Lina had a infamous temper—one of the reasons she was labeled the "Madwoman" by so many magic apprentices. Over the years Kai had survived in the Black Magic Academy of Menzoberranzan, his cautious nature and unyielding will had kept him going, but a large part of his safety came from Lina's protection.
Lina was a powerful mid-tier apprentice; she'd already reached that rank eight years ago when Kai first met her. In the Black Magic Academy, low-tier apprentices might barely avoid being bullied, but only those who rose to mid-tier or above were truly regarded as "strong" by their peers. As for high-tier apprentices, they were rarely seen by ordinary apprentices. Take Liliana, whom Kai had spoken to the previous day—Kai had only ever heard rumors of her before that; it was his first time conversing with a high-tier apprentice.
The blood seeping through Kai's chest made the air around Lina grow noticeably colder. But when Kai told her that Ilk—the man who'd tried to kill him—had been killed in self-defense, and explained that his wounds came from a mid-tier Saltwater Crocodile, Lina's anger softened considerably.
"Why would you pick a fight with a Saltwater Crocodile?" Lina asked, her brows furrowing slightly. "Even I've always avoided confronting beasts of that size."
In the early years, Lina hadn't cared this much about Kai. To her, he'd been no more than a sensible lab assistant. But after their relationship deepened two years ago, this woman had gradually opened up to Kai, showing a warmth that belied her icy exterior.
So Kai told her the whole story: how he'd ventured into the Saltwater Crocodile's territory to find Starlight Grass, and how that journey had led to the formal black mage Moxido taking him as an apprentice. When Lina heard that Kai had become a formal mage's apprentice, a flicker of surprise and faint satisfaction finally crossed her cold face.
"Becoming a formal black mage's apprentice is certainly a good thing," she said. "But you should have waited for me to return. A Saltwater Crocodile is far beyond what you can handle alone right now."
"Master Moxido's task had a time limit," Kai replied. "I was worried the Starlight Grass might be eaten by the crocodile or destroyed by some other accident. Besides, if I'd relied on your help to get the grass, Master Moxido might not have taken me as his apprentice. To survive—and achieve something—in the Underdark, you have to face dangers like this. I can't rely on your protection forever." He shook his head as he finished speaking.
Kai's words clearly surprised Lina, though he was too focused on his own thoughts to notice the change in her expression. Instead, he turned to ask about her.
"Where have you been these past two weeks? I was really worried about you," Kai asked softly.
At the obvious concern in his tone, the coldness on Lina's face melted away, and she broke into a smile. It was the first time Kai had seen her smile in nearly two years—and the smile wasn't just because of his concern; there was more to it.
"I've been promoted to high-tier apprentice," she said. "I spent the past two weeks in seclusion, meditating in the academy's training chamber. We can move to a new room now—the last two dorm buildings have larger spaces and better-equipped labs than our current one."
Her promotion to high-tier apprentice was the real reason for her smile. She'd wanted to share this joy with Kai.
Leaving the place they'd lived in for eight years would take Kai some time to get used to, but it meant a better living environment and more room for growth for both of them. And with Kai also becoming Master Moxido's apprentice, it felt like a double celebration.
"Heh, I'll go to the Black Street to buy a fish. Let's have a proper celebration tonight," Kai said with a smile.
Magic apprentices were still human—they needed to eat. Since returning to the dorm the previous day, Kai had only drunk half a vial of mid-tier antidote; he hadn't eaten anything else. Lina couldn't cook, so this task had always fallen to Kai. In the early years of their cohabitation, Kai's gradual acceptance by Lina had come not just from his good looks and skill as a lab assistant, but also from these small, daily acts of care.
The Black Street was a special commercial area inside the academy. It was a popular spot for the Black Magic Academy's apprentices, offering everything from spellcasting materials, alchemical potions, and magical items to daily necessities and small trinkets. Rumor had it that every magic shop on the Black Street had the backing of a high-tier apprentice—or even a formal black mage. Indeed, only such powerful figures had the ability and financial resources to craft magical equipment or alchemical potions.
When Kai arrived at the Black Street, Lina came with him. Perhaps two weeks of secluded meditation had left her feeling restless, or maybe she was worried that Kai's wounds hadn't fully healed—either way, the usually quiet, homebound Lina had agreed to go grocery shopping with him that day.
Kai's main goal was a "Darkscale Shark," a fish native to the Underdark's underground rivers. This wasn't an ordinary fish; it was a magical creature, roughly equivalent in power to a new apprentice just entering the academy. Its large snout, sharp teeth, and spiky scales made it clear that it was far from a gentle animal.
At "Koda's Magical Supplies," the central shop on the Black Street, a single Darkscale Shark cost a whopping eight black gold coins—a rare and valuable magical creature. But after looting Ilk's body, Kai didn't hesitate to spend the money. In fact, if he'd wanted to eat a whole Darkscale Shark in the academy cafeteria, it would have cost him at least twenty black gold coins.
As Menzoberranzan's official currency, black gold held its value firmly. Kai had no idea how much private savings Lina had, but after years of saving, he'd only accumulated just over twenty black gold coins. Normally, no low-tier or mid-tier apprentice would splurge on eating magical creatures. Even though consuming such creatures could indeed improve one's physique, most apprentices chose to spend their limited money on spellcasting materials or magic books instead.
Just as Kai paid for the Darkscale Shark and the two were about to leave, they ran into trouble. Leading the group was the scar-faced apprentice Kai had seen on the wall the day before.
Conflicts were rare on the Black Street, as almost no apprentice dared to cross the shop owners. The scar-faced apprentice's group hadn't planned to trouble Kai and Lina there, but when the scar-faced man saw the Darkscale Shark in Kai's hand, he snickered.
"Look at you, Kai—heard you killed Ilk yesterday," he said. "Tsk tsk, you didn't buy this Darkscale Shark with Ilk's black gold, did you?" The scar-faced man—Jork—taunted.
Jork and his group outnumbered them, and Kai didn't want to start a fight at this point. Clearly, Jork was ill-informed; he didn't know that Kai had become a formal black mage's apprentice. After all, besides Liliana and Lina, Kai hadn't told any other apprentices about it. And given Liliana's high status, she'd have no interest in gossiping with a bunch of apprentices below mid-tier.
Jork's taunt made his group burst into laughter. Not all of them were Jork's underlings—three were mid-tier apprentices, equal to Jork in status and strength.
If Kai had been alone, he would have swallowed his pride. Jork's group had numbers on their side, and now that Kai was Master Moxido's apprentice, he'd have plenty of chances to settle the score later. But this time, he wasn't alone.
Whoosh!
A fireball the size of a basketball suddenly appeared at Lina's fingertips. No one knew when she'd silently finished her incantation—she'd attacked directly, right there on the Black Street.
This massive fireball was nearly twice the size of Kai's own Lesser Fireball. And its color wasn't the usual crimson; it was a deep, eerie blue that sent chills down one's spine.
"High-tier apprentice!" someone in Jork's group gasped, recognizing the sign.
The fight erupted in an instant. And it was Kai and Lina who struck first.
Lina had earned the "Madwoman" title for a reason—she'd attacked without hesitation, even on the Black Street. The massive fireball, glowing with deep blue flames, wasn't just bigger than Kai's Lesser Fireball; it was far more powerful. It hurtled straight toward Jork's face. Lina had attacked so quickly, and Jork was so unprepared, that it seemed his head would burst into flames in the next second.
Mages had fragile physiques. Without a magic shield, an apprentice's ability to withstand attacks was barely better than that of an ordinary strong man. Most of all, no one had expected Lina to attack.
Then a faint white glow suddenly appeared from Jork's group. Kai had magical equipment, and so did some of Jork's men. This was an emergency warning item—the white glow came from a short silver staff, similar in shape to Kai's Acid Staff. It belonged to a pale-faced male mid-tier apprentice, who clearly hadn't wanted to get involved in a fight with a high-tier apprentice, let alone waste his precious magical item.
The white magic shield lasted less than two seconds before Lina's fireball shattered it into pieces. But those two seconds gave everyone in the fireball's path just enough time to react.
When the white shield broke, Lina's fireball didn't disappear—it split apart on the spot, turning into nearly twenty smaller, blazing yellow fireballs.
This was an unexpected twist! Every magic spell was unique; even fireballs varied from caster to caster. Lina's deep blue fireball was a modified, enhanced version of her own making—and this ability to split into twenty Lesser Fireballs was nothing like the standard Great Fireball recorded in the academy's library.
This was a clear sign of a high-tier apprentice's overwhelming strength! And given Lina's long-standing reputation as a prodigy, even though she'd just been promoted, she was far from an ordinary high-tier apprentice.
The scattered Lesser Fireballs inflicted heavy damage on Jork's group. The new apprentices suffered the most—caught in a high-tier mage's attack, they stood no chance. Two slow-moving low-tier apprentices were also hit, suffering severe burns.
In the blink of an eye, a single spell had taken out nearly half of Jork's men.
It was then that Jork and his group finally counterattacked. The first to strike was a female apprentice with short light-red hair. As a mid-tier apprentice, she was furious at Lina's unprovoked attack.
Male apprentices had long outnumbered females in the Black Magic Academy, a result of the academy's brutally competitive system. In such an environment, any woman who rose to mid-tier or above was far from weak. At times, they were even more ruthless than male apprentices—after all, without enough cunning and strength, no one could survive in this cutthroat academy.
With a shriek, the female apprentice unleashed a sound-based spell. It was the first time Kai had seen sound magic, and its speed exceeded anything he'd known about ordinary spells. Truly, the Black Magic Academy was full of hidden talents.
The fast-moving sound spell quickly enveloped Kai and Lina. Faced with this mid-tier spell—"Banshee's Wail"—Kai, still a low-tier apprentice, stumbled. Fortunately, the faint mental power recovery effect of his Acid Staff kept the spell from affecting him too much.
And Lina, the main target of the Banshee's Wail, though she didn't have an Acid Staff to soothe her mental power, managed to stand her ground thanks to the high mental power of a high-tier apprentice.
As a mid-tier spell, Banshee's Wail consumed a lot of mana, and the female mid-tier apprentice couldn't cast a second one in quick succession. So the initiative returned to Lina.
At some point, she'd pulled out a black bracelet. As her live-in boyfriend, Kai knew this was a magical item Lina owned—one she rarely used. She began chanting incantations rapidly; as the black bracelet glowed with a dim black light, it was clear her next magical attack was coming.
But just then, Jork and his group launched another wave of attacks. This was the danger of being outnumbered—even though Lina was stronger than everyone present, she was still alone. Jork's group had eleven apprentices of low-tier or above, not to mention four mid-tier apprentices, including Jork himself.
Right after Lina and the sound-based magic apprentice, Jork was the next to attack. Instead of using the traditional method of chanting spells, he pulled a short sword from his robe and charged straight at Kai and Lina.
This was Jork's unique fighting style—faint red flame patterns spread from the hilt of his short sword. It wasn't because the sword was a magical item; Jork had infused his own fire-element power into the steel blade. In the magic world, this technique had a formal name: "Fire Element Infusion."
Jork moved quickly, a skill honed by years of surviving in the Underdark's underground world. The scars covering his body were a testament to his strength. Kai's close-combat skills and reaction speed weren't bad, but he was still no match for Jork—they'd taken different paths. Kai focused solely on magic, while Jork had split his efforts between magic and physical training.
But even Jork's speed wasn't fast enough to outmatch Kai's reaction.
Jork's infused short sword was aimed straight at Lina. Since Lina had attacked first, Jork now had the thought of seriously wounding—or even killing—her. In a one-on-one fight, Jork would have stood no chance against Lina. But he wasn't alone—he had over a dozen allies. Especially after Lina's almost indiscriminate fireball attack, the "madwoman" had made enemies of everyone present.
It was clear Lina had only just advanced to high-tier apprentice—this was Jork's only chance to seriously wound or kill her anytime soon.
"I'm the only one who deserves to be Master Andis's apprentice!" Jork roared inwardly. "This year's academy reward is mine too! Die, you ignorant madwoman!" This revealed the root of his conflict with Lina.
But before Jork's ambush could succeed, three streams of corrosive acid suddenly appeared in front of him. Jork's face turned pale, and a cold chill ran through his entire body.