The bright and dazzling honeysuckle blooms in winter, and the snow on the dark green leaves shines with colorful light in the sun.
Deep among the gorgeous flowers, there is an inconspicuous long stone table.
The Great Moon Magician, Count Sofia of Omicia, was sitting at the head of the long table, with a beautiful female envoy standing behind her on either side.
Beside the long table, Chabollet sat on the left and Rosen sat on the right.
On the long table are fresh fruits that are rare in winter, as well as sweet milk tea with a rich aroma of tea and milk.
In addition, further outside, in those inconspicuous corners, there are many powerful guards hidden.
But all in all, the atmosphere of this afternoon tea party, hosted by Count Omichia himself, was already quite casual, at least more casual than the afternoon teas on other days.
After the opening courtesy greetings, the elegant Count Omicia held a small silver spoon and gently stirred the steaming tea in front of him.
She said in a normal chatting tone: "Chabolai, my nephew, your performance has disappointed me, but you have finally made some progress, at least in the past month or so."
Rosen's heart moved slightly when he heard this. This month or so was exactly the time that Chabolai had no use for.
From this point of view, the Count has actually been paying attention to Chapollet.
Chabolai stood up with a bang, straightened his body, and shouted: "Aunt, I'm sorry, I let you down!"
"Why are you so surprised? Have you forgotten all the noble etiquette Malkyri taught you?"
‘Plop~’
Chaballet sat back in his chair, and the chair groaned under his heavy weight.
He lowered his head with shame on his face: "Aunt, I also want to change, but I can't. As long as I see those tendernesses..."
She was interrupted by her aunt mid-sentence: "Shut up. I don't want to hear about the nasty things that happened in the brothel baths."
"Yes, aunt."
At this moment, Chabolai was as well-behaved as a kitten.
Count Omicia turned to Rosen again: "How old is your child?"
"After the Winter Snow Festival, I'll be 16."
"Hmm~ Then you look too thin. You should eat more meat and drink more goat's milk. You should also abstain from sexual intercourse before the age of 20, so as not to become as short as Chaballet in the future."
Rosen quickly glanced at the Great Moon Magician next to him with his peripheral vision, and what he saw was a woman about 50 years old, with a beautiful face, and her facial features were similar to those of Chabolai, but they were more mature than the latter.
Much more symmetrical.
She was slightly stout, but her back was straight and her eyes were focused, giving her the majesty of a superior person.
At this moment, the other party was looking at him with kind eyes, like an old woman who cared about her children.
Naturally, he would not argue with the other party on trivial matters, and immediately nodded: "I remember, Lord Earl."
Xia Bolai, who was innocently shot, looked annoyed: "Aunt, the reason why I don't grow taller is because of the inheritance of my parents' blood, and it has nothing to do with other things."
"Of course I know it's related to your father. But if you can control your desires, you can not only grow taller, but also have a better figure, instead of embarrassing our Omisia family like you are now!"
Chabolai was ashamed and angry, and argued loudly: "Auntie, you are serious!"
"Okay, okay, let's not talk about these old nonsense."
Count Omicia waved his hand gently and got rid of his nephew's entanglement.
She continued to say to Rosen: "Xia Bolay said that you have excellent magical talent and a great brain. Is it true?"
Rosen replied: "It's Mr. Chaballet who flattered me. I have some talents and I'm not stupid, but I can only make a small splash in a small place like White Horse Town. In a big city like Silver Moon Castle where there are many talented people,
It just seems mediocre.”
Count Omicia nodded slowly: "Yes, yes, you can have such a decent reply at such a young age. My stupid nephew finally did something reliable."
"Aunt, I'm not stupid!"
"Smart people never argue about this. Then, shut up and listen!"
Chabolai felt uncomfortable holding it back, so he could only drink milk tea silently. After drinking one cup, he ordered another cup, and then continued drinking.
After easily suppressing his nephew's resistance, Count Omicia asked again: "What has Thrandis taught you in the past few years?"
After finishing speaking, he added: "You answer truthfully and don't hide anything, because I don't like children who think they are smart."
Rosen had no intention of being clever in front of the Archmage.
He replied loudly: "During this period, the instructor taught me all the knowledge that a formal mage should master."
"Oh, she taught you a lot. It seems that she really values you. So, in addition to standard knowledge, did she teach you her own unique insights into magic?"
"There are teachings."
"What are they?"
Rosen replied seriously: "I respect you very much, madam, but it concerns the tutor's personal privacy. I can't say anything without the tutor's permission."
The count was very satisfied: "Well, he is a polite and cautious child, much more sensible than Chaballet!"
‘Gudu~’
After Xia Bolay drank a large cup of milk tea, he stood up and said, "Aunt, I'm going to relieve myself."
Count Omicia immediately scolded: "How old are you, and you still need to report to me when you relieve yourself? Do you want me to hold it for you like I did when I was a child?"
Xia Bolay's face turned dark and red, and he strode away.
Count Omicia looked at his back, sighed softly, and then turned to look at Rosen.
"Thrandis has indeed taught a lot, but how much have you mastered?"
Rosen thought about it carefully and replied: "My memory is pretty good. I have memorized all the specific magic knowledge, but I can't understand it all."
"The instructor's evaluation is that I only understand about 30% of it, and the rest will take time to fully digest."
There were too many things, and he just forced himself to remember them. Fortunately, he already had the knowledge base to move forward. Even if no one was there to guide him, he could slowly improve himself.
"It's pretty good to have three achievements. When I was learning the basics of magic, my performance was only slightly better than yours."
She asked again: "What about magic? A formal mage should master the three virtues and six skills. How have you learned it?"
Rosen also answered truthfully: "I have learned them all and can cast spells skillfully."
Count Omicia's eyes suddenly lit up: "You have learned everything? How many stars does your spell casting ability have?"
"It's currently four stars, but when it's in particularly good condition, it can barely reach five stars."
"This is not simple."
There was no complacency on Rosen's face: "It's all thanks to the instructor's dedicated teaching. She not only explained the structure and principles of the spell in detail, but also integrated the training methods into my daily life, allowing me to make progress every moment."
The fusion was quite deep, and even when they were intimate, they didn't forget to explore his limits, which almost caused him to have a psychological shadow.
"No wonder. It seems that your mentor values you very much. But this is still not something that ordinary people can do easily. At least my stupid nephew has absolutely no chance."
After insulting Chabolai again, she waved to Rosen: "Come here and come to me."
Rosen did as he was told.
After Rosen came to her side, Count Omicia stretched out his palm, with silver light shining on it: "Alagog Vajra Palm, are you sure you can do it?"
"meeting."
"Very good, now use your full strength to strike against me."
Rosen took a deep breath, used Vajra Palm, and then poured 90% of his mana into it. A bright yellow to almost white light suddenly appeared on his palm.
"With high-intensity fire polarity mana, it is very good that you can achieve such an achievement at your age!"
After saying that, Count Omicia gently pushed his palm forward.
"Don't play with your spell-casting skills, I just want to know your level of magic."
Rosen complied.
The next moment, both palms collided.
Just hearing a muffled "bang" sound, Rosen felt a huge force coming towards him. He could no longer maintain the mana structure of the Vajra Palm, and his whole body was pushed back by the huge force, and he kept retreating for five years.
After six steps, he barely managed to stabilize his body.
"Not bad~very good!"
Count Omichia's black eyes, which were the same as Chaballet's, were full of admiration.
"This is the first time I've seen someone at your age catch the Vajra Palm where my little mana has been condensed. You are much more promising than my nephew!"
Just in time, Chabolai came back from relieving himself. After hearing this, he sat down on the chair without saying a word and continued to drink tea.
Count Omisia raised his hand to signal Rosen to return to his seat.
After he sat down, she said solemnly.
"My child, your spells are already at a considerable level, no less than a low-level official mage."
"Now, you have two choices."
"First, go back to your studio, continue to sell those glamorous oil paintings that are not on the market, save money to learn magic, and after two or three years, you can barely become a notorious official mage, and live an ordinary life without worrying about food, clothing, housing and transportation.
days until I die of old age in a mediocre way."
"Second, accept my test task. If you pass it successfully, I will not only directly sign your official mage assessment form, but I will also personally guide you for a month."
There are three levels of formal mage assessment, namely lord, mage guild and temple.
Considering the Count's huge reputation in the mage community of Silver Moon Castle, as long as she recognizes Rosen's ability, it means that the first two can be solved at once, and then only the temple can be solved.
So Rosen was very moved.
But as soon as Sophia finished speaking, Chabolai shouted in dissatisfaction.
"Auntie, Rosen is only so old. What kind of testing task does he need, and he can only teach him for a month? Can't you just accept him as a direct apprentice?"
As soon as he heard this, Rosen knew that Charbolet was going to be scolded again, but he could also see that although the count was very disappointed in Charbolet, the relationship between aunt and nephew was as deep as mother and son.
"childish!"
Count Omicia's eyes widened and he shouted angrily: "Do you think that since I am Count Omicia, I can do whatever I want?"
"Do you think I can accept a commoner as an apprentice at will? What do you want the barons in the Highlands to think?"
"There are also some talented magic apprentices among their children and relatives, and they all want to be my apprentices."
"If I do what you say, I will be trampling on their dignity!"
"Do you want me to rely on a bunch of angry barons to rule the Yellow River Highlands? Huh?!"
"Keke is aunt. Isn't it your private matter to accept apprentices? If you are afraid of being said to be unfair, you can just accept a few more at one time."
Chabolai shrank his head and spoke weakly.
"Count Omicia has no personal affairs! Every decision I make represents the attitude of the entire family."
She sat upright, without the kindness of an old woman around her, only the majesty of the ruler of Silver Moon Castle.
"Rosen, I admire your talent in magic very much. Although you are young, you already have very outstanding personal abilities, especially good at investigation."
"Personally, I am willing to give you some advice."
"But you are from a humble background and cannot become my apprentice. Even if you only get my guidance, you must convince the entire Huangshui Highlands with your actual achievements."
"Now, tell me your choice!"
Rosen stood up and bowed to Count Omicia as an apprentice.
"I am willing to accept the test."
There are two roads ahead, one is mediocre and comfortable, the other is legendary and difficult.
Although the former is comfortable, it has lost its passion and is also very fragile. The quality of life depends on the thoughts of the big man.
More importantly, if you don't hone yourself in life and death, your spellcasting ability will never be able to break through the limit, and I'm afraid it will remain mediocre for the rest of your life.
So since you are going to practice, why not also strive for some worldly status?
A glimmer of relief flashed in Count Omicia's eyes: "Very good! I really saw the right person!"
She turned to look at Chapollet: "My nephew, tea time is over.
"Take this letter of appointment, take Rosen with you, and go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to collect the necessary supplies. Then immediately go to Yuehui Town to thoroughly investigate the situation of the pyroxene mine!"
"Attention, it's just an investigation, don't get too involved."
After Chabolai received the appointment letter, he read the contents slowly.
The count shouted sharply: "Chabolet, are you deaf? I mean right away!"
Xia Bolay understood it completely now, took Rosen with him, and left the Moon-Watching Garden in a hurry.
