The Wizard of a Hundred Generations: Starting from the Hourglass of Time

Silver Moon Calendar 1490.

Red Maple Town, Black Mountain Province, Kingdom of Icathia.

The midday sun was blazing, making the square in the center of the town scorching hot.

At this moment, a dense crowd completely surrounded the square, with the town's residents standing on tiptoe and craning their necks to look towards the center.

Under the calm, high daylight sky, a beam of blue light pierced through the clouds and appeared in an instant.

The brass airship hovered above the square, its enormous shadow bringing a touch of coolness to those below.

A gasp erupted from the crowd: "It's here! It's here! By the Seven Gods, the Wizard's airship has appeared! What a magnificent miracle!"

Inside a grand mansion not far from the square, Su En, who was dozing on a deck chair, slowly opened her eyes upon hearing the commotion outside.

"Father, the wizards have arrived."

Fifty years later, the messenger of the tower has finally arrived again.

However, Suen was already very old.

"Let's go outside and take a look."

His son, Allen, respectfully helped Suen walk to the balcony.

With a roar, the airship slowly descended, and a man and a woman appeared, their dark gray wizard robes fluttering slightly in the wind.

"The Tower is recruiting wizard apprentices. Anyone aged ten to fifteen must come forward to have their qualifications tested."

A cool, clear voice came from the male wizard; it wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

The crowd immediately stirred, with residents desperately pulling their children forward.

At the edge of the square, several richly dressed nobles were speaking humbly to a servant-like man, trying to get their child to cut in line.

The two wizards landed on the high platform in the center of the square.

With a flick of her finger, the witch Yvette raised a crystal pillar half the height of a person from the ground, its body engraved with intricate magic circle patterns.

"Finally home."

Yvette glanced around, her brow furrowing slightly.

"The magical energy concentration here is pitifully low; no wonder only a few of us have become wizard apprentices over the past hundred years."

Ulysses stood beside her and sighed softly upon hearing this: "If it weren't for the need to gather resources to break through the bottleneck, I wouldn't want to set foot in a place like this."

"But we've been stuck at the advanced apprentice level for seven years, and it's still too difficult to become a full-fledged wizard with only a fourth-class qualification."

Yvette lowered her voice, her gaze sweeping over the children below the stage, some nervous, some expectant: "Fortunately, we haven't lost contact with the family all these years, otherwise where would we have gathered so many bloodline resources?"

Ulysses nodded, his voice low: "It's an exchange of interests, each getting what they need."

Yvette was silent for a moment.

"However, in the years I was away, the Theo family seems to have developed quite well, but it's still not enough."

Ulysses' gaze fell on several well-dressed children in the distance, exuding an air of nobility, and he spoke in a calm tone as if he were discussing the weather.

"Over the years, the family has multiplied quite well, but there are very few who truly possess spiritual aptitude. Mortal bloodlines without talent... that's fine too. If there are enough of them, they can still refine bloodline essence."

"My teacher said that if we can gather ten portions of the essence of primordial bloodline, regardless of whether we have talent or not, we can refine a magic potion called 'Kiss of Blood' that will allow me to break through the bottleneck of my spiritual power."

Yvette chimed in, "As long as your mental strength meets the requirements, you'll have a chance to become a full-fledged wizard."

That's why we had to come back in person.

Ulysses' lips curled slightly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

The two exchanged a glance, their eyes calm and undisturbed, showing no emotional fluctuation.

It was as if they were discussing something perfectly ordinary.

In their eyes, it was already an honor for their family members to contribute to their advancement to become official wizards.

The price they paid was that their families had grown and prospered over the years, enjoying the influence of their power.

"Let's begin," said Ulysses.

The testing has already begun in the audience.

The children lined up and placed their hands on the crystal pillar.

Most of the time, the crystal pillar remained unresponsive, prompting the townspeople nearby to sigh in disappointment.

Occasionally, a faint light would appear, drawing cheers.

Just then, a gaunt figure squeezed to the front of the line.

"Karl! Karl!"

An old, hoarse voice suddenly rang out. An old man dressed in a worn-out gray robe stumbled out of the crowd, his cloudy eyes fixed on Ulysses on the stage.

"It's me! Hans! Do you remember me? You promised you'd take me to the Wizard's Tower!"

The old man was emaciated and nearly insane, shouting as he lunged toward the crystal pillar.

The audience erupted in uproar.

Several townspeople tried to pull him away, but the old man shook them off with an unexpected strength.

He stumbled to the edge of the stone platform, his withered hand reaching for Ulysses's gray robe.

"Karl! You've come back to see me from the Wizard's Tower! More than fifty years have passed, and you're still so young, you haven't aged a bit..."

The old man's voice grew increasingly agitated, and his cloudy eyes glistened with tears.

Ulysses took a step back; his movement was small, but it caused the old man to miss his target.

The old man staggered and nearly fell.

"Where did this crazy old man come from?"

Ulysses frowned slightly, his gaze falling on the old man.

His gray, worn-out robe was covered in stains; his thin, bony hands were covered in dark spots; and his cloudy eyes held an almost frantic expectation.

"Dirty mortals."

Ulysses spoke calmly, his voice devoid of any emotion.

He raised his hand and made a vague gesture in front of him, and an invisible force field pushed the old man back three feet.

The old man slumped to the ground, but still held his head high, his eyes gleaming even brighter: "Karl, you recognize me? Don't you? I knew you'd recognize me!"

Ulysses looked down at him, his gaze as calm as if he were looking at a roadside stone: "Decades have passed, and I hardly remember who you are. You and I are now from two different worlds."

The old man opened his mouth, uttering a few indistinct syllables, but could not say anything.

He collapsed to the ground, the light in his eyes flickering violently like a candle flame, eventually dimming little by little.

Yvette watched coldly from the side, without saying a word.

Her gaze lingered on the old man for less than three seconds before shifting back to the children in line.

"Karl," she whispered.

Ulysses turned away, refusing to look at the old man again.

"Next."

The cold voice rang out again.

The old man slumped to the edge of the stone platform, and the townspeople around him quickly moved away, as if he were some kind of ominous creature.

The children walked past him and continued queuing for testing. Occasionally, someone would glance down at him and then quickly look away.

On the balcony of the mansion, Su En, supported by her son, quietly watched this scene.

More than fifty years ago, he, like these children today, underwent the wizarding qualification test along with Ulysses and Hans.

Only Ulysses was found to be qualified and went to the tower to learn witchcraft.

Time has passed, and Ulysses still looks like a young man, while he and Hans have become emaciated.

Hans staggered to his feet and disappeared into the crowd, like the setting sun gradually approaching the horizon.

Su En could only sigh endlessly.

"Father."

Allen returned to his side, "Uncle Hans..."

Suen interrupted him, her voice hoarse, "I saw it."

Having transmigrated to this world for nearly seventy years, Su En, relying on his experience and wisdom from his previous life, rose from an ordinary poor man to become Viscount Lister, owning countless lands and minerals.

However, in the eyes of wizards like Ulysses, worldly wealth was as worthless as the dirt on the ground.

If you don't become extraordinary, you'll remain an ant.

"I'll never have the chance to become a wizard in this lifetime," Suen sighed. "Let's go back to the manor."

The carriage drove out of the town and headed towards the manor outside the town.

The coachman raised his whip, and the horse's hooves clattered.

Suen lay half-reclined in the carriage, his eyes closed, as if Hans's hoarse shouts were still echoing in his ears.

The voice seemed to be accusing and questioning Su En: "Are you willing to live such a mediocre and numb life?!"

"Having been given a second chance at life, you'll ultimately become just like me, a pile of bones!"

"Only by becoming a wizard, only by coming into contact with the extraordinary, can one become like Ulysses..."

The carriage stopped at the manor gate, and the accusations abruptly ceased.

Su En suddenly woke up, breaking out in a cold sweat, her weak body gasping for breath.

"Father."

Allen stood quietly by his side, his expression worried: "A guard came to report that Uncle Hans jumped into Red Maple Lake, cursing loudly before he did so..."

Suen was stunned for a moment.

Over the course of more than fifty years, faced with the obsession of not being able to become a wizard, he and Hans made drastically different choices.

He managed businesses and befriended nobles.

With the capital he had rapidly accumulated through business, he married the illegitimate daughter of the Marquis of Lancaster and established the Lister family.

It seems that Suen has given up on becoming a wizard.

But is it really so?

The candlelight in the bedroom flickered, and Su En struggled to lift her eyelids.

Before him, an hourglass that only he could see was suspended in the air.

The hourglass is crystal clear, as if it were formed from starlight, with illusory sand flowing inside, like twinkling stars.

The base is engraved with a mysterious pattern, the color of which gradually darkens, almost turning completely gold.

The hourglass of time.

This is the source of Suen's confidence in not going mad like Hans, and it's also the root cause of his journey from Earth to this world.

As time goes by, the hourglass will accumulate the power of time on its own.

Once all the runes on the base turn gold, the hourglass can be activated to reverse time, allowing Suen to live another life.

Furthermore, different achievement rewards can be obtained based on the performance in each lifetime.

Besides being reborn, the hourglass can also absorb various extraordinary energies, condensing them into the Sands of Time to enhance its own abilities and talents.

"In this life, I built a family, rose from poverty to viscount, and now own businesses across most of the south. Theoretically, I should at least get a C-level rating."

Su En forced himself to stay alert, his attention focused entirely on the hourglass base.

"If I can obtain the reward of wizarding qualifications, then my life's struggle will not have been in vain."

For so many years, because it was in a land without magic, the hourglass had never condensed a single grain of sand of time.

Su En sighed deeply in his heart.

"It seems that only the area where the tower is located can access extraordinary energy, causing the hourglass to react!"

This means that only by becoming a wizard can the hourglass of time be made to function at its best.

Su En's feelings were complicated.

Fifty years have passed in the blink of an eye; a lifetime has been wasted.

"Only by becoming a wizard can one glimpse the truth of this world and step beyond the extraordinary."

The night was as still as water, and the flickering candlelight reflected Suen's last remaining wisps of life.

Outside the window, the shadows of the trees swayed, and a cool breeze swept in, causing Su En's frail and elderly body to gradually feel a chill.

Before I knew it, my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier.

"This life should come to an end!"

In an instant, Su En understood.

The hourglass of time turned, and a shower of time's power enveloped Suen.

An invisible force surged forth, causing a ripple in the river of fate.

……