Chapter 2
After a long wait, the Biological Assistance Chip finally completed its first self-test.
Soon, all of Greem’s basic attributes were projected into his mind.
Name: Greem
Race: Human
Attributes: Strength 4 | Agility 4 | Physique 3 | Spirits 8
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Class: Apprentice Adept (Beginner)
HP: 11/11 Experience: 614/100
This all sounded easy, but it was actually quite difficult to accumulate Experience points.
Because only successfully experiments or completed understanding of magic could bring him experience points. Only after Greem completely read through and mastered a magic book could he understand its usage in the world. If he read a book, yet failed to understand the knowledge contained within, how could he grow?
It was always easier said than done. Even with help from Biological Assistance Chip, Greem still needed to work extremely hard in order to get what he wanted.
Right when Greem was lost in his fanciful thoughts, the sound of footsteps came from the corridor outside of his room.
“Greem, hurry, it’s our turn to do tasks!” A rough voice spoke from outside his door.
It was Tony, an Apprentice Adept who around the same level Greem was.
Lower rank apprentices, like them, had to inspect the grounds surrounding of the tower every seven days for magic materials and properly harvest them. This was also one of the daily tasks the master of the tower had given to apprentices.
Greem hurriedly tidied up his room, grabbed a black cloak, which had been hung on the wall, opened the door and left his room.
Tony had broad shoulders, a huge body, a ferocious face, and a head with long disheveled hair. All of this made him look more or less like a barbarian. It was said that he came from a kingdom in the Grimm Highlands. According to rumors, people born in that land possessed barbarian ancestry.
Neither of them said anything when they met outside. They simply exchanged nods, then turned around and walked along the dark corridor, toward a staircase.
Although it was daytime now, they didn’t meet any other apprentice along their way. There were over fifty official apprentices living in the tower but, most of the time, these apprentices were either busy with their own magic spell practicing, or preparing all sorts of weird magic experiments. They rarely loitered about in public places.
This was one of the main reasons why this swampy tower always looked so quiet.
After crossing the long, dark corridor and descending the spiral stone staircase they reached the main hall on the first level of the tower. Here they finally ran into more people, because this was the living quarters for the Probationary Apprentices.
Most of these people, children really, were 8 to 14 years old, and there were about twenty of them.
These little fellows came from all over, and they were all here with the dream of becoming the greatest Adept. But, little did they know, the path to becoming an adept was incredibly tough and terrifying, and that path was all that was in their futures.
Actually, there was a strict separation of the population in this tower. In general, most of these children only had around 3 to 5 Spirit Points. Therefore, they were currently not considered real Apprentice Adepts, and, thus, they could only be addressed as Probationary Apprentices.
All Probationary Apprentices had to complete their basic training in language and writing. Also, they could only advance when they were able to sense their elemental affinity and gather Elementium while meditating. Only then would they have the chance to climb up to the second floor and become an official Apprentice Adept. As for those fellows who could never reach this basic requirement, they would be weeded out.
Assisting these little fellows in completing their meditation, teaching them language and writing skills, instill them with the basic rules of the magic world… of course, it was impossible to let the Great Master Adept carry out these low-grade jobs. Therefore, it became the daily routine for official Apprentice Adepts in the tower.
But, such an easy daily task would never fall into Greem’s hands.
After saying hello to Wallace, who was teaching those Probationary Apprentices their language class, both men ignored the burning glances from these little fellows and went straight through the main hall, quickly coming to a tightly sealed stone door.
Tony placed his right palm against the stone door and spoke in a low voice, “Curium • Ada.”
Followed the completion of the secret spell, the ancient looking stone door slowly slid to both sides, revealing the dark, eerie looking swamp, outside the tower, to the two of them.