Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
As the only female talent, Nausica went into the room first.
“What could Miss Nausica’s talent be? I want to know!” Sailum smiled widely. The boy was always showing great enthusiasm when talking about the hero he respected.
So what is my orientation? Professor said I’m a Nightmare Form, something like that maybe? Angor thought to himself.
It did not take long for Nausica to return. The beautiful lady seemed to be thinking about something.
“Miss Nausica? What did Mister Tree Spirit recommend for you?” Sailum asked excitedly.
Everyone else also perked up their ears at the question. As fellow talents, they still did not know who were the strong ones or who were weaker. People loved comparing each other.
Nausica did not intend to hide her talent so she answered straight away, “Mister Tree Spirit recommended that I should major in Bloodline Art. But he didn’t say what spells exactly.”
“Bloodline Art?” They all exclaimed in surprise. A female Bloodline Wizard?
However, considering Nausica was one of the two people who survived from the deathmatches using raw strength, they managed to accept the fact quickly. She was so strong that being a lady certainly would not prevent her from going bloodline.
Angor, on the other hand, was thinking about someone else who looked equally beautiful. As he recalled, Lady Heroline that he met in Barbie’s Restaurant was also a Bloodline Wizard. When he was on the cloud whale, Flora told him that Heroline was titled the “Ocean Moray” because she fused the blood of some kind of moray fish in her body.
Angor stared at the carefree lady and wondered what kind of blood she would use.
The next talent took the test, then the third... They went to the tree spirit one by one. Most of them received advice to major in Element Art, although with different factors to focus on. The only different one was the fatty, Fosah, who according to his test, should study the Bloodline Art.
Soon, it was Sailum’s turn.
The boy came out from the room with a disappointed look. When Nausica asked him, the boy stuttered for a bit and finally squeezed out one single word – Element.
“Element Art is fine. What’s wrong about it? You’re not thinking that it’s weaker than the other ones right?” said Angor. He had read many books from Sunders’ collection so he clearly knew that the three major arts were equally powerful. The wizards who learned them forged their own paths.
Sailum shook his head, “Not really. I don’t hate Element Art. But... Mister Tree Spirit also said that I should focus on...”
He stopped talking. Angor and Nausica exchanged a puzzled look.
Nausica whispered to Angor, “Tree spirit didn’t say anything that I should focus on. I think Sailum’s talent is special.”
“So... focus on what?” Angor asked.
Sailum lowered his voice, “He asked me to choose the Darkness branch.”
Darkness?
Angor raised an eyebrow in surprise. The Darkness branch under Element Art... It was rare. Rarer than finding Occultists.
“Why darkness? Fire, water, earth or whatever would be fine. But... Darkness?” Sailum looked really depressed.
“I think you have the wrong idea about darkness. Very few wizards have the talent to learn it, even fewer than Occultists,” Angor explained.
“But I hate darkness!” Sailum’s mind was filled by the terrible scene. A dark night, a blood-stained sword, and the one who perished in the blood pool in order to protect him... He remained in the darkness for a full week before seeing light again. Ever since then, he developed a natural hatred toward darkness even though he did not really fear it.
Sailum did not tell them the reason, but the hatred written on his face was real. Angor was not sure how to comfort the boy so he could only keep explaining.
“Different elements and powers are not divided into good or evil. There are people out there who wield dark powers for justice, or vice versa. It depends on the wizards themselves, and in this case, you.”
The tree spirit called Angor’s name, interrupting his further words.
Angor patted Sailum’s shoulder, nodded to everyone and stepped into the room created by the tree spirit.
When he came in, he saw the tree spirit looking up from his desk with a strange expression. The spirit’s high nose bridge was twitching as if it was trying to smell something.
“Huh... you smell like—” The handsome spirit frowned and tried to arrange his wording.
Angor’s heart skipped a beat. Did the tree spirit smell the essence of Glutton Flower Lord on him?
“You smell good. Very,” said the spirit. He suddenly blinked to Angor’s side and sniffed at the boy’s neck carefully as he said, “It appears as if... a pair of soft, gentle hands are caressing my naked body.”
The spirit seemed to be enjoying something.
However, Angor took several steps back in embarrassment.
“Having naked body caressed by someone’s hands” was not really a good way of expressing oneself, especially when the spirit was really exposed. Well, except that single leaf covering his private spot. The spirit did not show the tiniest bit of improper emotion which made it harder for Angor to complain.
The tree spirit sat back to his seat, removed his attitude, and said, “I do not know why your soul smells so wonderful. It’s both a good thing and a bad thing for you. The smell can help shape your soul better. However... If a wizard with a damaged soul notices you, something terrible will happen, for the smell can soothe the wounds on human souls.
“If I remember correctly, there is such a wizard in Brute Cavern. If he finds you... Oh my!” He did not finish his words but Angor still understood him and was terrified.
The tree spirit showed a sympathetic look.
Next, the spirit let out an “oh?” and looked another way while working his lips silently, seemingly talking to someone. While at it, he glanced back at Angor, with his previous sympathetic look replaced by one of curiosity.
A moment later, the spirit acclaimed, “Dear me, so you’re Sunders’ new student? In that case, do not worry about what I said. The wizard I mentioned will never dare to harm Sunders’ pupil. Here, you have Sunders to thank for. But once you leave Brute Cavern, you’re very likely to become the prey of many wizards. Before the smell dissipates or until you’re strong enough to defend yourself, I suggest not to leave the boundary of Brute Cavern.
“Sunders already told me about your talent. Come closer, and I shall give you a further test.”
So, Sunders was communicating with the tree spirit just now.
Was he observing me the whole time?
Angor wondered.
When Angor approached, the spirit spoke in a plain tone, “Both Sunders and you are what they called a Nightmare Form, so I believe your talent belongs to one of the branches from Occult Illusionist as well. To make sure, you still have to take the test.”
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Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The professor is an Occult Illusionist?
Angor read about dozens of different branches from this art. Such as the Mirage branch which controlled the weather, the Sorcery Array branch which combined alchemy knowledge, the Truth Manipulator branch that confused real with fake, and the Transform branch that could take on many different forms... So which branch could he study?
The spirit reached out a hand which then released a green light. A tree branch slowly grew from his palm and moved toward Angor. Under the boy’s surprised gaze, a fresh green sprout popped out from it.
“Eat the leaf,” said the spirit.
Angor picked the newly grown leaf and swallowed it without a second thought. When the leaf reached his tongue, it turned into some cold and refreshing fluid, slowly flowing down his throat.
Next, green light shone from Angor’s body. He could almost see green blood flowing under his skin. Even his brain felt cool and comfortable.
Angor closed his eyes unintentionally to enjoy the pleasant coldness.
On the other side, the tree spirit quickly wrote down something on his notebook.
[Pure human form, zero foreign bloodlines. Rating: Qualified]
[Spiritual power indicator: 15. Rating: Qualified]
[Alignment—]
The spirit looked up and tapped the air. A small trace of green aura emerged from Angor’s body and merged itself into the spirit’s body.
“Not the slightest scent of blood...” He muttered and resumed his penwork.
[Alignment: None. Rating: Qualified]
The spirit tapped again. The green aura inside Angor suddenly became wild. Angor frowned a little and revealed a painful look. However, the aura soon returned to a moderate state again.
The tree spirit seemed surprised at something and smiled at Angor, “I think the little guy loves you.”
[Physical quality: Moderate. Rating: Qualified]
[Soul quality: Outstanding. Rating: Qualified]
Next was the most important one—the test on Angor’s talent orientation. The tree spirit ordered the green stream inside Angor to go into the boy’s spirit pool. This was a critical step. One’s spirit pool did not exist in one’s body, instead, it lied in the mind of one’s soul, which was an abstract place. Furthermore, it was extremely repellent to foreign objects. Even someone like Sunders could not enter someone’s mind easily.
Only an expert at soul knowledge could barely manage such a feat. In other words, the tree spirit possessed superior soul power.
When the green aura entered Angor’s spirit pool, sweat drops appeared on the tree spirit’s forehead.
“Such—expelling force! Even the most gentle aura of nature is rejected!”
He was shocked, for the tree spirit had lived in Brute Cavern for thousands of decades and bestowed such test to countless talents. Yet the opposing force in Angor’s mind was the strongest one he had ever encountered.
When the aura of nature entered one’s mind, it could acquire a vague idea of his or her talent orientation.
However, it was only a vague idea – such as whether the talent should choose Element Art or Bloodline Art – as long as the aura only stayed in the outer area of the mind.
If the tree spirit wished so, he could ask the aura to slowly spread itself around the entire mind pool, thus further determining the best choice for the talent, such as one of the branches in a certain art.
Even though he had been doing so year after year, the tree spirit was actually the lazy kind. In most cases, he only reached his natural aura into someone’s mind very briefly.
This was why he only suggested among the three major arts for most of the talents.
Unless... he took a liking to someone, and that someone possessed a decent talent. In which case, the tree spirit would spend more effort on the test. Sailum, who took the test just now, was an innocent child and one of the best types favored by the spirit of a tree. Combined with the fact that Sailum did have potential, the tree spirit told the kid to major in “Darkness, Element Art”.
The spirit also liked Angor much. The pleasant scent on the boy’s soul was one of the reasons. Plus, the “little guy” also favored Angor, which was all the more reason for the spirit to regard Angor better.
To test Angor’s talent in details was his plan. The tree spirit did not expect such a strong opposing force in the boy’s mind. Keeping the natural aura on the outer part of Angor’s mind was already tiring enough, let alone pushing the aura deeper.
“I can’t believe this! There is no way the mind pool of a mortal can prevent natural aura from going inside!” The spirit was not convinced. He was swearing all over now, but he still could not breach the defense of Angor’s mind.
He could try infiltrating forcefully but doing so would cause irreversible damage to Angor’s brain.
In the end, the spirit could only retrieve most of his aura, while leaving only a small part of it and try to “admit defeat” to see if Angor’s mind would decide to accept the aura.
It worked. The small trace of aura approached a little deeper inside... but still a lot far away from the core.
As the tree spirit asked his aura to move forward again, the intense force came once more and pushed the remaining aura out of Angor’s mind.
The mighty force caused the tree spirit himself to stumble back a little.
“Such strong power!” He sighed deeply. He was covered in sweat now, and his stamina and spirit power was exhausted.
“Mister Tree Spirit, what happened?” A low, hoarse voice came from the distance.
“Sunders... Your student is a beast. You don’t see such strong spirit defense often. Formal wizards will have a hard time peeking his mind even if they forced their way in,” answered the tree spirit.
“Naturally. He’s my student after all,” said Sunders. He appeared to be pretty proud, which was a rare reaction from the gentleman.
The tree spirit rolled his eyes. He was not praising Sunders anyway.
“So did Mister Tree Spirit figure out Angor’s talent orientation?” Sunders asked.
The spirit shook his head, “I was pushed out by the second defense line, so I don’t know the details. But there’s no doubt the boy inclined toward Occult Art, Illusionist.”
Sunders smiled at those words.
“However... I sense more than one orientation. He has another orientation beside Occult Illusionist, but I cannot tell which. Your new student is certainly a good one. I met many talents with two element orientations or someone with both element one and an occult one, but I don’t recall seeing many talents who had two occult orientations.
“The last time I encountered someone like this was... about twenty thousand years ago. A talent who held orientations for Occult Summoner as well as Occult Prophet. Pity, that man abused his prophecy and died of divine punishment before he could become a wizard.”
Sunders remained silent for a moment before speaking, “Quality beyond quantity. Don’t mention this to him for now. Just tell the boy about the Occult Illusionist branch. If he wishes to choose another branch, he can study for himself once he becomes a wizard.”
The tree spirit chuckled, “Looks like he’s really important to you. Very well, I’ll do as you said.”
With that, the spirit wiped some sweat off his forehead and wrote down the last line:
[Advice on Talent Orientation: Occult Illusionist]