Because Jack is not a slave, although he also does chores and is bullied by the necromancy students, these necromancy students do not treat him the same way they treat Brian. He still gets beaten and scolded, and occasionally used for small experiments, but they don't treat him like a slave whose life or death doesn't matter.

All along, Brian has actually been very envious of the chubby Jack, because the chubby Jack always gets enough to eat and doesn't have to endure such inhuman torment. And chubby Jack can only find a bit of confidence in himself when he's with Brian, so the two of them are quite close.

"Whew, that scared me to death, Brian, you're not dead, that's great!"

"What's so great about it? I'm starving, Jack, do you have anything to eat? If you do, hurry up and give it to me, I'll pay you back later!"

After saying this, Ryan Carter noticed that the chubby Jack didn't say anything, just stared at him blankly, his chubby face with two little bean-like eyes looking very odd. Ryan Carter frowned and asked impatiently, "What's wrong, do I look that good?"

Jack was stunned, then looked at Ryan Carter even more strangely and said, "All these years, you've never asked me for food on your own initiative. It's always me giving it to you, and then you eat it. Also, you never talk to me like you just did. Brian, I think you're a bit different!"

Startled, Ryan Carter thought to himself that even people like Lisa hadn't noticed anything different about him, but this dumb fat Jack actually sensed it from his very first sentence.

Thinking back and recalling Brian's memories, Ryan Carter realized that Brian basically never spoke to the necromancy students—he just did whatever they told him to do, with no real interaction. But Brian and Jack would talk from time to time. Most of the time it was Jack talking and Brian listening, but since they'd spent so much time together, it was no wonder Jack could sense the difference so quickly.

With a laugh, Ryan Carter smiled slightly and said, "This time I was hit by Lisa's 'Wraith' and almost died. After this, I feel like I wasn't living right before, and I want to change myself a bit."

Hearing this, Jack let out a big sigh of relief, nodded, and said, "So that's it. I thought you got hit by the 'Wraith' and turned stupid!"

Ryan Carter: "…"

"Here, this is the black bread I hid away, you take it and eat. I'm really glad you're not dead. Everyone thought you were dead, and since they haven't found a new chore boy yet, they gave your work to me. I had to get up early and rush over here, and on the way I bumped into Buck by accident and got beaten up by him. Even my left eye is bruised!"

As he handed a piece of blackened bread to Ryan Carter, the chubby Jack spoke happily. It seemed that not having to do Brian's work made Jack very happy.

Looking at the bruise around Jack's left eye, Ryan Carter took a vicious bite of the black bread and suddenly said angrily, "Buck hit you again? That's outrageous! Come on, let's go get revenge!"

Jack was startled, jumped up and grabbed Ryan Carter, using his weight to hold him back, and said in alarm, "Brian, are you crazy? Haven't we gotten used to this by now? Buck is a necromancy magic apprentice! It's not the first time we've been beaten. As long as he doesn't make trouble for us, we should be happy. Why go looking for revenge?"

With a cold snort, Ryan Carter said, "Don't worry, I've got my ways. I'm crazy now. The necromancy students should all know I'm crazy. I'm fucking crazy, who am I afraid of!"

Shouting, Ryan Carter dragged Brian and swaggered out of the storeroom. The magic energy inside Ryan Carter seemed to be spinning even faster!

Chapter 4: As Flat as Bread

Early in the morning, all the necromancy students got up in a hurry and headed to the Dark Arts teaching building. Jack was flustered and reluctant, but after hearing Ryan Carter's plan and realizing that Ryan Carter was seeking revenge for him, even someone as timid as him wasn't afraid. Was he really less than Brian? So in the end, Jack agreed.

On a bluestone path, surrounded by many statues of outstanding students from the Babylon Magic and Martial Academy throughout the ages, these statues were enormous and lifelike, the pride of the academy.

One of Brian's jobs was to clean the dust off these huge statues. Since he was about ten years old, he'd been dragging his small body to do this work. Back then, Brian was even shorter and had to carry a little ladder to barely finish the task, or else he wouldn't get to eat.

Standing next to the statue of a great mage with a big beard, wiping the chest of this great mage named Claire and brushing out the dust, Ryan Carter said to Jack, "Hey Jack, wouldn't it be great if one day our statues could be placed here too!"

"Brian, stop daydreaming. We're just chore boys. As long as we can eat our fill and not get beaten every day, that's good enough. How could we ever become mages! Oh... Brian, you really are a bit different now. You never used to daydream, and you definitely never came up with such bad ideas!"

"Why not?"