Chapter 78: Unusual Performance

Behind the building of the Mage Guild, there was a large open space paved with green stone slabs. This area was about a hundred meters long and wide. Between fifty and a hundred meters, there were targets placed every ten meters, used for testing magic.

All mages who registered with the Mage Guild had to go through this procedure, casting a spell to prove they were mages and to help the guild assess their rank.

After the group reached the edge of the field, Karl turned to Zhao Hai and said, "Respected Mage Sir, please use a spell, any spell will do. If you want a higher-level mage badge, use a more advanced spell, please." After saying this, Karl stepped aside and watched Zhao Hai quietly.

No one knew that although Karl couldn't use magic, his long-term interaction with mages had given him a certain understanding of magic and a keen sense of magical power. As soon as a mage used a spell, he could judge their rank, and his judgment was correct eight times out of ten.

Karl's ability to judge was closely related to his decades of work at the Mage Guild. Over the years, he had gradually developed a method to assess a mage's rank, considering factors such as their control over magic, the time it took to cast a spell, and the fluency of their incantations. These aspects could reflect a mage's level from a side perspective.

Many mages, although of high rank, did not have combat abilities proportional to their rank. These mages lacked combat experience and had insufficient response capabilities in battle, which could be judged from the time they took to cast spells and their control over magic.

It was this superior judgment ability that allowed Karl to become the head of the Vanser Kingdom's Mage Guild. In a large country like the Aksum Empire, the head of the Mage Guild was usually a high-level mage.

When Zhao Hai entered Casar City, Karl had already received the news. Upon learning that Zhao Hai was coming to register with the Mage Guild, Karl immediately decided to personally receive him, wanting to see what level Zhao Hai was.

It had to be admitted that people on the continent had an instinctive aversion and caution towards black mages, and the Vanser family was no exception.

However, the information from the Makider family proved that Zhao Hai was very powerful, which made the Vanser family pay even more attention. A mage, regardless of their school, if they were of high rank and strong ability, would be heavily used by a family. A high-level mage was like a nuclear weapon; you might not use it, but its main purpose was to deter the enemy.

If other famous mages on the continent came to the Vanser Kingdom, the Vanser family would warmly welcome them, even if they couldn't bring the mage into the family, they would try to build a good relationship with them.

However, the Vanser family took a very cautious approach with Zhao Hai. They did not actively approach him, nor did they offend him. Even if Zhao Hai was very powerful, they would not contact him without thoroughly understanding his background.

Large families had a principle in using people: loyalty was placed first, and ability second. There were many talented people in the world, but loyal people were rare. No matter how strong your ability, if you were always disloyal, no one would dare to use you. The Vanser family was like this; even if you were an eighth-level mage, if you were not loyal, they would not use you. They would rather find two loyal seventh-level mages than one disloyal eighth-level mage.

Zhao Hai's identity was still a mystery. No one had uncovered his background, and he seemed to have suddenly appeared out of nowhere, making the Vanser family hesitant to approach him.

The Vanser family was currently developing well and very steadily. Although Zhao Hai's strength could bring new development to their family, his mysterious background was a constant worry for the Vanser family. They liked Zhao Hai's strength but also feared that he might become an unstable factor within the Vanser family.

As an old family that had already established its own kingdom, the Vanser family did not like taking risks, especially with unstable factors. Therefore, they adopted a cold approach to Zhao Hai's issue.

Although they took a cold approach, they still had to pay attention. After all, Zhao Hai was already in Casar City, and if he caused any trouble, it would not look good for the Vanser family.

Zhao Hai did not think too much about it. He was really short of money. Registering with the Mage Guild would give him ten gold coins, which was significant for him. The entire Buda family had less than fifty gold coins, so this would increase his wealth by one-fifth.

Of course, Zhao Hai did not want to reveal his true strength to get a high-level mage badge. He could do this by summoning his undead creatures, but that would be too showy and did not fit his personality.

Zhao Hai did not waste words. He did not even recite an incantation, just tapped the ground with his magic staff, and an alien appeared beside him.

Zhao Hai did not summon too many undead creatures. He just needed to prove he could use magic. Although he used pseudo-magic, he believed no one could tell the difference.

As the alien appeared, Karl's eyes widened. He had worked at the Mage Guild for decades and had seen countless mages cast spells. Some spells were very elaborate, some were ugly, some took a long time, and some were quick. But Zhao Hai's speed was almost unprecedented. Just tapping the ground with the staff completed the spell? That was too exaggerated!

Zhao Hai gently touched the alien, which wagged its tail like a dog being petted by its owner, almost hitting Karl, who quickly stepped back.

Seeing this, Zhao Hai said nothing and dismissed the alien. Karl was still in shock and asked, "Has our master passed the test?"

Karl immediately came to his senses and said, "Passed, respected Mage Sir, this way, please." He then led Zhao Hai and the others back to the waiting area.

Once they sat down in the waiting area, Karl apologized and ran off. A moment later, he returned with a form, placed it on the table in front of Zhao Hai, and said, "Respected Mage Sir, this is a form. Just fill it out, and the registration will be complete, please."

Zhao Hai took the form and carefully examined it, finding it very simple, with only basic information like name, age, and gender.

Zhao Hai nodded and casually handed the form to Meg. Meg understood Zhao Hai's intention and picked up the pen Karl had provided to fill out the form.

Karl watched Zhao Hai's actions, feeling frustrated. It wasn't that mages had to fill out the form themselves, but most mages who registered did so as a sign of respect for the Mage Guild. The Mage Guild was a national organization, and even if mages didn't use it much, they would show some respect, as it represented the country.

Karl wanted Zhao Hai to fill out the form himself to gather more information about him. Now, there were handwriting experts on the continent who could collect various handwriting samples and use them to identify people. Karl wanted Zhao Hai to fill out the form so he could send it to the Vanser family and see if they could find any clues about Zhao Hai's identity through his handwriting.

However, Zhao Hai did not plan to fill out the form himself and instead had Meg do it, foiling Karl's plan.

This made Karl even more wary of Zhao Hai. In Karl's view, everything Zhao Hai did was intentional, to hide his identity, making him even more dangerous.

Karl also noticed that Zhao Hai was young and had been given the best seat, but he hadn't touched the drink. Zhao Hai had not spoken a word, which made Karl even more suspicious that Zhao Hai was hiding something.

From the moment he met Zhao Hai, Karl had been observing and testing him. He observed Zhao Hai's attitude towards people and found that he might be a proper noble. He offered Zhao Hai a drink to see his reaction, but Zhao Hai didn't touch it, foiling his plan again. Zhao Hai's silence prevented Karl from hearing his voice, making it impossible to make further judgments. Combined with the form-filling incident, Karl had a deep impression of Zhao Hai, believing he was a famous person on the continent but with a bad reputation, hence his efforts to hide his identity.

But what was Zhao Hai's true identity? Karl could not figure it out.