Chapter 67 – The First Test of a Changing World
Afraid to dream again after falling asleep, Sol spent the latter part of the night meditating with a crystal ball.
Although the sorcerous body transformation of his left hand had raised his magic power by a large margin, the talent for magic had not changed much as a result.
This meant that his future magic power enhancement would still be a major problem.
However, it was good that the most pressing crisis had been eliminated, and Saul could completely utilize other safer ways, or continue with the sorcerous body transformation, to raise his magic power.
At eight in the morning, the hourglass clock reminded Saul that it was time to leave.
With his bag on his back, he headed to Mentor Katz's lab.
Senior Mark was not there today, only Angela was cowering in the corner of the lab with a nervous face.
When she saw Saul walk in, she barely smiled and greeted him.
"Good morning, Saul."
"Huh? Morning."
Saul glanced at Angela and realized the latter had bowed her head to herself.
Angela seemed nervous.
"Phew-" Saul let out a soft huff.
Well, he was actually nervous, too.
Even though he had become a social animal in his previous life, he had taken some social exams.
Every time he took an exam, he should still be nervous, and there was no steadiness of an adult at all.
This was probably the price he needed to bear for having prepared for the exams but not seriously preparing for them.
The tension now, however, was different from his previous life.
The first level sorcerer apprentice test was conducted once a month, while the first test gave newcomers three months to prepare.
Whether it was from the mentors' attitudes or the seniors' remarks, it could be seen that those who couldn't pass the test were definitely more than just flunking out and retaking the test.
"What is the worst outcome of not being able to pass the test?"
"It's not going to be made into flower fertilizer as well, right?"
Saul was quite sure of his own strength, and the reason why he was so nervous was mainly because he feared the authority of the entire Wizard Tower and the toughness of the official wizards.
A first level apprentice was just too weak in front of them.
The two waited in the laboratory from eight o'clock until nine o'clock, and the atmosphere of the laboratory became more and more gloomy.
Mentor Katz, however, never showed up.
Saul, who had silently emptied his brain to relax, suddenly saw Angela walking towards him and sitting on a stool a meter away.
"Saul, do you know where Duke went? He hasn't been in the lab for a couple days." Angela asked cautiously.
"He's dead." Saul replied with little emotion.
Across the room Angela jerked her head up and immediately lowered it back down before she was about to meet Saul's eyes.
"Oh ... oh ..." she seemed to be torn as her ten fingers tangled together and her butt shifted twice every now and then.
"That ..." Angela wanted to hurry to bring Duke's matter over, "Today is the nine o'clock test, right, how come the tutor and also the senior didn't come?"
Saul wasn't sure why, and was wondering if he should go out and take a look.
Just then he heard a sound of footsteps approaching and Senior Mark walked through the door.
Without greeting the two, he rushed into the lab and started picking through the materials.
Only when he had almost finished packing did he say to the two without looking back, "Today, the instructors have something temporary to do, so all the tests for new apprentices are uniformly rescheduled to the public classroom on the 10th floor, so you guys go over there quickly."
"Ah!" Angela let out a soft cry and covered her lips with both hands.
Sol immediately stood up and followed Mark out of the lab.
There were still apprentices in the corridor, clutching books or carrying bags, walking out of other labs in twos and threes.
Everyone was confused and talking, uneasiness written on everyone's face.
Angela, who had chased her from the lab, jogged a few steps to Saul's left.
It was strange that she was still following Saul even though she had just been scared by him.
This, on the contrary, made Saul wary.
Angela opened her mouth and was about to continue talking to Saul when a figure forcefully squeezed in between the two.
"Good morning, Saul! Oh? Good morning, Angela."
Casually greeting Angela, Kori craned her head to survey Saul.
"Why is your mental state getting worse?"
Saul let out a bitter laugh.
"Having nightmares." "Nightmares? You have such high spiritual power, ordinary nightmares can't affect you, right? Could it be that you're being haunted by some ghosts or monsters, should you go find someone to look at?"
Korie keenly discovered the possible problems involved.
Apprentices like them whose spiritual power had been developed would normally not dream for no reason, much less have nightmares for no reason.
So as soon as Saul talked about nightmares, Korie immediately wondered if Saul was in some kind of trouble.
When she said, "Should we go find someone to take a look?", she bit out the word "someone" very clearly.
Kori was referring to Byron.
"Hmm." Saul echoed that thought.
Senior Byron, who had been working in the corpse room for years, should be very experienced in dealing with ghosts and monsters. It was just that he had just been promoted to a third level apprentice, and he was busy with registration, moving, and receiving new materials.
The work in the corpse room has been transferred to the new second level apprentice. The only way to find someone is to go to his newly moved dormitory.
If that nightmare hadn't made Saul feel intensely uneasy, he hadn't thought of bothering Senior Byron.
It wasn't good to always bother people, after all, there weren't many credits left.
Angela walked in silence, her steps getting slower and slower.
As soon as Korrie arrived she eagerly talked to Saul, and the always silent Saul was able to talk and laugh with Korrie.
She couldn't help but bite her lip, regretting a bit that she had watched.
Saul's mental power talent was one of the best among all the first level apprentices, but he seemed to have offended a second level apprentice at that time, and his mentor didn't think too highly of him, which made Angela not choose to befriend him in the first place.
Angela was mainly afraid of getting into trouble, not everyone had Koli's backbone.
Saul is still talking to Kerri, are acting in a hurry, the footsteps are extremely large, and will soon leave behind Angela.
The public classroom temporarily used for testing was large, with two dozen new students scattered throughout the classroom.
Three months of studying sorcery had caused most of them to form small groups. There were also a few loners, sitting in silence away from others.
Saul and Kori still chose seats in the back row of the classroom.
Angela didn't follow them this time, but found a place to sit on her own.
"Hasn't she always refrained from talking to you? Why did she suddenly lean over today?" Kori asked, leaning on her chin.
"Probably nervous." Sol didn't care, "Do you know what's wrong? Why did the test get moved here and have to be done en masse?"
"I'm not really sure, I was having breakfast with Mentor Guido in the morning. He was called away all of a sudden, and then I was notified that the test was moved to the public classroom."
"Eating with ... Mentor Guido?" Saul asked these words with difficulty.
"Yeah."
Korie had a "I don't know what's wrong with me" look on her face.
"I'm totally used to his vomiting now, and I can even eat bread on the side without changing my face."
Saul didn't know whether to envy Korie for being able to eat with Mentor Guido, or pity her for having to eat with him.
While Saul and Korie were talking, the others in the classroom were also talking.
There was a constant cacophony of voices, and with twenty or so people, it was hard to create an atmosphere of hundreds of people.
"Bam!"
A loud bang startled everyone.
Sol looked towards the source of the sound and saw a second level apprentice with a smile on his lips walk in.
Beside him, Korie suddenly fell back.
Even Saul frowned and sat up straight.
This was because the second level apprentice who came in was none other than Rokai, who had done the first lesson of new student introduction for them!
Luo Kai had used the Mutual Aid Association to parasitize an unknown number of newcomers, and Saul didn't know his hidden agenda behind it, but had already decided that he wasn't the good guy he seemed to be on the surface.
They have categorized Rokai into the evil camp.
However, Rokai didn't say anything when he came in, but only set up the chairs on the podium at the very front and spread a layer of soft fur cushions.
"Someone else is coming in, and that person is the one in charge of the test!" Saul immediately turned his head toward the door.
As expected, a few breaths later, a thin, pale man who didn't seem to have much spirit slowly walked in.
He wore a slightly empty, clean white robe, and his exposed hands were thin and bony, his feet stepping soundlessly on the ground.
If it wasn't for his small height, just by looking at this walking posture, Saul would have thought that it was Pink Da making an appearance.
However, Saul had never seen him, but someone else had.
Keri whispered to remind Saul, "That's mentor Anze, majoring in earth and wood, but also knows water and poison, I heard that even light has been studied, is currently the mentor with the most apprentices in the wizard tower. Rokai ... is his apprentice."
(End of chapter)