Chapter One The Beginner's Starting Path（two）

Oliver, Jestan, and Bena already knew each other. Oliver was eighteen years old this year and was a disciple of Councilor Curran of the Newnara Magic Association, specializing in fire magic.

Jestan, Bena, and Ryan were the same age, all only sixteen years old. Jestan was a disciple of the great magician Piert, specializing in wind magic.

Bena was a disciple of the senior magician Belisa, specializing in water magic.

Among the three, Oliver was born into a knightly family and had noble status. However, the orthodox knightly education he received from a young age made him quite different from other nobles. He didn't have the arrogant air that other nobles had at all.

Bena's parents were clergy, so she received sacred education from a young age. Originally, her parents wanted Bena to pursue a sacred career as well, but due to Bena's own wishes and the strong support of her aunt, Belisa, a senior magician, she chose the path of a magician.

Jestan was the son of a wealthy merchant. In order for his family to obtain a noble title in the future, his father resolutely sent his three sons to study at higher institutions. The eldest son joined the Royal Knights, Jestan was the second, and he also had a younger brother who was sent to receive religious education.

Compared to Ryan, the son of a grocery store owner, it was indeed a bit shabby. However, Ryan did not feel ashamed of this. Moreover, he also mentioned that his physique was not suitable for cultivating magic.

Hearing Ryan say that he dared to take the trial even though he couldn't use magic at all, Oliver really appreciated this character, and the two quickly became good friends who could talk about anything.

As they chatted animatedly, time passed quickly. At this moment, an apprentice magician walked into the hall.

"Are you all trial candidates here to take the trial?" the apprentice magician asked.

"Yes," Oliver answered on behalf of everyone.

"Fill out these application forms first, then we'll take you to your accommodations to drop off your luggage, and then we'll go to the banquet together," said the apprentice magician, handing out a stack of forms and a pen to each person.

With Oliver's help, Ryan managed to fill out these forms with some difficulty.

The apprentice magician collected the four completed forms, sorted them out, and then led the way outside. Ryan and the others had no choice but to follow behind, each carrying their own luggage.

Upon arriving at the accommodation, they saw that the three boys were assigned to a shared room, while Bena had her own room.

After a brief distribution of beds, everyone dropped their luggage and excitedly followed the apprentice magician to the banquet.

As soon as they entered the banquet hall, they felt the noisy crowd and the lively atmosphere.

Seeing that there were too many people, Oliver said, "We'd better stick together so we don't get lost. It'll be hard to find each other in here."

The other three nodded in agreement.

"Let's go grab some food first!" Jestan suggested.

"Good idea!" Ryan, who hadn't had a chance to eat lunch after breakfast, found the suggestion quite exciting.

The four of them squeezed their way to the dining table with some difficulty. Surprisingly, there were very few people at the table. It was very noticeable that Teacher Victor was alone, devouring his food.

Seeing his eating manner, the four of them immediately understood why there were so few people at the table.

Looking at this lively character, the other three couldn't help but feel sorry for Ryan.

At that moment, Victor happened to look up and saw Ryan and the others. He waved at them.

"He's calling us over," Ryan said.

"You go by yourself."

"I'd rather die than go."

"We don't know him."

The other three unanimously refused.

Ryan had no choice but to approach Teacher Victor nervously.

"Teacher, what's up?" Ryan asked.

"Oh," Victor swallowed a piece of chicken leg and hurriedly stuffed another grilled fish into his mouth, then mumbled, "You haven't eaten all day, come and have something. Be sure to arrive early at the starting point tomorrow morning, I have something to tell you."

After speaking, he stuffed a roasted pork leg into Ryan's hand.

"I'm not hungry."

"Not hungry? Impossible," Victor said doubtfully.

"Ah! Right, I've become good friends with my companions, I want to spend more time with them," Ryan quickly found another excuse. Then, fearing that Victor would ask again, he hurriedly walked towards his companions.

"Let's go, let's go," Bena urged.

The four of them hurried to a secluded spot in the small garden. Ryan took out the roasted pork leg and shared it among everyone.

Of course, one roasted pork leg couldn't satisfy the hunger of four growing teenagers. But no one had the courage to go back to the dining table to get more food.

Fortunately, waiters carrying trays of desserts and drinks often passed by. Only then were the four of them able to barely fill their stomachs.

At this moment, two magicians wearing magnificent banquet magician robes walked over.

"Teacher."

"Auntie."

Jestan and Bena quickly stood up.

It seemed that these two magicians were Piert, the great magician, and Belisa, the senior magician. Out of politeness, Oliver and Ryan also immediately stood up.

Belisa, the senior magician, walked up to Bena, patted her shoulder and asked, "Were you tired today? Hungry? Why didn't you go and get something to eat?"

"I don't have the courage to compete with that hungry dragon for territory," Bena vented her hunger-induced grievances resentfully, completely ignoring the embarrassed expression on the face of the "hungry dragon's" disciple beside her.

"Hehehe, hungry dragon... What a fitting metaphor," Belisa, the senior magician, let out a pleasant laugh. This laughter made Ryan certain that the relationship between Belisa, the senior magician, and the teacher must be very harmonious.

"Cough cough." Piert, the great magician, moved his face and coughed twice. It seemed that he was holding back with great effort, "Don't be so rude. Wizard Victor is a great magician with profound strength."

"Great—magician?" To be honest, Ryan had never been so shocked. Looking at the dumbfounded expressions on the faces of his companions, he knew they were thinking the same thing: "This guy is actually related to the noble and respectable title of great magician."

Ryan's head was in a complete mess. He didn't even know when Jestan and Bena were taken away by their teacher. Only Oliver was by his side.

"Let's go back and rest first!" Oliver suggested. Originally, Belisa and Piert also wanted to take Oliver to their teacher. But Oliver rejected this kind offer because he felt that if Ryan were left alone here in his current mental state, he definitely wouldn't be able to find his way back.

"Let's go!" Ryan said weakly, still unable to recover from the shock.

With great effort, they dragged their heavy bodies back to their accommodation. There was a note pasted on the door, which read: "Gather at the door at five o'clock tomorrow morning."

After opening the door and walking to the bed, Ryan immediately collapsed onto it. After the extreme shock, what followed was an extreme sense of powerlessness. It seemed that significant fluctuations in mental power were indeed harmful to health.

"Hey, are you feeling any better?" Oliver asked with concern.

Ryan turned over, facing the ceiling, and said, "I'm fine. I'm just too shocked. Overwhelmed by the shock, I'm just completely out of strength."

Seeing that Ryan was fine, Oliver also lay on the bed with his face up like Ryan and looked up at the ceiling, asking, "What kind of person is your master in your impression?"

"A lecherous, drunken, treacherous and lazy useless magician." A series of words with a dark tone slipped out from the corner of Ryan's mouth.

"You forgot gluttony and shamelessness!" Oliver quickly added, after all, what impressed him most was Teacher Victor's terrifying eating appearance with his mouth flowing with oil.

"He should have some specialties at least. Which school of magic is your master good at?" Oliver insisted on asking.

"The master is always dead drunk and I've never seen him cast a complete spell." Ryan tried hard to search his memory, looking for any behavior of the master that could be regarded as profound.

Thinking about it, Ryan actually fell asleep.

When he woke up, he found it was still too early and it was still dark.

Whether it was the aftereffect of being shocked by the master's identity or the nervous mood towards today's trial, Ryan felt that he couldn't fall asleep anymore.

He quietly got up, opened the door and walked out of the room, and then gently closed the door behind him as much as possible.

He walked through the empty hall.

Ryan wandered alone in the quiet center of the Magic Association. Most of the doors were locked and most of the rooms were dark. The stars in the sky were slowly disappearing. The morning star had already shown its light in the east.

Ryan walked to the central square and faced the east, quietly waiting for the sun to rise.

The sky gradually brightened and the light quickly drove away the darkness. Although there were still a few twinkling stars in the western sky, the eastern sky had already turned white.

"Getting up so early!" Someone suddenly approached from behind, startling Ryan. Looking back, he saw a tall and thin old magician standing behind him with a solemn expression.

"Surprisingly, there are still people who get up early to watch the sunrise." said the old magician.

"I've heard many travelers say that sunrises and sunsets everywhere are one of the most beautiful sceneries." Ryan quickly found an excuse, "So I want to experience it myself."

"Is this your first time traveling? Are you Victor's student?"

Ryan was amazed at the old magician's analytical and judgmental abilities.

"How did you know?" Ryan asked cautiously.

"My student is also a trial participant this year." said the old magician.

Ryan immediately realized that the old man in front of him was Oliver's teacher - Councilor Curran, the great magician of the Newnara Magic Association.

"It seems that your physique is not suitable for practicing magic!" As the chief magician of the Newnara Magic Association, he could see the essence of things at a glance, "Didn't Victor tell you?"

"The master told me, but I think that although I can't use magic, maybe I can understand some magical knowledge. All along, magical knowledge has only been widely spread among magicians, and ordinary people simply cannot understand and use it."

Ryan felt that the wise elder in front of him was able to communicate the thoughts that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time, so he said boldly, "So if magic could be accepted by most people, how wonderful it would be. As a great magician, you should have a way in this regard, right?"

Councilor Curran watched this naive young man, a hint of unease and confusion in his eyes, yet mixed with profound contemplation.

Ryan blurted out those words in one go, originally expecting the respected magician to respond, but after Curran listened, he didn't reply for a long time, leaving Ryan feeling extremely anxious.

Because there was still a thought in Ryan's heart that he hadn't told Curran - all along, Ryan suspected that the idea he had just expressed was merely an excuse in his subconscious to persuade himself to leave that familiar yet cramped grocery store.

"The sun has already risen. Unfortunately, you've missed it," Curran suddenly returned to the original topic.

Ryan quickly turned around and saw a fiery red sun rising completely above the horizon. "Ah, how beautiful! Too bad I missed the sunrise. When did the sun rise?"

Looking at Ryan's retreating figure, Curran said meaningfully, "When you were facing away from the sunlight, the sun had just risen."

While Ryan was immersed in the splendid magic presented by the rising sun, Curran had quietly left.

When Ryan returned to his residence, Oliver had already woken up, and Jestan was struggling fiercely with the bed and blankets.

"Go wake up Bena," Oliver ordered.

Ryan walked to the next room, pushed open the door, and saw Bena still hugging her pillow, sleeping soundly.

Ryan approached the bed and woke Bena up.

"Suddenly a loud shout, a sweeping leg kicked Ryan flying out. "Annoying, let me sleep a little longer."

Ryan, clutching his painful chest, crawled back to his own place. He glared at Oliver, "You wake her up yourself."

"Can't wake her up? Let me show you." Oblivious Oliver walked to the next room.

Ryan listened expectantly, and sure enough, after a roar, followed by the sound of something heavy falling to the ground. Seeing Oliver crawl in like himself, glaring at him and saying, "You set me up!!"

"I'll be leaving first. You take care of these two," Ryan hurriedly ran out with his luggage.

Standing at the door with his luggage, Ryan remembered what the teacher had said to him last night. Perhaps the teacher wanted to give him some last-minute instructions before the trial. After all, since learning about Teacher Victor's identity as a great magician, Ryan had developed an inexplicable trust in him.

As time slowly passed, the people gathering gradually arrived, but there was still no sign of the teacher. Ryan's sense of trust began to waver.

"Ah, you all arrived so early," Victor, who arrived late, didn't seem embarrassed at all.

"Didn't you say you had something to tell me?" Ryan asked.

"Ah, right. I have something good for you," Victor casually reached into his bosom, fumbling around.

The companions all gathered around, curious to see what kind of high-level equipment the great magician would give to his disciple. After all, their own teachers had carefully selected the best equipment they could use for them.

Victor took out a one-foot-long small wooden stick from his bosom and said, "Here, this will be very useful when you need to make a decision."

After finishing his words, he patted Ryan on the shoulder and stroked Ryan's head, saying, "Good luck, my student."

"No way!"

"One should also have a limit to being stingy!"

"Poor Ryan!"

"Fortunately, that guy isn't my teacher!"

"Victor hasn't changed his nature. I thought it would be something good!"

"You're ruthless. You actually brought out such a thing!"

Everyone around had their own thoughts, but their faces were filled with incredible surprise and deep sympathy.

Ryan looked at the "divining rod" in his hand, his mind blank about it.

A divining rod is a helpless method used by lost people to point out targets. People won't use it unless they are at the end of their rope.

According to statistics, the accuracy rate of a divining rod is 60%, which means it's a little more useful than praying to gods for survival. Therefore, people gave it an elegant name - "divining rod".

Looking at this idle and unscrupulous magician in front of him, Ryan and all the people around had the most appropriate evaluation of him - "divining rod".

"I announce that the trial begins!" Dean Curran drew everyone's attention back, "The destination of this trial is the Norman Laboratory in the middle of the Illusory Forest."

"No way, wasn't the originally decided trial destination Keqin Island?" Magician Belisa asked.

"The level of this year's trial participants is particularly high, and I am also full of confidence in my disciples. Therefore, I have temporarily decided to change the trial project," Dean Curran presented his reason.

"Bena, let's take the exam again next year!" Magician Belisa said to her confused student, "The Illusory Forest is too dangerous."

"No, I want to try. I have full confidence in my strength," Bena said.

"Don't be stubborn. Traveling through the Illusory Forest is generally one of the projects selected for the certification of mid-level magicians," Great Magician Piert also advised kindly.

"Why?" The four of them asked at the same time.

At this moment, Magician Curran stood up and said, "Let me answer your questions."

He paused for a while and continued, "You should have heard that 37,000 years ago, there was a great war between gods and demons. The war lasted for thousands of years, and finally, a decisive battle was launched between gods and demons. After the decisive battle, the demon clan was completely defeated. That battle is called the 'War between Gods and Demons'."

"Of course, everyone knows about these things. Among our three most grand festivals today, Thanksgiving Day, Glory Day, and Victory Day, isn't Glory Day to celebrate this day? Who doesn't know?" Bena said.

"But do you know that the ancient battlefield where the War between Gods and Demons took place is now the Illusory Forest," Magician Curran said.

"Really? But why didn't we know?" Oliver, who was originally the most polite, interrupted his most respected teacher's words, showing how attractive the ancient battlefield of the War between Gods and Demons was to him as a descendant of knights.

"Because, although the gods defeated the demons and eradicated most of the high-level demons, some low-level demons still escaped. These escaped demons hid in the alternate space deep within the Illusory Forest. After tens of thousands of years of assimilation, most creatures in the Illusory Forest have become demonic. Coupled with the demons from other worlds, the Illusory Forest has become a terrifying place that ordinary people dare not approach."

"Then, why does the Magic Association still set up a laboratory there?" Bena asked another question.

"It wasn't set up by the Magic Association," Belisa explained, "The laboratory was established there by a mad magician alone."

"Wow, who is this great magician?" Everyone asked in surprise at the same time.

"Kriste, the apprentice magician," Belisa replied reluctantly.

"Apprentice magician?!" It seemed that shocking events were happening one after another these days.

Kurran said, "Do not underestimate Kriste, the magician. Her strength is not inferior to any of the six great demonmasters on the continent. She obtained the title of Great Magician at the age of twelve and is the youngest Great Magician in history."

"Then, why do you say she is an apprentice magician?" Bena asked.

"Oh! She was stripped of all honorary titles and demoted to an apprentice magician, and became one of the five disgraces of the Magic Association because of a series of heinous acts such as researching forbidden magic, embezzling association equipment, destroying public property, abducting young students for experiments, and seriously injuring innocent students," Belisa explained in detail.

"So, think carefully about whether you want to participate in this trial."

"Yes!!" The four young people completely ignored Belisa's warning and answered in unison.

The four young people, with different thoughts, officially embarked on their long journey.

Oliver, of course, went to admire the glorious ancient battlefield; Ryan wanted to get help from a powerful magician; Bena just wanted to see the magician whom her aunt hated so much; Jestan was just doing it for fun.