The Elderly Wizard

If not for the many people seated below watching them, Zhao Xu almost blurted it out.

After taking a moment to recover, he realized Antinoa had to be joking.

Perhaps the sudden incident from a week ago had been related to this very matter.

"Stop joking, Mentor." Zhao Xu curled his lip.

"I'm not joking. A Legendary Mage on rotation can handle it. At Final Scroll, what we lack least are Legendary Mages. As long as someone is willing to put in the effort, headquarters certainly won't object."

"Never mind once a month—even if you did this every day, it would be no problem."

Although Zhao Xu knew he had latched onto an enormous thigh, he still could not help drawing a sharp breath at those words.

A level 17 Wizard capable of casting ninth-level spells could become a king if he wished, or even gather an army and become a lord-level ruler himself.

It was never a question of whether it could be done, only whether one wanted to do it.

The problems faced every day by a level 21 or higher Legendary Mage had to rise to the level of saving the world.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xu could not help casting a slightly sympathetic glance toward the corner where Wang Ningwei sat.

The fact that these players could sit here and awaken at this time meant that, in their Previous Life, they had essentially been delayed for a full five days, perhaps even longer.

There might even be a few among them who had been quietly harboring ambitions, striving for the honor of being the first to complete the Mage Academy's training.

Unfortunately, this was Mystra. For countless centuries, innumerable top-tier and exceptionally gifted Mage Apprentices had been sent here.

No matter how extraordinary a genius was, they had to tuck their tail between their legs here.

Zhao Xu's gaze slowly swept across the hall. Looking at Arthur's native spell apprentices, he asked in mild surprise.

"Mentor, is there some way to spend money to improve a Wizard's talent?"

Antinoa followed Zhao Xu's gaze and glanced over. "You've reversed cause and effect."

"Let me ask you: if you were a lord, or even a king, would you be more inclined to send your children to become Wizards, or Fighters?"

Only then did Zhao Xu fall silent.

Although those native Wizard apprentices all wore the academy's standard apprentice robes, with nothing but the same badge as his pinned to their chests—

Zhao Xu had once been a guard, and his eye was exceptionally sharp.

At a glance, he could tell that there were definitely quite a few nobles among these Wizard apprentices.

It was precisely this unusual number that had prompted him to ask.

"The most direct way to improve a Wizard's talent is to raise the Intelligence Attribute."

"However, among the people below, no more than five have read a Contemplation Scroll or received an Intelligence inherent bonus from a Wish Spell."

Only then did Zhao Xu turn his head and look at Antinoa.

Even nobles might not get to enjoy a Wish Spell, yet the woman before him had casually cast one on him merely as a demonstration.

If there had not been players present, Zhao Xu surely would have muttered, "The rich feast on spoiled meat and wine, while people freeze to death by the roadside."

"Don't think too much about it. I only cast it once. The maximum inherent Intelligence bonus is five points; not everyone can casually cast Wish Spell five times in a row."

"Most Wizards raise their Intelligence inherent bonus by five points through reading a +5 Contemplation Scroll."

"If you ever gather 135,000 gold pieces, I can sell you one. You can't buy it on the market."

Zhao Xu muttered to himself that he was not that greedy. He would already be completely satisfied with just two or three points of Intelligence.

Five Wishes—who would even dare imagine that?

But 130,000 gold pieces meant that even if he could smuggle silver over, it would still cost fifty million yuan.

If calculated in gold, then four hundred million yuan was even more out of the question.

In his Previous Life, players had basically all struggled beneath the poverty line.

Suddenly, the previously half-closed doors at the front were gently pushed open.

An elderly Wizard who looked nearly seventy or eighty years old slowly walked in, leaning on a metal staff almost a meter tall.

At the sound, the novice Wizards in the hall hurriedly sat upright, presenting meticulous, solemn expressions.

Looking at the old man with such a Gandalf-like image, Zhao Xu still silently felt respect for him.

In fantasy works, a Wizard's strength was generally tied to age—except for the one beside him.

"Mentor, that metal staff looks pretty impressive. When I attended the forum, I saw many Wizards carrying staffs. Will we be given one after taking the class?"

Antinoa glanced at Zhao Xu.

"Sometimes you know quite a lot, but other times you truly know nothing. That is a Greater Spell Haste Wand. It lets you use Metamagic: Quicken Spell three times per day."

Zhao Xu had already suffered plenty of shocks today. The moment he heard Quicken Spell, he understood its strategic value and hurriedly asked, "How much?"

"170,000 GP."

"How much?" Zhao Xu suspected he had misheard.

"You heard correctly. This is the most expensive item in the metamagic series."

Zhao Xu could only lower his excited voice.

"I knew it. The unit of measurement for Wizard equipment isn't how many gold pieces, but how many tens of thousands of gold pieces."

Players definitely would not come into contact with something that expensive during their first year, which was why he did not recognize it.

In his Previous Life, Zhao Xu had only ever encountered wands, the sort that were like multi-use scrolls and less than thirty centimeters long. How could he have known there were things like this—items he had heard of but never seen?

"Hm?"

Zhao Xu suddenly noticed that the elderly Wizard was slowly walking toward him. A middle-aged Wizard followed behind him with an extremely respectful expression.

Zhao Xu was standing at the boundary between the front desk and the rows of seats behind it. When he turned around, he found no one else standing behind him.

They were coming straight for them.

They were not going to throw them out, were they?

Then the elderly Wizard would discover that Antinoa was merely a rookie Wizard, that she had been fooling him all along, and that even the gold coins created by yesterday's Wish Spell had only been illusions.

Just as Zhao Xu was idly imagining this scenario, he noticed that although the Wizard walked slowly, he was getting closer and closer, while Antinoa remained completely unmoved.

She did not seem to have the slightest intention of respecting her elders.

Then, when the elderly Wizard came within about half a meter of them, he stopped.

Even the novice Wizards seated throughout the hall, no matter how proud they might be inside, were drawn to this scene.

Their attention was pulled along by the old Wizard who would soon conduct their ceremony.

"Teacher, you are still as magnificent as ever." The elderly Wizard lowered his head, his snowy white beard seeming as though it might fall to the floor.

"Couldn't you have used Misty Step or Dimension Door to get here?" Antinoa asked.

"Teacher, Spell Slots are every Wizard's trump card. Using them merely to save a few steps would be too wasteful," the elderly Wizard replied respectfully.

"Heh. Go make the arrangements. I'm in a hurry."

The old man's eyes then fell upon Zhao Xu. "Teacher, the talent you selected is indeed outstanding."

Zhao Xu did not know whether it was an illusion, but he seemed to discern a certain emotion in the old man's gleaming eyes.

"Young man, just go sit on that Arcane Throne."

Thank you all for your recommendations and encouragement. There will be another chapter shortly.