Given that fully-awakened wizards were exceedingly rare, there were always counter slots sitting empty.
At the moment, a handful of wizards were scattered across the benches around the main hall, apparently waiting for something.
Leilin surveyed the area, then walked over to an unoccupied counter.
"Welcome!" The young woman behind the counter also radiated the energy fluctuations of a Third-rank Apprentice. Her face lit up with a warm smile as she greeted him. "How can I help you today?"
"I'd like to join the
"Nightless City welcomes you!" The receptionist's smile grew even brighter upon hearing his request. "May I see your ring, please?"
Leilin slipped the silver ring from his hand and passed it over.
The young woman took it, scanned it against a device behind the counter, then respectfully returned it.
"Please fill out this form. We'll get back to you as soon as possible." She handed Leilin a parchment form.
Leilin took it and gave it a quick glance.
The questions were straightforward — name, aptitude, elemental affinity, current address, and so on. There was also a remarks section at the end, inviting the wizard to note anything they considered important.
Leilin filled it out rapidly and handed the form back.
The young woman accepted it, then pressed a spot on a crystal orb before her, seemingly making an inquiry. After a moment, she looked up with a delighted expression.
"Master Leilin! Several examiners from the Four Seasons Garden will be coming here this afternoon to conduct a test. You simply need to wait a little while…"
"Oh? It seems I'm in luck!"
Leilin smiled and nodded. He finally understood what all the wizards in the hall were waiting for.
According to what Cleo had told him, once a wandering wizard submitted an application form, they needed to wait for the chosen faction's examiners to come and conduct the assessment.
The timeline was uncertain — it could be a few days, or it could be several months.
And Leilin had happened to hit the mark this time.
"Thank you!"
Leilin thanked the young woman behind the glass, then made his way to a quiet corner of the hall, sat down, and closed his eyes to wait.
"Excuse me, sir — would you like lunch?"
A somewhat timid feminine voice sounded beside him.
Leilin opened his eyes and found a maidservant pushing a white catering cart up to him. On the cart sat several silver platters fitted with temperature-control spells, and despite the covers, the savory aroma of food still drifted toward his nose.
"What's on the menu? Do I need to pay with Magic Stones?" Leilin asked with some curiosity.
The maidservant was clearly not used to encountering a wizard as approachable as Leilin and was momentarily at a loss. "We have roast lamb leg, calf kidneys… and for dessert, a mixed fruit salad! Everything is completely complimentary…"
Leilin nodded. It seemed Nightless City treated its fully-awakened wizards quite well.
This was only natural. Regardless of where one went, those who possessed a certain degree of power always commanded respect.
"I'll have the roast lamb leg and a fruit salad, please!"
The hall was expansive, with private cubicles available for those who preferred seclusion. Beyond the dining service, there appeared to be certain… special offerings as well.
Leilin had witnessed a burly wizard pulling a maidservant into one of the side cubicles. Moments later, muffled moans drifted out from behind the partition.
"M-Master… if you have any need…" The maidservant attending to Leilin was quite the beauty herself, and her coy, bashful expression was enough to stir desire in any man.
"No need. I'll eat out here."
Leilin shook his head. The hall had simple round tables and benches, the design rather reminiscent of the cafés from his previous life. He could dine here perfectly well.
He was quite certain his brain hadn't deteriorated to that degree. The assessment was coming up that very afternoon — the last thing he needed was to indulge at noon and risk being in poor form.
Hearing his answer, the maidservant let out a quiet breath of relief, though whether it was from a sense of release or a hint of disappointment, only she could say.
She watched Leilin — so elegant in his movements, carrying an inexplicable charm — and for a moment, her feelings were a complicated tangle she couldn't put into words.
Leilin, for his part, paid no attention to the small thoughts of the maidservant beside him.
At the moment, he was deftly wielding his silver knife and fork, lifting pieces of lamb into his mouth with every movement exuding an indescribable nobility and grace.
In his previous life, he had always been mindful of etiquette. And Leilin's original body belonged to a noble heir who had been trained by professional etiquette masters for a long stretch of his youth.
So the original Leilin had already possessed considerable aristocratic bearing. Layered on top of that was the charm bonus of the Komoan bloodline — a combination that attracted no small amount of admiration from female wizards.
At the very least, Leilin found that simply walking the streets of Nightless City was enough to catch young women stealing glances in his direction.
Some curvaceous female wizards had even walked up and directly asked him out on dates, leaving Leilin both amused and exasperated.
After finishing his rather tasty lunch, Leilin waited a while longer. Then he felt a stir among the wizards in the hall.
"They're here?"
Under Leilin's gaze, two wizards wearing white outer robes adorned with four types of unknown botanical patterns arrived at the center of the hall.
Alongside them were two figures shrouded entirely in white cloaks, revealing only a pair of green eyes.
"Today is the assessment day for both the Four Seasons Garden and Finke's Hand. All wizards who have submitted forms wishing to join Finke's Hand — please follow me!"
The green-eyed wizard spoke first. His voice sounded as though his vocal cords had been shredded, producing a harsh, rasping tone.
As he spoke, the air around him trembled faintly, and a ring of emerald-green light flickered around his body.
"Is that… a semi-elementalized wizard?!" Leilin narrowed his eyes.
The fluctuations bore a striking resemblance to those of the clone from the Lilisite family elder he had encountered previously.
After the cloaked figure revealed his semi-elementalized power, the hall fell silent in an instant.
Wizards always respected strength above all else, and this was especially true among wandering wizards and dark wizards.
Moreover, in general, wandering wizards and certain wanted wizards lacked resources and had no stable channels for acquiring advanced knowledge or potions. Breaking through their bottlenecks was exceedingly difficult.
As a result, wandering wizards tended to rank low. Even among those who had already advanced, those possessing semi-elementalized power were extraordinarily rare.
Yet here was Nightless City's major wizard faction casually dispatching two semi-elementalized wizards as examiners. Such power and heritage were things that ordinary small-scale wizard organizations could only look up to.
After speaking, the cloaked figure left the hall without hesitation, heading down a corridor to the side, while his companion followed silently behind.
Hearing the green-eyed wizard's words, a great many wizards in the hall rose to their feet and trailed closely after them.
From these wizards, Leilin sensed a jumble of mixed energy signatures. Some bore obvious telltale signs of beast blood — patches of fur on their faces and the like.
"What a shame — just beast-touched wizards, not warlocks," Leilin muttered to himself.
Right now, Leilin was desperate to find a warlock organization.
Regarding this ancient branch of wizardry, he had far too many questions that needed answers. A single copy of the Book of the Giant Serpent would only take him so far along the path of bloodline cultivation.
Unfortunately, it seemed warlocks had already gone extinct along the South Coast. Throughout all his travels, the only person he had found with even a tenuous connection to warlocks was that little girl in the Yinglan Duchy.
"Hello, everyone! I'm a wizard from the Four Seasons Garden — my name is
Unlike the brusque manner of Finke's Hand, the two examiners from the Four Seasons Garden were considerably more genial.
A middle-aged wizard with golden hair spoke first to introduce himself. Tain, standing beside him, maintained a taciturn demeanor, his gaze occasionally drifting off in distraction.
Even so, the powerful semi-elementalized fluctuations emanating from them kept the crowd of wandering wizards on their best behavior.
"Now then! Those of you who wish to undergo the assessment for our Four Seasons Garden — please follow me!"
Wade turned into a passage that ran in the exact opposite direction from the one taken by Finke's Hand. Tain followed closely behind.
Leilin exchanged glances with the five or six remaining wizards, then stepped forward and followed after them.
The passage was long, its floor constructed from some peculiar material — seamless and impeccably smooth. Leilin could even see his own reflection on the surface.
After walking for roughly ten minutes or so, Leilin and the others finally came to a stop in a hall slightly smaller than the previous one.
Inside this hall, eight or nine workstations had been arranged in the center, along with specialized apothecary equipment.
Upon seeing this, Leilin immediately understood what the Four Seasons Garden would be testing.
"As you are all aware, the Four Seasons Garden is a wizard faction renowned for its apothecaries. Therefore, we do have certain requirements regarding potionology for incoming members. The test is quite simple — within the allotted time, successfully prepare a bottle of Geoffrey Purification Potion!"
Wade spoke in a measured tone, but some form of spell seemed to carry his words, making his voice crystal clear to every wizard present.
"The raw materials have been laid out on each workstation. We have also prepared three sets of materials — meaning you will have at most two chances to fail!"
"A requirement like that…"
Leilin's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. The Geoffrey Purification Potion was a mid-grade potion, and even among mid-grade potions, it was notoriously difficult to prepare.
A time limit, with only three sets of raw materials — to pass this test, one would need to be at least a potion master of Guofate's caliber.
The collective hiss of sharp intakes of breath rippled through the room.
"Recruitment standards for the big factions in Nightless City have been getting stricter every year…" A complaint drifted toward Leilin's ears.