Sophia ascended the spiral staircase. "Follow me to the second floor. The patients on the first floor are nothing special."
"The real trouble lies with the afflicted on the second and third floors. Once you see them, you'll understand why I find this so frustrating."
Locke knew that Sophia was honing his practical combat skills. Though he had mentally prepared himself before coming here, he was still startled by what he saw.
Still, having witnessed it now, he would have the experience to handle similar situations in the future.
"It seems I'll need to carry a few extra bottles of Bear Spirit Bile Antidote Potion from now on," Locke muttered under his breath. The Bear Spirit Bile Antidote Potion was a universal antidote for curse magic, enhancing one's magical resistance and shifting it into a state specialized against curses.
Carrying such a potion was the easiest way to deal with wizard apprentices from the Blood Curse Court in the wild.
Locke followed Sophia to the second floor.
The moment he stepped onto the second floor, Locke immediately sensed the oppressive atmosphere.
If the first floor was merely filled with hurried footsteps and occasional pained screams, the second floor was far more suffocating.
The hall was lined with sickbeds, each occupied by wizard apprentices suffering from curses far more severe than those on the first floor. Most of them had completely lost the ability to move.
A deafening roar shattered the silence.
A First Class Wizard Apprentice bellowed, "Where are the assistants? Hurry! This patient is under a Blood Curse! We need the Formal Wizards immediately—only they can temporarily suppress the activation of the curse!"
"Damn it, it's a Blood Curse! Those bastards from the Blood Curse Court dumped a cursed victim here just to drain our resources and waste our time!"
In his eyes, being afflicted with a Blood Curse was practically a death sentence.
Locke's gaze shifted toward the commotion. On the sickbed lay a First Class Wizard Apprentice whose skin was oozing blood—a horrifying sight. His pupils were dilated, his eyes vacant, and his body grotesquely swollen, every limb bloated as if inflated.
The only reason he was still alive was because a wizard apprentice assistant was using a syringe to inject him with specially treated blood, barely sustaining his life.
A Formal Wizard rushed down from the third floor and pressed a finger to the afflicted apprentice's forehead, temporarily halting the curse's eruption.
His expression grim, he turned to the assistants. "A Blood Curse requires a Magic Potion to cure. Can this student afford it? Is he from our academy?"
"If he's not, we can only provide palliative care—delay the inevitable for as long as possible."
"If he is, have him sign a loan agreement with the academy. Once he's healed, he'll have to work full-time to repay the medical expenses."
The assistants quickly checked the records and replied, "Master Edwin, this student is from our academy's botany department."
Edwin said impatiently, "Then have him sign the contract immediately."
"Once the Blood Curse erupts, everyone connected to him by bloodline will die together. Because it involves so many, the accumulated suffering will feed back into the curse's core, making it increasingly unsolvable. Once the Blood Curse activates, he's beyond saving—not just him, but likely everyone associated with him will perish."
Edwin said, "I don't know what type of Blood Curse this is, but it must be at least a Formal Wizard from the Blood Curse Court who cast this curse magic."
"Possibly even his friends might be implicated." Edwin's expression darkened.
The witch Sophia approached and said, "It's the Mother-Child Giant Corpse Blood Curse."
Edwin turned in surprise to look at Sophia, then glanced at Locke before smiling. "Sophia, you're here. Excellent—your thinking is always clearer and quicker. With you here, my burden will lighten considerably."
"Is this your student?"
Sophia nodded. "Yes. This is my student Locke Augustine, who just obtained his Potion Assistant Certificate. I brought him along to broaden his experience."
"Locke, this is Formal Wizard Edwin, one of the Potionology mentors at Lilith's Cottage and one of the three resident Formal Wizards of the Healing Hand."
Locke bowed to Edwin. "Greetings, Lord Edwin."
Edwin gave him a slight nod but didn't pay him much attention. After all, the gap in their status was vast. Without special reason, a Formal Wizard had no need to focus on a First-Class Wizard Apprentice they'd just met.
He turned back to Sophia with a smile. "I never expected you'd take on a First-Class Wizard Apprentice as a student just two years after your own promotion. You and your student both advance quickly."
"Honestly, it's about time you brought your student to assist. I thought you'd keep working alone forever." Edwin's face showed a trace of weariness.
"Your student must have learned something from you. With his help, our workload here should ease somewhat."
Though the situation was urgent, no one dared interrupt the two Formal Wizards conversing in the second-floor hall. Even the First-Class Wizard Apprentice patient who had nearly died moments ago could only hold his breath and wait for them to finish.
Fortunately, Edwin finally seemed to remember their main concern. "Mother-Child Giant Corpse Blood Curse? I've never heard of this type."
Sophia explained, "It's a newly invented Blood Curse—or rather, a modified version of an older one."
"The inventor isn't even a Formal Wizard, but Blood Curse Court's current top candidate for promotion—their first-ranked wizard seed, Hussein Quinn. His Wizard Mentors likely helped him develop this variant."
"Hussein will probably receive the Blood Curse Court's full investment of resources for the next generation."
"You know how they differ from us—over there, wizard apprentices are just slaves to the Formal Wizards. They're a disgrace to wizardry."
The witch Sophia said calmly, "Among the wizard apprentices over there, only those few seeded candidates who have entered the wizard sequence can truly be considered human."
"I only learned of this by chance."
Wizard Edwin nodded.
The Blood Curse Court was cultivating wizard apprentices using a method akin to breeding venomous insects. They ranked all enrolled wizard apprentices.
Higher-ranked apprentices could kill those ranked below them without consequence.
The top ten who emerged from this brutal competition would become the Wizard Seedlings of the Blood Curse Court.
Regardless of the merits of this training method, the temperament of the apprentices it produced spoke for itself—they were all ruthless fighters who excelled on the battlefield.
Often, a single one could defeat ten White Wizard apprentices of the same level and capability.
Wizard Edwin sighed. "It seems the Blood Curse Court has its share of geniuses too. To develop a Blood Curse of this caliber while still a First Class Wizard Apprentice..."
"What a shame such a promising Wizard Seedling was wasted by those Black Wizards. Had he entered a White Wizard academy and received proper education, he might have achieved far greater things. In this world, combat represents only a small aspect—magic isn't solely meant for fighting."
"So Sophia, do you know how this Parent-Child Giant Blood Curse actually spreads?"