Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

Chen Lin's lips twitched, his brain racing. "I can sense something's wrong with your body. Trust me, I can help you. Tell me what's wrong."

"You're very clever," Ella said, tossing a roll of yellowed parchment covered in demonic writing titled "The Manual for Cultivating Iron-Corroding Fungi"—the very core of the dark magic that had transformed her body. Suddenly, the stitches in her left arm snapped open, revealing silver mycelium writhing between the gears.

"The iron-corroding fungus eats away at 30% of my mechanical components every month, requiring the sap of living magical plants to suppress it. Your snake vine toxin happens to be a catalyst, exacerbating the iron-corroding fungus's erosion." She pressed the scalpel against Chen Lin's forehead. "Prove your ability, or die with me."

Chen Lin touched her exposed mechanical joints, and the Seed of Origin resonated wildly:

[Target for Analysis: Iron-corroding fungus (Abyssal variant)]

[Symbiotic combination: Moonstalk moss + Snake vine venom + Host blood]

[Warning: Fungal consciousness has contaminated the host's pituitary gland]

"You've been infected by a fungus." Chen Lin pressed his palm against the mycelium. "It's forcing you to hunt down plant magicians to replenish your nutrients."

Chen Lin was silent for a moment, then said, "Give me a day, and I have a way to solve your problem, at least to delay the time it takes for you to be eroded by the iron-corroding fungus."

"And if you can't do it?" Ella's mechanical eyes were fixed on Chen Lin, the scalpel remaining motionless. "As you said, then die."

"As you wish, I will bring a gift when I come tomorrow." Ella's voice slowly faded away, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Chen Lin looked around at his residence, which had been occupied for more than six months. His residence was located in the "Mossy Corridor" on the lowest level of the college—a damp tunnel embedded in a crack in the earth's veins.

The walls here are covered with corrosive, fluorescent blue moss, and the air is filled with a sweet, fishy smell of hydrogen sulfide mixed with humus.

His "room" was originally an ancient goblin ore storage cave, a mere five square meters filled with botanical manuscripts and the remains of magical plants:

The ceramic jars arranged on the windowsill contained the moonstalk culture dishes that I had just looked at. The moonstalk, awaiting optimization, emitted a faint fluorescent light, and its tentacle-like rhizomes at the bottom undulated in the inferior nutrient solution provided by Chen Lin.

In the corner, an iron cage held a snake-patterned vine. The tip of the vine pierced into the body of a live bat to draw nutrients, but the vine itself was a gentle emerald color due to the suppression of the primordial seed.

Later, Chen Lin would need to transplant a few more snake-patterned vines to replenish the quantity, and the secondary protective array outside the iron cage flickered with a dim light.

The cracked stone slab served as an experimental table, covered with various potion formulas. At the center of the table were the potion formulas previously deciphered by the Seed of Origin, as well as the parchment provided by Elasor.

Ella's ghostly figure disappeared into the damp shadows of the tunnel, leaving Chen Lin alone to face the suffocatingly sweet and pungent air of the mossy corridor and the corrosive blue moss shimmering on the cold walls.

The cold, sweat-soaked back was chilled by the eerie wind from the cave, and the biting cold made him shiver.

There is only one day left.

Ella's problem is like a sword hanging over our heads, and although Derek's threat has been temporarily "resolved" by the Bloodvine, losing Derek, an open enemy, does not mean we are safe.

Chen Lin knew very well that in the thorn garden, as long as he demonstrated value, he would immediately become a new target; if he lost his value, he would immediately become fertilizer.

Ella's unusual "defense" today and the subsequent fatal deal prove this point—she saw Chen Lin's special qualities and regarded him as the cure for her own survival, not an ally.

"The Seed of Origin..." Chen Lin closed his eyes, feeling the cold, precision instrument-like core deep within his consciousness.

Its ability to analyze everything is its only reliance in this cruel world. Now, it offers a solution to save its life: [Symbiotic solution: Moonshine Moss + Snake Ivy Venom + Host Blood].

"The most urgent task is to optimize the moonshoe moss!"

He suddenly opened his eyes, his sharp gaze sweeping across the narrow cave. In the ceramic jars on the windowsill, the deteriorated moonshoe moss emitted a faint, almost suppressed glow by the blue, corroded moss, its rhizomes wriggling weakly in the inferior nutrient solution.

They need to be reborn.

None of the three materials required for the plan are easily obtained:

First, there's the sludge, which is relatively simple. The mossy corridor itself is filled with a swamp of decaying plant remains and seeping groundwater.

He took out a specially made leather bag with a faint anti-corrosion array engraved on the inner wall and walked to the deepest part of the tunnel, where the water was heaviest and the smell was most pungent.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of slippery black sludge, emitting a strong smell of decay. Chen Lin held his breath and carefully scraped away the relatively "fresh" top layer with a bone shovel, avoiding any corpses or more dangerous objects that might be underneath.

The Seed of Origin throbbed slightly: [Soil (rich in humic acid and microbial community)], confirming that it meets the requirements.

The leather bag quickly filled to about half full, heavy and emitting a nauseating stench.

Next came bat droppings. Deep within the abandoned mine shafts and ventilation shafts at the bottom of the academy, a large number of nocturnal bats lived.

Collecting their droppings meant venturing into dangerous areas. Chen Lin didn't have time to take the long way around to a safer collection point.

He recalled a small bat burrow near his daily cleaning route.

He took a covered earthenware pot and a short stick with a faintly lit crystal attached to the top, and carefully crawled into a narrow, cobweb-covered, and dripping abandoned mine tunnel.

The air was filled with a strong smell of ammonia and the distinctive stench of bats.

In the dim light, he saw countless black figures hanging upside down from the cave ceiling, and piles of white, crystalline feces below.

He suppressed his nausea and the risk of disturbing the bats, quickly scraped off the relatively dry surface with a bone shovel, filled the earthenware jar, and sealed it with the lid.

During the process, several startled bats squeaked sharply and circled above his head, their sharp claws gleaming coldly in the darkness. He quickly retreated from the mine tunnel, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

The earthenware jar was warm to the touch, and the fermenting aroma inside wafted out faintly through the gaps in the lid.

Finally, there's the cemetery worm slime, which is the most troublesome part.

The cemetery on the edge of the academy is where failed apprentices and experimental remains are buried, and it is also a breeding ground for low-level necromantic energy and dangerous worms.

There were rudimentary protective magic arrays and occasional low-level guards on patrol, usually menial tasks performed by higher-level apprentices or junior instructors.

Chen Lin had to sneak in late at night and find those specific slimy worms that could survive in rotting corpses and soil rich in necromantic energy.

He changed into a dark, old robe that could mask his scent as much as possible, and sprinkled several doses of the inferior "cloaking powder" (a powder with a negligible effect that could slightly conceal the scent of the living) on ​​his body.

He carried a specially made glass bottle with a thin layer of snake vine sap on the inside—the Seed of Origin suggested that the faint scent of this toxin could stimulate worms to secrete mucus and temporarily paralyze them, making them easier to capture.

The night was deep, and moonlight shone through the gaps in the top of the mine tunnel, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

Chen Lin crept to the edge of the cemetery like a ghost. The air was thick with the smells of earth, decay, and a faint chill.

He crouched low, hiding behind a leaning tombstone, observing. The guard was dozing lazily against a pillar at the entrance. He waited patiently until the guard began to snore.

With the help of his weakened spiritual perception enhanced by the Seed of Origin and his adaptability to darkness, Chen Lin quickly and cautiously entered the cemetery.

The ground beneath his feet was soft and sticky. He avoided areas that exuded a distinct deathly aura and searched near some relatively "fresh" graves of apprentices who had been buried recently.

Soon, he sensed a faint life movement beneath the soft soil.

He crouched down and carefully dug away the topsoil, revealing several large, fat worms, each as thick as a wrist, covered in grayish-white slime and emitting a phosphorescent glow!

They were slowly gnawing on the half-rotted finger bones in the soil.

Chen Lin's heart pounded. He quickly opened the glass bottle and pointed the opening at one of the worms.

As soon as the scent of the snake vine sap inside the bottle came into contact with the air, the worm immediately began to writhe violently, and its body secreted a large amount of transparent, viscous, egg-white-like gelatinous substance!

Chen Lin reacted quickly, using a small bone spoon to scrape off the mucus and pour it into a bottle.

The mucus made a slight "sizzling" sound when it came into contact with the sap of the snake vine on the bottle wall. The worms temporarily stopped moving due to the stimulation and paralysis.

He followed the same method, quickly collected half a bottle of slime, then immediately sealed the bottle, quickly backfilled it with soil, wiped away the traces, and quietly left the cemetery.

On his way back to the mossy corridor, he seemed to catch a glimpse of a familiar figure in the moonlight in the distance—Ella.

She seemed to move quickly in another area, her figure flashing by, leaving behind a faint smell of blood and the sound of metal scraping in the air.

Chen Lin felt a chill run down his spine and, not daring to linger, hurried back to his cave.

Back in the relatively safe cave, Chen Lin immediately began working. Ignoring his exhaustion and the stench clinging to him, he placed the three materials on the cracked stone workbench.