Chapter 82: Knowledge? Or a Monster?

Fortunately, Monica still gave the students a detailed explanation of the semi-immersive meditation technique.

Even Saul, who had figured it out on his own, gained new insights from her lecture.

Previously, he had only used semi-immersive meditation to observe pollution and anomalies. However, according to Monica, it was actually a method for stabilizing the mental body and quickly replenishing mana in emergencies.

When he was in danger in Mentor Katz’s laboratory, he had instinctively used semi-immersive meditation to stabilize his mental state.

But after that, he had mostly used it to detect mutated materials, almost forgetting its original purpose.

Saul’s mana had significantly improved over the past three months. Now, even full-immersion meditation couldn’t restore his mana quickly, let alone semi-immersion.

However, semi-immersion had the advantage of a fast start—it could restore mana more quickly in the short term than full-immersion meditation.

But mastering it wasn’t easy.

It required students to be intimately familiar with their meditation diagrams and to have highly refined control over their mental power.

If they only followed the patterns in the book during meditation, the moment they put the book down, they would fall into a maze of uncertainty—“It feels right, but also wrong.”

As most of the new students began attempting semi-immersive meditation, Monica wandered idly around the classroom.

Occasionally, older students asked her questions.

Some she answered, while others she simply smiled at without replying.

When she passed by, Saul raised his hand and asked a question.

“Instructor  Monica, are the meditation diagrams different for first-level and second-level apprentices? Or do we need to learn new ones at every stage?”

“Second-level apprentices have already learned at least one first-tier spell. Their mental bodies can withstand more dangerous meditation diagrams, so they have the option to switch.” Monica smiled at Saul again, her earlier irritation seemingly gone. “But once you reach the third apprentice level, you won’t need a meditation diagram anymore.”

“You won’t need it?” Saul was surprised, but then quickly realized something. “A locator?”

Monica raised an eyebrow. “Looks like you’ve already learned a lot of advanced knowledge. That’s good… but also dangerous.”

She extended a finger and lightly tapped Saul’s forehead.

Zap!

A small arc of electricity flashed.

Saul flinched and instinctively moved back, but the slight sting on his forehead remained.

“If you’re going to study knowledge beyond your current ability, be prepared for the risks that come with it.”

With that, Monica continued walking away with her hands behind her back, leaving Saul rubbing his forehead in thought.

Nearly every senior student and mentor had warned about the dangers of pursuing knowledge as a wizard.

At first, Saul assumed it meant that complex and profound knowledge could overwhelm the brain or even cause the mental body to collapse.

But now, he felt like it was something more.

It almost seemed like knowledge itself… was a monster.

Unfortunately, no one could answer this question for him.

Even as he went through lunch and arrived at the second floor of the East Tower, Saul kept pondering this idea.

However, before he could enter the morgue, he encountered Mentor Katz again.

“Mentor?” Saul was surprised. Katz usually didn’t appear so frequently.

He had been seeing his mentor a lot recently.

“As the top scorer in the test, you get to pick a companion flower. I’ll take you to it,” Katz said, turning away without waiting for Saul’s response.

Still confused, Saul quickly followed.

The reward of a companion flower was first mentioned by Luo Kai.

Since Luo Kai was the public leader of the Mutual Aid Society, Saul didn’t want too much involvement with him and hadn’t paid much attention to the reward.

He hadn’t expected Katz himself to take him to claim it.

As he followed Katz, Saul pulled out Fundamental Knowledge of All Things from his bag and flipped to the section on plants.

Companion Flower: Can form a bloodline bond with a living being. It dies after bearing fruit. Its fruits vary in type and effect, primarily used to slightly enhance mana and stabilize mental power.

A brief description, yet it made Saul look forward to it.

Enhancing mana was something he would always be researching.

As they walked, Saul realized they had turned into an unfamiliar passage.

It seemed to be the fifth floor of the East Tower—a storage area where apprentices weren’t normally allowed.

Saul followed Katz past the warehouse doors, continuing down a corridor that gradually sloped downward.

They kept descending for a long time.

Saul stuffed the book back into his bag and curiously peered ahead.

The gray stone bricks were coated in dust, and the wall-mounted candles became sparser and older.

One lamp stand was even broken, hanging loosely on the wall.

This was unlike anything Saul had seen in the tower before.

In his mind, the Wizard Tower was always well-maintained—someone was always tending to it with great care.

He began to wonder where exactly the companion flower was kept.

Since it was a plant, it would likely need soil.

But land within the Wizard Tower was limited…

Could it be outside?

Saul’s heart pounded—both with anticipation and anxiety.

He feared disappointment.

But this time, life did not let him down.

After descending for a while, Saul saw a wooden door with a metal frame, wide open.

There were no candles lit nearby, yet the area was far from dark.

A bright yet gentle light streamed in from beyond the doorway, contrasting sharply with the tower’s pale candlelight.

Katz stopped at the threshold and turned to look at Saul, who had craned his neck forward in curiosity.

“Calm yourself. Don’t act like an ignorant little monkey.”

Saul immediately shrank back.

But his eyes still sparkled with excitement.

“Mentor, are we leaving the tower?”

“Don’t be so surprised. Once you reach the second level, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to leave. Right now, you’re kept inside so you won’t get distracted and neglect your studies.”

Katz shot him a look, as if he expected Saul to embarrass him.

As the large doorway loomed ahead, a scene played in Saul’s mind.

The terrifying vision he had seen in Mentor Rum’s lab—charred land, bubbling mud, scattered corpses, and black, writhing tentacles…

Was that what lay outside the tower? A place like hell itself?

Katz’s figure disappeared through the doorway.

Saul took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Even if it was terrifying, he still longed to see it.

However…

A soft breeze met him first, carrying the damp scent of fresh grass.

Beyond the tower’s door was a vast stretch of level ground.

No blackened swamps—just pale yellow soil.

A well-maintained path extended in multiple directions, making travel convenient.

Above was the same blue sky. In the distance, there were still green mountains and dense forests.

Nothing abruptly transitioned into an infernal landscape.

Not far away stood a garden, enclosed by a simple wooden fence. A small wooden house sat near its entrance, with a figure faintly visible inside.

Through the fence, Saul could see various flowers swaying in the wind. The arrangement seemed somewhat chaotic, not meticulously cultivated.

The sound of hooves and wheels suddenly echoed.

Saul turned his head and saw a horse-drawn carriage approaching rapidly along another road.

That road led to another entrance of the Wizard Tower.

The carriage quickly vanished behind the tower’s high walls.

“That’s the vehicle entrance,” Katz explained when he noticed Saul’s gaze.

Saul nodded and turned his attention back to his surroundings.

The Wizard Tower stood alone in a desolate wilderness, with only faint traces of distant villages on the horizon.

Perhaps the common folk had been driven away deliberately.

Yet, while this place was quiet, it was nothing like the terrifying vision he had seen before.

Saul couldn’t help but wonder:

Was that nightmare something Mentor Rum showed me to scare me? Or… was it something I imagined myself?

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