Wizard Lord:I can Extract Anything

Murder, entrance exam.

These two seemingly unrelated terms coming together made Richard feel that this world was truly bizarre.

"An entrance exam requiring murder? What page did you read that on?"

Richard was skeptical, suspecting it might be a prank. What kind of academy would want murderers as students?

Ellie, sobbing, handed the admissions handbook to Richard. Just then, the magical lamp in the room lit up. Having learned the Wizard language, Richard opened the page Ellie had marked.

The page read:

Prospective wizard apprentices must undergo an entrance exam before entering the academy. The exam, called the Race of Life and Death, includes the following:

At the start of the exam, each prospective wizard apprentice will receive a crystal ball and seven vials of nutrient potion, each substituting a day's worth of food. Within fourteen days, the apprentices must reach the designated location of the academy, carrying at least two crystal balls.

Those who fail to meet the required number of crystal balls or arrive late will lose their eligibility for admission.

Note: The academy does not provide return services. Apprentices who lose eligibility must return to their place of origin on their own.

Richard tossed the admissions handbook back to Ellie after reading it, then climbed back onto his bed to retrieve his own handbook, turning to the same page.

The content was exactly the same.

This wasn't a joke.

"This is going to be tough," Richard muttered as he closed the handbook. He didn't understand why the academy would go through the trouble of gathering apprentices only to eliminate half of them with an entrance exam.

But he knew one thing: the question was meaningless now that he was already on the airship.

He had to quickly find a way to pass the entrance exam.

Among these prospective wizard apprentices were lowly farmers like Richard and high-ranking nobles. The commoners were often malnourished and frail, while the nobles had strong physiques and martial training from a young age.

Every noble was a knight; this saying was widespread in the Plantagenet Kingdom and considered the foundation of noble rule.

In the Plantagenet Kingdom, a knight was not just a title but a symbol of personal strength.

Every knight was a robust figure who could move swiftly in full plate armor, wielding a greatsword with ease.

Moreover, in the Plantagenet Kingdom, a noble's title had to be inherited by a knight.

Thus, although noble offspring might have questionable character or intelligence, their bodies, trained from a young age, far surpassed those of commoners, even if they were lazy.

Competing with such individuals, commoners like Richard had little hope of survival.

"It can't be. Since the academy admits commoners, they must leave some chance for resistance."

Richard's mind raced as he quickly pulled out the three books provided by the academy.

The Wizard Academy wouldn't design an exam that commoners couldn't pass. They must have left something to level the playing field for students.

Richard spread the three books on his bed: one was a Wizard language dictionary, another the admissions handbook, and the last one had a straightforward title—

"How to Become a Wizard Apprentice"

[Material: "How to Become a Wizard Apprentice"]

[Extractable Information: Basic Meditation Technique, Magic Reflux Construction, Four Basic Tricks]

[Extraction Cost: 7 Mental Power]

[Extract?]

"Extract."

...

At one end of the airship, in the exclusive wizard's lounge.

"Aurelia, how many of these apprentices do you think will survive this time?" Taylor looked out at the sea of clouds. The airship flew at an altitude of around 2,000 meters, where the clouds seemed like land below.

"Maybe over four thousand. This batch won't have crystal balls exchanged for magic stones, so no one should deliberately hunt others."

Beside Taylor, the muscular woman with the door-sized greatsword casually replied, leaning against the cabin wall.

"I heard the headmaster suffered a significant loss in the dimensional wars and needs to replenish the number of wizards as much as possible. This batch of students is lucky!"

Taylor spoke with a hint of nostalgia. Once, he was a fierce competitor among apprentices himself.

But after failing to advance, he had no choice but to work for the academy to make a living.

Watching these prospective apprentices, Taylor, now over a hundred years old, couldn't help but recall his younger days.

"By the way, why haven't I seen that guy Malur?" Taylor asked.

"This batch has a few clever kids who pooled some magic stones to have him teach them the meditation technique."

"Oh?" Taylor was surprised. "Isn't that against the rules?"

Aurelia shrugged. "If you don't say anything and I don't say anything, how would the academy's bigwigs know?

Besides, those kids traded magic stones, adhering to the principle of equivalent exchange. Even if the academy found out, they'd probably praise the kids for being resourceful."

But Taylor shook his head.

"The curriculum written by the headmaster is already simple enough. If they can't learn from it, even if they get in, they'd just be waiting to die.

The path to truth ultimately relies on one's own journey. A quick fix might work once, but can they rely on shortcuts forever?"

...

In room 225.

Richard sat cross-legged on the bed, trying to calm his mind.

After extracting "How to Become a Wizard Apprentice," Richard had fully grasped the theoretical knowledge of the meditation technique.

The so-called meditation technique was the cultivation method for wizards.

Its main purpose was to help wizards increase and restore mental power.

"The three essentials of becoming a wizard apprentice: connecting to the Sea of Souls, constructing magic reflux, and inscribing spell marks. Among these, the most challenging is connecting to the Sea of Souls."

Following the book's guidance, Richard worked on adjusting his state.

According to the book, the stronger one's mental power, the easier it was to connect to the Sea of Souls.

Once connected to the Sea of Souls, his meditation would be halfway successful.

As Richard calmed his inner turmoil, he began inscribing runes in his mental world.

The basic meditation technique involved three runes. When Richard completed inscribing them, his mind felt as if it had detached from his body, plunging into a bottomless abyss.

The abyss was silent and still, as if time and space did not exist.

Richard's mind lingered in this abyss for an unknown duration, with boredom, loneliness, and fear washing over him like tides.

But he endured it all.

Because this was the necessary path to connect to the Sea of Souls.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Richard's mind touched the Sea of Souls.

In an instant, Richard saw a boundless starry sky.

"The Sea of Souls reflects the material world, with each dimension in the material world represented as a star in the Sea of Souls. This magnificent sight has influenced every wizard who has seen it, leading them to refer to the material world as the Astral Realm."

Richard's mind echoed with the records from the book. In that moment, his thoughts overlapped with countless wizards from ages past.

"This is truly beautiful," Richard remarked, then began leaving his mark in the Sea of Souls.

With this mark, he could more easily connect to the Sea of Souls in the future.

"What kind of mark should I leave?" Looking at the endless starry sky, Richard felt a wave of loneliness.

Alone in a foreign world, gazing at the stars only deepened his longing for home.

Using his mental power as a pen, Richard drew a five-pointed star in the Sea of Souls.

After completing this task, Richard's mind began to blur.

The basic meditation technique allowed him to stay in the Sea of Souls only for so long. To remain longer, he would need to find a more advanced meditation technique.

Within moments, his mind returned to the material world.

At this point, he had completed the most difficult and crucial step in becoming a wizard apprentice.