After living on the South Coast for so many years, Leilin had gained some understanding of the basic situation here.
Geographically, although the South Coast was called a coast, it was in fact an immense continent, covering complex terrain such as mountains, swamps, plains, snowfields, and some hidden, perilous ruin zones that even official Wizards dared not explore.
The vast majority of inhabitants on this continent were the indigenous people. These ordinary folk numbered around one hundred million, divided into hundreds of principalities, duchies, and similar entities of various sizes.
Behind these principalities, Dark Wizards and White Wizards pulled the strings.
Those ruling Grand Dukes and nobles were, in essence, the descendants of numerous official Wizards!
Periodically, the major Wizard organizations on the South Coast would directly test the soul talent of the nobility, selecting apprentices to impart knowledge and power, thereby ensuring the continuation of their rule from one generation to the next.
Although these academies also accepted a certain number of commoner apprentices, the proportion was extremely low. Only those with exceptional talent were considered, and even then, their personal safety often could not be guaranteed.
Some White Wizard academies would not even accept commoner apprentices at all; only Dark Wizards were fond of doing so!
However, despite such a large population base, the probability of commoners possessing soul talent was still far too low.
Only in one out of several thousand, or even ten thousand commoners would one lucky individual with Wizard potential emerge, able to become an apprentice.
And that would often be with rather mediocre talent. To have third-rank, let alone fourth-rank or fifth-rank talent, was truly a matter of complete luck.
Therefore, many academies and schools did not perish due to enemy invasion, but because they could not find suitable successors, causing their own strength to gradually wane until they eventually vanished.
Dark and White Wizards each had their own spheres of influence, and recruiting apprentices from the other side was absolutely forbidden. Due to management philosophies and other issues, the population and prosperity under Dark Wizard rule were far inferior to those under White Wizards.
Thus, recruiting apprentices from territories outside their own became an additional means for Dark Wizard organizations to replenish their ranks.
Black Bone Forest Academy was precisely such a Dark Wizard organization. Each year, the apprentices it expelled even outnumbered those it recruited. Since it could not snatch people from White Wizard territory, and facing a shortage of new recruits, it had turned its attention to the Keli Archipelago.
Despite all these methods, the total number of official Wizards across the entire South Coast remained relatively small.
Furthermore, the difficulty of a Wizard's advancement increased progressively.
Those apprentices with first-rank or second-rank soul talent were basically unlikely to ever advance in their entire lives; third-rank apprentice was their endpoint.
And for official Wizards, advancement was even more arduous. With the upward path monopolized, apprentices of common origin had never even heard of advanced Meditation Methods. Even if they luckily advanced, they would be of the most mediocre and ordinary kind.
Second-rank Wizards were even rarer — even if you added up every second-rank Wizard across the entire South Coast, the total wouldn't reach one hundred!
And precisely because of this, when the White Wizard Alliance lost four second-rank Wizards in succession during battle, their overall strength plummeted, emboldening the Dark Wizards to stir.
If second-rank Wizards were the true elites — the warlords and heroes holding dominion over their respective territories — then third-rank Wizards were the real masters of the South Coast!
From what Leylin had seen and heard, in this modern era where fourth-rank Morning Star Wizards had all but vanished, third-rank Wizards were the true rulers of the South Coast!
In fact, even combining every third-rank Wizard with documented deeds, the number wouldn't exceed ten! Each one possessed the power of a supreme leader like the Night Lighthouse!
From the descriptions in the Eyes of Coamor and the Book of the Giant Serpents, once a Wizard advanced to the third rank, they would awaken all sorts of extraordinary abilities, and the gulf between them and second-rank Wizards was as vast as heaven and earth.
Under the pursuit of a third-rank Wizard, no matter what precautions that second-rank Wizard Eris had taken, he would have nowhere to hide.
"That Eris is most likely being hunted by a third-rank Wizard! And he's fleeing in this direction!"
Leylin felt he had guessed the truth.
"That black market shop actually dared to deceive me with false information! Let me never see them again..."
When it came to the black market and the Iron Crown, Leylin naturally placed a bit more trust in the local powers.
Moreover, he was quite interested in that exchange meeting.
"The exchange meeting hosted by the Iron Crown? I suppose I really ought to go take a look..."
Leylin pondered as he turned a corner.
Then, a silver-haired old man emerged and quickly disappeared into the crowd of the market...
……
Three days later.
Along a cliff face not far from the Thorn Iron Gate.