"Ashu?"
Carol was uneasy, with more anger and jealousy bubbling up, especially when she saw Anna standing in the water, looking like a beautiful water spirit.
"Are you two fishing here? I'm sorry, but I need to practice controlling my Magical Essence with my mentor here, and it might interfere with your fishing," Carol said.
Earlier, the wizard had mentioned that the cost of one potion was half of the tuition.
For Carol's family, that was an enormous sum.
She had hesitated at first, but as jealousy took over, she immediately grabbed the potion from the wizard's hand, opened the cap, and drank it in one gulp.
The wizard wasn't worried about Carol taking advantage of him. Once she used the potion, he was confident that he could collect his debt without any issues.
"Let's begin, mentor. I feel great now," Carol said after drinking the potion. Her eyes rolled slightly back, but she believed she felt fine, and the surrounding Magical Essence had become clearer to her.
The wizard turned his gaze to Ashu. This was the perfect opportunity to investigate Ashu and Anna's backgrounds. If he could understand their strengths, he could take appropriate action.
If both of them were below the level of a formal cultivator, then he could simply overpower them!
If that woman was very strong, however, he would have no choice but to focus on taking advantage of Carol's family.
The wizard's gaze shifted over Ashu, and his eyes became increasingly greedy as he looked at Anna.
But just as he was about to look at Anna, a flying shoe slapped him in the face, knocking off his hood.
Under the hood was a grotesque face.
Purple veins, like twisted tree roots, bulged on his forehead, his skin was flushed with blood, and his lips were dark black. At a glance, he looked like a ghost.
Ashu had used his Magical Essence to control the cloth shoe, and it gently hung on a nearby branch.
"I'm sorry, you two almost stepped on my shoe. I had to hang it on the tree for now. I didn't mean to hit you; I apologize," Ashu said.
The wizard gritted his teeth in anger but quickly put his hood back on. The hood not only concealed his expression but also hid his emotions.
He looked at Ashu, surprised. He hadn't noticed when Ashu had made his move this morning.
The shoe just now had been thrown quickly and precisely. Clearly, Ashu's Magical Essence control was far superior to Carol's.
And yet, her father was constantly praising Carol, saying that she was the true heir to spiritual perception, while Ashu was just a opportunist.
It was almost as if spiritual perception was something particularly impressive.
Moreover.
Based on what that guy had mentioned, Ashu had only started learning cultivator powers the day before. In just one day, he had this level of proficiency. If he wasn't a super genius, then he must have a master who was extremely skilled.
If it was the former, that was fine; he wouldn't mind eliminating a genius.
But if it was the latter, then he had no choice but to run.
A devious plan quickly formed in the wizard's mind.
He spoke, "Carol, his talent isn't as good as yours, but his control over Magical Essence is far stronger than yours, so you know what to do now, right?"
He couldn't risk himself, but he could use Carol to test Anna's abilities.
Carol was currently weak, but he still had more potions.
As long as he used the potions to boost Carol to the required fighting level, it didn't matter if she turned into a monster from the potion's effects. As long as he could determine Anna's strength, Carol's mission would be accomplished!
If Carol won at the designated combat level, he would simply go along with it.
If Carol lost, it would be Carol's family's problem.
"Mentor, I want to become stronger. I want to become a true cultivator!" Carol responded.
"Good. Let's move to a different place. I don't want you to be disturbed too much." The seemingly caring words, however, were laced with the wizard's poison.
He couldn't administer the potion to Carol in front of others.
Moreover...
The potion that could turn a weakling into a cultivator in a short time would cause severe damage to the human body, damage that would be permanent. She would become a monster.
The two of them moved to a secluded corner of a cornfield.
Watching as Carol's expression slowly returned to normal, though a dark bruise appeared on her neck, the wizard showed no signs of pity. He continued to manipulate her, saying, "Your father wants you to become better. He wants me to pass on my knowledge to you, but he only gave me the fee for a standard commission. Isn't that ridiculous?"
Mention of money caused Carol, whose potion's effects were wearing off, to feel overwhelming regret.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted impulsively and taken your potion. I'll find a way to repay you. Please give me some time," Carol said, tears welling in her eyes.
"Heh. If saying sorry was enough, then why do we even need the Cultivator Guild?" the wizard sneered. "My potion is precious, not just because it requires rare materials, but also because it costs me a lot of effort to make. Tell me, how could I grant you any leniency? With your current abilities, how long would it take for you to earn enough money to repay me?" The wizard pressed further.
"I—I'll do my best. I'll work as hard as I can..."
"Sure, sure, 'do your best,' 'work hard,' 'give your all.' Anyone can say that, but what's the point? I swore once to become a great wizard, but here I am, still barely scraping by in a small village. To be honest, your potential is even worse than mine was when I was your age," the wizard said, slightly undermining Carol's self-esteem.
Carol was broken.
She didn't have a strong mental defense.
"I'm sorry... I'll pay you back in ten years. I promise."
"Ten years? My God, ten years? Do you even know what you're saying? Why don't you just say you'll repay me after I'm dead?" the wizard mocked.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't have any other way..." Carol said desperately.
At this point.
The wizard suddenly spoke up. "No, you do. You still have one last chance. If you become a true cultivator, you can repay me for the first potion in one month."
Upon hearing this.
Carol's eyes lit up.
"Really? I believe in myself. I'll work even harder and become a cultivator as soon as possible!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Here we go again—'do your best,' 'work hard.' I don't like hearing that," the wizard said, pulling out a bottle of blood-red potion. "This is my latest creation. After using it, you'll quickly gain the strength of a true cultivator, but it comes at a high cost… But, well, if you become a cultivator and work for another year, you should be able to pay it off."
At these words, Carol's greed flared up instantly.
As long as she became a cultivator, she could pay off the first potion in one month, repay the second potion in another year, and after that, all she would have to do was earn money—money that would flow in endlessly!
At that point, she could make Ashu see her in a new light. She could leave this remote village behind!
Once she became a cultivator, she could transform from a simple farm girl in a backwater town into a vital force in the city, admired by countless people.
She could finally leave her despised parents behind and live on her own!
"I—I… I…" Carol became more and more excited as she thought about it. "Can I… really do this? Mentor, can I use this potion? Please, give me a chance."
"Of course, my apprentice," the wizard grinned, his plan succeeding.
He extended his withered, bluish hand, offering the potion to Carol.
Carol held the potion bottle with both hands, her eyes filled with intense excitement as she stared at the red liquid swirling inside.
She didn't hesitate for a second—only eagerness and impatience were in her heart.
The previous potion had already given her a taste of its power, increasing her control over Magical Essence.
But this new potion was entirely different.
It wasn't as simple as the first one. The alchemy required to make such a potion was far more advanced, and it took a higher-level practitioner to create it.
A low-level practitioner could only create potions that would result in the creation of a crazed beast.
Gulp—
Carol uncorked the bottle, opened her mouth wide, and poured the red liquid down her throat, even shaking the bottle to ensure not a single drop of the precious potion was wasted.
And this scene...
Was witnessed by Carol's father, who had been passing by.
Worried about his daughter being alone with the wizard, he had decided to keep an eye on her.
What he didn't expect was to witness this moment.
His eyes went wide, and his whole body stiffened at the edge of the cornfield, helplessly watching his daughter tilt her head back and drink the mysterious liquid.
Immediately after...
Her body began to twist and swell. The unknown potion compressed a terrifying and violent surge of Magical Essence, the wild power crashing through Carol's body.
Her throat couldn't even produce a scream of pain, and in an instant, her body had swollen to five times its normal size.
Her waist couldn't even support the expansion of her upper body, causing her to fall to the ground, her body supported only by her hands and knees.