Detection

"What was that?" Huo Ling asked only after seeing that the matter had been resolved.

"That was an undead wraith of at least Silver rank~"

The bespectacled appraiser let out a long breath as though reborn, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. That scene had scared him badly too.

"Big brother, thank you for protecting me just now."

Huo Ling thanked him sincerely.

When that wraith had rushed in, the bespectacled appraiser had immediately shielded him behind his back. He had to remember such a debt of protection.

"No need to be polite. Good thing that wraith didn't attack us, or both of us would be lying on slabs."

The bespectacled appraiser patted his chest with lingering fear and joked. He was only a Black Iron-rank mage himself; there was no way he could have beaten that wraith.

But it was also the truth. A Silver-rank wraith possessed terrifying destructive power.

The best way to deal with this kind of wraith was a priest's divine arts, followed by the spells of mages and sorcerers.

However, Great Xia prohibited priests of the gods from entering to preach, and there were no priests within Great Xia's borders.

The attack that had just destroyed that wraith should have been the spell of some mage.

"What happened next door?" Huo Ling asked in confusion. That wraith had emerged from the neighboring room, and no further spells had fallen from upstairs now. The danger had presumably been dealt with.

"I'd like to know too." The bespectacled appraiser gave Huo Ling a helpless look. This testing room blocked spiritual-force detection; otherwise, he could have swept it with his spiritual force and gotten a rough idea.

"How about we take a look?"

Huo Ling saw the restless curiosity in the bespectacled appraiser's heart and egged him on.

"That wouldn't be good, would it~" The bespectacled appraiser's tone began to waver. He stared at Huo Ling as if to say, There's still you here—a weakling student who's only just awakened.

"Someone next door might be hurt. We can go help them," Huo Ling suggested.

"That makes sense. Let's go!"

Sure enough, the love of watching a spectacle was etched into the bones of Blue Star people. Even mages were no exception.

The two of them opened the door one after the other and headed toward the neighboring room.

The hall was in chaos as well. Staff members occasionally ran out with panic on their faces.

Huo Ling and the bespectacled appraiser exchanged a look, then continued onward without a word.

The bespectacled appraiser pushed open the neighboring door and poked his head in first. Then, as though frightened by something, he hurriedly pulled back.

Huo Ling had been following close behind him. As he poked his head in as well, he happened to see the scene within the room.

A huge hole had been blasted through the ceiling. A glance upward revealed the command room above.

Bricks were scattered all over the floor, while all kinds of testing equipment in the room looked as though they had been hit by a Category Ten tornado, flung everywhere.

Three people stood in the room: an officer in military uniform and two middle-aged men in casual clothes.

Two people lay on the ground as well. One appeared to be a student who had returned from awakening. He lay there with an ashen face, his entire body radiating a cold, sinister aura.

The other appeared to be an appraiser. He lay on a chair with a face like gold paper, eyes tightly shut, blood still at the corner of his mouth.

Blood dripped from his nose and mouth, dyeing the clothing over his chest bright red.

"Damn it, get over here and help!"

The three people inside also noticed Huo Ling and the bespectacled appraiser peeking in. One of them roared furiously.

"Yes! Teacher, I'm coming right away!" The bespectacled appraiser jolted all over like a mouse seeing a cat at that furious shout and quickly responded.

He then gave Huo Ling a helpless look. Why had he listened to him and come over to join this commotion?

Huo Ling could tell as well. One of the middle-aged men inside was probably the bespectacled appraiser's teacher. It looked like the bespectacled appraiser was quite afraid of his teacher.

Faced with the bespectacled appraiser's look, he could only scratch the back of his head and reveal a foolish grin.

The bespectacled appraiser entered the room and hurried over to the student. After checking him, he said heavily, "Teacher, this student is already dead."

Huo Ling did not enter. He remained by the doorway, and hearing those words made his heart tremble.

He did not know the student before him, but thinking of how a once-living life had simply died like this still left him somewhat saddened.

The bespectacled appraiser then helped up the other appraiser who had fallen to the ground. This one was still alive.

"I've stabilized his soul. Take him to the infirmary. I'll deal with you when you get back!" one of the middle-aged men snorted coldly.

"Yes, Teacher." Like a quail, the bespectacled appraiser lowered his head and did not dare object. He cast a spell, levitating the injured man into the air as he prepared to take him to the infirmary.

When he reached the doorway, he seemed to remember something and spoke bitterly. "Teacher, I still haven't finished one student's test report."

The middle-aged teacher, who had already flown back up to the command room through the hole in the ceiling, jumped down again upon hearing this.

"Idiot! How did I end up with a student like you? Hurry up and get to the infirmary. I'll handle the report!"

The middle-aged man walked to the doorway, gave the bespectacled appraiser a huge slap on the forehead, and drove him away.

Then the middle-aged teacher's expression shifted like a kaleidoscope before returning to a smile. He looked toward Huo Ling, who stood beside the wall, silent as a cicada in winter and too frightened to move.

"Your caster assessment report isn't finished yet, right?"

"Yes, Professor." Huo Ling hurriedly nodded in reply.

"Come on, let's go inside and finish the assessment."

With that, the middle-aged man turned and led Huo Ling back into the testing room.

I called him Professor, and he didn't deny it. Damn, he really is a professor?! Huo Ling thought.

The middle-aged man walked behind the desk, sat down, and gestured for Huo Ling to take a seat. "My surname is Li. Sit down, young man."

"Yes, Professor Li."

At that, the corner of Professor Li's mouth curved slightly, though he did not smile.

At his signal, Huo Ling once again placed his hand on the testing crystal ball.

As those two currents of aura moved through it, the crystal ball began to emit a faint glow again.

Seeing this, Professor Li across from him perked up as well. He lifted his eyelids and glanced at Huo Ling.

"Alright, you can take your hand off now."

He then took the crystal ball and placed it atop an instrument beside him.

Very soon, the instrument spat out a paper test report.

Professor Li took it and carefully examined the information recorded on it, occasionally raising his head to look at Huo Ling a few times.

This left Huo Ling rather baffled.

"Student Huo, congratulations. Your caster aptitude is quite good. You've reached Level Two!"

After a while, Professor Li put down the test report in his hand and clapped lightly.

"Ah! Really?!"

Surprise struck Huo Ling in an instant. He had felt that his aptitude was decent, but he had not expected it to be this good.

Caster aptitude was divided into five levels. Level Five was the lowest, while Level One was the highest. The higher one's aptitude level, the greater the advantage in cultivation.