Picking Up Attributes From Today c1-431
Page 11
Chapter 18: Magic Test, Cruel Reality
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
They were clearly Dragon People, but they were dressed in civilian clothing, one had to feel confused!
“These Dragon People... Some of them are fallen nobles!”
Captain Hudders heard this, gave the group of Dragon People a look, and explained in a low voice, “Some of them belong to the civilian class just like us!”
Meng Lei was stunned. “Civilians? There are civilians among the Dragon People?”
“Of course! Dragons are wanton in nature, and many Dragon People also inherited this kind of trait. Some Dragon People of poor character refused to recognize what they did after committing bad deeds...”
Captain Hudders shook his head. “This caused the birth of a lot of Dragon People orphans and bastards. They grow up without any family to rely on, and without titles, so they naturally become civilians!”
“I see!”
Meng Lei suddenly understood. Even humans could act irresponsibly, such as abandoning their wives and children, not to mention Dragon People who were wanton in nature. From this aspect, the birth of Dragon People bastards and orphans was then inevitable!
“Even if we’re both civilians, their lives are not what we can be compared to!” Captain Hudders shook his head. “Even the weakest Dragon Person makes a pretty strong fighter and has plenty of opportunities to make a head start, which is something we humans can’t compare to!”
“That’s true!” Meng Lei nodded quietly.
“Come on, that is the place of the assessment, let’s go!” Hudders pointed in the direction with the largest number of people, and the group headed there. Soon, several armored knights stopped them!
“Accompanying people, please stop!”
“Magic test, 10 gold coins per person!”
“Meng Lei, you all can go in!”
Hudders took out 40 gold coins, which he had prepared beforehand, and handed them over to Meng Lei. His gaze swept across each of the four and encouraged them, “May the Dragon God bless you all. I believe you will surely fulfill your wishes!”
“Yes!”
The four nodded hard.
There were many people taking part in the magic test. People came and went, and they had lined up in 10 long lines. It was quite similar to the scene of people lining up for train tickets back home before the Chinese New Year!
“So many people, how long will we have to wait?”
Meng Lei sighed, before he found a relatively shorter queue and joined at its end. When looking at the long queue, he felt a slight headache.
“Brother Meng Lei, I’m... I’m nervous!”
Jonah pulled Meng Lei’s sleeves, her little face full of anxiety and nervousness. She was completely devoid of her former liveliness and mischief!
“Relax. Such things only depend on fate, so being nervous won’t help!”
Meng Lei, not knowing how to comfort her, could only say so!
The sun was hot, and the heat unbearable. The Fire Dragon Kingdom was near the Magical Beast Forest, with a climate similar to that of a tropical rainforest. Right now, waiting was simply a torment!
However, currently, most people were in no mood to pay attention to the hot weather, as their hearts were filled with tension and anxiety. This was the moment when their fate would be determined!
With talent, one could leap high beyond their current positions, into a bright future!
Without talent, one could only continue sticking around, being mediocre, and looking for an alternative path!
“This is much crueler than the College Entrance Examination!” Meng Lei sighed quietly. “It’s actually similar to ancient imperial examinations!”
While waiting anxiously, they witnessed all kinds of reactions from others!
Some cried out of joy and left rejoicing!
Some shook their heads and sighed, not satisfied with the test result!
Even more were in great agony, as they left sadly!
The cruelty of reality was shown here completely and vividly!
The rows moved forward slowly. After hours of waiting, Meng Lei and his three peers approached the testing table!
Three youths in black magic robes stood in front of the table, responsible for testing this row!
One was in charge of calling people!
One was in charge of testing!
One was in charge of recording!
They all performed their duties in an orderly manner!
A middle-aged man, who was dozing off, was seated behind them. He leaned back against the back of the chair, his head drooping, his eyes closed tight. He seemed to be fast asleep, as though he completely ignored his surrounding environment.
There were two testing instruments. The first one was a crystal ball the size of a basketball, with a transparent interior without a trace of noise, hanging in mid-air like a crystal-clear diamond.
The other was a gigantic “thermometer” several feet high and one foot wide, standing in front of the crystal ball, with a red line inside and numbers on both sides. It was a proper enlarged thermometer!
“Next!”
The youth in charge of calling people called out. A yellow-haired young man dressed in a civilian burlap robe hurriedly responded and walked up quickly!
Perhaps because he was too nervous, the yellow-haired young man staggered and suddenly fell on the ground, almost bumping onto the crystal ball!
Everyone laughed out loud. The yellow-haired young man got even more nervous and stood up in a flurry. He jabbered out, “I’m... I’m sorry, my name is Po... Porter...”
“No need to say your name, just put your hand on the crystal ball!”
The young man in charge of the assessment said indifferently, showing no intention to listen to the yellow-haired young man’s name. Indeed, the ones in charge of magic testing only registered those who had magical talent!
As to those without magical talent, there was no need to even register them— reality was that cruel!
“Yes... Yes!”
Porter nodded hurriedly, stretched out his trembling hand, and pressed it on the crystal ball. Then, he stared hard at the crystal ball, waiting for the trial of fate!
He was so nervous that he held his breath, for fear that a minute detail would lead to inaccurate test results and sentence him with the “death penalty”!
The young man in charge of the assessment had an indifferent look as his gaze fell on the crystal ball. The originally transparent crystal ball glowed with a faint, blurry light as if it was charged with electricity!
It was an earthly yellow color, mixed with a little bit of cyan, looking like faint-colored light reflected by lenses!
“Elemental Affinity: Medium-Grade Earth Element, Low-Grade Wind Element!”
The young man in charge of the assessment said lightly, “The next step is to test your spiritual power! See the red dot under the spiritual tester? Use your spiritual power to press it down as much as possible.”
Spiritual tester?
Meng Lei looked over, following his instructions, and indeed saw a red dot on the bottom of the gigantic “thermometer”. It was about the size of a coin and seemed like a button.
“S-Sir, how to use... spiritual power?”
Porter’s face flushed red as he asked with some difficulty.
“There’s a magical pattern engraved on the red dot. It will guide your spiritual power automatically, so you just need to stare at the red dot.” The young man in charge of the assessment said lightly, “The ones who are getting tested later should also listen. When you test your spiritual power...”
“Okay!”
Porter hurriedly nodded, and his eyes looked toward the red dot at the spiritual tester’s bottom!
Instantly, the red line inside the spiritual tester started to rise, passing by one numbered mark followed by another!
This is the instrument for testing spiritual power?
Me
ng Lei’s eyes gleamed, staring at the red line in the spirit tester.
This thing is somewhat similar to a thermometer. However, that one tests spiritual power and the other tests temperature!
After a moment, the red line stopped moving.
The young man in charge of the assessment gave the mark where the red line was a look, and his tone softened a little.
“Spiritual Power: 23
“4 times that of same-age peers!
“Barely meeting the standard!
“Elemental Affinity: Medium-Grade Earth Element, Low-Grade Wind Element!
“Overall evaluation: Has magical talent, qualified to become a Magician!”
Chapter 19: Superb Talent, Hundred Times of Shock
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Spiritual Power: 23!
4 times that of same-age peers!
Barely meeting the standard!
Elemental Affinity: Medium-Grade Earth Element, Low-Grade Wind Element
Overall evaluation: Has magic talent, qualified to become a Magician!
“YAY!”
The excited Porter started shouting as though he had heard the most beautiful language in the world. His tears of joy ran down his face like a fountain, wetting his clothes.
“Oh my dragon god!”
“A peasant can actually become a Magician? Are there heavenly principles left in this world?”
“Really...”
Everyone started discussing with great envy.
Meng Lei also looked at Porter and felt quite emotional. Although Porter was plainly dressed right now, he had the magical talent that countless people couldn’t even dream of!
Predictably, so long as he graduated from a magic academy, he would become a prestigious Magician. By then, he would be powerful and have a high position. Beautiful women, money, and so on, would come to his door!
As of that moment, his fate had completely changed!
“Next!”
Finally, my turn!
Meng Lei took a deep breath and walked up slowly!
“Another peasant!”
“What an offense to the eye!”
“This guy certainly doesn’t have magical talent!”
“The possibility of these peasants having magical talent is much lower than we nobles, with barely 1 in 100,000. The bumpkin just now already had dumb luck. It must be tricky for this guy now!
“I’ll bet a pack of sausages that he has no magical talent!”
“I’ll bet two...”
A group of nobility youths discussed in low voices, with much disdain in their tone. In the Dragon God Empire, the chasm of class division was too big!
Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew looked at Meng Lei, their eyes full of hope, though they also didn’t have much hope in their hearts!
“Go for it, Brother Meng Lei!”
“It should be able to detect it, right?”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and pressed both his hands on the crystal ball!
At that moment, he actually got nervous. Although he had picked up the Saint Domain Magician’s Thunder-Element magic talent and had succeeded in meditation, Meng Lei still felt a bit uncertain!
After all, his magic talent was acquired after his birth. What if this thing couldn’t detect it?”
Buzz...
Meng Lei was overconcerned!
At the moment his hands came into contact with the crystal ball, dazzling silver light suddenly burst out of the crystal ball, rendering the crystal ball as bright as the sun!
Tiny and brilliant silver arcs coursed throughout the crystal ball, as though they were about to break the crystal ball and get out!
Whoosh!
Behind the three youths in charge of the assessment, the drowsy middle-aged man lying in a chair suddenly opened his eyes and stood up with a swoosh. He stared intently at the crystal ball, his face excited!
“Elemental Affinity: Thunder-Element... Superior-Grade!” The middle-aged man slowly uttered that sentence, his eyes shining!
After that statement, the surroundings burst into an uproar! The nobility youths that had been mocking Meng Lei with disdain previously were instantly rendered speechless!
“Super- Superior-Grade?”
“Oh my dragon god! Am I hearing this correctly?”
“How is this possible!? Superior-Grade Elemental Affinity, isn’t that too much?”
The three youths in charge of the assessment were also astonished. Generally, the vast majority of people with magic talent were of Low-Grade Elemental Affinity, which was the bottom line, and also the minimum standard to sense magic elements!
Above low-grade was medium-grade!
When people with Medium-Grade Elemental Affinity meditated, the magic elements they sensed were... 10 times clearer than that of a person with Low-Grade Elemental Affinity!
Above medium-grade was... upper grade, which is 100 times clearer!
This meant that while others required 100 hours to refine a certain amount of magic power, a person with Upper-Grade Elemental Affinity only needed 1 hour. It was a total of 100 times difference in efficiency!
Was there a big difference?
It was like the distance between two poles!
Therefore, under the premise of similar mental strength, however hard people with Low-Grade Elemental Affinity practiced, they could only become Low-Level Magicians!
What was considered low-level?
First, second, and third grade, that’s all!
In the meantime, people with High-Level Elemental Affinity could become Low-Level Magicians effortlessly. If they put in a bit more effort, they could become Medium-Level Magicians. If they worked a bit harder, it was not difficult for them to become High-Level Magicians!
This was the difference between low-grade and high-grade!
As for superior-grade, that was even more extraordinarily rare. Even among Dragon People who had inherited the dragons’ magic talent and had super-strong Elemental Affinity at birth, Superior-Grade Elemental Affinity was very rare!
After all, this was 1,000 times the sensing clarity!
The middle-aged man directly pushed aside the young man in charge of the assessment and personally took charge of the process. “Quickly! Quickly test his spiritual power!” His voice was trembling!
For people with this kind of talent, even if they didn’t meditate, magic elements would rush to squeeze into his body. They were almost like the bastard sons of the God of Magic!
Meng Lei walked to the spiritual tester with an unprecedentedly relaxed expression. His spiritual attribute was as high as 215, comparable to Second-Grade Magicians. What did he have to worry about?
“This guy simply has such dumb luck!”
The nobility youths looked at Meng Lei, feeling envious. “With such a strong magic talent, his spiritual power must be very poor. After all, it’s impossible for all the good things to happen to him!”
It was a pity that these people were destined to be disappointed!
Their eyes were fixed on Meng Lei and the red dot!
The spiritual tester’s red line rapidly rose like it was tied on a rocket. In the blink of an eye, it had climbed past half of the scale and continued rushing upward!
“What the hell!?”
“So fast?”
All who witnessed this scene were so surprised that their eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets!
When others tested their spiritual power, the red line would rise slowly, one line by one line. Yet for him...
“A... A genius! This is a real genius!”
The middle-aged man stuttered while his body started trembling due to excitement. His group had finally unearthed a genius!
Whoosh!
Soon, before everyone’s shocked eyes, the line reached the top of the spiritual tester and filled up the entire scale, before stopping!
However, everyone could see that the “full value” wasn’t the limit of Meng Lei’s spiritual power. If the spiritual
tester scale was longer, the red line representing Meng Lei’s spiritual power would definitely... be even higher!
“Full... Full value! Spiritual power, 100 times that of same-age peers!”
The middle-aged man announced the results with a shaking voice.
“Elemental Affinity: Superior-Grade Thunder Element!
“Spiritual Power: 100 times that of same-age peers!
“Overall evaluation: magic talent... super-excellent!”
The entire venue burst into an uproar again!
“100... 100 times!?”
“Super-excellent?”
“Is this still human?”
“He’s just a monster!”
“Superior-Grade Elemental Affinity, and his spiritual power is actually also so wild? How is this reasonable?”
“A peasant who came out of nowhere actually has such mad talent? Has the God of Magic gotten blind?”
“This guy is not bad even compared to Ordos, right?”
“Almost!”
“Psst! Ordos is actually a second-generation Dragon Man with the blood of Golden Colossal Dragon...”
The looks everyone gave Meng Lei were full of envy and jealousy. Some nobles and Dragon People had especially shiny eyes, full of shock and awe!
“Sir, I am Fred from the Admissions Office of Douglas Magic Academy!”
At that moment, an old man in a magic robe squeezed through the crowd and walked over. “I sincerely invite you to join our Douglas Magic Academy. So long as you join...”
Chapter 20: Three Old Men, An Admissions Blunder
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
During the start-of-school season every year, the major academies were extremely busy. The magic test before school started alone took an entire week, not to mention others!
Youths of nobles, civilians, Dragon People, Dragon Beasts, and other intelligent races gathered en masse in the capital city, participating in this great event that changed their own fate!
Nobody who had ambitions to practice magic wanted to miss it!
People came and went endlessly.
On the Dragon God Square, apart from the youths who took part in the test, their family members, and the testing staff, another special group was present—the teachers in charge of admissions in the various academies!