Chapter 556: Chapter 554 Jungle Hut Gathering Place
After half a day, in the afternoon.
Under Martha’s lead, Richard and the other students successfully arrived at a gathering area of the Jungle Hut.
The area wasn’t very large, about the size of a village, surrounded by two main roads, one horizontal and one vertical, with wooden buildings of various heights.
Martha led everyone along the road toward the outskirts of the gathering area, then stopped and respectfully called out to a low thatched hut by the road, “Master Lilith, I have brought the students you requested. Would you like to take a look?”
“Eh?” A voice sounded, and the shaky wooden door of the thatched hut opened, a woman in her fifties stepped out. Wearing a starched, sowhat faded, brown robe, she exuded an aura of authority, but what was particularly striking was that she only had half a face.
Yes, half a face!
You could see that the left half of her face looked normal, slightly aged. The other half, however, was a bloody ss with no skin visible, just coagulated scabs, looking monstrous. The eye on that side of her face was also ruined, a grayish white, and when she looked at soone, it didn’t move at all — it was quite terrifying.
“Gulp!”
Under the gaze of the old woman Lilith, most of the students couldn’t help but swallow their saliva, filled with fear—more fearful than facing the eerie forest or the sinister Martha, already regretting coming here.
Lilith clearly noticed this ntality but couldn’t be bothered to deal with it; she quickly scanned everybody with little reaction and slowly said to Martha, “Thirty-two people, huh? Fewer than expected. We initially planned for thirty-five, right?”
“Yes.” Martha, who had been frightening everyone along the way, now answered Lilith honestly and out of character, “According to the plan, indeed, we were supposed to recruit thirty-five. But due to haste, we couldn’t gather enough, and fearing the delay here, I brought them first. If it really doesn’t work out, we can continue to recruit.”
“Never mind.” Lilith waved her hand, “Thirty-two is close enough. Have you tested their talents?”
“I’ve done a simple test. They all have so Wizard talent, but whether it’s good or bad isn’t clear. After all, we were really rushed.”
“All right, I understand,” Lilith responded, “In that case, I will personally conduct the tests.”
As she spoke, Lilith walked over to an open space, waved her hand, and a golden light erged in her hand. With a toss of the golden light toward the ground, a glowing door appeared imdiately—two ters high and a ter wide, carrying a sowhat ethereal, unreal sensation.
The multitude of students brightened at the sight, their fear and dread mostly disappearing, replaced by aspiration. After all, they all ca with the intent to learn spells, and if they encountered a formidable Wizard, appearances and temperants wouldn’t matter anymore. Not to ntion having only half a face, they could even accept soone who was only half a person.
Richard, however, remained calm because he had already seen through Martha and Lilith.
Martha was just a Low-level First-level Wizard, only slightly stronger than a Wizard Apprentice. Indeed formidable in front of the uninitiated students, but in a Wizard-level battle, she was the bottommost.
The half-faced Lilith, although stronger than Martha, was still a First-level Wizard—High-level First-level Wizard, presenting so difficulties to deal with, but not truly formidable.
This was, actually, a quite reasonable phenonon.
After all, the current gathering area was only one of the dozen or so parts of the Jungle Hut. If it was easy to encounter a Second-level Wizard or soone even stronger, the Jungle Hut wouldn’t have stayed hidden in the forest, and he would have had to change his original plans.
This is what Richard thought as Lilith spoke up with a hoarse voice to everyone, “One by one, in order, pass through the door I just cast. Let’s start with the first one now!”
The first in line was a girl, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with ponytails. Hearing Lilith’s words, she looked a bit nervous, but dared not refuse; she took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and walked toward the golden glowing door, then quickly passed through.
The mont the girl passed through, the glowing door shook violently, as if it were about to explode, but then settled back to calmness.
Seeing this, Lilith’s remaining eye showed so admiration, and she said, “Not bad, you indeed have superior-level talent. Go sit over there.” She pointed to a step nearby.
“Yes,” the girl obediently said, without any superfluous words, and sat down.
Lilith looked back at the line and spoke to the chubby boy who was second in line, “It’s your turn!”
“Uh…” The chubby boy responded, his fat jiggling as he dragged his feet through the light gate.
The light flickered slightly and quickly returned to normal.
Lilith’s expression imdiately turned disdainful. She nonchalantly gestured toward a corner and told the chubby boy, “You, go over there.”
“Sit on the ground?” The chubby boy looked in the direction Lilith was pointing, saw that there was no one there, and couldn’t help but ask quietly.
“Hmph!” Lilith snorted coldly. “With your inferior talent, you don’t deserve to sit. Kneel for .”
The chubby boy’s expression stiffened, like an eggplant hit by frost, and he hung his head, not daring to retort. He walked over and obediently knelt down, then cupped his head in his hands.
Lilith, however, was too lazy to pay much attention to the chubby boy and looked back at the line, setting her eyes on the third person—Richard.
“Go!” Lilith said just one word to Richard.
Richard didn’t linger. He stepped toward the light gate, unworried. After all, he had already disguised his talent and hidden his strength. Before coming to the Jungle Hut, he had specifically prepared himself, and it was not just a First-level Wizard who could not see through him, but even a Second-level Wizard.
Richard calmly passed through the light gate, and as he had anticipated, the light gate flickered several tis before calming down—not as violently as the first girl, nor as blandly as the second chubby boy, striking a balance between the two.
Lilith glanced at him, her eyelids flicked, and her expression was calm, “Ordinary talent, then go stand over there.” As she spoke, Lilith pointed to a spot different from where the girl and chubby boy were standing—her thod of categorization was clear: those with excellent talent were allowed to sit and rest, those with ordinary talent could stand normally, and those with inferior talent had to kneel.
Richard intended to hide his own skills and naturally did not make any conspicuous moves. He walked over without resistance and stood firm.
Lilith began to test the rest of the people.
The fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh…
Soon, all the people in the line were tested. It was apparent that there were the fewest with excellent talents, only five, while those with ordinary and inferior talents were not much different, numbering twelve and fifteen respectively.
After the testing was completed, Lilith looked towards Martha, “Alright, I’ve grasped the situation. The quality of students recruited is declining with each session, but we’ll make do for now.”
“Snap!”
Lilith tossed a short scroll to Martha, then said, “Here are so Wizards who need students. Now, take these students and assign them. Rember, students with excellent talent are already reserved; they cannot be assigned arbitrarily. As for those with ordinary and inferior talent, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes,” Martha obediently said.
“That’s good,” Lilith responded, turned around, entered the straw hut, and disappeared from everyone’s sight.
As soon as Lilith entered the hut, Martha imdiately resud her persona as the Black Heart Queen, swept her gaze over all the students, and began ordering them according to their talent into three rows, leading them toward the center of the gathering place.
Richard, in the middle row of the team and looking unremarkable, followed silently. Only his eyes flickered from ti to ti, pondering sothing unknown.
…
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