That day, the sky was faintly bright.
Colin left the inn early.
He wasn't sure whether it was due to witchcraft, but despite the world's frequent use of steam engines and the burning of a vast amount of coal, the sky still remained a clear blue, showing no signs of pollution.
The orange sun rose gradually, and the beautiful clouds dazzled in the sky.
With a heart filled with anticipation and joy, he quickly reached the gates of Tin Saint School by public carriage.
He thought he had arrived early, but upon seeing the school's grounds, he realized that the space outside was already surrounded by many wizards.
Roughly counting, there were about twenty or thirty.
Stepping off the carriage, Colin approached the edge of the crowd, maintaining a certain distance, and waited silently like the other wizards.
The school gates were still closed, and Matthew hadn't given him an exact time... It seemed he had arrived too early.
After waiting for a while more, as the dawn's rosy clouds gradually disappeared and the white clouds above began to stretch across the sky, the gates of Tin Saint School slowly opened.
Click.
Colin pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at the time—it was exactly eight o'clock in the morning.
Clip-clop, clip-clop—
Right then, a sequence of rhythmic horse hooves suddenly echoed from a nearby road.
Turning around, he saw about thirty to forty large carriages charging towards the entrance one by one, nearly filling up the entire road.
The large carriages each bore different decorations, most with unique crests...
'These must be the carriages of wizard schools,' Colin thought to himself.
Clearly, these were the members of the smaller schools who would be joining them in today's examination.
The grand entrance of so many carriages was quite impressive, causing the wild wizards who had been standing by the gate to subconsciously make way.
Colin, already at the edge, moved a few steps back with the crowd, positioning himself even more to the periphery, quickly obstructed by the carriages arriving one after another.
As the carriages settled, school wizards emerged, dressed in uniform, gathering into several small groups.
Colin quickly counted—roughly, each large carriage carried about eight wizards, with slight variations depending on the vehicle... Hence, there might be around three hundred school wizards present for today's examination.
Turning to glance at the wild wizards nearby... There were about forty.
As the school wizards arrived, a low din of conversations began to emerge as they interacted with each other.
Colin looked towards the school entrance, but unfortunately, the carriages obscured his view, making it hard to see what was going on.
Fortunately, once the school wizards had alighted, the carriages quickly departed.
After the carriages left, Colin saw that the school wizards had already formed a long line at the entrance.
He headed instinctively towards the end of the line.
"You shouldn't queue here," a cold voice came from behind.
It was a short-haired school wizard at the end of the line speaking to another wild wizard who had approached to join the queue.
"This… Okay," the wild wizard with triangular eyes awkwardly smiled.
"Go to the right," the cold wizard said simply dropping another sentence before turning back to continue queuing.
The wild wizard with triangular eyes paused briefly, then slowly turned and headed to the right as instructed by the cold wizard.
Using his keen vision, Colin clearly saw a flash of resentment in the wild wizard's eyes as he turned around.
Without a sound, Colin increased the distance between himself and the triangular-eyed wild wizard and then looked to the right.
In fact, he didn't think the cold wizard was wrong; although his tone was indeed cold, it wasn't arrogant. If one ignored the tone, it sounded more like a friendly reminder.
The wild wizard with triangular eyes… had too narrow a mindset and was not worth befriending.
As the cold school wizard had indicated, on the right side of the entrance, a separate line had been formed, with several wild wizards already queued up.
At the front of the queue stood a wizard wearing a grey robe with silver feather patterns.
Colin lined up with the crowd, slowly moving forward.
Given the small number of wild wizards, it didn't take long for his turn to arrive.
"Your token," the silver-feathered grey-robed wizard requested.
"Okay," Colin took out a round coin engraved with a feather pattern.
"Activate it with magic power."
Colin did as instructed.
Buzz—
A translucent blue projection appeared above the coin—
[Name: Colin.]
[Rank: Advanced Wizard Apprentice.]
"Walk forward, then turn right and keep going until the end," the Silver Feather Wizard, while burying his head to record the information, signaled Colin to go inside.
Colin nodded and, while stowing away his round coin, walked inside, simultaneously casting a glance at the School Wizard on his left.
Indeed... The direction the School Wizard was heading was starkly different from theirs, turning left instead.
Colin withdrew his gaze and silently proceeded to the right... An inexplicable, faint sense of worry veiling his heart.
This blatant differentiation couldn't help but make him worry about his later situation within the school...
Upon reaching the end, under the guidance of another Silver Feather Grey-robed Wizard, he entered the room.
The room resembled a classroom from his past life's school, furnished with rows of wooden desks.
However, the difference lay in the size of these wooden desks; they were only about half the size of the regular desks from his former life and had no accompanying chairs.
Judging by their height, they were clearly meant for standing use.
At the moment, each desk had a transparent Crystal Ball placed on it.
With no designated place, Colin chose a desk by the window and stood there silently.
Shortly thereafter, once everyone had gathered, the Silver Feather Grey-robed Wizard also walked in.
At some point, he had suddenly produced a football-sized, dark brown wooden box in his hand.
"Ahem—", he solemnly set the wooden box on the front lectern and then turned around, coughed a few times to draw attention, and began speaking,
"Please pay attention, I will briefly explain the specific procedures and precautions of this examination."
All the Apprentices redirected their gaze toward him.
"The operation procedure for this examination is very simple, place your credentials in the corresponding grooves in front of the Crystal Ball on the desk, then reach out and touch the Crystal Ball to commence the exam."
"Those are the specific steps, now let me talk about the precautions."
The Silver Feather Grey-robed Wizard raised his head, scanning the Apprentices with a grave voice:
"There is only one precaution, and that is, that the use of any witchcraft and all Witch Tools, including Storage Rings, is not allowed."
Having said this, he paused, then turned and opened the nearby dark brown wooden box continued:
"Of course, under the influence of the Magic Prohibition Ring, you would not normally be able to use witchcraft or Witch Tools either."
He took out a black ring made of a glass-like material from the box, around the size of a football, with a square base attached.
"Note: Do not try using witchcraft or Witch Tools, otherwise, if it results in damaging the Magic Prohibition Ring... Well, I'll leave it at that; if you find this unacceptable, you can return your credentials to me and leave now."
The Silver Feather Grey-robed Wizard placed the Magic Prohibition Ring on its base, standing it on one side.
His expression stern.
Inducting new members was a significant affair for the school, and no matter what happened in other phases, sloppiness was not tolerated in his phase.
Of course, although he said this, in his heart, he was not as serious as he appeared.
After all, even if these Wild Wizards passed the examination, the vast majority of them would likely only be peripheral members of the school.
The real focal point of the examination lay on the School Wizards on the other side.
The Wild Wizards... especially those not promoted to Advanced Wizard Apprentice in an environment-like city, generally don't have much potential for development.
"If no one wishes to leave—", the Silver Feather Grey-robed Wizard looked around and said gravely, "then let the examination begin now."
With that, he activated the black Magic Prohibition Ring.
It seemed like nothing had changed, yet everything had changed.
Colin keenly sensed—
Not sure if it was an illusion, but the air seemed to have become more viscous and dense...
He subconsciously tried to mobilize Magic Power.
But the next second, he quickly suppressed such thoughts.
The words of the Silver Feather Grey-robed Wizard were not forgotten.
This Magic Prohibition Ring, if it could be damaged by the curiosity-driven witchcraft...
However... that said, perhaps this Magic Prohibition Ring was not very strong or was consumable, somewhat fragile?
But, nonetheless, the apparent value was not low.
Just to be safe... better suppress his curiosity.
He raised his hand and placed the round coin credential into the corresponding steel groove connecting the Crystal Ball's base on the tabletop.
Instantly, white misty vapor arose within the transparent Crystal Ball.
As Colin was about to place his hand on the semi-transparent Crystal Ball in front of him.
Tik-tak-tik-tak—
Sudden, orderly, and loud footsteps came from outside the room, faintly interspersed with the sound of metallic friction and clatter.