The next morning, Slade ended his meditation feeling completely refreshed.
Meditation was an excellent substitute for sleep. Just two hours of proper meditation were enough to fully dispel mental fatigue.
Across the room, Kevin also opened his eyes after a shallow meditation session, though frustration was clearly visible on his face.
He had spent the entire night attempting to draw in negative energy particles, but the results had been pitiful.
The amount he managed to gather was barely sufficient to form the outline of a Mental Core, and most of it dissipated before even entering his sea of consciousness.
As the two washed up in silence, Kevin gradually regained his composure.
Objectively speaking, his talent wasn't poor.
He possessed a medium-level death affinity, enough to qualify as a minor genius by ordinary standards.
But compared to Slade…
The comparison itself was simply cruel.
"Slade, want to attend today's public lecture together?"
Kevin forced a smile and spoke enthusiastically.
"It's called Introduction to Meditation and Techniques for Condensing the Mental Core."
"I heard the deacon teaching it is very experienced. It should help a lot with condensing the core!"
"And even if you've already condensed yours, you could still learn methods for stabilizing it and strengthening your foundation."
Slade shook his head politely.
"Thanks, but I already have other plans."
"I hope the lecture goes well for you."
Since he had already successfully condensed his Mental Core, a beginner-level course like that held little value for him.
Attending it would simply waste time.
Under Kevin's slightly disappointed gaze, Slade left the dormitory.
Instead of heading toward the public lecture hall, he walked directly to the academy cafeteria.
Using his identity badge, he purchased two portions of relatively fresh black bread and smoked meat, along with two cups of diluted beer.
A standard apprentice meal.
And he bought two sets.
Within Bone Spire Academy, the identity badge served far more purposes than simple identification.
It functioned simultaneously as:
• Proof of status
• An access key
• A contribution-point storage device
• A basic magical focus
The badge's material and appearance directly reflected the rank of its owner.
The one in Slade's possession was crafted from coarse bone and carried a dull gray-black coloration.
On the front was a simple Bone Spire emblem, a tower formed from three intersecting bones, beneath which were engraved the apprentice's name and unique identification number.
By activating the badge, apprentices could cast a basic illumination spell known as Glimmer Light and access a simplified map of the academy grounds.
This lowest-tier version was issued to every newly admitted apprentice.
After all, the mortality rate among newcomers was terrifyingly high.
Naturally, the academy used the cheapest possible materials.
No one cared about wasting disposable tools.
In contrast, the badges carried by formal wizard apprentices, and especially full-fledged wizards, were significantly more refined and elaborate.
Slade had already planned his next step.
Later today, he intended to visit the Apprentice Ascension Hall to formally register himself as a First-Class Wizard Apprentice and upgrade his identity badge.
A short while later, he arrived at the district where Gregor's laboratory was located.
Compared to the apprentice residential area, this place felt even more desolate.
The air itself was filled with strange and unsettling smells:
Pungent chemical fumes.
And something disturbingly similar to burnt feathers.
From time to time, undead constructs and bizarre artificial creatures wandered through the corridors, transporting piles of experimental materials or hauling grotesque waste products away from various laboratories.
The waste carried countless conflicting negative auras:
Death.
Miasma.
Curses.
Resentment.
Distortion.
The substances were too contaminated and unstable to be reused, so the undead laborers simply dumped everything off a nearby cliff.
At the bottom of that cliff lay an enormous sludge-like creature colored dark violet.
Its gigantic maw remained permanently open, silently waiting for the waste to fall directly into its mouth.
To the creature, all refuse was nourishment.
Even the aura unconsciously radiating from its body was enough to pollute and corrode the surrounding environment.
Slade wisely chose not to linger.
Anyone capable of obtaining a private laboratory within Bone Spire Academy was not someone he could afford to offend.
If some wizard happened to be in a foul mood because an experiment had failed,
And decided to casually kill him out of irritation,
There would be absolutely nowhere for him to complain.
Gregor's laboratory resembled a massive warehouse that had been crudely converted into a research facility.
The heavy door stood half-open.
After knocking lightly, Slade heard an impatient voice from inside.
"Come in."
Pushing the door open, Slade immediately raised an eyebrow at the sight before him.
The laboratory was even more chaotic than he had imagined.
Strange instruments, experimental materials, bone plates, books, and metallic components were piled everywhere in disorganized heaps, leaving barely enough space to walk.
At the center of the room stood Gregor, positioned before a complicated apparatus formed from metal conduits and glowing rune circuits.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he continuously scribbled notes onto nearby bone tablets.
He was still wearing the same stained gray robe as before, and his already unkempt hair looked even messier now.
"Good morning, Mentor."
"I brought breakfast."
Slade placed the food he had purchased onto the only relatively empty corner of a nearby table.
Gregor didn't even bother looking up.
He merely waved a hand dismissively before walking toward the windowsill.
There sat a strange potted plant that looked half-dead, a twisted gray-black cactus covered in cracked protrusions.
With practiced familiarity, Gregor plucked a shriveled fruit roughly the size of a walnut and tossed it directly into his mouth.
Crunch.
Crunch.
After chewing several times, he swallowed casually.
"No need for that."
His hoarse voice still sounded tired and distracted.
"When you're hungry, just eat one of these."
"Satiety Mushrooms."
"One fruit is enough to last an entire day."
Slade immediately understood.
So this was essentially the wizard world's version of a fasting pill.
It could suppress hunger…
But it could never replace the pleasure of actual food.
Honestly, if life was reduced to eating things like this forever,
As though sensing the disbelief on Slade's face, Gregor let out a cold snort.
"You'll understand once you reach my level."
"A wizard's body naturally absorbs surrounding energy to sustain itself."
"Some high-level wizards even transform their bodies completely into elemental forms."
"At that stage, ordinary food becomes almost meaningless."
"If the Satiety Mushroom didn't help stabilize magical power fluctuations, I wouldn't bother eating this garbage either."
Slade nodded in understanding and wisely chose not to continue the topic.
Instead, he glanced around the cluttered laboratory before asking,
"Mentor, is there anything I can help with?"
"Cleaning? Organizing materials?"
Gregor finally turned around.
His cloudy eyes swept across Slade with faint surprise, seemingly caught off guard by the initiative.
"No need."
"I'm already used to this mess."
"Including you, I currently have four apprentices."
"As for the other three…"
Gregor sneered lightly.
"One spends all day hanging around the mission hall trying to earn contribution points."
"One's off somewhere tinkering with undead creatures."
"And the last idiot is busy trying to seduce a female apprentice from Malfa's faction."
"I don't demand much from any of them."
"Just don't ruin my reputation or create unnecessary trouble for me."
"They rarely come here anyway."
"You can do whatever you want."
"Just don't interfere with my experiments."
Slade almost laughed internally.
Reputation?
You still have one of those?
Still, Gregor's attitude was exactly what Slade had hoped for.
Wasn't the entire reason he chose this mentor because of the extraordinary freedom he offered?
Without another word, Slade nodded.
Instead of leaving, he quietly began organizing the nearest pile of scattered bone plates.
The plates were densely covered with formulas, rune structures, energy pathways, and experimental records.
Most of the material revolved around subjects such as:
• Energy circuit theory
• Soul threshold calculations
• Negative-pressure environmental construction
Clearly, these were all research materials connected to the Death Metamorphosis Ritual.
Fortunately, after absorbing a considerable amount of foundational knowledge from the Bone Repository the previous day, Slade was no longer completely ignorant.
At the very least, he could understand portions of the simpler formulas and structures.
Gregor glanced at him briefly but made no attempt to stop him before returning to his own work.
Meanwhile, as Slade organized the scattered materials, he quietly activated the panel's Record function, rapidly storing all visible information inside his Memory Library.
At the same time, he used the Analyze function to target several core problems that repeatedly appeared throughout Gregor's chaotic research notes.
The entire process continued for most of the morning.
By noon, Slade intended to simply eat the extra breakfast he had brought earlier.
However, Gregor unexpectedly waved a hand and directly ordered a laboratory meal for him instead,
Allowing Slade, for the first time, to experience the "working meal" reserved for formal wizards.