The next day, at the first light of dawn, Kale woke up in his bed.

Thankfully, in the apprentice dorm, everyone had single rooms, so there was no need to share, which was something that Kale greatly appreciated, as he preferred to be alone, busy with his own thing, rather than dealing with other people.

Within 10 minutes, he was ready and out of the room, his forehead wrapped with a bandanna, to cover up the cursed Soul sigil mark.

As he exited the room, a memory of the past flashed in his mind: days when he often ran with all the kids in Dagan village at the first light of dawn, where he was always the fastest.

So, in remembrance of that memento, he ran with his full speed once again, but unlike those times, there were no shouting kids behind him who would give chase, who would be furious with him for going at full speed.

It was a small flicker of nostalgia, awakened by the spur of the moment.

Manifesting from the longing in his heart. Yet, there was nothing he could do; he could only grit his teeth and shake off those feelings forcefully.

Eventually, he came to stand in front of the Dark Gray tower that represented the main knowledge and research hub of the Fleshcraft profession. It was quite tall and imposing, probably more than 10 stories tall.

And just like this one, there were two other designated towers for Toolcraft and Pillcraft professions.

Taking out the token given by Lazek, Kale showed it to the guard standing at the tower’s massive doorway.

The guard gave the black token a few scrutinizing looks, as if he didn’t remember whose symbol it was, but the instant he remembered, his expression changed drastically, and he stared at Kale in slight shock.

The man exclaimed, "You? You’re the new disciple of Master Oberon?"

Kale nodded, "Yes."

The guard looked at him for a few more moments as if memorizing his appearance, then he coughed and stated with a slightly amiable tone, "Master Oberon is on the 5th floor, chamber number 512, and may I ask for your name?"

While stepping inside, he replied, "Kale..."

After that, no one stopped him, and he went directly up the staircase to the 5th floor, then knocked on the designated room.

Rustling sounds came from inside, and his master opened the door. When he saw Kale, the cold and aloof man could not help but smile at him, but Kale did not reciprocate; his expression was stoic.

But his master did not mind the attitude and said, "Well, come on in then."

Kale’s eyes flickered in surprise, looking at the immense size of the chamber; from outside, it did not look so large. But inside, it was easily the size of a medium basketball court.

One part was filled with books; another with equipment; another section seemed messy; and there was a large desk and table, filled with papers, an ink bottle, and a feather pen.

Lazek asked him to sit down on one of the chairs in front of the desk, while the man went towards the messy corner to get something.

His master came back with a small box in hand and set it on the table, saying, "Open the box..."

Kale opened it after a moment of hesitation and saw a gray piece of cloth with a strange white symbol on it.

Lazek added, "That symbol represents certified Fleshcrafters belonging to the Association. Wear that on your head, with that on your forehead, unless Grandmaster rank Awakened examine you carefully, even they won’t be able to tell your Cursed status at a glance."

"As for those below, even if they do inspect you, it would be useless."

"Wear this for now, I’m already thinking of making a special enchantment for you that can help suppress all traces of the curse completely, but that will take a week," revealed his master.

Kale nodded, "Thank you..."

Then, removing the previous headband, he put on the new one.

His master paused for a while, looking at him deeply, as if lost in thought. After a minute of silence, he spoke, "I know that your main goal is to find a way to break the curse, which I do understand, and I will assist your endeavor to break the curse with the best of my ability."

His voice then turned regretful, "Because in the end, no matter your potential, as your Awakened Pathway is not that of an Artificer, you cannot progress beyond the inherent limit of three or two ranks in your partial pathways."

Kale nodded; he already knew of this information. For example, in his case, his two Partial Pathways were Artificer and Psion. Considering his greater affinity for the two lay in the Artificer pathway, at best, he could become Grandmaster Artificer, as for the other partial pathway.

No matter how heaven-defying he was, he could not progress beyond a Master Rank Psion. That was the limit of the Partial pathways.

Lazek voiced again, "But regardless of it, as long as you can grow stronger and delve deeper into the Artificer pathway, I believe you can attempt to break the curse, in the opportune moment."

Kale could only sigh in his heart; there was absolutely no way to break that curse. The system’s word choice in that matter was extremely clear. It was only possible to circumvent the curse, and not break it.

Because it was a fierce curse inflicted upon him by the strongest existence of this world, even if the very heavens willed it, it could not be broken, unless he himself stepped onto the same plane of power.

He could only try to find a loophole in it, just like the system stated. If not, he would die...

Kale nodded towards his master, as if sensing his somber mood. Lazek shifted the topic, "Now allow me to explain how you can advance and become an Apprentice Artificer."

He explained, "The principle behind it is quite simple, actually, you either have to make an Apprentice rank Tool, or a Pill, or perhaps create a Feral rank, Chimera. I would suggest advancing with the profession that you will be focusing on most in the future, or the profession that will be most helpful to you in breaking the curse."

Kale asked in confusion, "What do you mean by Feral rank Chimera?"

His master chuckled, "Technically speaking, the test given to the Candidates is in itself an incomplete and crude assessment. The real process of making any living or non-living entity truly of the Apprentice Rank still has much more difficulty and extra steps in it."

"Why else do you think you did not get any enlightenment in the Fleshcraft test?" said Lazek after a pause, and then he smiled, "It was not because you were not good enough, but rather because the very tests were incomplete, especially the Fleshcraft test."

The man said in resolution, "Your talent in all three Artificer Professions is greater than even mine... so I guarantee you my disciple, once you attempt the real Fleshcraft experiment, you will 100% achieve Enlightenment in this path as well..."

A slight trace of surprise flickered in Kale’s eyes,

After that, Lazek stood and said, "Kale, follow me, let me show you something...interesting."

Kale followed his master towards the leftmost corner of the room, where an invisible door opened at Lazek’s touch.

The moment Kale entered, his footsteps came to a halt, and his eyes narrowed in shock. The entire room was filled with hundreds of small and large cages. Numerous creatures were stationed there.

But that was not the reason for his shock.

All the beasts in the cages were not natural beasts; they were all modified; they were all Chimeras.

However, for some reason, despite all these beasts being Chimeras, there was barely any disharmony in them. Even if there was, it was incredibly faint.

As if the modifications were all quite thought out, before they were done on the creatures. By "modifications," Kale didn’t mean simply attaching or removing body parts between species.

Rather, it was a change in the very core of the Beast’s to produce certain controlled mutations.

As Kale walked ahead, the shock still visible on his face, he took a closer look at one of the creatures in the small cage. It was a wildcat, but now it had large wings on its back. Those wings were grown right above the front two legs of the Beast.

Kale could easily tell that those wings were not for long-range flight, but short-duration flights.

Yet, at this moment, Kale came to a mind-numbing realization, seeing the creature’s reaction, which made his pupils dilate.

The significance of that thought-provoking concept was so shocking that he forced himself not to think about it, and his expression quickly returned to normal because he would have to verify it first.

Lazek observed his student’s reactions with a warm smile, as if the Fleshcrafter were seeing his own past self reflected in Kale to a certain extent.

But little did he know that the simple act of showing Kale his own creation of Chimeras had helped his disciple to find the very first clue, the first clue... to his salvation.