Ethan shook his head. "I don't know. Please enlighten me, Master."
Gal took a deep breath and used a tentacle to pull his hood back down, covering his undignified old face. He struggled to regain his composure, but his voice still trembled noticeably.
"Innate Mental Power... 98."
"According to the aptitude standards of the Wizard Council, Mental Power from 10 to 25 is Grade One Aptitude, 26 to 40 is Grade Two, 41 to 55 is Grade Three, 56 to 75 is Grade Four, and anything above 76... is Grade Five."
He paused, a tentacle pointing at the number on the crystal ball that still glowed faintly.
"You have Grade Five Aptitude. Grade Five with an Innate Mental Power of 98."
Ethan remained silent for a second.
"Is this aptitude... high?"
"High?"
Gal's voice suddenly spiked, turning into a sharp, cracking screech as several tentacles flailed at once, whipping through the air with a whistling sound.
"High? You call this high? I've been in this tiny, pathetic empire on this backwater sub-continent for seventy years! Do you know how many people I've seen with an Innate Mental Power over 55?"
He didn't wait for Ethan's answer, grinding his teeth as he spat out the result himself.
"Not a single one!"
After his outburst, Gal's mood suddenly plummeted. "Seventy years... I've guarded this tower for seventy years. I've tested eighty to a hundred thousand children. Do you know what the highest record was?"
Without waiting for Ethan, a tentacle shot out to snatch the fresh tea cup from the stone platform, and he took a heavy gulp.
"Fifty-three," Gal said, his voice raspy. "A little girl with an Innate Mental Power of fifty-three. Grade Three Aptitude, barely. And then? She was stuck as a Second-Tier Wizard Apprentice for twenty years before finally marrying a local minor noble and having three kids. By now, the grass on her grave is probably taller than I am."
"As for Grade Five Aptitude..." Gal paused. "I've never seen it in my life. In this little empire of yours with seventy million people, it has never appeared."
Ethan was silent for a few seconds before slowly speaking, "Well, it has now."
Gal froze for a second.
Then, a nearly manic smile spread across that aged face.
"Hahaha, yes, it has!"
He stood up abruptly, the hem of his dark green robe billowing. Several tentacles shot out simultaneously, waving wildly in the air without any pattern, as if venting decades of suppressed emotion.
"Seventy years... seventy years!" Gal's voice became hoarse and frantic. "I've spent my life guarding this dump, testing over eighty thousand children, and I never even saw a Grade Four, let alone a Grade Five! And yet today, right here today..."
He turned around, the shadow of his hood directed at Ethan, his clouded eyes shimmering with an indescribable light.
"Kid, do you know what this means?"
Ethan raised an eyebrow slightly, waiting for him to continue.
Gal didn't need an answer; he kept talking to himself, his voice carrying a sense of near-fanaticism.
"For this session of the Imperial Wizard Academy's new student recruitment, according to the rules of the Wizard Council, if I send in one student with Grade Three Aptitude, the academy rewards me with thirty magic stones! Grade Four gets me a hundred! Grade Five gets me a thousand!"
He paused, his tentacles clenching tight.
"A thousand magic stones!"
Gal's voice began to shake.
"Do you know how many I've saved over all these years? Three hundred and twenty-seven! Three hundred and twenty-seven magic stones! It took me seventy whole years to save that much! After subtracting the costs for cultivation, experiments, and maintaining this tower... seventy years, three hundred and twenty-seven!"
He snapped his gaze toward Ethan, a spark of near-madness burning in his clouded eyes.
"But now, just by sending you to the academy, I can get a thousand magic stones! A thousand!"
Gal's voice dropped to a whisper, carrying a reverent tremor.
"A thousand magic stones is enough for me to buy the recipe and materials for the Light of Enlightenment, plus three attempts at brewing it. If I succeed, I can... I can make one more push to become an Official Wizard!"
He looked up at the swirling mist beneath the dome, tears trickling down the deep brown folds of his face.
"Seventy years... I thought there was no hope left in this life..."
Ethan stood quietly, watching the Third-Tier Wizard Apprentice lose his composure.
It took a long time for Gal to calm down.
He raised a tentacle, wiped his face haphazardly, and pulled his hood down again to hide his disheveled appearance. His voice returned to its cold quality, though a lingering tremor could still be heard if one listened closely.
"Ahem... I lost myself for a moment."
He sat back down on the stone chair, retracting most of his tentacles into his robe, leaving only one to pick up his tea cup for another heavy gulp.
Minutes passed.
No more newcomers appeared.
After a long while, the last ripples at the edge of the ritual base settled completely. The slowly rotating mist dimmed, transforming back into a static array of runes.
Gal spoke suddenly, his voice carrying a hint of listless fatigue.
"That's it. Everyone else failed. You're the only one."
"According to Article 7, Section 3 of the Wizard Council: Enlightenment Act, anyone who passes the Chaotic Labyrinth and possesses an Innate Mental Power of no less than forty automatically qualifies for admission into the corresponding Wizard Academy. You qualify. Since I belong to the Blood Bone Tower Academy, you will naturally be enrolled there."
He paused, raising a single tentacle.
"Three days."
"You have only three days to handle your worldly affairs, say goodbye to your family, and pack your bags. At dawn on the fourth day, the academy's reception airship will arrive at my Wizard Tower on schedule. Anyone who is late will be deemed to have forfeited their qualification, and you will have to bear the consequences."
"Also, tell your family to prepare plenty of magic stones and gold coins. In the academy, all knowledge has a price. If you want to obtain it, you have to pay. A lot. Understand?"
"I understand, Master Gal."
"Oh, right. The testing process must not be disclosed to anyone. Violators will have their entire clan exterminated. Understand?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now go!" Gal waved a tentacle.
The heavy stone door leading out of the tower slid open silently, revealing the view of the Imperial City outside.
Ethan stepped out of the Wizard Tower.
Behind him, the heavy stone door slid shut without a sound, sealing away everything inside.
Just as the door was about to close completely, Ethan heard a burst of laughter even more ecstatic than before leaking through the crack—a sound of near-manic joy.
"Hahaha... a thousand magic stones! There's finally hope! Seventy years! I finally waited for this day!"
He instinctively glanced back.
But the moment he turned his head, a muffled thud echoed as the thick stone door closed tightly, sealing the manic laughter away inside the tower.
Seeing this, the corner of Ethan's mouth twitched. "He might actually be crazy."
Rate on N.U.
