381 Necessary Showoff (2/2)

Two days passed.

The newly-established temple-styled pavilion hadn't been dismantled yet, so the tests were held there.

Outside of the pavilion was a huge crowd of mixed civilians and nobles, who had completely surrounded the place.

Seven hundred children of appropriate ages were sent into the pavilion. The descendants of nobles, merchants, and civilians formed three different groups.

The children of merchants and civilians were much humbler than the cocky noble descendants.

The children of the civilians, in particular, were wearing clean but patched clothes, too shy to look at anybody else.

The square was even noisier than the busiest market.

Roland felt that his ears were ringing when he came out. Then, he cast the soundproof barrier that he learned from the drows to cover the whole pavilion.

The place immediately became quiet.

The soundproof shield was almost transparent. The people outside could see what was going on inside, but couldn't hear anything.

Roland and Vincent, as two practical men, didn't want to waste their time on any splendid speeches. They simply walked from the Magic Tower to the children.

They examined the children and, now and then, patted their shoulders, asking them to go to another side.

Every time they patted a child, his or her relatives would cheer loudly outside as if it were themselves who were picked.

Soon enough, Roland picked thirty apprentices. Half of them were the children of nobles and merchants, as could be seen from their attire, and the other half were skinny and emaciated civilian children.

Vincent picked forty apprentices and ten more civilian children than Roland did.

After the candidates were chosen, Roland canceled the magic barrier and spoke to the crowd with a broadcast spell, ”We'll have a test every year in the future. Only the descendants of those who are close to the Magic Tower will be qualified. As for the qualifications for civilians, the Black Sand Gang will be responsible for that.”

Then, the magic apprentices came out to clear the grounds, creating an empty space on the right side of the Magic Tower.

Though confused, nobody wanted to argue with the people from the Magic Tower at this point. Besides, those apprentices had the right to kick them away from the Magic Tower's territory.

After enough empty space was cleared, Roland walked over and snapped his fingers.

Under everybody's eyes, the square turned into a swamp at first. The mud in the swamp then rose as pillars and beams as if in a dream.

After that, the walls were established too, enclosing a square, five-story building that had a huge coverage.

At this point, many people had realized what Roland was doing.

He was doing final renovations for this massive building.

Watched by tens of thousands of people, a huge teaching building almost as high as the pavilion was erected.

Though the teaching building was shabby, undecorated and crude, and some windows were even crooked, nobody felt that it was ugly.

Magnificence was the greatest beauty.

It was a simple law that applied in architecture too.

Besides, such an unbelievably huge building had been built after no more than five seconds.

The soon-to-be magic apprentices who were just chosen looked at Roland's back in awe and admiration.