The Truth of Magic

Chapter 29: Elderly Wizard

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

If there weren’t a lot of people staring at them from their seats, Zhao Xu wouldn’t be able to keep from shouting.

After calming himself down, he figured that Antonya was probably joking with him.

There was a possibility that the sudden emergency she had to attend to the week before had something to do with this.

“Don’t joke with me, Mentor.” Zhao Xu made a face.

“I’m not kidding around. Actually, as long as there are enough Legendary Wizards to go around, we can change the spell easily. The last thing The Final Scroll lacks is Legendary Wizards, so as long as someone is willing to make the effort, headquarters won’t have any objections.”

“Forget once a month. You could do this once a day and it’d be just fine.”

Even though Zhao Xu knew that he was now part of a huge and powerful group, he still gasped when she said that.

A Level 17 Wizard who could cast Level 9 spells could be a king, and if he wanted to, he could pull an army together and rule over these people.

Possible or impossible didn’t matter to someone so powerful.

For a Level 21 or higher Legendary Wizard, the problems that they had to face every day were things as incredible as how to save the world.

When he thought about these things, Zhao Xu couldn’t help but look a little sympathetically at the corner where Wang Ningwei was seated.

The fact that these players could sit here and wait to be awakened meant that in his previous life, they had all been delayed for five days longer for nothing, and some of them might have been delayed longer.

For all he knew, some of them had the hope of getting the honor and fame of being the first one to complete Wizard training at the Magic Academy.

But, unfortunately for them, they were in Mystra. For the past few centuries, the best and most talented wizard apprentices were all sent to this place.

No matter how much of a genius you were, you had to follow their rules here.

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Zhao Xu’s gaze slowly swept across the crowd and he looked at all the apprentices among the natives of Arthur.

He was a little surprised, and he asked, “Mentor, is there a way to use money to increase one’s talent for becoming a wizard?”

Antonya followed Zhao Xu’s gaze and glanced for a moment in that direction. “You’ve gotten the cause and effect the wrong way round.”

“Let me ask you. If you were a leader or perhaps a king, would you prefer to send your own children to become a Wizard or a Fighter?”

Zhao Xu fell silent for some time.

All those apprentices among the natives of Arthur were wearing the same apprentice robe that everyone had and wore the same insignia as himself on their chest.

But because Zhao Xu had worked as a guard before, his eyes were exceptionally sharp when looking at these people.

He could tell immediately that several of these wizard apprentices were from aristocratic families.

The sheer number of them was strange enough that he couldn’t resist asking about it.

“The most direct way of increasing one’s talent for becoming a wizard is to increase the Intelligence Ability Score.”

“But among the people over there, the number who could increase their Intelligence points by reading the Tome of Clear Thought or by getting Wish cast on them would be no more than five.”

Zhao Xu turned back to look at Antonya.

Even aristocrats didn’t enjoy the privilege of getting Wish cast on them lightly, but this lady in front of him had performed it for him just to show him what it could do.

If all these other players were present, Zhao Xu would have definitely remarked, “The rich happily hoard everything for themselves and become richer, while the poor are left to freeze and die along the roadside.”

“Don’t about it too much. I just showed it to you once. The maximum number of points you can add at any one time is 5 points, and not everyone can easily cast Wish five times in a row either.

“If wizards want to increase their Intelligence scores by the maximum of 5 points, then most of them do it by reading a +5 Tome of Clear Thought.

“If someday you actually manage to save up 135,000 gold pieces, I’ll sell you one of those. You can’t get that in the open market.”

Zhao Xu mumbled to himself quietly. He wasn’t going to be so greedy. He would be happy with just an additional two or three points of Intelligence.

He couldn’t imagine casting Wish five times in a row.

But 135,000 gold pieces wasn’t much better. Even if he could ship in silver from Earth in exchange for them, he would need million.

If he was going by the gold exchange rate, then he would need at least million.

In his previous life, most players struggled along the poverty line.

All of a sudden, the half-closed gate in front of him was gently pushed open by someone on the other side.

An elderly wizard who looked like he was nearly 80 years old slowly walked in, leaning on a walking stick that was nearly one meter high.

The moment everyone heard the sound of the door opening, all the wizard apprentices in the large hall quickly sat up straight in their seats and made sure they looked like they were all as prim and proper as possible.

When he saw this elderly man who looked like Gandalf, Zhao Xu felt a deep respect in his heart.

In most fantasy novels, wizards were usually more powerful the older they were, not counting the young lady next to him, that is.

“Mentor, that golden walking stick he has looks pretty cool. When I went for the lectures, I saw that many wizards have a walking stick. Do I get one after I officially become a wizard too?”

Antonya glanced at Zhao Xu.

“Sometimes you seem to know a lot, and then sometimes it seems like you know nothing at all. That’s a Greater Quicken Metamagic Rod, and it will quicken your spells thrice a day.”

Zhao Xu felt that he had been dealt several blows today. The moment he heard the word ‘quicken’, he knew it was valuable for battle. So he quickly asked another question, “How much does it cost?”

“170,000 gold pieces.”

“How much?!” Zhao Xu thought he had heard her wrong.

“You heard right. That is the most expensive among metamagic items.”

Zhao Xu had to fight to keep his agitated noises down.

“I knew it. The items that wizards use aren’t measured in how many gold pieces are required. It’s how many thousand gold pieces are required.”

Since it was so expensive, it was impossible for anybody to have come across it within their first year of playing, and that’s why he didn’t know what it was.

Zhao Xu had only come across magic wands before. Those things were like scrolls and weren’t even 30 centimeters long. He didn’t know about something he had never heard of or seen before.

“Hmm?”

Zhao Xu suddenly sensed that the elderly wizard was slowly walking toward him, and there was a middle-aged wizard behind him too with a respectful expression on his face.

Zhao Xu was standing in the space between the stage itself and the seats. He turned around and realized that there wasn’t anybody else standing behind him.

The wizards were definitely headed for himself and Antonya.

Were they going to chase them out?

Zhao Xu imagined that the elderly wizard was going to then realize that Antonya was a novice wizard and that everything so far had just been a joke on him, including the gold that appeared before him the day before by using the Wish spell. It was actually just some illusion spell.

But just as Zhao Xu’s mind was happily putting a sordid drama together, he realized that even though that elderly wizard was moving very slowly, he was still coming closer to them, and Antonya didn’t move an inch.

She didn’t have any consideration for how old this wizard coming toward them was.

Then, just when the elderly wizard was only about half a meter away, he suddenly stopped.

The entire hall of seated wizard apprentices was focused on this movement, regardless of how proud they might have been in their hearts.

Their attention was captured by this elderly wizard who was about to conduct the ceremony for them.

“Mentor, you’re as elegant as ever.” The elderly wizard bowed his head and his white beard brushed the floor.

“Couldn’t you use a Dimension Door or Dimension Hop to get here?” remarked Antonya.

“Mentor, spell slots are every wizard’s trump card. It’s a waste to use a spell just to walk a few steps,” replied the elderly wizard politely.

“Hmph. Hurry up and get everything arranged, I don’t have much time.”

The elderly wizard’s eyes then fell upon Zhao Xu. “Mentor, the people you pick are always outstanding.”

Zhao Xu didn’t know if he was seeing things, but he could see a particular sort of emotion coming from the old man’s gleaming eyes.

“Young man, you can just sit on the Arcane Throne in front.”

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