After leaving Master Moxido's laboratory, Kai strode straight through the sprawling complex of the Black Magic Academy, heading for his humble quarters.
The Academy, nestled in the city of Menzoberranzan, was a vast labyrinth of stone and shadow. Here, the lofty black mages and lowly apprentices inhabited two entirely separate worlds—never crossing paths unless by force. As Kai passed the towering lecture halls on his way back to the dormitories, he crossed paths with several other apprentices. Yet like him, they all hurried along, faces set, with barely a glance exchanged. The Academy's rules were cold and unforgiving: among apprentices, there was no such thing as "friendship"—only subservience or bitter enmity.
The final stretch of his journey led through a gnarled grove of (dark-emerald ravenwood trees). It was here that trouble found him.
"Heh heh heh… Kai. Scarface Jork was right—you'rebadlyhurt," a shrill, mocking voice cut through the air. "Why suffer through the pain of dying slowly? Let me put you out of your misery now!"
From the shadows of the ravenwood, a figure in a tattered black robe and a bone-white mask leaped into the path. He stood roughly Kai's height, but where Kai's hair blazed like molten gold, this apprentice's locks were a sickly mix of gray and white.
Conflict between apprentices was common here—and Kai and this man, Ilk, had hated each other for a decade. Their feud began the day Kai first arrived in the Underdark: a starving child, he'd punched another captive boy to steal a scrap of food. That boy had been Ilk's younger brother.
Ten years had turned those helpless human children into low-ranking black magic apprentices. But Ilk's brother never lived to see the Academy's aptitude tests—he'd starved to death, too weak to survive after Kai's blow. Even if he'd lived, he might never have met the Academy's standards. But Ilk had blamed Kai ever since.
In those ten years, they'd clashed over a dozen times—twice coming within a breath of killing each other. By now, their hatred was a death sentence: one would not rest until the other was gone.
Such infighting was no secret to the Academy's mages. Strangely, the masters never stopped it—instead, they watched with morbid amusement, as if the apprentices' bloodshed were nothing more than a diversion from their experiments.
Ilk knew time was short; the commotion might draw overseers or other apprentices. So after his taunt, he struck immediately. Unlike Kai, who wielded fragments of fire magic, Ilk specialized in plant-based spells. His skill had even earned him a reward from the Academy's gardens: the pale mask on his face, a low-tier magical item. It was proof he was no mere nobody—only a worthy rival could have tracked Kai here.
As Ilk chanted, three glowing greenThorn Arrowsmaterialized and shot toward Kai. A normal Thorn Arrow spell summoned only two—three meant Ilk, like Kai, stood on the cusp of becoming a mid-tier apprentice.
Kai didn't flinch. The arrows aimed for his head, heart, and groin—kill shots, plain and simple. Fresh from his mission, his mana and mental strength were drained; he could barely summon his strongest spell,Lesser Fireball. His battered body couldn't dodge, either. Behind the mask, Ilk smiled.
Apprentices had limited magic—at their peak, Kai and Ilk could cast Thorn Arrows or Lesser Fireball just twice. But three arrows would be more than enough to tear Kai apart.
That smile froze when Kai pulled a short, rune-carved staff from his robe.
Before Ilk could react, Kai poured his last scrap of mental energy into the staff. A burst of acrid, yellow light erupted from its tip—Corrosive Acid, a high-tier spell etched into the wood. It was a gift from Master Moxido, a throwaway trinket from the mage's alchemical experiments—but in Kai's hands, it made him a match for any mid-tier apprentice. The staff also slowly regenerated his mana and mental strength; Kai had clung to it since leaving the laboratory, knowing danger lurked in the Academy's shadows.
Lesser Thorn Arrows stood no chance against high-tier Corrosive Acid. The green projectiles dissolved into smoke mid-air. The acid didn't stop there—it slammed into Ilk, who didn't even have time to cast a second spell or dodge.
"Aaaah!" Ilk's scream echoed through the grove. The sickeninghissof melting flesh made the air thick. Soon, his cries fell silent. When Kai stepped closer, only Ilk's head remained intact—his lower body had dissolved into a black, stinking puddle.
Kai's expression didn't change. He'd seen death too many times. But already, he heard rustles in the trees—others were coming. Calmly, he began looting the body.
First, he stripped off the pale mask. Inside, it held a low-tier spell,Clear Sight, which improved vision in darkness. It was nothing compared to Moxido's staff, but still a valuable find. Low-tier apprentices were poor, and Ilk was no exception. Besides the mask, Kai found only a half-depleted low-tier mana crystal (orange, earth-aspected—useless for his fire magic) and a handful of black gold coins, the Academy's currency, half-melted by the acid.
"He did well in the gardens to have a crystal," Kai muttered, tucking the loot away.
By then, the onlookers had arrived: over a dozen apprentices, lingering at a safe distance. Menzoberranzan's Academy had hundreds of apprentices, and the grove was close to the dormitories—plus, the high-tier magic and Ilk's screams had drawn them. Most were low-tier, some even new recruits. They didn't dare get near Kai, not with the faint residue of high-tier magic clinging to him.
Only one stepped forward: a woman with long, honey-blonde hair, tall and confident in her ,her boots clicking sharply on the stone path. Kai recognized her immediately—Liliana, a high-tier apprentice and one of the top ten strongest in the Academy. Like him, she was the protégé of a formal mage. Unlike him, her master was the Academy's vice-dean.
She ignored Ilk's corpse and fixed her gaze on Kai's staff. "Why do you have Master Moxido's Acid Staff?" Her voice was cool, authoritative. She was older than Kai, and her height made her tower over him by half a head.
Kai gripped the staff tighter and bowed respectfully. "I am now Master Moxido's apprentice. This is his gift to me." He didn't dare disrespect her—Liliana was in a league far above Ilk.
A flicker of disappointment crossed Liliana's face. Kai saw it clearly: she'd wanted to kill him for the staff. If it had been a mission reward, she would have had no qualms. But Moxido's protégé? Even she wouldn't risk that. Everyone knew Moxido was fiercely protective of his apprentices—and as an alchemist, even her vice-dean master treated him with deference.
But she wasn't ready to let him go. She chuckled, a sound like venom. "You don't know, do you? The apprentice you just killed—he was favored by Master Kaelthar, the head of the gardens. They weren't 正式师徒 (officially master and apprentice) yet, but it was only a matter of time. That mask? It was Kaelthar's gift to him."
Kai's blood ran cold. Angering a formal mage was a death wish in Menzoberranzan. He took solace in one thing: he was Moxido's apprentice now. Maybe his new master could shield him from Kaelthar's wrath. But even so, being marked by a mage made his skin crawl.
Liliana watched his reaction, then turned to leave. Her boots clicked away, and the other apprentices scattered to let her pass.
Kai's troubles weren't over. The Academy didn't care about apprentice brawls—but killing inside the grounds still broke the rules.
A shadow fell over him. He looked up to see a massive owl, half a meter tall with jet-black wings. Its aura was even more menacing than Liliana's. It was an Academy overseer—creatures that only descended when someone died.
"Apprentice! You have violated Rule 17 of the Menzoberranzan Black Magic Academy. By order of Grand Master Daldaron…" its voice was sharp and inhuman.
Kai cut it off, pulling a glowing medallion from his robe—Moxido's token of apprenticeship.
The owl fell silent. The Academy's rules were made by mages—and a mage's protégé killing an unbacked apprentice was not worth their time. Kai added, "It was self-defense. He attacked first."
He knew lying was useless. The owls were specially bred by the Academy's mysterious grand master, stronger than high-tier magical beasts. They could call on the Academy's hidden runes and scrying orbs to replay the fight. But for a low-tier apprentice's death? They wouldn't bother.
The medallion was enough. The owl flapped its wings, sending a gust of wind that swept Ilk's remains into the ravenwood—food for the Underdark's hungry plants. Such "fertilizer" was common here.
Kai bowed to the owl, then turned toward the dormitories, ignoring the apprentices' stares. He slipped Ilk's pale mask over his face. Immediately, his vision cleared—even the dim grove felt bright. It was a small comfort, but he'd take it.
The Academy's dormitories housed 700 to 800 apprentices at any time. Every year, some died; every year, new captives took their place. Few came from Menzoberranzan's own children—over 90% were like Kai: stolen from the surface as kids, dragged into the Underdark by mages.
Kai barely remembered his life before the age of six. His golden hair and sharp features marked him as a noble, once. He'd learned to fight for scraps because of the basic swordplay and breathing techniques his family had taught him—skills no commoner would know. But those memories were fuzzy, faded. He remembered only his last name and the warm face of his mother in dreams. The Academy had consumed his life. Survival mattered more than nostalgia.
The dormitories were a cluster of over twenty stone buildings, each six stories tall with eight rooms per floor. The stronger the apprentice, the higher and deeper into the complex they lived—for quiet, essential for meditation and spellcasting. Some powerful apprentices even claimed entire floors. Every year, new recruits fought bloody battles over rooms.
Kai's room was on the fourth floor of Building Five, deep in the dormitory complex—a prime spot for a low-tier apprentice. He owed it to Lina, his roommate, lover, and savior. She was his senior, his first magic teacher—his true mentor, in many ways. Kai's talent for fire magic had grown because he'd spent years helping her with experiments.
"Click." Kai activated the magic crystal lamp by the door. Dim light flooded the room—70 square meters, cluttered with books, experiment supplies, a small washroom, and a cramped workbench. It was tiny, but Kai felt a wave of relief. This was his safe place.
The air smelled faintly of burnt blackworm grass, a low-tier magic ingredient. Lina wasn't one for tidying—Kai had kept their home orderly for years. He glanced around; she wasn't back yet. Exhausted, he collapsed onto the large bed in the center—a makeshift thing, two single beds pushed together. It had been that way since a night two years ago. Kai felt his throat tighten, then shook the thought away.
He set his loot on the desk, then sat cross-legged on the bed. In front of him, he placed the vial of mid-tier antidote Moxido had given him. He drank it in one gulp, then closed his eyes, focusing his mental energy to meditate. Meditation was the gentlest way to restore mana and mental strength—sometimes, it even replaced sleep.
As Kai slipped into a meditative trance, his depleted magic slowly returned. The blue moss poison in his veins faded under the antidote's effect. Time blurred; when he opened his eyes again, it was dawn.
Hours of meditation had refreshed him. He looked up—and saw Lina standing by the window.
"You're back," he said quietly.
"Mm," she replied, nodding.
She was small—only 1.5 meters tall—with hair like flame and a demeanor as cold as ice. Lina rarely spoke; even after eight years of living together, their conversations were short, stilted. Her face and height made her look like a 14-year-old girl, but Kai knew better. She'd looked this way since they met eight years ago—no change, no aging.
He'd heard the rumors: Lina and her old master had been caught in an experiment gone wrong. No one knew her real age—not even Kai. He'd never asked. Just as she'd never asked about his last name or his past. Everyone had secrets—even those who shared a bed.
Lina's eyes flicked to the staff and mask on the desk, then narrowed. She stepped closer, staring at the bloodstain seeping through Kai's robe.
"You're hurt." It wasn't a question.