Mystery: Becoming a Creator Through the Doorway

And so, under Grynt's guidance, An Ruowang toured the Grynt family's various collections.

Skipping over the various exquisite but useless works of art, he was somewhat surprised to find that the main materials for a Sequence 9 apprentice were actually collected here.

The main ingredients for the Apprentice's Potion Recipe are: 1 Gem-Eating Worm and 1 Illusion Crystal.

The auxiliary materials are: 10 drops of sheep's beard grass hydrosol; 90 ml of ancient well water; one random flower growing from a corpse; and 5 grams of soil contaminated by spirit creatures.

As long as Anruowang obtains these two main ingredients from Viscount Grelint, gathers the auxiliary ingredients, concocts the potion, and consumes it, he will immediately become an Extraordinary.

However, he found that he was not as happy as he had imagined.

Looking at these two exquisite materials, An Ruowang frowned, feeling a strange chill.

This went so smoothly.

The auxiliary materials for apprentice potions are not too difficult to collect. The most difficult one is only "5 grams of soil contaminated by spirit creatures", but with a little effort, it is not too difficult to collect.

However, the main ingredients are different.

The main material is the extraordinary property itself, which is the most indispensable and the most difficult to collect.

Originally, he had prepared for the worst.

In this situation, he might need to rely on Grylint's connections and wealth to exchange goods and services within noble circles, and then trade at gatherings of wild extraordinary beings in order to obtain a complete apprentice potion.

But now, he claims to have found a way to enter the sect, and the first nobleman he contacted happened to have a master's manual for apprenticeship in his family's treasury.

What a coincidence!

Was I set up?

This question naturally arose in An Ruowang's mind.

Not to mention that the audience in the original work who could arrange the "script" really impressed him, the experience of being told "don't be proud" and "one success is nothing" even after getting first place made him somewhat uncomfortable with such an overly smooth situation.

but……

Upon closer examination, it's not surprising that "Illusion Crystals," as beautiful gemstones, were occasionally collected by nobles.

The "gem-eating worm," which feeds on gemstones, is also quite plausible to appear in the treasury of a noble family who loves collecting gemstones.

It's probably just a coincidence; there's no need to scare yourself unnecessarily.

If you've already traveled through worlds, what's a little bit of luck compared to that?

In addition to these two main materials for apprentices, An Ruowang also saw the main material for the apprentice pathway Sequence 7 Astrologer, "Meteorite Crystal," as well as some other main or auxiliary materials for other pathways.

However, most of these materials are not compatible, and it is not enough to make a complete potion.

"I only need these two materials."

An Ruowang looked at Grelint and asked for the two main ingredients for the apprentice potion: "In exchange, you can choose a Sequence 9 potion recipe from some of the sources I know."

"Of course, you can also choose gold pounds if you wish."

Penniless, An Ruowang continued nonchalantly, "These two materials should cost around 300 pounds in total. Consider it money I bought from you."

The main ingredients for Sequence 9 cost between 50 and 200 pounds per piece, while the recipe costs around 200 pounds, which is generally considered fair.

Grynt chuckled, not taking An Ruowang's joke seriously: "Aleister, now, can you tell me about the apprenticeship path?"

In other words, the deal is done.

Seeing this, An Ruowang gently touched the two materials and put them into her own little world, planning to find auxiliary materials later and then concoct an apprentice potion.

But at the same moment that the two materials were put into the small world, he suddenly felt "hungry".

To be precise, it wasn't that he was hungry, but rather that the inner world of his body was "hungry".

Of course, since they are one entity, it wouldn't be wrong to say that he was hungry on his own.

Moreover, as if a switch had been flipped, An Ruowang suddenly realized that not only these two materials, but also the table, sofa, even the floor, the soil, and even Viscount Grelint in front of him...

All of these things gave An Ruowang a sense of "being able to eat," and some of them could even be described as "delicious," just like the main ingredients for these two apprentices.

A deep intuition told him that he could consume these things through the small world to complete the blank, empty small world and promote its growth.

That makes sense, though.

This world can be said to be a place where "all things have a spirit" and "all things have divinity," and all existence contains, to varying degrees, the factors and fragments of the original creator.

It's not surprising that he, who has become one with the small world, has developed a craving for everything; it's all about using the principle of "like cures like."

Am I primordial hunger?

After hesitating for a moment, An Ruowang chose to control the small world on the spot and swallow the two main materials for the apprentices into her "stomach".

Consider it an experiment that was bound to happen sooner or later.

Anyway, even if something goes wrong and it's wasted, he has other ways to get the main materials for a Sequence 9 apprentice.

The moment An Ruowang consumed the two ingredients, he felt as if something was dissolving and merging with his physical body and the small world within him.

That is the extraordinary characteristic of a Sequence 9 apprentice.

Soon, a deep sense of satisfaction and fullness filled An Ruowang's mind and body, and her little world seemed to have changed.

An Ruowang knew that he had become an extraordinary one, a Sequence 9 apprentice of the Gate Path.

Moreover, it is instantly refined upon entering the mouth.

However, the reason why it melts in your mouth is not only because An Ruowang himself is quite special, but also because he completed the role in advance.

An apprentice, as the name suggests, refers to someone whose skills are not yet fully developed and who still needs to receive instruction and learn diligently; in other words, someone who is "just starting out."

Considering that the name of the true God is "the Gate," it seems reasonable to call the apprentices "disciples."

For successful test-takers, the first half of their lives is basically spent as students, so it's only natural that they can learn quickly and easily from scratch.

If we were to summarize the rules of the game, they might be: "Study hard and make progress every day," "There are always people better than you, and there's always something beyond your understanding," and "Improve by one point, and you'll beat a thousand people."

In short, through long-term role-playing as a student, An Ruowang's physical, mental, and spiritual state came close to the original spiritual imprint of the Creator that remained in his extraordinary characteristics, thus resonating with, assimilating, and absorbing it.

In the instant of digestion, An Ruowang had a slight sense of her own special characteristics.

Unlike the extraordinary beings in this world who ate the original Creator's stone, his digestion was digestion in the truest sense.

The extraordinary beings in this world can only assimilate, not truly absorb.

Generally speaking, extraordinary properties are protected by the law of conservation; they are not destroyed or diminished, but simply transferred from one carrier to another.

But now, the moment An Ruowang digested this apprentice potion, the world has forever and completely lost one of the extraordinary characteristics of the apprentice path.

The spiritual imprint of the original creator or others that drives extraordinary individuals mad and out of control within their extraordinary traits is a great tonic for them.

Moreover, it seems that he doesn't need auxiliary materials to concoct potions, and he can directly use this method to advance by consuming extraordinary traits.

That's true. After all, the auxiliary materials and promotion rituals are meant to help extraordinary individuals stabilize their mental state during the promotion process.

If one is not afraid of going crazy, one can naturally advance through the means of eating raw food.

Furthermore, based on reasonable speculation, he might be able to safely pursue multiple or even all routes simultaneously.

Because once he has fully digested the extraordinary characteristics, the original spiritual imprint of the Creator contained within them will no longer exist. Therefore, there will be no contradiction between the pathways that would drive him mad.

Everyone is eating the stone from the original creator, so what's wrong with me eating a little more?

However, this is just a hypothesis and still needs to be tested.

If the authentication proves it to be true, then that's quite a coincidence.

The recorder of Gate Path Sequence 6 has the ability to record and use other pathways, which conveniently serves as a cover for his special characteristics.

In that case, he would probably be the most skilled recorder in history.

An Ruowang stopped thinking about it and, while explaining the apprentice's abilities to Grelint, summarized the abilities he had gained after becoming an Extraordinary:

"A Sequence 9 apprentice only possesses the basic ability to 'open doors,' enabling them to pass through some relatively thin walls or doors. In addition, they should also have a passive ability that slightly enhances their learning ability, allowing them to quickly 'get started' with unfamiliar knowledge."

After glancing at Grelint, who was diligently writing down every word he said on paper and in notebooks, An Ruowang continued:

"Besides that, there are some general abilities that come with becoming an Extraordinary. For example, spirituality and inspiration are enhanced; one gains clairvoyance; one can create walls of spirituality; one can rub spirituality together to create spiritual flames; and one no longer needs the right time and place to use ritual magic like ordinary people do, etc."

Seeing that An Ruowang had finished speaking, Grelint asked with great interest, "So, at what sequence does this path require to gain the ability to store items like you?"

An Ruowang replied calmly, "Without the spatial pocket created by an elder, to achieve the same effect I just described, you would at least need to advance to Sequence 4 and become a demigod."

Only Rank 4 arcane mages possess the ability to create spatial pockets.