Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 73 Substitute Teaching
Locke cleaned up the battlefield.

He gathered the corpses of the five Blood Curse Court apprentices together, put all the fragments into a sack, and placed it in his Astral Ring, intending to take it back as fertilizer for his plants.

The White Wizarding Association has a strict ethical review mechanism to prevent breeders from using wizard apprentices as fertilizer for their magical fields, but if these people are dark wizards, then it doesn't matter.

Black wizards have no rights or protections in the society of white wizards.

Locke looked at Gabby, who felt ashamed. Her coachman had regained his senses, but he couldn't remember anything.

Gabi glared at the bewildered coachman.

Then, Gabby apologized to Locke, saying, "I'm sorry, senior, it happened so suddenly that I didn't even have time to react."

"Luckily, I have my senior here with me."

Gabby suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. "If I had encountered them alone, I would have been dead just now."

Gabi's face turned pale.

Locke nodded. "It's not your fault. They were all probably here to kill me. You just got dragged into it."

"However, it is indeed very dangerous outside the academy recently, so you should go out less often."

Compared to the dark wizards, the white wizard apprentices, who spend most of their time researching, are definitely far less powerful in combat.

But the white wizards also have their own advantages.

Compared to Lilith's Hut's method of binding apprentices' personal relationships through contracts, the way those dark wizards directly control their apprentices with curse magic is inefficient and causes serious internal friction.

After all, one is 'voluntary' formed through a complex contractual relationship, while the other is coerced.

The difference lies in subjective initiative.

Locke and Gabby boarded the carriage and continued their journey back to the academy headquarters, though Gabby was already quite impatient with her coachman.

If it weren't for the need for a coachman on the return trip, Gabi would probably have already had enough of the mortal coachman she hired.

……

Back in the port city where Lilith Academy's main campus is located, Locke parted ways with Gabi and immediately went to see the witch Sophia.

Inside Sophia the Witch's office.

Locke placed the amethyst matrix back on her desk. "Teacher, I'm back. This is a report I wrote on the way."

"The plague in the Ashgra Mountains has been resolved; the source was a rotten earth arum."

"Also, teacher, I have something even more important to report."

Sophia the Witch stopped writing in her notebook. "The Rotten Earth Arum? Looks like you've had a good haul this time."

"Wait a moment……"

"This feeling is... demonic pressure."

The flower on Sophia's witch's hat had turned a vibrant red, seemingly indicating that its owner was experiencing some emotional turmoil. "Locke, you've become a first-class wizard apprentice?"

Locke nodded and said, "Yes, teacher. Thanks to your usual guidance and that bottle of Crimson Echo Potion, I was able to become a first-class wizard apprentice so quickly."

Sophia the witch was taken aback. "You enrolled about two years ago, right? Time flies. We've been together as teacher and student for two years now."

“My original plan was that you would at most become a second-class wizard apprentice before I left Lilith Cottage, but your growth rate has far exceeded my expectations.”

Sophia the Witch said, "That's fast. You advance almost once a year. This speed is no less than that of the 'Children of the Elements'."

"This speed of advancement is almost the same as when I was still a wizard apprentice. My affinity for wood element particles is level 7."

Good heavens, Locke never expected that the Sophia Witch would advance so quickly during her apprenticeship.

I only managed to reach this speed of advancement by relying on a lot of resources.

Locke said, "Teacher, so you are the child of the 'wood' element."

Sophia laughed and said, "The current methods of aptitude testing are still very rudimentary, so the evaluation of a wizard's aptitude is far from being able to assess a person's true potential."

“This has always been my view, and it has been proven to the greatest extent in your case,” Sophia said. “Locke, for wizards, the result is more important than the process. You were able to become a first-class wizard apprentice in just one year, so your talent is no less than that of those so-called children of the elements.”

"It's just that their talent is more obvious, while your talent needs someone to carefully discover it."

Sophia said, "I once saw an apprentice who was utterly incompetent in potions, but later switched to alchemy and became a first-level alchemist. Sometimes, this world is just so helpless. Talented people waste their lives because they don't discover their talents or mistakenly believe that they are not talented."

Sophia stopped talking. "Besides yourself, the happiest person about you becoming a first-class wizard apprentice is me, your teacher."

"Now that you've become a first-class wizard apprentice, you can take the exams for a formal breeder certificate and a potion master assistant certificate."

Sophia's interest in Locke grew significantly. Originally, she only taught Locke so diligently because he was her first student.

But now it's not just because of that.

Furthermore, it was due to Locke's talent.

For formal wizards, an outstanding student is always more likely to attract their attention.

Furthermore, the teaching staff assessment in the Starfield Sea mainly consists of three parts: first, one's own title; second, one's own achievements; and third, the outstanding students one has taught.

She had just become a formal wizard, so she was definitely at a disadvantage in the second area, and the third area was completely blank.

But right now, Locke has become a first-class wizard apprentice within two years and has also obtained a breeder's assistant certificate. If he can obtain a potionist's assistant certificate and a breeder's certificate in the next few years, then he can serve as an example of her own outstanding students.

This will be of great help to the wizarding organization on the other side of the Starfield Sea in assessing her abilities.

Therefore, Sophia looked at Locke with even more respect. "My dear Locke, I underestimated your potential before."

"I don't care how you got promoted."

"I'm giving you two tasks: obtain a formal breeder certificate and a potion-making assistant certificate within the next year and a half. Any questions?"

Locke was somewhat surprised. "Teacher, you've given me such a tight schedule this time."

Sophia the Witch lowered the edge of her wizard's hat and said, "Geniuses and mediocre people require different teaching methods. I used the wrong teaching method on you from the beginning."

She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “A little pressure will do you good. The requirements of Lilith Hut Academy are too lenient for you. You’ll get complacent after a while, Locke.”

"Don't worry, I'm not that heartless."

"Locke, if you can get either a formal breeder certificate or a potion master assistant certificate within a year and a half, I will consider you to have passed the test."

Locke thought for a moment, simply following Sophia's line of thought and deducing. "Potion Mastery is a bit more complicated than Breeding, but the Potions Assistant Certificate is easier to obtain than the formal Breeder Certificate."

"After all, the status of a certified breeder in the academy is already quite high."

"So, I'd better get my potion master certificate within a year and a half?"

Sophia the Witch was somewhat amused by Locke. "You actually actually thought about it seriously."

"It's up to you. As long as you pass one of the exams, you'll be considered qualified. From now on, I'll give you two and a half hours of lessons every day."

Locke looked at Sophia strangely. "Teacher, do you have that much time?"

Sophia tapped her fingers on the table and said, "This is exactly what I wanted to tell you. During this time, many of the tasks the academy assigned me were teaching assignments."

"That means I'll have quite a few new wizarding students this year."

"They probably want me to establish a deeper connection with the academy. I was worried about it before, but now that you've become a first-class wizard apprentice, it's fine."

“You can cover for them in class.”

Sophia the Witch said with some regret, "It's a pity I don't have any other students. When I was promoted to a first-class wizard apprentice, my teacher gathered all his first-class wizard apprentice students, and even those outside the academy, together in the academy for a celebration."

"This is also a way to foster a positive mentor-apprentice relationship."

“But you are my first student, so… we can’t have this kind of celebration, there are only two of us…”

The witch Sophia thought for a moment and said seriously, "You should be an adult this year, right? I'll give you a birthday present tomorrow as a celebration."

"By the way, what do you need to report to me about?"

(End of this chapter)