This wizard only wishes to be a teacher

Lucien’s eyebrows slightly raised as he felt that at this moment, Count Sanaxis might need a cigarette.

However, Lucien soon laughed at himself.

After all, setting aside whether cigarettes already existed in the Wizard World, just the mere existence of a cigarette would be akin to a utility pole compared to Count Sanaxis.

It might even be larger.

Having a human smoke a utility pole?

Thinking of such an absurd image, Lucien couldn’t help but find it somewhat amusing.

"Two-legged long-haired monster, I feel like the problem you’re contemplating right now is rather impolite," Count Sanaxis muttered.

"Why does someone who claims to be an Earl always use ’this great one’ as a self-reference?" Lucien retorted.

"I don’t know!" For the first time, Count Sanaxis seemed to show a hint of emotional fluctuation, with his spiritual power noticeably fluctuating. However, these fluctuations were quick to arise and quick to dissipate, and even Lucien felt as if Count Sanaxis’s spiritual power had suddenly submerged, as if sensing its presence in the spiritual world, knowing it was there but unable to perceive it.

The twist in the sensory of spiritual power made Lucien slightly dizzy, and he even felt a surge of nausea.

Fortunately, when Lucien gave up observing the spiritual link between himself and Count Sanaxis, the symptoms gradually subsided.

"I can sense it doesn’t exist... but I can also perceive it exists through the spiritual link, yet sensing them at the same time causes a conflict? Is this a peculiarity of nightmare beings, or is it due to some other reason?" Lucien pondered in his heart, but soon a commotion ahead made him involuntarily stop in his tracks.

"Get out of the way!" A third-level Wizard Apprentice stumbled into the academy from the entrance, even crashing through three not particularly sturdy planks instead of using the open door nearby.

This third-level Wizard Apprentice had a look of panic on his face, and even his spiritual power appeared wildly unstable, as if he had used some forbidden technique that could temporarily enhance his strength significantly.

"Haha..." At this moment, he was panting heavily, still somewhat in shock.

But upon seeing the noble purple pattern on Lucien’s wizard robe, this third-level Wizard Apprentice seemed to have found a backbone, hurriedly approaching in three large steps, his eyes filled with immense reverence, as if a lost lamb had found a leader worth following.

"My lord," the third-level Wizard Apprentice bowed respectfully, and to the patrolling officers who had hurried over in response, he said nothing, simply flinging a few magic stones and discreetly handing Carly a small bag of magic stones, before quickly entering the academy as if he had barely escaped with his life.

Lucien’s eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Not because he felt offended by this third-level Wizard Apprentice’s "transgression," but because the very nature of this incident itself was quite bizarre.

After all, inside Greybone Academy, third-level Wizard Apprentices were already considered a comparatively high-tier combat force, even part of the smaller high echelon of this wizard organization.

At the level of a third-level Wizard Apprentice, it would be rare for any special items or creatures around the academy to pose a severe threat to their lives.

Even if any extraordinary creatures or wandering wizards broke through to the level of Formal Wizard, as long as they loitered around Greybone Academy, they would absolutely be driven out, incorporated, or killed by the academy.

Normally, a crisis faced by a third-level Wizard Apprentice would typically involve exploring relics or being attacked by other third-level Wizard Apprentices. But judging by that Third-level Wizard Apprentice’s just-escaped death vibe, it seemed like it wasn’t that simple.

"Whatever," Lucien shook his head, perhaps that third-level Wizard Apprentice had encountered some unique entity, or perhaps it was a powerful transcendent creature that had just wandered near Greybone Academy — although rare in the academy’s historical records, it was not unprecedented.

Perhaps the two committee members responsible this month had already set out to investigate...One of the committee members responsible this month might be Helen Wizard, right?

If that roaming powerful transcendent creature could give that madwoman a taste of hardship ahead of time, that would be even better...

Thinking thus, Lucien couldn’t help but lightly pat his head, then tried hard to suppress his already curving lips.

This schadenfreude attitude was not good.

"But her leaving the academy, on the other hand, gives me the best opportunity to deal with Adeline," Lucien’s lips curled slightly, quickly realizing this might not be a bad thing for him at all.

With that thought, he quickened his pace.

...

"Can you determine what type of creature it was? Or rather, what methods did it use when it attacked you?" Inside the committee office, Wizard Rhyssa was rapidly recording the third-level Wizard Apprentice’s recounted experience with a feather pen, while a few furrow-lines on his forehead also displayed slight expressions with his facial movements.

In her layer, Helen Wizard was holding a fabric doll taller than herself, dressed in a bright red puffy dress. Her bare little feet swung back and forth above the ground with a tapping sound.

"It looked like... looked like... a very peculiar monkey," the third-level wizard apprentice recalled the scene, a hint of fear emerging in his eyes.

"Originally, it was gray, about the size of a Locke’s ape, but it had a pair of buffalo-like horns atop its head. Yet, once it started fighting, its body swelled drastically. It grew to about five times its original size, and its color shifted from gray to a striking gold..."

"It possessed terrifying physical strength. My apprentice, Rathe, was directly crushed by its punch. Even my most skilled Wind Blade Tornado couldn’t even scratch its skin..."

The third-level wizard apprentice spoke with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.

Had it not been for his proficiency in wind witchcraft, his decisive action to burn part of his Spirit Sea, and the creature’s apparent lack of speed... He might now be just like those unfortunate students, digested by that terrifying monkey...

Even now, reflecting on it, the third-level wizard apprentice found it difficult to muster any fighting spirit against that monkey. He felt the mental pressure he experienced facing that monkey was no less than the pressure he faced when dealing with these formal wizards.

"Feral Golden Ape?" Wizard Reese slightly furrowed his brow, quickly identifying the magic beast from the description given by the third-level wizard apprentice.

This belligerent magic beast primarily resided in forests with abundant Thunder qualities or in mountain areas prone to thunderstorms. It was a magic beast of the Thunder type with strong melee capabilities; however, there were no natural habitats or transitional zones for such rare creatures near Greybone Academy.

This meant that the magic beast was unlikely to be from the surrounding area and even less likely to be a local wild one that had fortuitously evolved. It seemed more likely that it was compelled by someone else...

What was his aim?

Destruction? Threat?

Or maybe, just passing by?

Reese couldn’t help but turn to look at Helen Wizard.

"Where did you see that Feral Golden Ape?" Helen Wizard asked while twiddling her fingers and keeping her head down, her voice crisp and pleasant.

"In..."

"Lead the way," Helen Wizard said, setting down her hand and fixing those ruby-like eyes on the third-level wizard apprentice.

"But..." The third-level wizard apprentice thought of how the Feral Golden Ape had snapped two second-level wizard apprentices like corn stalks and even almost killed him with a tossed boulder, causing a shiver of fear.

He had just barely saved his own life and was not eager to go back.

"It’s okay, you can choose to refuse," Helen Wizard said airily, seemingly unbothered, but the "rabbit" doll she held now wore an angry expression instead of its usual smile.

Reese looked at Helen and hesitated, but ultimately said nothing.

After all, although he was a formal wizard, he was quite mediocre among them and preferred not to have unpleasantness with Helen Wizard over such trivial matters unless necessary.

Perhaps this was also because the Feral Golden Ape, in the tier of formal wizards, was considered rather weak. It might seem invincible to a third-level wizard apprentice, but for formal wizards, this kind of slow opponent lacking ranged capabilities was among the easiest to handle and posed little danger.

...

"Carly, during the preparation of attack potions, you must be very careful. Stability is more important than power..." In the laboratory, as the "fishing" process was quite dull, Lucien didn’t waste this time and instead started teaching Carly about potion-making.

More precisely, Carly was preparing for a "Combat Alchemist" path. They were currently making a "Blast Potion."

Of course, to Lucien, this seemed more like the Wizard World’s version of nitroglycerin. Naturally, after the addition of Magic Essence, this Blast Potion’s power was stronger and, of course, more dangerous.

Fortunately, both Lucien and Carly were no novices in potion making, which gave them the confidence to handle and learn about such highly dangerous potions.

Gurgle gurgle...

Watching the somewhat sticky potion in the crucible slowly form a few bubbles, Lucien swiftly picked up a succulent-like flower, plucking its fleshy petals one by one and tossing them into the crucible.

"This is a Blast Flower; in the wild, this flower can even be used directly as a bomb..." Lucien seemed to be explaining to Carly, yet also speaking to himself.

But his spiritual power was highly tense at that moment, as he had already sensed Adeline, who had been lurking in the depths of the Dream Layer, quietly approaching the real world.