003 Mentor

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Beneath the incantation, there was a description of the spell:

[Forbidden. Basic Transfiguration: Transform one object... or rather, uncover the true nature of the object.]

[Duration: 1 second]

[Consumption: All magical power]

[Effect: The moment you realize what it truly is, it becomes so.]

[Hint: Before casting, correct your perception—if you do not believe in reality, how can you perceive it?]

Roland focused intently on studying this forbidden spell.

After a moment, he suddenly realized that he had fully mastered this magic.

[You have learned “Basic Transfiguration.”]

“My capacity to accept, understand, and learn everything about the god Alaya is extraordinary... as if, as if I were that very fallen god incarnate.”

Roland’s expression grew somewhat intense. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

“Forbidden Transfiguration... this spell differs greatly from ordinary transfiguration.”

An object transformed by this spell is completely changed into something else.

For instance, if you believe the herb before you has matured, once transformed, it will immediately bloom and bear fruit.

However, after one second, the mature herb will revert to its original form, and the fruit it bore will vanish.

One second is simply not enough time to digest the fruit.

But if Roland transformed a wine glass into a “Holy Grail” capable of accelerating the herb’s ripening... then within that one second, he could use this “Holy Grail” to accelerate the herb’s maturation!

After the second passed, the grail would revert to a wine glass, but the herb would remain ripened.

What Roland now wished to do was to transform the broken wine glass before him into a Holy Grail capable of hastening the herb’s growth.

Snapping back to reality, Roland looked at the broken wine glass.

“Legend says that within the Amber Fern Forest lies a ‘wondrous artifact’ known as the ‘Amber Fern Holy Grail.’”

“Fill the Amber Fern Holy Grail with wine, and anything it touches will instantly bloom and bear fruit.”

“Baron Hall’s repeated and costly expeditions to the Amber Fern Forest were all in search of this Holy Grail.”

Roland picked up the broken wine glass.

Before using Forbidden Transfiguration, one must hypnotize oneself. He had to firmly believe that this wine glass was the Amber Fern Holy Grail for the spell to succeed.

“This broken wine glass is just a souvenir I casually bought from a street stall a few days ago.”

“Baron Hall and the sorcerers suspected my father had left me something valuable. So they repeatedly confirmed that the wine glass was just a trinket from a stall, not a treasure.”

“But I think I can double-check.”

“Because every cup is a Holy Grail!”

“And every Holy Grail is a butterfly!”

[You have gained insight! Telepathy +1]

Just as Roland was lost in self-hypnosis and muttering to himself, the door suddenly burst open with a bang. A cold and elegant woman clad in a witch’s robe entered.

Roland, who had been frenzied moments before, immediately shrank back. No longer babbling or fluttering like a butterfly, he wiped the sweat from his brow and buried his head in a book.

‘Damn it! Why did she come back so suddenly... Luckily, I was only hypnotizing myself and hadn’t cast the transfiguration yet, or it would have been a disaster.’

Each time he used the transfiguration spell, it consumed all his magical power. With his current reserves, after one use, he wouldn’t be able to cast it again for three days.

What’s more, if this elegant witch mistress discovered that Roland could turn a broken wine glass into the Amber Fern Holy Grail... well, that would be trouble.

Roland seemed very afraid of this witch. After she entered, he became extremely cautious, like a schoolboy confronted by his strict homeroom teacher.

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Indeed, this lady was Roland’s “homeroom teacher.”

She was his mentor, named Catherine.

Roland had seen her earlier that morning.

At that time, Roland had just transmigrated and had been babbling nonsense. He did not remember what he said, but after hearing it, the witch’s expression turned grim.

She had severely reprimanded Roland, and from that moment, he never forgot her.

The cold and elegant witch cast a cool glance at Roland, then drew a curtain in the middle of the room, dividing it into two sections.

Soon, the soft rustling of clothes came from behind the curtain. Roland glanced at the mirror and saw the witch’s feet on the bed, removing her aristocratic thigh-high stockings.

The witch suddenly furrowed her brow, and Roland quickly lowered his head.

—The terrifying “Cat Witch” feared by the townsfolk was none other than Catherine.

The villagers spoke of the Cat Witch as a dreadful creature that climbed walls and devoured people without leaving bones.

But this witch looked graceful, hardly the kind to crawl on walls.

By the way, the two of them currently lived together.

The mentor slept on the bed; Roland slept on the floor.

As the mentor began changing clothes, Roland drifted into a daze—not staring at the beautiful woman in the mirror, but fixating on the herb and wine glass before it.

“Three months ago, foolish as I was, I made a wager with my mentor. I bet I could advance to a low-level apprentice within three months. We even signed a magical contract for it.”

According to the contract, the mentor would neither kill Roland nor feed him to trolls during this period and would provide the resources he needed to cultivate. In return, Roland could not leave the mountain during these three months.

If he failed to advance within three months, he would be bound to obey the mentor’s orders forever. Even if she commanded him to marinate himself and feed himself to the trolls, he would have no choice but to comply.

The condition to terminate the contract was simple: advance to low-level apprentice.

In other words, if Roland failed to advance tonight, he would remain the mentor’s slave for life.

‘I have a feeling that even if I break through tonight, the mentor will feed me to her pet anyway.’

‘Maybe she’s raising me as a low-level apprentice only to feed me to her pet!’

“Low-level apprentices make better human ingredients than probationary apprentices, don’t they?”

Roland knew that with or without the contract, the mentor would eventually act against him. Their power gap was too great. His only escape was to run. But bound by the contract, unless he advanced, he could not leave the mountain.

Advancement was his only chance to escape smoothly.

Roland planned to secretly advance tonight and then flee.

“Stop staring at that herb you brought back.”

The curtain was drawn aside. Behind it came the cool and clear voice of his beautiful mentor: “The beautiful fishmen of Manhatos, also called the seed of wizards, are not named so without reason.”

“To make it bloom and bear fruit costs more than raising an apprentice to a full-fledged wizard.”

“If you truly obtain its fruit, it will enhance meditation not only for you but also for someone of my high... ahem, current high wizard rank.”

Suddenly, words appeared in Roland’s book:

[On the path of wizards toward godhood, there are nine stages, but there is no such thing as low, middle, or high wizard.]

[There are, however, low, middle, and high apprentices.]

[Of course, ordinary people generally don’t know this, so in the mundane world, apprentices are often mistaken for wizards.]

[Perhaps you could try addressing her as ‘senior apprentice’?]

Roland’s expression turned strange. He had heard Baron Hall say that Catherine’s power was unfathomable—that she was a very powerful sorcerer.

So was she actually only a high-level apprentice?

His mentor brought him magical newspapers daily to keep him informed of the wizarding world. From the news, high-level apprentices generally served as instructors, teaching newcomers in place of professors. So Catherine could indeed be a high-level apprentice rather than a formal wizard.

Of course, whether Catherine was a high-level apprentice or a full wizard, Roland dared not call her senior apprentice—she’d skin him alive!

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Miss Catherine’s voice rang out again: “In a moment, I’ll go to the witch market to meet the returning team. Boil some water for me—I need a bath. Then I’ll pack and feed ‘Anna’—the team departs tomorrow.”

‘Anna’ was the troll Catherine kept, and it ate two sheep a day.

By the way, Anna was a male troll—or so the mentor said.

Roland thought to himself, ‘Anna eats two sheep daily... what kind of troll has such a huge appetite?’

‘Judging from its appetite, Anna is no ordinary troll. I strongly suspect Anna is stronger than the mentor.’

‘Keeping pets stronger than oneself is very dangerous, especially since this pet is ill and frequently goes berserk.’

‘Once Anna goes berserk, the mentor becomes prey to Anna. So she needs insurance—me! When Anna rages, the mentor can toss me to Anna, and Anna will eat me instead of her, right?’

Roland liked to view things from the worst-case scenario. Given the mentor’s cunning, he believed she was capable of such a scheme.

“Didn’t you hear me? Go fetch water!”

Catherine snapped angrily, “And throw away that damned herb—I’m warning you for the last time today, I don’t want to see you lose your mind again!”

“Oh.” Roland obediently stood up.

Seeing Roland so compliant, Catherine breathed a huge sigh of relief.

That morning, Roland had acted strangely, failing to recognize her—his memories hadn’t fully merged, and upon realizing they lived together, he had thought Catherine was his wife.

So... they had a strange conversation, and Roland even embraced Catherine, calling her ‘dear.’

At that moment, Catherine was stunned.

She flew into a rage and severely disciplined Roland, teaching him the meaning of respecting one’s mentor.

Afterwards, Catherine tested Roland’s comprehension of the notes. To her shock, he seemed to have suddenly grasped the core of the notes overnight.

Roland had a sudden insight and muttered some words revealing his understanding of the notes’ essence—a revelation that made Catherine’s sanity waver.

What shocked her more was that she thought Roland’s words made sense.

In terror, she harshly reprimanded the brat and warned him never to study the notes or speak about them in her presence.

And most of all, never to call her ‘senior apprentice!’

Since then, Roland fully understood what kind of person Catherine was.

He obeyed her orders not to mention the notes in her presence, and Catherine finally relaxed.

She was incredibly curious about the Alaya notes and had tried to study them but couldn’t understand.

Now Roland seemed able to comprehend them... but Catherine dared not listen anymore.

At least, she didn’t want to hear anything about the ‘Alaya Notes’ anymore.

Yet... just as Catherine entered the room, she noticed Roland appeared to have another sudden insight!

Damn it! Catherine’s curiosity was once again stirred.

Then she saw Roland pouring wine over the herb.

The Manhatos herb has a trait: upon contact with alcohol, it rots within hours. So Roland had deliberately avoided using transfiguration and merely poured wine over the herb to create the illusion that the herb would rot and could no longer be ripened.

Thus, if a despairing probationary apprentice poured wine on this herb, it meant he had already given up on the foolish idea of ripening the herb.

This fit perfectly with the mentor’s earlier words: ‘Stop staring at that stupid herb.’

Catherine noticed Roland’s action and narrowed her eyes slightly.

‘This brat has given up on advancing tonight? Hmph, not bad. If you beg me, maybe I’ll give you some advancement potion tomorrow.’

A hint of pride flashed in Catherine’s eyes, but then her brow furrowed again.