The Black Bear Gang's encounter quickly spread throughout the entire airship.
After hearing this news, the apprentices discussed it animatedly, mostly pleased that Ridley had been dealt with. The girls who had been harassed by Ridley cheered even louder upon hearing the news.
But all of this was irrelevant to Richard.
At that mont, Richard was sitting in room 225, recovering his magic power while leisurely observing the several nobles before him.
"Would you gentlen care to introduce yourselves?"
Richard sat on a stool with Ali nervously standing beside him.
Although Richard did not know the nobles due to his lowly status, Ali was well-acquainted with them.
The nobles before him were the offspring of the major families of the Golden Bird Flower Kingdom. Ordinarily, even Ali's father would have to pay a hefty sum for an audience with them.
"I'll go first."
A tall, handso blond man took a seat opposite Richard.
"I am Kevin dici. I have co to invite you, Richard, to join our alliance."
"The dici Family!" Ali exclaid.
The dici Family was one of the most prominent noble families in the Golden Bird Flower Kingdom, with direct dominion and vassal territories amounting to a quarter of the kingdom's land.
Among the people, the dici family's history of rising from small traders to great nobility was admired and aspired to by countless rchants.
Richard, with his chin propped on his hand, said calmly, "It seems we have a big shot here."
The dici Family might be influential, but only within the Golden Bird Flower Kingdom. On this airship, there were no distinctions between high and low, only the strong and the weak, life and death.
Pass the test and you live; fail it and you die.
Kevin was not surprised by Ali's reaction, but Richard's indifference did startle him.
From Richard's response, it seed that his noble identity, along with his illustrious family, mattered little.
This gave Kevin a bit of a headache, but at the sa ti, he couldn't help but admire Richard more.
Not everyone could swiftly change the perspective they had held for over a decade. Those who could so easily beco wizard apprentices truly possessed sothing extraordinary.
After a mont of thought, Kevin decided to play the weaker role.
"But compared to wizards, the dici Family is nothing more than a group of mortals with a bit of strength."
Richard smiled. It seed that young master Kevin was a sensible man.
"So, Master Kevin, what is the strength of your organization? What position could I hold within it? What benefits could I obtain?"
Richard was not interested in verbal sparring with nobles. His questions went straight to the heart of the collaboration.
This left Kevin, accustod to noble negotiations, montarily at a loss for how to answer.
"Well..."
Kevin hemd and hawed, his brain spinning rapidly trying to articulate a structured response.
But his hesitation was enough for soone else to answer for him.
"Scum... Richard, I think you should take a longer view."
A red-haired noble from behind Kevin suddenly spoke up.
This red-haired noble was corpulent with a greasy face. Although he tried to sound conciliatory, he could not hide the stench of his noble arrogance—he looked down on Richard from the bottom of his heart.
"Joining us would be an opportunity for you. Our organization consists of nobles," said the fat, red-haired man with pride. "As long as you join us, you too can be part of that nobility."
As soon as the fat man spoke, Kevin knew the situation had taken a turn for the worse.
A man who cared not even for the prestigious dici Family, would he care for that obsolete noble status? Offer him the position of a duke and he would surely reject it without hesitation.
Sure enough, Richard erupted in laughter at the fat man's words.
"Hahahaha, Kevin, did you hear that? What a rich offer your lackey is making ."
Richard's sarcastic gaze swept over the group of nobles behind Kevin. Although they tried to appear amiable, their disdain for him was palpable.
In contrast, Kevin, of high pedigree, genuinely set his status aside and sought to recruit him.
"I must say this: I co from the great Birmingham family, and the dici Family doesn't warrant to be a follower of Kevin."
The red-haired hefty man's deanor turned serious as he explained, as if it were a matter of great importance.
He couldn't understand Richard's laughter - becoming a noble, an opportunity countless in the Golden Bird Flower Kingdom would pay for and never find.
Here this lowly commoner received such a grace and yet felt no gratitude, instead mocking him with laughter.
This was utterly illogical.
A commoner was always a commoner; even if one miraculously beca a wizard, that dull mind couldn't comprehend profound matters.
Kevin took a deep breath. He feared not a divine opponent but dreaded a swinish ally.
The fat man's words had almost rendered this recruitnt pointless, but Kevin still wanted to salvage the situation.
Richard, as wizard apprentice, would not only add considerable strength to their alliance but also reduce a threat.
"I swear on my family na! Boli, if you speak one more word, even a single letter, I will kick you out!"
Kevin's voice trembled with uncontainable fury, his blunt words inflating Boli's face with rage.
He opened his mouth as if to speak further, but upon seeing Kevin's icy glare, he ultimately closed it.
"Richard, you don't need to mind Boli's words. He's a new noble, and thus prideful about his status. Not all mbers of our organization are like that," Kevin turned back to Richard, his face instantly wearing a proper smile.
"In our alliance, we have one knight, two apprentice wizards about to connect with the Sea of Souls, and five knight attendants. Although I don't know the situation with other airships, I can say that the strength of our alliance is definitely sufficient to pass this exam,"
"And in our alliance, we also have a descendant of a legendary knight."
Saying this, Kevin leaned in close to Richard with a mysterious air,
"Richard, have you heard of that legend? The legendary knights who founded the seven great kingdoms ca from the realm of the gods, and their descendants carry the blood of gods."
Kevin's words piqued Richard's interest. He had indeed heard the legends of the legendary knights, how in ancient tis, seven knights ca from the realm of the gods to the human world and founded what are now the seven great kingdoms amidst a wilderness teeming with magic beasts.
According to legend, so of these knights possessed imnse strength, others could spew flas, so could transform into beasts, while others were impervious to blades and spears.
But from the way Kevin spoke, it seed these legendary knights had so connection to wizards.
"What do you an? Are you suggesting these legendary knights are also the ancestors of wizards?" Richard guessed.
"Not exactly, but it's pretty close,"
Kevin's eyes shifted, coyly holding back.
"It seems this is classified information I'll need to join to discover."
Richard pondered, his gaze shifting from Kevin to the group of nobles behind him and then back to Kevin.
"I have a question, and if you answer it for , I'll join your alliance," Richard sat up straight, his expression turning serious.
"Please, ask."
"Why would that knight and the two prospective apprentices form an alliance with you?"
Kevin's alliance seed quite odd to Richard.
mbers of an alliance should each have a purpose, or at least the majority of them should. Apart from the knight and wizard apprentices, the others in Kevin's alliance seed not to be burdens per se, but at least they were not of much use.
Such a misshapen alliance, by all logic, should not exist. Yet its existence implied there was so inner support unknown to Richard.
Richard speculated that this support might be the "Magic Tools" spoken of by the nobles.
"That question is simple," Kevin said, as if relieved, "Because most of us possess..."
"Kevin!" A short shout interrupted Kevin.
It was a woman from the nobility, clad in purple. In the Golden Bird Flower Kingdom, purple signified nobility, and to wear such attire, one's family must at least have produced a duke.
Seeing this, Richard shook his head in resignation, chiding himself for entertaining any illusions about nobles.
"It seems our cooperation will not be possible after all. Please take your leave."
Richard rose to see his guests out, not giving Kevin a chance to explain further.
If those nobles could show Richard even half, or even a third, of the respect Kevin did, he would have considered joining their organization.
Amongst so many apprentices, Kevin was certainly not the only one forming an alliance. If they were to enter the exam, these alliances would primarily prey upon individual apprentices.
But the attitude of these nobles was such that Richard didn't dare trust them with his back.
Moreover, Ali had also beco an apprentice. Why would teaming up with Ali, soone he knew well and trusted, not be better than teaming up with these nobles?
Seeing Richard's resolute deanor, Kevin said nothing more and, following etiquette, shook hands with Richard and departed.
After they left, Richard opened the palm of the hand he had used to shake with Kevin.
A piece of paper filled with Wizard Language suddenly appeared in his palm.
"This Kevin is quite interesting," Richard smiled and casually tucked the note into his pocket.
Half an hour later, after maintenance, the airship resud high-speed flight, and all the apprentices returned to their cramped rooms.
Richard sat on his bed, replaying the fight in his mind.
He had cast Magic Missile eight tis, using up about half of his magic power. This ant that if he were to use all his magic power, he could cast Magic Missile a total of fifteen tis.
Although described in books as feeble and weak, to the point that no one except novice wizard apprentices would waste magic power so, the potency equivalent to that of bullets surprised Richard when actually used.
Fifteen Magic Missiles amounted to fifteen bullets.
With such power, Richard was confident that as long as he wasn't ambushed or attacked by a group, he could definitely pass the exam.
Having replayed the battle in his mind, Richard took the note out of his pocket.
The ssage inside was simple: Kevin proposed to hire Richard not to kill him during the entrance exam for the price of one Magic Stone.
The paynt, a Magic Stone, would be settled after admission.
"The mind of a noble who started in trade is much better than that of those idiots," Richard remarked as he stuffed the note back into his pocket.
For Richard, this deal ant gaining a Magic Stone without needing to do anything.
And for Kevin, getting what he wanted—an assurance of safety in the exam from a Wizard Apprentice who was essentially a predator—seed undoubtedly worthwhile.
It was a win-win trade.
...
After its maintenance, the airship did not slow down at any point during the journey.
For ten continuous days, the airship flew non-stop to its designated location.
As the leader of the recruiting wizards and wielding a massive sword the size of a door, Aireli beheld the towering black spire piercing the clouds and issued an order.
"Prepare to land!"
They had arrived at Black Tower Wizard Academy.
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