Thundermouse

After countless attempts, Emery found that catching the little creature was apparently much harder than he thought. Emery already gave up trying to catch the thing only using one root. It was simply impossible with his current proficiency of the spell.

Hence, he attempted the task with two roots instead of one. The roots came from both sides of the creature, trying to trap it. Alas, the little thing even managed to slip by with that setup, proving the job was extremely difficult.

Emery needed a lot of focus to just channel the spell and order one root into moving, and it was even harder for Emery to control both at the same time. The lightning fast speed the little creature exhibited also did not help in his endeavor.

While Emery was tortured by the little creature, he couldn't help but think that fighting against Lodos or Micah was preferable to this.

Without Emery realizing it, the sun was already rising at the horizon and slowly making its way up the sky, signifying the end of today's spell training. Even so, Emery was still unable to catch the little creature. Not even one time.

Emery laid down on the ground, beaten up and exhausted due to the training. He closed his eyes and rested for a while, before he rose up and walked towards the door. Emery turned his head to take a last glance, only to find out the little creature was five meters away from him.

The gesture the little creature showed annoyed Emery, as he was sure the creature was still taunting him. Emery also swore he could hear the slippery creature laugh at him with its piercing squeaks.

Calming his mind and dragging his somewhat exhausted body, Emery immediately went to Elder's Respite and spent the entire day cultivating inside the origin stone room.

[1000 contribution points used]

With today and yesterday's used contribution points, Emery still had 86,650 contribution points in his pocket. That amount was abundant enough to let him use the origin stone room until the last day of his second year at the academy. But currently, instead of resources, Emery's main problem was time. There were only 9 days until the third game and he needed to reach rank 7 acolyte with that amount of time.

-

Emery spent 8 hours in the origin stone room, sitting in lotus position and learning to absorb and cultivate his understanding of the plant element.

Plant Element, an element that was associated with life. Emery concentrated his mind, as he tried to delve into the true meaning of the element, hoping he would reach an epiphany.

Alas, despite spending the whole day inside the room, Emery was still unable to break through. But he surely increased his understanding of the element by a large amount.

Emery immediately returned back to the training cube and once again practiced with the thundermouse. And to his surprise, Emery felt he was able to control the roots faster and more precisely. However, he was unsure if it was his increased proficiency with the spell or his increased understanding of the plant element that allowed him to do so.

Even though Emery was still unable to catch the creature, at least this time he was able to wipe away the creature's arrogant attitude.

-

Day 3

After three days of continuous cultivation in the origin room, Emery finally broke through the next rank in the plant element.

[Emery Ambrose]

[Plant Spirit - mid foundation]

[Water Spirit - early foundation]

[Earth Spirit - early foundation]

As he reached the mid stage, Emery could perceive the power and control he had over the plant element had increased by a huge margin. And with this increased power, he was ready to catch the slippery rat.

During the night practice with the beloved rat, Emery felt the [Shadow Root Binding]'s roots were much more easier to control than before. Therefore, Emery swiftly casted the spell and ordered the roots to move upon his will, surrounding the thundermouse.

Within five minutes, the little creature was finally captured, as its body was entangled by two darkish roots emerging from the ground. Slowly, Emery ordered the roots to rise into the air, until the captured mouse was at level of his eyes.

As he walked closer to the now helpless creature, to his surprise, the once arrogant and annoying little creature has turned into a pitiable, asking for mercy with its two big eyes.

"Good job, Emery." Magus Xion, who had just appeared out of nowhere, said with a smile.

"Because of your breakthrough in the plant element, the challenge has become too easy for you. Therefore, we will increase the difficulty."

Emery realized the magus had come with another cage and released two more identical thundermouse. Emery reluctantly released the captured thundermouse and it immediately ran again, followed by its two new companions and started taunting him again. The three small creatures looked exactly the same and it seemed the newly two also shared the first's arrogant attitude.

Emery wonders with its annoying attitude, this creature really is the most brilliant training partner.

Immediately after, Emery casted three shadow roots, one for each of them. Unfortunately for Emery, the three creatures were heading towards different directions. Shaking his head, he could only order the roots to split up and go after them. Thanks to that, it became even more difficult for Emery to catch the creatures.

Emery immediately casted the spell to his current maximum ability. Two more roots emerged from the floor and chased after the creatures. But when he tried to control all five, the speed of the roots decreased by a lot.

Moreover, the thundermice were zooming all over the confined space making the difficulty of catching them shot to the sky. There was even one time his roots were entangled with each other because the thundermouses' paths intersected with each other. A new level of challenge that Emery needs to solve.

On the morning of the fourth day, Emery once again lay flat on the ground, defeated. Meanwhile, the three thundermouses already stopped their crazy streaks and watched the laying Emery with arrogant posture, including the first thundermouse.

Emery was so exhausted he unconsciously fell asleep. An hour later, he was woken up from his sleep by a notification.

[Apprentice, the apothecary exam will be held today, if you wish to participate, come before noon.]

Emery slapped his forehead as he read the message. All these matters of the game surely made him forget about the apothecary exam. It was said to be held once every month and it had been three weeks since Cedric told him about the exam.

This announcement did give him a headache. After all, currently he was really busy with his training in preparation of the game. Should he just wait for the next month's exam?

Emery swiftly walked out of the room and looked for Magus Xion, as he wanted to consult with him on this matter. Surprisingly, Magus Xion's response to the matter was not what Emery expected.

"You can go, Emery. Actually, you should go." Magus Xion answered calmly.

"Eh? Why, master? Isn't the game important?"

"The game is indeed important. But if you are able to become a successful artisan, your value would be even higher than becoming a magus."

Emery nodded his head, showing he understood. He turned around and was about to walk away when a question suddenly flashed in his mind,? "By the way master, will there be limitations on weapons or equipment in the third game?"

"No, there aren't. You are good as long as you don't use anything higher than tier 3."

"What if I use potions? Will it be alright then?"

Magus Xion thought for a second before saying, "It should be fine as long as it's still no more than tier 3 classification. But if it isn't your own making then it's the same case as the bloodline, it will not catch the attention of the grand magus."

Upon hearing that, Emery looked even more forward for the exam. At the end of the day, Emery always found the apothecary to be what he enjoyed the most.

Today, on the fourth day, Emery decided to take a break from his training and go to Golden City for his apothecary exam.