In the dark forest, Herag and the others followed silently behind Dino.
The cold wind blew, with a somewhat biting chill.
The stone pathway beneath Herag’s feet was clean and tidy, without a single fallen leaf, and each slab of stone looked exactly the same.
The group walked along the stone path for ten minutes, arriving at a place resembling a garden.
The garden was circular, with many paths extending outwards from its center, their destinations unknown. The stone path Herag and the others were on was just one of these paths.
At the garden center, there was a fountain, bubbling and splashing continuously.
Herag noticed that there were people in the garden; he counted eight of them, standing in scattered groups.
When Dino arrived, they all looked over.
An old lady, wearing a tall gray pointed hat and a gray robe, walked over. She appeared to be in her seventies, and she spoke to Herag and the others, "Dino, I’ve heard that a beautiful and outstanding lady is joining us at Augustus Academy this time. Which one is she?"
Dino laughed, "Professor Nina, don’t rush. You can take her back once the testing is over."
He turned around and gestured to Lillian, "Lillian, come over. This is Professor Nina from Augustus Academy."
"Professor Nina!" Lillian curtseyed timidly, exuding the aura of a noble lady—graceful in her demeanor yet with a hint of shyness.
Watching this scene, Herag almost laughed; this woman was pretentious.
The more Nina looked, the more she liked her. She pulled Lillian over, "Hmm, not bad!"
The other seven wizards also started gathering around, both men and women, all exuding an extraordinary aura.
Dino called out to the wizard apprentices behind him, "Those with tokens, stand on my left. Those without, stand on my right."
The eleven wizard apprentices quickly formed two groups. There were seven, including Herag and Lillian, who had tokens, and only four without.
Herag was somewhat surprised that Fegar also lacked a token.
Dino took out a crystal ball and held it in his left hand, then addressed the wizard apprentices on both sides, "Next is the wizard aptitude test, with a full score of 100. The higher the score, the better the aptitude."
"It’s important to note that aptitude isn’t everything. In the wizarding world, knowledge and effort are always more important. A good aptitude just means you can progress faster, not that you can slack off."
"Herag, you go first."
Herag stood in the first row and stepped forward.
"Place your hand on it, then input magic power, and relax," Dino advised.
Herag did as instructed, placing his hand on the ball and inputting a trace of magic power.
The crystal ball immediately swirled with white mist, which then condensed into the number seventy-five.
"Herag, seventy-five! Very good!" Dino patted Herag’s shoulder encouragingly.
This number was beyond Herag’s expectations; he had thought he would score around forty or fifty, playing the fool.
A sinister-looking middle-aged man approached, staring at the fireball ring on Herag’s hand, "If I’m not mistaken, your ring is a token from Moonlight Forest."
"Yes, sir." Herag felt a strong sense of oppression as the man approached, not intentional, but an aura inadvertently emitted with his every movement.
With a pat on Herag’s shoulder, Dino made the oppressive feeling disappear instantly. Dino introduced, "This is Larry Cheqi, a powerful wizard from Moonlight Forest. He will take you back later."
"Mr. Larry," Herag greeted politely with a bow.
Larry gave him a blank look, nodded slightly, and said, "Hmm, you come with me later."
"Second, Lillian." Dino continued with the testing.
Lillian was standing right behind Herag, so she went up second for the test.
The crystal ball clearly displayed this number. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on NovᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt
"Very good, Miss Lillian!" Dino exclaimed.
"Thank you!" Lillian said, holding up her skirt.
Nina personally came over to grab Lillian’s hand, unable to restrain her smile as she whispered secrets into Lillian’s ear, unheard by anyone else around them.
Those wizard apprentices with tokens quickly completed the tests. After Lillian, there was no one with a higher aptitude; the best was seventy-two, and the lowest an astonishing score of only fifteen.
Herag noticed that the fifteen-point boy was the same one Fegar had hung to fish from the ship’s bow, seemingly named Joshua.
At this moment, Joshua looked lifeless and worried; his token was a feather pen from Aluf Swamp.
Herag soon lost interest in him, focusing instead on the new round of tests that began shortly after.
Among the four wizard apprentices without tokens, Fegar stood at the back; it seemed he always favored staying behind others.
The first three wizard apprentices scored between sixty and seventy. Finally, it was Fegar’s turn.
Herag watched intently, curious about the score of a Second-Class Apprentice like Fegar.
Fegar’s eyes remained emotionless, like those of a snake; he always wore an indifferent expression, as if nothing concerned him.
He placed his hand on the crystal ball, where the white mist rolled and eventually settled into a number: "Five."
A silence fell over the scene.
"Five? How did someone with a score of five achieve Second-Class Apprentice status, and at such a young age?" Herag was stunned. He had thought Fegar should have a high aptitude.
He recalled something Dino had once said, "Look at Fegar. His spiritual power is very high, but extremely unstable. Relying on extreme methods..."
"Extreme methods... What kind of methods could elevate someone with a score of five to a Second-Class Apprentice..."
It seemed Dino wasn’t surprised, as he coughed to break the silence and said, "Now that the test is over, those with tokens can go find your corresponding contact person."
He turned to the eight wizards who had come to pick them up, and said, "So, now there are four wizard apprentices without tokens. Are any of you willing to accept them?"
Among these four, except for Fegar, the other three exceeded the passing score and were quickly recruited by various wizard organizations.
In the end, only Fegar remained standing there, unapproached.
Neither Herag nor his companions had expected that Fegar would be without a token and end up as the last remaining wizard apprentice.
"No one?" Dino asked once more.
"Come to Green Cottage with us." After a brief silence on site, a big-bearded man stepped forward and invited Fegar.
Fegar said nothing, merely nodded slightly.
"Let’s go." The big beard said and walked in front without looking back at Fegar.
Dino seemed to want to say something to Fegar, but in the end, he just moved his throat without uttering a word.