Wizard

The Silver-Winged Gryphon flew at incredible speed.

In less than an hour, it passed over several cities and range upon range of mountains. Great Banyan City really did have a lot of mountains.

When Chen Chuan passed through a barrier invisible to the naked eye, he distinctly sensed a special energy stirring in the air.

A complex of buildings appeared in Chen Chuan's view. Looking down, he saw silver-gray alloy domes, towers, and training grounds, all with a cold, hard military-industrial air.

To his surprise, some of the buildings had a distinctly different style.

The towers shone with a dim blue light. Faintly visible patterns flickered along their spires, while a ring of light hung unsupported in midair, slowly revolving.

Farther away, many magical beasts of all shapes and kinds ran and played on an enormous lawn.

Chen Chuan also saw quite a few Silver-Winged Gryphons in groups.

"This is Nanli Base, the largest base in the Southern Military Region. Most of the beasts you see are mounts for the knight orders, and some are pets belonging to people with the hunter class. We have a full range of facilities and trained specialists here to care for these magical beasts."

The Griffin landed steadily in a plaza about a kilometer from the lawn, and Chen Shaohua jumped down first.

He patted the Griffin on the head. A chunk of meat suddenly appeared in his hand, and he tossed it into the air.

With an eagle's cry, the Silver-Winged Gryphon they had just ridden took wing, caught the meat in midair, and flew toward the nearby lawn.

"Follow me."

Chen Chuan hurried after Chen Shaohua.

The two headed toward the tower radiating a dim blue light that Chen Chuan had seen from the air.

At the tower's base, quite a few people in military uniforms and others in what were clearly combat outfits came and went.

Many soldiers along the way snapped to attention and saluted Chen Shaohua, their movements crisp.

But when their gazes swept over Chen Chuan, they all lingered for an extra moment before returning to normal.

The room had no windows. A long table stood in the center, and behind it sat a gray-haired old man wearing thin-framed glasses, with a thick stack of paper files beside him.

"Elder Gu, I've brought Chen Chuan here." Chen Shaohua saluted the old man.

"Thank you for your efforts, Shaohua." The old man nodded to Chen Shaohua, who then went straight out and closed the door.

"You must be Chen Chuan, young man." He smiled at Chen Chuan and spoke first, his voice steady.

Chen Chuan paused, then understood. Chen Shaohua had been sending messages the whole time they were on the Griffin, probably contacting this old man.

Then Chen Chuan thought of home. I wonder if Zhao Tie has told my parents yet. Sigh, I'll deal with that later.

"I'm Gu Changgeng, currently a general in the Blue Star Federation's Southern Military Region and the highest-ranking person in charge at Nanli Base."

"I've already asked the school to notify your family, so you don't need to worry."

The old man seemed to have noticed Chen Chuan's concern and offered an explanation.

Chen Chuan smiled. "Thank you, General Gu."

Gu Changgeng waved a hand. "Just call me Elder Gu, like the others do. There's no need to call me General."

Chen Chuan said, "All right, Elder Gu. General Chen just said I awakened the spirit branch. Why have I never heard of it?"

Gu Changgeng took off his glasses and slowly wiped the lenses.

"Everyone knows that red light is the physique branch and green light is the agility branch. In fact, there's a third kind—blue light, the spirit branch.

"In over four hundred years, only three people on all of Blue Star, including you, have awakened the spirit branch."

Although Chen Chuan had already learned on the way that only three people had awakened the spirit branch in over four hundred years, when this old man in a high position emphasized it again, he still felt an inexplicable weight settle on him.

"Then... what exactly is the spirit branch? Is it related to classes?"

Gu Changgeng glanced at him but did not go into detail. He simply said calmly,

"Yes, but we'll have to look at your spiritual power value for the specifics."

He put his glasses back on, stood up, and straightened his collar. "Follow me."

Deep inside the base was a spacious white hall.

In the center stood a machine Chen Chuan had never seen before—a silver-white ring-shaped seat with dense crystalline patterns embedded in its inner walls, like a heart that had been split open and then closed again.

A young woman in a white uniform was bent over it, making adjustments.

Hearing footsteps, she turned around. Her face was somewhat pale, but her eyes were startlingly bright.

"Elder Gu." She nodded to Gu Changgeng, then glanced at Chen Chuan. "Is this him?"

"Mm." Gu Changgeng nodded. "Follow the procedure, one test at a time."

The young woman's name was Xiao Ya, a researcher in the Southern Military Region's mechanical department.

Xiao Ya said, "This attribute tester was adapted from an instrument brought in from the Valot Plane, with adjustments for the values of humans from the Blue Star Federation."

Chen Chuan said, "The Valot Plane?"

"That's right," Xiao Ya said. "It's a plane one level higher than ours, and both of us are members of the Wizard World Alliance."

Although Chen Chuan was curious about the Valot Plane, he saw that Xiao Ya had no intention of continuing, so he asked no further questions.

Xiao Ya said, "Next, lie down in the instrument and empty your mind. Whatever sounds you hear, ignore them."

Once Chen Chuan had lain down inside the tester, Xiao Ya pressed a red button beside it.

A green light came on, and Chen Chuan slowly closed his eyes inside.

The patterns on the inner wall of the seat lit up one after another, and rings of dim blue light washed over his body, as though countless fine needles were gently probing into his brain.

About ten minutes later, a series of numbers appeared on the screen beside the testing pod.

Physique: 1.2

Agility: 1.1

Xiao Ya watched the instrument's readings, paying them little attention at first.

Chen Chuan's physique and agility values were quite ordinary, but then she saw that his spirit attribute was still buffering.

"What's wrong?" Gu Changgeng asked.

"There seems to be a problem with the spirit attribute." Xiao Ya's voice tightened.

The gauge representing his spirit attribute value raced toward the top like a needle gone mad.

Xiao Ya jerked her head up, her face deathly pale. "Elder Gu, it's beyond the measurement range. This instrument... can't measure it."

The hall was so quiet that breathing could be heard.

"How much?" Gu Changgeng's voice was hoarse, a rare occurrence.

"At least... more than ten times that of an ordinary person. Beyond that, there's no scale on this thing. No one can say for sure exactly how much."

Xiao Ya bit her lip. She bit her lip.

Gu Changgeng said nothing. He stared at the instrument, glowing so brightly it grew hot, and fell silent.

Chen Chuan sat in the seat, his fingertips still tingling from the scan.

In fact, judging by the attribute values on the Crimson Panel, he knew his spirit attribute was already close to twenty times that of an ordinary person.

They returned to the windowless room.

Gu Changgeng poured another glass of water and pushed it in front of Chen Chuan.

He sighed.

"We don't know much about Spirit Branch class options on Blue Star. To this day, Blue Star knows of only three classes."

"The first is mage. We learned of this class from the Valot Plane. Mages can use spiritual power to draw on the Weave and thereby gain extraordinary power, controlling magic of multiple attributes. Legend has it that ninth-tier mages can even reset spacetime and enter the river of time to travel to the past and future.

"But there's a prerequisite: the plane must have a Weave system. As far as we know, only mages of at least the fourth tier can construct a Weave. Although we currently have fourth-tier classes, none are mages. Unless you're willing to go to the Valot Continent, you can't change to that class. The risks outweigh the opportunities, but there is a slim chance."

"The second class is the telekinetic. They turn pure spiritual power into telekinesis, then use it to control weapons or their own bodies. The advantage is that they only need to learn a few techniques; essentially, it's about strengthening their telekinesis. If their telekinesis grows too strong, however, their bodies can't handle the strain, and they can easily die suddenly. In you young people's terms, they're like squishy college students: strong damage output, but their health bars are too low. If you want to change to this class, we can arrange it immediately. We obtained it through an exchange with a technology-branch plane, and we have the complete set of techniques up to the fourth tier."

"Of the two who came before you, one chose the mage class four hundred years ago, in the early years of the new calendar, but was killed while still an apprentice. Even his body remains in Walot; it was never brought back."

"The other chose the telekinetic class two hundred years ago. In a war between planes, he sacrificed his life to kill a fourth-tier god from a low-level plane while he was at the third tier. According to later records, that god was only at the peak of the third tier and had forcibly advanced to the fourth tier with the help of the plane's will, so his foundation wasn't solid. Even so, that astonishing feat of a third-tier fighter taking on and killing a fourth-tier god made the Blue Star Alliance's name known among the nearby planes."

"As for the third class..."

Gu Changgeng fell silent for a few seconds, then suddenly spoke again.

"Wizard."

It was a class unique to the Wizard World, the supreme plane of the star region they were currently in.

"Wizards believe in equivalent exchange, including when it comes to knowledge. They are absolutely calm and absolutely powerful. I've heard they have many paths for subsequent class changes, and they are the absolute rulers of the Wizard World. Every president of the Wizard World Alliance has been a wizard of the seventh tier or higher."

Gu Changgeng looked Chen Chuan in the eye and spoke each word deliberately.

"In three months, the Wizard World will recruit wizard apprentices from the various planes. As far as the Wizard World is concerned, as long as you can pass its test, you can enter the Wizard Academy and have a chance to change your class to wizard."

"From what I've learned, they look only at base spiritual power. They want nothing less than absolute geniuses. With your spiritual power, you could definitely change your class to mage or telekinetic, but I think your spiritual power should be enough for you to try becoming a wizard."

Gu Changgeng paused, his voice growing a little lower.

"But there's a fatal aspect to the Wizard World's test: you only get one chance. If you fail to gain admission to the Wizard Academy, you'll be erased. Your spiritual power talent will become a sacrifice, nourishment for those who successfully enter the Wizard Academy. The choice is yours."

Chen Chuan fell silent upon hearing this.

That sickly body in his previous life, that life cut short.

Was he afraid of death? In his previous life, he had been. After all, he had been under twenty.

But this life was as if fate had casually given him a turn.

He wanted to hold his fate in his own hands, even if it meant being smashed to pieces.

"I choose wizard."

Chen Chuan's resolute voice echoed through the room.