Three Essentials of Becoming a Wizard Apprentice

Killing people—an entrance exam.

Putting those two utterly unrelated words together made Richard feel that this world was truly wondrous.

"An entrance exam that requires killing? Which page did you see that on?"

Richard suspected it was some kind of prank. What sort of Academy would want a bunch of murderers as students?

Sniffling, Ellie handed the admission rules to Richard. At that moment, the Magic Lamp in the room happened to light up. Having already learned Wizard Language, Richard opened the dog-eared page Ellie had folded over by its light.

The page read:

Before entering the Academy, Preparatory Wizard Apprentices must undergo an entrance examination. The examination is called the Life and Death Race, and its contents are as follows:

At the beginning of the examination, Preparatory Wizard Apprentices will receive one Crystal Ball, along with seven bottles of Nutrient Potion, each capable of replacing one day's food. Preparatory Wizard Apprentices must reach the location designated by the Academy within fourteen days, carrying at least two Crystal Balls.

Those with an insufficient number of Crystal Balls, or those who fail to arrive on time within fourteen days, will lose their qualifications for admission.

Note: The Academy does not provide return services. Should apprentices lose their admission qualifications, they must return to their place of origin on their own.

After reading it, Richard tossed the admission rules back to Ellie, turned around, climbed onto his bed, took out his own admission rules, and flipped to the same page.

The contents were exactly the same.

This was not a joke.

"This is going to be troublesome."

Richard closed the rules. He did not know why the Academy did this—going to such lengths to gather apprentices like them and transport them to the Academy, only to use an entrance examination to eliminate half of them.

But he knew one thing: that question was meaningless now. He was already aboard the Airship.

So he had to find a way to pass the entrance examination as quickly as possible.

Among these Preparatory Wizard Apprentices were impoverished farmers from the lowest rungs of society, as well as nobles from the upper class. Most commoners were like Richard: malnourished and frail. Those nobles, however, possessed strong bodies and martial training they had received since childhood.

Every noble was a knight. This saying was widespread throughout the Kingdom of the Golden Flower and was regarded as the foundation of noble rule.

In the Kingdom of the Golden Flower, a knight was not merely a title, but a symbol of personal strength.

Every knight was a fierce man who could wear full plate armor, wield a Two-handed Greatsword in one hand, and still move as swiftly as the wind.

Moreover, in the Kingdom of the Golden Flower, a noble's title had to be inherited by a knight.

Thus, while these noble descendants might have questionable character and poor brains, their bodies, tempered from childhood, far surpassed those of commoners even if they slacked off.

Competing against such a group, commoners like Richard had practically no hope of survival.

"Impossible. Since the Academy recruits commoner students, it cannot possibly leave them without even a chance to fight back."

Richard's thoughts flashed like lightning, and he immediately took out the three books issued by the Academy.

The Wizard Academy would never waste effort designing an examination that commoners could not pass. They had surely left behind something capable of leveling the gap between students.

Richard spread the three books across his bed. One was the Wizard language dictionary, one was the admission rules, and the last had a rather straightforward title—

How to Become a Wizard Apprentice

[Material: How to Become a Wizard Apprentice]

[Extractable information: Basic Meditation Method, Mana Circulation construction, Four Basic Tricks]

[Extraction cost: 7 Mental Power]

[Extract?]

"Extract."

At one end of the Airship was a resting cabin reserved for wizards.

"Ellery, how many of these apprentices do you think will survive this time?"

Taylor looked out at the sea of clouds. The Airship flew at an altitude of around two thousand meters; from this height, the sea of clouds outside the window seemed more like land.

"Over four thousand, I'd say. This year, Crystal Balls can no longer be exchanged for Magic Stones, so no one should deliberately hunt others."

Beside Taylor, the muscular woman who had previously carried a door-sized Greatsword leaned against the cabin wall and replied casually.

"I heard the Dean suffered a huge loss in the planar war and needs to replenish the number of wizards as much as possible. The students of these recent classes really have it good!"

There was a note of sentiment in Taylor's voice. Once upon a time, he too had been a ruthless man who had fought his way out from among countless apprentices.

But after failing his promotion in a single attempt, he had been barred from becoming a wizard for life.

Now he could only work for the Academy to make a living.

Whenever Taylor, already over a hundred years old, looked at these Preparatory Wizard Apprentices, he always thought of his younger self.

"Come to think of it, why haven't I seen Malou?" Taylor asked.

"There are a few clever little ones in this class. They pooled some Magic Stones and hired him to explain the meditation method to them."

"Oh?" Taylor was somewhat surprised. "Isn't that against the rules?"

Ellery shrugged. "If you don't say anything and I don't say anything, how would the big shots at the Academy know?

"Besides, those little ones spent Magic Stones, which conforms to the principle of Equivalent Exchange. Even if the Academy found out, they would only praise those little ones for being quick-witted."

But Taylor shook his head.

"The textbooks written by the Dean are already simple enough. If they still cannot learn from material at this level, then even if they get in, they will merely be waiting to die.

"In the end, the road to truth must be walked by oneself. A little opportunism may get them somewhere for a time, but can they keep taking shortcuts for a lifetime?"

Room 225.

Richard sat cross-legged on his bed, trying his best to still his heart like water.

After extracting How to Become a Wizard Apprentice, Richard had completely mastered the theoretical knowledge of the meditation method.

The so-called meditation method was a wizard's cultivation technique.

Its primary purpose was to help wizards increase and restore their Mental Power.

"The three essentials of becoming a Wizard Apprentice are linking to the Sea of Souls, constructing Mana Circulation, and engraving a spell mark. Of these, linking to the Sea of Souls is the most difficult."

Following the information in the book, Richard worked hard to adjust his state.

According to the book, the stronger a person's Mental Power, the easier it was for them to connect to the Sea of Souls.

As long as he linked to the Sea of Souls, his meditation would be half successful.

As Richard's heart gradually calmed, he began engraving Runes within his spiritual world.

There were three Runes in the Basic Meditation Method. When Richard finished engraving them, his consciousness suddenly seemed to leave his body and fall into a bottomless abyss.

The abyss was silent and desolate, as though neither time nor space existed within it.

Richard's consciousness remained in that abyss for an unknown length of time. Tedium, loneliness, and fear surged into his heart like a rising tide.

But he endured them all.

Because this was the only road to linking with the Sea of Souls.

Finally, after falling for an unknown amount of time, Richard's consciousness touched the Sea of Souls.

In an instant, Richard saw an endless starry sky.

"The Sea of Souls reflects the Material World. Every plane in the Material World is a star within the Sea of Souls. This magnificent sight affected every wizard who saw it, so wizards later came to call the Material World—the Astral Realm."

The record from the book flashed through Richard's mind. At that moment, his thoughts seemed to overlap with those of countless wizards throughout the ages.

"This really is beautiful."

Richard sighed, then began leaving his own mark in the Sea of Souls.

With this mark, he would be able to link to the Sea of Souls more easily.

"What mark should I leave?" Richard looked at the endless stars, and a sudden wave of loneliness rose in his heart.

Alone in a foreign world, a stranger in a strange land; whenever I gaze upon the stars, I miss home all the more.

Richard transformed his Mental Power into a pen, then drew a Five-pointed Star in the Sea of Souls.

After finishing all this, Richard's consciousness began to grow hazy.

The Basic Meditation Method could only allow him to remain in the Sea of Souls for this long. If he wanted to stay longer, he would need to seek a more advanced meditation method.

A few seconds later, his consciousness returned to the Material World.

At this moment, he had completed the most difficult and important step in becoming a Wizard Apprentice.