Talent Test

Li Ang was briefly excited, but he quickly calmed down.

The golden finger could only help him upgrade facilities, and it could withhold the upgraded effects of those facilities from others. But it could not drive others out of a facility or directly take the facility away.

He was not even an apprentice yet. Even if he bound this entire wizard ship, there was no way he could take the ship with him.

A blonde girl hurried past Li Ang.

She was probably another prospective apprentice found to possess wizarding aptitude this time, rushing toward the deck to gather.

A sudden violent lurch of the ship caught her off guard, and she fell to the ground with a clatter.

Seeing this, Li Ang hurriedly stopped controlling the sails, and the ship swiftly steadied.

"Are you all right?" Li Ang asked, extending a hand to the girl.

After all, she had been knocked head over heels because of him. It would have been too embarrassing not to help her up.

"I'm fine. This ship is way too bumpy." The girl took Li Ang's hand and sprang to her feet. "Thank you. I'm Helena. Hurry up, or the wizard might punish us!"

Li Ang acknowledged her and hurried toward the gathering area on the deck.

The wind swept across the deck, and a thread of chill penetrated Li Ang's coat, making him shiver.

Two hours had already passed.

A bustling crowd of roughly thirty people stood in a corner of the deck.

Kavi and Matthew, who had been Li Ang's family retainers just a month ago, now stood arrogantly at the front of the group, barking out orders.

Everyone had been woken before dawn and called to wait on the deck for two hours, yet the supervising wizard was still nowhere to be seen.

Given that supervising wizard's strange temperament, unease and fear spread among the apprentices.

"Shut up! Hold formation!"

The burly Kavi roared, putting an end to the commotion.

Then he looked at Matthew beside him, equally puzzled. "Big Brother, why hasn't the wizard arrived yet?"

Matthew slowly spat a straw from his mouth, his expression displeased. "Don't call me Big Brother. I'm now the class leader appointed by the wizard. You're the deputy class leader."

"The wizard will be here soon. He told me to gather everyone at six. Isn't it almost six now?"

The crowd erupted again.

"Damn it, he told us to gather on deck at six, so what was the point of dragging us up one by one at four?!"

"Damn you, Matthew, don't push people too far!"

Matthew waved at Kavi.

The burly Kavi understood what he meant. Stomping his foot, he charged at the loudest prospective apprentice and slapped him viciously across the face with a smack, stunning everyone present into silence.

Matthew stared at the crowd with a vicious gaze. "If I hadn't called you early and you dawdled in late, what would happen if you delayed the wizard's business?"

The crowd fell silent, daring to be angry but not daring to speak.

Though the prospective apprentices on this ship were not of orthodox wizard bloodlines, they all possessed some degree of noble status.

Yet now they were being beaten and toyed with by a mere retainer, and their hearts were filled with fury.

Li Ang stood among them, suppressing his cough and trying not to draw attention.

He was already frail and sickly. He could not provoke those two ungrateful white-eyed wolves again.

If he took another beating, his second life might very well end here.

Just then, the supervising wizard in a black robe finally appeared before everyone.

Matthew immediately put on a smiling face and came before the supervising wizard to flatter him. "Lord Selenst, everyone has assembled."

Wizard Selenst ignored him and instead signaled with his eyes to the wizard retainer behind him, who held a crystal.

The wizard retainer strode up to the crowd and took out the crystal.

"Line up and hold out your hands. Lord Selenst will test your talents. Once the test is complete, collect a copy of the Basic Meditation Principles and the Level-0 Spell Compendium."

"First, there are only half a month left before we reach Riley City. If you still cannot complete one full meditation and construct the first Astral Star in your Mental World by then, you will return the way you came, back to wherever you came from. As for what an Astral Star is, the meditation principles will explain it to you."

"Second, remember what your talent is, then choose a spell from the Level-0 Spell Compendium to practice accordingly."

"Whoever can successfully cast a level-0 spell before reaching Riley City can directly become an official wizard apprentice."

"Don't say I didn't warn you. If your talent does not match, the difficulty of learning will multiply severalfold."

Hearing this, the crowd that Kavi had just suppressed stirred up once more.

Li Ang pondered the wizard retainer's words.

To become a wizard, one had to complete a meditation within half a month at minimum. That meant a wizard's first meditation was probably far from simple.

"Keep quiet. Line up and come touch the crystal ball to test your talents."

At those words, the prospective apprentices hurried forward in turn, lining up and pressing their palms one after another against the crystal ball.

Because he was standing rather far away and the wizard retainer spoke quietly, Li Ang could not hear what level everyone else's talents were.

From afar, Li Ang could only see that the wizard retainer took longer when announcing some people's talents, while for others he seemed to finish almost instantly.

After a while, it was finally Li Ang's turn.

He clutched his chest and forced himself not to cough in front of the wizard retainer as he placed his hand on the crystal ball.

A cool touch spread through his palm.

Buzz!

The inside of the crystal ball slowly lit up. A pure, bright stream of energy wind, faintly tinged with green and blue, surged from the ball's core and shot upward, racing along Li Ang's arm straight into his brain.

"Hiss—"

As the energy wind flooded into his mind, Li Ang felt as though something were madly sucking at his spiritual power. The stabbing pain forced him to close his eyes.

The swift, violent pain lasted only a very short time. When he opened his eyes again, his hand had somehow already left the surface of the crystal ball.

"Spiritual power talent, level 4. Wind-element affinity. Water-element affinity. Hm? You actually have two elemental affinities."

The wizard retainer read out Li Ang's talents to the crystal ball.

"Your aptitude is decent. Though you have two affinities, I do not recommend learning two kinds of spells at once. Otherwise, half a month may pass and you might fail to learn either one. Go collect your books over there."

"Thank you for the advice, sir."

Li Ang walked to where the books had been placed, took one copy of the Basic Meditation Principles and one of the Level-0 Spell Compendium, then headed back to his room.

According to what he had heard over the past few days, spiritual power talent was divided into six levels, with higher being better.

Those with level-6 spiritual power talent were far superior to people with lower spiritual power talents, whether in meditation results or spell control.

A level-4 spiritual power talent was fairly outstanding. With two elemental affinities as well, it was already quite good.