The moment Slade appeared, everyone's attention shifted toward him.
Especially when they saw the injured Blackswamp City apprentices following behind him, glaring resentfully at the Blackwater City group, the situation became obvious.
He had come to stand up for them.
Now this would be interesting.
The other apprentices quickly moved into better positions, eager to watch the show unfold.
Many female apprentices who had previously been harassed by the Blackwater City group were especially delighted.
When the leader of Blackwater City saw Slade walking straight toward him, his expression changed at once. His disgusting arrogance vanished instantly.
"Good day, Lord Slade. I'm Ruther from Blackwater City. Five days ago, I lent, no, I offered you a magic stone."
Slade waited patiently for him to finish.
Then he calmly said two words.
"Nine stones."
Ruther froze.
"What nine? I only gave you one."
Slade pointed toward Karl and the others.
"They paid nine magic stones. If you can produce nine magic stones right now, I'll turn around and leave."
His voice remained calm.
"Otherwise, all of you will have to leave something behind today."
Ruther's expression changed drastically.
Nine magic stones?
Even if they sold themselves, they couldn't gather that much.
Seeing Slade make such an outrageous demand, and knowing they had no way to pay it, Ruther gritted his teeth and decided to gamble.
"Slade, calling you 'sir' was already giving you too much respect. Your appetite is far too big!"
His voice rose sharply.
"As far as I know, you've already made quite a fortune on this ship."
"Do you really think talent lets you do whatever you want? Do you think everyone else's magic stones fell from the sky?"
"You take so much for yourself and live comfortably, but what about us? How are we supposed to survive later?"
"I already gave you a magic stone, and now you're demanding nine more. You're clearly trying to squeeze us dry!"
Ruther turned toward the surrounding apprentices and shouted,
"Think carefully, everyone! Are we really going to let him bleed us dry?"
"If we unite, there's nothing to fear!"
"Let's take back our magic stones together and stop giving Slade the chance to bully us! As long as we stand together, even the wizard won't dare do anything to us!"
It had to be said, Ruther was not stupid.
Knowing he could not defeat Slade alone, especially with Slade favored by the wizard, he tried to seize on Slade's "extortion" and use it to unite the apprentices against him.
Unfortunately…
The idea was clever.
But it was also hopelessly naive.
After Ruther's impassioned speech, only a handful of his followers responded with enthusiasm.
The rest of the apprentices merely watched with cold indifference.
To them, Slade's "extortion" was certainly unpleasant, but Ruther and his gang were even more repulsive.
If the two sides wanted to tear each other apart, then so be it.
After shouting himself hoarse for several moments and receiving almost no support, Ruther's expression darkened considerably.
Still, with so many people watching, he could not bring himself to bow his head and beg for mercy.
Not that begging would have changed anything.
He wanted everyone aboard the ship to understand one thing clearly:
Their protection fee had been worth every magic stone.
A cold light flashed through Slade's eyes as his gaze locked onto Ruther.
In an instant, the spell model engraved within his mental domain activated,
Weak Soul Impact.
An invisible, formless wave of soul energy crossed the distance between them in an instant, crashing directly into Ruther's sea of consciousness.
"UGH, !"
Ruther felt as though his head had been struck head-on by a speeding carriage. Agonizing pain exploded through his skull, accompanied by violent dizziness.
He screamed, clutching his head as he staggered backward before collapsing heavily onto the deck.
The surrounding apprentices erupted in shock.
"What the hell?! Instant casting without an incantation?!"
"What kind of spell was that? I didn't see anything!"
"Could it be some kind of legendary pressure technique?"
"No wonder he's considered a monster-level genius. He nearly crippled that guy with a single glance!"
Everyone stared in disbelief.
Not a single person had seen Slade move.
No chant.
No gesture.
No visible sign of spellcasting whatsoever.
Yet Ruther had clearly been struck by some invisible force.
Several noble-born apprentices felt chills run down their spines.
Although they had not yet learned meditation or mastered spells themselves, many possessed low-tier magical artifacts capable of casting zero-tier sorcery.
But even magical artifacts required brief incantations, hand gestures, and preparation time.
At minimum, two seconds.
Yet Slade's attack had been instantaneous.
Silent casting.
Motionless casting.
The gap between them suddenly felt absurdly large.
We're all wizard apprentices… so why are you this terrifying?!
Ignoring the uproar around him, Slade calmly shifted his gaze toward Lillian and Eileen.
"Which one touched you?"
The two girls immediately pointed toward a tall, skinny youth.
Slade's icy gaze settled on him.
The thin youth shuddered instinctively under that stare, but still forced himself to shout,
"Y-you… what are you trying to do?!"
Slade's expression remained indifferent.
"Say goodnight to this beautiful world, trash."
This time, he held nothing back.
His full sorcery surged as Weak Soul Impact activated once more.
"AAAAAH, !"
The thin youth felt as though an icy spike had pierced directly into his brain.
His consciousness instantly descended into chaos.
A freshly-made idiot.
Slade had shattered his sea of consciousness completely, reducing him to a truly mindless shell.
The watching apprentices felt their scalps go numb.
Only now did they fully understand the terrifying difference between wizard apprentices and ordinary people.
Even newly advanced apprentices possessed overwhelming power over mortals.
Slade's gaze swept across the remaining Blackwater City apprentices.
The moment they saw Ruther writhing on the ground and the thin youth reduced to a mumbling fool, their earlier arrogance vanished completely.
Fear overtook them instantly.
Several of them stumbled backward in panic.
But Slade had no intention of letting them off so easily.
One after another, five consecutive Weak Soul Impacts erupted silently.
Invisible soul waves pierced into their minds without warning.
Cries of agony rang out across the deck as the apprentices collapsed one after another, clutching their heads in despair just like Ruther.
Their seas of consciousness had all suffered severe damage.
Without extraordinary treatment, they would likely never again have the chance to cultivate spiritual will,
Nor become true wizard apprentices.
In a black wizard academy, who would waste precious resources repairing damaged seas of consciousness?
Their most likely fate was to become nothing more than "materials."
A heavy silence settled across the deck.
Every apprentice stared at Slade with a mixture of fear and reverence.
Without so much as a visible movement, he had instantly crushed seven wizard apprentices.
And he had only advanced a few days ago.
Was this the terrifying power of a true prodigy?
At that moment, everyone engraved one fact deeply into their minds:
Slade was someone they absolutely could not afford to provoke.
After the confrontation, Slade ignored the endless gratitude from Lillian and the others. Under the countless complicated gazes fixed upon him, he calmly returned to his cabin and resumed his secluded training.
Not long afterward, however, persistent knocking began echoing from outside his door.
Slade's lips curved slightly.
It seemed his earlier display had achieved exactly the effect he wanted.
Sure enough, when he opened the door, several apprentices who had previously claimed to be "short on funds" stood outside with eager smiles and obvious sincerity.
"Brother Slade! Please accept this small token of respect!"
"Student Slade, I was tight on money before, but I've managed to gather a little more. Please take these magic stones!"
"Lord Slade, please look after us once we arrive at the academy!"
This time, Slade didn't even need to mention borrowing.
They voluntarily offered magic stones as "protection fees."
As always, Slade maintained his gentle and approachable smile while accepting every contribution without hesitation.
At the same time, he carefully updated the names and corresponding "contribution values" in his little notebook.
After counting everything, Slade discovered he had acquired another fifty-eight magic stones.
Including the twelve he already possessed, his total wealth had now reached seventy magic stones.
With a suddenly swollen purse, Slade wasted no time returning to Instructor Morris to exchange for two new spell models:
Hand of Bones and Bone Armor.
The two spells cost a total of sixty magic stones, leaving him with ten stones remaining as reserve funds.
Bone Armor was a practical defensive spell capable of summoning skeletal armor to shield the caster.