Chapter 320: “Master and Apprentice Legacy”
Young low-level sorceress Mary trudged heavily up the stairs leading to the magic laboratory. The magic crystal lamps embedded along the corridor walls cast a steady, bright glow, but their light did nothing to dispel the unease gnawing at her heart.
Lately, all the apprentices in the tower shared the same anxiety—the old mage’s mental state seemed to be deteriorating in a new, troubling direction. That eccentric, gloomy old man appeared to have been deeply shaken by the last “connection” ritual. First, he had the apprentices tear down the tower’s mental defense arrays day and night without rest. Then, without hesitation, he dismantled one of the three magic labs entirely, filling it with strange, incomprehensible new experimental devices. He locked himself inside that lab all day long, obsessively studying things the apprentices neither understood nor dared to inquire about. He muttered to himself more frequently, sometimes suddenly breaking into wild, manic laughter while gesturing wildly in the lab…
It seemed he had completely lost his mind.
The only relief the apprentices felt was that the old mage’s new madness left him no time to punish anyone. Not a single apprentice had been whipped or scolded in all these days. The old mage seemed utterly absorbed in his chaotic mental world, as if he had forgotten he even had apprentices.
So Mary felt she was probably the unluckiest of them all—because in the midst of his madness, Master Daniel still remembered her and sent a servant to summon her to the new lab…
Was this some new insane experiment? A sudden, inexplicable punishment? Or just a random summons from a man lost in delirium?
At the top of the stairs, a dimly lit corridor stretched ahead, ending at the magic laboratory. A servant in a black short robe approached, bowed slightly before Mary, and said in a stiff, low voice, “Master is waiting for you.”
“I understand,” Mary nodded and stepped past the servant.
The tower’s servants were all slaves purchased by the old mage. Except for the gloomy, aged steward whose exact age no one knew, all the servants had undergone neural modification surgeries and magical brainwashing. These stiff, emotionless “living dead” cared for the old mage and apprentices’ daily needs—and when necessary, served as experimental subjects for the master’s arcane tests.
Mary had once feared them, even pitied them. Now, she felt nothing but numbness toward these living dead, no different from how one might regard magical constructs.
After all, everyone in this tower was pretty much the same.
She walked down the corridor and pushed open the door to the new laboratory. Inside, the old mage was already waiting—his back to the door, seemingly staring blankly at something on the workbench.
Mary took a deep breath and stepped inside. “Master, you called for me?”
The artificial neural tendrils behind the old mage twitched slightly. He turned, fixing his yellow-brown eyes on the young apprentice. “Mary, you’ve come just in time. Come here—close the door.”
Mary approached hesitantly, taking in the newly refurbished lab.
The shelves that once held animal specimens and potions had been moved elsewhere. The stone alchemy tables were gone, replaced by a large central experiment platform, several long tables along the sides, and cabinets for magical materials. The new lab looked nothing like the gloomy, terrifying place it had been before—it resembled a fairly normal magic laboratory now.
Mary stepped up to the experiment platform, about to ask what her master wanted, when she noticed numerous blueprints and sheets filled with calculations spread out before her.
“You’re the best at math and logic among all my apprentices,” the old mage said, glancing at her with an unyielding tone. “I’ve chosen you—to help me complete the task my master assigned! Take these and solve these problems!”
Solve problems?
Mary was baffled, but dared not disobey. She took the papers and began reading.
The content was dense and difficult. Though the problems were mathematical and solvable with logic, the terminology was unlike any magical concepts she’d encountered before. Still, she forced herself to press on.
She started attempting to solve the complex problem of calculating the rune field’s range.
Halfway through, a bony finger suddenly jabbed at her work. Mary jumped, then heard her master’s voice beside her: “Idiot! Where’s your squared symbol?!”
Cold sweat broke out on her forehead, but no shock or whipping followed. The master only snapped, “What are you standing there for? Fix it! Do you want to get the problem wrong?!”
Mary hurriedly corrected her mistake and continued.
But it was still difficult—she understood the math, but the definitions and formulas were so new and abstract that even things she normally could do slipped through her fingers. Soon, her master’s angry voice rang out again: “Are you brainless?! The theoretical value is 277! The actual interference has already exceeded it! And you’re still going?!”
“Have you ever seen a rune pattern with unpaired runes? That extra starting rune—are you planning to plug it into your own brain?!”
“Quartz sand is negative, negative! Do you think it’s mithril or adamantine? If I let you design a magic array, you’ll blow yourself up for sure!”
His scolding and shouting came at intervals, making Mary flinch each time. But gradually, she realized something—her master was actually teaching her.
Since the “connection” ritual a few years ago, this was the first time he’d seriously taught an apprentice anything practical.
Before she could react, his voice sounded again: “What are you waiting for? You still have two big problems left! No dinner until you finish the test!”
Mary lowered her head and carefully read the last two questions. But a strange feeling stirred inside her: Could it be that her master wasn’t truly mad? Maybe he had made a huge breakthrough in magic research and was completely absorbed in it?
She knew the old mage’s mental troubles had started when he encountered some despairingly difficult problem in his research. Decades of failure had twisted the once brilliant, promising genius into a cold, eccentric recluse. The bizarre and terrifying “connection” ritual only amplified his mental collapse.
Ten minutes later, Mary pushed the papers toward Daniel. “Master, I’m done…”
He glanced at her. “Did you check it?”
“I… I did.”
“Let me see.”
He snatched the papers and carefully examined them from start to finish.
For a moment—was it just her imagination?—Mary thought she saw a faint smile flicker across her master’s usually gloomy face.
“Hmm… sloppy,” he said, his expression shifting briefly before hardening again. “You took twice as long as I did, and your work is far worse.”
Mary caught something else in his words: These problems weren’t just assigned by him—he had done them himself.
Of course, the old mage wouldn’t explain, and Mary didn’t dare ask. She just listened as he continued: “Though you took longer, it’s barely passing. Take these materials back, study them carefully, learn them well, then teach those useless idiots hiding at the tower’s base. Tell them I’ll test them in three days. Those who fail will be turned into living dead.”
Mary shrank her neck and finally asked, “Master, what exactly are these for?”
“These are great knowledge!” The old mage spread his hands excitedly, clearly in a good mood and patient enough to explain. “Knowledge granted by my great master! You must learn it well. Once you do, I’ll teach you how to build the magic network, how to simplify arrays—it will be your great honor to serve my master!”
Mary nodded quickly, doubting her earlier optimism—her master was still mad.
After making a pact with a terrifying being, he had truly lost his mind.
Suddenly, the old mage frowned, then waved his hand impatiently. “Go now. That’s all I can teach you today. My master is calling—I must respond immediately.”
Mary knew the “master” he spoke of was a terrifying mythical entity or some mysterious presence. She dared not linger and quickly nodded, backing out.
Before leaving, she heard the old mage call out from inside, “Good work. You can have meat for dinner tonight!”
Mary bowed. “Thank you, Master.”
After the young apprentice left, the old mage muttered some indistinct words, then hurried to a magic circle in the corner. Activating the surrounding warning and protective runes, he emptied his mind as the neural tendrils connected him to the runes.
In the next moment, his surroundings shifted violently. The vast space with a high blue sky, endless water, and numerous metal platforms appeared before his eyes once again.
Indeed, once connected to the mental network, he was inevitably brought here—the control of the Outworld Wanderer was absolute, with no loopholes.
The old mage had long since given up resisting. He bowed respectfully to the golden-haired figure before him. “Master, what are your orders?”
“Start with some tests,” the figure said casually, conjuring two sets of problems. “Let me see how well you’ve learned.”
The old mage replied, “…At your command.”
Moments later, the sharp reprimands began:
“Where’s your basic definition of address mapping?!”
“Who told you open ports can’t be spoofed?!”
“Don’t you understand what unique effective encoding means? It must always match the mental frequency! If I let you design the IP index, you’ll burn out your brain for sure!”
…
“Finally… did you check your work?!”
(End of chapter)