Duke listened to Simon and summarized that there were quite a few second-generation wizards participating in this assessment.
To be precise, they should be considered Nth-generation wizards. While their backgrounds might not mean much on the West Coast, to ordinary wizard apprentices like them, they were still challenging to deal with.
Duke had no intention of having any disputes with these people, but if a confrontation were inevitable, he would not hold back.
...
Early the next morning, Duke and Simon, along with a few others, arrived at the port of Academy Island, where a large ship was docked.
After showing their Black Sail Badges, Duke and the others boarded the ship one by one.
This assessment was divided into many batches, with their ship being just one batch of the third-class wizard apprentice assessment.
There were too many wizard apprentices in the Black Sail organization, even for just third-class wizard apprentices; there were forty to fifty thousand, making it impossible to gather them all for an assessment.
Duke and Simon stood in a corner of the deck, chatting casually, and Duke estimated that there were over three hundred third-class wizard apprentices on this ship, likely the total number for this batch of assessments.
After waiting on the ship for half a day, the vessel finally left the port, heading toward the distant horizon.
The ship sailed at an extremely fast speed, surpassing many of the cruise ships Duke had commonly seen in his previous life.
Duke stood on the deck without hearing any mechanical roaring; the bottom of the ship was very calm, and he wondered how it was designed.
The place they were heading to seemed to be very far away, as the ship only stopped outside an island by the time of the evening dusk.
The host of this assessment was Mr. Jode, whose Magic Basic Theory course Duke had attended.
Obviously, Jode couldn’t possibly remember Duke; he had taught countless wizard apprentices.
Jode held a piece of parchment, standing at the bow, and said sternly:
"Next, you will be given a task list documenting the names of five types of magic potion materials."
"Your task is to gather these required magic potion materials on this island within the next three days, collecting at least three to complete the task."
"For each additional magic potion material submitted, you can earn five Black Sail Contribution Points."
The wizard apprentices on the ship each received a sheet of parchment, detailing their task content.
Duke glanced at his parchment, which listed the five magic potion materials: Night Shadow Grass, Blood Moon Root, Starlight Vine, Sharp-toothed Bat’s tooth, Colorless Lizard’s eyeball.
"Duke, what’s your task content?" Simon asked.
Duke showed him the parchment, and Simon murmured, "Indeed, everyone’s is different; only some materials overlap."
The seven-member group looked at each other’s task content, finding significant differences, with only one or two overlapping materials.
Simon and the others breathed a slight sigh of relief, as this meant competition wouldn’t be too fierce.
For most wizard apprentices, simply submitting three kinds of magic potion materials meant completing the assessment.
As for submitting all five kinds to gain contribution points, that would depend on luck.
Every person’s list of five magic potion materials included one or two that were relatively hard to obtain.
Black Sail Contribution Points were not easy to earn, as contribution points affected a wizard’s status and privileges within Black Sail and were hard to obtain.
In practice, this assessment was an opportunity for capable wizard apprentices; completing the five tasks to get contribution points was considered relatively easy.
Besides the magic potion materials required for the task, any other materials collected on the island by the wizard apprentices could be kept for themselves.
Black Sail’s assessments have always been this way, exercising and selecting wizard apprentices while offering them growth opportunities, indirectly providing cultivation resources.
These resources just needed to be acquired through one’s ability; they were there, and it depended on how much you could take.
"Mr. Jode, can we leave once we collect all the task-required magic potion materials?" asked a skinny wizard apprentice with round glasses.
Jode replied solemnly, "No, no matter when you collect all materials, you must wait until three days later when the assessment ends."
The wizard apprentices on the ship fell silent upon hearing this because they understood what it implied.
This, perhaps, was the real content of the assessment: to survive safely on the island for three days while emerging with at least three of the task-required magic potion materials.
It wasn’t easy to meet these requirements; the island was not only home to many magic beasts but also threats from other wizard apprentices.
In Black Sail assessments, there was no prohibition against apprentices fighting each other; for many capable wizard apprentices, others were like walking resources.
Before the assessment, Duke had purchased magic potions and demonized items to prepare.
The other wizard apprentices had done the same, carrying considerable resources just to better survive the assessment.
In this context, some viewed others as easy targets.
Defeating others allowed one to take their resources.
Duke realized that this was the reason behind the three-day assessment period: it was essentially to encourage apprentices to fight and rob resources from each other.
"Breeding venom," Duke thought of this phrase.
A long time ago, Black Sail’s nurturing mechanism was like this, only now it wasn’t as blatant.
It had merely taken a different form, but nothing substantial had changed.
The notion of collecting magic potion materials was only the facade; merely collecting materials had little assessment value.
Duke and Simon exchanged glances, and everyone being smart, quickly understood the true intent of this assessment.
"Once we disembark, let’s move together; make sure no one gets separated," Simon said gravely.
As long as the seven of them acted as a group, the dangers were likely minimal, and few would choose to target such a large group.
But Jode, as if hearing Simon, announced, "When you line up for the teleportation array, you will be randomly transported to any location on the island; begin lining up now. Additionally, the Wizard’s Mark on the island is forbidden for use, so you will not be able to communicate through it."
As Jode spoke, a pale purple magic array appeared in front of him, emitting an eerie purple glow.
While others hesitated, some quick-thinking wizard apprentices hurried to the array.
Duke did the same, rushing to get in line upon hearing the news.
Being the first to land on the island had its advantages because with so many people, if you were the last to go.
By the time you reached the island, who knows where you might appear, and at that moment, the island would already be full of others.
Perhaps, as soon as you appeared on the island, you’d already be caught in a trap set by others.