Going from the Doyle family's residence to their destination took a bit more than half a month.
On the way, Chen Heng was mainly in Meditation and occasionally talked with Michael, asking about various things.
Time gradually passed.
Soon, they reached their destination.
In front of a large port, there were many people gathered about.
They all wore black robes and their faces were covered by masks. They hurried about, not speaking at all as they did their work.
Looking at these people, Chen Heng felt somewhat surprised as he sensed the feeling from these people's bodies.
After developing a foundational mastery of the Basic Meditation Technique, he had developed some of the habits of this world's Sorcerers.
For example, he could use his mental energy to check a person's condition.
All ordinary creatures had mental energy, and every thought they had would give off mental ripples.
From these ripples, Sorcerer could clearly tell some things, such as some information as well as a person's condition.
These black-robed people's mental conditions were quite strange.
Chen Heng could tell that these black-robed people had mental energy, but compared to ordinary people, their mental energy was very weak and barely gave off any ripples.
This was quite strange.
Even if a person was sleeping, their minds would give off ripples that were stronger than that of these black-robed people.
"Those are all puppets."
Looking at Chen Heng's expression, as if Michael could tell what he was thinking, he smiled and explained, "Those people are things made for the academy's Sorcerers' convenience.
"They are very obedient and useful, but it's just a bit troublesome to make them," he said softly.
Chen Heng nodded and thought to himself.
Even though Michael did not explicitly say it, he could tell that the process of making such puppets was definitely quite horrible.
The original materials were most likely ordinary people, or else they would not still give off light mental ripples after becoming puppets.
However, after staying at Griffin's castle for half a year, Chen Heng had become somewhat used to this.
Right now, he was concerned about other things.
"What is the puppets' intelligence like? How long can they be used for and how are they maintained?" he asked as he looked at Michael.
Hearing Chen Heng's words, Michael felt a bit surprised but did not take it to heart. He just laughed as he said, "Their intelligence is not very high in order to prevent them from resisting. However, they can understand all basic commands and can do some difficult tasks as well. As for how long they can be used for, it's usually quite a long time."
He paused before saying, "In the end, it depends how you use them. These puppets were made using living people. If you use them lightly, they can usually last until they naturally pass away."
"As for maintenance."
Speaking to there, he shrugged, "They need anything that an ordinary person needs. After all, they just had some modifications made to them, but their biology still works the same. The only thing the modifications did was make them more obedient."
Michael continued, "Often, to us, using ordinary people is too troublesome. Not only do they have all kinds of thoughts, but they are also unable to bear some things.
"As such, puppets like this are much better. As long as you have their Command Incantation, you can have them die with a single sentence. They're not as troublesome as ordinary people."
Soon, they had arrived at the port. Michael looked around and said, "The academy has many uses for puppets, and if you want some, you can buy some for cheap.
"In fact, if you study well in Puppeteering, you can make your own."
Speaking to there, Michael shrugged and said somewhat teasingly, "After all, the materials are just ordinary people; they're everywhere outside. No matter if you buy them or capture them yourself, it's quite simple."
Hearing this, Chen Heng did not reply and only silently nodded.
Time gradually passed.
Soon, another person walked off from another massive boat.
"Michael, you're back?" a calm voice sounded out in the distance.
Hearing this voice, Chen Heng looked out.
In the distance, there was a somewhat skinny figure walking over.
That person wore a black robe, which had a strange symbol. He was incredibly skinny, looking like a skeleton.
This was especially so for his face—it was as if his face only had skin covering it, and his expression was terrifyingly cold.
"Ordo, you're finally willing to come out."
Looking at this black-robed person walking over, Michael laughed and spoke.
"This is Griffin's grandson?" the man named Ordo ignored Michael and looked at Chen Heng.
His gaze was incredibly cold, as if it was a knife.
Chen Heng maintained the same expression as he looked at this person and bowed, "Greetings, Mr. Ordo. I am Ed Doyle."
"Griffin that old fellow's grandson is not bad."
Looking at Chen Heng and sensing his powerful mental energy, Ordo nodded.
"Of course he's not bad."
Michael said, "This child's mental energy is incredibly powerful; I hope it will give you a big shock later."
"Is that so?" Ordo's voice remained cold but had a hint of surprise in it, "Then I look forward to it."
Chen Heng calmly stood there, listening to the two of them talk.
At this moment, he began to look around.
Not too far away, there was a wooden ship, giving off a strange light. There was a massive gray symbol on it, which was similar to the symbols on Michael and Ordo's clothes.
On the side, there were some more people coming in.
Just like Chen Heng, they were brought in by others and were quite young.
Chen Heng observed them.
Of them, the oldest was around 17 or 18 years old, while the youngest was younger than even the current Chen Heng.
It seemed that Sorcerers preferred to pick younger Apprentices.
These were most likely Chen Heng's competitors and future classmates.
Standing there, Chen Heng thought to himself.
Before coming here, Griffin had told him his goal.
The ship in the distance belonged to the Hunter's House, and it was for bringing in new students.
Michael and Ordo were both there to carry this out.
As for Chen Heng and the other younger people, they were most likely the new students for the Hunter's House.
After coming here, they would go through an examination to separate them into ranks.
This was to separate their standings as well as for their future education.
After all, having students of different levels undertake the same education would be unfair to some people.
The better one did in the examinations, the more attention they would be given.
"I wonder how many incoming students there are." Chen Heng thought to himself.
Following this, more and more people arrived.
Sensing this, Michael looked around.
He said softly, "Looks like it's about time. Is everyone here?"
Ordo nodded, "Let's start then. The earlier we start, the earlier we can end."
As he said this, he sent out his mental energy.
On the side, a black-robed person silently left to announce this.
As this was announced, this place became more lively.
The various youths and their seniors walked to one side.
"Go."
An elder patted a young man's shoulder with a serious expression, "You are the pride of our family. I've already told you all that you need to know."
There were various elders giving advice and farewells to their juniors.
At the front, the youths stood together, and Chen Heng glanced around.
"27 people, eh?"
Including him, that made 28 people.
This was not a large number.
At this moment, Chen Heng noticed that he was somewhat different.
It seemed that Griffin's connections were quite impressive.
This was evidenced by the fact that he was standing beside Michael and Ordo, while the others were lined up together.
Just this small detail showed the difference between them.
"You can do the examination last."
Looking at Chen Heng, Michael smiled and said, "Just watch before that."
Chen Heng nodded and did not say anything.
Standing there, he watched Michael.
As he watched on, Michael took out a whole heap of things and set them up.
"So troublesome…"
He drew some mysterious runes as he complained, "Every time we take in students we need to set up this Sorcerer Formation and use so many magic stones."
"If that wasn't the case, what need would there be for the two of us to come?"
Ordo replied coldly, "Wouldn't it be better to just send two Apprentices?"
"True."
Michael nodded as he continued to work.
Chen Heng attentively watched them.
"It's somewhat similar to basic runes, but there are also great differences."
Chen Heng thought to himself, feeling quite interested, "This is this world's runes?"
Back in the Azure Heaven Realm,
Chen Heng had been a True Lord as well as a powerful refining grandmaster, and he was proficient in the Azure Heaven Realm's runes.
In his eyes, the runes that Michael and Ordo were drawing were similar to the Azure Heaven Realm's runes.
They seemed to look similar and have similar effects.
"So it's like that." Chen Heng's past experiences were now of great help to him.
The Sorcerer Formation that Michael and Ordo were drawing was very complicated, and an ordinary person who saw this would feel their scalps go numb, unable to understand the principles or concepts at all.
However, Chen Heng could make some sense of it.
He had a massive advantage in this respect.
Even though he could not bring all of his strength from other worlds to this world, he had far more knowledge and experience than others.
With his experience as a refining grandmaster in the Azure Heaven Realm, Chen Heng had a much easier time looking at this world's Sorcerer Formations.
After all, there were many points of similarity.
As long as he could get used to the differences in rules and convert this experience, he would be able to use that experience in this world.
As Chen Heng watched on, the Sorcerer Formation began to take shape.
Following this, Michael took out some magic stones.
The magic stones were black and looked like black jade.
Chen Heng had seen similar magic stones in Griffin's hands before, but he had never seen so many before.
In total, Michael and Ordo took out more than 50 of them.
"We have to use so many magic stones every time we do the examination; it really makes me sad."
Looking at the magic stones, Michael shook his head and felt great pain.
"They're not your magic stones anyways, what are you feeling so sad about?" Ordo said as he coldly laughed, "Rather than feeling sad, you should work harder. Once we're done we can go back."
From their chatting, Chen Heng learned of many things.
"So it's like that."
Chen Heng thought to himself, "To a school, taking in new blood is incredibly important, and this is the same for Sorcerer academies.
"It's just that compared to ordinary schools, it costs Sorcerer academies a lot to take in students."
Different than ordinary schools, Sorcerer academies required students to have enough Sorcerer talent.
As such, they had to do some basic examinations when taking in students—this had great costs.
From what Chen Heng had seen, not only did this require at least two Apprentices with decent knowledge and strength, but it also required a large number of magic stones.
This meant that every examination had a great cost.
Perhaps this was the reason why Sorcerer academies did not take in students very regularly.
A single examination's costs was not a big deal to a Sorcerer academy, but after many times, the costs would add up.
Soon, the Sorcerer Formation was activated, and a hazy light shined on a slab on the ground.
Seeing this, Michael and Ordo inwardly let out sighs of relief and looked into the distance.
"It is done."
Michael turned and looked at the incoming students, "You can start now. Come here one by one."
Ahead, a young man did not hesitate and immediately walked forwards.
Soon, he reached the slab, and the slab began to spin.
A hazy light flashed and covered that young man's body, causing his figure to also become hazy.
Following this, Chen Heng noticed that two pointers in front of the slab began to go through changes.
They looked like they were made of special materials and were a golden color, looking quite special.
They seemed to be controlled by a special energy and began to move.
Following this, the pointer only moved to the first box.
"Level 1 Sorcerer talent."
Michael's voice calmly sounded out as he wrote it down on a parchment.
What Griffin had told Chen Heng was that Level 1 was the lowest, and the higher the number, the better.
Only those with good talent could have a smooth path on the path of a Sorcerer.
For those with low levels of talent, to be able to become an Apprentice was already not bad.
For this young man, given that he only had Level 1 talent, it seemed that becoming an Apprentice would be very difficult. Becoming a true Sorcerer would be almost impossible.
However, the examination was not yet over.
The examination had two steps: The first was to examine talent, and the second was to examine the strength of one's mental energy.
To a Sorcerer, both talent and mental energy were both important.
Mental energy determined a Sorcerer's foundation, while their Sorcerer talent affected condensing magic power and becoming a true Sorcerer in the future.
This young man's Sorcerer talent was indeed quite bad, but if his mental energy was powerful enough, he could turn his future around.
