Chapter 6

The City Lord's residence was much more luxurious than the Viscount's, Green thought to himself.

The hall was crowded with people, and Green couldn't wait to look inside. He saw a wizard sitting at the highest point of the hall, wearing a large gray robe. As Mary had said, his face seemed to be shrouded in a layer of mist, making it unclear.

In front of the wizard was a transparent crystal ball, emitting a soft glow. The entire hall was enveloped in a mysterious atmosphere, and a red-eyed frog squatted beside the crystal ball, croaking incessantly.

Is this the magical wizard?

Green was somewhat excited; this was his first time seeing a wizard who supposedly wielded mysterious magical powers. In front of the wizard's crystal ball, a chubby girl with brown hair was closing her eyes, touching the crystal ball with a tense expression. The people in the hall held their breath, and for a long time, there was no sound. Green then looked behind the wizard and saw three children about his age.

Is it her?

Green first saw the girl, who was now pouting, clearly unwilling. This girl was the one who had discarded the "Nose Hunting and Odor Atlas" magic book at the Viscount's residence last time. Green had known for more than half a year that she was the only daughter of the City Lord of Bisel, with noble blood and power. The fat nobleman he had seen before must have been the great City Lord.

The other two seemed to be a brother and sister, or perhaps a sister and brother; Green couldn't tell. However, from their almost identical appearance, they must be related. The boy had a proud look on his face, standing behind the wizard with his head held high, sneering at those who came for the wizard apprentice qualification test, much like the guy who collected fees at the City Lord's gate. The girl, on the other hand, looked shy, probably not used to being the center of attention.

Could they be the ones who were tested and found to have the potential to be wizard apprentices? Green wondered.

Green was right. This brother and sister were the children who had been tested and found to have the potential to be wizard apprentices in the city before Bisel. Being able to stand out from hundreds or even thousands of children and having the usually high-and-mighty nobles fawn over them gave them a sense of soaring to the top.

The boy's name was Jocris, and the girl's name was Jocriana. They were originally from a common hunter's family. When both were found to have the potential to be wizards, the nobles who were usually high and mighty suddenly fawned over them like dogs, making Jocris feel as if he were the center of the world, a favorite of the heavens.

Jocris looked at those who were eagerly coming to test their wizard potential with a look of disdain.

If it were so easy to have the potential to be a wizard apprentice, why would only he and his sister and that fool outside the door have been found in the previous three cities? In this city, it would be good enough to have the City Lord's daughter, and even then, she had to bribe the wizard to get the spot.

"Mental strength 6,不合格, next." At this moment, the mysterious wizard spoke. The chubby girl who had been touching the crystal ball with a tense expression turned pale and left the crystal ball under the urging of the people behind her.

"Ah, another one who doesn't qualify."

"Yeah, looks like we don't have much hope here."

The people who had been holding their breath sighed. After a day of testing, no one except the City Lord's daughter had been found to have the potential to be a wizard. If it weren't for the gold coin they had already paid, most of them would have given up long ago.

"Mental strength 5,不合格, next." The boy in front of the crystal ball shrugged and left.

One after another, those who came to test their wizard apprentice potential left. As Green got closer, a sense of despair began to rise in his heart. It seemed that being a wizard wasn't so easy. The boy in front of him, Green knew, was the son of the owner of the Moon Bay Inn, named Wade. The Moon Bay Inn was the most luxurious place in Bisel, so this guy's family must have had more gold coins than he could count.

Wade sat in front of the crystal ball with a tense expression, touching it and closing his eyes as it emitted a soft glow.

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

Green, with his keen eyes, saw Wade secretly hand the wizard a bag, which contained strange stones, about twenty to thirty of them. Green immediately thought of a possibility: bribery?

"Hmm, mental strength 10, stand behind me." The wizard put away the bag and changed his words.

Wade looked excited, "Thank you, sir." He then stood behind the wizard, excited.

Green's face turned pale. He had nothing to bribe the wizard with, and he doubted this great wizard would be interested in the only gold coin left in his family. Green's mind was in turmoil as he walked to the crystal ball, not knowing what to do.

"Place your hand on the crystal ball and close your eyes." Following the wizard's words, Green instinctively did as he was told. For a moment, it seemed as if the hall had become quiet, as if the whole world had been covered by a large hood.

"Hmm? What's happening?" Green opened his eyes and saw that the people in the hall were frozen in place.

The City Lord's daughter was still pouting and crying, with tears hanging in mid-air. Jocris was sneering, showing two sharp canine teeth. Green turned around and saw the annoying guy at the door, who was casually throwing a gold coin backward, which was now frozen in mid-air.

It seemed as if everyone in the hall was frozen in time, motionless.

Hmm? No, that's not right!

Green noticed a table in the corner of the hall, with plates on it, each adorned with intricate patterns. Such luxurious plates were something commoners could never afford.

The plates contained delicate pastries and fruits, which the City Lord provided for those being tested for wizard potential, but no one actually ate them, so they were more for decoration. However, at this moment, on the fruit platter, there were two creatures with colorful, soft tentacles, covered in countless eyes, floating and playing in the air like jellyfish.

This... This is unbelievable! What are these things?

Green could feel his body trembling, and his face must have looked terrible. Although he had always yearned for the mysterious world of wizards, now that the world of wizards had just opened a small door to him, he felt an endless sense of the unknown and fear. This was a world different from the reality he knew.

Green, mustering his courage, cautiously approached the two strange creatures. However, as soon as he got close to the table, the creatures seemed to be startled and swam to the wall. The wall, which was now like water, easily absorbed the creatures, and they disappeared.

Stunned, Green was left in shock by the disappearance of the creatures into the wall. As he approached the table, he suddenly noticed that, besides the four normal candles, there was another candle that seemed very abnormal. This candle, although topped with a burning wick, was not a finely crafted noble decoration but a roasted, red pig's head.

Green was puzzled. Why did he find this candle normal at first but then suddenly feel it was wrong when he got closer? Strangely, the two eyes of the pig's head candle slowly moved and stared at Green, locking eyes with him.

A bone-chilling, eerie atmosphere filled the air.

"Ha ha! I have finally reached the supreme realm! Sky! Earth! Dragons! They can no longer stop me!" Suddenly, a boastful laugh echoed in this eerily silent world. Although Green's reaction was slow, he felt no fear, only a sense of the bizarre as he turned to look at the source of the sound.

It was a novel that nobles read for entertainment, a story about a poor boy and a noble girl falling in love, facing opposition from her family, and the boy's rise to power, defeating the world's most powerful evil dragon and winning the girl's heart. Overall, it was a cliché and boring story, with some illustrations depicting the hero defeating various evil enemies.

"Wh... What the hell?" Green stammered, looking at the novel.

A paper figure was breaking free from the book, slowly standing up. The figure had all human organs, with a vivid and exaggerated expression of surprise, staring blankly around.

This paper figure was the hero of the novel, but now, although no longer a rough and simple illustration, it had a detailed human expression. However, it was still just a thin piece of paper, and its back was still a page filled with text.

"What the hell? Where am I? Shouldn't I have become a god?" The paper figure panicked, looking around. Suddenly, it seemed to notice Green, and its face turned serious as it drew a paper sword and pointed it at Green: "Who are you? A god from the divine realm?"

"Who are you, a god from the divine realm? Who are you, a god from the divine realm? Who are you, a god from the divine realm?..." Suddenly, the cracks in the floor tiles formed a long crack, which opened and closed like a talking mouth. Although Green and the frozen nobles stood on the crack, they did not fall through. The crack mouth seemed to be an illusion, but it repeated the paper figure's words over and over.

From the endless black crack, a crimson tongue suddenly emerged, right under Green's feet. Green could clearly see that the tongue was made up of countless tiny snakes wriggling together. It abruptly wrapped around the paper figure, who was already stunned, and then disappeared into the depths of the floor crack with a series of screams.

"This isn't real..." Green was stunned, trembling on the spot.

Suddenly, the crystal ball on the table seemed to emit a bright light, and Green was pulled to the side of the crystal ball. As his hands touched the crystal ball, the world no longer seemed frozen, and sounds reached his ears.

"Mental strength 12, not bad, stand behind me." Green, pale-faced, instinctively stood behind the wizard.

Looking around, all the strange things had disappeared. The noble reading the novel showed no abnormality, and there was no pig's head candle on the table. The floor was intact, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion or a dream.

"Damn! What luck does this guy have to have wizard potential?"

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

The hall buzzed for a moment, then fell silent again with a cold snort from the wizard. The City Lord's daughter and Wade, the son of the Moon Bay Inn owner, looked at Green in surprise but, seeing his servant-like appearance, sneered and lost interest in talking to him.

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