9 The Value of Life

The dormitories for newly promoted apprentice mages are located on the sixth to ninth floors, but most people live on the sixth floor.

Damian thought that when he returned to the dormitory, he would see servants bringing textbooks and other things.

Unexpectedly, he saw a familiar face at the door of his room, 604, leaning against it.

Another, the second-class mage in charge of the test, crossed his arms and looked at Damian, who was walking alongside Adda.

His face was full of sarcasm.

Damian furrowed his brows and averted his gaze to the book floating on his right shoulder.

The latter floated silently, with no intention of opening.

Damian then let out a sigh of relief, composed himself, faced Otto's cold eyes, and walked to the other side.

"You're at my door; you should be looking for me, so tell me, do you need anything from me?" Damian didn't lower his head; his bandage over his eyes moved slightly from side to side as he stared at Otto.

Classified mages usually don't show up here.

Many of the new apprentices were alarmed and stayed back, watching in surprise as the scene unfolded.

They were all stunned by how Otto killed the aspiring apprentice who tried to bribe the instructors. For the onlookers, even if they were just watching from afar, it was like a nightmare.

Even Adda remained three meters away, looking expressionlessly in this direction.

Another lowered his hand, and the sarcastic smile on his face grew.

He leaned forward and lowered his mouth to the top of Damian's head. "You should thank me; thanks to me, you passed the test without accurate measures of your magical power, and because of that, you passed the assessment."

Damian suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Otto from his viewpoint.

"However, I won't cancel your apprenticeship." Otto straightened up and crossed his arms, and his tone seemed to soften.

"You know? People who have mental power but no magical talent become apprentices, but they all will die in the worst way." Otto deliberately didn't lower his voice, and Damian could already hear someone starting to talk about him behind him.

"I look forward to your death. If you die beautifully, I wouldn't mind helping you make a wax figure of your body and putting it on the fourth floor to warn those humble servants not to dream of following in your footsteps."

Damian smiled sarcastically and then asked, "What makes you think I don't have magical power?"

"Eh?" Otto's laughter abruptly stopped.

"My future is bright, dear companion; I'm sure I'll go to amazing places and fight battles that will only be talked about in history books. And in case you didn't know, I have much more talent and power than you can imagine." Damian's words were cold.

"Then I look forward to getting to know you better next time." Otto mocked, but his face was no longer as mocking as before but rather felt strange being stared at fearlessly by an eleven-year-old.

All the apprentices in the corridor got out of the way and stood near the wall, fearing that any part of their body would block the path of the second-class mage.

When the annoying Otto disappeared around the corner of the hallway, Damian let out a long sigh and then felt his stiff limbs regain consciousness.

He lowered his head and prepared to return to the room, not meeting the eyes of the people around him. It wouldn't look good if he thought about that.

It was his choice to become an apprentice mage, and he knew his qualifications and talents were not good. Therefore, even in the face of everyone's doubts and ridicule, Damian would not give up.

He reached out to open the door, but another hand hit the door panel.

Damian looked up and saw Luke's twisted face.

"My friend was more talented than me... Did he really lose his life because of a loser like you?" Luke's chest continued to rise and fall. "People without talent are not qualified to learn magic! Go back to your pile of servants to rot with age!"

Another idiot in his way...

The damn maggots multiplied as Damian stepped toward his bright future, which seemed more annoying each time, and his characteristic calm began to disappear.

Burning with anger, Damian tried not to explode.

"Did you hear me, damn servant?"

Damian suddenly extended his left hand.

His skeletal hand gripped Luke's throat tightly. As he exerted force, Luke's breathing became difficult, and he struggled to breathe. Even his neck began to crack.

Luke's foul words turned into groans.

"Ah! Ah!!"

Luke was forced to try to free himself, but Damian lifted him with a single hand high above his head.

"Those who die are worse than garbage; they are useless beings we shouldn't pay attention to. My village was ravaged by demons. What damn right do you have to tell me I can't avenge my parents and friends? They were treated worse than garbage by the demons; unlike you, I'm not here to play but to survive and be better than anyone else in this tower." Damian said it through gritted teeth.

Damian removed the bandage over his eyes and looked at the people in the hallway directly in the eyes, and squeezing Luke's neck tighter, he smiled more and more satisfied.

"Ahhh!!!"

Luke's groan became sharper and sharper, like a needle piercing everyone's brain.

Everyone couldn't help but retreat.

However, a hand suddenly landed on Damian's left arm.

Damian turned his head with eyes full of resentment, only to realize that Adda had arrived behind him at some point.

She looked at Damian indifferently, as if Damian weren't killing someone right now.

Adda raised the apprentice rulebook she had in her hand and waved it in front of Damian's eyes.

"Rule three: apprentices cannot kill each other, and those who violate it will have their skin ripped off. If you really want to kill him, let's go somewhere where no one else is next time."

Damian didn't say anything, but everyone could hear those words, and when they saw Luke's purple head, they felt terrified that he was really dying.

Maybe it was the slight chill amidst the calm; maybe it was the feeling that he still didn't want to die, but Damian calmed down after being reminded of this.

He released his grip and looked at Luke, who was holding his neck. His breathing was violent, and he kept coughing.

"Thank you for reminding me; there are still many things I want to do... Killing resentful idiots is a waste of time; surely someone else will do it at some point." Damian averted his gaze from the others, opened the door to his dorm room, and entered without saying a word.

As he turned to close the door, he found Adda looking at him with slight confusion.

Damian made a hand gesture for her to come in and closed the door slowly.

"You didn't bring luggage?" Adda walked around Damian's room with her hands behind her back.

Damian walked to a mirror and looked at his eyes, which were starting to itch from being closed for too long.

"How did you cheat? Did you pretend to faint and escape the magical test?" Damian turned his head toward a ring hanging around his neck.

Adda turned to Damian again and asked,

"A better question: do you lack talent for magic?"

"I have talent for magic; my parents, as far as I can remember, were very powerful mages who fought against a demon king's general." With Adda, who was the only one by his side, Damian didn't lose his temper, but he snorted.

"So, what are you afraid of? You didn't flinch when the experiment with your hand went wrong; you have good elements to become a skilled combat mage and you have magical talent." Adda asked, feeling very interested.

"My memories are not continuous; they come exponentially, and some are really useless... Just now I remembered what I mentioned: I was brought here when I was nine years old after my parents fought demons and died at the hands of the demon king's general. They left something special in this ring, but I don't remember it fully; if it weren't for that blow to my head, maybe I would know all this from the beginning."

Adda took a step toward Damian and said, "Geniuses should walk with geniuses. Hello, I'm Adda, who took first place in the magical talent test."

After a moment of silence, Damian raised his right hand to greet this girl, who was acting strangely and uncommonly.

...

Unexpectedly, Damian had a friend he appreciated right in front of him without much explanation.

After Adda left, Damian sat at the table, remembering the somewhat violent scene they had just played out, and couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

But he quickly calmed down.

Unlike Adda, who is still known as a genius, his reputation for cheating will probably spread and become something bad.

But Damian doesn't have time to consider other people's opinions, and, to become an apprentice, he finds himself in a mystery he can't even see clearly.

The anger now came more from the annoyance of having to take care of his life so much.

But thanks to that, he remembered many things about his family that he previously didn't know.

Looking at his ring, Damian pricked his finger with a pin he found in his universal tool bag that, as a servant, he always carried everywhere, and then he placed a drop of blood on the ring.

Ooom!

Magical runes appeared around Damian, extending over his surroundings. Multiple books appeared in front of his eyes as if they were on a magical bookshelf.

"Incredible..."

"If you've opened this ring, it's because you want to access the magical knowledge that my family and your mother's family have gathered for hundreds of years, and if you're alone right now, it means that everyone who should have taught you has died.] "

Damian focused his eyes on a man with a magical staff who had a noble look on his face. According to his memories, he was the father of the owner of this body.

"I don't have much time, so I'll be quick. In the ring, you have access to thousands of magical books from which you can learn in secret. There is a simple method to train your magic and keep it hidden from others. Learn well so that you grow without being bothered, and when you have the strength, claim your own battles. "

"My God..." Damian looked at all those books floating around him, and his eyes sparkled with excitement.

"The ring on your hand is a family relic; it has a magical staff function, so you can enhance your magical spells and reduce their magical wear when casting them. Live well, son; remember that this is not just your fight, and no matter what you choose, do what you want. "

Damian was about to say something when the door was suddenly knocked on.

Hiding all the books and making all those magical runes disappear, Damian, who had been brought out of his thoughts, said, "Come in!"

The door opened, and in front of Damian appeared a beautiful girl, seventeen to eighteen years old. She was wearing a very revealing maid outfit; her very developed body showed her charm, but that's something he didn't pay much attention to.

She was pushing a cart full of books, magical materials, and essential items at half the height of a person.

She lowered her head and smiled at Damian. The angle was standard and sweet. "Good afternoon, Mr. Damian. These are the books and accessories you need for studying. Do you need me to help you place them?"

Damian looked at the things in the cart and said, "No, thank you."

"Do you need any other service from me?"