Chapter Eighteen: A Road Different from Others

  Outside the castle's dungeon, Duwei met his first female knight, Yorin, who had taken the initiative to guard the captured magician since arriving at the castle.

  If Yolyn did so, after all, the magician was once her companion. Although she had pledged allegiance to Duwei, she still wanted to cherish some of the old feelings. Although this magician was initially attracted by his own beauty, and everyone's business was only for a short time. If Yolyn didn't dare to disobey Duwei's intention and secretly released this guy, but personally took care of him - at least he could take care of this former companion a little bit, which also counted as showing some old feelings.

  At least after arriving here last night, the magician was able to eat a full meal under Yorin's care. Although he was not allowed to sleep and meditation was absolutely not possible. Yorin's two attendants, the barbarian warrior and the archer, took turns guarding the magician, not giving him a chance to recover his magic power.

  When Du Wei arrived at the dungeon, he was somewhat unaccustomed to the damp and gloomy smell in the dungeon.

  It was Yolyn, dressed in a knight's attire, that made Duwei's eyes light up! This long-legged girl originally had a charming and seductive face, but now she seemed to have made some changes to her appearance, cutting her hair shorter, tying a ribbon on her forehead, and trimming her eyebrows, which reduced her femininity and added a bit of heroic spirit.

  Especially after wearing the knight's attire, the whole person looks much more dignified - although the original short skirt is not worn, and those plump and beautiful long legs are no longer exposed. However, with a slender sword and a lightweight knight's breastplate on top, it has a bit of a knightly demeanor.

  "Respected master." As soon as Du Wei walked into the dungeon, Yu Lin immediately came forward: "You are..."

  "I'll go take a look at my captive." Du Wei's face was cold, and he wasn't in a good mood. He glanced at Ruo Lin: "You've been guarding here all night?"

  Ruo Lin's face showed a hint of difficulty: "Master, this guy inside was after all my former companion, I think..."

  "Are you looking for trouble?" Du Wei shook his head: "No need, I didn't want to make things difficult for him. As long as he honestly answers my questions, I'll let him go immediately."

  After finishing speaking, Du Wei walked past Yulin's side and left a sentence: "I'll be alone with him for a while, all of you wait outside, don't come in casually."

  The room of the magician was originally the largest one in the dungeon of the castle. When Du Wei came, the magician's face had turned pale and his eyes were almost closed.

  The magician's mental power was strong, but after all, he had a fight with everyone in the tavern during that trip and cast magic, consuming a lot of mental power. After being caught, he didn't have the opportunity to meditate and recover his consumed mental power. On the contrary, he couldn't sleep for two days, and at this moment, he was already unable to hold on.

  As he was locked in this dungeon, every night came, and as soon as his eyes were closed, a bucket of cold water would be poured down immediately. Although Yu Lin was polite to him, Yu Lin's two subordinates were not polite at all.

  In the original small adventure team, the barbarian warrior and archer had always been displeased with this magician, because he was attracted by Yorin's beauty, so he was often disdained by the barbarian warrior and archer. Their relationship has never been harmonious.

  At this moment, seeing the young noble walk into the dungeon room, the magician felt himself on the verge of collapse. He didn't have any chains on his body, but a magician who had lost his magic was no stronger than an ordinary person. The dungeon was gloomy and damp, and he didn't know how many buckets of water had been poured over him, his lips were white with cold. When Du Wei walked in, the magician was sitting on a stone bed, hugging his knees, while the barbarian warrior next to him was still shouting: "Hey, don't close your eyes! Otherwise, I'll have to pour water on you again! This one night, just carrying water, how many trips did I make!"

  He had just finished speaking, turned his head to see Du Wei coming in, and immediately shut his mouth. Du Wei waved his hand, indicating that he should go out, then walked up to the magician: "How is it? Honorable Mr. Fa Shi. Is everything all right here?"

  "Alright? Do I look like I'm 'alright' to you? The mage muttered under his breath, but on his face was a pleading expression: "Sir, as a noble with such status, why must you make things so difficult for me? As the eldest son of the Earl of Rollin, if word gets out that you treated a magician this way, I'm afraid your family will have a hard time making friends with magicians in the future!"

  Want to threaten me again?

  Du Wei raised an eyebrow: "Oh, is that so? Then if it gets out, what would be the consequences of a small first-class magician mastering Instant Casting?"

  The magician's face turned pale, and a thread of fear flashed in his eyes.

  Consequences?

  The consequences are simple! If other magicians learn about this, they will soon become the common prey of all magicians on the continent! Any magician yearns to learn the top-level skill of Instant Release! And when a small first-level magician can master this skill... what's the result?

  Just like a three-year-old child, completely unguarded, yet carrying billions of dollars on his body!

  "Go ahead and say it." Du Wei smiled slightly: "Actually, I know that your so-called Instantaneous Technique isn't really an Instantaneous Technique. You must have used some kind of trick to achieve this point, right? I'm not a magician, even if you tell me, it won't be any loss for you. I just want to satisfy my own curiosity."

  The magician lowered his head, a hint of struggle on his face.

  "What's there to hesitate about?" Du Wei sighed: "You're just a first-level magician, although in this world, magicians are rare and respected, but that only applies to those mid-level and above. A lowly first-level magician like you, even if I killed you here or locked you up for life, probably no one would care. Even the Magician's Association wouldn't offend a great noble over a completely unremarkable, lowest-of-the-low first-level magician like you, right?"

  "You..." The magician's eyes finally relaxed, his mental defenses began to collapse, and he bit his lip hard: "You... if I tell you, you must swear not to say it out. Because... this concerns my identity as a magician!"

  "Alright, I completely agree." Du Wei immediately raised his hand and made an oath: "I, Du Wei Luo Lin, swear here that everything you told me today will be remembered in my heart and I won't retell it to anyone else. If not, let the Goddess of Light punish me!"

  The magician's expression was somewhat complex, a hint of guilt flashing in his eyes, and then his lips moved slightly: "I... actually, I'm just an apprentice magician."

  "...what?" Du Wei was taken aback: "What does it mean?"

  "I...," the magician seemed to have used a lot of effort to say it out: "I mean, actually I'm just a magic apprentice, my real magical power is only at the level of a magic apprentice. And my first-class magician qualification was obtained through some means of deception."

  "Deceive?" Du Wei's heart began to stir!

  Deceived into getting a magician's qualification?

  According to what Du Wei knew, the assessment of the mainland's Magician Association was not easy to pass with tricks! If a magician's qualification could be easily deceived, wouldn't it be a joke?

  "I started learning magic from a young age, my master was a low-level magician who thought I had magical talent and took me as his apprentice. By the time I was 13, I had already obtained the qualification of a magic apprentice... it wasn't difficult." The magician's tone was somewhat melancholic: "There are only a few hundred true magicians on the continent, but there are tens of thousands of people with magical apprentice qualifications. Unfortunately, the road to becoming a true magician is too arduous, and the vast majority of magical apprentices, even if they work hard their whole lives, cannot pass the first-level assessment. They can only remain at the level of a magic apprentice for their entire lives. And I... am also one of these poor souls."

  Every magician will take on several apprentices, but the magicians themselves are also clear that not all of these apprentices can become magicians, and it is likely that they may never be able to teach a single magical apprentice in their lifetime. However, every magician on the mainland still takes on many apprentices. Because...magicians are such high-ranking and respected individuals, how could they possibly have too few followers? As a result, each magician has a number of magical apprentices following them. These apprentices mostly have dreams of becoming magicians, but only a tiny minority can actually achieve their dreams. The most despicable thing is that many magicians know that these magical apprentices have no chance of becoming magicians, yet they don't tell them...because magicians need obedient apprentices to help them with magic experiments, assist them with tasks, act as their assistants, and even serve as their servants...and what's more, these servants don't even require the magicians to spend a single gold coin!

  I went through this myself, when I was thirteen years old, I met my master, he told me that I had talent, and then took me away from home, saying that he would teach me to become an excellent magician. I followed him with infinite longing, but unfortunately... later I found out that it was just an impossible dream. My master had more than a dozen disciples, each of whom had passed the magic apprentice exam. The master simply used us as free servants, free assistants.

  He will still use false lies to deceive us, but he clearly knows that many of these disciples will never become magicians in their lifetime. He knows! But he just won't say it!

  I've been a magic apprentice for ten years, only to finally discover that I don't have any talent in this area. It's true that since childhood my spiritual power has been slightly stronger than ordinary people, and I can also sense a bit of natural power... but that's already the limit. My talent is limited.

  "Later on, I reluctantly... learned potion-making."

  Pharmacology of Magic?

  Du Wei's eyes lit up!

  This guy's experience is quite similar to mine!

  But he couldn't even pass the assessment of a low-level magic apprentice... Du Wei sighed bitterly in his heart.

  In fact, even Du Wei himself did not know that things were not as he thought they were.

  Mages are a strange group, most mages are born with a proud and arrogant personality, they see themselves as people standing above all living things, they can summon the wind and rain, and borrow the power of the gods. The so-called ordinary people, in the eyes of most mages, are nothing but ants that can be used at will.

  Many magicians recruit magical apprentices, but their magical talents are not even as good as Du Wei's! However, magicians need followers. Although magicians have money, they can't spend it to hire servants like ordinary nobles - what a joke!

  As a sacred magician, as an esoteric magician, the servants by their side must naturally have the identity of a magical apprentice! How can ordinary people be used, wouldn't that be devaluing?

  However, people with magical talent are in the minority after all. Therefore, most magicians, in order to have some magic apprentices by their side, even lower their standards to recruit magic apprentices! Some people who obviously lack talent, even if they are only slightly stronger than ordinary people, will be taken in by magicians with the temptation of "teaching you to become a magician".

  After this... those who are actually not talented enough to become magicians will just have to spend their whole lives as cheap labor for their teachers!

  In this case, the assessment of magic apprentices on the mainland is actually very chaotic! The level is also uneven.

  It's just that the assessment Du Wei went through in the Imperial City last time was conducted according to truly strict standards! Because... that Clarke, the law enforcement officer, didn't dare deceive the second most powerful person in the Imperial Military, the eldest son of the head of the Roline family!

  Because of Du Wei's identity, Clark didn't dare to cheat him into becoming a cheap laborer.

  Otherwise, if Du Wei was an ordinary person... then that day, Clarke would have taken him in already, seeing that he possessed such extraordinary spiritual power beyond that of a normal person!

  Even if it's clear that Du Wei doesn't have magical talent, Clark will still definitely take him on as an apprentice! Because having a magic-gifted apprentice by his side will make things much more convenient for himself when conducting magical experiments in the future.

  In fact, many magicians on the mainland are doing so. If Du Wei wasn't the eldest son of the earl, he would probably have been deceived and become a cheap labor force for becoming a magician, wasting his life and delaying his future.

  "It was by chance that I discovered a fact: my teacher had long known that I could never become a magician." The captive's voice was tinged with bitterness. "Even when he first took me away from home, he already knew this! However, since I had decent magical talent, he thought it would be convenient to have me as a free servant by his side for future magic experiments. Many of my fellow disciples under the teacher were like me - some had strong magic powers, while others had good sensory abilities. But they all had major flaws and were kept at the teacher's side by a fabricated dream, wasting their lives!"

  "...And then?" Du Wei sighed.

  "Just as I said earlier... after learning the truth, at first, I was furious. Later on... I decided to change my own fate. Since I couldn't learn real magic, I decided to study magical pharmacology." The captive magician sighed: "Because, a magical pharmacist is also a type of magician that is explicitly recognized by the Magical Academy. Although... this view is considered laughable by most people, and most people think that magical pharmacists can't be considered true magicians at all."

  "...and then?" Du Wei felt his heart start racing!

  Could it be... this guy...

  He's just like himself, having no magical talent! But he's now become a magician! And what's more, he was actually using magic in the tavern!

  If he, a talentless person, somehow managed to learn magic... then as long as he can say how he did it... maybe I can too!

  If there was a way to learn magic...

  Can't those astrology left by Semmel in the secret room of the castle, those star magic that Semmel studied for his whole life be learned?!

  "Being proficient in magical potions, can one become a magician?" Du Wei looked at the captive: "But according to what I know, the qualification examination of the Magic Academy, the examination for magic potion masters is completely different from that of other magicians."

  On the mainland, for real magicians, they are divided into ten levels. Every time you pass a level exam, the difficulty increases greatly! So, the higher the level of the magician, the stronger their strength naturally is.

  However, the assessment of the pharmacist who is also called "a kind of magician" was much simpler.

  It's even so simple that it makes people feel perfunctory!

  Apprentice of the Alchemist, no grading!

  It's just first class!

  As long as you pass the assessment! You are a magical pharmacist! Then the Magic Association will also issue you a badge, this badge symbolizes official recognition that you are a magician.

  Although this recognition is not recognized by most people.

  And even the Magic Association itself, the badges it issues, are also treated with a certain "distinction"!

  The bronze medal of the pharmacist, issued is a copper round badge, workmanship is very simple, and... there is no anti-counterfeiting magic.

  Perhaps the Magic Association itself also knows that it's unlikely anyone would be interested in impersonating this unpopular profession.

  A pharmacist of magic medicine, commonly known as a poison pharmacist, has a social status that is even lower than that of an ordinary doctor.

  But a real magician, even if it's just first-class, has a silver emblem! A first-class magician is a Silver Leaf Emblem.

  Du Wei would never forget that in the tavern battle, he had obtained a genuine Silver Leaf Badge from this very mage's captive body!

  That is to say, he passed not the magician pharmacist's assessment! But the true magician's assessment!!

  How did he manage to do it?

  Learning magic, which had seemed like a shattered dream, now surged with new hope in Duwei's heart!

  "My innate talent is excellent magic, and I was born with a stronger spiritual power than ordinary people. If it were an ordinary person, it would only be manifested as having more energy than usual, not getting tired easily, and so on... But I lacked sensitivity. No matter how much I meditated or tried my best, at first, I couldn't feel even the slightest fluctuation of natural energy.

  This captive spoke slowly: "Later, after studying magic potion for ten years, I suddenly had a question... What exactly is this 'natural energy'? My teacher told me it's everything! It's all in this world! It's wind, fire, water, and even the smallest details. But this explanation was still too vague. A thought popped up in my mind... If I could understand what 'natural energy' really is, then maybe I still have hope."

  Du Wei listened quietly, while his heart was also carefully pondering this guy's words.

  "For example, fire magic. A magician can borrow the fire element from the natural world through incantations and then use magic to conjure flames! In potion-making, there are also over a dozen methods to produce flames using potions! For instance, the simplest one...” The captive magician glanced at Du Wei: “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  "Please go on, I can understand." Du Wei smiled faintly: "I've also read some books on magical potion studies."

  "Alright." The magician continued, "In the study of magical potions, there are over a dozen methods that can achieve the same fundamental principle as fire magic... igniting flames! For example, one of the most basic methods is to use a powder made from grinding down a certain type of flammable grass, which can ignite on its own. So I was thinking... this flammable grass can produce fire, and a magician's fire magic can also produce fire. Could it be that... this flammable grass contains magical elements from the natural world? Or perhaps, there is something in this flammable grass that is an element of fire magic?"

  Du Wei's heart moved, as if he had also thought of something, but for a moment, he still couldn't grasp it.

  The captive magician continued, "I've discovered something subtle. All magic spells! I mean all of them! Although the power of incantations varies greatly in scale, whether it's a simple fireball spell or the legendary 'Inferno' that can destroy the world, the principles are the same! They all use flames to burn! But... the subtle thing is... everything that magic can do, potion-making can also do! For example, fire magic, although potions can't produce the powerful forbidden spell of 'Inferno', the principle of igniting a flame is the same! Similarly, wind magic, water magic, and so on... all types of magic can be achieved through potion-making! Although it's only possible to achieve the most basic principles, they can still be done! Why is that? Perhaps... I'm thinking, perhaps those precious potion ingredients actually contain the 'magical elements' of each type of magic? Isn't that right?"

  "This captive showed a hint of pride on his face: 'Since I can't extract magical elements from nature through meditation... then, I'll use the alchemist's method to extract magical elements from potions!!'"

  Don't forget to cast your vote!

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