Time gradually passed.
Soon, it had been one year.
Within the silent and sparse laboratory, Chen Heng stood by himself.
Compared to one year ago, his appearance had somewhat changed. His figure was taller and straighter, and he gave off a unique aura.
By now, Chen Heng was 20 years old; this was when one's life force was at its peak.
By now, Chen Heng's body had finished growing and he was in his peak condition.
His appearance was mostly set, and it most likely would not change anymore.
"I'm very close…" Chen Heng's expression was calm as he thought to himself.
Over the past year, as he continuously did Meditation, his magic power had reached a new level.
A Third Rank Apprentice's magic power was between 50 ku to 100 ku.
Those who surpassed 100 ku had reached the boundary of Third Rank Apprentices, and could become a true Sorcerer.
Chen Heng had already reached this standard.
The effects of Moon God Worship were better than Chen Heng had expected. Using this high-level Meditation Technique, he held a great advantage over other Sorcerers.
With this advantage and his own circumstances, he had reached this standard.
Of course, Chen Heng had worked hard during this time as well; otherwise, he would not have reached this level so quickly.
Standing in the laboratory, Chen Heng sank into his thoughts.
He was thinking about his future path.
As a transmigrator, his mental energy was naturally powerful, and he had reached the level of becoming a true Sorcerer.
Chen Heng's weakness, magic power, was no longer a problem.
He had fulfilled all of the requirements for ranking up.
However, if he really wanted to rank up, he still needed some things.
This included some medicines as well as some other things; there were many things that Apprentices needed to break through to true Sorcerer.
Despite having Level 4 Sorcerer talent and a good foundation, if Chen Heng wanted complete certainty of succeeding, he needed the support of some things.
When he had left from the Hunter's House, Charlie had given him some things, but they did not include the supporting things for ranking up.
If Chen Heng wanted to become a true Sorcerer, he would have to gather those things.
This was quite a big problem for Chen Heng.
Back when he had left the academy, he had not thought that the situation would be like this.
What Chen Heng had been expecting was that by the time he was close to becoming a true Sorcerer, the war would be over already.
However, this was not the case; the war was still continuing in the region that the Hunter's House was in.
The Sorcerers were split into many different factions as they fought, destroying the order there.
This made it so that it was incredibly difficult to obtain some things.
Apart from meeting the basic requirements, Chen Heng also required a true Level 1 magic skill framework and corresponding gold potions.
Among those things, Chen Heng did not lack magic skill frameworks. Putting aside the ones from the Hunter's House, just the Legacy Stone that Yana had given him had many of them.
In fact, there were even more magic skill frameworks from that other Sorcerer gathering place than in the Hunter's House, and they were more unique.
The problem for Chen Heng was the gold potions.
Gold potions were potions that were incredibly necessary for becoming a true Sorcerer.
They were incredibly precious, and only potion masters with great experience could refine them.
Normally, these precious potions would only be found in those Sorcerer organisations.
Even if Chen Heng wanted to buy some with magic stones, he would not be able to.
This was the biggest problem troubling Chen Heng right now.
It was not that he had to have gold potions for ranking up; it was just that the chance of success would be much lower, around 20%, without them.
This was a very big percentage, and Chen Heng did not dare to gamble on it.
With his current circumstances, even though he could try ranking up without gold potions, it was still risky.
It would be far safer to use gold potions as support.
"Based on my guesses, during the rank up processes, I can use more than one gold potion…" Chen Heng thought to himself, "With my constitution, I should be able to use three. Under such circumstances, I will have a greater chance of becoming a true Sorcerer."
The uses of gold potions were not set.
Ordinarily speaking, young Sorcerers with great power and lifeforce could use more gold potions, meaning that they would have a greater chance of ranking up.
With Chen Heng's circumstances, simultaneously using three gold potions would be no problem at all.
It was a pity that getting even one in the current situation was hard enough.
"During war times, potions and magic-infused objects are all things that become quite difficult to obtain."
Standing there, Chen Heng thought to himself, "Even if I head back to the Hunter's House, it would be hard for me to obtain enough potions… unless I'm willing to join a faction and join the war…"
However, Chen Heng quickly shook his head and dispelled those thoughts.
Despite being in this continent, he had heard how the situation was over there.
Over the past five years, many true Sorcerers would die every year.
With Chen Heng's strength, if he went, it would be very dangerous.
If he had no other choice, he might have to go, but there was no need for this.
After all, he wanted to find gold potions to reduce the risks of ranking up.
If he put himself into danger in order to obtain the gold potions, he would be putting himself in great danger for just a chance at getting some gold potions.
This was something that he could not accept.
"I'll just patiently wait…" Chen Heng thought to himself.
He was only 20 years old and his lifeforce was at its peak.
Compared to others, he had a lot of time.
"However, I can still do some tests…" Chen Heng thought as he worked in his laboratory.
He wanted to go back to the Hunter's House to take a look.
Before the Hunter's House had closed, there were some Apprentices who had been left behind to look after it.
Perhaps through those Apprentices he could find out where Charlie was, as well as when the academy would open again.
In order to confirm these things, Chen Heng decided to find an opportunity to head back sometime.
Time gradually passed.
Half a month later, after finishing what he had to do, Chen Heng began to return to the Hunter's House.
He got on a ship and headed back towards that region.
On the way, Chen Heng saw some other Apprentices.
Because of the war, there were far fewer Sorcerers heading to that region; rather, most were avoiding that region.
However, now, there were also some people going there, hoping to obtain some things.
There were many rogue Sorcerers or Sorcerers from small schools.
These Sorcerers without much background lived tough lives and did not have much hope for progressing.
This war was something that Sorcerers from Sorcerer families wanted to avoid, but to these rogue Sorcerers, it was an opportunity.
After all, all parties would want to rope in Sorcerers to boost their strength.
As such, it was possible to obtain some things that were ordinarily impossible to obtain.
Thus, Chen Heng saw quite a few Sorcerers heading towards that region.
Chen Heng was not very surprised and usually stayed in his room.
His goal was just to obtain some information. He did not want to make any trouble, so it was better to keep as low of a profile as possible.
His experiences from his past told him that if one wanted to live long, one needed to keep a low profile.
That was why unless he had to, Chen Heng preferred to stay low.
It was a pity that even though Chen Heng did not do anything, something unexpected still happened.
Some shockwaves spread out, causing the entire ship to sway. There seemed to be someone casting magic skills, affecting the ship's advance.
"What's going on?"
Sensing the shockwaves, Chen Heng could not help but frown, and he did not hesitate to go out.
Soon, the situation was revealed to him.
They were only halfway to their destination, and all around them was the vast ocean.
In front of them, there were many Merfolk floating before them.
The Merfolk looked very strong. Each of them was taller than an ordinary person, and they looked quite different.
At this moment, they were rushing at the ship fearlessly.
"Merfolk!"
Another Sorcerer shouted with a grim expression, "Why are these fellows here?"
"Damnit! The ship's magic power ripples attracted them here!"
Sorcerer Apprentices continuously shouted.
Most people on the ship were Sorcerers or people related to Sorcerers, and they immediately realized what was going on.
The Merfolk was a special race that lived in the ocean. Their factions were quite strong and were not much weaker than Human factions.
These Merfolk were very sensitive to the aura of magic power, and they could accurately sense it even from far away.
The reason they had charged over here was because they had sensed the ship's magic power aura.
"Dammit! Why are there Merfolk in this region?"
On the deck and looking down at the incoming Merfolk, a middle-aged Sorcerer's face was ashen, "Their faction's territory shouldn't be here!"
"It's war!"
Someone else guessed, "The war has affected them, causing them to slowly move over here. They most likely just moved over here, but we ran into them."
This sounded quite logical.
Ahead, the savage and tall Merfolk continuously roared as they rushed over.
Magic power aura rippled out.
At this moment, some Sorcerers finally acted.
"Attack together!"
Someone loudly shouted, "If we don't act, we'll all die at their hands!"
The Merfolk nobles loved to eat creatures with magic power, and Human Sorcerers were one of their favorite foods.
Almost everyone on the ship were Sorcerers, and they were all delectable morsels.
If they did not unite together and resist and were defeated by these Merfolk, their outcomes would be quite gruesome.
All of the Sorcerers present understood this, so they did not hesitate and began to gather their magic power.
In the air, a faint blue orb of light was gradually condensed, giving off a blue light, before slamming down.
Boom!
An explosion sounded out.
Below, a Merfolk Sorcerer was hit by the orb of light and instantly died.
Dense magic power aura spread out, and the remaining elemental particles were extremely clear.
"It's the ship's Guardian Sorcerer!"
Seeing this, the Sorcerers all became excited.
To be able to use such a magic skill to attack, that Sorcerer was evidently a Third Rank Apprentice.
Third Rank Apprentices could rival Great Knights, and in some smaller places, they would be peak-level existences.
Sensing this powerful magic power aura, the various Apprentices could not help but become excited as they drew their swords and sabers and prepared to fight.
At this moment, they did not look like Sorcerers but rather like Knights.
Of course, this could not be helped.
Apart from Third Rank Apprentices, who had grasped some magic skills, for First Rank Apprentices and Second Rank Apprentices, even though they had magic power, they did not have the strength to cast magic skills.
They could only rely on the bodily strength that their magic power had brought about.
Naturally, they currently seemed more like Knights than Sorcerers.
Chen Heng was more or less the same.
As everyone began fighting, he raised his sword and rushed over with the other Apprentices, defending against the Merfolk.
He was incredibly strong; he was a Third Rank Apprentice, but his melee skills were incredibly impressive.
Each strike was guaranteed to kill a Merfolk.
With him at the center, there was soon a pile of corpses around him.
All around him, the other Apprentices were also fighting. It was just that watching Chen Heng, they could not calm down.
Chen Heng's clothes were now completely red with blood, making him look quite chilling.
As a Third Rank Apprentice, his constitution was not any inferior to a Great Knight's. Given that he had also activated his Life Seed, his body's strength was incredibly powerful.
Even a Great Knight would not be a match for his current self, let alone these Merfolk.
Soon, Chen Heng had achieved what he wanted, with Merfolk corpses all around him.
It was a pity that the fighting was still ongoing.
Otherwise, he definitely would have dragged the corpses away.
Even though they did not have very pure bloodlines, they were still a unique type of bloodline creature.
If he could refine their bloodline essence, he would definitely make great gains.
Thinking to there, Chen Heng felt that it was a pity.
Ahead, strange ripples spread out.
Chen Heng paused for a slight moment before quickly leaping away from where he had been.
A shadow instantly covered where Chen Heng had been, and magic power auras appeared and swept out.
"Magic skill?"
Sensing the magic power aura from that place, Chen Heng frowned, "These Merfolk have Merfolk Priests?"
Merfolk Priests were essentially the Sorcerers of the Merfolk people.