The sun gradually slanted westward, and the golden dusk spread across the entire Bolai Town. After dinner, the residents sang and danced, as if hearing a new dusk melody, and their dance steps were reborn; poets in the square plucked harps, elegantly chanting the poetry of the sunset glow; painters by the river hastened to capture this beautiful moment.
In many places, dusk is hailed as the key to opening darkness, but in Bolai Town, it has become a treasure of praise.
But even the brightest treasure cannot illuminate all places, like the orphanage deep in Tyson Alley.
In a dim little room, young Sam opened his eyes.
He rubbed his eyes, got off the bed, and opened the window to look outside—the sky was dark, with only a few bright spots glimpsed between the distant building silhouettes, peeking through the crevices of dusk.
The orphanage is forever shrouded in eeriness, as if cut off from the outside world’s cycles of day and night.
If a regular person came here, they would probably be terrified. Even those with courage wouldn’t like such a place.
But Sam felt the cold and slightly death-laden world around him and inexplicably felt inner peace.
Compared to the bustling and dull years on the farm, he relaxed his mind here for the first time. Perhaps because of his mood at this moment, he didn’t dislike or fear the orphanage.
Sitting at the window, daydreaming for a while, Sam’s mind wandered over various things—past, present, and dreams of the future.
He was brought back to reality by a knock at the door.
"Are you Brother Sam?"
The door opened to reveal a very soft and adorable little boy. However, Sam had already been told by Mr. Tyson that the orphanage housed only the undead, so this little boy should be one of them.
"Adar?"
Adar’s eyes lit up, raising his hand high: "Yes, my name is Adar!"
Sam looked at Adar’s shining eyes and instinctively rubbed his head. After doing so, he paused.
Was he perhaps overstepping boundaries?
Moreover, he should have feared the undead, so why was he not afraid of Adar at all?
While Sam hesitated, Adar was very happy. He somehow liked this older brother and was not at all opposed to his closeness.
"You came to find me, is there something you need?" Sam coughed twice, retracting his somewhat uncertain hand.
"It’s Mr. Pat who sent me. The lord said Brother Sam is awake and asked you to come over," Adar explained.
Upon hearing that Mr. Pat wanted him to come over, Sam didn’t hesitate: "Alright, lead the way."
Maybe Adar was so soft and easy to talk to, Sam kept asking about the orphanage and Mr. Pat throughout the journey.
Adar barely answered questions about Mr. Pat; however, he did not conceal the orphanage’s situation. Sam learned that the orphanage was eerie even during the day due to an illusionary realm for the testing of Talented Ones; also, another undead named Shanni had not appeared recently due to unstable emotions.
Sam wanted to ask more about why Shanni’s emotions were unstable and about Mr. Tyson’s background, but they had already arrived at Mr. Pat’s room door.
"I’ll wait for Brother Sam outside, and later I have to take you out for dinner." Adar waved goodbye to Sam and then hid in the darkness.
Sam took a deep breath and knocked on the silent wooden door.
After a moment, sitting in front of a dim oil lamp, Sam heard Angel’s question: "Adar should have told you why I asked you to come, right?"
Sam nodded: "To test Mental Power Value."
Angel spoke calmly: "Exactly, after eating and resting well, your spiritual power has begun to recover to its peak; testing now will be most accurate."
After speaking, Angel gently pointed, creating a small game illusionary realm in front of Sam.
This was a wisdom-initiation mini-game from the holographic tablet.
Through the mini-game, Sam’s thoughts gradually became lively, and his spiritual power surged. At this point, Angel handed Sam the measuring scale for spiritual power.
Sam was about to lower his head to examine the scale when Angel stopped him: "Don’t look at other areas of the scale; it will impact your spiritual power. The correct method to use the scale is to start from the 0 scale at the bottom and slowly look upward along the faint golden line inside, as far as you can see—that’s your Mental Power Value."
After explaining, Angel indicated that Sam could begin testing.
Sam solemnly took the scale, focusing his gaze on the 0 scale. As his attention centered, the golden lines within the scale began to move like a snake, slowly writhing upward...
Initially, when Angel tested his own Mental Power Value with the scale, upon reaching the 7 scale, he only felt his eyes slightly astringent. After reaching 10, one golden line turned into two, forming a double helix that surged upward; at that point, Angel felt the sting in his brain.
However, upon reaching the 4 scale, Sam’s forehead began to sweat. The golden line arduously reached 5, and veins started to bulge.
When Sam felt like the blood vessels on his forehead were about to burst, the golden line climbed a little more. However, this ascent exceeded Sam’s tolerance limit; he only felt a blackout in his eyes and then passed out.
Angel took the scale from Sam’s hands.
The golden line stopped at the scale—7.
"A bowl of Witch’s Soup will just bring his Mental Power Value to 10, crossing the threshold of a Talented One." Angel’s eyes flashed complexly: "Precisely 10, was it calculated? Truly, it must be left by Feng..."
During the Abyss incident, Angel also sensed that Feng seemed to have everything planned out, whether it was him, Master Ye, or Fafnir and Odeclass, it was as if they were all within the scenario set by Feng.
Therefore, seeing the scale precisely at 7, Angel did not find it unexpected.
While Angel was muttering under his breath, he was unaware that in the distant Inner Shell World, a painter known as Sister Feng sneezed, rubbed her nose, and mused: "Who is thinking of me? Perhaps it’s Rowling... Rowling claims not to care, but actually does care, as it’s related to her race. Alas, I wonder if a Witch’s Soup that increases spiritual power limit by 3 will be able to nurture a Talented One. If not, there’s nothing I can do; I’m just a poor painter with only that small savings."
Angel did not realize that this time, it was indeed just a coincidence.
He set the scale aside, his eyes flickering with dark glow.
The Magic Painter Wizard can even predict Sam’s Mental Power Value, so going to the Tidal World should also have been calculated, right?
Even if it was calculated, Angel still needed to go to the Tidal World in search of suitable Elemental Life.
"Truly deserving of being a Legendary Wizard, so powerful."