Chapter 13: Arrival
“The Great Plains of Death is indeed a place no ordinary person can cross!”
Leylin sat in the carriage as his body constantly jolted up and down. The tiny window opened as a golden ray of sunshine peeked in, giving the interior of the carriage a trace of liveliness.
It had already been over ten days since the attack of the plains direwolves pack. During these ten days, the travelling party encountered an increasing amount of danger as they ventured deeper into the plains.
Only now did Leylin find out that the plains’ direwolves were merely at the bottom of the food chain. There were still many more cunning and vicious predators above them.
On the way, Leylin saw several animal colonies whose numbers were not inferior to that of the direwolf pack from before.
Besides the plains’ direwolves, there were flocks of huge black birds that were several meters tall and even enormous monsters, dozens of meters long, which looked like sabre-tooth tigers, except their bodies were like tiny mountains. Just their aura alone caused Leylin to feel suffocated.
Fortunately, the deaths of the apprentices seemed to have reached the limit and the white-robed Magi had started to act. Not only did they set up magical defensive arrays on the carriages, they also directly stepped forward to disperse the animal groups that attacked. Through these measures, a large number of casualties was prevented.
The most dangerous time was when they confronted the monster that was dozens of meters long.
Thankfully, that small mountain-like monster seemed to possess some intelligence and knew that the white robed Magi were not to be trifled with. It quickly left after a short confrontation and did not unleash any attacks, causing everyone in the travelling party to sigh in relief.
“It’s time!” Leylin took out his pocket watch and looked at the clock hand. It had already reached the 3 o’clock position.
He stood up and opened the front door of the carriage. A moist breeze blew towards him, bringing a salty smell with it. It smelt very fresh and clean and Leylin could not help but deeply breath in a few times before seating himself besides Angelo.
“Good afternoon! Sir Angelo!”
“Good afternoon! Such a courteous noble gentleman!” Angelo did not turn as he directly handed over the horsewhip and reins to Leylin, “Good timing, I need to rest for a while!”
Leylin chuckled as he received the horsewhip and skilfully urged on the carriage.
Angelo leaned to one side as he unclasped a bottle at his waist. When he opened it, a strong alcohol smell floated out, and as he lowered his head to take a gulp, his eyes narrowed in joy.
“We are about to reach our destination. Based on the fact that you’ve helped me drive the carriage for a month, I can answer two of your questions!”
Leylin was just enjoying the view on both sides when he heard Angelo’s voice sound out.
“Alright!” Leylin lightly smiled. He had specially tried to get into Angelo’s good books and this was one of the reasons why he had done so.
“Then my first question is, what will there be at our destination?”
“Some temporary tents set up by the various Magus academies. Over there, all of you can freely choose an academy to join based on your interests and also undergo an even more accurate aptitude test!”
Angelo looked a little impatient as he answered, “These things will be explained by the great Magi when we arrive, don’t waste your opportunity!”
“An accurate aptitude test?” Leylin was stunned. Soon after, he recalled that they had only managed to identify his talent in magic initially before being sent onto the carriage by the viscount. As for how good his talent was in comparison to others, he did not have the slightest inkling.
“Temporary tents set up by the Magus academies? Looks like this is similar to the school recruitments of my previous world. I wonder what the requirements are.” Leylin silently thought to himself.
“Alright then! My second question! In your heart, what is a Magus!”
Leylin asked his second question.
“A Magus? They control enormous power and pursue the truth, with an equivalent exchange as their doctrine. Brat, don’t daydream of obtaining any free benefits from a Magus, or else the flames of desire will gush out from the abyss and punish your soul!”
Angelo’s face twitched as if he had thought of an unfortunate event, while his voice became extremely low.
“Pursuit of truth, equivalent exchange? I like it!” The corners of Leylin’s mouth formed a smile.
After answering, Angelo seemed to have lost all interest in talking. He ferociously chugged down two mouthfuls of the potent alcohol as he lowered his head and closed his eyes. Ten minutes later, the sounds of snoring could be heard.
Leylin dully gazed at the scenery to his front. Although the plains were very beautiful, after a whole month of looking at the same things, he now felt like throwing up at the sight of it.
“This is……”
As the carriage continued to advance, the green in the distance became less and less. In place of it was a vast blue, and wave after wave of strong winds.
“We’ve finally arrived, the Death Beach!”
The sleeping Angelo opened his eyes and looked at Leylin, “We’ve reached our destination!”
As they neared the sea, a small town-like place appeared at the end of his line of sight.
Numerous tents of various shapes and sizes stood together, and they formed a huge camp. Surrounding them were dozens of carriages similar to the one Leylin was driving.
And what numbered the most were acolytes of similar ages as them, around thirteen to fourteen years old, each and every one of them carrying looks of curiosity on their faces. Leylin did a rough estimate and counted that there were at least hundreds of them, filling up the entire camp. From time to time, some acolytes walked out from the tents, many different expressions adorning their faces.
“Alright! Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the intermediate stop of our travelling destination, the Death Beach! You will all decide on your future academy here, and then return back to your respective academies with your teachers to practice magic!”
The horse carriage halted, and three white robes came out and gathered the acolytes, then the leader Crow began speaking.
“Now, follow me into the campgrounds, and choose an academy. Remember, you may check on all the various academies, but once you have signed a contract to join one, you must not renege! Anyone who disobeys will be hung to death at the gate of the camp!”
Crow’s frosty words made the acolytes hearts turn cold.
“Haha! Crow! You guys are pretty late today!” A voice sounded, and a fatty walked out from the camp grounds. He too was wearing a white robe, and he greeted: “Don’t scare these adorable newbies!”
“There were some difficulties along the way!” Crow explained.
“Alright! Newbies! Now follow me into the camp!” Fatty spoke with Crow and the others for a while more, then turned his head and shouted to Leylin and the rest.
“You guys can call me Jevon, of the beautiful Ennea Ivory Ring Tower. Trust me, if you are to choose an academy, the Ennea Ivory Ring Tower is definitely your best choice!”
Jevon said as he brought the acolytes into the camp.
Once they entered, various sounds travelled into their ears, reminding Leylin of the marketplaces in his previous world. As for Crow and the other two white robes, they seemed to have something else to do, and they soon left the group.
The surroundings were bustling with activity, mostly due to acolytes just like them. Some of them had gathered in a circle, while there were others who were entering or exiting the tents.
Jevon brought Leylin and the rest, a total of 40 odd people, into the middle of the camp grounds.
Here, was a large tent of pure white colour, and there were still strange flower patterns on the outside of it They seemed like both ornaments, and yet resembled writing as well.
Leylin could not help but look at it closely, “A.I Chip! Begin Scan!”
“How could this be?” Leylin stared at the tent once again with disbelief.
With every passing minute and second, the patterns on the tent seemed lifelike, constantly twisting itself.
“Hehe!” “Haha!” “Ji Ji!”
Various noises travelled to Leylin’s ears. The surrounding lights seemed to distort itself, and Leylin looked at his own hands. At this point, his arm seemed to have been pulled into a long shape, which looked extremely slender.
“Leylin! Leylin! What’s wrong with you?” At this point, there was a pat on Leylin’s shoulder.
Leylin’s whole body suddenly quivered, and he came to his senses. Looking at the surroundings, the acolytes were still listening to Fatty Jevon’s speech, and everything seemed to revert back to its normal state.
“Could it be that it wasn’t an illusion earlier?” Leylin got scared, “A.I Chip, reproduce the situation I was in earlier!”
“Phew……Magi, are they always this mysterious?” Leylin wiped his cold sweat off, still carrying a lingering fear of the events earlier.
“Leylin! Your complexion is really bad! Could it be that you have fallen ill?” George asked from the side.
“No matter who, their expressions won’t be any better if they had experienced that earlier!”
“Not……Nothing……Where did Jevon stop at?” Leylin hurriedly digressed.
“Oh! We need to fill in a form, and take the aptitude test! And then it will be free time, and we can choose our academy autonomously!”
“Because you guys have come a day late, you only have a day’s worth of time left, and in this span of period, you must choose an academy where you will practice magic in, if not you will have to wait until next year!” Jevon was still speaking loudly ahead of them.
Now, all of you line up and take the form from me one by one, and then enter for the test!”
Jevon sat behind a white table, and took out a stack of forms and placed them down.
The line moved forward quickly, and very soon it was Leylin’s turn.
“Fill in your particulars in this form, and then enter the tent and follow the instructions of the person inside!”
Leylin took the form and realised that it was made of sheepskin paper. The particulars required were minimal, only a name, age and location born, as well as a few others.
Picking up the goose feather pen on the table, Leylin filled in the form very quickly.
The faint, red coloured, inked flower patterns on the sheepskin seemed to be very beautiful.
“I never thought that this brat’s handwriting from the mainland is still pretty good!” After Leylin finished writing, he picked up the sheepskin paper and entered the white tent.
“Come over!” An ancient voice sounded.
It was very spacious inside the tent, and there was only a white-haired old lady sitting on a black chair and a crystal ball which rested on a table.
“Okay! Why would I suddenly think of those divination witches!”
“Hello!” Leylin greeted the witch.
“Bring the form here!” Clearly, this witch was not having any of it, and her voice was still frosty cold.
“Leylin huh? Place your hands on the crystal ball!”
Chapter 14: Aptitude Test
Leylin followed the witch’s instructions and placed both of his hands on the crystal ball.
Icy cold! Vibrations!
A strange tactile feeling was transmitted from the tip of his fingers.
Leylin’s head hurt as if there was a glass rod stirring inside.
Along with the start of his headache, the crystal ball in front of Leylin also emitted a faint glow.
“Very good! Don’t let go! The witch stared attentively at the crystal ball.
As the pain increased, the crystal ball in Leylin’s hands also grew brighter, “No! No more!”
Leylin clenched his teeth, and the pain that practically split his brain into two caused him to loosen his grip uncontrollably.
“Okay! So you are at this level?” The witch nodded her head. She took out a goose feather pen and scribbled on Leylin’s form.
“We have categorised the aptitude of the acolytes into five grades, with the first grade as the worst and the fifth grade as the best. You are in the third grade, a middle ranked grade!”
The witch said as she turned a ring on her hand and made a strange mark on the sheepskin, which had been shining brightly with light.
“My examination here is over, you go on behind me! Next!”
Seeing a young girl with freckles entering the tent, Leylin took the sheepskin paper, stood up and gave his thanks, and then lifted the hanging curtain of the tent, heading to the next procedure in line.
The area was still as spacious as the one earlier, and in the middle, there was a white bearded old geezer.
“From the layout of this tent, there should only be two tests. It is really simple!” Leylin thought, as he sat in front of the old geezer and handed the form over to him.
“Third grade? Not too bad!” The white-bearded old geezer stroked his chin, “Alright! Now to test for elemental affinity!”
The old geezer knocked on the tabletop and it split open, and a black basin rose from the centre.
This water basin was not smooth. It seemed to be made of stone, and there was a kind of liquid metal flowing inside that resembled mercury.
“Carefully look into the water!” The old geezer’s voice sounded, seemingly carrying an authoritative tone.
Leylin could not help but to divert all his attention towards the centre of the water basin. With his constant focus, the mercury in the middle swirled continuously and turned into a whirlpool, as if a mouth had opened at the bottom.
“Now, tell me, what do you see?”
Leylin’s eyes were a little glazed over, “Shadows, and a black coloured whirlpool! And there are red spots near the outer circumference!”
“Anything else?”
“There are also green specks of light in the surrounding area!”
“Is there a lot of green?”
“Not at all! Very little!”
“Okay!” The old geezer snapped his fingers, and Leylin suddenly came back to his senses, “What happened to me!”
“Your test is already over! In the aspect of elemental affinities, you have the highest affinity with the Dark and Shadow elements, after that is the Fire element, and you also have a smidgen of affinity with the Plant element!”
As the old geezer spoke, he rapidly filled in the form and added his handprint.
“Let me give you some advice! Magi are able to use every kind of energy! But only by following the path you have the highest affinity with, can you progress the furthest!”
The old geezer handed the form back to Leylin, “Alright! Your test is over. Walk out from the back entrance and start choosing your academy!”
Leylin bowed, and then left the tent.
As he lifted the canopy at the back, a ray of sunlight came shining down.
“A.I Chip, reproduce the state I was in earlier!”
“As expected!” Leylin’s face darkened, and then he exhaled helplessly, “Thankfully, the other party does not have any bad intentions, if not……”
Deep in his heart, his thirst for power only grew more intense.
“Hey! Leylin!” George’s voice rang beside his ears, “You finished your aptitude test too?”
George’s voice travelled over.
“Yeah!” Leylin nodded his head and waved the sheepskin paper form in his hands.
“I have completed it too, hehe! I, this young master, am a genius with a fourth-grade aptitude!” George laughed loudly, wearing an excessively smug expression!
“I am not too familiar with the grading of acolytes, could you explain it in detail for me?” Leylin asked.
George’s family was much greater than Viscount Farlier’s family, and he was able to know more secrets regarding the Magi.
“Of course! This is all common knowledge. No matter which academy you enter, there will be people who will tell you.” George said.
“The aptitudes of the acolytes are ranked according to the chance of being promoted to a proper Magus, and they are categorised into 5 grades! And the fifth grade is the highest, with a 90 percent chance of becoming a Magus!”
“The fourth grade is slightly inferior, but there is still a 50 percent chance! I, this young master, am a genius at this level! Haha……My father will definitely be elated!” George digressed, he was clearly too excited.
“And the rest? Hurry and say it!” Leylin punched George’s shoulder and finally brought George back on track.
“Oh? Earlier I mentioned up to the fourth grade. What’s below it is the third grade, where there is a ten percent chance of becoming a Magus. As for the second grade, there is only a 2 to 3 percent chance, and the first grade is the worst, with only a 1 percent or even 0.1 percent chance.”
“Anyway, there is only a chance for third grade and above. As for the first and second grade, basically, they can only be an acolyte their whole life!”
“So that is the case. It seems like my grade is middle ranked. There should be no academy that will reject me, nor would they regard me as important!” Leylin analysed his current situation.
“How about elemental affinity?” Leylin continued asking.
“Elemental affinity is the future path of a Magus, you know, some Magi can manipulate lightning, some Magi can manipulate fire, and some others can even manipulate frost! These are all paths of choice.”
“Although a Magus is able to use any type of elemental spell, in theory, the ones with the highest affinity will not only let the casting speed be faster but also contain more power. If a Fire element Magus wanted to cast a water-based spell, not only would he consume more spiritual energy, but the might of the spell would also weaken greatly. There could be a water-based pool summoning that ends up as only a water ball!”
“All in all, the elemental affinity will determine the path of a Magus, and the aptitude will determine how far a Magus can walk on that path!”
George concluded.
“The last sentence makes perfect sense, but it doesn’t seem to be yours!” Leylin repeated the words of the last sentence.
“He he! You found out. These are the words of a travelling Magus! I saw them in my father’s study room.” George said embarrassedly, as he scratched his head.
“Oh right! I finally managed to inquire as to why the black-robed Knights were so cold and distant!”
George seemed to have remembered something and was itching to share the news.
“The strength of a Magus, even if he is only an acolyte, is not something a Knight can withstand, so don’t you think that the black robes’ performance when we journeyed was a little strange?”
“There is indeed something strange about it!” Leylin nodded his head and asked with a conjecture, “Could it be that they have some background?”
“No! No! No!” George shook his head, “My dear brother, you are guessing in the completely wrong direction; these black robed Knights are actually one of the experiments of a Magus!”
“An experiment!” Leylin’s eyes widened. In his world, conducting a live experiment had always been a taboo for science, and even if there were any, they were done in secrecy. But here, they had actually done it so openly and aboveboard.
“In the process of the experiment, this batch of experiment samples had already sustained an overdose of radiation and would not live more than several years. That was why they were used as disposables, to escort acolytes like us!”
“This was the reason?” Leylin thought of Angelo’s pale face and silently nodded his head.
Earlier, the A.I Chip had scanned and detected traces of radiation, but the radiation discovered on the white robe Magi were a hundred times more concentrated, so Leylin naturally thought that there was no effect.
“For us Magi, we will be acolytes at least; which Knight would not want to prostrate themselves and hope that we pick them to serve us in the future. The only ones who will not take us seriously are those who will not live for longer than a few days!”
George said with some regrets. His face was indignant, it seems like, as an heir to a large noble family, he was displeased with the rude manners of the black robes from before.
“I heard that for the guys from the west, not only had they been treated like young masters by the Knights along the journey, they had even slept with some of them!” George’s dissatisfaction only lasted a moment, before it turned into a vulgar expression.
“Slept with some of them?” Leylin was a little more awake, “There are also female Knights?”
“Of course, although female Knights are generally quite muscular, a few have practised some unique techniques so they still look pretty good!”
“Also, a female Knight’s stamina is rather good and can withstand all kinds of treatment. Especially during intercourse, her pair of toned thighs wrapping around you, that feeling is too wonderful for words!” George’s current character was that of a lecherous swine.
Leylin recalled his memories. The brat of the past was also a playboy, but obviously, he could not compete with George who was from such a large noble family, so he had indeed not touched a pretty female Knight before.
There were several female Knights under the Viscount, but they all had bulging muscles, which made Leylin feel revolted.
Shaking his head, he did not wish to discuss the contents of this matter with George.
“I understand now. Let’s go and choose our academy!”
“This! My father has already chosen for me, I’ll be attending the Ennea Ivory Ring Tower. My family has a relationship with one of the senior Magi inside……Why don’t you come with me too!” George gave an invitation.
Leylin was a little tempted, but seeing the ring on his neck, he still hesitated,
“Earlier, that Magus never said which academy the ring could help me get into. What if it turns into a restriction instead?”
“No! I wish to walk and look around more!” Leylin declined politely.
“Alright then, I am going to carry out the procedures. You can come to the area for the Ennea Ivory Ring Tower to look for me!” George waved his hands and squeezed into the crowd.
“Where should I go? I don’t care anymore; let’s check out the academies first!”
Leylin strolled aimlessly around the camp and saw all sorts of interesting tents with strange shapes and sizes. Some were like a giant mushroom, where a small fan-shaped door opened in the middle, and some might very well have used some sort of strange horned devil skull, where the acolytes can walk into the tent through the devil’s ferocious mouth as though they were stepping into a haunted house.
And at the front of all these different buildings were marked with words.
“It is the language of the mainland, that’s still fine!”
Leylin took a look, saw some of the academy names, and memorised them, “Ennea Ivory Ring Tower, Mercifura Academy, Wetland Gardens……”
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
28 Power
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