That evening, the Tower issued a lockdown notice. All apprentices were forbidden from leaving the Shadow Tower's perimeter, and after sunset, they were not allowed to linger outside their dormitories.
It was only after several days that Lynch managed to piece together the full story from other apprentices bit by bit.
Apparently, a Black Wizard Apprentice disguised themselves as a Wizard Potential and infiltrated the Shadow Tower, spreading rumors about a discovered ruin to lure a group of apprentices out.
By the time the Tower realized something was amiss and sent people to investigate, the apprentices had already vanished. To this day, their whereabouts remained unknown and were likely apprehended by the Black Wizards.
Black Wizards are a collective term for another group of wizards in the Wizard World. On the Wizard's Road, they are excessively obsessed, employing any means necessary to achieve their goals. They are mad, cruel, and perverse — bona fide lunatics.
This group of maniacs often conducts cruel and horrifying experiments on apprentices. When they run out of their own apprentices, they would abduct others from different organizations. For instance, the White Wizard Organization is often one of their prime targets, and cases like this have happened more than once.
If Chris and the others were now taken there, the consequences were all too imaginable.
A few days later, Lynch met up with Subaru and the others. At the dining table, the group discussed Chris's situation with lingering fear, particularly Carl.
Back when Chris invited Carl to join the exploration, Carl had been incredibly tempted. Even after going back, he hesitated for a long time and almost went with them just before Chris and the others departed.
"What a close call! What a close call!"
The brush with death left Carl drenched in cold sweat.
"This world is just too hard to endure!"
Amid the lingering horror, the three couldn't help but sigh with emotion, including Lynch.
Aside from the previous incident where he was schemed against, this was the first time since arriving in this world over two years ago that he had encountered danger and killing so up close and personal.
"Careful, I must be even more careful."
He silently etched the experience into his memory, deeply admonishing himself.
The Tower's lockdown lasted for more than half a month before it gradually lifted. During this time, many of the Tower's activities were affected to varying degrees, including the examination for Inner Ring Apprentices.
Originally scheduled for less than two months later, the Inner Ring Apprentice examination had been postponed by three months and was now set to be held three months later.
This news caused much wailing among apprentices enrolled in previous intakes. They had been waiting for this day for several years, and such a postponement was quite hard to accept.
However, for Lynch, it wasn't so bad. It was even somewhat good news.
After all, given the relatively short time he had spent cultivating, the three-month extension gave him a bit more time to prepare.
And so, the storm of events passed, and Lynch returned to his original routine: continuing his unrelenting path of cultivation to make a final sprint toward the Inner Ring examination three months later.
[Meditation Proficiency +1].
...
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, several months passed. The Inner Ring examination arrived as scheduled.
Daytime, Shadow Tower.
A raven circled around the Obelisk of the tower, descending onto a long corridor overgrown with nettles. The bird lifted a layer of greenery covering the nettles and dug out a deeply buried fruit from beneath.
In the corridor below, young apprentices clutching books walked back and forth, chatting idly about popular topics of the moment as they went.
"Brian, how's your preparation going? Do you have confidence in passing this time's examination?"
"Of course! I've specially implanted Tree Demon cells into my right arm for this. If necessary, it can transform into branches and vines to assist me in combat. That should guarantee my success in the examination!"
"Ugh, I'm screwed. My spell isn't even ready yet."
With the examination approaching, almost all conversations among the apprentices revolved around it. Everywhere, one could hear discussions about the exam.
Having just collected his examination task, Lynch walked through the corridor and quickly arrived at the garden ahead, where Subaru and Carl were already waiting. As the examination loomed, they had agreed to meet up before it began.
"How about it, Lynch? Did you get your task? What is it?" Carl couldn't wait to ask as soon as he saw Lynch approaching.
Lynch nodded and then took out his Task Scroll: "It's to collect ten soul sparks from the Corrupted Forest."
"The Corrupted Forest, huh?" Subaru nodded. "That's not too bad, about the same as mine. My task is to catch three Black Teeth Fish in Silent Lake. Too bad it's not the same direction; otherwise, we could team up and watch each other's backs."
Listening to the lively discussion between the two, Carl furrowed his brows tightly. He still hadn't decided whether to register for the examination.
Subaru urged him, "What's there to hesitate about, man? Just sign up, no matter what. Even if you fail in the end, you'll at least gain some experience, right? After all, chances like this don't come by often."
Due to the earlier apprentice disappearance incident, the Tower had announced that this Inner Ring examination's difficulty would be moderately lowered to allow more apprentices to pass.
This announcement sparked renewed interest among apprentices who had initially decided not to participate. Subaru was one of them; previously uninterested, he now planned to take his chances.
That left only Carl.
He had already decided not to take part in this examination and hadn't seriously cultivated in the past few months, leaving him completely unprepared. Now, he felt utterly uncertain.
Subaru teased him, "See, I told you before: opportunities are reserved for those who prepare. Look at Lynch. He's been diligently cultivating every day. If you'd done the same, you wouldn't be stuck in this position now."
Carl chuckled, somewhat exasperated, "You fat idiot, is all your body fat stored in your face? Or was it someone else mocking Lynch for being boring and dumb just a while ago?"
Subaru's expression remained unchanged as he spoke earnestly, "That was just me trying to motivate him."
Carl rolled his eyes, casting him a look that said he couldn't be bothered, before sinking back into his self-absorbed emotions of regret.
He was both frustrated and remorseful now.
Subaru was right: opportunities are always reserved for those who prepare. If he hadn't slacked off and, like Lynch, maintained constant dedication to cultivation, he wouldn't have been so hesitant about this golden opportunity now.
At this point, it seemed there was little he could do but wallow in regret.
Subaru added, "What's there to hesitate about? Just go and take your chances. Since things are already like this, what do you have to lose? This examination's difficulty has been greatly reduced. Even if you don't pass, you probably won't get hurt. And if, by some stroke of luck, you pass, won't that be a huge win?"
After Subaru's patient persuasion, Carl finally decided to take his advice and went to register for the examination.
Thus, the first major test for the three of them in the Wizard World was about to begin...