Talent Testing

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

The golden finger could only help him upgrade facilities, and it could deny others the upgraded effects of those facilities. But it could not expel anyone from 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 it with him.

A blonde girl hurried past Li Ang.

She was likely another prospective apprentice who had been found to possess wizard aptitude, heading for the deck to assemble.

The ship suddenly lurched violently, catching her off guard and sending her crashing to the floor with a clatter.

Seeing this, Li Ang quickly stopped manipulating the sail, and the ship soon steadied.

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

After all, she had been knocked senseless because of him. He would have felt awful if he did not help her up.

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

Li Ang acknowledged her and hurried toward the deck where they were to gather.

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

Two hours had already passed.

More than thirty people stood crowded together in a corner of the deck.

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

Everyone had been roused before dawn and summoned to wait on the deck for two hours, yet the supervising wizard still had not appeared.

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

"Shut up! Hold formation!"

The burly Kavi let out a roar, ending the commotion.

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

Matthew slowly spat out a stalk of straw, his expression displeased. "Don't call me Big Brother. I'm the class leader promoted by the wizard now. 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 already?"

The crowd erupted into unrest again.

"Damn it, he told us to gather on the deck at six, so why did you drag us out one by one at four?!"

"Fuck you, Matthew! Don't push people too far!"

Seeing this, Matthew waved at Kavi.

The burly Kavi understood what he meant. He stomped hard and rushed at the loudest prospective apprentice, giving him a vicious slap that rang out with a smack, stunning everyone present into silence.

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

The crowd fell silent, furious but not daring to speak.

Although none of the prospective apprentices on this ship came from orthodox wizard bloodlines, they all possessed some degree of noble status.

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

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

His body was already frail from illness. He could not provoke those two ungrateful, vicious wolves again.

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

Just then, the supervising wizard, clad in black robes, finally appeared in everyone's sight.

Matthew immediately put on a smile and went 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 attendant behind him, who was holding a crystal.

The wizard attendant strode before the group and took out the crystal.

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

"First, Riley City is only half a month away. 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. As for what an Astral Star is, the meditation principles will explain it to you."

"Second, remember your own talents and choose a spell from the Level-0 Spell Compendium to practice accordingly."

"Whoever can successfully cast a level-0 spell before we reach Riley City will directly become a Formal Wizard apprentice."

"Don't say I didn't warn you. If your talents don't match, the difficulty of learning will multiply."

Upon hearing this, the crowd that Kavi had just silenced began to stir again.

Li Ang pondered the wizard attendant's words.

If he wanted to become a wizard, he had to complete a meditation within half a month. That meant a wizard's first meditation was probably far from simple.

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

At those words, the prospective apprentices hurriedly stepped forward in turn, pressing their palms onto the crystal ball one after another.

Because he was standing some distance away and the wizard attendant spoke softly, Li Ang could not hear what level the others' talents were.

From afar, Li Ang could only see that the wizard attendant took longer to announce some people's talents, while for others he was done almost instantly.

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

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

A cool sensation touched his palm.

Buzz!

The inside of the crystal ball slowly lit up. A stream of pure, bright energy wind tinged with faint green and blue burst from its center, shooting upward along Li Ang's arm and straight into his brain.

"Hiss—"

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

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

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

The wizard attendant read Li Ang's talents from the crystal ball.

"Your aptitude is decent. Though you have two affinities, I don't recommend learning two types of spells at once. Otherwise, half a month may pass and you won't master either one. Go collect your books over there."

"Thank you for the advice, sir."

Li Ang walked over to where the books were placed, took one copy of Basic Meditation Principles and one copy 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 had a total of six levels, and the higher the level, the better.

Those with level-6 spiritual power talent far surpassed people with lower spiritual power talent in both meditation efficiency and spell control.

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