Saul signed the substitute teaching agreement on the spot.

Although the salary was pitifully low.

After signing the substitute agreement, Laura didn’t waste a single second, stuffed him with the previous instructor’s lesson plan, and left.

Saul walked up to the podium, casually told some apprentices who had stood up to bow to sit down, and began flipping through the lesson plan.

He had never really taught anyone before. His only current apprentice was still a first-level apprentice moonlighting as a fortune teller.

So he had never thought about how to conduct classes for others.

However, since he had decided not to rely on magical power to approach the boy—to avoid making any anomalies on him disappear—Saul naturally needed to first close the distance between them.

It would be best if he could get the boy to actively approach him.

In an instant, Saul had figured out his persona: a young wizard with some ability and some arrogance, but who often lacked a bit of luck.

Most of the students below weren’t paying attention to Saul’s actions. They were more focused on gnawing through heavy magic books or writing their own study notes.

They didn’t seem to truly care what this class would cover.

Saul looked at the class schedule. Third-level apprentices only had two classes per week, with each class lasting an entire morning.

The content in this teaching plan could be taught for a year.

Saul slammed the two-finger-thick lesson plan back onto the podium with a loud bang.

Several wizard apprentices sitting in the classroom jumped in fright, nervously watching the new instructor, afraid he might also pick someone he didn’t like and beat them up.

Here, higher-level apprentices bullying lower-level ones and instructors bullying apprentices were all too common.

Some people stayed out of trouble thanks to special status or abilities, while others couldn’t stand it and left.

But most apprentices still remained in the large lecture hall—after all, this was the cheapest academy available.

As long as they still wanted to continue advancing, these apprentices without much background could only endure the cultural environment here, then work hard and study diligently, hoping to one day advance to true wizard status.

Saul’s sudden book-slamming startled some apprentices in the front, but the further back the apprentices sat, the smaller their reactions.

Especially those in the very back row—they didn’t even lift their heads, focusing intently on their own affairs.

Saul’s target was resting his chin on his hand, looking sideways out the window at the sky, lost in thought about something.

Saul temporarily ignored them and instead braced his arms on the podium, leaning his upper body forward, using a slightly higher tone than usual, “Let me introduce myself first. I’m Saul, your substitute instructor. Unless something unexpected happens, I won’t be staying here long, so I’ll arrange the course content myself during this period. If any of you still want to study the planned curriculum, you can come here to self-study. As long as you don’t make noise, I won’t care whether you listen to my classes.”

As soon as Saul finished speaking, everyone looked at each other, and some immediately took out other books to read.

The three apprentices in the back row still showed no reaction.

Saul remained unhurried. He snapped his left fingers, and immediately a cluster of red smoke appeared to his left side, quickly condensing into several large characters.

“Locator Selection.”

Several third-level apprentices who had been watching Saul immediately widened their eyes.

“I’ve noticed that although you’ve all established connections with your locators, most of your connections aren’t solid.”

As Saul spoke, he walked down from the podium and casually grabbed an apprentice sitting in the front row, pulling him forward.

“Like this apprentice, who went through great effort to find a locator unsuitable for himself, then forced himself to transform to adapt to that unsuitable locator.”

Saul unceremoniously ripped open the apprentice’s robes, exposing the chest underneath.

This apprentice had a metal cylinder in the center of his chest.

It was hollow—the kind you could put your hand straight through.

When the outer robes were pulled away, the metal cylinder immediately emitted a “whooo whooo whooo” whistling sound.

“This garbage is essentially a wind-attribute locator. Oh right, what’s your name?”

“Da-David, instructor.”

David was completely bewildered.

Although third-level apprentices wouldn’t be particularly nervous about carefully concealing their locators, being exposed like this in front of everyone and having it called garbage made him very upset.

But stronger than his displeasure were fear and shame.

Because he also knew his locator was truly garbage, with almost no possibility of advancing to true wizard status.

And after other apprentices learned about this, they definitely wouldn’t regard him as an equal like before.

David struggled to suppress his spiritual body, preventing his agitated emotions from transmitting to his physical body and being detected by Instructor Saul.

Just as David was beginning to despair about his future, wondering if he should drop out like other third-level apprentices with no hope of advancement and find an ordinary job, he heard Saul’s voice again.

“I don’t know where you got this garbage locator formula from, or if the formula you obtained was incomplete to begin with. Either way, after your own modifications, it truly lives up to the name ‘garbage.'”

David’s head was already drooping toward his chest.

But then Saul’s words suddenly changed.

“However, you can also feel proud of yourself, because the one thing you did right was not completely ruining yourself for this garbage locator. And with some modifications, this garbage can barely be upgraded to ordinary quality.”

Saul snapped his fingers again, and the red characters “Locator Selection” beside him changed to “Compatibility.”

By now, except for the three apprentices in the back row, everyone else had raised their heads, staring intently at Saul and the nervous David, afraid to miss a single word.

“David, you’re wind-attribute. Choosing metal magical materials for your locator actually restrains wind’s flexibility.” Saul raised his hand and actually pulled the metal cylinder directly out of David’s chest.

David’s legs went weak and he nearly collapsed to the ground, but Saul caught him and prevented him from falling.

Saul held the locator and gave it a gentle shake. The entire locator immediately split into pieces, floating in the air.

Saul raised his hand and flicked lightly, directly throwing several metal components out the window.

“First, remove the garbage parts that can no longer be used.”

A seemingly unremarkable wooden board appeared in his palm, complete with scorch marks.

“Then replace them with more suitable materials. Oh, this lightning-struck wood is average quality, but it’s not cheap either. You’ll need to reimburse me with magic crystals later.”

David nodded numbly.

He was already stunned. How did he feel like Instructor Saul seemed to be… going to modify his locator on the spot?!

Saul’s hands worked like a precision machine, making a few cuts on the lightning-struck wood and transforming the entire board into uniformly shaped components.

Under Saul’s magical manipulation, these components directly formed a cylinder with a hexagonal cross-section in mid-air.

Then Saul flicked David’s original locator materials one by one into the new wooden cylinder.

“Then put the barely usable garbage left from your locator inside, and this becomes an ordinary-quality locator.”

Saul directly drew micro magic formations in the air with his hands, then inscribed them on the new locator before pushing the new locator back into David’s chest.

David looked down at his new locator, his face first showing terror—after all, this new one hadn’t been tested at all—then transforming into delight!

“You might need some time to adapt. Go back and meditate.” Saul pushed the dazed David back to his seat. “At least now you have about a thirty percent chance of advancing to true wizard status.”

Afterward, he walked back to the podium.

This time, even the three wizard apprentices in the back row looked at him with shock.

“So, can any of you tell what the truly important step was in my modification?”

(End of Chapter)