Chapter 1080: Wasting an entire lifetime for the status of sorcerer
Translator: Legge
“What have you lost?” Ren Xiaosu wondered, “I realized that you’ve had insomnia for the past few days. And now, you’re suddenly telling me that I’ll lose more than I’ll gain if I pursue the sorcerer dream? What exactly have you been through?”
“I don’t mind telling you all this, but my Eye of True Sight doesn’t belong to me. It’s actually my father’s,” Melgor said.
“Wait a minute.” Ren Xiaosu realized the two servants’ account did not match up with Melgor’s. “The two sheeple told me that if an old sorcerer with a family passed away, the Eye of True Sight in their possession would get taken back by magus order. In that case, how could you possibly have inherited it from your father?”
After that, Ren Xiaosu looked at the two servants hostilely. “Are you trying to fool me or did they lie to me again?”
After being punched by Ren Xiaosu earlier, the two servants could not get back to sleep. At this moment, they had just walked over to the campfire and saw the sinister look in Ren Xiaosu’s eyes. They immediately shuddered and shouted at Melgor, “Lord Melgor, can you speak without pausing? Make it clear to him!”
Melgor quickly pulled Ren Xiaosu back. “Listen to my explanation!”
Melgor did not know whether to laugh or cry. What was wrong with this newly appointed steward of his? He was too tyrannical!
“I mentioned some people waste their entire lives in pursuit of their sorcerer dreams. Actually, I was referring to my father when I said that.” Melgor explained, “My family was originally based in Ghent City, the capital of the Kingdom of Sorcerers. When I was still a child, my family was very well-to-do and could be considered an influential clan of Ghent City.”
Ren Xiaosu realized there was a story behind Melgor’s status as a sorcerer.
He did not interrupt Melgor again and listened quietly.
Melgor continued, “When I was young, my family owned a huge manor outside of Ghent City and many businesses in the city. In the summer, we’d have our servants fetch large amounts of ice from cellars situated outside the city and transport it back to our residence in the city to cool ourselves. During winter, we would keep warm using underfloor heating. We had countless servants in our family, and just the professors alone who were responsible for teaching me amounted to six.”
In the nation of sorcerers, “professor” was not an academic title but a collective form of address for those of high social standing and profound knowledge.
Melgor reveled in his recollection. “I still remember when I was very young, my father would bring me to the racetrack outside Ghent City to ride horses and teach me how to play polo. He would also bring me to the city’s arena to watch passionate battles between gladiators. The victorious gladiators would get the cheers of the audience, and I couldn’t help cheering along with them too. It’s entertainment that only aristocrats are allowed to watch, and sorcerers enjoy such shows very much as well.”
“Ren Xiaosu, I wanted you to become my steward because I feel you have the potential to become a gladiator. Frankly, I need this opportunity to mingle with the aristocrats and sorcerers so I may be admitted into the inner circle of the magus order and get away from my current fief,” Melgor said.
“Later, it all changed.” Melgor sighed. “My father had dreams of becoming a sorcerer since childhood. This is probably also the dream of all young people in the Kingdom of Sorcerers. The magi are powerful and mysterious, even ranking above the monarch. This filled every teenager with fantasies of becoming a sorcerer.”
“However, a sorcerer is not something you can just become because you want to. Moreover, you can’t just purchase an Eye of True Sight with money.” Melgor looked at Ren Xiaosu and said, “You’ll need luck, very good luck.”
“May I interrupt for a second?” Ren Xiaosu asked puzzledly, “So there’s still a luck element involved when buying an Eye of True Sight? I just don’t understand. Don’t you just pay up and receive the item?”
“Of course not.” Melgor shook his head. “This is not how an Eye of True Sight looks before it’s unsealed. It’s encased by a layer of stone that we have to break apart. Only then will we find out if there’s an Eye of True Sight within, or if it’s just a plain rock that was purchased.”
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. Wasn’t this the same trick they employed in jade gambling back in the Southwest?!
Melgor explained, “This business is controlled by a certain archmage’s family based in the secular world. Normal people can try their luck to obtain an Eye of True Sight at the stone gambling market. The magus order will also acknowledge them as true sorcerers if they manage to get one. The black market that hosts stone gambling activities in Ghent City is the craziest place in the entire Kingdom of Sorcerers. Over the years, rumors of people becoming sorcerers from gambling on stones have caused a large number of people to go and try their luck.”
“What are the chances of getting an Eye of True Sight through that avenue?” Ren Xiaosu asked curiously, “How many people have become sorcerers using this method?”
“Very, very few.” Melgor said, “At the very least, my father didn’t manage to become a sorcerer after spending all the family’s wealth.”
After hearing this, Ren Xiaosu thought the Magi was really ruthless in how they plundered the people’s wealth. But since they were already the actual controllers of the entire nation, why did they still have to resort to such petty ways to swindle the wealth of others? Compared to the necessities economy, the money earned from the stone gambling market was probably too little to bring about any qualitative impact for them, right?
No, Ren Xiaosu carefully recalled how the consortiums were structured in the Central Plains. In fact, the largest manufacturer of lipstick was the Wang Consortium.
What did a large organization such as the Wang Consortium still bother to manufacture lipstick for? Why would they even bother earning this bit of money? The truth was that they did not want to miss out on even a single cent and earn from every market there was.
Ren Xiaosu looked at Melgor and asked, “Then where did you get your Eye of True Sight from?”
“My father was diagnosed with an illness when he was 40. If he had treated his illness, he could’ve lived for another three years, but that would’ve required him to spend all the savings we had.” Melgor said sadly, “I said we should use the money for his treatment, but he disagreed. He gave all the savings to me and told me to go try my luck at the black market one more time. He wanted to give it one last shot. If he had used it for his treatment, that would really have been the end for our clan.”
“I’d never dreamed about becoming a sorcerer, so I insisted he use the money for his treatment. But he dragged me to the black market and forced me to pick a random stone. If I didn’t do as he said, he would kill himself.” Melgor said, “Helpless, I could only pick one as he told me. But who could’ve expected I would actually obtain an Eye of True Sight from the stone I had chosen? On that same day, my father died. I don’t even know if he felt remorseful or gratified before he passed on.”
Ren Xiaosu thought this story was full of irony. His father had exhausted all of the family’s wealth in pursuit of his life’s dream of becoming a sorcerer only to see it unfulfilled. Meanwhile, Melgor, who never harbored any ambition of becoming a sorcerer, managed to pick an Eye of True Sight randomly and became the next lucky sorcerer.
It was no wonder Melgor said normal people had a lot to lose if they sought to become sorcerers.
“I used all our family’s wealth and my father’s jinxed life in exchange for the status of fringe sorcerer.” Melgor gave a bitter smile. “Was it worth getting sent to a godforsaken place to do the dirtiest and most tiring work for the order? I don’t know, but I found out later that sorcerers who bought their Eyes of True Sight were sent to the toughest places to be trained for two years.. Of course, this is not about training your willpower, but the magus order’s way of telling you that even if you become a sorcerer, your fate still lies in their hands.”