Chapter 3 Selection

"Lord Raven Soros," Lucien bowed slightly, speaking respectfully toward a treetop nest.

"Caw, caw, caw..." Accompanied by the sound of flapping wings and a somewhat hoarse call, a giant one-eyed crow flew out of the nest and then landed on a relatively low branch. Its crimson single eye glanced at Lucien, issuing a raspy, sharp human voice.

"Caw—boy, is it you who summoned the great Lord Raven Soros?"

"Yes." Lucien bowed respectfully while presenting a roasted salamander.

This one-eyed crow was the Magic Pet of a Formal Wizard and, to some extent, represented that wizard.

"Caw, caw—if you still want to expel the foreign force within you, the great Lord Raven Soros can't help you," said Raven Soros, unceremoniously taking the roasted salamander offered by Lucien while speaking casually.

"Lord Raven Soros, I wish to take two students from this year's new blood," Lucien stated calmly, directly expressing his request.

"Taking students? Caw, caw..." Soros seemed to find the matter amusing, flapping his wings and laughing raucously.

"Lord Raven Soros, I want to recruit students with good potential and am willing to pay a certain number of Magic Stones," Lucien bowed slightly.

"Magic Stones? Wait a moment." Soros stopped his grating laughter, his expression turning slightly serious. He resettled on the branch, his crimson eye first looking at Lucien, then closed.

After a moment, Soros reopened his eyes. "Boy, the great master of Lord Raven Soros says he can help you obtain third-level potential new blood as students, but... twenty Magic Stones per person."

"Third-level potential? Twenty Magic Stones?" Lucien took a deep breath. Although he knew the cost of seeking help from these Formal Wizards was exceptionally high, twenty Magic Stones? The price was indeed steep.

You should know, with that price, one could purchase two Knight-level slave followers at the Wizard trade points. Although these Knight-level slave followers were slightly less powerful than Second-level Wizard Apprentices, they were absolutely loyal and quite useful helpers for a Third-level Wizard Apprentice.

And to use twenty Magic Stones to become the mentor of a new blood with third-level potential? For most wizards, that was definitely a losing deal.

After all, the students were not necessarily his own, investing twenty Magic Stones before even teaching—that was hardly a profitable "trade."

Moreover, third-level potential? Among the five potentials at Apprentice Rank, it was only considered average and certainly not excellent.

"Caw, caw, caw... This is the will of the master, I am merely conveying it," Soros flapped his wings. After thinking it over, he slowly said, "At most... well, seeing as I like roasted salamanders the most, the great Lord Raven Soros is willing to offer you a small 'discount.'

"How about including one first-level potential new blood as a bonus? If you were to buy Wizard Apprentice slaves as experimental subjects, the price would be much higher than mine."

Lucien fell silent, understanding at this moment that the Formal Wizard behind Soros likely proposed this high price because the buyer was him.

Perhaps in his view, seeking students was to conduct experiments that might expel the foreign Wizard force within his body, or even to engage in body-swapping experiments. Thus, the pricing was set so high—because he was selling it at a "friendly price" as experimental subjects.

Although somewhat reluctant, he now had no other choice. After all, the Formal Wizard in charge of recruiting new blood this year was the only one, and the recruitment for the next batch of new blood would at the very least require waiting another year.

"I... I'll purchase one, plus the 'extra' you mentioned, Lord Raven Soros," Luicien said after a long silence, speaking with some difficulty.

At the same time, he pulled out a small bag and then took out twenty faintly glowing Magic Stones, respectfully handing them to Raven Soros.

Soros grinned, his voice hoarse, but his expression seemed to smile. "Equivalent exchange."

Lucien's mouth twitched.

To use a third-level potential new blood, added with the least impressive first-level potential teaching qualification, and then to take away twenty precious Magic Stones, and in the end, call it equivalent exchange?

"A fair trade." Despite the tumult of emotions inside, Lucien still managed to squeeze out a smile.

After all, in the face of absolute power, willingness to exchange was already considered fair enough by those Formal Wizards.

...

"You have two choices; one is for me to arbitrarily assign a mentor for you, which is free. The other is for you to choose your mentor yourselves. I have brief introductions and conditions of mentors here, you can make your own choice, but this method requires an extra Magic Stone,"

Three days later, as the airship carrying the new blood landed at Greybone Academy, these apprentices, still somewhat bewildered about the Wizard World, began the most crucial choice of their lives.

Starting with the apprentices with the best potential, those of the fifth level, each made their choice.

"I choose Instructor Vivian."

"Kelvit..."

"Lucy..."

Soon, it was the turn of a clever-looking boy to make his choice.

"Sir, I wish to choose on my own." After respectfully handing over a Magic Stone, Yellen took the small booklet containing numerous mentor profiles and quickly began browsing through it.

After all, he could only look for fifteen minutes. If he wanted to continue, he would have to add another Magic Stone!

[Lafati Owen]

[Third-level Wizard Apprentice]

[Expertise: Undead Studies, Human Anatomy, Negative Energy Particle Neutralization]

[Offers three paid knowledge for free]

[Requirement: The apprentice must participate in an experiment every month, with no excuses allowed!]

"No excuses allowed?" Yellen felt slightly disheartened; he had heard that most wizard experiments were very bloody and cruel.

He quickly flipped through to the next mentor's information.

[Steven Lud]

[Formal Wizard]

[Expertise: Neurology, Anatomy, Mutation Modification]

[Offers one paid knowledge for free]

[Requirement: The apprentice must hand over two Magic Stones every month and serve as an experiment assistant]

"Two Magic Stones... I only brought eight from home..." Yellen was somewhat tempted but hesitated upon seeing the strict requirement of handing over two Magic Stones each month.

[Karl Hoskin]

[Third-level Wizard Apprentice]

[Expertise: Spiritual Body Remodeling, Curse Studies, Negative Energy Particle Neutralization]

[Offers five paid knowledge for free, type chosen by the apprentice, consultation and instruction available anytime!]

[Requirement: The apprentice must participate in an experiment once, with no excuses allowed! Only one!]

"I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to walk away alive from the experiment table, right?" After the initial temptation, Yellen quickly skipped over this dangerous option.

Eventually, he came across a particularly appealing mentor profile.

[Lucien Kevin]

[Third-level Wizard Apprentice]

[Expertise: Pharmacy, Plant Cultivation, Energy Particle Studies]

[Offers paid knowledge for free, type chosen by the apprentice, available for one-on-one guidance anytime, anywhere!]

[Requirement: Respect and value your mentor!]

"There are no strict requirements, and the conditions seem very generous!" When Yellen saw this mentor profile, his heart couldn't help but beat excitedly.

"However, my qualification is third-level, and I'm even close to the threshold of fourth-level among the third-level qualifications. In our batch of new blood, aside from those few fourth and fifth-level qualified fellows, I'm the best. Perhaps if I look further, I could find even better mentors with more favorable conditions, even a Formal Wizard."

Yellen noted down the name Lucien but continued to quickly check the subsequent mentors' information.