Chapter 78 – Unusual Performance
Behind the association's building was a large open space with a length and width of one hundred meters. Some distance away, set at ten meter intervals, were targets that were used to test magic.
All mages that wanted to register with the Mage Association had to cast a spell to prove that they were a mge, and also for the association to know what rating to give them.
Once they got to the grounds, Cart turned to Zhao and said, "Dear mage, please use your magic. Any magic will do. If you want to get an advanced mage badge, then use some advanced magic." He then stepped aside and quietly watched Zhao.
No one knew this, but although Carl wasn't a mage, due to his prolonged contact with mages over the years, he had gained some knowledge on magic and his ability to sense magic power was very sensitive. As long as a mage used magic, he would be able to analyze a mage's level. Eight times out of ten, his judgment would be correct.
It was because of Carl's judgment that he was able to have an inseparable relationship with the Mage Association for decades. Carl slowly built up their system to rate mages, by checking their magic control, what type of magic they used, how proficient they were at incantations, etc… which all reflected a mage's level.
There were a lot of mages that didn't have a low level, but this wasn't proportional to their fighting strength. Those mages have not experienced a lot of combat, so they lacked the capacity to respond and control their magic in tight situations.
Thanks to his superior judgment, Carl was able to ride the Purcell clan's coattails and become head of their Mage Association. Usually, those who served the association at a high level position were mages.
When Zhao entered Casa city, Carl got the news that he was heading to the Mage Association to register, so he immediately decided that he should personally go greet Zhao. In the end, he wanted to know what level Zhao was.
It had to be recognized that most people in the Continent would instinctively reject black mages, including the Purcell Clan. However, when the Markey Clan got news of Zhao's fighting strength, the Purcell Clan had to pay attention to him. If a mage was at a high enough level, clans would want to form a relationship with him no matter what type of magic he used. That was because high level mages were equivalent to nuclear weapons. Although they might not necessarily use such a weapon, it would be enough to deter an enemy just by having it.
If a famous mage in the Continent went to the Purcell Duchy, the Purcell Clan would warmly receive him, even if they couldn't pull that mage into their clan.
But for Zhao, the Purcell clan took a more calm attitude. They didn't take any initiative to get close to him, even though Zhao was very strong. That was because one of the principles of this large clan was that ability takes second place. Loyalty takes first place. The world has so many people, but those who were loyal were few. Even if your abilities were strong, if you always revolted, then no one would dare use you. That was the policy of the Purcell clan. If you were an eighth level mage, but you weren't loyal to them, then they wouldn't use you. They would rather have two loyal seventh level mages, than an unloyal eighth level mage.
Zhao's identity was still a secret and they couldn't find out much about him, so this made the Purcell clan reluctant to draw him in. Right now the Purcell clan was developing well since they had managed to establish their own principality. They weren't adventurous, especially towards unknown factors, so even though Zhao had great strength, if they got him to join their clan, they wouldn't be able to rest well with what little they knew about him. So they gave him the cold treatment.
But despite the cold treatment, they still had to pay attention to him. After all, since Zhao was now in Casa city, the Purcell Clan's face wouldn't look good if they didn't do anything.
Zhao didn't think too much about all of this. He just knew that he was short on money and registering at the Mage Association would at least give him an income of ten gold coins per month. To most mages, this was probably nothing, but it was very important to Zhao. The amount of money the Buda clan had could only add up to fifty gold coins, so this income was equal to a fifth of what they had.
Of course, Zhao knew that he would get an advanced mage badge as long as he released some undead, but he didn't know how much strength he should let these people see. Being too high profile wasn't part of Zhao's character.
In the end, without incantations, he just held up his staff and his undead appeared at his side.
Zhao didn't call out his army of undead. He just wanted to do enough to prove that he could do magic, even though it was actually pseudo-magic.
With the emergence of Alien, Carl's eyes widened. He had worked for the Mage Association for many decades and have seen countless mages using magic. Some of the magic was beautiful, while others were ugly. Some took a long time to cast, while others only took a short amount of time. But Zhao's casting time was really short. He just held up his magic staff and he was finished? Wasn't this a huge exaggeration?
Zhao gently touched his undead. Like a puppy, when Alien was touched by his owner, it madly wagged its tail, almost killing Carl. Feeling scared, Carl quickly jumped away.
After a while, Zhao returned his undead. Carl still wasn't reacting, so Green had to ask, "Did my master pass the test?"
Carl quickly recovered. "Yes, dear mage. This way please." He led everyone back to the seating area.
Once Zhao was sitting in the lounge, Carl turned and ran, then returned with some paper, which he put on the table in front of Zhao. "Dear mage, please fill out this form. This will complete all the formalities."
Zhao took the piece of paper and carefully looked through it. He found that it was very simple. He just needed to fill in the blank about his name, age, sex, and other basic things.
Zhao nodded, then gave the paper to Meg, who understood what Zhao meant. Carl then gave them a pen.
While looking at Zhao's performance, Carl's heart was crying. There were no rules that said a mage had to fill out the form himself, but most registering mages would do so. This was out of respect towards the Mage Association. The association was a national organization, so even those who weren't part of it would still show a little respect.
Carl had wanted Zhao to fill out the form, so as to collect some more information about Zhao. In the Continent, there were special handwriting appraisers that could learn all kinds of things from looking at someone's handwriting. Carl was planning to send the form to the Purcell clan, who could hire someone to analyze the handwriting and see if they could find any clues to Zhao's identity.
But he didn't expect that Zhao wasn't going to fill out the form himself, and instead got Meg to fill it out. His plans had been dashed. This made Carl highly wary of Zhao. In his opinion, everything Zhao did was intentional. It showed that he was trying to cover up his identity, which only dangerous people would do.
In fact, from the very beginning, Carl had been constantly observing Zhao. He saw Zhao’s attitude to the people around him and found that he acted like an orthodox nobleman. He had sent Zhao some tea just to see what he would do, but Zhao didn’t even touch the cup of tea. And so far, Zhao didn’t speak, so he couldn’t judge anything from the sound of his voice. His plans just kept dropping off.
Now his plan for him to fill out the form had also failed, which made Carl feel a deep impression from Zhao. He thought that Zhao must be a famous person on the Continent, but his reputation was certainly not good, so he had to cover his identity.
So what was Zhao’s true identity? Carl had no idea.
Translator Notes: This chapter was MTLed by Trung and edited by theno1fan. Please leave a comment if you've spotted anything that looks wrong.
