Choosing a Wizard Path

"Next."

There were only a few people left standing before the red-robed wizard.

Yet beside Lohr, there was only one more young man around twenty years old, with second-level meditation talent.

Only Baron Radev's family, along with the knights and militiamen under his command, remained untested.

The next to be tested was Baron Radel. Trembling, he placed his hand on the crystal ball.

"Phew."

Seeing that the crystal ball did not react, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He was quite satisfied with his current life and naturally had no intention of becoming some sort of wizard.

"Next," the red-robed wizard called expressionlessly.

The last few people stepped forward one after another, then left.

Once everyone had been tested, not a single person with meditation talent appeared.

"Alright, dismiss them," the red-robed wizard said as he put away the crystal ball, addressing Baron Delaf.

"Yes, Wizard."

The baron first bowed laboriously to the red-robed wizard, then turned to the townspeople who had finished testing but still did not dare go home.

"Go back to whatever you were doing. There is nothing more for you here."

"Yes, Baron."

"Thank you, Baron."

"Great, we can finally go home."

"Hurry back..."

The townspeople cheered and scattered.

"Wizard, do you have any further instructions?" After dismissing the townspeople, Delaf turned back and asked respectfully.

"Every ten years from now on, wizard apprentices will come here to test for talent."

The red-robed wizard looked at Delaf and spoke coldly. "When they come looking for you, you and your family must ensure that every child born in the town within the past ten years is tested."

"Yes, sir. I will have this written into the family precepts when I return," Delaf said, nodding repeatedly.

"Good. Just remember it." The red-robed wizard waved a hand. "You may leave."

"Yes." Delaf gave another respectful bow before leaving with the others.

Among the militia, Clysis, who was swept away with the crowd, turned back and gave Lohr a deep look. Lohr returned it with a smile.

"My name is Dion Mara. You may call me Wizard Mara."

At that moment, the red-robed wizard turned around and introduced himself before shifting his gaze to Lohr. "Tell me your name."

"Wizard Mara, my name is Lohr," Lohr hurriedly answered.

"I will remember it."

Mara nodded, ignored the expectant look in the other young man's eyes, and waved toward the sky.

"Whoosh—"

A completely black, ship-shaped flying vessel roughly fifty meters long and fifteen meters wide broke through the clouds and descended rapidly.

Only when it was ten meters above the ground did its descent abruptly slow, allowing it to land gently.

"Medium Enchanted Black-Iron Airship."

Lohr studied the airship as it slowly descended, his heart skipping a beat. Even in this era, this thing must be incredibly valuable. An ordinary Second-Circle Wizard definitely could not afford one.

Such Enchanted Black-Iron Airships would be completely phased out in the future, though they would still count as rather decent collectibles.

But in the present age, they still had many advantages.

Their speed was not slow among airships of the same size, their cargo capacity was high, and their defenses were arguably the strongest among vessels of equal volume.

Once the airship's enchantments were activated, even several casually fired spells from a Second-Circle Wizard would surely fail to break its shield.

"Click—"

The moment the airship landed, a side door opened on its own. Looking through it, Lohr could see a hall filled with seats.

Several people sat in small groups within the hall. Some were lavishly dressed nobles, while others were ragged commoners.

Noticing the airship door open, they all rose and bowed toward Mara outside. "Wizard Mara."

Mara gave them an indifferent glance without responding. As he walked into the vessel, he said, "Follow me."

"Yes." Lohr and the young man hurried after him.

"Click—"

Once the three entered the hall, the airship door closed automatically.

Soon, Lohr felt his body sink. Clearly, the airship had already taken off.

"Blanya, arrange accommodations for him." Mara pointed at the young man beside Lohr and instructed an elegantly dressed youth.

"Yes, Mentor," Blanya promptly replied.

Mara nodded, then beckoned to Lohr. "Lohr, come with me."

With that, he headed directly toward a staircase on the left side of the hall.

Ignoring the curious and envious looks from everyone in the hall, Lohr followed Mara to the second floor. After turning several corners, he was brought to a small room filled with parchment scrolls.

Mara walked to a bookshelf, took out a parchment scroll, and handed it to Lohr.

"Lohr, you possess Fifth-Level Meditation Talent. In accordance with the directives of the Supreme Wizard Council, all wizard apprentices with fifth-level meditation talent may freely choose a school to join."

"This parchment records every wizard school that has currently been established. Choose one, and I will send you to the corresponding Wizard Tower."

"Alright, Wizard Mara."

Lohr accepted the parchment, somewhat surprised.

He had not expected wizard apprentices to be allowed to choose their own schools from this era onward.

It seemed he had worried for nothing before. Even if the person who came had been a Faith Wizard, it would not have mattered.

"No." Lohr blinked and ran through Mara's words again in his mind. He seemed to say that only wizard apprentices with fifth-level talent have this right.

"Fine. Things are still not that open-minded, but it has nothing to do with me."

A faint curve appeared at the corner of Lohr's lips before quickly fading. He began carefully reading through the parchment.

The entire parchment contained ten pages. On the first page alone, it listed more than a dozen wizard schools, such as Sharp Gold, Fire-Wood, Water-Lightning, or individual elements like metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and so on.

Beneath every school was a brief introduction to its advantages. As for the disadvantages, not a word was mentioned.

In Lohr's view, these schools were actually all part of one major category: the Elemental School. They could coexist with one another; only the directions of their deeper development differed.

The following two pages also described nothing but branches of Elemental Wizards.

When he flipped further back, the recorded content shifted to another major category: Bloodline Wizards.

Seeing Lohr continue flipping through the pages, Mara seemingly casually remarked,

"Bloodline Wizards often turn themselves into neither human nor ghost. Some even suffer mental breakdowns during experiments or battles, suddenly going mad and harming both others and themselves."

He found Lohr rather agreeable and did not mind offering him a reminder or two.

Lohr blinked, looked up at Mara, and gave him a gaze full of agreement.

He definitely would not choose to become a Bloodline Wizard again. After all, this was no longer a game to him.

He could not stand turning himself into something neither human nor ghost.

"Do not look at me. Read the book. Hurry up and choose so I can give you a Meditation Method," Mara said.

"Yes, Wizard Mara." Lohr responded, then lowered his head and pretended to continue choosing.

In truth, he had long since decided on the school he wanted: the combination of fire and earth elements.

By advancing from this direction into the microscopic realm and continuously making discoveries until touching the most fundamental strings of matter, one could develop an extremely terrifying wizard system: Space Wizards.

The only difficulty with choosing this system was that the founder of the Space Wizard school had not yet been born, so Lohr would have to develop everything himself. Still, with Charge Points supporting him, it would not be much of a problem.

In the future, this system would reveal a Seventh-Circle grand spell hated by all gods and wizards alike.

"Mm, Seventh-Circle grand spells are far too distant for me. Developing along the microscopic path until Fourth Circle and becoming a Space Wizard is my foremost goal."

Lohr took a deep breath, cast aside those unrealistic distractions, and continued reading for another two minutes before finally looking up.

"Wizard Mara, I wish to join the Fire-Earth Wizard Faction."