Murder, entrance exam.
These two unrelated words put together made Richard feel that the world was truly wonderful.
"An entrance exam that requires killing? What's the page you were looking at?"
Richard was a little suspicious that this was a prank. What kind of college would need a group of murderers as students?
Ellie sobbed as she handed the admission rules to Richard. At this moment, the magic light in the room happened to light up. Richard, who had already learned the wizard language, took advantage of the light to open the page that Ellie had folded.
The page reads:
Before entering the academy, prospective wizard apprentices must take an entrance exam called "Life and Death Race", which is as follows:
At the beginning of the exam, the wizard apprentice will receive a crystal ball and seven bottles of nutritional potions that can replace one day's food. The wizard apprentice must arrive at the designated location of the academy within fourteen days and carry at least two crystal balls.
Those who do not have enough crystal balls or fail to arrive on time within fourteen days will lose their admission qualifications.
Note: The College does not provide repatriation services. Apprentices must return to their place of origin on their own if they lose their admission eligibility.
After reading the admission rules, Richard threw them to Ellie, then climbed onto the bed, took out his own admission rules, and turned to the same page.
The content is exactly the same as above.
This is not a joke.
"This is a bit uncomfortable."
Richard closed the code. He didn't know why the academy did this, spending so much effort to recruit apprentices like them and bringing them to the academy, but then using an entrance exam to screen out half of them.
But he knew one thing: the question was meaningless now, as he was already on the airship.
So he now has to find a way to pass the entrance exam as soon as possible.
Among these wizard apprentices, there were peasants from the lower classes and nobles from the upper classes. Most of the common people were malnourished and thin like Richard, while the nobles had strong bodies and martial arts learned since childhood.
Every nobleman is a knight. This sentence is widely circulated in the Plantagenet Kingdom and is regarded as the foundation of aristocratic rule.
In the Plantagenet Kingdom, knighthood was not just a title, but a symbol of personal strength.
Each knight is a strong man wearing plate armor and holding a two-handed sword in each hand, and can move at high speed.
Moreover, in the Plantagenet Kingdom, a noble title must be inherited by a knight.
So these noble descendants may have questionable character and poor brains, but their bodies have been trained since childhood, so even if they are lazy, they are far superior to ordinary people.
Competing with such a group of people, Richard and other civilians had basically no hope of survival.
"Impossible. Since the academy accepts civilian students, there is no way they will not give them any chance to resist."
Richard's mind flashed, and he immediately took out the three books distributed by the college.
A wizarding academy would never waste energy designing an exam that commoners could not pass. They must have left something behind that was enough to bridge the gap between students.
Richard spread out three books on the bed. One was a wizard dictionary, one was the admission rules, and the last one had a more direct name. It was called -
How to Become a Wizard's Apprentice
[Ingredients: "How to Become a Wizard's Apprentice"]
[Information that can be extracted: basic meditation method, magic reflux construction, four basic tricks]
[Refining Consumption: 7 Spiritual Power]
[Whether to refine]
"refining."
…
At one end of the airship, there is a rest cabin exclusively for wizards.
"Ariely, how many of these apprentices do you think will survive this time?"
Taylor looked at the sea of clouds outside the window. The airship was flying at an altitude of about two thousand meters. Looking out the window at this altitude, the sea of clouds seemed to be the land.
"About 4,000 or so. This year, the exchange of crystal balls for magic stones has been cancelled, so no one should deliberately hunt them."
Next to Taylor, the muscular woman who had been holding the door panel sword leaned against the bulkhead and responded casually.
"I heard that the dean suffered a great loss in the plane war and needs to replenish the number of wizards as much as possible. These students are blessed!"
Taylor said with a sigh, once upon a time, he was also a ruthless man who stood out among the apprentices.
As a result, he failed to be promoted and never became a wizard again in his life.
Now I can only work for the college to make a living.
Looking at these prospective apprentices now, Taylor, who is over a hundred years old, always thinks of his younger self.
"By the way, why didn't I see that guy Maluo?" Taylor asked.
"There are a few smart guys in this class. A few of them gathered some magic stones and asked him to come over to explain the meditation method."
"Oh?" Taylor was a little surprised. "Isn't this against the rules?"
Ariely shrugged: "If you don't tell me and I don't tell you, how will the big shots in the academy know?
Besides, those little guys spent magic stones, which conforms to the principle of equivalent exchange. Even if the academy knew about it, they would only praise those little guys for their smart brains. "
But Taylor shook his head.
"The teaching materials written by the dean are simple enough. If they still can't learn from this level of teaching materials, then even if they come in, they are just waiting to die.
The path to truth is ultimately one that you have to walk on your own. They can succeed by taking shortcuts for a while, but can they succeed by taking shortcuts for a lifetime?"
…
Room 225.
Richard sat cross-legged on the bed, trying to calm himself.
After refining "How to Become a Wizard's Apprentice", Richard has fully mastered the theoretical knowledge of meditation.
The so-called meditation method is the wizard's method.
The main function is to help wizards increase their mental strength and restore their mental strength.
"There are three main elements to becoming a wizard apprentice: connecting to the sea of souls, building a return flow of magic power, and engraving spell marks. The most difficult of these is connecting to the sea of souls."
Richard tried to adjust his state according to the information in the book.
According to the book, the stronger a person's mental power is, the easier it is to connect to the sea of soul.
As long as he can connect to the Sea of Soul, his meditation will be half successful.
As Richard's heart calmed down, he began to carve runes in his spiritual world.
There are three runes in the basic meditation method. When Richard finished engraving the runes, his spirit suddenly seemed to leave his body and fell into a bottomless abyss.
It is silent and desolate in the abyss, as if time and space do not exist.
Richard's spirit stayed in this abyss for an unknown period of time. Boredom, loneliness, and fear surged into Richard's heart like a tide.
But he endured it all.
Because this is the only way to connect to the sea of souls.
Finally, after falling for an unknown amount of time, Richard's spirit finally touched the sea of souls.
In an instant, Richard saw the endless starry sky.
"The Soul Sea reflects the material world. Every plane of the material world is a star in the Soul Sea. This spectacular view has influenced every wizard who has seen it, so wizards later called the material world the Astral World."
The records in the book flashed through Richard's mind. At this moment, his thoughts seemed to overlap with those of countless wizards over tens of millions of years.
"This is really beautiful."
Richard sighed, and then began to leave his mark in the sea of souls.
With this mark, he can connect to the Sea of Souls more easily.
"What kind of mark should I leave?" Richard looked at the endless starry sky, and suddenly a feeling of loneliness surged in his heart.
Being a stranger in a foreign world, I miss my family all the more every time I look at the starry sky.
Richard used his mental power to transform into a pen, and then drew a five-pointed star in the sea of soul.
After doing all this, Richard began to feel a little dazed.
Basic meditation methods can only allow him to stay in the Sea of Souls for so long. If he wants to stay longer, he will have to find a more advanced meditation method.
In a matter of seconds, his spirit returned to the material world.
At this moment, he had completed the most difficult and important step in becoming a wizard apprentice.