Boarding 2

The black-robed man, Nancy Aili, and the others looked at him with complicated expressions. Standing among the crowd, Anglie was deeply astonished as well. This boy was even a few months younger than him, yet he was already a third-rank apprentice. It made Anglie feel even greater awe for this mysterious world.

"No problem. Good, very good. Jia De, right? After the test is over, can you spare some time to speak with me alone?" There was even a hint of eagerness in the black-robed man's voice.

"Oh." Jia De nodded without objection.

The black-robed man nodded, then looked at the remaining youths. "Those under eighteen who are second-rank apprentices, step out. Stand to my left."

Another seven stepped forward and moved to the left. That left Anglie and the other four.

The black-robed man nodded in satisfaction. "Very good. The four third-rank apprentices behind me do not need to be tested now. The rest of you, in two groups, come with me."

He turned and headed toward a wooden door on the other side of the hall. He pushed it open and strode inside. "Come in one at a time. Second-rank apprentices first."

Through the open crack, the room beyond the wooden door was pitch-black, without a trace of light.

The second-rank apprentices went in one after another. Each stayed inside for only a dozen seconds or so before coming back out. Some looked disappointed, others delighted; their expressions varied.

Soon, it was Anglie and the other first-rank apprentices' turn. Anglie himself had not even reached first-rank apprentice, but the black-robed man had not asked. Presumably, whether he had reached it or not did not make much difference.

Of the four first-rank apprentices, the first was a fair-skinned girl with black hair tied in a ponytail. She entered and quickly came back out, her face full of disappointment and her eyes red. Of everyone who had gone in before, only two had emerged looking delighted. The rest were all dejected and disappointed. This made Anglie and the other first-rank apprentices extremely nervous. After the ponytailed girl went in, the other two beside Anglie looked at each other, neither willing to enter first. Both looked tense.

"Move it! Next!" the black-robed man shouted from inside the room. When he was impatient, his Rudin Kingdom accent carried a slightly drawn-out ending that sounded rather strange.

Anglie glanced at the remaining two, then simply strode over to the wooden door. After pausing briefly, he stepped into the darkness.

He could see nothing in the darkness. It was as though he had entered a completely dark world, without the slightest glimmer of light. Anglie caught a strong sandalwood scent tinged with bloodiness.

It contained Volcano Grass. He remembered at once that he had tried this herb when passing through the Anse Grasslands.

"Can you tell where I am?" The black-robed man's voice came from all directions.

Anglie listened carefully while activating the chip's sensory enhancement.

"Analyzing perception... Sound waves are being transmitted from four directions. Number of sound sources: four. Unable to identify specifically..."

Anglie frowned. His own senses matched the chip's; there seemed to be sound sources in all four directions.

"So you really can't identify it?" The black-robed man fell silent for a moment, followed by the rustling sound of writing, as though he were recording something. "How many directions can you hear the sound coming from?"

"All four directions," Anglie answered immediately.

"What about above and below?"

"No."

"Very good. You did not lie. Your name?"

"Anglie Leo."

"Among the five overall aptitude grades, your aptitude is Grade Two. It is somewhat better than the worst, Grade One, and barely counts as lower-middle. All right, you may leave."

Anglie felt a faint sense of disappointment. He bowed toward the darkness, then turned and left the room.

He returned to his fellow first-rank apprentices. The disappointment on Anglie's face was naturally noticed by the others, making the remaining two even more nervous.

The following tests went just as they had expected. Both of them emerged from the wooden door looking somewhat dejected.

Once the testing was complete, the black-robed man came out of the wooden door and locked it behind him. Turning to face everyone, he said, "Third-rank apprentices will stay on the first level, second-rank apprentices on the second level, and third-rank apprentices on the fifth level at the very bottom. Choose your own rooms. Meals and washing facilities are on this fourth level. The floors above the deck are already full; those belong to people from other countries and regions. Do not go up there unless necessary. Quite a few of them are troublemakers. As long as you do not go up, they will not take the initiative to come down into the lower cabins. I am responsible for keeping order on deck. If anything happens, run straight up to the deck. That is all. Dismissed. I will post the list later, and you can check it yourselves."

After saying that, the black-robed man turned and left, leaving fifteen people standing in the hall.

"Should we find our dormitories first?" someone suggested. The proposal was immediately accepted by everyone. The fifteen people from Maruya Port who had boarded the ship had already vaguely split into three groups. The four third-rank apprentices formed one small circle, the second-rank apprentices another, and finally Anglie and the other first-rank apprentices.

Since they were not staying on the first level, Anglie and the others had to head down to the fifth level, at the very bottom of the ship. The three groups went their separate ways.

They walked through the narrow, damp stairwell passage, their footsteps echoing continuously on the wooden floorboards. It seemed the entire ship had no sailors or crew at all; apart from the apprentices, there was no one else. Anglie naturally fell to the back. In front of him was a handsome red-haired boy, while another blond boy walked second. Those two had stood beside Anglie on the deck earlier. Leading them was the black-haired ponytailed girl from before, dressed in a swordsman's metal half-armor. Her expression was cold and her features beautiful. Beneath her armor, she wore a black undershirt and trousers, dressed much like the European swordsman outfits Anglie had seen in his previous life on Earth: armor on the upper body and tight black pants below, somewhat like leggings.

The fitted clothing perfectly displayed the girl's curvy figure, especially the tight trousers around her lower body. Compared to Nancy's fiery allure, it was another kind of style altogether. At first glance, the outfit looked like ordinary swordsman attire, but the girl's perfect curves made the otherwise plain clothing exceptionally seductive. The boys following behind could not help letting their gazes drift below her waist.

They kept descending the wooden stairs. None of the four spoke, silently counting the levels in their minds.

After a while, the blond boy could not resist speaking.

"Say, since we're all first-rank apprentices, we're companions now. Why don't we introduce ourselves?" He chuckled. "My name is Lü Lando. I'm fifteen. Forget about family background; where we're going, family background is completely useless. As for aptitude, I'm Grade Three."

Seeing his friend speak, the red-haired boy followed suit. "My name is Yuri. I'm fifteen, Grade Two aptitude. I guess the four of us are the most unfortunate lot on this whole ship." He gave a bitter smile.

"Anglie, fourteen years old, Grade Two aptitude. So what if our aptitude is poor and our cultivation progress cannot compare to others? We are still young. Maybe we will have opportunities in the future." He smiled encouragingly.

"Don't spout nonsense when you don't understand anything!" The girl in the lead turned back and said coldly. "Do you know how long it takes to go from a first-rank apprentice to a second-rank apprentice? With our aptitude, under normal circumstances it will take at least two years or more! Those people who reached the second or third rank at this age will probably advance to become official wizards several times over in two years. And the academies and organizations will definitely give them more resources. What do we have to compare with them?"

Anglie frowned, feeling somewhat annoyed. "You understand everything? Is advancing to an official wizard really that easy?"

"Their aptitude is better than ours, so their chances of advancing are much greater as well." The girl's tone calmed. "I apologize for my tone earlier. I got too worked up."

Anglie nodded. "Forget it. We're companions now. We may need to look after one another in the future, so don't get so worked up."

"All right, all right. You up front, introduce yourself. You're the only one left." The red-haired boy said with an easygoing smile.

The girl turned back around. "Villet, sixteen years old, aptitude... Grade One." Her steps paused slightly before she continued onward.

The red-haired Yuri and the blond Lü Lando both fell silent. The looks they had been giving the girl swordsman also became tinged with pity.

"Grade One aptitude, tsk tsk... No wonder she got so worked up." Lü Lando, walking in front of Anglie, turned his head and whispered.

"I still don't really understand how much difference one aptitude grade makes. Can you tell me?" Anglie asked quietly.

Lü Lando smiled. "According to some books recorded by wizards, these grades are actually divided according to the speed of meditation progress. Grade Five is the fastest. It is said they can reach third-rank apprentice in a year, and they have a very high chance of becoming official wizards. Very few fail to advance. Grade Four comes next, and perhaps half of them fail to become wizards. Grade Three after that has only a few chances out of a hundred, while Grade Two has one chance in a hundred. As for Grade One... perhaps one in a thousand or one in ten thousand. And their meditation progress in a month is only equal to what Grade Two or Grade Three can achieve in a day. Do you think that gap is large enough?"

Anglie nodded, his expression becoming somewhat heavy as well.

Lü Lando continued, "Actually, wizards do not care much about so-called Grade One at all. They simply toss people with the worst possible aptitude into one category. So no matter how poor one's aptitude is, there is no need to be surprised."

"Then doesn't that mean this Villet basically has no hope?" the blond boy Yuri interjected.

"More or less."

Anglie said nothing more. He looked at the girl swordsman ahead. Her shoulders were trembling slightly. Clearly, she had heard the conversation behind her.

Lü Lando gave the girl a pitying glance and whispered, "For her to have the strength of a first-rank apprentice, who knows how many years she must have spent meditating. At least five years."