devour my spirit and almost devoured my brain. Was I able to crush the insect with my physical body? Or did my spirit somehow overwhelm the insect''s spirit?¡¯


    Fraser tried once more to contact his AI, as the AI only replied that it re-calculated. Meaning that the AI needed time for itself to do something.


    [RE-CALCULATION COMPLETED]


    [The data of the attack is incomplete. Last remaining memory in the database only contains the moment when hosts detonated his two spell models]


    ¡®So something weird happened that allowed me to survive the attack of the yellow insect. Shouldn¡¯t the detonation of the spell models cripple a huge part of my spirit? AI, show me my body stats.¡¯


    [4.89 strength, 6.57 agility, 2.89 vitality, 7.13/7.13 spirit]


    Shocked Fraser glanced at his body stats which seemed to be inhuman.


    ¡®AI, how come that my spirit almost doubled? Also, how does my body have these ridiculous amounts of the physical stats?¡¯


    [UNKNOWN ¨C reformed hosts body]


    ¡®AI, what do you mean by UNKNOWN?¡¯


    [Information not in the database, high chance the reformation happened in the time period when host was unconscious]


    Pretty much confirming that the body reforming happened after Fraser blackened out he immediately looked into his spirit room, which confirmed that something changed.


    Instead of the square formed spirit room which had jelly walls, a round sphere awaited him which also had jelly walls and contained his spirit within.


    The only difference was that somehow the sphere room had two distinct colors.


    Yellow and black seemed to mix in the sphere room.


    Also, there was an almost sickening amount of runes which were inscribed on the sphere formed spirit room.


    There was no sight for the spell models, which, after Fraser detonated them shouldn¡¯t be a surprise. However, Fraser still felt a little bit bad as the two dark rope spell models he formed would eventually become his first magic spell.


    ¡®AI, why is my spirit room, or spirit sphere inscribed with runes? Does it mean that the two spell models I detonated somehow imprinted themselves on my spirit?¡¯


    [Negative, none of the runes inscribed on the spirit sphere resembles that of the dark rope spell model which automatically eliminates the possibility of the spell model imprinting itself on your spirit sphere]


    ¡®Then is there anything in the database which might lead to a hint on what the runes inscribed on my spirit are able to do?¡¯


    [An unknown memory file is in the database which might have a lead on what the runes inscribed on your spirit spere are for, preparing to initialize the necessary knowledge transfer]


    While the AI prepared the knowledge transfer Fraser started to sort through his private chamber in order to check whether everything has been alright the moment he passed out.


    A thin layer of dust covered everything, from the wooden tables to the equipment Fraser used.


    Walking through his chamber covered in a thin layer of dust a short memory that his private chamber resembled the normal starting of a horror movie shot through Fraser''s head, however, it disappeared as it appeared.


    A high pitched scream destroyed the silence and a black shadow pounced towards Fraser.


    He didn¡¯t react and only felt a tiny weight pressing up against his body while the screaming sound turned into a sobbing sound.


    It was the baby bat which now was a former ghost of itself. The former round body turned into a skeleton and now the only thing that made it cute was the fluffy fur which still had its former cuteness.


    Glancing around his chamber Fraser immediately saw that almost all of his glass jars filled with the parts of the corpses were still intact.


    Though some jars showed signs of being filled with maggots which indicated from poor storing, most materials were still useable.


    So Fraser opened one of the glass jars filled with meat in order to feed the baby bat.


    Like a hungry predator, the baby bat pounced upon the preserved piece of meat and devoured it as if it was the most delicious thing in the world.


    [Knowledge transfer prepare, initiation activate-able]


    Moving back to his bed Fraser initiated the knowledge transfer.


    ¡®AI, activate the knowledge transfer of the unknown file.¡¯

 Chapter 40 Innate Spell

    The process of transferring knowledge was nothing special.


    At least in the physical world, nothing special happened except the fact that Fraser lied down on his bed.


    However, in Fraser''s mind, he experienced something that cannot be described with words.


    It felt like living a journey where a wise mentor guided you towards the goal.


    Like learning so much in a short period of time.


    Belonging to something greater.


    As Fraser experienced the knowledge transfer he felt weird.


    After all, he experienced everything in the spiritual world. It was different as he got lectured directly in the spirit, meaning that everything that he learned would stay in his spirit.


    A few hours passed as Fraser experienced the knowledge transfer, but to Fraser, it felt like a single moment.


    Opening his eyes Fraser felt a shiver running through his body.


    ¡®Unbelieve able. The yellow insect had so much potential. I am lucky that I was able to kill it. Yet the question on how I fused with the yellow insect still is not answered.¡¯


    Confused Fraser retreated back into his spirit sphere, which he formerly named the spirit room.


    Runes covered the walls of the spirit sphere and now Fraser knew exactly what these runes were for.


    ¡®I acquired an innate spell, which will grow alongside my spirit and eventually create more spells for me to use. So that is where the spell models come from. That means that technically everyone would be able to use my innate spell mode.¡¯


    Fraser clenched his fists in excitement. A spell model which would grow alongside him.


    Though the theory would suggest that everyone would be able to use his innate spell model if created properly, however from the knowledge file Fraser knew that the innate spell from the yellow insect was something special.


    The innate spell would create a servant for the hive mind, often called the mind or the social behavior of an entire society.


    In other words, Fraser had become a hive mind, the mind or the brain of an entire society.


    Thus even if anyone replicated the spell model, they would need the ability to be able to manage these servants.


    Or else they would just be able to create an uncontrollable creature which might even kill the caster or Magus.


    ¡®So right now I am a one man army. The only thing I need is enough organic material and time in order to create servants. AI, can I change my servants or are the created servants already determined?¡¯


    [From the information of the Yellow Insect, there is a small number of standard servants which are already programmed into the knowledge file. However in order to improve the servants a lot of experiments and testing needs to be done. Thus the conclusion is that yes, servants can be changed]Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡®What are the standard servants in the knowledge file? AI, make a list and if you are able to simulate their strength and behavior list them as well. Also, tell me the number of the standard servant in the knowledge file.¡¯


    [Creation of the list, please wait a short moment]


    While the AI seemed to create the list of the standard servants Fraser had a relieved smile on his lips.


    ¡®I guess what doesn¡¯t kill you will make you stronger.¡¯


    A short laugh escaped Fraser''s mouth before the AI finished the list.


    [Listing the Standard servants(4):


    - Larva, the infant stage of every servant, basis for every servant


    - Mother, able to produce larva, useful for production chains, heavy unit


    - Worker, a slow and steady servant, used for manual labor work


    - Soldier, battle servant


    Every servant has no mind on its own, the only one with a mind capable of thinking is the Mother]


    Fraser glanced at the servant list for a while before thinking about the social structure of ants, bees and termites.


    ¡®How come they are so similar? I mean this is probably the foundation for a huge society which would result in a smarter hive mind.¡¯


    Something seemed odd for Fraser, however, he quickly threw the suspicion back into the back of his head.


    ¡®How come there is no drawback? AI are all servants as small as the yellow insect I killed?¡¯


    If the servants would be as small as the yellow insect which Fraser killed, they would be nothing much except cannon fodder.


    After all even with dark rope, one of the cheapest spell models available Fraser would be able to kill thousands upon thousands of small insects with a single cast.


    Fraser expected a confirmation that the servants would be quite small, however, he got a positive surprise.


    [Each servant size is only depending on the organic material available, though every servant will take up an amount of spirit. So the maximum amount of spirit will equal to the number of servants you will be able to control. So the bigger the size for each of the servants, the more spirit you have to use]


    After hearing the limitations of his now innate spell Fraser immediately began to order the necessary materials in order to start experimenting.


    Which was to walk outside of his private chamber and try to see if he can get a lot of organic materials, in other words, meat, it didn¡¯t matter in which state so corpses, parts or even beautiful cut up were the same quality materials in Fraser''s eye.


    To be honest, if Fraser didn¡¯t fuse with the yellow insect there would only be a few things left for Fraser on which he could improve on.


    He wasn¡¯t able to experiment on Alchemy as he only had one Alchemist Set and if that somehow got destroyed while he was at the outpost there was a high chance that he wouldn¡¯t be able to get a second one.


    So the only things left were experimenting with his now destroyed spell models, strengthening his physique in order to become an apprentice knight and to meditate in order to improve his spirit.


    But with the fusion of the yellow insect and the innate spells Fraser now had a lot more to experiment upon.


    As Fraser walked through the floors of the outpost a few apprentices saw him but didn¡¯t dare to approach him as Fraser came from the direction of the private chambers.


    Just as Fraser walked through the more populated region of the outpost for a while in order to reach the canteen a giant muscular guy walked towards Fraser.


    Easily topping Fraser height by three entire heads the muscular guy stopped Fraser in his way and spoke in a deep voice:


    ¡°My big sister wants to meet you, Fraser. Also, there is a meeting for the inner circle going on right now so follow me.¡±


    Without a choice Fraser walked behind the muscular guy, remembering that the muscular guy seemed to be the younger brother of the muscular woman who took the lead at almost every meeting Fraser attended.


    As soon as Fraser entered the inner circle room with the ¡°escort¡± of the muscular guy, every eye turned towards his direction for a short moment before they continued to do whatever they did before he entered the room.


    ¡°My bigger sister is over there, in the corner. Let us walk towards her.¡± said the muscular guy in a voice before ¡°escorting¡± Fraser towards his sister.

 Chapter 41 Silence before the storm

    ¡°How have you been Fraser? It has been around two months since you have traded the potions with us.¡± spoke the muscular woman.


    As Fraser arrived at the corner of the room that was the first sentence he heard from the muscular woman.


    Not knowing what she wanted Fraser replied in a cool voice:


    ¡°It was a good time, didn¡¯t really do much.¡±


    An awkward silence spread through the corner when suddenly one the muscular woman spoke once again:


    ¡°I need more basic strengthening potions as well as basic wound mending potions. Are you willing to trade?¡±


    Fraser immediately knew that the last part wasn¡¯t a question. It was a threat.


    However as there is no possibility that he is able to fight against the muscular woman, Fraser could only accept the trade.


    Some people might say that Fraser is the one getting threatened, however as he now didn¡¯t have to look for meat one could say that this small trade solved one of his biggest Problems.


    So naturally, Fraser walked back towards his chamber after agreeing on trading meat with basic wound mending and basic strengthening potions.


    As Fraser acquired his meat with ease by trading it for a few potions he decided to create a potion stock in order to be able to trade whenever he wanted without having to create the potion.


    Creating the potion wasn¡¯t hard for Fraser anymore as he had the assistance of the AI which decreased his failure rate of creating a potion to almost zero percent.


    Having around 1500 materials for every basic potion allowed Fraser to have an almost unlimited pile of materials laying in his private chambers.


    As he already ordered for a few hundred dozen glass flasks in order to store the basic potions Fraser had enough materials for a few thousand basic potions which only needed the time to be created.


    To be honest Fraser already felt that creating these basic potions seemed to be too easy. Creating these potions with the Alchemy set didn¡¯t seem to be a difficult task for him anymore and the only thing limiting his brewing speed was the fact that the Alchemy set he had was something designed for beginners or apprentices who started to get into Alchemy.


    ¡®I need to acquire a better Alchemy magic tool as quickly as I can. But since the outpost is rather limited to resources like magic tools and information which can only be found at the howling abyss academy, I probably have to wait until the three years are over. Until then I still have more than 2 years.¡¯


    Shaking his head Fraser sighed inwardly.


    ¡®I want to test so many things, yet if the Alchemy Set gets destroyed then I wouldn¡¯t even be able to create a potion, which would result in me not being able to trade properly. Better to create the potions slow and not get impatient or else I might slay the golden egg laying goose.¡¯This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    An entire week passed and Fraser entered a state where he only woke up in order to create potions.


    He tried to meditate whenever his spirit got low, however, the result depressed him.


    His spirit increased by a really tiny amount and only refilled whenever Fraser tried to meditate.


    But as his spirit already reached past the 7 marks it never happened as whenever Fraser used up spirit in order to use the Alchemy Set, it would automatically regenerate with his own regeneration.


    At the end of the week, Fraser created around two hundred basic wound mending and basic strengthening potions each.


    Which, considered the fact that Fraser only needed ten minutes for one basic potion meant that Fraser almost used his entire time to create potions.


    The rest of the time was spent sleeping, which considering Fraser''s high physical body meant a few hours, playing with the baby bat which surprisingly seemed to take a lot of mental burden from Fraser and eating.


    When the time to trade with the muscular woman arrived, Fraser took around 30 flasks of the basic wound mending and the basic strengthening potion with him and stepped outside of his private chamber.


    As the inner circle members all had a private chamber in the same section of the outpost, Fraser finished the trade only a few steps in front of his private chamber.


    A huge pile of flesh appeared behind the muscular man who immediately started to speak:


    ¡°So Fraser, you have the thirty basic wound mending and strengthening potions?¡±


    With a short nod, Fraser replied to the younger brother of the muscular woman before scanning the huge pile of corpses behind the muscular man with a short spirit brand.


    After all the yellow insect ¡°swallowed¡± his spirit brand so anything dangerous would probably react in a similar way.


    Warily Fraser kicked one of the corpses as if being afraid of another encounter similar to the yellow insect.


    However, as he needed the pile of corpses in order to feed his future servants Fraser could only agree.


    ¡°Where are the other two piles of corpses? I thought we agreed upon three huge piles of corpses for sixty potions?¡± asked Fraser while glancing towards the muscular man.


    ¡°Take it or leave it, give me the sixty potions.¡± snorted the muscular man while grabbing Fraser''s wrist.


    ¡°What? You dare?¡± said Fraser shocked before he could only block a fist.


    Shocked from the surprise attack the muscular man hit a full-blown attack right into Fraser''s chest, causing him to get thrown onto the wall.


    *Crash*


    Stunned from the blow Fraser slowly stood up while the muscular woman smiled dumbly before taking away the sixty potions with him and leaving the pile of corpses next to Fraser''s private chamber.


    Anger streamed through Fraser''s veins.


    ¡®How dare he? How dare the muscular woman back down on deal?¡¯


    However, it was too late to take back his potions as Fraser could only hear faint steps.


    With an angry mood, Fraser slowly transported the pile of flesh into his private chamber, corpse by corpse.


    Finishing the task Fraser moved towards his bed while holding a basic wound mending potion in his hand.


    Though he was able to block the attack of the muscular man for a certain extent, the surprise attack hit him with full force.


    As Fraser examined the injury a surprise awaited him.


    A crack appeared on his chest as if a crack appeared on wood.


    Touching his chest Fraser felt that everything was normal, however as he slowly used other objects like a ruler or a glass flask to hit his chest in a weak manner he could clearly hear that it wasn¡¯t the sound of hitting flesh.


    Instead, it sounded like hitting an armor.


    After testing his newfound armor for a short moment Fraser drank the basic wound mending potion which resulted in filling his entire body with a comfortable and warm feeling.


    Looking into the mirror Fraser could see how the crack on his chest visible shrank until it disappeared.


    Just as Fraser wanted to continue his experiments and create his first servant a voice sounded from his door.


    ¡°All inner circle apprentices are summoned to go to the inner circle room within fifteen minutes. I, Magus Sept order you to appear. Whoever doesn¡¯t appear will have their membership of the inner circle revoked.¡±

 Chapter 42 Entering a Tide

    Most inner circle members already arrived at the inner circle room when Fraser stepped into the room.


    All of the senior apprentices stood around a single figure: Magus Sept.


    Only a few masked figures stepped into the room after Fraser and a single sentence from Magus Sept caused the entire room to fall into silence.


    ¡°We are now all gathered.¡±


    Pausing Magus Sept looked at every apprentice before explaining the reason for the urgent gathering.


    ¡°Unfortunately I have to inform you that we entered the phase of a tide. Which will mean that the organism of the howling abyss will gather and form a colossal army breaking into the nearby eco-systems of the howling abyss devouring everything in order to sustain itself.¡±


    Another short pause followed as if allowing the apprentices to digest the information Magus Sept just revealed.


    ¡°Since we are one of the outposts bordering the howling abyss and the territory of the howling abyss academy and not one of those outpost venturing into the howling abyss our duty is it to hold the outpost for the entire duration of the tide. Also, a couple of outposts who have their location in the howling abyss will return and fuse with our outpost. Nothing will change except that fact that the tasks of killing organisms near the outpost will be a primary task for the next few years. Additionally, I have to inform you that we won¡¯t return to the academy for the entire duration of the tide, which easily will stretch the assigned period of three years.¡±


    Once again Magus Sept continued to look at the members of the inner circle before continuing to speak:


    ¡°Emium, you will be the representative of me and handle the inner circle. The new members this year will not have any duties and are allowed to move in a non-restricted way as long as they don¡¯t hinder your plan in any way. I hope you won¡¯t disappoint me.¡±


    Just as Magus Sept reached the door he seemed as if he remembered something.


    ¡°I forgot to give the new members the advanced meditation technique, here it is.¡±


    Five dark balls appeared which floated towards the respected ¡°new¡± members of the inner circle which naturally were Fraser, Nicholas, Adrian, Elise, and Elizabeth.


    As Fraser examined a flask similar to the dark liquid when he received the normal meditation technique Magus Sept already stepped outside of the room leaving the members of the inner circle alone.


    Fraser was a little bit surprised that the white masked senior apprentice had such a high standing in the eyes of Magus Sept.


    ¡®I am sure that I left a small positive impression, though the rest of the new members doesn¡¯t seem to be that lucky.¡¯


    Fraser could see how the other four new members visible had a pale face or looked troubled when Emium got selected for being the second in command to Magus Sept.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ¡°Since I am the second in command, every inner circle member has to kill a couple of animals or beasts every week. You can do whatever you want with the corpse. I only expect you to show the corpse in order to prove you have killed it. Also, everyone has to take a couple of the other apprentices every week in order to kill a group of beasts. That¡¯s it. Disperse.¡± spoke Emium after Magus Sept left and directly stepped out as well as soon as he finished announcing the task.


    Slowly everyone went back to their private chambers, Fraser included.


    Pushing the howling abyss tide information on the side Fraser looked towards the pile of corpses.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know what for a servant I am able to create with this pile, however, it should be enough for the start.¡¯


    Raising his hand Fraser sank into his spirit sphere. Runes covering the surface of the spirit sphere.


    Activating a certain section of the runes on the spirit sphere caused the spirit within to slowly drain towards the runes.


    In reality, something started to wiggle and crawl out of Fraser''s hand.


    It was a yellow insect shaped in the form of a worm.


    Legs covered the sides of the yellow worm.


    With fascination, Fraser watched how the insect seemingly crawled out of his hands with no resistance.


    An unknown bond formed between the yellow insect crawling out of Fraser''s hand and Fraser''s mind.


    It didn¡¯t feel like something split of him. Instead, it felt like an arm trying to reach something and somehow leaving his body.


    As Fraser lowered his hands in order to allow the yellow insect worm to crawl on top of the first corpse it immediately jumped onto the corpse and buried its way into the corpse, disappearing from vision.


    Still, the bond between the yellow insect worm and Fraser remained. He felt like he is able to end the life of the yellow insect worm within the blink of an eye.


    But as it felt like a third arm which naturally could be controlled with ease Fraser never killed his first ¡°servant¡± just in order to test it.


    The feeling of control was enough for him.


    Finishing the preparation of his first servant, which according to Fraser''s plan would emerge as a soldier, he turned his attention towards the flask with the black liquid in it.


    ¡®So this memory substance holds the advanced meditation technique. Since Elise, Nicholas, Adrian, and Elizabeth all reached Apprentice Level 3 then that means that this meditation technique would allow me to increase my spirit towards the fourth and fifth level.¡¯


    Without hesitation, Fraser opened the flask and drank the entire substance in a single gulp.


    Preparing for the headache Fraser waited and already was on top of his bed.


    But the headache or the severe pain never came.


    Instead, comfortable sleepiness spread through Fraser''s body.


    At the moment Fraser closed his eyes, he fell asleep.


    Awakening Fraser asked the AI to check whether the memory substance worked.


    ¡®AI, did anything joined your database? Something similar to the meditation technique?¡¯


    [Affirmative, the advanced meditation technique is now stored in a file called the ¡®advanced meditation technique]


    ¡®Is the advanced meditation technique similar to the first meditation technique or is there anything different? Also, use the future data of the advanced meditation technique in order to simulate improvement and notify me when there is a result. Since both are meditation techniques, tell me if there are any major differences between those two.¡¯


    [Affirmative, the two meditation techniques are similar because they are both meditation techniques]


    Shaking his head Fraser used the advanced meditation technique in order to see whether he is able to increase his spirits.


    After all the old meditation technique didn¡¯t work in increasing his spirits as he woke up after the fusion with the yellow insect.


    Hours passed as Fraser asked the AI:


    ¡®Is there an increase in the maximum amount of spirit?¡¯


    [Affirmative, the spirit increased by 0.0056]


    ¡®Even if the spirit increased by a small margin, it will probably be less effective the higher my spirit gets. I will tackle this problem as soon as possible. After all, I can still get something out of the advanced meditation technique. Now I have to wait and see how powerful the battle-oriented servant soldier is.¡¯

 Chapter 43 Unknown Change

    A few weeks passed since Magus Sept warned the inner circle of the tide.


    In that time Fraser continued his hermit lifestyle with the only exception when he needed food.


    So it was no wonder that the information of the tide didn¡¯t affected Fraser in any way.


    As the members of the inner circle who experienced their first time at the outpost had no responsibility or duty, Fraser simply meditated all day long while letting the AI store and process the meditation data which might lead to an improved version of the meditation.


    Sadly for Fraser there was no success in the past few weeks.


    ¡®My spirit increased for a small amount of spirit. With each increase in the spirit, it starts to become harder to add spirit simply by using the meditation technique. However, since I don¡¯t know how the meditation process increases the spirit I have to add more data in order to have the possibility of the AI calculating an improved or better meditation technique.¡¯


    Though there was a more worrying change in the past few weeks, Fraser completely ignored the change and didn¡¯t panicked.


    After all the source of the change is clear:


    The odd and unknown fusion with the yellow insect.


    Which somehow gave Fraser the ability of an innate spell model and doubled his spirit.


    With these obvious advantages, Fraser naturally expected a few problems or negative traits that appeared with the fusion.


    But nothing negative appeared. Instead, a colorless, smooth and hard armor appeared on his entire body. Almost like the armor of an insect.


    Touching the armor gave Fraser a feeling of safety.


    ¡®It feels like a second skin which is able to feel. Obviously, it is biologically connected to my body or else the crack caused by the muscular man wouldn¡¯t have healed with the basic wound mending potion.¡¯


    Fraser continued to touch his newly grown armor which looking at a mirror.


    Yellow eyes reflected back which caused Fraser to feel somehow strange.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡®It feels like I am looking at a stranger. So much happened in the past year that it almost feels like that this body belongs to someone else.¡¯


    Fraser stood still while he looked at the mirror.


    A nudge of a small furry something put him out of the short daze.


    The baby bat grew a little bit and compared to his malnourished state it looked a thousand times better. It already had its chubbiness and round shape back, yet it was smaller than it should be at that age.


    This was a flaw that only could be eradicated with time as the body development of the baby bat got delayed due to the fact that Fraser fell into some kind of coma when he fusioned with the yellow insect.


    Now that Fraser had a higher spirit thanks to the fusion, he knew that the baby bat formed some kind of connection with him when the baby bat licked a little bit of his blood.


    It felt similar to that of his connection with his servant, yet it also felt different.


    As Fraser couldn¡¯t control the life of the baby bat, yet it would send a few impressions of it''s surrounding and warn Fraser of different things.


    Since Fraser didn¡¯t step out of a lot, it often times would be the shadow of the furniture or other weirdly shaped structure appearing in Fraser''s chamber.


    At first, he felt annoyed, but after quick research into the specific information, he realized that this species of a bat would grab onto a more skilled lifeform and ¡°serve¡± the lifeform by warning it of weird things.


    The bat naturally adapted different lifeforms and would never change its lifeform.


    In order to avoid extinction, the bat would have the rule of every lifeform only two bats in order to produce offsprings which would latch onto different lifeforms or the baby of the lifeform.


    While Fraser caressed the soft fur of the baby bat, he glanced towards the former pile of corpses which now turned into a huge cocoon.


    A pulse echoed from the cocoon every now and then which gave it a mysterious and magical vibe.


    Veins covered the surface of the cocoon and with light the shape of the creature was visible. Not clearly but only hazy.


    When Fraser touched the cocoon, it reacted within in the blink of an eye.


    The veins started to pulse faster, almost in a human way and Fraser felt that the connection to his first servant started to become clearer and clearer.


    A feeling of joy got transmitted towards Fraser when he touched the cocoon.


    A faint smile appeared on Fraser''s lips as he planned his future.


    ¡®As soon as the servant of the class soldier hatches I will be able to hunt for corpses. Since the monster tide of the howling abyss is happening right now there should be a surplus of meat and corpses in general. This will be the time to increase my power.¡¯


    After looking after his two pets Fraser turned towards the crates which were filled with the potion materials.


    ¡®I will have to create a supply of potions in order to save me from certain danger. As I acquired the armor of the insect, I need a lot of basic wound mending potions in order to mend them.¡¯


    Just as Fraser created a couple of potions he could feel that his servant seemed to cry out loud.


    His connection to the servant instinctively knew what happened:


    The servant is about to hatch.


    With excitement, Fraser walked towards the cocoon and could see how the creature in it seemed to prepare itself for its birth.


    To be honest, Fraser expected an insect the size of a human or the size of a larger wolf, but as the cocoon grew, so did Fraser''s expectations.


    After all most hives were extremely efficient, almost to the point of not wasting anything in order to optimize everything.


    Since the yellow insect which fused with Fraser obviously belonged to the hive-type, Fraser knew that the bigger the cocoon, the bigger the creature would be.


    A crack appeared on the cocoon and it stopped pulsating. The shell of the cocoon seemed to lose its shiny color and the feeling of it being alive turned into that of a cold and hard eggshell.


    The cracks started to become more and more distinct, as the walls of the cocoon seemingly started to become harder and harder as even light wasn¡¯t able to shine through it anymore.


    While the focus in the physical world seemed to be focused on the cracking cocoon, something entirely different happened in the spiritual world. Especially in the spirit sphere of Fraser.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    It felt like a long lost part of him returned back into the warm embrace of the spirits sphere.


    That is how Fraser would describe the feeling that he felt during the moment when the cocoon started to crack.


    With each crack in the cocoon, Fraser felt that amazingly longing feeling of warmth and love. It felt like not being alone in the world and finally meeting someone who fully understood the true nature of himself. It felt like the greatest moment of his life, the birth of a true companion.

 Chapter 44 Soldier

    What stepped out of the cocoon was a gigantic insect. Shaped like a spider with six legs.


    It reminded Fraser of a centaur with the only difference of having four legs and an additional pair of legs in the front.


    On all six legs, it slowly stepped out of the cocoon, causing it to shatter into pieces.


    It slowly turned towards the cocoon shells and started to grab a large piece with its two front legs.


    It started to eat the cocoon shells with its large mouth which seemed the fusion of a spider mouth, a centipede mouth and the mouth of a shark.


    Row upon row of white teeth could be seen.


    As Fraser stood there, watching the spider-shaped creature devouring its cocoon shell an unknown feeling crawled into his mind.


    With his newly acquired instincts, Fraser knew what that feeling means.


    Slowly Fraser stepped toward the large spider-shaped creature and touched one of its legs.


    It had a cold and smooth feeling.


    When Fraser touched the leg, the creature continued to eat its cocoon shell and completely ignored the touch.


    Fraser simply stood there and waited until the creature finished eating its cocoon shell.


    ¡®I never expected the soldier servant to be so huge. Luckily the height of the private chambers is so high or else the creature would have problems walking around.¡¯


    It was true, with the height of about double the size of Frasers own height, the servant could be described as a colossal giant.


    ¡®Waiting for the servant to finish eating its food feels calming. The connection towards the servant seems to be more than just the ability to control the servant.¡¯


    Fraser closed his eyes in order to feel the connection towards the servant in a more intense manner.


    A nudge interrupted him.


    Opening his eyes, Fraser could see how the six-legged insect servant used one of his front legs to nudge him.


    Seemingly awaiting orders the servant started to glare at Fraser with its six eyes.


    While Fraser got nudged by the front legs of the servant, he could see that the front legs are structured differently than the legs which he touched.


    Small spikes covered the surface of the front leg and at the top five retractable claws were visible.


    Smiling Fraser glanced towards the servant while asking himself the most important question:


    How strong is this servant which is battle oriented?If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡®AI, can you tell me the battle power of the servant with the type soldier in front of me? Try to use the same numbers as my body stats and if that is not available then inform me. Also while you are at it, tell me if I have a limit on the amount of the servants that I am able to control.¡¯


    [13.39 strength, 14.17 agility, 7.06 vitality is the body stats of this servant of the type soldier. This soldier takes <unknown> space in your spirit, considering the factor you will be able to control six more servants of this type]


    ¡®Six more?¡¯


    Fraser glanced towards the spider-shaped creature which already looked quite fearsome.


    ¡®This servant probably can kill me within a few seconds. Having one of these soldiers already increased my battle power by a dozen times.¡¯


    Satisfied and excited Fraser stared at the servant and thought about how to get it to sit still and rest.


    Surprisingly the servant immediately followed Fraser''s command within the moment he thought about it.


    There wasn¡¯t a specific command necessary, instead, the servant seemed to read Fraser''s mind while automatically following his commands.


    ¡®That is unexpected that I don¡¯t even have to command the servant, it will follow my instructions the moment I have thought about them. I have to take make a supply of basic potions and then I am ready to go out. Besides the muscular has no reason for denying me the other two piles of corpses for my basic strengthening potion. I would have three servants instead of one which would be way safer.¡¯


    At the last part of this thought, Fraser started to become a little bit angry, but he quickly suppressed his anger.


    Being angry wouldn¡¯t help him at all only muddy his rational and logical thinking.


    Thought there was a huge note in his mental list that working with the muscular woman seemed to be not profitable and a time where backstabbing or robbing the muscular woman should be planned.


    While Fraser created the basic potions with the help of the AI command he still had the time to think about his future steps.


    ¡®Meat and organic matter is the most important right now. I need to get a small hill of corpses and let a second soldier grow. Also since the ¡°unknown¡± thing has something to do with my spirit, then simply increasing my spirit should help me being able to have more servants at the same time.¡¯


    Another basic wound mending potion got stored in Fraser''s bag while a sudden thought popped out in Fraser''s mind.


    ¡®The soldier is too big. How am I able to transport the servant? If this goes on then every apprentice knows that I have a six-legged spider monster as my pet.¡¯


    Just as Fraser finished his train of thought something magical happened with the gigantic six-legged spider insect soldier.


    The carapace started to shrink and the legs started to fold.


    Like a cardboard house the insect folded itself until an insect man stood in Fraser''s private chambers.


    Shocked Fraser almost dropped his potion flask.


    ¡®How long does it take to transform?¡¯


    At the same time, Fraser had this thought, his insect servant turned back into the colossal giant of 3 meters or ten foot within the blink of an eye. Though that is only the height of the servant, its length almost reached 12 meters or forty foot.


    ¡®I didn¡¯t expect such an easy method, it¡¯s fluent and quick. Besides, I think that the armor of the soldier servant seems to be able to withstand several attacks before shattering. Even if it is hurt when it transforms, I will have the basic wound mending potion ready.¡¯


    Fraser continued to create basic potion after basic potion after this small surprise of the shrinking ability of the soldier.


    This also meant that the transport question already got solved as Fraser simply covered the folded insect servant with a dark robe which covered the entire body, including the face.


    Still, even in the humanoid form, it looked fearsome. Broad, with a height of 2,1 meters or 7 foot and the dark robe gave off a dangerous vibe.


    Also concealed in a dark robe Fraser stepped outside, with a small bag filled with basic potions and his loyal servant following him with each step.


    Everything was ready for Fraser first exploration where the goal consisted of acquiring a small hill of meat.


    As Fraser had no responsibility, duties or people who knew him in the outpost he simply walked along the floor towards the howling abyss with no one stopping or greeting him.


    Though it wasn¡¯t hard to go unnoticed when a stream of apprentices traveled along the floor with him.


    ¡®Where do all those apprentices come from? Did we already fusion with the outpost which ventured into the howling abyss?¡¯

 Chapter 45 Guard at the Entrance of Howling Abyss

    As the question of whether there are apprentices of different Magi in the outpost can be considered an irrelevant question Fraser ignored the steady stream of traveling apprentices and walked towards the exit.


    Since the entrance of the outpost is located at the edge of the cliff, naturally the outpost is completely submerged in the cliff.


    Just as Fraser arrived at the gate towards the howling abyss and wanted to step into the howling abyss a silhouette blocked his way and spoke in a mocking tone:


    ¡°An apprentice who doesn¡¯t value his life? I am pretty sure that I didn¡¯t saw you at the gathering, so stop trying to cloth like one of those inner circle members and go back to your task.¡±


    As if annoyed by the action of Frasers, the silhouette charged out with his open palm.


    Even though Fraser was able to realize that the silhouette attacked him, he only was able to put his arms up in order to protect him from the impact.


    However, the impact on his arms never came.


    Through the corner of his yellow eyes, Fraser saw a black something descend and grab the palm.


    An agonizing scream echoed from the silhouette.


    Through the pain, the blurry silhouette slowly turned into a human being.


    With a fascinated gaze Fraser stared at the silhouette who, after the pain, turned into a normal human apprentice.


    ¡®How come I saw him blurred?¡¯


    ¡­


    ¡­


    It was a normal guarding duty which Peter took after joining the outpost at the edge of the howling abyss.


    Normally he would never take such a boring task and waste his time, instead, he would explore the howling abyss in order to find interesting monsters which he would track down and kill.


    Not only for excitement but also for the powers these monster would possess.


    After all, some monsters or creatures would possess strong abilities which are mostly thanks to specific organs or body features they possess.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    One of them was the illusion sheep which skin had the ability to secrete a liquid which would allow it to become blurred and almost make it invisible to predators in the darkness or dense surrounding.


    So it was no wonder that the skin and the organ which stored the liquid became the first thing that Peter transplanted into his own body.


    After all the difficulty of getting the skin and organ of an illusion sheep only consisted of finding one, which after a period of preparation of setting traps and a little bit of luck succeeded.


    Sadly as this was Peters first transplantation he made a mistake and didn¡¯t considered deactivating the ability of the skin and thus the illusion effect became permanent.


    Naturally, there were a few moments when the liquid would stop secreting, for example when he went to sleep or he got injured.


    All in all, these were moments when his body wasn¡¯t able to sustain the skin effect due to an external cause.


    But as the illusion effect of the skin saved his life many times and gave him an imposing aura in the presence of other humans or apprentices, he didn¡¯t implant a fake switch as that would cost more overall energy than letting it be as it is.


    The good days in the howling abyss ended when his mentor informed his group about the upcoming monster tide and when they moved towards an outpost at the edge of the howling abyss.


    As his mentor only recently became a Magus, Peter as one of the oldest inner circle members naturally had to take up duty in order to please the inner circles of other outposts.


    So the most boring and unrewarding duty went to Peter: the guarding duty at the entrance which consisted of chasing away any stray monster and the supervising of younger apprentices.


    After a while, Peter saw two concealed figures walking toward the entrance of the howling abyss.


    ¡®Ah, another two of those apprentices who after finishing their duty have death wish. At least these guys are smarter and tried to disguise himself like most members of the other inner circles.¡¯


    Stepping in front of the first one Peter started to speak:


    ¡°An apprentice who doesn¡¯t value his life? I am pretty sure that I didn¡¯t saw you at the gathering, so stop trying to cloth like one of those inner circle members and go back to your task.¡±


    ¡®Let this be a lesson to you.¡¯


    With this thought, Peter used his palm before suddenly a hand grabbed his hand and¡­ pain.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    While Fraser stared at the boy wondering the blurring effect emerged from the body a thought crossed his mind.


    ¡®When I think about it, I never actually commanded the servant to do anything. Is the servant a sentient being or just good at processing my thoughts? I need to check on that later.¡¯


    The scream of the blurred apprentice caused a commotion.


    Most people love gossip or things that look interesting and a screaming guard at the entrance?


    A perfect topic to talk about.


    Besides, it would also be good information about why the scream took place. Maybe it is some kind of rare resource? Or information that could be withheld.


    Before a crowd could surround the three people, Fraser already commanded his servant to stand behind him.


    The guard of the entrance held his arm which looked like a bloody piece of flesh with shards of bone protruding out of it.


    ¡°Un-authorized apprentices are not allowed to step out of the outpost. Your senior apprentices should have assigned a duty to you and forbid you to go outside. Didn¡¯t you have heard that there is a tide happening soon?¡± spoke the guard with clearly visible suppressed hatred towards Fraser.


    ¡°I am part of the inner circle of Magus Sept. Since I am a newcomer I have no duties. I am allowed to pass, right?¡± asked Fraser while a small crowd mumbled and whispered at Frasers and his companion''s actions.


    With an ugly smile, the guard stepped aside and said in an impatient voice: ¡°Naturally, move.¡±


    With ease, Fraser stepped outside of the outpost and a damp smell greeted him.


    In the blink of an eye, the wide nature of the howling abyss greeted him.


    Turning his head around Fraser could see that the outpost entrance looked small compared to the seeming infinity long cliff of the howling abyss.


    Looking back into the howling abyss he could see that a dense forest awaited him, covered in mist and light sources in the mist made it into a mysterious and dangerous fairyland.


    With nothing but a small bag filled with potions and his servant of the type soldier Fraser stepped into the unknown and vast forests of the howling abyss.


    His goal? Killing organism which would deliver enough organic matter, in other words, meat, to cultivate more servants.


    ¡®I should concentrate on the more simple animals, for example, the colossal cave bear is a good target. My servant is way bigger than the cave bear and probably way stronger. It would also deliver a huge amount of organic matter. I should avoid those animals or organisms with special abilities, most don¡¯t give much meat and are not that useful to myself.¡±

 Chapter 46 Exploring Howling Abyss

    With each step Fraser took, the soft and wet earth of the howling abyss caused his feet to sink a little bit into the ground.


    A white cloud appeared when Fraser breathed out.


    While Fraser slowly vanished into the thick mist of the howling abyss, a figure followed him with every step.


    As Fraser walked for a couple of minutes, he suddenly realized something essential.


    ¡®How can I find the preys? I only know that the amount of monster or animals near the outpost increased since a tide will happen soon. But I don¡¯t know when the tide will happen. Besides, I don¡¯t even know how dangerous the tide is. Though it must be really dangerous as even other outposts venturing into the howling abyss had to join us at the edge.¡¯


    Looking back into his reason of coming into the howling abyss Fraser pondered for a short while before commanding it to grow into its usual size.


    Naturally, Fraser took the dark robe in order to use it again when he achieved his goal and returned to the outpost.


    A colossal insect spider stood in front of Fraser.


    The servant of the type soldier easily towered over Fraser.


    ¡®Look out for prey.¡¯


    That was the only thought of Fraser when something incredible happened.


    The soldier moved his upper body or the upper part where the centipede mouth appeared, onto his main body.


    ¡®Yes, the top legs indeed are arms.¡¯


    That was the thought when Fraser stared at the four-legged insect with two arms on its side.


    ¡®It looks like an insect centaur with creepy, thorny and rather long insect arms.¡¯


    While Fraser looked at how his servant started to stand upright, the servant carefully looked at his surrounding before sending a message towards Fraser.


    ¡®I guess I will name this servant one, as this is my first servant. Hm? So in this direction, there are a couple of monsters.¡¯


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    With a quick thought, Fraser and one started to run towards the direction where one discovered a couple of monsters.


    Tree branches faltered because of the reckless charge of Fraser and the colossal insect soldier one.


    Fraser''s strength, speed, and body improved after the fusion with the insect. As only positive traits appeared like the armor on Fraser''s skin, the innate spell model and the increased physical strength, Fraser deemed the fusion as a blessing.


    Even if there were a few other changes, for example, the change in his eye colors or the short time of nutrient loss after the fusion, Fraser didn¡¯t deem them as negative and only as necessary.


    Sprinting towards the target didn¡¯t take a long time and quickly Fraser could see a horde of armored deer drinking from a bigger pond of water.


    Without wasting any time Fraser thought of killing the horde of armored deer in a quick manner and without any unnecessary violence.


    So one charged towards the horde of armored deer with a high pitched scream.


    As Fraser had a couple of information on the organisms living in the howling abyss, he naturally transferred his information towards one who seemingly read his mind.


    ¡®Luckily I encountered a horde of armored deer, they are rich in meat as they have a huge body mostly consisting of fat, have no special ability that is dangerous or annoying and are considered as one of the most easiest food source if the hunter can overwhelm the physical resistance and physical strength of the horde.¡¯


    Even though the armored deer with a height of over 2,4 meters or 8 foot can be considered a bigger animal than most horses, the most dangerous thing is the fact that it is shaped in a round manner with a thick armor-like skin.


    Which caused it to be rather dangerous in a horde.


    But as one, the insect servant of Fraser, towered with 6 meters after standing upright and having a bigger body to boot it was a massacre.


    With ease one decimated the horde of armored deer, causing some of the smarter armored deer to run away.


    Though it was futile as one chased all armored deer down and strangled them to death.


    It only took around a dozen minutes for one to slaughter all armored deer.


    ¡®What? Is this some blessing of being able to encounter such a horde?¡¯


    As Fraser stared at the pile of corpses which one started to pile up, he could only see adult members of the armored deer which naturally mean more meat in general.


    ¡®But¡­ even if this is some kind of blessing, I imagined my first exploration being more exciting.¡¯


    While Fraser watched how the pile of corpses started to get bigger and bigger, one continued to gather the corpses and built a simple sled out of tree logs using vines.


    That idea naturally came from Fraser mind as well.


    ¡®Seeing this big pile of corpses, I have to say that at least one hundred armored deer were in the horde, if not more. This would suffice for 2 more servants of the type soldier.¡¯


    So having finished the exploration within less than half an hour, Fraser walked back with one following him, pulling the self-made sled.


    The time needed to return to the outpost was more than the time needed to find the horde of the armored deer as Fraser and one didn¡¯t sprint.


    So overall Fraser has explored the howling abyss for two hours.


    Arriving back at the gate of the outpost Fraser could see that one apprentice with a bandaged arm and another apprentice openly snickering at him.


    However, even with two guards, the gate still looked deserted.


    One, the insect servant, naturally already transformed into his insect man disguise and had the dark robe conceal his appearance.


    However, that didn¡¯t stop him from being able to pull the sled filled with a big pile of corpses.


    As soon as Fraser neared the gate with one pulling the sled with all the corpses piled on top, the apprentice who didn¡¯t have a bandaged arm spoke:


    ¡°What do you want with all these armored deer? Make leather armor or what? Peter, stop him.¡±


    With a knowing smile, Fraser glanced towards the one apprentice with the bandaged arm, indeed it was the one who looked like a silhouette.


    One could see how Peter visible started to fume and balled his healthy hand into a fist before glaring at the other apprentice for a while.


    In the end, Peter still walked towards Fraser with an uneasy smile.


    ¡°Are you the one from the inner circle of Magus Sept?¡± asked Peter in a polite tone.


    ¡°Yes, you attacked me two hours ago. Didn¡¯t you?¡± replied Fraser before walking into the outpost.


    In a hurried manner, Peter stepped out of Fraser''s way and walked back towards the other apprentice.


    One dragged the sled made out of wooden logs onto the stone ground of the outpost, following Fraser in the same speed as he walked.


    Transporting the sled with the big pile of corpses on top if it was no problem as the ceiling of the outpost was ridiculously high. Besides the broadness of each floor or door caused no problems even when Fraser walked past the group of apprentices who stared at him in curiosity.

 Chapter 47 Stable growth

    After separating the huge pile of armored deer corpses into two portions and storing them into two different rooms Fraser immediately started to initiate his innate spell.


    Once again Fraser looked with fascination how a larva crawled out of his arms and dropped into the first pile of corpses.


    A new connection appeared in Fraser''s mind and he immediately thought of creating another servant of the type soldier.


    Since another servant of the type soldier would increase his battle power by almost double.


    After all, he lost his spell model dark rope and now the only weapon Fraser had was his physical body which got strengthened after the fusion.


    Repeating that with the second pile of corpses and a new connection, Fraser moved towards his bed and waited.


    One, his soldier servant munched on a single armored deer in a happy way.


    *Crunch* *crunch* *crunch*


    With each bite, Fraser could see how the thick skin of the armored deer got shredded into bits of meat between the pinchers of One.


    Though the gory scene didn¡¯t bother him at all, instead it was the sound that disturbed Fraser concentration.


    With a single command, One now had his own room where it happily continued to munch his share of the corpses in gusto.


    Now, finally, in a room which allowed concentration which meant no disturbing crunching noises or the smell of blood and corpses, Fraser started to ponder about his future goals.


    Obviously, for the second exploration, it would be better to have three soldiers instead of just one.


    Even if the first exploration seemed like a child play, there has to be a reason why outposts which were located in the howling abyss had to retread towards an outpost at the edge.


    As each outpost had a Magus as a supervisor and the fact that a Magus was probably way stronger than Fraser and even One, his soldier servant, indicated that the howling abyss had dangerous locations or animals.


    Naturally, the creation of the basic wound mending, basic explosion potion or the basic strengthening potion needed to be done.


    Additionally, the time spent in meditation needed to be considered as with more spirit, his innate spell would allow him to have more servants.


    ¡®I would love to have more option which I can pursue. However, the outpost is not able to supply me with necessary information like spell models or necessary equipment like a second Alchemy Set. Though I have to guess that it wouldn¡¯t be called Alchemy Set anymore and just a piece of better magical equipment with the relation of Alchemy.¡¯


    After thinking that, Fraser dived into his usual hermit lifestyle.


    Meditation, which mostly consisted of cleaning or growing his spirit, eating his necessary food in order to not let his body deteriorate and listen to the connection towards One, who after receiving the command of resting fell into a state of hibernation.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    A week passed and nothing special happened.


    The only good thing that Fraser achieved in this one week came from his AI.


    [Enough Data to compile an improved version of the Advanced Meditation Technique]


    ¡®Explain to me what the improved version does compare to the normal one.¡¯


    [Improved Version will stress your spirit, allowing for faster growth. Side effects included minor spirit damages if used too often. Overall it will improve your spirit at a faster rate]


    When Fraser used the improved technique in a careful manner, he had to say that the spirit improved at a faster rate. Though it put his spirit in a state of exhaustion which made it impossible to meditate.


    However, this improved version still is faster compared to the normal one.


    Besides, he would recover in a quick manner from the spirit exhaustions and since it didn¡¯t leave any negative long-lasting impression on his spirit it could be called a superior version of the advanced meditation technique.


    Not only that, in the time period with the exhausted spirit Fraser still was able to create potions.


    So the amount of Fraser potion stock increased in a steady manner.


    Thus Fraser continued his hermit lifestyle in the wait of his two new servants larva developing into full servant soldiers.


    Another three weeks had to pass before Fraser once again stood in front of a cocoon.


    Only this time Fraser knew that this cocoon isn¡¯t the last one hatching this day.


    When the time to hatch arrived, Fraser once again felt the ecstasy of having another life mate in the world.


    A second being that understood him completely.


    Even One who stood behind Fraser started to squeal in an exciting manner.


    Sounds of a high pitched roar echoed from Fraser chamber walls.


    When the second servant of the type soldier, it also began to devour its cocoon shells and glanced towards Fraser as if knowing who he is.


    But this time One who squealed was in the same room which caused an unknown change happening between One, Fraser and the second servant of the type soldier.


    Not a negative change. Instead, it felt more like a stronger connection building up between those three?


    Fraser couldn''t even describe what happened as the change happened within mere moments and he didn¡¯t anticipate anything at all.


    However as this change only made him feel more connected and somehow strengthened the bond between him and his two servants, everything is alright.


    As the ecstatic feeling of having a second servant of the type soldier vanished, Fraser analyzed the new soldier.


    It had the same size as One and it looked like a clone.


    Though there was a distinct difference. The servant had a different color and the armor looked suspiciously similar to the armor of the armored deer.


    Naturally even denser and stronger, but similar nonetheless.


    A report which Fraser wanted came from the AI.


    [Stats numbered from the new servant of the type servant:


    14.59 strength, 12.32 agility, 6.08 vitality, special remark: A thick carapace caused by the genetics]


    ¡®Compared to One stats, everything is worse except the strength and that this soldier has a thicker carapace, meaning a better armor. But I can¡¯t complain, I got this servant for free as One slaughtered everything within a dozen minutes.¡¯


    In a miraculous way Second, the name which Fraser gave the second servant of the type soldier, shrank and became an insect man, just like One.


    Now with two servants, Fraser walked towards the room with the second cocoon and repeated the steps.


    The only difference being that a second insect squealed when the cocoon hatched.


    Naturally, there was the moment of change, but this change also was positive. A better and stronger connection with his servant.


    From the stats, the third servant of the type soldier could be compared to Second. It also had the special remark of having a thicker carapace.


    ¡®Does that mean that the soldiers are able to absorb parts of the characteristics of the meat they eat? Or is the reason why they evolved because the meat entirely consisted of armored deer which genetically tend to have an armor?¡¯


    These question Fraser asked himself when three creepy insect man stood around him in an orderly fashion.


    ¡®I need to start experimenting with the abilities of my innate spell. Besides I need information on the tide. I don¡¯t know how dangerous it will be.¡¯

 Chapter 48 Socializing

    With that mindset, Fraser walked out of his private chamber.


    Naturally with One, Second and the last insect man which Fraser named Third.


    Everyone had a dark robe concealing their insectic features.


    Except for Fraser who walked out in a normal apprentice robe.


    So an imposing group left Fraser''s private chambers, Fraser in front of the group with three huge concealed figures following him.


    As soon as Fraser stepped into the room for inner circle members, where Magus Sept held the speech of the tide, he could see that the room was quite lively compared to its counterpart in the howling abyss academy.


    People concealed in robes whispering, talking or play games.


    There was even one guy surrounded by a group of screaming girls with perky butts, hips, and breasts.


    That wasn¡¯t even the most bizarre thing happening in the room. Small boys surrounded a concealed figure while seemingly getting fed with candies.


    Another apprentice sat there and giggled like a small girl.


    Two apprentices who were probably girls as their body shape suggested hugged like there will be no tomorrow.


    Trying to avoid those obvious crazy people, Fraser stepped into the room in search of a normal looking person.


    ¡°Normal¡± looking in the inner circle room could be considered to do no weird behavior like giggling, feeding candies or obvious sexual intimacy in public space.


    To describe the people Fraser deemed as normal in this room would be figures who are concealed, whisper or talk in a normal manner.


    Just as Fraser scanned the room for such ¡°normal¡± people, a group of people started to glance at his direction.


    Naturally, Fraser noticed such a group and also glared at them.


    The group consisted of more than a dozen figures who all were inner circle members, which in the room could be considered a superpower as most inner circle members stood in small groups of three to five.


    Also, the muscular woman and her younger brother, the muscular man who scammed Fraser of two corpse piles, were in the center of the group.


    Obviously avoiding the group because of the past actions of the muscular man, Fraser continued to scan the room for useful allies.


    But with sadness, Fraser could see that the interesting gazes which most apprentice groups emitted, immediately stopped after the group of the muscular woman noticed Fraser and glared at him.


    Though that didn¡¯t stop Fraser from finding one apprentice which might be someone who has more influence than the muscular woman, a familiar white mask sat in a laidback manner at the end of the room in a lonely manner.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    It was Emium, the senior apprentice who was the first one to enter the inner circle room at the howling abyss and advised him to stock up materials in order to progress in a steady manner, even at the outpost.


    Fraser walked towards Emium and didn¡¯t consider talking to the muscular woman.


    One, Second and Third followed in a loyal manner, always in the same formation with the same speed as Fraser.


    Just as Fraser turned around and walked towards Emium, the muscular man walked in a straight fashion and successfully cut off the direct way towards Emium.


    ¡°My big sister wants another trade. Though we have our own Alchemist now, he doesn¡¯t know the recipe of basic wound mending or basic strengthening potion. Name your price like last time.¡± spoke the muscular man in a deep, demanding tone.


    Fraser raised a brow and turned his head towards the group with the muscular woman in the center.


    ¡®Their own Alchemist? Why did they even need me then.¡¯


    One by one, Fraser checked the members of the group and finally found the Alchemist.


    ¡®Ah, Nicholas is the Alchemist. There is even Elise, Adrian and the so-called genius: Elizabeth.¡¯


    His glance remained a little bit longer on the familiar faces.


    Yet as they cut off all ties with Fraser, so did Fraser.


    So he quickly finished scanning all members and then turned his head once more, this time in the direction of the muscular man who blocked his way.


    ¡°No. This time I won¡¯t trade with you.¡± replied Fraser towards the muscular man in a clear voice.


    As most inner circle members stopped their activities in order to listen to the drama which unfolded the moment the muscular man stepped into Fraser''s way, the reply sounded through the room.


    The smug smile of the muscular man disappeared in the blink of an eye.


    With a cry of anger, the muscular man punched towards Fraser.


    *THUD*


    However, the punch never arrived.


    One blocked the punch with ease and a dark claw gripped the fist of the muscular man.


    ¡®Rip his arm out.¡¯


    That short thought shot through Fraser head which would never be considered as a command. But as One had a special connection with Fraser, One immediately ripped out the arm in a clean manner.


    Not realizing what happened, the muscular man only processed it a moment later when blood started to flow down from his now armless shoulder.


    ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.¡±


    A scream filled with the agony of pain echoed through the room.


    Ignoring the scream, Fraser walked around the figure of the muscular man who now kneeled down and screamed.


    Fraser didn¡¯t felt bad for what he thought, instead he quickly analyzed the pro and con of his actions.


    After a short conclusion which told him that it wasn¡¯t a bad choice, Fraser started to wonder about something.


    ¡®Is he a child or something?¡¯


    With a surprised face, Fraser saw how the muscular man started to break into tears. Streams of salty liquid started to pour out of his eyes.


    Like a little child who experienced unfairness and complained to his mother, the muscular man wailed and run towards his big sister in a similar manner.


    A little child doing that could be considered as foolish and a little bit cute, but a grown, bear-like man doing that? With a steady stream of tears?


    Even Fraser never saw something like that.


    ¡°Big Sis, Fraser hurt me! You have to punish him! He is a bad guy.¡± wailed the muscular man while ignoring his bleeding shoulder.


    The muscular woman stared at Fraser in a calm manner and started to speak in the same calm manner:


    ¡°How dare you to rip out the arm of my little brother?¡±


    All eyes on Fraser, a weird change happened within him.


    Normally as thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy, Fraser forgot his birthday and age, but he probably was around that age, one would feel pressured by so many people staring at him.


    But the connection with One, Second and Third, caused him to feel like that he isn¡¯t alone in this world and since they stood behind him, Fraser answered in a calm manner as well:


    ¡°How dare you rescind a trade you agreed with?¡±


    A silence spread through the room before the muscular woman turned towards her little brother and asked:


    ¡°My little brother, I gave you the task to trade with Fraser. What happened?¡±


    Even with the bleeding shoulder stump, the muscular man continued to wail: ¡°But big sister, he is a bad guy. He hurt me and so he should get hurt as well. It is not my fault, it is his!¡±

 Chapter 49 Reason of the muscular man

    After the muscular woman asked this question, her little brother continued to wail.


    Tears streamed out of his eyes like there is an unending gush of water.


    It seemed like that the muscular man reverted to his childhood as he grabbed the sleeve of his big sister in a manner that reminded Fraser of children who wailed at the side of their mothers when something unfair in their eyes happened to them.


    After a few sentences containing ¡°unfair¡±, ¡°mean and evil Fraser¡± and ¡°punish him¡± the muscular man finally started to reveal the information to his big sister:


    ¡°Well, this meanie said to me that if I give only one pile of corpses to Fraser, then he will give me candy.¡±


    At that sentence, Frasers frowned like he never frowned before.


    ¡®Is he kidding me? Because of Candy?¡¯


    That reason took Fraser completely by surprise.


    He thought that the reason would be greed, the suppression of an uprising apprentice, the wish of Elizabeth, Elise, Adrian or Nicholas, the standard procedure for new apprentices or any other reason with a positive result for the muscular man or his big sister.


    But candy?


    ¡®Does he want to kid me? The reason why the muscular man cheated me off my pile of corpses is because of candy?¡¯


    With a twitch in his eyes, Fraser watched how the muscular man continued to cry in the embrace of his big sister.


    The people in the room resumed their actions, yet their eyes were clearly looking at the drama which unfolded in the group of the muscular woman.


    ¡°Which meanie? Tell your big sister about this ¡°meanie¡± and everything will be alright.¡± replied the muscular woman in a soothing voice towards her little brother.


    Lifting his remaining arm, the muscular man pointed with his finger towards an apprentice in the same group.


    Every figure followed the finger of the little brother which pointed towards a concealed apprentice.


    ¡°Hoh? Do you dare to betray me? Who offers more than my group?¡± with a slightly surprised voice the muscular woman stared at the concealed figure.


    Without even saying anything the concealed figure left the group and slowly walked towards a certain direction.


    Fraser followed the concealed figure with his eyes, who ended up standing next to an apprentice known to him:


    Emium.


    The white masked apprentice sat there in a relaxed manner while the concealed figure took the stance of an attendant.


    A loud gnashing sound of teeth colliding could be heard from the muscular woman.


    It was clear that with the accelerated breathing rhythm and the fact that the face of the muscular woman turned into an unhealthy shade of red, a confrontation between Emium and the muscular woman couldn¡¯t be avoided.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    A short moment of silence and tension appeared in the room.


    Even Fraser couldn¡¯t deny the fact that he felt like the muscular woman would erupt in anger and attack Emium.


    However, everything, the silence, and the tension, disappeared the moment a slender hand patted the shoulder of the muscular woman.


    ¡°Vira, stop it.¡± said a calm voice which had the effect of a soothing bath.


    ¡°He is not someone we can fight with. The betrayal is harsh. But we have to move on.¡±


    At the first part, the speaker looked towards Emium, at the latter part, the speaker glanced at everyone from the muscular woman group.


    It was the voice of the woman who looked like one of those fantasy elves who stopped Vira, the muscular woman.


    A wooden longbow hung behind her back, a quiver with arrows adorned her curvy hips and her pointy ears made Fraser think of the elves from fantasy stories.


    After calming down Vira with a single sentence, the fantasy elve turned her head towards Fraser and penetrated him with her forest green eyes. She started to speak:


    ¡°We are willing to compensate you with twenty pile of corpses. Naturally, only if that is okay for you.¡±


    ¡®Even though I am probably only able to control around seven or eight servants of the type soldier, the extra pile of corpses can always be eaten by my servants.¡¯


    ¡°I am willing to accept the compensation for the actions of your group member. I want to ask when the tide will happen.¡± replied Fraser with an emotionless voice.


    Fraser could throw a tantrum about being unfair and treated unfairly, however it wouldn¡¯t give him anything and only satisfy his emotional cravings.


    Besides Fraser already had the necessary power to speak on equal terms with the group as his servants easily crippled one of their members.


    ¡®I should remember the option of giving less or nothing to a trade partner with disadvantages.¡¯


    Having Fraser ¡°forgiveness¡± the elve started to speak:


    ¡°The twenty corpse piles will be delivered to you within a week. Also, the tide is not a single event, instead it is an event stretched out a certain time period where the monsters and animals of the howling abyss will gather, charge out of the howling abyss and attack everything that is not part of the tide.¡±


    Even though the first sentence of the elve couldn¡¯t be considered important for anyone in the room, except for Fraser, the rest is important information.


    Especially for the apprentice who never witnessed a tide.


    So it was no wonder when Fraser saw how a couple of apprentices slowly neared his position in order to listen to what the elve said.


    Even four members of within the group of Vira and the elve listened in a careful manner.


    Without surprise, the four were Elise, Adrian, Nicholas, and Elizabeth.


    After that conflict, Fraser immediately turned around and walked towards the exit.


    One, Second and Third accompanied him like loyal servants.


    Naturally in a manner concealing their insectic features. Though One still held the arm of the muscular man in his arms.


    As Fraser turned his head around when he stepped through the door, he saw an interesting thing.


    However in order to not alarm anyone he walked back towards his room in a calm manner.


    ¡®I saw that the arm stump of the muscular man started to regenerate in a fashion that I have never seen before. I even saw how the shoulder slowly started to appear again. Was this entire thing a plan designed for me?¡¯


    As soon as Fraser arrived back at his private chamber, he locked himself up in his room and started to continue his hermit lifestyle which mostly consisted of meditation.


    He also played a little bit with the baby bat which started to grow in a normal fashion. Still, the baby bat didn¡¯t have the size of a bat its age.


    While waiting for the twenty corpse piles Fraser also mapped out his future experimenting goals and projects he wanted to do.


    One of the major things he wanted to do included his innate spell of servant creation.


    Apparently special abilities or certain features of the devoured creatures could be transferred over to his servants. The problem now was figuring out if the mutation is caused by genes/spirits or anything else that hasn¡¯t been on his radars.


    Besides, the possibility of permanent transfer of certain features or special abilities could be possible.


    This would allow Fraser to handpick strong creatures with strong abilities and transfer every ability with an advantage towards his servants.

 Chapter 50 Enough Corpses

    However, Fraser knew that the project of trying to transfer strong abilities with his innate spell would take a long time.


    By a long time, Fraser meant his entire life.


    After all special abilities or certain traits can only be considered an advantage in a certain territory.


    Besides, with time there will always be a variety of traits or abilities. Even within a single species, a single mutation can cause a former useless trait or ability to become a useful trait or ability.


    Adding the fact that the world doesn¡¯t only consist of one trait or ability, the multiplying factor of traits, abilities, perks, skills or anything else that can be considered a form of power should be considered.


    As Fraser had a hunch that this project would take a long time, he didn¡¯t rush to do anything.


    Instead, he continued his meditation lifestyle and focused on small side projects which would improve the database in his AI.


    Fraser wanted to use the AI in a manner which would allow him to use the best results with little to no time wasted.


    However, the AI didn¡¯t have the capability of analyzing any question Fraser wanted. Instead, it acted like a sortable and accessible database with the perk of being able to put something together with that data.


    So Fraser didn¡¯t rely on the AI completely, however, he had to admit that the AI took a major role in the amount of knowledge he was able to gather.


    ¡®Today should be the day where the twenty corpse piles will be delivered. AI, show me my status.¡¯


    [7.11 strength, 8.02 agility, 3.97 vitality, 8.23 spirit]


    ¡®How come that all of my attributes increased? Strength, agility, and vitality shouldn¡¯t be raised to easily. I didn¡¯t even train in the Knight Breathing Technique.¡¯


    Fraser pondered about that increase for a short while, however, a knock on his stone door interrupted that thought.


    Naturally, the one to answer the door wasn¡¯t Fraser himself. Instead, it was Second and Third who opened the stone door in such a manner that Fraser could see who knocked.


    The elve of Vira''s group sat there, behind her stood five concealed figures, all dragging a huge cart with a small mountain corpse on top of it.


    ¡°Since our last transaction didn¡¯t go fluently, this time I will personally oversee the transaction.¡± spoke the elve with her calming voice.


    With a short nod, Fraser replied to the elve before commanding One, Second and Third to carry away the mountain of corpses.


    The five apprentices who stood behind the elve glared at One, Second and Third for a while before forming a circle and starting whispering.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Even Fraser and the elve looked towards how One, Second and Third carried the corpses one by one towards the room which Fraser deemed as the storing room.


    Thus a silent unfolded which the elve broke.


    With her soothing and calm voice she spoke:


    ¡°How are you?¡±


    As if meeting an idiot Fraser raised his eyebrows before turning towards the elve.


    But he joined her game and replied:


    ¡°I am fine. How are you?¡±


    ¡°Do you want to join my group? Your acquaintances also joined our group.¡± asked the elve in a blunt way.


    Instead of answering, Fraser replied with a question:


    ¡°Are you an elve? Like those wooden creatures with strong connection towards the forest and affinity towards wind, water, and plant element?¡±


    This question caused a shock at the face of the elve, which she quickly tried to hide.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that I am an elve, can you explain to me why you think that I am an elve? Did you meet one?¡±


    That was the reply of the probably elve apprentice, however as she playfully smiled and played with her hands Fraser immediately stopped the topic and instead switched the topic:


    ¡°I am not interested in joining your, or Vira''s group. Besides I wouldn¡¯t call your four newbies acquaintances.¡±


    As Fraser didn¡¯t know whether the apprentice who looked like an elve was part of Vira''s group or just somebody who had their own group who liked to chill with Vira''s, he used ¡°or¡±.


    Besides, the elven apprentice acted like it was equal to Vira''s, so probably a partner or a rival?


    ¡°Oh, that is an unfortunate answer. Still, you don¡¯t have to join our group. We can become friends. After all, good friends are hard to find. Especially in our circle.¡±


    The last sentence was spoken in a slightly more sad tone than the rest, but as the elven apprentice had a calming and soothing voice, Fraser could only guess whether that what he heard could be seen as sad or not.


    After that sentence from the elven apprentice, a silent between Fraser and the elven apprentice spread.


    When Second carried the last corpse towards the storage room, the elven apprentice smiled towards Fraser and disappeared behind a corner with the five concealed apprentices.


    Closing the stone door, Fraser walked towards a certain room.


    It was a room filled with corpses, enough for another servant of the type soldier.


    However, this time more corpses were added in order to test whether the numeric attributes of the servants would increase with more corpses.


    Besides, all of the new servants of the type soldier would have more corpses compared to One, Second or Third.


    Since Fraser wasn¡¯t sure on how many servants he would be able to control, he decided to round the spirit that he perceived a single servant took.


    The AI wasn¡¯t able to give a detailed number, however, the estimated spirit from the AI also met his own estimation: one spirit point per servant of the type soldier.


    So five rooms with about ten corpse piles would be the place where his new servants would hatch.


    When Fraser visited his first hatching room he started to retreat into his spirit sphere with the innate spell engraved on the wall.


    A steady stream of spirit got sucked into the runes which started to glow.


    With fascination Fraser how once more a wiggly something appeared on his arms.


    As soon as the larvae appeared, this distinct feeling of another connection appeared in Fraser''s mind.


    The feeling of another friend and comrade.


    With a short thought command of being a soldier, the larvae jumped towards the pile of corpses and burrowed itself into the middle of it.


    Fraser repeated this process four more times.


    With each process, he felt the feeling of building a connection with the larvae. A meaningful connection which would last his entire life.


    Like a drug addict, Fraser continued to use his innate spell.


    As Fraser arrived at the last room, he knew that the feeling of creating a servant is something that is incredible.


    Yet, deep down, Fraser knew that he couldn¡¯t abuse this feeling to feel good. As the created larvae would automatically know the reason for its birth.


    And it definitively won¡¯t be good if it knows that the only reason why it exists was so that Fraser could feel good.


    However, Fraser still wanted to do create more larvae with his innate spell in order to test the battle strength of single larvae and their abilities.


    After all the ability had to be useful to a certain extent. Perhaps the larvae had abilities which turned it into a capable fighter.

 Chapter 51 Physical Change

    Chapter 51 Physical Change


    Days passed as Fraser continued his usual lifestyle. Which, in the eyes of many could be seen as a hermit lifestyle.


    The reason why Fraser didn¡¯t actively seek out relation or tried to socialize with other apprentices was the fact that everything seemed so useless to him.


    Why bother trying to socialize when a so-called friend can always backstab you?


    Even if strength in number can overwhelm even the mightiest foe, as he already had the innate spell of creating absolute loyal servants which all had a mysterious connection with him, he didn¡¯t need more numbers.


    So Fraser stayed in his private chamber waiting for the moment the five cocoons would hatch.


    However, as the weeks passed by and the cocoons started to grow veins on their walls something strange happened.


    Though it wasn¡¯t the five cocoons that changed. Neither did One, Second and Third, the servants, turn into something different.


    Instead, it was the master itself, Fraser, that experienced something strange happening to him.


    Describing it in the shortest way possible would be Physical Change.


    Something happened with Fraser''s body in the weeks that he lived his life like he used to do.


    Everything started the moment Fraser looked into the mirror.


    Everything looked the same, the yellow eyes, that Fraser gained when he fusioned with the yellow insect, a normal stature fitting for his age, the apprentice robe from the howling abyss academy and a set of pincers near his mouth.


    ¡®How come I have pincers? Am I dreaming?¡¯


    Instinctively Fraser moved his hand towards his mouth in order to tough the new mouth tools on his face.


    Surprisingly it wasn¡¯t an illusion. The pincers on his face were real.


    The touch felt like touching the plate of a beetle. Without a distinctive temperature, but with a feeling of sturdiness.


    The fact that a new mouth tool appeared didn¡¯t disturb Fraser. Instead, it was the fact that he didn¡¯t felt anything when the pincers grew on his mouth.


    ¡®I eat food every day. I don¡¯t think the pincers grew overnight. Then that means that it grew because my body thinks it lacked the pincers? Or is it a new feature, also coming from the fusion with the yellow insect?¡¯


    Biting for a few times in order to see how his new mouth tool functioned, Fraser pondered for a while.


    ¡®It is fascinating to see that I am somehow having full control over my mouth and the pincers at the same time. However, I never realized that this set of pincers appeared near my mouth.¡¯


    After that short flexing of his newly acquired pincers, Fraser continued his usual meditation lifestyle as the pincers were only a small change in his physical appearance.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    But that changed the more time passed.


    Fraser''s body started to mutate into something inhuman.


    With each day Fraser could see that his body turned into something more grotesque.


    Dark plates of exoskeleton started to cover his body, making it inflexible and hard to touch.


    The only places where the dark exoskeleton didn¡¯t grow that much were the joints on Fraser''s body which allowed him to move his body.


    Albeit in a rather rigid manner.


    Even Frasers hair started to drop, causing him to become bald after only a couple of days.


    The replacement of the hair was a dark exoskeleton helmet that only left out his mouth and his eyes.


    When Fraser looked into the mirror, he could see that he now looked like an insect standing on two legs. The only missing was the multiple arms and the usual insect mouth.


    To describe the physical body of Fraser, he looked totally inhuman. Nothing on Fraser''s body could remind a person that he once was human.


    Instead, everyone would only deem him as an insect man with that dark exoskeleton, pincers on his mouth and even the yellow eyes which still looked human in a way wouldn¡¯t be enough to say that he once looked like a normal thirteen or fourteen-year-old human boy.


    When the physical change started to happen, Fraser didn¡¯t panicked.


    Before, when he wasn¡¯t on the road on becoming a Magus, he would freak out when somebody would tell him that he would become a monster.


    After all, as the son of a duke, he would be able to seduce a lot of women when he would grow older with his family name.


    Though a certain physical attraction was still needed.


    So changing his appearance would definitively scare off potential mistresses or lovers.


    However, after stepping on the road of becoming a Magus, Fraser knew that once he achieved a certain level of strength he would have as much woman as he wanted.


    Also, as he wasn¡¯t considered to be a beloved child or a talented child, he wasn¡¯t able to lose his virginity to a woman and as a boy being in his puberty phase, he naturally had his needs.


    Thus Fraser remained calm in the change of his physical appearance.


    One major factor in Fraser''s calmness was the fact that he could feel how his genital got covered in the exoskeleton and every time Fraser had his needs, he would feel that the thing that would satisfy his needs still existed.


    So the physical change continued until Fraser looked like an insect man.


    When Fraser compared himself to One, Second and Third in their insect man form, he knew where the transformation came from.


    ¡®It was from the fusion. I look almost identical to the servants. There are only a couple of differences in our looks.¡¯


    When Fraser completely turned into an insect man, it was almost the day where the five cocoons would hatch from the rooms.


    So once again Fraser awaited their hatching, this time in his new physical form and with his three servants: One, Second and Third.


    Everything wasn¡¯t as complicated as it was before, the cocoon hatched, the feeling of satisfaction and building a connection appeared and his servant started to squeal as if greeting a new member joining their reason to live.


    Although the process was familiar to Fraser in many ways, as he already witnessed it three times, each time a new cocoon hatched, Fraser could feel how much the new servant had an impact on him.


    One by one the cocoon started to hatch.


    With each visit, the group of Fraser started to get one more member. Naturally, Fraser gave them names in order to command them with greater ability.


    So Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and finally Eighth came into existence.


    Surprisingly Fourth to Eighth all had similar numeric stats, even with different corpses.


    ¡®Is the amount of corpses the key point of raising numeric values or is it the quality? None of the five new servants have a special ability like Second and Third. However, the five new servants are already stronger than First by a rather large margin and that with every numeric attribute. AI, show me the comparison.¡¯


    [First numeric value: 13.39 strength, 14.17 agility, 7.06 vitality, compared to new soldiers: 16.01 strength, 15.23 agility, 8.40 vitality]


    With a single thought, the five new servants transformed into the insect man mode and everyone received a dark robe, concealing their grotesque features.


    While the five servants joined the escort of One, Second and Third, a glow in the spirit sphere disturbed Fraser.

 Chapter 52 Two Stages

    When Fraser looked into his spirit sphere, he could see that the runes on the spirit sphere glowed in an eerie manner.


    Devoid of any emotion, Fraser waited.


    After all, he didn¡¯t know whether the glowing effect would harm him or benefit him.


    Besides, there was no reason for the runes on his spirit sphere to activate.


    So Fraser stood there, behind him were eight of his servants, all clad in a dark robe in order to conceal their grotesque and insectic features.


    Naturally, after the physical transformation, Fraser also needed a dark robe as he looked as grotesque and insectic as his servants.


    When the glow in his spirit sphere vanished and nothing happened, Fraser commanded in a neutral voice.


    ¡®AI, tell me what happened. Did anything change in the numeric number? A decrease in attributes or an increase? Analyze what that glow did.¡¯


    Within the blink of an eye, the AI replied with a surprising answer.


    [Activation of the innate spell model discovered ¨C reduction of armor value, reduction of innate senses such as reaction time, sight, smell, and sense]


    ¡®What does that mean?¡¯


    Fraser thought for a while before realizing the effect of the innate spell model.


    He only needed a single glance at his hands.


    Instead of claws that were armored with a dark insect exoskeleton, normal human hands awaited him.


    The physical change that happened on Fraser over the past month disappeared as if the transformation never happened.


    Stepping in front of a mirror, Fraser glanced at his body.


    Gone was the insect head, which looked like a helmet, gone was the dark carapace which covered his limps and his body and gone was the restrictions on all of his limbs.


    Though Fraser lost all of his hair and now had a bald head, it was nothing if Fraser''s assumption turned into reality.


    Focusing back into his spirit sphere, Fraser could somehow understand a tiny part of the runes etched on the walls.


    It depicted an innate spell of transformation between two stages.


    When Fraser fed a tiny amount of spirit into this tiny part, he could see the insect features in the mirror.


    When Fraser fed a tiny amount of spirit once more into the tiny party, he could see that he reverted back into his human form.


    ¡®This is rather practical, the human appearance allows me to look presentable in front of other humans. After all, most people will see a person first before deciding whether or not they should interact with them. The insect ¡°armor¡± is good protection if I should enter the battle.¡¯Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Turning around, Fraser could see eight figures, concealed in a dark robe, standing behind him.


    ¡®But I don¡¯t think I will enter the battle in the near future.¡¯


    With his newfound escort, Fraser stepped out of his private chamber once again.


    Even though he had a couple of corpse piles left, which might be enough for one more servant of the type soldier, Fraser decided to store the corpse pile as food for his eight servants.


    After all, even though they could be without food for a long period of time, it would affect their battle power.


    How did Fraser know such thing? Simple, because one of his servants, One, actually could transfer a couple of images and express their thoughts.


    The ability to think didn¡¯t cause any reaction in Fraser except that of excitement. Since the ¡°thoughts¡± happened in his spirit sphere and thus under his control, Fraser deemed the servants as being absolute loyal.


    Meaning that no possible way of betrayal was possible.


    In other words, the servants would be able to think, with the second capacity in Fraser''s brain.


    In result, the mere thought of betrayal against Fraser would be as if a part of Fraser brain miraculous decided to kill the other parts.


    Even mind control, which Fraser deemed as one of the strongest power, could only control the full mind and not a small part.


    If somebody controlled only a part of the brain, then it would equal to not controlling the creature or the person at all!


    At least this was Frasers train of thought.


    Fraser walked through the outpost, eight concealed figures always behind him.


    He didn¡¯t visit the inner circle chamber of Magus Sept, instead, he wandered around and observed the apprentices who weren¡¯t in an inner circle.


    Since a couple of outposts fused with Magus Sept outpost, Fraser didn¡¯t know which apprentice was under Magus Sept.


    But for normal intel gathering, it wouldn¡¯t matter.


    Stepping in front of two young women who chattered, Fraser began to speak:


    ¡°My name is Fraser, may I have the chance to get to know to lovely ladies?¡±


    At the same time, he put down his hood, revealing a bald young man who still looked like a boy.


    ¡®This should be easy. Chatter a little bit, laugh a little bit and common information should be acquired.¡¯


    Giggling the two young woman stared at Fraser while covering their mouths with their hands.


    ¡®Everything is fine, the two young women probably giggled because they found my appearance cute. Or my actions. Either way, it should be normal. But why? Why do I get the feeling that something is wrong here? It feels that the glares of these two women are malicious.¡¯


    While Fraser waited for the two young women to stop giggling and doing girlish things, he realized that the rest of the people started to look into his direction.


    Immediately, Fraser discovered that something was wrong.


    He chose two rather beautiful looking young woman as the more beautiful a woman would be, the more information she would have.


    Since beauty equals attraction, attraction equals contacts and contacts equals information.


    Even though many beautiful women would only get small bits of information, Fraser needed that.


    After all, he lived as a hermit for more than an entire year.


    He didn¡¯t even know how the other Magus was called. The number of apprentices was unknown as well.


    However, after seeing the attention he received from talking two the two young woman, he knew that it was a mistake.


    ¡®Why are they glaring at me? Are these two young women dangerous? Do they use their beauty to cultivate a certain spell which would leave me defenseless? Or are they from a strong Magus family and are regarded as important?¡¯


    Thoughts of reason shot through Fraser''s mind, however, when the ¡°weapon¡± of the two young women appeared Fraser felt disappointed.


    A handsome young man appeared behind Fraser and started to speak in an almost holy tone:


    ¡°How do you dare to harass partners? One of my friends told me that a certain someone dared to annoy my two beautiful maidens.¡±


    When Fraser turned around, he could see that a small escort followed behind the handsome young man.


    It was a group consisting of more than twenty people.


    ¡°Take your underlings out of this section and never come back again. My big brother is a member of the inner circle of Magus Rai. He would agree with me in the fact that protecting maidens is the duty of our family.¡±


    With that short speech, the handsome young man glared at Fraser.


    This action probably made a couple of girls having a crush on this handsome young man as Fraser could see that the face of a couple of girls started to turn into a slight shed of red.

 Chapter 53 Skirmish of the Followers

    Before Fraser could reply to the speech, the handsome youth spoke again:


    ¡°As a member of the noble northern ice wolf family, I am obligated to protect my partners from harassment such as yours. In order to stop your future acts, apologize to my two partners for your offensive behavior.¡±


    Since Fraser didn¡¯t reply to that, a silent mood formed between Fraser and the handsome young noble male from the northern ice wolf family.


    This silence got broken by one of the followers of the young noble standing up for the two young women.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what our young lord said to you? He told you to duck and crawl away or else¡­.¡±


    The last part of the sentence didn¡¯t get finished as the follower started to play with his hands, sometimes forming a fist and sometimes cracking the bones in order to produce a noise.


    When the silence threatened to start once again because Fraser didn¡¯t reply to that threat, a few followers looked at each other in a confused look.


    ¡®Either his big brother is such a big shot in the other inner circle that standing up seems foolish or they never had to do anything because they are all dumb as rocks.¡¯


    Fraser pondered on whether to go out and ignore the conflict or to wait and see whether or not the backing of the young man would be able to go up against him.


    From his experience in his noble society, he knew that not knowing where you were in the hacking order was a positive and a negative knowledge at the same time.


    The positive side was the ability to be able to form connections which whomever you wanted, after all, no one knew you and having wild card would always be something that people loved to have. Besides the high society loved to have someone who wasn¡¯t influenced by anyone of their society yet. So to speak, someone from the outside who is easily recruited and is not influenced by any rumors or connections to the other people in the society.


    The negative side was that even though it was rare to offend someone from a rather high standing, as it is impossible to know the current standing of everyone, once offended it could ruin your life for a long time period.


    After all, the nobles had connections, money, and power. As a young noble the factor talent in knight training, business or administration could be viewed as their selling point. Naturally, the connections to their families were related to their talent and their ability to use the power of the family as well.


    Though instead of connections, talent and money, the magus society had strength and backing.


    Even if talent always played an important role, the strength one had right now was way more important than the strength one might possess in the future.


    In other words, the Magus society allowed one single individual to go against the others, while in the noble/knight society it was only possible to go against a big group of people and the need to cooperate with others still remained.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    When one of the followers of the young man decided to ¡°lead¡± the others in trying to beat up Fraser, Fraser decided that with this action it would be too late to walk out without any harm in his social standing.


    Instead, he immediately commanded his eight servants to step out and charge towards the group which had more than double the members.


    Seeing how the eight followers of the questioned offender of maidens charged towards them, almost every group member of the northern ice wolf family started to prepare themselves.


    Having experienced a couple of skirmishes and beatings where they clearly had the number advantage caused the group to get cocky and confident in themselves.


    So the chance of defeating a similar group or a group with more strength seemed high with the confidence and moral.


    But when one of the followers of Fraser arrived at one of the people from the young male it was over.


    With a single motion, the concealed follower grabbed one the arms and gave it a twirl.


    A grotesque sound of bones splitting into fragments came from the arm followed by a single painful scream of the follower, who was just another young man foolishly following a leader who seemed to have power.


    ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!¡±


    The painful scream seemed to freeze every motion of the other followers as they all stared at the mangled pieces of flesh and bones that tangled down from the shoulder of the young follower.


    However, the freezing effect didn¡¯t affect the servants of Fraser, within the blink of an eye they arrived at the group and started a symphony of bones.


    When the surrounding apprentices realized what happened, some run away in the quickest manner possible, some froze like the followers and some tried to play it cool and backed away in a slow manner.


    A small percentage, perhaps three or four apprentices just walked out of the scene as if there was nothing special about the tangled arms and the bloody scene.


    Five breaths into the fight and the first few followers, located at the end of the group, started to run away.


    Ten breaths into the fight and One to Eight met no resistance anymore but still continued to chase and hunt down the followers.


    A chorus of screams filled with pain, agony, and tears filled the location where the fight took place.


    When Fraser made the command of attacking, he thought that disabling the arms and legs would suffice if the opponent was weak and easy to dispose of. If the opponent was strong then the servants were allowed to attack the torso and the head.


    Since his servants shredded through the group within less than a dozen of breaths, Fraser could see that every member of the group had crippled limbs.


    Arms that were shredded, ripped or beaten into mush lied around.


    Blood was everyone and every apprentice that lied on the group had faces that were filled with snot, tears, and saliva, some even blacked out because of the pain.


    The one conscious all whimpered, babbled, cried or screamed.


    When limbs of the last follower turned into meat paste and his eight servants returned to him, Fraser looked at the young nobleman of the northern ice wolf family.


    He was the only uninjured one in his group. As Fraser wanted to spare him and eventually interrogate him.


    A small puddle of liquid formed between his legs and it continued to grow as liquid dripped down.


    However, the young man of the northern ice wolf family continued to stand.


    Gritting his teeth the young man started to shout in an almost maddened voice:


    ¡°YOU MONSTER! YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, MY BROTHER WILL AVENGE US.¡±


    With a single thought, one of Fraser servants stepped towards the young nobleman, only to cause the young nobleman to fall onto the ground.


    With each step the servant took, the more the young nobleman of the northern ice wolf family crawled away in a desperate manner.


    A trail of liquid trailed the crawling way of the young man.


    While the young man tried to crawl away Fraser had different thoughts.


    ¡®Am I a monster?¡¯


    Glancing around him it felt surreal.


    Screaming bodies, bloody mush meat bone paste and nobody else except Fraser, his servants, and the young nobleman.


    The rest of the watching apprentices probably escaped as far as they could, even the two women who supposedly were the partner of the young nobleman of the northern ice wolf family were gone.

 Chapter 54 Noble Family

    Chapter 54 Noble Family


    When the young nobleman of the northern ice wolf family didn¡¯t crawl any further, Fraser slowly started to walk.


    Arriving in front of the young nobleman who pissed himself in his pants, Fraser put up a smile and started to speak:


    ¡°So you are a member of the northern ice wolf family. Right?¡±


    At that question, the young nobleman nodded as if his life depended on it.


    With that reaction Fraser grinned, his eyes started to form crescents.


    ¡°This is a pretty imposing name, having a mighty monster as your family emblem while also signaling the direction your territory lies in. So care to tell me about your family?¡±


    Having an elemental monster as your family emblem often meant that the family would have a strong origin.


    Adding the four directions often meant that a large part in that direction would be under the family.


    So logically Fraser should cower in fear and be afraid to offend the northern ice family.


    However, that was an unspoken rule that only applied to the past.


    It is inevitable that a noble family will decline.


    Then who changes their name? Right, nobody.


    To say the truth, most family emblems, titles and legends origin from the founder or the founder family.


    So, for example, the founder of the northern ice wolf family might have a territory in the northern part of the world where snow and ice dominate nature.


    Then he slew a sick and old ice wolf and he theoretically should have the right to call him northern ice wolf.


    At least that is what most nobles in these days do.


    Brag achievements in a half-truth way.


    In the past, such a name would naturally scare Fraser away, but from his experience, most nobles having such mighty name are either scammers or members of families with a long heritage.


    There was the risk of offending someone with backing, but someone who brags around with their backing or family is just a dumb idiot.


    Since Fraser could just reply back in the same manner.


    ¡°I am from the deadly rosethorn flower family, how dare you to question me.¡±


    But as that noble etiquette seemed to be too dumb for him, Fraser naturally didn¡¯t do that.


    Besides, his father the Duke of Rosethorn actually didn¡¯t use the full family name as well.


    Only in exceptional occasions where he had to play noble with other high nobles.


    So when Fraser started to question the young noblemen from the northern ice family, he didn¡¯t expect that he actually hit the jackpot.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    The northern ice family was one of those families with strong expert and even had a couple of Magi in their ranks.


    The young noblemen didn¡¯t know how many, but one of those Magi was in the outpost.


    At that information, Fraser started to frown.


    ¡®Why am I so lucky? Casually hitting someone cocky rewards me with a negative impression of a Magus. Or even an entire Magi family.¡¯


    With more pressure and a little bit of threat, Fraser quenched the young man for information.


    And how useful that was!


    Like a man thirsting for water in the desert, Fraser drank the information of the young man in a greedy way.


    Every bit of information seemed to land on fertile soil that only waited for water.


    In the end, Fraser even forgot to continue his imposing manner and stared into the void, pondering about the information he just heard.


    When the voice of the young man started to turn raspy and uncomfortable to hear from all that talking, the useful information started to appear less frequently.


    Instead of useful information, the young noblemen from the northern ice wolf family started to confess about his love affairs, how he peeped at the body of his aunt at the second grate and much more irrelevant stuff.


    Turning around Fraser walked away, with eight concealed figures walking behind him.


    Like a small elite unit, Fraser and his servant walked in search for other apprentices.


    He acquired interesting information and now he needed to confirm from a second person if that information is correct.


    At first, Fraser walked around without a goal. While he walked he didn¡¯t encounter many apprentices and when he did encounter one, most left in fear of his eight concealed escort.


    No wonder when all of the concealed figures were more than seven feet big or 2,1 meters.


    Adding their broad features and you had an imposing escort.


    After walking around for a while Fraser wanted to return to his private chamber. Since he didn¡¯t had a plan on how to find the second person who might confirm the information from the young noblemen, he didn¡¯t want to waste time.


    However in that split of a second a mental person formed in his mind.


    ¡®Yes, Elise should know the information and could confirm whether it¡¯s true or not.¡¯


    In the straightest manner, possible Fraser darted towards the inner circle room of Magus Sept and opened the door.


    When Fraser entered the room, he still could see the weird apprentices he saw the first time.


    However this time they seemed to have multiplied.


    It felt that every inner circle member of the Magus Sept gathered in his room.


    Emium and Vira looked at each other as if they would attack each other at any moment.


    Vira sat on a normal couch, surrounded herself with her group, containing the wooden elf guy, her little brother who somehow had two arms?, a couple of other figures and Frasers four acquaintances.


    Emium instead sat alone, a glass of red wine in his right hand. Playfully twirling it around.


    Although the room had a heavy mood in it and Fraser could literally see how the room was divided into two fronts, he immediately walked towards his target.


    Since it wasn¡¯t the first time all eyes glared at his move, Fraser ignored everyone and walked towards Elise.


    With a single sentence Fraser gathered the attention of everyone:


    ¡°Elise. We need to talk. Follow me.¡±


    Three of her friends started to protest, however, that quickly got ended when the wooden elf apprentice stopped them with a single hand gesture.


    At the same time, the wooden elf apprentice waved her hand in a manner that indicated that Elise should go with Fraser.


    When Fraser left the inner circle room with Elise trailing behind, he could see that Emium continued to twirl his wine glass and the gaze battle continued.


    Elise started to speak the moment the door of the inner circle closed.


    ¡°Fraser, what do you want from me? Revenge? My body? You somehow acquired enough power to beat the younger brother from Vira within moments. Are you now full of yourself that you¡­¡±


    She couldn¡¯t speak more as Fraser interrupted her:


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about the fact that you left when Elizabeth showed up. Obviously, I looked like the weakest one with little to no potential. Elizabeth arrived and deemed me too weak to follow her. So she kicked me out.¡±


    Shaking his head Fraser ignored how Elise stared at his escort of eight concealed figures.


    ¡°No, this is not revenge. Instead, this is a threat. I want you to tell me information about Families with one Magus or how a Magi Family is structured. After all, you are part of a Magi Family. We will talk when we reach my private chamber until then shut up.¡±


    After that short speech from Fraser, they arrived at his chamber and she began speaking about Magi families. A glass of water stood next to her since Fraser knew that this talk would take a while.

 Chapter 55 Structure of a Noble Family

    ¡°So, where do I begin?¡± asked Elise in a hopeful tone as if trying to say that the topic was too broad.


    ¡°Everything.¡± replied Fraser with a single word.


    Realizing that she couldn¡¯t get away, Elise started to talk.


    ¡°Okay, so let me begin by talking on how a Magi Family starts to appear in the world.¡±


    After that sentence, Elise took a single mouthful of water from the glass next to her.


    ¡°First and foremost: The most important resource for a noble family to rise is one Magus. It doesn¡¯t matter how many apprentices or knights a noble family have. As long as there wasn¡¯t one Magus in the family, it will never ascend to a noble family.¡±


    The last sentence caused Fraser to glare at her.


    ¡°Naturally, most noble families don¡¯t have a Magus in their family right now. However, every noble family at some point in their ancestry tree had one. The focus is on at least one. There could be many or even one in every generation, but these numbers are not important for the beginning.¡±


    After that short time period where Elise got flustered whenever Fraser glanced at her in a different way, she started to open up while she explained the concept of the noble family.


    ¡°So the name of a new noble family would mostly correlate to the actions or the name of the first Magus in the family. Sometimes a Magus even actively creates a new Magus family and then bestows a name upon the newly creates Family. The Reason why a Magus is bound to their actions, spells or attributes is that they are still socially bound to other Magi.¡±


    After a short cough from Elise she continued:


    ¡°After all, the other Magi would look down upon someone who chooses a too imposing name. Besides, the Magi would rather have a practical name in order to get to know who they are offending or giving face¡­.¡±


    ¡°How do you know that information? This is rather specific information about Magi.¡± interrupted Fraser.


    ¡°Well, my family is the best example for a new Magus Family. The sister of my Grandfather has become a Magus and created a new Magus family. Even if my Grandfather has risen to become a Magus as well, since he depended on his sister, he is viewed as part of the family of his sister.¡±


    Fraser didn¡¯t expect that Elise''s family would be a new family that is on the rise.


    ¡°So most noble families are either branches of a Magus Family or offsprings of a Magus Family that once had a living Magus. Although there are a few exceptions, for example, rich merchants or loyal servants, all of them are under the protection of a Magus Family.¡±


    Fraser pondered for a while before realizing that something sounded fishy.


    ¡°Wait. You said that all rich merchants or loyal servants are all under the protection of a Magus family. But a Magus family that doesn¡¯t have a Magus for a long time must have declined to a point where even rich merchants are stronger than them.¡± stated Fraser.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°A declined Magus family is a family with no living Magus. At that point, they still have a couple of books, a few connections to certain Magi organization and few defensive or offensive weapons. These can magical items still can be used as every Magus would groom a few apprentices.¡±


    As if irritated from Fraser statement, Elise added:


    ¡°But except the noble families with a few Apprentice Elders, all of them are under another Magi family or a single Magus.¡±


    That last sentence caused a huge wave of suspicion to appear in Fraser''s mind.


    ¡°In order to confirm a few assumptions that I have right now. So in the Howling Abyss Academy, there are a few influential Magi Family. In other words, the Howling Abyss Academy is a group of Magi gathering and thus forming an organization called the Howling Abyss Academy, right?¡± stated Fraser as if trying to deduct the information from Elise.


    ¡°Yeah, that is true. Although it is not Magi Family. Instead, it is a gathering of Magi. After all, the family members under them have the bonus of being a part of the organization simply because they are part of the Magi family.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it make more sense to send the family members of the Magus into the other Magi organizations in order to steal their spell models or even knowledge?¡± asked Fraser the tone as if that would make more sense.


    Not realizing that this was the question which weighted upon Fraser''s heart the most, Elise lashed out.


    ¡°Are you nuts? Every family member capable of becoming an Apprentice is valued. You don¡¯t just send them into the other Magi organizations.¡±


    Not realizing that he hit a personal sore spot, Fraser continued his thoughts:


    ¡°But sending family members into a friendly Magi organization would show trust. Besides a talented apprentice acting as a spy might get a few unique spell models from the Magi organization.¡±


    Ignoring the thoughts of Fraser, Elise continued to mumble in an angry mood.


    The mumbling of Elise ended when Fraser grabbed one of her arms and asked:


    ¡°How does being under a Magi Family work. Do they have to offer part of their resources every year?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it works like that. The noble families have to offer a certain percentage of their yearly products to the Magi family.¡±


    Fraser completely forgot his true reason and started a barrage of question towards Elise in order to please his thirst for knowledge.


    Only at the end of the talk Fraser remembered the northern ice wolf family, however since he already had a general understanding of the noble families in general and discerned that the fact that he and his genius big brother didn¡¯t visit the same Magi organization was suspicious, he didn¡¯t need more information from Elise.


    The last question from Fraser towards Elise contained the outposts which fused with the outpost of Magus Sept.


    ¡°So there are nine other outposts which fused with our outpost. Including Magus Sept, we have ten Magi in our outpost right now. Since we are facing a tide, most inner circle members of the Magi have to finish certain tasks. But after their task, most have nothing to do and experiment all day long.¡± replied Elise.


    ¡°So, is one of the Magi part of the Northern Ice Wolf Family?¡± asked Fraser in order to get to know more about the family in which he offended a single one.


    ¡°Well, none of the Magi are part of a Family. I heard that almost all of the ten Magi are rather new Magi that have just ascended to the rank of Magus. But I heard that there is a genius from the northern ice wolf family.¡± spoke Elise.


    When Fraser stood up and gestured for Elise to leave, he could see the face of a shocked Elise.


    As if not believing that nothing else happened, Elise slowly walked towards the door, bypassing the eight figures that stood behind Fraser for the entire duration of the talk.


    Before leaving the private completely, Elise turned around and stared at Fraser.


    ¡®Mhm¡­. What was that last expression? A grin? A mocking laugh? A fake smile in order to lessen my shields?¡¯


    When Fraser thought about the last face Elise made, he couldn¡¯t discern anything except one thing:


    It was a good facial expression.

 Chapter 56 Incubation Alchemy

    Nine days passed since Fraser interrogated Elise.


    Since Fraser didn¡¯t get disturbed by anyone and didn¡¯t had the need to go out since he already understood the general information, he spent his entire day creating potions.


    He even started to read the Alchemist notes of another Apprentice which he traded in the trading session where he also got cheated by the little brother of Vira.


    Well, not reading. Instead, Fraser stored every data in his AI.


    The result of the notes was instant.


    The notes talked about an Alchemy process which involved the ¡°incubation¡± of potions.


    Treating the glass flask as an egg while adding the potion material directly without needing to synthesize everything.


    Naturally, this ¡°incubation¡± process had cons and pros.


    The pro for the ¡°incubation¡± process was the fact that it was easy, allowed an experienced Alchemist to process thousands upon thousands of potions on the same day and the Alchemist would achieve a deeper understanding of Alchemist the more he used the process.


    The con for the ¡°incubation¡± process was that something being easy is relative, as only Alchemist with a certain feeling would be able to use this procession and yes, an Alchemist would be able to create thousands upon thousands of potions on the same day. However, every potion needed time to ¡°hatch¡± and thus complete the ¡°incubation¡± process.


    Since Fraser had tons of materials, he naturally started experimenting with this new Alchemy procession called ¡°incubation¡±.


    To be honest, this new process was easier for Fraser than traditional Alchemy where one had to synthesize everything and extract certain things.


    With his AI he also had the ability to store certain feelings and memories of each experiment.


    So in the first batch of the new incubation experiment, on the first day after the day he interrogated Elise, he used one hundred flasks for every potion he could refine.


    Meaning basic explosion potion, basic wound mending potion, and basic strengthening potion.


    So Fraser used a different memory and feeling for every flask and numbered every flask from one to one hundred, naturally for every potion he used a different symbol marking the experimenting flasks.


    The result was utter garbage compared to his usual succeed rate.


    In the first batch of potions, only one of the basic explosion potions ¡°hatched¡± and succeeded, the other 99 flasks all turned out to be ¡°death¡± meaning they failed.


    From the basic wound mending potion and the basic strengthening potion none ¡°hatched¡±.


    Even though Fraser wasted thirty magic stones with a single experiment, he didn¡¯t felt bad. After all, he could always create seven to eight potions with the traditional method and sell them for more than thirty magic stones.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Though thirty magic stones were not the real number after all one basic explosion potion succeeded and the magic stones can be used to buy fifty materials. Adding Fraser current situation, in the outpost people would trade more materials, sixty or even seventy for a single potion.


    In the second batch, meaning three days after the talk with Elise, Fraser could see a huge improvement in the success rate, especially in the basic explosion potion department.


    34 was the total amount of explosion potion successfully ¡°hatched¡± from the incubation technique.


    Fraser mostly used the succeeding feeling and memory stored in the AI to replicate it, adding a few information and memories.


    Luckily Fraser succeeded in two of the incubation of the basic wound mending potion and one of the basic strengthening potion.


    The third and fourth batch of the experiment immediately allowed Fraser to see what the increase in knowledge caused him to achieve.


    The basic explosion potion reached a success rate of 64 of one hundred in the third batch and 98 of one hundred in the fourth batch.


    The basic wound mending potion reached a 17 in the third batch and a 58 in the fourth batch since the first successful incubation only occurred in the second batch. Same with the basic strengthening potion, though the third batch only reached 8 and the fourth reached 42.


    The incubation time for every potion was two days, meaning that when the fourth batch finished, nine-day passed since Fraser interrogated Elise for the noble families.


    On the first day after the interrogation, he started his first batch, the third day after that he started the second, on the fifth day he started the third and on the seventh day he started the fourth and on the ninth day the experiment resulted in overall success.


    With such a snowballing success rate Fraser naturally started the fifth batch of the three potions with one hundred flasks.


    With each gesture of pouring water, a single drop of water mixed with something unknown dripped into the flasks.


    Fraser held his Alchemy Set which was in the shape of a disk and poured a single drop of water into the flasks which were filled with one material each and a small cup of water.


    He connected his spirit towards the Alchemy set and formed the feeling which resulted in a little bit of spirit mixing with the water that was on top of the Alchemy Set and dripped down into the flask.


    Since he used up a few materials, Fraser had to go out after he started his incubation process on the three hundred potions.


    Three of his eight servants carried wooden crates filled with glass flasks that contained liquids of the three different potions.


    The other five of his servants formed a protective formation, surrounding him and the three servants carrying the wooden crates.


    Just as Fraser wanted to departure, he thought of an option where he could trade for more materials. After all, even if the inner circle of Magus Sept could gather materials for the potions, most of them traded their potions for corpses and only a few put really useful stuff up for trade.


    The insect in the cave bear could be regarded as a blessing disguised as a curse that also had a few attributes of a curse and changes that might not be pleasant.


    The Alchemy notes, on the other hand, was absolutely amazing, the ancient potion recipe he traded couldn¡¯t be deciphered as it was written with an unknown ancient language.


    Maybe the ancient recipe he traded wasn¡¯t even a recipe and only an ancient shopping list, but as Fraser wanted to see the generosity of the seniors he traded for everything, as long as it wasn¡¯t too expensive.


    But now, Fraser only wanted Notes or Books on Alchemy and Materials for the potions.


    After all, he had almost everything he needed right now and hopefully after the monster tide in the howling abyss ended, he would return to the academy and trade for more valuable courses and lessons.


    Most good lessons would cost one hundred magic stones or more, lessons with an entrance fee of ten magic stones would often have one thousand or more apprentices.


    Since a single lesson would only take place for one or two hours, Fraser needed to save up tons of magic stones if he wanted to attend these lessons every single day without having to create potions between them.


    Besides, having too many magic stones wouldn¡¯t be a burden for Fraser since he could buy more knowledge with the magic stones and more knowledge would mean more options for him.

 Chapter 57 Start of the Monster Tide

    The newly found option which Fraser pondered upon was the fact that he wasn¡¯t restricted to selling potion to only one inner circle.


    He could sell potions to all of the ten inner circles. Maybe some normal apprentices would gather a few materials from the howling abyss in order to trade with him.


    Since the materials in the howling abyss weren¡¯t that rare and could be gathered with ease, even a normal human might harvest up to one hundred fire eggs or enor stones within a single hour.


    The only problem was the fact that monster roamed the howling abyss and the environment would be rather dangerous for a normal human.


    But all of them were apprentices. Meaning that all of them had a stronger physique or would have enough spirit to defend themselves.


    ¡®Even if they are completely new apprentices, as long as they group with other people they should be able to gather materials for one of the three basic potions that I am able to create.¡¯


    Just as Fraser arrived into the more popular section of the outpost, a screaming somebody passed by and Fraser could hear the message of the scream:


    ¡°THE TIDE STARTED, THE MONSTERS ARE HERE! THE TEN MAGI ARE OUTSIDE OF THE OUTPOST AND ARE FACING AGAINST THE TIDE!¡±


    When Fraser heard that ten magi would be facing a tide of monsters, he immediately changed course from the inner circle room of Magus Sept towards the entrance of the howling abyss.


    His eight servants followed him, three of the servants still carried a wooden crate of their own.


    When Fraser arrived at the large entrance towards the howling abyss, he could see a mass of apprentices already standing there.


    A sea of dark robes covered his view and the only thing that Fraser could see was a sea of faces excitingly talking about stuff.


    Without even caring about their wellbeing, Fraser didn¡¯t stop his walking pace and because his servants still had a formation which protected him and the three servants holding wooden crates the servant would soon crash into the first apprentice.


    Naturally, the apprentice took notice of Fraser and his eight followers, but as he came late and only had to blame himself for not being able to be on the foremost row, he was a little bit angry.


    ¡°How dare you¡­.¡±


    That stereotypical sentence of an angry snob came out of his mouth and before the apprentice could finish his sentence, the servant walking in front of Fraser already grabbed the apprentice and flung him through the air.


    A single scream could be heard from the apprentice and the continuous whimpering caused a reaction in front of the entourage.


    Like a knife cutting into butter, the sea of apprentices parted in front of Fraser''s servants and a passage formed.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Nine concealed figures walking towards the howling abyss caused whispering to start among the normal apprentices.


    Some apprentice looked like they were enraged and wanted to leash out but no one dared in the end.


    When Fraser stepped into the howling abyss, he didn¡¯t saw the forest filled with mist.


    Instead, all he saw was a plain and his eyesight allowed him to see pretty far.


    Ten figures stood in relatively far distance to each other.


    When the Frasers group continued their march into the howling abyss in order to get a better view, a female voice sounded from the sea of apprentices.


    At that voice, a silent spread through the entrance.


    ¡°If I were you, then I wouldn¡¯t do that. Our honored Mentor who has all attained the rank of Magus have forbidden anyone from stepping into the howling abyss for too long. Retreat or else you will face the punishment of the Magi.¡±


    When Fraser looked back in order to find the source of the voice, he could see that it was a white-haired woman. Her white iris fixated her gaze upon Fraser who was the only one from his group that turned his head around.


    The silence continued for a while before a laughter sound echoed:


    ¡°Hahahaha, so the first one to arrive is a group of nine mutes and the mutt from the north crawls into the ass of his owner, hahahahaha.¡±


    At that insult, the white-haired woman gritted her teeth before unwillingly staring at the source.


    Fraser also looked towards the source and could see that it was one of the ten figures who stood on the plain.


    It was a handsome youth who wore a white robe that laughed and insulted Fraser and the white-haired woman at the same time.


    ¡°It would be me that would have won the bet if not for the fact¡­.¡± boomed a voice next to to the handsome youth.


    ¡°Shut up. I swear you guys always have a huge pole stabbed into your ass.¡± interrupted the handsome youth before turning towards Fraser and spoke:


    ¡°So, whom inner circle do you belong? You see we Magi have a bet going on which apprentice arrives first. Just walk to him.¡±


    Saying that, the handsome youth turned towards the person who complained, it was a middle-aged man with a sword strapped around his waist and taunted:


    ¡°You can now call your mutt to lick your feet. Hahahahahah.¡±


    Fraser started to walk towards Magus Sept while analyzing the other Magi. Of the ten Magi, most of them were rather plain looking. Seven of them looked like normal middle-aged men who had a beard. One was a handsome youth.


    The only female in the round looked like a shriveled potato. Not like a kind grandmother, instead, she looked like a hideous zombie that somehow started to live.


    Why did Fraser think she is female? Simply because she wore a pink robe and had golden accessories dangling from her body. Golden earrings, a golden amulet, golden wristbands and a fur scarf covering her neck.


    Even though Magus Sept looked like a normal middle-aged man at glance, you could feel that something was different. His build was rather slim and since the last time Fraser saw him, he had shaved off his beard.


    Arriving in front of Magus Sept, Fraser commanded all of his servants to bow at the same time.


    In synchro the nine figures bowed in front of Magus Sept while only Fraser spoke:


    ¡°I greet Mentor Sept.¡±


    This caused a smile to appear on Magus Sept face before turning towards the other Magi and saying:


    ¡°I guess I have won the bet.¡±


    In return, the other nine Magi groaned but didn¡¯t do anything else. The middle-aged Magus with the sword called the white-haired to walk to him, causing the handsome youth to continue his taunt.


    ¡°So, I might ask myself: Who are you? I don¡¯t remember having an apprentice who has eight followers.¡± spoke Magus Sept.


    ¡°I am Fraser, I joined the howling abyss last year and¡­¡± replied Fraser.


    However, Magus Sept interrupted Frasers self-introduction and instead asked:


    ¡°So how have your studies advanced in Alchemy? I may not help you in your overall studies, but as you picked Alchemy, the subject in which I major in, I should be able to help you.¡±


    A smile appeared on Magus Sept before turning toward the three wooden crates.


    ¡°These should hold your potions. Am I allowed to see them?¡±

 Chapter 58 Inspection on Fraser鈥檚 Potions

    Without hesitation, Fraser immediately agreed on the request of Magus Sept.


    After all, Magus Sept is his mentor and an honored Magus.


    Besides, trying to deny the request would probably only infuriate Magus Sept.


    This decision to agree without hesitation was a good one as Fraser witnessed the delicate control of a Magus.


    A single hand wave from Magus Sept sufficed to make the three wooden crate float.


    One by one the basic potions formed a circle around Magus Sept.


    With a small smile on his lips Magus Sept began to speak: ¡°The potions that you have created are not superior or anything special. However, they fulfill the standard to be useful.¡±


    After casually grabbing a basic potion from each kind, Magus Sept made the other potions float back into the wooden crates.


    As if touched by an invisible hand the cork on the flask got pulled out and Magus Sept personally smelled the potion.


    Not showing any facial change on the basic strength potion and the basic injury mending potion caused Fraser to feel nervous.


    ¡®Does it mean that he is dissatisfied with the results? Or perhaps he is disappointed?¡¯


    To be honest, Fraser really didn¡¯t care of whether Magus Sept would be disappointed or dissatisfied. Instead, he cared about the fact of whether he would have a positive impression on Magus Sept.


    Considering the fact that Magus Sept is a respectable Magus and had considerable strong social relationships as well as resources that he as an apprentice could only hope to gather, it would make sense to try to not make a negative impression.


    But the fear of Fraser never appeared in reality as Magus Sept threw a basic explosion potion into the distance and caused an explosion shaped in the form of a sphere with the diameter of a half a dozen meters or twenty feet.


    After the explosion of Fraser''s potion, Magus Sept turned towards Fraser with a small smile on his lips and began to speak:


    ¡°I have to say. Even if none of your potions could be considered high standard, they are all functional and are able to do their job. Besides, the ability to create so many functional potions and still advance to apprentice level 3 is really impressive.¡±


    As if thinking something really important, Magus Sept fell into deep thought while uttering an ¡°Mhmm.¡±


    Not daring to interrupt the seemingly important thinking process of Magus Sept, Fraser could only stay silent.


    He wasn¡¯t the only one trying to stay as silent as possible as the apprentices who weren¡¯t in any inner circles tried to be silent as well.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The only sound came from the handsome youth clad in a white robe as he taunted the middle-aged magus with the white-haired woman.


    Over time the place where the ten Magi stood with a little bit of distance between each of them got crowded as more and more members of their respected inner circle joined their Magus.


    Naturally, no one of the members stood as close to their Magus as Fraser.


    So it was no wonder that every time a new person joined the crowd, they would point at Fraser or glance towards him before asking around.


    When only a couple of members missed, Magus Sept stopped to ponder about the something he thought of and began to speak:


    ¡°When I remember correctly you are a grade 3 talent. So normally you shouldn¡¯t be able to advance into an apprentice level 3 so early. After all, grade 5 is able to advance into apprentice level 1 within a few hours, apprentice level 2 within a few days and apprentice level 3 within a few weeks. For each lower grade, it will be pushed a time period different so for a grade 3 talent it would normally take a few years to reach apprentice level 3. Even with diligent training.¡±


    Inwardly Fraser regretted his choice to rush out to watch the Magi.


    ¡®Does he want to know of my fusion with the insect or why does he hint that I should tell him my secret?¡¯


    ¡°Naturally, since you are my student I won¡¯t prive into your private matters. Instead, I am more interested in grooming you into the subject of Alchemy. But as everything has a price I am not able to help you for free.¡± spoke Magus Sept in a slow and clear manner.


    Then he continued:


    ¡°How about I trade your three wooden crates filled with potions for two sets of Alchemy notes that were at least apprentice level 4?¡±


    In order to not leave a lasting negative impression or give Magus Sept the opinion that he would ignore the goodwill from him, Fraser immediately agreed.


    With a smile, Magus Sept nodded and two books floated towards Fraser while the three wooden crates floated towards him.


    When Fraser stored the two books in a bag, he could see how his three wooden crates vanished when they reached Magus Sept.


    Then a sound came from the handsome white-robed youth: ¡°AH?! So you actually have a magic tool with the ability to store things. Did you find it or create it? If you can create it, sell me some. I need a couple.¡±


    Not denying or confirming anything, Magus Sept smiled and turned towards the other eight Magi and began to speak in a loud tone:


    ¡°My fellow members of the howling abyss academy. I think the horde is reaching us at any moment. How about we split the loot as usual? Every one of us takes territory and defends the small entrance. If one is no longer able to hold then you have to make trades. If you aren¡¯t able to defend it and the horde reaches the entrance, then you have to pay and receive no loot.¡±


    The handsome white youth began to sneer but still walked towards a certain territory when Magus Sept finished his speech.


    In the end, Fraser could see that Magus Sept, the Magus with the white-haired woman, the handsome white youth and the female Magus who looked like a grandmother took up the spot in the middle.


    The other six Magi merely choose the outer territory.


    Fraser began to look at the different locations and could clearly see that the middle part would definitely bear the biggest impact if the horde decided to act like a wave.


    As the entrance towards the outpost was small, the territory in front of the entrance got split into ten equally sized lines and would reach into the howling abyss.


    When the magically shining lines appeared, defining the territory, the actually might of a Magus could be seen.


    Every Magus had a different way on how to defend their territory.


    A Magus raised a whole stone fortress out of the ground after walking around the place, seemingly not sure where to place the stone fortress.


    Although the stone fortress was a small one, it was still imposing.


    The magus was someone who chose the outermost part of the territory, meaning that the risk of being overwhelmed by the monsters was close to zero as the stone fortress was erected between the natural stone wall and the shining dividing line.


    When Fraser watched the fascinating defenses he immediately commanded the AI to store everything that seemed important.

 Chapter 59 Defensive Measures of Magi

    The other Magi chose a rather different approach than the one raising a stone fortress out of the ground.


    All of them choose more bizarre ways to prepare themselves for the imminent monster horde.


    Although the most interesting and mysterious defending preparations lied within the four Magi who choose to defend the front of the entrance, the other preparation methods were still a sight to behold.


    One Magus chose to turn his territory into a swamp and flooded everything with water. Naturally, the water didn¡¯t swap over the shining line which indicated the territory.


    Another one began to release humongous fireballs and turned his territory into a sea of flames. Fraser could even see some silhouettes moving in the sea of lava.


    Three of the Magi even seemed to work together and cast a spell that summoned a dark mist that engulfed their three territories and their inner circle members.


    Although the six defensive preparations looked powerful and seemingly mighty, they were only stronger versions of the spells that apprentices could cast.


    So Fraser could see that the Magus that created a stone fortress commanded his inner circle members to strengthen the castle by building more walls and siege objects.


    The major four Magi, Fraser named them on the whim, consisted of Magus Sept, the white handsome youth, the only female Magus who looked like a grandmother and the middle-aged man with the white-haired female standing beside him, had way more interesting defensives measures.


    The old female Magus simply cast a similar mist, but with the difference that the colorful mist in the shade of pink quickly disappeared as if the mist was never there.


    The handsome white-robed youth and the middle-aged man that got taunted by the former summoned a few creatures to help them.


    While the middle-aged man stabbed a sword into the ground and thus raised a group of 10 foot or three meter high knights that consisted of stones clad in full armor with different weapons like swords, maces, shields or spears, the body of the white-robed youth expanded and ballooned as if something tried to break out of his body.


    A sound of flesh tearing appeared and Fraser could see how the ballooned body of the white-robed youth started to tear in some places.


    Beasts of different sizes started to crawl out of the ballooned body. The entire sight looked gory as the beasts were drenched in blood and were transfigured into a gruesome sight.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    With a single glance one could see that the beast was not alive, neither were they left in their whole state.


    Stitches and other methods to hold two things together could be seen on the body of every beast.


    When the summoning of the creatures ended, the former white-robed youth transformed into something that resembled a monster.


    His height grew and only stopped when he was bigger than the earth knights the middle ages man summoned. While the earth knights already looked imposing, they only reached the ribs of the monster that the youth transformed into.


    The left arm transformed into countless long tentacles, the right arm transformed into a huge grotesque looking hand with countless veins showing on top.


    The whole body bulked up into the gigantic size and below the waist, two feet with hoofs could be seen.


    ¡®So this is a Magus that transplants the body parts of powerful creatures into his own. Since he also has chimeras as his meat shields, he probably is someone to be feared.¡¯


    When Fraser pondered about the Magus that transformed, some of the younger apprentices that were not part of an inner circle and stood at the entrance started to shriek and retreat at the sight of the Magus that transformed into a monster.


    At first most of the apprentices got mesmerized by the powerful spells of the other Magi, but when one of the Magus transformed into a monster, unknowingly to them, all of them retreated more than a couple of long steps.


    The last one to make defensive measurements was Magus Sept, but as his preparations were way simpler than Fraser thought.


    With a single toss, Magus Sept threw an egg-sized something in front of him, followed by pouring a potion onto it.


    Green vines started to grow in visible eye speed, even if it was still rather slow.


    A few moments later, when Magus Sept finished to build his place to relax, a comfortable chair with cushions and a small table next to it. The plant finished to grow and one could see a huge flytrap with a couple of dozen gigantic mouths.


    Then, when Magus Sept lied on his chair, he turned towards Fraser and the group of inner circle members and spoke:


    ¡°The plant will only attack the beasts, so feel free to kill a couple of monsters. The older members of the inner circle will have to lead a couple of normal apprentices in order to give them combat experience. The new inner circle members are free to do whatever they want.¡±


    With that command, Magus Sept closed his eyes and started to visibly relax.


    Since almost all of the inner circle members of Magus Sept were already gathered in front of the gigantic flytrap and could hear and see Magus Sept, some of them started to move.


    Viras group and Emium were naturally the first and they immediately shouted towards the entrance:


    ¡°Apprentices of Magus Sept, gather! You all need to gather combat experience, so come out right now. Whoever doesn¡¯t come out will be faced with severe consequences.¡±


    With military strictness, Emium and Vira handed out different duties to every single inner circle member.


    The exception being the so-called ¡°newcomers¡±, meaning Elise, Nicholas, Adrian, Elizabeth and naturally Fraser.


    However as the other four already joined the group of Vira, Fraser was the only one to feel free to do whatever he wanted.


    Without waiting for anyone to do the first step, Fraser stepped into the area where the humongous flytrap grew, his eight servants followed him.


    Wherever Fraser and his eight servants stepped, no vines obstructed the path. It was as if the vines would automatically know where the group walked and immediately retreat if the group neared.


    Even though Fraser didn¡¯t like the feeling the gigantic flytrap gave him, he couldn¡¯t do anything. After all, it is a plant that Magus Sept, a Magus, carried around him and even deemed it worthy to be a defensive measurement at the front of a horde.


    Fraser didn¡¯t actually experience a horde himself and expected a small swarm of monsters like the gigantic cave bear. He didn¡¯t expect the Magi would personally confront the horde.


    He heard of a few rumors from the bits and bits of conversations that the normal apprentices would do whenever he walked by.


    Something about it being a colossal event that happens every century and would be extremely dangerous.


    That dying would be common, even for apprentices.


    However, for the survivors, there would be a huge combat increase. Apparently, a survivor of a horde would rarely lose against something that didn¡¯t experience a horde.


    Something about a treasure being left in the horde, maybe even walking treasure chests that were filled with tons of magic crystals.


    Although the last rumor was probably caused by some apprentice that desperately needed magic crystals, most of them sounded right.

 Chapter 60 Horde

    But every single rumor couldn¡¯t prepare Fraser for the real horde.


    Do you know the moment when anyone would tell you an exciting story about heroes, wars or maybe even the tale of some people that either did good or bad?


    One might feel excited and even want to be in the stories, but if one would see the reality, then no one would like to be there.


    When Fraser reached the end of the gigantic flytrap, he wondered whether or not the flytrap was a single entity.


    The size could definitively fit in a small patch of forest.


    But when he looked up and saw into the distance, everything in his mind went blank.


    Like a frozen statue, Fraser glanced into the distance.


    Only after a couple of moments could Fraser process what was before his eyes.


    A seemingly black horizon. A small stripe of black could be seen in the distance.


    When Fraser entered the howling abyss for the first time, he could see a forest that still had mist lingering around it and a couple of water ponds.


    At that time he only had one servant, One. It was also the time where Magus Sept spoke about the different outpost that ventured into the howling abyss and would retreat towards their outpost because of the impending horde.


    When he slaughtered a pack of armored deer, he wanted to continue to explore the howling abyss. However, he stopped as he wanted to proceed when he had enough servants.


    But the howling abyss from the past looked way different than the howling abyss looked right now. Everything that Fraser once associated with the howling abyss disappeared. No forest, no water ponds and no mist that gave it a magical vibe.


    Instead, the only thing that remained in Fraser''s eyesight was a green sea.


    The grass danced in the wind like water would.


    After staring at the black line for a while, Fraser actually processed the reality.


    ¡®It can¡¯t be¡­ Is the black line the horde? But then that would mean¡­.¡¯


    With a horrified glance, Fraser stared at the black line. The horde resulted in a black line that could be seen in the far distance.


    Now, what would happen once the horde collapses into the defensive line? It would be like trying to stop the ocean wave with a single pebble.


    ¡®No, even if the horde looks so imposing, the Magi will be stronger. After all the horde is an event that occurs every century.¡¯


    With that thought, Fraser retreated behind the flytrap, next to Magus Sept, and began to close his eyes in order to be at optimal state when the horde arrived.


    When the horde neared, Fraser could immediately hear it.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Screams, howls, roars and many other animal sounds echoed in the surrounding.


    It wasn¡¯t long before Fraser could see the first few beasts rushing towards them.


    With red eyes, one of the beasts charged towards the only female Magus. But the defensive preparation from the female Magus seemed to suffice. As if entering a dead zone, the beast dropped onto the ground, never able to stand again.


    In order to get a better overview from the battle, Fraser commanded his eight servants to move forward while relaying their impressions to him.


    So it was no wonder that Fraser sat next to the chair of Magus Sept.


    Like a commander receiving multiple battle reports, Fraser received the information from his servants.


    The flytrap from Magus Sept survived with ease. It devoured the members of the horde that dared to step into its boundaries. Thus it got sufficient nutrients to grow at an unimaginable speed.


    As if sensing the danger from the flytrap, the horde split and tried to avoid the flytrap. However, sometimes there were still a few beasts dumb enough to run towards the flytrap. They were mercilessly devoured.


    The same thing happened with the chimeras the white-robed youth Magus summoned and the earth knights which the middle-aged Magus summoned.


    Though there was one territory that the horde tried to avoid but couldn¡¯t. It was the territory of the female Magus. The beasts that died without a reason would soon start to stand up once more, the only difference compared to their living counterparts was the fact that they would try to drag more beasts into the territory and would continue their capturing duty until they got shredded to bits.


    They looked like mindless, controlled zombie voodoo dolls.


    After the first wave arrived, Fraser could understand why the other six Magi choose the territory on the side. It was not because they were lazy or cowards.


    Instead, it was the simple reason of being too weak.


    Fraser could see that the Magus who raised the stone fortress had problems and needed to rise higher and more durable castle walls in order to allow his apprentices to cast their spells.


    The other Magi probably had similar problems, with the exception of the four Magi in the middle.


    After the short impact with the horde, Fraser immediately commanded his eight servants to return to him.


    Fraser thought that he would be able to help or even gain some benefits from helping, but reality shook his head and denied it with a simple reason:


    He was too weak.


    When Fraser saw how the flytrap of Magus Sept crushed and held the countless number of beasts at bay with ease, he now knew that he still had a long way to go before being able to grab a few benefits for himself.


    Like a wave, the horde clashed against the different defensive measures of the Magi.


    Even if all of the defensive measurements seemed to be mighty and impressive, there was clearly a difference in power.


    While the flytrap of Magus Sept seemingly easily devoured every single beast coming too it, it also held the wave at bay with its vines.


    Compared to that, the stone fortress seemed too weak. Fraser could even see how some beast managed to get into the fortress and injured a couple of apprentices.


    Then the Magus had to raise another stone fortress, this time the Magus probably realized the weaknesses and it took three castings to raise a bigger and mightier stone fortress out of the ground.


    After that event, Fraser didn¡¯t witness any other battle as he, along with his eight servants, walked back towards the outpost.


    Although he could see that Emium and Vira, the two parties in Magus Sept inner circle, moved into the flytrap and tried to gather some benefits, Fraser didn¡¯t do anything.


    The choice that Fraser made was completely obvious, the monster wave crashed into the defensive measurements of the Magi and the defensive line seemed to be like the only shining ember in a room full of darkness.


    There were a few options that Fraser could do in order to gather a few benefits, but the problem was that he never experienced anything like a monster tide. The best thing Fraser could do right now was to wait.


    ¡®Normally People are afraid to lose the chance to get benefits, but I remember Magus Sept saying that our return to the howling abyss academy might get postponed. Since normally the term for Magus Sept would be a three year period and a single year already passed, then the horde duration would be at least 2 years.¡¯


    Turning his head one last time to look at the seemingly endless number of beasts charging towards the outpost, Fraser could only think of one thing:


    ¡®I hope that the horde would at least dimish down in numbers or else the howling abyss would be a really scary place.¡¯

 Chapter 61 Advancing in the field of Alchemy

    A couple of days passed since the horde arrived at the outpost of the howling abyss.


    In that time span, Fraser didn¡¯t actively pursue the horde for benefits.


    He didn¡¯t even move anywhere at all.


    Instead, Fraser continued his hermit lifestyle. After all, he already had research material that needed to be analyzed.


    The two alchemy notes from the apprentices who were level 4 broadened Frasers Alchemy to a whole new level.


    They were not using the incubation technique which naturally clicked which Fraser, instead, one of the notes was filled with a guide on a brewing technique that was composed of twelve steps.


    The techniques could be repeated over and over to create more complex potions. The only disadvantage of that was the fact that it took a lot of time to create a potion with this technique. However, the success rate was unbelievably high.


    So it was no wonder that Fraser tried to find the key step which might improve his own alchemy skills.


    Naturally, the twelve steps were a viewpoint from a completely different point which allowed Fraser to compare his own technique to this twelve-step technique that allowed for a more basic and easy approach.


    Since the twelve-step technique from one of the notes was enough information for a couple of days, Fraser didn¡¯t do much else other than analyzing the note with the twelve-step technique and glancing over the second note.


    But he got interrupted midway after a couple of days by a message from the other apprentices.


    How? By sending a floating wooden board to him while he was eating the free food in the outpost cafeteria.


    Naturally, he was surrounded by his eight loyal servants.


    The floating wooden board began to speak:


    ¡°We are the apprentices of another wizard. We have heard of the potion skills of you Fraser, so we wanted to ask whether or not you would sell your potions to us. The horde concerns everybody so we hope that we can trade.¡±


    Naturally, Fraser met up with the other group and the trade went smoothly.


    After all, everything involved was easy. They wanted the potions and Fraser wanted new materials to experiment upon.


    Since Fraser''s incubation technique was able to mass-produce potions with ease and had a standard that was good enough, they sold like hotcakes. All of the potions sold like hotcakes. Whether it was the basic strengthening potion, the basic wound mending potion or the basic explosion potion, there was no exception.


    In return, Fraser received stuff that he actually wanted, lots of corpses from the horde, more potion materials, notes from different apprentices that somehow were deceased and experimental stuff but everything that was traded, could be described as useful to him.


    After the first trade went successful, more and more apprentices would come to him in order to trade for potions. Some would come alone, others in groups and once even an entire faction came to him.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The faction which consisted of about twenty apprentices tried to threaten him, but after a couple of broken bones and tons of reparation costs, they quickly behaved themselves.


    So it was no wonder that Fraser would continue his indefinite way of hermit living. Since everything was provided for his experiments and much to learn there is, another half a year passed in a flash.


    The second note which was given to Fraser by Magus Sept contained an almost complete Lexica of the fauna and flora of the Magus World. A few magical plants, special materials or rocks were described by the Lexica in detail while also explaining their living habits, use, and rarity.


    Very helpful to Fraser''s overall knowledge pool, but not experimental material for now.


    There was a high chance that Fraser would continue his hermit lifestyle until the end of the outpost period if not for the fact that Vira visited him one day to make an offer:


    ¡°We are going to hunt a large number of beasts in the horde. I know that you have something that needs a large amount of flesh as well. Do you want to join us? It is easier for us since Magus Sept allows his apprentices to be in his defensive measurements.¡±


    Fraser declined. After all, he could trade any amount of flesh with potions. So why bother walking out and trying to gather the material himself?


    Vira continued with her persuasion.


    ¡°So, how about I give you the information to increase your mentality in order to reach Apprentice level 4 and perhaps even level 5? I know that you are already at the peak of level 3. So perhaps this might be something that you are more interested in. We also have a few potion formulas which might interest you.¡±


    Fraser pondered for a moment before asking his AI for information.


    ¡®It is true that the basic meditation technique is almost completely useless to me right now. My spirit growth is almost nonexistent. AI, compare my stats from half a year ago to my stats right now. Also, tell me if my assumption of the apprentice level is true.¡¯


    [Half a year ago]


    [7.11 strength, 8.02 agility, 3.97 vitality, 8.23 spirit]


    [Now]


    [7.18 strength, 8.12 agility, 4.08 vitality, 8.41 spirit]


    [Assumption correct: ]


    [Apprentice level 1: 1-2 spirit]


    [Apprentice level 2: 2-4 spirit]


    [Apprentice Level 3: 4-8 spirit]


    [Apprentice level 4: 8-? spirit]


    [Apprentice Level 5: ???]


    The numbers which the Chip gave to him, confirmed Fraser¡¯s theory of spirit.


    ¡®Though there is one thing that Vira is wrong about me. I had no difficulties reaching Apprentice Level 4. I didn¡¯t even felt some wall preventing me from passing the number of 8 spirit.¡¯


    Staring at Vira, Fraser continued to ponder for a while. As if waging whether or not the proposal of Vira was beneficial to him.


    ¡®The AI-Chip detected some kind of wall, but apparently it was easily solved with my spirit. Was it the influence of that weird insect?¡¯


    Since Fraser seemed to take his time, Vira got impatient and it seemed to her that the deal wasn¡¯t good enough.


    ¡°Let me add the notes of an Alchemist that we found in a ruin. Then you should be satisfied with the price.¡±


    Fraser only glanced at the notes which Vira gave to him. With his mind wandering to the thinking realm, the words on the sheet of thick paper woke him up.


    The notes described something about the process of aging potions. It reminded Fraser of wine in his memories. The theory was that some potions would have a better effect, the longer they would be stored.


    These papers actually analyzed the reason with a bunch of thoughts and experiments.


    Just as Fraser wanted to take a look at the next page, Vira simply stepped in and said:


    ¡°As a new apprentice you might not know how the horde works, but if Master Sept is in a content mood, he will allow his disciples to explore the howling abyss. We found the notes in an abandoned cave which seemed to be the experiment cave of a former apprentice.¡±


    Knowing that Fraser got hooked by the notes, Vira continued:


    ¡°And the best way to make Master Sept content is to allow him to laze around. He doesn¡¯t like fighting and is more interested in experimenting. So, what do you say? Slay the horde for materials and Master Sept will allow us to explore the abyss.¡±


    It sounded fishy for Fraser, but he could see that on the next sheet of notes, it experimented with the incubation technique which Fraser preferred and somehow had a really good synergy with, and combined it with the so-called aging process.


    Thus Fraser could only agree with the deal to kill the horde in order to allow Mentor Sept a couple of free days.

 Chapter 62 Against the Horde

    ¡°We are taking this place, you should defend this place against the horde.¡° spoke Vira while indicating a place on a drawn map.


    The place which was given to Fraser was a small place at the edge of the outpost.


    Nodding, Fraser and his eight servants sprinted towards the place.


    The mission was clear, kill all beast who entered the zone. The corpses and everything found would belong to the defending person.


    With mere thought, Fraser¡¯s eight servants transformed into their giant size. They looked like beetles as they walked on all six legs.


    Some apprentices certainly would have problems to eradicate a huge amount of beasts or defend a place from such a large number of beasts, but for Fraser it was easy. He didn¡¯t even lift a single finger in the massacre as his servants crushed every beast under their insect legs or body.


    Instead Fraser sat on a rock and pondered about the notes which Vira gave to him.


    The aging process seemed to be made for him. He had an unusual amount of synergy with the Alchemy technique incubation and it worked wonders with the aging process. Apparently the aging process was caused by some spiritual mutation that could be accelerated via the incubation technique.


    This time, Frasers AI Chip did some major useful work for the first time as it turned the spiritual mutation which was recorded on the notes, into reality.


    Fraser only roughly knew the process, but he couldn¡¯t replicate it as detailed as the Chip.


    Some of the first potions that were experimented with the aging process were already in the last incubation phase, so the result couldn¡¯t be verified, but Fraser trusted the notes as they sounded logical as well as the Chip to be able to do something which heavily counted on calculation.


    ¡®The aging process seemed to rely on some of the spiritual mutation that is created by something that is in the potion. The method to feed some spirit in the incubation to something to use that energy to mutate the potion seems logical. After all, a sword that is sharpened with a whetstone after being producing, is sharper than a sword that is only produced by the blacksmith and not sharpened.¡¯


    As Fraser pondered, his eight servants squashed every beast that dared to enter with ease.


    Their size was so humongous that until right now, none of the servants had any problems to squash a beast to pulp with a single action.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    After killing the beast, the servants would eat the meat pulp and store them in their reserves.


    Fraser already reached his spirit limit and thus couldn¡¯t control one more servant.


    In order to not waste the beasts, they all got eaten by the servants. Only some interesting things that awakened Fraser¡¯s interest were dragged by one of the servants.


    One antler that was black, a particular large beast carried those antlers on his head, a white fur that seemed to generated electricity, a sphere shaped, rolling beast owned the fur before and different body parts like bones, eyes, organs and blood were the war spoil of Fraser.


    With a child-like interest, Fraser anticipate the use of these materials. Perhaps he should dive into the art of transplanting organs and body parts? After all, he read some knowledge about it and if he could strengthen his servants, it would be a huge boon.


    Besides, it seemed to be interesting and could increase his power.


    Naturally, Fraser would try to acquire some test subjects that would be ¡°compatible¡± to his standards.


    While Fraser sorted through his future experiment parts, more and more beasts approached him and his servants.


    With a mere thought, his servants started the massacring spree once more. Body parts and blood splattered as every beast was beaten into a pulp.


    When the sack of loot that Fraser acquired grew into a back that was half the size of his servants, Fraser stopped his killing spree.


    Almost none of the beasts dared to approach him anymore and only a few would check out the situation before hastily escaping.


    When Fraser walked towards the gate of the outpost, he could see that a rather large group of people stood in front of it.


    Almost the same size when the Magi started their defense.


    The only difference compared to last time was the fact that some apprentice groups had sad or even depressed looks on their faces, while some clearly looked happy about something.


    Carrying a large sack didn¡¯t gathered much attention as everyone was busy dealing with their own stuff.


    Fraser walked towards Magi Sept¡¯s group and he obviously was the last as Magi Sept started to speak:


    ¡°Good, all are here. As my older disciples know the rules and thankfully know me very well.¡±


    Magi Sept glanced towards the muscular Vira and Emium which had no facial expression as he still wore the white mask with a knowing smile.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like wasting my time with this defending task. It is obnoxious, not very well rewarding and extremely time consuming.¡±


    Clapping his hands together, Magi Sept continued:


    ¡°Thankfully, one of my oldest disciple agreed to take over my job. Since I know that his power is enough for a trivial task like that, I fear not for the outpost. Thus, I shall leave the safety to you Emium. Naturally you shall receive your usual reward after this task.¡±


    Speaking his last sentence, Magus Sept simply walked into the outpost, leaving his inner circle behind.


    It was at that moment, when Fraser could clearly see how the group dynamic of the inner circle worked.


    One side consisted of Vira and her group, Emium had no visible follower but a couple of hooded figures were visible standing closer to him.


    There was one couple that seemed to be on the same power level as both of them. However, to Fraser they seemed to be on the neutral side.


    It still disturbed Fraser how these two people kissed. They were obviously two man but still sucked on each other lips as soon as Magi Sept finished his speech.


    Like addicts that were separated for a little bit too long, they fell into their pleasure and started to moan as if their life depended on that.


    Emium started to speak towards Fraser:


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind them, Mentor Sept is annoyed by their sucking sounds when they do that. So they clearly stop when he is around. But if I were you, I wouldn¡¯t take them on the light shoulder. I think that brute Vira didn¡¯t explain it to you in a way that people would understand it. I defend this place for Mentor Sept, for a transaction. You people get to leave and explore the howling abyss.¡±


    Vira started to pick a verbal fight with Emium, two sides ready to clash.


    The couple that kissed, sucked and moaned like their life depended on it, walked into the forest.


    Fraser followed their example by ignoring the two clashing factions and walking away, his looting back still on his shoulder.


    However he didn¡¯t walked into the forest, he made one trip back to his lodgings and took away all of his potions and his material.


    It ended up to be a half a dozen of wooden crates, but as Fraser¡¯s servants had no problem carrying them, Fraser didn¡¯t saw any problem in the amount of stuff he took away.


    Thus, Fraser walked into the howling abyss and slowly disappeared in the forest mist.


    In search for more experimental stuff and wonders of the world.

 Chapter 63 Searching for useful Things

    When the outpost gate vanished in the eyes of Fraser, he and his eight servants started to sprint.


    Fraser had no specific direction in mind. Instead, he simply followed his nose.


    He didn¡¯t fear not finding the outpost again. After all, the AI-Chip stored the general direction and he could simply backtrack.


    The trees zoomed past Fraser and his entourage of eight servants.


    Everything that tried to stop them in their way was simply solved by allowing one servant to squash the opposing thing into pulp.


    If it was something interesting, Fraser would glance at it for a while and then allow his servants to squash it. Or, if it was something worthwhile to collect, it would in one of the wooden crates.


    Days passed as Fraser continued his travel. He didn¡¯t find anything interesting as he moved along.


    Days turned into weeks as Fraser started to experiment while he was sprinting with his eight servants.


    The aging process of potions turned into a grand success for the efficiency of his potions.


    More than fifty percent was the increase in effectiveness, according to his AI-Chip.


    When Fraser reached the one month mark of traveling, he met a dangerous beast.


    Though it could endanger Fraser¡¯s life, he simply ordered four servants to sacrifice themselves and stall the beast.


    So, the number of servants dropped to four. Though they got quickly replenished as Fraser found an abandoned experiment side of an apprentice.


    Sadly, the apprentice experimented with ice spell models and his notes were rather underwhelming.


    Nevertheless, the information got stored in Fraser¡¯s Ai-Chip.


    As the saying goes, pride comes before the fall.


    When Fraser continued his sprint into the forest, he encountered a pack of normal-looking wild wolfs.


    He commanded his servants to squash them like usual, however, the wolves simply gathered something in their mouth and all Fraser could feel was a shockwave sending him backward.


    Six of his Servants were majorly injured and only two had the capability to stand.


    Traces of flames and fire surrounded the impact radius as Fraser groggily drank a couple of basic wound mending potion.


    Immediately commanding his two healthy servants to pack their stuff, Fraser escaped.


    He could only feel how the other six servants desperately tried to stall for more time but the connection severed one after another.


    After that short wake up call, Fraser searched for a shelter that would allow him to recoup his losses and build an experiment side.


    ¡®I distanced myself enough. It is time to find a shelter and start to experiment. The beasts seemed to be stronger than my servants. How should I capture one?¡¯The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    While he pondered about how to gather the stronger experimental subjects, he roamed around in search of shelter.


    The shelter he found was a ruin that had a basement. It was cleverly hidden from the eye and the only thing that allowed him to discover it was the temporary worker servants that acted like scouts.


    They had an almost centipede-like structure but they crawled extremely fast. Also, they barely costed any spirit for Fraser to control.


    The ruin itself was only accessible through climbing downwards on a cliff.


    So the first thing that Fraser did in his new shelter was to test whether or not he was alone in the ruin. For that, he used his workers as living scouts.


    Thankfully, nothing dangerous resided in the ruins. Instead, Fraser discovered abandoned rooms and building structures. Some even seemed to connect to the bottom.


    Although most of the floors seemed to be collapsed, the main one which had a rather impressive space, was intact.


    It amazed Fraser how deep the ruin went into the earth. Even after scouting for an entire hour, the worker didn¡¯t reach the end.


    Though the other workers discovered interesting stuff. Some ancient notes, moldy books, scraps of metal and even some dust lay around the ruins.


    It was as if Fraser was the first one to discover the ruin.


    It was not long before Fraser realized that he was in a Magi ruin.


    Immediately his mindset changed.


    ¡®This isn¡¯t one of these inheritance ruins, right? It should be one of the temporary experiment sides, at least indicated by these buildings.¡¯


    There was no indication for danger and even life forms were rare. There wasn¡¯t even a gate or anything to alike prevent him from stepping in. Nothing stopped his workers from exploring the ruin.


    And the only encounter from the centipede-like workers were small rats or bugs.


    Nothing that these workers couldn¡¯t handle.


    Deciding to stay in the ruin for a while to explore it, Fraser took one of the ruin buildings that looked decent enough and made it into his hideout.


    ¡®So it is possible to transplant organs into my servants. Though it seems to be unnecessary for my servants of the type soldiers since the organs of the collected beasts seems to be of lower quality.¡¯


    A centipede-like creature laid on a makeshift table that was a rather large slab of stone.


    Antler like horns decorated the head of the centipede, thousand small eyes were next to it and curiously glanced around. White Fur now replaced its former chitin armor.


    ¡®So this is the only success of my experiments? Bring out the numbers.¡¯


    A status screen appeared in Fraser¡¯s mind, indicating the power and abilities of the former centipede servant.


    [Former Stats of the Worker]


    [0.2 strength, 4 agility, 0.3 vitality]


    [Current Stats]


    [1.3 strength, 4.6 agility, 3.2 vitality]


    ¡®The only major increase seems to be vitality. The reason behind the increase seems to be the average quality of the organs that caused this major spike. The eyes of the hundred eyed spider seem to be a useless decoration, they don¡¯t even move. There is no muscle for the unusual amount of eyes.¡¯


    Fraser glanced at the small black eyes that covered the head of his worker.


    ¡®It seems that trying to implant the view of the hundred-eyed spider seems to be a failure, in the next experiment I should try to add muscles to certain organs and then see what happens. Perhaps a mutation? Perhaps I could even add limbs or muscle tissues from different beasts into my servants? It seems that picking up transplantation seems to open possibilities after possibilities.¡¯


    Though transplantation seemed to be the major experiment Fraser was doing at the ruins, his actual major experiment was to play around with potion craft. He tried to use blood, flesh, bones and organs of living beings to be used as potion materials.


    Thousands of glass flasks lied in a room, weird parts of animals floated in different liquids that Fraser decided to put in.


    Some even started to ¡®live¡¯ as hearts of various animals started to beat in the glass flasks.


    However, when Fraser opened these beating hearts, they quickly died out once more and the only thing remaining was a heart that turned into mush.


    The rest of the glass flasks seemed to be a failure as nothing happened to them. Only a couple of the flask had a behavior that interested Fraser as they possessed some major change.


    For example, blood coupled with the basic wound mending potion allowed Fraser to cultivate a stronger healing potion. When Fraser tested the effect on one of his transplant objects, his workers, the implantation seemingly fused together with the body of his work with no wound.


    Further experimentation allowed Fraser to discover that one needed a high mastery in the incubation technique as well as the aging process to brew the better healing potion.


    Thus Fraser deemed his new potion as the blood potion.

 Chapter 64 Ruin (1)

    After Fraser discovered the blood potion, he started to move his hideout further into the ruin.


    The sheer size of the ruin revealed itself in front of Fraser.


    More and more buildings appeared on the intern map that the AI-Chip created.


    After a day of continuous walking, Fraser reached the final part of the ruin.


    It was a tower. A huge tower. Build with an unknown type of stone, ornaments and runes graced the walls, creating a mystical aura.


    Someone within Fraser felt desolate. Like a melancholic maniac, Fraser stood there and simply watched the tower.


    It felt as if Fraser watched a once glorious civilization coming down to its end.


    His whole being screamed in sadness.


    ¡®Why? Why do I feel so sad? I shouldn¡¯t feel sad. This feeling¡­ It is ¡­ what is this feeling?¡¯


    Tears seemed to pour out of his eyes.


    The dripping liquid that came out of his eyes seemed to wake him up.


    With an unknown amount of time needed, Fraser walked towards the tower and stepped into it.


    Looking closer, the size of the tower was humongous. Sadly, the upper part of the tower seemed to be missing so the former size was unknown.


    The first thing that awaited Fraser in the tower was a hall, dust filled the floor while giant stone boards filled with some paper seemed to stand around the hall.


    They were huge, yet they looked tiny compared to the hall.


    Random amounts of paper were thrown all around the floor, making it a huge mess. Wooden tables of different sizes caused the hall to look abandoned.


    With a single command, his workers entered the hallway and started their search.


    Two of his soldiers stood behind him like loyal guards.


    After the workers scurried around the hall, they reported to Fraser.


    There were a couple of residents in the hall, but most were small animals like rats, mice, insects, spiders and one of the workers even discovered a small group of bats.


    The same race of bats in which Fraser once owned a baby of it. Yet it died while Fraser experimented on it.


    Fraser tried to pick up one of the papers that were filled with unknown symbols.


    Yet, the paper crumbled into dust.


    Thankfully his AI-Chip stored the symbols.


    So while his workers explored the tower, Fraser tried to pick up every single paper that he came across.


    With only one outcome: They all turned into dust.


    The only thing that remained from these papers was the unknown symbols stored within Fraser¡¯s brain.


    Time passed and some workers returned and reported to him.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    It seemed that the tower had three floors that were above the ground and an unknown amount of floors under the floor, as the workers didn¡¯t finish their exploring.


    Glancing into the hall made Fraser feel the melancholic feeling once more, yet it didn¡¯t have the intensity of the first glance.


    One of the workers that walked in front of him, woke him from the emotion.


    Normally, they would only report to him with his spirit, but since this one found something that seemed interesting it brought it back to Fraser.


    It was a paper that didn¡¯t crumble into dust. It was rather thick when Fraser touched it, so it was probably some kind of parchment or beast hide?


    While Fraser scanned the parchment, he simultaneously walked towards the location where his worker found the parchment.


    It was the library, shelf after shelf stood before him. Every shelf filled to the brim with books.


    Weird symbols decorated different signs, some made out of material that seemed like wood, others out of material that seemed like stone or fabric.


    Though the books that filled the shelves were made out of the same material as the parchment that he found.


    Excitement filled Fraser.


    He could actually open the books without turning them into dust.


    In order to avoid any remaining traps, dangerous beings or anything else that might kill him, Fraser always used one of his centipede workers to scout and wander around him.


    Thus creating a sensory net that would warn him of anything or anyone that would harm him.


    Sadly, all of the books that Fraser scanned with the AI had no meaning to him whatsoever.


    None of the squiggly lines made sense. Some of the runes seemed familiar, but nothing that the AI could decipher as a known language.


    But Fraser didn¡¯t lose hope, instead, he continued to scan every book shelve from the library.


    More and more bookshelves were stored and analyzed in the AI-Chip that Fraser carried around in his head.


    Although the language didn¡¯t seem familiar to any known system he knew, Fraser still kept scanning the bookshelves.


    Time passed and Fraser even needed to take trips out of the ruin to hunt for food.


    These trips were made in a careful manner and soon Fraser¡¯s count of servant soldiers reached Seven. He decided to leave one slot open for the centipede workers as they were useful for information gathering.


    With the AI, Fraser was able to decipher more and more from the unknown squiggly lines that seemed to be the language of an unknown civilization.


    More than once the books described animals, plants or history of the unknown civilization.


    As most of these descriptions in the books were written next to illustrations, some plants or animals were actually still alive.


    Thus, when Fraser finished scanning the library, he could actually describe the civilization that used and build the tower.


    Surprisingly it wasn¡¯t an unknown civilization.


    They were Magi. The only difference was that not only the word Magi was used.


    They called themselves Magi, as well as Adepts, Sorcerers, Wizards, Witches, Alchemists, Warlocks, Scholars and many more descriptions.


    Apparently, there was a clear distinction of their abilities and were thus titles with their branch of magic.


    With the highest logical translation, Fraser even got to know the purpose of the ruin:


    An academy or a citadel for new blood.


    A chill ran through Fraser¡¯s bones as he imagined how the Magi civilization got destroyed.


    ¡®How was it possible that they were destroyed? Is there still such a frightening force in the planes out there?¡¯


    According to the description of the deceased Magi civilization, they were experts in conquering different planes and waged war for resources, whether it was slaves, knowledge or materials.


    Thus they conquered and conquered, with each plane they grew.


    Not only that, the Magi had ranks. Not apprentice levels, but actual ranks between Magi.


    Fraser never knew of such information before.


    ¡®So, becoming a Magi isn¡¯t the end? There are paths after Magi?¡¯


    He couldn¡¯t imagine the power available to the ranks after Magus rank 1.


    After all, he as an apprentice could already control humongous beasts the size of small houses.


    Then, what could a Magus at the Rank 2 do? Or even Rank 3? Were they capable of wiping out entire countries or kingdoms?


    Fraser always thought that it was exaggerated that Magi could wipe out entire kingdoms or empires, but after reading the books, he believed it.


    After all, the information that Fraser could read due to the highest possible translation of his AI-Chip was extremely vast.


    One of the books even described the way on how Fraser walked the path of a Magi.


    But instead of the five apprentice Levels, they simply categorized in three acolytes levels.


    Acolyte level one, spirit potential and the ability to control the spirit to a certain extent in order to use minor spell models. Acolyte level two, spell models and capability to use them. Acolyte level three, a major increase of spirit, proficient in spell models and close to the level of a Rank 1 Magus.

 Chapter 65 Ruin (2)

    Such a thing would normally only be useless knowledge as the categorization of the past seemed to be useless and could only be taken as a reference for the future and the present, yet there was something that made it exciting for Fraser.


    ''It can''t be¡­ Does the AI Chip have this function? So easy?''


    Fraser starred at the information that was projected into his head.


    The information was about the purpose of the ruin that he was in it.


    There was only some general information that seemed to not interest the author of the books and only deemed it as some part of common knowledge.


    It talked about the


    of the citadel. It was an object that allowed for mass production of fighters for the former glorious civilization.


    Fraser bestowed the term "Ancient Magi" to the once glorious civilization.


    It would give each Acolyte that reached Level 2 a path to follow.


    According to the information, in general, they were weaker than their fellow acolytes that found their own destined path, but some ended up following the wrong path and at least the path that the pathfinder chooses was suitable for the acolyte.


    ''I need to find this Pathfinder. Perhaps it still works?''


    Seeing the information, a desire to start searching for this pathfinder in this exact moment popped into Fraser''s mind.


    But he continued to look for the information on the Pathfinder.


    And he wasn''t disappointed as more information appeared on Pathfinders.


    Apparently they would send the spirit to a plane that particularly suited their spirit. Then, the spirit would be soaked in the attribute and give them a certain power-up and attribute.


    Thus, the acolyte would advance to Rank 1 Magi and would have to choose his Pillars spell models according to the attribute.


    This was a process that some acolytes used to advance in the period of the Ancient Magi. This Citadel was one of the centers for the Pathfinder method.


    Though it wasn''t the only way to advance to a Magi.


    Many would dare to tread the path of true magi and choose their own path.


    Although the few people that followed the path to the end became powerhouses, according to the many people who lost themselves on the path of truth it wasn''t an easy one. So it was a path that people who weren''t sure in themselves never took or people who knew their limits.


    At least according to the books.


    Fraser knew his limits. He wasn''t some genius that was found once in an era. Though he would strive for more as long as he could get it. And everything was possible.


    Besides, it is way easier to rely on the shoulders of the past.


    The Pathfinder method wasn''t one of the worst methods to advance, it was dangerous as the spirit could die in its travel, but the power attributed to the spirit was nice and it would allow for an almost clear path to a certain Rank of Magi.


    It was different for everyone so Fraser simply decided to search for the Pathfinder and still read the different methods to advance to a Rank 1 Magi. Stolen story; please report.


    The most-simple way was to use a catalyst and choose a pillar spell model to his desires. One needed to be an acolyte level 3


    Another one was to get a bloodline, it would give a pillar spell the same to the being of the transplanted bloodline. It was considered to be the most powerful, in the short term, but there were shackles after a certain time and it would hinder them.


    The rest sounded interesting, but Fraser didn''t have the method to any of those.


    For example, elementization to a certain element, transplanting stronger parts, whether biological or mechanical didn''t matter, as well as certain truths like runes or enlightenments.


    ''The transplanting path is a devil circle, how do I acquire parts of stronger creatures when I need them to be able to kill them? It makes no sense.''


    After finishing most of the information regarding advancement to Rank 1 Magi, Fraser now knew how his future would look.


    If he survived until that moment.


    ''What should I choose for a Pillar spell model? The information said that picking one is essential for the future, according to the books every spell model can be regarded as a Pillar spell model. The only thing you have to do is choose. But which spell model should accompany me and get stronger with me?''


    The pillar spell was a spell model that was like a pillar to the respected Magi. Similar to a better weapon, it was a spell model that was way cheaper than average spell models on the same level and had some effect on the spirit as it bounded with it.


    But the most important thing was that the pillar spell mode would grow with the Magi.


    Fraser couldn''t picture a spell model that would grow, nevertheless he accepted the information as truth and decided that the majority of the important information this library could offer was already exhausted.


    The rest of the library contained novels, tons of previous records with different viewpoints, biographies of different people like nobles, peasants, acolytes that seemed to have nothing better to do and a large number of books that described plants, herbs, fruits, animals, beasts, monster, fish and many more.


    Each with a detailed picture, the common name, the history of the respected item, its usefulness, its counters and much more.


    Since Fraser trusted the AI to recognize most of the herbs he would encounter in the future, he didn''t have to learn the knowledge himself. He only had to ask the massive database of the AI.


    So the exploration of Fraser continued. His next step was to look at the rooms that his workers found interesting.


    On his way to the upper floors, Fraser bypassed a hallway that seemed to house the acolytes in it.


    Fraser only commanded a worker to look through the rooms before walking upwards.


    The hallway that was made of white stone seemed to appear way more ancient than it should.


    Dust lied on the decorations that adorned the hallway. Half broken statues of humans stood on the walls. A torn picture reminded Fraser how glamorous the past should have been.


    After walking around the upper floors for a while, Fraser found nothing.


    Something that looked like a laboratory was completely empty besides the machinery that were covered in rust and dust.


    Sadly, the machinery was completely covered in rust and even the components inside couldn''t be used anymore.


    Walking through the upper floors gave Fraser a decent understanding of the ancient Magi culture.


    Marble-like stone was used to build the walls, the floors, and statues.


    Even doors built out of wood had a certain ancient feeling about them and withstood aging very well.


    Fraser passed by different experiment sides, halls that were probably used for training, some halls that looked like a lecture side and apparently some garden that didn''t survive the disappearance of sunlight very well as it was completely barren.


    Even though the workers of him already crawled through the places, they could only send basic information like edible, not dangerous, interesting and enemy.


    The look and former culture of the ancient Magi weren''t told with the reports.


    A sense of powerlessness filled Fraser as he watched the ruins of the ancient Magi.


    Even the outpost of the howling abyss academy couldn''t reach a single floor of this casern of the ancient magi.


    And as the information of the AI got more updated, more and more barracks seemed to be mentioned. Some with different names, others with different focusses and others simply being next to this one.


    The next one was completely out of the book as one of the books told the actual distance. Apparently being next to each other meant the use of a teleportation platform.


    This allowed Fraser to finally understand how vast the ancient Magi civilization was. As teleportation platforms were deemed as large logistic achievements in the eyes of the howling abyss academy.


    They even wrote that a certain distance needed to be gathered in order to even use the teleportation platform to a satisfying degree.


    Or else the platform wouldn''t be lucrative.

 Chapter 66 Ruin (3)

    According to the books Fraser scanned, this was the case for the ancient Magi.


    They build teleportation platforms that were lucrative and at the same time spanned across the entire civilization.


    Even the howling abyss academy couldn¡¯t make a lucrative teleportation platform and one of the free lectures even revolved around the topic of dreaming how the howling abyss academy would be able to create one lucrative teleportation platform between two positions.


    This would mean that the force of the howling academy at that time, would be huge.


    ¡®So nothing remains of this ancient Magi civilization except a couple of ruins? I wonder whether the howling abyss and the rest of the Magi of today are offspring of that civilization.¡¯


    While Fraser continued to ponder about the grand ancient Magi civilization and how it perished, his workers slowly but steadily explored the tower ruin.


    Surprisingly, one of the workers found a book at one of the dorms.


    It was sealed in the same leather as the books in the library and apparently it once had a spirit lock, similar to a lock with the corresponding key being the user''s spirit.


    However, time has shown its effect and the lock easily crumbled before Fraser¡¯s eyes.


    Day 1


    My name is Greem. I am someone who is on the journey to become a Magi. This is going to be my diary as the spirit lock seemed interesting and it was a free goodie from one of the professors.


    ¡­


    Day 236


    I am finally a Level 2 Acolyte, meaning that I am finally eligible to use the Pathfinder to find a path. I have heard from my fellow acolytes that often times it would chose a path that is suited to you in that single moment. Though there are some cases where the spirit attribute is clashing with the future path, in most cases the attribute of the spirit is a good thing.


    Nevertheless, I am excited as if everything is going to be okay and I am going to survive the test, I am going to be a Rank 1 Magi.


    ¡­


    Day X


    The Pathfinder was successful and I mastered the test. Thus, at this moment I am a Rank 1 Magi. I would never think that Elementization was the path that I should follow. My spirit has another attribute, that of fire. It increases the lethality of my fire spell models as well as the spirit cost. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Truly something useful. I would never think that simply by using the Pathfinder, I would advance to Rank 1 Magi.


    Day after X


    As this Diary has followed me through my acolyte years, it is time to move on to another diary. For any fellow who is lucky enough to read this diary, the method of the Pathfinder is rather simple. Yet it has its dangers. For one, it will transport the spirit to the chosen plane where your spirit will be baptized. Meaning, when you die on the plane, you will die here as well. The advice of being careful of your life and not taking it on the light shoulder should be enough. The following is the ritual of the Pathfinder in this Magi Tower¡­.


    ¡­


    Fraser soaked up the information of the diary which once belonged to an acolyte named Greem.


    No, it wasn¡¯t an acolyte, it belonged to a Magi in his former acolyte days.


    The difference wasn¡¯t that big of a deal, but Greem became a Rank 1 Magi.


    Knowing from his own experience that most of the people belonging to the howling abyss were apprentices and not Magi, he had to pay his respects to the Magi named Greem.


    One of the factors was that Greem depicted the ritual of the Pathfinder in an extremely detailed way. Even the tiniest bit of detail like how to move your body or how to resonate with the Pathfinder was described in every way.


    It didn¡¯t take long before one of these workers found the corresponding hall for the Pathfinder.


    If not for the diary, which Greem left behind, Fraser wouldn¡¯t even be able to recognize the Pathfinder.


    As the Pathfinder wasn¡¯t an object, neither was is an artifact or some kind of special thing at all.


    Instead, it was simply a grand hall that had a large circle in the middle of it.


    Delicate runes and Nodes were covering the walls and the circle in the middle.


    Looking around the lower basements of the tower, Fraser could see many of these grand halls which after reading the Diary became all potential Pathfinders.


    Sadly, most of the grand Halls were damaged. Either the runes weren¡¯t intact or some of the building materials were missing.


    Thankfully, there were a couple of Pathfinders still intact. And after following the procedure of the diary to confirm whether or not the material was enough, Fraser chose one of the intact Pathfinders for himself.


    He already could be considered a Level 2 Acolyte in the ancient Magi civilization as he could have stored a couple of spell models within his spirit.


    Though right now, space was solely occupied by his insect servant spell mode and he didn¡¯t have the time to create other spell modes.


    The other spell model he had was Black Rope, but it was rather weak and Fraser wanted to choose something else. Since the spell models were only available in the headquarters of the howling abyss academy, Fraser couldn¡¯t create another spell model in his consciousness.


    But the insect servant spell model that came with the unknown insect, suited Fraser well. It was extremely powerful and one of the most versatile spell models he ever heard of.


    So Fraser stepped into the middle of the circle with confidence.


    An unknown language came out of Fraser¡¯s throat and the hall became to vibrate. Not in the literal sense, but the energy within the hall began to vibrate.


    The runes which were decorations began to flare up and emit a mysterious light.


    An orb that seemed to be the eye of the circle began to shine upon Fraser.


    The color of the orb was something that Fraser couldn¡¯t decipher. It almost felt like the orb was without any color and instead reflected whatever color shone upon it.


    Without any fear, Fraser continued his chant.


    A small sense of excitement crept upon Fraser as he stopped his chant and sat down.


    The runes began to shine even brighter and something akin to a barrier enveloped the circle in which Fraser was sitting.


    Something weird happened to Fraser''s senses as he felt as if he started to float.


    Slowly but surely, his vision started to become weird as he saw how he left his physical body and started to ascent towards the colorless orb on the ceiling.


    A small but visible string of spirit connected his consciousness and began to stabilize the entire process.


    When the stabilization finished, a wormhole opened at the orb and runes formed around the wormhole as if guiding it.


    Darkness overwhelmed Fraser as an unknown force sucked him into the wormhole.


    A small string of spirit connected from his physical body to the orb at the ceiling, the barrier enveloping the circle still remained, but the runes and the wormholes disappeared.


    The only thing that remained was a string that connected from the top of Fraser¡¯s head to the unknown orb on the ceiling.


    A small pattern could be seen on the former colorless orb. The pattern of a small centipede.


    If Fraser could see the pattern, he would found it very similar to the yellow centipede that gave him the insect servant spell model.

 Chapter 67 A new Place (1)

    The first thing that Fraser noticed when he woke up was the smell of wood and books.


    The warm and pleasant touch of sunlight caused him to open his eyes.


    What greeted him was a small room filled with books.


    The sunlight came from a glass wall.


    Turning his head around to look at the small room, Fraser groggily began to stretch his body.


    ''So I transmigrated once more? In my understanding, this is some kind of enlightenment process where I will receive a spirit attribute. Can you detect something different in my spirit, AI?''


    [Data reveals a change in spirit, change is unknown, more Data required to compare former spirit and spirit of the present]


    ''Mhm... so, where am I? A small room filled with books. Is this a study room or¡­?''


    Before Fraser could stand up and move around, the AI-Chip asked for permission.


    [Memory detected, absorb memory? Memory is fading.]


    ''Permission for absorption granted. I guess this is the remaining memory of the body that I am possessing.''


    The assumption of Fraser turned out to be true.


    A short, yet happy, lifetime of memories passed through Fraser''s brain.


    Fraser saw how Tom grew up in the orphanage but shortly after got adopted by a family with the Smith surname. They were a couple that had a daughter the same age as Tom and as they apparently knew, they wouldn''t be home that often and sought a companion for their daughter.


    As Tom was a rather old baby, barely the age of 3, the couple had no worries of abuse or any kind of conflict that might happen between those two kids.


    The dynamic of step-siblings turned out to be a good one, as the former Tom regarded his stepfamily as his real family.


    So it was a happy life for Tom, naturally filled with worries about schools and the usual puberty problems, but nevertheless a happy one.


    ''So, I am around 16 years old? A little bit older than my body back at the ruin, but not older than my previous life. I guess it is time to see whether or not I can use some of the knight training to train my body. AI-Chip, display the current stats under the category of Tom Smith.''


    [Tom Smith]


    [0.37 strength, 0.41 agility, 0.29 vitality, 8.52 spirit]


    ''So I possessed Tom and right now the spirit of him is equal to mine? Or, am I Tom and the spirit of Tom fused with mine?''


    Thinking about the question for a while, but threw the question into the back of his mind when he started to experiment with his new body.


    First, he tried to train with his knight technique and it worked. But when Fraser moved to the meditation technique, a pleasant surprise happened.


    The increase of spirit was the same when he started to meditate. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ''So, the spirit is not bound by the amount but by the body? It is a theory that needs to be tested, but let me see whether or not the insect servant spell model works.''


    Just as Fraser wanted to operate his spell model, he could feel through his spirit that someone entered the small room and stopped his actions.


    "Tommy, Mom, and Dad aren''t coming home for at least two weeks. Are you planning to drown yourself with those books of yours? Go out and enjoy life. Should I bring you along with me? The group is going to grill at the lake, one of the guys bought a fishing road and they want to test it."


    A youthful-looking girl stepped into the small room, blond hair, blue eyes and a body that hadn''t matured, yet. It was Penelope, the stepsister of Tom.


    "No, I don''t want to go. Besides, the summer vacation is starting so I have plenty of time to join you and your group at your activities."


    Fraser tried to replicate the excuse of the former Tom via his characterization of the memories.


    It was good enough to fool Penelope as she replied:


    "Come one, we even bought Chicken Wings and some of the guys are making BBQ. You love that, right? Besides, Anna is also coming. Your crush?"


    As if feeling that something went wrong with the last sentence, Penelope immediately continued to talk but realized her mistake:


    "Ehm, yeah. So actually some new people are coming and they are great. I heard that they are a group that will join the school next year. So you might actually meet someone new. I heard that they are great, especially from¡­"


    Fraser cheered inwardly, he didn''t need to continue this excuse seeking as Penelope began to dig a grave for herself. So as to seal the matter of coming with her, Fraser began to seal the deal for Tom:


    "Pen, I actually don''t have the motivation to come with you. At least for now. Perhaps in the future, but it also looks grim. Go and enjoy your time with the group. You know that none of them are my friends."


    Adding a seemingly forced smile, Tom began to wave his sister away and continued his reading on a book.


    "Okay, don''t forget to make yourself dinner. There are chicken wings in the freezer, make yourself some oven potatoes as a side dish."


    Penelope could only say that before walking out of the study room.


    (AN: I am actually making chicken wings with oven potatoes today. Need nutrients for my cold that appeared today.)


    With the disturbance gone, Fraser thanked the drama of puberty as the change of his personality could simply be attributed to that.


    ''Now, back to the spell model.''


    With a small use of spirit force, Fraser could feel the usual separation of spirit and the creation of a small larva.


    Though something was different compared to the usual function. He could feel the larva.


    Not like the usual feeling, of companionship and absolute loyalty but the feeling of being part of the larva.


    He could even feel the heat of his palm as he carried the larva with his hands.


    ''Is this the spirit attribute? Well, now that I have tested the spell model, it is time to seek more information on this world.''


    With a simple command, the larva buried itself into Fraser and turned into his body tissues.


    It felt weird to Fraser, unusual to the normal returning, but he attributed it to the change of his spirit.


    ''Interesting¡­''


    Standing up, Tom made the decision to walk back to his room and use the com-link, a smaller computer, to access the internet.


    Like the internet in his first life, it offered a large amount of information. Some bad, others useful.


    Tom also accessed the social platform he used and saw his sister, his parents and a couple of classmates under his contacts.


    He ignored the usual activities of the internet and searched for general information.


    Apparently this planet he was on is a part of the Federation of Galaxy GA8B90, the Union of all planets of the Galaxy GA8B90.


    Space travel and colonization were normal and apparently humans already advanced to multiple Galaxies.


    The planet he lived on couldn''t be considered an important one as it wasn''t a scientifically advanced planet, neither a strategic defending position or trading hub.


    Nevertheless, it wasn''t a bad planet to live on as the environment had plenty of forests and beautiful landscapes.


    The atmosphere allowed humans to live in the open and didn''t require protected cities made out of metal and glass.


    In layman terms, it was a rural planet that was suited for peaceful livings.


    There were no wars on this planet as there was no resource shortage.


    ''Perfect for my development. Let me see how much money I have. I need to buy meat. As well as see the strength of the military. Perhaps some sort of historic events of the colonization?''

 Chapter 68 A new Plane (2)

    Looking at his online banking account, he could see that his balance was around two thousand credits. Credits were the common system in the federation of Galaxy GA8B90.


    As a bag of chicken wings were priced around 2.49 credits, in the surrounding where Tom lived currently, he could say that it was the normal savings of a high schooler that had rather rich parents.


    ''Money is rather important in a civilization that implements capitalism. Besides I need meat from different creatures. Are there aliens? What about superpowers? Do they exist?''


    A quick search on the internet revealed the fact that aliens existed. Yet, none of them were described in an informative way.


    The same thing with superpowers, everyone knew that they existed in some shape or form, yet none knew how they looked.


    It didn''t matter how long Tom searched for any information on those topics. He couldn''t find any.


    Thus the only option was to learn to hack. Though it wasn''t Tom who learned to hack. Instead, it was the AI-Chip.


    The sad thing was that after a while, Fraser realized the futile task to learn to hack.


    Apparently super AI was a thing and it was the AI who governed the Internet, so it was impossible for Tom to gain access to private information with his measly com-link as a device.


    ''So what for options do I have left? Stock trading?''


    With a simple thought, Tom opened a broker account and transferred all of his two thousand credits to the broker account.


    As the internet spanned across Galaxies, a vast amount of companies could be traded.


    In order to not sit and scroll through the internet for information, Fraser simply asked the Ai a question.


    ''Is it possible for a servant to deliver the information to you? Perhaps a worker with good eyesight and the ability to use a com-link?''


    [Affirmative, should the calculation focus on the task of maximizing the earnings?]


    Confirming the request of the AI, Fraser focused on the insect servant spell model and created another larva.


    This time he used more of his body tissues. It didn''t have a negative effect on his body as Tom was rather chubby.


    The larva immediately morphed into a cocoon. After a while, a weird looking insect emerged from the cocoon. It had arms and a rather large torso.


    ''So let me use more spirit to allow the AI to see the information.''


    Just as Fraser wanted to use more spirit to connect to his worker, he realized that even without using a large part of his spirit, he could see, feel and even control the worker.


    In order to confirm it, he walked out of his room and left only a small part of his spirit to control the worker.


    Normally, the only information that Fraser could receive was basic calls like danger, interesting stuff and confirmation whether or not the worker was alive. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    But this time, he received more information about the servant with ease. Even though only a tiny amount of spirit was used to control it.


    It felt like being the servant. As if the servant was another him.


    ''So this is my spirit attribute? Good to know. AI, gather information and then trade with the highest chance of profit.''


    Putting the Com-link in front of the weird-looking insect as well as commanding the AI to gather information through the insect, Tom began to make his Chicken wings with oven potatoes.


    After setting a timer, he started his knight training.


    Sweat poured out of his body as he breathed in a certain rhythm that coupled with the exercises he did, tempered his body.


    After Tom finished his knight training, he ate the chicken wings and oven potatoes before moving on to shower in order to clean his body.


    The sun started to set when Tom finished his shower.


    Looking into the mirror, Tom could see a rather chubby youth looking back at him.


    Black hair and brown eyes indicated an Asian looking youth.


    A pair of glasses rested on his nose.


    ''So this is Tom? I guess, for now, I am Tom.''


    Feeling clean after the shower, Tom began to plan his future.


    His overall goal was to live as long as possible while at the same time gather as much information as possible about this world.


    The Pathfinder would allow the acolyte to be transferred to a magical dimension that existed somewhere to acquire the information needed for his spirit attribute.


    Meanwhile, the body of the Acolyte would be in a certain stasis which meant that the acolyte had as much time as he wanted.


    ''I guess the best action to do is to search for more things in the world. Tom had a general view on things but he only liked novels and stories. So there isn''t much information about the military, political view or anything else.''


    While the AI earned money via the worker and the com-link, Tom decided to use the community library for more information. As the library had public com-links for people who weren''t able to afford a com-link.


    Wearing a clean set of clothes and putting his shoes on, Tom walked out of the house.


    As the security of his home worked with fingerprint, eye scanner, and picture scanner, Tom left the house with his clothes and a twenty credit bill.


    It only took a short walk from his home to the nearest library.


    Finding the nearest com-link station, Tom sat down and began his search for random stuff.


    For example, the military used normal stuff like guns, rockets, explosives, and tanks. Though the most important thing of the military turned out to be mechanical suits that were either large, small, or for specific environments.


    There were different series, the same with tanks or guns.


    Next to the military, the political situation was peaceful.


    No one did anything major except building new stuff, visiting colleges or schools or changing the focus of the technical advancement.


    Though there was one thing that interested Tom: Interplanar Travel.


    The cheapest ticket to the nearest planet that was inhabited sold for around two to three thousand credits.


    Also, there were planets that focused on a single trade. For example, most of the planets near the one where Tom lived, focused on planting food and rearing animals.


    Though there were also planets that tried to be all-rounders, the planet were Tom lived was one of those planets.


    When Tom moved to the section on vehicles and weapons that can be bought by civilians, the sun already set and night arrived.


    When Tom continued his research, a person walked behind him.


    He chalked it up to the people who also had night research tendencies and continued his reading until a person patted his shoulder and said:


    "Tommy, did your com-link that you bought last month disappeared? Or why are you in the library? Oh, weapons that can be bought by civilians? You are not planning to kill anyone, right? Don''t tell me you are one of those depressed teenagers who think that killing people might solve problems?"


    When Tom turned his head, he could see one of the many friends of his stepsister Penelope.


    It was a female college student that, looking into his memories, Tom had a sexual interest in.


    Though he also despised her a little bit as she always belittled him in many ways. Considering the fact that he was controlled by his hormones, coupled with the fact that he was socially inept, he couldn''t really resist her.


    "No, Soon I am going to have so much money that I don''t know where I will use it. So I am searching for toys that might relieve me of that money. Like space trucks and weapons, the romance of every man."


    That was what Tom replied to the female college student.

 Chapter 69 A new Plane (3)

    ¡°So¡­ you won in the lottery or something? Wanna share some money? You could also be my sugar daddy if you want, I am in search of one. Hahahahahaha.¡±


    While the female college student was obviously stunned by his reply, she tried to tease him once more.


    Not wanting to continue this pointless talk, as Tom knew from experience that the female college student would linger around for a way to escape learning, he stood up and said:


    ¡°Sorry Amy, I have to go home right now. And for the sugar daddy option. I would say no.¡±


    As his 16-year-old body was filled to the brim with hormones, Tom relived himself by grabbing the ass of the female college student and walking away.


    But not before saying:


    ¡°But the girlfriend option is still open.¡±


    After doing the cringe thing of flirting, Tom walked back to his home.


    ¡®Does the personality of Tom influences my actions? I would rather spend more time experimenting than sleeping around. But it would probably be better to have a partner because people who are single tend to be more suspicious. Besides, I didn¡¯t had time to enjoy body pleasure.¡¯


    After arriving home, Tom simply fell onto his bed after brushing his teeth.


    He could see how his work continued to operate the com-link.


    Thankfully Tom didn¡¯t forget to connect the com-link to a charger.


    Checking his account, Tom found that the average increase of his money tended to be around one percent every five minutes.


    Allowing the Ai to continue the money earning trading, Tom simply emptied one of his drawers and put the worker along with the com-link into it.


    After all, he needed to hide the worker from obvious eyes.


    Then, Tom fell asleep.


    When he woke up, the sun already shone upon his ass.


    With a single look into the drawer and the com-link, he had about fourteen thousand credits in his account.


    Nodding with a satisfied look, Tom left the Ai to do the work and took out a hundred cred bill from the food stash.


    It was a small chest where his step-parents would allocate money for food and necessities when they were gone.


    Thus Tom walked to the nearest supermarket and bought as much meat as he could afford.


    It was about twenty-five kilograms or fifty-five pounds.


    The cashier looked at him with a questioning look but didn¡¯t ask for what Tom would need the amount of meat.


    Arriving home once more, Tom simply piled the meat onto the ground and used a larva to eat the meat. His goal was to create a being capable of hunting the wildlife to bring back enough meat for him to experiment upon.


    When the larva morphed into a cocoon, Tom simply did his knight training as well as meditation in order to increase his strength. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    As the increase of spirit was visible, meditation was something that felt extremely rewarding to Tom. More than the interest in the world.


    Thus, Tom spent the entire day meditating and increasing his spirit.


    Even when Penelope woke up from the activity last night and tried to drag Tom to another activity, Tom simply refused and continued his meditation.


    Thankfully, to the social grave that Penelope dug herself in the previous day, she only asked once.


    So night arrived once more.


    Tom didn¡¯t spend the day doing anything great, instead, he focused on meditation and waited for his servant to hatch.


    As there were some insects in the house like spiders and some insects outside in the garden like ants, Tom also caught a few of those to feed the cocoon.


    As for the knight training, Tom did a couple of training units between meditation and watching the cocoon hatch.


    When Tom deemed the time late enough to sleep, he checked his bank account and the number didn¡¯t lie to him.


    Around 250 thousand credits lied in his bank account.


    ¡®So according to the calculation, the number will probably reach more than four million credits tomorrow? I should register a company to lessen the taxes for my stock trading.¡¯


    Even though Tom was an introvert who didn¡¯t read much besides novels, who didn¡¯t dream of being rich? Especially an introvert teenager who wanted to be good with girls and didn¡¯t know how to attract them.


    Thus there was a basic understanding of lessening the taxes, should there ever be a day where he would acquire the riches.


    ¡®So, under what kind of company should I hide my real intentions? A research institute for biological matter, an interplanar logistic firm or a Pharmaceutical company?¡¯


    Considering his own needs, every single one of those companies would hide his real intentions while at the same time deliver experimental materials to him.


    After a quick thought, he decided on the Pharmaceutical company as Tom could simply say that they are investing in medicine that would take a long time to develop.


    At the same time, it would be logical to deliver living or deceased animals or plants into the company.


    While Tom thought about his future plan before sleeping, the cocoon hatched.


    A dog-sized spider with eight legs crawled out of the cocoon.


    Surprised by the form of his servant but nevertheless prepared to experiment upon it in a later time, Tom commanded the worker to move out and hunt for any kind of animal.


    A short mental check made Tom realize that the spider had paralyzing poison as well as webbing abilities which would allow for easy transportation and capture.


    While the dog-sized, eight-legged and really creeping looking spider crawled out of the open window into the dark night, Tom prepared for sleep by brushing his teeth.


    Thus another night passed as Tom immediately fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes. A perk for exhausting the body with the knight training.


    Morning arrived in a quick manner, birds sang their daily song and the first sun rays shone upon Tom.


    After a quick session of knight training and meditation, Tom looked at the visible improvement.


    It felt weird as the increase in spirit was unbelievable high.


    [Tom Smith]


    [0.49 strength, 0.71 agility, 0.36 vitality, 9.02 spirit]


    Though not only did his spirit increase, the body of Tom endured a major change in its constitution.


    However, the increase in the capability of the body didn¡¯t reflect on the appearance as Tom simply didn¡¯t want the dramatic change in his physical features to be known yet.


    Instead, he simply decided to change his changing features as a ¡°normal¡± puberty transformation.


    With a quick look into the drawer and onto his account, he saw that the number reached a little bit more than one million credits.


    ¡®I can¡¯t believe that the goal of becoming a millionaire, seemed so far and yet so close. At least for Tom.¡¯


    After the rash decision of harassing the close female college student, Tom pondered about his decision at that single moment and deemed it as a side effect of devouring the memories of Tom Smith.


    After all, Tom also lived for about sixteen years, which is a considerable amount of years.


    Skipping breakfast at home and deciding to actually make his plans into reality, Tom searched his room for small credit bills and indeed found around fifty credits.


    The first thing he did was to take public transport to the nearest electric store.


    It was only around twenty minutes away and as the place where Tom grew up was a small community and only had basic necessity shops, he had no other options.


    Walking into the electric store, Tom bought the cheapest com link available that had every function he needed and took the public transportation back home.


    Back home, Tom connected both com-links so that both would be connected and took the com-link he just bought with him.


    The reason for that would be simple as the cheap one was worse than his new generation com-link of some sort of useless brand that Tom was once a fan of. So Tom left the better one to his AI in order to earn money.