Chapter 30: The Price of Knowledge

Byron grabbed the drafts that Saul had just used for his explanation, along with the fountain pen tucked within them, and stuffed everything into his large, disguised mouth.

He nodded at Saul, let out a grunt, and then finally left Saul’s dormitory.

As for Keli, ever since Saul began explaining his three-dimensional model analysis of runic magic, she had been standing still, silent.

She stared fixedly at the tabletop, and even when Byron took away all the draft papers, she didn’t snap out of it.

After some time, Saul started to feel concerned.

Could this be some kind of aftereffect from that parasite from the Mutual Aid Society?

While Senior Byron said the parasite wasn’t life-threatening, he never mentioned that it wouldn’t damage the brain.

Judging by the condition of those apprentices who had been parasitized, their minds were clearly not in great shape.

Suddenly, Keli moved.

Like a gust of wind, she flung open Saul’s door and dashed out. Before he could react, she had already stormed back in, clutching a pile of items in her arms.

She kicked the door shut with her foot.

Clatter!

A bag landed on the table, producing a crisp, pleasant sound of things clashing inside.

Then came a book and an object that looked like a hand grenade.

“These are all my magic crystals, and these two items are the most valuable things I brought with me. They’re all yours!”

Keli put her hands together and bowed deeply.

“Please explain it to me again. I didn’t quite understand it just now!”

Saul didn’t hesitate. He opened Keli’s money pouch and scooped up a handful with both hands.

Quite a few magic crystals slipped through the gaps between his bone-white fingers.

It felt like a waste, but Saul didn’t want to pick them up.

That would be too undignified.

“What’s this?” He pointed at the thin book on the table.

“This is a spellbook for the Zero Tier Fire Element spell, Scorching Breath.”

A spellbook?

Saul immediately picked it up but resisted the urge to open it.

“I have a copied version of this book. This one is the original, and it even includes the original owner’s practice notes.”

Seeing Saul’s excitement, Keli felt a sense of pride and regained her usual haughty tone.

“But because it’s one of the more powerful Zero-Tier spells, constructing the spell model requires learning two composite fire-element runes.”

“Just this spellbook alone is worth as much as what I taught you,” Saul sighed.

As a First-Rank apprentice, he could learn two spells for free from his mentor, but anything beyond that required magic credits.

The stronger the spell, the more credits it costs.

Saul hadn’t expected Keli to have something so valuable. He suddenly felt like he had taken too many magic crystals.

However, Keli didn’t seem to think Saul had gotten the better deal at all. Instead, she eagerly introduced the third item.

“This is called Iron and Fire—a magical item. To use it, unscrew the back cover, pull out the fuse, and throw it within five seconds. It explodes either on impact or after five seconds, releasing sharp metal fragments that can pierce tough exteriors.”

Damn, it really was a hand grenade!

Keli’s background in the outside world must be extraordinary. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be carrying so many magic crystals, let alone possessing a spellbook and a magical item.

“I only taught you a single rune.”

Her generosity made Saul feel a tiny bit guilty.

“No, you taught me a method, a way of thinking,” Keli said seriously. “Unfortunately, I don’t have equivalent knowledge to trade with you right now, so I can only offer you these material items.”

Saul shook his head.

That’s fine. I like material items.

When Keli left, the hallways were already empty. Even during their downtime, everyone made sure to keep studying.

Thinking of the eerie laughter that occasionally slipped from the mouths of new members of the Mutual Aid Society, Saul reminded himself once again—this wizarding world was filled with dangers. Sid wasn’t the only one who could threaten his life.

He had to remain vigilant at all times, no matter where he was.

Sometimes, Saul found himself reminiscing about his past life. Although working as a corporate drone was stressful, at least it wasn’t a matter of life and death.

But with even his sleep time compressed, his moments of nostalgia were limited to just a few fleeting seconds when his mind wandered during study sessions.

In the following days, Saul fully mastered the dark-element composite rune and managed to obtain his first Zero-Tier spell from Kaz.

The first two Zero-Tier spells were free, part of a mentor’s “compulsory education.”

But for a mentor to actually fulfill that duty, either they had to find you promising, or they needed to be in a good mood.

Otherwise, you’d only get a cold dismissal:

“You don’t even have your basics down, and you want to learn spells?”

Once again, Saul’s spell choice surprised Kaz—he picked Organ Preservation.

It was as if he had vowed to dedicate himself to the mortuary forever.

Kaz was pleased. Without much effort, he passed the spell on to Saul.

Aside from learning runes, Saul had been training his mental power as well.

For that, he used the puppet doll he had borrowed.

Each time he trained, he could hear its whispers for help—faint, murmuring, surrounding him and making his head spin. When the frantic, desperate “Kill me” surfaced, Saul would immediately sever his connection to the puppet.

Now that he had better control over his mental power, the puppet’s influence on him was waning.

“As expected, getting stronger is the way to counter the strange and eerie.”

Saul placed the puppet face-down on the table and returned to analyzing Organ Preservation.

“If I consider it from a scientific perspective, decomposition occurs because immune cells die and microorganisms continue their metabolic processes. So what’s the actual principle behind this spell?”

Saul pulled out a blank notebook to record his research progress on the spell.

For anything related to his past-life knowledge, he used his previous world’s script, deliberately introducing homophonic or visually similar errors to obscure meaning.

Maybe he was being paranoid, but in this wizarding world, people really could slice you open for research!

“Could Organ Preservation be some sort of micro-scale magic similar to dehydration or sterilization? Just like food, seal it and sterilize it, and it lasts much longer.”

Combining this with Kaz’s explanations, Saul felt he was beginning to understand the spell.

He set his notes aside, opened his cabinet, and retrieved three fresh organs he had cut from “clients” the previous day.

Placing them on the table, he fixed his eyes on the first one and started constructing the spell’s runic sequence with his mental power.

He raised his hands into the air and began performing the gestures Kaz had taught him.

For beginners, spellcasting gestures were essential.

They served as guides, reducing failure rates and minimizing the risk of backlashes.

Once a wizard became proficient, they could cast spells with one hand—or even without gestures at all.

Before attempting the actual spell, Saul had rehearsed the movements hundreds of times until they became muscle memory.

He also activated the fundamental runes within his mind over and over again.

For composite runes, however, they consumed too much magic power—though after numerous adjustments, he had finally reached a point where a single one wouldn’t completely drain him. Instead, he practiced drawing them to build familiarity.

Yet, despite all this preparation, Saul’s first casting failed.

His magic power fluctuated, and he had to take a moment to calm himself before continuing.

“Linking multiple runes at once is tricky. I got distracted, and the construct collapsed. I still need more practice.”

Undeterred by his failure, Saul took out his crystal ball and immediately started meditating to restore his magic.

One point.

Two points.

Three points.

As the candle on the teleportation altar suddenly flared to life with a hiss, Saul finally succeeded!

Zero-Tier spell, Organ Preservation, proficiency +1!

(End of Chapter)

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