Synthetic Wizard - Chapter 182 - 130: The Current State of Wizards (2)
Chapter 182: Chapter 130: The Current State of Wizards (2)
Additionally, the Eternal Life Association spares no effort to enhance its power.
They capture civilians for experimentation, unleash transformed creatures to massacre villages for data collection, plant evil magic plants in densely populated urban areas, causing numerous deaths… such atrocities are far too many!
There was even a case where an Eternal Life Association Wizard Apprentice killed all the population of a small country for experimentation, turning the entire nation into ruins!
This incident shocked the entire southeast region at the time.
Just to avoid panic, neighboring countries tacitly suppressed the news, announcing to the public that the small country’s demise was caused by a large-scale plague outbreak, so the common people and petty nobles were mostly unaware.
In the vast southeast region, only the Cangjin Empire, the Starry Duchy, and the Thorn Flower Duchy were strong enough to make the Eternal Life Association cautious, while other countries were mostly ravaged by them.
But the Eternal Life Association is too powerful, and these countries can only swallow their bitterness.
“Just like Night Owl said, the Eternal Life Association is just a group of lunatics.”
Sunan didn’t have to guess; he knew that the Wizard Apprentices of the Eternal Life Association caused so many wrathful disasters, most likely due to their research on extending life.
They are a group of lunatics who will do anything for immortality!
Thankfully, there are still other rational wizards on the continent, keeping these lunatics in check, otherwise, in line with the Eternal Life Association’s practices, the entire continent would soon become a wasteland.
Such a situation would only worsen the already harsh training environment.
The only good news is that, like the Forest Lodge, the Eternal Life Association has a relatively loose organizational structure.
Members act independently, exchange resources and information through trading, offering help, but their relationships are not close.
This means Ugo’s previous threats were probably just a facade.
Claiming that the Divine Remains were something the Eternal Life Association must have was probably just a scare tactic.
Most likely, this thing was something Ugo wanted personally.
However, it is possible that this guy could pay a certain price to convince other members of the Eternal Life Association to help him later on.
But no matter what, as long as the entire Eternal Life Association doesn’t come after him, Sunan doesn’t need to worry much.
Moving on, the remaining two Level 3 Wizard Apprentices have backing forces from the Cangjin Empire’s royal family and the Thorn Flower Duchy’s royal family.
To Sunan’s surprise, according to the description in the intelligence, these two Level 3 Wizard Apprentices are members of the Forest Lodge.
“Members of the Forest Lodge with royal family connections…”
In Sunan’s mind, the images of Scepter and Rose immediately flashed.
According to his observations, the ones most possessing noble demeanor within the Forest Lodge were obviously these two.
If nothing unexpected happens, these two Level 3 Wizard Apprentices should be Scepter and Rose.
From their names, Scepter is very likely the Level 3 Wizard Apprentice backed by the Cangjin Empire’s royal family.
As for Rose, it’s likely the Level 3 Wizard Apprentice backed by the Thorn Flower Duchy’s royal family.
It’s precisely because of these two that the Wizard Apprentices of the Eternal Life Association dare not target the Cangjin Empire and the Thorn Flower Duchy.
As for the Starry Duchy, it’s because of Evans and that Level 3 Wizard Apprentice who died at Ovijou’s hands.
All mentioned above are Wizard Apprentices with confirmed whereabouts.
Regarding those who have appeared in the past or left clues, yet whose existence cannot be confirmed, or specific whereabouts are unknown, the number is even greater.
For instance, the Wizard Apprentices of the Eternal Life Association other than Ugo.
The same goes for the Forest Lodge; aside from those thoroughly specified like Sunan, Scepter, and Rose, others are not present in this intelligence.
After all, the intelligence collection of the Starry Duchy is primarily confined to the southeast region, and its influence is hard to extend to other areas, naturally making it hard to gather wizard intelligence in those places.
Spending over half an hour, Sunan read through the entire intelligence meticulously and gained a general understanding of the wizard status in the southeast region of the Starlight Continent.
Needless to say, compared to tens of millions of people across dozens of countries in the continent’s southeast region, the number of Wizard Apprentices is pitifully small.
The ratio is less than one ten-thousandth.
In comparison, perhaps the total number of Wizard Apprentices in the southeast region is not as much as those in his base.
Although his base consists entirely of Level 1 Wizard Apprentices.
But thinking about it, it makes sense; given the current state of the Starlight Continent, it’s destined that not many Wizard Apprentices would emerge.
Currently, there are mainly two origins for Wizard Apprentices on the continent.
The first type is a fortunate individual possessing wizard qualifications, who accidentally comes into contact with awakening books, thereby stimulating their spiritual power, stepping onto the wizard path, gradually accumulating strength and resources, if luck and qualifications are good enough, may advance to Level 2 Wizard Apprentice, then they can find a noble force to rely on, stepping into the front stage from there.
Such Wizard Apprentices are extremely few.
The second type is children from noble or royal backgrounds.
Some royal families and great nobles who know wizard secrets, or whose ancestors had Wizard Apprentices, will use awakening books to conduct qualification tests for family members.
Once a child is detected to have wizard qualifications, they will spare no effort in cultivating them.
Wizard Apprentices from this category are relatively more numerous, and because they have backing, they often find it easier to advance to Level 3 Wizard Apprentice.
Scepter and Rose, for instance, belong to the second type.
Of course, there’s another kind where Wizard Apprentices themselves train students.
However, this type is extremely rare.
Generally, Wizard Apprentices struggle with resource scarcity themselves, and rarely have extra resources to train students.
Wizard Apprentices like Sunan, who invests substantial resources in simultaneously training dozens of students, are unheard of.
Others train protectors or students inheriting their legacy for countries and families. Sunan, on the other hand, is building his own force.
Once this batch of students grows, the base can instantly become the most powerful Wizard Influence on the Starlight Continent.
“According to this intelligence, there shouldn’t be any Official Wizards left on the Starlight Continent now.”
“At least not in the southeast region.”
If there were any Official Wizards left in the southeast region of the Starlight Continent now, the Starry Duchy’s royal family wouldn’t have been unable to find any clues for so many years.
As for other areas of the Starlight Continent, further investigation is needed.
“Next time we meet, I’ll have to remind my elder brother to pay attention to collecting relevant intelligence as well.”
Putting down the intelligence, Sunan flipped his wrist, and a talisman stone appeared out of nowhere in his palm.
It was the key obtained from Evans to locate and enter the Tower of Starlight.
“The next appearance is twelve years later.”
Sunan gazed at the talisman stone, with a contemplative look in his eyes.
According to Evans, entering the Tower of Starlight requires undergoing trials.
Considering that anyone possessing wizard qualifications is eligible to enter the Tower of Starlight, entrants likely aren’t even Level 1 Wizard Apprentices, hence the trial difficulty might not be very high.
But other possibilities are not ruled out.
For example, Wizard Apprentices of different levels might face different trials upon entering the Tower of Starlight, with varying difficulties.
The specific scenario won’t be known until actually entering the Tower of Starlight.
Sunan estimated that twelve years should be sufficient for him to construct eighteen star rings and raise his spiritual power to over 60 points.
The remaining task is to construct the talent crystal.
This is the toughest hurdle in advancing to Official Wizard.
Many Level 3 Wizard Apprentices are stuck at this hurdle, stagnating for decades until their lifespan runs out, without stepping into the next phase.
“Considering the current situation of the Starlight Continent, even with the Rubik’s cube in hand, constructing the talent crystal will take at least forty or fifty years.”
“However, if resources aiding advancement can be found in the Tower of Starlight, maybe he can cross this hurdle ahead of time.”
A gut feeling suggests Sunan’s chance to advance to Official Wizard might just lie within the Tower of Starlight.
