The Black Iron Glory
Magus Landes Diary (1)

Chapter 61

Magus Landes Diary (1)

As Claude predicted, the diary of Magus Landes was more like a memoir. When Landes wrote in his diary, he had just become a third rank magus rune, distinguishes itself from hundreds of other magi plus magi and eventually gets its private room in the magic tower which is eventually bombarded with cannons. He only spent a few shaliuns to obtain a rune-paper diary after he had his own personal space.

That is why Landes diligently recounted his experiences since childhood, starting from how hard his parents worked and how much he loved his brothers. The first ten pages of the diary were mostly memories of the house he had left behind. However, Claude could tell that Landes was really proud of himself for being a third rank magus rune. He only spent four years growing from an illiterate teenager, 14, to a third grade magus rune. Landes believed that he did not disappoint his parents and used his talent in magic adequately.

Since the diary was entirely written in ancient Hez, Claude spent a lot of time reading it. From time to time, there will be some unfamiliar words and he should refer to the dictionary for definitions. But after he reads ten or more pages of the magus' memory, Claude realizes that the magi are not as bad as the Freian legends often portray.

Landes wrote that his home was the village of Whitestag, a settlement built near the beautiful Lake Balinga. Claude realized that his village was the village he used to be. However, Landes noted that the entire southwestern region where all three prefectures are located in it belongs entirely to the owner of the magic tower, the Archmagus Loenk Seven-ring. But when the great archmagus was busy investigating magical secrets, he could not be bothered to deal with managing his land and handing it over to the three magi families.

The Landes family consisted of eight people. Besides him and his parents, he has two older brothers and two sisters, and a – grandmother neither Landes nor his grandmother liked each other – who lived with them.

Landes' father owned a small fishing boat and would take his two brothers fishing on Lake Balinga in the early hours of the morning before sunrise. They had about an acre of farmland and a small vegetable garden, which was tended to by her mother and older sister. His family also had a cow and a horse. That was the main task of Landes when he was young. He had to cut a lot of grass to feed the two animals.

Grandma Landes and little sister manage the work at home and feed the ten plus chickens they have. Although the entire family worked day and night without rest, they had to give half of everything they earned as taxes to the magi nobles. What was left for them could barely sustain the entire family.

Later, Landes' two older brothers and sisters grow up and their marital problems become increasingly urgent. It caused his parents great distress and they had no idea where they would find such a large sum of money for their children to start their own families. It was during that year that the exam for the apprentice magi held once every decade took place.

The apprentice magi test is performed on all children in the domain Armagus Loenk. The children tested ranged from five to fifteen. Children over the age of twelve who are known to have talent in magic will be sent to the magic tower and developed into apprentice magi while those younger than twelve will be marked and tested once again when they reach the age of twelve. If their talent for magic is retained, they will be taken to the tower to become disciples.

Hah, magic talent can also change over time? thought Claude. However, the contents of the diary immediately began to arouse his interest. Landes said that since childhood, his sense of hearing is very sensitive. No matter how calm her grandmother complained to her parents about her being lazy rather than taking care of the two large animals in the house, she could hear everything clearly. That was the reason she did not like her grandmother so much even though she tried hard to treat all siblings fairly on the surface.

Landes wrote that sometimes, he would bring cows and horses to be grazed. While they did, he would lie on grassy ground. But even though he closed his eyes, the surroundings and movements of the two beasts were still clearly visible in his mind, as if he was actually looking at the scene with his own two eyes. Isn't this the same as me? Claude thought, Landes mental strength seems to be quite strong as well.

The magus who came to Whitestag to test the children was a long-bearded man. He was wearing a black robe and showed a stern expression. Many children find him to be the scariest person they meet.

That terrifying magus was the same person who came every year with guards to collect taxes. When the villagers found out about his arrival, they immediately took out the children around that age and lined up them for the evaluation of magic talent.

That terrifying magus was the same person who came every year with guards to collect taxes. When the villagers found out about his arrival, they immediately took out the children around that age and lined up them for the evaluation of magic talent.

Landes' parents took him and his sister to the other end of the phone. There are 40 other families whose children will be evaluated as well. There were more than 50 children in total.

Whitestag should be the last place in the southwest region where the evaluation will be conducted. Beside the terrifying magus were ten or so children wearing similar gray robes. There were boys and girls among them and each of them stood proudly and watched the children who would be evaluated without a sound.

The evaluation was done very quickly because not a single child lined up in front of the Landes showed any signs of talent. It didn't take long for it to be her family's turn. His parents tested his sister first. The device used for testing is a transparent crystal ball. The gloomy-looking magus made Landes' sister stare at the ball and Landes looked to see the green-lit ball. The grim-looking Magus said that Landes' sister's affinity with the wood element was only three and she was not qualified.

It was then that he realized there was something difficult for him to see inside the ball. It is colorless and transparent. It looked like liquid was flowing within the crystal ball at him. But the more it looked like that to him, the more difficult Landes was to focus his gaze. He wanted to see what it was really.

And he's not disappointed. He could finally see the mysterious object in the crystal ball. It was a burning fireball. The longer it burns, the more flames grow. It became increasingly red as coals lit up within all sorts of shapes and forms. Just like the clouds in the sky, sometimes the flame resembles a sheep, while at other times it resembles a house.

By the time the embers inside the crystal ball started to darken, the ball had returned to its original state. Landes flinched out from there and looked up, only to see the shocked expression of the magus that was evaluating him. The magus seemed to be screaming. "Afinity with the fire element: nine! Mental strength: eight! You're chosen!"

Landes notes in his diary that a year after he went to the magic tower to start his life as an apprentice, he came to know the nature of the crystal ball after taking some basic knowledge. It was called a talent evaluation ball and it was a magical item that was personally created and refined by the owner of the magic tower for the right purpose.

The Magi considered everyone to have varying degrees of magical talent. Commoners were no exception. They measured the talents using elemental affinity. Talent levels are categorized by score. A score of one to two is considered below average. Three to four are considered average, while five to six are considered qualified.

But if the people evaluated were ordinary people, they had no chance. Nurturing the Magi required a lot of magical resources, especially those related to ranking enhancement. Only the descendants of the noble magi family would get the chance to be trained if they only had proximity in the range of five to six.

There was a saying among the magi nobles that controlled the entire distribution of magical resources. What is lacking in talent, made with resources '. Just like the online games in Claude's previous life, the players can choose real items to give them a boost in the game.

No matter how much time and effort a player is free to invest into his own character, he can never be the best money player, one only has to spend money to fully arm their characters to defeat all the free players.

The elemental affinity from seven to eight is a sign of great talent. Even the children of commoners with such talent were worthy of nurturing. They do not have to use too many magical resources and all they have to do is learn the basics of magic and they will be able to reach the fifth or sixth ring with time and effort. At that time, they would have the opportunity to become high-level magus assistants and have the chance to be chosen as the overseers of other magi.

The highest category of magic talent included those with elemental affinity scores of nine or ten. Those people could already be considered geniuses. If one of the descendants of a noble family of magi was found to have a high affinity, it was an occasion worth celebrating. Households will not have to worry about their livelihoods in the next three centuries.

It was a shame that such a great talent would not affect the future of the commoners' children much. In the end, they would only end up as five-ring black iron magi. In that case, they were even inferior to the descendants of magi nobles who only scored five or six. The resources given to those people were something that black iron people could not gather throughout their lives.

In addition to testing the elemental affinity, the sphere could also measure measures of mental strength. Usually, people with high elemental affinity also have high mental strength.

In the case of Landes, given his high affinity with the fire element, the formless liquid within the sphere turned into fire as he stared closely. It burns with brightness according to its affinity level. While Landes himself could not tell how bright it was, the magus standing beside him could see everything clearly.

The level of mental strength was also reflected in the changes in the liquid within the crystal ball. Those with high mental strength will cause the fluid inside the ball to change several times and last longer.

In the case of Landes, the flames burning inside the sphere turned into some cloud-like shape. It was a sign of his high mental strength, which did not fail to be recorded by the magus.

Back then, Landes still had no idea what magus meant when he said he was elected. All he felt was fear. But soon, the tax collection officer came to his parents to congratulate them and also announced that they were exempt from taxes because Landes would soon become an apprentice magus.

The news was a big surprise to Landes' parents. They were finally convinced that Landes being chosen was a good thing. So, after they came home, they held a big celebration and invited their neighbors. As they fill their stomachs with beer and food, they begin to imagine the rich life they will be heading to now that they no longer have to pay taxes. They can build a house for their older children in two or three years.

However, Landes felt very surprised. His family had forgotten the fact that he had to leave his home with a gloomy-looking magus the next morning on a journey he had not known before. He felt scared, panicked and lonely. After all, he was just a 14-year-old young man who was about to leave the city for the first time in his life with a group of strangers.