When Thain returned to the shop owned by the portly Bors, he found that all the goods he had previously entrusted to him had been sold. Nearly a month had passed since Thain completed his mission and returned. Bors could have disposed of the goods much earlier, but in his pursuit of greater profit, he had managed to get the three Greenjaw Raptor eggs into a small auction recently held in Mossbrack City. It had to be said—Bors had a sharp business mind.
In the end, Bors handed Thain a staggering 577 black gold coins, and that was after deducting his own commission. Such a sum was unprecedented in Thain's life, and it would undoubtedly accelerate his progress in the field of alchemy.
His senior brother Zorro had been right—alchemy was purely a money-burning endeavor in its early stages, with little immediate return. The claws and beaks of the Greenjaw Raptors alone were far from enough for Thain to practice with. He needed to purchase more experimental materials and specialized alchemical equipment. He couldn't always shamelessly borrow from Zorro whenever he wanted to conduct an experiment.
Truth be told, Master Mosido's laboratory was fully stocked with high-end alchemical apparatus. But precisely because they were so advanced, Thain either didn't know how to use them or feared damaging them.
One should only bite off what one can chew. Thain had no intention of reaching beyond his grasp. He would build his foundation steadily, step by step. After all, he was still young.
The five hundred-plus black gold coins filled a medium-sized pouch to the brim. Beside him, Bors chattered incessantly about how wealthy those demi-human tribes must have been. Having participated in Mossbrack City's small-scale auction, Bors's perspective and ambitions had expanded. Though he lacked talent in magic, he was undeniably skilled in business.
Moreover, Bors wasn't without resources. With the backing of both Thain and Meili, as long as they could consistently supply him with potions and alchemical items, he was confident the three of them could amass great wealth.
Thain found Bors's aspirations and promises somewhat amusing. Just as he was about to respond, a deep, resonant horn blast echoed through the skies of Mossbrack City.
Almost simultaneously, Thain and Bors rushed out of the shop. They weren't the only ones—many residents of the city raised their heads at the sound, their gazes drawn to the enormous black silhouette illuminated by the glow of phosphorescent stones.
It was a massive airship, appearing as if from nowhere. Stretching two hundred meters in length and towering fifty meters high, it dominated the sky.
The moment the floating vessel appeared, several official black mages immediately took to the air above Mossbrack City. A dozen or so Owl Academy overseers followed, dispersing to various points around the colossal ship.
Beside Thain, Bors sighed. "Another batch of newcomers. I wonder how many there are this time—and how many will meet the academy's minimum spiritual power requirement."
Bors seemed lost in memories of his own arrival in the Underdark, his tone tinged with nostalgia. Thain, however, didn't dwell on such thoughts. His first realization upon seeing the airship was: Another year has passed. I'm seventeen now.
Half a month later, nearly every apprentice in the Black Magic Academy knew that the official mages had abducted nearly a thousand children from the surface this year. Yet, only 272 of them met the spiritual power requirement—less than a third of the total.
The minimum standard to become a black magic apprentice was an initial spiritual power of at least seven points. Thain's own had been eleven, which likely contributed to his relatively smooth progress in magic over the years.
Initial spiritual power played a significant role in determining an apprentice's advancement speed in the early stages. Thain's promotion to intermediate apprentice at sixteen already marked him as a minor prodigy.
In contrast, those who remained low-level apprentices well into their twenties or even thirties often struggled not just due to limited intellect or poor comprehension of magic, but also because of their low initial spiritual power.
Is there a correlation between initial spiritual power and intelligence? Thain wondered.
The influx of over two hundred new apprentices injected a surge of vitality into the long-stagnant Black Magic Academy. Watching these timid, fearful, yet faintly curious youngsters, many older apprentices couldn't help but recall their own pasts.
Enjoy the cold, merciless despair of this place, more than a few sneered inwardly.
By tradition, within a year, the number of newcomers would be halved. Most of those who vanished would be "eliminated"—unable to adapt to the academy's harsh environment. Even among the survivors, only a handful would advance to low-level apprentice status. Statistically, fifteen would be considered a good outcome.
Over the years, the academy had seen wave after wave of entry-level apprentices come and go, yet the number of intermediate and advanced apprentices remained stagnant—a telling sign of the brutal attrition rate.
Unlike some idle apprentices who took pleasure in "inspecting" the newcomers' dormitories, Thain merely noted their arrival before returning to his studies.
In Master Mosido's laboratory, Thain arrived as usual. However, today was slightly different—Mosido wasn't conducting experiments. Instead, he sat in the first-floor parlor, conversing with the visiting official black mage, Dieris.
After respectfully greeting his master and Dieris, Thain headed toward the lab. As he passed through the parlor, he overheard their discussion—coincidentally, they too were talking about the new apprentices.
"Only about two hundred met the spiritual power requirement this time," Dieris remarked. "I wonder if the academy's numbers will meet the dean's expectations in ten years."
Having frequently visited Mosido lately and sharing origins in the Western Isles, Dieris had secretly formed an alliance with him. A month prior, Mosido had shared classified information unknown to most black mages in Mossbrack City. That knowledge alone had propelled Dieris into the top ten most influential official mages in the city.
What could she have learned to suddenly care about future apprentice quotas? Thain mused as he continued toward the lab.