The First Test

"...Forget it, I can't reason with a barbarian like you who doesn't appreciate elegance or understand love." Du Pont looked at the beautiful large house made of stones in the distance: "Is that a tavern? This village is quite wealthy."

"Apart from the famous big cities like Silvermoon Federation and Waterdeep, Haluar is indeed considered wealthy. Even the villagers in the countryside, even if they can't afford stone houses, can still get a set of brick houses. Only the temporary shelters in the fields are still made of adobe for eating, sleeping, and escaping the sun."

"Although the era of Netheril is long gone, the Netherese descendants of Haluar are still tenacious enough. Even if a family doesn't produce a mage in one generation, there will be relatives who awaken as a Classed individual. Mutual help and a long-term peaceful environment have made their family fortunes solid. The overall environment can be said to be much better than the cruel world outside."

After speaking, he looked at Du Pont: "By the way, where is your hometown? How did you get assigned to this poor and backward Northwest?"

Haluar is surrounded by mountains and can be said to be a basin. The only place that connects it with the outside world is called the Talas Trail. If foreign countries attack, they will definitely start from here. At that time, in addition to the Talas Fortress, the Northwest Academy will be the front line to resist foreign enemies.

In addition to the external threat of war, there is also the Arklow Marsh to the south of the academy, where Green Dragons, Black Dragons, and a bunch of Sub-races live. The Northwest's intermediate and advanced Deeds almost all come from there. If you don't have the skills and haven't thought about it, it's not just talk that you'll be left without a corpse.

In addition, the Dean of this mage academy, Lavoisier, is also a famous radical, and can be said to be one of the representatives of the Halruaan New School of Magic. Although he is powerful, his relatively young age and insufficient foundation compared to other councilors mean he can only be assigned here to be the head of a college.

It can be said that any family in Haluar with a little bit of connections would not send their children here.

This question really stumped Du Pont.

The memories he inherited were incomplete. Du Pont came to school early and hadn't been back, so his memories of that place were already very vague. After thinking for a while, he said, "You've stumped me with that question. I only remember that there was a desert not far from my home, but I forgot what it was called."

"Desert? Are you talking about the area near the Nass Desert in the northeast?" Boulderstone suddenly understood when he heard this: "No wonder your dad sent you to the Northwest. The Nass Desert is basically the worst place in Haluar. It used to be plagued by Blue Dragons for many years. Although this Northwest is barren and there is a risk of war, it hasn't fought a war for hundreds of years, which is much better than your hometown."

Du Pont couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard this.

Damn it, everyone says the academy he's in is poor, but it turns out his hometown is even worse. No wonder Du Pont doesn't want to go back and his family rarely gives him money, even though his dad is a noble but still so poor.

What kind of benefits can a small noble get by relying on the desert and the threat of Blue Dragons?

However, Du Pont thought about it, isn't this the best time to bring up his current predicament?

However, mentioning money hurts feelings. Du Pont didn't want to capsize this newly acquired friendship, so he said helplessly: "Yes, so I really want to improve my strength as soon as possible, and graduate early and return home to do my part. Whether it's adventuring to make money or helping my family hunt monsters, it's all doing my best. Otherwise, if I encounter a call to arms to fight the desert Blue Dragons when I graduate and return home, I'm afraid I won't even know how I died."

Boulderstone felt a little confused when he heard this statement: "Haluar rarely fights with Blue Dragons now, right? The Dragon Cataclysm a few years ago severely damaged the Blue Dragon family and they were chased and beaten by the Haluar army. Where do those wastes have the guts to show their faces?"

Du Pont thought to himself, what's what, but he had already thought of a countermeasure: "Those Blue Dragons don't dare to cause trouble openly, but who can stop them from stealing cattle, sheep, and treasures? And they will hide behind the scenes and raise lackeys, letting human Sand Bandits or monster clans rob everywhere, but they are actually supporting them behind the scenes."

"Oh? That's a bit interesting, but it's still too early for you. At the very least, you have to become a formal mage and have a few trusted partners before considering this kind of thing. Those who dare to be Sand Bandits in that area must have some strength."

The two of them had already crossed the village while talking. Boulderstone didn't forget to flirt with some thick-waisted and big-assed village girls, and only spoke when no one was around: "How old are you this year?"

"14."

"That's not too late." Boulderstone pointed to a small house surrounded by a fence on the back mountain: "That's my home, I'll just give you some simple training."

Du Pont didn't speak, just nodded. Soon, a simple house built almost entirely of wood appeared in front of Du Pont.

"I used to have a woman who was a Druid. To make her happy, my house was built entirely of wood, but in the end, we didn't get along because of our tempers." Boulderstone's tone was flat when he said this, and you could hardly hear any emotion in his voice: "But I'm too lazy to change the house anyway, I can make do with it. This fence is about six feet high, it can't stop skilled thieves, but it's good enough to prevent beasts from stealing food when I'm not around. I usually just jump over it, you have good bones but lack training, can you do it?"

"I don't know, I haven't tried it." Du Pont was honest: "There are almost no opportunities for physical training in the academy except for the staff course."

"Try it, if you don't stretch your muscles, you'll just have a body for nothing. Even if you team up with teammates, a mage can't just throw spells around. There are many times when you have to be forced into close combat or even fight against many enemies at once. You have to know that those monsters like to live in groups and don't talk about martial ethics, they all swarm up."

"Mage Armor can't cover your whole body, not to mention some powerful monsters also have good skills and abilities. If you don't have a certain amount of close combat skills, you can't withstand the desperate attacks of those whose homes have been invaded. By the time your teammates come to support you, you may have become a pile of rotten meat."

After Boulderstone finished speaking, he patted his thigh: "Watch, just do this."

Boulderstone twisted his neck, and a burst of bone cracking erupted in a short half second. Then he got up and ran, his legs stretched out in mid-air like a cheetah, and he jumped high. The next moment, he was already on the other side of the wall.

Du Pont looked at his slender thighs and felt a little unreliable: "Where do I have such strong explosive power as you?"

"Actually, I didn't use much strength, didn't you see I used a running start? If I only used muscle explosion, I could jump over here directly from the spot. Those Monks who travel outside can easily jump to the roof 3 meters high." Boulderstone said as he jumped back: "Try it, at worst you can use Mage Armor. There are no spikes on the top of this wooden fence, it will only cause some bruises at most. But be careful when you come down, don't be unlucky and break your neck."

"Forget it, Expeditious Retreat not only increases stride length but also adds some jumping ability, I should be able to do it." Du Pont said as he pressed his legs. His body flexibility was actually not bad, but his low agility led to generally poor reflexes. In layman's terms, he would definitely be a noob playing CS2.

However, Du Pont was still a little worried: "I see that the top is still a bit thin, what if I get caught on it? Won't it scrape my intestines out?"

Boulderstone looked carefully and gestured: "No, your legs are long enough, you can definitely get over it if you rush forward, you won't scrape your stomach, at most you'll scrape your balls."

Du Pont took a breath of cold air after hearing this: ".You say that and I feel my legs are a little weak, can I not jump?"

"This wooden fence is right here and doesn't move, and you see it and your legs are weak. Then when the Goblins come over with spears, won't you be scared out of your wits?" Boulderstone snorted disdainfully after speaking: "Besides, don't you still know magic? If you don't trust yourself, don't you trust the power of magic?"

".You wait for me!" Du Pont hissed. He took a deep breath, took a few steps back, and started to run.

"Fuck!"