Chapter 157: Promotion and the Limit

The gaunt old man sitting on the stone, even while smiling, still gave off a fierce feeling; he rolled his eyes back and forth scanning between Luge and Green, and although his gray robe was worn and his face showed its age, his pair of brown old eyes held not a trace of senescence, even brighter than those few fellows picking up small stones encountered earlier.

"You have long since met the standard for promotion to Official Wizard, why not promote and instead wander all over outside?" The tall thin old man looked at Green, "The vital aura you reveal tells me you should not have experienced promotion failure yet."

Luge also looked at Green beside him.

This seemingly gentle fellow was actually a person of great drive; generally, a Wizard Apprentice whose spiritual power has reached the limit cannot resist the temptation of promotion. After all, spiritual power has already reached a point of no further advance, the feeling of slow progress accumulated over years suddenly stopping, becoming a dead end, feels unpleasant; an even greater temptation lies right before one's eyes — if it is an average-talent Wizard Apprentice, then age is another urging voice.

Although this fellow's words and deeds don't look like a young person's, his actual age probably isn't large, Luge thought.

"Five years ago I could have, but I was waiting; I wanted to accumulate more merit in the Knowledge Sanctuary, wait until becoming a true Seeker, to exchange for a Sublimation Ritual I've long coveted," Green said, glancing at Luge, "Moreover, you yourself said, Adult, my spiritual power is still not as condensed as my friend's; I think I can continue meditating a few more years, let the quality of spiritual power become higher."

The skin-and-bones old man stared at him with bright eyes, like two round glowing stone lamps, and at this moment let out a soft laugh from deep in his throat.

"Hehehe, every person has their own limit; continuous meditation is certainly useful, but it only infinitely approaches that limit; do you know why some limit apprentices always fail promotion?" The old man looked at the two with cold amusement in his eyes.

"Everyone's upper limit is different; the universal test divides an apprentice's spiritual power into ten standard points; theoretically reaching ten points counts as a limit apprentice, but in reality, if divided into a hundred finer parts, you would discover some people hit the limit at ninety-five, while others at one hundred five; they can all light up the testing device's ten points, but the ninety-five person can only pray for luck relying on the Sublimation Ritual, even sacrifice life force to attempt breaking through that boundary, and most still fail." The old man explained.

The tall thin old man finished speaking, then stared fixedly at Green again.

"If you break through to a One-ring Wizard, you'll be more useful to me," an oppressive aura emanated from the old man, "I have a Sublimation Ritual I got hold of back then as a spare, materials are also complete; if you want to attempt it here, I can give it to you; some materials I can replace with higher-grade substitutes, things Wizard Apprentices can't get hold of."

Luge's eyes shone listening, but alas the fourth magic mark hadn't condensed yet, let alone spiritual power limit; no matter how high the talent, how excellent the meditation method, the time he'd stepped into the supernatural was still too short.

The spacious mountain cave fell quiet for a moment.

Green fell silent after the old man finished speaking, seemingly also pondering, just unknown what specifically he was thinking about.

The tall thin old man spoke again: "In life, timely choice is often a kind of wisdom; recognizing reality, recognizing oneself, is equally a kind of courage; your years aren't many, barely counts as a genius, but this hairy fellow beside you is at most around twenty years old..."

The implication in the old man's words couldn't be more obvious — there are many people with some talent in this world.

Green, in his silence, couldn't help but raise his head again to look at Luge watching the excitement beside him.

Luge merely pursed his lips; looking at Green's gaze, he could guess this fellow's age should be quite a bit older than him.

Actually age doesn't explain everything; these fellows, even if merely thirty-something limit Wizard Apprentices, their time contacting and practicing meditation methods is very likely twenty years already, because they generally step into the supernatural realm around age ten. Luge has only contacted meditation methods for less than a year; even reaching Fifth-Rank Wizard Apprentice takes a stretch of time, then delaying another stretch to reach spiritual power limit, estimated in his twenties he could also reach the so-called limit apprentice.

Green's surprise perhaps wasn't because he was looked down on; after all, he'd reached spiritual power limit five years ago, and had been unhurriedly wandering all over. He might be surprised that dog-headed dog-faced Luge was more excellent than he imagined.

But the old man's words still seemed to touch Green, making him rethink himself; his ever-unchanging expression had a slight loosening.

Luge equally anticipated Green's answer; no other reason, just wanted to witness a Wizard's birth up close.

"Thank you for Adult's kindness," Green raised his head to look at the old man, face resuming his usual indifferent smile, slowly said, "I still want to insist on walking my own road."

Green finished speaking still maintaining his smile, calmly gazing at the skin-and-bones old man before him.

Luge somewhat nervously looked at the two.

"Hmph!" The old man coldly snorted.

The worst imagined scene did not appear, letting Luge secretly let out a long breath.

Two old books rotated flying over.

Luge and Green hurriedly raised hands to catch them.

"I inscribed and transcribed with spiritual power; you'll find reading them strenuous," the old man said, looking at Luge, "You can raise your spiritual power here first, then attempt to master this spell."

Two more small bottles were thrown over.

Luge and Green each caught one bottle.

"This is a potion I made using the rubble here; if you feel spiritual power consumption too great, about to die, drink some," the old man thought a moment, then separately threw Luge another bottle, "This potion can also increase your meditation efficiency."

"Hope you don't disappoint me," the old man said, "Go find a place to the side, lest I get too absorbed reading, forget you're here, accidentally kill you — I'd be heartbroken; the fellows here now are all useless, every day spending much time meditating, fundamentally can't help me."

The two deeply agreed with the old man's words.

Luge and Green obediently saluted.

The two holding things, looked around, recalled the Old Blood Race's words earlier, and that scene of rubble flying and splashing.

Finally, outside this Wizard Adult's spacious bright big cave, at a protrusion that could barely conceal them, the two settled down; they sat catching their breath then poked their heads out to look — that old Wizard had already lowered his head reading, still that stone, that sitting posture, person already in a state of total absorption.

(Chapter End)