"Uh... okay."

Facing the respect and praise from the apprentice representatives, Taylor nodded expressionlessly, imitating his teacher. He then took out nearly a hundred crystal balls from his space storage ring that were used to examine wizards' talents and mental strength.

The apprentice representative lowered his head and looked at the crystal balls that had been piled up. He collected them using the standard space storage ring issued to him by the White Tower Alliance.

"Then I won't bother you anymore, Master Wizard Taylor."

The apprentice representative got what he needed. He placed his left hand on his chest, bowed, and turned to leave. Next, he should distribute the crystal ball to the apprentices stationed in various cities to start talent testing for the new generation of apprentices.

Only after the apprentice representative left did the king dare to speak.

"Master Wizard, would you like to have some food now?"

"No."

Taylor shook his head. Through the king's introduction, he already knew the special cuisine of this kingdom and some delicacies that were exclusively enjoyed by the royal family. He felt that the cooking methods of these delicacies were too rough, and they were basically all grilled and fried.

This cooking method is indeed in line with their overall geographical trend of being in a cold winter environment, and the large amount of heat brought by the fat in roasting and frying can also allow them to maintain more heat and warmth.

"Oh well."

The king did not continue to insist after hearing this. He lowered his head in frustration, but soon recovered and continued to ask.

"Then Master Wizard, how should we arrange for your accommodation?"

Taylor didn't have any high demands in this regard, he said casually.

"Just find me a place to live."

Unexpectedly, these words made the king fall into silence. After a moment, he directly called on his ministers and other attendants to leave the palace, leaving only the beautiful maids here.

"The kingdom doesn't have anything to show off, except this palace which is the oldest and most magnificent building in the kingdom. Master Wizard, please stay here during this period of time."

After saying that, the king personally closed the thick door for Taylor. Seeing the king sweating profusely, the door must have been very heavy.

Huh? Living here? Are you serious?

The king's action confused Taylor. He watched the king leave in confusion, then looked at the beautiful maids around him who were waiting for orders obediently, and looked at the oil painting specimens and some monster heads around him that were full of historical atmosphere.

Behind the platform where he was standing was the bedroom for rest. The bedroom was not only wide and large, but also had an extremely gorgeous bed, and was furnished with gems, crystals, precious metals, artworks, antiques, blankets, etc.

“Tsk tsk tsk…”

You did a great job as the local guide. The hospitality really opened my eyes.

Dom, the firebird that had been standing on Taylor's shoulder, also flapped its wings happily. It flew to the bedroom and picked off all the yellow gems on the head of the bed, the top of the bed, the foot of the bed, the top of the cabinet, the specimens, etc. and piled them into a small pile one by one.

Then it stood in front of the small pile of rubies, moved its butt and shook its body. It pressed it tentatively with its butt first and felt a little prickly, so it rubbed it left and right to grind the small pile of rubies into a concave shape.

After building his temporary nest, Dom slowly lay down in it and went to sleep.

After he distributed the crystal balls to the apprentice representatives, they immediately started working non-stop, delivering each crystal ball to the corresponding apprentice. The apprentices who received the crystal balls then started a massive apprentice selection in their cities.

The whole kingdom was in an uproar because of the arrival of the wizard and the selection of apprentices. All children aged nine to ten in every household were gathered in the squares of various cities to prepare for the apprenticeship test.

For the children who are going to take the apprenticeship test, they must have the most basic knowledge, that is, they must be able to recognize words, read words, and understand some meanings. Then they must have enough mental talent, which is the talent for the subsequent development of wizards.

The White Tower Alliance attaches great importance to the growth of the next generation, so in every city there are free schools that impart knowledge and literacy, etc. Even homeless children can go to these schools to study.

The purpose of the White Tower Alliance doing this is to not miss any good wizard seedlings, and they want all children of school age to receive education at the appropriate age.

As for the costs and resources needed behind it, the wealthy white wizards don't care about it. As long as doing so can increase the probability of good seedlings being discovered by 10%, even if it is less than 10%, it is enough.

With the strong support of the White Tower Alliance, the literacy rate of ordinary people in their area is surprisingly high. The improvement in overall quality has also indirectly driven the prosperity of these countries and cities. Maritime trade, land trade, light industry, etc. are also the most developed in the entire plane.

Now in the Kingdom of Winter, every city has carried out apprenticeship testing for children of appropriate age, and the apprentices in charge of the corresponding city are silently looking forward to it. The more apprentice seedlings appear in this city, the better the rewards the White Tower Alliance will give them.

There are some things that they cannot use, but their descendants will always be able to use them.

Children of appropriate age, accompanied by their parents, line up in long rows. At the end of the queue are the wizard apprentices of the White Tower Alliance holding crystal balls. The apprentice testing usually lasts about a week.

This week will decide the fate of all children of school age in the entire kingdom. Whether they will become an ordinary person who does nothing or a noble apprentice will depend on this period of time.

While the apprentices were busy, the children were nervous and the parents were extremely anxious, Taylor was leisurely walking around the kingdom's capital with a majestic firebird on his shoulder, experiencing the local customs and culture.

He wants to experience the life of ordinary people in this world.

Two weeks later

"Are these all the apprentices?"

Hiss hiss hiss……

Taylor stared at these timid-looking children with a pair of golden vertical pupils. His long forked tongue moved back and forth in his mouth, analyzing the pheromones and elemental fluctuations around him.

Looking at Taylor, who was handsome but behaved strangely, had a pair of golden vertical pupils and a non-human tongue, the young reserve apprentices had tears in their eyes.

They had been reminded and instructed by the apprentices before they came, but when they actually saw this scene, they still felt very frightened and scared.

“Good psychological quality.”

Taylor withdrew his gaze, turned around and led these new reserve apprentices out of the city.

There were a total of 241 reserve apprentices this time, about two per city. Taylor felt it was too troublesome to bring these more than 200 reserve apprentices to the port.

He directly asked Kano and Bobby to drive the spaceship to the capital.

(End of this chapter)