Warlock Apprentice

“Angor, do you understand the relationship between spirit model, mana, and mana pool now?” Sunders asked.

Angor nodded. Sunders’ explanation was clear and easier to interpret compared to the complicated definitions listed in the books.

“Good. Now, use what I said and give me your own analysis. Why do most talents in the wizarding world die as apprentices without becoming wizards?” Sunders crossed his arms and legs while looking at Angor with sharp eyes.

Why did the apprentices fail to become wizards? Angor had been thinking about that question these days.

Back at Padt Manor, Mara mentioned that he was stuck being an Intermediate Apprentice because he could not find his destiny.

Was “lack of destiny” the correct answer?

No.

If it was so simple, Sunders would not have said so much. Besides, Angor did not believe that all wizards made their achievements just because they found destiny.

What was the answer then? Angor went through Sunders’ words about the relationship between the spirit model, mana, and mana pool.

The inability to become a wizard was because of an insufficient, unqualified mana pool level.

Why would someone’s mana pool be unqualified? Probably because of a low mana flow speed.

So what caused the low flow speed? Obviously, a badly constructed spirit model.

With this theory, an answer already showed up.

Angor expressed his final answer, “A problem with the channeling method.”

Sunders raised an eyebrow and said, “I’ll give you a hint, then you give it some more consideration.”

Instead of judging his correctness, Sunders asked him to keep thinking. Angor hesitated. Was he wrong?

“Most channeling methods these days are the safest, most stable spirit models left by the predecessors, after being tried and modified during thousands of decades. Let’s look at the Triangle Channeling again. For most people, it’s garbage. However, ever since it came into being, there has been zero backfire cases involving it. So you see, it also has its merits,” said Sunders. He paused a bit before saying, “Also, countless talents in history became wizards using Triangle Channeling, and this included even several legendary archwizards.

“So is there truly a problem with the channeling method? Think again.”

Sunders’ words sounded like denial yet Angor got a faint feeling that it was not the case. Sunders was trying to remind him of something.

A “garbage” channeling method could create wizards, even legendary ones. So why did so many apprentices stuck there for decades, even centuries?

“Their spiritual power indicators were too bad?” Angor muttered.

“The indicator does affect one’s mana pool build-up and strengthening, but there were also apprentices with an indicator of ten who became wizards while using Triangle Channeling or similar common methods. A lot of them. So this is not the main reason either,” Sunders explained.

Then what in the world stopped apprentices from breaking through?

As Angor was thinking, Sunders picked up a white velvet feather quill from his pen rack, took off its cover, dipped some red ink, and began drawing shining spell runes on a leather scroll.

Symbols emerged from under the quill tip. It slowly floated into the air and vanished.

It was an extremely dreamy and fantastic sight. Every symbol was glowing like a firefly. Angor was stupefied by the scenery until one of the symbols landed on another blue pen on the rack. An idea glinted inside Angor’s mind.

A pen and a quill.

A pen cap could be used to hold a quill too. It would not do a good job, but at least it would work.

But the cap of a quill was impossible for a pen to stick in. Forcing it would only crush the small cap in half.

“Improvise and befitting…” Angor’s eyes brightened up.

Sunders grinned. He put down his quill and waited for Angor’s further explanation.

“The Triangle Channeling, or all the similar channeling methods for the common public, are improvisational methods for certain talents, or even suitable methods for some. It will be easier for these people to break through into wizards. But for the rest of the talents, Triangle Channeling isn’t even suitable as an improvised way. Studying it for years on end will instead cause problems.”

When he was finished, Angor looked at Sunders with an expecting expression.

Sunders was silent for a while before he finally smiled.

“Good. Mostly correct. To be a wizard, you must have a fast mana flow. How to increase that speed has always been a lifelong subject for wizards.

“You already mentioned it. A high spiritual power indicator affects flow speed. But there’s another question here, like you just said, if your spirit model does not suit you, it will not help you quicken the mana flow. This is where we reach a key point. Finding a spirit model that suits you best is the real condition whether you can keep up on the path of wizardry.

“I suggested you not to learn the common channeling methods in the books. They may be the most stable methods concluded by different wizards after thousands of decades. They can hardly go wrong. But their efficiency depends on the user, and might not suit you well. If you spend a hundred years on a model that does not work well on you, you would waste your life.”

Angor thought about Mara. Mara spent decades to become a High Apprentice, not because he could not find destiny, but because he chose the wrong way from the very beginning.

“Why do different models work differently on people? No one has an answer to it yet. Almost every major wizard organization keeps gathering data to experiment on it, and they still haven’t reached a conclusion,” said Sunders. He pondered and said, “My guess is that people all have different life passwords.”

Sunders did not explain what a “life password” was. Angor had no idea, but he guessed it could have something to do with DNA?

Sunders continued, “We can say that more than 80% of all apprentices idled their lives away because they didn’t choose a fitting spirit model. And many of the remaining people don’t do well with their channeling methods. As you said, they have to improvise. It’s difficult, but they can still become wizards as long as they have enough resources, find their destiny, and work hard.

“This, is why few apprentices made it to wizards.”