The ink inside each Shadow Squid is worth quite a few magic stones, and Duke is reluctant to waste it.

This time he planned to try another method, manipulating the surrounding water elements to form an invisible hand.

This was Duke's first attempt at doing this. He had become increasingly adept at utilizing water elements and could develop more applications on his own.

This proficiency was thanks to his constant practice in the sea recently, where skill comes with practice.

The hand formed by Duke's manipulation of water elements worked even better than expected; the Shadow Squid was captured without any awareness.

To it, this hand was no different from the surrounding water, so it wasn't able to detect the danger.

Once caught, the Shadow Squid began to struggle violently, but the hand was like an iron clamp, firmly restraining it, unable to move.

Duke casually tossed it into the Space Ring, then continued to search for other Shadow Squids.

Two hours later.

This time, Duke was somewhat unlucky, having only caught two Shadow Squids.

He spent quite some time looking but couldn't find more Shadow Squids.

However, after being underwater for such a long time, the Underwater Breathing skill had leveled up once more.

This upgrade provided 0.1 Spiritual Power, bringing the Spirit attribute finally to 13 points.

[Constitution: 12]

[Strength: 12.6]

[Agility: 12]

[Spirit: 13]

[Free attribute points: 2]

He was now only two points away from the 15 Spiritual Power threshold of a second-class Wizard Apprentice.

Duke was still not in a hurry to use the free attribute points, preferring to enhance his Spiritual Power through regular practice to its limits before using the free attribute points.

This way, he could maximize the advantage of the free attribute points for the best cost-effectiveness.

More importantly, Duke wasn't planning on rushing to advance to the second-class Wizard Apprentice realm since he felt his knowledge was too limited.

With insufficient knowledge, he might encounter some unsolvable problems during the advancement process.

If he failed, it wouldn't just waste resources but also cause damage to himself, affecting his future development.

After returning, Duke dissected the two Shadow Squids he caught, extracted the ink, and combined it with other materials to continue refining a batch of Shadow Water.

After successfully refining it this time, he also put his own Shadow Water into a crucible for further refining.

Duke stretched out his hand, and shadows appeared on the previously empty back of his hand.

These shadows seemed alive, wriggling as they flowed into the crucible, merging with the Shadow Water inside.

After refining the Shadow Water with the crucible, the overall amount was reduced, but the intensity had increased.

He just needed to repeat this process, continually refining the Shadow Water to gradually enhance its strength.

Duke recalled the notes in "Basic Theory of Water Element," which suggested that by refining this way, the Shadow Water would eventually reach a limit.

Once at that limit, his Water Arrow Technique, initially at 0.1 degree, could be directly elevated to 1.2 degrees.

Such intensity was something any Wizard Apprentice would have to be cautious of, as without proper defense, a single hit could be fatal.

Duke did not know how many Shadow Squids it would take to achieve this effect, so he had to continue capturing more in the sea.

His schedule was full, and his days were fulfilling.

...

Two days later, Duke received a message from Simon.

The examination was approaching.

This was a Black Sail's irregular examination for Wizard Apprentices, allocated according to their abilities, with varying contents.

The message had not been officially released; Simon got this inside information through his channels.

The time was roughly two months later, and by then, apprentices like Duke who hadn't undergone an examination would undoubtedly be on the list.

The timing, location, and methods of Black Sail's examinations were not fixed, but they followed certain patterns.

Generally, newly joined Wizard Apprentices would experience an examination within a few months.

After passing an examination, usually, there wouldn't be a second one within six months to a year.

Participants in the same exam would be of equivalent realms; there wouldn't be a situation where third-class and first-class Wizard Apprentices competed together.

Duke also learned that a crucial aspect of Black Sail's examination was that killing among apprentices was often allowed.

This was related to the philosophy of Black Hand Morgan, the founder of Black Sail, a great Level 4 Mage.

Black Hand Morgan was originally a pirate and is both the founder and the highest leader of Black Sail to this day.

He believed that a wizard's combat strength was essential; staying confined in a laboratory would not nurture capable killers.

A long time ago, Black Sail was a purely Black Wizard Organization, with extremely bloody and brutal internal competition.

Now, with the advancement of Wizard Civilization, Black Sail had undergone significant changes, and many of its internal rules were no longer as ruthlessly cold-blooded, but it still retained some original ideologies.

Every examination resulted in the deaths of many Wizard Apprentices; the examination itself was generally not highly dangerous, and most who died were killed by other apprentices.

Many Wizard Apprentices formed groups before entering the examination, just to survive within them.

This was why Simon had been networking with other Wizard Apprentices since he joined, to expand his connections.

He naturally invited Duke to team up, suggesting that if they entered the same exam, they could cooperate.

Simon already had six other trusted Wizard Apprentices with familiar backgrounds.

After some thought, Duke agreed since no binding contract was signed, so he didn't fear any traps from the others.

Once in the examination, he'd just adapt to the circumstances.

After finishing his conversation with Simon, Duke began contemplating his subsequent plans.

His top priority must be to capture more Shadow Squids to enhance the strength of his Shadow Water as much as possible.

This was a direct method to enhance his own strength, which could be prioritized.

With the High-level Water Element Affinity Talent, Duke naturally wanted to make the most of this advantage.

Although he had only captured a few Shadow Squids over the past few days, it was already quite a lot.

Most Wizard Apprentices did not have his conditions and couldn't linger in the sea for such long periods.

During the examination, Duke's opponents would inevitably be third-class Wizard Apprentices.

With the Shadow Water technique, he had enough to handle various situations.

However, Duke did not let his guard down, knowing not to underestimate others.

He had only recently embarked on the wizarding path, lacking the accumulation and foundation that others had.

Duke planned to transform into a fisherman for the next few days, to capture as many Shadow Squids as possible.

Besides bringing Shadow Water to its limit, he would sell some ink for magic stones and strive to accumulate enough stones to buy one or two Demonized Items.

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