Orthodoxy and the Test

Wizard Jack's words flashed through Benjamin's mind like lightning, instantly illuminating the cruel truth hidden beneath the Academy's promotional campaign.

In just five years, only 153 out of more than five thousand people had survived.

Those who had died were no ordinary cannon fodder. They were genuine wizards who had undergone ten years of professional training!

Those glamorous returnees were merely "survivors," the tiny handful who had lived among countless cannon fodder and successfully advanced.

The Academy showcased them to lure more inexperienced young people into rushing forward one after another to become new cannon fodder.

A bone-deep chill swept over him!

This Wizard World was far crueler and more realistic than he had imagined.

Wizard academies were not purely halls of learning, but breeding grounds and conveyor belts for massive war machines.

They urgently needed "fuel," and new apprentices were the easiest fuel to ignite.

The thirty-year contract was not merely a shackle. With such a high mortality rate, a contract of that length also represented the Academy's unspoken recognition of and expectations for the survival abilities of Logistics Department wizards.

Yet even so, the mortality rate among Logistics Department wizards was close to half...

As for the Combat Department... the duration of their contracts already showed just how horrific the casualties were. Wizards were no philanthropists, yet even they believed that as long as a Combat Department wizard survived on the front lines for more than five years, they would have recouped their investment.

Such a terrifying mortality rate, such brutal battles...

"Aren't you afraid?" Benjamin asked instinctively.

As a new student, he had already used up his quota of questions, but the wizards did not ignore him.

Hearing Benjamin's question, they exchanged glances. After a moment of silence, they all burst into laughter.

"Hahahahaha!!! How could we not be afraid? There may be people in this world who aren't afraid of death, but they are destined to be few!" The Potions Department wizard laughed as he rubbed Benjamin's head.

Benjamin's gaze grew even more puzzled. Wizard Jack understood the look in his eyes and lowered his head with a smile. "You don't understand why?"

"Yes."

"We are indeed afraid of death, but beyond death, there are things far more worth pursuing, things that drive us onward!"

"What?"

"Do you know? The myriad planes are vast—so vast that even the destruction of one plane is no more than an insignificant speck of starlight. On the other hand, that means there are nearly infinite possibilities."

As he spoke, Jack pointed toward the Combat Department's promotional stage. Mars, the Level 3 Wizard standing at the forefront of all the wizards, was signing an autograph for an apprentice.

"Do you see him? That fellow Mars only had Level 3 talent. In theory, he should never have been able to become an official wizard in his life, but look at him now..."

"Knowledge, power, lifespan, status, glory, wealth... Any desire can be fulfilled in the endless planes, and all you have to do is 'merely' survive on the battlefield."

"On the path toward pursuing your desires and ideals, no matter how high the mortality rate, it is nothing more than a 'necessary price'!"

Hearing those words, Benjamin's heart sank.

A necessary price?

Behind those casually spoken words lay unimaginable bloodshed.

The clamor and stirring cries in the square instantly became piercing and murderous in Benjamin's ears. Looking at those young faces yearning for glory and power, he could almost see their futures—falling upon battlefields in foreign planes.

"What a... cruel world..." he murmured.

"But it is also a world full of hope, isn't it?"

Seeing that Benjamin was somewhat dejected, Jack smiled meaningfully.

"Of course, the mortality rate in the Logistics Department is not actually that high. After all, the Logistics Department is Noren's true orthodoxy..."

"What do you mean?" Benjamin froze.

"There's no need to hide this from you. You'll find out when you sign the contract later anyway." Jack raised his head and looked around.

"The plane we are currently on is called Noren Plane 13. The so-called Noren Academy is actually just a basic talent-training base that supplies fresh blood to a wizard organization. So when you sign your contract, you will not be signing with Noren Academy, but with the wizard organization behind it."

"As for the name of that wizard organization..." Wizard Jack drawled, "It is called Noren Workshop."

Benjamin's eyelid twitched. There was a little too much information in that statement.

Leaving aside the astonishing fact that a wizard organization actually possessed multiple planes as reserve talent bases, the name alone was unexpected.

Since it was named a "Workshop," it meant that the wizard organization had at least initially been renowned for "manufacturing."

Viewed that way, Jack was not wrong to say that the Logistics Department was the true orthodoxy.

But...

"If the Logistics Department is the true orthodoxy, why use a method like this?" Benjamin looked around in confusion.

Compared to the sea of people in the Combat Department, the Logistics Department's area could only be described as deserted.

"If you do this... won't you miss out on many gifted talents?"

Not to mention the tangible disparity in benefits—even if someone truly saw through the danger, those young and exceptionally gifted people would surely be extremely confident that they were the protagonists of the world. Such people would basically never choose the Logistics Department.

"Because... this was originally a test aimed at 'wisdom.'"

At this point, not only Jack, but the surrounding wizards also wore proud expressions.

"People with higher talent do indeed cultivate faster, but for wizards, the most important trait is 'wisdom.'"

"Talent can be changed, but wisdom is inborn. Besides, now that we can travel to other planes, talent becomes even less worth mentioning amid endless opportunities. But unlike talent, wisdom has no clear outward manifestation, so the Academy came up with this method."

"The Academy has actually left behind many flaws. As long as one sees through the problems behind this promotion, it proves that they possess the ability to think independently without being influenced by their surroundings, sufficiently sharp insight, and... sufficient self-awareness. To become a wizard, these are indispensable abilities."

A wizard beside them could not help but tease, "I heard that back when wizards had not yet left the Origin Plane, in order to select those with wisdom, they would deliberately have apprentices travel by ship to the Academy's location and arrange all kinds of enemies along the way to test them."

"However, that testing method had too much attrition, and the intensity of the damage was difficult to control. In addition, we are currently in a period of major development, and manpower is needed everywhere, so it could only be replaced with this relatively gentle method."

Ignoring the discussion behind him, Jack reached out and dispelled the illusion barrier. He waved to Benjamin. "All right, question time ends here. What comes next depends on your own decision."