Chapter 184: Chapter 184 – Concept
The Hunter’s House’s region was not as advanced as most people thought.
There were a decent number of Sorcerers within it, and there were quite a few Sorcerer organizations. They would also take in new students like the Hunter’s House and boost their numbers.
However, in some continents that were further away, Sorcerers were essentially just legends. In fact, even the top-level figures did not even know about the existence of Sorcerers.
In those places, the strongest people were Knights.
The place that Chen Heng was from was not that behind, but it was not very advanced either.
Because of this, having an opportunity to be tested for Sorcerer talent was very rare for most people.
In the past, only the core members of Sorcerer families would have this opportunity.
However, Chen Heng had made this test available to all as long as they satisfied the conditions and could make it to the test.Once this news was spread, it naturally caused many Sorcerer families to move out and head towards the Doyle family’s territory.
Time gradually passed.
Many days later, within a large plaza, there was a stone slab set up already, looking quite eye-catching.
The stone slab looked quite special, and the materials that it contained were not the same as ordinary stone slabs.
On the stone slab, there was a complex Sorcerer Formation.
Chen Heng stood in front of the stone slab and slowly moved his hand, setting up the Sorcerer Formation.
During this process, no one dared to say anything.
The Sorcerers in the surroundings all closely watched Chen Heng’s actions as if they were afraid of missing even a single detail.To the Sorcerers of this continent, even a Sorcerer Formation for testing Sorcerer talent was incredibly rare.
In the past, they would never be able to come into contact with something like this.
Now that they had the opportunity to watch such a formation being set up, they naturally could not let this opportunity go.
Chen Heng did not mind.
The setting up of a Sorcerer Formation was incredibly intricate and complicated.
To Chen Heng, the difficulty of this Sorcerer Formation was not great, but this was not necessarily the case for others.
In actuality, to all Sorcerers, grasping a Sorcerer Formation was very difficult.
Even in the Hunter’s House, only very few Third Rank Apprentices could set up this kind of Sorcerer Formation.
For others to learn while he was setting it up, it was almost impossible.As such, he did not hide anything and set up the Sorcerer Formation in front of all of these Sorcerers.
By the side, Griffin was wearing a black Sorcerer’s robe and had a gentle smile on his face as he chatted with some Sorcerers.
However, as he chatted, he stared at Chen Heng’s actions, trying not to miss anything at all.
Soon, Chen Heng completed the Sorcerer Formation.
“It’s done.”
After finishing it up, Chen Heng got up and looked at the various Sorcerers.
“Incredible…”
An elderly Sorcerer who looked quite thin and shriveled, but looked like he was in good condition, spoke as he looked at Chen Heng, “Griffin, your grandson has brought you great glory.
“His achievements in Sorcerer Formations have surpassed even us old fellows.”
“Indeed…”Hearing this, Griffin lightly sighed, “He has completely surpassed me. Apart from magic power, which I have the advantage in due to my age, I cannot compare to Ed at all…”
There was a proud look on his face, but there were also faint hints of sorrow.
Evidently, even though he was proud of his grandson, being surpassed by the later generation was quite uncomfortable.
This was especially so for someone like Griffith.
However, he was overall quite happy about this.
At the end of the day, this was his grandson, the future successor of the Doyle family. He was the only person in the Doyle family with hopes of becoming a true Sorcerer in many generations.
Looking at Griffin, the other Sorcerers all sighed and felt quite complicated.
Even though Chen Heng wanted to increase the number of Sorcerers at his disposal, he did not invite anyone and everyone.Although he could store up magic power now, the magic power crystals were not unlimited and the number of people he could test were limited.
As such, those who had come here to participate in the testing were all Sorcerer families on good terms with the Doyle family.
Only those people had the right to bring their younger generations here to take the test.
Of course, in order to participate in this test, they had to pay a price—their own magic power.
While they stayed in the Doyle family’s residence, they had to provide half of their magic power every day.
These Sorcerers were all old Sorcerers, and all of them were old monsters of Griffin’s generation. Even some of the younger ones were in their later years.
Even though their strength had gone into decline, the amount of magic power they had was still vast, and it was far more than younger Apprentices.
These people’s magic power was very useful for Chen Heng’s magic power crystals.
This could make up for some of the magic power that he used for the testing Sorcerer Formation.
Soon, the Sorcerer Formation gave off a light that shined on the surrounding people.
Seeing this, everyone’s reactions were different, but they all looked over.
“I’m sure everyone knows the rules,” Chen Heng said as he looked at the various Apprentices, “Each family can test at most ten people.”
The reason why there was a limit was to make sure every family had the same opportunity.
After all, if they were not restricted, no matter how many magic power crystals Chen Heng had, he would not be able to bear it.
If each family only sent ten people, he would be able to make sure every family got their turn while also making full use of the Sorcerer Formation’s energy.
Hearing Chen Heng’s words, the Sorcerers all nodded.
They were all clear as to the rules and had made preparations.
Even though it was just ten people, this was already enough.
Even though it was only possible to confirm whether or not someone had Sorcerer talent with a special Sorcerer Formation, one could still make guesses based on their usual performance.
Those with Sorcerer talent usually had decent mental energy.
Those people had powerful memories and were seen as much more intelligent than ordinary people.
As such, the people brought this time were all such people.
Soon, the testing began.
Chen Heng stood by Griffin’s side with a calm expression as he silently watched the testing take place.
The people went up one by one.
They were all carefully chosen from the various families, so it was quite likely that they had Sorcerer talent.,
Despite this, the results were quite surprising.
Out of the five families, only three people had Sorcerer talent, and they were all in different families.
Three out of 50 was not a very big percentage, but this was better than usual.
If one were to test commoners, to be able to find one or two people with Sorcerer talent out of 1,000 would already be quite good.
Thinking to there, Chen Heng could not help but inwardly shake his head, feeling quite annoyed.
“Looks like I have to find a way to get around how difficult it is to test people…” Chen Heng thought to himself.
If he wanted to achieve his future goals, he needed a large number of Sorcerers to join him.
Apart from finding Sorcerers and asking them to join him, the best method was to discover untapped potential and nurture them himself.
Even though finding Sorcerers was the most direct way, it would be difficult to guarantee their loyalty. If Chen Heng was not powerful enough and could not give them sufficient benefits, they would choose to leave or betray him.
As for those he nurtured himself, their loyalty and likelihood of staying were much higher.
It was just that given the circumstances, if he wanted to find people with Sorcerer talent, he would have to find a way to resolve the issue of testing.
“The number of Sorcerer families is limited, and even though they have a higher chance of having Sorcerer talent, there are too few of them.”
Standing there, Chen Heng thought to himself, “If I want to find a large number of students with Sorcerer talent, I have to look among mortals.”
Even though Sorcerer families were more likely to have Sorcerer talent, Sorcerers did not have a very high reproduction rate; they could not compare to mortals in this regard.
In the Sorcerer world, the Sorcerer reproduction rate was a big problem.
The more powerful the bloodline, the more difficult it was to conceive; this was the rule of this world.
Compared to Sorcerer families, there were far more mortals.
Just the continent that Chen Heng was in had tens of millions of ordinary mortals.
If he could find people with Sorcerer talent among them, that would be a massive number.
Compared to those from Sorcerer families, ordinary people would be more loyal and willing to follow orders.
This was quite a good plan.
It was just that there was a big obstacle standing in Chen Heng’s way—the testing method.
The testing method’s costs were too high.
Even though Chen Heng was able to store magic power in magic power crystals, this was still the case.
As such, he had to rework the testing procedure to make this happen.
Only by reducing the costs could ordinary people have a chance of being tested.
Otherwise, he would be making a heavy loss.
“There’s also the Knights testing method; I can try that…”
Even though Chen Heng had become a Sorcerer, he had not forgotten his old route.
Compared to Sorcerers, Knights were much weaker, but there was something that somewhat made up for this.
Ordinary Knights who had activated their Life Seed were between a Second Rank Apprentice and Third Rank Apprentice. However, once they ignited their Life Seed, their battle power would be very great.
If it was a Great Knight, their power could rival a Third Rank Apprentice.
Above Great Knights were further routes.
Just like Sorcerers, this was a route with great prospects.
As a previous Great Knight, Chen Heng did not mind trying.
Many thoughts flashed through his mind before he looked to the side.
The testing had finished and the people in the surroundings began to disperse.
Only Griffin was still standing there.
“Grandfather, you can make arrangements for those people,” Chen Heng said softly with a calm expression.
“Alright,” Griffin said as he looked at Chen Heng, not saying much.
Just as they had agreed on, the students who passed would stay behind and become Chen Heng’s students—there would be four of them in total.
Of course, it would not be the same as the previous four.
In order for them to learn under Chen Heng, their families had to pay a price.
However, their families did not mind and all agreed.
“After this test, the other families will most likely hear about it,” Chen Heng thought to himself.
The reason why he had held this test was partially to spread news of this.
Even though this time was ‘free’, the next time it would not be; in fact, it would be quite expensive.
Based on what Chen Heng had been thinking, each person would have to pay two magic stones.
Each activation of the Sorcerer Formation could test 50 people; this would allow him to earn 100 magic stones.
Even to Chen Heng, this was not a small figure.
Once news of this test spread, there would most likely be many people who would want to come.
Thinking about that, Chen Heng could not help but smile.
“I wonder how the academy is doing these days.”
It had been two years since Chen Heng had left the Hunter’s House.
Over the past two years, Chen Heng had changed much.
Not only had he become a Third Rank Apprentice, but he had also single handedly developed the Doyle family to this state and taught four students.
There still was not any news from the Hunter’s House.
Chen Heng’s teacher, Charlie, had not contacted Chen Heng, nor had the academy sent any information.
Over the past two years, Chen Heng had tried to gather information, but it did not sound good.
Over there, the fighting became even more intense. After two years, not only did they not seem like they were going to stop, but the fighting instead became even more terrifying.
Even the region that the Hunter’s House was in was dragged into the battle, causing the situation to become quite chaotic.
There were many Sorcerers leaving the region, but many of them were swept into the war and joined either side.
Hearing this, Chen Heng could only give up on leaving his hometown.
“I wonder when this will conclude…” Chen Heng thought to himself.
After staying here for a while, he returned to his laboratory.
Within the laboratory, some things had been prepared.
“Young master Ed…”
Standing in front of the laboratory, the old butler’s expression was respectful as he said quietly, “The things have been prepared; please take a look…”
Hearing this, Chen Heng nodded and walked in.
Inside the laboratory was a cage, within which was something unique.
On the surface, it looked like a human, but it had feathered wings. Only its head was human-shaped, and it looked like a human woman.
“Harpy…” Looking at the things in the cage, Chen Heng was quite surprised, “And it looks like it’s the variant kind…”
Chen Heng had seen Harpies before.
They were quite rare to see and were not very intelligent. They usually lived in flocks and were not very strong; they could not compare to even ordinary mortals.