If a commoner wanted to become a mage, they would have to be a genius.
The mages in this world had a way to test one's magical talent.
Generally speaking, a person's mental strength was directly proportional to their intelligence. If a person had not received meditation training, then as long as the strength of their mental strength was known, their intelligence could be estimated.
The mental state of a person who had received meditation training was very different from that of a person who had not received meditation training. It was very easy to distinguish.
The mages in this world used these two principles to design a magic item to test the talent of a commoner, so that they could identify the rare group of people with magical talent.
The Antalya Mage Academy would organize a group of people every year to test the magical talent of every fourteen-year-old youth in the territory for free.
Of course, there were some exceptions in this world where mental strength and intelligence did not match, but these exceptions were only one or two out of hundreds of thousands of people, so the accuracy of the test was very low.
Moreover, even if they accidentally recruited an apprentice with high mental strength but mismatched intelligence, it was not a big deal. Even if such an apprentice could not become a mage, it would be easier to train them to become a magic vanguard or a magic archer.
If a commoner was tested to have 20 points of intelligence, he would immediately be sent to the mage academy. He only needed to sign a contract with the mage academy or a noble, and he would have the opportunity to learn magic for free.
A genius with 20 points of intelligence would become an official mage without a doubt. As long as you worked hard enough, becoming an intermediate mage was not impossible.
As long as one could become an official mage, even if it was just selling the spell slots every day, it would be easy to pay off the debt of learning magic.
It was said that there were only a few geniuses with 20 points of intelligence in this world in a thousand people.
Feng Chou was not a genius, so of course he would not have the opportunity to learn arcane spells for free.
In fact, if he lost Leo's status as a quasi-noble, it would be extremely difficult for Feng Chou to enter the mage academy.
The nobles, churches, and mages guilds in this world were very cautious when it came to cultivating mages. An unregistered citizen with no background, even if his intelligence was up to standard, would have a hard time passing the entrance test of the mage academy.
Even a commoner, or a genius, would have to be guaranteed by a noble, mage academy, or guild to enter a mage academy, let alone an unregistered citizen.
As for the commoners who were vouched for, after they became mages, they would have to work for a certain number of years in a noble, mage school, or guild to repay the debt.
Feng Chou roughly guessed the reason behind Leo's family's mishap after learning from Simon what a passageway to the underground world meant and what kind of value it had.
It was nothing more than the crime of possessing a jade ring.
According to Simon, because of the existence of the trade route to the underground world, Shaquille City could receive millions of crowns in tax every year.
It was a very important source of income for Grand Duke Vita.
Even if the passage in Leo's father's territory wasn't as good as Shaquille's, it could still bring in millions of crowns every year!
This income was enough to make great nobles like the Counts Of Antalya jealous. It was definitely not something a frontier knight could keep.
Ever since he figured out the possible reasons behind the accident of Leo's family, Feng Chou had been considering whether or not he could take advantage of Leo's identity and the invaluable underground world channel to fish in troubled waters!
The more he thought about it, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was possible.
With this idea in mind, he began to deliberately ask Simon about the merchant guild he worked for.
The merchant guild Simon worked for was called the El Chamber of Commerce. It was a very famous local merchant guild in Antalya County. This merchant guild had the backing of the Counts Of Antalya's family, and monopolized most of Antalya's food, wood, and mineral exports. They were quite powerful.
From Simon, Feng Chou knew that the El Chamber of Commerce also did business with the underground world.
Within the borders of Antalya County, there wasn't originally a path to the underground world. The El Chamber of Commerce could only enter the underground world through Shaquille City in the Duchy of Vita.
The El Chamber of Commerce's trading partners were mainly the few remote cities of the grey dwarves below Antalya.
Because the grey dwarves and the Drow Elves had a hostile relationship, generally speaking, the merchant guilds that traded with the grey dwarves would rarely establish relations with the Drow Elves. This was because doing so would easily offend both sides.
If Simon wasn't lying, then the powerful El Chamber of Commerce shouldn't have anything to do with the Drow Elves.
If it didn't have anything to do with the Drow Elves, then it was unlikely that it was the murderer of his father.
Of course, what really made Feng Chou make up his mind wasn't Simon's words, but his own judgment.
First of all, Feng Chou knew that the biggest shareholder behind the El Chamber of Commerce was the Antalya Family. This was no secret in Antalya.
The second reason was the family flag with the golden dragon pattern that was currently floating above his father's castle.
That flag represented Leo's uncle, the knight Erik's brother, and the current Baron Amborite.
In other words, this frontier knight territory had actually fallen into the hands of Baron Amborite.
If the Antalya Family wanted to obtain this underground passage, then making a deal with Erik, a frontier knight, would be much easier and more cost-effective than making a deal with the powerful Baron Amborite, who had the backing of the Stuart Family. This was something that was easy to understand, and he believed that the Counts Of Antalya wouldn't be so stupid as to not think of this point.
Therefore, Feng Chou speculated that the El Chamber of Commerce, which had the backing of the Antalya Family, was most likely not the mastermind behind the murder of Leo's family.
… …
After negotiating with Simon, Feng Chou led the two of them down the mountain. As they descended the mountain, the sky gradually brightened. Feng Chou and Simon had adapted to the strong light during this period of time. Although it was still a little uncomfortable, it was bearable.
However, Anrui, who had lived in the underground city since she was young and had some Drow blood in her, could not adapt to the strong light after daybreak. However, this woman was already prepared. She took out a pair of dark-colored goggles from her pocket and put them on.
As Drow elves had lived underground for generations, their eyes were completely unable to adapt to the strong light on the surface. However, Drow sometimes needed to go to the surface to move around. In order to avoid being blinded by the strong light on the surface, Drow had to wear these goggles every time he went to the surface.
The location that Feng Chou chose to leave the mountain was in the forest at the edge of the knight's territory after descending the mountain.
Because of Knight Erik's desperate sweeping over the past few years, the forest near the Lordship Of Pedro was relatively clean. After bypassing Knight Erik's territory at the edge of the forest, they walked on the only road that led to the outside world.
This was originally a simple dirt road. Once it rained, it would become muddy. However, when Feng Chou walked on this road again, he found that this road had been renovated.
Not only was this road widened compared to before, drainage ditches were arranged on both sides, and the road was covered with a layer of sand and stones.
It seemed that Leo's uncle had made sufficient preparations for the opening of the underground passage.