12 What Happens After Eight Hours of Training?

Once Damian returned to his room, he fell asleep very quickly.

At four and fifteen in the morning, the clock forced Damian to open his eyes.

He sat up and yawned, breathing in the slightly cold air into his lungs and exhaling immediately.

The bright candlelight flickered again, casting shadows as Damian leaned back on the long table.

Just as he was about to turn over the book, something suddenly occurred to him, and he walked to the door, opened it a crack, and peered outside.

His room was 604, near the end of the hallway, from where he could see the curve of the stairs going up and down.

After a while, he heard faint footsteps, and the figure of a boy appeared in the dim light, struggling to push a small cart uphill.

Is that Marcus?

Damian's eyes widened with certain not-so-positive intentions, and he was slightly tempted to do something to find out which mage was behind that boy. But in the end, he suppressed his inner impulse.

Although his status had transformed into that of an apprentice, his strength remained the same as a few days ago. While he could now cast a spell from his finger easily, facing other mages was not something he planned and didn't want to waste time with a child.

Maturely considering things, he closed the door again and sat back at the long table in his room.

"I remember Marcus only working the early shift two days ago. Why is he back on duty today?"

Does that have to do with him being an apprentice?

Although there were some issues with how Damian passed the apprentice test, he wasn't nervous because he now had a powerful mana accumulating in his body, growing more abundant by the day. However, he knew that other mage apprentices were unaware of this, which could cause him trouble in the future.

But the servants might not care about this; they only know that Damian has transformed from a servant to a powerful and terrifying mage apprentice.

Therefore, it's possible that Marcus, who once took the lead in harassing him, had to work the early shifts again.

Damian did want to know if he had an enemy to worry about, but now was not a good time as he wanted to keep a very low profile, almost nonexistent.

Furthermore, Damian didn't have the ability to torture someone to uncover the truth, and secondly, it's easy to alert the enemy.

He glanced at the hardcover book on his left shoulder and reached out to touch the book that saved his life. This time, his fingers drew the book into his hands, and the pages with those two spells he had learned shone in a golden hue.

"There's still a part I can't open; maybe when I become more powerful, I'll be able to access that part of the book."

The threat of death did not diminish because he became an apprentice mage. Instead, it made the clouds surrounding him even heavier. Damian also knew the woman who brought him here, knew how his parents died, and recognized his duty as a human to exterminate demons. But there were still memories that hadn't reached him.

What kind of conspiracy vortex was his body's predecessor caught in?

Without answers, Damian immersed himself again in the ocean of knowledge. Now only learning—continuous learning—could make him feel at ease.

What awakened Damian again was a polite knock on the door.

Outside the door was Adda; her eyes were slightly blue, and she probably stayed up late studying.

"It's almost time for class. How about you share what you learned last night?" Adda was not like other people; she rarely showed emotions, and all she cared about was magic.

This might be the true meaning of talented people and the desire to continue being the best.

Damian looked up at that moment to check the clock, and indeed, class was about to start, even a bit later than he expected.

He quickly gathered his books, paper, and pen and rushed out the door.

"You can set the clock to remind you. It's explained in the apprentice manual."

"I didn't waste time learning the rules; I focused on the story." Still, Damian unconsciously nodded in approval, but Adda didn't understand.

The two walked quickly to the East Tower, chatting as they went through.

"How long did you read yesterday? I only read for two hours, and my head was already aching, and I couldn't calm down. I had to close my eyes and rest for a while," Adda said softly, not wanting to attract attention.

Damian remembered the more than ten hours he spent reading and didn't respond truthfully: "I read for about three or four hours straight before taking a break."

In fact, yesterday he even ate with a book in hand and only seriously rested when training and sleeping.

He only slept a total of four hours and is now very energetic.

Still, Adda stared at him incredulously for a moment with wide-open eyes.

"Your mental power is truly terrifying. No wonder you can stare at that puppet of Professor Dom for so long." Adda looked down; she saw the book he had in hand and said, "It would have been better if I finished reading this book."

The two arrived at the large classroom on the tenth floor.

The place was crowded, many of whom were obviously not new apprentices in this group.

Except for the front row and the corner seats of the last row, which were empty, the rest of the seats were filled.

While Damian hesitated between being discreet or high-profile, Adda already walked confidently to the front row.

He realized Damian hadn't followed her; she turned around and pointed to the seats with an indifferent look.

"What bad luck! My dreams of tranquility have vanished," Damian thought as he disregarded the looks of the other people.

In the end, they were all just children; if he competed with them, it would be a loss. Not only was he better, but he was also stronger; as long as he learned the spells his father left behind, he would be stronger.

In a few years, perhaps by that time, he could go to war and start massacring demons one by one. They all must die; humans and demons cannot live in the same world.

On the other hand, Damian was interested in meeting an elf because many say how beautiful they are and that they can live for thousands of years.

As long as the Fountain of Youth exists, Damian could aspire to live many years or to be immortal.

Wouldn't that be great?

Living for all eternity might be something great; could he be wrong?

At least now he has great plans waiting for him in the future.

But now he has to survive his early years as an apprentice mage before taking the initiative to qualify to become a mage and be able to leave.