Mickey's Astonishment, Finally

In the blink of an eye.

A week had passed since the fifth assessment.

"The Minor Energy Potions are used up."

Ian looked at the row of potions in the box before him, but they were all empty now.

The Silver Moon Lake Family's support had yet to arrive, but he had not collected this month's reward either.

After stretching his body, Ian rose and quickly made his way to the Castle.

"Hello, Lord Mickey!"

Mickey the owl stood blankly atop the giant wolf stone statue, as though he had just woken up.

His red eyes, encased in white facial feathers, rolled and noticed Ian's arrival.

"Ian, long time no see!"

The owl nodded, but then his huge eyes gradually widened.

Even as he watched Ian's back disappear inside, he seemed to remain trapped in some daze.

"Didn't he only get started a month ago? How has he already condensed runes?"

Mickey felt rather blank at that moment.

He had sensed the wizardry runes of the Wind Blade Spell.

But how was that possible?

Hadn't he not even gotten started a month ago?

"Did I see wrong last time? Or had he actually not begun practicing yet?"

Mickey blinked, and the more he thought about it, the more likely the latter seemed.

Then a chill ran through him.

Raising a spell to proficiency was easy, but condensing runes was not something that practice alone could accomplish.

Ninety-nine percent of wizards did not even know such a thing was possible.

Only geniuses from prosperous lands would attempt it, because it concerned advancing to become an Official Wizard.

Yet this boy before him condensed runes as easily as drinking water.

"Feels like I've hooked a big one."

Mickey blinked, feeling as though he had turned up gold from the dirt.

"Should I give him some special care? No, investing costs too much. No one is getting even one of my Magic Stones?"

Mickey sank into a struggle.

"Forget it, forget it, better forget it. No one's competing with me for him anyway. But I can't give money—I'll give him something that doesn't cost Magic Stones,"

Mickey muttered madly to himself before finally making a difficult decision.

"Little Ian, that's so many Magic Stones again. Won't you give me one to taste?"

More than ten minutes later, as Ian came out, Mickey flapped his wings to draw his attention.

Ian's eyes lit up as he stepped outside.

Could it be?

He hurriedly handed Mickey a Magic Stone.

"Not bad. This feather contains a certain amount of magic power. Throw it out, and it can unleash quite a powerful force—equal to the full-force strike of a Second-class Apprentice Witch. An ordinary intermediate apprentice witch might not be able to block it."

Mickey sent a feather flying toward Ian.

The full-force strike of a Second-class Apprentice Witch.

That powerful?

This was far too generous.

Who knew how the rumor that Mickey was greedy for money had spread.

"Thank you, my lord."

Ian was deeply sincere. This was enough to serve as one of his trump cards!

As Ian left, he did not know that, not far away, an apprentice witch was staring wide-eyed at the scene.

"You get something for feeding him?"

His eyes widened.

He hurried over at once.

"Lord Mickey, please enjoy this Magic Stone." He respectfully presented a Magic Stone to Mickey.

Mickey's red eyes rolled lazily, his beak parted slightly, and the Magic Stone shot into his mouth with a whoosh.

The man waited for a response.

But the owl closed its eyes as if nothing had happened.

The man said anxiously, "My lord, the feather..."

Mickey preened its feathers and looked at him. "You want a feather for one Magic Stone? You're greedier than a Magic Beast."

The man hurriedly took out another Magic Stone.

Mickey swallowed it in one gulp.

Then shook its head.

The man fell into a struggle.

But Mickey was still unsatisfied.

Its sharp beak snapped open, and five Magic Stones flew from the Wizard's pocket.

They flew straight into the owl's throat, swallowed along with a crisp, rattling crack-crack-crack that echoed even louder than the sound of gulping.

"Now it's barely enough."

Mickey smacked its beak in satisfaction, then tucked its neck in beneath the man's stunned gaze.

"But I'm tired today. We'll talk another day."

Then it closed its eyes and actually drifted off to sleep.

The man didn't dare truly provoke Mickey and could only fret helplessly where he stood.

Only then did he suddenly remember the owl's nickname.

"Greedy Mickey!"

Beneath the moonlight.

Ian looked at the feather before him.

"It'll probably take a few more days before I can comprehend it."

Ian felt incomparably fortunate, as though he had landed a critical hit while feeding it.

"Tomorrow, I'll ask Logan and the others to make a trip to the market. Then it'll be time to meditate and prepare for the final assessment."

Ian took a deep breath.

In the blink of an eye, it had been nearly nine months since he had entered the School.

"When the original owner left, it was still March in the kingdom. Now it's already November."

Though so much time had passed, it felt like only an instant—like it had only been a few days.

At this moment, he could already faintly feel a trace of chill.

"It seems much colder here in Veridian Forest than in the mortal kingdom. Is that just an illusion?"

Ian suddenly froze.

This was the first time he had noticed the weather. In the past, he had always ignored it without thinking.

He was a knight, his blood and vitality vigorous—not to mention the protection of magic power.

Yet he could actually feel a trace of cold.

"Is this also because of magic power?"

Ian looked toward the distant Veridian Forest. The boundless woods resembled a black ocean, as though they would swallow everything whole.

It probably wasn't winter yet, but the temperature was already low.

Perhaps in a few more months, it would grow even colder.

"I really am no longer on Earth."

At that moment, after resting for a while, Ian was suddenly overcome by an inexplicable sense of disorientation.

"So I need to become stronger. They say those powerful Wizards can even travel through the astral realms. Maybe I could return home someday!"

Ian suddenly became resolute.

Perhaps it was merely a beautiful fantasy, but he was willing to leave a small place for that fantasy in his heart.

Of course, first he needed to secure his first-stage goal.

The final assessment for advanced study.

But that would not be easy.

As the final assessment approached, all the family Wizards and second-generation Wizards gradually began to exert themselves.

With vast resources poured into them, their progress had been tremendous. It was even said that many of them had begun using high-grade potions.

Without question, this was bad news.

"But so what!"

Ian's eyes flickered. Others were growing, and so was he—faster than them.

He was about to condense his eighth Mental Power Rune.

In the blink of an eye.

Several days passed.

Ian emerged from the Training Ground.

"This is the tenth day, and the gains have truly been enormous."

Ian calculated silently.

Over these ten days, his final wizardry, Elemental Barrier, had finally reached Master Level, granting him three Talent Points.

It should have reached that level last month, but unfortunately, he had spent much of that month on the Wind Blade Spell.

"My Talent was originally 172. Now it's 178. Aside from Elemental Barrier, the other tricks together only provided three Talent Points."

Ian frowned.

As time went on, tricks were becoming less and less useful to him.

At most, they would give him another two or three points. It was about time to wrap them up.

"Still, a few Magic Stones' worth of Compendium of Tricks gave me a full forty or fifty Talent Points. That's already a huge profit."

Ian pressed his lips together.

After that, he would have to gradually build upon ordinary zero-ring wizardry.

The costs would rise sharply.

"So I need to enter a core department as soon as possible. Wizardry gets a twenty-percent discount there, and I'm just a little short of the eighth Mental Power Rune."

The final assessment was divided by rank. Eight runes and seven runes were two entirely different ranks.

He had to make the most of his time.

In the blink of an eye.

Six months had passed since Ian and the others entered the advanced stage of study.

Amid the increasingly frigid winter winds.

On the day before the assessment, Ian successfully condensed his eighth Mental Power Rune.

The next day.

The final assessment arrived.