Diary of a Dead Wizard-Chapter 8: The Enthusiastic Senior Definitely Isn’t a Bad Guy

The young man leaned lifelessly against the podium at the back of the classroom. It was a long while before he finally spoke again.

“My name is Lokai, I am a Second Rank apprentice. The handbook—you can come up and get it yourselves. Read for ten minutes first.”

Even his voice sounded drained.

But very soon, some enthusiastic boys and girls went up to help distribute the handbooks.

Once his hands were free, Lokai chanted a spell in a tongue no one understood and made two hand gestures.

Whoosh.

The mess on the ground vanished.

The new apprentices, who had already witnessed how Sid killed the fat boy, didn’t react with much alarm to Lokai’s spell.

This left Lokai, who’d clearly meant to show off a little, looking even more dejected.

The two boys sitting to Keli’s left stood to fetch forms and brought back ones for both Keli and Saul.

Keli took hers without hesitation, while Saul gave a quiet “Thank you.”

“No need, no need,” said the wide-eyed boy, looking a bit surprised. “I’m Doze, and he’s Rocky. We’re in rooms 613 and 614. We can study together and help each other out.”

If this were a normal school, this would be a good time to make friends.

But Saul didn’t think they’d really end up learning together as wizard apprentices. After all, everyone’s affinity element and chosen mentor could differ.

He lowered his head and looked at the form in his hands.

There were only five mentors listed in total. That was the entire faculty of Gorsa Wizard Tower. Each name had a short description, indicating their primary elements and areas of expertise.

Most had one or two primary elements. Their areas of expertise varied more widely.

Saul’s eyes immediately landed on Mentor Gudo’s name. Right next to it was a mentor named Kaz.

Kaz – Primary Element: Dark. Specialties: Necromancy, Ghost Studies, Corpse Preservation, Limb Grafting.

All of them were deathly fields.

Saul was reminded again of Kongsha’s terrifying face. He quietly marked a check under Kaz’s name.

Then he pulled out the handbook and skimmed through it. There were far more details and rules than what Gudo had said earlier.

When he was a servant, he’d never encountered this many rules.

But maybe that was because servants didn’t get exposed to this kind of information and didn’t need to know it.

Just then, he noticed from the corner of his eye that Keli, beside him, was frowning deeply, chewing on the cap of her ink pen.

She hadn’t moved in a while.

“What’s wrong?”

Has Keli discovered some hidden message?

Keli removed the pen cap and turned to Saul with a serious expression.

“My strongest elemental affinity is fire. But there isn’t a single mentor who specializes in it.”

Before Saul could respond, she looked back down at the form.

“So I can only pick gold as my main element? Damn it… I’m not happy with that at all.”

While she said this, her tightly furrowed brows relaxed. Who could say how much of her frustration was real?

This wizard tower wasn’t a proper academy. With only five mentors, it was natural they couldn’t cover every primary element.

Just like Saul’s dark element—only Kaz specialized in it.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

That thought made Saul’s expression grow serious.

Wait a second… How did Kongsha know that his strongest affinity was dark?

Was it all coincidence, or had someone arranged it?

Staring at Kaz’s name, Saul’s brow furrowed slightly.

Up on the platform, Lokai had finally recovered from his earlier slump. He straightened his back and asked the class kindly, “If you have any questions, now’s the time to ask.”

Hands quickly went up.

Some asked about the rules in the handbook. Others, like Keli, had the same issue.

Just as Saul had suspected. If a mentor for your strongest element wasn’t available, apprentices had to choose their second-strongest as their primary.

In worse cases, it might be their third or even fourth.

Lokai patiently explained for half an hour. He was thorough, almost to the point of being long-winded, but he answered each question clearly.

Even when he couldn’t provide an answer, he pointed out what to watch out for.

Even Saul became absorbed, temporarily forgetting Kongsha’s shadow over his thoughts.

Suddenly, Saul felt a poke on his arm. He turned his head and saw Keli retracting her finger, motioning with her eyes for him to look ahead to the right.

Saul looked up and saw the boy who had stood in front of him during the apprentice test—the one who’d turned to glare at him. That same boy was now glaring at him again with hatred in his eyes.

Once he noticed Saul had looked up, he held his gaze for a moment, then turned back around.

“Who is he?” Saul leaned slightly to the left and whispered.

Keli still sat perfectly upright.

“Duke. His best friend died on the way here. A Third Rank apprentice guiding them refused to help.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“At the time, that Third Rank apprentice said, ‘There are too many people.’”

Because there were too many people, the wizard apprentice let one die on the road.

Then, during the test, a few more people than expected showed up.

Saul turned his head forward in silence. After a moment, he said, “It has nothing to do with me.”

“Ha!”

Keli let out a short laugh, though it was unclear at whom she was laughing.

The two of them returned their attention to Lokai’s lecture, neither mentioning Duke again.

“...In short, as long as you devote most of your energy to learning the basics, there’s no need to worry about failing the test.”

Lokai clapped his hands together to conclude.

“Alright, my mouth’s gone dry. That’s all for this explanation. Has everyone filled out their forms?”

He gave a small cough.

“Before I collect the forms, let me introduce my Mentor Anze. That’s right, the very first mentor listed on your form. His primary focus is earth-element spells. He can also teach wood. But in truth, he has research in water and poison as well.”

Lokai’s face lit up with a big smile.

“No need to worry if your primary element isn’t listed. Mentors are official wizards. They don’t need to stick strictly to their main elements to teach you. Even if you’re a dark element apprentice, choosing Mentor Anze is totally fine. Besides, you’ll also have us seniors to guide you.”

“In short, welcome to Mentor Anze’s big family!”

Lokai bared his teeth and wiggled his eyebrows, looking completely approachable.

Swish, swish, swish—

Saul noticed several people instantly began changing their selections on their forms.

Even Doze and Loki, sitting on Keli’s other side, were revising theirs.

Doze even leaned over and suggested, “Let’s all pick Mentor Anze together! Look how enthusiastic Senior Lokai is—he’ll definitely help us study. We’ll improve faster that way.”

“Nope!” Keli rejected him instantly without even thinking.

Saul shook his head, too.

These apprentices had all been brought from the outside world. They might still have illusions about the people in the wizard tower.

But in Saul’s mind, these wizard apprentices and mentors were always in a hurry. They never stayed for anything irrelevant.

If one ever stopped in front of you then don’t be glad. That just means they might need to use you.

And how would they use you?

Saul’s skeletal left hand was a constant reminder: if you have no strength, no value, then your body is all you have to offer.

A one-in-ten chance of survival… or none at all.

Lokai finally finished pitching his mentor and asked everyone to bring their forms forward.

Doze again tried to help deliver the forms for Keli and Saul.

But this time, both chose to bring them up themselves.

As Saul approached the podium, he glanced sideways and was surprised to see that Keli had chosen the very same Mentor Gudo, who had come and gone in a storm earlier.

After all, picking Gudo, after that one retching display really did take a lot of courage.

Once the forms were turned in, Lokai told them they could return to their dorms. A servant would deliver all necessary supplies.

Everyone left in high spirits, bidding farewell to the senior as they made their way out.

The large classroom on the tenth floor quickly emptied and quieted.

Lokai organized the forms in his hand, straightened them on the podium.

Hee hee hee...

He suddenly chuckled.

(End of Chapter)