Milo

Matthew glanced at the sky and realized it was already daytime.

"I didn't expect it would actually last all night."

"Yesterday's illusion must have been orchestrated by Doran..."

However, the two had no prior conflict, and Matthew did not believe Dolan had any reason to attack him, so there must be another mastermind behind it.

If Matthew were to name anyone in the school who harbored ill will towards him, the first person he would think of is Mold.

"It seems to be him... no, it must be him."

However, this is also good news. Mold must be tied up by the Snowfang Clan's extermination and cannot take action personally. Moreover, due to the school's rules, he dares not make things too obvious and can only resort to some indirect means.

"I need to find a way to improve the Burning Hand as soon as possible."

"We need to get some more hallucinogenic mushrooms so we don't have to worry about running into that spirit owl again."

Matthew remembered that Milo had mentioned that this mushroom was a failed experiment by a senior apprentice.

Now, thinking back, the hallucinogenic mushrooms seem somewhat similar to a magical plant called the Whispering Mushroom from the Great Snow Mountain of the Winter Realm.

The difference is that the spots on the Talking Mushroom are deep purple, while the spots on this hallucinogenic mushroom are dark red.

Could it be that the advanced apprentice had also been to the Winter Realm, and these hallucinogenic mushrooms were the failed attempts to cultivate the Talking Mushrooms?

Matthew remembered that the "Distribution Guide to the Magical Plants of the Great Snow Mountain" mentioned that the Whispering Mushroom had extremely strong hallucinogenic abilities.

From the words of the spirit owl, we can learn that hallucinogenic mushrooms contain a rich amount of soul power.

Matthew guessed that the advanced apprentice's training objective was to convert the hallucinogenic substances of the Whispering Mushroom into soul power.

"It's a pity it was a failure."

"If the mushrooms are successfully cultivated, they can be used as ingredients to make some soul-enhancing potions."

The strength of the soul not only affects resistance to mind magic, but most importantly, it relates to the duration of meditation.

Matthew currently only has 14 points of mental strength, which is 16 points short of advancing to intermediate apprentice. If he wants to speed up his advancement, increasing his meditation time would be a good way.

Matthew made up his mind and went back to ask Milo about the hallucinogenic mushrooms.

He pushed open the door on the first floor of the library and went to the book lending area.

Just then, librarian Judy noticed Matthew walking out of the library and couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"Did you spend the night in there last night?"

Matthew nodded without saying anything more.

"Lord Perot didn't devour your soul? This is the first time I've ever seen someone spend the night in the library and still be unharmed," Judy said with a look of surprise.

"Lord Pero?" Matthew quickly realized that the spirit owl was named Pero.

"Do you know this Lord Perot's background? Why is he on the sixth floor of the library?"

Judy shook her head. "I don't know either."

All I know is that Lord Perrault seems to have been in the library for many years.

My former librarian warned me not to enter the library after dark, because there was a terrifying presence there called Lord Perot.

And then there are the apprentices who are usually responsible for cleaning the library. Occasionally, their mummified corpses can be found inside the library; these are all unfortunate souls whose souls were devoured by Lord Perrault.

Matthew saw that Judy didn't know much about Perrot either, so he didn't ask any further questions.

"I would like to exchange for the books 'Elements and the Laws of Thermodynamics' and 'The Essence of Fire'."

……

After returning to his dormitory, Matthew immediately knocked on his neighbor Milo's door.

However, he waited in front of the door for a long time without receiving a response.

"Did they go to complete a mission?"

He recalled that he hadn't seen Miro for the past week.

Matthew shook his head and pushed open his bedroom door.

I spent the whole night in the library yesterday, which meant I didn't have time to meditate.

He couldn't help but sigh, "What a waste of a day."

Matthew immediately cleared his mind and took a deep breath.

With his mind, he transformed his spiritual power into a carving knife, slowly outlining the pattern on the Forgotten Map.

Two hours later...

Matthew opened his eyes.

He could clearly feel that his mental strength had significantly improved.

However, the system's physical stats seem to only display integers, so his mental strength is currently still fourteen on the panel.

But Matthew knew that his mental strength would soon reach level fifteen.

He took a deep breath of the magically rich air in the room, took out a fragment of magic stone from his spatial bracelet, and tossed it to the mixed elemental spirit as a reward.

The little elf immediately cheered and giggled as it picked up the magic stone fragment and began to gnaw on it.

Turning his gaze back, Matthew opened the book he had borrowed from the library, "Elemental Runes and the Laws of Thermodynamics".

"Next, we need to figure out how to improve the [Burning Hand]."

……

Three days passed quickly.

During this period, things were peaceful. Mold did not attack Matthew again, and Matthew did not encounter Dolan again.

These days, Matthew doesn't dare to waste a single moment, immersing himself once again in a frenzied yet fulfilling period of study.

He attends classes in the morning, concocts potions at noon, practices witchcraft in the afternoon, improves the "Burning Hand" at night, and meditates late into the night.

Finally, on this day...

Name: Matthew Claire

[Physical Fitness: 8]

【Mental Power: 15】

[Unrefinable: The item possesses its own consciousness.]

Looking at the mental strength on the panel, Matthew felt no surprise. The improvement in mental strength was a foregone conclusion, and he was only halfway to the 30 points required to advance to intermediate apprentice.

Most importantly, improving the "Burning Hand" is more difficult than Matthew imagined, and he has no clue how to do it now.

Matthew glanced at the hourglass. "Time to go to class."

Today there's a general course on rune literature, taught by Randy, a renowned rune literature master from the school. He plans to leave early to find a good spot.

Matthew quickly headed towards the dormitory building, and as he was heading towards the classroom building, he encountered a familiar figure at the bend in the path.

It was none other than my neighbor, Milo, whom I hadn't seen for many days.

Milo looked quite disheveled, walking with a limp, as if he had suffered a serious injury.

His wizard's robe was stained with a large patch of blood. Although the bloodstains had dried, the smell of blood could still be smelled from a distance.

"Milo, what happened to you?"

Milo looked up and saw Matthew, and couldn't help but give a wry smile. "Don't even mention it, I had the worst luck this time, I almost didn't make it back."

"The Realm of Winter is no place for humans."

How did you manage to get through that and even complete the project assessment?

Milo was looking at Matthew with an expression as if he were looking at a monster.

"Huh?" Matthew was quite surprised to hear this. "From what you're saying, you went to the Winter Realm?"

He remembered that according to the rules set by the school, only apprentices deemed to have no potential would be forcibly sent to the Winter Realm, and Milo was clearly not among them.

"I went there on my own initiative. I happened to be short of experimental materials, so I wanted to see if I could find any I could get."