Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 9: Handling the Procedures (Please continue reading)

"Knock knock knock!"

Richard was sound asleep when he was woken up by a knock on the door. That's one of his good qualities; he has a strong heart and can fall asleep anytime he wants in a strange place.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Richard got up and opened the door.

A beautiful young woman stood gracefully at the entrance. Her slender figure could not be concealed by her formal gray robe. She had delicate features and her slightly wavy golden hair fell over her shoulders, making her look capable and refreshing.

"Hello, you must be Richard Clavel? I am Melo Norris, I arrived a year earlier than you, a first-level wizard apprentice, and also a disciple of Master Seras."

My advisor instructed me this morning to take you to complete the enrollment procedures.

After speaking, she slightly lifted the waist of her robe and performed a ladylike curtsy.

Richard was stunned for a while before he reacted and quickly returned the salute with his hand on his chest.

"Yes, I am Richard. My mentor told me about it too." Although Seres had said before that he would send someone to help him with the procedures, Richard had always thought it was a man.

In his mind, the dark wizarding school was mostly male, so he was quite surprised to find that the first student he saw was a beautiful woman.

"Let's go now. Please follow me. The enrollment procedures aren't complicated, but since the unified enrollment period has already passed, I need to take you there. The last batch of new students arrived more than a month ago."

As Meiluo spoke, she turned her head to look at Richard's reaction.

To be honest, she was more surprised by Richard's appearance than Richard was by her, because she knew who her mentor was and how he rarely left the school.

But this time, her mentor suddenly used his special admission privilege, which can only be used once a year, to send in a new student, which really piqued her curiosity, and her inner gossip was burning fiercely.

Although Richard was somewhat puzzled by the enthusiasm of his senior, Melo, he figured it was probably because of their mentor, Serales.

But this is good, since he currently lacks understanding of different schools of thought. Having someone familiar with the situation by his side is always a good thing.

"Our Ignis School has a history of over a thousand years, but the relocation to the Muddy Swamp was decided more than eight hundred years ago by our school's second head, the exceptionally gifted great wizard David Meir."

From then on, our Ignis school ushered in its golden age.

As Meiluo walked, she told Richard about the history of the Ignis School, and Richard listened attentively, nodding repeatedly.

"The school's headquarters is mainly divided into teaching area, dormitory area, living area, mission area, and trading area. Usually, the busiest places in the school are the mission area and the trading area."

Basically, it was Meiluo who did all the talking, and Richard who listened. Occasionally Richard would ask a question, but the questions were mostly related to the school of thought, and he almost never initiated a conversation.

This made Meiluo feel like she wasn't accompanying a teenager, but rather a visitor from another school of thought, and she hadn't managed to extract any useful information.

Soon after, Richard, led by Meiluo, arrived at a two-story building.

"Excuse me, is Senior Sass here?" Mei Luo asked from outside the door.

"Oh, it's Meiluo. What brings you here today?" A bald, middle-aged man, also wearing a gray apprentice robe, opened the door.

"Senior Sass, today I've been entrusted by Instructor Seras to bring a new student here for a talent test. Richard, this is Senior Sass, a senior level three wizard apprentice."

"Greetings, Senior Sass!" Richard placed his right hand on his chest and gave a standard knightly salute.

"Hello, it's past the new student enrollment period now. It seems you're a student specially recruited by Instructor Seras. Impressive!" Seras's small eyes revealed shrewdness as he looked Richard up and down before praising him.

"By the way, come in, everyone. We'll test your mental strength aptitude first."

"The mental strength aptitude test involves three aspects. The first is the natural total amount of mental strength, the second is the degree of mental strength condensation, and the last is the amplitude of mental strength fluctuations," Sass explained as they walked.

Richard listened and nodded repeatedly; in comparison, Snowfather's test was far too rudimentary.

Looking back now, it seems that Snowfield never tested himself on this.

Richard entered the room and saw a slender, black, triangular pillar about one meter tall on the table. The pillar was densely engraved with horizontal bars, which should be some kind of scale. There was also silver liquid flowing at the bottom of the pillar.

"Richard, hold the measuring instrument with both hands, concentrate, and move the mercury and silver as much as possible."

Following Sass's instructions, Richard gripped the scale with both hands and began to concentrate on manipulating the mercury and silver.

At first it was easy, but as the mercury and silver prices rose higher and higher, like a straight line, Richard found that the difficulty of the transfer increased exponentially.

Before long, fine beads of sweat appeared on Richard's forehead, and the top of the mercury-silver needle stopped at a mark less than 4, barely moving.

"Alright, relax!" Richard saw Sass writing something on a piece of paper with a quill pen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that it read, "Natural total mental strength: 3.8".

Richard quietly pulled up the panel again and looked at the attribute section:

[Attributes]: Strength 2.1, Agility 2.4, Constitution 2.2, Spirit 3.8

The mental strength is indeed 3.8, so it seems that the school's testing equipment is very accurate.

"Now we will test the degree of mental energy condensation and the amplitude of vibration. Hold this hexahedron and concentrate your mind to perceive its interior." Sass handed Richard a transparent cube, about the size of an infant's fist, which seemed to be made of some kind of special stone.

Richard held his breath and immediately did as instructed.

The cube emitted a soft light, which then flickered on and off like a beating heart.

"Okay, that's enough, relax!"

Richard opened his eyes, looking bewildered. So fast? The test was over in just a few seconds!

Turning his head for a glance, Richard saw Sass writing something on a piece of paper with a quill pen. Looking closer, he saw Sass skillfully writing:

"Level of mental energy refinement: Lower-middle grade."

"Mental energy fluctuation range: Slightly below average."

Seeing this, Richard was secretly pleased. Finally, he had received a mediocre evaluation. Although it was below average, it was at least within the mediocre range. It seemed that his wizarding aptitude was not bad!

Overall rating of mental strength aptitude: Lower-peak.

Lower-tier peak?

That's not even the lowest grade!

Richard was speechless for a moment.

Talent is something that the higher the better, and every place values ​​top students.

"Next, the elemental affinity test. Hold the crystal ball in both hands, close your eyes, concentrate, and mobilize the free energy particles in the air," Sass said, pointing to the crystal ball on the desk.

This was almost identical to the test Stefano had given Richard before, the only difference being that Richard found the crystal ball to be much larger, and its surface was also marked with graduations.

As time passed, the black, red, and green colors gradually increased inside the crystal ball.

After reaching a certain threshold, the crystal ball suddenly emitted a dazzling blue light. The three colors that were originally flowing irregularly inside the ball were instantly solidified into a jelly-like state with black on top, red in the middle, and green at the bottom.

"Dark element affinity is moderate, fire element affinity is low, and nature affinity is poor," Sass said in a low voice, while writing the test results on the paper.

"Dark element affinity is moderate, Richard, that's already very good," Meiluo congratulated with a smile.

"Really? May I ask, senior, how is your talent?" Richard asked suspiciously.

"Well, my talent is just average. My mental strength aptitude is above average, and my affinity for dark elements is average, just like yours," Meiluo said with a smile.

Richard was speechless for a moment. If someone's spiritual aptitude is above average, then what is mine?

"By the way, Richard, do you have any other special skills? You can ask Senior Sass to write them down for you. It's always good to have more skills, since the entrance exam results will be put in your file," Meiluo reminded him.

Richard thought for a moment. He realized that he had reached the proficiency level in archery, which was quite rare for someone his age of 13. So he asked, "Does proficiency in archery count?"

"Sure! But according to the rules, they all need to be tested." Sass said, but his eyes clearly showed that he was not so convinced. After all, the simpler the skill, the more years of accumulation are required.

The three went to the training room next door. Richard picked up a crossbow, familiarized himself with it for a bit, and then started shooting.

Richard hit the bullseye almost every time he aimed at a fixed target at a distance of only 30 meters, hitting ten bullseyes in a row.

Immediately, Meiluo and Sass were dumbfounded!

[Host detected using a crossbow. Should energy be consumed to gain inspiration for crossbow use?]

"No!" Richard immediately said no in his mind. He had other plans for the remaining 100 energy points.

When the distance increased to 50 meters, Richard also achieved a score of nine 10s and one 9.

Meiluo's eyes lit up at the sight, and Sass also praised it highly.

Soon, Sass filled out two copies of the information. He had Meiluo give one copy to his mentor, Seres, and then scanned the other copy with a crystal ball before putting it on a bookshelf for archiving.

Finally, Sass brought Richard a gray wizard's robe, a piece of paper, and a small silver key from another room.

"Alright, Richard, your enrollment procedures are all complete."

"The gray apprentice robe has been solidified with a cleansing spell and has good defensive capabilities. The paper lists the times and locations of all the free courses for the next six months, and the key has a number corresponding to your dormitory," Sass said with a smile.

"Thank you, Senior Sass." After taking the three items, Richard followed Meiluo to the dormitory area.

On the way to the dormitory area, Richard asked Meiluo, "Senior, could you briefly tell me about wizard aptitude?"

(End of this chapter)