Chapter 35: Finding a ool

  Just as Matthew left the boratory, a silver figure leaped into his arms with a cheerful "Yah!"

  Yaya fortably led into position, her sleail swaying bad forth, her big, adorable eyes sparkling with curiosity.

  "Daddy, what is that? It looks like there are a lot of shiny things..."

  Ah, typiost dragons—they love shiny objects...

  "That’s the b. Right now, it's just for brewing potions. It's small for now, but iure, I'll expand it and add more funs."

  Matthew expiruthfully to Yaya, worried that the little one might sneak in and cause havoc.

  At 500 gold s per set, he had to work for over ten days to earn that back. It couldn't be carelessly "spent."

  Yaya's eyes twinkled, and she slightly opened her mouth, letting out a soft "Yah-yah," before adjustione, adding a subtle hint of oriental charm:

  "Yah...yah..."

  Matthew widened his eyes in surprise and happily patted her head, praising her:

  "That's right, Yaya! You say your name now! You're so smart."

  Yaya giggled at the pliment, shaking her little head before awkwardly saying:

  "Rebecca...taught...me..."

  With the image of a mischievous face fshing in his mind, Matthew smiled knowingly, patting Yaya's head, and with a tempting tone, he asked:

  "So, do you want Rebecca to py with you often?"

  Yaya's eyes lit up instantly, and she eagerly nodded. Matthew smiled knowingly:

  "Then I'll give Rebece tasks, so she spend more time with you. It will also help her as a druid."

  I Yaya nodded without hesitation, unknowingly dragging Rebecto the pn.

  As expected, Matthew wrote out a hiring notid ha to Yaya, pyfully suggesting:

  "But you both have a shared task: every day, you have to eat all kinds of food that help you grow strong."

  Yaya didn't care about the st part, happily clutg the part and fpping her wings as she fluttered around the room, clearly thrilled.

  Tonight promised to be extraordinary.

  Over the few days, everyone in Bay Vilge was kept busy.

  Waking up early to eat, they quickly got to work uhe supervision of Vilge Chief Field.

  They worked hard until noon, enjoyiy lunches provided for them.

  After w another afternoon, they returned home with the copper s they'd earned.

  Though the wages weren't much, the promise of a good meal and tributing to the vilge made everyone's spirits improve.

  Of course, amidst their work, their curiosity often turowards the bustling military camp.

  Seeing the soldiers engage in "simple" drills every day and enjoy plentiful meals of fish a made many of the vilgers eager for the same life.

  Everyone wao eat meat!

  A few days ago, Chief Field had been tight-lipped, but eventually, the vilgers wore him down, a slip some hints over drinks.

  The very m...

  Bay Vilge was buzzing with excitement as everyone discussed how to bee a professional soldier and the bes it entailed.

  As the "instigator," Chief Field no longer bothered to think much about it and urged everyoo get back to work.

  Several women preparing food shared the good hat today's lunch would be hearty again, with each persoing a share of fish.

  This energized everyone even more, as they noticed that her the lord nor Ralph the steward had appeared, leaving them to mahings on their own.

  Yet, none of the vilgers were tempted to sck off. Those who did were quickly whipped bato line by Chief Field.

  The soldiers were also training hard, their shouts could be heard from afar.

  Many people had learhat after the wall was pleted, the project would be building a new barracks.

  Some quickly did the math and realized that speeding up their quality work would result in earning more.

  A cool breeze blew as Matthew set aside the alchemiotes from his predecessor, deepening his uanding of the magical enviros and their effects.

  In the game, pyers mostly relied on their alchemy level to brew potions, create magical items, or craft scrolls, pleting these tasks with the help of simplified systems.

  They knew how to perform the as but not necessarily why.

  Now, with Matthew being the only one responsible for research, he had to delve deeper, striving to stay ahead in order to lead the territory forward.

  Therefore, the first thing he had to do was select children with the potential to bee spellcasters.

  Even though the heril Empire put great effort into finding and training young are talents...

  The scale of the annual iions was enormous, so naturally, some slipped through the cracks.

  Of course, the children with obvious taleaken away early.

  But for many others who required more resources and effort to break through higher levels, it all came down to luck.

  Additionally, it oo test for aptitude.

  For most noble or spellcaster offspring, these tests were ducted at birth.

  Most oner childreested three times: at age 10, 12, and 15.

  So now, Matthew's main focus was on the children under 10.

  "Learning must start early!"

  Ralph the steward spoke sternly, sg most of the children with his serious expression.

  Of course, the children’s parents had undoubtedly warhem not to anger either Ralph or the lord.

  There would likely be "lessons of love" awaiting iive childrehey returned home.

  After all, despite the heril Empire’s reputation for retively kind rulers...

  Most lords had some e to spellcasters and noble families, having received proper education.

  But that didn’t mean their authority was weak.

  The power dispyed by their spells, and the occasional massive floating city seen in the sky, stantly reminded everyoo behave.

  "Everyone line up by age; those under six, stand to the left."

  "You may not fully uand this now, but I’ll expin it clearly."

  "What happe could ge your future—and your family’s!"

  Ralph the steward ahe children, watg them with a mix of nostalgia and hope. Many were nervous and scared, but a smile pyed on his lips.

  Matthew pulled out a crystal for testing, slowly infusing it with mana, and ha to the first group of 15-year-olds.

  A freckled girl with gray-brown eyes hesitantly approached, too nervous to look Matthew in the eye.

  Merrill

  Race: Human.

  Age: 15.

  Profession: None.

  Talent: Not activated.

  Attributes:

  Strength: 5

  Agility: 6

  stitution: 5

  Perception: 8

  Intelligence: 11

  Charisma: 10

  Evaluation: 50% ce of being a novice mage, 5% ce of being an intermediate mage, 0.1% ce of being an advanced mage.

  Matthew had already seen through Merrill and the harsh evaluation. He wasn’t disappointed but rather relieved.

  "At least my predecessor wasn’t pletely unfair..."

  Nervously, Merrill pced her hand on the pure crystal. A faint gloeared in the ter, trag delicate lines but not expanding further.

  Her heart sank with disappoi. She had failed to light the crystal fully in her previous three tests, and now, it seemed she had failed again.

  "Very good, Merrill. You’ve passed. You have a good ce of being a spellcaster, but you’ll o work hard. Go stand aside."

  Matthew’s gentle words rekindled hope in Merrill’s heart, and she eagerly nodded, her despair turning iement.