Ren Shows Off in Front of Everyone!

Ten in the morning.

Sunlight poured over Kamar-Taj's spacious courtyard.

On the training ground, over a hundred gray-robed apprentices stood ramrod straight.

Amid synchronized shouts, they were sweating buckets as they trained in basic combat.

Among the crowd were several apprentices with decent talent.

As they waved their hands, they could already barely produce a few faint red sparks.

This meant they had begun to sense Cosmic Energy.

Normally, when Carter saw progress like this, she would stroke her beard and nod in satisfaction.

But today.

The old Sorcerer stood at the front of the line. Although her eyes were on everyone, her thoughts had long since drifted elsewhere.

She was busy calculating how to use Ancient Sanskrit to make things difficult for that prodigy who could level up just by sleeping.

Just then.

A lazy figure staggered through the courtyard gate.

Ren had just woken up and stretched lazily.

While all the apprentices were sweating and training hard, his slovenly appearance was impossible to miss.

Hundreds of gazes swept over at once.

Some were disdainful, some disgusted, and some indifferent.

Clearly.

Everyone took Ren for a good-for-nothing who had gotten in through connections.

Ren paid no attention to those gazes and casually wandered to the back of the line.

When Carter saw Ren arrive, her stern old face instantly blossomed into a benevolent smile.

In the eyes of the other apprentices, that smile was even more unbelievable than seeing a ghost.

After all, Carter was famously strict when teaching.

Anyone whose movements were improper would be cursed out mercilessly.

Now.

A guy who had blatantly arrived late and was extremely careless in his attitude had not only avoided a scolding.

He had even received a welcoming smile from Master Carter?

Why him!

Jealousy and resentment instantly took root in the hearts of many apprentices.

"Master Carter!"

A tall, blond young man at the front of the line suddenly shouted.

"What is it, Mike?"

Carter frowned.

Her train of thought had been interrupted, and the old Sorcerer was a little annoyed.

But when she saw that it was Mike, her expression softened slightly.

Mike was the most talented of this batch of newcomers.

After only a few days of practice, he could already produce sparks steadily. He was a promising prospect.

"Master, he was late!"

Mike abruptly turned around and pointed straight at Ren at the back of the line.

"Everyone is training hard, yet not only was he late for no reason, he also occupied a great deal of your private tutoring time yesterday."

"That is extremely unfair to all of us!"

Mike held his head high, refusing to back down.

He was not really targeting Ren for being late. He was jealous that Carter had given Ren special instruction.

A mentor's energy was limited. If one person took more, everyone else received less.

He felt that, as the top newcomer, he should be the one receiving special treatment.

After hearing him out, Carter not only did not get angry, but nodded instead.

Her gaze swept across the entire field as she asked calmly, "Do you all feel the same way?"

Most of the apprentices remained silent, but their eyes had already said everything.

"First, private tutoring after class is not my obligation. Whom I am willing to teach is my freedom."

Carter's voice was not loud, but it clearly carried across the entire field.

"Second, I do not think there is anything wrong with giving Ren special instruction."

The moment she said this, the crowd exploded.

Was she really being this blatantly biased?

"Why? I want to know the reason!"

Mike stuck out his neck, his gaze stubborn.

"Good. A Sorcerer should possess the competitive spirit to strive for victory."

Carter smiled in satisfaction.

Kamar-Taj trained warriors to fight extraterrestrial Demon Gods, not flowers raised in a greenhouse.

Healthy competition had always been encouraged by those above.

"Since you want to know, I will show you the answer."

Carter beckoned toward the back row. "Ren, step forward."

Ren shrugged and walked to the front of the group.

"Show them the Magic you have mastered."

Carter gave the order directly.

"Yes."

Ren turned around and faced the hundreds of eyes filled with doubt and jealousy.

He had no unnecessary words.

He slowly raised his right hand and casually drew a semicircle in midair.

Hummm!

The air instantly erupted with a piercing hum.

Countless dazzling golden sparks exploded out of thin air, surging and intertwining wildly along Ren's fingertips.

In less than a second.

A massive, solid golden Magic Shield covered in complex and profound Runes.

Took shape!

The level-two Magic Shield radiated an indestructible pressure in both its luster and structure.

Hiss—!

The entire field fell deathly silent.

All the apprentices stared wide-eyed, as if they had been hit with a paralysis spell.

Mike, who had been loudly demanding justice just a moment earlier, felt his legs go limp and nearly collapsed onto the ground.

"How... how is this possible..."

He looked at the faint sparks he had struggled so hard to produce, then at the magnificent, domineering energy shield before Ren.

His mentality completely shattered.

He had worked himself to the bone just to reach the threshold.

Meanwhile, this good-for-nothing who could sleep through anything had casually thrown out a max-level divine piece of equipment?

What the hell was the point of playing anymore!

The training ground was utterly silent.

Carter swept her satisfied gaze around, taking in the astonished and horrified expressions of everyone present.

"Now, does anyone still think I am being unfair?"

The old Sorcerer's voice was not loud, but it struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

The entire field was silent.

Mike, who had been demanding an explanation moments ago, lowered his head deeply.

In this world where strength spoke for itself, jealousy was an emotion belonging only to the weak.

When someone was only a little stronger than you, you would feel unwilling to accept it.

But when someone was stronger than you by an entire ocean, you did not even have the right to feel jealous.

"It is perfectly normal for you to feel dissatisfied."

Carter spoke coldly. "But first, you need to have the capital to challenge me!"

"As long as you display talent and ability on par with Ren, I guarantee that I will teach you everything I know!"

"Enough. Put away all those jumbled thoughts and continue training!"

With that.

Carter turned around and beckoned to Ren.

"Ren, come with me."

With her hands behind her back, the old Sorcerer strode away from the training ground.

Ren dismissed the Magic Shield and followed at a leisurely pace.

That left over a hundred apprentices standing there in utter disarray.

"Oh my god, he trained a Magic Shield of that level in three days. Is he even human?"

"Where did this monster come from? Why have we never heard of him before?"

"Our batch is probably about to produce an extraordinary prodigy..."

The apprentices whispered among themselves, completely unable to focus on training anymore.

However.

Ren could no longer hear their discussion, and even if he had, he would not have cared.

Following Carter all the way, the two arrived at the old Sorcerer's private meditation room.

As soon as they entered.

Carter gestured for Ren to sit down, then personally poured him a cup of hot tea and pushed it over.