Before nightfall, Jason selected more than twenty children with good qualifications from the refugee camp outside the city. They were basically eight to twelve years old, well-behaved, sensible, and quite smart.
It is impossible for all of these children to become wizards. In fact, training an apprentice costs a lot of money and consumes a lot of resources. It is lucky if one or two of them master the ability to cast spells, and the others will surely be lost to everyone.
The cleaned children put on new clothes and huddled respectfully and blankly in a small living room. Jason, as their master, gave some simple instructions.
Zhou Qingfeng stood in another corner of the living room admiring the painting on the wall. After looking at it for a long time, he realized that the painting was an elf art piece he had sold. Looking back, he said to Jason, who was not yet ready to be a 'master', "You need to meditate."
Potion?”
Jason shook his head and replied: "Thank you, there is no need for you to sell that thing to me. Don't forget, I am also an alchemist."
"I mean these kids."
"They need to learn 'self-meditation'."
"With potions, the learning process can be shortened and the success rate will be higher."
"Hell, a bottle of meditation potion costs at least thirty gold coins. I'm not so generous as to use such an expensive potion for a bunch of novices who are not even apprentices."
"What if I sell you ten gold coins a bottle?"
"That's too expensive."
This is the game of ‘people are more important or medicines are more important’. The useless dialogue is suspended here, no one can convince anyone.
Zhou Qingfeng called out to the living room, "Lorraine, come in."
The short-haired girl slowly walked in and curtsied. A tin bottle was handed to her. The owner ordered: "Drink it." She opened the cap of the bottle and poured all the liquid in the bottle into her mouth.
"Sit cross-legged and imagine that you are in the void." Zhou Qingfeng ordered again, "Use your soul to feel the stars in the void. That is the entrance to the magic net of the goddess of magic."
It is difficult for ordinary people to enter into focused meditation without special training. Qualification is a very elusive metaphysical concept and does not represent a person's development potential in a certain industry.
There are too many examples of "if you are small, you may not be great if you are big". Talent is important, but enough talents are the foundation.
Jason stared at Lorraine, frowned and said: "This is your apprentice. She is too old, and the possibility of sensing the magic network is very low."
The word 'very low' was Jason's judgment on Lorraine's qualifications for learning arcane arts. But Zhou Qingfeng shook his head, "I think the wizarding world's method of training apprentices is wrong. You place too much emphasis on the so-called 'qualifications'
Already."
After taking the 'meditation potion', Lorraine felt that she was in a very contradictory state. She seemed to be asleep, but her mind was very clear.
She couldn't move even a little finger or blink her eyes. Her mind felt dark, but her perception was greatly improved. She faced the void calmly until twinkling stars appeared in the void.
“Incredible.”
Jason stood in front of Lorraine, carefully observing the girl's face, and her expression gradually became serious. He was a real wizard, and he could keenly feel that the girl had indeed entered a meditative state. Although she had not gained anything yet, this was the first step to becoming a wizard.
Many people never take this step throughout their lives.
"Victor, how long have you been training this apprentice?" Jason asked.
Zhou Qingfeng shrugged, "About ten days ago, I took this girl in when I entered the city and have been using her as a servant. She is quite smart. If you mean meditation, this is her first time."
"Impossible." Jason flatly denied.
Zhou Qingfeng took out another bottle of 'meditation potion', "Ten gold coins a bottle, the quantity is limited, first come first served. According to my experiments, it can make the apprentice training success rate from less than one percent to
Five percent.”
Jason finally took the 'meditation potion' that Zhou Qingfeng took out seriously. He opened the bottle and put it to his nose and smelled it. "This is your high-concentration and extremely effective potion? It can really increase the success rate of cultivation to 100%."
Five?"
It is because the training success rate is too low, so every wizard squeezes his apprentices as much as possible, otherwise he will not be able to get back his capital.
Zhou Qingfeng finally said seriously at this moment: "Jason, I have a suggestion. I hope you will seriously consider it."
Jason's face sank, and he called the housekeeper to take all the children away and set up a 'warning ring', and then he said seriously: "I know you bastard won't show me good things. Tell me, what happened to you?"
Are you in trouble?"
"It's not that I'm in trouble, but that everyone in Coldwind City must make a choice. 'Old Longlegs' is going to die, and the official heir is Phils Longlegs."
Jason immediately wanted to speak out to express his position, but Zhou Qingfeng raised his finger to tell him to stop talking, "The dignitaries in the city are just like grassroots, and they all want to take advantage of the opportunity to gain greater benefits.
Don't deny it, you do the same. Phils looks strong, but in fact Marbury is too weak. No one stands up as a core, and I want to be the core."
"You...?" Jason's voice rose a few octaves, and he almost laughed, "You're just an outsider."
"Yes, I am an outsider. I have no conflict with everyone in Cold Wind City, and I will not infringe on anyone's rights. On the contrary, I can bring benefits to everyone, so it is most suitable for me to be the core.
We can completely leave the Longlegs family aside. Once ‘Old Longlegs’ dies, let them go. Coldwind City needs a new ruling class. And for me, I only need to set up an autonomous territory in the north of the city.”
Zhou Qingfeng was talking eloquently, and Jason was confused by what he said. The latter felt crazy when he heard this idea, and kept shaking his head, "No, no, no, this is impossible. I am loyal to Phils. Lord Long Legs,
I don't want to play such a big role with you.
You were like this in the Black Forest before. You fooled people from more than a dozen villages with just one mouth. In the iron mine pit, everyone listened to your nonsense. You said you didn't want any benefits at the beginning, but in the end
You take advantage the most."
Yes, that’s right!
Uncle Zhou is a very talkative person. If you are cheated by him, you have to count the money to him.
Jason shook his head like a rattle, but Zhou Qingfeng pointed to the extremely effective bottle of 'meditation potion' again, "We started to recruit low-level wizards. I can sell goods at low prices and purchase goods at high prices.
There are also low-level knights in the city. They need stamina potions, body lotions, and high-level equipment. But they don't like to deal with wizards because you look down on them and always act as profiteers.
Cold Wind City is also an economic center, and the merchants in the city have a lot of influence. And I like doing business the most. I can provide a variety of high-quality goods, and the merchants must like me.
I can influence almost all the interest groups in the city and unite them. As long as we have enough strength, it will be easy to drive away Phils and Long Legs."
Jason still shook his head, "No, no, no, this won't work. Coldwind City is not the Black Forest, and the Long-Legs family is not the Magru tribe.
As long as we communicate in private, the spies from the city's Supervisory Office will soon notice. Their sense of smell is very sensitive, and the Long-Legs family relies on the Supervisory Office to rule Cold Wind City steadily."
Zhou Qingfeng laughed at this, "I killed most of the informants in the Supervision Office, and most of them escaped. Their ability to conduct internal supervision is at a low point."
Jason was stunned for a moment, then startled. He pointed at Zhou Qingfeng and yelled in shock: "Is it you? Did you kill those villains in the city? God, you are so brave. Even the Supervisory Office dares to offend you."
Speaking of this, Jason looked at Zhou Qingfeng as if he were a monster. He stood up and paced back and forth, breathing rapidly and with red eyes, "Victor Hugo, you bastard. You want to pull me away again?"
Entering a fire pit. But this fire pit..."
"Are you going to jump?" Zhou Qingfeng asked, and by the way, "Don't you want to know why your teacher Fabbro cooperated with me? Don't you want to know how the highly effective potion is made?"
This hit Jason straight to the bottom of his heart, making him stop and pay attention, no longer hesitating.