Chapter 10: The Brand New “Fake Genius”

——The Iron Age…

Those who could defeat the Orcs were perhaps only the Orcs themselves. After thoroughly conquering their external enemies, the fierce Orcs entered another cycle — a tragic cycle.

Endless internal conflict, endless racial contradictions. The Lion and Tiger Warriors found it hard to treat the Cattle and Sheep races as their own kin, and the Eagles soaring in the sky could not treat the Fox and Rabbit races as equals. And so… large numbers of races were wiped out, countless tribesmen became slaves. The Orcs dragged themselves into a state of utter exhaustion. They used internal conflict to end their own role as protagonists, but failed to notice that a new protagonist was quietly rising.

When the Orc Empire’s rule lasted to the eleven thousandth year, a new protagonist quietly appeared on the continent. But this time, the change of protagonist could be said to have been completely silent — without the grandeur of the previous two times. Before people even noticed, the continent’s protagonist had already quietly changed.

The new protagonist, the eighth generation protagonist of the continent, was…

A race that lived in caves and underground;

A race that loved drinking, loved eating big chunks of meat, and loved singing loudly;

A race that treated forging as their very life, and knew every kind of mineral deposit like the back of their hand;

A race that had existed on the Amelia Continent since the beginning of creation, and had never once had their heritage broken across a hundred thousand years;

They were the Dwarves!! The great Hammers!!

The Dwarven era was a time of great prosperity and advancement. With their own hands, they hammered out an Iron Mechanical Age. Special Ability civilization, technological civilization, and magical energy civilization were perfectly combined here. Creation and the pursuit of technology were the main themes of this era. All the major races lived in harmony — it was also the most peaceful era in the continent’s history…

“The Protagonist of a Hundred Thousand Years — Strolling Under the Wheels of History”

…

Seeing Luo Pei, Old Strom naturally exchanged some polite pleasantries. He was also very happy about Luo Pei’s solemn visit. No one disliked being respected by others, and this was especially true for a declining noble like Old Strom.

Soon, Mrs. Strom brought out coffee and pastries. The rich aroma immediately filled the entire room, and Luo Pei began chatting pleasantly with Mr. Strom.

While the adults were talking, Luo Yan stood quietly to one side, curiously observing Old Strom. He could tell that Old Strom was very talkative — nothing at all like the cold-faced, cold-hearted “Golden Yuan Caesar” of later years. This made Luo Yan find it very interesting… after all, in later generations, this old gentleman was famously stern, rigid, and meticulous.

“Hehe~~ Director, this must be your son, right?” Since they didn’t interact much on a daily basis, although both sides were enthusiastic, they eventually ran out of topics. So Mr. Strom turned his gaze to Luo Yan, looking at him with a gentle expression and asking.

Upon hearing this, Luo Pei also showed a loving father’s smile. He gently patted Luo Yan’s head and took the initiative to explain: “Ha~~ That’s right, this is my youngest son Luo Yan. He’s only five this year. All he does all day is cause mischief — he’s very naughty!”

This remark made Luo Yan quite displeased. He rolled his eyes and said grumpily, “Dad is the naughty one! He went up the mountain and didn’t even bring me a gift!”

His childish words immediately caused everyone to burst into laughter. Mrs. Strom was a mother of three children and loved little kids the most. She had already been utterly charmed by Luo Yan, and now hearing him say this, her maternal instincts overflowed as she pulled him over, patted his head, and said: “That’s right, that’s right~~ Dad is the worst! Come on~~ let’s ignore him. Auntie will take you to have some snacks.”

But who would have thought that Luo Yan would shake his head like a rattle drum, saying in his childish voice: “No, no~~ I want to learn magic. Dad said Mr. Strom can teach me magic~~”

This remark naturally caused another round of laughter. But seeing that Luo Yan had already said this, Luo Pei took the opportunity to turn his head and smile as he said: “Mr. Strom, today I came for two reasons — one was to visit you, and the other was a small matter.”

Old Strom had actually already guessed that Luo Pei wouldn’t come to his door without a reason. Now he naturally understood the other party’s intention, so he smiled and said: “Director, you want to do an Elemental Affinity Test for little Luo Yan, right?” After all, if someone suddenly came to visit him — a low-level Professional Tester — what else could it possibly be about?

But who would have thought that Luo Pei would shake his head and say: “It’s not just doing the test. If the test shows that Luo Yan has Wizard talent, I might also have to trouble you, Mr. Strom, to give him some guidance.”

This time, Old Strom was somewhat stunned. He said with some surprise: “Director, this… isn’t this inappropriate?”

Although Old Strom’s ancestors were very famous, he himself was only a first-level Magic Apprentice. Suddenly hearing that Luo Pei was asking him to guide Luo Yan, he truly felt a bit surprised.

On the contrary, Luo Pei laughed heartily: “What’s wrong with that? Mr. Strom, Luo Yan is still so young — I really can’t feel at ease sending him alone to the town’s Mages Guild. And you’re the only Magic Professional in our Talim Village. If we don’t ask you to guide Luo Yan, who else could we ask?”

Upon hearing this, Old Strom was moved once again. He nodded and said: “Director, since you’ve said so, I will certainly do my best.”

After all, when a four or five-year-old child first begins cultivation, it’s simply Meditation to accumulate Mana, along with learning some theoretical knowledge about magic. Although Old Strom’s personal ability wasn’t impressive, his family background was deep, and he was definitely rich in experience when it came to theory. He was confident he wouldn’t hold Luo Yan back.

Naturally, Luo Yan wasn’t worried at all about whether this “veteran” Magic Apprentice would hold him back — after all, he himself was a seventh-level Magister, right…

After Old Strom finished speaking, he turned around and solemnly brought out his “low-level Professional Tester” livelihood tools — a set of uniquely shaped instruments. He smiled at Luo Yan and said: “Little Luo Yan, don’t you want to be a Wizard? Come~~ come over to uncle, and let’s see if you have the talent to be a Wizard.”

Actually, Luo Yan felt that Old Strom’s current expression didn’t resemble the quiet, dignified, and imposing “Golden Yuan Caesar” at all. Instead, he looked more like a weird uncle trying to trick kids into giving up their candy. But since he was still a child, he had no choice but to obediently walk forward and, following Old Strom’s instructions, press his hands onto the two contact plates of the “Elemental Affinity Tester,” while focusing his attention on the transparent crystal between his hands.

This “Elemental Affinity Tester” was actually a technological product from the Goblin era. Inside a square box were a pair of contact plates and a display crystal, and the plaster base was covered with many complex magical patterns — the meaning of these patterns had long since been forgotten by anyone, but people could still imitate them and manufacture identical instruments.

A slightly cool sensation came from his palms. Naturally, Luo Yan had no worries about whether he had magical talent. He simply focused his attention intensely and slowly injected his Mental Strength into the display crystal.

[Before long, the display crystal gradually began to glow, and soon the light grew brilliant. A dark green radiance gently swept past everyone’s eyes, as if it soothed away the sorrow hidden in their hearts.]

“Seven-element balance? Wood element affinity as high as 83%?!” Suddenly, Old Strom’s exclamation broke the silence in the room. As long as Elemental Affinity exceeded 60%, one was considered to have magical talent. Generally speaking, anything above 75% could be called a “genius.” An affinity like Luo Yan’s 83% could already be considered “very” genius-level.

Upon hearing this, Luo Pei was overjoyed. When he saw the display crystal shining brightly and confirmed that his son had magical talent, he was already very happy. But when he heard Old Strom announce his son’s Elemental Affinity, he became absolutely ecstatic and almost cheered out loud.

As expected of my son — a true genius!!

A father’s excitement at this moment was understandable. In contrast, Luo Yan’s reaction was very calm. To the adults, this was of course because he didn’t understand the meaning of these numbers. In reality, however, it was because Luo Yan knew very well how many “geniuses” with Elemental Affinity above 90% would appear on the Amelia Continent in the near future — including the youngest son of the man right in front of him, whose Elemental Affinity was as high as 96%. When that time came, his “tiny bit” of Elemental Affinity would really be too embarrassing to show anyone!

But Luo Yan was satisfied nonetheless. After all, he remembered that during the test before his rebirth, his Elemental Affinity had barely exceeded 65%. The fact that it had undergone such a shocking change this time was already more than enough to make one content. In fact, he mainly had to thank his freakishly abnormal Mental Strength.

— In theory, the “Elemental Affinity Test” was supposed to measure the body’s affinity with the elements. But in reality, the test was also influenced by the strength of one’s Mental Strength. It was just that most test-takers were under fifteen years old, and at that age, the strength of Mental Strength was almost negligible. Only a “freak” like Luo Yan would possess the Mental Strength of a hundred and forty-year-old at the age of five. Old Strom naturally wouldn’t have thought of this, which allowed Luo Yan to slip through the cracks and become a “very” genius in people’s eyes.

And so, a brand new “fake genius” appeared before the world without any shame whatsoever…