Mara gave Angor a brief explanation about the states for wizards. One’s talent determined how fast he or she could become a wizard. Once that happened, talent would no longer play an important part. However, talent was extremely critical as long as one had not become a formal wizard. Someone could do it with a few years of training, while others could train for their entire lives without going beyond level-1 apprentice. This was the difference caused by talent and destiny.
Mara always believed that he was utilizing the most of his talent, and he could only rely on destiny to become a formal wizard. However, destiny was not something one could ask for. Besides, it was almost always accompanied by great danger.
Most known destinies were gained by risking lives. Rarely any destinies were easily taken—unless someone accidentally bumped into their luck, like what Mara just went through.
Mara’s words put despair into Angor’s mind. Formal wizards… An extinct sight in the Old Earth. How should he find any?
Everyone was speechless. Leon put a hand on Angor’s shoulder to comfort him. It was about the only thing he could do right now.
Some moments later, Mara spoke again, “You said you had two troubles on your mind. I can’t help you with Jon now, so how about telling me the other one?”
The other trouble… Something flashed through Angor’s mind. According to Mara, a formal wizard could cure Teacher and someone with great talent could become a formal wizard without spending much time…
Great talent? If he could become a real wizard himself, he could help Jon!
This “other trouble” Angor mentioned was about his curiosity towards people with supernatural powers, and the desire to follow their steps.
He wanted to become a wizard too!
“Mister Mara, can I become your student and learn wizardry?” asked Angor earnestly.
Mara was surprised by this for quite a while before he let out a hearty laughter.
“Wizardry is not something that simple. Talent is the first and foremost condition you must have. I’ve traveled around the empire and tested on nearly ten thousand people, and my grandchildren are the only ones with talent. See? This is very rare.”
Angor did not back up, “Mister Mara, can you please check on me and see if I have talent?”
Mara looked at Angor up and down and nodded, “This is quite simple. I can even look at everyone in the Padt Manor if you want. Let’s consider this a return of your favor then.”
Mara’s seemingly generous offer also contained a will to help the Padt Family train talented wizards. However, considering how scarce they were, it was already extremely hard to find one single talent, let alone do it in this small family!
Besides, giving such tests did not really cost Mara anything. He only needed a medium, and mediums could be reused without taking any loss.
His mission to the Old Earth was to look for talents for the academy, so the academy had given him mediums. Helping Angor with the test meant that he would be rid of the favor for free.