From Wizard Apprentice to Conqueror of Myriad Worlds

Chapter 199: Chapter 2: I Will Step Up, Mo Ning Catches a Wizard’s Eye Again

「Cold Pine Forest」

Gray-needled pines stood like silent sentinels, their stark forms rising from the frost-covered earth.

A bone-chilling wind swept through the treetops, carrying a low, mournful sound.

Mo Ning and Anya were sitting in the stone pavilion where the three of them usually gathered when they saw Reina happily jogging toward them.

The unruly tuft of hair on her forehead bobbed up and down with the rhythm of her steps, creating a rather amusing sight.

The reputations of the "Number One Strong Person" and the "Number One Team" made the other newcomers instinctively avoid the stone pavilion, never daring to set foot inside.

The Number One Strong Person was, of course, Mo Ning, and the Number One Team was the trio he led.

As for the previous "Number One Team"—composed of Sitt, Princess Phoebe, and Countess Della—it was now just a distant memory.

After the Mist Valley assessment, Princess Phoebe had voluntarily withdrawn from the team a few days later. Rumor had it she and Sitt had a heated argument, and the two had been like strangers ever since, not even acknowledging each other when they met.

Mo Ning couldn’t care less about any of this, only catching snippets of it from his two teammates’ idle chatter.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

Reina called out from a distance, drawing out the end of her sentence with a cheerful, rising inflection that was just as bouncy as the tuft of hair on her forehead.

After the second general assessment, she had received an "Excellent" evaluation—something she wouldn’t have even dared to dream of. On top of that, she’d received an invitation from Mo Ning to officially join their team.

For her, life right now felt like a fantasy.

Reina carried a Warm Sun Furnace in her left hand and a massive wooden food container in her right.

Ever since they brought back a large haul of ingredients from Mist Valley, the three of them had been living quite well.

Since his reputation was already established, Mo Ning stopped bothering to keep a low profile. He frequently took the two girls to the Cold Pine Forest for private cookouts.

He gradually "introduced" cooking methods from his previous life.

He would typically just give verbal instructions while the pretty young chef did the actual cooking. Many of the dishes left the girls amazed.

But the reputation of a genius allowed him to do as he pleased; creating new dishes was just another manifestation of a genius’s brilliance.

BUZZ—

The Warm Sun Furnace vibrated slightly as a red glow swirled within. Warmth radiated outward, completely dispelling the chill inside the stone pavilion.

Lunch was hot pot, with all the ingredients coming from the spoils they had won during the assessment.

Living up to his reputation for being "generous," Mo Ning paid to have Cold Storage Cabinets installed in the girls’ apartments and divided over 800 kilograms of various meats between them for safekeeping.

Months had passed, yet the wondrous nature of Magic Power kept the ingredients in a state of perfect freshness, as if they had just been carved from their prey.

A custom-made copper pot was set atop the Warm Sun Furnace, and the water inside quickly came to a boil.

They tossed in blocks of fat and seasoning packets, and an enticing aroma instantly filled every corner of the stone pavilion.

Anya and Reina began adding the pre-sliced meat into the pot.

Back when Mo Ning had first seen the Warm Sun Furnace on an inventory list, his immediate reaction was that the device would be perfect for hot pot.

And his intuition had been correct—with a slight change to the direction of its Heat Flow, it became the perfect hot pot stove.

The first time the two girls saw this method, they were left speechless for a good while. ’By the great Mystery, you can use a Warm Sun Furnace like this?’

While waiting for the meat to cook, Anya brought up a piece of news.

"I heard from Princess Phoebe that the academy is considering putting last year’s intake of newcomers and our own under a merged administration."

Mo Ning paused for a moment, then instantly realized what this meant. ’The academy is planning to turn up the heat on the newcomers again.’

The logic behind it wasn’t complicated. Newcomers from different years were naturally antagonistic. One side would be the "seniors" and the other the "freshmen." How could they possibly integrate smoothly?

A merged administration meant they would participate in assessments together. And since the number of top spots in any assessment was limited, the competition would only grow more fierce.

This conflict of interest would inevitably lead the "seniors" to band together and suppress the "freshmen," leaving no room for compromise.

’This is so typical of the academy’s methods.’

As for Princess Phoebe, Mo Ning had seen it for a while now. Her frequent contact with Anya was a clear sign she wanted to join the Number One Team.

It was no wonder. The academy’s high-pressure environment and staggering elimination rate forced everyone to band together for survival.

Although a team officially had only three registered slots, you could expand the roster by paying a fee in Black Tower Points. He was confident plenty of people would even pay out of their own pockets for a chance to squeeze into the Number One Team.

In fact, Mo Ning himself had his eye on Potter, serial number 005, and was considering poaching him.

The guy was one of the few newcomers who was genuinely upright and responsible. Unfortunately, Potter already had his own team.

"The academy just can’t let us have a moment’s peace!"

Reina was quick-witted enough to see through the academy’s intentions as well, and she grumbled under her breath.

Mo Ning thought for a moment before revealing something else.

"It’s probably true. I ran into two students from last year’s class at the No. 35 Biological Taming Center, and they were very cold toward me. It looks like they’d already heard the rumors."

The academy required every newcomer to choose a long-term practical work position starting from their third month of enrollment.

The available options were quite limited, mostly just positions at raw material production sites like the Magic Potion Plantation or the Spiritual Creatures Breeding Farm.

As for "high-end" locations like the Magic Potion Refining Laboratory or the Witchcraft Artifact Manufacturing Laboratory, they were completely off-limits to newcomers.

The official line was that this was to "combine classroom knowledge with practical application," but everyone knew it was just mandatory labor.

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