Wizard's Journey

The city lord's mansion is far more luxurious than the viscount's mansion, Green thought to himself.

The hall was crowded, and Green couldn't wait to look inside. He saw a wizard wearing a large gray robe sitting at the highest point of the hall. His face, just as Mary had said, seemed to be shrouded in a layer of smoke, making it difficult to see clearly.

On the table in front of the wizard was a transparent crystal ball, emitting a soft light. The entire hall was shrouded in a mysterious atmosphere. A red-eyed frog squatted next to the crystal ball, croaking incessantly.

Is this what a wizard is?

Somewhat excited, this was the first time Green had ever seen a wizard who possessed mysterious and powerful magical abilities. In front of the wizard's crystal ball, a chubby girl with brown hair was touching the crystal ball with her eyes closed and her face full of nervousness.

The people in the hall held their breath, and there was no sound for a long time. Only then did Green look behind the wizard and see three children who were about his age.

is her?

The first girl Green saw was pouting, looking unwilling.

This girl was the one who discarded the magical book "Nose Modification and Scent Atlas" at the Viscount's mansion during the winter. Green had also known for the past six months that she was the only daughter of the Lord of Bisser City and possessed immense power.

It seems that the pot-bellied nobleman back then was none other than the great Lord of Bisel.

The other two people seemed to be a brother and sister, or perhaps siblings; Green couldn't tell, but judging from their almost identical appearance, they must be related by blood.

The boy stood behind the wizard with an arrogant expression, his head held high. He looked at the people who came to assess their wizarding apprentice qualifications with a sneer, much like the guy collecting gold coins at the city lord's mansion.

  

The girl seemed a little shy, probably because she rarely receives so much attention at the same time.

"Could they be the ones identified as having the potential to become wizard apprentices?"

Green was guessing what was going on in his mind.

Green was right; the brother and sister were children in a city before Bisserl, whose aptitude for wizard apprenticeship had been determined by the wizards.

Being able to stand out from hundreds or thousands of children, and having those usually high-ranking nobles fawn over you, certainly gives you a sense of soaring to great heights, and inevitably makes you a little proud and arrogant.

The boy's name was Yocris and the girl's name was Yokliana; they were from an ordinary hunter's family.

When the two were both found to possess wizarding potential, the normally aloof nobles suddenly became like tavern girls...

By fawning over the two men, Yokris felt like he was the center of the world, the darling of heaven, and the protagonist of his destiny.

Yokris looked at the guys who were rushing to test their wizard potential with disdain in his eyes.

If it were so easy to acquire wizard apprentice qualifications, why would Master Arowoz only have himself and his sister and that fool outside the door following him in the first three cities?

It's already a miracle that there's even one daughter of the city lord in this city, and that's only because she got her spot by bribing a wizard.

"Mental strength 6, not up to standard, next."

Just then, the mysterious wizard spoke.

At the same time, the chubby girl who was nervously touching the crystal ball turned pale and left the crystal ball under the urging of the people behind her.

"Sigh, it failed again."

"Yeah, it seems like we don't have much hope on our side."

People who had been holding their breath sighed in dismay. After a day of aptitude testing, apart from the city lord's daughter who was tested first, no one else had been found to have wizard aptitude.

If it weren't for the fact that they had already paid a gold coin, the rest of the people would have given up long ago.

"Mental strength 5, not up to standard, next."

The boy in front of the crystal ball gave a helpless pout and slunk away.

One by one, people who had taken the witch apprentice qualification test left. Gradually, as Green got closer and closer, a sense of despair began to rise in his heart.

It seems that being a wizard is not so easy.

Green knew the boy in front of him; he was Wade, the son of the owner of Moon Bay Tavern. Moon Bay Tavern was the most luxurious place in Bisserl City, so this guy must have countless gold coins.

Wade stood nervously in front of the crystal ball, touched it, and closed his eyes as the crystal ball gradually emitted a soft light.

"Mental strength 9, no... huh?"

The sharp-eyed Green noticed that Wade had quietly handed the wizard a bag containing strange stones.

The quick-witted Green immediately thought of a possibility: bribery?

"Okay, now stand behind me."

The wizard put away the bag and changed his tune.

Wade looked excited: "Thank you, Master."

After saying that, he stood excitedly behind the wizard.

Green's face darkened. He had nothing to offer as a bribe, and he doubted that the great wizard would even care about the last gold coin in his house.

Green walked to the crystal ball, his mind in turmoil, unsure of what to do.

"Place your hands on the crystal ball and close your eyes."

Following the wizard's words, Grimm instinctively did as he was told. In an instant, the hall seemed to quiet down in Grimm's senses, as if the whole world had been covered by a large dome.

"Huh? What's going on?"

Green opened his eyes and saw that the people in the hall seemed to have frozen in time, not moving at all.

The city lord's daughter was still pouting and crying, her tears dripping into the air. Yocris sneered, revealing two sharp canine teeth.

Green turned around, and there was a gold coin that the annoying guy at the door who collected appraisal fees had casually tossed behind him. The gold coin was now frozen in mid-air.

Everyone in the hall seemed to be frozen in time and space.

Ok?

wrong!

Green noticed a table in the corner of the hall, on which were placed plates with exquisite patterns embossed on them. Ordinary families could not afford such luxurious plates.

The plate contained exquisite pastries and fruits, which the city lord used to serve those who were testing their wizarding aptitude, but no one would actually eat them; therefore, they were more for decoration than practical use.

But at this moment, on top of the fruit platter, there were two creatures with colorful soft tentacles and countless eyes all over their bodies, floating and swaying in the air like jellyfish.

This...this is simply unbelievable!

What is this?

Green could feel his body trembling, and his face must have looked terrible. Although he had longed for the mysterious wizarding world countless times, it had only just opened the tip of the iceberg to him, yet he felt an endless unknown and fear.

This is a world that is different from the reality I perceive it to be.

Green mustered his courage and cautiously approached the two strange, unknown creatures. However, just as he got close to the table, the two creatures seemed to be startled and swam up to the wall.

At this moment, the wall rippled like water, and the two strange creatures easily merged into the wall and disappeared.

For a moment, Green was stunned by the fact that the two strange creatures had disappeared into the wall.

However, because he was near the dining table, Green suddenly noticed that in addition to the four normal candles, there was one candle that seemed extremely abnormal.

Although this candlestick has a burning candle on top, the candlestick itself is not an exquisitely crafted aristocratic decoration, but a roasted, bright red pig's head.

Green found it strange that when he first saw the candle, he thought it was normal, but when he got closer, he suddenly felt that it was contrary to reality.

Strangely, the pig-headed candle's two eyes slowly moved, staring intently at Green, and their eyes met.

A chilling and eerie atmosphere permeated the air.

"Haha! I've finally broken through to the highest realm! The sky! The earth! The evil dragon! Nothing can stop me now!"

Suddenly, a loud, arrogant laugh rang out from this eerily silent world. Perhaps because Green's thinking and reaction abilities had slowed down, he felt abrupt but not frightened. He turned to look at the source of the sound.

It was a biographical novel about a bard that nobles would read when they were bored.

The story is about a poor boy who falls in love with a noblewoman, but their relationship is thwarted by her family. The boy then works hard, seizes numerous opportunities, and eventually defeats the world's most powerful evil dragon, proving himself and winning the heart of his beloved.

Overall, it's a clichéd and boring story. The novel also includes some illustrations depicting the protagonist defeating one evil enemy after another.

"I've seen...I've seen a ghost."

Green looked at the biographical novel and stammered.

A tiny paper figure is breaking free from the book and slowly standing up. The figure has all the organs of a human, and its expression is incredibly lifelike, with an exaggerated look of surprise as it stares blankly at its surroundings.

This paper figure is the illustration for the protagonist of that biographical novel.

Although he was no longer as rough and simple as the illustrations in the novel, and now possessed a refined human expression, this was only his front view!

In essence, he is just a thin sheet of paper standing upright, and on the back of him are pages of text.

"What the hell? Where am I? Shouldn't I be a god?"

The paper figure cried out in alarm, staring blankly at its surroundings.

Suddenly, the little man seemed to see Green, and his face immediately turned serious. He drew a long sword made of paper and pointed it at Green.

"Who are you? A god from the realm of gods?"

"Who are you? A god from the realm of gods? Who are you? A god from the realm of gods? Who are you?... "

The cracks in the floor tiles of the hall formed a long fissure, opening and closing like a talking mouth. Although Green and the nobles who stood motionless in the hall were standing on the fissure, they did not fall in.

As if the cracked mouth were just an illusion, it repeated the words of the paper doll over and over again, mimicking its own speech.

A scarlet tongue suddenly emerged from the endless, dark crack, right from under Green's feet. Green could even clearly see that the tongue was made up of countless tiny snakes wriggling together, and it abruptly coiled up the little man standing on the book, who was already stunned.

A series of screams followed, and the little figure disappeared into the depths of the crack in the floor.

"This can't be real..."

Green was stunned, trembling on the spot.

Suddenly, the crystal ball on the table seemed to emit a dazzling light. At the same time, Green was pulled next to the crystal ball in a daze. The moment his hands touched the crystal ball, the world stopped freezing, and the murmurs of people reached Green's ears.

"Mental strength 12, not bad, stand behind me."

Green, pale-faced, raised his head, instinctively and numbly stood up, and stood behind the wizard.

Looking up at his surroundings, all the eeriness vanished. Even the nobleman who was reading the biography was acting normally. The pig-head candle was gone from the table, and the floor was perfectly fine. It seemed that everything that had just happened was an illusion or a dream.

"Damn it! What luck did this guy have? He actually has wizarding potential?"

"Oh no, my child bullied him before, I hope he doesn't come back for revenge!"

The hall was in an uproar for a moment, then fell silent again after the wizard gave a cold snort. It was the city lord's daughter and Wade, the son of the Moon Bay boss, who were standing next to Green, who looked at Green with surprise.

But seeing Green dressed as a servant, he curled his lip in disdain and lost the will to speak.