Longing for Official Wizards, the Cruel Reality of Tuition

After Sally finished speaking, she noticed that all the wizard seedlings present wore expressions of yearning.

They seemed to be looking forward to becoming powerful official wizards like that themselves.

Even Leo felt his heart surge with emotion.

Chris spoke even more directly. "One day, I'll become an official wizard too."

Sally merely smiled after hearing that and said nothing.

Only those who had set foot upon the path of wizardry knew just how difficult it was to become an official wizard.

"The registration is complete. Follow me. We'll now depart for the residence of the Esmond Gathering."

As Sally spoke, a wooden wand appeared in her hand, its upper end set with a dark green gemstone.

Sally lightly waved the wand in her hand.

Then, centered around Sally, Leo and the others were enveloped by currents of air and rose into the sky.

Aside from Leo, it was everyone else's first time seeing such a sight, and panicked expressions appeared on their faces almost in unison.

Chris even let out a cry. "Fly... We're flying!"

Seeing the others' reactions, Sally merely smiled and explained, "Don't panic. This is only a simple spell I cast. It will take us to the residence of the Esmond Gathering."

Because Leo had previously experienced Nova's passenger airship, he was not overly surprised.

After flying for several minutes, Leo and the others slowly descended in front of an enormous three-story house.

Before the house lay a vast open space.

From the air, Leo could also see a sprawling planting field behind the house.

However, he did not know whether it was an illusion, but Leo noticed that the vegetation in the planting field seemed to be moving, resembling the Tree Demons from fairy tales.

The other wizard seedlings curiously yet uneasily surveyed their surroundings.

"Welcome to Esmond Lodge. This is the gathering place of our Gathering. Apart from you, there are over a thousand students, graduate students, and teaching assistants from our Esmond Gathering here."

Sally said with a smile.

"At the Tower of Dawn, we are organized around Gatherings, with mentors, teaching assistants, graduate students, and students."

"The students of a Gathering consist of wizard seedlings like yourselves, who have yet to become wizards. Your task is to condense a Spiritual Seed as soon as possible and become wizard apprentices."

"Once you condense a Spiritual Seed, you will officially become graduate students. You may then begin participating in and establishing the various research projects held by wizards."

"After accumulating sufficient achievements in research projects, you may choose a Gathering to serve as a teaching assistant, gaining teaching experience and developing your own wizard network. Esmond has two teaching assistants: one is me, and the other is Wizard Stella."

"If you cannot find a mentor, you may come to Wizard Stella or me with any questions regarding cultivation."

At this point, Leo suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Judging by this hierarchy, teaching assistants should be second only to mentors in strength.

Nova had previously said that Sally had only become a wizard recently... In other words, was Wizard Sally actually a genius?

"Above the teaching assistants are the mentors. Each Gathering has only one, and they are also the core of the Gathering."

At that moment, Molly, the only girl among the wizard seedlings, raised her hand and timidly asked, "Wizard Sally, if a Gathering loses its mentor, can that Gathering still continue to exist?"

The others immediately turned their gazes toward her.

With everyone's attention on her, Molly lowered her head and buried it against her chest, appearing quite timid.

After hearing this, Sally fell silent for a moment before smiling. "Once it loses its mentor, the Gathering will no longer exist."

After Sally said that, Chris and the others looked somewhat panicked.

Even Leo frowned slightly.

The mentor of the Esmond Gathering had lost contact during this wizard ship's voyage.

Did that mean their Esmond Gathering could not continue?

Seeing the others' concern, Sally said, "You needn't worry about that. Even if Mentor Esmond truly cannot return, the Tower of Dawn will send a mentor to take over our Esmond Gathering. It will not affect everyone's cultivation."

Upon hearing this, Leo frowned slightly as well.

Leo had been accepted directly by Sally. If they changed mentors, it was hard to say whether the new mentor would, like Lane, detest him for being a Prossian.

Seeing that the wizard seedlings were unsettled, Sally said, "All right, this is not something you students should concern yourselves with. I have already arranged your accommodations."

Sally took a pitch-black stone from her robes and said, "But before that, you need to understand something."

"This is a Magic Stone, the currency wizards use for trade."

Leo stared at the Magic Stone, but the illustrated handbook did not react.

"Studying at the Tower of Dawn requires you to pay Magic Stones as tuition."

"However, for the first three months, we will not charge any Magic Stones. Your food, lodging, and daily necessities here will also be entirely free."

"But after three months, whether it is tuition or living expenses, you will have to pay them yourselves."

John asked, "Wizard Sally, under normal circumstances, how much are the tuition and living expenses?"

Sally replied, "The tuition is fixed at 100 Magic Stones per year. As for living expenses, that depends on yourselves."

"As for tuition, during your student stage, you have a very important source of income: the Comprehensive Assessment."

"The Comprehensive Assessment records your personal growth, as well as your contributions and evaluations in different laboratories, and grants you assessment scores."

"The level of your assessment score will determine the amount of Magic Stone scholarship you can receive."

Chris asked, "Wizard Sally, what abilities does the Comprehensive Assessment record?"

"A wizard's spiritual talent, the growth of spiritual energy, the construction of spell models, or subjects related to wizards—these are all included... One of the core scores is the level of your spiritual energy."

Leo asked, "Wizard Sally, if we fail to obtain enough scholarships after three months, will we be driven out of the Tower of Dawn?"

This was the question Leo cared about most.

Sally said, "Yes. If you cannot obtain enough scholarships within three months, that means you truly are not suited to becoming a wizard."

Leo and the others could not help but change expressions.

They had not expected that, after arriving at the Tower of Dawn, the first issue they had to consider would actually be "money."

Without enough Magic Stones, it meant their path of wizardry would be cut off then and there.

John asked, "Wizard Sally, if someone becomes a wizard within three months, how much scholarship can they receive?"

"Become a wizard within three months? Around 2,000 Magic Stones."

Upon hearing Sally say this, a smile could not help appearing on John's face.

That smile seemed to say: as long as he became a wizard within three months, the tuition problem would be solved as easily as splitting bamboo.

However, as though to shatter everyone's unnecessary fantasies, Sally said, "But in typical cases, only those whose spiritual talent reaches Level 5 or above can become wizards within three months."

The moment those words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

Of the five present, Leo and Chris had the highest spiritual talent, yet they were only Level 3.