Chapter 25: The Path to Dreams

In the classroom, a series of magical incantations echoed. The students who used water to form ice were doing relatively well, even if they couldn't perfectly control the formation of their desired shapes, they could still form ice. However, those who used wind elements to form ice were few and far between, managing only to create a chill rather than actual ice.

Dona Boya was also practicing diligently, muttering the magic words and concentrating to harmonize with the water elements in the air. She used her magic to alter the nature of the water elements into ice elements, and controlled the formation and shape of the ice with her mental awareness. All of these tasks had to be done simultaneously. She managed to form ice spikes, but they shattered before she could expand them.

Sparick watched everyone practice, occasionally demonstrating for the students. However, he didn't need to speak the magic words aloud; he could simply recite them in his mind.

For a magician, there are four major hurdles to overcome from the apprentice stage to becoming a grand mage. The first bottleneck is the transition from an apprentice magician to a junior magician.

The most important standard for the apprentice magician's advancement exam is the change from reciting magic words aloud to reciting them mentally. Whether you are a qualified magician is determined by whether you can perform magic without reciting the words aloud.

So, it's not that magicians don't need to recite magic words, but rather that those who don't need to recite them are qualified magicians, and those who do are not. For students who are still only apprentices and attending the apprentice class, they will encounter this bottleneck at the next level.

Of course, for students around 15 years old, advancing from an apprentice to a gray-robed magician (apprentice) doesn't take much time, usually one to three months. Most students in the academy can reach this level, let alone the outstanding students carefully selected by Kulandin.

For magicians, reciting magic words aloud takes much longer than reciting them mentally, and opponents and enemies can judge the magic you are about to cast by the incantations you recite, giving them a head start. Being able to overcome this hurdle by the age of 17 and recite magic words mentally makes you a qualified blue-robed magician (junior), and these individuals are considered to have a natural talent for magic.

Once the first bottleneck is overcome and one becomes a blue-robed magician, the period from green-robed magician (intermediate) to yellow-robed magician (advanced) is considered the fastest growth period for magicians. During this time, there isn't much difficult material to learn.

After that, advancing from a yellow-robed magician to a red-robed magician (ultimate, master) is a stage that many people never reach. During this period, one must complete the transition from reciting magic words mentally to not needing any magic words at all, which is the second major bottleneck in a magician's life.

Countless promising young magicians have been lost at this stage, unable to transcend the transformation of not needing magic words. Without this ability, even if they can cast more powerful spells, they will remain at the yellow-robed stage because they cannot reach the realm of heart and mind in harmony with magic.

Being able to freely and skillfully change the elements with one's mind alone, without any magic words, is the hallmark of a red-robed master-level magician, considered the pinnacle of magical power. Those who reach this level no longer need to worry about their future, do not need to teach students, and do not need to work for a living, although teaching at Kulandin is a different matter.

Those who become red-robed magicians will enjoy special treatment from the empire and lifetime benefits from the magic guild, even if they are not within the empire or employed by the guild. Therefore, in the eyes of magicians, the gap between yellow-robed and red-robed magicians is not just a step, but the difference between hell and heaven.

The number of magicians who can reach the red-robed stage can be counted, and for a great empire like Mo Yue, with a population of 3.7 billion, there are only about 1.2 million registered red-robed magicians.

In fact, many magicians can reach this level in the last few years or decades of their lives, but by then, they have little time left to make further progress on their life's journey. Therefore, those who can achieve the status of a red-robed magician before the age of 40 are considered geniuses among magicians.

Dark Mage: Black Night Sparick is one of these talents in the empire. It's no wonder he could say before the class began, "It is your honor to be taught by me."

Now, what Sparick needs to do is to advance further on his path of dark magic, break through the third bottleneck, and become a person who undergoes a qualitative transformation from a magician to a mage. Only those who can reach the level of a red-robed magician before the age of 40 are considered to have the potential to take the next step. Such people are few and far between in the empire. Of course, becoming a grand mage is the ultimate dream of all magicians...

The students are all striving for their life goals and ideals. Black Night Sparick walked over to Bing Zhi Xie and said, "As an outstanding student whom the school has high hopes for, you should be able to easily complete this magic."

Bing Zhi Xie had been sitting in his seat watching others perform magic. Suddenly, seeing the teacher come to test him, he didn't know what to do.

Sparick clapped his hands and called out, "Everyone, quiet down, everyone, be quiet. This student is a new student in our academy. Since he is new, let's give him a chance to show himself and let everyone get to know him by performing this magic."

The students in the class stopped their practice and all looked at him.

Bing Zhi Xie couldn't understand why the teacher was targeting him. Was it because he didn't fall for his mind-reading trick earlier, and now he was angry?

Seeing that Bing Zhi Xie wasn't moving, Sparick said, "Oh, he might be a bit shy. New students are often like this, aren't they? Give him some applause and encouragement, even if he fails, it's okay."

The students clapped, and a few boys even shouted encouragement.

Bing Zhi Xie thought to himself that the teacher must know he is considered a good student by the academy. Is he trying to verify whether he has the ability to be considered an outstanding student? Bing Zhi Xie had never read books or attended an academy, and he was worried that if he didn't perform well, he would be expelled. So, he decided to comply with the teacher's request and perform his magic.

Sparick was puzzled when he saw him raise a single finger, not knowing what he was going to do. Suddenly, a bright spot appeared on his fingertip, and it slowly blossomed like a flower, turning into a small ice flower.

"Oh! It's beautiful," Bo Ya exclaimed beside him. Then something even more surprising happened.

The small ice flower on his fingertip didn't stop blooming; instead, it continued to bloom one after another, like life in a garden, continuously blooming. Soon, it formed a long, snake-like shape that danced in the air.

Sparick was amazed by his ability to perform magic so effortlessly, and even more so by the fact that he didn't recite any magic words. This indicated that he was not just an apprentice or a gray-robed magician but had already become a qualified magician.

In the academy, there were students who could reach this level at his age, and he knew that he himself had had such a talent when he was young. Now he could finally confirm that the academy's judgment was correct, and this young man was indeed an outstanding magical genius.

Bing Zhi Xie stopped the magic and asked the teacher, "Is that okay?"

Sparick, still in shock, replied, "Ah, yes, that's fine."

When Bing Zhi Xie released his magic, the long 'ice snake' instantly turned into a cold chill, making the students shiver even in the summer heat.

Bo Ya, who was standing next to him, was the coldest, but she couldn't help exclaiming, "It's... it's dry ice!"

In the class, there were not many who could form dry ice, let alone such a spectacular ice magic.

Sparick suddenly said very seriously, "I take back my earlier words! I think you should apply for the junior magician exam within a week. Staying here is really a waste of your valuable time."

The students looked at Bing Zhi Xie in surprise. "Basilom III? Sankule's successor? Or the second Dust Vashyreb?!" One student mentioned these shocking names. Although it seemed absurd to compare Bing Zhi Xie to these top-tier grand mages, they were all amazed by the teacher's evaluation and his genius.

"No," Sparick's deep voice slowly said, "Despite being a genius and having extraordinary talent, becoming a true magician requires more than just being a genius! I have seen countless people who were more talented than me, and they were all our classmates. Despite their talent, few of them could continue on this path. Does being a genius guarantee success? Many famous magicians were only called geniuses after they achieved great things! Kemyar Sen Dalen was mocked by his neighbors as a fool and an idiot when he was young, but who could have imagined that he would become the first grand mage in the field of space magic?!"

The students were stunned by the teacher's words.

"Ah, yes, despite the numerous accolades that so-called geniuses receive, the pressure of these accolades can cause more geniuses to fail!" Sparick looked at Bing Zhi Xie with a highly disdainful gaze. "I don't know when I was also called a genius, but my current achievements are not due to the title of 'genius'! Each of you has the potential to become a great mage like Dalen, but you must prove it through your own efforts. You all come here with your own dreams, and these dreams will not change because of a genius. Boys, how far you go depends on you!"

The students' faces were filled with joy, as if they could see the path to their dreams. The shadow of the genius's halo that had been cast over them by the teacher's words was now gone. At this moment, they no longer thought about Bing Zhi Xie, Bimoye, or any of the other geniuses!

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