Chapter 7

For the next two months, the northern lands were completely covered in snow. It was hard to see a single person in the wilderness.

Adam's hunting career had also completely stopped half a month ago. Wild beasts were too rare, and he could only find one every few days. This was also because of his all-pervasive power of the will. He could only fish out some small creatures from underground caves. The energy provided by these small creatures could not even keep up with the consumption.

In the manor's canteen, Adam had become a tyrant. Every meal provided by the fat chef and the fat auntie was completely monopolized by Adam. The rest of the servants complained a few times and found that it was useless, so they had no choice but to find other places to eat.

Earl Johnson did not look for him even once. He did not even pass him a message. It was as if he had completely forgotten about him. The Earl's two sons tried to rope him in. The foolish Marshall used his status as the Earl's first heir and used a charitable tone to order Adam to pledge loyalty to him. The price he wanted to pay was the complete knight's breathing technique. The cunning Dennis was much smarter than his brother. Not only did he provide Adam with the complete breathing technique, he also promised to provide Adam with all the resources he needed for training. This included a monthly supply of ointment, the position of the future Knight Commander, and a low-level noble title.

Adam rejected them one by one. Ever since he knew about the existence of mages, Adam had no interest in them. After two months of continuous and efficient training, Adam had become a knight. The rest of the breathing technique had already been deduced. Adam was even more certain that knights were a low-level profession. In his deduction, the path ahead was already cut off.

Perhaps it was because of the Earl's silence or Ophelia's support, Adam did not encounter any trouble even though he rejected the recruitment. Although Marshall and Dennis were angry, they were not stupid enough to attack Adam. This indirectly saved their lives.

On a certain evening, Adam met Ophelia again in the never-ending snow of winter in the northern lands. Ophelia was different from her noble and cold demeanor from before. Today, she seemed to be very happy. She even said to Adam in an excited tone, "The mage from the Moldo Mage Academy has arrived."

Adam let out a heavy breath. His breath turned the flying snow into a tornado. The scarlet blood energy wave flashed and disappeared. In the cold weather, Adam was only wearing a single layer of clothing. The temperature seemed to have no effect on him.

Ophelia's eyes flashed. It had only been two months, but her former playmate had already become so strong. His talent was truly terrifying.

"Pack your things. You'll be going to Cold Maple City with me tonight. Master Magician will start the aptitude test tomorrow morning," Ophelia ordered.

Aptitude test? Could it be that the assessment of this profession was based on public examinations?

Sensing Adam's confusion, Ophelia explained, "It seems that due to certain reasons, the mage who was supposed to arrive two months ago has postponed his trip and changed his original plan to a small-scale selection test. So to avoid wasting time, you and I will be tested in advance after dinner. " Actually, only Ophelia was supposed to be tested in advance, but there was no need to mention such a small matter.

Adam nodded, then indicated that he did not have anything to pack. Ophelia did not bring any attendants either. The two of them, one on horseback and the other on foot, sped towards Cold Maple City.

Cold Maple City did not give Adam any new sensations. With the low productivity of the ordinary people in this world, the cities they built were not even ten thousandth of the ones on Earth.

After arriving at the city lord's manor, Adam was arranged to rest in another place. His free servants prepared dinner for him, while Ophelia bathed and went to the main hall to attend the banquet.

Two hours later, Adam was informed to go to the main hall. A man of indeterminate age was sitting at the head of the table. He was wearing a tight suit unique to nobles and was talking to the earl about something. Ophelia stood below with a nervous expression. When she saw Adam, she signaled him to stand beside her.

Adam could feel the strong blood energy waves on Earl Johnson's body. This was the power that was about to reach the end of the knight profession, but he could not feel any energy waves from the man. This mage looked just like an ordinary person.

"Honorable Mage Black, I would like to recommend these two people. That is my youngest daughter, Ophelia Johnson."

Mage Black nodded at Earl Johnson, then looked at Adam and Ophelia. He did not move at all, but a strong and violent spiritual power filled the entire main hall.

"Detecting the intrusion of a large amount of energy. Extreme danger. Initiating automatic defense." Adam's spiritual power reacted instantly. It spread out on the surface of his body to deal with the invasion, but Adam's spiritual power only lasted for a hundredth of a second before it was destroyed.

"Defense failed. Formulating a countermeasure … No countermeasure."

Mage Black's logical mind warned him, but there was nothing he could do about the situation. Fortunately, he did not want to kill them. He retracted his spiritual power and said with a smile, "Excellent spiritual power." Then he turned to Adam and said, "Especially you. It's hard to imagine that an ordinary person could have such a large amount of spiritual power. This will be of great help to you on your path as an apprentice."

Seeing that Ophelia's face was still filled with fear, Wizard Blake explained, "Don't be afraid. Oh, speaking of which, this isn't an ordinary wizard aptitude test. I only heard from the Count that you all have extraordinary talent, so I'm just testing it out."

Ophelia came back to her senses. She took a few deep breaths. In just a short period of time, her body was drenched in sweat. Her blonde hair was wet and stuck to her back. She did not expect Mage Black, who looked so ordinary at the banquet, to be so powerful.

Mage Black continued, "There are two important requirements to become a mage apprentice. First, extraordinary spiritual power. You pass. Second … "Mage Black stretched out his finger and gently drew a few lines in front of him. A bright rune floated in the air. "The foundation of learning spells is knowledge, and the foundation of using spells is runes. This is the simplest spiritual power solidification rune. Use your spiritual power to draw it and leave it in your soul."

The structure of the rune was not complicated, but it was not easy to copy it. For Adam, the main difficulty was the amount of spiritual power needed to copy it. For Ophelia, the hardest part was how to keep it in her soul.

Adam stared at the spiral-shaped spirit power solidifying rune in the air. His super memory and calculation ability allowed him to remember the structure of the rune at a glance. Adam copied the entire rune hundreds of times at the same time. His spirit power spread out and rippled on the surface of his body. These ripples were formed when too much spirit power was used to condense the rune and it shattered.

Mage Black stared at Adam. Even though he had become an official mage and was almost separated from ordinary humans, he still admired Adam's talent. This situation was obviously caused by the mismatch between the most basic solidification rune and Adam's spiritual power. However, he would not be so kind as to give Adam a higher-level rune. This knowledge was very important to a mage, and knowledge represented value.

"If I had this kind of talent, I wouldn't have wasted 35 years as an apprentice."

An hour later, Ophelia successfully copied the rune and left it in her soul. The moment she succeeded, she felt a small gap in her spiritual power. Then, new spiritual power was generated to fill this gap. Ophelia smiled brightly. She looked up at Mage Black and said, "Master Mage, I did it."

Mage Black was in a good mood. Every talented apprentice could change the awkward situation of the Moldo Mage Academy to a certain extent. He said to Ophelia, "Your talent is very good. If you are smart enough and don't take the wrong path, there is a high chance that you will become a mage."

Count Johnson also let out a sigh of relief. This was undoubtedly good news. As the future Wizard Johnson, he had to spread this news widely.

"Respected Mage Black, then, he …" Earl Johnson wanted to get better news, which was that Adam did not have the talent to become a mage.

Mage Black understood the meaning of the earl's words. He shook his head and said, "He has a better talent. Don't be impatient. He will succeed soon."

Adam was indeed about to succeed. Due to the huge amount of spiritual power, copying this kind of simple rune required more effort. This was easy to understand. It was just like how you couldn't use a sledgehammer to carve, so he needed to constantly reduce the amount of spiritual power he used. Thanks to his powerful calculation ability, Adam found this value within two hours and successfully copied it in his soul.

Unlike Ophelia, he did not feel any obvious gap in his spiritual power. The condensation of a low-level rune was just a dispensable improvement to him.

Earl Johnson was slightly disappointed.

Earl Black stood up and said, "Congratulations on passing the test. From now on, you are a mage apprentice. After tomorrow, you can come with me to the Moldo Mage Academy to begin learning how to become a mage."

Mage Black continued, "You are all very talented, but don't be infatuated with your talent. It is only useful in the apprentice stage. Learn, master, use knowledge to change your soul, and explore the truth. This is the true essence of the path of a mage. Remember, knowledge is the most precious wealth and the most powerful strength. "

Adam and Ophelia bowed slightly to him and said, "Yes, respected Mage Black."

Just as Mage Black was about to leave, Adam suddenly asked, "Excuse me, what is a rune?"

Wizard Blake stopped in his tracks and looked at Adam, saying, "Not a bad question. As your guide, I can answer a question for you for free. So, is this what you want to ask?"

"Yes, respected Mage Black."