Chapter 159

Chapter 159 Breeder Assessment

Locke discovered that there were a total of five breeder assistants participating in the assessment this time, of which only two, including himself, were breeder assistants from Lilith’s Hut, and the remaining three were breeder assistants from other small wizard organizations.

At the official breeder assessment site, there were three official wizards from Lilith’s Hut. These three official wizards had badges of senior breeder certification certificates on their white wizard robes, and they also wore certification badges of various award-winning magic plants that they developed in the southeast corner on their wizard robes.

The most prominent among them was undoubtedly the person sitting in the middle, wearing a purple wizard robe and a violet wizard hat, with a blue arcane magic ball lingering around the wizard hat.

This person is Madam Morgana, the teacher of Witch Sophia.

Locke withdrew his gaze from Lady Morgana, and followed the other four assistant breeders in saluting the three official wizards and senior breeders who were in charge of the assessment.

The three breeder assistants from small and medium-sized wizard organizations outside were undoubtedly more nervous than them. Facing three official wizards, their behavior became very stiff due to excessive nervousness, and even their voices were distorted when they saluted.

Because in small and medium-sized wizard organizations, there are often only one or two official wizards, and their status is even higher than that of the official wizards in Lilith’s Hut. That wizard organization is often dominated by them.

Morgana’s official wizard, senior breeder Jonas Cortes, is best known for inventing a high-level magical plant called boundary moss, which can generate a first-level barrier on its own.

The barriers of the various alchemy huts in Lilith’s Hut are cast using the seeds of this high-level magic plant as the medium for casting spells.

That is a textbook-level advanced magic plant, which is said to have characteristics that are completely different from those of apprentice-level magic plants.

Advanced magic plants are the domain of advanced breeders.

So far, the magical plants that Locke has come into contact with are only of medium to high levels.

Jonas Colter, a silver-haired old man, coughed and said, “The Emerald Nursery, the Seven-Colored Star Garden, the Symbiotic Brigade, and the two assistant breeders from Lilith’s Hut, are all here?”

“Then, we can begin the assessment.”

Jonas Cortes nodded slightly to Madam Morgana and another senior breeder. Of course, he obviously respected Madam Morgana more. Madam Morgana’s status among the official wizards was also higher.

Jonas Cortes then addressed the assistant breeders taking the assessment, saying, “Breeders hold a very special place in the hearts of plant magic wizards in the Southeastern Region. We explore, research, record, and preserve magical plants…”

He waved his hand, and suddenly the entire examination venue, which was originally an ordinary stone room, suddenly became full of birdsong and flowers. Strands of green seedlings grew out from the cracks in the wall, and brilliant flowers bloomed in this stone room.

The younger assistant breeder from the Symbiote Troupe couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s so beautiful.”

Jonas Cortes affirmed, “Yes, it is so beautiful.”

“Breeding is a field of aesthetics. Advanced breeders can even personally alter the ecological environment of an area and recreate the magical plant ecosystem. Your aesthetic sense will be reflected in the magical plants you cultivate.”

“So, I’ve always believed that a breeder’s hidden talent is… your aesthetic sense. Your aesthetic sense determines how far you can go.”

“Young breeders, as a senior breeder, I welcome you to the field of breeding today. Please be mentally prepared for today’s exam.”

“This exam represents the criteria for Lilith’s Cottage to determine the level of competence required of a formal breeder. The assessment begins.”

Locke knew in his heart that among the first-class wizard apprentices, there were some who had taken exams for more than ten years, or even decades, but still could not pass the formal breeder assessment.

The gap between first-class wizard apprentices is huge.

Some first-class wizard apprentices are almost reduced to debt slaves and are simply unable to afford the cost of learning meditation. Some first-class wizard apprentices have various projects in hand, and compared with them, they are just small shrimps.

Jonas Cortes was about to announce the start of the first round of the official breeder examination, which was the theoretical examination.

But at this moment, Lady Morgana, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke. Lady Morgana was a middle-aged woman who looked fat, but her face looked elegant and luxurious. She wore some jewelry on her body. There were huge gem rings on the three fingers of her right hand, and a deep-sea pearl necklace hung around her neck.

Every pearl on the necklace was probably obtained from the oyster, a magical creature in the deep sea, and is not an ordinary item.

Suddenly, Mrs. Morgana said, “Jonas, wait a moment.”

Locke lowered his head. He felt Lady Morgana’s gaze linger on him for a moment, but soon looked at someone else.

I just want to pass the breeder assessment normally and get the official breeder certificate.

I hope the feud between Madam Morgana and Teacher Sophia will not affect me.

Jonas Cortes turned and looked at Madam Morgana. It seemed that although they were both formal wizards, there was still some difference between them.

Lady Morgana clearly had greater experience and magical power. “Jonas, I think that in previous years, the only tests on the breeders were their skills and theoretical knowledge. This is too narrow.”

“I’m the chief examiner this year, and I think I’ll add another round of exams—testing on the Breeder’s Industry Standards Manual…”

“This is mainly to make the younger generation of breeders know how to be respectful and respect the rules, rather than being like some people who disregard the rules and can trample on them and modify them at will when necessary.”

“We must set a good example for the younger generations.”

“Mr. Jonas, Mr. Malcolm, what do you two think?”

Jonas and Malcolm were both a little overwhelmed at the moment, because the exam items in previous years were relatively fixed and had a framework.

But this year’s examiner, Lady Morgana, actually changed the framework altogether.

For a moment, neither of them knew whether to agree or not.

After all, this is likely to be questioned by senior counselors and the superintendent.

But Madam Morgana also has many students in Lilith Cottage and is quite experienced. Apart from Harlan Vera, she is one of the oldest formal wizards. Therefore, she has an extremely high status and is the top academic power.

As two ordinary formal wizards, they were not in a position to refute Lady Morgana’s serious advice in person.

At least give Lady Morgana some face.

After thinking it over, Jonas and Malcolm could only agree with some hesitation. After all, Lady Morgana was the chief examiner, and it was her authority to determine the scope and content of the exam.

However, Malcolm and Jonas discussed with Lady Morgana that this newly added test item can only be used as a reference for comprehensive performance and cannot directly eliminate candidates in this round.

Good performance will result in extra points, while poor performance will result in deductions.

In this way, they could minimize the impact of the suddenly added exam item without offending Lady Morgana.

In fact, Malcolm and Jonas had anticipated this situation a long time ago. After all, as a senior and official wizard in Lilith’s Cottage, Mrs. Morgana was no longer subject to certain restrictions in her actions, and few people dared to refuse her requests in person.

Moreover, the Breeder Industry Standards Manual is indeed published by the White Wizard Association, and every breeder is required to study it to prevent the recurrence of the Abyss Plant Disaster that happened to the Green Ring Society.

Therefore, this newly added exam content is actually quite reasonable.

However, this new test item added by Lady Morgana still made the candidates other than Locke somewhat nervous.

The breeder exam was already difficult, and now there are sudden changes, so they are naturally a little at a loss.

Locke breathed a sigh of relief. “No wonder the teacher asked me to memorize the Breeder Industry Standards Manual several times before the exam.”

“It seems that the teacher had anticipated what Madam Morgana would do.”

“After all, students understand teachers. They are like one family.”

(End of this chapter)