Chapter 12: Blue Ice Maiden

The next day, early morning.

Gunie arrived at the Sugg Transcendent Academy early.

The entire morning was taken up by Mentor Olov's class, and Gunie dared not slack off in Mentor Olov's lessons.

After all, the mentor was not an ordinary teacher but a transcendent mentor.

They had the authority to expel students who did not strive.

When Gunie reached the sixth floor of Olov Tower,

several figures were already seated, and among them was the figure he wanted to see.

"Good morning, Yulai'er!"

Gunie greeted casually.

"Good morning!" Yulai'er responded instinctively, then turned to look at Gunie, quite surprised.

In her memory, she and Gunie had been classmates for nearly four years.

This seemed to be the first time he had taken the initiative to greet her in the morning.

Looking at his neat short hair and his lean but strong face, Yulai'er couldn't help feeling a little nervous, even her heartbeat quickened slightly.

"Can I ask you something?" Gunie lowered his voice.

"What is it?"

"I remember you said your sister is a Shadow Department student, right?"

"Mm."

"So, does the Shadow Department have the habit of cultivating potted plants to improve observation and patience, or similar training methods?"

"Ah! That!"

"I remember there is. My sister mentioned that transcendent plants themselves move slightly, requiring careful observation to notice. The tedious observation process can indeed improve patience and endurance, which is very important for a shadow practitioner's training."

"My sister herself keeps a few 'Mosquito Luring Grass.' You know, in summer, those mosquitoes are always annoying, but with 'Mosquito Luring Grass,' basically the whole courtyard is free of mosquitoes."

"So that's how it is. I see." Gunie nodded slightly.

"Why are you asking?"

"Because a knight who doesn't want to be a shadow practitioner isn't a good spellcaster." Gunie said thus.

Yulai'er paused, then couldn't help but chuckle softly.

Stealing a glance at Gunie, Yulai'er's ears and cheeks flushed slightly.

"This guy always comes up with such outrageous statements."

While organizing his textbooks on his seat, Gunie pondered silently.

"This Meisha... seems I was overthinking. My persecution complex seems to have worsened again." Gunie gently rubbed his brow.

As someone naturally cautious and steady, Gunie always had a 'someone's always out to get me' mindset to stay alert to everything around him.

Even if the other person was truly harmless.

"But... there's still a nagging sense of unease."

"Could it be the upcoming adventure... or... those heretics who worship the Giant God from a while back?"

"Those heretics of the Giant God seemed to have gone quiet after that incident. Could they be gathering strength for a big move?"

"Hah... my strength is still too weak. At the very least, I need to become a true spellcaster, so that when the wave of the unknown and mysterious transcendent world crashes in, I can survive, not just be washed up on the shore."

...

Nightfall!

155 Old Stone Street.

In the underground alchemy laboratory.

"Hah..."

Looking at the three bottles of water-blue "Blue Ice Maiden" before him, Gunie breathed softly.

The beginner-grade rare ice-cold potion "Blue Ice Maiden."

One bottle down, and in the dog days of summer you'd feel like falling into an ice cellar.

Two bottles down, your body would freeze solid.

Three bottles down, your soul would ascend on the spot.

Of course, that's for ordinary people.

But for ice elementalists among the spellcasting system, this potion can greatly replenish their elemental energy when their 'elemental power' is depleted.

It's like the exclusive 'magic potion' for ice elementalists.

"Is this... Blue Ice Maiden?"

Meisha on the side widened her eyes as she watched the azure potion being poured into the bottle.

"You recognize it?"

"They told me about cultivating face-flowers, and Blue Ice Maiden is one of the best potions. I've seen similar pictures." Meisha replied softly.

"Yours looks much prettier than the pictures." Meisha pointed at the empty space at the top of the potion bottle, gesturing with her hands.

"There are lots of little snowflakes dancing around, so cute."

Packing the three bottles of Blue Ice Maiden into a small paper bag and handing it to Meisha, Gunie said softly, "Be careful, don't touch the Blue Ice Maiden directly; it's very cold."

"I know, thank you!" Meisha expressed her gratitude to Gunie and performed a somewhat clumsy curtsey.

After Meisha left, Old Cohen paced slowly out from the shadows at the corner of the stairs.

Gunie had sensed Old Cohen's arrival earlier, but Meisha, though she had a decent 'super-sense' ability, hadn't received systematic training and didn't notice.

"You need something?"

"Mm." Gunie nodded, tidying up the tools on the alchemy workbench as he spoke.

"Next week, the school will have a week-long wilderness practice class. I'll be away the whole week. As for potion brewing..."

"Recently, potion sales haven't been high, and you've already brewed plenty of stock these past few days. Don't worry about that." Old Cohen said in a hoarse voice.

"On the other hand, I've received news that those heretics of the Giant God cult have been spotted in the Sugg Ruins City these past few days, along with traces of other factions."

"Be careful when you go out. I know you have some strength, but you should know that in front of powerful transcendents, your methods won't be very effective. After all, you're not a true transcendent."

"But since there are powerful transcendent mentors in Sugg Ruins City, you don't need to worry too much about heretic sneak attacks."

"Instead, when you venture deep into the transcendent wilderness, it's the transcendent plants and creatures that you truly need to be cautious about."

"I'll be careful." Gunie nodded in response.

Gunie had some experience with expeditions into the transcendent wilderness, and with his personality, if he really encountered transcendent plants or even creatures, it wasn't clear who would come out worse.

...

Late night!

In the underground密室 of Gunie's house.

After confirming the safety and effectiveness of the mechanisms, stone door, and secret door, Gunie finally lay down on the wooden bed in the corner, picked up the thick book "In-Depth Analysis of Ancient Transcendent Plants" borrowed from the Sugg Transcendent Academy library, and began to read.

As a qualified alchemist, Gunie naturally needed a deep understanding of all natural plants, transcendent plants, and even many plant subspecies, as well as their medicinal properties.

Otherwise, when exploring mysterious or transcendent places, encountering but not recognizing highly valuable transcendent plants and missing out would be the most frustrating thing.

...

Late night!

Moonlight filtered through sparse clouds, thinly scattering on Meisha's window.

By the window, Meisha carefully dropped a fingernail-sized, withered yellow face-flower seed into the bottle of Blue Ice Maiden.

Staring blankly at the face-flower seed soaking in the Blue Ice Maiden in her hand,

Meisha murmured softly, "Little flower, little flower, grow up quickly!"